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.

Cream Cheese Milk Loaf

Making the bun that uses the Dough function can be quite time consuming as it usually took more than 3 hours to get it done.  Sometimes it was hard for me to allocate the time as I have to fetch my little one at noon and another one three and half hours later.  I did over proving the buns once.  So, I need to find a loaf recipe that creates softer bread without using the Dough function.  This bread machine loaf is soft with light crust.  I added walnuts, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and black sesame seeds for the extra nutrients.  You can add any nuts and seeds that you have in your house, it is not limited to what I listed here.  After day two, you can warm it up in the microwave to soften it again.  Enjoy it as it, or with peanut butter or jam.

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.

Tricolored Soft Coconut Candy

This is a soft and chewy coconut candy that is very easy to make.  This is different from the hard coconut candy with bright coloring (from Malaysia).  Instead of making it tricolored,  you can shape each color into a ball (wear plastic glove) and serve it individually.  I think it would help in tasting the different flavors of the candies.  I found that when combining the three, I couldn't taste the individual flavor as the rose paste seem to be over powering the rest of the flavors.

When I flipped through my friend's recipe cards the other day, I saw a recipe that was very similar to this and it is called Coconut Ice, it is a traditional English candy that required no baking too.  You can read more about it here.

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.

Korean Smoked Fish Ham

Look what I found while shopping at the Korean supermarket, H-Mart?  Smoked Fish Ham!!  I didn't know that fish can be made into ham, that was new to me.  A lady was doing the sample booth and offering me a sample of this fish ham and I really was impressed as it really tasted like ham.  Best of all, it was made of fish which made it slightly healthier?

It was on sales for $5 (usual price $8) and according to the lady it might increase to $10.  I certainly wouldn't pay $10 for it but since it was on sales and all of us loved it, I bought one along with some fish cakes.

I just sliced it into pieces and pan-fried it in a little oil as demo and served it with Udon noodle soup (not picture).  I put vegetable and mushroom into the noodle soup to make it more balance.