Oh So Tasty!

Homemade French Fries!

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:16:57 +0300

I have finally made crispy french fries from scratch. Aaaaah, those were very tasty!

Very crispy and crunchy, too!

Bring the potatoes and then:

- Peel ‘em

- Cut them to french fries size (I like mine a bit large)

- Wash them

- Soak them in cold water and put in the fridge till you are in the mood to fry

Then,

you heat up frying oil in the pan, while it’s heating up, you’ll make the flour mixture that you’ll dip the potatoes in before frying, which consists of:

- 1 cup flour

- teaspoon of salt

- teaspoon of garlic powder

- teaspoon of onion powder

- teaspoon of pepper flakes

- teaspoon of paprika

and then after all of those are mixed add:

- 1/2+ cup of water, or as much as you need.

Dip the potatoes in the mixture ONE BY ONE and then drop them in the HOT oil.

These are not frozen french fries so they will take a little while to be done, maybe 5-10 minutes? I have no idea. I didn’t count. I am sorry. But when they’re done, you’ll know!

I had this with ranch dressing. GOODNESS.

Happy Cooking!

Avocado Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:28:00 +0300

This salad has been made ages ago, but I haven’t thought of posting it till now. Why? Well, let’s say I am craving it and I’m expecting one of you to make it and send it to me. Kthx.

Since I don’t remember exactly the measurements and the amount of ingredients used, I’m just going to tell you what I remember.

Salad Ingredients:

- Avocados, peeled and sliced

- Tomatoes, diced

- Red onions, sliced

- Lettuce, do whatever the heck you want with it

- Cucumber, maybe

Dressing Ingredients:

- 1 TBS. of Dijon mustard

- 1/4 cup of vinegar

- a pinch of salt

- freshly ground black pepper

- 3/4 cup of olive oil

Directions:

- Prepare the salad (obviously), and then make the dressing by mixing the ingredients except the olive oil. Afterward, you slowly add the olive oil while stirring. This should make enough dressing for LOTS of salads. So you either can keep it in the fridge for 3 weeks, or you can do the math and make enough for this salad only.

Happy Cooking!

Buttermilk Pancakes!

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 11:02:00 +0300

I’ve been having those pancakes for a while now… just never cared to share the recipe because it’s not something umm, “new”? I don’t know! I don’t share what I do often.

My family has the box mix version a lot. It’s good, it’s probably one of the best mixes out there. But… it feels good to make it yourself and customize the amount of certain ingredients!

Buttermilk Pancakes

You’ll need:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (or use the alternative: for every cup of buttermilk, add 1 TBS vinegar to a cup of milk)
1/4 cup white sugar
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

- Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Puree until smooth. (I like using a fork at this point to get everything to blend.. not whisk it.)

- Pour batter onto the griddle, to form 5 pancakes. Flip pancakes when edges appear to dry. Cook pancakes on other side for same amount of time until golden brown.

I would really like to tell you that I time my cooking, but I don’t… I just cook them till I think they’re done!

What I do: top each pancake with a 1/4 teaspoon butter and stack them on top of each other. It gives the pancakes an amazing flavor and some crisp! and then… you know what’s next… uncontrollably pour syrup/honey/whatever on the pancakes till you think they’re soaked enough!

Tip: don’t have this everyday. You’ll be fat in… 1.32 months.

Yellow Cupcakes With Sticky Chocolate Icing.

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0300

First, let me clarify that I have absolutely NO good pictures of this that’s why I hesitated to post it. Even though you won’t remember how it looked like if you were eating it…that’s how fast you’ll om nom it lol.

Overall taste was very good, it was obviously so much better the next day for some reason!

Lame photo! But you can see that there is delicious sticky icing… so sticky that it’s sticking on the paper liner.

I got the recipe off The Pioneer Woman website, I only made a slight difference by adding pure vanilla extract instead of just any vanilla… and making the sticky chocolate icing thinner by adding 2 TBS of milk so it’d look like a ganache.

