A taste of Duncan Hines

So, I've been selected for the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program with Duncan Hines. I'm really into trying out cake mixes because that's how I get my first taste of that particular cake, and after that, when I trial and err with online recipes, I know what to change to improve on the taste to either be better than the one I got from the cake mix, or get closer to the cake mix..

I believe every household that does a little entertaining once in awhile should have boxes of cake mixes stocked up in their panty. If you have guests coming last minute and need to prepare some food to share, you can whip up a cake in minutes and share them over coffee! I mean, like really, who doesn't like CAKE?! My friend calls me a carnivore. I say, CAKIEVORE! I can't live a week without cake. *guilty*

I was really in the mood for carrot cake, with all the cold weather, and spices in winter, I think carrot cake really gets me in the mood! I took this opportunity to grab a box of Duncan Hines Classic carrot mix. It's a new and improved recipe by them, and it belonged to the decadent range, where they add in a pouch of real ingredients! Decadent. Desserts are supposed to be like that right?

After I came home, I checked out the Duncan Hines website to see what other flavours of cake mixes were available, and was surprised to find out that they had a recipe in which they tweaked the cake mix to add a few more ingredients to make it different so you never get bored or feel traditional! I chose the Carrot Cake Chewy Oatmeal bars. And quickly got to work on the recipe.

Here's whats in the box. A packet of premixed cake mix, and a separate pack of real carrots and raisins!

They're all dried up at this moment... you just have to pour in hot water.... and..... TADAH!!!! It soaks up the liquid and plumps back into yummy juiciness!

Melt the other ingredients in a pot...... Stir well to mix it all up...

Mix your dry ingredients well.

Add the egg into dry ingredients then mix in the cooked sugar mixture., till well incorporated..

Bake, and refrigerate.

Stack as many as you can on a plate and sink your teeth onto all of them.

I would recommend taking it out of the fridge 10 mins before cutting into them. As you can see I cut into mine too soon, and it was a little hard, thus, the crumbly and uneven edges. Taste wise, biting into it when it was cold made it a little too hard for my liking. But after devouring the first 2 pieces and letting the last one warm up room temperature, I would say its awesome. I love oatmeal, and have been looking for a oatmeal bar recipe for quite some time. I failed in a few before. Too hard, too raw, too sweet, too sticky.But I'm glad I finally made a pretty good tasting oatmeal bar, and am excited to experiment with other flavours and oatmeal. Try it and let me know how it goes! Meanwhile, I'll be experimenting more in my kitchen! Till then!

Meal planning tips

Do you hate cooking? Does anxiety strikes when you have to cook a meal? Do you often open your fridge only to blank stare and not know what to do with the ingredients inside? Well, you're not alone. I often feel like that too!

Where I stay now, is very different from Singapore. None of the food places are within walking distance. Its quite costly to eat out. The simplest meals are a minimum of USD$10 per person, not including tax and tips. You'd still have to drive miles and miles out to reach to the town to get the better food. Sometimes, after adding all the costs and inconvenience up, its still better to cook and prepare whatever I'm craving for at home.

Having to cook all 3 meals a day, and sometimes supper too, can be quite tiresome. I have to keep looking and searching online for new ideas on what to cook for the husband. I'm quite fussy in what I put in my mouth, I need colours and variety. I hate repeating dishes so I try to find new recipes all the time to prevent that.

I find that meal planning really useful, as I have the entire list of meals I will be preparing the following week, therefore, on the weekends when I go out to get my grocery, I know what to buy. I have this weekly planner pasted on my wall that acts as a whiteboard, so I can just fill it up on weekends and see what to defrost and prepare on the night before.

Side note: Club Sycamore is what I call my house, because we throw the most "happening" parties in this area! Or at least what I try to make myself believe.

I used to print weekly planners online, and plan my meals ahead, then draft out my grocery list to bring out on my weekend grocery trips. That way, when meal times come, I won't have to tear my hair out to think of what to cook later.

I also take photos of the food I cook, and load it up to a folder on my Facebook. From there, I can see what I've cooked before, and if it turned out good, I can use it for inspiration for future meals when I run out of ideas. I will be posting my meal plans and recipes on this blog in the future as well. I figured if that help me, I'm sure it can help someone else as well. Plus, its also another way I can use as a reference when I need new ideas.

I have been trying out several recipes and writing them down to create my own recipe folder, where I experiment with new recipes and improve them to suit my own palette. Hopefully it will eventually be good enough to share on my blog. I haven't got to the stage of developing my own recipes yet, so I still do get alot of inspiration from other blogs, and my ever - growing cookbook collection.

