Mr. S Birthday Feast -- Bread Pudding

I had only 3 hours to make the Mr. S’s birthday feast so I decided to use the slow cooker that I got during Christmas to make bread pudding. I think this recipe doesn’t taste as good as the baking version of bread pudding that I made before, but it is easy to make.


Ingredients
*8 fresh farm eggs, beaten
*4 cups milk
*2/3 cup sugar
*1 teaspoon cinnamon
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
*6 cups dry French bread cubes
*2/3 cup raisins

Sauce
For the sauce:
*1 cup granulated sugar
*1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
*1 egg, beaten
*½ cup milk
*2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
*1/4 cup rum

Directions
1) In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Place the dry bread cubes and raisins in the slow cooker. Pour the egg mixture over the bread. Cover; cook on High for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
2) Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Pour sauce on cooked bread pudding.

Mr. S Birthday Feast -- Braised Lamb Chop

Since I was young I have never liked lamb. I am not sure if it was because the lamb didn’t taste good or if it was because I was very picky. The first time I made lamb was last year before our trip to Egypt and Jordon. I wanted to get used to the taste of lamb before the trip so I wouldn’t be surprised by the flavor. After a couple of attempts at home, I think the most important thing is to have fresh lamb meat. Lamb is very easy to cook. The cooking time is less than other meat and it tasted very good without a lot of seasoning. Since this is a special occasion, I made 2 different kinds of lamb dishes for Mr. S’s birthday.


Ingredients
*1 tablespoon olive oil
*1 lemon, zested (about 1/2 teaspoon)
*1 lemon, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)
*2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano leaves, or 2 teaspoons dried oregano
*2 tablespoons minced garlic
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
*8 (4-ounce) lamb loin chops, trimmed of all visible fat

Directions
1) In a small bowl stir together the first 7 ingredients. Put the lamb chops in a sealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over them. Move the chops around in the bag so the marinade coats them well. Marinate for 1 hour.
2) Broil the chops for 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare.

Mr. S Birthday Feast -- Rack of Lamb with Mint-Basil Pesto

The last time I made the herb crusted lamb I loved it. So I’ve wanted to make lamb again for some time. Lamb is a pretty expensive meat so I have been waiting for a special occasion to make it again. Lamb has to grow up eating grass and raised in a pasture, so the meat are pretty healthy to eat. I would recommend getting lamb meat from a local source because most of them are from Iceland or New Zealand.

*The left over pesto can mix with pasta.



Ingredients
*1 1/2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves
*3/4 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
*1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
*2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
*2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
*2 garlic cloves
*3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
*1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
*1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
*3 (1 1/2-pounds each) racks of lamb, trimmed and frenched

Directions
1)Blend the mint, basil, nuts, cheese, lemon juice, garlic, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper in a food processor until the herbs are finely chopped. With the machine running, gradually blend in 1/3 cup of oil until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

2)Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

3)Enerously sprinkle the lamb racks with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a grill pan or heavy large skillet over high heat. Place 1 lamb rack in the skillet and cook just until brown, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer the lamb rack meat side up on a heavy large baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining 2 lamb racks.

4)Roast the lamb in the oven until cooked to desired doneness, about 20 minutes for medium-rare and internal temperature reach 120F. Transfer the lamb racks to a work surface. Set aside for 10 minutes. Cut the lamb between the bones into single chops. Spread the pesto over 1 cut side of each chop. Arrange the chops, pesto side up, on plates or a platter, and serve.

Mr. S Birthday Feast -- Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta

We love the cabbage family, especially Brussels sprouts. A lot of people don’t like this vegetable because of its very strong flavor. But if you cook it right, they taste very good. After I introduced Mr. S to Brussels spouts he started to like it. Personally, the two best ways to make Brussels sprouts are stir fry or to roast.



