Red Velvet Cupcakes with Raspberry Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting

I got this again, from Pinterest (don't you just love that site??!!), and I wouldn't change a thing! First made this for my friend Angela's birthday and its been one of my favorite cupcake recipes since then. Click here for the original post! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup + 2 tbs sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

1-1/4 tsp vanilla

2 to 2-1/2 tsp liquid red food color (depends on how red you want them to be, don't go beyond 3 tsp or you'll only taste the food coloring)

 

For the frosting: 

1/3 cup fresh raspberries, keep in refrigerator until you are ready to make the frosting

1 package cream cheese, soften to room temperature

1 tub (7 oz) marshmallow creme

1.  Preheat oven to 350F

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt

3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 4-5 minutes on medium speed

4. Beat in the eggs one at a time

5. Mix in the sour cream, milk, vanilla and the food color

6. Slowly mix in your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients just until all are incorporated, do not over mix

7. Fill lined muffin cups 2/3 of the way

8. Bake at 350F for about 18 min, check for doneness, bake for a couple more minutes if you see that they are not done at 18min

9. While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting

10. Roughly chop raspberries, you still want the pieces to be visible in the frosting but small enough to pass through the tips of the pastry bag

11. Blend the cream cheese and marshmallow creme until smooth and creamy

12. Add in the raspberries with a fork

13. Place the frosting in the refrigerator to firm it up

14. Once the cupcakes are done, take them out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes

15. Frost the cupcakes with either a pastry bag with any shape of tip you want or fill a quart size zip lock back with frosting, cut one corner just big enough to pass the chunk of raspberries

16. Top each cupcake with a raspberry

 

 

Chicken Spinach Bake

Easy recipe, it's even like a pantry pasta bake. Pinned this on Pinterest a few months ago but only got to try it in the last few weeks. The first time I made this, I had to substitute adding a little bit more onions and some dried chives to make up for not having onion and chive cream cheese on hand (only had plain). This time, I had some onion and chive cream cheese but didn't want to use the whole tub. Then, I had some leftover sour cream from making cupcakes, so in they go! I must say it's even yummier the second time around LOL!

Ingredients:
8 oz uncooked rigatoni (1/2 box of rigatoni, I use Barilla, usually 16 oz per box)
1 tbs olive oil
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
3 cups cooked chicken, cubed (recipe calls for chicken breasts but if you have boneless thighs, those would really be yummy too!)
3/4 tub (8 oz container) of onion and chive cream cheese (low fat)
1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed (usually 1 box)
1 can italian style diced tomatoes (14 oz, usually named diced tomatoes with basil and oregano)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1-1/2 cups shredded low moisture mozzarella cheese (divided in 2)

1.  Preheat oven to 375F
2. Cook rigatoni according to package directions for al dente (approx 12 min, you want it to still have that bite, it will cook more once the we place the whole thing in the oven)
3. Spread the oil on th bottom of an 11x7 baking dish or an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish
4. Place the onion and mushrooms in a single layer in the baking dish and bake for about 15 min or until onions are transluscent and the mushrooms slightly cooked (don't let the mushrooms shrink too much!)
5. Take out the dish out of the oven and if you see that some liquid from the mushrooms have come out, just blot them with a paper towel
6. Place the onions and mushrooms in a large bowl
7. Drain the thawed spinach well by pressing between paper towels or a clean dish cloth. Wring it out to get the water out
8. Stir in the cooked rigatoni, chicken, cream cheese, sour cream, spinach, and tomatoes into the onion and mushrooms. Add some salt and pepper (I like a lot of black pepper so add more if you want to. You can even add some red pepper flakes for that extra bite). Add in half of the cheese and mix it in gently a few times
9. Spoon mixture into the baking dish (yes, same one you used for the onion and mushrooms)
10. Cover with foil and bake at 375F for about 30 min
11. Remove the foil and bake for 15 min more or until bubbly and top is golden brown. Be careful not to burn the cheese
12. Enjoy!

Makes 6-8 servings
 

Mini Apple Pies

By request... I have been craving for apple pie since Tuesday, election day. A post on Facebook mentioned sitting down to election results and having pie and what could be more American than that on that day, and well, you know, I wanted apple pie! Really fought the urge to make or buy one but finally succumbed to it Thursday. In concession to dieting and portion control, I thought, make them in small, individual pieces.

I am not much of a pie maker. In fact, I'm scared of making making my own pie dough. I fear that it will be tough and rubbery. I am a pie dough coward. Thank the Lord for frozen pie crusts. Frozen deep dish pie crusts, frozen rolled pie crusts...

