STIR FRY MIXED VEGGIES

Okay.. it seems like I was not too active lately.. I've been MIA for months.. so many things happened.. some trips I took, then a visit from my family members.. but the real reason was my laziness to update this blog.. I even hardly got on it..

I cooked every day, but nothing special to share here, then again, that was because of  my laziness..

Today I'm going to share one of my family's favorite recipes, it's one of my comfort foods.. the food I cooked when I ran out of  idea what to cook.. it so simple and easy yet so yummy.. it's my DH's favorite too, he likes it very much, he can eat the whole bowl if I let him * bad, right*

Ingredients:
- basically.. whatever we want or like or have in our fridge, today I used:
- 4 leaves of Napa cabbage, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 3 medium size of bokchoy, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 1/2 small onion, sliced
- 1 tsp of minced garlic
- 1 big carrot, thinly sliced
- green onions or chives, cut in 1 inch pieces
- 2 tbsp of fish sauce
- 1 tbsp of sesame oil
- 1 tsp of corn starch mix with 1 tbsp water
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- canola oil
- thinly sliced meats ( I used some leftover boiled pork meat)
- shrimps, peeled and deveined

What we do:
- heat oil in a wok, add onion and garlic, stir until fragrant
- add meat (if the meats are raw)
- add carrots,stir until soft
- add the rest of veggies
- add in fish sauce and sesame oil
- add chicken broth
- stir quickly, until all well blended
- add shrimps, then cornstarch solution
- give a quick stir
- turn off the heat
- ready to be served... on white rice or fresh egg or rice noodles

OVEN BAKED SALMON IN PARCHMENT PAPER POUCHES

Since I saw this on an ads of Italian restaurant, I've been "obsessed" with it..  so I tried to cook it, with different veggies and rub on my salmons..  today I made it again, this time I rubbed my salmon fillet with my new found favorite rub, salt and sugar only.. I tried it before for my smoked salmon, it was so good and I fell in love with it..

Summertime in AZ is so hot, esp now, with the monsoon and storm, the humidity is very high... it causes a small change of our daily meals... I don;t really like to spend too much time in my kitchen, tried to avoid baking or long cooking.. so mostly I cook easy and light meals.. and oh.. no mood to write new recipes too 

Now I'm going to share this recipe, mainly for my own future reference.. 

What we need:

- salmon fillet ( about 12 oz), scaled and boneless, I like the skin on

- 1 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of sugar, mix well

- any kind of veggies.. this time I used Napa Cabbage, spinach, onion, red bell pepper and green onion

- 2 pieces of parchment papers

Method:

- wash and clean the fillet, pat dry

- cut salmon in 2 pieces 

- generously rubbed the salt mixture on the salmon

- let it sit  for 1 hour in the fridge, I covered it with plastic wrap

- after 1 hour, rub off the excess salt mixture.. rinse in a running water if needed, then pat dry

- arrange the veggies on a piece of parchment paper

- place salmon on top veggies

- sprinkle with a bit  of oil

- fold and secure both ends of the papers

- bake in a preheated 350'F oven, for 20 to 25 minutes 

- take it out, let it sit for 5 minutes, then carefully unfold the pouches, beware of the hot steam 

- ready to be served.. I served it with couscous.. it was so good 

here are some pictures of my pouch salmon, seasoned with lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic and baked with various vegetables.. my favorite way to cook salmon for now.. I might try it with chicken fillets too.. 

BAKED EGGS FOR BRUNCH (CHEESY ASPARAGUS QUICHE)

Today's brunch is easy, low carbs and low fat, I would not call it's a healthy meal, because it has eggs in it, as for some people, eating eggs esp egg yolks is unhealthy because of their health problems or their personal references.. I like eating eggs but I, too, have to cut off a bit because of my cholesterol number is in the red zone.

Since last week, I and some of the ladies I know from a cooking forum have agreed to have a challenge, it calls "LOW OR LESS CARB CHALLENGE" we try to support each other to consume less carb, we give ideas what we have for our meals, we tell interesting stories how hard we have to restraint ourselves not to eat carbs.. (the hardest part for me is, RICE, as I grew up in a country where its people eat rice 3 times a day)... we promise we won't cheat LOL... and at the end of the day we send email back and forth telling how our days are.. it's hard though, but it's fun and so far I managed to cut down my daily carbs intake and I managed to restraint myself from snacking at night too... I'm proud to say that when I get on my scale every morning, my number is going down and down, not much, but it's down and it motivates me to try harder..

