Menu Plan Monday

I am on spring break this week from work, so I am being a little ambitious in the kitchen this week. Hopefully I will find some good recipes to share with all of you in the coming weeks. I do have a couple of extra carry over items from last week; the granola and irish soda bread. Last week ended up being so crazy that I was hardly home and didn't have time to make them. So I added them on for this week. 


Monday 

L - Egg Salad sandwiches 

S - Lentils and Rice with Tomato Sauce *from Simply Vegetarian p. 258

Tuesday 

L - Lunch out with Mom 

S - Corn and Poblano chowder * from Quick vegetarian main dishes p. 31

Wednesday 

L - Left over buffet 

S - Eating out with friend Amy 

Thursday 

L - Spinach Salad and veggie burgers 

S - Risotto with tomato and fresh basil *from Simply Vegetarian p. 270

Friday 

L - Left over from last night

S- Zesty Skillet Ravioli *from Quick Vegetarian Main Dishes p. 7

Sabbath 

Being planned with friend Kristin 

Sunday 

L - Breakfast brunch 

S - Left over buffet 

Other Items: Granola, Irish Brown Soda Bread

Happy menu planning! 

biggest reunion.... EVER

pernah dengar restoran Intai-Intai? aku pernah. Last 2009, pernah lah pergi survey dgn kwn-kwn kolej. Ingat nak shooting dkt sana. tp owner dia tak de plak time tu. Restoran ni name die intai-intai sebab die mmg tersorok. jadi perlulah intai-intai kalau nak cari. bayangkanlah, di tengah permulaan MRR2, di sebalik bengkel-bengkel semua, rupanya ada restoran siap ada tasik dgn music band lagi. Makanan dia, memang best- best. Kawan cakap, kalau bulan puasa, memang sentiasa fully booked.

Oh apa kene mengene dgn reunion? well well well. Abah cakap, ada reunion family yg area KL, so maybe ada 2-3 keluarga je. so i was expecting, just about 2-3 tables. with those relatives yg tak berapa nak kenal. kecuali mak cik ida + pak cik pian. nasib baik aku ajak kma + kak sally sepupu aku yg sentiase di sisi nih. sekali, sampai sampai, tengok-tengok ada En. Baha sambut. En. Baha akademi fantasia tuh!

sekali, encik Baha nih, owner Intai-Intai daa.

sekali dia 2 pupu abah daaa.

and ye, siap ada BANNER okay! it wasn't a small reunion. it's a BIG reunion.

Intai-Intai. Malam tadi menu buffet masakan timur. TERBAEK.

and you know what, bukan 2-3 tables. but...

the WHOLE restaurant. yes, again, the whole restaurant.

so ternganga lah aku dan kma dan kak sally.

sambil tu usha stall kuih-muih melayu yg pelbagai.

kita org duduk betol-betol center. and, mmg tak kenal orang lain tu.

tu blh nampak refelction dari air tasik.

siap ada kambing golek. LICIN.

sebab ade lah dlm lebih 20 tables kot.

ada laksam. nasi kerabu. nasi dagang.

tempat die mmg cantik. konsep dia, decorations.

sebenarnya kak sally suruh ckp, lampu atas kepala dia tuh,

cahaya keimanan :P

kma dgn rambut perm baru.

tahu tak kematu punggung duduk tunggu die 3 jam dkt saloon!

mama dah hilang pergi borak.

so ajak abah balik sebab da kenyang. HAHA.

lepas tu, round round KL kejap. and balik... kalau tahu En Baha ni sedara jugak, dah lame mintak kerja awal-awal dekat astro ke. ape ke. haha. okayyy pd sesiapa yg tak pernah makan dkt intai-intai tuh, pergilah. cantik + makanan best. sila google sebab tataw camne nak explain. :P

Simple Baked Apple

While in Italy in February I came across this Italian version of a baked apple. It was on the buffet at the Hotel Lungarno in Florence

The hotel served both apples and pears prepared in this manner. 

