Mother Bliss Munchies

Tofu Gyoza

2011-06-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

I tried making some gyoza with tofu instead of ground pork. Taste-wise it was pretty good but the texture was a little on the soft side. I made some extra and froze them. It'll be interesting to see if deep frying will make it harder to distinguish from the meat kind.

Into this batch went into some cabbage, firm tofu (drained all day), nira (garlic chives), bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, salt and pepper, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Matcha Green Tea Syrup

2011-06-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

It's snow cone season! One of my favorite flavors is sweet green tea with condensed milk. I haven't had this treat for at least a couple years since sweet green tea costs so much. Thanks to the internet, I found a recipe and made my own. ^_^

In small pan, put in 1/2 c water with 1/2 c sugar. Heat till sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add 1 1/2 t matcha powder. Do not stir, let sit 10 minutes. Then stir. Strain, if desired. If you like this stuff, double the recipe like I did. There's got to be more uses than just snow cones. Maybe on yogurt??? That, actually might be quite good.

Mmmmm. It was soooo good.

Pressure Cooker Split Pea Soup

2011-06-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been really bad with meal preparations. The kids don't mind eating whatever and making it themselves so meal planning has not been priority. Life's been pretty hectic, maybe that's why. (not that I'm looking for an excuse...) The other day David pulls out a bag of split peas from the pantry and says, you need to make some soup with these. Of course, I don't get on it first thing in the morning and start my crock pot, rather I waited around till 3pm or so when I realize I need to cook these babies. Hmmm, I wonder how they'd turn out in the pressure cooker... guess I'll find out. One hour later, whola, split pea soup! At first they seemed a little runny but after they sat a couple hrs they thickened up just nicely. Recipe from Food.com. The only change made was that I omitted the ham and used some ham stock.

Kim Chi Fried Rice

2011-05-05T21:54:00.000-07:00

I had just made some kim chi a couple weeks ago so I had some kim chi in my fridge. And then in my inbox comes a recipe for Kim Chi Fried Rice by Dr. Ben Kim. I happen to have a some leftover rice so I tried making this, thinking "if my kids don't like it, at least I'm not making a whole lot so it won't be a huge waste of food." Turns out they all liked it. Even Emi who doesn't like kim chi ate it. It was very simple to make too, and it's another rice dish I can add to my recipe box.

Banana Peppers Barley Salad

2011-03-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

The other day I had a pepperoncini barley salad that was really good I looked for it online. Looks like there is a recipe floating around that came from Cooking Light. Pepperoncinis are usually kinda spicy and I wasn't sure if my kids'll eat them so I subbed banana peppers instead. I didn't have all the ingredients so I omitted and subbed things, the recipe seems pretty flexible as most salad recipes are. In the end, my salad comprised of pearl barley, banana peppers, olive oil, lemon juice, cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh basil. The kids loved them and kept swinging by the kitchen to grab a few bites. I doubled the recipe and it was mostly all gone by the end of dinner. It is a very refreshing salad, and the barley added a nice bite as well as goodness for the body. (Recipe and nutritional facts from Livestrong.com.)

Wild Rice Mix Pilaf

2011-03-24T23:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's the asian in me but I really like rice. All kinds of rice. I like it when I go to a restaurant and there's rice on my plate, a different kind of rice other than my usual short grain white rice. Wild rice mix pilaf is one of my favorite restaurant rices. I've never had much luck making it at home, it always come out gooshy or the opposite, way too hard. I found some wild rice mix at a bulk bin and thought I'd give it another try. But this time in my new pressure cooker. I had high hopes.

I thought I'd season it this time, so I threw in some chicken stock, parsley, and garlic. I wasn't quite sure about the water and the time, with several different grains with their own separate cook times, I took an average and went with that.

Well, turns out it was too much water (1 cup rice to 2.5 cups water) which maybe I should of adjusted to the pressure cooker. The brown rice was soft but the barley still had a nice bite to it. Taste wise, it was tasty. Just wasn't the nice rice like the restaurants. Next time will be better. I hope.

Homemade Gatorade

2011-03-14T21:50:00.000-07:00

The other day I was running short on time to make dinner so I got some frozen fish sticks. I ask my kids if they liked them and my son says he likes the homemade kind better. He follows that with a "everything is better homemade" statement. Oh yeah, well how about Homemade Gatorade? You didn't like that the last time I made it... What??? You made homemade gatorade? I don't remember, they all reply. So I made it again, but this time instead of OJ I used Kool-Aid and with some research and a little tweaks, whola! homemade gatorade!

Here's what I came up with: 1 pkg kool-aid (this batch was with Lemon Lime), 1/2 t LITE salt, 1/4 t regular salt, 5 pkgs Sun Crystals (pure cane sugar and stevia mix), 1/2 t sour salt (aka citric acid), 1/4 c sugar, and 1/2 gallon of water. I think it turned out pretty close and it was so much cheaper.

Nutritional Info (per 8 oz serving), homemade vs store-bought:

Calories: 25 vs 50

Sodium (mg): 111 vs 110

Potassium (mg): 44 vs 30

Sugar (g): 7 vs 14

Homemade version has less sugar and calories which I like since my kids tend to drink these more for enjoyment than as a "sports drink" during exercise. If they were to be used as a sports drink and they needed more calories, I might add maltodextrin or sub more sugar for the Sun Crystals.

Round 2: Ice Blue Raspberry Lemonade "Gatorade". The kids liked this flavor better than the Lemon Lime.

I've read that if you double the water, it'll taste like Gatorade Rain.

Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins & Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

2011-03-06T19:55:00.000-08:00

Muffins and quickbreads really taste good when I'm at work so I made a couple muffins from Allrecipes. I've been trying to encorporate whole grains into my baked foods so I specifically looked for something with oatmeal. Oatmeal blueberry muffins and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal. The chocolate chip muffin tasted like a choco chip cookie, a little too much chips but I liked the batter part so I might try it different add-ins.

Italian Bean Soup

2011-03-01T23:02:00.000-08:00

It's been so cold lately, it's been definitely soup weather. I had some cooked navy beans in my fridge that needed something done to them quick, so I searched for a bean soup and found one in a Better Homes and Gardens soup cookbook. It sounded really interesting, had basalmic vinegar in it. It gave a nice interesting flavor to the soup, unfortunately that taste was gone the next day. All in all, a good soup recipe. I didn't have green beans so I subbed some spinach, and didn't bother with the bread topping. Recipe was also found on their website.

No Knead Challah

2011-03-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

Having been making no-knead 5-minute artisan bread and seeing how simple yet delicious these breads are, I had to give this no-knead challah bread from King Arthur a try. The recipe yields three loaves, I baked all three since fresh baked bread doesn't last too long around here. For the honey, I used a wildflower honey which has a pretty distinct and strong flavor. Next time I'd probably use a milder flavored honey. It was still good, nonetheless, and I like how the braids look.

Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

2011-03-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, this one's not completely from scratch but I think it's been modified enough to be called 'homemade'. I had about 30 minutes to get dinner on the table and usually I simmer my spaghetti sauces a while but given the time crunch I made it with my pressure cooker. Chopped a couple onions and mushroom (didn't even saute them first), put them into the pressure cooker with some minced garlic, bay leaves, italian seasoning, black pepper, and a couple cans of commercial spaghetti sauce. PC-timed it for 10 minutes and let it naturally release steam for about 10 minutes while the pasta was being cooked and then quick released it when the pasta was done. The sauce came out pretty good, except it was a little runny, I guess because it didn't get to evaporate some of the liquid, being in a fully enclosed pan and all. It thickened up a little the next morning though. Very simple and easy way to make spaghetti sauce without all the mess (that I experience, not sure about the rest of you...) that happens when I open the lid to stir during the simmer stage. And since I have an electric PC, I really enjoyed the Keep Warm feature.

