Baked Green Bell Pepper

It is quite cold in these few days in London.  Temperatures have been dropping to below freezing since Monday night.  The Met Office website states that December will be colder than average and there is a small chance of snow at the beginning of next month. I am looking forward to a snowy Christmas in UK.

Sometimes I feel tired and sluggish during winter.  I find the most effective way to fight winter tiredness is to do regular exercise.  After doing an hour of Pilates in the afternoon, I feel more energetic and also improve my sleep.  In addition, a good diet can help me to wake up feeling fresh.  I reduce having food containing lots of sugar, like candies and chocolates.  Then I add more fruit and vegetables in winter meals and always boil soup for the whole family.  It is because the air is very dry here.  

Every morning I always have a big bowl of porridge oats and a piece of whole grain toast for breakfast.  When I woke up this morning, I thought of adding a bit ‘green’ to my breakfast.  I baked a green pepper which is stuffed with veggie and mozzarella cheese.  It is yummy!  It makes me feel healthy and starts the day off right.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

-      1 medium size green pepper (top and seeds removed)

-      40g onion (finely diced)

-      38g pumpkin (finely diced)

-      20g portobello mushroom (finely diced)

-      20g baby spinach  

-      30g mozzarella cheese (shredded)

-      1 tbsp fish sauce

-      1 garlic clove (crushed)

-      ¼tsp olive oil

-      100 ml water  

Method:

1.	Preheat oven to 180°c.
2.	Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Add oil and garlic, stir-fry for 30 seconds.  Reduce to low heat; add pumpkin and 70ml water. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes.  Then add onion, mushroom, 30ml water and fish sauce, stir-fry for another 2 minutes over low-medium heat.  Toss in baby spinach and cook for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.
3.	In the meantime, fill the pepper with the cooked vegetables and mozzarella cheese.
4.	Arrange stuffed pepper in a baking dish.  Bake in preheated oven until heated through, about 20-25 minutes.
5.	Ready to serve with toast and green smoothie.

Braised Pork Belly with Coke

This simple dish is one of my favorite dishes.  My brothers and I loved drinking coke when we were young.  My mom liked buying a big bottle of coke for us during festive periods.  Sometimes we could not finish the whole bottle within one to two days.  Then the coke would go flat easily.  My mom liked cooking food with it.  

Last weekend my friends and their children came to visit us and we had a small party.  We enjoyed that evening very much.  We finished most of the food but there was a half-bottle of coke left.  I immediately think of this recipe which just takes about 20 minutes.  It is easy and yummy!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

-      200g pork belly (thinly sliced)

-      6g garlic clove (crushed)

-      40g spring onion (chopped)

-      1 slice of ginger (sliced)                  

-      150 ml coke cola                              

-      ½ tsp olive oil

-      1½ tbsp light soy sauce

-      1½ tbsp rice wine or white wine

Method:

1.	Heat a non-stick pan with ¼ tsp olive oil over a medium heat.  Add pork belly and pan-fry both sides of each piece of pork belly until a bit golden brown.  Remove from heat, throw away the oil and set aside.
2.	Heat a non-stick pot with ¼ tsp olive oil over a medium heat.  Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry for one minute.  Toss in pork belly and stir-fry for another one minute.  Pour in coke, add soy sauce and rice wine.  Reduce to a lower heat, cover and simmer for 18-20 minutes until the sauce is reduced to one-third and thickened.  Check every 8-10 minutes to see whether it is too dry.
3.	In the meantime, add spring onion and cook for one minute.
4.	Serve with rice.

Fried rice with pumpkin

The weather was wonderful today.  I had a nice walk at Bushy Park this morning.  The park is the second largest Royal Park which is located to the north of Hampton Court Palace.  It has remains of medieval farmland, a Tudor deer park, 17th century water gardens and wartime camps.  It is also home to the famous Chestnut Avenue, a formal Baroque water garden and the beautiful Diana Fountain.  There are lots of lovely animals to see like ducks, coots, rabbits, squirrels and over hundreds of free-roaming Red and Fallow Deer in the park.   The park is definitely one of the best London parks for autumn walks. 

