Sago Coconut milk dessert with mini tapioca

Sago Coconut milk is a traditional Chinese dessert that is made with a boiling process of the mini tapiocas, milk, and coconut cream together. This delicacy is super silky to taste and has a fresh and creamy smell of coconut. With the chewy tapioca, it makes the perfect pair. This dessert also comes in a variety of flavors. For example you can add mango, taro, red beans and much more to customize it. Today I will be teaching you guys how to make  a coconut flavored one.

Ingredients: 1 can of coconut cream, 6 cups of milk, 1 cup of mini tapioca, and 1/2 cup of sugar
Steps: First boil the tapiocas until they turn clear and rinse them under cold water and strain. Let it cool, then in a pot, bring your milk, coconut cream and sugar to a simmer, making sure that the heat is low. Once everything is combined, add the tapiocas and mix well.

When straining any ingredients, use a strainer or sift to ensure all the water is removed (Paul 227). This is important in the process of making anything because it ensures that there are no excess liquid in your ingredients. During the process of boiling, make sure  to choose a pot with a thick bottom. "Choose a heavy-based pot, usually for making sauces or liquids" (Paul 214). I learned that this is important because a thin bottom can lead to burning to the substance and can ruin the taste and appearance of you end product.
This dessert can be served cold or hot. Also they can be accessorized with different toppings such as beans, ice cream, mochi, and also whipped cream. To decorate mines, I sliced up some strawberries and placed it on top to add some color.
What are your guys' favorite traditional dessert?

Perfect Pork Sliders

Making Pork Sliders

For my last blog post i decided to end off with a more complicated dinner recipe. This recipe consisted of  pork shoulder that had been slow cooking in the crock-pot since the AM, a homemade coleslaw, tomato, avocado, and adorable little slider buns. I woke up early to prep the veggies, and citrus fruits for the pork to marinate in all day. I went with the original recipe and cooked it in a slow cooker instead of an oven because Rachel Hollis had said that it can dry out in the oven but the slow cooker will keep it moist and full of flavor (Hollis 101). The actual recipe for the sliders come from the section of the cookbook called "leftovers" and uses the leftover pork from the "mango chipotle carnitas" recipe. My parents picked out this recipe and had basically told me to make it! You know what they say, mom's know best!


The slider's turned out to be AMAZING! The pork was bursting with flavor from the mango, onions, jalapeno's combined with the lime and orange juice. The sliders also included a homemade coleslaw to go along with the juicy meat.  Then, to go on top of that the meat the recipe called for avocado and tomato. Normally I would've taken the tomato out of the recipe completely but Rachel had said "if you have leftover carnitas this is a great way to use them with a totally different flavor palate" (Hollis 148). So I figured I should incorporate all the ingredients that were called for so we were able to have the full flavor experience. Overall these were a huge hit in my family.



What recipes/dishes have you guys had that were made in a slow-cooker? 

Hollis, Rachel. Upscale Downhome: Family Recipes, All Gussied Up. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin, 2016.    

Delicious Side Dish

Garlic Herb Accordion Potatoes 

Side dishes, not the main star of the meal, but the part of the meal that completes it. Like meat and potatoes, the meat is what would be considered the main dish, but pairing it with potatoes fills up your stomach and puts a smile on your face. Which is exactly what I did one night for dinner, my mom was going to make chicken so I volunteered to make the side dish of garlic herb accordion potatoes. The title pretty much describes the whole dish and it sounded really good. I had never really made potatoes of any kind, unless you count microwave mashed potatoes. So I figured it would be a good learning experience for me. The author talks about trying new things in the book. She mentions that the more you try new things because you have a reason to, like this blog assignment, the more likely you are to continue trying new things, even when you don't have a reason. (Hollis, 8). So I took Rachel's advice and attempted to make these accordion potatoes.

