Ginger Water and Raw Ginger Carrot Salad

ginger water

Ginger water and Ginger Carrot Salad are simple ways to include raw ginger in your diet. Ginger water is easy to make, in fact it practically makes itself, and the leftover ginger can be used in whatever recipes you like; even after soaking, the ginger still retains lots of flavor and zing, and great nutrition.

How to Make Healthy Ginger Water

Use as much ginger as you like, the more you use, the more intense the ginger water flavor,
plus you’ll have more ginger leftover to use in other recipes.

  • Wash and peel ginger.
  • Chop into approx. ¼ inch slices.
  • Place into a pitcher or jug and fill with water.
  • Refrigerate 8-10 hours or overnight, and that’s it.
    You’ve got refreshing and zesty ginger water!
    Drink the water and then refill the water using the same ginger; if you’ve used
    a lot of ginger, you’ll be able to soak the same ginger several times.

Once the intensity of the ginger water begins to diminish, you can start again with
fresh ginger.
But what do you do with the old ginger?
Just use it in another recipe!
It will still have plenty of intensity and flavor.

ginger water
simply soaking raw ginger in water will infuse the water with a refreshing zing

Ginger Carrot salad is an excellent way to use lots of ginger, and because it’s raw ginger, it will be super flavorful.
This ginger carrot salad makes a great great side for any meal, or even a healthy dessert. In fact, leftover ginger carrot salad will become even sweeter the next day, and adding lots of dried fruit will make it even more dessert-like.

ginger water
Don’t be shy when it comes to using ginger, the more the better.

Ginger Carrot Salad Ingredients

This is an approximation of what I use in the video, but I never really measure
when I make this dish. Just use a lot more carrot than ginger, and about the same amount
of raisins as ginger, and then whatever other dried fruit you like; the more dried fruit you use,
the sweeter the dish will be, and it will already be sweet from the raisins and carrots, especially
the next day if there are leftovers.

½ cup minced GINGER
5 cups shredded CARROTS
¾ cup RAISINS
plus whatever other dried fruit you like:
prunes, apricot, cherries, etc. (this is optional)
½ cup MAYONNAISE
1 large LEMON…zest and juice
CELERY SEEDS to taste (this is optional, I’ve added these and liked it,
if you want to make the dish less desserty, adding celery seeds and no
additional dried fruits besides raisins is one way to do it)

How To Make a Raw Ginger Carrot Salad Recipe

  • Mince the ginger and add it into a large mixing bowl.
  • Shred the carrots and add to bowl.
  • Add raisins and whatever other dried fruits you like (it’s okay if you don’t add extra
    fruit).
  • For the dressing:

  • In a smaller bowl, add mayonnaise.
  • Add the zest and juice of a lemon to the mayonnaise.
  • Whisk until smooth.
  • Add the dressing to the large bowl and mix well.
  • Serve immediately, or chill and serve later.

    ginger water
    This ginger carrot salad is an easy way to include raw ginger in your diet.

    Give ginger water and this healthy ginger carrot salad recipe a try and let me know what you think, and bon appétit!

    And for another very healthy ginger dish, check out this Ginger Chicken Recipe.

    Ginger Chicken
    Best Ginger Chicken Recipe

    Thanks for checking out the recipes and videos. If you like the recipe, click a button or two below and share it with your friends and family on social media, I appreciate it!
    –Chef Buck

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French Toast with Cream Cheese Filling

french toast

Why have Plain French Toast when you can have French Toast with a cream cheese filling? A little creamy cheese and cinnamon ginger apples can transform your breakfast into a 10-year old’s dream breakfast.

French Toast Ingredients:

BREAD (sliced, stale)
1½ cups MILK
4 EGGS
BUTTER for frying, and apples
APPLES (peeled, sliced)
CANDIED GINGER (sliced)
WALNUTS (toasted)
8 oz CREAM CHEESE (soft)
15 oz RICOTTA CHEESE
CINNAMON (to taste)
optional: sugar and vanilla

french toast
Stale bread makes the best french toast! –slice ahead of time!

French Toast Directions:

Stale bread makes great French toast, so slicing bread ahead of time is a great idea; at least a few hours ahead of time, but ideally overnight. Stale bread will soak up the French toast batter without becoming overly soggy and falling apart, especially if you’re using thinner slices of bread, and the thinner or thicker the slices will depend on your particular tastes. This French toast recipe doesn’t need thicker slices, since you’re basically building a French toast sandwich; I’m using thicker slices of challa bread for this video, but I often use regular slices of Hawaiian sweet bread, which works great.

