Sammy Wong's Kitchen

My cooking and baking style is "HUGE with healthy and a dab of decadence!" I love living a healthy lifestyle which includes exercising, eating healthy and cooking well.  I aslo enjoy eating delicious food.  I don't believe in crash diets, but I do believe in conscientious and conscious eating habits.  Some amazing food recipes are worth their weight in calories, but others can be tweaked to be healthier! Through much of my own experimentation and research, I've gleaned a multitude of "inspired" recipes and cooking hacks such as...not everything good has to be made from scratch and not everything good needs to be made with tons of butter! It is my pleasure to share my and selective guest contributors' baking or cooking recipes and findings with you all.

Michelle Sam profile

Many of my recipes are "ethnically" inspired as a result of my upbringing as a Chinese in South Africa and my travels around the world where I love to "live and eat like the locals".  After being diagnosed with pre-diabetes a few years ago, I started researching the wonders of sourdough and am on a mission to create recipes that are healthier while keeping them interesting and delicious.

Check out my recipessourdough digesttips & tricks as well as my helpful tools section.  So, tie on an apron and come join me in my kitchen!  Also,  please send me requests, questions or comments in the comment section.  I'd love to hear from you. Lastly, I would love and appreciate a follow on social media.  Thanks!



My Latest Recipes


I recently visited the East coast and decided to order the Fall farro salad from various restaurants, up and down the coast, that offered it.  This Fall farro salad and butternut squash with apple cider vinaigrette is the culmination of the best parts of every Fall farro salad that I've eaten.  It is definitely worth the extra labor and is READ MORE

HIGH-PROTEIN QUINOA SOURDOUGH BREAD

I developed this high-protein quinoa sourdough bread recipe by accident.  I was visiting my daughter in Miami and brought "Poolish" GET THE RECIPE

SILKY CANTONESE STEAMED EGG

When I was a pre-teen and needed to make a quick dinner for my family since my parents were working, GET THE RECIPE

FLUFFY CHINESE STEAMED BUNS

Here is a recipe for fluffy Chinese steamed buns or mantou.  Although these buns originated from northern China where wheat-based GET THE RECIPE

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MOONCAKES

Traditional Chinese mooncakes are usually eaten during the mid-Autumn festival when the moon is the brightest and fullest.  For me, GET THE RECIPE

LEMONY HIGH-FIBER QUINOA SALAD

Quinoa is a very versatile food.  Although it has the same amount of carbohydrates as white rice, these are complex GET THE RECIPE

GOJI BERRY, CHIA, SESAME SOURDOUGH BREAD

I decided to develop this goji berry, chia, sesame sourdough bread as a superfood bread.  Ever had goji berries?  Goji GET THE RECIPE

MINI CANNOLIS

I went to college near Boston and when I discovered the Italian North End, I discovered pollo a la Lucia GET THE RECIPE

CHINESE SMASHED CUCUMBER SALAD

I've been making this Chinese smashed cucumber salad for years, and it was not until I made this quick salad GET THE RECIPE

CHINESE STEAMED BBQ PORK BUNS (CHAR SUI BAO)

Many years ago, one of my favorite dim sum dishes was the Chinese steamed BBQ pork buns (cha sui bao). GET THE RECIPE

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Cooking Tips & Tricks


I love the outdoors, especially fishing.  On a recent trip to Nantucket, I had the (Read more)

How to clean and prepare squid

Many sourdough starter recipes out there are derived from professional bakers who bake multiple loaves (Read more)

Sourdough starter for the home baker

Many people think that scoring your sourdough is just for aesthetic purposes.  I used to (Read more)

Scoring your sourdough

Making GOOD and healthy sourdough bread is a labor of love.  It takes time and (Read more)

Making the bread dough

What is a starter?  What is a levain? Some recipes use the word starter and (Read more)

Maintaining the starter, making the levain

Environment It took me a while to figure out how my environment was a huge (Read more)

Understanding sourdough: adapting to the environment

Baker's percentages and hydration percentages are two math concepts that are helpful when baking bread. (Read more)

Bread Math: Baker’s Percentages

Here are some essential utensils and tools for sourdough baking.  These basic necessities that will (Read more)

Essential utensils and tools for sourdough baking

Cooked spaghetti squash sounds simple, but there are some tips for cooking perfect spaghetti squash (Read more)

Cooking perfect spaghetti squash

Need some quick meal ideas?

EASY, HEALTHY, DELICIOUS!

EASY TOMATO SOUP
BARLEY, VEGETABLE and CHICKEN SOUP
CHICKEN, VEGETABLES with WHITE WINE CAPER SAUCE
TUNA TATAKI SALAD WITH JALAPENO SOY DRESSING
EASY SPAGHETTI SQUASH MARINARA BOWLS

About Michelle Sam

Michelle was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and has been a passionate eater since birth and cook since age 7. She later started experimenting in the kitchen, recreating and tweaking dishes she discovered on vacation and her travels to countries around the world. Michelle currently lives in Irvine, CA and manages a tech company that she founded ten years ago. When she isn't working with her engineers to write code, she can be found in her kitchen absorbed in a new project. When Michelle's two daughters moved to the East Coast, she filmed a few cooking tutorial videos to help guide her girls to make their favorite "Mom dishes" on their own. To Michelle's dismay, it appeared that thousands of anonymous viewers enjoyed her tutorial videos...but not her daughters! They would still call her for instructions. Michelle also started The OC Supper Club, a group of foodies that get together for member-lead cooking class meals, potluck competitions, and tastings through the many hidden culinary gems of Orange County.


Update:  I recently posted a very silly video that has nothing to do with cooking.  My girls apparently watch it almost every day!

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