Homemade Natto

2011-02-27T22:35:00.000-08:00

The pressure cooker and the crockpot got to share the action this time. Cooked 4 cups soybeans in the pressure cooker, mixed it with one package of commercial natto, put it in a bowl covered with a damp napkin, placed it inside a dishcloth lined crockpot on the WARM setting, covered the lid with a slight opening so it doesn't get too hot, and a day and a half later... natto!

And then I let it chill in the fridge overnight and scooped about two tablespoons each into a muffin tin and froze them to make individual servings. Started with four cups dried soybeans, made 34 servings.

My Latest Toy

2011-02-27T22:11:00.000-08:00

Times have definitely changed... choosing to spend my x-mas money on a kitchen appliance??? The younger me would of never guessed... I had been wanting a pressure cooker for some time now but wasn't sure if the return was worth the investment. The one I wanted was $100 and with that kind of money there are surely many other things I could get. But the time in my life where being healthy was becoming a priority has come and so I splurged.

This thing was a lot bigger than I expected, I went to the store to buy one but they were no longer carrying it in-store so I had to get it off their website so I had no clue of its size till the day it showed up at my doorstep. My rice cooker is a 10-cup one, looks so small in comparison!
Immediately that day I cooked some brown rice for that was the main reason I got this thing. It came with a recipe booklet but I chose to follow the rice/water ratio from a Japanese food webblog and was glad I did. Came out pretty good. The next day I tried some beans, presoaked them overnight even though I knew this step could be by-passed. Old habits are hard to break... The beans ended up being overcooked, but still edible. Cooked in under 30 minutes, not days like it usually take since I live at high altitude. Also tried making some beef stew with some cheap meat. They came out oh-so-tender. I think my meat-eating members of the family were pleased. It had been at least two years since my last beef stew. I think the pressure cooker will mainly be to cook brown rice, good for the family and even for Marmu, the dog. I have a pressure cooking book on hold at the library I am looking forward to reading and experimenting with.

Frittata

2011-02-17T23:09:00.000-08:00

I was having one of those days where I wasn't home all day and I hadn't pulled anything out of the freezer but still needed to make dinner. So I made a frittata. It was one of those very quick and easy dishes that taste real good. I couldn't really tell you how I made it because I combined what sounded good from three different recipes. But it had potatoes, onions, spinach, cilantro, tomatoes, and colby jack cheese in it. It was delicious.

Banana Cream Pie

2011-02-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

I've been craving banana cream pie for some time now and finally got around to making it. I cheated a little, used frozen pie crust (which cracked during baking... :( ), vanilla pudding packs, bananas, and whipped cream. I've tried using instant pudding in the past and just didn't like the taste. I've never made homemade vanilla pudding before but knew these pudding cups weren't bad so I used those instead. Baked the crust, spread two pudding cups on the bottom, layered some sliced bananas, and then spread two more pudding cups on top of that.

I didn't want to use canned whipped cream nor Cool Whip (don't really care of the taste) so I whipped up my own whipped cream following this recipe from Allrecipes.com called Stabilized Whipped Cream. I used powdered sugar instead and added a little more sugar cuz I didn't think it was quite sweet enough. It made just enough to top the pie and make little mounds. BTW... this whipped cream was sooooo good. Decorated it with some blueberries and whola, a beautiful pie. It tasted fresh without being too sweet, very yummy. ^_^

Greek Yogurt

2011-01-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

I had my first Greek Yogurt the other day, honey flavored Zoi yogurt. It was really, really good. The creaminess, the right amount of sweetness, oh I fell in love. Turns out greek yogurt can be made at home, all it is is strained regular yogurt, AKA yogurt cheese.

Lined a bowl a strainer and a cloth napkin (didn't have any cheesecloth) and let it sit overnight in my fridge.

Next morning it had become pretty thick.

Mixed in some wildflower honey.

The cold yogurt hardened the honey a little and made it hard to stir so I switched gears and added some agave syrup.

The addition of the honey and agave syrup made the yogurt less creamy but it still tastes pretty good. I can really taste the wildflower honey, might be better to use a milder honey. Next time I'll flavor the yogurt first then strain it. The amount of yogurt decreased to half the original amount, so I guess that justifies why they cost more.

Modified Rice Krispies Treats

2011-01-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

We're not big cereal people but every now and then my kids'll go through a cereal phase. They like eating them for afterschool snack rather than breakfast. Corn Flakes and Cheerios are usually stocked in our pantry because I love corn flakes with bananas after my workouts. ^_^

And we never buy cereal when it's not on sale, regular priced cereal isn't worth the money in my eyes, especially the sugary sweet kinds. But quite often different ones go on sale but many times they are one of those bundle deals, like you must buy four. And so we do. But soon after I buy these cereals, my kids' cereal phase is over and we are left with half boxes of cereals. That's when these modified Rice Krispy Treats come into play. Basically the recipe for rice krispy treats but with different cereals mixed in. Todays treats were made with Rice Krispies, Cocoa Puffs, and Cheerios.

Homecured Olives

2011-01-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

This year I tried curing my own olives. It was something that has crossed my mind in the past but it never went beyond the curiosity stage. I guess I was having problems finding raw green olives in small quantities (didn't want five gallons of the stuff.) But last x-mas my friend gave me a jar of her home cured olives which tasted sooooo good I was hooked. Turned out that the town at the bottom of our hill has streets lined with olive trees and after a call to the supervisor of Streets and Parks and got the ok to pick them, I was in.

Having picked the olives late in the season, many of the had already changed color and had begun to ripen. In the end I had olives in three different stages of ripeness so I experimented with different processes (future post). The green olives I used the lye method. I was a little scared for I read lye is poison and commonly used as drain opener. But after reading many, many blogs, I was assured it was safe.

About a day in the lye solution, followed by five days of water, and then two days in a brine, my olives were done. Aren't they gorgeous?

Even straight out of the brine solution the olives were very tasty but I decided to give them some extra seasoning. For all of them I added garlic and peppercorns as a base. I tried some different flavorings: one was with rosemary and italian seasoning, the other was bay leaves, and the third was hickory smoke flavor added by liquid smoke. They were all good in their own way. Once we start eating them it's hard to stop. Maybe that five gallons wouldn't of been too much after all. ^_^

Spinach Quiche

2011-01-19T20:11:00.001-08:00

Spinach quiche... one of those foods I don't really follow a recipe. Just throw in what sounds good at the time and bake it. But one thing that I like every single time... sliced fresh tomatoes and melted monterey jack cheese on top and some freshly ground black pepper. Mmm mmm mmm. ^_^

Cattle Tendon Soup

2011-01-15T15:52:00.000-08:00

I think I buy tendons only once every couple years and last year was one of those years. I put half into my oden (Japanese hot pot) and froze the other half of a later use, having this soup in mind.

I always wonder why tendons and intestines aren't sold at american grocery stores. So I have to get them at a chinese store. I'm sure U.S. butchers don't throw them away, maybe it all goes into hot dog weiners...

Here's a quick and easy beef tendon soup recipe found at chinarecipe.net. The only change I made was to cut the salt in half (maybe even less salt next time, it was quite salty) and subbed sake instead of yellow wine (since I didn't have any.)

Boiled Chestnuts

2011-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the simplest things taste the best. I'll have to learn how to roast chestnuts one day cuz that sounds good too.

Dark Chocolate Corn Flakes

2011-01-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

I had some dark chocolate lying around in a bowl, leftover from my holiday goody making. It sat next to my toaster and every time I made some toast I'd see it but ignore it because I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to go down the candymaking path for it seemed like too much work right now for my normal paying job's got me working hard lately. I don't know how or when but chocolate covered corn flakes entered my head. Internet research pointed to just chocolate, to some peanut butter added, even mix-ins such as raisins. But I kept it simple and kept it just chocolate. Melted it and stirred in some corn flakes. For some reason it's one of those things that sounds kinda weird but when you eat it it is really good. Can't really taste the corn flakes but can definitely feel the crunch. I guess it's kinda like crunchy chocolate. You just gotta try one to understand.

