A Chinese feast

On the way home from seeing Wicked in Boise, we stopped at our favorite Chinese restaurant in Idaho Falls. It's just a little hole-in-the-wall place right next to the theater. We decided that we'd order for each other. I got Josh the Hunan Chicken (a little bland) and he got me Mongolian Beef. It was so good, it inspired me to find a recipe for my "new recipe" dinner yesterday. So I found a Slower cooker Mongolian Beef and an Egg Drop soup recipe. Both of these recipes were restaurant quality and they were excellent!! Here they are:

Egg Drop Soup

4 cups chicken broth, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives (I didn't use any, it was fine)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

Reserve 3/4 cup of chicken broth, and pour the rest into a large saucepan. Stir the salt, ginger and chives into the saucepan, and bring to a rolling boil. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining broth and cornstarch until smooth. Stir in the cornstarch mixture gradually until the soup is the desired consistency.In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk together using a fork. Drizzle egg a little at a time from the fork into the boiling broth mixture. Egg should cook immediately.

Amount Per Serving Calories: 79 | Total Fat: 4.2g | Cholesterol: 163mg

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef

1 pound flank steak, cut into bite-size pieces(I used Stew Meat)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3 large green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1/2 cup hoisin sauce

Place garlic, flank steak, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, ginger, and hoisin sauce in a slow cooker on Low. After 2 hours, add the onions and green onions. Cook on Low setting for additional 2 hours. Serve over steamed rice

Amount Per Serving Calories: 450 | Total Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 47mg

Note: for this one, I omitted the sugar because the hoisin sauce is pretty sweet to begin with. To add some kick, I added about a tbsp of Sriracha sauce (hot chili sauce, you can find it and the hoisin sauce in the same section as the soy sauce). Next time, I would add a little more because there wasn't enough kick for my taste.

Digging at my Jewish roots...

Chag Pesach Same'ach! That means Happy Passover in Hebrew. Tomorrow at sunset is the first official day of Passover and at this time of year, I've decided to learn a little more about my Jewish ancestors. These people came from Turkey, of all places. How'd they get there? Don't Jews come from Israel originally? Well, actually...
So picture this... a few years after King Solomon, the once strong country of Israel is split between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. (this is all in the Bible, kids!) The citizens of the Kingdom of Judah are mostly from the tribe of Judah (hence the name Jew) and a little bit of Benjamin and Simeon. The Kingdom of Israel houses mostly the other tribes, who are more commonly known as the Lost Ten Tribes. Sometime after 600 BC, the Babylonians invaded Israel and Judah and carried off a lot of the people (this is where we get the stories of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo from). At that time, the Babylonian empire covered from half of what is now Saudi Arabia all the way up to the southern coast of Turkey. About 50 years later, the Persians took over this empire (this is Esther's time now) and stretched it out west to Macedonia, East to the Indus river, and south to Egypt. And AFTER THAT comes the Roman Empire, which stretched even farther west to Spain.
Enter my ancestors. They were Sephardic Jews and we're from the tribe of Ephraim, one of the Lost Ten Tribes. They probably were captured or ran for their lives to the edges of the Babylonian empire and then were pushed from place to place (probably scattering all over Europe) until my particular group of ancestors settled in Spain (those who settled elsewhere in Europe are called Ashkenazim). They were treated as second class citizens for about 1000 years, then were chased out by Queen Isabella and the Inquisition. They had two choices offered to them: convert to Christianity or die. They took the third option and headed to the Ottoman Empire where the Sultan promised they would have no persecution there. They lived there until the early 1900's. and that's a whole different story of how they got to America. I'll save for some other time.
Anyway, Passover is the celebration of the liberation of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. You know, the plagues of Egypt came and went and Pharaoh still wouldn't set the Hebrews free. So God commanded the Hebrews to mark their door frames with lambs' blood so his final plague would pass them over (hence the feast of Passover). That night, all the firstborn children of the Egyptians died and the Hebrews were spared. It was then that Pharaoh finally decided to let the Hebrews go.
So, to kind of celebrate it, I decided to make Matzo Ball Soup and Charoset. I found these recipes on Jewish websites. The matzo ball soup was found here and the charoseth was found here . As it says on the website, Matzo Ball soup is also known as Jewish penicillin. It's the equivalent of chicken noodle soup, but I think it tastes better!!

