FORGET-ME-NOTS CUPCAKES

I was out the whole day yesterday (and pretty much the whole Saturday too), so I apologize for not being able to get back right away to all of you who visited my blog, and left comments, as well as my meme hopping buddies.  Thank you!  Right now, as I write this post, from 46 comments or so, I'm down to just 22 more to approve and get back to at least on this blog (I have about 18 more on my other blog plus the Happiness Is participants that I need to visit too), so I still have a lot of catching up to do.  Hehe!

As I've said, it was a busy weekend for me.  Vince and I drove down to New Jersey yesterday.  We were invited to a lunch celebration for my goddaughter, Samantha, who I haven't seen for seven years.  She was just a baby when I last saw her in the Philippines.  Her mom (Momsie) and dad (Kuya) were both very close friends of mine way back from college.  I was one of their bridesmaids when they got married, and when the firstborn (Samantha) was christened, I was given the privilege to be one of her godmothers☻ I last saw Momsie in 2005 before I left Philippines, whereas I last saw Kuya in 2009 in New Jersey.  The story of our friendship deserves a separate post, plus I want to share some pics of us too, so I'll reserve those for a future post.

Anyway, before I end this post, let me share these cupcakes I made for my friend, Momsie.

These are chocolate cupcakes baked from scratch.  For the decoration, I used thinned royal icing and gum paste and fondant.  I was supposed to make buttercream icing, but I found that I still have a lot of royal icing in stock, so I decided to just thin the royal icing out and use that instead.  The forget-me-nots flowers were made out of gum paste and fondant mix, and the rest of the decor were thinned royal icing.

I need to practice more to improve in decorating cakes/cupcakes, especially work on my piping techniques.  I'm almost done with my second Wilton course, and later today, I will do my final cake in class for course 2.  Oh, wish me luck!

Do you know that you can store uniced cupcakes in the fridge for a week,
and in the freezer for three months? ☻

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DATE SQUARES

Vince and I already finished the cheesecake minis I baked last week, and the next on my recipe list was date squares.

The first time I had date squares was at a Druxy's down at the building of my workplace in Toronto.  I didn't know what it's called then but I really liked it.  So, one time I was Skyping with Vince, I told him about my newly-discovered-snack-the-name-of-which-I-don't-know, and based on my description, he thought I was referring to date squares.  It turned out he was right, and guess what, he likes date squares, too!  ☻

Since I left Toronto, I somehow forgot about this tasty snack, until last week when I saw a recipe of it at Joy of Baking.  I was excited to try it, so I made sure to get all the ingredients when we did our grocery shopping last weekend.  One thing though is that we don't have a food processor.  We do have a blender and a fruit juicer, so I thought that would suffice in place of a food processor.  It did, though I kinda encountered some challenges.  I initially dumped all the ingredients into the blender just as how one would do it with a food processor, but of course, that didn't work as the blender has smaller blades.  Therefore, I had to take the dry ingredients out of the blender, and then blend them in increments.  I even used my electric mixer alternating with the blender to get them all mixed together.

Anyway, in spite of my rubber spatula getting partially ripped as a result of entanglement with the blender blade while I was trying to scrape the pureed dates off, and with all that fiasco I went through while mixing the dry ingredients, I was able to pull it off.  There, I baked a pan of yummy date squares!

Hot! Fresh from the oven!

The instruction clearly said that you should wait for it to cool off completely on a cooling rack and in the fridge before slicing into squares, or else it will just fall apart.  The impatient and curious me couldn't wait that long, so before I placed it in the fridge, I sliced a square for a taste test, and here's what it looked like:

Notice that it crumbled apart and compare to the first picture above,
which looked firm and well-formed.  Oh well, at least I found out right away
that it's delicious! ☺

So, if you're interested to try this, you can find the complete recipe (with video) at Joy of Baking (site is linked above).  Like I've already said, this recipe calls for a food processor but if you don't have one, you can use a blender like I did.  You just have to mix the ingredients in increments or batches until all of them are well incorporated.  Ciao for now! ☻

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CHEESECAKE MINIS

My home cooking adventures continue, and recently, I endeavored on baking cheesecake minis.

