Watermelon is one of my favourite fruits. While there are 1200 varieties of watermelon grown in 96 countries all over the world, the five main types are seedless, seeded, yellow, orange, and mini. The United States is the 7th largest producer of watermelons in the world and Canada imports over 300 million pounds each year, making the fruit available all year round. In addition to being a great source of hydration and nutrients, I really like how the entire watermelon is edible, including the rind!

My mom first made pickled watermelon rind for me when I was little, and I thought she was just experimenting, but it was actually a recipe from her childhood and a dish that I always wanted to make myself. This recipe for Asian Pickled Watermelon Rind is spicy, sour, salty and sweet. I love the extra prickliness from the Sichuan peppercorns and it’s an addictive side dish to congee, perfect sliced thin in a sandwich or as a crunchy snack. Cutting the rind is a bit of extra effort, but it’s worth it and a great way to reduce food waste.

How to Cut Watermelon to Save the Rind?

For more watermelon recipes, information and tips, check out https://www.watermelon.org/.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with The National Watermelon Promotion Board. All ideas and opinions expressed are wholly mine.

Yum

Asian Pickled Watermelon Rind

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 cups

Ingredients

• 4 cups trimmed watermelon rind
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 star anise
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 4 dried red chilies
• 1 knob of ginger, sliced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns

Instructions

1. Trim watermelon rinds, cutting off the dark skin and any soft, pink flesh until only the hard crunchy rind remains. Cut rinds into 1inch by 1/4inch segments.
2. In a small pot, add the sugar, star anise, vinegar, chilies, ginger slices, salt, Sichuan peppercorns and bring brine to a boil. Stir. Once the sugar and salt has dissolved, turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
3. Fill an airtight container with the trimmed watermelon rinds leaving space at the top. Once the brine is cooled to room temperature, pour over the rind until it covers the top completely. Spoon the Sichuan peppercorns, star anise and chili peppers on top.
4. The pickles will be ready after 12-24 hours and will keep refrigerated for at least two weeks or more.

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The first time I had Stonemill Kitchens’ homestyle potato salad was at my friend’s baby shower. We’ve known each for almost two decades and her parents are like family. Dinner that night featured some of her mom’s delicious cooking as well as samosas brought by a friend and this seriously delicious potato salad. Stephen and I were on our third helping when I ran into my friend’s dad and I had to ask where it was from. He winked and told me it was an old family recipe. Chatting with my friend later, I asked for her recipe because this salad was all I could think about. She laughed and told me it was from Costco.

Since then, Stephen and I pick up a container (ok it’s really like a bucket) every time we have a family dinner. Thanksgiving? Potato salad. Christmas? Potato salad. Cottage weekend? Potato salad. With this year’s quarantine and COVID19 situation though, we haven’t had many large gatherings or been to Costco since March. This just meant Stephen needed to replicate the recipe at home in a (much) smaller batch for just the 3 of us. Luckily, we’ve kept some containers in the house so we could read the list of ingredients as a starting point. This recipe isn’t a perfect dupe, but it’s close enough to satisfy our cravings while we keep tweaking the spices!

Note: We forgot to include mustard (a key ingredient!) in the photos.

Yum

Red Skin Potato Salad

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Serving Size: 4-6

Ingredients

• 2 lb red skin potatoes
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup chopped pickles
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1/8 turmeric
• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp dill weed
• 1/8 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper

Instructions

1. Scrub potatoes well and boil on simmer until just soft enough to pierce with a fork, 15-20 minutes.
2. Once potatoes are cooked, place them into a bowl of ice water.
3. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch cubes, place in large mixing bowl and add white vinegar.
4. In a separate bowl, combine pickles, spices and mayonnaise. Stir together.
5. Add sauce to cubed cooked potatoes and stir to combine. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving to allow flavours to mingle.
6. Optional: Sprinkle with more smoked paprika to serve.

Notes

Tip: Use varying sizes of potatoes to vary the texture of the potato salad.

