Simple Strawberry Smoothie (No Yogurt/Ice Cream)

This morning, we were eating breakfast. The basket of strawberries were a bit sour. Told hubby that we did not need to keep eating them. What to do with sour strawberries?

That's when I whipped out my mini smoothie maker. It's been a while since I've used it.

It's about the same size as the magic bullet. I love it since it doesn't take up much space and it's super easy to clean.

Simple Strawberry Smoothie
Prep Time: 10 min    
Ingredients:
1 cup strawberries (3/4 cup to 1 cup)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup crushed ice (unless you have a heavy duty blender in which case it doesn't matter)
2 Tbsp honey

Directions:
Remove the stems of the strawberries. Placed the strawberries in. Add the milk. Pulse.

Add crushed ice and pulse it. If the consistency of your smoothie is too watery, add more crushed ice and pulse again.

Lastly, add the honey (or sugar). I like to do one tablespoon at a time. Sweetness is really to taste. You can always put more but you can't take out the sweetness if you go overboard.

ENJOY!!!

*Notes:
1) If you want a thicker smoothie, you can add a half cup of yogurt or ice cream.

2) You can make substitute the strawberries with whatever fruit you have on hand. Make a banana smoothie or mango smoothie or _____.

3) I highly recommend that you buy a mini blender. They are so useful!! You can also mince garlic quickly by pulsing it too. Easy clean up is huge plus!!

Dill Egg Salad (No Mayo)

I haven't written any recipes all summer!! So today, I will share with you an egg salad recipe. Usually, when I think of egg salad, the two things that come to mind are cholesterol and fat. With all those eggs and all that mayo, it can't be good to have too many of them.

Started to sift through recipes for healthy substitutions... My egg salad was mayo-less.
This is a great recipe for picnics, tea parties, lunch/dinner.

Dill Egg Salad 
Cook Time: 10 minutes      Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
6 eggs
3 tbsp greek yogurt
1/2 - 3/4 tsp coarse sea salt (this is to your liking)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp dijon mustard

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to boil for the eggs. Generally, it takes about 9 minutes to get a hard boiled egg. I like to boil it longer just in case. Once that is done, strain the hot water. add cold water to the eggs. You don't want to burn your fingers while trying to peel them. Gently hit the hard boiled eggs against the side of the pot. Peel off the egg shells.

To make it less cholesterol, only use 1-2 egg yolks. Most people will want two to mash with the egg whites, but I am fine with just keeping one egg yolk. Discard the other 4 or 5 egg yolks. They stay intact, so it's easy to do.

Chop the egg whites (Or you can pulse it a couple times in the food processor. I don't like to do that since I have to wash the food processor.). In a bowl, mix the chopped egg whites with the egg yolk(s). Mix well so that the egg yolk is more even distributed.

In a separate bowl, add the greek yogurt, dill, and salt. I tasted the mixture, it still tasted like yogurt. What transformed it into a salty mixture was the mustard. Add mustard and black pepper. Then taste and see if you want more salt, pepper, etc.

Pour the yogurt mixture into the bowl with the chopped eggs. Mix with a spoon. That's it!

I like to put the egg salad on wheat bread. Adding arugula would be a nice touch but I didn't have any on hand. I chopped some green beans to give my egg salad a crunchier texture.

You can get creative by making shaped tea sandwiches, open faced sandwiches, pita pockets, etc.

Enjoy!!

Chinese Lion's Head Meatball

Chinese Lion's Head Meatball is one of my favorite dishes. My grandma would make this for me every time she saw me since she knew that I loved it that much. Funny that I've made Italian meatballs but not the Chinese kind until now. It is just making meatballs with asian seasonings.

Traditionally, these meatballs are supposed to be as big as possible like a lion's head; however, I like to make them smaller since cooking time is shorter for browning them.