Soondubu Jjigae (Korean soft tofu soup)

2011-01-02T19:26:00.000-08:00

Cold weather has got me thinking about warm soups and the other day I remember this Korean tofu soup I had at Tofu House in San Diego that was really good. Online research led me to find that I pretty much had all the basic ingredients already so I tried making a vegetarian version. Although I went for the mild version, it was still a little too spicy for the kids, but it turned out pretty good. Found a recipe by Maangchi and added a little gochujang (korean red pepper paste) for a little extra flavor.

Making the soup stock with dried anchovies (in pouch), shiitake mushrooms, onions, kelp, and garlic.

Decided to make it a mushroom dish with various mushies. This one is Bunapi (white beech mushrooms.)

Maitake (hen of the woods.)

King Trumpet mushroom.

Also threw in the shiitake mushrooms from the stock to make a four-mushroom-tofu-soup. Garnished with green onions and a drizzle of sesame oil on the top, and served with rice. Delish!

Cranberry Orange Bread

2011-01-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

We all have out favorite quickbread. Mine is banana bread. Never really ventured out into trying other stuff, well except maybe apple bread once and cinnamon bread a few times. I was happy with my banana bread. Till one day my friend gives me a loaf of Cranberry Orange bread. Citrus in my baked good hardly ever happens. Not a big fan of that, and the only exception I can think of are Lemon Bars, but even that is a somewhat recent development. But I was pleasantly surprised. Man, these are good! And it was a nice change to have something different. So she shared her recipe she found at Allrecipes. The fresh cranberries were a nice touch to celebrate the season. This will make it into my "keeper" recipe box. Although it still doesn't beat my banana bread. ^_^

New York Cheesecake

2011-01-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

I remember making cheesecake at least once every year. Always at x-mas and usually someone in the family requests it for their birthday dessert. But things changed the last couple years and there wasn't a request for cheesecake and so I hadn't made it in a while. And then recently in my email inbox, my food newsletters were all about cheesecake. Never really associated cheesecake with the holidays but I wonder if they are related. I've always thought cheesecake was a year-round thing. So it seemed like it was a sign, "you need to make cheesecake!" So I listened. (^_^) I've been making the same cheesecake recipe for years, it is so good there was no reason to search for a better recipe. It was a recipe I found in a Joy of Cooking cookbook, but the same recipe can also be found here. You do have to give it about 48 hrs fridge time to let the flavors develope, but if you restrain yourself that long, trust me, you will not be disappointed.

Korokke Balls

2010-10-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

I wonder why the US doesn't have something like this for it seems like Americans love potatoes. Basically mashed potatoes breaded and deep fried. This Japanese food is breaded with panko and usually shaped more into patties but this time I tried making balls. I actually liked these better because it seemed like there are more of the outer crunchy-ness this way and it was a lot easier to make (I used my cookie dough scoop.)

Collard Green Coleslaw

2010-08-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

I've been subbing in for someone in the organic produce co-op this summer. The produce, although a bit pricey as organic things are, were of excellent quality. I couldn't choose what I got, but the grab-bag has been a good variety. This month's box had collards in it. Never had collards before so found a recipe for Collard Green Coleslaw on the Vegetarian Times website. Liked the fact that it was mayo-free, since mayo coleslaw's all I've ever made before, and I get to try something new. It was a little on the tangy side, but still quite good.

Homemade Slurpee

2010-08-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

Sage found this recipe for Homemade Slurpees/Slushies online so we made Lemon-Lime Slurpees. Few days later we made a Lemonade slurpee which was really refreshing and good. Upcoming flavors are coke slurpee and cherry slurpee. ^_^

Quinoa Tabouli

2010-08-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

My usual tabouli usually consists of couscous or bulgur but I gave quinoa a try. I liked this better than the other two kinds, mainly because the quinoa is better and somehow doesn't seem as soggy. And besides, it's a Superfood so all the better. ^_^

Buttery Soft Pretzels

2010-07-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

Thursday nights are summer concert nights and finger foods are just perfect to munch on. Since I've already done burritos and calzones, so this week was pretzels. It's been a while since I've made soft pretzels, for some reason the last time I made them, I recall them being time consuming and a little too much work, although they were delicious. This time, things were a little different. Everything went smoothly and was actually very simple. Found the recipe on Allrecipes. They were delicious, especially those fresh out of the oven. We will be making these again for sure. ^_^

Fresh Fruit Tart

2010-07-31T23:27:00.000-07:00

My take on Martha Stewart's Grape Tart. Oat crust with pastry cream, topped with cherries, mangoes, blueberries and raspberries.

Lemon Sherbet

2010-07-30T16:30:00.000-07:00

Made some lemon sherbet from the Joy of Cooking website. It was so good and refreshing. We did a taste taste with the Luigi Lemon Italian Ice and this one was so much better. It was just more "lemon-y" and I had even omitted the lemon zest, just cuz I'm a little lazy that way. This recipe's a keeper. ^_^

Kale Chips

2010-07-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

If I ever went totally raw, one thing I think I would miss would be chips. Looking at raw recipes, I came across Kale Chips. Many of them were flavored with "cheese" or "bbq" but I wanted to try the simple version first, so I tried Simply Raw Recipes' Basic Kale Chips.

Started off with this beautiful, almost-a-shame-to-have-to-cut-up flowering kale.

Seasoned with only olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. This actually tasted pretty good even before turning into chips.

The chips came out pretty good, a tad too lemony, but mmm mmm mmm! Gonna have to give the cheese and bbq version a try. ^_^

Please Stop

2010-07-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

Although I appreciate comments I don't like how people would take advantage of another person's site to create a link to advertise their own. Especially inappropriate ones. I will keep deleting your comments and not post them, so please stop wasting my time and yours. Thank you.

Plum Sherbet

2010-07-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

My uncle has a plum tree so he gave us a bunch of plums. I've never made any sort of plum dessert before so I tried making Plum Sherbet. Turned out a little tart but still very delish!

Plum Sherbet

2 1/2 c. plums, sliced and pitted

6T-10T sugar, depending on plum ripeness

1 t. lemon juice

pinch salt

1 c. heavy cream

Puree everything together and strain. And put in your ice cream maker.

Raw food: Day 2+

2010-07-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I tried continuing the raw food diet for the second day. Body started detoxing around 1pm, headache and drowsiness hit hard I had to take an one hour nap. Woke up somewhat refreshed and could still feel the detox. I give in and have a piece of toast and I start feeling better . Later I eat some leftover crab legs before they go bad and some grapefruit for my evening snack. I feel normal the rest of the night, decide to step on the scale and I've lost five pounds! I'm not the kind who weighs herself daily, maybe once a week. So I'm not sure if the weight loss is due to the raw food diet since it's only been a day or two, but my weight's been pretty consistant for 20+ years (minus the pregnancy years, of course). Morning of Day 3: last night I went to bed kinda late (that's why I usually don't nap ^_^) woke up 6.5 hrs later feeling well rested. I usually sleep 7.5-8 hrs. My body wasn't achy like most mornings. Feeling pretty good so I had a raw breakfast. Seeing my folks for lunch at a Mexican restaurant today so I wonder how my body will react. Maybe a taco salad and let my kids eat the shell...

Raw for a Day

2010-07-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

The raw food diet has been catching my interest lately, especially since reading Steve Pavlina's blog. Having been eating mostly vegetarian the last few months, it seemed like it was a good time to just give this thing a try. The kids are with my parents for a few days so I don't really have to cook, it was perfect timing to try it out for a day.