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Every now and then when The Hubs and I are eating out, we fall in love with a dish and immediately think “we need to make this at home”. One of these was Claypot Steamed Rice. After researching different recipes and techniques online, we’ve now made the dish 3 times with varying degrees of success. I’m still not 100% confident each time we lift the pot lid if every grain of rice is cooked and that if we scrap the bottom, there will be a wonderful layer of crispy burnt rice, but we’ve definitely figured out some tips to increase the probability.

My father-in-law keeps warning us about how he’s cracked multiple clay pots over the years, so we’re extra cautious each time we cook with ours. To help prevent any cracking, make sure to season the pot before use. We soaked ours for 24 hours in water and then cooked a small batch of congee, starting with low heat for 10 minutes and then medium until cooked. Do not eat the congee.

Claypot Rice with Chinese Sausage

2016-12-10 02:02:27

Serves 2

An addictive rice dish that's full of flavour.

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Prep Time

1 hr

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

2 hr

Prep Time

1 hr

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

2 hr

Ingredients

1. 1 seasoned clay pot (1.5 to 2 quart capacity)
2. 1 cup of white rice
3. 1 cup of water
4. 1 Chinese pork sausage
5. 1 Chinese liver sausage
6. 2 inch chunk of cured pork belly
7. 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
8. 1 tbsp light soy sauce
9. 1 tbsp fish sauce
10. 2 tsp pinch of sugar
11. A pinch of white pepper
12. Chopped green onion for garnish

Instructions

1. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear and add to the pot along with an equal amount of cold water, soak for one hour.
2. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes to gradually warm up the pot (never start at high heat), and then turn the stove up to medium and steam for another 30 minutes. Do not lift the lid while the rice is cooking for these first 30 minutes.
3. After 30 minutes, place the Chinese sausages and pork belly on top of the rice and steam for another 10 minutes, or until the rice is cooked. This part may take a bit of experimentation to get the timing down pat depending on each stove and pot. If you find the rice is still uncooked (grains are hard and flakey), poke a few holes with a chopstick, add a small amount of water (less than a quarter cup), and steam for another 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and let sit. In the meantime, take the meats from the pot and slice up. Mix together the sauces, sugar and white pepper.
5. Top the rice with the sliced meats and sauce mixture, mix it all together and garnish with green onion.

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Cook the rice and prep the sausage to be added once the rice is cooked


Once the rice is 90% cooked, add in the Chinese sausage and cook for another 10 minutes

With the summer warming up I’m always looking for ways to cool down. While ice cream is a necessity when the temperature really rises, I often find myself craving a lighter, more refreshing snack. Ice pops are the perfect solution. My sister in law recently shared a photo of her tea-sicles creations, which I thought were brilliant. This spurred me into creating my own ice pops with Pure Leaf Tea, iced tea made from real brewed tea leaves.

I chose to use the peach flavoured Pure Leaf Tea, which really helped cut down prep time. There was no need to steep and cool the tea before hand, just fill the molds with fresh fruit and top off with tea. At max, these took 5 minutes to pull together. Shooting the photos took way longer.

Other Tea Pop flavours possibilities:
Green Tea, Lemon Slices and Honey
Peach tea and fresh strawberries
Tea, Ginger syrup and Lemon Slices

After working with Pure Leaf previously on my Iced Tea recipes post, I was already a fan of the tea’s authentic flavour. They’re great to use as a base for fancier creations or gulped straight from the bottle. Refreshing, low in calories and lightly flavoured, I find myself packing bottles of Pure Leaf Tea for picnics, bringing them on Pokemon hunting trips around the neighbourhood and to stay hydrated at summer food events.

In ice pop form, Pure Leaf tea reaches the level of summer necessity.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. All drinks reviewed below were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed are wholly mine.