This recipe is a combination of 2 mini apple pie recipes I was able to find on the web.

Ingredients:
1 box ready to bake pie crusts (comes in 2 each box), chilled, if frozen, thaw at room temp but do not let it get to room temp. Must be cold
4 pieces Jonagold apples, peeled, cored, and diced in small pieces (Granny Smith will also do)
6 tbs flour

3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
chilled butter, 2 tbs, cut into 12 equal parts
egg wash, beat 1 egg with 1 tsp water

1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Mix the apples, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Coat the apples well.
2.5. Take time to smell that wonderful aroma!
3. Unroll the chilled pie crusts and cut 12 round pieces, bigger than the mouth of each muffin cup. Get a glass or the cap of a wide mason jar.
4. Place the crust on each of the cups of the muffin tin, sort of putting it in but not pushing all the way.
5. Gently fill each crust with the apple mixture, pushing the crust+apple mix all the way to the bottom of the cup.
6. The filling will shrink while baking so it's okay to overfill or mound them on each cup.
7. Add a piece of butter on top of each mound.
8. With your remaining pie crust, cover the top as much as you can. Break off pieces and place them on top, or if you have enough, make lattices, or if you have extra crust, cut 12 circles, cover the top of each cup, pinch the sides to seal, then make a slit on the top crust to let the steam in.
9. Brush the top with the egg wash.
10. Bake for about 20 min or until golden brown. Make sure to check from time to time that the top doesn't get burnt.
11. Take out of the oven and let cool. Take a knife and slide it around each cup to loosen from the sides of the pan. Then use a spoon to take the pie out. Be careful that the crust doesn't fall apart so make sure that the pie is cool before taking it out. If it does, who cares?? It still tastes sooo good!

Huling Hirit on the Hainanese Chicken

I still had the legs and wings... hello adobo!

Mixed some soy sauce, garlic, and vinegar and heated that in the same pan. Set that aside then quickly fried the chicken pieces and sauteed some garlic in there. While sizzling, poured in the soy sauce mix. Here you go, adobo. I know, not the same as simmering the meat in the soy sauce, vinegar and garlic mix but still tastes the same lol. Paired up with hot rice and yum! I kinda wished I had some banana leaves, some tomatoes, cucumber, and salted eggs -- BINALOT!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Did you really think I was done with that Hainanese Chicken??

After finishing the chicken and dumplings, I had another use for the rest of the chicken breasts and thigh parts. I had a taste for chicken and white bean chili so off to the grocery to get some beans. Had a hankering for chips too and found these baked no salt tortilla chips, why not??

Once everything was plated, it looked more like chicken tortilla soup - I think this was my favorite reincarnation of the HC! Recipe is based on the Taste of Home white bean chicken chili recipe

Ingredients:
Chicken breasts and thigh parts, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1 small jalapeno, finely diced
1 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1 tbs olive oil
2-3 cups chicken broth
1 can cannellini beans
1 can Green Giant Southwestern Corn Style corn (I had that in my pantry, you can certainly get some frozen corn kernels, black beans and some chopped red bell peppers)
Mexican style shredded cheese, low moisture
baked, no salt tortilla chips

1. Heat olive oil in a pot and saute the garlic, jalapeno, and onion. Add in the oregano, and cumin. Cook for about a minute and add in the chicken pieces. Brown the chicken making sure it is coated with the spice mixture.
2. Take half of the can of cannellini beans and mash them. Add about 1/4 cup to the mashed beans.  This is to thicken the soup. Add the mix to the chicken. Add the rest of the broth, the rest of the cannellini beans, and the Green Giant corn mix.
3. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 30 minutes. If you want thicker soup, you can add some flour mixed with water or some corn meal.
4. Ladle into a bowl, top with cheese and some tortilla chips!

Hainanese Chicken... and Dumplings??!!!

I knew by Tuesday of the Hainanese Chicken week that I wasn't going to be able to stomach eating that same thing all week. I had to turn the HC into something else. I have my handy chicken noodle soup recipe but I wasn't really feeling it. Again, that word - feeling. I started looking for a quick chicken and dumplings recipe as I wanted a heartier meal. I remember it was chilly and just wanted something hot and filling without any major fuss.

So I took that chicken out, picked out a few breast pieces and some thigh parts and started pulling the meat from the bones. Can't throw those bones away --- those would have flavor! Chopped up some onions, celery, and carrots, took out boxed chicken broth (can't use that Hainanese chicken broth -- it's got ginger in it, might screw up the taste!), some milk (non-fat, sad I know, but that's what's in the fridge). Of course I had to make the dumplings - which was the hardest part. LOL. The recipes I saw called for self rising flour and I didn't have that so I had to find something that uses all-purpose flour. Good thing I did!

