http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-40654359

HOW TO POACH EGG

boil then simmer water in a medium sized nonstick frying pan

crack egg in a small measuring cup or any cup

drop the egg carefully in the simmering water, wait 3 to 4 minutes, flip the egg carefully, simmer for 1 more minute

transfer egg in a plate with a paper towel

SWEET CREAM ICE CREAM

INGREDIENTS:

Sweet Cream #1

2 cups whipping cream

¾ granulated sugar

1 cup whole milk

Sweet Cream #2

2 cups whipping cream

¾ granulated sugar

2/3 cups half and half

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl (we prefer sweet cream #2). Beat for 2 minutes. Churn for 25 minutes. Freeze for 2 to 3 hours.

Variations:

Rolo - 2 rolls of Rolo, unwrap and break each rolo into half, add to the sweet cream mix after 20 minutes of churning.

CHICKEN TENDERS

This is my first time making chicken tenders. My kids loved it and I loved it too. It's crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen http://www.americastestkitchen.com/

CHICKEN TENDERS

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb boneless skinless breast tenders

¼ cup all purpose flour

2 eggs (beaten)

1 ½ cup Japanese bread crumbs (Panko)

1/8 cup parsley flakes (optional)

salt and pepper

1 cup canola oil

sweet chili sauce

Directions:

Pat chicken dry. Season with salt and pepper, set aside. Line up 3 separate shallow dishes, put flour on the first, eggs on the second, panko and parsley flakes on the third. Cover each chicken with flour, and then dip in eggs, and then coat with panko mixture. Using a medium sized nonstick frying pan, heat half of the oil over medium heat. Fry chicken 3 minutes each side. Add more oil after each batch.  Serve with sweet chili sauce or whichever you prefer.

SHRIMPIN DIPPIN BROTH (Bubba Gump)

I love Bubba Gump! Everytime we went there I always ordered the same thing, Shrimpin Dippin Broth and Green Bow Tenders. Now, we live in a state where there are no Bubba Gump. I searched the internet a couple of years ago for the recipe. I did find it, it took me a couple of tries to get it right according to my taste. This recipe is inspired from recipecircus.com

http://recipecircus.com/recipes/cilla/Seafood/Bubba_Gump_Shrimpin_Dippin_Broth_.html

SHRIMPIN DIPPIN BROTH

SHRIMP INGREDIENTS:

30 pieces raw medium sized shrimp (peeled and deveined)

½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon Cajun seasoning

2 clove garlic (minced)

2 tablespoon butter

Marinade shrimp for 30 minutes with all of the ingredients except for butter. After 30 minutes, melt butter using a sautéing pan over medium to high heat. Add shrimp; once shrimp has changed in color or cooked medium well, add to the simmering broth. Simmer for 3 to 5 minutes.

BROTH INGREDIENTS:

12 fl oz clam juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

¼ teaspoon granulated sugar

½ tablespoon butter

1 chicken bouillon cube

In a small soup pot, mix all ingredients together. Bring to boil then simmer.

Serve immediately with rice, French baguette and a slice of lemon.

BERRY ACAI VODKA WITH REDBULL

INGREDIENTS:

ice cubes
redbull (sugar free optional)
1 individual bottle of Absolut Berry Acai vodka

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a tall glass

LIGHT MOJITO

INGREDIENTS:

1 oz light rum
3 to 4 pieces mint leaves
2 pieces lime wedge (one lime cut into 8 wedges)
1 teaspoon sugar
8 fl oz club soda or sparkling water
4 pieces ice cubes

Directions:

Put mint leaves, sugar and lime wedges in a tall glass. Mash with a mudler. Add light rum, ice cubes and club soda. Stir and serve.

