​Over the weekend, I did my one-week grocery shopping at NTUC and bought the following

1. chicken breasts 
2. broccoli
3. carrots 
4. potatoes 
5. Fuji apples
6. cilantro
7. iceberg lettuce

For tomorrow's lunch, I decided to try something slightly more different. I usually microwave the chicken breasts (diced or sliced) with any veggies that require cooking, such as broccoli. 

What I did this time was to cook the vegetables, including the baby potatoes with Japanese sesame sauce and a little bit of butter. I then diced the chicken breasts into smaller cubes, and then added some sesame oil as well as the Japanese sesame sauce and then stirred and mixed them, to marinate the chicken. 

After the veggies are cooked, I then added the marinated chicken and then cooked it again. 

The Chinese Celery or Cilantro happens to be a really versatile vegetable to have. Adding cilantro is a great way to add flavor to a dish or beverage without adding extra calories, fat, or sodium.

Cilantro is a tender herb (along with mint and basil) which has gentle leaves that are best to add either raw or near the end of cooking in order to maintain their delicate flavor and texture. Unfortunately, my cilantro is getting shrivelled, so I decided to snip all of it to add to the salad. 

Making salads can be really quick and fun, and it's healthy! 

So sometimes, when I feel like having an alternative to having a salad for lunch, or when I have excess leftover vegetables, I would make a vegetable stew. The stew is not difficult to make; and at times, a savory home-cooked stew of vegetables and chicken warms the heart on a rainy weekend (especially if you have the air-conditioning on). 

I would use whatever vegetables that I have had left in the fridge. For this case, I chopped up all the celery and carrots, as well as the broccoli. This time round, I decided to add some baby potatoes for the carbohydrates. Rather than to add the potatoes whole into the stew, I decided to slice them into quarters, so that they will cook more easily. Instead of adding oil, I added some butter as well as a vegetable stock cube to give the stew the necessary flavour. 

For a natural sweetness to the stew, I added a whole onion. As the onion would disintegrate in the simmering waters, you wouldn't find much of it whole in the stew. For onion varieties, yellow onions have a complex flavor, and a firm texture that can survive long cooking. Red onions are good for raw salads, but you could also add them to the stew if there are no other options available. In this case, white onions are especially good with stews and soups. 

To add some colour to the stew, I added a few red chillies to the pot. Prior to cooking, the colours of the vegetables are bright and cheery, but usually their colours would fade away, from the continuous cooking and boiling, However, the redness of the chilli stays, and hence provides not only a nice colour but also the spiciness to the stew.  

The diced chicken would be microwaved separately first to cook them a bit longer, and then I would add the half-cooked chicken cubes together with some oregano, nutmeg and black pepper, and 3 cups of water with a dissolved vegetable stock cube. Then it is simmer and simmer away before the stew is ready. If you have a bay leaf, you could try adding it for an enhanced flavour. 

The stew could be eaten on its own (this is probably enough for a full main course, or shared with two to three persons), or as an accompaniment to a main dish with rice. Enjoy! 

​As mentioned in my last posting, one trick about sticking to making salad lunches for the week ahead -- is to doing the entire week's shopping during the weekends. Hence, a few hours earlier, right after my gym, I decided to head down to GIANT to do my usual salad shopping. I ended up buying these items: 

1. Broccoli - they were going for a discount. Broccoli is usually expensive, hence when they are discounted it's always good to buy! Broccoli is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin C, chromium and folate. It is a very good source of dietary fiber, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin E, manganese, phosphorus, choline, vitamin B1, vitamin A (in the form of carotenoids), potassium and copper.
2. Green Apples - Bought 5 green apples. Could use them for salads or as fruits after salads. 
3. Baby potatoes - Potatoes are exceedingly rich in Vitamin B6, a substance needed for cellular renewal, a healthy nervous system and a balanced mood. 
   
4. Red chilies - for that added spice! 
   
5. Iceberg - the salad staple. 
   
6. Frozen chicken breast - the other protein staple.
7. Coriander - Coriander or cilantro is a wonderful source of dietary fiber, manganese, iron and magnesium as well. I got it mainly as for it's flavour. 

A common problem with the local supermarkets of Singapore it's actually a very limited variety of vegetables to choose from. However, at Giant this afternoon, I chanced upon a packet of Australian kale going for only $5.99 per packet. 

While kale salads are full of nutrients and fiber, making kale worthy of its status as a super-vegetable, it is not always easy to prepare kale. The last time I bought some kale for my salad, I had a hard time finishing the salad that I prepared. 

Hence, I learned some useful tips to make kale a lot more delicious and edible in my salads: 

1. Separate the ribs! The ribs of the kale are tough, and hence it makes perfect sense to remove the ribs from the leaves. You can easily slice and separate the ribs from the leaves with a knife. Don't throw the ribs away - while it is difficult to use them in your salads, you can use the ribs in many other areas. Or process them into kale juice! 
2. Tear up the kale. Use your hands to tear the kale leaves into smaller bite-sized pieces. This will make it easier to eat them. 
3. Sprinkle and mix with salt. You can put the kale leaves into a plastic bag, and then sprinkle salt into the packet. This will help cut down the bitter taste of the kale leaves). 
4. Massage the kale. You can then put your hand into the plastic bag to massage the kale leaves. This will help make the leaves more tender, but also help to spread the salt evenly. 
5. Keep the packet in the fridge. The kale leaves are tough leaves, and should be able to hold in the fridge for a couple of days. 

Hence, the next time you are able to find kale at your supermarket, and going at a reasonable price, do consider it! Kale's antioxidant nutrients, as well as its anti-inflammatory nutrients, and then, also its anti-cancer nutrients (glucosinolates) might not only promote good health, but potentially help slow down ageing! 
​

Despite a really busy work day (it's 1:21 AM now and I'm still awake!) I managed to find some time to prepare my salad lunch for tomorrow. Let's see what I prepared: 

• Chicken thigh (bought from NTUC; I had to remove the bones) seasoned with korean seasoning sauce. I drizzled some sesame oil for the fragrance. 
• Fresh carrots. Diced and then cooked with frozen peas and corn bits. 
• Iceberg lettuce. No salad sauce. 
• Dried cranberries for the colours and the sweetness. 

​Keeping it really simple this time round!