Salmon Yee Sang - Chinese New Year

17 more days till we celebrate Chinese New Year. This year we welcome the Year of the Goat (Sheep or Ram). 

Around Sydney, there will be many events to herald in the new year. See Thang Ngo's blog post festivals around Sydney. 

In our family, my Mum will make a special dish called "Yee Sang" - a fresh salad mix topped with fresh salmon sashimi tossed in a sweet dressing. This dish is a colourful mix of colours. Everyone is given a set of chopsticks to toss the salad as high as they can without creating a mess. It is believed that the higher the toss, more luck will come your way in the new year. 

Thai Beef Salad

Hubby cooked steaks with roast vegetables for dinner on Saturday. To keep healthy, I cut up my steak and added to some greens, tomatoes, cucumber, sliced Spanish onion, fresh basil from the herb garden. Then I mixed the Nam jin dressing and added to the meat and salad.

Thai beef salad - easy, healthy and spicy!

German Butter Cookies

Chinese New Year 2015 is not far away. The first day of the Year of the Goat is 19 February 2015. I have started to look for cookie recipes to make for our consumption as well as gifts for friends. I did a trial run of these melt in the mouth German Butter Cookies on the weekend just past. It was super easy and quick. A great recipe to get the young ones in your family involved. My youngest help me make the fork imprint on the cookies. A quick 15 mins in the oven to bake, and it's done. The cookies finish in a very light brown; almost pale look. 

You will find several recipes for these cookies on the internet; with slight variation - some add cocoa or matcha green tea powder. 

Now to make more of these cookies as the cookies from the trial are all gone! It's not overly sweet and just perfect with a cup of coffee or tea or Milo. 

Dinner Meal Plans - week commencing 28 July 2014

My Mum who has been helping us with our dinners during the weekdays had to have surgery on her spine recently. Whilst she is recovering for the next few months, my hubby and I have taken over the kitchen to prepare our evening meals. As we both work full-time, we need to think, plan and prepare on the weekend for our weekday dinners. Once our meals are planned, next is to do some shopping.

On the menu this week:

• Chinese style pork chop; stir fry baby bok choy and rice
• Pasta with chorizo and prawns tossed with rocket
• Pan-fried mirror dory with sweet potato mash and steamed vegetables
• Stir-fry beef with peppers tossed in noodles 

Only four meals as we usually eat out on Fridays.

I have been planning meals for the last four weeks. I have a spreadsheet which lists down meal ideas and I also source from the internet or Facebook for inspiration. The meals must be quick to put together to ensure dinner can be put together after work. On weekends, we might also prepare the ingredients before hand like making meatballs for pasta, marinating meats for stir-fries. 

Do you plan your meals? Share your ideas please.