I drink tea everyday and as the weather warms up, I like to swap my hot comforting drink for a cool, refreshing one. Drawing inspiration from my favourite summer foods, here are three easy to assemble tea-centric drinks made with Pure Leaf unsweetened teas. With 0 sugar, 0 artificial sweeteners and 0 calories, the Pure Leaf unsweetened teas were a perfect base to start with to #TweakYourTea. I also liked the natural, genuine tea flavour of the drinks themselves. Personally, I am not a fan of iced tea sodas and the Pure Leaf teas tasted nothing like them.

1. Watermelon Mint and Unsweetened Pure Leaf Tea
Ingredients: Cubed Watermelon / Fresh Mint Leaves / Lime Slices / Unsweetened Pure Leaf Tea
In a tall glass (or pitcher), add mint leaves, diced watermelon and lime slices, pour over with tea.
This drink is sweetened naturally from the watermelon and full of summer flavours. For a stronger taste, muddle the mint leaves at the bottom of the glass first, and squeeze in a wedge of lime before adding the tea.
Optional: Add a splash of rum to turn this into a summery cocktail

2. Scotch and Unsweetened Green Pure Leaf Tea
Ingredients: Scotch / Lemon / Green Pure Leaf Tea / Mint to Garnish
In a tumbler glass, add a shot of scotch and fill with Green Pure Leaf Tea. Top with slices of lemon and a sprig of mint.
Optional: Add simple syrup to sweeten this drink

3. Ginger and Unsweetened Lemon Pure Leaf Tea
Ingredients: Simple Syrup with Ginger / Lemon Slices / Unsweetened Lemon Pure Leaf Tea
Make a simple syrup (2 parts water to 1 part sugar) with slices of ginger added in. In a tall glass, add two tablespoons of the simple syrup and the cooked slices of ginger. Pour in Unsweetened Lemon Pure Leaf Tea and top with fresh slices of lemon.
This is a perfect drink for the evening to stay warm after the sunsets with a touch of spice and heat.
Optional: Add a splash of dark rum for even more spice.

These drinks are perfect for summer BBQs, paired up with dinner or a boozy cocktail hour. The Pure Leaf teas were versatile and easy to work. Also, since I’m still working on shedding my winter insulation (aka 5 lbs), I really liked how the teas were 0 calories and still super flavourful. A great beverage alternative for those who don’t love to drink just plain water.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. All drinks reviewed below were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

Turnip cake, also known as Radish cake or Law Bok Gow, is a traditional Lunar New Year dish made with daikon. It is also often featured as a side dish in congee restaurants. Every year, we celebrate new year’s with both my family and The Hubby’s. My family is from mainland China, and his are from Hong Kong, so our traditions differ slightly. With both families though, the main celebration revolves around the New Year feast. The dining table is filled with home cooked dishes (whole fish, dumplings, wood ear fungus, to name a few) and the meal lasts hours. This year’s Lunar New Year is quickly approaching (Feb 8th!) and The Hubby and I decided to try making turnip cake ourselves. We tried both cutting the daikon by hand and using a grater, and found that grating created a smoother texture.

Turnip Cake

2016-02-06 21:23:35

Turnip cake, also known as radish cake or law bok gow is a traditional Lunar New Years dish

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Prep Time

45 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 45 min

Prep Time

45 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 45 min

Ingredients

1. 1200g of daikon radish
2. 1 tbsp white pepper
3. 1 tbsp chicken powder
4. 1 tbsp of sugar
5. 2 tbsp of salt
6. 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
7. 75g of dried Shrimp, soaked and drained
8. 2 Chinese sausages
9. 45g of preserved pork belly (1/2 stick)
10. 4-5 shiitake mushrooms, soaked and drained (optional)
11. 2 shallots (optional)
12. 200g of rice flour
13. 200ml of water
14. 4 tbsp of wheat starch

Instructions

1. Soak the dried shrimp (and shiitake mushrooms if using them), dice shallots, grate daikon, dice salted pork belly and preserved Chinese sausage
2. In a hot wok add the vegetable oil. Once the oil is hot add in the shallots, salted pork belly, preserved sausage, dried shrimp (shiitakes) and sauté. Add in Chinese cooking wine as the meats cook. Set aside.
3. Using the same wok, add the grated daikon and enough water to just cover the daikon. Season with sugar, salt, chicken powder, white pepper.
4. While the daikon cooks, combine in a mixing bowl the rice flour, potato starch and water. This will form a paste like mixture.
5. Pour the paste mixture into the cooked daikon, stirring continuously to prevent lumps from forming. Then stir in the cooked meats and mix well.
6. Pour the turnip cake batter into a greased cake pan and steam for one hour. Once steamed, the turnip cake can be served as is, or pan fried to add a crispy crust.