BACON ASPARAGUS

My sister taught me how to make this back in 2003. Always a repeat :) 

BACON ASPARAGUS

INGREDIENTS:

1 bundle asparagus (cut the hard part at the end of the asparagus then cut sticks into thirds)

10 pieces low sodium bacon (chopped)

½ cup butter

ground pepper

DIRECTIONS:

Saute bacon for a few minutes (make sure bacon is cooked but do not crisp). Scoop out half of the bacon grease. Add butter, once melted add asparagus.  Sprinkle ground pepper according to taste. Switch heat to medium. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes more. Asparagus should still have crisp when you bite it, not to soft or overdone.

JAPANESE CURRY

My sister taught me how to make this.

JAPANESE CURRY

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb top round for rouladen

4 yellow potatoes (peeled and quartered)

½ lb baby carrots

¼ white onion (quartered)

4 cubed Japanese curry

6 cups water

1 to 2 tablespoon canola oil

DIRECTIONS:

Boil potatoes and carrots for 10 to 15 minutes, drain and set aside. Using a soup pot, heat oil over medium to high heat, sauté beef. Once meat changed color add onion and sauté for a couple of minutes until opaque in color. Add water and bring to boil, add cubed curry.  Stir until curry is completely dissolved. Reduce heat to medium.  Once sauce changed in consistency (about 10 to 15 minutes), mix in potatoes and carrots. Serve with rice.

Note: If you want the sauce to be really thick, you can add 8 cubed curry.

PICO DE GALLO

PICO DE GALLO

INGREDIENTS:

2 large roma tomatoes (chopped)

¼ medium size white onion (chopped)

1 jalapeno (deseed and chopped)

¼ cup minced cilantro

1/3 cup to ½ cup water

3 to 5 tablespoon jalapeno juice

salt

DIRECTIONS:

Mix tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and cilantro.  Add water and jalapeno juice little by little. It depends on how watery and spicy you want it. Add salt to taste.  Serve with tortilla chips.

DRY RUBS FOR GRILLING

Hello, I haven't met anybody that doesn't like BBQ. I just want to share with you guys the dry rubs that we use. The recipes are inspired from the book that was given to us by our friend Timmy (How to grill by Steven Raichlen, 2001). . We use the Basic Barbeque Rub for chicken, pork and pineapple. Cajun Rub for beef. You will find that eventhough you use the same rub for chicken, pork and pineapple the flavors are very different. Same with the beef, the rub taste different with different cuts of beef. I know you will like it. Enjoy!!!

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=how+to+grill+raichlen&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=7158578019&ref=pd_sl_3o6ljrdoa5_b

BASIC BARBEQUE RUB

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup paprika

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons coarse salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

CAJUN RUB

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup coarse salt

¼ cup paprika

½ tablespoon garlic powder

½ tablespoon onion powder

½ tablespoon ground thyme

1 tablespoon dried oregano

½ tablespoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 piece dried bay leaf (minced)

Cajun Rub

Pineapple with Basic rub

green bell peppers and white onion
In a medium mixing bowl mix green bell pepper and white onion with olive oil and sea salt, then skewer.

skewered chicken wings with basic rub

skewered raw shrimp
In a mixing bowl, mix raw shrimp with store bought cajun seasoning, then skewer.

tri tip with cajun rub

My husband got the idea from somebody he met at a barbeque party.  Slice the top of yellow bell pepper, drop one egg, add a little salt. Poke the egg with toothpick to break the egg yolk. This should be the first one to go on the grill. It takes awhile for the egg to cook. 

EGGS BENEDICT

Per my sister request, I made this before I started my blog. My plan is to post recipe as I cook because I usually never measure ingredients. I do now :) I adapted this recipe from a taste of home magazine, the original recipe called for a different sauce but I like my eggs benedict with hollandaise sauce, thank goodness they have a hollandaise recipe, I adapted that too.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/

EGGS BENEDICT

INGREDIENTS:

4 poached eggs

2 English muffins, split and toasted

4 slices tomato

4 slices Canadian bacon

Layer muffin, tomato, Canadian bacon and egg. Top with sauce.

