Can YOUR kids sit through a 75 minute, three course dinner at age four? I don’t think I would have made it back in the day…hahaha…

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What are YOUR thoughts? Do you think restaurants need to revamp?

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And in case you’re wondering about the Christmas Day French Toast recipe, here’s the sweet version*:

What you need:

• Two large whole eggs
• Two large egg whites
• 3/4 cups of skim or 1% milk
• 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla extract
• Six to eight slices of coconut bread (depending on the size)
• 1/2 cup each of raspberries and blueberries* (frozen okay)

Directions

• Mix the eggs, vanilla and milk in a bowl
• Soak the slices of bread and place them in a lightly greased baking dish
• Top the bread with the berries, if you’re using them
• Bake for 25 minutes at 375 F and then switch to broil for five minutes

This recipe should feed two to four people.  There is no need to add sugar as the bread is already sweet itself.

*originally posted on my old site, DelectablyChic!

The savoury version uses the same custard mix minus vanilla (sub with garlic powder and a few grinds of black pepper) and is topped with bocconcini and tomatoes. You can add some basil after it’s out of the oven.

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If you know of any, please let me know by commenting below. I’ve done all my research and couldn’t find A THING. Plus the people I contacted (e.g. T&T) were NOT HELPFUL AT ALL. I’m pretty sure they thought I was crazy/a “dumb Jook Sing.”

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However, this is NOT what diversity activists seem to want us to think. If you watch any TV show attempting to be more “diverse,” they often emphasize ONLY the old culture, that of their parents, and do not even WANT to mention that the children (even adult children) may think differently, do things their own way that acknowledges both their ancestral heritage(s) and that of the country they were born/raised in. The so-called DE&I “leadership” will never admit that this happens. In fact, they’ll likely just say that we’re too “colonized” and need to be “reprogrammed.” Okay, maybe not the latter term, but you know what I mean. Do they realize how INSULTING this is? Racist, even? I mean, what’s WRONG with them? If you want diversity and inclusion, you HAVE to note that this happens. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that they do. I’ve been personally insulted ENOUGH by these groups. And it’s sad, because I have a lot to offer them. Don’t they want to hear about different experiences?

Anyway, enough on the diversity rant. You hear/read enough of it from me, both on this site and on my podcast (haha). What I want to say is that this way of cooking is by no means about people turning their backs onto their culture nor is it diluting their ancestry. It’s actually quite the opposite. It IS, in fact, emphasizing one’s culture. No matter what you do, you have to admit that the chef’s culture isn’t ONLY that of their parents, but also the culture they grew up in. So if your parents came from Korea and you were born and raised in, say, Manhattan and you own a bagel shop, why NOT have kimchi flavoured cream cheese as an option (well, once the apparent shortage is no longer an issue)? Or, I don’t know, one of my Christmas Day traditions where I use Hong Kong style coconut pull-apart bread for French toast. It shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, I think it’s pretty cool!

Some of these dishes actually come from our own childhoods. We wanted so-called “Canadian” foods, but our parents wanted to make food from their homelands. Most of us end up eating both. Some of us had nice parents/grandparents who made fusion dishes at home, and sometimes for us to take to school. For example (and I probably mentioned this in a Cynthia Talks Life episode), (leftover) soy sauce roast chicken sandwiches for me. The whole idea of stinky “immigrant kid” lunches is a foreign concept for me. And I really think there are more people like me. But then again, it might just be the circle I grew up with. I don’t think any of us had that so-called “typical narrative” that so many in the diversity space want to emphasize.

We talk about fusion cuisine all the time. It’s usually something “elevated,” so why not start calling it something else? Like, oh, I don’t know, CANADIAN (or American/British/Australian/wherever you’re from) food? That said, I can’t wait to try dishes like, steamed pumpkin pie dumplings, apple pie stuffed naan, linguini tossed with char siu and choy sum (even though this is kind of boring-sounding) and the like. Grilled cheese with Peking duck sounds pretty interesting too. And isn’t this so-called NEW cuisine really part of what diversity/inclusion is all about anyway? If you don’t agree, then it’s kind of sad. Culture is meant to evolve, after all. If it isn’t supposed to, then wouldn’t everyone still be eating whatever people in their ancestral heritage ate thousands of years ago? Heck, I don’t even KNOW what people from the area of China my ancestors are from ate 4,000 years ago (and which part? It’s a big country. Most of my family is from the southeastern area (I think), but some are from the north) unless I went to a food museum and they had some sort of exhibit. This kind of fusion only enhances things and makes things more interesting.

NOTE: I realize I talked about this on an episode of Cynthia Talks Life in October. I just wanted to re-emphasize this issue now that REAL MEDIA has acknowledged it!!!

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The sauce is a version of a cauliflower cream sauce I found online, but I didn’t have enough cauliflower, so I mixed in some butternut squash. To the sauce (approximately 1 cup for two adults and a toddler), I added shredded cheese, cottage cheese, quark (can use cream cheese), some hummus, vegetables (which were pre-cooked in the casserole dish) and cracked two egg whites. Mixed in pasta and then baked for 35 minutes.

