Beef Burritos

My husband only likes 3 cuisines..
American, of course...
Italian
and Mexican.
And oh, he also love
Sweet and Sour Chicken..
and that's about the only Asian thing he likes.

A week back,
I made some beef burritos.
I love one dish meal like this.
It's fast and simple to make.
There's really no "real" recipe
as I just tossed whatever I like
in the pan.

I started off with browning the beef,
added some garlic and onions,
with a bit of cumin and chilli powder.
Then, I add some green peppers and
since I have corn,
I added that too. :D
And oh,
a bit of salsa
to give it a bit of flavor.

Then, I top it with cheese
and Mexican rice...
and put it in a wrap.
One dish meal..
in a tortilla!

Green Eggs and Ham

I feel so bad
neglecting this blog.
I've been cooking,
and taking photos
but haven't updated it here lately.

And now,
I will!!!
Over at Moms4Moms,
the current cooking challenge
was to be inspired by Dr. Seuss..
Green Eggs and Ham.
And here's my interpretation...

I used a bagel as the base
and toasted it.
You could use French bread or even an English muffin.
I also have some leftover grilled chicken.
I used that instead of ham.
I sauteed that with a bit of garlic, spinach
and break 2 eggs
and scrambled them altogether.
Assembled the scrambled egg mixture on
top of the bagel,
added some shredded cheese...
I used mozarella and monterey jack
and put it under the broiler
for a few minutes,
till the cheese melted.
Then, top it off with tomato pesto.
Yum!

Charleston, South Carolina - The Food

We just came back from Charleston
on Sunday.
It was an awesome trip.
We had fun.
The kids had fun.

Anyway,
we stayed in a hotel
in downtown Charleston,
that has a little kitchen.
Most meals were eaten
at the hotel
but we did ate out
a couple of times.
The first nite,
I made mini pizzas for everyone.
That was yummy and easy.

The second nite,
we ate out
at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant.
Yup!
It's the one named in
Forrest Gump.
Now,
I didnt take any photos of the food
coz seriously,
when my food is out,
I just want to dive in.
I had the coconut shrimp with
some kind of peach dip.
And it comes with fries
and coleslaw.
It's not mentioned on the menu
on their website,
but that thing is delicious.
A bit pricy...
but still delicious.
I love the dip.
Jeff had the BBQ burger
coz he's picky and doesnt eat anything else.
*roll eyes here*
Jeff's aunt had the "All American out" (I think that's what it's called)
appetizer
and it's HUGE.
It coems with chips with some kind of spinach and artichoke dip,
boiled shrimps, hush puppies which was made up of corn and shrimp,
Chicken fingers and some kind of fried shrimp too.
I tasted her food
and those were good too.
The hush puppies were really good.
Gotta try and make those one day.
The annoying thing about this restaurant
is that
the waiter will quiz you on some Forrest Gump trivia.
Yup.
Annoying.
I kiddingly asked him if I answered all the questions right,
will we get some kind of discount?
Yeah...right.
It ain't happening.

Anyway,
the next day,
we went to the Farmer's Market.
It was really pretty,
with not only vendors selling veggies and fruits,
but there were bounce houses for the kids
and
a band playing.
Really cool.
There are also several vendors
cooking up different kinds of foods
from Gyros to crepes
and even donuts.
Everybody else had the Gyros..
but I had the Chicken Satay with Coconut Rice.
I saw the word satay and
quickly zoom at that stall.
She served it with a cucumber salad,
but I told her to switch it with the grilled tofu.
And like an arrogant,
pompous ass...
I told her I'm from Singapore
and satay is a common food dish.
So,
I told her,
I can't wait to taste her version.
Yup.
I can be annoying too.

Anyway,
it tasted NOTHING like a satay.
It was way too salty...
too much soy sauce on the chicken
and tofu.
And the rice tasted like regular, jasmine rice.
Where's the coconut?
I've made coconut rice before
and she needed to put a bit more coconut milk
on hers.
The peanut sauce is bleh.
I cant taste the peanuts.
Even Rachael Ray's peanut sauce is way
better than this.
So, if you ever go to the Farmer's Market,
have the Gyro instead.

And if you ever see
the Carolina Cider Company
on your drive down,
please go in and take a look.
They had the BEST ciders..
it's all natural and no sugars added.
We bought the apple cider, the cherry cider
and the peach cider.
Delicious!
And I even bought me a jar of Peach Orange Marmalade
and
Peach salsa.
They deliver too.
So check out the website.