Mix the cream cheese and ricotta cheese together. Be sure to set your cream cheese out ahead of time to soften, this will make mixing it with the ricotta cheese much easier. I’ll often mix these ingredients ahead of time. If making a smaller amount, the cheese mix is about a 2 to 1 ratio of ricotta to cream cheese. I sometimes add a tsp. or two of sugar to the cheese mix, but this is optional; I prefer it without the added sugar, since the apple mix will be quite sweet.

Any leftover cream/ricotta mix can be used as dessert topping, and makes a tasty filling for omelets. I generally make too much apple mix, but that’s a good thing, too. I’m generous with the apple topping, and any leftover apple mix is a perfect topping for oatmeal or ice cream.

french toast
Creamy cheese filled French Toast

To make the apple mix, peel, slice, and remove the cores of the apples. Apples vary quite a bit in size, but I usually end up with about 4-6 cups of apple slices, and I generally use gala or Fuji apples, which take little time to cook down.

Melt about 2 Tbsp of butter in a pot and add apples. Mix with butter and cook over medium heat. Add candied ginger slices; I think ½ to 1 cup is a good amount of candied ginger, but there is no wrong amount, follow your gut. Add 1-2 Tbsp of sugar and cinnamon to taste, Mix and cover and cook about 20 minutes, until apples soften and get juicy. For extra liquidy goodness, stir in about ¼ cup water. You want the apples to be a little syrupy, that way you won’t have to use any maple syrup with the French toast. Once the apples are cooked to your liking, cover and set aside.

Mix the French toast batter. A basic batter is eggs and milk, and I’m also adding cinnamon, but often folks will add a little sugar or vanilla extract. I don’t add vanilla or sugar to the batter with this particular dish, because the creamy cheese center and apple-ginger topping will add more than enough flavor. In a bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and cinnamon to taste (½ tsp is a good amount). Whisk together well and then pour some into a shallow bowl–or all–it depend on the size of your shallow bowl; you don’t want the batter to be so deep that it runs into the cheesy part of your French toast sandwich.

To build the French toast sandwich, simply spread the cheese mixture onto a slice of bread and top with another slice, making a basic cheese sandwich.

You can also add toasted walnuts into the sandwich for a nice crunch, or simply top the toast later with toasted nuts, but definitely add nuts at some point, cause the crunchy contrast makes the dish perfect, and toasted walnuts are awesome.
To toast the walnuts: spread walnuts on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5-7 minutes. It won’t take long. As soon as the nuts begin to color up, remove them from the oven; they will burn if ignored, so set a timer and watch them closely. Taking the time to toast the walnuts is well worth the effort…it’s a great taste.

Once you’ve constructed the cheesy French toast sandwich, heat a little butter in a non-stick skillet on medium heat. Check current prices for a Non-Stick Skillet on Amazon.
Place the sandwich in the batter and let soak a moment and then turn and batter the other side.
Place sandwich in the skillet and cook on medium heat until golden brown, turn and cook other side and remove from the heat.
Slice French toast and then top with apples and walnuts (a dusting of powdered sugar is optional). For a splash of color, add fresh berries or mint.

Serve this cheese stuffed French toast with maple syrup, or without–I find the cooked apples to be syrupy enough, and the warm cheesy center keeps the French toast from being too dry.

It’s a super delicious dish and a great treat for company.

Give this fancy pants Cream Cheese French Toast recipe a try and let me know what you think, and bon appétit!

And for another fancy pants breakfast dish, try this Pancake Recipe.

Fancy pancakes are easy to make.
Fancy pancakes are easy to make, and better looking, too.

Thanks for Watching our French Toast Recipe Video!

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Asparagus Recipe — Tangy Lemon Ginger Asparagus

Asparagus is one of those veggies you cook when you’re trying to impress–and this asparagus recipe will do the job. The lemon adds a nice zing while the whole fennel/mustard seeds add flavor and texture without overpowering the great taste of asparagus.

