Sunday Game Plan – Superbowl 2018

After months of obligations and commitments, today is my lucky day. I visited Stop & Shop to do my weekly grocery shopping and I decided to go crazy by buying items that was applicable to the Blood Type Diet such as ground lamb and turkey wings. In addition I had plan B if either or both dishes failed, which was Kidfresh Little Jammin Chicken Sliders and Gold Metal Sliders rolls, both on sale this week.

Let’s cut to the chase and show you the plan for this year’s high protein Superbowl feast.

1) Roasted Turkey Wings inspired by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli

2) Lamb Meatballs with Lemon Cumin Yogurt inspired by Chowhound

3) Kidfresh Little Jammin Chicken Sliders

Keep in mind this is the first time I am making the Turkey Wings and lamb meatballs.

For the Turkey Wings, I marinated the wings with 5 tablespoons of canola oil, salt and pepper. There was difficulty cutting the wings into smaller pieces that my mother had to help. The wing pieces were placed on a greased baking sheet.

The wing pieces were baked in the oven for 90 minutes (1 hour & 30 minutes) to 105 minutes (1 hour & 45 minutes) at 375 degrees.

While the wings are cooking, the baste/sauce was prepared using the following mixture:

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons Datu Putu (sugar cane vinegar)

1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce

Curry powder

Before mixing

About 10 minutes before the wings are completely roasted, place a table spoons of the mixture and baste across each wing.

While the Turkey Wings were cooking, prep the lamb meatballs. To prepare the lamb meatballs, mix the following until blended:

1 pound ground lamb

1/2 red onion, chopped

Cilantro

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Salt

Pepper

Cumin

Cinnamon

Take 2 tablespoons of the mixture to form a ball.

Place the meatballs at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the lemon cumin yogurt sauce by mixing:

4 tablespoons plain yogurt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cilantro

Cumin

Then with plan B, the sliders were prepared using Kidfresh Chicken Sliders according to packaging instructions.

Toast the slider rolls with butter until toasted.

Flashback Friday – Chinese Noodle Soup Adventures

Since the temperature plummeted last week, I’ve been having cravings for noodle soup made from Chinese handmade noodles or homemade ramen specifically.  What I love about these noodles is that I don’t have the knowledge that the noodles are processed, what I mean is that it does not contain the durum wheat, which has been documented as a source for weight gain and obesity.  In addition to the healthy appearing noodles, the broth is made to perfection especially on a cold winter night.  

Below are places I’ve had ramen and or homemade Chinese Noodle soup that it’s worth the money spent and it’s filling. 

Mixed Lamb Noodle Soup $8 Uncle Zhou Elmhurst

Spicy Chicken Ramen Soup – $6.95 Cafe Water Water Street NYC

Beef Stew Hand Drawn Noodle Soup – Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House – Elmhurst

Wonton Hand Drawn Noodle Soup – Lao Bei Fang Dumpling House

Kuu Chili Ramen $14 with House Sake $6 during happy hour – Kuu Ramen – Financial District NYC

Mixed Lamb Noodle Soup $8 – Uncle Zhou – Elmhurst, NY

Spicy Beef Knife shaved noodle soup – Uncle Zhou – Elmhurst NY

Knife shaped noodles – Uncle Zhou – Elmhurst NY

Throwback Thursday – Queens International Night Market

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Last weekend we went to the Queens International Night Market behind the New York Hall of Science inside Flushing Corona Park in Queens.  Founder John Wang, started the International Night Market started in 2015 in the effort to create a cultural event celebrating the diversity of immigrants and small businesses.  The Night Market was designed to sell dishes at a cap of $5 and what I’ve learned is that half of the proceeds were going to be donated.

On July 1, there were 38 food vendors that participated in the event.  The vendors came from various countries such as China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines, Colombia, Korea, Vietnam, Burma, Mexico, Malaysia and Indonesia.  In addition to the diverse food options there were unique food creations such as the Twisted Potato and Twister Cake.

The first time I actually visited the Night Market was when it first opened in 2015 and I went alone.  I highly do not recommend going to this night market alone because the food choices are very overwhelming.  What is amazing about this experience is that each food item purchase ranged between $3 and $6 and what is even better is that the portion size was shareable.  In our case, we split everything.

