Tag Archives: ginger

Ain’t no Beefin’

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In the Poconos, recently my friends and I were on a wine tour doing tastings of the area vineyards and as we all know when drinking copious amounts of booze causes most people to binge eat. Luckily, there was a cook-off contest going on nearby so we stumbled over and tried all the eats the locals had made. There was a plethora of good food like sausage and peppers, mushroom risotto, etc. but this beef dish just knocked my socks off! I asked for the recipe because I wanted to recreate it for the blog, but more importantly, I wanted to try it sober to see if I even liked it (who knows when your inebriated, errythang tastes good under the influence). My God. I was NOT disappointed! It was just as yum, so I hope you enjoy this as well.

  • 2 lbs. flank steak
  • 1 cup cranberry juice
  • 1/2 crushed pineapple or puree
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup cranberries(recipe calls for fresh but all I had was dried so do you)
  • 1/2 cup diced candied ginger
  • 1/4 cup minced garlic or 4 cloves chopped
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce

In a medium saucepan cook soy sauce, honey, pineapple, cranberry juice into a marinade. Add cranberries and candied ginger cook for a bit more before turning off stove to cool.

In the meantime, coat steak with the ginger and garlic, then pour cooled marinade over steak. Marinade for 1-2 hrs then remove steak from marinade and cook for 7-10 minutes on each side. Take the marinade and recook to turn into a glaze for the steak. After letting meat rest slice on grain.  Drizzle remaining cooked marinade then serve w bean sprouts and chopped cilantro.

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Happy Eating, XO

Bone Broth

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I know we don’t need to remind you that it’s below freezing outside. (Seriously, what happened to the 60 degree weather in December?!) I’m sure we also don’t need to remind you that’s time to do all of that post-holiday detoxing. That’s where bone broth comes in. Bone broth made a big splash last winter when it became more popular than tea due to it’s multiple “healing powers”, and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon.

Not only does it help clear up and moisturize your skin, it’s great for your digestive system (aka gut), and remedy a cold. This article from Natural New Age Mum gives you the breakdown of every possible health benefit. Plus, if you don’t want to drink the broth straight up, she gives you other ways to incorporate it into your cooking.

  • 3-4 pounds bones (chicken, turkey, bone marrow, oxtail, any leftovers you may have)
  • 2 inches of sliced ginger root
  • 2 whole onions, thick sliced
  • 1/4 cup roughly chopped chives
  • 3 carrots, shaved and roughly chopped
  • 1/4–1/2 cup of fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley, thyme or rosemary. Take your pick of 1. I used thyme.)
  • 3-4 bay leaves
  • 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
  • 2 celery stalks
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 tbsp sea salt
  • If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also use a couple dashes of turmeric. You know how we love that spice.
  • Enough water to cover it all in a crock pot

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and drop in the bones. This will clean off any excess meat. Place the bones in the crock pot along with all of the other ingredients. Cover and simmer for 8-24 hours. (I did the full 24 hours.) The longer it simmers, the more flavor you’ll get.

Strain the broth into jar(s) for storage and place in the fridge. Discard the bones and veggies. After a few hours in the fridge, you’ll notice the fat beginning to harden on the top. You’ll want to skim that off. You can then either place the broth back in the fridge (it can keep up to 4 days), or a more popular method is to use an ice cube tray. This way you can pop one out whenever you’d like. The broth will keep in the freezer for up to a year.

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Happy Eating, XO.

Takeout Timeout

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Guys, who doesn’t love some Sunday night lo mein or kung pao chicken. However, after eating like crap all weekend or spending too much money going out it may be best to just cook your Chinese take out staple at home. It is a lot healthier and tends to be more wallet friendly as well. I hooked up some stir fry and fried rice for the boyfriend and I last weekend, it was tre yum. Check out the fried rice recipe below and see if you enjoy it as much as we did.