I have alot of upcoming plans for this blog, and have been slowly changing the layout and planning out the things I want to write about and share here. Tried and tested recipes, travel tips and photos, and reviews of products I've been given to test out. I also plan to do a blogging marathon soon! There's like tons of things in my head I want to share here, and that blogging marathon will force me to post everyday. If you have a particular topic you want to hear my views on, feel free to drop me an email, or leave me a comment!

Check out my "Unfinished Biz" tabs to see my upcoming endeavors I hope to achieve.

Follow me on Twitter @natxwang to be updated on my latest posts, and my daily nonsensical ramblings.

Recipe: Pandan Chiffon cake

I've been craving for Pandan Cake for awhile, being in USA and not being able to conveniently get "local" food from stores is killing me. I've been cooking and baking a storm in my kitchen since I've started "playing" in the kitchen. Its where I let my creativity flow, and cook my heart out for my hubs and friends.

I've did the cake 3 times, each time changing the recipe a little. This is the one which got the best feedback, being the softest texture. It did sink alittle, but its really soft, as what the tasters preferred. Its a wee bit sweeter, so I'll go about reducing the sugar next time around.

1 cup all purpose flour (150g)
3 heaping tbsp of corn flour
1/4 tsp salt
8 egg yolks
9 egg whites
1 + 1/4 cup of coconut milk (300 ml)
4 tbsp pandan leaf extract
160g castor sugar
1/2 tsp pandan essence ( I use the indonesian brand, which also gives a green colouring to the cake)
1/2 tsp cream of tar tar

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix coconut milk and sugar in a sauce pot and let it boil slightly. Stir to prevent from burning. Leave aside to cool.

Mix all purpose flour, baking powder and salt in a big mixing bowl.

Separate egg yolks and egg whites into separate bowls.

Mix the yolks, coconut milk mix, pandan leaf extract, and essence in a bowl, and whisk.
Add yolk mixture into flour mix. Use the whisk and stir till smooth.

Pour egg white, castor sugar, and cream of tar tar into a large mixing bowl. 
Use hand held mixer to whisk it to stiff peaks.

Gently fold with spatula egg white mix into egg yolk mix, till thoroughly mixed.
Pour into ungreased tube pan.
Level and bake 45 minutes.
Let cake cool upside down in pan for 1 hour.
Run the back of butter knife through the sides of the pan before popping it out to slice
Done!

Still not perfect, but getting better..

Some things I've learnt along the way:
-Take care that the coconut and sugar mix is not too hot to cook the yolks when you pour it in to mix.
-It will take awhile to whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks.
-When you fold the egg white mix into the egg yolk mix, careful not to let more air bubbles into the mixture. Its best to do as gently as possible, while allowing the both ingredients to blend with each other as much as possible.
-The mixture will be very watery, but don't worry about it. When did my first cake, I was worried that it wasn't going to rise, or that its too watery, it will come out as gunk. But it came out quite well, and we finished it in an hour out of the oven.

-To remove as much air bubbles as possible from the cake, drop it from about 2 inches above the table carefully. Or you can hold it firmly with 2 hands, and slam the bottom of the pan onto the table.
-It is very important to let the cake cool completely before taking it out of the pan, or it will crumb terribly. My first cake had to be eaten in handfuls rather than slices.. because I could not wait for it to cool!
-It is important not to grease the pan as you want the cake to "cling" onto the sides of the pan to rise as much as possible.
-Do not fill the pan to full as the cake will rise, and will result in a dome bottom. I fill mine to half, or 3/4 full.
-My last try, I lined the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, as I had alot of problems removing the cake from the pan, even after running my knife through the sides. It did not change any consistency of the cake, and allowed me to remove the cake easily from the pan.

Please try and share with me your photos! Let me know how I can improve this cake if you've done some experimenting on your own.. ;)

Recipe: Easy Bread Pudding.

I used to dance around in buffets whenever I see Bread Pudding is being laid out. The softness of the bread, combined with the sweetness of the other ingredients, is just so comforting. The warmth of the dessert just relaxes me. I know, I'm over indulgent, and I love food waaaaayyyyy too much. My tummy shows it, and I can't help it.

I always thought that its gonna be a difficult dish to handle, to do, to make the texture, and the moistness, while being crisp on the surface. It just seemed so hard. So it just happened when I came across this recipe, seeing that it was so simple to do, and with all the ingredients available in my pantry, and 1 loaf of lousy bread to boot, I hit the kitchen and did it.

