Blueberry Crunch Coffeecake

This recipe is from Joy of Cooking. It turned out really tasty on the first try. The recipe calls for sliced almonds, which I didn't have, but I had roasted almonds so I just chopped those up. You mix dark brown sugar with the almonds and sprinkle the mixture in the bottom of a loaf pan. Then spread the blueberry cake batter over top. (The batter is similar to a muffin batter.) When it bakes, the brown sugar and almonds form a crunchy layer. You serve the cake (loaf?) inverted so the crunchy almond layer is on top. Yum!

Double Rainbow

A beautiful rainbow was visible from our street today.

First Time Fritata

About two weeks ago, I tried making a fritata for the first time, and it was very easy and turned out well! I'm just now getting around to posting the photo.

I got the basic recipe/instructions from one of our cookbooks, then added some vegetables that we had on hand. Basically I mixed six eggs with salt, pepper, a handful of cheddar cheese, a handful of loose frozen spinach (thaw in microwave for about 30 seconds, then squeeze out excess water with a fork), some chopped blanched broccoli (blanched the day before and stored in fridge), sauteed mushrooms and onions.

(I sauteed the mushrooms and onions first, then set them aside to cool while preparing the egg mixture. I added the mushrooms and onions to the eggs right before pouring the mixture into the skillet.)

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in an ovenproof skillet until melted, then pour the egg/veggie mixure in. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook undisturbed for 10 minutes. Then put the whole skillet in a 350 degree oven for another 10 minutes. (The cookbook said 10-20 minutes in the oven, or just until the top of the fritata is no longer runny. 10 minutes was plenty in this case.)

We ate this in wedges with some salad and garlic toast. Yum!

I used our All-Clad non stick pan which is oven proof. I would probably use a little less butter next time. I'll definitely make this again because it was fairly quick and easy!

Shrimp Noodle Soup

Last night we had a lovely dinner with friends at The Helmand in Baltimore. I had plenty of leftovers for my dinner tonight. So my hubby made this soup for his own dinner! I thought it looked pretty so I snapped a photo.

The base is a soy ginger broth from Trader Joe's. Hubby added noodles, shrimp, baby napa, fungus, shitake, and green onions. He said the broth was a little too mild for his taste, so he added some Sriracha when eating the soup.

Salt-Baked Eight-Flavor Chicken

My hubby made this for his dinner tonight! Salt-Baked Eight-Flavor Chicken from our Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking cookbook. The chicken is seasoned, then wrapped in parchment paper, covered with rock salt, then baked. He used two bone-in chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken. One breast has already been removed in these photos.

"Recipe" for Potato Momos

Last week I made potato momos for the first time. This photo is from one of my bentos last week. Beastmomma requested that I post the recipe, so here it is! Only, it's not really a recipe because I was experimenting when I made them. I was trying to recreate the taste of momos that I ate in Nepal many years ago.

Anyway, here's how I did it:

• First I peeled about 6 medium potatoes, cut them into chunks and boiled until tender.
• Meanwhile, I took half of a yellow onion and diced it VERY fine -- almost minced but not quite. I minced two large cloves of garlic and about an inch of fresh ginger root. I sauteed the onion, garlic, and ginger together in a tablespoon of canola oil until they were soft but not too brown.
• I drained the cooked potatos and put them in my stand mixer bowl. I blended them with a few dashes of milk, a tablespoon of butter, and several dashes of salt.
• While the potatos were blending, I added to them: 1 tsp ground Cumin, 1 tsp ground Coriander, 1 tsp Garam Masala, 1 tsp Turmeric, a few dashes of Cayenne Pepper, and more salt to taste. (These measurements aren't exact -- I'd recommend adjusting the measurments to taste if you make these.)
• Finally I added the onion mixure to the potatos and mixed it all together by hand.