Hollandaise Sauce:

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon lemon juice

½ cup butter (melted)

pepper

Using a double boiler over simmering water (like melting chocolate technique) whisk egg yolks, water and lemon juice until mixture is thick enough. Slowly add melted butter, whisk constantly. Add a dash of pepper.

VANILLA ICE CREAM & VARIATIONS

I use Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker. I freeze the freezer bowl for 3 days before I use it. I adapted these recipes from the Cuisinart instruction and recipe booklet, but with a different technique of making it.

http://www.cuisinart.com/


Vanilla

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup whole milk

2 cups whipping cream

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, beat for 2 minutes. Transfer to an automatic ice cream maker and churn for 25 minutes. Transfer ice cream in a container and freeze for a couple of hours.

Cookies and Cream: crush some oreo cookies and add during the last five minutes of churning.

Strawberry: using a food processor puree fresh strawberries. Add 7 tablespoon.


Avocado: no vanilla extract, add 3 hass avocado (pureed)


Coffee: add 1 tablespoon instant coffee or decaff. This can be reduced or increased according to taste

TOMATO AND AUBERGINE (EGGPLANT) GRATIN

First time making this. It is really good. I adapted this recipe from my cooking with just four ingredients book by Joanna Farrow (2002, 2007). 


http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Just-Ingredients-Joanna-Farrow/dp/068128000X

Tomato and Eggplant Gratin

INGREDIENTS:

1 purple eggplant

2 roma tomato

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

olive oil

sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat broiler (high). Thinly slice eggplant and arrange in single layer on a baking pan with foil. Brush each eggplant with some olive oil. Broil for 5 minutes; turn eggplant and brush again with olive oil. Broil again for 10 minutes.

Thinly slice tomatoes. Once eggplants are done, start layering in this order (eggplant, cheese, tomato, cheese, eggplant and cheese) in a shallow baking dish. After the last layer add a little salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes 400ºF.

BEEF WITH GREEN BELL PEPPERS

This is my own recipe. My mom makes something similar, I really like it but I do not know how to make it so I came up with this one. This is one of my husbands favorite.

BEEF WITH GREEN BELL PEPPERS

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb beef top round for Rouladen (sliced)

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 large green bell pepper (sliced thin)

1 cup water

3 tablespoon soy sauce 

1 tablespoon lemon juice

ground black pepper

1 to 2 tablespoon canola oil

Directions:

Using a sautéing pan, heat oil over medium to high heat, add and sauté beef. Once all the redness is all gone from the beef add bell pepper and garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes then add water, soy sauce, lemon juice and sprinkle a little bit of ground black pepper. Bring to boil, switch to medium heat and let it boil for 5 minutes. Serve with rice.

CHOCOLATE CRESCENTS

I wanted Pain Au Chocolat last night when we were at Le Pichet, but they only serve it in the morning. So I figured I'll try this one.

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated crescent rolls (original)
chocolate kisses or which ever you prefer
powdered sugar

position chocolate like shown in the picture

roll (follow package directions)

tuck the sides

 

sprinkle powdered sugar then bake (follow package directions)

Le Pichet

My family and I went to Le Pichet for dinner last night. It was our first time having french cuisine. These are the items we had.

OEufs plats, jambon et fromage $8.00

“Two eggs broiled with ham and gruyère”

The bread is not included in this one, my daughter just put it on her plate. You think you've tasted ham and egg before, but not really until you've tried this.

Poisson du jour poêlé, sa crème à l’homard et frites $18.00

“Pan roasted fish of the day with fava beans, shallots and tarragon in a lobster cream sauce and pommes frites”

Bisque de tomate et poissons garnie aux palourdes et au jambon frite $10.00

“Tomato-seafood bisque with Hama Hama Clams and crisp Serrano ham”

Onglet grillé et ses haricots verts au beurre Maitre d’Hôtel $19.00

“Grilled Northwest Grass-fed hanger steak, green beans tossed with butter, shallots, parsley and lemon, crispy fried onions”

Hot Chocolat

Chocolat Chaud

DEFINITELY A "REPEAT"...