Sweet and Sour Freeze-Dried Tofu (Koya Dofu)

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.

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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

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

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

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

Jamaica Iced Tea

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"

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

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

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

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

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!