The dumplings didn't turn out perfect but at least it was puffy and cooked all the way (nothing worse than uncooked dough lol).

It was certainly, hot and yummy and perfect for chilly weather!

Ingredients:

3-4 breast pieces, thigh parts from the Hainanese Chicken, roughly diced
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1 small carrot, diced
1/2 stalk celery, diced
2-3 cups chicken stock or broth
1-2 tbs flour
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1-2 tbs milk
1/4 cup frozen peas (because I love peas, I think I used 1/3 cup lol)
salt and pepper to taste
parsley

For the dumplings:
1 cup cake flour (or 1 cup minus 2 tbs all purpose flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
1 tbs melted butter
a little over 1/3 cup of milk, use up to 1/2 if the dough is really dry
2 tbs of dried herbs (tarragon, thyme, parsley, marjoram, etc)

1. Bring the broth to a simmer. Add in the bones from the chicken.
2. In a pot, heat olive oil and brown the chicken pieces.  Set aside.
3. Add a bit more of the olive oil and saute the onion, carrots , and celery. Add in the thyme.
3. Add the flour 1 tbs at a time, making sure it is coated with the oil. Stir so that flour will not get clumped up. Add a bit more oil if you feel like the flour is drying up. Sort of like making a roue. Turn the heat to medium low and cook for about 2-3 minutes without burning the flour.
4. Ladle the simmering stock into the pot. Stir after each ladling and make sure to the get all the stuff sticking to the bottom and sides of the pot. Add the rest of the stock and the browned chicken pieces. If you're like me, I will just dump broth and bones in there, but you can pick the bones out if you want!
5. Increase the heat a bit and let it simmer.
6. While the soup is simmering, make the dumplings.
7. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. This makes the flour mixture lighter.
8. Mix in the herbs.
9. Add in the melted butter and the milk. Mix until it comes together. Do not overmix!
10. Drop the batter into the soup 1 heaping teaspoon at a time. Make sure you drop it over the surface. Don't dunk it. Drop them as quickly as you can.
11. Cover the pot and make sure your heat is just enough to simmer the soup. The dumplings will be cook and be light and fluffy if you simmer. Do not boil and do not open the pot while the dumplings are cooking. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
12. Test the dumplings after 15 minutes (stick a toothpick in there like testing a cake!). If still not done, simmer for 5-10 more minutes.
13. Once that's done, add in the peas, milk, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. If you're more adventurous, use cream instead of milk!
14. Ladle into bowls and enjoy! The soup gets thicker the longer it stands so if you have some more broth handy, you can just thin it out with that the next time you heat the soup.

What Do I Feel Like Eating Today? Answer? Hainanese Chicken Rice

Cooking for one is quite a challenge. Every recipe you look at, the measurements are for 4-6 servings, or sometimes bigger. That's okay if you have a family to feed but if there's only yourself, that's 3-4 days worth of casserole, soup, or pasta. For someone who's been on a diet for the past 2 years, that's never a good thing! It tempts you to eat more than you should and worse, you get tired of it and waste the money you spent buying the ingredients.

There are websites out there that will be able to help you scale down (or up, if you need it) the recipes to whatever number of servings you want to do. One such site is Food.com. My problem with this, however, is that I can't seem to be able to just buy 1 piece of carrot or a fourth of a cup of whatever. I don't have a lot of farmer's markets in the area and all I have is a Walmart and a couple of grocery stores, that don't sell anything in piecemeal (I lie, they do sell some items in piecemeal but you know what I mean!). I kinda miss the markets in the Philippines where you can buy 1 takal of bigas or just a stalk of celery!

Now some people might say, well, if you plan your meals ahead, you will be able to come up with ways to stretch out one recipe into another, or two for a whole week (hello Rachael Ray's Week in a Day)! I, however, my friends, do not operate that way! I kinda go by feel, as in, what do I feel like eating today! I also get tired of eating the same thing over and over again. A friend of mine said when she was living in SF, she would cook two or three different foods that she would mix and match over a week. Good idea but sometimes I get lazy on the weekends and I just want to lie there and read, eat and sleep! LOL!