Tips

1. Immediately after steaming, the texture of the turnip cake can be goopy, making it hard to pan-fry. Resting the turnip cake in the fridge for a few hours will help it firm up.
2. If using a different amount of daikon, use a ratio of daikon to rice flour of 6:1 and a ratio of rice flour to water of 1:1.

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble ingredients, cut or grate daikon

Dice meats and shallots

Grate the daikon

In a hot pan with oil, saute the shallots, meats and season with cooking wine

Set aside cooked meats

Measure out rice flour and wheat starch

Combine rice flour, wheat starch and water to form a paste

In the wok, add daikon and enough water to just cover the daikon. Cook until the daikon is soft

Pour the paste mixture into the cooked daikon, stirring continuously to prevent lumps from forming

Add cooked meats to daikon

Pour the turnip cake batter into a greased cake pan and steam for one hour

Optional, pan-fry the cooked turnip cake to add a crispy crust

Eggs have always been my go to source for a quick and inexpensive protein. They’re versatile and easy to cook. My go to breakfast is usually a fried or hard boiled egg. I do get bored eating the same thing everyday though. So, in preparation for a busy week at work, The Hubby and I made a batch of Chinese Tea Leaf Eggs for a change to my instant breakfasts. This recipe adds a new level to the plain hard boiled egg.

Tea Leaf Eggs

2015-08-02 03:38:12

Leveling up hard boiled eggs

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

2 hr

Total Time

2 hr 5 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

2 hr

Total Time

2 hr 5 min

Ingredients

1. 6-8 large eggs
2. 1 1/2 tbsp of black Pu'erh tea or 2 black tea bags
3. 2 whole star anise
4. 1 tbsp of rock sugar
5. 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
6. 1 tbsp of dark sauce

Instructions

1. Rinse the eggs and place in a small pot, cover with water and bring to a boil, remove the pot from heat and let sit for 10 minutes
2. Drain the hot water and rinse. Using the back of a spoon, lightly tap on the boiled eggs to crack the shell, this creates the marbling effect, place eggs back in pot
3. Cover the eggs with water and add in the tea, star anise, soy sauce and rock sugar
4. Bring to a boil and then turn heat to low, simmer for 2-3 hours

Notes

1. Pu'erh tea can be found for low price at Chinese grocery stores
2. Eggs can be eaten right away or left to marinate in the sauce, the flavour will get stronger over time
3. Like all hard boiled eggs, Tea Leaf Eggs do need to be refrigerated

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble Ingredients

Boil Eggs

Gently crack shell

Put eggs back in pot, cover with water and add in remaining ingredients

Bring to a boil and let simmer for 2-3 hours

Lobster Mac and Cheese was another dish we served at New Year’s Eve and it was a hit. We updated the classic comfort dish by adding in fresh lobster and topping with panko crumbs. This dish also freezes and reheats well, perfect for lunches during the work week. The recipe is a little intensive and takes some time, but the results are worth the effort.

