August 2013 - 3 challenges

 Remember the almond milk we made together? I finally decided to actually make something out of the almond meal. I went online, looked for the recipe for almond butter, and this is what I got. Here's the website I went to. I am excited about this site. I'm gonna try making nutella next! My kids really liked the almond butter on crackers and pita chips. My blades didn't work well like the author had warned. I had to put more honey and coconut oil in it to make it thicker so it would mix.

 Next, a completely vegan meal my family loves. It's a cantonese dish called lettuce wrap. This dish costs an arm and a leg at PF chang's!

Instead of a meat, I used tempeh which is a vegan product. I mixed it with waterchestnut, mushrooms, raw peanuts, and a small can of hoisin sauce. I served it with miso soup and green leaf lettuce.

This was actually tonight's dinner. I always make the pizza but tonight I figured to let my kids do it. We got some free "sandwich thins" so we laid them out, let them chop the veggies up, spread tomato sauce on their breads, sprinkled cheese on the top, and baked them. My kids loved them!!! I did too. It was cheap, easy, and less work!!

July 2013 Cheesy pasta

We used to go to olive garden on Sundays and I would always get their Ziti al Forno. One day, I just decided I was going to try making it myself with my own tweaks.

I bought a box of Garden Delight Trio Italiano pasta and make it as instructed. Then I make a sauce with a 6oz can of tomato paste, 2 fresh tomatoes, sweet peas, 2 cups of water, and seasoning. When the sauce and the pasta are ready, I mix them together, and grate 3 oz mozzarella cheese on the top and then stir it in. That will make the pasta really stringy and yummy! 

I have also experimented this dish with different types of pasta, veggies, or cheese. They are all great. My family loves this dish I stole from OG. ;-)

July 2013

Oh wow, where have I been?! I have no excuses. Too many recitals to prepare for, VBSes, and housework! Yes, I have been doing all my dishes and been cooking new foods. I accidentally deleted my Cantonese lettuce wraps pictures thinking I had posted them already. Apparently, not.

This is my new experiment. I got it on facebook somewhere. I promise to myself I will get better at blogging... in the near future.

http://myfridgefood.com/ViewRecipe.aspx?recipe=21020

March - Vietnamese Yogurt

I know I am early on this one. It's only the first week of March and I already made something. A confession: it's because I am seriously nervous about a mini jazz concert I'm playing at tonight. I am way too nervous to touch my violin and cooking is oddly calming me down. I think it's for a mid term grade...

This is the website I got my recipe from. The whole website looks pretty legit. I might be getting more recipes from there to try out.

My first batch did not come out right. The yogurt was still the same runny liquid I first poured into the little jars.. :-(

Today, second week of March, I am redoing the yogurt. This time with water that is less hot. Hopefully my bacteria won't be killed. I went online and tried to find an actual temperature. This website has more details and does the yogurt a bit differently but it has a temperature for the water!

I will let you know this batch works out ;-)

MARCH 31------ Update on the yogurt

Well, I have tried and tried... and failed. So, maybe it's just not my time to make Vietnamese Yogurt. So.... On to the next project!!

February Challenge: Sourdough Waffles

My husband bought me a waffle maker from Facebook so I have been itching to try it out. I didn't wanna just make waffles, I wanted to make sourdough waffles with my homegrown sourdough!!! If you want to try to grow your own bacteria, this is how.  

So, I grew my sourdough, and when it was ready to be used, I took out 2 cups of sourdough, mixed in 2 eggs, some olive oil, some salt, tiny bit of baking soda (to make it more bubbly), and yes, molasses. 

Well, guess what happened to me. I told you from the beginning why this section of my blog was created, right? To experiment and challenge myself because I am not good in the kitchen? Yeah. Look at my pictures. It took me just one very hard to take out waffle to figure out I needed some kinda oil on my waffle iron. When I showed these pictures to my friends, they told me I was crazy and actually needed to spray PAM on it. Well, I didn't have PAM and I don't ever want to use PAM so I just drench olive oil on the iron. Guess what happened. Yes, the batter spilled out. HA! Anyway, I finally did it. The kids really liked my waffles though. It was very very tasty, and crispy because of the bubbly sourdough. 

