Ginger Glazed Mahi Mahi

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)

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.

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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.

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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. ^_^

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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!

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You can check out the recipe here.

TVP Tacos

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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