1/2 cup matzah meal
2 eggs
2 tbsp. oil or schmaltz (melted chicken fat)
2 tbsp. water or chicken broth
2 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley (I used Italian seasonings instead)
a little black pepper
2 quarts thin chicken broth or consommé
A handful of baby carrots or regular carrots cut into large chunks (optional)
a few stalks of celery cut into large chunks (optional)
Beat the eggs, oil and water together thoroughly. Add the matzah meal, parsley and black pepper and mix until you achieve an even consistency. Let this sit for a few minutes, so the matzah meal absorbs the other ingredients, and stir again.
Bring the broth to a vigorous boil, then reduce the heat until the broth is just barely boiling. Add the vegetables to the broth (if used). Wet your hands and make balls of about 1-2 tbsp. of the batter. Drop the balls gently into the boiling water. They will be cooked enough to eat in about 15 minutes; however, you may want to leave it simmering longer to absorb more of the chicken broth flavor. They are done when they float on top of the broth and look bloated.
For lighter matzah balls, use a little less oil, a little more water, and cook at a lower temperature for a longer time. For heavier matzah balls, do the reverse. If you are using this to treat a cold, put extra black pepper into the broth (pepper clears the sinuses).

I could not find matzah meal to save my life, so I crushed some saltines as a substitution (it's not kosher, but that's ok for me). Make sure if you do this that you crush it really fine or it won't make balls. Mine ended up being a kind of layer on the top, really tasty, but not exactly what I was hoping for. Still, I give it 2 thumbs up and 5 stars!
Charoseth is traditionally a mixture of apples, raisins, and wine. It symbolizes the mortar that the Hebrews made in slavery and also the sweetness of freedom. Since we're LDS and we con't have alcohol, this recipe was great!

Charoseth
(makes 4 cups)
1 pound chopped apples
1 pound dried raisins
8 ounces pitted dates
2 cups water (or as needed)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Place the apples, raisins, and dates in a bowl with enough water to cover. Let stand for 1 hour.
Add the sugar and whirl the mixture in a blender, a few spoonfuls at a time. Or divide the mixture in thirds and place in a food processor.
Transfer the chopped fruits to a heavy saucepan and let simmer over low
heat until the fruits are cooked and the liquid absorbed. It should take about 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat and place in a jar. When cool, sprinkle with chopped nuts.
YIELD: 16 Servings

Mine's currently cooling right now, but it smells amazing! I substituted golden raisins for dates because I don't like them very much. I also added cinnamon and ground cloves because I've noticed most charoseth recipes have spices in it. Anyway, that's all for today, enjoy!!

Awesome breakfast shake or healthy dessert... you choose!

One of the things that Josh raves about when he talks about his mission to the Dominican Republic is called a batida. It literally means "whipped" in Spanish, but it's the equivalent of a milkshake. It's really healthy, especially if you substitute Splenda for sugar. Here's the recipe:
~1 cup crushed ice
1 1/3 cup milk (fat-free for the healthy version)
2 tbsp sugar (or Splenda)
~1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups fresh or frozen fruit
Throw all ingredients into a blender and blend until thick. The more ice, the thicker it will be. If you want to use frozen fruit, you don't necessarily need ice, unless you want it super thick.
Here's the "tour" that I would recommend. Try putting 2 bananas in for your first batida. ¡Es muy rico! Banana tends to make batidas more fluffy. Some other things I've tried are Banana-pineapple, berry banana, berry-grape, chocolate berry (instead of milk, I used a chocolate slim fast shake), Strawberry-pineapple-mango and today's is a Strawberry-peach-banana. In the near future, I'll be trying frozen cherries in my shake. It'll be good, I'm sure!

PBBW/CCF......XYZ

I'm making homemade brownies tonight because I felt like it. I was in a cooking mood today after I made dinner for us and our friends who just had a baby (Congrats Stefan and Tycy!). Seems like everyone is having babies! Makes me want to jump on the bandwagon! (Can you tell how baby hungry I am?)
Anyway, my nonsense title means Peanut Butter Brownies with Cream Cheese frosting... and you will need to x-amine your zipper after eating these!! They smell so good right now!
I had leftover cream cheese frosting from making cinnamon rolls last week, so i wanted to use it in the brownies, but Josh didn't want cream cheese in all his brownies (picky, PICKY!), so I switched to peanut butter. I'm rediscovering how good peanut butter is, especially with chocolate. After ODing on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in grade school, I took a few years' break from peanut butter. Then last Christmas, my then-soon-to-be Mom-in-law introduced me to Peanut Butter Balls, and my interest was again piqued. I've even started taking peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to school for lunch again!
Anyway, the cream cheese frosting is delicious, so here's the recipe, courtesy of Janni at allrecipes.com:
Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.
Nutritional Information

