Eggplant, Tomato, and Cheese Sandwich

This is an easy and healthy sandwich even both veggie and semi-veggie lovers (meat lovers, maybe add a slice of ham if you like!) inspired by a sandwich my friend had made me one time, which is great for any time of the day.

Ingredients (serves 1)

3-5 thin eggplant slices

3-5 thin tomato slices

1 small onion, sliced

olive oil

black pepper

oregano (fresh or dried will be fine.. you just need a little)

2 slices bread

any or all of the ff cheese: white cheese, american style cheese slice, guyere, mozarella

ready made tomato garlic dip/spread (I like the Bravo! brand)

Directions

1) saute onions, tomato, and eggplant slices with dash of black pepper and oregano in olive oil until onions caramelize, and tomato and eggplant are cooked --a bit of burnt edges even. set aside.

2) spread tomato garlic on both slices of bread

3) put the cooked onions, tomato, and eggplant on the bottom bread slice.

4) put the cheese/s on top of the onion, tomato, and eggplant

5) top with other bread slice

6) toast or grill for 3-5 minutes or until the cheese melts and bread begins to brown

Enjoy!

Chili Beef Stir-fry

Got the recipe from an Asian Recipes cookbook, but I decided to make a few changes, which made the dish even better! Haha

Ingredients:
500g Beef steak cut into strips
Carrot cut into strips
Brocolli
Some snowpeas
2 Red bellpepper
1 onion chopped
1 small can baby corn
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 .5-2 tbsp chili flakes (or more)
Sesame Oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

Sauce (Mix in a bowl)
2 tbsp Soysauce
1/2 cup beef broth (or diluted beef buillion)
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp cornstarch (optional - only if you want your sauce a little thicker)
1.5 inch grated ginger
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 tsp vetsin

Directions:

1. Mix beef with a pinch of salt & pepper + sesame seeds, put aside
2. Saute garlic and onion in sesame oil
3. When garlic and onion have begun to soften, stir-fry beef for about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside
4. Add a dash more sesame oil, stir fry vegetables for about 3 minutes.
5. Pour in sauce, chili flakes, cover wok and let simmer for a few minutes
6. Return beef to wok, mix with veggies, cover wok again, and let simmer for about 2 minutes
7. Transfer to serving plate and then sprinkle cilantro over it.
8. Serve with noodles or hot rice. :)

Very simple stir-fry vegetables

Dinner was great! As I wrote in my previous post I did make chicken teriyaki and cooked vegetables as a side dish. I'll get to the teriyaki soon enough, but for now here is my recipe on how to make a very simple, healthy, yet tasty stir-fry vegetable dish that works great on the side or a even a snack!



Ingredients:
1/4 round cabbage sliced into strips
1 carrot sliced into thin strips or those thin half circles
sesame oil
vegetable oil
fish sauce (patis)
light soysauce
pinch of salt and pepper
crushed garlic (depends how 'garlicky' you want it to be)
1 red onion sliced

Directions
1. Heat some vegetable oil in your skillet (not too much; you're not going to deep fry anything)
2. When the oil is hot, add in the red onions and garlic. You know the oil's hot enough when the onions and garlic make a soft sizzling sound.
3. Put in your carrots and just mix them together.
4. After about 2 minutes, put in your cabbage. Let it stay on top for a minute or so to absorb the flavors of the onion, garlic, and carrots.
5. Finally, add a pinch of salt and pepper, about 2 tsp. of sesame oil, and 2-3 tsp of fish sauce/patis, and a tsp. of light soy sauce
6. Mix and keep mixing them together, so all that flavor can go around until the vegetables cook. You'll know it's cooked when the cabbage starts to turn transluscent and soft.

Enjoy! :D

Chef's Salad

Today I made dinner again. This time my mom and dad ate too! I made chef's salad and grilled sea bass; the recipe of the latter in the next entry.

I like salads, but usually we have the salad bar type of thing going on in our house where our helpers just lay out the lettuce and have the sliced veggies and the different dressings, and it's up to us to mix and match. I like that too, but frankly I was getting a little tired of it already and really, I just wanted eggs in my salad! So then I decided to make this one.

Ingredients
Romaine/Iceberg Lettuce
Hard boiled eggs (sliced)
Cheddar cheese cut into small cubes
Tomatoes (sliced, if it's a big one)
Carrots and cucumbers* (cut into strips)
Crushed Bacon and/or croutons
Your favorite 'mayo-based' dressing. I recommend Low-fat Caesar dressing or Thousand Island.

Directions
Toss everything together and top with crushed bacon and/or croutons! Add a little pepper too and voila! :)