Slow cook beef short ribs

Mr. S's parents are in town. To be able to impress them with food and be able to entertain them at the same time, I chose to cook a meal with the slow cooker.  Digging through my freezer, I saw some beef ribs from the quarter grass fed cow share I got from last year.  From my experience, thick cut short ribs taste the best when they are cook in the slow cooker.

*My freezer after picking up the quarter grass-fed cow.

Ingredients

*1/3 cup flour 

*1 teaspoon salt 

*1/4 teaspoon pepper 

*2 1/2 lbs boneless beef short ribs 

*1 cup homemade beef broth 

*3/4 cup apple cider vinegar 

*3/4 cup organic brown sugar 

*1/4 cup chili sauce 

*2 tablespoons organic katsup 

*2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce 

*2 tablespoons minced garlic 

*1 teaspoon chili powder 

*1 cup chopped organic onion 

Directions: 

1) Put flour, salt and pepper in a bag. Add ribs and shake to coat. Brown ribs in a large skillet. 

2) In a small bowl, whisk the rest of the ingredients.  Place ribs and chopped onion in the slow cooker and pour sauce over ribs. Cover and cook on low for 9 hours or high for 5 hours.

3) When done, pour sauce in a sauce pan then skim the fat and simmer to a thick sauce. Serve ribs with thicken sauce. Enjoy!

Zucchini bread

My co-worker Kiwi G gave me a gaint zucchini for zucchini bread.  As you know, small to medium size zucchini is good for salads or saute, but if the zucchini gets too big, it won't taste as good, so you use them for bread. 

**Recipe yield 2 loafs

Ingredients
*3 1/4 cup organic whole wheat flour
*1 1/2 teaspoon salt
*2 teaspoon baking soda
*1 teaspoon nutmeg 
*1 teaspoon cinnamon
*1/2 cup organic butter, melted
*1 cup raw honey
*4 farm fresh eggs
*1/3 cup water
*2 cup zucchini, puree
*1 teaspoon lemon juice
*1 cup organic walnut
*1 cup organic dried cranberry

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan, and set aside. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and set aside.
2) In a large bowl, using a electric mixer to combine melted butter, honey, eggs, water, zucchini, lemon juice and mix until combined. Add the reserved flour mixture, and mix on low speed until well incorporated, about 10 seconds. Stir in walnuts and dried cranberry.
3) Pour batter into buttered pans. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan on a wire rack. Invert bread to unmold; reinvert, and let cool completely on rack.

Whole wheat walnut banana bread with honey and coconut oil

A couple days ago I have made a banana bread with all natural ingredients, using honey instead of sugar, and butter instead of oil. Tonight, I made a little twist, I used coconut oil and the banana bread still tasted very good.  Mr. S cannot taste any difference, but I think I could taste the deliciousness of coconut in the bread. Yum!!!

Ingredients
*1 1/4 cup organic whole wheat flour
*1/2 cup organic oat
*1/3 cup organic flaxseed
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
*2 farm fresh eggs
*3 over ripe banana, mashed
*1/2 cup organic coconut oil, melted
*1/2 cup raw honey
*1/2 teaspoon vanilla
*1 cup chopped organic walnut

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan, and set aside. Whisk together the flour, oat, flaxseed, salt, baking powder and nutmeg in a medium bowl, and set aside.
2) In a large bowl, using a electric mixer to combine eggs, banana, melted cocount oil , honey, vanilla, and mix until combined. Add the reserved flour mixture, and mix on low speed until well incorporated, about 10 seconds. Stir in walnuts.
3) Pour batter into buttered pan. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan on a wire rack. Invert bread to unmold; reinvert, and let cool completely on rack.

Whole wheat honey banana bread with walnut

Homemade banana bread is the best breakfast and dessert.  This time, I tried to use all natural ingredients and the result was impressive! 

Ingredients
*1 1/4 cup organic whole wheat flour
*1/2 cup organic oat
*1/3 cup flaxseed
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1/4 teaspoon baking soda
*1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
*2 farm fresh eggs
*3 over ripe banana, mashed
*1/2 cup organic butter, melted
*1/2 cup raw honey
*1/2 teaspoon vanilla
*1 cup chopped organic walnut

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan, and set aside. Whisk together the flours, oat, flaxseed, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl, and set aside.
2) In a large bowl, using a electric mixer to combine eggs, banana, melted butter, honey, and vanilla, and mix until combined. Add the reserved flour mixture, and mix on low speed until well incorporated, about 10 seconds. Stir in walnuts.
3) Pour batter into buttered pan. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan on a wire rack. Invert bread to unmold; reinvert, and let cool completely on rack.

Curry fishball

If you have been to Hong Kong, you will know how much Hong-Kongese like their curry fish balls, because they are EVERYWHERE!  A while ago, a friend posted this curry fishball recipe on Facebook and immediately a lot of my friends started to make them. Thanks BuBu ma to share this recipe with us!

Ingredients
*2 tablespoon EVOO
*1/3 cup garlic, minced
*1/3 cup dry onion
*1/2 bottle Lee Kum Kee Curry Sauce
*~20 fishballs
*1 tablespoon Ning Chi Spicy pot sauce(add more if you like spicy)

Directions
1) Put EVOO to a medium size pot in low-medium heat, add in garlic and dry onion.  Stir fry until you smell the aroma comes out from the garlic and onion and they turn slightly brown, about 3-4 minutes.
2) Add in curry sauce and stir fry for 2 minutes. Turn up the heat to high, add in fishball and enough water to cover the fishballs. When it is boiling, add spicy pot sauce. Cook for about 10-15mintues, serve warm.