So a couple of weekends ago, I felt like eating Hainanese Chicken Rice. It's this Singaporean dish that combines slowly poached chicken with white rice cooked in chicken broth, with chili and soy dipping sauces. I promise you, to die for! I started looking at recipes and all called for a whole chicken. I don't know about you but I'm squeamish about cleaning a whole chicken and carving it when cooked. Haha! I always want to imagine that my chicken comes de-boned and pre-sliced. However, my craving for Hainanese Chicken Rice won so off to the grocery to get one whole chicken. Of course I know I won't be able to eat HCR all week so I thought maybe I can turn some of that chicken into something else... thinking chicken noodle soup or something... By Wednesday, I had turned that HCR into chicken and dumplings and chicken and white bean chili (which at the end is now looking more like chicken tortilla soup), and I still have the legs and wings to turn into maybe adobo or just plain fried chicken (as I write this, those legs and wings became Adobo!).

Here I'm going to share the different recipes I've come up so far, starting with the Hainanese Chicken Rice. It is based on the recipe found in Jaden Hair's website. Reading through all the comments, gave me the idea to jazz up the soy sauce dip a little bit.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (get the small one, about 3 to 3-1/2 lbs) 

kosher salt 

4'' section of fresh ginger, in 1/4'' slices 

2 stalks green onions, cut into 1" sections (both the green and white parts) 

1 teaspoon sesame oil 

FOR THE RICE 

2 tablespoon chicken fat or 2 tbsp vegetable oil 

3 cloves garlic, finely minced 

1'' section of ginger, finely minced 

2 cups long-grain uncooked rice, washed and soaked in cool water for 10 min or longer (me, I just washed once, didn't soak them - basically followed how I've cooked my rice since time immemorial!) 

2 cups reserved chicken poaching broth 

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil 

1 teaspoon kosher salt

FOR THE CHILI SAUCE 

1 tablespoon lime juice 

2 tablespoon reserved chicken poaching broth 

2 teaspoon sugar 

2 tbs chili garlic sauce (the recipe called for sriracha but I didn't have that on hand; if you like it hotter, you can go up to as much as 4 tbs) 

4 cloves garlic 

1'' ginger 

a generous pinch of salt, to taste 

FOR THE TABLE 

1/4 cup dark soy sauce + 1 tbs honey + a drop or 2 of sesame oil - mix together 

Few sprigs cilantro 

1 cucumber, thinly sliced or cut into bite-sized chunks

tomatoes, thinly sliced

  

Directions:

1. To clean the chicken, rub the chicken all over with a handful of kosher salt, getting rid of any loose skin and dirt. As how they described it in the blog, give the chicken a good exfoliation!
2. Rinse chicken well, inside and outside.
3. Season generously with salt inside and outside then stuff the chicken with the ginger slices and the green onion.
4. Place the chicken in a large stockpot and fill with cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring the pot to a boil over high heat, then immediately turn the heat to low to keep a simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes more (more if you're using a bigger chicken). Check for doneness by sticking a chopstick into the flesh under the leg and see if the juices run clear or insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh not touching bone. It should read 170F.
5. When the chicken is cooked through, turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. Immediately lift and transfer the chicken into a bath of ice water to cool and discard the ginger and green onion. Reserve the poaching broth for your rice, your sauce, and the accompanying soup.
6. While the chicken is cooling, cook the rice.
7. Wash rice once to get rid of dirt and some of that starch. Drain. In the recipe, it says to soak the rice in water for about 10 minutes. I didn't do that. I was using Jasmine rice which, to me, doesn't really require soaking. If you're using a more starchy rice, like basmati, that might require the soaking. Really up to you and how you cook your rice.
8. In a medium sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium-high heat. You notice that in the ingredients list, it says 2 tbs. I wanted to cut back on the oil so I started with 1 tbs. Worked for me. When hot, add the ginger and the garlic and fry until it gives off this pleasant aroma. Be careful not to burn the aromatics! Add in your drained rice and stir to coat, cook for 2 minutes. Add the sesame oil, mix well.
9. Add 2 to 2-1/2 cups of your reserved poaching broth (again, depends on how you cook the rice and/or package directions), add salt and bring to a boil. If you had soaked your rice prior, you may want to start with 2 cups. Immediately turn the heat down to low, cover the pot and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit (with lid still on) for 5-10 minutes more. If you have a rice cooker, place the aromatics and rice (after frying) into your rice cooker, add 2 1/2 cups of your reserved poaching broth and salt. Follow the instructions for your model (usually this will just mean "turn it on!")
10. While your rice is cooking, remove the chicken from the ice bath and rub the outside of the chicken with the sesame oil. Carve the chicken for serving.
11. Make the chili sauce: Blend your chili sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth and bright red.
12. Make the soup: Remember the reserved poaching liquid? Just before serving, heat up the soup, taste and season with salt as necessary.
Serve: Place a mound of rice on a plate, top with chicken pieces then serve with chili sauce, soy sauce mix, cucumber and tomato slices, and a bowl of hot broth garnished with cilantro or scallions. Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Banana Cake

Here's an oldie but goodie. This is my go to Christmas giveaway and one of the most requested. This is also one of the very first baking recipes I had tried. The recipe has changed over the years, with the addition of the use of whole wheat flour being the latest. So here it goes. Hope you enjoy this "healthier" version!