Breakfast: a bowl of fruit. I was surprised how much this filled me. I couldn't finish it all. I went to my usual Jazzercise class afterwards and felt normal.

Mid-morning post-exercise snack: Celery sticks with homemade raw peanut butter and sunflower pate, and leftover fruit from breakfast. The raw peanut butter was ok, I'm so used to roasted nuts that the "raw" taste didn't appeal to me a whole lot. The sunflower pate, on the other hand was really good.

Late Lunch: Lettuce boats with sunflower pate and guacamole. These were really good. My main concern with this diet was that I'd be constantly hungry. Surprisingly this was not the case. The mid-morning snack filled me enough that I didn't have my lunch till 2pm.

The sunflower pate tasted good as dip too. It would make a good spread for crackers.

Dinner (sorry, forgot to take a pic): Big salad and a banana.

Overall, I felt pretty good. Felt a little tired around 3pm but I'm not sure if it's from the exercise or a mild form of detox. Later in the day I developed a mild headache as well, possibly my body going into detox but I'm not sure if that can happen so quickly. The only food craving I got was for warm white rice around 7pm, but it may have been a craving for something warm, for rice isn't strong in flavor.

Having read about the benefits of this diet I think I'm going to start incorporating it into our normal diet, maybe have a raw meal a day or have a raw day once a week, maybe even start sprouting. I'm not going to strictly enforce it but am going to try to do another raw day today.

Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi

2010-06-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

Salmon is our usual go-to fish, it's so readily available and fairly inexpensive. But the other day I found a Mahi Mahi fillet at a good price and so it was today's dinner. I can't remember that last time I've cooked that fish, I think we usually just make fish tacos. BBQ-ing was the plan and David suggested I marinate it. So I found a recipe online I gave a try. Interesting marinade...honey, soy sauce, basalmic vinegar, ginger, and garlic. The marinade was later cooked down and used as a glaze. My vegetarian girls thought it was just ok, but my meat-loving son LOVED it, especially the glaze. He poured it all over his rice!

Daring Bakers May 2010: Piece Montee (Croquembouche)

2010-06-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a little late but I finally got around to completing last month's challenge: a Piece Montee (croquembouche) or in plain English, a cream puff tower. I believe this is the French's version of a wedding cake.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenge everybody to make a piece montee, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump's Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I had already missed the May deadline but since this looked so good I told my kids I'd still make it. My daughter's birthday was June 9th, and she tells me this is what she wants for her b-day dessert. She says, If I say I want this for my birthday, you have to make it. Yes, that's what she really said. It was her way of getting me to actually complete the challenge. Well, it turns out that her birthday landed on the last week of school, which was a very busy week for me and she gave me the ok to make her something else.

I was still determined to make it so I attempted it on Father's Day. We had friends coming over for a bbq, it would of been perfect. Well, till the pate a choux turned out very runny and didn't puff up at all. It made good cookies though that my kids ate anyway. ^_^

A week later, since the creme patissiere was already done and sitting in my fridge, I made another attempt at making the shells. This time they rose nicely and looked great. Whew!

You can check out the recipe here.

TVP Tacos

2010-06-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

Gave another shot at vegetarian "meat", this time made some TVP taco meat.

Started off with 2c dried TVP soaked in 2c hot water for 10 minutes. Then cooked it with 3T oil, 2T soy sauce, 1 1/2 packets of taco seasoning. Later added some taco sauce for added moisture for it seemed a little on the dry side.

Served with a nice refreshing side of cucumber and radishes tossed in lime juice and salt.

Abby turned her broken taco shells into tostadas. Don't they look pretty?

Eggplant "Lasagna"

2010-06-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

The other day someone gave us a bunch of american eggplant. We usually buy the asian eggplants which are skinnier. We weren't quite sure what to do with these big, fat eggplants! And then need to be eaten SOON. Thought about a eggplant dip call Baba Ganoush but having never eaten that before I thought I'd save that for some other time.

So I tried making lasagna but instead of lasagna noodles I use eggplant, layered with mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. A little sprinkle of parmesan cheese, italian seasoning, and fresh ground black pepper in between the layers. My vegetarian girls loved it, my meat-eater son thought it was just ok. ^_^

Egg Muffin Sandwich

2010-06-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

My latest kitchen gadget... English muffin rings/egg molds. I had been wanting these for a while but didn't want to fork out ten bucks. So I was real happy when I found a set of four for a dollar at a yardsale. So I made some egg muffin sandwiches with cheddar cheese for the girls, and with pepper-jack cheese with bacon for Sage. Yum-yums!

Cheese Crisps

2010-05-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

I've seen this made with Parmesan cheese, but since they're a bit costly I tried my first try with Colby-Jack cheese. Heat up the frying pan and put some shredded cheese on it to melt and crisp up on the bottom, flip, and repeat. These tasted like super cheesy Cheez-Its. Abby couldn't stop saying "mmmm" as she ate it. Very yummy and tasty, and probably very fatty too! ^_^

Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl

2010-05-08T12:19:00.000-07:00

I used to work at Boudin's Sourdough, the one in San Diego and I remember these Clam-Chowder-in-a-Bread-Bowl being their best selling item. I can see why, they are so good! And they are so easy to make at home. I used Quick and Easy Clam Chowder from Allrecipes.com (with slight modifications as reviews suggest) and made my own bread bowls using the 5-minute Artisan Bread recipe by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. (some of the recipes from the book can be found at Mother Earth News. One good reason to make your own bread bowls is that you can make it as big (or small) as you want (and the home-baked goodness is a plus too... ^_^) to accomodate the appetite of each person. Can be made with any creamy and thick soups, such as chili and stews.

Easiest Meatballs Ever

2010-05-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

Although my girls are vegetarian, I like to have a meat option for the men in the house. Spaghetti was on the menu for dinner so I made some meatballs out of Italian sausages. So easy and quick. David says they aren't really "meatballs" cuz they're not made out of beef, but if Martha Stewart (got the idea from her Everyday Food magazine) can call them meatballs, so can I!

Vegetarian Jap Chae

2010-04-15T22:50:00.000-07:00

Tried making some Korean noodles, Jap Chae. This usually has meat in it but went vegetarian with spinach, mushrooms, carrots, and onions. The noodles, glass noodles, kinda remind me of shirataki (Japanese yam cake noodles). I was hoping this dish to be very flavorful but it was kinda on the bland side, even with adding more sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. I was kinda surprised to see that everything is tossed together rather than cooked together. The glass noodle doesn't absorb the flavors much. I've never had it before so I'm not sure if that's how it was supposed to taste. Looks pretty though. Recipe by Dr. Ben Kim.

Cool Food Art

2010-04-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

DB March 2010 Challenge--Orange Tian

2010-04-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect of this month's challenge, never even heard of an Orange Tian. I haven't really been a fan of citrus desserts (except lemon bars ^_^) so I proceeded without high hopes. This thing was like an upside down orange cream cake. It had many little steps, not too difficult. The bottom layer (which becomes the top) is a layer of orange segments that had been soaked in an orange caramel sauce. Oh, this was really good it could easily be a dessert on it's own, maybe with a dallop of whipped cream... The next layer is whipped cream with a little orange marmalade folded in. And then a layer of homemade marmalade, which was something I had never made before. It was quite simple and very delicious. I think I'll make it again sometime. And then, the last layer was a Pate Sablee. Kinda like a shortbread/butter cookie.

Rather than make individual rounds, I made it family-style in my 8x8 pan. This dessert ended up being really good. Light, refreshing, and tasty. I'll probably re-visit this one again. Next time I'll double the whipped cream and omit the marmalade layer. I enjoyed it but it was a little too strong in flavor for the kiddos. Check out the recipe here.