Having spent a good amount of time reading on different recipes from the Internet and a few food magazines, I learned that baking a regular sized cheesecake employs the "water bath" technique. While I found some recipes which do not necessarily follow that, majority advises that it's best to still use water bath when baking to prevent the cheesecake from "cracking." I wanted to try it but then that meant I (or rather Vince) would have to unearth from our mystical closets full of anek-anek the large roast pan we got as a wedding present so I could use a water bath for my cheesecake. I didn't want to bother Vince, so I held off on baking the real deal. It didn't really occur to me that I can bake mini cheesecakes and not having to worry about water bath until I came across a recipe for it. So, having said that, I think we can all guess what happened next.

Yap! I baked my first ever cheesecake minis. Yay! I think it was a good idea that I tried the minis first, because it kinda gave me the feel on how to achieve the right consistency and not overbeat, how long the baking time and what firm yet jiggly on the center means, and stuff like that, so that when I finally attempt to bake a regular sized cheesecake, I already have an idea on what to do ;)

Anyway, I've blabbed too much already. It's time I give credit to where I got the recipe from:

INDIVIDUAL CHEESECAKES RECIPE

If I may just mention, a variation I did in terms of the technique is that I added the egg last. I learned from reading that it's important to avoid introducing air/bubbles into the cheesecake mixture. What happens is that those air/bubbles will "escape" out of the mixture as it bakes, hence, causing the cheesecake to crack. I also read that the more you beat the egg, the more air you introduce, so it's best to add the egg last and then beat for a short time just enough to incorporate it into the mixture.

It's a really delicious and easy version of New York style cheesecake - I hope you try it ☻

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MORE NUWAVE COOKING

My kitchen gadget, Nuwave, has been really busy ever since Vince and I got it early this year.  It has been the center of attention in our kitchen, and in fact, we've rarely used our gas oven to bake/grill/broil since my Nuwave came.  Here's a couple more dishes we've whipped up using Nuwave:

1.  Pork chop with nutty fruit stuffing - After I marinated thick cut pork chops with Sprite, soy sauce, and some taco sauce overnight, Vince cut into the chops to make pockets for stuffing.  He cooked a pack of chicken stuffing as per package instruction, and then filled the pockets with cooked stuffing, chopped almonds, pecans and walnuts, and apple slices.  He brushed some olive oil onto the chops, and then grilled it for about 30 to 45 minutes until done to our liking.  Served with my favorite UFC Tamis Anghang (sweet and sour) Ketchup, these chops were absolute home run for us!

2.  Barbecued chicken with cilantro - Vince marinated Chicken quarters with olive oil, cilantro and garlic overnight.  He then barbecued them for about 30 to 45 minutes.  Served with Mang Tomas All Around Sarsa (sauce), we devoured these chicken barbecues with our bare hands, no cutlery required.  Rap-sa!

It's obvious that we're definitely getting our money's worth from this kitchen appliance.  We're both excited and looking forward to more cooking, baking, broiling and grilling adventure with Nuwave ☻ 

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DESSERTS AT WHAT IF... OF HERSHEY

In Hershey, Pennsylvania, there is a restaurant called "What If... of Hershey." I know, the name is rather catchy, and would be more when translated to my native tongue, Filipino,"Ano kaya [kung]..."  Hehe!

Anyways, after my first ski-dventure, our group went for dinner at What If. Vince and I have been to this restaurant several times already, and I will make a different post about our previous dining experiences there, but for now I will focus on the sweet treats we had after our exhausting ski-dventure.

Vince and I shared an order of homemade oatmeal shortcake with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream. I thought I wasn't going to like it because it looked too sugary to me, plus I'm not really a fan of strawberries, but I was totally wrong. The cake and ice cream weren't too sweet and the strawberries were not too "sour" for my taste buds - it was just palate perfect. I really enjoyed this very attractive sweet thing, and mind you the colors did remind me of my wedding motif.