*Based on New Banana Cake recipe, Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, 1st ed, 1950.



1-1/3 cup sifted all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cup sugar
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1-1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup buttermilk (I use reduced fat buttermilk), if you can't find buttermilk, use milk + white vinegar (1 cup buttermilk = 1 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar)
1-1/4 cup bananas, mashed (about 3 medium bananas)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup chopped nuts (I prefer walnuts)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg
2. Grease and flour 2 9" layer pans or 1 13x9 pan or 1 9x5 loaf pan
3. Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl
4. Add the softened butter, 1/2 of the buttermilk and bananas
5. Beat at medium speed until until just mixed together
6. Add in remaining buttermilk and the eggs
7. Beat for about 2 minutes at medium speed, but do not overbeat, if the batter is too thick, add more buttermilk, 1 tbs at a time
8. Fold in the nuts
9. Pour batter into the pans
10. Bake for about 30-35 min for the layer pans, 40-45 min if using the 13x9 pan or loaf pan
11. Check cake for doneness
12. Let the pans stand a bit before transferring the cakes onto a wire rack to cool

Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Coconut Cookies

A friend who shall not be named recently requested that I send her some cookies, the same ones I sent Christmas from long ago. Unfortunately, neither of us can recall what it was! I decided to just make a different kind. I decided on a variation of these heavenly cookies I always have at Cafe Caturra... Lucky for her, another friend happened to be in DC for a business trip and was able to bring some back to Manila.

Here's the recipe. One batch makes about 3 dozen regular-sized cookies. You can certainly make them as big as your hand!


1 cup unsalted butter, melted
2-1/4 cups Gold Medal Better for Bread flour
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1-1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tbs milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup shredded plain coconut
1/2 cup hazelnuts, loosely chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 deg
2. Sift flour, salt and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside
3. Blend sugars and the melted butter until creamy and smooth
4. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla, and milk together then add into sugar mixture
5. Mix on medium speed until smooth
6. Slowly add in the flour mixture until well combined
7. Stir in the chocolate chips, coconut, and hazelnuts
8. chill dough in the refrigerator for at least an hour
9. Scoop the chilled dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, about 1-1/2 in apart
10. Bake for about 12-14 min, rotate the trays halfway through to ensure even browning

You can certainly use other nuts like macadamia or even walnuts!

Pantry Egg Mug

This is my go-to breakfast dish. I grew up eating torta (or frittata) and with this recipe, it cuts down the calories and the prep and cook time! You can also go all veggies and lower the sodium by removing the ham (and cheese too).

Nutrition Info: Calories: 162; total fat: 4.1g; sat fat: 2.3; cholesterol: 25mg; Sodium: 642.8mg; Potassium: 271.0mg; total carbs: 10.4g; dietary fiber: 1.9g; sugar: 4.6g; protein: 24.3g; vit a: 96.6%; vit c: 34.7%; calcium: 17.5%; iron: 32.8%



Ingredients:
Crisco oil spray
1 tbs red onion chopped
1-2 grape tomatoes, chopped
2 tbs shredded carrots
1-2 large mushrooms, chopped
1 cup spring mix greens
1/2 cup liquid eggs (you can use whites only liquid eggs for lesser calorie and cholesterol count but I prefer mine the yellow kind! lol)
black pepper
grated nutmeg
2 slices Hormel Natural Choices cooked deli ham
2 tbs shredded cheddar cheese (low moisture, 2% milk)
1-2 tsp dried parsley

Directions:
1. spray the bottom and sides of a large mug with the cooking spray
2. add in the onions, tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and spring greens
3. microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes on high
4. remove extra moisture by patting down with a paper towel
5. take the liquid eggs, add a dash of black pepper and nutmeg, and beat lightly
6. add beaten liquid egg to the veggies
7. microwave for 1 minute
8. add the ham, cheese, and dried parsley and mix
9. microwave for 1 to 1-1/2 minutes or until you reach your desired consistency of eggs (i like mine well cooked so i extend cooking to about 2 minutes).
10. let stand for 1 min.
11. Transfer to a plate and enjoy! I always pair mine with a slice of whole wheat orange cardamom bread or whole wheat bagel thins!