The potatoes actually ended up turning out really pretty.  The recipe had me sprinkle cheese on after the dish was done cooking and it was a really nice touch that I thought brought the appearance of the potatoes together. In the book, Rachel Hollis was talking about the word chic and what she thought it meant.  She said "Some days that might mean something small, like putting the takeout on a real plate before you eat it" (Hollis, 6). I thought that this quote related to the dish I made because doing simple things like sprinkling the cheese and cutting the potatoes accordion style elevated the dish's look and allowed the potatoes to cook faster. So all in all this new experience showed me how the little things count in cooking.

What could I have added or changed to elevate this recipe even more?

Hollis, Rachel. Upscale Downhome: Family Recipes, All Gussied Up. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin, 2016.                                                   

Party Appetizer made Simple

Stress Free and Good Looking Recipes

Christmas can be a stressful time for everyone, but in particular for my mom. She has to buy all the presents for everyone, send Christmas letters and on top of that she bakes hundreds of Christmas cookies. We have a party every Christmas Eve at our house, so I decided to be helpful and make a party dip as one of the dishes, which was a perfect blogging opportunity.  I decided to make spicy corn dip (pictured below) which was something I had never had or made before. I got the recipe from the Upscale Downhome cookbook by Rachel Hollis and she mentioned in the book that this dip was one of the most popular recipes on her website (Hollis, 62) so I hoped it would be a good choice for the party.

When I do cook food I usually always make it last minute when I haven't even fully read through the preparation directions. But this time, since I was making it for a special occasion, I took the time to read through the directions the night before so I knew exactly how long this was going to take me. So, the morning of Christmas Eve I woke up early to start prepping my dish because Rachel Hollis had said in her cookbook "Whether it's for twelve people or for two, or just you and your cat, the fact that you put effort into the preparation made it something special" (Hollis, 8). I had fully made the dip before church and was just able to put it into the fridge until closer to the party when it needed to be cooked. Rachel Hollis was right, everybody at the party enjoyed my dip and I thought the bell pepper and scallions added nice color to the dish, so overall it was a success!

What is your favorite party dish? Why is it your favorite?

Hollis, Rachel. Upscale Downhome: Family Recipes, All Gussied Up. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin, 2016.                                                   

Upscaling Comfort Foods

Elevating Your Everyday Cooking

BY: Sienna Scheer

Comfort food. This phrase brings up various images for everybody, that ooey gooey cheesy homemade macaroni and cheese your mom makes, or that warm apple pie that as soon as it comes out of the oven fills your house with the smell of cinnamon. Well those are exactly the kind of foods that are included in Upscale Downhome by Rachel Hollis. Her book is all about how to take basic foods and present them in a way that is higher end. (Hollis, 7) 

I have always been interested in baking, but have never been big into cooking. Higher end presentation has never been my strong suit either. I decided to start out like every meal does, with an appetizer. I made pigs in a blanket. Instead of just wrapping hot dogs in crescent rolls, I wrapped the mini hot dogs into buttery, flaky puff pastry and topped it with a little bit of egg wash and freshly ground pepper before they went into the oven. Because like Rachel Hollis said "Go one extra step further. Add one unexpected ingredient or take the extra minute to put your dish on a pretty tray." (Hollis, 8). I also created a homemade honey mustard dipping sauce to go along with the dish. I decided to plate the dipping sauce in the center of the bright white platter and to surround the pigs in a blanket around them, to make it look as pretty as possible. This book has made me realize the taste of the food is not the only thing that matters but also how you present it.

Do you think that the way your food looks affects how good it tastes?

                           Hollis, Rachel. Upscale Downhome: Family Recipes, All Gussied Up. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin, 2016.                                                   

Swedish Pancakes

We made it! This is my last blog post! Since this is the last blog post, I though I would make a dessert. This recipe is Swedish Pancakes! Even though these are pancakes, they taste and act like crepes. According to the baker of this recipe, Susan Johnson, these pancakes are crepelike pancakes that are a little lighter than traditional pancakes (245). The difference between Swedish pancakes and crepes are that they're thinner and are made on a nonstick skillet which makes them easy to flip. This recipe makes about 20 eight-inch Swedish pancakes which is enough for multiple people depending on how many pancakes you want to give people.

