Something Different

We've always made rice in a rice cooker. But this one time, I decided to try something different. I added curry powder! It was interesting. I added too much water so I decided to pan fry it a bit and added chopped shitake mushrooms. It was definitely something I would totally make again. Yummy!

This dish is ground pork with tofu and baby corn. Something my mom used to make and definitely one of my favorite dish.

Dinner! The sliced zucchinis were slightly sauteed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Swedish Meatballs

I was excited to make these meatballs. They looked real tasty and best of all, they're made up of ingredients we usually have in the fridge! I did do a couple of substitutes in order to make this keto-friendly though. I also knew that making meatballs was a bit time consuming, but what I didn't know was just how amazingly delish these would be! =) Here's the link for the original recipe: Swedish Meatballs (Svenska Kotbullar)

Here's what my meatballs are made of:

2 tbs butter, unsalted (not pictured)
3/4 cup minced onion
2/3 lb ground beef
1/3 lb ground pork
6 oz tofu, crumbled (not pictured)
1 egg
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp pumpkin spice
1/4 tsp ginger zest
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup water + 1/4 tsp chicken bouillon or 1/4 cup chicken stock (not pictured)

(The photo above has coconut flour and sour cream, which was used for the gravy later.)

Step 1: Melt 1 tbs of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir and cook the minced onion until it is nicely browned.

Step 2: In the meantime, mix the ground beef, ground pork and crumbled tofu in a mixing bowl. 

Step 3: When your onions are done, add them to your meat mixture, along with the kosher salt, black pepper, nutmeg, pumpkin spice, and ginger. Then mix in the heavy whipping cream. It should look something like the below picture.

Step 4: Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Step 5: Melt 1 tbs of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Form balls of about 1-1/2 tbs of meat mixture and place them into the skillet. Cook until all sides are browned, turning meatballs often. FIY: It's scrumptiously fragrant. The meatballs may not be cooked inside, but that's okay, bc it'll bake more in the oven. I actually took a bite of the outer rim of my browned meatball to check its taste to see if it needed more salt or pepper. It was perfect for me! 

Step 6: Place browned meatballs into a baking dish, pour in chicken broth, and then cover with foil. 

Step 7: Bake in preheated oven of 350°F for 40 minutes. It'll look oh-so-tasty and very mouthwatering!

Om nom nom nom nom!

Handy to have for meatball makings:

Escali Weigh'N Digital Kitchen Scale (Google Affiliate Ad)

Corningware-Pyrex 6001001 CLR (Google Affiliate Ad)

OXO Good Grips Cookie Dough Scoop, Medium (Google Affiliate Ad)

Pork ribs n Stuff

Dinner for 2/14/2013:

Pork ribs topped with bacon, broccoli, pineapple, and rice for me and my pops.

Keto-friendly: pork ribs topped with chipotle sauce and frank's hot sauce, a dollop of sour cream, broccoli with melted cheese and a couple of bacon slices for the hubby.

Dinner for 2/15/2013:

Rice, cabbage and tofu cooked in the pork rib juice we drained and kept, pork ribs and pineapple for me and my pops.

Keto friendly: Pork ribs covered in chipotle sauce, couple slices of pork belly with a bit of chili paste, and tofu n cabbage and a dollop of sour cream for the hubby.

Another yummy meal, another full and satisfied tummy.

Sausage w/ Tofu n Shortplate

The sausages were delicious. Super savory and sweet and very juicy! Then we have our stirfried tofu with short plate and chili sauce for a spicy kick. YUM!

Leftovers

Not keto friendly: The stuff in the bowl are leftovers from hot pot. It's got some meats, cabbage, imitation crab meat, noodles, fish balls, and eggs. Leftover hot pot is always so very tasty because it's got all these amazing flavors mixed together. Definitely a fav during the winters. 

Keto friendly: The stuff on the plate is stirfried kimchi with chopped tofu and shortplate seasoned with salt and pepper. 

Eggs n Kimchi

Keto-friendly: Scrambled eggs made with eggs, shredded mozzarella cheese and a bit of heavy whipping cream and kosher salt. Kimchi stirfried with a wee little bit of mushrooms.

Not keto-friendly: Rice topped with furikaki, cabbage with a scallop sauce (XO stuff), tofu and kimchi stirfy, and some scrambled eggs

The eggs were great tasting but everything else was kinda bleh. Not one of our best meals...