The results was just what I wanted. Exactly how I described. I loved bread puddings that were moisty and soft, but alittle crisp on the crust.. I reduced the sugar by a little, and threw in more raisins, cinnamon, and a sprinkle of nutmeg over it.

Easy Bread Pudding  adapted from Are You Hungry?

Ingredients:

6 slices day-old bread
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk (i used vanilla soy milk)
1/2 cup white sugar (i used abt 3/4 of the half cup)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (its okay to go more on here! I did!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a dash of nutmeg (optional, but i did too!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

 I know they said square, but it doesn't matter if its round right?

Tear stale bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. Sprinkle with raisins.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaked up the egg mixture.

I used way more raisins than 1/2 cup. =D

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

Try it and let me know how it goes! Happy baking!

 As soon as the photos were taken, I just had to dig my spoon into it and grab a "bite".

Sidenote: I'm thinking of baking my own breads here, since all the breads here don't taste as like how we usually eat it back in SG. Should I? I have tried 6 brands. I want breads that are soft, taste good, healthy, and can spread my butter and cheese without tearing itself apart... Can't find in supermarket here. Sigh.

Recipe: Awesome steak with sauce

I did this for our 1st Anniversary dinner, and received many kind comments on preparing that "romantic dinner".  Thing is, while the name and all sounds oh-so-difficult to prepare, I'd like to share how simple and easy the sauce is, to make. The Hubs actually loved the sauce, and thought that I spent alot of time making it. When I first saw the entire recipe for the filet mignon, I was afraid to try it out. But the end result probably took me about 15 minutes to comeplete, which, for a newbie home cook like me, should be an easy task for everyone.

Juicy steaks.. leave them in the packaging until you're ready to cook them, to keep them as "juicy" as possible.

When you prepare the filet mignon, you don't really need to season it, other than a good dash of black pepper. The bacon that surrounds the meat is a natural seasoning on its own. Some recipes call for cooking 3 mins on each side of the meat, but when I first cut into the meat its still bloody, and raw. I would say go for around 9 mins each side, if you like it medium like me.

For the sauce:

3tbsp of butter
2/3 cup of red wine or shao xing rice wine.
1tbsp of Dijon Mustard
1 onion


Grab a sauce pan, melt 1 tbsp of butter in it.
Add in the onions, or shallots. Let it sweat and caramelize. Around 1 minute.
Add wine, mustard, and let it simmer another 2 minutes, stirring it occasionally, to let it mix well.
Reduce heat to medium low.
Whisk in 2 more tbsp of butter.
Season if needed. I didn't, I just allowed the natural flavours to mix around, and spooned it over my steaks.

Dig in with a good glass of wine! ;) Enjoy!

The Green Monster

I've been surfing other foodie blogs since I started my adventures in my kitchen. Have to get some recipes for inspiration, and to satisfy my cravings at the same time. I came across The Green Monster Movement after surfing Oh She Glows blog from Julie's site.

As I was surfing through the recipes of smoothies that other readers have left, I decided to "heck it and make my own!" Green Monster. I didn't have any spinach, but I needed some green vegetables to make my Green Monster right? So after rummaging through my fridge, here's what I got for myself.

6 leaves of cabbage
2 celery stalks
a bunch of grapes
6 ice cubes
a drizzle of honey

Throw all into a blender, and blend blend blend, pushing it down with a spoon.

I gulped half of it down before remembering to take a photo of it. Well, I figured, I did it out of boredom, and if its going to give me some benefits for my health, why not? Its a helluva big cup for a person to drink. Great for detox and filling up my hungry tummy. It tasted good, and its a good way to make use of the leftover vegetables in the fridge, rather than letting them wilt and go to waste. I can't wait to make one for the Hubs, since he's adverse to eating Vegs too. Let's wait and see!

Recipe: Drunken Chicken

 This is our dinner yesterday. Its a simple to cook using alcohol aka Shaoxing Rice Wine. When we first came here, I've never heard of it before, and never really cooked with it before. But after adding it to some of our stews, its now an official staple in our kitchen, and I always keep an extra bottle. I cook alot with it these days, replacing any recipe that calls for cooking wine with it. Its quite cheap to use too!

This recipe is taking from Rasamalaysia. They have alot of Asian recipes, and I take alot of inspiration from it when I plan for my meals. Have fun with the recipes, and let me know how it goes!