Asparagus Recipe Ingredients:
1½ lb. ASPARAGUS
1 small LEMON (zest and juice)
2 Tbsp OLIVE OIL
½ tsp FENNEL SEEDS
½ tsp MUSTARD SEEDS
3-4 cloves GARLIC (or more…go for it, dude)
1 inch GINGER (which should end up being between 1-2 Tbsp thinly sliced)
SALT and PEPPER to taste

When buying asparagus, thin is better than thick. Choose firm spears. Avoid asparagus that have a wrinkled skin, or tips that are wet and greasy looking. Rinse and drain the asparagus spears, then chop into 1 inch pieces. When slicing, leave the tops of the spears intact so they don’t fall apart while cooking. Heat olive oil on medium heat in a skillet. When oil is hot, add mustard and fennel seeds and stir for 20-30 seconds–not long at all. Add garlic and ginger–a lot of ginger; I use about 1 inch, thinly sliced–about the size of a fish scale. Stir skillet 1 minute, lower heat if necessary.
Stir in asparagus. Add salt and pepper to taste. I like my asparagus to retain a bit of crunch–who likes mushy asparagus?–so this dish doesn’t take long to cook. Saute for about 4 minutes and the dish will be done. From the time you add the seeds to completion, the cooking time will only be about 5 minutes–of course you can extend the cooking time if YOU DO like softer asparagus (crazy!)–but everybody likes what they like, so namaste, man. About a minute before the dish is done, add the lemon zest. When the asparagus is crunchy or soft the way you like it, and you’re ready to get it off the heat, add the lemon juice, stir, and serve.
It’s a tasty asparagus dish and a perfect side for a nice steak (or whatever).
Give this asparagus recipe a try and let me know what you think, and bon appétit!

If you enjoy asparagus, you likely love this Brussels Sprouts Recipe.
brussels sprouts

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Lentil Soup Recipe with Ginger

lentil ginger soup

A lentil soup recipe! Doesn’t that sound like all of your dreams are coming true? Pick up some brightly colored lentils and give this lentil soup recipe a try.

What you Need for this Lentil Soup Recipe:

1 ½ cups LENTILS
5-6 cups WATER (or ½ water ½ broth)
1 large ONION (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp fresh GINGER (finely chopped)
1 hot PEPPER (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp OLIVE OIL
1 tsp CUMIN SEEDS
½ tsp TUMERIC POWDER
1 tsp CORIANDER POWDER
1 14 oz can DICED TOMATOES (or 2 Lg tomatoes, diced)
SALT and BLACK PEPPER to taste
CILANTRO LEAVES for garnish (coriander leaves)

How to Make the Soup:

If you need a nice soup pot for your kitchen, you can check here for current pricing for a soup pot on Amazon.

  • In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. When oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and allow cooking for about 1 minute. After a minute the seeds will begin to open, at this point add the onion and hot pepper and allow cooking until the onions soften and become translucent.
  • Now, add ginger, coriander, and turmeric and continue mixing ingredients over medium heat.
    Add tomatoes, mix, and cook with ingredients for 2 minutes.
  • Add lentils (be sure to wash and rinse first). Red or yellow lentils will make this dish look extra yummy. Darker lentils will taste equally as good—the dish just won’t win a beauty contest—but use whatever kind you have, ultimately, your stomach won’t know the difference.
  • Add water, or a combination of water/broth.
  • Next, bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat, then cover the pot loosely and allow ingredients to simmer for 30 minutes.
  • After 30 minutes, add salt and pepper to taste. Add more water as needed, but sparingly—you don’t want your soup to be too thin. Cover pot loosely and continue cooking another 15-20 minutes.

Final Steps:

  • When the lentils are soft and completely cooked, lightly blend the soup to add a creamy consistency. A hand-held stick blender works great—a few quick pulses and voilà! If a stick blender is not handy (rim shot), simply remove a few cups of the soup to a table top blender, smooth, and return to the pot. This step isn’t necessary, but do it; just do it.
  • If the soup is thinner than you like, continue to simmer briefly—but remember, the lentils, like rice, will continue to absorb water and thicken the soup on their own.
  • Garnish with cilantro (coriander leaves) and serve with French bread for optimal taste satisfaction.

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Bon appétit!

And, if you like bread with your soup, you might love trying this Fancy Egg Bread Recipe, it’s one of my favorites.

egg bread
baked egg bread with rosemary seasoning

Thanks for checking the recipes out! If you liked it, click some of the buttons below and share it with your friends and family, I appreciate it.
–Buck

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