Cupcakes:

2 cups cake flour (Or you could use 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup (plus a tad more) whole milk

You can see a tiny drop of burnt batter on the tray. Excuse that. I was mad when I was spooning the batter. lol.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180 C).

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
With an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl and mix for a few more seconds.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add vanilla. Mix to combine.
Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk in three batches, mixing for a few seconds after each addition.
Scrape sides of bowl, then mix one final time.

Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until poufy but not brown. Cool before icing.

Sticky Chocolate Icing

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons butter

Lame helicopter view for the icing. But you get it. Don’t you? Yeah.

Directions:

Mix ingredients together in a small/medium saucepan. Melt ingredients over medium low heat, stirring gently. Icing is ready when all ingredients are melted and combined.

Spoon warm icing over warm cupcakes, stirring icing to smooth after every third cupcake or so.

Allow iced cupcakes to sit at least ten minutes before serving.

Happy Cooking!

DOUBLE Chocolate Muffins!

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:12:42 +0300

Since I am a little greedy on my chocolate intake bit… I decided to make this. I made these two times in two days. These were simply DELISH! I’m into muffins lately so yeah. But seriously, if you love double chocolate muffins you MUST give this recipe a try.

You’ll need:

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (about 4 big blocks of unsweetened chocolate, I used non-modified chocolate which is very great for this, however if you do use sweetened chocolate you have to adjust the amount of sugar.)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk (Using low-fat milk works well)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips (I used 3/4 a bag and there was PLENTY of chocolate chips!)
Additional semisweet chocolate chips, for topping muffins (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C). Spray 6 giant-size muffin cups or 12 regular muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray (I got 18 muffins out of this one! Amazing, right?), or line muffin cups with muffin or cupcake liners.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave on medium-high heat for 25 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream sugar and butter. Beat in eggs, then add sour cream and milk. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour flour mixture into butter mixture and stir together by hand. Stir in melted chocolate, then chocolate chips.

Fill each muffin cup about three-quarters of the way full with batter, and if desired sprinkle some chocolate chips over top of batter. Bake for about 20 minutes for standard-sized muffins or 25 minutes for giant muffins, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool completely. Muffins are best eaten fresh.

I modified it by adding more sugar the second time. Up to 1.5 cups but it’s perfectly amazing just the way it is.

Happy Cooking!

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:00:24 +0300

OH. MY. GOD.

Remember all those horrific muffins you had at certain bakeries? The really hard, tasteless, baked-two-days-ago ones? Forget that you ever had them.

I know they are not pretty. But they are muffins, come on. Plus the smell blinds you.. it’s THAT good.

First of all, remind me to sue Starbucks for the lamest muffins EVER. Second of all, after finishing reading this post… GO AND MAKE THE MUFFINS because they will be one of the greatest muffins you ever tasted.

I was browsing for a good chocolate chip muffin recipe, and I realized that no one does things better than Bake Or Break, she’s just one of those people that the recipes they make don’t disappoint.

You’ll need:

1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted & slightly cooled
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 190 C. Lightly grease or line 12 regular muffins cups (or 9 jumbo ones).

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Stir in melted butter, milk, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Serve warm.

Happy Cooking!

Camel Burger review.

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:19:00 +0300

As odd that sounds, it turned out to be very good! I apologize for not having pictures because I didn’t think it’d be this great but it was. The camel meat was fresh (slayed this morning), and it was made ground at home (that way you can control the fat amount). I seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic, minced onions and jalapenos along with 2 tbs of plain yogurt just so I can work with it (I hate adding eggs!)

I grilled it for about 10-12 minutes while brushing with fruity BBQ sauce. I added a slice of cheddar cheese on top. Toasted the burger buns, added some sliced tomato and lettuce and some burger sauce.

It was really good, except that when you bite into a hamburger that was made using beef, you can see your bite marks. In camel meat? You can’t. I think it was because it’s fresh/too soft.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes.

Fri, 22 May 2009 00:53:05 +0300

Okay, first let me tell you that I’m a VERY messy cupcake maker. Like, really messy! So.. since we got that clear.