The ingredients you'll need are:

• 2 cups milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 tablespoon salt
• Lingonberries or raspberries
• Seedless raspberry jam or fruit spread, warmed
• Whipped topping
  

Steps to make this dish:

1. "In a blender, combine first six ingredients. Cover and process until blended. Heat a lightly greased 8-in. nonstick skillet; pour 1/4 cup batter into center. Lift and tilt pan to evenly coat bottom. Cook until top appears dry; turn and cook 15-20 seconds longer" (Johnson 245).

     Tip: In order to get smooth Swedish pancakes, either sift the flour before you mix it with the other ingredients or strain the batter after all the ingredients are blended together.

Step 1 - Combine first six ingredients 

Straining the batter

Strained batter

Step 1 -  Pour 1/4 cup batter into center and evenly coat bottom of pan

Step 1 - Flip pancakes once top appears dry

2. "Repeat with remaining batter, adding oil to skillet as needed. Stack pancakes with waxed paper or paper towels in between. Reheat in the microwave if desired" (Johnson 245).

3. "Fold pancakes into quarters; serve with berries, raspberry jam and whipped topping" (Johnson 245).

Final Product

These crepes were incredibly delicious and was a type of dessert you could make in minutes! While making these I learned that when making Swedish pancakes or crepes you need to have a fast hand because once you pour the batter in the skillet, the pancakes start cooking right away. At first I didn't have a fast hand and made some not fully circular pancakes; but once you get into the mojo, your hands start working faster and your pancakes become more circular! Since this is the last blog, I hope that you guys try all the 5 recipes I've made in the past 3 months and make them better than I did since I've said some tips about all of them. Thanks for tuning in on my blogs!

Question:

What's your favorite dessert? What's your favorite toppings to put on your dessert? Have you ever tried crepes?

Citation:

Johnson, Susan. "Swedish Pancakes." The Taste of Home Cookbook: Best Loved Recipes from Home Cooks like You. Greendale, Wisc.: Reader's Digest, 2014. 245. Print.

Chow Mein - use steam, not oil!

A very common way to make Chow Mein is to heat oil on the stove and then cook everything hot and fast. But if you're looking to have a better-tasting, better textured dish, cook the chow mein at a medium pace and use water to steam the vegetables and noodles. When everything is ready to be added into the pan, turn the heat up to medium high and add ingredients. Add 1/4 cup of water and cover the pan with a lid. Let the water completely evaporate. After all the water is gone, take the lid off, stir the contents and season with preferred spices. Most Chow Mein recipes call for you to "prod a vegetable with a wooden steak" and this is a good idea because it shows you how well or how poorly your vegetables are cooked. Since noodles are basically done after you boil them, the vegetables being crisp and thoroughly cooked is crucial to the quality of the dish.

Have you ever served food to someone that wasn't cooked 100% thoroughly? How can you make sure that doesn't happen again?

Soba Salad

傍 or soba means noodle in Japanese. I made a simple noodle salad with a 酒 (sake, Japanese wine) vinaigrette. I chopped up some common vegetables such as cucumber, olives, lettuce, and carrots. I tossed them in a bowl and poured the sake in as I mixed everything together. I poured the boiled 焼きそば (yakisoba) noodles over the contents of the bowl. Once they were incorporated, I sprinkled toasted sesame seeds and chopped peanuts over the top. 

Have you ever had a meal where alcohol was one of the main ingredients?

