Taste the Rainbow: Sesame crusted tuna with orange and purple cauliflower

I am horrible when it comes to holidays, birthdays or even planning for that matter. (Occasionally, I'll get it right, but rarely). Hmm….Valentine's day is coming up, what should I do? I don't know we never do anything. I went to the store to get groceries to do a dinner and ended up wandering. As a wandering soul I placed items in my basket and ended up placing them back on the shelf…like a crazy person (good thing no one saw me…I think…lol). While I was placing items back on the shelf I found purple, orange, green, and white cauliflower! I was so excited! If your anything like me, I get excited over natural colorful veggies :) They were 2 for $5 at my local Nob Hill Market. 2 for $5? Can I buy one of each color? Who's going to each all of them? In the end I got the purple and orange. 

Aren't they exquisite? I needed a protein with the dish. I ended up diving through my freezer and found some tuna. Protein, veggie…okay, good to go.

There are no measurement, just go with how much you want and portion it~~~I eye balled everything since it was a spur of the moment thing.

Ingredients I used: 

Cauliflower~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2-3 cups chopped

Garlic~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2-4 cloves minced

Tuna~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~8oz x 2 steaks

Sesame seeds (Black and white)~~~~~~Enough to coat the tuna

Grape seed oil~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~coat pan

Sesame seed oil~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~rub tuna 

Salt and pepper~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~to taste

Mixed berries (Optional)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1/2 cup diced

Cucumber (Optional)~~~~~~~~~~~half a cucumber thinly sliced

Oil the pan, wait till it is hot hot, add half of the minced garlic to the pan along with the cauliflower. Turn the heat down to high medium.

This gives you time to work on the tuna. Depending on how you want your veggies crispy or soft, adjust accordingly.

Rub the tuna steak with sesame oil, and the rest of the minced garlic (make sure it super micro minced, you don't want chunks), and coat with black and white sesame oil. If you have trouble making the sesame stick add a little it of corn starch.

Coat the pan with grape seed oil and wait for it to get hot. When ready pan sear both side for 2-3 minutes. Becareful NOT to burnt he coating! Keep an eye out for it and flip frequently if needed.

Its a juggling act…I had both pans going and on the side I was beginning my plating. I took slices of cucumber and the cauliflower leaves.

Place cauliflower on the plate. Then slice the tuna and place on the plate. I looked at it and saw green, purple and orange…the color just didn't work for me. So I looked in the fridge and found some diced berries and placed it on the plate to add a pop of red.  Regardless of my ill planning, this came out pretty well and I enjoyed making it a lot.

That's it, happy cooking!

Going Greek: Turkey Burgers

Ever feel like you want a change in food style, yet don't want to eat out or eat something too heavy? Well, we decided to go greek for the night. A tasty recipe that is easy to make. My original plan was   to make it for my friend and I, but ended up serving my housemates too! They enjoyed it so much that there were no left overs. One of them even craved it so badly the next day that the went and order Extreme Pita. But just between you and me, this one is better :) Unfortunately, I can't take all the credit, I saw this recipe in a season magazine by our local Nob Hill market. Let's get started!

Ground Turkey~~~~~~~~~~16 oz 

Feta Cheese~~~~~~~~~~~2/3 cup

Tomatoes~~~~~~~1 tomato diced

Onion~~~~~~~~~~~1onion diced

Lettuce~~~~~~~3 leaves chopped

Mint~~~~~~~~~~~~1 tsp minced

Garlic~~~~~~~1-2 cloves minced

Greek Yogurt~~~~~~~~2/3 cups

Pita Thins~~~~~1 pack (8 halves)

Lemon~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 tsp

Lemon Zest~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 tsp

Salt, Pepper, greek seasoning~~to taste

Start off with the greek yogurt. Place 2/3 cup of greek yogurt, 1-2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tsp of mint (usually I just take 1 sprig and pull all the leaves off, then mince), 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp lemon zest, and then salt, pepper and greek seasoning (whatever that means, I just used basil and parsley, don't hate me~~I am no expert) to taste. Mix and place the yogurt in the fridge.



Remember you can always change the amount of ingredients to you liking.


Then dice the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Slice the lettuce too…and place in a bowl.

