Easy Guacamole

When avocado is on sales, I like to buy some to make guacamole, milk shake, or add in salad.  Guacamole is very easy to make and I would prefer to make it myself rather than buy it at the store.  I think it is very versatile as you can also add red or color bell pepper, jelepeno (for a spicy kick), roasted garlic and white onion.  Basically just whatever to your fancy or just keep it plain.  It makes a great appetizer or party snack!

I served my guacamole with Sprout's multi-grain tortilla chips, loved that chips!  It is a great way to add shallot, cilantro and tomato for my girls as usually they are kind of picky with those.

Asian Peanut Sesame Salad Dressing

Evy's school has a "Healthy Salad" cooking contest and I needed to help her to create a healthy salad with a healthy salad dressing.  Hence, this recipe was created.  Her salad mix presented to school would be more colorful with fruit, seeds, nut, cherry tomatoes, carrots, mixed baby salad greens and hard boiled eggs.  We needed to do a taste test before submitting the recipe so I mixed up a quick and simple salad to try out the peanut sesame dressing.  We all loved it and I hope the judges would as well.

This peanut sesame dressing only has 1 tsp. of oil and it is sesame oil which is good for our health.  I think the rest of the ingredients are healthy too, if you try it, feedback and link back to me ya!

My simple quick salad mix above is cut organic romaine lettuce heart, cilantro (great to detox our body from mercury, aluminum and lead) and unsalted toasted sunflower seeds (you can add pine nuts too if you have).  It was so good when paired with my peanut sesame dressing that Edda and I couldn't stop eating.  Edda loved this salad very much and she would finish the bowl clean.  I would probably add a packet of pouch albacore tuna and walnuts next time.

Ching's Chili

I have been reading the Super Immunity book and bean is one of the high-micronutrient super foods that was advice to consume regularly.  Frankly I don't cook beans often as I often used the green and red beans to make sweet Chinese dessert soup.  Black and Soy beans to boil Chinese soup and that's about it.  The only bean that I used in cooking is garbanzo beans and that was when I cooked the Japanese curry.  So, after reading that book, I wanted to incorporate more beans into our diets.  Since the weather is getting cold here, a warm bowl of chili came into my mind.  And just when I was thinking of that, the organic brand of beans and tomato sauce were on sales for $1 each.  And that just about made up my mind.

This is Ching's Chili, or my chili as I used ground chicken, tri-bean blend, onion, celery, tomato and corn (for more fiber and additional micronutrient intake) and my own way of seasonings.  We all loved it and I am going to head out to buy more of these tri-bean blend and organic tomato sauce while it is still on sales.  Looking forward to more Ching's Chili in these cold weather.  Feedback to me when you give my chili a try yeah!

This tri-bean blend has organic dark red kidney beans, organic pinto beans and organic black beans.  I was just happy to find three different colored beans in a can.   What a great way to get the nutrients from these beans (What a bummer!  The last few trips I went to KS and they were out of this Tri-Bean Blend!!).

I am aware of the resin linings of tin can and more so from the tomato sauce, but what did I do when my organic tomato sauce came in a tin can instead of a glass bottle?  For this, I just pour out the tomato sauce and didn't bother to scratch the can clean or add water to rinse everything out, so there was still a lining of tomato sauce left on the can, that's the best I can do in this case.  Or else, I would have to make my own tomato sauce.  Luckily I don't depend on can food, I get most of my micronutrients from whole natural food.

Green Tea Cream Puffs

I was left with some heavy cream from Thanksgiving.  So, I needed to use it before it expired and I thought of  making a green tea flavor cream filling for some cream puffs.  Cream puff is very easy to make, I just followed a classic cream puff dough recipe and play with the flavor of cream filling.

Cream puff freezes well and I especially loved how the heavy cream filling tasted after in the freezer.  To me, it tasted so much like ice-cream and making it so good.  You can drizzle the top with melted milk chocolate to make it more presentable for a party or potluck.

