中文菜谱：香煎培根黑椒土豆块

This is our weekend go-to brunch dish. It is super easy and simple to make, but loaded with tons of flavor. My husband and I love it so much that we had it as breakfast four days straight during Christmas holiday week. And we still love it.

There is a local farm near us that produces awesome yellow potatoes. They come to sell potatoes at local farmer’s market every Wednesday and Saturday. I always buy potatoes from them. When the farmer’s market closed up at the end of October, I bought two buckets of potatoes and stored them in the fridge. I thought they should last the whole winter. Well, I was wrong. They are almost gone in less than 2 months.

Maybe we eat too much potato, or maybe I am a really good cook... Hahaha…O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients：

3 slices of thick cut apple wood smoked bacon
6 to 8 small yellow potatoes
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
2 to 3 sprigs of thyme (optional)
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Directions：

Cut the bacon into bite size. Clean and rinse the potatoes. No need to peel them. Crispy potato skin is a big plus in flavor town.

Heat a cast iron skillet (from amazon)over medium heat. Add bacon. Cook until it becomes golden and crispy. Get them out with a thong.

Add potatoes to the skillet with bacon fat. Cook over medium heat. Add salt, black pepper, minced garlic and thyme. Cover; cook until potatoes are cooked through and the outsides become gold and crispy too. Discard the thyme.

It is indeed a simple and tasty dish. Remember to flip potatoes from time to time. It will help prevent them sticking to the bottom because potatoes contain high amount of starch.

If you like potatoes as much as I do, I would strongly recommend this dish. O(∩_∩)O~

中文菜谱：扁豆小芽菜苗沙拉

I don’t really need to tell you bean sprouts are nutritious, healthy, and good for your body, do I? I love to grow myself lentil bean sprouts at home. All I need is quart size mason jars. It is easy and fun to do so.

My sister and brother-in-law introduced black lentil bean sprouts to us when we were visiting them for thanksgiving holiday. Black lentil bean sprouts taste better than the yellow one. They are nutty, crunchy and very refreshing. I love adding them to my salad, flat bread wraps and sandwiches. They greatly improve the taste, texture and flavor.

For each quart size mason jar (which you can buy from amazon), I use 2 tablespoon black lentils.

Soak them overnight. Drain well. Cover with cheesecloth or anything you have at hand that can let air in and out.

Rinse and drain the lentil beans once or twice per day.

You will see the sprouts in 2 to 3 days.

In another 2 to 3 days, they grow longer and bigger.

In about a week, you can harvest your very own lentil bean sprouts.

I mostly use them in salad.

Ingredients:

1 tomato, sliced
romaine leaves
1 avocado
A handful lentil bean sprouts
dried cranberry
sliced almond

For salad dressing：

2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 and 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoon honey
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper

Directions：

Combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, salt and black pepper in a bow. Whisk until well mixed.

Remove avocado’s skin and core, dice avocado and cut or tear romaine leaves into bite size.

In a big plate, layer the tomato, romaine, avocado, lentil bean sprouts, dried cranberry and sliced almond. Sizzle with balsamic vinegar salad dressing.