Oatmeal Shortcake Du Jour

Here are more desserts as ordered by our friends:

Creme Brulee and Profiterol Du Jour

Creme brulee is just about the same as leche flan. Now, I'm not too sure what the whole shebang was with Profitelol Du Jour. I was so engrossed with our oatmeal shortcake that I didn't even bother tasting the Profitelol Du Jour, but it looks like it had some kind of a bread or cake maybe, with chocolate syrup, powdered sugar, almonds, cream, peanut butter or caramel.

Vince may appear in the picture like he was tempted and at the same time stumped as to how to finish that huge dessert in front of him, but don't worry, the dessert was successful in tempting Vince, so as Vince (with a little help from me) was successful in finishing it.  Fair enough!

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MINI CRESCENT DOGS AND SPAGHETTINI DINNER

A few weekends back, Vince and I had another nice bonding time in our little kitchen on a lazy Saturday afternoon.  We went out quickly for some grocery shopping and when we got home, we put on our imaginary chef hats and had a good cooking session together.  We were like grown-ups playing lutu-lutuan.  I made the appetizer while he did the entree.

For appetizer, I made two dozens of mini crescent dogs.  I got this idea from Rose (Chubskulit) who made a post about this in her blog, Spice up your Life.   The recipe is so simple even a child can make this.  Although I've eaten this a lot of times in the past, it never really occurred to me that this is very easy to make - thanks to instant refrigerated dough!   Hehe.  I found out that there are actually a lot more meals you can do with those instant dough which I will definitely be trying in the future.

Pigs in a blanket cooling off after coming out of the oven

So, while I was whipping up an easy peasy recipe, Vince was sweating himself by the burners orchestrating a spaghettini (angel hair) dinner.  He asked me whether I would like tomato or Alfredo sauce with the pasta, and I said both ☻  I asked him not to cook those two sauces together in one pan though, and that I would just mix them into my pasta afterwards when they were cooked.  The result was delizioso, I'm positive that WeightWatchers was not too happy with the huge serving I had.

Truly, I am one blessed girl to have a husband who loves to and knows how to cook good food.  Thank you, Lord! :)

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JOE'S CRAB SHACK

One thing I made sure to check out when Vince and I went to Jacksonville, Florida in May 2011 was Joe's Crab Shack.  While planning our visit, I searched the Internet for seafood restaurants within the area, and Joe's Crab Shack's hip website and fun menu caught my attention.

My bib says, "I have classy crabs."
Vince's bib says, "I like it hot and spicy."

The moment our cool, young server got us a table he enthusiastically scribbled captions into those bibs which he then clipped on us.  He also explained that every 30 minutes or so, the crew roams around the restaurant while performing a sort of anything goes song and dance number, and guests are welcome to join them in their act.

Each table are given a whole roll of paper towel and a galvanized steel bucket placed in the middle of the table for food scraps.  As well, crab cracker tools are provided accordingly.  For entree, I ordered The Diablo Steampot which is a potful of Dungeness crab, Queen crab, mussels, andouille sausage steamed in a flavorful garlicky tomato sauce with fresh cilantro and pico de gallo. *Burp*  I wasn't able to finish my steampot and had to take leftovers back to our hotel, which I then ate the next day.

After dinner, I did a little souvenir shopping at Joe's Stuff Shop where you can find cool Joe's stuff like tie-dye shirts, beach towels, shot glasses and caps.  I bought my BFF a black T-shirt which spoofs the famous Jaws movie poster in 1975 (a guy swimming at the beach and underneath him is a big shark), but instead of a shark, the T-shirt has got a giant crab pincer and "Joe's" rather than Jaws.

There are more than 100 Joe's Crab Shack restaurants in the US.  If you're one who's into chillaxing over a humongous pot of seafood, you should definitely try Joe's ☻

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NUWAVE

I mentioned in a previous post that I recently acquired two new kitchen buddies, and already introduced the first one, which is a three-crock slow cooker that a friend gave me.  Today, allow me to blog about my second kitchen buddy.  Ready or not, here goes my Nuwave Infrared Oven!