Ingredients (for two adults and a toddler):

• 4 oz of pasta (I used fusilli)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• A handful (or two) of mushrooms, any kind (I used shitakke)
• 1 cup of cauliflower cream
• 1/3 cups of shredded cheese (I used a blend of mozzarella, cheddar and “frugal”)
• 2-3 heaping tablespoons of cottage cheese
• 1 tablespoons of quark or cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons of hummus
• 2 egg whites
• a handful (or two) of frozen peas
• a small handful of breadcrumbs (optional)
• 3 tablespoons of cheese curds (optional)

Instructions:

1. Chop all vegetables and cook it in a casserole dish in the oven at 300 F for 20 minutes
2. While the vegetables are cooking, get the pasta started. Cook one minute less than al dente (so if it says seven to 10 minutes, cook it for six) and drain. Save some of the pasta water (approximately 2 oz)
3. Add the pasta to the cooked vegetables and mix
4. In the same pot you cooked the pasta (but without the pasta), warm the cauliflower cream, adding a little bit of the pasta water. Don’t add all of it. You’ll have more than you need. You just want to thin it out a little
5. Add about half to 3/4 of the shredded cheese, hummus, cottage cheese, cream cheese/quark and stir
6. Add half of the sauce into the pasta in the casserole dish and mix
7. Add two egg whites to the remaining sauce and add into the pasta. Mix
8. Top with remaining cheese and optional curds and bread crumbs
9. Bake with foil on at 350 for 25 minutes and off for another 10

Serve!

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Cin Cin Mien

This dish, which I’ve dubbed Cin Cin (pronounced like the “cin” in cappuccino – Cin Cin is my Chinese name. I think my parents gave me that name since it looks similar to Cindy/Cynthia (and was, for a long time, pronounced with an English pronunciation) AND because it’s easy to write in Chinese) Mien mostly to avoid criticism from purists (and because it has more Mediterranean flavours than Chinese). You never know these days – especially when it comes to culture. Like dan dan mien, it has greens, long noodles, sauce and protein. Unlike the “authentic” version, it doesn’t use Chinese sesame sauce (or peanut butter) or wine vinegar. Instead, it has hummus (hey, hummus has tahini, right? And extra protein!!!) and balsamic. So what do you need?

Ingredients

Ingredients for the sauce (for one person):

• 1/2 tsp soy sauce or soy substitute
• 1/2 tbsp almond butter
• 1 tbsp hummus
• dash of dried chili pepper
• dash of garlic powder
• drizzle of olive oil
• drizzle of balsamic

Sauce

Other ingredients:

• Long noodles (Asian egg noodles, soba, spaghetti, linguini, etc…doesn’t matter)
• Protein of some sort (I used leftover vegan chili. To be honest, I really should have used something plainer – maybe tofu (ideally extra firm, but firm is okay) or chicken)
• Leafy green vegetables like kale, spinach, collards, etc…

Cin Cin Mien a Fromage

Directions

1. Boil noodles according to the package
2. While the noodles are boiling, make the sauce and set aside. Make sure you take some of the pasta water out so you can cook the greens later
3. Cook the protein, adding half of the sauce.
4. Drain the noodles once they’re cooked
5. Using the extra pasta water, cook the greens.

To assemble the noodles:

Place the noodles into a bowl first then add the protein on one side and greens on the other. Top the remaining sauce onto the protein. Before eating, mix everything together!

Extras: The noodles can be topped with more seeds (I used everything spice), nuts or, for Cin Cin Mien a fromage, use cream cheese, ricotta, cottage cheese and/or quark!

The post Cin Cin Mien: A Dan Dan Inspired Dish appeared first on Cynthia C. Mintz.

• 2 medium medium bananas, mashed
• 1 1/2 heaping cups of oat bran
• 2-3 heaping tablespoons of cacao powder (100%!!!!!)
• 2 tablespoons of almond milk (or other milk)

Optional mix-ins: cinnamon (a sprinkle), nutmeg (1/2 teaspoons), vanilla (1 to 2 teaspoons), almond butter, nuts, etc…

For this recipe, I decided to add cinnamon and nutmeg, since we’re heading into the holiday season. All you need to do is mix all of the ingredients together and then bake in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes. To be honest, since this doesn’t include flour or raw eggs, it can totally be eaten straight from the bowl!

This will make at least 18 bite sized cookies. For the season, I decided to make holiday-shaped cookies (plus a car shaped one, since my son loves vehicles of any kind!). I’ll be making more of these closer to Chanukah and Christmas, likely ones which will actually be decorated!

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The pumpkin brownies I made was based off one I found online and pinned onto my “baking” board. The original used three ingredients: one can of pumpkin purée, half a cup of almond butter and 1/4 to 2/3 cups of cocoa. However, I didn’t want to use THAT much almond butter and wanted to use 100% cacao powder (because it’s healthier!!!) instead. So my recipe suddenly became more like five ingredients. For my brownies, I used:

• 1/2 can of pumpkin purée
• 1/2 can of black beans, drained
• 1 tablespoon of melted cacao
• 1 tablespoon of almond butter
• 1/2 scant cup of mashed bananas (about two or three bananas)
• 1/4 to 2/3 cups of cacao powder

Mix all the ingredients together and place in a 4 x 6 pan. Bake at 350 F until done.

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Pumpkin purée mooncakes!

• 1 can of pumpkin purée (348 mL)
• 1/2 cup of cornmeal
• 1/2 cup of chickpea flour
• 1 tablespoon of kefir

(You can also add mix-ins, such as grated cheese, garlic, seeds, etc……This recipe is meant to be savoury)

The moulds I used

Mix the ingredients together and place 1/4 cups of batter in the mooncake-moulded muffin pan I bought online a few years ago (in other words, this can be a regular muffin recipe). Bake for 15 minutes and then flip them over for another 10 minutes.

Bingo, fusion/Canadianized mooncakes!!! Sure, your ancestors will probably turn in their graves, but who cares, right?

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