The Versatility of Chopped Vegetables

Namely, onions.

Red, yellow, white onions add amazing fragrance and flavor to dishes. Usually, I go with red or yellow. Then I dice the onions. Heat (Medium Heat) up about a tablespoon (or two) of oil (olive or grapeseed) in a pan. Throw the diced onions in and stir with a wooden spoon. I read that you are supposed to cook with a wooden spoon and serve with a metal one. The reason you cook with the wooden spoon is to protect your pots and pans from scratches. It takes about five minutes.

After you have translucent diced onions, you can add garlic. Do not add garlic too early or else it will burn.

That should make many of your dishes more flavorful.  ONIONS and GARLIC.  Mmm...the house will smell wonderful!!

What I like to do is add other veggies too. In this photo, diced italian squash and mushrooms are in the onion-garlic mix. (Add bell peppers for more color and vitamin C. In this case, I already diced enough and decided to save the bell pepper for a dish the next day.)

I was making my pasta sauce chunkier.  All I do after is pour the pasta sauce of my choice.

Sure, the label claims that it is "Chunky" but I make mine much chunkier. I feel that it isn't worth making my own red pasta sauce since the cost of the ingredients and amount of time and effort would be much more than grabbing it at the store since I usually buy mine for $1 in bulk when it is on sale. Make sure when you buy sauces from jars that there are no artificial flavors. *Didn't take a photo of the chunky pasta sauce.* I was too hungry.

With the diced sauteed vegetables, not only could you make it part of your pasta sauce.. You can also add the mixture to an omelette, casserole, crepe, enchilada, mapo tofu, etc. The possibilities are endless.

ONIONS and GARLIC are your friends!!

TIP: Making your own minced garlic.
After you peel the garlic (or just buy peeled garlic), place it in a mini blender. Pulse a little to create minced garlic. Keep it refrigerated in a glass jar.  Whenever you need it, it is in the jar instead of having to do all the work every time you cook. ;)

p.s. Happy Pi (3.14) Day!!!

Pictures from my Backyard...

It has been a warm summer in Southern California. Previously, I had removed tons of daffodil bulbs.  They were everywhere.  Planted some things in its place.  In mid-January, I planted some tulips which usually are to be planted in late-nov or december but my mom gave them to me since her soil was too hard this winter.  After a very short five weeks, these were the first of them to bloom...

A view of some rocks and decorations in my backyard.

For anyone who is curious about the status of my herbs that I tried planting from seed, here they are sprouting..

The area on the top left with the dirt was supposed to sprout chives. The basil and parsley sprouts are pictured above.

Here is another interesting tidbit..  Last year, I planted some tulips just anywhere since I just wanted to get the bulbs in the ground.  They bloomed.  Well, the area is pretty shady and we don't water it either. But this time around magically, the one tulip from last year became three!!  Take a look..

Happy spring time!!!  My favorite season...bright colors, more daylight, happiness all around... ;)

Don't forget that Daylight Savings comes early (about 5 weeks this time)...March 11, 2012 @2am.  We spring forward this weekend. Woo-hoo!! 

Plumbing: Both sides of kitchen sink aren't draining...

...what do I do?

I recommend doing searches on DIY fixes and watching videos to see what you can do to save yourself some money and the hassle of finding a plumber.

So, both sides of my kitchen sink weren't draining.  Actually they would drain but very very very slowly.  It occurred after I put some grapefruit down the garbage disposal.  I read articles and forums on fixing the garbage disposal.  Watched videos on how to unclog sinks and fix the disposal.

Pour a ton of baking soda and watched the fizzing effect of a chemistry experiment when I poured a half cup of vinegar down the drain.  Cool, but didn't work.

Put Drano down the sink.  Nothing happened.  Literally poured $5 down the drain.

Ready for the fix??

The good ole' plunger!!  Fill up your sink with a couple inches of water (3-4 inches).  What you do is have another person block the other side of the sink with a towel.  The plunge away!!  That's it.