Soy Sauce Noodle Rice Wraps

Today I made soy sauce noodles and added a twist to them. Instead of putting them into a bowl, I put them into a rice wrap and created these rolls. On the rice wrap package, it says to "dip the sheet into warm water for 5 seconds and then quickly place contents in and roll". I found out (the hard way) that these wraps harden very fast after they are dipped in the water. I had a lot of problems with this dish. As I wrapped more and more rolls, the previous one had already cooled by the time I was done with the next. I made 8 rolls in total. The first wrap was ice cold while the eighth was still steaming. Next time I make these I will have to find a way to keep finished wraps warm until I'm one with all of them.
 

Have any of you ever had a problem like this? If so, what happened?

Chicken Thighs with Shallots & Spinach

Hello. . . is it me you're looking for? Hahaha welcome back to my food blogs! This is my second to last blog so I'm going to try to end this with amazing food that will leave you speechless! This recipe is called Chicken Thighs with Shallots & Spinach. It tastes more amazing that how it sounds. Genna Johnson, the founder of this dish, says that it has an "eye-catching presentation and goes together in no time flat for a healthy supper" (A23). The recipe that is given in the cookbook includes white wine. But if you can't use white wine because of certain reasons, the recipe gives the alternative, which is chicken broth. For this recipe, I will use chicken broth, but you're more than welcome to use white wine when doing this yourself. 

The ingredients you'll need are:

• 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup white wine or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 package (10 ounces) fresh spinach
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream

Steps to make this dish:

1. Sprinkle seasoned salt and pepper on both sides of the chicken. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat the oil over medium heat. Add chicken to the skillet and cook for 6 minutes on each side or until a thermometer reads 170° (or until your chicken is fully cooked). Remove the chicken from the pan and keep the pan warm (Johannes A23).

Step 1 - Sprinkle salt and pepper on chicken and cook on nonstick skillet

Step 1 - Cook chicken until cooked

2. "In same pan, cook and stir shallots until tender. Add wine [or chicken broth]; bring to a boil. Cook until wine [or chicken broth] is reduced by half. Add spinach and salt; cook and stir just until spinach is wilted. Stir in sour cream; serve with chicken" (Johannes A23).

Step 2 - Cook and stir shallots until tender

Step 2 - Add chicken broth

Step 2 - Add spinach and salt

Final Product

This dish was simple to make and is full of flavor! This dish was an enjoyable meal to eat and was worth all the time it took to cook. The spinach, shallots, and chicken broth adds a load of flavor to the chicken and gives the dish a creamy kind of onion flavored base. The onion base taste makes it an amazing dish to eat altogether! Hopefully you try this recipe and love it as much as I did!

Question:

How do you like your chicken? Fried? Grilled? Roasted? What side dishes would you like to go with your chicken? Have you ever tried dishes with white wine in them?

Citation:

Johannes, Genna. "Chicken Thighs with Shallots & Spinach." The Taste of Home Cookbook: Best Loved Recipes from Home Cooks like You. Greendale, Wisc.: Reader's Digest, 2014. A23. Print.

Sweet and Crunchy Green Beans

Vegetables were the worst nightmare of many of us when we were younger. Now a lot of us have learned to like/love certain ones. One vegetable I never learned to like, until I made this new dish, was green beans. My dish today is 'Sweet and Crunchy Green Beans'. What I love about this dish, and adds for a lot more flavor, is bacon.

               This specific recipe by Juli Bauer, author of Paleo Cookbook, calls for thick cut bacon (Bauer 198), but seeing as I did not have thick cut, I used regular cut and it turned out delicious. This was overall a very fun dish to cook because I loved sautéing the onions and making the bacon in order to mix it with the green beans. The key ingredient in this recipe was to “leave 3 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan” (Bauer 198) because it allowed for that bacon flavor to soak into the green beans. It may sound like too much bacon, but the fat combined with the onion, does not make give the green beans an overpowering bacon flavor.

               Once the green bean mixture of green beans, onions, and bacon was completely done and cooked, the recipe calls for Almond slices (Bauer 198) to be sprinkled on top. As you can see in the picture to the left, I did not do that, but if you ever make this dish you certainly can. I would definitely recommend this dish to anybody who is looking for a slightly sweet and savory vegetable dish. I made this to be on the side of a steak dish, but it would be good for most any meal.