Everyone loved this cupcake, seriously, everyone ate it and there was only 3 left by the end of the day. My personal opinion? I despied it lol. That’s so weird. I think maybe because the frosting is dark (and slightly bitter.. story follows). I really liked the “cake” though. Anyway.

Since I am too lazy to show you the modified recipe. I’m just going to link it and tell you what I did!

A recipe for chocolate cake that I turned into a chocolate cupcake.

I halved the cake recipe.
Made 1/3 of the frosting recipe. (I’m that good with math lol.)
Anyway, the note I want to state here… don’t let the sugar/water thing (from the frosting recipe) boil for 10 minutes… like NEVER! It will become overly bitter. Just let it get to golden and then immediately remove. You can also skip on adding the dark chocolate.

Just out of the oven.

The ugly bald cupcakes in need of frosting so bad.

Mmmmm. Messy but much better!

Happy Cooking!

Crispy Chicken Strips

Sun, 10 May 2009 20:07:26 +0300

Can you believe that these babies aren’t fried? Well.. I made them, and I CAN’T! Okay, maybe I can just a little bit because they’re not awfully greasy. They’re just how I like them…crunchy!

Since I am bad at posting recipes for something I saw at some site and happened to remember by lunch time.. I’m going to give you the idea and you’ll manage to customize it to your liking!

The Main Ingredient:
I used chicken breasts, which I already cut in strips and marinated in garlic/salt/lemon/vinegar/red pepper flakes.

Flour Mixture:
I crushed/mixed the following in a ziplock bag:
- some flour
- some salted crackers (about 9 crackers or so!)
- a teaspoon of garlic
- a teaspoon of paprika
- a teaspoon of black pepper
- a teaspoon of salt (or more, if you like your chicken salty)

Eggs Mixture:
- 1 egg
- about a tablespoon of dijon mustard or yellow mustard (optional)

Coating:
- Crushed corn flakes. Don’t worry if you don’t get equally sized crumbs, that’s what’s going to give the chicken its outer texture!

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees.
- Dip the chicken and coat well with the flour mixture, and then take it out and dip it in the egg mixture, make sure that it’s WELL COVERED, or else the cornflakes won’t stick! Then take it out of the egg mixture and coat well with the cornflakes crumbs.
- Spray some oil on a baking sheet with sides, and then add in the chicken pieces after spraying them with little oil so the crumbs won’t get so dry.
- Cook the chicken for about 20 minutes or so, turning them once during the cooking process.

I had this inside a soft bun! Mmm tastes really good as a sandwich with your favorite sauce.

Happy Cooking!

Chocolate Molten Lava Cakes.

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:07:00 +0300

Oh, this was so good. I can’t even find words to describe it. But if you’re not a chocolate lover, you might as well exit this page and forget about it. It’s so chocolatey, so rich, so …

Okay, let’s just start explainin’!

First, you’ll need this:

My precious Maltesers

Umm, just kidding, you don’t really need it.. but I like to snack sometimes when I’m making something this delicious.

I used the recipe from Our Best Bites, I made a slight modification though (as usual).

You’ll need:
60 grams butter
1/3 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz (225 grams) bittersweet chocolate (european dark chocolate), melted in a double broiler or a microwave oven.

You would want to use:
Extra butter for the ramekins
Demerara sugar (or white sugar)
Vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream
Icing sugar for dusting

The beautiful Demerara sugar. Doesn’t it look GORGEOUS?

Get ready to be melted, you beautiful-smelling chocolate.

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 200 C (or 400 F).

- Prepare pans, use your fingers (or the butter wrapper) to rub butter in the muffin tins or ramekins. Sprinkle in some sugar to coat the entire inner surface and tap out any extra.

- In a bowl with a mixer beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract. Combine flour and salt and slowly add it into the butter mixture just until combined. Stir in melted chocolate by hand, just until combined. Don’t over mix.

- Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups or ramekins and then place them on a baking sheet. (If using ramekins you’ll want them not quite 3/4 full)

- Bake for about 8-12 minutes. How do you know they’re done and they will be fudgy/melting chocolate in the middle when you take them out? They “jiggle” a bit when you shake the baking sheet.