Chocolate Bread Pudding

I kinda figured I won't be able to eat all the orange cardamom bread I made, so I thought I'll turn the rest into... bread pudding! I've always loved the combination of orange and chocolate and with the bread already with the orange flavor, chocolate should go into the pudding!

Ingredients:
4 cups of leftover orange cardamom bread, cubed into about 1-1/2 inch squares
1-3/4 cup nonfat milk
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa and 1/4 cup semi-sweet milk chocolate chips)
1/3 cup sugar (I only used about 1/4 cup since the chocolate chips were already sweet)
1/2 cup egg substitute (or 2 eggs beaten)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbs orange juice
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans would work too, optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F and coat an 8 X 8 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Place bread cubes, cranberries, and nuts in a large bowl. Mix carefully to evenly distribute the cranberries and nuts but not too much to break down the bread.
3. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until simmering.
4. Whisk in cocoa powder/chocolate chips and sugar.
5. Place beaten eggs in a small bowl, whisk a bit
6. Add about 1/4 cup of the warmed cocoa milk to the eggs, and stir. Then add this cocoa and egg mixture to the rest of the cocoa milk, along with the vanilla, orange juice, and nutmeg.
7. Pour liquid over the bread and stir the bread cubes, allowing them to soak up the liquid. Let stand for about 15-20 minutes.
8. Pour into the greased baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes until set.
9. Let cool and enjoy!

PS. I wish I thought of getting light whip cream, it would have gone well with warm bread pudding!

La Fuji Mama — Bringing world flavors to the family dinner table.

http://www.lafujimama.com

Orange Cardamom Bread

Breads have always scared me so when my cousin started posting on FB that she has recipes for no knead breads, I thought maybe that's the way to go. Anyway, I've had ups and downs with no knead breads but last week, I found this recipe that required very, very minimal kneading, and with my Kitchen Aid doing almost all the work! Perfect, right? To top it off, it's orange-flavored, which is one of my favorite citrus scents! The recipe called for white bread flour but I thought I could tweak it and use some white whole wheat flour to make it "healthier". Luckily, it turned out really well! :-) Original recipe by La Fuji Mama (www.lafujimama.com)

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cup + 2 tbs bread flour (I use GM Better for Bread flour)
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/8 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tbs instant yeast
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1-1/8 cup warm water (120 to 130 deg F)
1/8 cup fresh orange juice
3/4 tbs oil
1 tbs finely shredded orange zest

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Using kitchen aid paddle, whisk the bread flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and cardamom together in the mixing bowl of an electric mixer.
3. Add the water, orange juice, oil, and orange zest and mix for 1 minute at medium-high speed, then check the consistency of the dough. The dough should be quite sticky. Add a tablespoon at a time of water if you find that it is too dry.
4. Mix for 5 minutes at medium speed. Do not add any additional flour after dough has finished mixing.
5. Spray a smooth kneading surface with cooking spray and turn dough out onto the surface. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions.
6. Knead each portion briefly, turning it out about 4-5 times just to smooth out.
7. Roll each piece into 3 strands of the same length then braid together.
8. Place the braid on the greased baking sheet and cover with large dish towel.
9. Let rise for at least 25 min. It won't hurt to leave the dough be for more than that!
10. Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.
11. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool before slicing.
12. Enjoy with Alton's Honey Butter!

Long Life Noodles

It's tradition to serve noodles for Media Noche so this year I wanted something different than the usual pancit or spaghetti with meat sauce. Jaden Hair and her site www.steamykitchen.com to the rescue! She's got a special page specifically for Chinese New Year! What a find! She is my food goddess! Of course I didn't have thin spaghetti and I forgot to buy the Chinese rice wine, so, improvise, improvise, improvise!!! My mom loved it to say the least!

Ingredients:
6 oz whole wheat spaghetti noodles (i think pansit canton noodles would work very well with this!)
1/2 lb shrimp, shelled, deveined
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 tbs cooking oil
1 tsp finely minced garlic
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup snow peas (or snap peas, I misread her recipe and got 1 package of snap peas, half of which I was to use for another recipe anyway!), sliced thin on diagonal
1/4 cup matchstick cut carrots
1/4 cup celery, sliced thinly on diagonal
2 tsp soy sauce (NOT Kikkoman ok???)
1 tsp Chinese rice wine (I used dry white wine)
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tbs sesame seeds
black pepper

