I have to admit that I hit a rut lately. I felt like I was running out of ideas on what to make in the kitchen (yep, how could that be possible with all of these great food blogs that I frequent, and stacks of cooking magazines everywhere in the house?). [...]]]>

I have to admit that I hit a rut lately. I felt like I was running out of ideas on what to make in the kitchen (yep, how could that be possible with all of these great food blogs that I frequent, and stacks of cooking magazines everywhere in the house?). Between planning meals, getting all of the ingredients ready for the meals/recipes that I am scheduled to make, and keeping up with work and everything else, sometimes  I just end up making things that are quick to put together and I know will satisfy everyone. I decided to make this recipe recently when I had a few potatoes leftover, and a handful of chives in the refrigerator that I didn’t want to toss.

I was leafing through a new cookbook and my eyes caught this simple recipe that I knew that I’d love. They were easy to make, and fried beautifully. I didn’t even need to wear my safety glasses. A couple of tips: make sure that you squeeze the heck out of the shredded potatoes to get the water out. Also, don’t be too shy when flattening the mixture in the frying pan. I wasn’t sure about how flat I wanted these to be so I was a bit cautious. They were basically fried shredded hash-brown with chives and yellow onion. Sooo good!

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion
3 large yukon gold potatoes (about 2 1⁄2 lbs.), peeled
Kosher salt, to taste
6 tbsp. finely chopped chives
3 tbsp. plain matzo meal (I substituted this with ground Saltines Crackers)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Canola oil for frying
Sour cream or applesauce

Directions
Working over a bowl, grate some of the onion, followed by some of the potatoes, on the large-hole side of a box grater. Repeat until all the vegetables are used up.

Sprinkle mixture with salt and transfer it to a sieve set over a bowl. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from mixture, allowing it to collect in bottom of bowl. Transfer mixture to another bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap; set aside. Set reserved potato liquid aside to let the milky white starch settle. Pour off liquid from starch. Transfer starch to mixture along with the chives, matzo, eggs, and salt and pepper. Gently mix.

Pour enough oil into a skillet that it reaches a depth of 1⁄4″; heat over medium-high heat. Working in small batches, form mixture into balls, using about 1⁄4 cup of the mixture for each, and place them in the oil. Flatten each ball gently with a spatula to form 3″–4″ pancakes. Fry, turning once, until golden brown, crisp, and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Transfer the pancakes to a paper towel–lined plate to drain. Serve the potato pancakes with sour cream or applesauce. (I actually sprinkled some coarse salt on the top, it really added a nice flavor touch at the end!)

Yield: 6 servings

Adapted from Saveur: The New Comfort Food – Home Cooking from Around the World

I must be the only person I know who wakes up in the morning ready for breakfast. Some people I know have the ability to wait for a few hours to get to their breakfast. Even when I am up and ready to leave for work at 6:30 in the morning, [...]]]>

I must be the only person I know who wakes up in the morning ready for breakfast. Some people I know have the ability to wait for a few hours to get to their breakfast. Even when I am up and ready to leave for work at 6:30 in the morning, I’d be ready for breakfast. This is a breakfast that I rely on when I need something hearty and flexible that takes less than 10-minutes to put together, because I don’t have an hour to wait for its baked version. When I have fruits that are pretty ripe, I normally just drizzle a little bit of maple syrup and pile this up with whatever fruits that I have on hand. This is  perfection in a bowl.

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups whole milk (can be substituted for other types of milk as well: low fat, soy, almond, etc)
2 cups of water
1-1/2 cups of quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 bananas
1 cup of dried  fruits (I used cranberries in mine)
Maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon and milk for topping (optional)

Directions
Bring milk and water to a simmer in a medium-sized pot. Add oatmeal and salt, stirring occasionally until thickened, around 4-5 minutes. Once thickened, add sliced bananas, and dried fruit. Cover the pot for about 2 minutes, and serve with whatever topping you’d like!