Flax Seed Crackers

2010-04-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Lately, the Raw Food Diet has been catching my interest. So I picked up a book called, "Raw Foods for Busy People" by Jordan Maerin. In it was a recipe for Flax Crackers I gave a try for it looked simple and I needed to use up my flax seeds. I wasn't bad for something with only flax seeds and water. Very healthy tasting and quite brittle so it wouldn't be a good cracker for dipping. Next time I might try their variations for more flavor. Here's the recipe:

FLAX CRACKERS

Try this experiment: Soak 1/4 cup of flax seeds in 1/2 cup of water for 3 hours. Stick your finger in it. Now you know why flax crackers are so easy to make: It's the goo!

2 cups flax seeds

4 cups water

Salt, spices or vegetables (see below)

1/2 cup sesame or hemp seeds (optional)

For a blender-free version, soak flax seeds as described above, spread the flax seed goo onto solid dehydrator sheets, and sprinkle with you choice of salt, garlic powder, Italian seasonings, cayenne, or Chinese 5-spice.

For more complex flavors, you can use a blender to liquefy the veggies and spices of your choice in the water, before adding to the flax seeds for soaking (see below). If using wet vegetables, like tomatoes, reduce the water to 3 cups.

Dehydrate for 8-12 hours, and then move crackers to slotted trays and dehydrate for 4-8 hours more, or until crisp.

A stiff spatula works well to spread the flax goo onto the dehydrator sheets. If you don't have enough solid dehydrator sheeds for all the goo you've got, you can spread the goo onto pieces of waxed paper. If you use waxed paper, however, you must watch your drykng time carefully and remove the crackers from the paper after about 3-4 hours. If the crackers are left on waxed paper for too long, they'll be stubbornly stuck together.

Sample Variations:

Mexican Flax Crackers: Blend water with gfresh tomatoes, cilantro, lime juice, peppers, garlic and salt.

Italian Flax Crackers: Blend water with tomatoes, zucchini, garlic, Italian seasoning, fresh basil, olives, bell peppers, and salt.

Asian Flax Crackers: Blend water with Nama Shoyu, lemon juice, cilantro, peppers, garlic and Chinese 5-spice.

(Since the recipe didn't say at what temperature to set the dehydrator, I set it at 135*F and it ended up drying in half the time stated.)

Cream of Broccoli Soup

2010-04-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

Right when it's starting to feel like spring, we're hit with a really cold day. So it was time to make some soup! I tend to stick with my usual set of soups, ones that I have memorized, but the other day I found a recipe for the Best Cream of Broccoli Soup that caught my eye because it had just the basic ingredients. So here it is... served with some homemade croutons and focaccia bread. The only chages I made were to add some potatoes and garlic. It was very simple and delicious.

Neat Packaging

2010-03-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

Check out this package for takuan (Japanese pickled daiko radish). There's a picture of the farmers who grew the daikon used in this pickle on the front. There's several of these, each with different growers on it. Pretty neat, isn't it?

Homemade Drumstick Ice Cream

2010-03-25T19:08:00.000-07:00

Made some homemade drumsticks. Just put some ice cream in a sugar cone (plugged with a chocolate chip ^_^), drizzled some magic shell on it, and sprinkled nuts. Three of them have vanilla, the other two, Cherry Garcia.

Kim Chi & Cucumber Kim Chi

2010-03-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there's a recipe sitting in the back of my mind and one day I'll see the main ingredient on sale or at a farmer's market and I'll get around to making it. Such was the case when I found a bag of pickling cucumbers for only two bucks. This recipe is by Ben Kim. It was a little on the salty side, but the addition of honey I think toned down the heat, perfect for Abby and I. We've been munching away at it. ^_^

While I was at it, I tried Ben Kim's napa cabbage recipe. The kim chi's I've made in the past was from a Japanese recipe, which was good but I was excited to try a recipe from a Korean guy. A little more authentic, I think. This kim chi turned out real spicy, too spicy for Abby and I, but just fine for David and Sage. I think I'll take my mom half cuz she into that spicy stuff.

Caramel Corn

2010-03-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

My Jazzercise instructor is quite famous in our little town for her Caramel Corn. She has a secret ingredient which isn't in the usual caramel corn recipe, which makes it really good. I have yet to figure out what it is, but in the meantime I thought I'd make a batch of my own. I recently got a airpop popcorn maker, popping them this way rather than the microwave kind give better results, first because they pop perfect each time instead of burning and you can use better quality corn for bigger popcorn. Found a simple and good recipe at allrecipes.com. These were pretty good, 1 cup of dried corn made 8 quarts of caramel corn. It's so hard to stop eating these!

Ginger Tofu

2010-03-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

A spin off Ginger Pork, veggie-version for my girls. Sliced firm tofu thinly and pan-fried it so it'll hold it shape. Then marinated it in a grated ginger/soy sauce mixture and cooked it in my frying pan. Reminds me of tofu jerky.

Edamame Hummus & Pita Chips

2010-03-10T09:34:00.000-08:00

Tried making some edamame hummus to go along with my pita chips. Technically, I can't call this a "hummus" for that means "chickpeas" but nowadays if it resembles hummus in texture and is a dip, I think we get away with it. ^_^

This was real easy to make, just throw in your food processor or blender:

- 1.5 cups cooked, shelled edamame

-3T lemon juice

-1 garlic clove, minced

-1/4-1/2 c water

-1t salt

-2T olive oil

You can add in parsley, cumin, ground coriander, sesame oil, or tahini to your liking but I left mine plain.

Made two kinds of pita chips, one with garlic salt and italian seasoning and the other one with pizza seasoning. Brush both sides with olive or vegetable oil, sprinkle on seasonings, and bake 10-12 minutes in a 350*F over, turning them over halfway. A simple, tasty, and healthy snack!

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-03-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

Frosting from a tub is way too sweet so sometimes I make this Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting. Mmmm, it is real good. Took this as an aftergame snack for Sage's basketball team and one girl say it tastes like yogurt! I guess I can see that. ^_^ Recipe from Allrecipes.com.

DB Feb 2010 Challenge - Tiramisu

2010-03-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Tiramisu has been one of those things I've always wanted to trying making but never got around to. So I was pretty excited about this one, and the kids were too since they love coffee. (What's with kids and coffee, anyway?)

I wasn't quite sure what goes into tiramisu for I've never actually eaten one before. It just sounded good, being coffee flavor and all. So for this challenge there were quite a few little steps, all pretty easy, just overwhelming when you see pages and pages in the recipe! First off, it was homemade mascarpone cheese. Not quite sure what this is supposed to be like, but kinda turned out like butter in texture. I had to put it in sunlight a little to soften it before proceeding with the mixing of the other fillings. And then there was the zabaglione (another, "what is that?") flavored with marsala wine. Didn't have any so subbed port wine. This turned out to be very strong in flavor and crossed my fingers that it'll mellow out. Part three was the pastry cream. Oh, this was sooo good I think I'll use this as a cream puff filling. And last, but not least, but the whipped cream. So... the mascarpone cheese, zabaglione, pastry cream, and whipped cream were all folded together and layered in between espresso dipped ladyfingers, which of course, we had to make from scratch. The lady fingers by themselves kinda tasted eggy, this was something else I've never had before so I wasn't sure if this was how it was supposed to be, but proceeded with the recipe nonetheless.

