California or Bust?

Tomorrow is the Christmas lunch at work and I was contemplating what to bring or to bring anything at all. This really wasn't suppose to be so hard if I could use my car. The car is working but the roads are another issue. We had a big dump of snow today and the roads have yet to be cleared. Waiting patiently but they better have done something by the time I have to work in the afternoon.

Anyways, back to the original problem. There is a limited amount of food in the house so I have to make something with what I have. Savoury dish or sweet dessert? Silly question for me. Of course the latter. Here is my attempt to make chocolate cream cheese brownie bites. The recipe was not all that hard. Pretty easy but not sure about the end product.




As soon as I mixed the cream cheese ingredients, I knew this was not going to come out as it should. It was so runny. I halved the cream cheese recipe cause I knew I was no going to make so much. It came out with gravy consistency but I am sure it should be quite thick like meringue. Oh well. Tried my best.





As you can see, the cream cheese was more like icing to the thick brownie batter.

I'm sure it will be fine but definitely need work in the presentation department.

Hainese/Singapore Chicken Rice

The idea of this famous chicken dish in southeast Asian is simple but I assure you that you won't forget the complexity of the flavours of this dish.

First you chop the green onions, garlic and ginger for the soup/broth. I kind of screwed up but I forgot to chop shallots until it was almost too late. So that is why you won't see the shallots but I assure you that they are just as important as the other ingredients.


When you have all the veggies chopped, it is time to make the magical chicken broth. As if the ginger, garlic, green onions and shallots are not aromatic enough on its own, you have to use half and half of seasame oil and regular oil. See the light toasting of the veggies. Can't you just smell it? I can, since that smell can linger in the kitchen air for a bit.


Next, when you decide that there is enough garlic and ginger smell in your kitchen to ensure hours of candle burning, make the broth. Add the can soup broth and chicken soup powder to your lightly toasted garlic/ginger mix. This is not as au natural or how the cooks in Singapore would do it, but I also don't make restaurant amount of chicken rice. The cooks would have big cylinders of chicken broth that would have over 50 chickens cooking in it. Even if I wanted to do it the original way, there is not enough chicken fat on that one little chicken to match the flavours. So I cheat. There I said it.

Now that the broth is in a rolling boil, torture the poor chicken in the broth.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat more seasame/canola oil till hot and add more green onions and minced garlic. The special ingredient you need to fry with the onions and garlic is pandan leaves. It gives it a woody flavour that is distinct to south Asia cooking. Now that there is not chance of your kitchen ever smelling normal again, fry the 5 cups of washed rice with the new onion/garlic mix.


Meanwhile, your chicken should be done. To keep with the authenticity of this recipe, I will share with you the secret step the cooks in Singapore swear by. Immediately dunk the whole chicken in ice cold water. This step supposedly makes the skin separates from the meat. And I think it also cools the chicken down enough to make it easier to handle for the chopping part.


Leave the chicken in the ice bath and back to the burnt, I mean, toasting rice/garlic/onion mix. Strain the delicious broth and add it to the fried rice. I had to transfer the rice into the rice cooker bowl so I know to add just the right amount of broth.

You are drooling now, aren't you?! We are almost there, I assure you. While the rice is cooking away, go and chop the chicken into bite size. Once you are done chopping, then your rice should be done. It probably won't take the cooks in Singapore that long, but I want to make sure I still have all my fingers for the eating part.

TAA DAA! I saved the best pic for last. That sauce over the chicken is a little concoction we made. It is a mixture of soy sauce, seasame oil and crushed fried garlic. Gum will be served for dessert after. 8)

Peanut Butter + Cookie Dough = LOVE

A friend has been asking me to make her some peanut butter cookies. So I finally got the opportunity to make some last week. I made enough for a few friends but I was not able to give it to the one that had made the request. So the cookies keep staring at me over the weekend and I had no choice but to eat them up. She was not impressed with my story.

By the way, that is a $10 hand mixer I got at Canadian Tire. It's cheap, loud but does the job.


I had initially followed the recipe to the T and just keep the dough balls round. But I found they did not spread out much so the second batch I flattened them a bit and I think they didn't crumble as much when I pushed the Hershey Kisses on top. In the end, it doesn't matter much as it all ended up in my stomach.

Welcome Fall, But Not Ready For Winter-Sorry Old Man Winter

This was last month's little cooking project. I wanted to make/bake pumpkin cookies but with the real thing. Making pumpkin puree is not hard whatsoever but does it ever smell funny. Don't get me wrong. I love the smell of pumpkin cookies/pie in the oven but the smell of just pumpkins is not something I like to bottle it up.








The hard part was not scooping the flesh but it was the squeezing the extra water using cheese cloth. Gross. I can do without that part.

I used the puree for pumpkin cookies. They were a hit at work and with my dad! Love how moist the cookies came out. I tried 2 cookie recipes, one using butter and one using vegetable oil. I was hoping the one with vegetable oil would taste better but i guess nothing beats butter. The recipe using oil made it more cake like so I guess it depends on what you prefer.

After some expert advice, I guess the can stuff makes no difference on the taste. So now I can say I did it and we will have to see what my mood will be next year. If I have the energy, I might do it the old fashion way but I can not guarantee I won't be tempted by the can stuff.

How Much is Too Much?