Click here for the other sourdough foods I have made.

Homemade Kombucha

ALERT: If you have a sensitive stomach, you might not want to look at the photos I have on this post. 

I make Kombucha  A friend introduced me to it, yes, another health nut. :-) Kombucha is a health drink. The syllable "Cha" means tea in Chinese and Cantonese. But I believe this drink is from Russia. Kombucha has a lot of benefits. It detoxes the body and supplies the body with probiotics. 

The liquid is tea of course. The lighter colored liquid is Green tea and the darker colored is Chrysanthemum tea. The white mushroom looking thing is called Scoby. Not Scooby. ScOby. It is an organism. This Scoby absorbs the sugar I put in the tea and also caffeine, so I have heard, and spits out bubbles of probiotics into the tea. After a few days of brewing, the tea becomes "carbonated" and not sweet. Many people use Kombucha recipes to make different flavored drinks. 

Scobies are grown. I have grown some just by leaving a bowl of Kombucha around (covered). One risk that I know of is that if you leave the Scoby in for too long, the alcohol content will be high. So, here's how to make Kombucha:

1. Boil 2 cups of water (I use filtered)

2. 20 min 4 tea bags (any tea but tea with oil, like earl grey)

3. Mix in 1 cup white sugar

4. Mix in 2 cups cold water

5. Put in Scoby and cover

6. Leave in a warm dark place for 2-4 days

7. Strain Kombucha and store in refrigerator

8. Repeat 1-7 for the Scoby

GREEN TEA

CHRYSANTHEMUM TEA 

Playing Catch up - December Challenge in January

Merry Christmas and Happy 2013!!!!! So you have noticed I totally did not do anything in December. You are correct ha! My husband totally spoiled me and cooked almost every meal for 2 weeks. What can I say? He is a keeper. I have no where to brag so I am bragging here LOL! He spoils me every week to a date and his leadership in this household allows me to breathe as a wife. Financially, he has grown to be so responsible. Physically, he challenges me to eat healthy and stay fit. Spiritually, let's just say it's so good to know God speaks to your husband so as a wife, you can completely rely on his partnership with the Lord. There is nothing better than to be married to a godly man, full of integrity and wisdom. He is super protective of me and is willing to do the grunt work to keep this family tight knit. There. ;-) That's why I didn't cook much in December. 

First thing in December I made: Basil Pesto. It was super good. It smelled delicious. I cut 2 cups of my indoor basil, shredded cheese, put 3 cloves of garlic, olive oil, if you like nuts you could put pine nuts or walnuts. I had bought store brand basil pesto so I made two pizzas, one with the fresh pesto, one with processed. Seriously, the fresh pizza was the BOMB.

Second thing I made, Cheesy chips. I shredded cheese, put oil in a pan, baked it till it was crispy. As you can see, this was over cooked. My son started to vomit right when I turned the oven off and I left the pan in the oven and this was what happened. It was super crispy though and still good. My kids loved it.

No I did not make this pomelo. This is a fruit I used to eat, growing up in Hong Kong. It was good but nothing compared to the ones I had as a child. In my opinion, you have not had fruit till you have traveled to Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, or Thailand for their fruits. Take your pick for your next vacation!

Last on the menu, kale chips. Yes, the ones my lil sister introduced me to! YUMMY YUM YUM!!!!! It was  a piece of cake. I literally ripped out the leaves, drizzled oil and salt, spread it on a pan, put in the oven till I thought they looked crispy, and voila! My babies loved them.

I don't know what food I am going to do next, I was thinking trying to make apple crisps. What do you think? Which recipe should I try out next for January? Comment below.