Mint and Strawberry Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1 dozen Strawberries, hulled and cut into chunks

 4 handfuls Mix Green

1 cup Peppermint, fresh

2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar

2 tablespoons Agave Syrup

1/8 teaspoon Black Pepper

small pinch of Sea Salt

DIRECTION:

1. Slightly mash the strawberries; set aside.

2. Combine mint and mix green together.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Gently toss with hand until  the salad is well coated with dressing.  Serve immediately.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

INGREDIENTS:

1 dozen Strawberries, steamed removed

4 cups Baby Spinach

DRESSING:

1/4 cup Olive Oil

3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

1 tablespoon Sugar

pinch of Black Pepper

pinch of Salt

DIRECTION:

1. In a mixing bowl, add dressing ingredients and whisk to combine.

2. Add baby spinach.  Cut strawberries and add them to the spinach.  Gently toss the salad until the leaves and fruit are well coated with the dressing.  Serve immediately.

Strawberry Banana Almond Milkshake

My son often mentions he wants to cook with me, and he said he is ready for more challenging work other than just spooning and mixing.  So last week, I bought a dog knife for him so that he can start to cut fruits and vegetables.

The Dog Knife literally took its name from its look. The blade is designed for young children so it's sharp enough to cut vegetables and fruits but not sharp enough to cut their fingers easily.  It still needs full supervision to be used.

My son was so excited to be able to have his own knife.  After learning how to handle a knife, he decided to make a milkshake with the fresh fruits we have.  He was so excited that he made this milkshake two days in a row.  His proud smile says everything.

INGREDIEMTS: (3 servings)

2 Bananas, peeled

8 Strawberries, hulled

2.5 cups Almond Milk, unsweetened

2 teaspoons Sugar (optional)

DIRECTION:

1. Cut the strawberries in half.

2. Cut the bananas into chunks.

3. Add sugar if desired.

4. Pour in almond milk.

5. With a wand blender, process until the mixture is smooth.

Strawberry Poppy Waffle

The waffle machine is my new addition in the kitchen and I love it.  I like that it doesn't require so much attention like pancakes and no more flipping.  All I need to do is to add the batter in the centre, close the lid and allow it to cook until the light comes on to tell me it is ready.  Every Saturday I will make a large batch of waffles that is enough to last for the week.  This week, we added some freshly mashed strawberries and they were delicious!  My husband said he couldn't believe how strong of a strawberry flavour that little piece of waffle could contain.  To serve, we always use maple syrup, but feel free to use other substitute.

INGREDIENTS:

6 Strawberries, mashed

2 Eggs, beaten

1/3 cup Butter, melted

2 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1/3 cup Milk

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup Pastry Flour

1 tablespoon Poppy Seeds

small pinch of salt

DIRECTION:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together butter, eggs, vanilla extract, milk, and mashed strawberries until they are incorporated.

2.  Add the rest of the ingredients; mix well.  The batter should be very thick and gluey.

3. Heat up the waffle machine to medium heat.  Add two big spoonfuls of batter in the centre, and cook according to the machine indication.  Serve with maple syrup.

Rapini and Grapes Salad with Strawberry Jam Dressing

Rapini has a similarity to baby kale.  It is slightly bitter and tender.  If you are a kale or arugula person, you will probably enjoy rapini salad.

Rapini goes really well with dressing that is acidic and sweet, so I often mix it with balsamic vinegar or add many different kinds of berries in it.  But it is the end of the summer season now and the berries are getting expensive and less flavourful.  I suddenly thought of the strawberry jam I made last summer.  All I did is to whisk the strawberry jam with the same amount of sunflower seed oil for the dressing.  It tastes fantastic.

INGREDIENTS:

5 stalks Rapini, cut into bite size

1/3 cup Grapes

1 handful of Brazilian Nuts

1 handful Cranberry Berries, dried

1 small handful Chia Seed (optional)

DRESSING:

2 tablespoons Strawberry Jam

2 tablespoons Sunflower Seed Oil

DIRECTION:

1. Combine the salad ingredients together.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.  Spoon it on the salad green.  Serve. 

Crunchy Salad Green and Strawberry Salad with Fresh Strawberry Vinaigrette | 青脆草莓沙律配草莓醋汁

Although it is nearly the end of the summer the weather is still so hot and humid.  It is joyful to have a big bowl of crunchy salad that is packed with leafy greens and juicy fruit.

For the dressing, I used fresh strawberries to make the vinaigrette, adding another layer of fruitiness.  After trying this dressing, you will agree how much it goes well with the greens.