BBQ Chicken Pie Pizza?

Inspired by Zu's Pinwheel Pizza.
I decided to make these for lunch..
Mini pie pizzas!!



My fave pizza is Papa John's
Chicken BBQ Pizza
with onions and pineapple.
I decided to recreate this
using pie crust...
since I dont have any pizza dough in hand.
Nor any
puff pastry dough.
I had Pillsbury Pie Crust.
That's what I did here.
I rolled out the pie crust
and using my circle cookie cutter (about 3 inch in diameter),
I cut circles off the dough.
Spread some BBQ sauce on it,
sprinkle some shallots,
and pineapple tidbits.
Added leftover grilled chicken
and finished it off with
mozarella cheese.
And Voila!
Into the oven
at 450F
for around 10-12 minutes.
And it's done.
Gone within minutes.

Creamy Mashed Potato

Potato.
I haven't meet a potato I didn't like.
Love them
baked, fried, roasted...
if I could eat them raw,
I would!

This is the second time
I made this dish,
using this recipe.
The first time,
there was a bad thunderstorm
outside,
making it almost impossible
for me to take a photo,
due to the lack of natural light.

The recipe asked for Yukon Gold Potatoes.
I've made it with that,
and with Russet potatoes.
To me,
the Yukon Gold potatoes
tasted better and gave this dish
a creamier consistency.
Not to say that you can't use Russet potatoes.
You could.
And it will still taste great.
Hey...
like I said,
I haven't met a potato I didnt like!

Enjoy!


Recipe from Katie Lee Joel's
The Comfort Table

2.5 pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes,
peeled and quartered
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 8-oz package of cream cheese, cut into chunks
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons(1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a medium pot.
Cover with cold water and add 1 teaspoon of salt.
Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat.
Lower the heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are fork tender
about 20 minutes. Drain.

Return the potatoes to the pot and add cream cheese,
milk, butter, 2 teaspoons of salt, and pepper.
Using a handheld electric mixer, whip the potatoes until smooth and creamy
with no lumps.
Adjust the seasoning to taste.

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

I made these delicious cookies
for a cooking/baking challenge over
at M4M.
Got the recipe from Martha Stewart Cookie
Book
and these are delicious!
They are thin and crispy.
I couldnt find any Dutch Process Cocoa
Powder
at my local grocery store.
Even went to Walmart, Super Target
and Albertson's...
NONE!!!
So, I used regular cocoa powder-
Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa
and instead of sanding sugar-
can't find that either-
I used regular granulated sugar.
Enjoy!
These are yummy!

Recipe:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Sanding sugar, for rolling

1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda
and salt into a bowl.
2. In the bowl fo an electric mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium speed
until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla, and beat to combine.
Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture-
beat to combine.
Form dough into a flattened disk,
wrap with plastic wrap and chill until firm,
about an hour or so.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls.
Roll each ball in sanding sugar.
Place on baking sheets lined on parchment paper,
about 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating halfway through.
Transfer to a rack to cool for 5 minutes.
Transfer cookies from baking sheet to a wire rack.
Ccokies can be stored between layers of parchment in an
airtight container at room temperature.

Orange Sesame Chicken

Americanized Chinese food...
I have only one fave
Orange Chicken.
That's it.
I'm not really keen on
the chinese food here
because for some reason,
it's so heavy
and after eating it,
it makes you feel bleh.
Being from Asia myself,
I find that it has
been "americanized"
so much
that it kinda lose
it's authentic flavor.
I encourage all of you to go to Asia
and try the foods there.
They are so much different
(and better)
in flavor.
I understand that they have
to cater to their
buyers
but seriously,
you go to one chinese restaurant here,
you've been to all!
They all have the same menu!!!
And the pictures are even the same!!!
I dont understand that!!
LOL..

Anyway,
I made orange sesame chicken.
I never heard of Orange Chicken till I came here.
Nor Sesame Chicken.
Never saw it in the chinese restaurants back home
in Singapore.
Nor ate it there.
But,
I do love orange chicken.
And when I saw the recipe here
on
Appetite for China,
I wanna give it a shot.
It came out pretty good.
Not as heavy as the ones in the restaurant.
Definately lighter.
But still as delicious.