What are your favorite vegetables? What types of dishes do you pair them with?

Bauer, Juli, Bill Staley, and Hayley Mason. Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook: Over 100 Gluten-free Recipes to Help You Shine from within. Las Vegas: Victory Belt, 2015. Print.

Garlic and Steak

Garlic. Garlic is my absolute favorite spice/herb/vegetable. I try to use it in most of my foods if it is appropriate to include it. I love the smell of it, the look of it, the smell of it, pretty much every aspect of it. So for my dish today, I really wanted to do a more everyday Paleo food, that obviously included Garlic. I made 'Steak Frites with Herb Garlic Roasted Butter'.

               The nice thing about this dish is that it is naturally Paleo, so you don’t have to go specialty shopping for different flours or any other non-common ingredients. Most of us have probably previously eaten some form of steak so it’s not a super weird or unusual food.

               Steak is steak, but the key aspect to make this a delicious dish, is the Herb Garlic Roasted Butter. To successfully make this garlic butter, I needed to roast some garlic. Juli Bauer, author of Paleo Cookbook, gave a tip on how to roast the garlic butter: she said, “Cut ¼ inch off the end of the bulb to expose the cloves inside” (114). I, while making this recipe, accidentally overlooked that step, and did not do it. However after I roasted the garlic for 30 minutes in a 400 degree oven (Bauer 114), it came out just fine and perfectly roasted. Some of you might think, ‘Why not use powered garlic?’, well that’s because you get a more authentic and rich garlic flavor if you roast it.

               After my steak was coated with a simple dry rub made of several spices, it went on the grill. Since I’m far from able to cook a steak well, I had a bit of help from my step-dad, my house’s grill master. The picture to the right shows the final product of the steak, along with a dollop of the garlic butter on top.

What is your favorite spice to either eat or cook with? Do you like steak? Did you know you were eating something naturally Paleo?

Bauer, Juli, Bill Staley, and Hayley Mason. Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook: Over 100 Gluten-free Recipes to Help You Shine from within. Las Vegas: Victory Belt, 2015. Print.

Healthy Recipe: Roasted Tofu

Healthy Recipe: Roasted Tofu

Recently I had decided to go pescatarian which basically means your vegetarian except you eat fish and seafood. I’ve been needing to find new recipes to try while I’m not eating other meats that I used to eat often for dinner and other meals. Here’s the recipe which was under Entrees.

“Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 package extra firm tofu

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons canola oil

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon chili sauce (such as Siracha)” (Stollman 237).

While making the recipe and gathering the ingredients, I realized I had bought the wrong kind of tofu. There are 3 different kinds of tofu including soft, firm and extra firm. I accidently bought firm tofu but it still worked but it sort of got misshaped. I also didn’t have chili sauce in my house but it still turned out fine.

Here’s the Directions:

  1. Cut up the Tofu

  2. Line a bowl with paper towels, put the tofu inside and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

  3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

  4. In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients besides tofu

  5. Add tofu to bowl of sauce and gently toss to coat.                             

  6. Transfer to sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes and turn once until golden brown

  7. Enjoy (Stollman 237).

In the end I tried the tofu and honestly thought it didn’t taste like much. I was slightly disappointed when trying it along with getting the wrong kind of tofu so while preparing it, the tofu was breaking into small pieces. I feel like next time I should let it marinate in the sauce for about an hour so that maybe the tofu will absorb the sauce and become more flavorful. I would recommend it though because it’s not that bad and if you doctor it up a little it can be really tasty!

What’s your favorite dinner? Do you like or ever eat Tofu?

MLA: Stollman, Lisa, MA, RD, CDE, CDN. The Teen Eating Manifesto: The Ten Essential Steps to Losing Weight, Looking Great and Getting Healthy. Northport, NY: Nirvana, 2012. Print.

