My Marco Polo Pasta Recipe

It’s seafood pasta with three types of “pasta” being capellini, vermicelli and egg noodles. Add shrimps for seafood and a touch of Chinese Five Spice, among other things, to have a nice balance of Italian, Chinese, seafaring and exploratory nature, and Marco Polo is the best name you can give this dish.

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Vietaliano Cuisine – Steamed White Rice with Pasta Sauce and Meat

Pasta sauce and meat with steam white rice and veggies

Pasta sauce and meat with steamed white rice and veggies

Tonight on Wok with Tan, who ever said pasta sauce had to be eaten with pasta? Not this guy!

Lately, I’ve been making pasta with tomato pasta sauce, meat, and white mushrooms and baby spinach put in the boiling pot just before I turn it off to soften the two a bit, with more meat and other veggies than I need with my pasta dish. I then the save the extra to eat the night after with steamed white rice, in a new batch of pasta sauce that I heat up together with the cold extras from the fridge, rather than doing it with a microwave.

I then add a fresh batch of green onions and cilantro to give it a touch of zing and aroma, and voilà!

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Recipe for Pasta with Quinoa Instead of Ground Beef or Pork

I am in the middle of revolutionizing by adding quinoa (KIN-wa) as a major staple or base, in addition to rice, pasta and some bread. Knowing this, my friend Rami Bardeesy recently suggested a meal to me that exemplifies my life philosophy #3 – AND not or – to combine the best of both words, while being very healthy. It was pasta with tomato sauce, veggies and quinoa. That was the quick and easy to make meal, but I didn’t call it that in the post title because it’s the substitution of the meat I normally would have with this dish that is key.

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A Few Simple and Potent Quinoa Salad Recipes

About a month ago, I was introduced to quinoa (KIN-wa) by some organic farming friends at Whippletree farm. Since then, I have integrated quinoa into my diet and thought I’d share a few recipes here, with more to come.

Quinoa is a South American grain of which you primarily eat the seeds. If you’ve never heard of it, or not sure what to make of it, NASA has declared it virtually unrivaled in the plant or animal kingdom for its life-sustaining nutrients and with an exceptional balance of amino acids (NY Times, Mar 19 2011). That is by far the best endorsement I have ever heard about any food, and it also tastes far better than my other staples of pasta and rice! No hype here, folks! This is the real deal!

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