I decided to assemble these in cups, having read that they don't hold their own unless supported by more ladyfingers or something. This gave us nice individual portions. I was pleasantly surprised that the strong port wine flavor toned down when eated together with the espresso flavored ladyfingers. Just a little too much cream for me to finish it all in one sitting. Which is just fine because that means I can have some tomorrow as well. ^_^

Tomato Cream Sauce Pasta & Foccacia

2010-02-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

Pasta's so good we could eat it every week. Even if it's the same ol' tomato spaghetti sauce. But I'm always looking for other recipes, found this one for Tomato Cream Sauce at Allrecipes.com. It was like a cross between the usual tomato marinara sauce and alfredo sauce. I added some mushrooms in there as well. It was a little rich but not too rich like alfredo sauce. I've never had vodka sauce before but I'm guessing it's close to this. Very tasty. This one's a keeper.

Made some foccacia to go with it, this recipe is from Allrecipes.com as well. I have never had much luck with foccacia, they always come out too dry, flat, or hard, but this one was soft and yummy. Mixed some italian seasoning mix to the dough, topped with pizza seasoning and parmesan cheese. There were no leftovers. ^_^

Sweet Potato Fries

2010-02-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I've never made sweet potato fries till now. They are sooooo good! Last year, I had sweet potato fries in Colorado for the first time in my life. This was something that never occured to me to make, as much as it seems like a very common and simple food item. I've never been a fan of yams so when it came to buying sweet potatoes, I've stuck with Japanese sweet potatoes (satsuma-imo) which must rank as one of the BEST sweet potatoes, they are that good! So I looked around the store and saw this sweet potato that looked like the inside wouldn't be orange. And it actually tasted pretty close to the Japanese kind. I think I'll be making these again soon. ^_^

Mock Buffalo Wings

2010-02-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Buffalo wings is one our favorite Super Bowl foods. But with the girls not eating meat, I made mock buffalo wings so they can enjoy "wings" too. I made freeze-dried tofu, salt and peppered it, coated it with cornstarch, and deep fried it. And then tossed them with a mild wing sauce. These were really crunchy and pretty good. I couldn't cut the tofu nicely and they kinda crumbled into smaller pieces, maybe next time I'll wait till they're thawed before cutting. Freeze-dried tofu is turning out to be a good meat substitute.

Sweet and Sour Freeze-Dried Tofu (Koya Dofu)

2010-01-27T21:21:00.000-08:00

Sweet and sour pork is one of David's favorite Chinese dish. But since the girls aren't eating meat right now, I tried making sweet and sour freeze-dried tofu.

I froze some tofu in the freezer. Poked a small hole and drained the water, and froze it in its container.

Defrosted it, then cut it up into cubes. Squeezed to drain the excess water then soaked it in some soy sauce. It absorbed so much soy sauce, I gently squeezed it before coating it with cornstarch and deep frying it. This actually tasted good on its own.

Stir-fried some bell peppers, carrots, and onions, added the tofu and sweet and sour sauce. The tofu lost its crunch and got a little soft, but it was still pretty good.

Cooking Rice without a Rice Cooker

2010-01-27T20:50:00.000-08:00

The snow storm caused a blackout and we didn't have electricity for a day and a half. Curry was already planned for dinner so I attempted cooking rice on the stove (again... never had succeeded in doing this). But this time I followed directions from a cookbook and... SUCCESS!

Directions:

Wash 3 cups (540ml) rice and drain in colander for 30 minutes. Add 600 ml water in a pot, add the rice, and let sit 10 minutes. Cover with lid, turn on heat to medium-low, and when it starts to boil, let boil for 2 minutes. Turn down the heat and let simmer 10 minutes. After the simmering, turn the heat on high for 10 seconds or so, just to remove any leftover moisture. Turn heat off, and let steam for 10 minutes. After which you can open the lid, stir the rice, and enjoy!

Vegan Bacon

2010-01-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

Tried making vegan bacon although I didn't think it'll turn out like real bacon (despite some of the reviews.) It was more a curiosity thing. Found the recipe on recipezaar that I tried, omitted the nutritional yeast since I didn't have any (nor know what that really is) and it actually turned out pretty good. It was more like tofu jerky than vegan bacon, but it tasted good and even my carnivore son like it. It was very soy-saucy, I can see how it could satisfy a meat craving.

Beer Batter Fried Mushrooms

2010-01-12T22:36:00.000-08:00

My girls wished there was more! One package of mushies was not enough. Recipe from Recipezaar. Yummy with some ranch dressing.

Jamaica Iced Tea

2010-01-07T22:45:00.000-08:00

I'm a tea drinker and I'm always keeping my eyes open for something new. I saw some loose Jamaica at a Mexican market for only $3 a pound. I've had Jamaica before, a long time ago and remember liking it. So I tried making it myself. A very refreshing drink, although there is a hint of a strong flavor that Sage didn't like. But Abby kept asking for more! Kinda like an exotic cranberry juice. I bet it would taste good in a cocktail. ^_^

Veggie "Ground Beef"

2010-01-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

My girls have decided they want to try being vegetarians this year. So I started looking into meat substitutes and what I can make at home. Store bought stuff is actually more expensive than real meat. Aren't veggies supposed to be cheaper than meat?

A lot of veggie meats use Textured Vegetable Protein. I'm not sure what that is, I've never seen it at a store before. But I found Soy Meat at a Mexican grocery store and I figure it's a resonable substitue. (I wonder how they use this in Mexican cooking...)
Found a recipe for vegetarian "ground beef" so I gave it a try. Of course, the texture isn't the same as meat, it was a little gooshy and spongy. But the flavor wasn't bad at all, really, not bad for fake meat.

So I threw it into spaghetti sauce. If you didn't know it was in there, you can't really tell.

Daring Bakers - Dec. 09 - Gingerbread House

2009-12-25T10:20:00.000-08:00

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
Making gingerbread houses from scratch was never my thing. I've always been too lazy and have either bought the kit or used graham crackers. So I was pretty excited about this month's challenge.
Instead of making one big house, I made four small houses so my kids can each decorated their own.
Here's Sage's...
Abby's...
and Emi's...

...and there was dough left over so we made some gingy bears. ^_^

Holiday Goodies

2009-12-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

Something about the holidays makes me crave sweets. Is it nature's way to add fat in preparation for winter? ^_^
Peppermint Toffee Bark... saw Almond Roca had one with peppermint candy in it which gave me the idea for this one.
Homemade Caramels dipped in Dark Chocolate...Trader Joe's carry this and for the longest time has been my indulgence every holiday. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot in there and is always gone way too fast, so I learned to make my own caramel and just dipped them in chocolate. Haven't quite gotten the tempering thing down so it's not the prettiest of things, but still tastes oh-so-good!

Sugar Cookies by the kids... I'm not a fan of rolled cookies so I never make them, but the kids wanted to so it worked out. ^_^

Turkish Delights...bought some rose water just for this. The texture was a little softer than I expected but the kids still loved them.

Butter Mint Pillows

2009-12-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe for butter mint pillows in the December issue of Woman's Day. It didn't require cooking with a candy thermometer and had just a few ingredients, I just had to try it. It was very easy and tasty too!

BUTTER MINT PILLOWS:

(makes 1 lb, about 225 mints)

1 stick (1/2 c.) salted butter, softened
1 box(1lb.) confectioners' (powedered) sugar, plus extra for dusting
2T heavy cream or milk
1 t mint extract
red and green liquid food color

1. In large bowl, beat butter until creamy. With mixer on low, beat in sugar, cream and extract until creamy and smooth.

2. Turn sugar mixture out onto a work surface lightly dusted with confectioners' sugar; knead until smooth and satiny. Divide mixture into thirds: Tint one pastel pink (2 drops red color), one pastel green (2 drops green color) and leave remaining portion white. Cover each portion with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

3. Line 2 baking sheets with nonstick foil. Lightly dust work surface with confectioners' sugar. Working with one color at a time, roll out 1/4 cupfuls of the mint mixture, using your fingers, into a 1/2-inch thick rope. Cut rope into 1/2- to 3/4-inch pillows. Transfer mints to prepared baking sheets with a spatula (be careful--mints are soft and will squish easily). Repeat with remaining mint mixture.