Polenta with Chicken Mushroom Sauce

I have been wanting to try the organic polenta for sometimes but I needed time to think of how and what to serve it with.  The above was the result of much thought.  I loved how soft and nutty the polenta tasted and the slight crispness from the edges resulting from pan-frying it in olive oil.  It didn't look much but was actually quite filling and well served as an alternative to rice or bread.  It was delicious to pair it with the creamy mushroom sauce.  The pine nuts added a wonderful crunch to the mushroom sauce and juicy white chicken.  You can choose to grill the chicken breast or pan-frying it in extra virgin olive oil.  Overall, it was a satisfying and balance meal.

Pantry essentials are those go-to ingredients that you love to reach for when thinking up new ways to create holidays dishes that wow friends and family.  Polenta is a great meatless dish to add to your weekly cooking repertoire, their Crepes are an easy no-muss-no-fuss dessert and Pine Nuts make for a wonderful crunch to any dish whether savory or sweet.  Not only that, they have lots of unique, hard to find and specialty items such as exotic fruits and vegetables. Check out Friedas for any of your pantry essentials need and specialty items.

I love these ready-to-use French Style Crepes, it makes making a delicious dessert super quick and easy.  I just spread it with a thin layer of Jif Chocolate/ Nutella and roll it up and sprinkle some powder sugar on top.  Can I say YUMMY!!   You can also use this to make the famous Crepes Cake and cut down on hours of labor!

* I received free samples from Friedas.  Thoughts and opinions are my own.

Cranberries Salsa

I was never a fan of cranberries sauce until I tasted the cranberries salsa.  I was changed then and wanted this as one of the side dishes for my Thanksgiving meal.  Spicy, sour and sweetness increase one's appetite and which makes this dish so appealing and irresistible.  The crunchy apple added a nice bite to it as well.

If you make this dish, please feedback to me and link back to my original post.  Thank you!

Cranberries Sauce:

1 cup water, 1 cup cane sugar, 1 pkg. cranberries, zest of  2 clementines or 1 orange.

Dissolve sugar in water, then add cranberries and zest.  When boiling, turn the heat to low and let it simmer uncover until thicken, about 20-25 minutes.

Brined Turkey Breast

Brined turkey breast is definitely the choice for my small family.  But I heard that deep-fried turkey is also very good.  Someone told me if I ever tried a deep-fried turkey, I won't switch back.  Since I don't have a deep-fryer for turkey, brine turkey is sufficient for me.  This turkey doesn't have the turkey smell at all, I am not sure whether it is because it only has white meat or because I added ginger into the brine and also lemon slices into the cavity before roasting?   Anyway, since whatever I did this time worked, I will keep doing it.

Moist and juicy carved turkey breast.  This time I carved it the American way instead of the Asian way.  Haha...  You can see my Asian carving under Turkey posts.

Buttery Mashed Potatoes

Everyone has their own way of making the mashed potatoes.  Posting this recipe seem a bit out of place because I assume everyone knows how to make it.  Haha... Anyway, making the mashed potatoes using an electric beaters was taught to me long time ago by an American friend.  That was when I realized making mashed potatoes from scratch was so easy.

Coming from Malaysia, my exposure on mashed potatoes was mostly from KFC and it seem so processed and difficult to make at that time.  And since my mom only cooked Chinese food, making American food seem so far fetch and difficult.  After living here for a while, I slowly realized American food is actually not difficult to make at all.  This recipe is more on the sinful side so enjoy!

Thanksgiving Meal for 2-4 persons

Everything made from scratch except the pumpkin pie which I bought at Sprouts.  This was about 5 lb. worth of turkey breast and it is good for 2-4 persons (4-6 persons in our case).  Cranberries sauce for my girls and cranberries salsa for me.  Creamy mashed potatoes top with melted Kerrygold butter and chopped scallions.  My banana oats buns and easy crunchy green beans.  Turkey gravy, short-cut method (turkey dripping, chicken stock and thicken with potato starch).

