Walnut Clusters

Ingredients:
Dark Chocolate
White Chocolate
Salt
Caramel
Milk
Vanilla extract
Walnuts

Directions:
I don't have exact amounts for the ingredients.  This was a test run.  The caramel in the clusters hardened and didn't become gooey like I thought they would.  But basically, when melting the caramel, add in extra milk and a dash of vanilla extract to decrease the hardness of the caramel.  The amounts of each ingredient varies based on your preference.

Basically, I melted some dark chocolate, placed walnuts on the melted dark chocolate and then melted the caramel with milk and vanilla extract and drizzled that over the walnuts.  Next, I melted the white chocolate and drizzled that on top and then sprinkled salt over that.  Cover the tops with more dark chocolate.  Refrigerate or freeze the clusters between each layer.

Peppermint Bark

Something festive for the season.... and also incredibly easy to make.

The white chocolate is beige in this because I got lazy and used the pot I had used to melt the dark chocolate for the white chocolate without washing it.

Ingredients:
12 oz. dark chocolate
12 oz. white chocolate
3 tblsp. crushed peppermint

Directions:
Melt chocolate (microwave or double boiler)
Spread over wax paper to desired thickness.
Place in fridge or freezer to harden.
Repeat with white chocolate.
Before cooling the white chocolate, sprinkle with crushed peppermint.

Lemon Chiffon Cake

Another birthday cake!  I didn't have lemon zest or tartar sauce so I made some modifications to the original recipe.  Instead of lemon zest, I used cardamon (completely different flavor) and add the toasted coconut to the cake batter instead of using it for the icing.  For the tartar sauce substitute, I used lemon juice.  Anything to keep the egg whites stiff will do.

Bell Pepper Salad

Ingredients:
1 yellow bell pepper julienned
1 green bell pepper julienned
1 red bell pepper julienned
1 orange bell pepper julienned
1 (large) red onion sliced
1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. celery seeds
black pepper and salt to taste
2 cloves garlic minced

Directions:
Mix together

Note: I did not have green peppers when I made this... thus none in the picture.

Broccoli Casserole II

Recipe found at this previous post.
Only change I would make is to add flour to onion/oil before adding milk to insure clumping does not occur.  I also added more cheese this time.

Birthday Cake

Chocolate cake with Buttercream/Cream Cheese Icing.
Cake recipe from my Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cake Recipe.  Only variation I would put is to use whole milk or half and half instead of skim milk.

Buttercream/Cream Cheese Icing:
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar
3/4 c. butter softened.
6 oz. cream cheese

Directions:
Mix cream cheese and butter.
Add in sugar until completely saturated.

Note: For the pinkish icing I added 1 tbls. of cocoa and red food coloring.

Squash and Spinach Gratin

Ingredients:
3 pounds fresh spinach, stems discarded, or 3 (10-ounce) packages frozen leaf spinach, thawed3/4 cup finely chopped onion (1 small)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
Rounded 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream
3 yellow squash sliced
2 tomatoes
Mozarella Cheese for topping
1 tbls. butter
oil

Directions:
Preheat oven: 400 F.
Saute onions and garlic in oil until onions are translucent.
Place in bowl with spinach.  Mix in nutmeg, salt, pepper and cream.
Grease bottom of a pan (I've used a loaf pan and a springform pan for this).
Cut up half of the butter and place on bottom of pan.
Line with slices of yellow squash.
Layer with spinach mixture and repeat.
On the top layers, place sliced tomatoes, remaining butter and cheese.
Bake for 40 min.

Recipe modified from here.

Apple Pie

Ingredients:
Filling:
6 cored, peeled and diced apples (I used Gala)
1 1/2 tbls. Apple Pie Spice --or-- 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1/4 tbls. allspice, 1/4 tablespoon nutmeg
1/2 c. sugar
1 tbls. melted butter
1/4 c. brown sugar

Crust (makes one layer):
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter diced finely
1/4 c. ice water

Directions:
Preheat oven: 375 F
Filling:
Mix all the ingredients together, set aside.

Crust:
Double the recipe to make both pie crust layers.
Dice the butter and place in freezer.
Mix salt and flour.
Add diced butter to form crumbles.
Mix in water to make dough.  Don't overwork the dough.
Refrigerate dough for about 2 hours.
Roll out 1/2 the dough (if you doubled the recipe) and place in 9 in. pie pan.
Add filling.
Roll out next layer and cover.
You can make a design on the top layer if you wish.
Bake for about 90 minutes.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

Birthday cake for another friend!
Followed the recipe exactly and it turned out great.