I made 3 mini cakes out of this one and another 3 even MORE mini cakes lol. So that means six, I guess.

I apologize for the bad blurry pictures this time. I don’t know what happened to me lol. I feel like I have to share this one:

See how beautiful that chocolate is?

Happy Cooking!

Kladdkaka!

Fri, 01 May 2009 02:10:00 +0300

I love the sound of this Swedish chocolate cake. It’s just like a brownie.. only stickier and… it tastes so good!

I got this recipe from AllRecipes, a plurker posted the link a few weeks back and I managed to make it because I had all the ingredients in hand. It is SO easy and SO worth it!

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8-inch pie plate.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside. Stir the eggs into the sugar until smooth. Add the flour mixture, and stir just until combined. Pour in the vanilla extract and butter; stir until well combined. Pour into prepared pie plate.
Bake on the lower rack of the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until the center has slightly set. Allow cake to cool for 1 hour in the pie plate. Serve warm, or refrigerate overnight and serve cold.

Happy Cooking!

Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:30:00 +0300

Oh, these were DELISH. I got this recipe off of Nutrition To Kitchen, and I am so glad I did! I roamed in the web for the perfect recipe, but each website had commenters who thought that the cupcakes were either too dry, too oily, or too bland. So I googled “Moist red velvet cupcakes”, and I found the perfect recipe for it! It was so moist, so flavorful, so … everything that’s nice.

I modified this recipe by adding one more tablespoon of cocoa.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Yield: 16 cupcakes.

You’ll need:

- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

- 2 eggs, room temperature

- 2 1/3 cups cake flour (I used 1 3/4 cup all-purpose + 5 Tbsp cornstarch)

- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I added one more tablespoon)

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1 cup + 1 tablespoon plain, lowfat yogurt

- 1 1/2 tablespoon red food coloring

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 teaspoon white vinegar

Beautiful color, isn’t it?

Majestic red batter.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º F (180º C).

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a separate medium bowl, whick together the yogurt, red food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl with a stand mixer attachment, beat the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until well-beaten.

5. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Beat on low speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then increase to medium speed until all ingredients are combined. Add 1/3 of the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Continue the same process with the dry ingredients, alternating with the wet ingredients, and completing the mixing process with the dry ingredients until smooth.

6. Place cupcake liners inside muffin pans, enough for 16 cupcakes. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Hello hello, my gorgeous red velvet cupcake.

Come to Momma!

Cream Cheese Frosting

You’ll need:

- 250 grams cream cheese, softened

- 1/2 stick butter, softened

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1-3 cups powdered sugar, as needed

Directions:

- Cream the butter.

- Add in the cream cheese and mix till well blended.

- Add in the vanilla extract, and beat in sugar till it becomes thick.

Before you frost the cupcakes, put the frosting in the fridge or freezer so it’d be easier to handle and less runny.

Happy Cooking!

"World's Best Cheesecake"

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:48:00 +0300

I am guilty of googling stuff like that. I guess I found it! World’s Best Cheesecake, and I very much confirm it. But, that’s only for cheesecake lovers. Others would find it too heavy or too cheesy. But my, it was so good! Even my brother -who doesn’t love cheesecake- said it was very good!

Here’s the recipe, even though I skipped adding the crushed walnuts because I didn’t have any, and I’m sure it would even taste better with it!

Yield: 10 to 12 servings

Crust

2 cups crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
1/4 cup crushed walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine ingredients and press evenly across bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan.

Filling

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, at room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each one. Beat in the lemon juice. Pour filling over crust, and bake for 45 minutes without opening the oven door. Remove cheesecake and reduce heat to 300 degrees F.

Topping

1 pint sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix ingredients and spread over cheesecake. Return to oven and bake for 15 minutes longer. Cool on rack for several hours, then refrigerate overnight. Serve plain or topped with fresh fruit.

Happy Cooking!

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich.