Chinese Lion's Head Meatball (Soup)

Prep Time: 20 min     Cook Time: 

Ingredients: 

1 lb ground pork

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

2 green onions

2 tsp ginger (minced)

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp cooking wine

1 egg

sesame oil (or peanut oil)

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, put the ground meat in. Add salt, white pepper, sugar, cornstarch, cooking wine, soy sauce, green onions, ginger, and 1 beaten egg. Mix in a circular motion until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Wet your hands, then form the meatballs into the desired size. Traditionally, the lion's heads are to be as big as you can get it. However, it will take more time to cook if your meatballs are too big. I like to keep it to roughly 1.5 - 2 inches in diameter. 

In a pan, pour a couple teaspoons of sesame oil (usually it's peanut oil, but I don't have it on hand). Place the meatballs in the pan after you heat the oil. Brown the meatballs on all sides which takes about 10 minutes. You do not have to fully cook the meatballs since you will be braising it with the napa cabbage later.

To make the soup:

Put two cans of chicken broth in a big pot. Add as much napa cabbage as you like. I put in a whole small head of napa cabbage. Place the meatballs on top of the napa cabbage. If you would like, you can add other things. I cut some bamboo shoot to throw in along with some ginger to for the soup also. You can put mushrooms, etc. Braise on medium heat for about half an hour.

If you would like glass noodles, soak the clear noodles in a bowl with water for half an hour. Drain the noodles. Add them last when you are about done cooking.

 

I used lean ground pork. For a more authentic Chinese Lion's Head Meatball, use fattier meat. 

Enjoy!!

Whiskey Marinade

What could be better than whiskey and meat?

Maybe another whiskey drink neat on the side.

I decided to do a Whiskey Marinade (a.k.a. Bourbon and Brown Sugar Marinade). This is my new love!!

It can be used on steak, poultry, seafood, etc. You can even marinate your vegetables with it too!!

Whiskey Marinade from (allrecipes)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 (-) cup soy sauce
1/4 (+) cup whiskey/bourbon
a splash Worcestershire sauce
some pepper to taste (optional)

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients (I did it in the order above so that I did not have to wash my measuring spoon by going with the dry ingredient first). I used a bit more whiskey and a little less soy sauce. The original recipe called for one teaspoon of salt but I figured soy sauce already has sodium too. 

Steak:
Usually before I pour marinade, I poke holes all over my meat with a fork (both sides). When I was younger, my parents would have me help with poking holes in the steak before marination. This allows the marinade to seep in even more. You are supposed to marinate the meat overnight but I think 4-6 hours is sufficient. (For seafood, it is only one hour.)

Cook your steak in a big pan/skillet. On high heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil. Place the steak in the pan. Cook for three minutes per side. The cooking time depends on your steak thickness. Mine was half an inch.

The aroma of steak fills the house. But that is not the best part...

EACH BITE HAS A DISTINCT WHISKEY TASTE.

This marinade will now be a staple in my household. I plan to use it on everything in the future. You've got to try it!!

Tip: Save some marinade for later. I had just enough whiskey marinade for my chicken a couple days later.

Enjoy!! 

Spaghetti & Meatballs

My husband LOVES LOVES LOVES spaghetti and meatballs.

One of our Valentine's Week dinners (Yes, I made it a week of cooking...hehe) this year was Spaghetti & Meatballs. He was all touched that I made homemade meatballs just for him. (Well, it's for ME too...haha) Thought I would try the recipe called Meatball Nirvana. I followed the recipe to make my delicious meatballs. The change I made was to use 1/3 cup of oatmeal for the breadcrumbs (and maybe more onions).

Homemade Meatballs
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup onion (diced)
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
3/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp oregano
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup milk
some hot sauce (I used Tapatio)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400F. In a medium sized bowl, mix ground beef with the onion and dry seasonings first. Then add Worcheshire sauce, milk, oatmeal, some hot sauce. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, you are ready to create the meatballs.

I lined a pan with aluminum foil to make it easier to clean. 

Form meatballs with your hands. Make them about 1.5 inches in diameter. I'm sure you can use an ice cream scoop for size control but it's not hard to do with your hands.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. 