INGREDIENTS: (2 servings)

1 cup Baby Arugula

2 cups Cabbage, shredded

10 Strawberries, hulled and quarter

1 Mini Cucumber

A handful of Walnut, roasted

DRESSING:

6 Strawberries, hulled, quarter

2 tablespoons Sugar

5 tablespoons Olive Oil

3 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

small pinch of Salt and Pepper

材料：(2 人份)

1 杯  芝麻菜

2 杯  椰菜，切幼絲

10 粒  草莓，去蒂，切4份

1 條  迷你青瓜

少量  合核，烤過

汁料：

6 粒草莓，去蒂，切4份

2 湯匙  糖

5 湯匙  橄欖油

3 湯匙  意大利黑醋

少撮鹽和黑胡椒粉

DIRECTION:

1. In a small mixing bowl, mash the strawberries from the dressing ingredients along with the sugar, until there are no big chunks.

2. Add the rest of the dressing ingredients; mix well.

3. On a serving plate, arrange the salad ingredients.  Drizzle the strawberry vinaigrette.  Serve immediately.

做法：

1. 在一只小碗內，加入汁料用的草莓。用搗碎器壓至無大顆粒。

2. 下所有汁料用的材料；拌勻。

3. 沙律材料在餐碟上排盤；淋上草莓醋汁食用。

How to make simple crepe

Crepes are something that look very elegant on the plate and always gives an impression to people that it's difficult to make.  In fact, making crepes are as easy as making pancakes.

There are so many different recipes out there which claim to make the softest and best crepes.  I will not say mine is one of those, but my crepes are soft and delicate, and still retain the softness after keeping them in fridge for a few days.

The ratio to make my style of crepe is 1:2:1 for 1 cup of flour: 2 cups of milk: 1 egg.  The melted butter is for greasing, so don't need to measure it too carefully.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you will try this recipe.

Simple Crepe Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Flour

2 cups Whole Milk

1 Egg

4 tablespoons Butter, melted

1 teaspoon Vinilla Extract (optional)

a pinch of fine sea salt (optional)

DIRECTION:

1. In a bowl, whisk the egg.  Add the milk, butter, and vanilla extract and whisk again until it is well combined.

2. Add flour and salt.  Gently mix until it becomes a thin batter.  The batter should resemble to the texture of melted ice cream.

3. Heat up a small non-stick pan over medium heat.  Add a small ladle of batter in the pan while swirling the pan.  Continuously swirl the pan until the whole surface is covered. 

If you don't swirl the pan, most of the batter likely will just sit in the middle and the crepe ends up becoming uneven, with thin edges but thick centre.

4. Wait for about 1 minute and then shake the pan.  If the crepe is loose it means that it's ready to be flipped over. 

The freshly made crepe
5. Toss the pan to quickly flip the crepe over and then cook the other side for another 30-45 seconds. 

6. Transfer the crepe to a plate and loosely cover it with plastic wrap.  Repeat this process until finishing the batter.

You can make strawberry crepe by adding whip cream, halved strawberries, and icing sugar.  Or, you can add sliced banana and Nutella.

Sometimes I serve it with ham and cheese for brunch.  This crepe is wonderful to pair with both sweet and salty.  I hope you will enjoy it.

My son was excited to have crepe for breakfast, especially with the fresh strawberry he picked the day before. 

Ichigo Mochi (Strawberry Mochi) | 草莓大福

INGREDIENTS: 6's
100 gram Glutinous Flour
150 ml Water
Corn starch for coating
120 gram Red Bean Paste
6 small Strawberries

DIRECTION:
1. Roll out six equal size of red bean balls.  Wrap the strawberries with them.  Make sure the tip of the strawberry is on top.

2. In a glass bowl, mix glutinous flour and water together until smooth.  Cover the bowl with a plate and then microwave the mixture for 50 seconds.  Take it out and stir well.  Return the bowl to microwave and heat for another 50 seconds.  Mix it again.  The mixture should be glue like and floppy.  Microwave the mixture for another 30 seconds.  Mix it again, and then pour it into a plate odd cornstarch.

3. Coat both sides of the dough with cornstarch to prevent from stickiness.  Divide it into 6 equal portions.

4. Roll out each dough into a palm size.  Place a strawberry filing on top with the strawberry tip facing down this time.  Wrap up four corner and then place the mochi up side down.

Homemade Strawberry Jam without Pectin ｜自製草莓果醬 (不含果膠)

Strawberry is almost the first fruit to welcome summer in Ontario; many of the local farms will open to the public for pick-your-own strawberries.  Every year my husband and I will bring our son to a strawberry farm to learn where the food comes from while picking some of the freshest fruit home.

