Adventures in cooking: Chinese Scallion/Green Onion Pancakes - Going back to the roots and a diferent kind of pancake stack

I don't often make "traditional Chinese" food, most because well..I never learned it.  As a child, I would always spend hours watching my mom make all types of food - garlic sauteed vegetables (which is about a daily occurrence in my house), steamed fish, stuffed tofu, dumplings, you name it, my mom would make it.  However, I never really had the desire to learn it on my own, and the most I ever did was help her chop vegetables.  Chinese food is also really labor intensive, even though it's not always actually that difficult.  All dishes have some food that needs to be chopped or sliced or julienned, and cutting the meat was always an exhausting job because most Chinese dishes have meat with the bone attached. I am eternally grateful for work that my mom puts in every single night to prepare multiple dishes, prepping for dinner about three hours in advance every day, and now when I go home and visit, I am sure to help out however I can...also with the added benefit that I can start learning how some of my favorite foods are made. 

I have to say, I haven't made toooo much progress on learning how to make some of my favorite dishes, but I'm starting to get a better idea just from watching how things are done. Now that I almost never go home, I'm having a desire to learn more about Taiwanese culture and to go back to some of the foods I ate growing up.  I'm doing the best I can with some recipes that I'm finding on my own, supplemented with memories of how things were done with my mom, but I definitely have some work to do.

So on to the food.  I needed to make something traditionally Chinese/Taiwanese (yes, they are different, but they also share many foods) for an end of semester party for the students I teach English to.  I was absolutely stumped for days, as I wanted something that wouldn't be too difficult to make, would be universally liked, and would be unique enough to not be a standard menu item at a typical Chinese restaurant.  It wasn't until yesterday that I had the idea to make scallion pancakes.

I should also note that I tried to make a gluten-free version......and failed.  I'm going to try it again, changing up what I did next time, but the results were pretty hilarious.  The taste was there, even if the texture was completely off.  See the end of this post for some real failure :p

What I've Been Eating Recently

It occurs to me that if I posted more often, I wouldn't have to compile 20+ pictures from the past month into one massive post, but all of these pictures seem to add up until I look at my phone one day and realize I have hundreds of uncategorized pictures.

It also is apparent that I like to eat certain things - everything I make is some variation of some core ingredients I always have around.  I am now planning a post of a detailed grocery list and what exactly I like to buy, but you'll see from these posts that I favor:

• avocados
• green/red peppers
• onions
• eggs 
• spinach
• kale
• chickpeas 

 Heh. I'm pretty sure I could only these for the rest of my life if I had to because I can prepare them in so many different ways.

For once, none of these really have distinct recipes, but I will list the main ingredients and techniques that I used for everything that I made!

Green Smoothies are kind of a rarity for me now, and they really only happen when I have extra time.  However, they still remain my favorite post-workout drink, especially something cardio heavy.  It's refreshing and full of nutrients, allowing me to refuel quickly right after my workout before I make something that takes longer.  I believe this one had kale, almond milk, a pear, half a banana, and cacao nibs sprinkled on top.  I have to admit, I was still experimenting with cacao nibs when I made this smoothie and I definitely prefer to blend them in with everything else instead of sprinkling them on top.

To keep seeing my recent eats, click below!

Variations on a Mug cake (Gluten-free and Vegan options available!)

I've kind of made a recent discovery - I love mug cakes.  They're way quicker than trying to bake an entire cake (along with the risk of me eating the entire thing), but I find that they're so much easy to play with.  I love trying out different ingredients together, and since the ingredients are in much smaller quantities, messing up ingredients is a little more forgiving.  It also allows me to have the illusion that I'm eating something completely decadent, when I really am just sneaking some healthy ingredients in there.  I've used them as a post-workout meal with oats, peanut butter, and eggs (carbs, fat, proteins!).

I've been tweaking several recipes and have come up with two variations that yield a slightly different consistency, but are both wonderfully delicious.