Meatballs are cooked!! Thought I would show this picture since the finished dish has spaghetti sauce on top.

There were twelve of them. (The other three were in a smaller pan, not pictured.) Cook your spaghetti per the directions. Heat up your sauce in another little pot. I liked keeping the meatballs separate from the tomato sauce. When serving, put some spaghetti on the plate, then the meatballs. Lastly, pour some sauce over it.

Meatball Nirvana is definitely a keeper!!

Enjoy!!

Chicken Parmigiana

I'm in an Italian food phase. Tonight I cooked Chicken Parmigiana adapted from the Pioneer Woman (I love her!!). Didn't do everything the recipe called for like hammering the meat to make it thinner. My chicken was almost 1.5 inches thick!! But it was tasty and tender.

Chicken Parmigiana
Prep Time: 10 minutes      Cook Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
some olive oil
some flour
1 onion, diced
2 Tbsp butter
14 oz tomato sauce (I use Ragu Pasta Sauce)
some tomatoes
some olive oil
some parmesan cheese (or other cheese you would like to melt on top of the chicken like pecorino, mozzarella cheese)
3/4 cup wine (I used red but either red or white would work)

Directions:
Season your chicken breast first. Some salt, pepper, lemon on both sides. Then put some flour on a big plate. Coat the chicken breast by placing it into the flour. Flip the chicken breast and repeat until it is covered evenly in flour. Do the same for the second breast.

In a big pan with a lid (I don't think you need a lid but I was avoiding splatter), heat about a tablespoon of oil (more if you like). Melt butter also. I fried my floured chicken breasts six minutes per side because they were about 1 1/4 inch thick!! (If your chicken breast are about half an inch thick, three minutes will suffice. If they are 3/4 of an inch thick, about four minutes would be enough. It depends on the thickness of your chicken.) Once you have a nice golden brown on both sides, remove from heat.

*Note: Don't forget to boil water for your thin spaghetti noodles (or your choice) at this time.

Using the same big pan with drippings and all, saute the diced onions for about three minutes. Pour in the wine. Stir and cook until about half of the wine has disappeared (Not from you drinking it..). After about four minutes, throw in the tomatoes. I had orange cherry tomatoes on hand that I cut in half. Pour in the tomato sauce. Stir well. Cover with a lid to let it simmer for 10 minutes. Remove lid and stir again before allowing it to simmer with the lid on for another 10 minutes.

Place the fried chicken breasts into the sauce.

Spoon the sauce around the chicken breast on top to cover the whole breast. Top it with cheese generously. I didn't have fresh parsley so I added some parsley in a spice jar instead.

Plate noodles. Add some sauce before you lay down the chicken breast. Carefully lay the chicken breast (Mine was HUGE) on top of the pasta. I was surprised at how gigantic my chicken parmigiana became.

It was moist, juicy, and flavorful. My husband said that the sauce tasted like it was homemade. It was definitely the wine factor. heheh. 

Enjoy!!

Mini Pecan Pie Tartletts (without corn syrup)

Not only are desserts cuter as mini versions. You can cut your portion size more easily (unless you keep eating them one by one). I have another pecan pie recipe in this blog, but this one is without corn syrup. This recipe is for the filling. Use any crust you like.

Mini Pecan Pie Tartletts (without Corn Syrup) - Filling

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp Bourbon

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

1.5 cups of pecans

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until foamy. Continue whisking while adding melted butter.

Then add the brown sugar, white sugar, flour, and bourbon. Stir in pecans.

In a muffin pan, gently press in your crust. Spoon the filling (but make sure it is not all the way full). Bake at 400F for 20 minutes. Let it cool for another 15 minutes.

There are many desserts that I could have tried but my Valentine adores pecan pie!!
*Lucky me!!* I used a heart tartlett shape for two of them. The rest were in the muffin pan tins.

Happy Valentine's Day!! 

*This is posted the day after Vday since my Valentine reads this. heheh*