Directions:
1. Cook spaghetti noodles in salted water, al dente, drain, set aside
2. While pasta is cooking, place shrimp in a small bowl and add 1/2 tsp of salt and cornstarch. Mix well and let sit (about 8 min). Rinse the shrimp well, washing off the salt and cornstarch. Pat dry with paper towels.
3. Once pasta is done, heat cooking oil on high in a large wok or skillet until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates upon contact.
4. Add the shrimp and fry until halfway cooked through, 1 min on each side. Take out of the heat and set aside.
5. You should have about 1 tsp of oil left, add a little bit more if you have less.
6. Turn the heat down to medium and add garlic and shallots. Saute until fragrant then add celery. Saute for about 1 min then add the snow peas and carrots. Saute for about 1 min until carrots and snow peas are cooked but still crunchy.
7. Add the soy sauce and wine. Add some black pepper. When it starts to simmer, add the spaghetti noodles and the shrimp. Toss to combine.
8. Let cook for about 2 min or until shrimp is cooked through
9. Toss with sesame oil and sesame seeds.
10. Serve while hot.

Sweet Potato Spoon Bread

I was looking for a good side dish for last Thanksgiving and found this on the November issue of BHG. I wasn't too crazy about adding thyme so I used spices that were more in line with fall and the holiday :)

Ingredients:
4 tbs (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 sweet potatoes (about 1 lb)
2-1/2 cups milk (I used 2% milk!)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely ground white or yellow cornmeal
4 eggs, separated
2 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 2-quart souffle or casserole dish with about 1 tbs of the butter; set aside
2. Soften the sweet potatoes. I just placed them in a dish and microwaved them for about 10 min or until soft. When cool enough to touch, remove and discard peels. Mash in a large bowl
3. In a large saucepan, bring milk, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, honey, and black pepper to a low boil over medium heat
4. In a slow steady stream, whisk the cornmeal into the milk mixture
5. Whisk constantly for about 4-5 minutes, until mixture is thick and pulls away from the bottom of the pan
6. Remove from heat; cool slightly
7. Add mashed sweet potatoes, egg yolks, remaining 3 tbs butter, and baking powder to cornmeal mixture; stir thoroughly to combine
8. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with electric mixer until it forms soft peaks. Gently fold/swirl the potato-cornmeal mixture into the egg whites. Do not beat or the egg whites would lose its volume
9. Spoon batter into the prepared greased dish. Bake for 35-40 min, until internal temp reaches 165 deg F. Edges will be firm and center a bit soft
10. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 min. Serve warm

Red Velvet Cake/Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Loved TCF's Stefanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake but it was time consuming to do the cake and the cheesecake then combine! One time, saw a red velvet cupcake at Starbucks but it wasn't that good, according to Bradley and it had butter cream frosting on it. So, found this recipe for red velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting... best of both worlds!

Ingredients:
Cake
3/4 cup buttermilk (or 3/4 cup milk + 3/4 tsp white vinegar, mix lightly)
3/4 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp dark cocoa powder
3/4 to 1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 to 1-1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vinegar
1-2 tbsp red food color (put in small amounts at a time, until you reach your desired red shade)

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz (1 brick) cream cheese, softened, at room temp
4 tbsp butter, softened
4 tbsp solid shortening
1-1/2 to 2 cups confectioners or powdered sugar (depends if you want it to be really sweet. In future, I'll just use 1-1/2 c because the 2 cups masked the cream cheese flavor)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp milk, if necessary

Directions:
Cake
1. preheat oven to 350 deg F. Spray or butter the pan or line cupcake tins with paper liners.
2. In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk and vanilla, set aside.
3. Blend flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together in another bowl, and set aside.
4. Cream the sugar and oil together on medium-high speed in a large bowl fitted with a whisk attachment.
5. Add one egg at a time and whisk.
6. Add vinegar and food coloring, and beat the batter well.
7. With mixer on low-medium speed, add half of the flour and cocoa mixture to the batter, alternating with the buttermilk mix, ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the side of the bowl as needed between additions. Mix until batter is nice and smooth with no lumps.
8. Pour the batter into prepared 8x8 inch pan, or divide evenly between the cupcake tins.
9. Bake cake for 30-40 min, or until a toothpick comes out. Bake cupcakes for approx 20-25 min or until tops spring back when lightly touched.
10. Cool square cakes or cupcakes completely on wire racks before frosting or freezing. Cool round cakes 10-15 min before loosening, then remove from pans and cool completely.
11. Double the recipe if you want to make layer cakes, with the frosting in between layers and top of cake.

Frosting
1. Using a stand mixer, and fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a medium to large bowl and a hand mixer, beat softened cream cheese, butter, and shortening together on medium speed until creamy.
2. Add confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a tim and beat after each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl when necessary. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
3. Turn mixer to low, add vanilla and beat again, adding milk only if needed for proper spreading or piping consistency. Cover bowl with damp towel until ready to use.