4 Apples

4 Tablespoons of sugar

Water

Place apples in a baking pan. Pierce each apple 3 or 4 times with a paring knife. Pour boiling water up 1/3 up the sides of the apples. Sprinkle each apple with one tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 3 or 4 hours at 250 degrees  until soft. 

That is the basic recipe to which I added the following:

Reduce the liquid and float a few cardamon seeds in the liquid. Place the apples in a storage container and pour the liquid over the fruit. Cover and cool in the refrigerator.

This is recipe works for apples or pears. Perhaps it would also work for peaches, and any other reasonably hard fruit. You can vary the amounts of water or sugar, as well as the types of sugar and the spices used to flavor the water/syrup.

This keeps well in the refrigerator and is a nice way to begin the day. You can also add flavored yogurt or flavored vanilla custard sauce for an interesting dessert.  

Note: I have used fat free sugar free jello pudding with more skim milk than is called for to make pudding and flavored it to cover over the artificial flavors. It works pretty well for a faux custard sauce.

Simple Baked Apple

While in Italy in February I came across this Italian version of a baked apple. It was on the buffet at the Hotel Lungarno in Florence

The hotel served both apples and pears prepared in this manner. 

4 Apples

4 Tablespoons of sugar

Water

Place apples in a baking pan. Pierce each apple 3 or 4 times with a paring knife. Pour boiling water up 1/3 up the sides of the apples. Sprinkle each apple with one tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 3 or 4 hours at 250 degrees  until soft. 

That is the basic recipe to which I added the following:

Reduce the liquid and float a few cardamon seeds in the liquid. Place the apples in a storage container and pour the liquid over the fruit. Cover and cool in the refrigerator.

This is recipe works for apples or pears. Perhaps it would also work for peaches, and any other reasonably hard fruit. You can vary the amounts of water or sugar, as well as the types of sugar and the spices used to flavor the water/syrup.

This keeps well in the refrigerator and is a nice way to begin the day. You can also add flavored yogurt or flavored vanilla custard sauce for an interesting dessert.  

Note: I have used fat free sugar free jello pudding with more skim milk than is called for to make pudding and flavored it to cover over the artificial flavors. It works pretty well for a faux custard sauce.

Exercising some Self-Control...

So, it's Lent. I was raised Catholic but am not particularly religious these days; however I usually give up something for Lent using it as a good opportunity to test my willpower. It's also convenient as I tend to have a trip of some sort planned in April so I like to give up some sort of food in an attempt to get myself ready for bathing suit weather.

In past years I've given up all sorts of things from ice cream to eating out, fried foods and beer. This year I decided to give up baked treats so all pastries, cookies, cakes and sweet breads are off-limits. I couldn't quite fathom giving up baked goods altogether so this was my compromise (though I may try next year...). Anyway, it hasn't been too bad so far but there have definitely been more than a few temptations especially at work (there was a bake sale on Friday! Torture). Since this also means I am not baking much these days, I thought I would share a recipe I've been meaning to post from a few weeks back.

I'd been wanting to try making whoopie pies for awhile now. I admit, I wasn't really on the whole whoopie pie bandwagon for a long time but then I tried this amazing pumpkin whoopie pie with cream cheese filling and it completely changed my mind! I decided to try these out for an Oscar party I went to (I had to bring a Toy Story 3 themed food...so I went with "Jessie's Yeehaw! pies". Get it??).


Since one of my friends happens to have a severe milk allergy I decided to make these dairy-free. I was a little nervous about it as I have never cooked with lactose-free milk and anyone who's close to me know that I am a hard core butter advocate and NEVER use margarine. But to my surprise they turned out delicious and you couldn't even tell they were dairy free! I used a marshmallow frosting which was really tasty and made the pies much lighter than they appeared. So try them out and enjoy (since I can't!)


Whoopie Pies
adapted from Epicurious

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup soy milk
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup margarine or butter (I used Earth Balance margarine)
1 cup sugar
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350°F.

1. Mix together vinegar and soy milk in a cup and leave to the side for a few minutes. You can also use buttermilk, or regular milk and vinegar. Stir in the vanilla.

2. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until everything is combined and the cocoa is well distributed.