Shanghai Drunken Chicken Recipe Ingredients:
3 lbs chicken, dark meat preferably
2 Tbsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
0.5 oz. ginger, thinly sliced
4 – 6 green onion, white parts only, sliced lengthwise
1 1/2 C Shaoxing rice wine
2 tsp white sugar
Ice cubes and water
Method:
Mix the salt with the two peppers. Rub the chicken all over with the salt and pepper and let it sit for an hour.
Poaching Method:
Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a Dutch oven or large pot, add the green onion bottoms and ginger. Add the chicken, make sure there is enough water to cover the chicken, and return to a boil. Lower the heat to a bare simmer and simmer for 10 minutes. If you’re using a whole chicken, when the water is simmering for 10 minutes, lift the chicken out of the water and make sure the stock in the cavity empties back into the pot. Do that 3 times for a whole chicken. For chicken pieces or leg quarters, gently stir the pot once or redistribute the leg quarters so they cook evenly. After 10 minutes, cover, turn off the heat, and allow the chicken to poach undisturbed until the water cools almost to room temperature.
Steaming Method:
Bring water to a boil in the steamer. Place the chicken in an even layer, scatter the green onion and ginger all over and steam over medium heat for 30 – 40 minutes or until the internal temperature near the bone reaches 165 – 170 degrees F. If the chicken pieces are larger, they will take longer to steam. If any of the pieces are touching make sure to redistribute them in the middle of cooking so they cook evenly.
Mix the ice cubes and water and shock the chicken in ice cold water for 2 minutes. If you poached the chicken, shock it after the chicken has cooled to room temperature. If you steamed the chicken, shock it immediately after steaming.
After cooking, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, or score the chicken meat with a knife. Put the chicken pieces into a large container. Mix 3/4 cup to 1 cup of the chicken stock (the liquid you poached the chicken in or the liquid that comes out of the chicken after steaming) with the sugar and rice wine. Taste the marinade and add salt if needed. Pour it over the chicken pieces and let this sit in the fridge at least overnight before serving. Serve cold.

Recipe: Mince Pork Noodle aka Bak Chor Mee

The Singapore hawker favorite of Mince Pork Noodle, or Bak Chor Mee. Something that I've been craving, for a long time. I was having a hard time thinking of what I should do for dinner since it was just me and Hubs at home. The good friend was back in SG visiting. When its only the 2 of us eating, I'd just try to whip up easy 1 dish meals to get over the dinner as long as it was enough to fill the tummy.

We used to eat this almost every night when we went to the coffeeshops for supper. After gaming hours, so called. Over here, no coffeeshop, no supper sessions, most importantly, no gaming kakis. We do having movie marathons though, where the friends would come over, and watch movies and drama series to no end.

I got the recipe from Food Made With Love and edited it a little for the carnivore in me. =D

Ingredients:

For the minced meat
Minced pork -250g or as much as u need! I added lots!
Olive oil
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark sweet sauce aka kecap manis
1 small can button mushrooms
2 slabs of pork loin sliced. (optional) (I told u i'm a carnivore!!)

Take the measurements as a guide, and keep tasting your food, and adjust it to your liking!

For the Stewed mushrooms
A handful of Dried shitake mushrooms. (whole or sliced doesn't matter)
olive oil
sliced ginger
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
hot water enough to cover your mushrooms to soak.

For the noodles
4 bundles of flat yellow noodles (for the 2 of us. we are big eaters though!)
1/2 tsp oyster sauce
a splash of fish sauce
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp of water

Fried Mince Meat

1. Heat the pan with the tablespoon of olive oil. Add the garlic and fry till it just turns a slight tinge of brown.
Add the mince meat and fry till cooked. Remember to break it up to small pieces.
Add the different sauces and fry, on medium-low heat, till all the liquid reduces.
Stirring occasionally. Add the button mushroom till it’s incorporated.

2. You can cook this in advance, and pop it into the microwave to heat it up just before serving

Stewed Mushroom

1. Pour hot water over the dried chinese mushrooms and soak for 15 mins.
Do not throw the water left after you take the mushrooms out.
Squeeze out the water of each mushroom, and cut it into relatively thin slices.

2. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a heavy-based pan. Add the slices ginger and fry till tender.
Add the mushrooms and fry till fragrant.
Add the oyster sauce and a few tablespoons of water (from the mushrooms)
cook under medium-low heat and allow the mushrooms to absorb the liquid (plumping it up in the process)

3. Keep adding water (at least 2 more additions) and allow it to cook over low heat for at least 30mins.
so that it’s soft and tender. and bursting with flavour!