"Peanut Butter" and Jelly Cups

               I love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I get it from my father, we both Loveeeeee them. When I was looking through Juli Bauer’s “Paleo Cookbook” I happen to run across a “Peanut Butter” and Jelly Chocolate Cups. This excited me. I knew I had to make it. The jelly part of it seem odd to me but I was willing to test it.

The Paleo aspect of this dish, is that it doesn’t use real peanut butter. Instead, Juli Bauer has us combine sunflower seed butter and honey (Bauer 218) in order to make our own peanutless peanut butter. Since I did not have Sunflower Seed Butter on hand when I was making this, I used Almond Butter instead.

It was pretty easy making these, and fun too. I think the hardest part of this recipe was to attempt to get it decent looking. I know it should be all about the flavor, but sometimes things gotta look pretty too. But I totally failed in that category. The third recipe of the recipe says “Place less than 1 tablespoon of melted chocolate in each muffin line, spreading the chocolate over the bottom of the line and up the sides” (Bauer 218). When I was doing this step, instead of making a nice chocolate outside, it looked like a 5-year-old had come in and tried to do this. Chocolate on the outsides of the muffin liners, chocolate dripping on the counter, and uneven sides. Let’s just say spreading chocolate isn’t my forte.

All in all, everything turned out good. It may not have looked nice, but it sure did taste good. I have to say that “peanut butter” and jelly tastes pretty dang good with chocolate. But next time, I think I’m going to stick with a dish that doesn’t require spreading chocolate. 

                                                 [Picture of Final Product]

Would you consider eating this dish? What do you think about Peanutless Peanut Butter?

Bauer, Juli, Bill Staley, and Hayley Mason. Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook: Over 100 Gluten-free Recipes to Help You Shine from within. Las Vegas: Victory Belt, 2015. Print.

That Pizza Life

               This whole Paleo foods thing has been quite the interesting experience. A fun experience no doubt, but very different from normal cooking and eating.

               I’m a HUGE lover of pizza. I think a lot of people are. Good thing that my “Paleo Cookbook” by Juli Bauer had a Pizza Crust recipe. Toppings are pretty straight forward. You place whatever edible thing you desire and can call it a pizza. The crust on the other hand, is not as straight forward and either makes the pizza, or it completely ruins it. Contrary to normal pizza crust, and like everything in a Paleo lifestyle, it is completely Gluten Free. Now gluten free does not mean flour free, it just means you can’t use ingredients that contain gluten, such as wheat. Instead of using wheat flour for this pizza crust the recipe calls for “Tapioca flour/starch . . . [and] Coconut Flour” (Bauer 288).

               After following the recipe and making the dough, to make a pizza, you have to put it into the iconic pizza shape. When I tried to do this, it didn’t exactly work out as I had planned. There was a little too much dough which caused me to have to make a more square shaped pizza (see below). The recipe did say that it would make a 12-inch crust (Bauer 288), but because my pans were limited, I could not do that. Suffice to say, next time I might try to make two pizzas out of the dough.

               12 minutes after putting my crust in the oven, it came out puffy and really tasty. Most gluten free crusts are more flat so this was a great surprise. Several toppings, and a bunch of cheese later, my family and I had a wonderful half cheese, half vegetable pizza that was incredibly delicious [see below picture].

What do you think about using other flours in cooking? What is your favorite type of pizza? Any weird combinations of toppings? 

Bauer, Juli, Bill Staley, and Hayley Mason. Juli Bauer's Paleo Cookbook: Over 100 Gluten-free Recipes to Help You Shine from within. Las Vegas: Victory Belt, 2015. Print.

Confetti Corn

For my last blog I decided to make something I had never tried making before, confetti corn. I found a page in my recipe book that was titled confetti corn, and I had never heard of anything like it so I decided to try it out. There’s different corn recipes that I’ve tried before but none of them had similar ingredients to this one.

