Szechuan Green Beans

1 tbsp (15 mL) canola oil
Fortune Gardens restaurant is very close to where I work and has long been a favourite restaurant for lunch for a large group and one of favourite dishes there has been Szechuan green beans. I have had them at other places, but like theirs is the standard that I judge all others.  I decided to try making some to go along with the 5 spice beef pot roast and was pleasantly surprised at the results and how easy they were to make.

1 tbsp of oil (I used coconut oil)
1tsp sesame oil
1/2 lb green beans, stem ends trimmed
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 green onions, chopped
1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1 small squirt Sriracha (chili paste), or to taste


Heat a heavy pan or wok over medium-high heat and add the oils and add the beans

 stirring often until they start to turn golden. Add the ginger, garlic, green onions.

5 spice slow cooker pot roast

Here we are again in the deep dark depths of winter with short grey days, comfort food calls.  I love long slow cooked meat, that is really my comfort food, so on Sunday I had a lean beef pot roast that I wanted to cook for Sunday dinner and to make things even simpler I used the slow cooker. I wanted to inject some flavour and so decided to try cooking a pot roast with asian flavours, specifically 5 spice powder.

This fed 6

3lb pot roast
2 tablespoons of 5 spice powder
1 large onion sliced
2 garlic cloves sliced
thumb size piece of ginger finely chopped
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of mirin
small bunch of cilantro


Rub the beef with the five spice powder and a little salt.

Place the sliced onion in the bottom of the slow cooker.

Place the beef on top and add the remaining ingredients.

Chicken breast with yogurt and potatoes

It is January, and that means only one thing new years resolutions.  I, like the vast majority of the western world, every year resolves to get in to shape and lose weight.  This year I have an added resolve to lose 17lbs by June 27 when I retire, I want to look good at my retirement party and I want to be in good shape to enjoy a long healthy retirement.  I publicly declaring this to make me accountable. So the first thing to do is start tracking everything you eat, stepping up the activity and cooking lighter.

Boneless skinless chicken breasts are one of the best choices when cooking light, but they can be so dry and tasteless, so my challenge is find ways to make them moist and tasty with out adding too much fat.  For Christmas this year my Father bought me a mandolin, something I have been wanting for a while and this was the first time using this to slice my potatoes, and it was great, quick and easy to clean up.

I sliced them fairly thin so that they would cook quicker.

Feeds two

2 medium to small potatoes sliced fairly thin
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
2 chicken breast
1/2 cup of low fat plain Greek yogurt
1 clove of garlic grated or put through a garlic press
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese

Toss the potato slices in the olive oil and salt and pepper and place in the bottom of small roasting tin.

Light dinner of sable fish with green olive sauce

It was the day after boxing day and We were turkeyed out.  Boxing day I had turkey eaten straight from the fridge dipped in cranberry sauce, lunch I had turkey sandwich with all the trimmings and Dinner was heated up turkey and gravy served with fried up left over mashed potatoes and vegetables.  Don't get me wrong I love turkey but I was craving something different and lighter. So I went for a walk down to the local fish store to see what looked good, and I found sable fish (black cod)

That is all I bought as I wanted to use up what I had in the fridge.  What I had in the fridge was green olives, green onion, basil and 1/4 bottle of white wine so I used this to make a light sauce to go with the fish.

Serves two

2 pieces of sable fish or any firm white fish such as halibut.
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3 green onions
1/4 cup of green olives pitted and chopped
1/4 cup of white wine
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 large basil leaves shredded

lightly salt and pepper the fish.

Heat the olive oil up in a small frying pan and pan fry the fish.

Home made olive oil crackers

This is something that I have wanted to make for a while. I love the artisan crackers that seem to be everywhere these days, but they are very expensive and really it is just flour and olive oil so how hard could they be?  Anyway I had a Christmas party for work colleagues so I decided to give them a try, and indeed they are not difficult at all. I found the recipe on 101cookbooks.com

3 cups of all-purpose flour (or half semolina flour half regular)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
toppings you like – sesame seeds, caraway seeds, rosemary, coarse sea salt

Whisk together the flour and salt. Add the water and olive oil and mix together

before kneading 

Knead on a floured counter-top or in a mixer for 5-7 minutes. The dough should be just a bit tacky - not too dry, not too sticky to work with.

After kneading

Turkey and cranberry balls

Tis the season of potlucks and appetizers and it always a struggle to find something vaguely healthy and tasty that can be made ahead and please a crowd.  To add to all the Christmas cheer we were also having a potluck lunch for a baby shower at work. Often these potlucks are heavy on the starch and desserts, so I thought some lean protein would be a good idea, and this close to Christmas what could be more appropriate than turkey and cranberries.

This made enough for about 35 walnut sized meatballs

2lbs of ground turkey
1 cup of fresh breadcrumbs
1 large garlic clove
1 onion
1 cup of frozen cranberries
1 sprig of fresh sage or parsley

Place the turkey and breadcrumbs in a large bowl.

Place the remaining ingredients in to a food processor.  I added the cranberries after the onion and garlic had been fairly finely chopped up as I did not want to turn them into mush.  Add this mixture to the turkey and breadcrumbs.

It looks like Christmas already

Easy mediteranean Pork chops

Saturday night I was looking for something easy to make and since we have such cold weather right now, I wanted a dish that would cook long and slow in the oven.  I used the oven because I was at home, but in fact this would have been good in the slow cooker too.  I did not get inspiration from anything but what I found in my fridge and freezer, as I did not want to go shopping.  What I had was 4 pork chops, a can of crushed tomatoes from the summer, and some olives, so for a very cold mid winter evening I came up with a dish with a taste of summer.

This made enough for 4 or 2 for dinner and 2 lunches to pack to work!

4 pork chops
1 quart of home canned tomatoes or Italian jar of tomato puree
1 large garlic clove sliced
8 pitted olives cut in half
the zest of one lemon taken off with a potato peeler

Place the pork chops in a casserole and top with the remaining ingredients and a little salt and pepper.

Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in a 350 oven for 2 hours, during which time you can busy yourself with quilting, and preparing for Christmas.