“Please eat a lot so you have the strength to get on.”
It’s how our Vietnamese peeps usually show support and care to the young people having to work hard for their studies and career. Yet I have long realised that when I eat a lot, my body has to work harder to digest all the foods so I have less energy for other tasks and find it harder to concentrate. After trials and errors, I have come up with a system where I eat only light meals and snacks throughout the day, and a big meal for dinner. Even these big meals consist of mostly plants, plant-based protein, eggs and dairies, while meat and fish are consumed only sparingly as treats. This eating pattern has worked well for me, keeping me energised all days without suffering from horrible sugar crashes like I used to. I also try to eat as much variety of plants as possible to get a complete profile of proteins and essential vitamins and minerals.
I love cooking and am a big foodie. No matter how busy I am, I always spare a few hours a day getting cooking inspirations, learning about ingredients and cooking techniques, and cooking good, real foods for me and hubby. Some days it gets really hard on the desk, so being able to get up for a few hours and immersing myself in the world of the senses… I don’t know… It heals me. 🙂
So this is going to be an honest account of what I eat for dinner in January 2025. I will update this blog daily and add my own reflections throughout.
- Day 22: Vietnamese salad
- Day 21: Vegetable jjajangmyeon
- Day 20: Mozzarella cheese omelette
- Day 19: Cashew cream leek pasta
- Day 18: Etruscan vegetable soup
- Day 17: Lentil vegan mince
- Day 16: Hummus
- Day 15: Side dish – Fresh kimchi-inspired pickles
- Day 14: Butternut squash peanut soup
- Day 13: Air-fried tofu with chilli soy sauce
- Day 12: Caesar salad
- Day 11: Creamy mushroom pasta
- Day 10: Air-fried salmon and broccoli
- Day 9: Breakfast with Granola
- Day 8: Butternut squash and mushroom congee
- Day 7: Tsukumen
- Day 6: Tomato and spinach pasta
- Day 5: Miso ramen
- Day 4: Doenjang jjigae
- Day 3: Falafel balls
- Day 2: Egg fried quinoa
- Day 1: Pesto fusilli
Day 22: Vietnamese salad
Cook time: 30 minutes
Difficulty level: easy
- white cabbage, thinly sliced
- carrots, julienned
- cucumber, julienned
- pineapple, julienned
- leek, thinly sliced
- coriander, for garnish
- salad dressing: 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts sugar, 2 parts fish sauce, some water, chopped garlic and chilli
Instructions
- Mix all together and enjoy.
I had this salad with some bún rice noodles, as well as the remaining barbecued pork in the freezer. Hubby had it with some leftover jjajangmyeon from yesterday. Could have added some roasted peanuts to the salad, but I forgot. This, in my opinion, is the best way to eat a huge amount of vegetables without feeling like it. Viva Vietnamese food. 🙂
Day 21: Vegetable jjajangmyeon
Cook time: 20 minutes
Difficulty level: easy
- 250-300g ramyon noodles, serve 2
- vegetables: carrots, white cabbage, courgettes, onions, mushrooms; all washed and cut into bite-sized cubes
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small packet black bean paste
- 2 cups vegetable stock or water
- 2 tsp corn starch or tapioca flour
- olive oil
- cucumber, julienned for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the noodles, drained and rinsed well under cold water.
- In a large pot, sauté the garlic with some oil until fragrant.
- Add all the vegetable, except for the mushrooms, to the pot, sauté for a few minutes for some browning.
- Push the vegetables to a side, add the black bean paste, sauté for a minute separately, then mix together with the vegetables, add the mushrooms at this stage.
- Add 1 and a half cups of vegetable stock to the pot, cover with a lid and let boil for 3 minutes until the vegetables are softened.
- Add the corn starch to the rest of the stock, mix well to combine, then add this mixture to the boiling pot. Stir well.
- Serve by scooping ladles of this sauce on the ramyun. Garnish with the cucumber. Mix well and enjoy.
I usually struggled with making jjajangmyeon, but this time, after almost a month cooking with all kinds of vegetable, I felt quite comfortable. Turned out to be one of the most successful attempts. Yay me.
Day 20: Mozzarella cheese omelette
Cook time: 15 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 5 medium sized eggs
- fresh mozzarella cheese
- salt
- olive oil
Instructions
- Lightly beat the eggs with some salt while heat up the pan.