If you come across the problem of both sides of the kitchen sink have ultra-slow, little to none, draining.  Don't call the plumber.  Grab a plunger, towel, and a friend.

Thank me later!!

Tips on Being Resourceful and Saving $$ on Groceries

If you've noticed, I save old plastic containers (see Mint Buttercream Frosting post) that were used for cupcakes transportation.  Other notable reusable items are glass jars after consuming the jams and sauces and bottles.  Of course, I don't save EVERY container that comes my way or else I would have a huge cabinet of them!!  I'm going to give you some of my top tips and ideas for reuse.  The possibilities are endless...

Reuse:
1) Plastic containers that produce comes in.  When you are washing your veggies/fruit, rinse the container as well especially when it is the size that fits cupcakes, cookies, etc.
2) Glass jars are highly useful for when you make your own viniagrettes/salad dressings.  You do not need to go to the store to buy a whole bunch for $2-10.
3) Glass bottles.  Repurposing drink bottles and wine bottles to use as vases adds the vintage look to your tables.  Paint them or tie simple bows.
4) Egg cartons.  While learning how to make pretty flowers for cake design with gum paste and fondant, I discovered that egg cartons were the perfect container for the flower creations.  Letting them dry while not touching each other was important.  Use them for art projects also.

WHEN YOU DON'T REUSE, RECYCLE.  

Grocery Shopping Tips:
1) Look at the mailer ads.  When you want to be frugal, you will start to get a feel of the prices of meat, vegetables, cheeses, milk, etc.  Price vary from week to week.
2) Rain checks.  When an item is out of stock for the day, you can have the grocery store write you a rain check!  Most supermarkets give you 30 days to use them.  Von's rain checks are good for 90 days. Just imagine -- you can buy at that weekly steal price for three months.
3) Fish.  Usually fresh fish costs the most.  Go to the frozen section.  Some of the fresh fish that I have bought say, "Previously frozen" on them.  *I know I haven't had a fish recipe yet but it is what I consume weekly.*
4) Dried versus Canned (Beans).  Canned goods are fairly cheap but did you know that dried ones are even cheaper?
5) Buy in season.  Fresh produce in season is much cheaper than importing fruits from other countries.
6) Be aware of which items have the same everyday price.  We do not always have time to price compare.  Personally when I don't have time to be aware of the cheapest ad for each item, I go to the places that have a regular price that is reasonable.
7) Vegetables are usually cheaper at Chinese and Korean Supermarkets.
8) My personal fave: Trader Joe's.  I've shopped TJ's for over 20 years.  Not many people can say that since most people only discovered TJ's in the past 10.  Top3 picks for regular price?  Milk, eggs, and bananas.


WARNING: Buying in Bulk.
Buying in bulk is a good tip too; however, be aware of the price per can/bottle.  Take into account that if you don't end up using all of the product, that is money down the drain too.  Contrary to popular belief, Costco/Sam's Club is not cheaper than Asian Supermarkets and regular weekly mailers.  Paying for membership means that you have to save X amount of money first for you to get the real deal.  I've watched people spend more than they wanted and not been able to use it all.  If you have to toss it, that is like throwing away $$.

Definitely enough tips to get you thinking..  =)

Happy Shopping!!!

*Note: I have no idea how people shop when they don't know how to calculate things in their head.  When I shop, I am constantly dividing, multiplying, and adding.  These days some grocery stores have the price per ounce posted which is nice.  I suppose people get ripped off and leave happy?  Ignorance is bliss?  =p

Apple Squares

Last night, I was looking for something to eat but nothing really looked appetizing for a snack.  So I decided to bake Apple Squares.  Apple is one of my least favorite fruits *and I'm a teacher...go figure*; however, I love apples when they are baked!!