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:15:00 +0300

Absolutely perfect! I loved every minute of munching on this great sandwich.

I was browsing through Dutch Girl Cooking blog right when I found this great recipe. I tweaked it a lot, but hey, that’s what you do with recipes like that, right? I mean it’s not like baking or anything!

You’ll need:

-Cold chicken, you could use ANY left over chicken, I just grilled one chicken breast after marinating it in lemon, and some italian herbs and then let it cool in the fridge.

- 1 medium carrot, grated

- 1 spring onion, chopped

- 2 lettuce leaves, chopped

- 3 tablespoons pickled jalapenos, chopped

- 2 tablespoons bell pepper, chopped

Mix Dressing:

- 2 tablespoons light mayonaise.

- 2 tablespoons plain yoghurt.

- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder.

- 1/4 teaspoon curry powder.

- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

- 1/4 teaspoon salt (I used celery salt, tastes great!)

- 2 tablespoons chopped dill.

Directions:

- Add the dressing to the cold chicken, add: grated carrot, lettuce, jalapenos, bell pepper and spring onion. Mix till everything is coated with the dressing.

That’s it!

You can also add grated cheese, or maybe potato chips sticks.. mmmmmm. Be creative! It’s YOUR salad!

Happy Cooking!

Mini Baked Cheesecake

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:21:00 +0300

I got SO many good compliments on this mini baked cheesecake. EVERYONE loved it, and I’ll definitely make this some more in the future!

This was my first time making it, so hopefully I’ll be able to make it more pretty next time! It really really tastes good.

Makes 12 Mini Cheesecakes

260 calories each

You’ll need:

for the crust:
- 2 cups crushed digestive biscuits
- 1 tablespoon powder sugar
- 3/4 stick butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract added to the melted butter.
- 2 tablespoons thick cream

for the cheesecake:
- 250 grams cream cheese (I used philadelphia)
- 1/3 cup powder sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 5 tablespoons thick cream

Topping:
- Cherry pie filling (or any other topping you’d like!)

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
- Line muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
- Prepare the crust: add melted butter and vanilla essence to the crushed biscuits and mix. Add the thick cream (this will be helping in holding the crust well). Divide the biscuit mixture into the paper liners (about 1 1/4 tablespoon per liner), and then firmly press the mixture with the back of a spoon until smooth and flat. Set tins aside.
- Prepare the cheesecake: beat room temperature cream cheese with the sugar until mixed. Beat the egg in a tiny bowl with the vanilla and then mix it with the cream cheese. Add in the lemon juice and cream, beat till well blended and smooth.
- Divide the mixture evenly among the liners.
- Bake cheesecakes for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let it cool in pans for 10 minutes.
- Remove cupcakes from pan, place in an airtight container, and refrigerate till they’re cold (2-3 hours).
- Remove liners and add the topping.

Serve and dig in!

Note: the recipe was meant for 10 Mini cheesecakes, but I had so much biscuit mixutre that I did 12. Unfortunately, the cheesecake mixture was only good for 10, I ended up having equal layers of biscuit and cheese (which I don’t mind so much since I LOVE crust!) So if you’d like a thicker layer of cheese just make 10.

Happy Cooking!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:35:00 +0300

These taste awesome. I recommend making them ASAP!

I got this recipe from AllRecipes, although I modified it a bit. I just used my baking instincts and I’m glad I did! ;) They’re so huge, chewy, soft, big, sweet, and omg, they’re everything you want to marry!

Just a warning though, before you go on and bake them. They are not edible as soon as you take them out! WAIT 10 MINUTES! Grow some will power, goddamit.

Makes 14 Cookies

Each cookie contains 305 calories.

You’ll need:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk (Yes, throw the whites out!)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips!

Directions:

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended, add a bit at a time! Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
Cover and chill in the fridge for 30-60 minutes.
Take out dough from the fridge. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 15-17 minutes in the preheated oven (at 165-170 C), or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Note: the recipe called for baking soda instead of baking powder, and I’m going to try that next time. I’ll see which one is better!