During our visit to the Night Market, we sampled food from 12 out of the 38 food vendors. Just want to disclose that healthy food choices during our visit did not cross our minds as we were embracing the diversity that is celebrated through cultural and even fusion dishes.  Below are the dishes that we tried that stood out from the event.  The total cost of the dishes below we spent was: $57 for two people, which is not bad for 12 different dishes.  There were two vendors we’ve tried and paid the extra $20, but pictures were not taken.  Queens International Night Market

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My top 5 favorites in this exact order:

  1. Waffle Mac and Cheese from House of Mac
  2. Sisig Tacos from Lahi 
  3. Monster Ice from Panda Cafe
  4. Cajun Twisted Potato from Twisted Potato
  5. Summer Roll from Roll Ram

Can’t wait to return to the market again, which will hopefully be either next weekend or the following weekend.  When I return I would like to try Eema’s Cuisine, Moffle Bar, Karl’s Balls, Moon Man, Malaysian Project, Arepalicious, Burmese Bites, DiLena’s Dolcini Tei Nei Ya and Jibarito Shack if they are still there.

The Queens International Night Market are available every Saturday Evening from 6pm to midnight until August 19 and from September 30-October 28.

Stay tuned for more!

Social Saturday – Queens Taste 2016

Happy weekend! It has been over a week since I last posted and it was a very overwhelming week.  Today, I am introducing a temporary weekly post called Social Saturday where I will be posting an experience attending an event that focuses on restaurants and various types of food.  I will begin this post with my first event I have had the privilege to cover, Queens Taste 2016.

On Thursday May, 3 2016, the New York Hall of Science hosted the annual Queens Taste 2016.  The event showcased about 50-60 restaurants, products and small businesses.  It was ideal for the Queens foodie.  The event overall highlighted classic dishes such as hamburgers and root beer floats while celebrating the diverse cuisines from Italian to Caribbean Chinese.  Proceeds from the event will support the Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC).  QEDC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to “attract, create, and maintain jobs in the borough through business services, neighborhood development, the Entrepreneur Space (our food-and-business incubator), and marketing attractions through the Queens Tourism Council and the It’s in Queens and Discover Queens brands”.

After a conversation with the organizers of the event, they were wondering as to how I will be able to incorporate these sample tastings and promote them as being healthy.  So, after sampling some of the food provided I decided to highlight and organize the dish I sampled according to the following:

  1. National Strawberry Month
  2. Gluten Free
  3. Classic and Comforting Desserts
  4. National Hamburger Month
  5. Catering Classics
  6. Diverse Dishes
  7. Bar Snack, non-alcoholic shake & an Asian fusion classic

Scenes from the Event

National Strawberry Month – Strawberry Sweets

Gluten Free Desserts

Classic and Comforting Desserts

Catering Classics

Diverse Dishes

Bar Snacks, Non-alcoholic drink, Asian Fusion twist on a classic

Throwback Thursday – Weekend Lunch for 3

Happy Thursday! Let’s travel back in time to earlier this year where I took my parents out to lunch during Valentine’s Day weekend.  We decided to return to Coco in Elmhurst, NY.  The restaurant specializes in Malaysian Cuisine.  Personally it was Malaysian fusion cuisine.  The restaurant is currently in the process of updating their menu on their website, but one of the major changes is that they deliver food now with a minimum of $10 purchase.

However, after a long cold winter day of running errands, my parents and I decided to have lunch.  Check this out, total cost for three people plus leftovers to go = $35

The Roti Canai and Singapore Rice Noodle dishes were my favorites.  The Lamb Curry was on the spicy side and the crispy duck was on the dry side.  Service could be better.  The meal was hearty, comforting and affordable especially for three people.  I would definitely return to try other dishes such as the Hainanese Chicken, Curry Laksa, Belacan Kang Kung, and Satay Chicken.

First Sunday Game Plan

It’s been a long weekend but very excited to post Tablespoons and Teaspoons’ first Sunday Game Plan for the week.   After reviewing various circulars, a budget of $30 was set aside to do some grocery shopping for this week’s meal plan.  This meal plan works well with anyone who wants to lose weight and take up “clean” eating.  Below is the handwritten version of the game plan which lists recipes that will be prepared and made.20160110_231941-1

Utilizing the ingredients purchased on a $30 budget, at least 12 healthy cost effective recipes can be created for the week with the high probability of leftovers.  In terms of current pantry items the biggest investments were the olive oil, rice, cooking spray and soy sauce, everything else in the pantry was purchased under $3 per item.  Current pantry items are separate from the $30 budget grocery shopping.

Can’t wait to put these ingredients into great use and make quick, budget friendly and healthy dishes.  Stay tuned!!