3. Cream the margarine and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. The recipe says to use an electric mixer but I used my immersion blender for a couple of minutes and then a wooden spoon. Add the egg, beating until combined well.

4. Stir in the flour mixture and milk in batches, beginning and ending with flour and mixing until smooth.

5. Spoon 1/8-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets. (Note: I never ever actually use measuring cups with batter, but since I needed these to actually be similar sizes I used a dry measure and scraped out in mounds using a teaspoon). Bake in upper and lower thirds of the oven, switching the sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 10 to 12 minutes. I actually only had one baking sheet available at time so I baked these in three batches on the middle rack and they were done in 10 minutes.

6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

7. Once cool, match up the cakes in twos of similar sizes and fill with marshmallow topping. I think I used about a heaping tablespoon per cake but you can obviously use more or less. The recipe I used for filling made a bit more than I needed but not a ridiculous amount. Let the cakes sit for awhile before storing or packing away so the filling kind of sets (I did not do this and I made a bit of a mess in the tupperware containers!)


Marshmallow Topping

1 1/2 cups sugar (I was running out of sugar so ended up using a combination of white, brown and icing sugar. It didn't seem to affect the final product)
1 tbsp white corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Place sugar, corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler or a heatproof bowl on top of a pot of boiling water. Beat with a handheld electric mixer (I used my immersion blender with the whisk attachment) for 1 minute.

2. Place the pan or bowl over the boiling water, making sure that the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy). Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer for 7 minutes or until stiff peaks form (I think mine took closer to 10 minutes).

3. Fold in vanilla. Let cool to room temperature before filling cakes.

KBB # 22 Made in Indonesia Plus with Spun Sugar

Tantangan KBB # 22 kali ini bener bener bikin gemessssss apalagi saat pemotretan hasil jadinya karena benar benar musti gerak cepat dan sigap tapi gimana lagi ya bukan photograper jadi hasilnya tidak bisa maksimal alhasil begitu hasil si miss spun ok tapi hasil foto gak oke alias banyak blurrnya ( alesan.com).....entah kenapa si umur spun sugar ini gak bisa lama ya ? langsung mingpes alhasil bolak balik bikin tapi ya sut lah pasrah saja dengan hasil seperti ini dan paling tidak bisa tahu mengenai miss spun sugar ini.

Spun sugar aku bahasakan menjadi "rambut nenek" hehehehehee....dan ini seru juga sih meskipun berulang ulang bikin juga tidak bosan cuman yang perhatikan dirumah protes saja karena bikin "gulali" ini sering banget.

Kali ini untuk kombinasi si miss spun sugar pilihanku jatuh pada kue soes yang mudah dan tidak banyak membuat perlengkapan kerja dapur tidak terlalu banyak yang musti di cuci.

Yuk ah dari pada bercerita lama simak resep berikut ini....buat yang penasaran ayo praktekan karena ini mudah lho.....

Soes Vla
By. Nilamsari

Bahan Kulit :

225 ml Air
100 gr Butter
1/4 sdt garam
125 gr terigu protein tinggi
4 butir telur

Vla :

350 ml susu cair
75 gr gula pasir
45 gr maizena
1 butir kuning telur
1 sdm butter

Cara membuat :
Kulit : Didihkan air,butter dan garam lalu masukan terigu aduk cepat hingga kalis lalu dinginkan. Setelah dingin masukan telur satu persatu dan aduk hingga rata. Spuit adonan dan beri jarak lalu oven hingga matang - dengan suhu 200 derajat.

Vla : Aduk bahan jadi satu kecuali butter lalu masak hingga matang lalu masukan butter aduk hingga rata dan vla siap untuk digunakan.

Resep Spun Sugar (Angel’s Hair)Sumber: Dessert Techniques by Le Cordon Bleu Cooking Schools

Alat: Pakailah whisk yang sudah tidak dipakai tetapi masih bagus (tidak karatan), lalu pakai wire cutter, potonglah jari-jari whisk di ujung (yang melengkung), sehingga whisk anda akan ‘gundul’. Gunakan whisk ini untuk membuat spun sugar.