4. Let air-dry at room temperature for 1 to 2 days until firm enough to handle. Transfer mints to covered containers.

STORAGE TIP: Store in an airtight container at cool room temperature up to 2 weeks, or keep in refrigerator up to 1 month.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

2009-10-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Simple toasted pumpkin seeds, soaked in salt water for a few hours and drained and dried overnight, tossed in melted butter and salt, baked for about 40 minutes, then sprinkled some sugar on them, giving them that salty-sweet "kettle"-like taste to them. The kids said these were the best seeds I've made so far!

Caramel Apples

2009-10-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

Daring Bakers - Oct. 2009 - French Macaroons

2009-10-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Macaroons are something new to me, I've seen them at stores but are always coconut so I never bought them. Turns out coconut macaroons are a US thing, in Europe they are almond based. So glad, since I'm not a fan of coconut. ^_^

The ingredients were only almond flour, powdered sugar, regular sugar, and egg whites. They were fairly simple to make. My only problem was that they stuck to the non-stick liner so the bottoms tore a little. Fortunately, I only had one liner so I used parchment for the other sheet, sprayed a little baking spray on it and they glided right off. The cookies taste like butter/sugar cookies with a chewy texture. I sandwiched them with some chocolate ganache, they look like little hamburgers!

Not all of the batter fit on my two sheets so the last batch went straight into the 375*F oven because I didn't have time to bring it back down to 200, then back up to 375. These cookies, in my opinion, came out looking nicer. They don't have their "feet" but look smooth and nice.

Check out the recipe and the creations of the rest of the Daring Bakers here.

Roasted Peppers

2009-10-26T21:19:00.000-07:00

Tried roasting my own peppers instead of buying those little cans. Used a stove top grill and roasted some Anaheim peppers. I'm not too familiar with peppers (except the usual bell) so I was surprised that these weren't spicy at all (aren't all Mexican peppers supposed to be hot?) The ingredients on the can simply state: green peppers. That doesn't help too much! I'll just have to keep trying different varieties...unless anyone out there knows???

Hot & Sour Soup

2009-10-21T22:57:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about chilly weather is having a good bowl of soup. I used a recipe from Allrecipes.com, pretty much kept the seasonings for the broth but changed the veggies since I didn't have them. I kept it pretty simple, the broth with some sliced bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms, and eggs . It was a tad too peppery but was still very tasty.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup & Achiote Chicken

2009-10-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's that time again for slow cooker cooking. I love how you can just throw everything in the crockpot in the morning and dinner is done. Oh, and the great smell throughout the house all day is wonderful too. ^_^

Made some Chicken Tortilla soup from Allrecipes.com to go with my chicken cooked in Achiote paste.

I was watching a Rick Bayless show and he was in the Yucatan going through a market with all the different kinds of pastes they use in cooking. One of which was Achiote paste, so when I found it in a Mexican market I grabbed it hoping to try something new. The recipe on the box was quite simple, chicken, potatoes, onions, achiote paste, oil, and water. Put them all into a pot and cook for 50 minutes. The sauce looks like it would be strong in taste, but rather the opposite. It was light in flavor and different. I wasn't sure if the kids'll like it but they ate it all so that was good.

Nametake

2009-10-07T13:56:00.001-07:00

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Nametake is Japanese seasoned enoki mushrooms. They're delicious but rather costly. Found a recipe on cookpad.com (a Japanese recipe site) that was very simple, just four ingredients: enoki mushrooms, soy sauce, mirin (cooking sweet sake), and rice vinegar. If possible, I prefer using mirin instead of sugar so I look that in recipes. Overall, it was very easy to make, however it was a little too soy-saucy. Next time I'll decrease the soy sauce amount or try "lite" soy sauce. It turned out a little runnier than the store-bought kind so I might add a little corn starch next time. But given the simplicity and cost to make this, I'll definitely try this one again when I eat these up!

Original Recipe:

2 sm. pkgs of enoki mushrooms

5T soy sauce

5T mirin

1T rice vinegar

Put enoki, soy sauce, and mirin in pan, bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the vinegar. Pour into sterile containers, let cool, and store in refrigerator.

I usually eat these on top of rice, but I've seen them in salads as well as mixed with spaghetti pasta, even on top of hiyya-yakko (chilled tofu.)

Pizza Wontons

2009-09-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

I made some gyoza but ran out of the filling and had some leftover skins. So I tried making pizza wontons, just some mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce. They were actually pretty good!

My only gripe is that they get so puffy that it can cause the skin to break and the sauce and/or cheese oozes out causing the oil to start popping. So next time I might just bake it.

Kakiage (Mixed Tempura)

2009-09-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Kakiage is my go-to substitution for tempura. Regular tempura is usually too much work for me so I make kakiage instead. Kakiage is basically mixed tempura. All the ingredients are combined with the tempura batter and deep fried. Today's kakiage: gobo (burdock roots), carrots, onions, and a little shiso (Japanese perilla leaves, aka Japanese Mint or Basil) with a little tempura sauce poured on top.

Gourmet Rice Krispy Treats

2009-09-01T23:01:00.000-07:00

Good ol' rice krispy treats with some add-ins: a little granola, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries. The seeds didn't go as well as I had imagined but the dried cranberries added a nice tartness and flavor and was quite good.

DB August 2009 Challenge: Dobos Torte

2009-08-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was a Dobos Torte, a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. Doesn't that sound fancy?

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Overall, this challenge wasn't as difficult as I had imagined it to be in my head. I did forget to add the sugar to the buttercream frosting but I realized it right before I was going to use it so I saved it just in time. The caramel wedges didn't come out as I thought they should. It was pretty hard and chewy. Like I'm-afraid-it-might pull-out-my-teeth kinda sticky chewy. But the cake does look kinda fancy, and my kids were "oooh" and "aaah" when they saw it when they came home from school. ^_^

Mexican Hot Carrots

2009-08-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

My brother gave me a bunch of carrots the other day and I wanted to make something other than carrot cake or carrot bread so I tried making some Mexican Hot Carrots. I found a recipe on Recipezaar, I used this one because it calls for more than just vinegar and jalapenos. It has oregano, garlic, and bay leaves in it too, and the oregano specks makes it look like the ones at the restaurants. ^_^

Melon Yogurt

2009-08-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

I tried mixing in a little melon syrup when I made my homemade yogurt. The yogurt tastes just like the syrup!

No-Fuss Focaccia

2009-08-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but I've never really been successful at making focaccia. I tend to roll them too thin, thinking they will rise and I didn't want to end up with a really thick focaccia. And because it was thin, they end up crunchy and dry. So when I saw this recipe from King Arthur Flour, which was baked in a 9x13 pan (I can't roll out too thin!) and doesn't require kneading, I had to try it. Living at altitude (6100') often means that flour is drier and thus absorbs more liquid. So I usually decrease the flour amount or add more liquid when I bake bread. So I decreased the flour 1/4 cup. Batter looked fine, so I had high hopes. Not sure if that was the reason, or I just overbaked it, but it came out dry. I think next time I'll try making focaccia using pizza dough if I don't try the recipe again. Check out the recipe here.