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake

I have a vegan friend whose birthday was a few weeks ago... so I made a vegan cake.  Didn't get around to making any frosting for it but the cake itself turned out well.  As you can see, everyone dug in before a picture could be taken.  I tweaked the original recipe a little.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soft avocado, well mashed, about 1 medium avocado
2 cups brewed coffee
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Use oil to grease a 9 in pan. Set aside.
Sift together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar.  Set aside.
Mix all the wet ingredients together in a bowl, including the mashed avocado.
Add sugar into the wet mix and stir.
Mix the wet with the dry all at once, and mix.
Pour batter pan.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

I powdered the top with confectioner's sugar and cocoa since I didn't have time to make frosting.
Turned out surprisingly soft and moist!

Avocado Salsa

Recipe found here.

Pics of Food

It's been awhile yet again... but I have been cooking since I last posted.  I haven't always been taking pictures of what I've been making nor have I been keeping track of all the recipes, but now that the Holiday season is upon us, I'll try to keep better track.

Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

 Hasselbach Potato stuffed with Mozzarella and sauteed tomatoes, green peppers, onions and mushrooms

 

Uttapam (South Asian pancake)

 

Fish Tacos (made by my friend, Young)
The most delicious fish tacos (and admittedly, only fish tacos) I've ever had.  I was extremely skeptical of this before I tried it.

 

Naan

Blackberry Apple Cake

Ingredients:
Granulated sugar for 9inch pan
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 tblsp. butter + 2 tblsp. cut into pieces
3/4 cup + 2 tblsp. light brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
2 apples
1 cup blackberries
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Pre-heat oven 375 F.
Butter 9in pan and dust with granulated sugar
Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in bowl
Whist together melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, milk and eggs in another bowl.
Whisk into flour mixture
Spread batter evenly into prepared pan.  Arrange apple wedges and blackberries over batter.
Gently press into batter
Combine remaining 2 tbls. brown sugar and cinnamon.
Sprinkle over fruit.
Dot with remaining 2 tbls. butter.
Bake for ~50 minutes

Recipe from Martha Stewart

Before dotting with cinnamon/sugar/butter and baking

I didn't have whole milk so I used half and half instead.  Also, still need to go out and buy some all-purpose flour so I ended up using whole wheat again as well.  This turned out better than I thought it would though it's more of an autumn food than a summer food.  One small thing I would change about the recipe is that you should probably cut up the remaining 2 tblsp. of butter into cubes and then keep that frozen.  Then, when the time comes to sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar mixture, you can just mix in the butter with it and THEN sprinkle all of it over the fruit.

Honey and Soy Broiled Wild Alaskan Salmon

The scallions are burnt because I broiled them with the salmon on accident...

Ingredients*:
1 scallion, minced
2 tbls. soy sauce
1 tbls. rice vinegar
1 tbls. honey
1 tsp. minced ginger
4 6 oz. portions of salmon
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
Pre-heat to broil
Whisk scallion, soy sauce, vinegar, honey and ginger in a medium bowl until the honey is dissolved.
Place salmon in a sealable plastic bag, add 3 tablespoons of the sauce and refrigerate; let marinate for 15 minutes.
Line baking pan with foil.  Place salmon on pan, skin side down.

Broil for about 7 minutes.
Drizzle remaining sauce on top, garnish with sesame seeds.

*Recipe from Copper River Seafoods

Chicken Athena

Recipe from some random slow cooker cookbook at Sam's Club... I think it might have been Taste of Home or something like that.  Seriously, the easiest recipe ever (but what slow cooker recipe isn't?)

Ingredients:
6 boneless chicken breast halves
2 medium onions chopped
1/3 c. sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil) chopped
1/3 c. pitted Greek olives
2 tbls. lemon juice
1 tbls. balsemic vinegar
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
Place chicken in a 3 quart slow cooker.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

I realize the picture doesn't really make this look appetizing... but it was good, at least I thought it was because I finished it all in two days.  I sprinkled feta on top as well.... mmmm delicious!

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. lime peel
1 tsp. lime juice
1 egg
3/4 c. sugar
6 tblsp. butter
1/4 c. coconut flakes

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 F.
Beat butter, beat in egg, lime peel and lime juice.
Stir dry ingredients in separate bowl.
Add dry to wet, mixing periodically.
Place in lined muffin pan.
Bake for about 25 minutes.

Lime Frosting:
1/2 c. whipping cream
1/8 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. lime juice (can add more if desired)
1/2 tsp. lime peel
Directions:
Whip cream for about 3 minutes, fold in sugar, whip some more, fold in lime juice and peel


I don't remember where I got this recipe from... I'm pretty sure it's a mixture of two to three recipes but this one works really well.  It turned out really fluffy and moist and delicious!  Also, I ran out of all purpose flour so I had to use whole wheat flour.  I just added a little more sugar and lime to adjust to the taste of whole wheat flour.