Sugar Syrup

Silakan pilih:
Medium use 1 ¼ cups sugar to 1 cup water.
Heavy use 1 ¼ cups sugar to ⅞ cup water.

Step :

1. Heat the sugar syrup to 311 F then plunge into a pan of cold water to halt the cooking process.
2. Cover your work surface with parchment paper. Holding a rolling pin in one hand over the paper, dip the whisk into the sugar syrup and flick it back and forth over the rolling pin so that railing threads are formed.
3. Gently gather up the strands and fold them back over the rolling pin. Loosen and lift them or slide them off the pin gently.
4. Break the sugar in half and gently shape each half as desired in your hands.

Things That Make Me Smile

Here is an explanation of this series of posts.

Clever videos on YouTube.

Mathematics Under Siege

Wow.

Amazingly, these are the British students. What a terrible indictment of their teachers.

It's here...

** Blog Note: Recipe of the Week Blog Hop is being moved to Tuesdays. Please come back Tuesday to participate!!


My 30 day shred dvd by Jillian Michaels that is....

Talk about a workout, whew!! I was panting and sweating within the first couple of minutes! I also ordered her ab workout video too. I don't know that I will try it yet until I get use to the 30 day shred video. Let's just say, I am completely out of shape! What flexibility I thought I had, is no more!! Hopefully this will get me into shape fast for summer. Please pray that I stick with it!

A Contemplative Moment

From "AChurch for the Rest of Us." Find it on Facebook.

Progressives On The March

Yesterday in London.

Paraphrasing the dude speaking at 1:10: We fought the horror of mathematics and ... er ... lost.

Mark Steyn, as usual, hits it out of the park on this one.

Getting caught up :) LW,MF 12

Its funny , I was all caught up and up to date ...  then I started back at the farm  :))  Which gave me a whole bunch of ideas for posts ... too many in fact between the food Ive been making and starting back to work , building cold frames, and even a catering quote tucked in there ....  I think I was a little over whelmed.   I just needed a day when I can write to get started , and today is that day .  I have exactly 30 minutes to finish this before I have to go ( To the butchers to get some sausage for dinner :))  So Ill keep it short :)

Making a Tomato/Onion/Cucumber Salad for work :) 

Meatballs with the tomatoes I canned, Mozzarella and Onion 

Mexican Sausage Flat Bread Pizza,  with Mozzarella and Goats Cheese 

Breakfast to go ,  Melon slices with homemade WW bread, and a herbed yogurt spread 

More Mexican Sausage Pizza ??  Didn't mean to double up .. oh well, enjoy seconds. 

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread .  

Making a batch of butter in my food pro :)  

I had a MAJOR whoopsie moment and used a metal spatula on my enamelled cast iron .  So to avoid any future problems , I seasoned it like I would my other cast iron pots. Its a mess , but its protected and usable again !! Part of a new series on my Facebook page : Kitchen Tips & Tricks :))  

I hope you have enjoyed today's post,  I have some time set aside tomorrow to hopefully get a few more done . Is there anything you would like to see?? Recipes ? Pictures , Stories etc,...  don't be shy , leave a comment below.  :)
Happy Cooking
Rich

Portugal, Illinois and Caterpillar

I've been watching the anti-austerity protests develop in Portugal. If you haven't been keeping up, the Portugese Prime Minister recently resigned when his austerity budget was voted down. Portugal is insolvent and about 6-9 months away from bankruptcy. Portugal has a massive social spending problem; they don't have the industries to generate anything like the kind of money they spend. The Portugese have decided to protest against mathematics and are having the kind of success you'd expect as their borrowing costs continue to rise.

Closer to home, Illinois has the same problem as Portugal. Illinois' businesses have nowhere near the profits to support their massive public sector spending. Instead of taking the austerity tack and reducing spending to match income, they decided to raise taxes. Now one of their largest companies, Caterpillar, who employs over 23,000 people in Illinois, is threatening to leave.

