Happy Easter!!!

We're off to an Easter Egg
hunt party
held by a friend.
Well, that is..
if it's not gonna rain.

Just in case,
y'all dont know..
I do have another blog..
Color My World,
where I ramble mostly about my
scrapbooking
and
daily life.

Why 2 blogs?
Well, being the renaissance woman that I am..
bwahahahaha...
I have way too many hobbies.
I first started putting
recipes on the other blog.
But it got lost
in the mix of all my scrapbooking
and I
really want to compile
them together.
Hence, this blog is
started.

Happy Easter everyone.
I haven't cooked anything new lately.
Going on vacation
this Thursday
and too busy preparing for it.

Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

This is one of our favorite snacks
in the house.
The girls love it
and I do too...even though I'm not a peanut
butter fan.
It's so simple to make.
You can't mess this up!


Recipe is by Paula Deen.

1 cup peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
1 1/3 cups baking sugar replacement (recommended: Splenda)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a large baking sheet.
In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, 1 cup sugar replacement, the egg, and vanilla, and stir well with a spoon. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. With a fork, dipped in sugar replacement to prevent sticking, press a crisscross design on each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes, remove from the oven, and sprinkle the cookies with some of the remaining sugar replacement. Cool slightly before removing from pan.

*I prefer the crunchy peanut butter than the creamy ones as it added a crunch to the cookies. Also, I used plain ol' white sugar and reduced it to 3/4 cup. I totally omit sprinkling the sugar on top of the cookies. My kids dont need the added sugar!! kekekekeke....

You can also use regular granulated sugar. I use about 3/4-1 cup of sugar.

Tag!

I've been tagged by Chawanmushi.

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night?
My kids.

2. What were you doing at 0800?
Walking home from school.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Updating my blogs.

4. What happened to you in 2006?
What happened??
Same ol' same ol'.
At my age, you can't remember.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
Watch the baby!!!

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Just 1 glass of water.
I'm good.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Silver.

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Uhm....
Nothing.
Oh wait. Postage. 2 days ago!

9. Where were you last night?
At home, watching TV and
putting the girls to bed.

10. What color is your front door?
Yellow.

11. Where do you keep your change?
Purse.

12. What’s the weather like today?
Windy!!!!

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?
Plain ol' Vanilla

14. What excites you?
Travel. Vacation. Trips.

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
Oh yes!

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Yes.

17. Do you talk a lot?
No. I'm quite quiet in real life.

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Oh please! Hell no!

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Yes.

20. Do you make up your own words?
yup.

21. Are you a jealous person?
No.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’.
Angeline.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’.
None.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list?
Huh?

25. What does the last text message you received say?
I dont text message.

26. Do you chew on your straw?
Hell no!

27. Do you have curly hair?
On top or below?

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to?
School.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life?
Nah.

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Brownies!

31. Will you get married in the future?
I am married!

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks?
The only movie I've watched this year is Beowulf.

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
I like myself? What about that?

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Last nite, the dishwasher was loaded.

35. Are you currently depressed?
No.

36. Did you cry today?
I dont cry.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
I'm obligated.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey.
I'll do 3.
Joyce, Suriyati and Rojak Rendezvous!

Outrageous Brownie

I LOVE this brownie!
When I saw Ina Garten
made them on the Food Network..
I thot I just had to do it!


Recipe by Ina Garten.


1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups diced walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.
Melt together the butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.

Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.


*I half the recipe and instead of using 3 extra large eggs, I used 4 large eggs and bake it in a 13x11 pan at 25 minutes. *

Strawberry Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

I love this fruit dip.
It's delicious.
And so simple to make!
Even my kids love it!

I got this recipe from a friend.
I have no idea where she gets it from
though!


Ingredients
Equal parts of
Strawberry cream cheese
Marshmallow creme or Fluff

Mix them together.
That's it! Easy right?

The dip goes well with pears, apples, strawberries, grapes etc.
Here, I used it on
Strawberries, pears and mangoes.

Meatball Spaghetti

Oh gosh,
I'm seriously slacking...

Anyway,
here's my recipe for
Meatball Spaghetti.
The original recipe
makes it with turkey,
but I substitute it with
lean ground beef instead,
as my hubby is not really keen
in turkey.


Recipe from Giada.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup plain dried bread crumbs
2 tablespoons whole milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup grated Romano
1 pound lean ground beef
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5 cups tomato sauce, recipe follows
1 pound spaghetti

In a large bowl add bread crumbs milk and mix until well combined. Mix in eggs and 1/2 cup Romano cheese and mix well. Add turkey and gently combine, being careful not to overwork the meat. Season with salt and pepper. Shape into golf-size balls.
In a large skillet heat the oil over medium high heat. When almost smoking, add meatballs and without moving or turning the meat, allow it to brown for about 3 minutes. Turn meatballs and brown other side. Continue to cook until all sides are golden brown, about 8 minutes total. Add tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Lower heat and allow meatballs to simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and keep warm on stove. Be careful not to overhandle the meatballs since they are soft and fragile.

In a large pot, bring to a boil 6 quarts of salted water. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain pasta in a colander. Do not rinse pasta with water since you want to retain the pasta natural starches so that the sauce will cling to the pasta.

Remove meatballs from sauce and place in serving bowl. Pour some tomato sauce over meatballs, but leave about 1 cup of sauce in skillet. Place the cooked pasta into the skillet with the remaining sauce and toss well. Pour sauced pasta into a large serving bowl. Serve alongside the meatballs.


Simple Tomato Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
2 dried bay leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional

In a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5-10 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer uncovered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.
Add half the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.

If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to six months.

Yield 6 cups.

Beef Fajitas

Jeff and I LOVE Mexican food.
Mexican, Italian..
and for me, Asian, of course.
Made some Fajitas a couple of weeks ago.

I took recipes from several people
and combine it together.
The sauteed peppers and beef fajitas are from Rachael Ray.
The pineapple salsa is from Ellie Krieger.

Ingredients:
Tortillas
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese *or plain cheddar*

*optional*
shredded lettuce
guacamole
chopped tomatoes

Beef Fajitas
1 lb lean beef
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2-3 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Several drops of hot sauce
1 tbsp grill seasoning such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Seasoning

In a large bowl, combine the Worcestershire Sauce, chilli powder, cumin, thyme leaves, hot sauce and steak seasoning.
Stir in the beef.
Drizzle with the olive oil.
Cook them in a pan.

Seared Peppers and Onions
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 red and/or green peppers, cored, seeded and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 garlic cloves, smashed out of the skin and chopped
1 jalapeno or serano chilli, seeded and chopped
2 cups prepared tomatillo salsa or chipotle-tomato salsa

Heat a medium skillet over high heat.
Add the EVOO and the bell peppers and onions.
Stir fry the veggies, tossing them with tongs, to sear them at the edges.
Add the garlic and jalapenos.
Toss and turn the mixture for about 3 minutes.
Then add the salsa and toss for a minute longer.

Pineapple Salsa
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 cup finely diced pineapple, preferably fresh
1/3 cup seeded and finely diced English Cucumber
1 tbsp fresh mint

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey and lime juice.
Combine the pineapple, cucumber and mint in a medium bowl, pour the dressing on it
and toss to combine.
This can be made up to a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

To assemble fajitas:
Heat the tortillas for 10 seconds in a microwave.
Put some of the seared peppers and onions,
followed by the beef, cheese and pineapple salsa.