The ingredients include

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• ½ cup chopped red onions
• 1 small orange bell pepper, ½ inch diced
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 4 cups corn kernels
• 1½ tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 Tbsp. julienned fresh basil
• 2 Tbsp. minced fresh chives

The first step is to heat the oil in a large sauté pan on medium heat.

Add the onions into the pan and sauté them for 5 minutes so that the onions become soft. Then stir in the bell peppers and sauté them for 2 more minutes (Garten, 160). First I added the onions and sautéed them for roughly 5 minutes on medium heat until the onions became slightly brown and soft. Then I added in the diced bell pepper to the pan and sautéed them for about 2 minutes.

Then add the butter to the pan and allow for it to melt.

“Over medium heat, add the corn, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the corn just loses its starchiness” (Garten, 160). I first cooked the corn for 5 minutes then I checked if they were still starchy by pulling a few of them out and checking if they were still sticky, some of the corn kernels were still a little bit sticky. So I cooked them for about 2 more minutes and checked them again and they weren’t sticky anymore so I knew they were done cooking.

For seasoning add in the chives and basil, then serve confetti corn while its hot and enjoy.

The confetti corn turned out pretty good especially for my first time making it. I definitely will we be making it again. And I recommend you try.

Do you often modify your recipes and experiment with them, or do you like to stick to the original recipe?

Garten, Ina. Barefoot Contessa Back to the Basics. New York, Clarkson Potter, 2008. Print

Baked Potatoes

For my fourth blog I decided to venture out and try to make one of my favorite side dishes, a baked potato. My recipe book had a great recipe for baked potatoes paired with a yogurt and sour cream mixture.

The ingredients include:

• 4 large potatoes
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. pepper

The first step is to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

The second step is to “Wash the potatoes and place them directly on the oven baking rack. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, until very tender when pierced with a skewer” (Garten, 166).  I did exactly what Garten had said to do, I baked the potatoes first for 45 minutes then checked them to see if they were cooked, they weren’t fully baked so I baked them for 10 minutes more then checked them again by piercing the potatoes, they were finally fully baked and tender so I pulled them out.

Then combine the yogurt, sour cream, chives, salt, and pepper to make the chives dressing (Garten, 166). In the recipe it didn’t specify exactly how they wanted you to combine all the ingredients, so what I did was I put all the ingredients into a bowl and mixed everything with a spoon until all of it was thoroughly combined.

When the potatoes are done, cut them down the middle, and squeeze the ends. Then sprinkle them with some salt and pepper and then serve the hot potatoes with the cold chive and sour cream mixture.

The baked potatoes turned out great, and the chives dressing was really good as well, it tasted delicious with the baked potatoes.

What’s your favorite potato dish; mashed potatoes, French fires, hash browns, potato salad, etc.?

Garten, Ina. Barefoot Contessa Back to the Basics. New York, Clarkson Potter, 2008. Print.             

Burritos Made Easy

¡Hola amigos! How was your Christmas? Did you spend time with family? I did and I absolutely loved it! Anyway, all Christmas conversations aside, the recipe I'm going to share with you today is a simple fast fix recipe that will fill you up and bring smiles to everyone who eats it. This recipe is so simple to make that it's called Burritos Made Easy. According to Jennifer McKinney, the creator of this simple recipe, these burritos are "packed with beef and bean filling for a taste of the Southwest. And since the recipe makes eight big burritos, you can feed a crowd!" (A10). This dish is a must have if you're having a burrito bar, and is certain to fill you up! This recipe makes eight big burritos, but since I made these for more than 8 people, the pictures show 2x more food than you'll actually get if you only make 8 burritos.

The ingredients you'll need are:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 can (15 ounces) chili with beans
• 1 1/4 cups chunky salsa
• 1/4 cup canned chopped green chilies
• 8 warmed flour tortillas (8 inches)
• 8 slices process American cheese
• OPTIONAL: Taco sauce and shredded lettuce

Steps to make this dish:

1. "In a large skillet, cook the beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in chili, salsa and green chilies. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes" (McKinney A10).