Like many other children, my son always has fond memories of going to a strawberry farm, sampling those fresh fruit right on the field.  He will walk up and down the aisles, finding the biggest and the best looking strawberries between the leaves and shoving them into his mouth.  "It's so juicy! Mommy, look!" my son says happily.  His content face is usually covered with delicious juice.

The 30 pounds of strawberries we picked this summer.

This summer, we brought home thirty pounds of strawberries.  It was a little crazy.  I spent a full two and a half hours hulling them to prepare for the jam making.  It was a mind-over-matter job indeed.

There are two common ways to make strawberry jam.  One is using pectin and the other one without.

Pectin is extracted from high pectin fruit, like apple, through heat and acid.  It is a thickening agent that helps gelling jam or other preserves.  By adding pectin, the jam can solidify without too much reduction in the liquid.  So, it generally helps speed up the cooking process, also resulting in a larger portion of jam.  Though, pectin may cause stiff jam and may also leave some off flavour in the product.

Strawberries contain high amounts of pectin naturally; therefore, it's not necessary to thicken the jam with extra store-bought pectin.   My strawberry jam recipe is the traditional way without pectin, which means that it requires longer cooking time to reduce the liquid to the right consistency.  The finished product is usually about half of the amount of the fruit.  However, the jam is much more fruity and has no off flavour from the pectin.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope you will enjoy this recipe.

Homemade Strawberry Jam without Pectin

自製草莓果醬 (不含果膠)

INGREDIENTS

8 cups Strawberries

3 cups Sugar

1/2 Lemon of Juice

DIFRECTION:

1. Gently rinse the strawberries.

2. With a chopstick, hull the green leafy top of the strawberries.  Discard the tops.

3. Pour the strawberries in a big deep pot.  Mash them with a potato masher until lumpy.

4. Add sugar and lemon juice.  Mix together over high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts to boil.  Reduce the heat to medium.

5. Continuously boil the mixture until it becomes thicker.  Reduce the heat to simmer.  Skim off the foam and stir the mixture occasionally.

6. When the mixture reduces to nearly half, test the jam by dipping a cold spoon in the jam.  If the jam coats the spoon without falling, the jam is ready.  Remove the pot from the heat immediately.

I tested my jam on a cold plate.

7. Bottle the jam in hot sterilized mason jars immediately.

8. Seal the jars in water bath for 10 minutes.  The jars need to be totally submerged.  Leave the jars to cool and check carefully to see if the lid is moving.  The lids should not be movable.  Once cool, store them in a dark cool place.

The best part of making jam for my son was that he got to lick the spoon after I finished the jam.  Another lovely memory!  He said it was a big strawberry lollipop. 

The batches I made this year.  They should be enough to last until next summer.

Yum!

Strawberry White Chocolate Scones | 草莓白朱古力鬆餅

Strawberry White Chocolate Scones | 草莓白朱古力鬆餅 

Ingredients: (yields 8-10 scones)

3 cups Self Raising Flour

110 gram Cold Unsalted Butter, cubed

1 cup Strawberry Milk (Blend together 100 ml Whole Milk + 1/2 cup Strawberries)

1/3 cup White Chocolate Chips

1/4 cup Sugar

1 Egg

材料：(做約8-10 個鬆餅)

3 杯   自發粉

110 克 凍無鹽牛油，切小粒

1 杯 草莓奶 (攪打100 毫升全脂奶 + 1/2 杯 草莓)

1/3 杯   白朱古力粒

1/4 杯   糖

1 隻   雞蛋

DIRECTION:

Strawberry Chicken Liver Salad | 草莓雞肝沙律

Strawberry Chicken Liver Salad

草莓雞肝沙律  

Ingredients: (yield 2-3 servings)

200 gram Chicken Liver

1/3 Red Onion

60 gram Butter

1 tablespoon Cooking Wine

2 Sprigs Thyme

2 tablespoons Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

Ingredients for Salad:

4 ounces Baby Spinach

1/2 cup Strawberries

3 tablespoons Virgin Extract Olive Oil

2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

材料：(2-3人份)

200 克   雞肝

1/3 個   紅洋蔥

60 克   牛油

1 湯匙   煮食用酒

2 支   百里香

2 湯匙   糖

1/4 茶匙   黑胡椒碎

1/4 茶匙   海鹽

沙律材料：

4 安士   菠菜

1/2 杯   草莓

3 湯匙   初榨橄欖油

2 湯匙   黑醋

DIRECTION: