Chow Times » Snacks

Kale Chips

Suanne — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:00:49 +0000

I had heard of Kale Chips from Arzeena’s facebook posting but had never try it before. Apparently, it is very easy to make. This is a very healthy snack. As a matter of fact, I would even call this a vegetarian chips because it is made of vegetables. I’m glad that Frank and Christina will be making Kale Chips in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.

The Kale Chips have the texture of potato chips and taste like Japanese dried seaweed. It’s amazing what a quick roast in the oven can do to these greens!

Ingredients

1 bunch of kale, try to get those with flatter leaves for a crispier texture
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Kale Chips (73 words)

Peanut Summer Rolls

Suanne — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:00:36 +0000

June and Ronald made this refreshing Peanut Summer Rolls in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. Ronald is new to the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors. June had to slow him down as he did his part like preparing the vegetables and sauce in a jiffy like an expert in the kitchen.

The Peanut Summer Rolls is a vegetarian dish. It uses the translucent rice paper wrap as commonly found in Vietnamese cuisine. It is very refreshing and fragrant with the use of herbs like cilantro, mint and basil. Summer is the time to enjoy all the fresh vegetables and lettuces.

This recipe is adapted from Gourmet and it makes 4 rolls.

Ingredients

For Rolls:

2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

2 tablespoons water

1 garlic cloves, smashed

1 teaspoon fish sauce

2/3 cup coarsely shredded carrot (2 medium), raw

4 (8-inch) rice paper rounds

2 red-leaf lettuce leaves

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Optional Veggies:

1/2 cup shredded napa cabbage

1/3 cup coarsely shredded zucchini (1 small), raw

1/3 cup thinly sliced button mushrooms, raw

1/2 English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks

For Peanut Sauce:

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

2 small garlic cloves, minced

3/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons peanut butter

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons tomato paste or ketchup

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Peanut Summer Rolls (270 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
Post tags: Community Kitchen, Recipe, Roll, Vegetarian

Lemon-Garlic Pita Chips

Suanne — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:00:33 +0000

Sydney and Joyce made some Lemon Garlic Pita Chips to go with the Creamy Hummus. It’s a perfect match.

This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light and it makes 24 pieces Pita Chips.

This Lemon Garlic Pita Chips is super crispy and can be eaten on its own as snack. We just cant stop munching on this crispy chips.

Ingredients

3 (6-inch) pita bread rounds

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon pepper (since we do not have lemon pepper, we added lemon juice to the olive oil for brushing)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Lemon-Garlic Pita Chips (73 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | One comment
Post tags: Community Kitchen, Recipe, Tortilla Chip

Mini Empanadas

Suanne — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:00:31 +0000

Christina and Stella were assigned to this recipe, Mini Empanadas. However, everyone lends their helping hands when it comes to forming the Mini Empanadas. This recipe is adapted from Southern Living. It yields 36 tiny empanadas.

These little Latin-inspired Mini Empanadas are irresistible right out of the oven. They’re are incredibly low in fat because they’re baked, not deep fried and yet they are crispy. The raisins add a touch of sweetness to these empanadas.

Ingredients

8 oz skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 small onion, minced (about 1/4 cup)

1/2 green bell pepper, minced

1/2 tomato, seeded and coarsely chopped

4 pimento-stuffed green olives, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons chicken broth

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro or parsley

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon pepper

water

vegetable cooking spray, or oil

1 tablespoon dry breadcrumbs (optional)

36 (3-inch) square wonton wrappers

salt to taste

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Mini Empanadas (196 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | No comment
Post tags: Chicken, Community Kitchen, Recipe, Wonton Skin

Taro Cake

Suanne — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 14:00:54 +0000

Back to the South Arm Community Kitchen, Peggy demonstrated to us how to make Taro Cake. Taro Cake is a common dim sum item. It can be eaten fresh from the steamer or lightly pan fry to give it a crispy outer layer. The Taro Cake can be eaten as a snack or even as a meal.

Peggy made two loaves of Taro Cake in the kitchen. She also brought one which she made earlier as the cake needs to be cooled down before you can slice it up into pieces for frying. The Taro Cake is so good that the group finish all the three loaves of Taro Cake.

Peggy’s Taro Cake is filled with pork and mushroom. However, you can substitute the filings with dried shrimp and Chinese sausage which are more commonly found in Dim Sum places.

