new year, new resolutions

This past week I’ve had a cold and I went back to work. It seems as if those two items combined make it impossible for me to blog or even think about it (the robot shot above captures my feelings of the past week). But I’m feeling better and it’s the weekend so here I am. During the holidays I really enjoyed doing more than one book and hope to review at least two every month. This month I’m doing something a little different.

Every New Year I start with resolutions on reducing stress, eating better and getting in shape. I always start with the best of intentions but no plan. Without a plan I find it difficult to focus. This year Martha Stewart’s Whole Living magazine outlines a simple action plan for both mental and physical wellbeing for 28 days. I can do 28 days! So that’s the New Year resolution, 28 days to a purified me.

The first week is a reduction of common allergens and other bad things (good-bye added sugar, you’ve been a dear friend). Gluten/wheat is back out as well. With that in mind I decided that I would try Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking book. Seemed like a good match to Whole Living’s plan. I seriously love me a baked good so I’m going to be realistic and try to do more responsible baking. Wish me luck I’m may be a little crazy after a few days of no added sugar…

But before I do that I have one more Kylie Kwong recipe to review.

I love noodles. We grew up not knowing the true name to any dish referring to them as the big flat one, the one with soup or the worm one; the worm one being a particular favourite. That was why I decided to do the Hokkien Noodles Stir Fried with Chicken. Once again it was a blend of different sauces to create an easy to make dish that was rich in flavour and delicious. Before I got this cookbook I didn’t really know who Kylie Kwong is and now I’m sorry I hadn’t been introduced to her sooner. She’s definitely sparked my desire to learn how to cook Chinese food and furthered my appreciation of the food my dad just whips up in the kitchen.

more chicken...

We've been eating a lot of chicken. Mainly because I've tried to minimize the red meat in our life and because J likes meat with dinner. Simple Chinese Cooking offers tons of protein options and categorizes them into separate sections. I thought I would try the stir-fried chicken filets with cashews. Kylie says this is frequently ordered in Chinese restaurants but I'm not entirely convinced as I don't remember ever eating this.

Needless to say this appealed to me because I love cashews and I had a cucumber in the fridge. Done and done. I followed the directions religiously (a first for me) and found this very simple to do. It's a little greasy because it's stir-fried but greasy Chinese food doesn't bother me. Some of my favourite dishes have had that glossy oil shine.

When all was said and it done it looked fantastic but when we went to eat it, it was super salty. Thinking I might have read it wrong I tried it again a week later. I reduced the 2 teaspoons of salt asked for by half but It was still salty. I'm still working it out. Luckily the rice cut the salt down but it still needs to be tweaked to reduce salt and grease. Despite all of that it still tasted delicious, like a greasy spoon meal with a Chinese twist. This recipe gets a B.

poaching a chicken

When it comes to Chinese food I have a few comfort foods that remind me of home. This soy sauce chicken is one of them. I had conquered my fear of cooking the whole chicken a year a go when I did Gluten Free Girl's rosemary-lemon roast chicken. In fact I found it easier than cooking chicken pieces and very satisfying as you pull the lovely golden chicken out of the oven. I had never poached a chicken before but I thought it couldn't be harder than roasting a chicken. I was wrong. First of all you need a HUGE pot to put a whole chicken in and you have to be more precise. Precision is not really my thing. But this recipe was pretty straight forward. You poach for 40 minutes and then you steep it in the pot for 3 hours! I had visions of salmonella dancing in my head.

In addition to trying this new technique the recipes requires you to make a stock in which you can use over and over again. In fact it says the sauce will become "deeper and richer" with every additional use. I'm going to be honest here I work on a food magazine and we are often confronted with food safety warnings. I strongly doubt this recipe would pass inspection.

Never did I imagine that so many sauces and elements needed to go in to create it something I thought was so simple. Kylie asks you to arrange a variety of ingredients to create this master stock but I think it was worth it. After my 3 hour wait I pulled it out and it was beautiful and delicious. Plus I was able to follow the book's amazing visual step-by-step to chop the chicken Chinese-style. Thank goodness I had the Chinese kitchen staple: a cleaver (thanks Grandma)! This chicken wasn't exactly like home (too much star anise), but it was a nice start for my Chinese cooking repertoire. I give it an A.