- Drizzle some oil, pour the egg into the pan.
- Tear the mozzarella cheese into thin strips and evenly distribute on the omelette.
- Perform a chef flip, or in my case, tear the omelette in half and flip with a spatula and chopsticks. 🙂
- Let the egg brown and serve.
I had a submission deadline yesterday, so my energy level was low and also, the mozzarella is about to expire. There is nothing inspiring about this omelette but I gave credit to myself for being able to clean up the fridge and put food on the table every night no matter what. 🙂
Day 19: Cashew cream leek pasta
Cook time: 20 minutes
Difficulty level: easy
- 500g pasta
- 1 red onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 leek, diced
- 1 cup raw cashew, soaked for at least 4 hours and drained
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta, reserve 1 cup of pasta water
- Sauté the onion with some oil for a few minutes until softened, add the garlic and sauté for a few more minutes.
- Add the leeks, season with some salt, sauté until softened.
- Add the cashew cream and lemon juice. Make the cream: add the soaked cashew with a cup of water to a blender, blend on high to get a smooth cream-like texture.
- Bring to a gentle boil, add the pasta and mix well to combine, add the reserved pasta water to thin out the sauce if needed.
- Add pepper to taste and serve.
I was fascinated with the vegan cream technique I learned from making the Etruscan soup yesterday, so I decided to try it again today with other ingredients. It is now official: I will never use dairy cream in my pasta and soup ever again. This vegan cashew cream not only creates an incredible mouthfeel, but is also packed with amazing nutritions. Makes me wonder why I never thought of making it before. 🙂
Day 18: Etruscan vegetable soup
Cook time: 1 hour
Difficulty level: very difficult
- 2 potatoes, diced into small cubes
- 4-5 cups of kales/savoy cabbages, hard stems removed, chopped into small bites
- 1 red onions/shallots, diced
- the white part of a leek, diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup pearl barley, soaked for a few hours and drained
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- olive oil
- a bit of salt (this soup is best enjoyed without too much salt added because the vegetables themselves are already very flavourful)
- 1 can cannellini beans (I used canned beans to reduce cook time)
Instructions
- Cook the barley like you would risotto: sauté with butter/oil and minced garlic; gradually add in the vegetable stock, half a cup at a time, and cook until all the liquid is absorbed before adding more stock; repeat the process until the barley is fully cooked, about 30-40 minutes.
- Sauté the rest of the garlic with oil in a large pot, add the leeks and onions with a bit of vegetable stock to help the cooking, cover with lid for 5 minutes.
- Add the kales/cabbages and potatoes, add some more stock, sauté for a minute then cover with lid for 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked barley, cooked chickpeas and beans if used, season with just a little bit of salt, add more vegetable stock, mix well.
- Add the cannellini bean cream to the soup. Make the cream: add the beans and bean water into a blender with some olive oil, add some vegetable stock if needed, blend on high to get a smooth thick cream-like texture.
- Stir gently and bring to a gentle boil. The soup texture needs to be thick and creamy, not watery. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving to avoid burning yourself.
I saw this recipe on YouTube and was intrigued by the complexity of the flavour profile and difficult cooking techniques needed to make this dish. I’m sure my take on this dish is frowned upon by any Italian chef, but they got to do what they got to do, I got to do what I got to do, so I just did it. 🙂
The original recipe calls for dozens of types of vegetable such as carrots, celeries, courgettes, green beans, etc., which you can add or substitute if available. It also calls for chickpeas and other types of beans but hubby doesn’t like them so I left them out. I also realised I didn’t have the usual Italian aromatics like sage and oregano, but I also didn’t think it should stop me as a home cook trying to make this nutritious dish with what I had readily in my fridge.
I tried to follow the original recipe as much as possible, so it took more than an hour to make. But if I am to make this again, I will probably leave out the barley, which can reduce cook time a lot and can move this recipe down the difficulty scale. Even though it may lack some of the flavours, I just don’t want perfection to get in the way of us enjoying this wholesome dish more often.
Day 17: Lentil vegan mince
Cook time: 15 minutes
Difficulty level: easy
- 1 cup lentils, soaked overnight, cooked and drained (or canned lentils)
- a handful walnuts or almonds or your favourite nuts
- green onions/leeks/shallots, garlic, or any aromatics that you use with usual mince meat
- olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Blitz the lentils and nuts in a food processor until you have a nice mixture.