Noodles :

1. In a large bowl, add ketchup, oyster sauce, and fish sauce and mix till incorporated.

2. Boil the rice noodles according to the instructions on the packet
(Normally, I put the noodles in hot boiling water and scoop it up almost immediately
or else it will get too soft and will break into small pieces easily)

Optional: If you're like me, guilty from all the meat, you may add a handful of chopped fresh lettuce to top the bowl. I did add some, probably a fingerful, but its being covered by the huge scoops of meat. *drool*

I copied the recipe from Food Made with Love, but edited it to how I cooked it. I left out the fishballs and beansprouts. We're not big fans of veggies. And I added ketchup to my noodles sauce, it made it sweeter. Much to our liking. Enjoy!

Our 1st Anniversary Dinner

Its hard to find a place to eat here, there's no place here that excites my taste buds, neither are there any places that spells romantic. The best foods around here, are the fast food restaurants. On days I don't cook, and we stay in MH, I'd rather just grab a Mushroom & Swiss from McD.

Since our anniversary fell on a weekday, and my hubs is working morning shift. I decided to prepare a "surprise" romantic dinner in our own home for him. So he can just come back from work, bath, eat, have some wine, and laze on the couch with me. Perfect isn't it?

The menu of the day:
-Potato Salad topped with raisins.
-Filet Mignon with sauce
-Strawberry Cheesecake

All paired with Parma Ridge Sweet Blush Wine 2005.

I have no idea how to put romance in our dining area, based on the fact that the weather has been cold, and walking to buy decorations and carrying them back is not gonna be an easy task. I used what I had on hand.

The plastic wine glasses are from Dollar Tree's Valentines Day sales. I did up the potato salad in the early afternoon, and left it in the fridge to chill. Next, I prepared the sauce for the filet mignons. I had no idea how to prepare it, as the commiss had ran out of red wine, which was what I intended to use initially. I searched for some recipes online, but decided to replace the red wine with shaoxing rice wine, and added a little sugar instead. 

Here's how I set it up. I even wiped the dripped sauce off the plates. Must be watching too much Gordon Ramsay's shows. Sigh. 

I warmed up the sauce that I prepared, and drizzled it over the filets, and topped it with lots of onions. The sauce was fantastic. I loved it. Hubs raved about it. He said it was the happiest day ever since we got married. ;)  

I thought we could have a good sit down dinner, and talk and romance over dinner and wine. However, the meat was still quite raw in the center. The recipe recommended to cook the meats for 6 mins on each side, which I followed to the second, for medium rare meats that the Hubs liked. However, it turned out to be too raw. Had to run back and forth the kitchen to refire the meats to make them slightly less red and more edible. I would reccomend to cook them for around 12 minutes on each side and that should make it more edible. 

Candlelights, and wine.. What more could I ask for in a romantic dinner at home, for less than $20. ;) 

Happy Anniversary Hubs, love u always. Recipes on how to prepare the food step by step... Coming up next!

Portabello Mushrooms with Tomato and Mozzarella Cheese

I've read a few times how Portabello mushrooms are like steaks to vegetarians, but I couldn't understand why. I've wanted to try cooking with portabellos for sometime, but felt intimidated by the size of the mushroom cap. So the other day, when we went to get our groceries, I decided to just grab a pack of 2 caps to try cooking for lunch the next day. I mixed and matched it with whatever I had in the fridge, and it turned out so good, the guys wanted me to cook it again next time. Here's what I did:

Ingredients:
2 portabello mushroom
salt & pepper
McCormick steak seasoning
1 tomato, diced
Mozzarella cheese, shreded

1. Preheat oven to 395F.
2. Scrape out gills from underside of mushroom cap. Rinse clean.
3. Season with salt and pepper and steak seasoning.
4. Spread out tomatoes on the underside of mushroom cap.
5. Top with plenty of Mozzarella cheese! I love cheese, so I used plenty of it.
6. Put mushrooms on tray, and put in oven for 20 mins, checking every 10 mins.
7. Slice when its done, or eat the caps whole!

This tastes amazingly juicy, its almost like a burger without the bun. A good lunch would be to put the mushroom between a burger bun, and its almost gonna taste like a mushroom swiss! The guys loved it, and I'm crazy over it. I'm quite sure i'll be doing another one soon.. Its easy to make, and very healthy, since all of it is vegetables and cheese. I've always wanted to try cooking with tomatoes, and I believe if I kept eating it, I would eventually come to like it. And I was right! ;) More tomato recipes to come!