Lobster Mac and Cheese

2015-01-19 00:31:42

Serves 8

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Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 30 min

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 30 min

Ingredients

1. 4 cups of macaroni (or large shell pasta)
2. 4 cups of milk
3. 8 tbsps of butter
4. 1/2 flour
5. 4 cups of Gruyere cheese, grated
6. 2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese, grated
7. 1/2 tsp of ground black pepper
8. 1 1/2 pounds of cooked lobster (Two 1 and 1/2 lb fresh lobsters)
9. 1 1/2 cups of panko crumbs
10. Sea salt to taste
11. 1 tbsp of vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cook the fresh lobsters, take apart, chop roughly and set aside
3. Cook the pasta as directed on the package, grate cheese and set aside
4. In a small saucepan, heat the milk without boiling it
5. In another large pot, melt the butter, add in the flour while whisking, cook for 2 minutes
6. Continue to whisk and add in the heated milk, continue to whisk until the sauce is smooth and thickens, remove from heat
7. Add in the salt, cheese pepper and stir until the cheese is melted, then add in the cooked pasta, lobster and stir together
8. Pout the entire cheesy pasta mixture into a casserole dish, top with panko crumbs and bake for 30-35 minutes

Notes

1. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven, so initially, cook it a little more al dente than preferred

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Boil and prepare fresh lobster

Remove lobster meat from shell

Roughly chop the lobster meat

Cook the pasta

Melt the butter

Whisk flour into butter

Add in heated milk

Remove from heat, add in salt, pepper and grated cheese

Stir cheesy mixture until smooth, add in cooked pasta, lobster and stir together
Transfer everything to a casserole dish, top with panko crumbs and bake for 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees

Yorkshire Pudding is incredibly easy to make and an excellent vessel for gravy. The fiance and I made a batch to eat with our Prime Rib Roast dinner. The Yorkies from this recipe puff up like balloons and deflate to create a perfect well. I’ve also been eating the extras for breakfast this week and the egg flavour and fluffy texture is perfect. 

Yorkshire Pudding

2014-12-18 00:09:17

Yields 12

A perfect side for roast beef dinner, well for gravy

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

35 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

30 min

Total Time

35 min

Ingredients

1. 4 eggs
2. 2 cups all purpose flour
3. 2 cups milk
4. 6 tsp roast drippings

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs and milk until smooth
3. In a muffin tray, spoon 1/2 tsp of roast drippings into each tin
4. Place the muffin tray into the oven until the oil begins to smoke, ~3-4 minutes
5. Carefully take out the tray and ladle the batter into each tin, filling up to 3/4
6. Bake for 30 minutes

Notes

1. The puddings will collapse once out of the oven, they are best served hot

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble Ingredients

In a large mixing bow combine eggs, flour and milk

Whisk until smooth

Spoon 1/2 tsp roast drippings into each muffin tin, put tray in over until the drippings just begin to smoke

Ladle the batter into each tin and bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees

With the holiday season around the corner, one meal that The Fiance’s family loves to cook is Prime Rib Roast. A perfect side dish to accompany the roast is this Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon recipe. The sprouts come out of the oven crispy and infused with bacon flavour. It may not be the healthiest dish, but it’s green.

Roasted Brussels Spouts with Bacon

2014-12-15 00:09:08

Serves 4

Quick and easy side dish for any meal

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Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

50 min

Prep Time

5 min

Cook Time

45 min

Total Time

50 min

Ingredients

1. 1 lb brussels sprouts
2. 4 slices of bacon
3. 1 shallot
4. sea salt
5. fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
2. Trim the brussels sprouts, halve and remove any yellow leaves
3. Cut the bacon stripes into one inch pieces and mince the shallot
4. In a cast iron pan, fry up the bacon until most of the fat has rendered
5. Add the brussels sprouts, heavily season with salt, fresh ground pepper and add the shallots
6. Transfer the cast iron pan to the oven and bake for 35 to 40 minutes

If you're not using a cast iron pan

1. Lay out the brussels sprouts on a lined baking sheet
2. Cook the bacon in a frying pan, transfer all of the rendered oil bacon onto the baking sheet and mix with brussels sprouts, season and then bake

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Assemble ingredients

Trim and halve brussels sprouts

Cut bacon into one inch pieces and fry in a cast iron pan

Once bacon is cooked, add in the brussels sprouts, season and bake for 35 to 40 minutes