Beet and grapefruit salad

There is nothing more refreshing then a fresh beet/grapefruit salad in the winter. Beets are plentiful in the winter so is e grapefruit. They go together very well, the sweetness in the beets is balanced with the tangyness of the grapefruit I got 3 kinds of beets (purple, golden and a white one with pretty red swirls pattern inside) and a bunch of radish from the local farmers market on Saturday. I was able to assemble the salad in 20 minutes because I had roasted them the day before. To roast them just wrap them in parchment paper and them wrap that in aluminum foil (don't wrap any food directly with aluminum foil because aluminum is linked to risk of Alzheimer's disease.) put it in a 400 degree oven. If the beets are small they should cook in 25 min. If its medium size it may take 40 minutes. Try not to over cook them, it should be soft with slight bite to it and not mushy. Remove the skin after the beets are cooked and cooled. Then store. You can roasted all of the beets and you will have them for salad through out the week. Beet salad looks really pretty with rainbow colors and can be great serve to guests. I think it could be an elegant first course for Sunday brunch

1) put some spinach or spring mix in the plates ( this will make 5-6 servings)

2) slice about 6 small beets 1/4 inch thickness of different colors (today I only had purple and white left because we ate all the golden ones yesterday) evenly distribute it to the plates

3) slice one avocado and evenly distribute to all the plates

4) slice 4 or 5 radishes and distribute to all the plates

5)peel the 2 grapefruit and cut out the flesh and distribute the, to the plates. Squeeze all the remaining juice out of the grapefruit for the dressing. You should end up with about 1/3 cup of juice

6) add to the grapefruit juice 2 table of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of mustard and 1 tablespoon of shallots, salt and pepper. Spoon 1 tablespoon of dressing in each plate.

This recipe will serve 6 people for appetizer size salad. It has 128 calories, 12 g of carbs, 9 g of fat, 2 g of protein, 8 g of sugar.

Kale salad with figs and goat cheese and steak with Gorgonzola

Today lunch I made kale salad with dry figs and goat cheese. Some people like to use cranberry for this salad, I personally don't like cranberry because inevitably they are always sweetened to balance it's natural tartness. However if you don't have figs you can replace it with cranberry, raisin, or dry cherry.

You can also add an chopped apple or pear to the salad, i think it will taste good. This an easy salad that takes 10-20 minutes to prepare.

Kale salad

1) remove the hard steam of the kale and discard. Measure 4 cups tightly packed (8oz) Wash the kale carefully and dry. Add a small pinch of salt and massage the kale until it wilt a bit. The color will darken just a bit. Set aside

2) chop about 50 grams of figs (1/2 cup) toast 1/2 cult of walnut in oven at 350 or low heat on the stove. After it cool, chop it. Chop the apple. Thinly sliced a few radish if you have them. Add all ingredients to the kale.



3) make the dressing. Mix 3 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or any kind of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard, 1 &1/2 teaspoon of raw honey, black pepper

4) mix the dressing with the salad and add 2 oz of goat cheese. Serves 4-5

When serving 5 people, each serving has the following nutritional value: 242 calories, 16 g of carb, 19 g of fat, 6 g of protein 7 g of sugar.

Gorgonzola sauce for steak

1) sauté one shallot in a tablespoon of butter

2) add 1 cup of heavy cream and let it boil and reduce by 1/3 or even half. After the cream is reduced and 1/4 lb of Gorgonzola or blue cheese and let it melt. Serving size is 1 tablespoon. If you have leftover keep it covered in the refrigerator and when you need for your veggies like broccoli or steak take out the amount you need and heat it in the microwave for 30 sec at 80% power. It is delicious.

Veggie buns - snack

I made this buns last night because the cabbage and Chinese chive have been in the fridge for almost over a week now. I have always made this with pork however Annie showed me how to make vegetarian version with firm tofu. Thank you Annie! This time I didn't put white pepper because Myrna can't eat pepper. Any kind of spice will make her have acid reflex specially black and white peppers.

It's about 80 calories each because I pan fry them like 水煎包 style. You can steam them too but I don't have steamer. Steaming them I think will be like 71 calories. They didn't turned out very pretty but the flavor tuned out okay.

Annie, I will bring you some on Saturday.
0) preheat oven at 200f when reached the temperature turn oven off. mix 1-1/2 cup of warm water with 1 teaspoon of sugar and 2 teaspoon of yeast. Mix well with 3 -1/2 cup of all purpose flour to form dough. Cover the bowl and put it in the warm oven so it can raise.
1) chop the cabbage and put 2 teaspoons of salt and let e water come out
2) put dry shiitake mash room in water to rehydrate
3) cut one block of firm or extra firm tofu in one inch slices and wrap them in paper tower and squeeze out extra moisture
4) chop some Chinese chives, shred some carrots, chop some green onions, chop the shiitake mushrooms. Squeeze out the water from the cabbage and add it into the mix. Before adding tofu season it with soy sauce (2 tablespoon) and sesame sauce (one tablespoon). Break the tofu with your hands and add to the mix. Add 2 or 3 cloves of garlic graded finely. Add 2 eggs and mix well.
6) cut th dough in 4 sections and make each section 10 pieces of about 20-24 g each. You will end up with 40 similar size buns. Roll the bun skin like you would making dumpling skins then put a big spoonful of filling.
7) heat up the pan brush with some oil and put the buns in it in medium heat. After the bottom is golden brown add about 1/3 cup of water and cover. The buns will be ready when the there is no more water

Once it's cooled I put them in a plastic container wrapped in paper towel.

I gave 2 to Fernando earlier, but I think I'm going to heat up one now for myself!