Back to my brunch today... CHEESY ASPARAGUS TOMATO QUICHE

Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 lbs of asparagus, chop in 1/2 inc size
- 1 roma tomato, roughly chopped
- 4 tbsp of 2% milk
- mozzarella cheese
- garlic powder, salt and peppers

Method:
- Beat the eggs in a big bowl
- add milk, mix well
- add the chopped veggies
- garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
- pour in a well greased small bowl or muffin tin
- add mozzarella cheese
- bake in preheated oven, 350'F for 25 minutes
- set broil and broil for a 3 minutes
- let it cool a bit and transfer it to a serving plate

Serve it with or without toast.. I ate 1/2 bowl and without toast.. it satisfied my stomach until dinner time at 4 pm

SALMON QUICHE

Salmon.. our most favorite fish ( well.. I have many favorite fishes when I still lived in Indonesia, we have so many kind of local fresh fishes, fresh water and salt water fishes, mostly very affordable ),  here.. the choice of good fish is very limited for our budget, some of them are so expensive and hard to find in our small town.. salmon is expensive too, but we have it here everyday in our local supermarket and sometimes it was on sale, so I liked to buy bunch of them and freeze them in my freezer.. I like salmon in anyway it cooked.. the other day I had an idea to cook it as quiche and it turned out very good.. I did not write it down soon, now I quite of forget how to make it, fortunately I took pictures of all the ingredients, so now I'm trying to put everything together in this post...

For the ingredients:
- 10 oz of salmon, sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper
- 1 red bell pepper, diced in small size
- 1/2 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
- I would add spinach and chopped mushroom next time ( a reminder for me)
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup of milk
- 1 tbsp of flour
- salt and black pepper
- 2 flour tortilla
- 9 inch glass pie pan
- 1 cup of cheese ( I used Italian blend cheese)
- bunch of cilantro, chopped

Method:
- bake salmon in the oven, then flake it with fork, in chuck pieces
- heat a bit of oil in a pan, add onion, cook until it softened, add in garlic, bell pepper, jalapeno, and the rest of veggies, salt and pepper, cook until they are all softened, let it cool
- in a big bowl, beat eggs, add milk, salt and pepper, beat well, then add in flour, mix until the mixture is smooth
- pour salmon into the egg mix, add cheese and cilantro, stir and mix well
- lightly grease the pie pan
- place 2 layers or flour tortilla in it,
- pour in the salmon and egg mixture
- sprinkle extra cheese on it
- bake in a preheated oven, 350'F for about 30 minutes or until the eggs are set
- let it cool, cut and serve

STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE

I WROTE THIS ENTRY BEFORE EASTER DAY AND SAVED IS AS A DRAFT, TODAY I UPDATED IT WITH SOME PICTURES.. THE PIE TURNED OUT SO GOOD, LIGHT AND TANGY WITH A BIT OF SWEETNESS 

We are going to spend this Easter weekend at my in laws' place.. like usual we'll have Easter Eve dinner and Easter day dinner.. usually my MIL cooked ham and we enjoyed it together.. I told them I'm going to bring a pie or cake.. though I still had no idea what kind of pie or cake I'd bring..

On our morning walk I talked about it with Vickie.. she suggested apple pies and strawberry cheesecake.. our mouths were watering when we talked about it.. haha... and on the ads for our local market, strawberry was on sale, 99 cents/lbs.. so I decided to make strawberry cheesecake, I browsed around the net, mostly recipes on the internet were cheesecake topped with strawberry, I wanted to make something different, and I found this one, I decided to try it.. so we went to the store to buy strawberry, but it ran out so fast.. the employee said nada.. no more till tomorrow, then we went to another store, and I saw canned strawberry for $1, I grabbed it and it was a good choice though, much easier..

This recipe has been modified by me.. I don't want a big cake because we don't want too much leftover, we try to eat less fat and sweet :)

- 1 small pie crust (Graham Crackers)
- 1 package of cream cheese (8oz)
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of sugar
- 12 oz of strawberry puree ( I use canned strawberry, drain out the juice)
- 1 tbsp of flour
- 1 tbsp of lemon juice
- vanilla ( I used fresh vanilla beans)

- beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended, add flour, continue beating
- add in 1 egg, beat well, add another one, beat well until fluffy
- add strawberry puree, lemon juice and vanilla
- beat until all well blended
- pour the mixture into the crust
- bake in a water bath for 35 to 30 minutes on a preheated oven 350'f ( as you can see, mine is a bit over baked)

SALAMI AND CHEESE BUNS

I have made this buns several times, I used Cinnamon Bun's recipes... I tried several of them and I decided I like this one the best... we bought some salami and cheese for our trip 3 weeks ago, yesterday I cleaned out my fridge, tried to use up my cheese and salami, so I made this.. it was one of my DH's favorite snacks

I want to thank my best friend and my neighbor and my daily walking companion.. Vicky L for sharing this recipe with me :)

This recipe uses WATER ROUX method

- for Water Roux:
 - 1 cup of boiled water
 - 1 tsp of sugar
 - 1/4 cup of butter (room temp)
 - 1 cup of flour
Add sugar and butter in the boiling water, add in flour, stir until it forms a thick paste.. set aside to cool

- for yeast mix:
 - 1 packet of yeast
 - 1/2 cup of warm water (120'F)
 - 1 tsp of sugar
Stir yeast into warm water in a cup, stir in sugar, stir well until foamy, let it activate for 5 to 10 minutes

