Pineapple, White Asparagus and Mushroom Fried Rice

I love all types of fried rice. This one was inspired by some of our favorite Thai restaurants. It's a pineapple fried rice of sorts.

3 cups of cold Jasmine rice

1 cup of white asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces (just the tender non-fibrous part)

1 cup of fresh pineapple cut into chunks(you can also substitute a small can of pineapple chunks)

1 cup of white button mushrooms, sliced thinly

1/4 cup of diced green bell pepper

1/4 cup of diced yellow bell pepper

2 teaspoons of fish sauce

1 teaspoon of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1/2 teaspoon of yellow curry paste or curry powder

3 tablespoons of peanut or extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of finely chopped shallots

2 cloves of finely minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Using a large non-stick fry pan, saute mushrooms in oil until they start to caramelize. Add the white asparagus, yellow and green peppers and saute 3 minutes. Add the shallots, garlic, turmeric, and yellow curry paste to the pan. Stir fry the ingredients for an additional 3 minutes. Bring your rice to the party and combine and mix with the rest of the ingredients until every grain of rice is mellow yellow. Add fish sauce and brown sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

The Improvisational Salad of the Day: Swiss Chard with Grape Tomatoes

There's a million ways to make a salad. My salad recipes usually depend on the fresh ingredients I have available in my kitchen that day. I also rely on what flavor combinations I think go well together. Fresh young Swiss chard is a good alternative to lettuce, baby spinach or mesclun greens. Swiss chard is considered a dark leafy green vegetable so you know what that means? It's really good for you. It has tons of vitamins(mostly Vitamin K and A). Today's salad is easy to assemble: First, rinse your veggies in cold water. Dry your veggies well (use a salad spinner for your greens if you have one). Combine torn fresh young Swiss chard, grape tomatoes, chopped yellow bell pepper and thinly sliced red onion. Top with your favorite salad dressing or vinaigrette. :-)