  • 1/2 cup mirepoix mix (pre diced celery, onions, & carrots. You can obviously do this yourself but its just more time away from laying on the couch and watching football).
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • salt & pepper to taste (I would add at the end only because soy sauce, even the low sodium stuff is pretty salty tasting so you don’t want to over season).
  • 1 tbsp. minced garlic paste
  • 1 tsp. minced ginger paste (if you don’t have garlic or ginger paste, the powder would work too)
  • 2 tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 tsp. sambal oelek (it’s an Asian chili oil but a few squirts of siriacha would do if you didn’t have any)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup boiled rice
  • 1 tbsp. butter (I add it just at the end, before serving. It melts into the rice and adds a nice soft texture to the dish, but feel free to leave out).

Heat the oil on high in pan or wok, while cooking the veggies, paste & spices. Don’t add the rice or soy sauce just yet. Cook till translucent/tender. Then crack the two eggs into the hot oil, veggie, spice mixture. Start scrambling, this is when you add the rice to incorporate everything together. Lower heat and stir in the chili oil & soy sauce.

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It came out so legit, I didn’t even miss having a post meal fortune cookie. I may permanently be on a time out from my take out spot.

Happy Eating, XO.

Shaved Brussels Sprouts

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Fall produce is my favorite! The veggies are just amazing and although most people associate salad with Summer, Fall has some legit salad options. This one is great with some pan seared chicken or fish as a meal, or can be great as a side. Let’s face it, you have to eat some lighter meals in the cooler months to offset the casseroles, desserts, comfort foods, etc. Hope you enjoy the dressing & can use it on multiple salads, like a cold noodle one like good ole Chrissy Teigen makes on her blog. Because who doesn’t want to eat, act, look like her! haha.

  • 1 ½ pounds Brussels sprouts
  • 2 lemons
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • ¼ cup tahini (sesame paste)
  • 1 tablespoon miso
  • 1 tablespoon water**
  • 1 orange (4 tablespoons fresh orange juice)
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon honey
  • ½-3/4 cup pecan halves

Sauté the BS shavings for one minute (no joke, not a second more) with EVOO and the lemon juice of 1 of the lemons. Then shake up/whisk the remaining ingredients and lemon juice into a vinegarette. (**Thin out w/ water if you want a lighter consistency)

Happy Eating, XO.

Nouveau Seekh Kebabs

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Don’t get startled by the fancy French word in front of an old Pakistani or Punjabi classic. I am just taking a family favorite and adding a short cut or twist, hence the new or nouveau seekh kebabs. Ok so let me back up for some of you novices. A seekh kebab is just like any other kebab because its base is ground meat, but the reason for it being different is that the meat is wrapped around a skewer when grilled so when it’s served there is hole running through it. In culinary speak, this is done so the cooking time is shorter and the kebab stays moist instead of drying out (also so the kebab stays whole). Ok so typically this is made with mutton, I just didn’t have time to stop at a specialty store to get that so I went with ground beef, but note you can make this with ground chicken or turkey if you want to lighten this snack up as well.

Here is the nouveau secret: instead of chopping cilantro and using an egg as a binder I used Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing. That’s right, my seekh kebab mixture has salad dressing in it! Ok so I know aunties everywhere are cringing, but try this out and tell me if you don’t love it.

  • 1 lb. ground meat (mutton or beef) **Note I used 80/20 beef since I wanted enough fat to add flavor and moisture.
  • 1 tbsp. ginger paste
  • 1 tbsp. garlic paste
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin or jeera powder
  • 1/2 tsp. of garam masala
  • salt to taste and chaat masala to dust on after cooking
  • finely chopped onion (1 medium is what the recipe said and that was definitely way too much, go half an onion at the most)
  • 2-3 tbsp. of cilantro dressing
  • finely chopped green chili (3 if using the Indian ones and 2 if using a jalapeno or bigger chili)
  • don’t forget salt & pepper, I did and it just killed it with no salt

If baking, set the oven to 475 degrees and oil your hands when molding into kebab shape so they don’t stick. If you are cooking it on the charcoal grill or grill pan, cook it on high heat. Do not even try to get around the using a bamboo/metal stick. If you have noticed there is no filler in these kebabs so they WILL fall apart unless cooked in the traditional seekh kebab fashion around a skewer. Hope you enjoy!

Served with hummus, ketchup, or mint chutney.

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Happy Eating, XO.