- Sauté the aromatics in a pan with some oil.
- Add the lentil-nut mixture to the pan, season with salt and pepper to taste. Sauté for a few minutes and serve.
I accidentally discovered this recipe when I failed miserably to make a lentil wrap the day before. I still haven’t figured out how to make a wrap, but the lentil mess in my pan tasted promising, so I added some oil, salt and pepper and it turned out to be edible with a very meat-like texture. After some googling, I learned that lentils with its high protein content can be made into vegan mince, so I gave this recipe a try the next day, and it was absolutely lovely! This ‘discovery’ is a proof that there is so much to learn about foods as long as we’re not afraid of failures and always keep an open mind. 🙂
Day 16: Hummus
Cook time: 5 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 1 cup chickpeas, cooked and drained (or canned chickpeas)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp tahini sauce
- 1 handful herbs (mint or coriander or parsley)
- chilli to taste
- salt to taste
- lemon juice to taste
- 1/3 cup chickpea cook water
- olive oil
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except for the water and olive oil into a food processor, blitz a few times to form a chunky mixture.
- Drizzle water and oil into the mixture, process well to get a smooth paste-like texture.
I honestly just learned to make hummus less than 2 months ago when I bought my Cuisinart Mini Prep Pro Food Processor, and it has become our staple ever since. I used to use just olive oil in the hummus, but soon substitute more than half of the oil with water to reduce the amount of calories—it tastes just as good as long as there is still some oil in the recipe.
I found hummus to be the best way to include chickpeas in our diet because my husband hates the texture of the chickpea. 🙂 Yet when made into hummus it can be enjoyed just as is with a bowl of hot rice, and it is indeed our favourite way of eating hummus.
Day 15: Side dish – Fresh kimchi-inspired pickles
Cook time: 20 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 300g fresh cut-up veggies – I already tried thinly-sliced raw radish and swede, they all worked well. I guess this recipe would work well with any mild flavour veggies.
- 2-3 tsp ginger paste
- 2-3 tsp garlic paste
- 2-3 tsp onion/shallot paste
- 5 tbsp fish sauce
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 2 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2-3 bird eye chillies, diced
- spring onions, diced
Instructions
- Mix all together and let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Today we went out with a friend, so I decided to share one of our favourite side dishes.
I’ve always seen Korean 아줌마 making kimchi and then eating them fresh out of the bowl without any fermentation. That’s the inspiration for this dish. I guess the hardest part is to make the paste, because I never buy pre-made paste from the supermarket. I would get fresh ginger, garlic and onions, and grate them on a cheese grater or garlic grater. 🙂 It took some tears from grating the onions, but the fresh flavours were so worth it. Hubby called it “salad ốc”, or snail salad, since it has similar flavour profiles as poached snail dishes that are usually served on the street in Vietnam.
Day 14: Butternut squash peanut soup
Cook time: 20 minutes
Difficulty level: easy
- 200g butternut squash, cut into small pieces
- 1 handful raw peanuts, rinsed and soaked in cold water for 3-4 hours
- 1 small shallot, diced
- spring onions for garnish
- oil, salt to taste
- 1 1/2 cups water
Instructions
- Sauté the shallot in oil over medium high heat until fragrant.
- Add the butternut squash, stir-fry for a few minutes. Season with salt.
- Add water, bring to a gentle boil.
- Rinsed the peanuts and put in a food bag. Seal, lay flat on a cutting board, and gently pound with a heavy object until all the peanuts are lightly broken. Alternatively, use a pestle and mortar. At this stage, you can remove all the soft peanut skins, but I enjoy the texture so I kept them all.
- Put the broken peanuts in the boiling soup, let boil for a few minutes until they are cooked all the way through.
- Taste and add more salt if needed. Garnish with spring onions and serve.
I had some leftover butternut squash, so I decided to make this amazing soup, served with rice and some fresh pickles. We had some barbecued pork skewers that my sister-in-law made for us since before Christmas, but to be honest I would have been happy with just the soup because it was so hearty.
Day 13: Air-fried tofu with chilli soy sauce
Cook time: 20 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 2 blocks firm tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2-3 bird eye chillies, diced
- spring onions, diced
- 2 tbsp tamari soy sauce
Instructions
- Air-fry the tofu at 200C for 20 minutes, turn once after 15 minutes.