I am pretty impressed as to what this oven can do.  It can broil, bake, barbecue, roast, steam, dehydrate and air fry.  It has the triple combo cooking power (convection, conduction and infrared) as well as reheat function for leftover foods.  I watched the DVD and read the recipes that came with my unit and I was surprised with the variety of meals you can cook using Nuwave from breakfast, lunch to dinner, and appetizer, entree to desserts.  You can even cook perfect sunny side up eggs and rice in this oven!  Amazing isn't it?

Anyweiz, I have only had my Nuwave for about a month, but Vince and I have already used it so many times.  Here's some of what we have cooked with this awesome invention so far:

1.  Pesto salmon fillets with zucchini - Vince got the recipe from Nuwave.  Delizioso!

2.  Grilled pork - My original intention was to cook sisig.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find the right ingredients over here on our side of the planet, so I opted to make do with whatever pork meat we could find and just cooked it in a sisig fashion.

3.  Banana bread with chocolate chips - We've baked two loaves so far.  One for our personal consumption, and the other for Vince's nurses at the clinic.  Yay!

4.  Pork chop dijonaisse - Vince knows I love pork chops, so he took the recipe (along with the chicken pot pie recipe) with him to work, and before going home, he passed by the grocery store to buy the ingredients.  He then cooked this for me.  Awwwwww :')

5.  Chicken pot pie - Vince partnered the pork chop dijonnaise with a creamy chicken pot pie, and what ensued was yet again a splendid home-cooked dinner together for us.  Who needs dessert when you have a husband as sweet as mine, right? ♥

I will show you in my future posts what other food we've cooked using this oven ☺

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SLOWLY CROCK-ING IT

I very recently acquired two kitchen buddies, and today, I am going to introduce you to the first of two:

Tadaaaa!  It's a three-crock slow cooker by GE.  A long-time-online-turned-to-be-in-person-friend visited me about two weeks ago and gave us this wonderful and useful present.  Coincidentally, about a week previous to that, Vince and I were on the mall contemplating of buying a crock pot/slow cooker, but postponed our purchase as we wanted to get something else first, i.e., my other kitchen buddy (which I will talk about in a separate post).  So, you can just imagine how hyped up I was to have received this gift!  Soon after I ripped the wrapper and took the appliance out of the box, I started reading its manual and Vince searched the Internet for recipes.

We saw a lot of recipes, and we thought we'd try Beef Bourguignon first.  However, we couldn't find fresh thyme at Wal-Mart, so we opted to do Cornbread Casserole instead.  The recipe for the casserole called for a variety of ingredients including yellow cornmeal, cream of corn, milk, taco sauce, ground beef, eggs, green chili, and cheese.  I wasn't familiar with this dish (never tried it before), so I wasn't really sure what to expect as an outcome.

In fernez, the recipe is very simple and easy to follow, so I was able to whip it up in a jiffy.  It started cooking in the slow cooker at around 12:30 p.m., and according to the recipe, it should be done in six to seven hours.  Just in time for dinner after we get home from the gym!  The element of surprise and virtue of patience altogether made me more and more excited to find out how the dish would turn out.

I was anxious to go home after working out, but Vince and I stopped by the mall first to buy my other kitchen buddy (which I will introduce in a separate post).  As soon as we got home around past 8:00 p.m., I checked the casserole, and lo and behold, it was steaming and smelling good!  The dish is, in fact, a meat pie,  like shepherd's pie or cottage pie.  "Aaaaahhhh... ganito pala 'to," was my reaction when I took my first bite.  Hehe! (*Aaaaahhhh... so this is what it is*)

For me, the main benefit one can get from a slow cooker is it being a "walk-away kitchen appliance."  All you have to do is prepare the ingredients (some recipes require pre-heating/cooking) and when all is set, you just leave them to cook in the slow cooker.  You can go to work, take a bath, sleep, or do whatever you need to do, and after several hours, you have a wonderful meal that's waiting for you.   Other models and brands have timer functions which can set the cooker to automatically turn off or in warm mode, pretty much the same as what a rice cooker does.