- for the dough:
 - 3 to 3 1/2 cups of flour
 - 3 tsp of sugar
 - 1/4 cup of milk
 - 1 egg
 - 1 tsp of salt

I use bread machine for kneading.. so I dump everything in it and let it knead and fully risen, for hand knead:
- in a large bowl mix flour + sugar + salt + egg + milk, stir well with wooded spatula, add in the yeast mix, stir again, then gradually add water roux mix, stir well, then place the dough on a floured surface, knead it until smooth and elastic, add flour if needed, place in a greased big bowl, cover with plastic, let it rise in a warm place ( such as in oven with the light on), when it rise to double size, punch down the dough and press it to let out the air bubbles, then place the dough on a floured surface, roll out the dough to 18"x 12" rectangle form, top with salami and cheese, roll up the dough to a log form dough, try to roll it as tight as possible, cut both ends, then cut the log in to 12 equally rolls, place the rolls in a generously greased muffin tin, cover with plastic and let them rise, about 45 minutes, brush the rolls with egg yolk and milk mixture

- preheat the oven to 350'F, place the muffin tin in the middle rack of the oven, bake them for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown

or we can make 2 medium loaves of bread with this recipe, the only change is to cut down the sugar in the dough to 1 tsp, the bread is so soft or my DH calls it doughy.. mmh.. I like doughy bread :P

after the dough is fully risen, divide it in 2, place them in 2 medium loaf pans ( greased), cover and let them rise again for 45 minutes.. bake in a preheated oven 350'F for 50 to 60 minuted, if the surface gets too  brown, cover loosely with aluminium foil

SPICY LEMON HONEY CHICKEN

It's almost the last week of March.. I realized I did not post anything this month.. we were away for 10 days vacation, had a road trip to Northern California, drove along the coastline of CA, Highway 1 is very beautiful and we were lucky because we got abundant sunshine, though it was windy and freezing cold... we camped in a tent in a campground at Big Sur, it was fun, though so cold, we had to snuggle tight in a small tent, we could not sleep well, because we slept on a hard surface (note to myself, next time gotta bring airbed underneath our sleeping beds), my back hurt the next day, so we decided to stay in hotel rooms or at least in a cabin room for the rest of our trip, the fun part was cooking on a picnic table, very simple meal, well...  typical camping foods, ramen, sandwich or canned soup, the grocery prices in the stores there were pain in my wallet, so we tried to eat what we brought with us.. overall the trip was nice, fun and a good way to spend our quality time together..  I'll post some pictures of the amazing views we visited..

Now let's talk about my chicken.. I bought some fresh chicken drumsticks for .79 cents/lbs on a Monday sale, bought 2 packs, about 20 pieces, today I cooked 1 pack, I cooked it with chicken wing's recipe on my mind, as chicken wings costs more, so these drumsticks will do.. they taste so good..  I know I have to write down the recipe for my future use

the sauce

Ingredients:
- 10 pc of Chicken drumsticks, wings or any part of chicken
- 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice, divide
- salt and black peppers
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 1 tbsp of chili sauce
- 1 tsp of fried garlic
- 1 tsp of grated ginger
- 1 tbsp of butter
- sugar if needed

Method:
- wash chicken, pat dry with paper towel, place them in a big roasting pan
- sprinkle with 1/3 of lemon juice, salt and blackpepper
- cover with aluminum foil, bake for 1 hours
- meanwhile, heat butter in a small pan, add grated ginger, stir until  fragrant
- add the rest of lemon juice, honey, chili sauce, black pepper, add salt and sugar if needed
- add fried garlic, cook and bring it to boil
- reduce the heat, simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce thickened
- after 1 hour, pour the excess juice from the chicken ( I save it for later, to cook brown rice or couscous)
- add the sauce, coat evenly, actually I let the chicken sit for a few hours
- bake again in a preheated oven (350'F) for another 30 minutes, flip over every 10 minutes
- set the oven to broil, then broil for another 5 minutes
- serve 4, on steamed rice or dinner rolls
- for dipping... this sweet chili sauce is really a good match to it

MANGO RELISH

This is our favorite food lately.. it's so simple to make, it tastes so good and the ingredients are easy to be found, we can add whatever we like or have in our fridge... the crunchiness of cucumber and jalapeno peppers, the sweetness of pure honey, the tanginess of mango and lemon juice, all in one combined to make a very good appetizer or simply late night snacks

Ingredients: 

- 1 big mango, diced

- 1 cucumber, diced

- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced

- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced

- 1 shallots, finely chopped

- bunch of cilantro, finely chopped

for the juice, mix well 

- 2 tbsp of lemon juice

- 4 tbsp of honey

- 1 tsp of salt

In a big bowl, mix well all the ingredients for the sauce, then add the rest of ingredients, mix well, let it sit in a fridge for a day before serving..