- Put the fried tofu in a big bowl, add the chillies, spring onions, and soy sauce, mix gently and let sit for a few minutes before serving.
I realised air-fried tofu lacks some serious flavours that are usually found in shallow-fried tofu. This chilli soy sauce fills it up in all the right ways. I also prepared some roasted butternut squash salad to boost our vitamin level after last night’s cheat. Best meal this week.
Day 12: Caesar salad
Cook time: 15 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 200g green leaves – usually romaine lettuce, but I used spinach today
- 1 cup swede match sticks, or apple
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp whole grain mustard or Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp grated parmigiano reggiano
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients to make salad dressing. Thin out with water to achieve desired texture.
- Mix all the veggies together with the salad dressing and serve.
It was officially cheat day of the month because my menstrual cravings had kicked in. We just had some left over mushroom pasta from last night, some instant Pho for me, jjajangmyeon for hubby, a big-ass thick cut steak, and I scraped together this green salad so the meal did not feel like such a dirty cheat. It was good. 🙂
Day 11: Creamy mushroom pasta
Cook time: 30 minutes
Difficulty level: neutral
- 500g pasta, cooked
- 400g closed-cup mushrooms, sliced
- 1 white onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 300ml single cream
- parmigiano reggiano, grated
- olive oil
- salt to taste
- parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the pan on medium high, drizzle some oil and sauté the onions for 3-4 minutes until fragrant and translucent.
- Add the sliced mushrooms, sauté for 10 minutes until almost all the moisture is gone.
- Add the minced garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Add the single cream, season with salt. Bring to a simmer, about 2-3 minutes, until the sauce is slightly thickened.
- Add the grated parmigiano reggiano cheese to achieve desired thickness. Mix in the pasta. Garnish with parsley and some more cheese, and serve.
Day 10: Air-fried salmon and broccoli
Cook time: 25 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 240g salmon fillets, served 2
- 1 big broccoli head, cut into bite-sized pieces
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil
Instructions
- Coat the broccoli in olive oil, salt and pepper. Air-fry at 150C for 12-15 minutes, shake halfway through.
- Pat the salmon dry. Season with salt and pepper on the down side, drizzle with plenty of oil on the skin side. Air-fry skin side up at 200C for 10 minutes.
I was starting my period today so I was feeling lazy and in need of some healthy protein and omega boosts. This quick dinner required minimal effort and was just the right thing that I needed.
Day 9: Breakfast with Granola
Cook time: 10-min prep, 40-min cook
Difficulty level: very easy
- 200g oats
- 70g almonds, chopped
- 50g pistachios
- 70g cashew, chopped
- 30g coconut flakes
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or more to taste
- 1/2 cup dried fruits (raisins, koji berries)
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients except for the dried fruit in a big bowl. Make sure everything is slightly wet, add more oil/butter or maple syrup if needed.
- Spread out evenly on a baking tray.
- Bake in the oven at 110C for 40 minutes, mix once halfway through.
- Let cool and mix in the dried fruits. Store in an air-tight container.
Today we went out for a date night dinner so I didn’t cook anything. Instead, I decided to share my favourite breakfast recipe. I have this granola with natural yoghurt, and sometimes fruits, everyday for breakfast. It’s the one thing I’m always looking forward to whenever I wake up. 🙂 This big batch lasts me for more than 2 weeks.
Day 8: Butternut squash and mushroom congee
Cook time: 10-minute prep and 5-hour cook in crockpot
Difficulty level: very easy
- 300g butternut squash, cut into small pieces
- 15 fragrant mushroom heads, washed
- 1 small red onion, peeled and halved
- 1 cup rice (I used half brown rice, half sticky white rice)
- 2 tbsp salt or to taste
- spring onions, chilli powder, black pepper to season and garnish
Instructions
- Put the butternut squash, mushrooms, red onion, rice and salt into the crockpot. Fill with water or stock almost to the 3 litre mark.
- Put on high heat for 3 hours, open the lid, mix well and add more salt or water if needed.
- Turn to low heat for 2 more hours. Take the red onion out and serve with the garnishes.
Because of the sweetness of the butternut squash and the fragrance of the mushrooms, the congee tasted and smelled surprisingly good for a non-meat recipe. Helped us clean out the carb-heavy meals from the previous days.