Yield: 4 servings

Slightly adapted from Barefoot Contessa at Home

When we have potlucks at work, we always end up with TONS of food. And I mean, TONS of food. And it’s not a bad thing; I mean, that’s the reason we have potlucks is to have everyone brings something to share. I love to use this type of event to [...]]]>

When we have potlucks at work, we always end up with TONS of food. And I mean, TONS of food. And it’s not a bad thing; I mean, that’s the reason we have potlucks is to have everyone brings something to share. I love to use this type of event to try a new recipe that I have saved, so I can share them with my co-workers. This past week though, I was really tight on time. I had child-care emergency that I had to deal with, and of course, this kind of emergencies didn’t come with any warning… so I scrambled for time. Still, the potluck must go on,and I wanted to bring something that are different, fun, but still really good. I’m a big fan of salty-and-sweet dessert, especially bite-sized. These candies, seriously take less than 10-minutes to put together (depending on how quickly you can unwrap those rolos and how many you make!), and people gobbled them up. I just did two cookie sheets full of these, and I still had leftover pretzels and rolos. YUM! How fun are these?

Ingredients
Pecan halves (or any other type of nut)
Mini pretzels
Rolo chocolate candies

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350F.

Unwrap your rolos. Place pretzels on a baking sheet in single layer. Top each pretzel with a rolo candy.

Bake for 3 to 5 minutes, until the chocolate just begins to melt. The rolo candy should be soft but not completely melted. Remove from oven, carefully use a spatula to lift the pretzels on cooling rack and immediately squish the rolo candy with a nut.

Adapted from Steamy Kitchen

When I saw this recipe coming through my Facebook feed, I knew that I had to make them immediately. I love simple sugar cookies; they may be plain, but you can taste the butter, sugar, and flour. But again, I love simple classic flavor, think of this white [...]]]>

When I saw this recipe coming through my Facebook feed, I knew that I had to make them immediately. I love simple sugar cookies; they may be plain, but you can taste the butter, sugar, and flour. But again, I love simple classic flavor, think of this white cake. Making cookie in a bar-form is basically like my solution to my ever shrinking free-time at home with a toddler who’s so curious of everything and refuses to nap on the weekends. Topping them with this simple butter-cream frosting is like a match made in heaven! The pink frosting made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, it is therapeutic.

I made them in a slightly smaller pan (a quarter-sheet jelly roll pan, I think it was 9-1/2″ x 13″) than what the original recipe had called for and I cut them into smaller pieces, the idea here was to have a bite-sized bar. I think everyone needs a little pink frosting to brighten these dreary winter days!

Ingredients
For the cookie bars
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

For the frosting
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch sea salt
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
5 tablespoons milk
Food coloring, as desired
Sprinkles, for garnish, optional

Instructions
For the cookie bars
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed 10 x 15-inch with parchment paper; set aside.

In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda, mixing well. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Using a rubber spatula, evenly spread the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. (They should be light golden brown, mine took 19 minutes).

Let cool completely.

For the frosting
In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and salt, mixing well. Reduce the mixer speed to low and carefully add the confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time. Add the milk and mix until smooth. Add your desired amount of food color (if using) and mix until incorporated.

Frost and decorate as desired onto the cookie bars.

Yield: 18 cookie bars

Adapted from The Curvy Carrot

For my birthday last summer, I asked for a pasta maker attachment set to go with our Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I had every intention to use it, but it kept on being put to the back burner until a couple of weekends ago. My first try at making and tasting homemade pasta [...]]]>

For my birthday last summer, I asked for a pasta maker attachment set to go with our Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I had every intention to use it, but it kept on being put to the back burner until a couple of weekends ago. My first try at making and tasting homemade pasta was back in 2009 in Italy, and let me tell you that it was a rather physically demanding task! Especially with my lack of “rolling dough” experience. This pasta set though, took care all of that “dough rolling” for me, and if anything, it made the experience so much more fun!

My good friends Jill and Sarah came to visit me for the day and I thought that it was a good enough reason for me to finally get this pasta maker to a good use. We went out for a late lunch, and then we were back at my house hanging out. I chose a recipe that uses semolina flour that I had previously bought for this very purpose, and the rest of the ingredients are pretty much standard pantry items. The dough came together relatively quick although I had to adjust the water almost five times what it calls for in the original recipe, and I even added an egg. The most time consuming part was the dough rolling; but having friends to help out definitely made this fun.  Jill doesn’t really like tomato-based sauce, while Sarah prefers not to have “white-sauce”. So I ended up throwing a bunch of items together (prosciutto, black olives, roasted red peppers, etc), mixed them together in sun-dried tomatoes with half of the dough, and everyone won. Nothing beats homemade pasta with great companies!