Pita Chips

2009-08-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Why does something so simple to make cost so much? I got a bunch out of one bag of pitas, all for under $3. I cut them up, brushed them with olive oil, sprinkled some Italian seasoning and garlic salt, and then bake for 10-12 minutes at 350*F. The flavor wasn't as strong like the ones in the store, so I'll just a little more seasoning next time. The next step will be trying to make homemade pitas. ^_^

Tabbouleh

2009-08-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

I had a bunch of mint that needed to be eaten so I made some tabbouleh. Very simple, some couscous, tomatoes, mint, lemon juice and olive oil. Now I gotta go get some pita chips to eat this with. ^_^

Mint Wine

2009-08-12T23:34:00.000-07:00

Well, not the typical "wine" per say, more like Mint Liquor. In Japanese, this recipe was called Minto-shu, the "shu" part meaning alcohol or liquor. So plum wine is called "ume (plum)-shu". Japanese people make all sorts of "wine" with mainly only three ingredients. The alcohol, usually shochu (a distilled beverage similiar to vodka in the states, but with lower alcohol content, usually around 25%), sugar or rock sugar, and fruit (or in this case, mint.) I've made plum wine many times, as well as others such as concord grape wine and granny smith wine. My parents and their friends have made some with cherries, apricots, pomegranates, kumquats, whatever they have extra of.

This mint wine recipe called for 1 1/4 cups of alcohol (I mixed half and half of 25% alcohol shochu with 40% alcohol vodka since I had a little of each), a handful of mint, and 1 T sugar. In one month I'll be taking the mint out, and in two months I'll be able to have a taste, although it is recommended I wait at least six months (which ain't bad because the plum wines are a ten year wait...not that I'm going to wait that long. ^_^)

Mapo Nasu (Eggplant)

2009-08-04T20:56:00.000-07:00

Something a little different from my usual mapo tofu. I used Chinese eggplant instead of the tofu. I usually don't see Mapo Eggplant on Chinese menus but it's actually pretty common in Japanese household cooking. Ground pork, eggplant, ginger, garlic, a little miso, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Curry Korokke

2009-08-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

One great way to use up your potatoes is to make Korokke (Japanese Croquette.) I kept mine pretty simple with just potatoes seasoned with salt, pepper, curry powder (both Japanese & Indian) and Japanese pre-made curry roux.

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

2009-07-29T23:52:00.001-07:00

We got a bunch of mint growing wild by our local creek so I made some Fresh Mint ice cream, another great recipe from David Lebovitz's book The Perfect Scoop. I was never really a fan of mint chocolate chip ice cream although it's one of Sage's favorite. So I wasn't quite sure how this would turn out, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Wow, it tasted REALLY, REALLY GOOD! Very mild, yet creamy and just MMMMM. ^_^ The recipe calls for two cups of lightly packed mint, which is a whole lotta mint. If I didn't have access to a lot of mint, I don't think I'd buy that much mint to make this. It'd be some really expensive ice cream!

Fresh Mint Ice Cream- makes about 1 quart (1 liter) -

Ingredients

1 cup (250 ml) whole milk
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
Pinch of salt
2 cups (80 g) lightly packed fresh mint leaves
5 large egg yolks

Procedure

1. Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup (250 ml) of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. Add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan (the milk will be a lovely shade of emerald). Press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. Pour the remaining 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.

3. Rewarm the mint-infused mixture. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

5. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. Then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Beef Stroganoff

2009-07-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but I've been craving beef stroganoff. It's been at least five years since I've had this dish but somehow it's been in my head lately. My kids also claim they've never had it before (although I know I've made this before long, long time ago) so it was a new dish for them to try. Found a recipe from Allrecipes that I used as a base. Tweaked it a little as the reviews suggested and it came out really good and the kids liked it too. I'm good for another five years. ^_^

Daring Bakers - July 09 - Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies & Milano Cookies

2009-07-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
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When I read that this month's challenge was cookies, I was pretty happy. New cookies are always fun to try and Milano cookies have been something I've always wanted to try, as well as homemade marshmallows so I was pretty stoked.

The chocolate covered marshmallow cookie... the chocolate was a little soft and didn't set. So they ended up sticking to the paper. But they look great.
I wasn't quite sure how the marshmallow part would turn out. I forgot to add the gelatin to the syrup so I ended up microwaving the gelatin with a little of the syrup/egg white mixture and then blended it back in. Luckily they turned out alright. Piping all those marshmallows sure made me feel like a pastry chef. ^_^

This recipe made A LOT of cookies. I didn't even get to use 1/3 of the cookies. I noticed I was starting to run low in the chocolate for dipping so I drizzled them onto the remaining third. These ended up better (not to mention a whole lot easier) cuz they didn't stick.

The milano cookies...looks great but they didn't come out as I had hoped. The cookie part was nice and crunchy but after a few hours they turned chewy.

This recipe also made a whole lot of batter so I turned some of them into regular cookies.

And then drizzled some of that leftover chocolate from the filling.

This challenge wasn't hard but with all those little steps and wait time it turned into an all day ordeal. Started around 10 am, and finished dipping around 8pm. And now we have a lot of cookies, but with three kids I'm sure they won't be around long!

Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

2009-07-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

David made these on our last camping trip, bacon wrapped hot dogs. They were pretty good. Funny that I've lived here in the states for about 32 years and never had one of these before.

Radishes

2009-07-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

I tried growing radishes from seed this summer. It has a short growing season so it meant that chances of it not turning out was slimmer. At first the growth looked promising, a lot of them sprouted and started growing. But before they started getting big it started to flower. All the energy was going into the flower so I decided to pull some of them out. So here's three radishes, my first and probably last harvest. But it was exciting to see them grow.

Abby's Culinary Creation

2009-07-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

We went to the creek the other day and found some mint growing abundantly. So we picked some and Abby wanted to make something with them. So she made what she called a "salsa" but it's more like a salad/side dish. I let her pretty much put in whatever she wanted. So in went some mint, green onion, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, cilantro, salt & pepper, lemon juice, and feta cheese. It was actually pretty good.

She cut everything herself (with a steak knife.) Future chef? She did say she wanted to be a pastry chef when she grows up. She's going to be like me, she'll cook/bake cuz she wants to eat it! ^_^

The Sprouts (Results)

2009-07-17T22:10:00.000-07:00

So here's what the sprouts looked after 4 days. They got pretty long but they've started leafing (is that a word?) and the thin part of the roots were kinda long. I wonder if it's because I didn't grow these in the dark. Hmmm...I'll have to try that next time. The directions said to not water the last 24-hrs so they can dry out. Apparently moisture's their biggest enemy after they've grown. However during that drying period something went wrong and they turned brown and I've afraid to eat them. Oh well, I'll just have to try again.

Bean Sprouts

2009-07-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

I've tried growing sprouts before with a colander and a bowl but I didn't have much luck. So when I found this sprouter at a yard sale for only a buck I had to get it. I'm trying mung beans which'll grow into bean sprouts. Just gotta remember to water it every 12 hrs. ^_^

Here it is after Day 1. It's already starting to grow, I'm so excited!

3rd Annual Sanrio Charaben (Character Bento) Contest

2009-07-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

Japanese bentos (box lunches) are amazing on their own, there's so much that goes into bentos but some people just take it to an art form. This one is the winner for this year's Sanrio Charaben contest. It just seems like a waste to eat it! Just Bento has an English post about this, and although it's in Japanese here are the finalists. Take a look, it'll blow you away.

Maze Zushi (mixed sushi)

2009-07-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

One of my summer foods is food made with sushi rice. Apparently the vinegar is good to lift you up from the grogginess of the summer heat. One of the easiest way for me is to make mixed sushi, the mix-ins vary to what I have on hand (and what needs to be eaten ^_^). This time I used some Japanese pickles chopped up, the green cucumber pickles and shiba-zuke (cucumber/eggplant pickled with red shiso) and some shredded shiso (perilla leaves, kinda like japanese mint). I served them with some pickled red ginger and also wrapped up in nori.

Watermelon Juice

2009-07-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the simplest things taste the best. I had a watermelon that was overripe and soft so I put threw it in my blender. The result: a very refreshing drink. The four of us drank about half of a pretty large watermelon, although we'd have trouble eating that much. ^_^