24 Servings. Amount Per Serving Calories: 140 | Total Fat: 10.4g | Cholesterol: 31mg

You gotta know it's good already with that many calories... time I started walking to school just to burn off all the yummy stuff I'm eating again! (my diet was a no-go)
I made a conglomerate of 2 different recipes I found online to make these... The brownies themselves were from Jolinda Hackett at About.com and the peanut butter filling was from busymom#4 at Food.com. Here are the ingredients:
Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups margarine
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa

Peanut Butter filling
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup margarine or 1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 eggs

(Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/peanut-butter-brownies-293020#ixzz1JBP3aZHZ)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt butter and add cocoa; mix. Stir in sugar and blend in the eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Stir in flour and nuts; mix well.
in small bowl, combine peanut butter and margarine; beat until smooth. add sugar and flour;mix well. add 2 eggs, blend well.
Dump the brownie batter into a 9x13 pan. Spoon the peanut butter filling over the top and spread. Marble, if desired. Cook for 30 minutes and let cool for 20-30 minutes...(The cooling part is going to kill me... THEY SMELL SO GOOOOOOOD!!!)
Here's a picture hot out of the oven!

Once they cool, put cream cheese on your slice, if you want. Enjoy!

Boneless Polynesian Ribs!

I'm in the middle of cooking these for the first time and I'm already addicted to the sauce. Good indication? Well, if the meat comes out over cooked, at least I have something yummy to dip it into!!
There was an awesome sale on meat this week at Broulims (our local grocery store chain). 5 packages of meat for 20 bucks. Great deal! Among other things, they were selling sirloin tip steaks (got 2 packages), stew meat (usually about $4.00 a pound!), cod fillets, and boneless pork spare ribs ("country style," what ever that means). I've never really made anything with pork before, I'm not a huge fan of anything that comes from a pig. Except maybe the occasional bacon strip (guys, you have permission to start drooling, I know you always do). But anyway, I looked up recipes pertaining to this particular cut of meat and the most interesting that turned up was Polynesian ribs. It looked delicious, so I showed to Josh and he approved it.
Anyway, here's the original recipe. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I will post the changes in parentheses right next to what I replaced it with. IT'S YUMMY!!!!

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds pork spareribs
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch (I didn't put this much in, I put a little bit into some water and added that, but it didn't make much of a difference. Besides I like it a bit more saucy, not thick)
1/2 teaspoon celery salt (I used garlic salt)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, with juice(I used canned mandarin oranges and crushed them)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup chopped onion (since I don't like onion, I just put in a 1/4 of a jumbo onion and let the layers separate in the sauce... then took them out after it was done)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (I used A-1 steak sauce)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel (I omitted this)
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (I used about a tablespoon of Franks for more kick)
Directions
1.Cut ribs into serving size pieces. Place ribs bone side down on a rack in shallow roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 1 hour(50 minutes if it's boneless); drain.
2.In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, cornstarch, celery salt and ginger. Combine the pineapple, water onion, vinegar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, orange peel and hot pepper sauce. Gradually stir into brown sugar mixture. Bring to a boil; cook for 2 minutes or until thickened. Brush ribs with sauce. Bake 25-35 minutes longer or until meat is tender, basting with sauce several times.

And by the way, for all my friends who don't eat pork or don't like it, I think this sauce would be excellent on chicken (though Josh disagrees). I could eat this sauce all by itself! I needed a lot of self control just to leave some for the ribs!
PS the meat was good too! Too bad I'm too lazy to think up some side dishes for this. Maybe rice? Hawaiian Sweet bread?

