Raspberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies


While I was searching for some old photo for my mother’s day photo album, I came across some treats pictures that I made back in Dec 2005. I don’t know when I will be able to make them again, so I though maybe I should keep post them here before they get lost. One of the creation was Jam Thumbprint cookies from ina Garten from her show Barefoot Contessa. I love her show. Most of her recipes are very simple and de.li.ci.ous!


Ingredients:

  • 3/4 lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water, for egg wash
  • 7 oz sweetened flaked coconut
  • Raspberry jam
Method:
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • In an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar until just combined, and then add the vanilla.
  • Sift together the flour and salt.
  • With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar.
  • Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
  • Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls.
  • Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut.
  • Place the balls on an un-greased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger.
  • Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation.
  • Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown.
Recipe provide by FoodNetwork

Portuguese Tart – Splenda Version



I saw this recipe from chowtimes few weeks back and couldn’t resist myself to try it. They look delicious and simple to make. You can get the original recipes with the step by step instructions from chowtimes. Here’s my modified version of the recipes with Splenda.

Ingredients:

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup of Splenda
  • 1 cup self Raising flour
  • 14 oz of condensed milk
  • 2 cups of 2% milk

I wish I could try the real deal somewhere so I know what to expect but overall I like it especially fresh from the oven.
There must be something wrong with my dated oven. Some looks perfect, some looks a little burn. I need a new Oven!

Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean Soup

Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean Soup with Coconut Milk


Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean Soup without Coconut Milk

I like dessert especially for tea time. Last weekend, I hosted a small gathering for my son’s play group and I decided to cook something sweet for everyone to enjoy. Sweetened Red Bean and Mung Bean soup was my first creation for everyone. According to Chinese, red bead has the warming effect to the body and mung bean on the other hand has the cooling effect. So every time when my family cooks this dessert, they love combine both together to get a neutral version of the dessert. In South East Asia, we also love to add some fresh coconut milk to most of the dessert to make it richer and creamier taste. So I prepared a separate bowl of coconut milk for those who love to enjoy more complex flavor of the dessert.


Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup of mung bean
  • 1 cup of red bean
  • ¼ cup of tapioca
  • 1 medium piece dried tangerine peel (not display in the picture)
  • Rock sugars
  • Optional Screwed pine leaves (pandan leaves)
  • 8 cups of water

Optional coconut milk:

  • Mix coconut milk powder with some warm water to make a thick coconut milk consistency
  • Add a small dash of salt

Rice Cooker method (my no fuss version cooking method – Multi-functional Rice Cooker):

  • Combine red beans, tangerine peel, screwed pine leaves and water into the pot.
  • Set the rice cooker to slow cook soup option for 3 hours and press cook button. You are all set for the first hour.
…an hour later..
  • Add mung bean to the soup and give it a few stir and let the rice cooker do the job for you for the remaining 2 hours.
… ½ hour before done..
  • Check the soup to make sure all the beans are soft and cooked, add more water if needed.
  • Finally, add tapioca, and rock sugars to taste and let it cook for another 15 minutes to make sure the tapioca turn from white to clean and all the rock sugar are dissolved.

Traditional Method:

  • Combine red beans, tangerine peel, screwed pine leaves and water into the pot, bring to a boil.
  • Reduce heat to simmer, cook uncovered till beans started to get tender (about 1 hour)
  • Add mung bean to the soup and continue cook for another hour or until all beans are tender.
  • Add tapioca and rock sugar cook until the tapioca turn from white to clean and all the rock sugar are dissolved.

Jimmy Dean Croissant Sandwich Breakfast



Every morning before heading out to work, usually I will have milk and cereal for my early morning breakfast. For the weekend breakfast, I will try to treat myself a little extra besides milk and cereal. So last weekend, I have my first Jimmy Dean Croissant Sandwich breakfast. It was on sales at Costco a week ago and I decided to give it a try. After all 80 cents for a croissant breakfast sound like a good deal to me.

The box contains 12 medium size individual packed of sandwiches. Each sandwich contains egg, sausage and cheese. Based on the box instruction, the sandwich should be defrost from the freezer and reheat in the microwave in high for 50 second. Since I like my croissant crispy, I decided to heat it with my little toaster oven in high for 15 minutes. Voila… my delicious breakfast is ready to be served.


Overall, I like it. Taste great and the size is reasonable. Will I buy it in the future? Yes only with discounted price :)

"My Pick" - Condensed Milk

I do believe the theory of “price you pay for the quality you get”, especially food related item, but how much of the difference between them? This question pop up to my mind all the time when I shop. So I started to hunt down the answer myself but taking the “What do I think” challenge few weeks back. I did a couple tasting in the past but did not get the chance to take any picture of them; maybe I will post it in the next cycle. For now, this is my latest pick.