Parmesan Herbed Flounder with Bread Crumbs.

When we first arrived in Idaho, settled down in our house and started shopping for our groceries, it was difficult to find Asian food. Its a necessity to cook everyday, as the guys had to bring lunchboxes to work. There's hardly time to drive around to buy food, plus, the only food available to purchase was Burger King. Well, I'm a loving wife, who cares about her husband's diet, and I wouldn't want him chewing on that everyday.

We've come a long way, it started out that he was the one experimenting in the kitchen and doing all the cooking on his own. Then I started having slight interest, and tookover some of the dishes. As I studied more and more recipes and foodie blogs online, I started doing more and more of the cooking, trying out new dishes. It has now come to a point that I've completely taken over the cooking, with joy, and him, taking over the laptop and tv, with greater joy. His tummy is happy too. With new flavours and new dishes to try all the time.

I prefer dishes with lesser ingredients, easy to prepare, but a burst of flavours. It isn't easy to find reasonably priced fish where we live. In Singapore, we can easily buy fish in the market. But here, there's only supermarket. No wet markets. They upsell the fishes in the "fresh" section, but the colour didn't look fresh, and its probably frozen before. Its expensive! We didn't eat fish in the first few months that we were here, and it came to a point, when we wanted to eat fish, we'd go for Fillet O Fish. How pathetic is that!

On one of my afternoon walks, I decided to walk to the commissary and check out the food available. When the husband isn't around, I can take a good long walk around and study each ingredient available to me, so I can take a mental note to what I can find within my reach, and look out for new  recipes to try. I headed to the frozen seafood section. What surprised me was, there were lotsa fish available there, and while at first look, the prices were $10 and above, at closer look, there's many fillets inside. We've been paying $1 per small fillet before that, its almost and indulgence to have fish in USA. So when I saw that buying fish that was frozen before, the price was more affordable and can be a good addition to our meals.. I bought a packet of flounder to try first. It was the cheapest of the lot. And I'm sure, I'll be hitting on Tilapia and salmon next.

Here's the recipe for my Parmesan Herbed Flounder with Bread Crumbs. We originally wanted to fry it, but I decided on a healthier baked version.

6 flounder fillets
4/5 tbsp McCormick Parmesan Herb
2 tablespoon dried parsley
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup panko bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Season the first with salt and pepper.
3. Coat the fish with a light coat of olive oil.4. In a dry bowl, mix the panko bread crumbs with parmesan herb and parsley.
5. Press the bread crumb mix into fillets.
6. Lay the fish in baking tray lined with aluminium foil.
7. Bake for about 10 mins and turn the fish over.
8. Bake for another 8 - 10 mins until fish is cooked through.

Although baking it was a healthier route, I would probably try to fry it the next time around. It was flaking too easily and the fish kept breaking up as we tried to pick it up with a fork. It was quite dry and not really juicy. But it might be due to our fillets being too thin and small. Might be good to bake when cooked with a thicker cut. The seasoning was tasty and just right. Hubby thought his had a little too much cheese. But I liked mine the way it was. Cheesy and tasty. ;)

Let me know how yours turned out! ;)

Recipe: Roasted Brussel Sprouts

This isn't a very positive month for me, and I hate blogging about negative stuff. Celebrate and share the good times, and forget the bad ones. I've been trying to focus my time on cooking, and hoping this will pass my time quickly. It seems I've been getting in giddy and the low blood pressure is back again. This week especially I've had a few giddy spells and feeling weaker than usual. I want to get back up to my exercise routine, but I don't want to push myself too hard.

Please bring on the positive stuff and let this month come to a good end.

As mentioned in the earlier posts, I wanted to try some new foods. I'm tired of sticking to purely asian dishes, and wanted a wider variety in my cooking, with different foods. Yesterday I experimented with brussel sprouts. I feel that vegetables are meant to be healthy and cooked with minimal ingredients. I usually do a stir fry, with oyster sauce and garlic for my leafy veggies.

This is my first time cooking with brussel sprouts and I wanted to cook it simple to taste the flavours of the leaves, so I can think of what to pair it up with next time... I googled for brussel sprouts recipes, and came across this one. Its really simple and easy, and the ingredients are staples in every kitchen. It turned out really good! Here goes:

Roasted Brussel Sprouts 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts
• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

nocoupons

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut off the brown ends of the Brussels sprouts and pull off any yellow outer leaves. Mix them in a bowl with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour them on a sheet pan and roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Shake the pan from time to time to brown the sprouts evenly. Sprinkle with more kosher salt ( I like these salty like French fries), and serve immediately.