Ingredients
*1 tablespoons olive oil
*1/2 pound sliced pancetta, diced
*4 shallots, thinly sliced
*1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
*Salt and freshly ground pepper
*1 lemon, juiced

Directions
1)Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2)Heat a saucepan to medium high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until golden brown and crisp. Remove the pancetta to a plate lined with paper towels. Add the shallots to the pan and cook until soft. Add the Brussels sprouts, season with oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven until the vegetables are cooked through and golden brown. Remove the vegetables from the oven and stir in lemon juice. Transfer to a platter and top with the reserved pancetta.

Mr. S Birthday Feast -- Mac and Cheese

Most of the Mac and Cheese recipes that I have seen usually use highly processed cheese, like the orange colored sharp cheddar. This time I used white sharp cheddar and Gruyere.



Ingredients
*1 pound whole wheat penne, cooked
*1 quart milk
*4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
*1/2 cup all-purpose flour
*12 ounces Gruyere, grated (4 cups)
*8 ounces white sharp cheddar, grated (2 cups)
*1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
*1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
*1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2) Heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a large (4-quart) pot and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth.

3) Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a 3-quart baking dish. Sprinkle panko bread crumbs on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Mr. S Birthday Feast -- Butternet Squash, Leek, and Apple Soup

If you love creamy soups, I would recommend that you to make this soup. The texture of butternut squash soup is always thick, just like a cream soup. I always like to put leeks into soup to bring out the sweetness of the vegetables, then I can use less salt. A lot of the time, when we use store bought broth, they are loaded with sodium. I made some turkey broth a while ago and froze them for later use. So for this soup I used my homemade turkey broth, without added salt, and it tasted great!

The other benefit of this soup is that it will increase your vegetable intake before your main meal. So you will feel full before having other food which will decrease your calorie consumption.

In the earlier post, I mentioned I made this soup in the slow cooker so I would have this soup ready before I started to prepare the Birthday Feast. I prepared all the ingredients the night before and turned on the slow cooker in the morning before I left for work.


Ingredients
*1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced
*2 cups leeks, sliced
*2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
*4 cups turkey or chicken broth
*1 cup water
*salt and pepper
*1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes


Directions
1) Add all ingredients to slow cooker. Cover; cook on Low for 6-6 ½ hours or 3-4 on High.
2) Puree soup in food processor.
3) Cook on High for an additional 30 minutes.

Making of Mr. S Birthday Feast

It is my own tradition to make a big meal for Mr. S’s birthday. Also, I can be lazy for the rest of the week to eat all the left overs. I planned this meal with an idea of having appetizer, soup, a vegetable dish, a protein dish, a starch dish and dessert. After a long process of picking the best recipes for his birthday, I chose this menu:

Butternut Squash, Leek and Apple Soup
Mac and Cheese
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta
Rack of Lamb with Mint Basil Pesto
Braised Lamb Chop
Bread Pudding

Since Mr. S’s birthday is on a Tuesday, I had to start cooking right after work and would have maximum of 3 hours to cook. So I prepared the soup the night before in a slow cooker and used the slow cooker during the day of to make the bread pudding. In the end I used a little more than 2 hours to finish preparing and cooking this 6 courses meal.

Mr. S Birthday Feast -- Everything Cookies

Every time when we go to our favorite local bakery, Mr. S is always eyeing their cookies, especially their Everything Cookies. It is Mr. S’s birthday this week, and instead of making a birthday cake, I decided to make a giant cookie for Mr. S along with some little ones for friends that will come over for the birthday. This Everything Cookies have all the ingredients that you could want in a cookie!!!


Ingredients
*1 1/2 cups low fat organic granola
*1 cup golden organic raisins
*1 cup old fashioned organic rolled oats
*1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
*1 cup organic peanut butter chips
*1 cup chopped organic walnuts
*1 2/3 cups organic whole wheat flour
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1/2 cup packed organic dark brown sugar
*1/2 cup organic sugar
*1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted organic butter, cut into small pieces
*2 large fresh farm eggs
*2 cups organic peanut butter
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, toss in granola, raisins, rolled oats, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and walnuts; set aside.

2) In a small bowl, sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and whisk together.

3) In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the granulated and dark brown sugar. Add a few pieces of butter at a time and beat until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and beat in the eggs, one at time. Add peanut butter. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Add the granola, raisins and chips and mix well together by hand.