Ingredients

2 cups grated Taro

1/2 cup ground pork

1/4 cup chopped shallot

1/4 cup thinly sliced dried mushroom

2 cups rice flour

1 cup cold water

1 cup boiling water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

soy sauce paste as dipping sauce

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Taro Cake (328 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments
Post tags: Chinese New Year Food, Community Kitchen, Dim Sum, Recipe, Snack, Taro

Fruity Maple Pecan Granola

Suanne — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:00:37 +0000

June and Carol made a big batch of Fruity Maple Pecan Granola for the seniors kitchen. The granola is used as topping for the Honey Pear Parfaits. Everyone gets to bring home some granola as we made a triple batch of the recipe. The South Arm Cooking Club for seniors always double or triple the recipes. This way the seniors get to bring something home. Stella often reminds the seniors to bring back the reusable containers so that they can bring something home in the next meeting.

I love this Fruity Maple Pecan Granola. It is very nutty and crispy. I munch on it as snacks and it’s a less guilty kind of snack. This is a fiber rich snacks.

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:

5 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups pecan pieces

1/2 cup hulled pumpkin seeds (I believed we substituted with sun flower seeds)

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup dates

1/2 cup dried apricots (we substituted the dates and apricot with dried cranberries)

1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as canola or sunflower

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Fruity Maple Pecan Granola (144 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2009. | Permalink | One comment
Post tags: Community Kitchen, Granola, Maple, Pecan, Recipe

Canape

Suanne — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:00:15 +0000

The last dish Minoo made for the seniors Christmas celebration is Canape. Canape is a finger food which often served during cocktail hours. Canape are usually salty or spicy. Traditionally, canape are build on stale while bread but for simplicity, we use baguette as the base and topped with a mixture of olives and nuts.

Minoo made two different flavours of canape, one with black olives and another with green olives. I prefer the one with black olives as it’s milder in taste. For those who love olives, the green one has a more intense olives flavour.

Ingredients

Green olives Almond slices, toated Lemon zest

Black olives Pistachio, shelled Orange zest

Baguette Olive oil Freshly ground pepper

Click on Read More for the instructions.

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Canape (116 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments
Post tags: Community Kitchen, Recipe, Snack

Baked Butternut Squash Fries

Suanne — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:00:23 +0000

In the Squash workshop, Karen also shared with us a Baked Butternut Squash Fries from Hungrygirl.com. She used turban squash for this recipe. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar adds some tang to the fries.

Karen told us that she had tried about seven methods to bake fries but none of it can achieve the deep fried fries texture. Although we cannot get the deep fried fries texture, but we can compromise with some good tasting and healthy fries.

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Baked Butternut Squash Fries (553 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2008. | Permalink | 5 comments
Post tags: Community Kitchen, Recipe, Squash

Spanakopita

Suanne — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:00:05 +0000

While the Beef Stew is simmering away, Mona, also another relatively new member of the community kitchen, demonstrated how to make Spanakopita, a Greek finger food. Mona is a cancer survivor and she is very careful with her food intake. She tries her best to buy organic food and she never uses the microwave oven.

Spanakopita

The Spanakopita is crispy on the outside and the filings is very fragrance and slightly salty and cheesy.

Ingredients

A package of phyllo pastry (16 – 18 sheets)

a big bunch of parsley

a bunch of green onion or chives

a bunch of fresh spinach

a bunch of dill, leaves only (Mona used dills from her garden which she had frozen)

2 tablespoons butter (Mona used home made butter from organic milk)

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

200g feta cheese

2 eggs

All the vegetables are organic vegetables and Mona bought them from a farm which her friend operates.

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Spanakopita (197 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2008. | Permalink | One comment
Post tags: Community Kitchen, Recipe, Snack

Tuna Pie

Suanne — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:00:27 +0000

Tanni made a simple pie which is great as a snack or for school lunch. It can be made with canned tuna or salmon. We made both in the kitchen. We found that the Tuna Pie taste better. Perhaps, the salmon flavour is slightly stronger.

The Tuna or Salmon Pie is filled with carrot, tomato and potato. It’s a good way to incorporate vegetables into a dish which kids will eat. This can be eaten warm or cold.

Ingredients

1 can tuna or salmon

4 oz butter

3 eggs

2 teaspoons mustard

3/4 cup bread crumbs

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tomato, diced

2 potatoes, boiled and mashed

1 medium carrot, boiled, peeled and diced

Click on the link below for the instructions.

More after the jump. Click to read the rest of Tuna Pie (98 words)

© suanne for Chow Times, 2008. | Permalink | No comment
Post tags: Pie, Salmon, Tuna

Green olives Almond slices, toated Lemon zest	Black olives Pistachio, shelled Orange zest
Baguette Olive oil Freshly ground pepper