My first taste of (and attempt at) South Asian food

Sorry for being gone so long. The second half of the semester was killer! I had no time to cook anything really good and then we went to Texas for Christmas, where I got a bit of a break from cooking and to enjoy my mother-in-law's amazing cooking!
Anyway, today's dish was inspired by one of my best friends. She's Pakistani and she recently posted a photo album with all the food she's been cooking with her mom. Her foods included hot and sour chicken corn soup, roghni naan (a kind of flat bread, this kind has sesame seeds), and spinach, potato and eggplant pakoras. I was interested to know what other kinds of food people in her neck of the woods might eat, so I researched it out a bit. One thing that caught my eye was Tandoori chicken, which I learned is a relatively new dish in the history of Southern Asia. The recipe was developed around the same time that India won its freedom and India and Pakistan split. I guess it's kind of the go-to dish in Indian restaurants, kind of like sweet and sour chicken or broccoli beef in Chinese food and teriyaki or sushi for Japanese food.
In terms of the food, traditionally it's cooked in an oven called a tandoori, which is usually used to cook naan. The guy who developed the recipe marinated his chicken for a while because he knew that the tandoori was too hot to cook regular chicken in without burning it. Eventually, he made it for some head honcho in the Indian government (I think it might have been the Prime Minister?) and they kind of declared it the offical food.
So I had the main dish down. Now I had to find side dishes to go with it. The first thing my search came up with was a recipe for naan. I knew I had plenty of time this weekend to make it since it's only the first week and I knew I wouldn't have too much homework. Which was good since the chicken takes at least 8 hours to marinate and the naan takes at least 2 hours to make.
I'm on a diet right now. I'm watching my portions, measuring EVERYTHING, and especially eating more fruits and veggies. So I had my protein covered and my carbs, and I needed some veggies. I knew I had some extra cucumber in the fridge, so I searched for more Indian side dishes. What I came up with was a Cucumber and Peanut salad. It's especially good when combined with a bite of chicken! Anyway, sorry there are no pictures this time! Here are the recipes and accompanying nutritional information! Happy cooking!

Tandoori Chicken
1 (3lb) chicken, cut into serving pieces, skinned and trimmed of all visible fat
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp peeled and grated or crushed ginger root (I used ground ginger)
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika (for the characteristic red color)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I used 1 tsp of Franks hot sauce)
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt or to taste
vegetable oil
red food coloring (optional)
Prick the the flesh of the chicken all over with a fork. Then, using a sharp knife, cut slashes in the flesh to allow the marinade to penetrate. Place the chicken in a nonreactive, large, shallow dish.
In a nonreactive bowl, combine the yogurt, lemon juice or vinegar, garlic, ginger, cumin, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, cardamom, cloves, black pepper and salt. Stir until well-mixed, then pour the mixture over the chicken and rub it into the flesh, turning the chicken several times. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight. (Do not marinate for longer than 2 days.) Remove the chicken from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before cooking.
The chicken may be grilled or roasted. If using a charcoal grill, prepare a fire for direct-heat cooking. Position the grill rack 5 inches from the fire. Allow the coals to burn until white ash covers them and the heat is moderate.
Remove the chicken from the marinade, pressing lightly to extract excess marinade, and brush with oil. Place the chicken pieces on a well-oiled grill rack and; grill, covered, with the vents open, turning 3 or 4 times, 45 minutes or until the juices run clear when a piece is pierced near the bone with a knife.
If roasting, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan, brush with oil, and cook, turning once, 25 to 30 minutes until the juices run clear when a piece is pierced near the bone with a knife.
Serve with sprigs of cilantro and slices of cucumber, red onion, tomato, and lemon.
Yield: 4 servings
Per serving: 303 calories, 33 percent calories from fat, 45 grams protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, .54 gram total fiber, 11 grams total fat, 124 milligrams cholesterol, 707 milligrams sodium.