Place the turkey, feta cheese, onion, and seasonings in a a bowl and mix. Roll turkey into patties.






Roll turkey into patties. You can do 4 large ones or 6 small ones.











Pan fry about 5 mins on each side are longer depending on the size. We did 4 large ones and when the were done we cut it in half to fit perfectly into the pita pocket.

Grab your pita, stuff it with the patty, lettuce, greek yogurt and assemble away...if you want to add extra veggies, diced some cucumbers and mixed it with the yogurt as a side salad. Happy cooking!

Strawberry Honey Grass Jelly

Ever crave something sweet that isn't too heavy? Or something that just hits you just right? Well, you got to give this grass jelly a try. It's SUPER easy, no joke. So all you need 3 simple ingredients.

1. Grass Jelly
2. Strawberries
3. Honey or condensed milk
4. Mint (if you want to kick it up a notch)

Okay, so grass jelly a not the easiest thing to find. Where do you find it? Well, you can find it at you local Asian food market or more popular know 99 ranch market. It will cost you $1.00- $3.00. Pop the can open and dice away. You can do large cubes or small cubes. If you want to get fancy, you can even slice them and use a cookie cutter. But of course I just stuck to tiny cubes. Slice and dice some fruit and added some honey. I later decided to use condensed milk instead and…wow…I'm in heaven! So next time your craving something light and with a little tart kick, give this a try. Sweet cooking, enjoy!

Simple Minestrone Soup

I just got my braces this week, wooo ya! Not really :( and I have been struggling with what to eat. It has been a cold winter  so why not some Minestrone Soup? Well, I decided to give it a shot and it wasn't that hard to make. It so simple and it's such a great "pick me up". Never going back to can soup again.

Recipe: Minestrone Soup                   Portions: ~6

Ingredients:

Onions~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~half an onion diced

Garlic~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2-3 cloves minced

Celery~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3-4 stalks diced

Baby carrots~~~~~3/4 cups chopped 

Tomatoes ~~~~~~~~~~~1.5 tomatoes diced 

Green beans~~~~~~~~~2/3 or 1 cup diced
Pasta ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 cup

Chicken broth~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 can

Kidney beans~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 can

Dried basil, oregano, salt, pepper ~~~~to taste

Okay, it looks like a overwhelming list on ingredients, but i promise the hardest part is gathering them, once you got them you're on your way to a delicious soup. 

1. Mince garlic, dice the onions, celery, baby carrot, green beans and tomatoes.

2. Boil the pasta on the side while you cook your veggies.

3. Add a little oil to coat the pan, place the minced garlic, and onions into the pan. Sauté until translucent. 

4. Add in seasonings to taste (You will add it again later so don't over do it here).

5. Add celery, carrots, green beans and cook for a few minutes.

6. Check on your pasta and when ready, drain.

7. Now check if you veggies are all sautéed, if they are add diced tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.

8. Add chicken soup to the pot

9. Add kidney beans and bring to a boil

10. Season to your liking and "Voila"! Done!

Place in a bowl to serve or eat straight out of the pot. Take caution because it is hot. If you like your veggies softer or crispier adjust your cooking time to your liking. Don't forget that if you leave it for the next day it even better, but your pasta size will double from the soup absorption. Since I could chew most of the ingredients I added some more time to it and the second day it was so easy to eat :)

Time to warm your stomachs. Happy cooking and enjoy :)

UP! Nail Art.

Winter sickness is not fun, however, being bored and unable to do anything else, I needed a pick me up. Literally and pick me UP…hehe. Inspired by my all time favorite cartoon, UP, I painted away. Unfortunately there are no step to step photos, but a pretty simple design that any one can do. The hardest part was the house, but I do my best to guide you through.

First paint the background a light blue and let dry. Easy right? Ok, now here's the hard part I cut tape the shape of the house and and placed it on my dry nail, outlined and remove the tape when dry. Using a tooth pick to fill in the house and draw the details…the house was made. The rest was pretty simple. The balloons are just dabbed on with a bobby pin and the clouds were literally randomly painted with the nail brush. The clouds are supposed to be unorganized and random, so just go with it. Add a top coat and your done. It may take some practice, but once it is done, you love it regardless. These put me in a good mood everyday. Happy painting!