Pico de Gallo & Quesadilla (Pictorial)

I’ve been meaning to finish this post and post it up for a while but it never happened–until today.  Enjoy!

What do I do when I have fresh tomatoes, onions and jalapenos?  I make pico de gallo!  I actually prefer pico de gallo to salsa because it tastes fresher and I love the crunch of all the vegetables.  Plus, it’s so easy to make and much healthier.

Pico de Gallo Pictorial

Jalapenos, Roma tomatoes & onion, chopped

 

 

Chopped veggies + cilantro, green onion, salt, pepper, & lime juice

 

 

Close-up

 

Pico De Gallo

 

Steak, Green pepper & Onion Quesidilla Pictorial

Green pepper, sliced

 

Onion, sliced

 

Flank steak, sliced

 

Cooked

 

Layered

 

Add cheese

 

Cooked and resting

 

I love gaucamole!

 

Cut up

 

Mashed with garlic powder, salt, & lime juice

 

Close up of quesadilla

 

Delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

Happy early Thanksgiving, everyone!  I’m doing my Thanksgiving dinner today because my mom (and aunts) will be going to Laos on Tuesday so they’ll miss Thanksgiving so I decided to do it before my mom left.  It’s going to be a delicious dinner!  My rosemary garlic turkey is roasting away in the rotisserie, the dinner rolls are rising, the baked ravioli is waiting to be baked, and so the the stuffing.  The only cooking I have to do left is the roasted rosemary potatoes, mashed potatoes, and bake everything in a timely manner.  The turkey always smells and looks amazing.  I will update later, when everything is done cooking.

Update–I.  Can’t.  Move.  From.  The.  Couch.  Sooo tired.  Everything was REALLY good–especially the freshly baked rolls.  I’m never going to buy dinner rolls every again–just frozen bread dough.  : )  Everyone left, it’s just Chong (watching football) and me, blogging.  So on with the pictures.

Turkey roasting

 

Turning…

 

Turning….

 

Resting

 

Chong’s work (this was his first time carving a turkey)

 

Turkey breasts

 

Dinner rolls rising

 

Brushed w/milk and sprinkled w/sesame seeds

 

Freshly baked

 

Extremely good dinner rolls!

 

Sausage stuffing

 

Beefy ravioli bake

 

Close-up

 

Mashed potatoes (gravy not shown)

 

I LOVE PEAS!

 

Hot pepper sauce

I’m quite proud of myself and Chong.  We managed to prep a lot last night, which made cooking today so much easier.  The turkey was a lot better than last year–a rotisserie turkey never fails–and the gravy turned out good.  The best part was the dinner rolls.  I can’t stop raving about them.  I bought frozen bread dough, let 3 loaves defrost, then shaped them into 8 dinner rolls, let them rise for a few hours, brushed with milk and sprinkled with sesame seeds and baked to a golden deliciousness.  They were really soft and OH SO GOOD!  I’m definitely making these a Thanksgiving–and any other day–tradition.  For dessert, we had pumpkin pie, Dutch apple pie, and homemade rice krispies, which are not pictured.

So now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to think about Christmas.  Actually, I’ve already planned out what I’m doing for Christmas.  I’m doing a breakfast buffet (menu not finalized yet) and HOT POT for lunch!  Yah!  I’ll finally get my hot pot.  So exicted!  Well, I’m off to spend some well deserved quality rest time with Chong.  Good night!

 

 

Product Review Coming Soon!

CSN Stores has offered me a chance to review one of their products available on their website.  CSN Stores has basically everything you could ever want or need, from bathroom shelving to bedroom furniture to baby accessories.  I’ve already decided that I am going to get the Zojirushi Indoor Electric Grill because I’ve had my eye on that for a while.  I’m sooo excited!  Stay tuned!

Kapoon Video

Wonton Noodle Soup & Oreo Cheesecake

Hello!  It’s been a while since I’ve last blogged.  Life has surely been busy.  Anyhow, I’m just sharing some random food pictures I made this past month.  First up is a wonton noodle bokchoy soup.  This is actually the second time I’ve made this soup–the first time didn’t turn out as yummy.  It’s really easy to make.  I will definitely do a video or pictorial on this so stay tuned!

Plain wonton noodle bokchoy soup

 

With all the trimmings–soy sauce, garlic chili sauce, cilantro, and green onions

For the wontons, I used ground pork, corn starch, salt, black pepper and shaoxing wine because I wanted it plain.  I used dried Kung Fu noodles and cooked it in water for 3 minutes.  I blanched the bokchoy and gave it an ice water bath after it was cooked.  I forgot what I used for the broth–it was either a pork or chicken broth.  Added the condiments and it was delicious.

I made a fresh batch for breakfast the next day and took it to work in my Tiger thermos bottle.  After 2 hours of sitting in the thermos, the noodles had become soft and silky and even more delicious.  This is a great dinner/breakfast option to make for those cold winter days that are coming soon.

 

My brother, Wit, loves anything Oreo and cheesecake.  He wanted to buy an Oreo cheesecake but I told him I’d make him one.  So I kept my promise and baked him one.  Boy, baking that cheesecake sure was time consuming but it was well worth it.

Took me 15 minutes to whip everything together

Pre-baked

Baked, with a sour cream topping

Oreo crust and another layer of crushed Oreos in the middle

Care for a slice?

Mmmmm….mmm!  This was good but Chong and I couldn’t didn’t want to finish our half so I brought 1/4 of it to work.  Next time, if I ever decide to bake another Oreo cheesecake again, I’ll mix the Oreo with the cheesecake and see how that turns out.  I love cheesecakes but it’s too fattening so I’ll only bake it once in a blue, blue, blue moon.

Happy eats!