4) Working with a generous 2 tablespoons of dough each time, roll the dough into 2-inch balls. Place the balls onto baking sheets, spacing them at least 2 inches apart.

5) Bake until the cookie edges turn golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes. Transfer the cookies with a wide spatula to a wire rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

When I was a kid, whenever we went out to eat my parents would order my favorite Chinese dish, sweet and sour pork! Even now I order sweet and sour pork or chicken when ever I go to a Chinese restaurant. I am glad that Mr. S also loves sweet and sour pork/chicken as much as I do.

One of the rules of the 'S' household is 'no deep fried food will be prepared in this kitchen!' I have been using my oven to make food that looks and feels like it was deep fried and tastes as good as deep fried food. You can apply to this skill to all deep fried recipes and try to make your home made meals healthier.

Also, I suggest making this dish with fresh pineapple. It gives the dish more flavor and it is healthier since you will not be eating the syrup or salt water that the pineapple is soaked in. Also, its super fresh!


Ingredients
*1 piece chicken breast, cut into bite size
*salt and pepper
*1 egg, beaten
*1/2 cup flour
*3 tablespoon vinegar
*3 tablespoon water
*1 tablespoon sugar
*2 teaspoons cornstarch
*1 tablespoon ketchup
*1 teaspoon oil
*1 red bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
*1 yellow bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
*1/4 fresh pineapple, cut into 1 inch pieces

Directions
1) Turn oven on to 425F. Season chicken with salt and pepper. In 2 separate bowls, put in beaten egg and flour. Put one piece of chicken into beaten egg then coat with flour. Put coated chicken pieces on greased baking sheet. Repeat until all chicken pieces are coated with egg and flour. Bake for about 20 minutes or until chicken pieces look golden.
2) In a small bowl, mix vinegar, water, sugar, cornstarch and ketchup. Set aside.
3) Heat skillet in high heat, add oil, stir in bell pepper and pineapple for 3 minutes. Add chicken, stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add prepared sauce and stir for 1 minute. Serve over rice.

Healthy Shrimp Scampi with Tomato on Spaghetti

I am surprised how little ingredients I used in this recipe with a result of such great flavor!



Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon organic extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 1 organic lemon, zested
* 1/3 pound shrimp
* 1/4 cup dry white wine
* 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
* 1/3 pound whole wheat organic spaghetti, cooked to al dente
* Salt and pepper


Directions
1) Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil and cook garlic a minute or 2, stirring constantly. Add lemon zest and shrimp and heat shrimp through, another minute or two. Add wine and tomatoes. Toss another minute to heat the tomatoes through. Add cooked pasta to the pan and toss to coat evenly in sauce and to distribute the shrimp. Season liberally with salt and pepper.

Banana Bread

I have been looking into baking my own bread lately. The easiest and most delicious should be banana bread. In this recipe I used vegetable oil instead of butter. Also, it is my 6 month anniversary of using Rapadura whole cane sugar, replacing normal white sugar. Rapadura is dry sugar cane juice and is unrefined, so it is a more natural sugar than organic refined sugar. Even though the conversion of 1 cup of Rapadura = 1 cup of normal sugar. I cut back the Rapadura in the recipe because I think it is pretty sweet just from the banana itself.



Ingredients
* 2 cups organic whole wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 fresh farm eggs
* 1/2 cup Rapadura whole cane sugar
* 4 very ripe bananas
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and powder, salt. In a large bowl cream together eggs and sugar. Stir in mashed bananas, vanilla, oil and cinnamon. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time, until just combined. Divide batter into two 9x5 loaf pans. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Shrimp Creole

I just got a slow cooker for Christmas so I have been looking into making some slow cook meals. At the same time, tomatoes were on sell so today I decided to make this Southern dish, Shrimp Creole.

Dietitian 2 cents: Cooking tomatoes greatly increases assimilation from the digestive tract into the bloodstream of Lycopene, an antioxidant believes to reduce cancer risk (especially prostate cancer).