Square cake: frost all sides or pipe rosettes on top
round cakes: if layered, smear a good size dab of the frosting on a plate. Place the 1st layer of cake. Spread a thick coat of frosting over this layer and place the second layer on top, pressing down lightly to seal. Frost the sides and top of cake using an off-set spatula, making sure to seal all edges evenly. Using a pastry bag, you may put in rosettes on top of the cake.

cupcakes: spread the frosting over the tops of the cakes. leave as is or add sprinkles, colored sugar or finely crumbled red velvet cake crumbs.

Tilapia Croquettes with Red Bell Pepper Gravy

Salamat Rachael Ray but i put my own spin on this! I was thinking of ways to cook Tilapia besides frying it or baking it in foil packets and Rachael came to the rescue! She used cod though I think!

Ingredients:
Tilapia croquettes
1 lb tilapia (about 3-4 pieces)
1 lemon
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
salt
pepper
1 tsp old bay seasoning
3 tbs finely chopped flat leaf parsley
3 tbs finely chopped fresh thyme
1 egg
2 cups breadcrumbs (italian or plain)
1/4 cup oil

Red bell pepper gravy
1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 tbs butter
2 tbs flour
2 cups chicken stock

Directions:
Croquettes
1. to a large skillet, put about 1/2 inch of water and simmer.
2. wash the tilapia fillets and pat dry. season with salt and pepper.
3. zest the lemon and reserve.
4. season the fish with the lemon juice.
5. once the water is simmering in the skillet, cook the fish in it for about 8 minutes.
6. meanwhile in a bowl, combine the reserved lemon zest, garlic, onion, celery, parsley, and thyme.
7. once the fish is cooked, flake and add to the bowl.
8. discard the liquid and place the skillet back on the stove. heat about 1/4 cup of oil on medium.
9. to the bowl, add some salt and pepper and bay seasoning. mix just to combine.
10. add the egg and the breadcrumbs and mix.don't worry if the mix doesn't seem to be okay to make patties. once you scoop up some and form a patty, it'll will come together.
11. form into patties.
12. get some more breadcrumbs and carefully dredge the patties in the breadcrumbs. be careful. maybe instead of dredging, just sprinkle breadcrumbs on the patty.
13. cook the patties in the oil about 5 minutes each side. watch out that it doesn't burn.

For the gravy:
1. discard the leftover oil from the skillet where you cooked the patties.
2. melt 2 tbs of butter (low heat so it wont burn)
3. saute the garlic, shallot and red bell pepper, about 3-4 minutes
4. add the flour, mix, make sure it doesn't clump up. cook about 1 or 2 minutes.
5. add the chicken stock and cook until it thickens
6. season with salt and pepper to taste

Steamy Kitchen Recipes and Food Blog

http://www.steamykitchen.com
My lifesaver last New Year's feast!

A Family Tradition

Another Christmas has come and gone and one thing that was very evident during that time was my family's love for food and cooking. Across the globe, family members planned, prepped, cooked, ate, photographed, and blogged/Facebook'd/tweeted/Instagram'd about all the good stuff each prepared for our respective Christmas and New Year's feasts.

For me, it started with watching my dad prepare our Noche Buena feast of chicken stuffing, corn soup, and the infamous ham sauce. In my house, my dad was the primary cook during special occasions :) I can still remember being tasked to prep the ingredients and how he would ask me to repeat the process if I didn't cut something to the correct size. I eventually graduated to helping in sauteing and stirring, under his guidance, of course! I don't remember exactly when I was finally "allowed" to cook a dish on my own but I can still remember the feeling when I finished cooking the corn soup!

The one thing that my dad didn't do much but I seem to have gotten a knack for is baking. One day I found this Betty Crocker cook book passed on to him by my Lola Mama. I started looking through it and asked if I could try making one. He told me the easiest to make would be the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. So Pineapple Upside Down Cake it is! It turned out really good and soon I was trying out the other recipes in the book. To this day, it remains my "bible" for baking. My now "famous" Banana Cake is from this book -- with some modifications, of course!

My mom was with me during the holidays and after seeing all the posts from the family about cooking and food, she made a comment on how I inherited my love for it from my dad, who got it from my grandmother, and it looks like some of my cousins got theirs from a parent from my dad's side of the family as well. This made me realize cooking is one my ways to honor my dad. Come to think of it, of all the modifications I've done to recipes I've tried, I have never deviated from my dad's recipes for corn soup and stuffing.

Oh, about that ham sauce... I never did get the recipe for that... my brother has it and has continued the tradition of making it!