Turkey Sandwhich with Fresh Greens, Home Fries, and Cucumber soaked in white vinegar with black pepper

No recipe really for this... just a turkey sandwich with Sourdough bread, fresh greens, tomatoes, black pepper, salt, mayo and Sriracha sauce.  The cucumbers were soaked in white vinegar and black pepper.  Home fries were made from one small potato, deep fried and mixed with salt, black pepper and red pepper.

Green Tea Ice Cream Cake with Green Tea Icing

Lots of green tea in this recipe... but green tea in dessert is delicious!  I actually messed up this recipe a lot.  I think I tried to do too much at once (try a new recipe, make an ice-cream cake, and attempt decorating a cake).  I also still have not gotten the hang of taking awesome pictures of the food I make since either a) I'm in a rush or b) I'm too hungry to care about taking a picture.  But mostly it's me being an amateur.  Anywho, please do not judge too harshly.  I plan on making this cake again... except without the ice-cream.  Ice-cream cakes are a pain to decorate without the ice-cream melting on you.  If I were to do this again, it would be in the winter with a type of ice-cream that doesn't melt so quickly...

Ingredients (for cake):
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. b soda
1/2 tsp. salt
8 tsp. green tea powder (can be grounded from dried leaves)
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 c. plain yoghurt
1 1/2 tsp. v. extract
Green Tea Ice Cream
Makes one cake

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix dry ingredients.
Whip eggs, add oil... mix rest of wet ingredients.
Sift dry into wet, blend well. Place into greased 9 in. pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.
Let cool, then refrigerate to chill.
Place ice cream in between layers.
Place in freezer.

Ingredients (for icing):
8oz cream cheese
1 tbl. matcha powder (can be found at Whole Foods)
3/4 c. butter, whipped
2 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar

Directions:
Whip it all together!

For this cake, I also used butter cream for the decorations and chocolate to make the chocolate decorations.  I don't really have a good butter cream recipe so I won't post the one I used up.  I had a hard time using the butter cream because it kept melting in my hands while I tried to make the flowers (on top of the cake melting continuously).  Maybe I'm just really slow at decorating.  This is the first time I've attempted to make flower decorations.  The chocolate decorations were done by making a drawing on wax paper and using melted chocolate.   I then placed the wax paper in the refrigerator so the design would harden.  You can just peel it off and use the decoration however you wish.

Clearly, I'm still not good at writing with icing.  Also, I baked the cake in a loaf pan because I wanted a rectangular cake instead of a circular one...  So anyway, with this cake, the problem was that I only put baking powder and forgot the baking soda so I ended up with a VERY dense cake.  Don't make the same mistake! You want it to be moist and fluffy!  The icing was good though.

Dark Chocolate-Raspberry Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I combined a few recipes for this and I made this a few months ago so hopefully I'm providing the correct recipe since I didn't write it down... :/

Ingredients (for cake):
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. hot coffee
2 tsp. v. extract
1 c. milk

Directions:
Preheat oven 350F.
Mix dry ingredients
Whip eggs, add oil, mix together... then add rest of wet ingredients
Combine wet and dry, sifting dry ingredients into wet.
Bake for about 35 min. in 9in pan or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out dry.
Makes 1 cake

Ingredients (for raspberry filling):
1 4oz. package of frozen raspberries, thawed
8 oz. raspberry jam

Directions:
Mix thawed raspberries and jam together

Ingredients (for chocolate ganache):
1 c. Heavy whipping cream
3/4 c. chocolate chips

Directions:
On medium low heat, warm up cream.  Do not let boil!
Slowly add chocolate chips.
Keep stirring until melted
Let cool, place in fridge to harden slightly if desired.

Let cake(s) cool before placing raspberry filling in between and ganache on top.

This cake was a hit so I'm definitely planning on making this again!