In January, the state's General Assembly passed a (Governor) Quinn-supported bill imposing a four-year increase in income taxes designed to reap $6.8 billion in added revenue and help the state balance its budget. The legislation raised the flat rate for personal income taxes to 5% from 3% and for corporate taxes to 7% from 4.8%. In 2015, both taxes are set to decline but remain above the prior rate.

(Caterpillar CEO) Mr. Oberhelman enclosed letters (in his own letter to the Illinois governor) from governors or other officials in Texas, Nebraska, Virginia and South Dakota, all citing the recent Illinois tax increase and urging Caterpillar to invest in what they described as more business-friendly environments.

"If Illinois doesn't want your business, Texas does," wrote Rick Perry, the governor of that state.

The governor of Nebraska, Dave Heineman, wrote: "In Nebraska, we balance our budget by controlling spending, not by raising taxes."

An official in the South Dakota governor's office chimed in: "In South Dakota, you make a profit, and you keep your profit."

This isn't something new for either Portugal or Illinois. Both have been losing businesses for quite some time as they've favored social spending over profits. Some pundits are making the comparison between Illinois and Portugal, but they're making the mistake of placing Portugal farther along the evolutionary scale of such developments. In fact, Illinois might be ahead of Portugal. Consider these facts:

• Portugal just had a parliamentary vote against austerity; Illinois had a public election against austerity months ago.


• Portugal's borrowing costs have been rising; Illinois is already paying one of the highest rates in the US.


• Portugal is still able to pay their bills, albeit with borrowed money; Illinois has hundreds of creditors who are no longer being paid.


• Portugal can solve some of its problems in the very near term by nationalizing businesses that threaten to leave; Illinois doesn't have the nationalization option.


• Portugal can appeal to the European Central Bank who has shown the willingness to print money to cover government debts in order to save the EU. Illinois has no such leverage with the Fed.

Shockingly, it may well be that Portugal is in better shape than Illinois. Whatever the case, this timeline is only going to end one way: bankruptcy, austerity and the collision of reality with the childish, fantasy world of endless social spending.

In the meantime, let's all march and chant and hope that arithmetic goes away.
Update: An Instalanche! Yay! Thanks, Glenn.

Smash! Bloggers Fashion Show!

Last thursday I was invited to the Smash! Bloggers Fashion Show!; Cristina from La Petite Nymphea and Saray from Dans Vogue were modeling on it, and of course I went there to show them my support! I met Aida from Dulceidad too, and Anabel from Tranquila Cosita. I met Barbara and her boyfriend too, one of Cristina's classmates... se was SO great!

(Pictures here)

 Saray and Anabel

 

 

 

There was a guy who was doing some cartoons. 

 Saray's cartoon.

 There was a concert by the band Fulô de Ganga!

 Mine's!

 

I really loved this brooche!

So we had a lovely time, and I met some cute pepole! I really wanna thanks Susana de Castro, who invited me to the Fashion Show... thank you, Susana! And I hope I could meet Anabel sooner, she was so so so lovely!

This was my outfit for that day:

 

Dress, shoes and bag: Blanco

Headband: Primark

We've been having some problems at work, and I've been working so hard because of that, but now it seems that everything it's ok... and with the good weather, I hope I could post some new entries soon. 

By the way, I'm modeling for a Lolita photoshoot this month, I'm so exited about it!

PS: Yes, I'm alive, haha!

PS2: one last picture I "stole" from Anabel's blog, haha! I really love it!

New Orleans: The Food

The food of New Orleans is just like its people and its style: unique, spicy, and varied.  I love New Orleans food and there are so many dishes that take me right back to childhood memories.  The french "po-boy" (or poor boy) sandwich is one of my favorites and I've certainly now hooked my kids.  I don't have photos of this sandwich but I sure can describe it.  Crunchy french bread is essential, the kind you have to yank apart with your teeth.  Delicious, hot, crispy fried seafood, shrimp or oysters, are two of my favorite options.  A spicy mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato are the final additions.  This is not a fancy sandwich.  It was created to fill the hungry stomachs of workmen long ago.  It is simply yummy goodness.