Calamari Spaghetti

Recently, I saw a Healthy Chinese Cooking Show that actually suggested eating squid, calamari, octopus and cuttlefish to lower your cholesterol.  That was completely news to me as I always thought these have the highest cholesterol level among all other seafood and which should be avoided. But they said when you clean your calamari, squid, octopus and cuttlefish completely (don't eat the internal organ and the eggs), then the cholesterol level is not too bad.  Furthermore, it has good vitamins and minerals that the body needs such as Vitamin B2, B3 and B12, potassium, magnesium, zinc, selenium, iron, protein and phosphorous that are actually good for us.  It also has omega 3 fatty acids such as DHA and EPA which can lower bad cholesterol.  However, how you cook and prepare this is important too, raw (as in sushi), steam, or lightly stir-fry is best compared to batter it and deep-fry and eat it with dipping sauce.  For people with already high cholesterol level, consult with your doctor first as this piece of information is very new to me too.  Food high in cholesterol doesn't mean it will raise your blood cholesterol such as egg and squid, unlike food high in saturated fat.  In any case, moderation is still the key, occasional treat shouldn't be a problem.

Crispy Pumpkin Cookies

Yeah!  I did it!  I managed to create a crispy pumpkin cookies!!!  Two years ago, I tried my hand on soft pumpkin cookies which I didn't really like as I preferred my cookies to be crisp and tasted like cookies instead of cake.  I told myself that I was going to experiment and come out with a crispy cookie recipe but never really gotten to do it.  So, this year I took on the challenge and happy to announce that I created a delicious crispy pumpkin cookies that we all liked and easy to make.

As you know, my recipe got to be easy to whip up.  And this recipe only required a hand whisk!!  What a plus right for busy mom or for someone who just want to make cookies fast with minimally washing required.  I added the dried cranberries just because I have about 1/2 cup left and I wanted to finish it.  You can omit it or use raisins or chocolate chips, it's up to you!

Your house will smell like pumpkin and spices when you bake these cookies.  My girls totally loved this and said it tasted like pumpkin.  I think the cinnamon and cloves paired really well to bring up the full flavor of this cookie.  Warning:  It is hard to resist, so self-control needed in eating these cookies!

Brownie from Scratch

I used to buy brownie in a box because I liked the fudge liked texture and it was fool proof.  Or because I always thought brownie was hard to make?  But I stopped buying it after I was aware of partially hydrogenated oil, just like a lot of other things that I used to buy.  Anyway, both my girls have been bugging me to make brownie for them.  They loved brownie but I don't buy them in the store so I had to make it for them.  I found an easy recipe with great reviews and decided to try it (recipe link provided in the next page).  It was good and but not very fudge like, not sure whether I over baked it or not.  Nevertheless, my girls loved it!

Would definitely try this recipe again without the chocolate frosting.

Pancakes from Scratch!

I used to make pancake from a box because I didn't know better.  When I started into baking, I started to wonder, why make it from a box (I don't want to name it here but all who made it from a box should know the brand name) when it's actually very easy to make from scratch as my pantry already have all the ingredients?  This recipe is a keeper recipe for me, never from a box again.

My girls were bugging me to make pancakes for them.  So, pancake is an occasional treat for them as they loved it.  I served it with cinnamon sugar and pure honey as I was out of maple syrup.  I could probably make my own brown sugar syrup to go with it too eh? 

Soft, light, fluffy and delicious pancakes from scratch!  

Easy Apple Raisin Tart (苹果葡萄干馅饼)

I was in the mood for experiment.  When I was making a pie crust for my sweet potato pie for Thanksgiving, I made an extra pie crust and freeze.  And then Granny Smith (green apple) was on sales for 3 for $1 and I couldn't pass it out so I bought 3.  But I only used 2 for this recipe.  With the ready made defroze pie crust and Granny Smith, I set to work.  It was really easy to put together (see instruction on next page) and when I was finished, it looks kind of blank.  So, I scattered some raisins on top and finally it looked presentable.

It turned out great too!  We all liked the flaky crispy crust with the sweet apple filling.  Keep any leftover in an air-tight container and toast it in a toaster oven for 5 minutes to crisp it up.