Vegetarian Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:
1 container (I think 16 to 20 oz) ricotta cheese
pasta sauce/marinara sauce
1 c. green pepper chopped
1 c. onion chopped
1 c. mushroom
1/2 c. tomatoes (optional)
2 c. spinach cooked
1 c. tofu crumbled (optional)
oregano, basil, salt, black pepper, red pepper to taste
mozzarella, cheddar and Parmesan cheeses
pasta shells
olive oil

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Boil shells in salted water until al dente.
While boiling, cook vegetables and tofu in olive oil, placing spinach in last, mix in herbs, salt and pepper
Add in cheddar and Parmesan cheese if desired
3. Cover bottom of 9x13 baking pan with pasta sauce (any flavor you choose)
4. Stuff shells with filling
5. Place in pan, cover shells with mozzarella cheese
6.  Bake for about 40 minutes

Thai Coconut Curry

Ingredients (sorry, didn't really pay attention to the exact amounts, but for the most part it doesn't matter because you'll want to change it according to your own tastes):
sesame oil
3 tsp. minced ginger
2 tsp. minced garlic
two handfuls of julienned red, yellow and orange bell peppers
1 bunch green onion
1 tbls. curry powder
2 tbls. soy sauce
2 tsp. brown sugar
salt for taste
2 13.5 oz cans of coconut milk
cilantro chopped for garnish
protein source (tofu, chicken, fish, etc.)
powdered red pepper
1 onion julienned
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tsp. cumin
2 roma tomatoes julienned
handful sliced shitake mushrooms

Directions:
1. Heat oil in pan on medium low (2 min)
2. Add ginger and garlic (3 min)
3. Add peppers, onion and mushrooms (increase heat to medium)
4. Add protein
5. Add curry, cumin, red pepper powder
6. Add soy sauce, sugar, salt, coconut milk
7. Add tomatoes

Spanakopita

Ingredients:
6 oz. feta
2 c. chopped spinach
olive oil
1/2 c. diced onion
salt and pepper to taste
dill, parsley and Parmesan cheese for taste (optional)
phyllo dough

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil
2. Sautee onions until translucent, then add spinach.
3. Sautee for about ~2 minutes
4. Drain excess liquid.
5. Mix in feta, salt, pepper, dill, parsley and Parmesan cheese

Follow phyllo dough directions from box.

Can you tell how lazy I'm getting about writing up my recipes?  But seriously, I think all phyllo dough boxes have directions on how to correctly use phyllo dough.  Once you know how to use it, just place the filling, wrap the dough, brush olive oil over the tops and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes.

Fiesta Chicken

Ingredients:
1 cup corn
1 cup black beans (from a can)
1 cup tomatoes diced
3/4 cup onion diced
1 tbls. jalapeno diced (de-seed if you don't want it to be spicy)
cumin, lemon juice, taco seasoning and cilantro for taste
green onions for garnish
2 chicken breasts.

Directions:
Microwave corn and beans for about 45 seconds.
Sautee onion and jalapeno for about 2 minutes.
Use the same pan to cook chicken.
Mix all ingredients together except for chicken.
Place "salsa" over chicken.


This recipe is soooo ridiculously easy.  I read some recipes that required more effort which I didn't really want to put in so I just made something up.  Enjoy!

Raspberry Tartlets

Ingredients:

3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 c. all purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 12-14 oz. jar of raspberry preserves
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbls. sugar
milk (if needed)
fresh raspberries (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Mix cream cheese and butter
- Add flour, salt, orange zest, baking powder and sugar to cream cheese and butter
- Add vanilla extract and milk (if needed) to make a crumbly dough
- Roll into balls and make an indentation to place the raspberry preserves in
- Mix raspberry preserves with fresh raspberries
- Place tartlets onto a floured baking sheets
- Place raspberry preserves in the tartlets
- Bake for about 10-15 minutes










I really suck at organizing my blog post to make it look prettier... how do I make the pictures line up side by side?  Anyway, I've found a lot of pictures I have taken of food but I just never got around to posting them online.  Unfortunately, I don't always write down the recipe so having the pictures don't really mean anything if I can share the recipe with everyone either.  Fortunately, this was one recipe that I happen to write down and have pictures of so I hope you enjoy it!

Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:
2 c. broccoli florets (if fresh, steam them; if frozen, let them thaw- no need to use a steamer)
1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese + extra cheese for topping
1 c. milk
2 tblsp. flour
salt and black pepper for taste
olive oil
1/2 c. onion chopped
bread crumbs

Optional ingredients:
Red pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
Heat oil in pan
Place chopped onions in pan, wait until translucent, then add milk
Add flour through a sifter to make sure no clumping occurs
Add desired spices
Stir constantly
Add grated cheese
Mix in broccoli
Place in casserole dish or loaf pan
Sprinkle cheese on top
Sprinkle bread crumbs over cheese
Bake for ~45 minutes


Yum! delicious!  I don't really like broccoli (bad experience once with Chinese food and broccoli) but if you drench it in cheese, it tastes really good!  Definitely making this again!  Although, probably not that healthy for you.  I tried to minimize the amount of cheese used as much as possible.  You can also add some Parmesan cheese if you want to use less cheese since Parmesan has a stronger flavor.  As you can see from the picture, I already dug in before I could take nice artistic pictures... it turned out that well!