Ingredients
4 large eggs, room temperature (I used 5 eggs)
2 tbsp of water (I ended up using about 10, because my kitchen must have been dry)
1 tbsp of oil, plus 1 tsp for cooking water
3-1/3 cups semolina flour
1/2 tsp salt, plus 2 tsp for cooking water

Direction
Place eggs, water, oil, flour and salt in a mixer bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater (the paddle attachment). Turn to low speed and mix for 30 seconds.

Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Turn to mixer back to low speed and knead for 2 minutes. Remove dough from bowl and hand knead for 1-2 minutes. Divide dough into eight pieces before processing with the pasta roller attachment to make the desired pasta. Follow the manufacturer’s direction to cut and shape your pasta.

Boil 6 quart of water.  Add 2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of oil. Cook pasta between 2-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the noodle type you make and how “al-dente” you like your pasta.

Yield: 1-1/4 lbs dough

Since we’re only about a week away from Valentine’s Day, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to share this relatively easy but elegant chocolate dessert that I recently tried to make at home. It is a traditional French-style dessert and the name does sound fancy, doesn’t it? But [...]]]>

Since we’re only about a week away from Valentine’s Day, I thought that it would be appropriate for me to share this relatively easy but elegant chocolate dessert that I recently tried to make at home. It is a traditional French-style dessert and the name does sound fancy, doesn’t it? But trust me, it simply a baked custard served in single serving dish. It is simpler than I had anticipated to prepare, can be dressed up or down, and can be modified to suit your taste  (think of flavors infusion here… the ideas are endless)! I honestly wasn’t sure what this dessert was all about, and I can’t even recall if I have had them before. But after I tried it, I can’t believe that I have never made this at home before. It is rich, velvety and very chocolatey (if there is such word!). It is important that you use the best quality chocolate you can find (I used Calabaut). Finally, this recipe only makes two, and while it may not seem like a lot… trust me, you don’t need a lot to be satisfied with this dessert. If you haven’t decided on a dessert to make for Valentine’s Day, I’d suggest that you give this a try!

Ingredients
3 /4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 ounces (1/4 cup) best-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon sugar
A pinch of coarse salt
Boiling water, for roasting pan

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bring 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp of heavy cream, espresso, and vanilla to a simmer in a small saucepan; pour over chocolate in a medium bowl. Let sit for 3 minutes, whisk until smooth.

In a second medium bowl, Whisk together egg yolk, sugar, and a pinch of coarse salt; whisk in warm chocolate mixture in a slow stream whisking constantly. Strain custard through a fine sieve into a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Let cool completely stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Place 2 tea cups/ovenproof cups or ramekins on to a roasting pan. Pour chocolate mixture into cups, dividing evenly. Pour enough boiling water into pan so it comes halfway up sides of cups. Cover pan with foil. Cook until custards are barely set, about 25 minutes.

Transfer cups to a wire rack, and let cool slightly. Cover with plastic, and refrigerate 1 hour (up to overnight).

Beat the remaining cup cream until stiff peaks form. Spoon a dollop over each pot de creme before serving.

Yield: 2

Adapted from Martha Steward Living February 2012

I love finger foods! I found this recipe a few weeks ago, and I thought that this would be an appropriate recipe to share with my readers just in case that you still need a quick game day appetizer. I remember making these in my college days when I needed a quick snack [...]]]>

I love finger foods! I found this recipe a few weeks ago, and I thought that this would be an appropriate recipe to share with my readers just in case that you still need a quick game day appetizer. I remember making these in my college days when I needed a quick snack or meal that could be put together very quickly. Of course, back then I just relied on the cheapest hot dogs that I could find paired up with the refrigerated dough. I have never attempted making them (the dough, of course, not the hot dogs) from scratch until now. This classic appetizer earns double points with me since they can be prepared ahead of time, and even requires a little freezer time before going into the oven. The bread dough has a nice brown crust on the outside with nice bread/hot-roll texture in the inside. I  love having them ready to go in the freezer, so that my daughter can also enjoy them for lunch and my sitter can just throw a few of these in the oven without any special preparation required.

Directions
2-1/4 all-purpose flour
4 tbsp vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
1 large egg, lightly beaten
6 all natural beef hot dogs

Directions
Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse 2 cups of flour, shortening, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper together in food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in cream until combined. On lightly floured counter, knead dough until smooth, about 8 to 10 times.