The most time-consuming part of baking apple squares has to be the peeling, coring, dicing of the apple. I am aware that the apple peeler exists but don't think I would actually use it since from time to time since I only need ONE apple.  Besides, I have seen the demos at the stores; seems to me that there is a lot of apple wasted when you use those gadgets!  Total time for me to prep/bake this from start to finish was about 40 minutes (bake time is 30 minutes).  The recipe says, "Ready in 55 minutes" but I guess I'm fast?  haha..

One of my favorite things about baking is the fragrant, sweet aroma in the kitchen.  Mmm..

Enjoy!!!  =)

p.s. I had apple squares for breakfast this morning.

Quinoa!! Try it tonight!

In the last post, I made a quinoa meatloaf.  I have a love affair with quinoa, my favorite grain!!  This protein rich grain is my substitute when I want to switch up my brown rice.  It's hearty with a fluffy texture similar to that of couscous.  The simplest way to make quinoa is to use a rice cooker (You may also cook on the stove top).

Simple Quinoa (Healthier at half the sodium; most recipes call for 2 cups of broth)
Prep Time: 2 min        Cook Time: 20 min
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (1/2 cup of dry quinoa yields 2 cups cooked quinoa)
1 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
1 cup water
*Note: Quinoa can also be cooked with 2 cups of water but I like to cut sodium.

Directions:
Put all ingredients into the rice cooker.  Press start.  Then you have time to prep the rest of your meal.

When cooking brown rice, quinoa, or barley/bean grains, the ratio of water to grain is 2:1.  *Places like Whole Foods don't do justice for grains like brown rice.  If your only experience with brown rice is from Whole Foods (prepared foods section), you need to try it again when it is cooked correctly.  They don't add enough liquid which causes it to be dry.  I have written comments to them but I don't know if they took my advice.*  For example, if you wanted to make 2 cups of quinoa, you would need 4 cups of liquid.  The reason I mix water and chicken broth is because I am like to limit the sodium intake of my food.  Halt the salt is very important.  *Typically a can of chicken broth contains 40% of your daily value of sodium!!*

If you want to make your quinoa more interesting, you can chop 1/2 a cup of onions and 1/4 cup of pine nuts.  In a medium saucepan, heat some olive oil. add chopped onions(I used red onions) and carmelize by stirring (about 5 minutes).  Add the pine nuts to toast them.  After the pine nuts are slightly toasted, put the cooked quinoa in the pan.  Stir to mix.

Enjoy!!!  =)

What's for Dinner, vaLINtine??

For quite a while, I have wanted to make meatloaf and pecan pie from scratch for my hubby.  He has expressed love for the two food items.  So today, valentine's dinner consisted of quinoa meatloaf, sauteed arugula/spinach, soycutash (frozen corn, bell peppers, soy beans from TJ's), mini pecan pie tarts.

Traditional meatloaf is made with breadcrumbs.  Quinoa took the place of breadcrumbs in my meatloaf.  What I loved most about this meatloaf was the subtle Sriracha sauce.  Click for the recipe.  It says that it serves 5, but it's more like 3.  Or maybe we are pigs!  Lol..

My mini pecan pie tarts did not look like the picture in the recipe.  Perhaps I'll have better luck next time.  Think I changed the recipe so much by halving it so it didn't come out like that.  *When halving it, I was supposed to put 3 oz of cream cheese in; but since I didn't want to open a new package, I only put 2.  Haha.*  Nevertheless, they were delicious!!  Asked hubby if he wanted to share with others.  He replied, "That they were his."

Mine looked more like mini pecan pie muffins.  Oh, but they were sooo divine!  Next time, I will be making the full recipe.

Hope you had a great day with you and yours!! 

*Note: vaLINtine refers to Jeremy Lin on the NY Knicks.  For those of you living in a cave, he's come out of nowhere (Okay, really from Palo Alto...norcal baby!!).  The only reason he has had a chance to start as a point guard is because there was no one else.  He's led the team to six straight Knick wins.  Tonight, he made the 3-ptr with 0.5 sec left.  Read more here..