Easy Oven Baked Spiced Salmon (易烤香料三文鱼)

 
This is one super duper easy oven baked salmon dish.  Even a busy working mom can easily make this at home.  Just thaw the frozen salmon overnight in the fridge and when you come home, the salmon is ready for you to use.  To create a balance meal, buy some washed and cut broccoli, green bean, cauliflower, baby carrot and mushroom, season with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt and put it in the oven to bake together with the salmon (for the harder to cook veggie, just microwave for 2 minutes before roasting).  Serve it with store-bought Hawaiian sweet buns (or whole wheat buns) and you have a complete meal.

I served this salmon with turmeric brown rice, stir fried pumpkin and crimini mushrooms.  Both my girls praised this baked spiced salmon and Evy even requested to save some for her lunch box the next day at school.   Guess I will make this often from now on.

Spiced Holiday Cookies

 

 

This spiced holiday cookies is like a gingerbread cookie without the molasses.  I created this recipe because I don't buy molasses.  But yet I wanted to make a ginger based cookies with other spices and thus this was the result.  My girls had been bugging me to make gingerbread man cookies ever since they seen the Christmas lights in my neighborhood.  My youngest almost ask me every day is it Christmas yet?  How many days away is Christmas?  etc.

That's all the motivation I needed as I know my youngest loved to help me decorate the cookies.  She helped decorated more than half of the cookies, it was fun for her and easier for me.  This cookie is crispy with the fragrant of spices.  I hope you like it!

I'm submitting these cookies to  Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakes (December 2011) hosted by Hankerie.

Pan-Fried Lemon Pepper Salmon

I have not pan-fry salmon for ages.  I always took the least time consuming method by baking it in the oven.  After a while, I guess I miss the crispy crust of pan-frying salmon.  This salmon dish is super duper easy especially if you already have the McCormick Lemon & Pepper seasoning salt in your cupboard.  I saw this seasoning in my pantry and realized that I hardly used this seasoning.  So, I took it out to be used in my salmon.  The salmon fillets that I bought was without skin.  So, in order to get the crispy crust that I was looking for, I patted both sides of my salmon with cornstarch.  And this got the job done.  I served it up with my Asian style stir-fried broccoli.  Or you can do my American style microwave butter broccoli, even easier.

Baked Tilapia with Honey Mustard and Panko

It was a fish day and I was cracking my head for something new to serve my family.  I remembered I did a honey mustard sauce tilapia fish before which my girls loved.  So, I thought I would make the same sauce again except this time I added some crumbs topping.  I used panko and added some seasonings and coated the fish before baking.  I bought the fish on sales for $3.50 per pound and it came with 5 fillets, so for two fillets, it only cost me $1.40.  It was cheaper than the yam leaves dish that I served along this.  I paid $2.93 for a bunch of yam leaves.  But overall, it was still less than $5 for a two dishes meal.

Spaghetti Meat Balls

Did I fool you?  Does it looks like spaghetti meatballs?  If  yes, then you have been fooled.  LOL!  Those were actually cut-out brats!!  You know, with the summer BBQ parties, you might have some leftover brats in your refrigerator or freezer.  If you are tired of pairing the brats with hotdog buns (well if one can), then why not pair it with the spaghetti pasta sauce?

If my picture doesn't entice you enough, I don't know what does.  Because seriously this was very delicious and one of my best spaghetti sauce recipes.  If you tried it, remember to feedback to me ya!

Italian Cheese & Herb Fettuccine

Lazy me called for lazy lunch.  I found the Philadelphia cooking creme a short-cut for creamy based pasta.  I always have frozen mixed vegetable for fried rice, Japanese curry and pasta in my freezer and packages of dried pasta in my pantry.  So, this was an easy lunch to whip up.  I only need to thaw a boneless and skinless chicken breast, sliced it and seasoned it.  Another alternative is to use the canned tuna or tuna in pouch for a quicker preparation.

This noodle dish was rather inexpensive.  1 package of pasta was $1 (on sales), 1 container of cooking creme was about $3 (with coupon), 1 chicken breast was about $1.50 and the mixed vegetable was about $0.25.  So, total cost for this lunch was about $5.75 and it served 4 persons.

Sharing this with Presto Pasta Nights hosted at Ruth of Once Upon a Feast and  "S$20 Budget Meal"  or "US$15 budget meal" hosted by Cuisine Paradise.