It is perfect to have green lunch after this leisurely walk.  Then I made a cup of Jasmine tea and fried rice with pumpkin.  It is yummy and healthy.  How wonderful a day it is!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

-         80g pumpkin (diced)

-         45g mushroom (diced)

-         50g onion (diced)

-         18g green peas             

-         1 free range egg   

-         1 bowl of leftover rice 

-         1 garlic clove (minced)

-         ½ spring onion (chopped)

-         ½ shallot (minced)

-         ¼ tsp table salt

-         120 ml water      

-         2 tsp olive oil

-         ½ tsp sesame oil

-         1 tsp light soy sauce

Method:

1.	Crack an egg in a small mixing bowl, add a tiny pinch of salt and use a fork to beat it together well.   Put a small non-stick pan over a lower heat and add ½tsp olive oil. Carefully pour in the egg. Use a wooden spoon to keep gently stirring and break it into pieces.  Then remove it from heat and set aside.
2.	Heat another ½tsp olive oil in the pan over low-medium heat.  Add garlic, pumpkin, 80ml water and a pinch of salt and then stir-fry for 3 minutes until the pumpkin is just tender.  Remove and set aside.
3.	Meanwhile, heat 1 tsp olive oil in a non-stick wok or large pan over medium heat.  Stir-fry shallot and onion for 1 minute; and add mushroom and green peas.  Add 40 ml water, salt, sesame oil and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
4.	Toss in the pumpkin and leftover rice; add 1 tsp soy sauce then stir-fry for another 3-4 minutes.
5.	Tip in the egg and spring onion; and stir-fry for a further 1 minute.
6.	Ready to serve.

Seafood Egg Noodle Soup

Time flies.  Christmas is coming.  It is my favorite festival which is a perfect time with my family and close friends.  I have started planning ahead.  I am making a list of things that I need to do, like writing cards and shopping. There is plenty to enjoy in UK over the festive period.  Most venues get completely into the Christmas spirit with special events where we can see Father Christmas and pick up presents in the gift shops.

Yesterday my husband and I spent a day out at the Frankfurt Christmas Market at Victoria Square in Birmingham.  We had German beer, burgers, sausages and fish and chips.  Also there is a Christmas Craft Market in Centenary Square; we bought gifts and crafts from Midlands as well as ethnic products from around the world.  The big wheel and the ice rink are fantastic.  The lights are better than last year.   I felt tired after getting home.  Then I cooked a bowl of seafood noodle soup and took a hot bath before bed.  The day was brilliant!  

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

-      40g carrots (finely sliced)

-      50g daikon (finely sliced)

-      80g Chinese white cabbage (finely sliced)

-      25g mussels

-      25g squid rings

-      50g haddock fillet (chopped into 3 pieces)

-      40g or 4-5 raw prawns

-      40g bean sprouts

-      15g shallot (finely sliced)

-      ½ spring onion (finely sliced)

-      6g ginger (finely sliced)   

-      1 nest of dried egg noodle

-      ¼ tsp olive oil

-      ¾ tsp sesame oil

-      1 tsp fish sauce

-      ¼ tsp table salt

-      1000ml water

-      a pinch of white pepper

Method:

1.	Boil 500 ml water in a pot.  Toss in half of sliced ginger and daikon; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
2.	Season the prawns, mussels and haddock with a pinch of salt and ground black pepper.
3.	Then boil 500 ml water in a saucepan.  Add a pinch of salt and drizzle ¼ tsp olive oil.  Add dried egg noodles over medium heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes and use the chopsticks or a fork to stir occasionally.  Once they are done, rinse the noodles under the cold running water.  Then drain them well and place them in a serving bowl.  Add a pinch of ground white pepper and ¼ tsp sesame oil on top of the noodles.  Set aside.
4.	Heat ½ tsp olive in a pan over medium fire.  Add the remaining ginger, Chinese white cabbage and 5 tbsp water, then stir-fry for 2 minutes.
5.	Add shallot, mussels, squid rings and bean sprouts.  Keep stir-frying for one minute.  Then remove all ingredients into the pot and boil for 2 minutes over medium heat.  Toss in the haddock and prawns, add ½ tsp sesame oil, salt and fish sauce.  Boil for 3-5 minutes until the seafood is cooked through.
6.	Pour all ingredients and soup on the noodles and garnish with spring onions.  Ready to serve.

	Tips:
i.	Do not overcook the egg noodles when boiling. Remember to drain them well.
ii.	I would like to have healthy and natural food so I avoid using chicken broth.  Boiling daikon as a soup base is sweet and tasty.