Pork,Sweet Potato,and Mung Bean Soup

Coughing..sneezing...sore throat..headache..

This post is starting to sound like the beginning of a Pepto or Nyquil commercial.

I hate being sick. I hate being sick so much that I've avoided being sick for years. (seriously) The most I've ever had was an irritation in my throat for like 5 minutes. I actually started to believe that I had some sort of ancient blood that allowed me to stay immune to the common cold and flu.

Whenever someone is sick, what are the top suggestions we give? Drink lots of water! Get plenty of fluids! Eat Soup! I hear eat soup all the time, but we forget that when we're sick, we really can't taste anything. So the soup that we're eating has a pretty interesting texture with barely a hint of flavor.

But alas, there is a cure. If you're going to eat soup, then go for a soup with different textures and different flavors. This soup has flavors from ginger and garlic and different textures from spinach, sweet potatoes and mung beans.


Pork,Sweet Potato, and Mung Bean Soup
Makes 6-8 servings

2 lbs. country style pork ribs
4 cups chicken stock*
6 cups water
1 leek ( washed and split in half)**
1 inch piece fresh ginger (peeled)
2 cloves garlic(peeled)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup mung beans
2 cups sweet potato ( Peeled and diced into bite size pieces)
5 cups fresh spinach (Washed)
juice of 1 lemon
To taste-salt and pepper


Rinse the pork ribs in water until the water runs clear. This rinses away the blood taste in the meat. In a large stockpot over medium-high heat, place the pork ribs, stock, water, leek, garlic, ginger, fish sauce,and soy sauce. Let it come up to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Let simmer for an hour or until the meat is tender.

Halfway through simmering the pork meat, place the mung beans in a bowl of water to wash off tiny pebbles or dirt. In a medium pot over medium-high heat, place the mung beans and 7 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Boil for 30-45 minutes, or until beans are soft. Add the diced sweet potato and boil until soft. Drain mung beans and sweet potato in a colander. I prefer to cook the mung beans separate because the water gets cloudy when boiling them.

Add the mung beans and sweet potato to the pork. Add the juice of the lemon. Add the rinsed fresh spinach to the pot and cover until it is wilted.

Adjust with salt and pepper to taste and serve alone or with steamed rice.

* I prefer the taste of the chicken stock compared to pork stock. It balances well with the taste of the pork.
**I prefer to use only the white and light green part of the leek. The green part can be used to make stock.

Awhile back, Foodbuzz offered Tastemakers an opportunity to sign up for a gift certificate to use at the Asian Food Grocer site. I knew I had to opt in because I love this site. If you have not heard of this site, then you really need to check it out. They have a great range of asian foods for really great prices.

Postless day + Saucy Mama Winners

These are a few things that I've done this week or the weeks before and won't get around to posting individually. I think i'll call these postless days.

A baby in a peapod. Made for someone's baby shower.

Cake done for a lady's 70th birthday. Very basic cake.

Batman symbol cupcakes. Bakeries aren't allowed to make an exact replica of a trademarked symbol, so we have to change it up a bit.


Display cake for bakery. We made this exact cake for a client's wife who was on a diet. Her husband thought it would be funny to have a vegetable tray cake. This was before I brushed it with oil.

Dutch apple pie that took me weeks to make. Those following me on twitter will know what I'm talking about.

Now to announce the winners of my first giveaway.

I chose winners at random.org. The number sequence chosen was 3...5...4.

The grand prize winner of an assortment of Saucy Mama condiments as well as a few other surprises goes to # 3....robin_titan. Woo hoo!

The second and third place winners of a bottle of Chipotle Lime goes to Cindy and Mrs.L.

Congratulations and thank you for entering my first giveaway. I will be contacting you shortly for mailing addresses.

Escabeche

Check it out! I'm guest posting this delicious number over at the beautiful Michelle Judd's Blog, Taste As You Go.

Saucy Mama + Nila Rosa's First Giveaway

A heavenly piece of salmon transformed into my favorite sandwich.