The first version is a bit more brownie-like. It's slightly gooier, and when a bit of peanut butter is added in the middle before microwaving it, it has something like a molten cake consistency.

Look at this.  How does this not make you run to the kitchen and start throwing ingredients together?  You would never guess that it's actually about 75% healthy..

 Read on for the ingredients (and a bonus version!)

The Opposite of Losing My Cookies and (Healthy) Addictions featuring Avocados

I'm back.  And by "back," I mean I've been finally cooking again. More time = more experimenting.

A new year means new inspiration and ideas - and a fully stocked pantry is certainly giving me motivation to do something with it!  My obsessions recently are quinoa, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and kale..convenient that I find a recipe using all of those!  But..not convenient that I didn't take a good picture of the AMAZING salad I put together incorporating all those ingredients.  Don't worry though, it'll come up again in the very near future.  Because I'm obsessed.

In the meantime, I tried out some recipes from a handy cookbook that I found recently.  It's the Gluten Free on a Shoestring: Quick and Easy by Nicole Hunn.  I know nothing about her, but I've been enjoying the quick and easy recipes in it.  I'm also not a gluten-free eater, but like to reduce my white carb intake in any way I can.  Here is her chicken fajita recipe that I modified into a pseudo fajita bowl...ish thing.

Read more to see the recipe, more food, and COOKIES!

Leaving cookies out for Santa....

Christmas time = Christmas cookies.  Nothing gets me in the mood for baking like the holiday season does. It fills the house up with a tantalizing scent of butter and sugar, and as we all know, food brings the family together. 

Even while trying to eat clean, I took a liiitle break and took a few more liberties than normal.  Those that know me well know I almost never use butter, sugar, or flour in my baking.  This week I used all three.  What a shocker, right?  In addition to the traditional shortbread cookies that are oh so classic for Christmas, I decided to feed my addiction of peanut butter by making peanut butter cookies. 

I messed around with a few different recipes, and am extremely happy with how they came out.  They were dad AND brother approved.  It's a pretty basic peanut butter cookie recipe and absolutely loved it.  

I tried snapping some pictures while baking and afterwards, but the lighting was pretty dismal wherever I went.  I did my best though..

A warm plate of cookies for Santa!

Click after the jump to see what I did!

Some More Food to Show Off! Smoothies, Stir-fry, breads, and Spaghetti Squash Galore

 Although I seem to be cooking all the time now, I now need to work on taking actual, aesthetically pleasing pictures before I devour all of it.  This seems to be a serious issue for me, but it just shows my impatience to eat all the time.  For now, you'll have to deal with some hastily snapped pictures, but now my new goal is to improve my food photos!

 Keep reading to follow my food adventures!

Some Recent Food Love

If any of you follow me on Instagram at steph_peng, then you would see all my food posts.  And there are a lot of them.

First up is this green smoothie I made last week or so.  I don't remember the exact proportions I used, but the ingredients were  almond milk, spinach, mango, banana, half a cucumber, and hemp seeds with a sprinkle of cinnamon over the top.  It's wonderfully delicious and refreshing that satisfies my sweet cravings without being too sweet!

Keep reading to see a whole explosion of food posts!

Crazy for Pineapple and Some More Food

Looks like I'm getting domestic...I've been on a whirlwind of cooking and baking lately.  I think it's the boredom of being at home and having nothing better to do, but my family's certainly not complaining!

Starting with some cupcakes - we had some extra pineapple on hand and wanted to get rid of a box of cake mix so I added them together for some pineapple cupcakes.  Super simple, and no one can get boxed mix wrong.

Continue reading for some more food deliciousness!

What was waiting for me when I came home.... + a cooking experiment

While I didn't buy too many things while I was abroad, I did make a couple purchases that I was excited to come home to.  More specifically, this...

Read about the products+ some of my ventures into cooking after the jump!