Day 7: Tsukumen
Cook time: 1 hour
Difficulty level: very difficult
Toppings
- 1 block firm tofu, air-fried
- 4 medium eggs, soft-boiled
- 250g spinach, blanched
Dipping sauce
- 4 cloves garlic, grated
- 2cm ginger, grated
- spring onions, preferably the white ends
- 10-15 dried fragrant mushroom heads, washed and rehydrated in cold water for 30 minutes
- 15 closed cup mushroom heads, washed and sliced
- 1 tbsp miso paste
- 2 tbsp tamari soy sauce
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 5-6 pieces of dried wakame seaweed
- 1 tbsp sesame or vegetable oil
Instructions
- Add the oil, garlic and ginger into the pot over medium high heat, sauté until fragrant.
- Add the spring onion and sauté for 30 seconds.
- Add the fragrant mushrooms, stir-fry for a minute.
- Add the miso paste, soy sauce and mirin, stir-fry for a minute.
- Add the sliced closed cup mushrooms and sea weed, mix gently and add 1.5 cups of water or stock.
- Let boil for 2-3 minutes. Add more seasoning if needed. Serve with cold ramen and toppings.
I was in need of some inspirations and hubby was watching some YouTube videos that featured this tsukumen dish, so I thought I’d give it a go. Turned out, it was very difficult. The final dish was not cohesive, the dipping sauce was lacking in volume even with all the seaweed and mushrooms. It was still a nutritious meal so I’m happy.
Day 6: Tomato and spinach pasta
Cook time: 25 minutes
Difficulty level: easy
500g pasta
- 250g spinach, washed and drained
- 1 can cherry tomatoes
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- parmigiano reggiano, grated
- olive oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta, drain and reserve a cup of pasta water.
- Sauté the onion in a pan with the oil over medium heat until softened, add the garlic and continue mixing until fragrant.
- Add the tomatoes into the pan, lightly smash the tomatoes, cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add the spinach, mix until the leaves are wilted.
- Season with some salt.
- Add the pasta into the pan, mix well and add pasta water to thin out the sauce if needed.
- Add parmigiano reggiano, mix to combine.
- Turn off heat. Plate and serve. Add more parmigiano reggiano directly onto the plate.
We had this pasta with air-fried halloumi cheese sticks for some extra protein.
Day 5: Miso ramen
Cook time: If you’re fast, 30 minutes. Realistically, 1 hour. 
Difficulty level: difficult
- 3 heads bok choy, save the root ends for the stock and the leaves for the toppings, wash
- spring onions, save the white ends for the stock and the green part for garnish, wash
- 5cm ginger, half for the stock, half chopped into even tiny pieces for garnish
- 2 tbsp miso paste for around 1.2 litres of water
- enoki mushroom
- 1.5-2 blocks tofu
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 tbsp oil – I used sesame oil but any vegetable oil is fine
Instructions
- In one pot, blanch the leaves of the bok choy for 30 seconds in boiling water, then the tofu, and lastly boil the eggs to desired doneness. This way you save time and have less pots to wash later.
- In another pot, cook the ramen, drain and wash under running water.
- Use the same pot, put the oil and the chopped ginger in, sauté until the ginger pieces become crispy. Scoop these pieces into a bowl for garnish later. Keep the oil in the pot.
- Sauté the miso paste in the oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until fragrant and slightly fried. Take care not to burn.
- Slowly pour in the water while whisking the miso paste to help it dissolve into the water.
- Put the root ends, spring onion white ends, and the fresh ginger into the pot. Bring to a gentle boil for 8-10 minutes. Then take the vegetable out of the stock.
- Put the enoki mushroom it for 1 minutes. Turn off the heat.
- Put the ramen and toppings in the serving bowl, pour the stock over and garnish with spring onions and crispy ginger pieces. Serve immediately.
Making ramen, especially vegetarian ramen, could be a daunting task. So when I discovered a way to make a good vegetable ramen stock in less than 1 hour, I was overjoyed. With this creamy and umami-filled bowl, you will not miss the meat flavour, that I can guarantee.
