Archive for the ‘Baking’ Category
Afternoon tea
I’ve been obsessed with afternoon teas lately so I decided to make my own. I couldn’t decide on if I wanted an Asian tea party or cucumber sandwiches so I made both. And no, they both weren’t done on the same day or even the same week.
Why is it that you spend so many hours prepping and cooking but only minutes to eat? By the time I finish cooking, I was so exhausted and just wanted to put my feet up. The pork belly kimbap were good but a little bland. I couldn’t find a good substitute for Ssamjang so it was dry and needed something to give it a punch.
My “traditional” Afternoon tea spread was not very traditional as I didn’t want to stick to just sandwiches so I just made mini appetizer-ish snacks.
I spent two days making clotted cream but Chong accidentally threw it out, hence the sad pat of butter. And he also decorated the cupcakes. 🙂 Can’t complain as everything was 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.
Chong’s work (this was his first time carving a turkey)
Brushed w/milk and sprinkled w/sesame seeds
Mashed potatoes (gravy not shown)
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!
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!
Roasted Chicken (Pictorial)
This is The Best Homemade Roasted Chicken I’ve Ever Eaten. It’s extremely juicy, moist, falls off the bone, and the skin remained crispy–which is the best part. I’ve been meaning to make it since I stumbled upon the recipe but the procrastinator/perfectionist in me stopped myself because I didn’t have the ingredients I wanted. Regardless, I decided to go ahead with what I had on hand and it didn’t disappoint.
I rubbed the chicken with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, seasoning salt, Italian seasoning, thyme and rosemary and stuffed it with half a red onion and more rosemary and thyme and roasted it for 5.5 hours @ 250 degrees. I added some seasoned potatoes, purple potatoes, carrots and onions at the halfway point and made some gravy out of the pan drippings. The only change I would make next time is to marinate the chicken overnight.
Roasted Chicken Pictorial
Seasoned chicken waiting to be roasted
2 hours later–notice the pan drippings
Seasoned vegetables–I love the purple potatoes
Does anyone else crave turkey with all the trimmings when it’s nowhere near Thanksgivings? I know I do! This dinner is the closest I’ll get to a Thanksgiving dinner in August. The next time I make roasted chicken, I’ll do a garlic mashed potatoes and stuffing. Chong gives it 2 thumbs up and raves about how good it is. It’s definitely going to show up on our dinner menu on a monthly basis now.
Zucchini Bread Video
If you can’t tell that it’s summer by the hot weather we’ve having then you can surely tell by what vegetables are in season. I got some zucchinis from the Farmer’s Market just to make zucchini bread. Enjoy! Here’s the Zucchini Bread pictorial.
Rosemary Bread, Steak Saltimbocca, & Green Beans
Last summer, I made my first yeast bread using the rosemary from my garden. I was a bit hesitant to try making bread from scratch but fortunately, the bread turned out to be delicious. I can’t wait until my baby rosemary plant grows big enough to start using it. I also made steak saltimbocca and that turned out pretty tasty, too. Served with a side of tomato and green beans. Yum yum.
Click here for the recipes:
Rosemary Bread Pictorial
Rosemary                                                                                   Chopped
Waiting….                                                                                    Poof!
Cooling (2nd RB attempt–notice how it turned out better?)
Steak Saltimbocca Pictorial
1st layer:Â flank steak, salt & peppered on both sides
Baked…look at all that gooey cheese!
The rosemary bread tasted so good warm out of the oven and spread with a little butter. I’m not growing sage this year so unless I’m really craving steak saltimbocca, I probably won’t be making this dish this year. Chong says he’ll eat it again if I make it but I’m sure he’d prefer pasta or regular steak.
Eazee Cheezees
***I’m so slow sometimes. I couldn’t figure out how to link websites until now. So from now on, blogging and linking websites will be so much easier!***
Yah! I found my inspiration to cook and bake again! I was browsing through some food blogs and came upon this wonderful food site, TasteSpotting , and OMG, I’m in food heaven. Browsed the site for a day and found some great food ideas. This is the first recipe I’ve tried and it turned out pretty good. Will make little changes next time I make them, which will probably be soon. Thanks to Chef Cathy at ShowFood Chef for the recipe.
Eazee Cheezees Pictorial
Flour, salt, black pepper, butter, and medium cheddar & colby jack cheese
Used my handheld mixer to blend everything together
Dough
Rolled and cut out
1st batch:Â seeing stars
2nd batch:Â seeing flowers
Star Crackers
After all the time spent rolling, cutting, transferring and baking, this is all the stars I got from my first batch! My right hand was cramping from making all those star and flower cut outs but it was worth it. For the third batch, I just rolled it out and made square crackers. Chong prefers the 3rd batch to the first two but they’re all equally good.