Anyway, Vince finally found thyme at a different grocery store, so you all know what that meant ;)

Oh, and stay tuned to know about my other kitchen buddy ☻

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PORK CHOP ORANGE SKILLET DINNER

Believe it or not, I know how to cook.  Vince can attest to that.  Okay, that doesn't sound fair.  LOL.  Seriously, I may not look domesticated enough but I can do things in the kitchen that go beyond turning the oven on ;)

My latest concoction is Pork Chop Orange Skillet Dinner.  I got the original recipe from a Campbell's can label but I did modifications to add more flavor and better suit me and my husband's taste ;)  Usually when I modify a recipe or come up with my own, Vince would remind me to take note of the measurements so I can share it, but I tend to be lazy to use actual measuring cups and spoons much more record them one by one, so I just "buhos buhos" the ingredients and "tantya tantya" the "timpla" until it turns out great or disaster.  Hence, the term "pacham" for pachamba or "nilafaz" for nilafaztangan depending on the level of edibility of the dish.  Haha!

Anyway, in case anybody's interested to try my version of Pork Chop Orange Skillet Dinner, here's what I came up with:

4 pieces of pork chop bone-in 3/4-inch thick
1 cup of uncooked rice
4 cups of orange juice
1 can of Campbell's condensed chicken broth (10.5 ounce)
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil
1 orange, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
salt
ground black pepper
red chili powder
sugar

1.  Season pork chops with salt, ground black pepper and red chili pepper powder.
2.  Marinate seasoned pork chops with 2 cups of orange juice for 10 to 15 minutes.
3.  Heat oil in skillet (or wok) over medium-high meat.
4.  Add pork chops and cook until well browned on both sides.
5.  Add marinade into skillet and simmer until reduced.
6.  Add onion and rice to skillet and cook and stir until rice is browned.
7.  Stir in chicken broth, orange juice, and parsley and heat to boil.
8.  Reduce heat to medium-low.
7.  Add salt and sugar to taste.  May also add water and/or more orange juice as desired for flavor and consistency.
8.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until pork is cooked through and rice is tender.
9.  Top with orange slices and sprinkle with parsley.

10.  Serve with a smile :)

There you go!   Vince and I really liked this dish, so I encourage you to try this.   I passed on this recipe to my ex-coworker and she told me hers turned out great and that her husband loved it too ;)

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OLIVE GARDEN

One thing that brought Vince and I together is our common love for food.  Suffice it to say that I gained 20 pounds in the first six months of dating him.  Our satiety thresholds are high, so as our appetite tolerance.  We entertain ourselves by watching Food Network.  We (try to successfully) cook and bake at home.  We explore local restaurants.  We simply love to eat.  That being said, I'm dedicating Mondays for blogging about our gastronome-wannabe adventures ;) Hungry or not, here I come !

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Last Saturday, we had our date night at Olive Garden, an American restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine.  It has more than 750 local restaurants, and the closest one from where we live is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is about 45-minute drive away.

For antipasti (appetizer), we had a three-choice Sampler Italiano consisting of calamari, stuffed mushrooms and toasted beef and pork ravioli, served with parmesan peppercorn and marinara sauces on the side.  I loved everything in this platter but my favorite was the stuffed mushrooms (parmesan, romano and mozzarella cheese, clams and herb breadcrumbs baked in mushroom caps).

For primi piatti (first course), we had creamy chicken and gnocchi soup and a bowl of garden-fresh salad.  Gnocchi are small, thick dumplings, similar to bilo-bilo (glutinous rice balls).

Now, comes the main course:

Vince had a Tour of Italy (homemade lasagna, lightly breaded chicken parmigiana and creamy fettuccine alfredo),

and I had a well-done Steak Gorgonzola-Alfredo (grilled beef medallions drizzled with balsamic glaze, served over fettuccine tossed with spinach and gorgonzola-alfredo sauce).