Step 1 - Cook the Beef and Onion

Step 1 - Cook the Beef and Onion until no longer pink

Step 1 - Add the Chili, Salsa, and Green Chilies

2. Put about 1/2 cupful beef mixture (or however much you want) on each tortilla. Add a slice of cheese (lettuce - optional) on top and roll it up. Serve with taco sauce if desired (McKinney A10).

Step 2 - Add Beef Mixture to Center of Tortilla

Step 2 - Top with Slice of Cheese (Lettuce is Optional)

Step 2 - Roll the Burrito

I know this isn't an authentic Mexican burrito, but making this burrito was one of the fastest meals I've ever made. It was simple and easy to make, but it tasted like it took hours to make. The beef mixture in this recipe was one in a million. You could taste all of the ingredients that were put into the flour tortillas working together to taste like perfection in a wrap. The beef, the chili, the salsa, the green chilies, the cheese, and the lettuce all did their part in making this burrito taste amazing!

Question:

What's your favorite Mexican food? Have you ever tried authentic Mexican food? Have you ever been to Mexico and tried their food? If so, when did you go and what dish was it? 

Citation:

Gomm, Stacie. "Pasta Arrabbiata (Angry Pasta)." The Taste of Home Cookbook: Best Loved Recipes from Home Cooks like You. Greendale, Wisc.: Reader's Digest, 2014. 294. Print.

Pasta Arrabbiata (Angry Pasta)

Hey guys! How has your break been so far? There's only 1 day until Christmas, then after that New Year's is right around the corner! Wow this year has gone by fast. Well this recipe isn't a traditional Christmas recipe that you'd find at a Christmas dinner. It's an Italian recipe that is sure to make a red appearance on the dinner table at a Christmas party. Stacie Gomm, the chef of this recipe, says that this Italian recipe is called Pasta Arrabbiata or Angry Pasta because "you can add more or less crushed red pepper to define how angry you would like your pasta" (294). This recipe will spice up the menu for a Christmas dinner but still have the red sauce to make it look like a traditional meal.

The ingredients you'll need are:

• 1/2 pound bacon strips, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3 cans (15 ounces each) tomato puree
• 6 thinly sliced basil leaves
• 1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 cups uncooked penne pasta
• Grated Parmesan cheese

Steps to make this dish:

1. "In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon; discard drippings" (Gomm 294). After the bacon is cooked, chop it until it's in bite-size pieces.

Step 1 - Cook the Bacon

Step 1 - Cook the Bacon (cont.)

2. Using the same skillet, salute garlic in olive oil for 1 minute then add tomato puree, basil, pepper flakes and bacon. Bring it to a boil and reduce heat. Let it simmer for 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend and stir it occasionally (Gomm 294).

Step 2 - Making the Sauce

3. "Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Serve with sauce; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese" (Gomm 294).

Step 3 - Making the Pasta

Step 3 - Making the Pasta (cont.)

Final Product

This dish is a twist on a simple pasta recipe. It has crushed red pepper to spice it up and make it a type of pasta that isn't typically basic. But it is also topped with Parmesan cheese to remind us that it is a signature Italian dish. Having this be the second meal to cook made me feel like an Italian chef with the way it turned out! This dish tastes amazing, looks amazing, and smells amazing. Hopefully you give this recipe a try and impress your guests with your delicious Italian Angry Pasta! 

Question:

What's your favorite Italian dish? What kinds of foods do you have at your Christmas dinner(s)? Do your Christmas dinners have dishes all from one culture (exp. all Italian food, all Filipino food, etc.)?

Citation:

Gomm, Stacie. "Pasta Arrabbiata (Angry Pasta)." The Taste of Home Cookbook: Best Loved Recipes from Home Cooks like You. Greendale, Wisc.: Reader's Digest, 2014. 294. Print.