Baked Teriyaki Chicken

Just one of those days that I have to think of what to cook for dinner again.  I am switching to working part-time now so I have more times to spend with my girls as well as cook a healthier home cook meal for them.  They loved it of course because they missed it when I have no time to cook for them at all.  I miss my own cooking as well because I used all the best ingredients for my home cook meal and I know what I put in it.  Whereas, you have no idea what stuff they put in in a restaurant that served you.

Anyway,  trying out this Teriyaki sauce recipe posted by Taste and Tell.  Not bad at all.

Braised Chicken with Frozen Tofu and Shiitake Mushrooms

Have you tried the frozen tofu before?  If not, give it a try because I strongly recommended it!  It works best with extra firm or firm tofu.  Just wrap it in foil and in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for at least 2 days or up to a year.  When you want to use it in any of your dishes, just defroze it in the refrigerator overnight.  When defroze, squeeze out the water as much as you can before cooking.  I normally used it in braising meat or chicken and the sponge like texture with soak up all the braising flavor.

This dish is actually kind of spicy because of the dried chilies, but you can freely omit the dried chilies for a more child friendly dish.

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

My girls wanted to make their own birthday cake this year and they wanted a chocolate cake with a chocolate frosting.  So, I went back to use my trusted moist chocolate cake from Pusiva that I had made for Edda's 1st. birthday party.  I wanted a not too sweet chocolate whipping cream as the frosting for the cake and I played around with the recipe to come out with this.  It was a really good frosting so I had to pen it down here so that next time I know where to find it.

I made this 2 layers chocolate cake (with the help of my girls) with Nutella filling in the middle and chocolate whipped cream.  My girls decorated with some chocolate chips as well.  Overall, a very delicious chocolate cake I might say.  Very satisfied with the result.

Stir-fried Spaghetti with Mushroom, Eggs and Flower Chives

How this dish came about was I couldn't resist purchasing the organic brown mushroom that was on Manager Special at King Sooper.  I still have half a bunch of flower chives that was given by a friend and some organic brown eggs in the refrigerator, so this dish was set.  Eating too much carbohydrate has gotten me fat but sometimes I just craved for this easy one dish meal.  It was filling and it took less time to make.  However, I realized that I couldn't eat too much carb. few days in a roll, I really put on weight as a result.  So, right now I would stick to as little carb as possible and consume more vegetable and some protein.  And if I can control no snacking in the afternoon that would be great but I love my cookies!!  :(

Okay, enough ranting about my weight issue and scroll down for the recipe!

Green Bean Casserole from Scratch!

This Ultimate Green Bean Casserole from Daring Gourmet was seriously the best!  I was searching on Google for the best green bean casserole and this seriously caught my attention.  Fresh green bean instead of the canned green bean and the fresh mushroom, cheese and organic half & half definitely beat the canned of cream of mushroom soup anytime!

Instead of the roast turkey breast, my girls opted for roasted chicken instead.  I bought the Sprout Hawaiian bread and non-GMO apple cider and I just needed to make the gravy, my awesome mashed organic potato and this ultimate green bean casserole.

The easy spread!  I didn't make the cranberry salsa as I will be the only one eating it (Even though it is so yummy).  Hence,  I chose to save money and extra prep and cook.  :)  Edda helped me a lot in the kitchen, she peeled the potatoes for me and sliced the mushroom for me which made it so much faster to complete this meal.

I haven't cooked for ages so I was happy to hear from my girls that their mom still got it!  Ha!  They were afraid that I would lose my touch if I stop cooking for a long time.  I guess cooking is a skill and once you got it, you got it!  :)

Sorry I didn't manage to come out with any new recipe lately.  Hoping my 10 years innovation and collection of recipes here are helping you.  Have a Happy Holidays readers!

Ground Pork with Flower Chives

During the summer break, I was given some home grown flower chives and zucchini.  The owner was sharing this method of cooking the flower chives and it sounded delicious so I was trying out her recipe.  She used the black bean sauce to cook this and since I only have the bean sauce, I used that instead.  It turned out great and it was well received by both of my girls!  As for me, I have found another way of cooking the flower chives! :)