Day 4: Doenjang jjigae
Cook time: 30 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 1 big potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 courgettes, washes and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 yellow onion, cut into wedges
- 2 blocks medium firm tofu, cut into bite-sized piecses
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 red chilli, chopped
- spring onions to garnish
- 3 tbsp doenjang paste
- 1.5 cups water
- optional: anchovies, but I didn’t feel like fishy today
Instructions:
- Put the potato, courgettes, onion, doenjang paste and water into a pot.
- Cook over medium high heat for 15-20 minutes until potato pieces are softened.
- Taste the soup and put in more water or more doenjang paste, depending on your preference. Bear in mind when tofu is added the soup will be more diluted.
- Add the garlic, chilli, and tofu, gently mix.
- Turn off heat, garnish with spring onions.
When I started experimenting with vegetarian dishes, I realised Vietnamese foods as I knew it were not best cut out for vegetarian. First, I’ve been a meat eater my whole life and can hardly think of a meal without at least some meat flavours. Secondly, tropical vegetables are astronomically expensive and not even that fresh nor healthy.
So I decided to get inspirations from other cuisines that I love. I’ve heard so much about doenjang jjigae and how it is a South Korean staple, but hesitated to try because I didn’t want to buy a huge block of doenjang to then realise I didn’t love it.
Luckily, my dear friend Changwon Park generously gave me a tube of doenjang, after months of me harrassing him with questions about the dish. 
And it instantly became our family’s staple too!
For my Vietnamese friends who wonder what doenjang tastes like, tương bần would be a good frame of reference. I did a quick search on Wiki and even though the two are made in a totally different ways, the ingredients and bacteria involved in the fermentation process are strikingly similar.
So today meal was doenjang jjigae with leftover fried brown rice and some kimchi-inspired fresh pickled radish. Couldn’t have asked for a more perfect combination in this wintery weather.
Day 3: Falafel balls
Cook time: 30 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
- 1 cup chickpea, cooked and drained
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp lemon/lime juice
- olive oil
- salt & pepper
- herbs and spices but I didn’t have any.
Instructions:
- Put everything in the food processor.
- Pulse until well combined but not runny.
- Shape into balls.
- Drizzle oil on the balls.
- Airfry at 200 degree for 20 minutes, flip once.
We got back to work today so I was feeling a bit lazy. We stayed in and tried to think of ways to make use of leftover ingredients: chickpeas, some kale, 2 sad eggs. These falafel balls were supposed to be the star of the show but as it turned out the hummus stole its spotlight because everything else was dry and did not go well together. It would have been nice to have some pickles. I swear I’ll go shopping tomorrow.
Day 2: Egg fried quinoa
Cook time: 20 minutes (not including quinoa cook time)
Difficulty level: very easy
- Rinse, cook and let cool at least half an hour before frying
- Tip: Cook quinoa in a rice cooker like you do rice. Water ratio to quinoa should be 1.5-1.75.
- 1 medium shallot, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced/chopped
- chilli to desired spiciness level, chopped
- 5 medium eggs
- 1 cup frozen petit pois/peas and sweet corn
- 1 tbsp olive oil and/or butter – I used half and half
- 1-2 tbsp tamari soy sauce
- salt to taste
- garnish – I didn’t have any today
Instructions
- Turn the stove on high heat.
- Sauté shallots, garlic and chilli with the oil/butter in a large pan/wok.
- When the aromatics are softened and colours turned slightly, push them to one side of the pan, crack the eggs into the other side, scramble.
- When the eggs have got some crispy edges, toss in the quinoa, petit pois and sweetcorn, stir fry.
- Season with tamari soy sauce and salt to taste.
- Garnish and serve.
Note: You can replace the quinoa with rice but you will not get the same amount of protein and fiber.
We had this egg fried quinoa with a kale salad. Yum yum.
Day 1: Pesto fusilli
Cook time: 15 minutes
Difficulty level: very easy
500g fusilli pasta
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cups basil leaves
- 1/3 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Cook pasta, drain and reserve a cup of pasta water.
- In a food processor, put garlic in first, then pine nuts, pulse 5-10 times each time.
- Put the rest of the pesto paste ingredients in the processor, pulse until combine into a nice paste.
- Put the drained pasta and paste into a pan on medium heat, mix and add pasta water to thin out into a sauce. Then serve.
We had the pesto fusilli with air-fried parsnips and air-fried halloumi cheese. Yummy first meal of Vegetanuary.
tracemyPhD 
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