Duck, Sausage, n Salmon

Dad's plate - he's from Hawaii so he's gotta have his rice. In addition to his rice, he's got salmon (on top), duck (on left) and sweet sausage slices (on bottom). While the picture isn't exactly mouth-watering, the meal certainly was.

Hubby's plate (keto-friendly) - duck to your left, salad in the middle, and salmon with a dollop of cream cheese on your right. Mmmmmm.

My plate (also keto-friendly) - I got salmon skin on the left, duck meat on top, followed with leftover broccoli, leftover kimchi, leftover tofu, couple of sweet sausage slices on bottom and leftover shredded chicken with bbq sauce in the middle (ps: the bbq sauce is totally NOT keto-friendly).

Chicken and Kimchitofu

Here, we have our famously delicious baked chicken... okay, it's not that famous, just commonly eaten and I love love love our brined then baked chickens. Served with a side of broccoli, kimchi and tofu. 

Kimchi and tofu goes deliciously well together and totally balance each other out. We got this idea from one of favorite eats, Biergarten. Sooooooo tasty!!

Pork Belly and Mapo Tofu

For an appetizer, we served pork belly with a trio of sauce: (L to R) chipotle aioli, dijon mustard, curry mayo. It was different, but still super delicious! Personally, I would always choose pork belly with kimchi and pickled daikon though... probably because I don't care much for mustard.

And for dinner, we made ground pork mapo tofu. We used the same box as last time for the sauce, but added more meat, less tofu, some baby corns and peas. Mm-mmm good with a serving a rice! Yummy in my tummy!!!

Pork hash quesadillas

 We had pork hash quesadillas complete with pork hash, shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese and lettuce. It was mm-mmmm delicious!

The two mini quiches on top were store bought... also delicious!

Pork hash n Broccoli

I tried to make this delicious pork hash that I really really enjoy at this one place called Shau May Restaurant in Monterey Park, but mine always turns out really dense no matter how much tofu and eggs I mix with the ground pork.... I usually mix about 1:1.5 ratio pork to tofu and about 1-2 eggs depending on how much I make. I can also never seem to salt it enough -_- which also doesn't help... maybe next time try 1:2 ratio??? Good thing my daddy eats anything... haha :)

Egg Drop Soup

Egg drop soup (traditional: 蛋花湯; pinyin: dàn huā tāng; literally "egg flower soup") is a Chinese soup of wispy beaten eggs in boiled chicken broth. Condiments such as black pepper or white pepper, and finely chopped scallions and tofu are also commonly added. The soup is finished by adding a thin stream of beaten eggs to the boiling broth in the final moments of cooking, creating thin, silken strands or flakes of cooked egg that float in the soup. 

This version uses chicken broth, tofu, sliced ribeye beef with a LOT of eggs. Usually, we also add chopped green onions but we didn't have any... still yummy!

Short Plate n Tofu

Here we have rice, broccoli and leftover short plate with caramelized onions and long stringy mushrooms to which I added tofu and sliced tomatoes. It's tasty, but not something I crave at the moment....

Beef n Broccoli with Tofu

Beef, broccoli and tofu with garlic black bean paste.

Served with a side of brown rice and some ribeye. Chompity chomp!

Chicken mapotofu

Leftover mapotofu and some chopped baked chicken.

Pretty yumsters! 

Just serve with a side of rice for a complete meal. 

Baked Chicken and Mapotofu

Baked chicken with mapo tofu. Mapo tofu made with tofu, beech mushrooms and green onions. Mmmmmmmmmmm :D

Flank steak and green onions

Pound flank steaks to tenderize. Add green onions.

Roll it up. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put'em in a skillet and cook'em up!

Mm-mmmmmmmmmm. Super delicious, just make sure to cut out the fatty portions as that makes it harder to eat through.

White Fish and Tofu

Meat that is not of land! Yay!!

Seasoning: 1/4 c ea minced garlic, ginger and sesame seeds

Steam white fish with slices of ginger approx 8 minutes.

Heat oil and add seasoning mixture to sauce pan until fragrant. Then add a bit of sesame oil to and heat for another minute. Then add 1/4 c of reduced sodium soy sauce.

 

Then you get this deliciousness! (place chopped chives before pouring the heated sauce!)

Tofu, peas, black bean sauce and sweet bean sauce

Final product.... Ta-Da!!!!!

It looks soooooooooo good and it tasted sooooooooo gooooooood toooooooo