Visual Delights: Baked Spinach Rice and Cheese

Roasted Vegetable Couscous

It would appear that my addiction to nuts and seeds is beginning to fade and I am now on some kind of grain eating spree-which I suppose isn't a bad thing, I'm guessing grains are lower in fat and that's what I'm aiming for.
Anyway, after milling about Carrefour after a dance class yesterday (which by the way, is a horrible weekend activity in China, it is crazy packed and everyone's yelling and snatching vegetables and blocking the aisles with their shopping carts-Carrefour I mean, not the dance class)I bought some brown rice and couscous,assuming that these would be healthier options to satisfy my new eating preferences.
Couscous are about 176 calories a cup cooked, so I don't feel THAT much carb guilt, even they they are supposedly not "whole grain" but "refined, processed grains".
I kind of like them because they are so easy to cook (just add water!).

This recipe is an inspiration from something I found on Sanitarium's website, except I've modified it to the point where I don't think it's much of a salad anymore.


This is pretty good with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese

Roasted Vegetable Couscous
½ medium sized red pepper, sliced
½ medium sized onion, sliced
½ sweet potato, cut into small cubes
½ small carrot, cut into cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme
Salt and pepper

½ cup couscous
½ cup water
2 teaspoons vegetable bouillon granules
Salt
Paprika
Fresh cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcuis. In a plastic container, combine peppers, sweet potatoes,carrots and onions. Pour in olive oil, vinegar, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover the container and shake well, until vegetables are well coated. Roast for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked through and browned.
2. Place couscous in a bowl. Dissolve granules in boiling water and pour over couscous. Cover and stand for 3 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Stir with fork.
3. Toss warm couscous and roasted vegetables together. Mix in salt and paprika according to your taste. Serve garnished with cilantro leaves.

Roasted Tomato Rice Salad

So I'm trying to eat healthier now (ignore the previous post with cinnamon rolls), by eating less fat during the day and less carbs and fat for dinner.
Learning to cook rice (and eat them) has opened up the doors to a bunch of new recipes. One of which I really wanted to try was the rice salad.
The concept of rice in a salad is kind of weird for me, and yet, so novel enough that it's almost intriguing. (yes, i am aware that i am a moron who has never heard of rice salad before)
I couldn't find any good recipes that didn't include salad dressing-which I don't have-so I ended up improvising from a roasted tomato salad recipe instead.



Roasted Tomato Rice Salad

1 big tomato
1/2 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon dried basil
3/4 cup cooked rice (cooled)
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon raisins
3 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

1.Slice tomato lengthwise into three pieces.
2.Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (392 degrees F). Combine the 2 teaspoons olive oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper in a bowl, add onions and tomatoes and toss lightly until coated.
3.Place a piece of tin foil on your roasting pan, arrange onions in the base and place tomatoes on top of the onions. Fold up the sides of the tin foil to cover the vegetables.
4.Roast for about 20 minutes. When the tomatoes are soft, remove from the oven, discard the excessive juice and transfer to a serving dish.
5.In another bowl, mix together rice, seeds, raisins, 1 teaspoon olive oil, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar and salt. Pour over tomatoes in the dish and serve-or-if you want to make a rice tower thingie, use a piece of tomato as the base, then add a layer of onions, then a layer of rice (and so on). It’s a cute presentation~

You know...

You know you're not sick anymore when you have the energy to bake cinnamon sticky rolls...and eat them.

Porridge for the sick girl

What's this?! you sneer, this colorless, unpretty bowl of carbs, what is it doing here, displayed for all the world to see?

Well, this happens to be the only thing I could actually stomach for the past 5 days: a bowl of porridge (or "congee" I suppose).

Basically I've had a nasty stomach virus since last Wednesday night (which was ironic, because that was the day I had planned to start my latest diet) and...well...you don't want to know the details of that but the point is my stomach refused everything I fed it, plus it hurt like a bitch all the time.

It occurred to me around the third day that it might help to bland down my foods-after trial and error with Indian food, and later with white wine and random street food-and I was finally sensible enough to cook a pot of porridge.

Unlike some people who hate porridge (like my best friend, who associates it with being sick), I used to love porridge and could and did, at one point, eat it for every meal during high school.

Unfortunately, being the carb wuss that I have been, rice has been off my diet for quite a long time, as far back as before I started cooking, and well...the truth is...I don't know how to and have never successfully cooked rice. I don't know how to use a rice steamer. In fact, I may or may not have tried to microwave rice about 2 years ago, and that did not end well-unless you like crispy, crunchy (and slightly burnt) rice, which now that I think about it, wouldn't be that bad really.

The funny thing is, I was miraculously successful with congee on my first attempt.

Mustering up every last bit of breath in me (or what felt like it), I threw less than a cup of rice (bought at some point by my housemate), a piece of ginger, 2 shiitake mushrooms and some spring onions in a big pot, filled it up to almost the brim with water, boiled it and let it simmer for about 40 minutes while I went to lie down. When it was done, I added plenty of salt and pepper and feasted like a sick person.

I don't know if it was the fact that it was warm or bland or liquid-or all of the above, but it was fantastic for my tummy and it was nice to revisit something I haven't had for such a long time.

The next time I made it, I grated half a carrot and half a turnip in about 20 minutes into the simmering, it was yummy.


NOW ON A SIDE NOTE

-and I stumbled upon this while googling the word 白粥, which is plain porridge-

There is a porridge weight loss plan-which really doesn't sound all that bad-not that I would try it, non of these things sound very exciting to cook, plus get-skinny-quick diets have never worked for me in the past. But anyway, apparently,you could potentially lose 4-6 pounds in 3 days eating congee.

The Congee Diet
Day 1
Breakfast: Plain congee, 1 mantou (steamed bun)
Lunch: Plain congee, 1 boiled egg
Dinner: Plain congee, 1 plate stir fried vegetables
Day 2:
Breakfast: Plain congee, 1 sesame paste bun
Lunch: Plain congee, 1 boiled egg
Dinner: Plain congee, 1 plate stir fried vegetables
Day 3
Breakfast: Plain congee, 5 pieces chocolate biscuits
Lunch: Plain congee, 1 raisin bun
Dinner: Plain congee, 1 plate stir fried vegetables

Apparently you can eat all the congee you like as long as you don’t add on the other food.
Apparently it is good for detox.
Apparently it might cause a bad reaction with your stomach.

Meh.If anything all my past diet attempts have made me, if not skinnier, is a skeptic.