Roll dough into 15×10-inch rectangle. Brush dough with egg and cut into six 5-inch squares. Place remaining 1/4-cup flour in shallow dish. Pat hot dogs dry with paper towels and coat with flour, shaking off excess. Arrange 1 hot-dog in center of each dough square. Roll dough around hot-dog and pinch seam closed. Cut each hot dog into 4 pieces and place on prepared sheet. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Transfer to zipper lock bag and freeze for up to 1 month.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange wrapped hot dog pieces, seam side down, on parchment rimmed baking sheet. Baked until golden brown 25-30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, serve warm.

Yield: 24 pieces

Adapted from The Best of America’s Test Kitchen 2012

I needed to bring cupcakes to work recently for a co-worker who was transferring to another location. He had mentioned that he loves anything lemony, so I decided to make these lemon cupcakes for his last day of work. I thought, what a perfect season to use the abundance of citrus fruits this [...]]]>

I needed to bring cupcakes to work recently for a co-worker who was transferring to another location. He had mentioned that he loves anything lemony, so I decided to make these lemon cupcakes for his last day of work. I thought, what a perfect season to use the abundance of citrus fruits this winter. I really love the basic white cake that I use from Dorie, and decided to use that recipe for the base of this lemon cupcakes. I basically added tons of lemon zest to boost up the lemon flavor for the cupcakes, and I love that I can see the flecks of lemon zest in the finished products. Another co-worker suggested that I top them with vanilla frosting, so that’s what I did. But if you want extra lemon, you can definitely make lemon or cream cheese frosting as a variation. My co-workers told me that by far, this was their fave cupcake! Mine too!

Ingredients
For the cake:
2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
3 tbsp. grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ tsp. lemon extract

For finishing:
1 recipe of fluffy vanilla frosting

Directions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment paper. Dust both pans with flour, shaking out the excess. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Mix them with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter to the sugar mixture and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon extract.

Add one third of the flour mixture, continuing to beat on medium speed. Beat in half of the egg mixture, then half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two prepared cake pans and smooth tops with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well-risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted in the centers should come out clean.

Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the cakes, invert the cake pans to remove the cake, peel off the parchment paper, and invert once more so cakes are right side up on the cooling rack.  Cool to room temperature.

Using a sharp, serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.  Place one layer on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate, cut side up.  Spread one third of the preserves on top.  Cover the jam evenly with about 1/3 of the white chocolate whipped cream.  Top evenly with fresh berries.  Top with another cake layer, and again layer with jam, whipped cream and berries.  Repeat once more with a third cake layer.  Place the last layer of the cake cut side down on top of the cake.  Use the whipped cream frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake.  Top with fresh berries.

Because of the whipped cream, this cake should be stored in the refrigerator.  Remove from refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes before serving.

Yield: 18

Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Pumpkin is an all-year long staple at our house. Not only that it is delicious and nutritious, it is also versatile. We love them in pancakes, waffles, cupcakes, and even mac ‘n cheese! I really can’t help that I have cans of them lining up inside my [...]]]>

Pumpkin is an all-year long staple at our house. Not only that it is delicious and nutritious, it is also versatile. We love them in pancakes, waffles, cupcakes, and even mac ‘n cheese! I really can’t help that I have cans of them lining up inside my pantry. I opened a large can of pumpkin the other night so I could make these pancakes for my daughter’s breakfast, since she was on pancake mood, and I wanted a quick recipe that I could put together easily without an extra trip to the grocery store. Red suggested this pumpkin bar. Since it is an oil-based bar, it is almost like a cake, or a very moist quick bread. Definitely not denser like what you’d expect on a typical “bar” by any mean (as you can see from the picture).

I was a little cautious at first when I shared some of these with my co-workers and friends. I figured that I was the only person who loves pumpkin all year. I was wrong! Everyone enjoyed and raved about them. These bars were delicious on its own without the icing, but if you want extra “ooomph”, definitely add the icing. The icing recipe below makes it to a nice spreading consistency. But you can also thin it out even more and drizzle them on top of the bar. Looks like I’d be making this again soon.

Ingredients
Bars
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15-ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing
8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the sugar and mix at low speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again. Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Adapted from Paula Deen via Food Network

Yield: 24 bars