Here is the finished filling, quite yellow from the turmeric:

I used round gyoza wrappers to create half-moon dumplings. Momos can also be round shaped, but I couldn't manage that shape! I stuck with the half-moons. My cooking method is similar to potstickers or gyoza:

• Heat about 2 Tbs of vegetable oil in a pot or deep skillet over medium heat. (I use a nonstick pot for this.)
• Place the dumplings seam-side UP in the oil and let them cook until golden on the bottom. (I do this in batches of 10 or less.)
• I like to turn each dumpling on its side and let one side turn golden as well.
• Then I turn the dumplings upright again, pour water into the pot just enough to cover the bottom of the pot, and place a lid on the pot.
• Let the dumplings steam until most of the water is absorbed.
• Done!

Here is a great tutorial on making and cooking gyoza, which is the same method I used for the potato momos, the only difference is my filling. (And I like to brown them on the bottom AND one side, not just the bottom.)
http://www.cookingcute.com/gyoza_pleating.htm

By the way, I wouldn't call my momos "authentic" because I was experimenting a bit. If you search for "Tibetan momos" on the internet, you can find some authentic recipes. I recommend it! Momos can also be made with meat or vegetables.

Cherry Blossoms

We went down to Washington, DC this weekend to see the cherry blossoms. It was the first time I've seen them at their peak.

Homemade Pizza

This is the second time my husband and I have made homemade pizza. The first time, a few weeks ago, wasn't worth posting about! But this time it turned out quite well. Hopefully we'll improve even more with practice. I made the dough in the breadmaker when I got home from work. I had made a lot of sauce the last time and froze the leftovers, so it was easy to warm some up for tonight's pizza.

Homemade is ideal for us since I'm a vegetarian and he's not. We can make our own seperate pizzas with anything we want! My pizza (in the foreground) is topped with spinach, slivers of blanched asparagus, and chopped garlic. His has pepperoni, ham, green pepper, and chopped garlic. Now we just need to get another round pan, because that size was more ideal for the amount of dough. (Thanks, Brenda, for the dough recipe!)

Recipe Recommendation: Ten-Minute Chilaquiles

I don't know why this is called Ten-Minute Chilaquiles. Be forwarned, it does take less than 10 minutes to prepare, but then it needs to bake for 30-35 minutes.

I really love this recipe because the prep part is so fast and easy. It's basically a casserole of tortilla chips, cheese, beans, tomato sauce, salsa, and sour cream. Very cheesy and tomato-y. I don't have a photo of my own because we ate it already, and it wasn't very picturesque anyway!

Here's the link to the recipe on FoodNetwork.com.

Recipe Recommendation: Carrot Kinpira

Tonight I tried a recipe for Carrot Kinpira from JustBento.com and it turned out well. Mine isn't as picturesque as the photo on Just Bento, so I'll just link to the recipe here! It was a little bit of a pain to cut the carrots into matchsticks, but the result was worth it.

Origami Centerpieces from our Wedding

The wedding is finally over and done -- and what a wonderful day it was! We had a holiday themed wedding in December. Here are the centerpieces that I made for the reception dinner tables. My sister and two friends helped make the origami flowers. We also made boutonnieres and corsages for family members, and bouquets for my sister and myself. It was all very down to the wire -- my sister and I worked until 4am every morning in the days leading up to the wedding. We assembled the bouquets the morning of the wedding! Scary!

Anyway, here are the results...sometimes lopsided, but made with love. The flowers are made from gift wrap paper and scrapbooking paper. The leaves and "berry" picks are from a craft shop. The bowls are milkglass - found cheap at an antiques market. (Click the photos to see enlargements at Flickr.)

Nana's Pecan Pie Recipe

Nana Lois sent us her recipe for Pecan Pie! It's from Mother Jane's cookbook.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Beat slightly:
3 eggs

Sift together and add to eggs:
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/4 Tsp. salt

Add and mix well:
1 cup Dark Karo Syrup
1 cup Griffin's Waffle Syrup or any waffle syrup
1 Tsp. vanilla extract
1 large lump of melted butter

Brush a 10 inch unbaked pastry shell with egg whites.
Spread evenly in the shell:
1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of pecans, broken or whole

Pour custard over nuts. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for about 30 minutes or until pie is slightly firm. Cool on rack.