Ingredients
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1/2 cup diced green bell peppers
* 1/2 cup diced onions
* 1 teaspoon chili powder
* 1 pound diced Roma tomatoes
* 1 tablespoon hot sauce
* 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
* 1 teaspoon sugar
* Salt and pepper
* 1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined shrimp
* Green onions, for garnish

Directions

1) Preheat crock pot on high.
2) In fry pan, heat olive oil. Add peppers, onions and celery. Cook until softened. Add chili powder and saute until caramelized. Remove from heat and pour into crock pot. Add tomatoes, hot sauce, Worcestershire, sugar, salt and pepper.
3) Cook for 6 hours in low. Turn slow cooker to high, add shrimp and cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until shrimp is cooked. Serve over rice. Top with chopped green onions.

Dry Scallop stuffed Fuzzy Melon

I have been thinking of Chinese food that I have made or haven’t made for a long while. In my family, we usually don’t make this dish at home, possibly due to dry scallops being quite expensive and this dish takes a long time to make. But actually this is a very easy to make dish and even Mr. S, who doesn’t like dry scallops or melon said he liked it. Don’t let the word ‘fuzzy’ scared you to not try this delicious melon!


Ingredients
*1 Fuzzy melon, pilled
*8 dried scallop
*1Tablespoon oyster sauce
*1/2 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
*1 teaspoon sugar
*1 teaspoon corn starch

Directions
1) Soak dried scallop for at least 1 hour, then steam for 10 minutes. Set aside
2) Cut fuzzy melon to 8 pieces, make a little hole in the middle of each section. Put steamed scallops in the middle of the melon then steam for 30 minutes.
3) Reserve liquids from steamed melon. In a saucepan heat, it in medium low heat, mix oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar and corn starch. Pour thickened sauce on melon. Serve warm.

Fake Shark Fin Soup

I am not sure if it is because of the New Year or if it’s because I haven’t gone back to my home town for a long while but I have been craving some real Chinese food. I have always loved Hong Kong street food. You can find different kinds of skewers, buttered corn in a cup, deep fried five spice whole chicken wings, bubble tea, or even calamari in a bag. Sometimes you can eat a full meal by just eating off the street. The soup that I made today is usually seen at street food stalls and nowadays you even see it at Chinese restaurants. It is a recipe converted from shark fin soup that is cheap so everybody can afford it. I added turkey meat instead of chicken meat since I still have turkey left over from Thanksgiving.


Ingredients
*5 cups chicken broth
*3/4 lbs chicken
*8 Shitaki mushroom, sliced
*8 dried black fungus, soaked, sliced
*2 small vermicelli or bean thread noodles, soaked
*1 tbsp soy sauce
*2 tsp sesame oil
*1 egg blended
*2 tbsp water chestnut flour or corn starch
1 tbsp water

Directions
1) Cook the chicken until done (steam or boil it). Once it is cool down, shred the chicken by hand. Marinade mushrooms with some soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil for 15 minutes, and slice it. Noodles drain well and cut into 15 cm long.

2) Bring chicken broth to boil. Add the mushroom and fungus and cook for 20 minutes. Add the chicken and cook for another 10 minutes. Turn the heat off. Add the noodles. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. Add the egg and stir it in same direction. Chestnut flour or corn starch mixes with the water and add into the soup until the soup is thicken. Serve hot

Bean Curd Sheets with White Lotus and Lily Bulbs

Happy New Year!

Mr.S and I are going to spend today relaxing and recovering from last night’s New Year’s Eve party. This morning I woke up craving something hot and soupy. I opened the kitchen cabinet and decided to make a Chinese dessert for Lunch :). Eating this soup makes me feel like being home...


Ingredients
*6 cup water
*1/2 cup dry white Lotus
*1/2 cup dried lily bulbs
*3/4 cup sugar
*2 bean curd sheets
* 2 eggs, beaten

Directions
1) Bring water to boil. Add white lotus and lily bulbs and boil for 20 minutes.
2) Turn heat to medium high, add sugar and bean curd sheets, and boil for 10 minutes.
3) Turn off heat, add beaten eggs and stir to make the eggs drop.