Salmon is a pretty amazing fish to me. The flavors are bold on their own and unlike most white fishes, you don't have to add alot of seasoning to make it taste amazing.Usually the rule is to cook salmon with something acidic such as lemons to cut through the fattiness, but when paired with bold items such as bacon and avocado, it can turn into quite an amazing meal.

There was a call for foodbloggers awhile ago to try out Saucy Mama's products and come up with a recipe to be entered into a contest. I was very interested in her sauces, so I decided to enter my name and give it a shot.One day, I was pleasantly surprised to find a package on my doorstep. Thank you, Saucy Mama! She has a line of several marinades and vinaigrettes that are seriously amazing. For the salmon, I paired it with the parmesan-garlic marinade. The marinade was the perfect addition to the fish. When I have the sandwich next time around, I will be sure to have bottles of Saucy Mama parmesan-garlic in stock.


Salmon,Avocado,and Bacon Sandwich
Makes 1 sandwich

4-6 oz. salmon fillet
1/4 of avocado,sliced
3 strips bacon,cooked
3 slices tomato
1 ciabatta roll
Saucy Mama parmesan-garlic marinade
salt and pepper

1. Season salmon with salt and pepper. On a preheated grill, place the salmon. While cooking, baste salmon with parmesan garlic marinade. Cook for 5-7 minutes on each side.*

2. On the ciabatta roll, place the salmon fillet. Flake the salmon, so it covers most of the bread. Layer on the bacon, avocado, and tomato and enjoy.

*Tip: Cook salmon 10 minutes per inch

Now on to fun stuff. Where I get to give away stuff. This is my very first giveaway and I am quite excited about this one. With the amazing sauces, I was sent extra to giveaway to my blog readers,so this is what I'm giving away. I will have three winners. The grand prize winner will receive an assortment of Saucy Mama's products as well as a few extra surprises(woohoo!). The other 2 winners will receive a bottle of Saucy Mama's lime chipotle marinade which is a seriously amazing sauce for chicken fajitas.

Here's what you have to do to enter.

1. Leave a comment on this entry telling me what you would do with the Saucy Mama sauces and a way to reach you (e-mail or blog).
2. You get an extra entry if you tweet or stumble or whatever. Just come back to this post to let me know.

Contest ends Monday, September 7th.

Happy Cooking! : )

Potato Dominoes ala Jaden

Being a huge fan of different foods and global flavors, it's funny for me to say that my family does not feel quite the same about food. Basically food is food to them. Of course, it killsme when they say that, but we move on. When I cook dinner, I make things that are pretty familiar and quite boring really. Take my brother for example.He absolutely hates the sweet savory mix. No peanut dressings, sweet bbq sauces, and no pork tenderloin with cherry-apricot chutney.B-O-R-I-N-G. He likes pizza, potatoes, pizza, calzones,pizza and most fruits. (Hey at least he likes fruit)


When I saw well-known blogger Jaden Hair of Steamykitchen make Potato Dominoes, I knew I had to make them. They sounded amazing and provided a chance to break away from the monotony that is spaghetti and chicken stir fry. How did they turn out? They were a big hit. My brother is a big fan of these style of potatoes now. Paired with a braised beef stew, they made the perfect dinner.



Recipe from Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way by Francis Mallmann

4 Idaho (baking) potatoes
4 tablespoons chilled clarified butter( or regular butter)
Kosher or Sea Salt

Preheat your oven to 400F.

Cut off the ends of a potato and trim to make 4 equal sides to form a brick. With a mandoline, Slice the potatoes to 1/8 inch thick. Taking a stack of potatoes like you would a stack of cards, lay it on its side in a medium baking dish. Use the reserved potato ends to keep the stack up.As you lay them in, angle the slices to look like dominoes that have fallen over. Dot the sides and top with the clarified butter and season with salt. Continue stacking all the potatoes, but be sure to keep them at least 2 inches apart. When all the potaoes are lined up and seasoned, take out the reserved potato ends.

Bake for 40 minutes,or until the potatoes are browned on the edges and is tender in the middle when poked with a skewer. Serve immediately.