All sorts of treats can be discovered in this dynamic city but I really wanted my kids to taste all of my childhood favorites.  

First stop.  

Cafe du Monde for "The Beignets and Cafe au Lait"

I know! I know!  Any local will say this is such a "touristy" thing to do.  I can't help it.  I "heart" the powdered sugar-drowned beignets and the coffee is so velvety, strong, snappy, and smooth.  I didn't give a hoot if we looked touristy.  In fact, I happily carried back my large can of "Cafe du Monde" Chickory flavored coffee.  When my grandmother visited us out of state, she brought her own can with her in her suitcase!  Good Lord!

Velvety, buttery, pecan-y praline

Next up on the "must try" list were the pecan pralines.  You definitely need a sweet tooth to eat more than one of these creamy confections.  How to describe a praline?  Firmer than fudge but not as chewy.  Melts in your mouth like "divinity candy" but not as fast.  Maple-y flavored...buttery ...sort of... and definitely nutty with the added pecans.  There is a little shop right in the French Quarter where you can watch them being made and then taste a sample.  As a child, this was a surefire delight!

This bottom photo was the one praline that we tried extremely hard to save for my husband.  He had to work so he stayed home.  
Poor him.  
So we tried our best to get one of these back to him intact...sort of. (tee hee)

Last year, when we moved to Texas, we took our kids to a real Rajun Cajun restaurant called Randall's in  Louisiana.  We ordered an appetizer of boiled spicy crawfish.  They were delivered heaped on large trays and the steam and spices were wafting  all around the table.  This moment was priceless!  Our kids were mortified that we were going to eat these "bugs".  Remember, we lived in the North and East Coast for the majority of their childhood.  There weren't any decent crawfish to give my kids as samples while they were growing up.  So, they had never seen or been that close to "'dem bugs".  

More for us!  We cracked away! 

I had no problem digging in and so did my Midwestern husband.  Our kids were truly disgusted.  We had morphed into bug-eating, juice sucking, claw cracking monsters in front of our kids.  They never did try even one bite!!  Not a twinge of remorse crossed my mind as we piled the empty crawfish carcasses (I mean shells) even higher  on the huge trays.  Yum.  I still remember that meal...and my kids' faces!  Priceless!

In the French Quarter, I noticed a few items that were fun to try out.  One was the grilled flavored corn. As we were meandering through the market, this wonderful smell drifted over us.  I adore the taste of corn grilled.  It has such a different taste than just boiled.  The smoky-ness and spices that were added on top with melted butter made a tasty snack.

One treat that I found that my daughter likes, which was a childhood favorite of mine is qumquats.  I have wonderful memories of running wild at my country school during our long recesses.  My school bears no comparison to any of today's schools.  We had country air, fields to run in, wild blackberries to pick, and qumquats to munch.  We would pick them off of small trees by the handfuls.  Qumquats are like teeny tiny oranges.  You pop one into our mouth and chew on the entire fruit.  Its a wonderful mixture of tangy-ness and sweetness.  Memories like this make me realize that our decision to homeschool must have been in part to give our kids a taste of the freedoms both my husband and I enjoyed as children.

No idea why this photo won't turn

My son definitely noticed that in every little market we walked into there were these Zappos chips prominently displayed.  With titles like "Gumbo Voodoo" who could resist?  We tried them for fun but we all agreed these are a thumbs up!

Oh, and last but not least!  The "piece de resistance"!  Cracklins!  or Chitlins depending on which cajun you are talking to.  I have wonderful memories of these morsels.  Back then, (notice I am old enough now to say things like 'back then' ... oiy.) you couldn't buy cracklins in a store packaged the way you can today.  

I remember my grandmother's maid, Rose, would make real cracklins when we were  kids.  These were greasy and hot little squares of pig skin with fat.  She would fry them right there in the kitchen and then call my brothers and I  to come for a sample.  We would eagerly come running, anticipating the greasy deliciousness. We had no real idea of what we were eating.  Rose stood over us with a twinkle in her eye and a low chuckle in her throat.  

We loved Rose.