I paired up my sumptous meal with a Mango-Strawberry Limonata.  This drink is a mixture of mango and strawberry puree, lemonade, and slices of fresh strawberry.  Definitely healthier than sodas/carbonated drinks :)

As usual, we didn't leave enough room for dessert!  Maybe next time ;)

So after all that Italian dinner, Vince and I went home a couple of inches flubbier on the waist, $50+ poorer, but twice happier :)

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GENO'S STEAKS - PHILADELPHIA

In my City of Fountains post, I mentioned how Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City reminded me of Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia; so for today's Tuesday Travel, we are going to have an authentic Philly cheesesteak experience ;)

Summer 2010

The cheesesteak is a signature dish of the city of Philadelphia.  A very popular Philadelphia restaurant specializing in cheesesteaks is Geno's Steaks.  Geno's was awarded Best of Philly for Best Takeout by Philadelphia Magazine in 2000.

Feeling celebrity !

The walls, roof and interior of Geno's are decorated with memorabilia and hundreds of autographed and framed photos of celebrities who have eaten there.  Among those celebs are Nicholas Cage, Oprah Winfrey, Sylvester Stallone and Shaquille O'Neal.

Look at that line !

There is no indoor dining but there are tables under canopies on the sidewalk for those who wish to enjoy sandwiches on the premises.

Gobbling down an American Cheesesteak Sandwich !

One thing I remember in my Geno's experience is that when I wanted to get some relish, the condiments counter outside was almost empty.  With the bulk of people lining up there, it would not be unexpected if the counter would ran out of stock very quickly; hence, if I may suggest, the Geno's staff should be more prompt in refilling/restocking that.  Anyway, it was all good.  The absence of ketchup did not hinder me from devouring my first ever authentic Philly cheesesteak ;)

source:  WIKIPEDIA

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ALMOND BAKED FLOUNDER

I craved for fish last night and lucky me, there was a small pack of frozen flounder fillets in our fridge.  I initially thought of baking it with instant Kraft salad dressing, but I decided to try something new, so I ended up formulating my own concoction.  LOL.  I know, that sounds too cocky.  I'm no chef, so I don't have the right to say that.  I guess I've been watching too many Iron Chef battles and Chopped episodes lately, hence, I was in a kitchen stadium mood last night.

Almond Baked Flounder

This is actually a pretty basic recipe.  Not a lot of cooking skills needed. As long as you know how to turn the oven on, then you're good to go :D

4 flounder fillets

1/2 tablespoon salt

1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper

1/2 tablespoon ground chilli pepper

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/8 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

sliced almonds

onion

butter

broccoli

parsley

baking dish

1.  Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Season fish fillets with salt, black pepper, chilli pepper, and garlic powder.

3.  Place seasoned fish fillets in a shallow baking dish.

4.  Mix olive oil and lemon juice.

5.  Pour mixture into seasoned fish fillets (or if you wish a dry variety, just brush the mixture onto fillets).

6.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

7.  Boil broccoli heads.

8.  Melt butter in a pan and saute onion and almond.  Add parsley.

9.  Sprinkle sauteed onion, almond and parsley onto baked fish fillets.

10.  Place broccoli on a plate, and layer baked fish fillets on top (and pour residual dressing if you wish).

11.  Serve with a smile !

Although not seen in the picture above, I also prepared a bowl of sweet corn kernels on the side for a contrast taste to the sour flavor of lemon ;)

So after the kitchen stadium, I was presented to the chopping board, and the verdict:

Don't you pity this guy?  Left all alone?  Not too long though, because I had him for lunch just now :D

Please select one:

a) Vince and I were both famished.

b) The meal was really good.

c) Vince and I just love to eat anything.

d) All of the above.

Regardless of what you're answer is, by the looks of what was left over, I don't think I was CHOPPED.  Hehe!  Until my next concoction ... err recipe :p

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