Happy Cooking!

Kingfish Steak! Yummo!

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:06:00 +0300

I’m not a huge fan of fish, but I like fish steaks/fillets only because there are countless ways to make them! Baking fish steaks is one of my favorite methods.

You’ll need:

1 Kingfish Steak, marinated in salt, water and lemon for 1 day while kept in the fridge, covered.
(You can use any other steak you’d like here, as long as it’s fish!)

For the topping:
Mix in the food processor the following:

- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons garlic sauce (or 2 teaspoons of garlic powder)
- 1/2 tomato
- 3 teaspoons pesto
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1/4 bell pepper
- 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses (this is optional, but makes a world of difference)
- pinch of salt and pepper

For the top topping:
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese.
- 2 tablespoons bread crumbs.

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 180 C.
- Generously grease a baking pan with butter, and place fish on it.
- Spread the topping evenly on the fish steak.
- Add the shredded cheese and the bread crumbs on top.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes. Better served straight out of the oven.

I had this dish with pita bread and garlic sauce on the side. Yes, I LOVE garlic.

Happy Cooking!

Black Bottom Cupcakes.

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:17:00 +0300

~~Edible. Just edible.~~

(Update: THEY TASTE WAY BETTER THE NEXT DAY! But I don’t think I’ll make this again any time soon.)

I never imagined in my life I’d say NO to cream cheese, but in this case: a big NO to cream cheese! The topping tasted ~~awful and was just too gooey.~~ Not too awful the next day, till cheesy, but good.

(The topping ingredients)

The cake recipe was good, really good. So there ya go. Confused.. should I eat the cupcakes because the cake tastes awesome or should I let it go because the topping tastes ~~awful~~ OKAY?

Um, happy cooking?

P.S.

I felt like I had to share the pictures since they are the prettiest thing that came out of this recipe.

Mom's mysterious kufta.

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:06:00 +0300

Since I am too busy to bake anything nowadays, or even cook. I’ve been having paninis and leftover salads. Yes.

Mom surprised me with a favorite dish of mine, Kufta! I have no idea how she makes it. It doesn’t even look like regular kufta. First, it’s not ball-shaped. Second, it just tastes heavenly.

I topped it with sliced jalapenos, and oh that was really good. I didn’t have it with anything else. You know why? Simply because it’s good to be mixed with anything else. Not even bread. Yaha.

Of course, whenever I ask her about the recipe, she randomly lists some ingredients, and I never get it. I think that’s how she wants it! ;) to be a secret.

As long as it tastes magical.

Happy Cooking!

Sour Cream Chicken Cutlets w/ Grilled Onions!

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 21:45:00 +0300

I had this sour cream, which expires tomorrow, and I HAD to make something with it this evening. So, ahem, I tweeted: “I have 2 cups of sour cream that are expiring tomorrow!! Someone give me a good recipe.. NOW!” and I got some nice responses to that.

Thanks to a twitterer who linked me a list of recipes, I’ve managed to pick a recipe that worked for me. But, to be honest, I didn’t expect it to be that great, because the only reason I made it is because I want to get rid of the sour cream.

And hey, guess what? It turned out GREAT!!

I’ll definitely buy more sour cream for this.

You’ll need:

- 4 Chicken breast cutlets

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1 tablespoon minced garlic

- 1/2 cup bread crumbs

- 3 tablespoons chopped parsley

- Salt and pepper to taste

For topping:

- 1/4 cup milk

- 1/4 cup sour cream

- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

- Coat chicken cutlets in sour cream, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cover and put in the fridge for one hour.

- Preheat the oven to 200 C.

- Mix parsley and bread crumbs.

- Remove chicken from the sour cream mixture and the excess sour cream.

- Coat the chicken w/ bread crumbs.

- Put the breaded chicken on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, turn once half-time.

- Make the topping by mixing all the ingredients together, and then pour over the chicken cutlets.

I made some grilled onions with it, just like the recipe recommended. You just cut the onions into THICK slices, coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then grill them till they’re done.

Happy Cooking!