Naan (4 servings)
All the reviewers said that this was the best they'd had and I think Josh agreed. I certainly did!
1 1/2 tsps dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsps sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
6 tbsps ghee (clarified butter)
3 tbsps yoghurt
3 teaspoons onion seeds (I sprinkled onion powder on my first batch and garlic salt on my second. We liked the garlic salt better, but the onion powder was great too!)
Preparation:
Add the dry yeast and sugar to the warm water and stir till the yeast is dissolved. Cover and leave aside for 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to froth. This indicates the yeast is active. Keep aside.
Mix the flour and salt to taste and sift through a very fine seive. Put it into a large mixing bowl and now add the yeast mixture, 3 tbsps of ghee and all the yogurt.
Use your fingertips to mix all this into a soft dough. Once mixed, flour a clean, flat surface (like your kitchen counter) and knead the dough till it is smooth and stretchy (elastic).
Grease a large bowl with a few drops of cooking oil and put the dough in it. Cover and allow to rest for about 90 minutes or till the dough doubles in volume.
Punch the dough down and knead again for 10 minutes.
Equally divide the dough and roll between your palms to form 8 round balls.
Lightly flour the same surface on which you kneaded the dough and roll out each ball until you have a circle, 7-8 inches in diameter (1/2 "thick). Gently pull on one edge of the circle to form the Naan into a teardrop shape. Do not pull too hard or you may tear the Naan. Instead of rolling the dough out (with a rolling pin) you can also pat it into a circle with your hands.
Preheat your oven 200 C/ 400 F or Gas Mark 6.
Lay a piece of aluminum foil in an oven tray (to cover) and grease it lightly with a few drops of cooking oil.
Place as many Naans as will fit without touching each other, on the tray.
Brush each Naan with some ghee and sprinkle a pinch of onion seeds all over its surface.
Put the tray into the oven and cook till the Naan begins to puff out and get lightly brown. Flip the Naan and repeat.
Remove from oven and serve hot in a foil-lined basket.
Serving size 2 naan: Calories 78, Calories from fat 19, Total Fat 2.1g, Total Carbohydrates 11.5g, Protein 3.4g

Cucumber Peanut Salad (serves 2)
1 large cucumbers - peeled, seeded, and diced
salt to taste
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 dried red chile pepper or 1/2 tsp chili powder
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped peanuts
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon minced fresh cilantro
1.Mix together salt and cucumber, and allow to drain in a colander for ten minutes to release water. Pat dry, and place in a medium size bowl.
2.Melt butter in a small saucepan, and stir in cumin and chili pepper.
3.Add peanuts, lemon juice, sugar, and melted butter to cucumber, and stir together. Garnish with cilantro.
Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 165 Total Fat: 12.8g Cholesterol: 15mg

Our Awesome Halloween Costumes and How I Made Them

There we are: Gru and a minion
How did we do it? Here's how.
Gru's nose: take some foil and shape it into a nose, leaving a bit of an opening at the wider end to shape onto the person who's going to be wearing it. Then cover it in masking tape. Paint it to look like a nose! I bought skin colored paint and used it as base. Then I mixed a tiny bit of vermilion with the paint and sponged it on for a mottled effect. I also mixed some white with the base paint and sponged that on too. Here's the pictures!


Ok, so you can't see the mottling very good. Oh well. It's there and it looks good!
To finish Gru off, we bought Josh a big sweater and he padded himself up with 8 layers of shirts underneath. Then he borrowed my welding goggles (yes, I own welding goggles!) and put those on along with a scarf around his neck. Too bad he looked more like Dr. Horrible than Gru... we could have done without the welding goggles, but he wanted to wear them.

For a minion, we bought me a yellow shirt. It was rather large since the small and medium sizes were cleaned out here. I also bought a kids pair of jeans and a pair of yucky old suspenders that were made for your typical Idahoan potato farmer. Here's a picture:

I tried to put them on just to see how they worked and the little criss-crossy part in the back ended up being on top of my head.
I wanted to make suspenders that looked like overalls without being overalls. Why? First, it's not the 90's anymore. Even if I wanted to wear overalls, not even DI has them anymore. Second, overalls are not allowed on campus (along with flip-flops, capris and short skirts... but honestly, when would you ever want to wear those in Iceburg?). So I took the pair of jeans I bought and cut them into strips about 2 times the width of the suspenders like so:


Little kid jeans are only so long, so you have to cut out 4 strips. Then you take 2 strips and sew them together


And yes, I did have to do this all by hand since I don't have a sewing machine. It's definitely going on my Christmas list!
Next, pin and sew the strips to the width of the suspenders



Once you're done with that, you get to destroy the really icky suspenders!!! I cut all the metal pieces off and used them on the strips. First, you thread the adjuster part on, then the clip and then loop the end around and thread it through the adjuster one more time. Sorry, I don't have pictures because I was doing this project while listening to my teacher drone on about Galileo, Copernicus and other Renaissance scientists. But here's a finished side.

When both are done, put them on and adjust them. Then take them off and put them on backwards, criss-crossing them in front of you and pin it where they cross. Then sew that together and you have faux-overall suspenders!!
For the minion face, you just need yellow hairspray, yellow facepaint, and black and white face paint sticks. Draw like so



Happy Halloween!