I thought these tasted like potato chips. Especially those leaves that fell off the sprouts, and after I removed them from the oven, they were so crunchy. I could eat these like chips all day. When you roast it the leaves get alittle crispy and when you bite it, it becomes like a chip. I'm thinking of cutting the sprouts into halves next time so hopefully it will turn out even more crunchy, and we can munch on it while watching movies. Talk about healthy living! ;)

Recipe; Five Spice Beef & Pepper Stir Fry.

Yikes! Been lazing for a long while. Its been awhile since I gave my body a good workout. I need to workout a sweat. But at the same time, my body has been aching, I've been getting headaches, and I'm feeling tired all the time. Its a bad sign of a over-lazing body. Either that, or maybe I've been feeding my body too much recently, now that I'm always excited to try new recipes.

Last few days, I have been trying some old repeated recipes, Hubs says its always good to retry and retry until we get the perfect mix that we like. So I've done Sweet & sour pork on Monday. The taste is getting alittle better. We added more corn flour this time, to give it a better crisp.

Over the weekend, we headed out to Boise for Grand China Buffet ( a review will be coming up soon), and headed to Ross for some last minute shopping. I wanted to try to get some stuff for my Dad. We've bought stuff for most of the family except my Dad. I just didn't know what to get for him. He's birthday is coming up soon, and I still have no idea what is good for him. Hopefully something will catch my eye soon.

Here's the recipe for the Five Spiced Beef & Pepper stir fry which I cooked today for the guy's lunchbox.

Ingredients

• Jasmine rice or short grain white rice, 1 to 1 1/2 cups, prepared to package directions
• 2 cups beef broth or stock, paper container or canned
• 2 tablespoons wok or clear oil, 1 turn of the pan
• 1 1/2 pounds beef sirloin or beef tenderloin tips, trimmed, placed in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes then thinly sliced
• 2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 cup dry cooking sherry
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce, eyeball the amount
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder, found on Asian foods aisle of market
• Cracked black pepper
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle, for garnish
• 1/2 cup smoked whole almonds, available on snack aisle, for garnish

Directions

Boil water for rice and prepare to package directions.

Place beef broth in a small pot over low heat to warm the liquid.

Heat a wok shaped skillet or pan over high heat. Add oil (it will smoke) and meat bits. Stir-fry meat 3 minutes and remove from pan or move off to the side of the wok. Return pan to heat and add peppers and onions. Stir-fry veggies 2 minutes. Add meat back to the pan. Add sherry and stir fry until liquid almost evaporates about 1 minute. Add soy sauce to the pan. Dissolve cornstarch with a ladle of warm beef broth. Add beef broth to the pan, then add cornstarch combined with broth, the five-spice powder and black pepper. Stir sauce until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Adjust seasonings. Add more soy or salt if necessary. Remove stir-fry from heat. Fill dinner bowls with beef stir-fry and top with a scoop of rice. Scoop rice with ice cream scoop to get a rounded ball. By placing rice on top of stir-fry, rice will stay firm and not soak up too much sauce. Garnish with chopped scallions and smoked almonds.

Recipe taken from Food Network, Rachel Ray.

Taste test:
The sauce was a little thick and creamy for my liking, probably shouldn't have added too much corn starch. Didn't add enough black pepper, and needed more colour! I hate bell peppers, so I left them out. I might try this recipe again, with a light dose of sesame oil, and more five spiced powder. Oh, and be careful not to over cook the beef, and really cut them into thin slices. I hate problems chewing into my beef. =(

Recipe: Easy Peasy Dijon Mustard Chicken that even 5 year olds can do!

This must be the easiest marinade I've ever mixed up for chicken! I bought a bottle of Dijon Mustard after watching Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen.  There was one episode where he questioned the Chef's what were the 5 mother sauces. In my head, I was thinking, Oyster sauce? That's like one of the sauces I use every meal! And maybe soy sauce? What about Hoisin Sauce? I was horribly wrong. They were naming things like tomato sauce, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and so on. I've heard of mustard, but I can't comprehend how is it a mother sauce, so the next day, when we went out grocery shopping, I bought one home to taste and try cooking with it.