Condensed Milk

Brand

Kroger

Meadow Gold

Price

$1.20

$1.20

Comment

Sweet and not so much of flavor. Maybe because this is FAT FREE?

Sweet, richer and milky flavor

My Pick


*****

Broccoli and Ham Quiche

I love quiche especially the mini version. I love the taste and I love that fact it is super easy to make. After all the Chinese style dinner weeks (2 dishes with a bowl of rice), I decided to cook something non-rice or non-Chinese related meal. I found a quiche recipe from me collection and I decided to give it a try. The original recipes call for mushroom and broccoli. Since my husband don’t fill up without at least a meat in the meal, so I decided to modify the recipes to replace the mushroom with 3 slice of Ham. So in this dish we have some eggs, meat and veggies.. What a healthy combination.



Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup of ham cut into cube shape
  • 1 cup chopped onions
  • 1 cup of broccoli cut into bite size
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/3 cup whip dressing
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 cup Cheddar Cheese
  • 1 frozen deep-dish pie crust

Method:

  • Preheat oven to 375°F.
  • Spray a stainless steel bowl with cooking spray and put it in oven while reheating the over. About 5-10 mins later, removed the bowl from the over and place the chopped veggie in the bowl and give it a few stir until the veggie are slightly tender.
  • Be careful the hot bowl if you want to do it this way, otherwise you can always cook the veggie separately on a stove.
  • Beat eggs, dressing and milk in medium bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in vegetable mixture and cheese; pour into pie shell.
  • Bake for 40 to 45 min. or until center of quiche is set

A taste of Gyros and Hummus

My adventure to Greece? I love to go there one day but for now maybe just a Greek Restaurant at Overland Park. There is a new Greek restaurant in town and we decided to give it a try last weekend. The restaurant name is Jerusalem CafĂ©. It is not any high-end restaurant but just a fast food type of setting. They do offer a lunch buffet, but we decided to try the menu with the buy 1 get 1 free coupon. My husband ordered a chicken Gyros and my ordered a beef and lamb Gyros. Gyros pronounce as “yeeros” is a kind of processed meat wrapped in pita bread.This was not the first time I had gyros. I remember I had my first taste of Gyros was at the college town fair few years back.

Since there are limited menu selections, we also ordered hummus as appetizer. I never had this before but have seen this on TV (food network) all the time, so I decided to give it a try. I don’t exactly know what hummus is except it made from chick-peas, but I heard that it is a very healthy food. The serving come with some warm and soft pita breads, so you can dip the hummus with the bread. Taste wise, I think it’s ok. It is definitely a very simple and light flavor appetizer to serve in a party or gathering. Want to know more about Hummus, check out the Hummus blog. For me, maybe not so much of hummus right now. It’s time to move on…


The history class ...



Let’s talk little about my daily life. Since my husband and I had a baby last year, I only cook once a week. What this mean is I prepare a big batch of lunches and dinners that could last for the whole week during the weekend and we just reheat and eat during the weekdays. As time past, cooking for dinner is getting so boring and not even think about trying something new. One day, while I was searching for my son’s birthday cake recipes and design, I came across a couple food blogs. Since then I enjoyed reading all the food blog and can’t help to stop myself browsing all the gorgeous food pictures, recipes and all the information people shared with each other every day. I collect recipes especially baking related and desserts. I have been craving to create an online recipes collection for long time but just never get the chance to implement it. I guess… reading all the food blog has inspired me to become one of the gang and also reminded myself not to give up doing thing you love. So I decided to open up myself to try new things every week whether eating out a new restaurant or trying some new recipes from my recipes collections.... Stay tune for my next adventure to Greece.


Let's get started

I have been lurking around some food and travel related blogs for the past few weeks. Finally, i can't stop myself to create one of my own. Ta da..... this is it! Hello world!

I don't know what type of topic to post here but one thing for sure, I would like to share all my cooking experiences and my favorite recipes here.

To start of yesterday night was my second attempt of making sweet tofu pudding ( tofu fa). I got this very simple recipes from one of my inspired blog chowtime.com. The first attempt was a total
failure, as the the pudding did not get settle right, so I figured I might be done something wrong. I decided to try again yesterday night after dinner while I was waiting for me son's to wake up from his evening nap. This time I did see some improvement but the pudding was hard enough for me to scoop it with a spoon. Need help!