Today was a trip down memory lane. When I was young, one of the best meals my mom made were eggplant croquettes. She pulled out the big guns cause company were coming over. They were so crispy on the outside but so soft and cheesy on the inside. I got in trouble cause I hung around the dining table after dinner and kept nibbling on the croquettes. I touched every croquette that was left so no one could have any more. I thought it was a good idea but I guess it wasn't what others where thinking of.




Recipe asked for parsley but I only had cilantro. It still worked out great.


I was even being a good girl and went the healthy way. Dusted the George Foreman Grill and just used it to toast the outside. I was even more suprised at how quick it came together. It only took half hour to make. Definitely going to make it in big batches next time.


OMG! My mouth is watering just typing this post. I only bought one medium eggplant so I can't make anymore. I need to get to the store asap. Honey...are you busy tonight?
If there were no more meat to eat tomorrow, I can turn into a vegetarian no problem. But only if there were no eggplant crisis simultaneously.

Who's the Cutest Pumpkin?

I don't know why but I have been on a cooking frenzy. I made cabbage rolls yesterday but with chicken gravy instead of tomato sauce. The sauce needed more flavour but the inside was surprisingly decent. I didn't take any pics cause I was worry it would not come out right.

I am planning to make some eggplant croquette/patties later this week and make my own pumpkin puree, hence the pumpkin pic. Just to let you know, I have been waiting almost 2 weeks for pumpkins to be on sale at the store. This pumpkin obsession started cause some girls at work want to put on a "pie party". Each person is to bring in a different pie for the party for this coming weekend. So I was researching on how to make one of my favourite pies, pumpkin pie. However, I think I won't try a pumpkin pie for this weekend. I want to save the pumpkin puree for cookies and a cake roll. Mmmmmmm! I want to make a rustic tart filled with pears, pecans, caramel and brie. We will see how that turns out. I remember eating a grilled chicken sandwich with brie and apples and it was one of the best things I ever ate. Wish me luck!

Do Apple Fritters Count as a Serving of Fruit Per Day?

Recipe # 2: Apple fritters

I found this awesome website with beautiful pictures of her farm, family, kids and food. She has a super easy fritter recipe and had to try it out. Her website is The Pioneer Woman.com. The woman behind the site is Ree Dummond who used to live in the big city but found her cowboy and turned into a pioneer woman that cook, blogs and writes cook book. She loves butter like Ina Garten and Paula Dean but looks like Giada De Laurentiis. So jealous.



I just realize how blurry the close up picture is. There is so much dusting of powdered sugar that the flash reflects off of it. Opps.

Would someone please tell me if eating apple fritters counts as a serving of fruit per day. Or at least tell me what I want to hear and not what my belly or blood sugar level will reflect.

Can you Do the CanCan?

My parent's apple tree exploded and I am challenged to find new and tasty apple recipes.

Recipe # 1: Apple Chutney

This is my first time canning. (By the way, it doesn't count if you helped your mom make raspberry jam when you were younger). Just saying.


I didn't add the making of the chutney process cause it was messy. And to be totally truthful, the batch you see is the 2nd batch cause I accidentally doubled the ginger amount. The recipe was for almost 22 cups of chutney so I halved the recipe. I halved every ingredients but didn't for the ginger. When I tasted the first batch, the ginger was so strong that before I tasted the sauce, the ginger scent was going down my throat.





The best part was hearing the "ping" of the lid when they vacuum seal itself after boiling the cans. And to top it off, they all stayed sealed in the morning. YAH!!!


Just the finishing touches for the pretty little jars. I used the left over paper that I recently used for the wedding card and some green ribbon in the ribbon stash.

Trial baking for an up coming party

Can't tell you what type of party or who it's for but super excited. Tried 2 recipes; one sweet and one savory, both from Farmgirl Fare.

First was the savoury feta cheese and scallions scones. These came out really good. I was worried they would be tough cause I was working them like bread before I scrolled down to her hint. "Handle the dough with a light touch and as little as possible". Oops. But they still worked out. Not sure if I really like the feta cheese. I like feta but it's quite salty and every now and then, I get a bite of super salty taste. I didn't add egg wash glaze cause I like it when you eat bread and your hands don't look like you've been in the chip bag. There is already enough fat in the recipe that I am sure it won't make that much of a difference.


The second recipe was the chocolate chip and toffee shortbread cookies. I like toffee, shortbread and chocolate and thought what a great combo, especially for this type of party. But the recipe calls for 350 degrees (F) and 12-15 minutes. Followed everything as per recipe but when I peeked in at 12 minutes, the edges weren't brown. Just following the recipe. Another few minutes and still the same. I gave up after all the toffee has bubbled out and finally was somewhat tan colored. I guess shortbread is also not usually as "golden brown" looking like other cookies so I probably could have brought it out after 15 minutes. Doesn't matter anyways. I got my helper to make cookies for the party.


And no I did not finish all the baking. I brought them to a friend's workplace so I can get some feedback and clean the counter of bad temptations.

No Need To Knead Bread

Start


Hour: 1


Hour: 12


Hour: 14


Hour: 14 and 35 mins


Hour: 14 and 37 minutes


Yes, somebody could not wait. He assures me that he didn't burn his mouth but I have my doubts. My significant other also doesn't like jam or peanut butter on his toast. He like sweetened condensed milk. It's not bad but I can never open the jar. It's always stuck.