I searched for recipes but I realise I kept lacking some ingredients, like herbs and spices and stuff. I like to cook simple and easy and fast. Minimal effort, maximum taste. Of course cooking can never be "little" effort. I like flavours in my dishes, without having tons of things to complicate the palate. I swapped out the ingredients of recipes I found on online, and I think this one is a keeper! The husband loves it. =)

Recipe: Easy Peasy Dijon Mustard Chicken

Ingredients:
3 chicken drumstick
1 egg white
3 tablespoons of Dijon Mustard
a drizzle of honey


1. Mix the Dijon mustard with the egg white until smooth. Marinate chicken with mustard egg mix. Make sure marinate goes under the chicken skin as well, if you're leaving the skin on. Leave 2 hours to overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 395F. Place chicken on a tray. Reserving the marinate. I like to line my trays with aluminum foil, so its easy to clear up. Set timer to 10 mins.

3. Drizzle honey over the remaining marinate, whisk until smooth and set aside. Once timer is up, take chicken out of oven, and flip it over, and brush with honeyed marinate, put back into over. Set timer for 10 mins. Repeat this for 4 times, or until chicken is well cooked.

Your kitchen is gonna smell good, and you're gonna love biting into it. This will change your view of yucky mustards, if you hated the taste like I did before! As for now, I'm gonna keep finding new recipes for my new bottle of Dijon!

Recipe: Sweet corn with Pork soup

I have no idea what's the correct name for this soup, but I do know that this soup is what his mum always cooks when we were back in SG. The husband has been missing home quite a bit, and he's been slightly under stress, so I want to replicate something that he might be missing from home, to make him feel slightly better. It sure did turn out great, and he loved it. Drinking this soup made me think of family too. I miss mum & dad alot.

Recipe: Sweet corn with Pork soup (serves 3)

Pork ribs / loin, cut into bite size pieces ( i used 3 pieces of pork steaks here, we're huge carnivores)

1 corn cut into 3 pieces

2 dates

2 carrots peeled and sliced thickly.

1. Boil enough water to cover all the pork. Pour the pork in when its boiling, leave for 15 mins. There should be alot of scum and oil on the surface. Remove from heat and rinse with water.
2. Refill the water to desired soup amount, ard 2 litres, at medium heat, and let it go to a boil.
3. Add in corn and dates, and put to low heat. Set timer for2 hours.
4. Add in carrots and set timer for another 1 hour.Season with salt to taste.
5. Soup is now ready to be enjoyed.

Recipe: Easy & Yummy Teriyaki Chicken

There's only a couple of Chinese restaurants in this little small town that we live in. And even so, the food never ever tastes like what we eat back home. As what they always say, home cooked food is always still the best. When we used to live in Aaron's parents place, they had a maid who would cook the meals everyday, and we were lucky enough to enjoy his mum's yummy recipes everyday.

I never knew how to cook, or how dishes were created. When I started working and preparing towards our wedding, my hours and location at work, forced me to pack my own food to work. It was costly to eat in town, and the food were prepared pretty unhygenically. There were rats and insects all over.

Being here now in USA, we really miss the convenience of the hawker foods. I have to cook our meals, as it takes a 20 minute drive out to get proper food. Every week day, I cook to pack food for my husband's lunch/dinner box, for him to bring to work. I know how hard he's been working, and how tired he is everyday, and I prepare every meal with love hoping it will make him feel better with the yummy food that he puts in his mouth.

Today's lunch box consists of Teriyaki Chicken and Bok Choy with Oyster Sauce.

The Teriyaki Chicken recipe is adapted from:
I have tried several recipes from here and they're all great and easy to cook.. Will update with pictures as I go along.

Recipe: Teriyaki Chicken

1 chicken thigh (you can choose to debone it, but I left the bones on.)
2 tablespoon mirin
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
drizzle of cooking oil

1. Marinate the chicken in mirin, soy sauce, and sugar for 30 mins.
2. Drain, reserve the marinate.
3. Cook the chicken in cooking oil skin side down. When browned, turn and cook the other side.
4. Add 3 tablespoon of water to the reserved marinate, and pour over chicken. Cover and simmer until cooked through. ( about 15 mins)
5. Remove cover, raise the heat until sauce is reduced to a glaze.

You may choose to slice it now, or if you're rough like me, serve it as the whole thigh, and bite into it like a carnivore. ;)

This recipe is only for 1 chicken thigh. I usually cook 1 thigh for each person, so just multiply all ingredients with the number of people eating. The guys pretty liked the chicken I cooked the last time, and I'm sure they'll enjoy it again today.

I apologise for the lousy food presentation, but I only remembered to take a photo of it after packing it into his pyrex containers. I'll try to improve on the presentation part. But its still yummy! ;)