The Budding Cook

Simple Soup

2011-12-18T07:33:00.000-08:00

Simple Soup Receipe

I have been cooking Bee's Basic Baby Porridge for months now! I actually enjoy eating it. It feels healthy and light. Bee says this is very versatile and just learning a few techniques can open new doors. So this time instead of porridge I used the same general idea to make soup.

Simple Soup Receipe

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth
1 medium size white potato
1 medium size sweet potato
1 carrot 
21 salute/salt to taste (optional)

Directions:

Wash and peel potatoes and carrot.
Cut into smaller chunks.
Add all ingredients to pot.
Set the heat on high and bring to a boil. Then cover low heat for 30 minutes. 
Add 3 dashes of 21 salute or a bit of salt.

Wah lah soup! It's perfect for a babies and adults alike. My husband was actually the one to gobble this pot up. Now I feel like a budding cook again! He ate it w/ saltine crackers.;)

spinach rice

2010-05-30T13:21:00.001-07:00

Made yam rice minus the yams. It was pretty easy. Tasty too. Fried shallots, onions, soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice, chicken stir fried and placed in rice cooker then cooked same way you'd cook normal rice. Rasa malaysia and little teochew have nice detailed recipes.

Recipe: Instant oatmeal cookies

2009-11-24T17:37:00.000-08:00

Recipe: Instant oatmeal cookies
3 packages of instant oatmeal (I used 2 packages of apple cinnamon and 1 banana walnut)
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees celsius. Mix dry ingredients. Add milk and oil. Mix. Scoop and form small rounds. Make 9-12 cookies. Place on baking sheet. Put in oven for 15 minutes.

Tip: Perfect for breastfeeding moms. Supposedly oatmeal helps increase milk supply. Plus eating cookies is faster than eating a bowl of oats. ;)

Recipe: Peanut Butter Sesame Noodles

2009-06-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Peanut Butter Sesame Noodles

Adapted from (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Peanut-Sesame-Noodles-106572)

Ingredients:

1 package of wheat spaghetti pasta
1 cucumber

Dressing:
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of warm water
2 tbsp of rice vinegar
2 teaspoons of honey
1 tbsp of red hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup of chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil

Directions:
Place all dressing ingredients into a food processor and pulse until it's smooth. Cook spaghetti according to directions. Rinse under cold water. Cut up cucumber into thin slices.

Place peanut butter sesame dressing on the noodles and add cucumbers. According to Epicurious don't let the noodles sit in the sauce for long. Just toss it together before serving.

I've been meaning to make this dish forever. Yums. It usually cost about 5-6 dollars at the noodle house I've been too.

Too bad my husband doesn't like cold noodles or cucumbers. But I made it for me and the little baby in my tummy! ;) I'm currently on maternity leave. :D 9 days till her due date.

Fish sauce salted eggs over rice

2009-02-11T22:39:00.000-08:00

Boil the eggs, add a little salt, and a little fish sauce. Eat on top of white rice. Yummy. It reminds me of home. It's very similar to the fancy braised pork dish (thit kho) dish. However, it's quite simple. I remember my mom sometimes making it for my dad's lunch.

Did I say we liked hot pepper paste?

2008-10-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

We just went to the new H-Mart at the Diamond Jamboree Plaza in Irvine . We got this tub of hot pepper paste for only 5.99! It's huge! It's 6.6 pounds! It makes me laugh.

Broccoli + Chicken Curry

2008-09-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

I bought a kitchen aid knife set and a new bamboo cutting board. I have a glass cutting board but had seen on Good Eats that glass dulls your knife! No wonder. So to test out my new knives I bought a whole chicken and chopped it up for dinner. It was my first experience in chopping up a full chicken. ;) Pretty tough. I should of read some instructions. I mixed the chicken w/ curry from trader joes. And cooked up some broccoli. Yummy! My hubbie ate two servings. You know you've done good when that happens. :D (clap clap clap)

Japanese Ground Chicken Soboro

2008-06-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Ground Chicken Soboro

1 pound of ground chicken
6 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp mirin

Place all ingredients in pan saute until the moisture has evaporated. Serve over white rice. I served this w/ broccoli.

I basically followed this recipe.

I only used half the amount of sugar the recipe called for though. I've cooked this recipe a couple of times once with ground Turkey. I'm quite fond of ground meat and trader joes (that's where I got the meat). :D If you have watched Sweeney Todd you might not be. ;)

Recipe: Japanese Miso Chicken MeatBalls

2008-06-04T20:04:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Japanese Miso Chicken MeatBalls

Ingredients:
Meatballs :
1 Cup Miso
1/4 milk
2 Cups of Ground Chicken
1 Large Onion, Chopped
1 1/2 Cups Corn Starch
Chinese 5 spice powder
oil for pan fry

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in large bowl. Mix about 100 times with hands. Add some oil to a pan and pan fry until brown on both sides. (10 minutes or so) Smash it down a bit. Preheat oven for 350 degrees. Place meat balls into oven for 10-15 minutes until cooked. Flip over about half way through. I adapted the recipe from Bright cove. Pat 5 spice powder on them. These little guys are strong in taste so we ate them over rice. Enjoy!

Dinner Mash

2008-05-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Dinner Mash
1 can of salmon
1 can of black beans
handful of sweet corn
5 red potatoes
2 carrots
2 eggs
garlic
red pepper paste
-------

I wanted to try to make a patty of some sorts but I didn't have bread crumbs. So I baked some potatoes and carrots in my little red pot in the oven for 450 degrees for 40 minutes. I mashed all the ingredients. Then mixed in some eggs as a glue. I tried to pan fry them. I probably didn't add enough oil. It didn't seem to come together. So I just threw it onto some rice and wah lah dinner. I thought it tasted like food. :d

Asked Mr. Budding cook: "How do you like it?"
His reply: "It's ok."
Me: "It's ok that means you don't like it! Wah."
Mr. Budding cook: "I don't like the consistency. It's too dry on rice."
Me: "Wah that means you don't like it."
Mr. Budding cook: "You could add that red sauce."
Me: "Red pepper paste? If I add it you'll have to eat it."
Mr. Budding cook: "Ok."
Me: "I was thinking maybe a tomato paste of some sorts?"
Mr. Budding cook: "The red pepper paste makes everything taste good. And it could be like spicy tuna."

So I added the red pepper paste. It made the dish taste like.... red pepper paste. You could no longer taste the potatoes, corn or anything. :( I packed some up for lunch. I'll see how it will taste tomorrow w/ a reheat. Budding cook mishap #85.

My food addiction

2008-05-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

What's your food addition? The food that once you start eating you just can't stop. My food addition is cheez its!!! White cheddar, hot tabasco, regular, parmesan. Ahhhhh....There was a sale where if you buy 25 bucks worth a specific brand you get two movie tickets and guess what we bought? And guess what I've been eating for the past couple of weeks? I think I will try to go cold turkey and ween myself off this bad habit. :D

But if I were lost on a desserted island ....

Bunny Creates

2008-05-21T12:17:00.001-07:00

Introducing:

Bunny Creates

I created a new blog for my little creations. :)

I still will be cooking of course...

-the little budding cook

Recipe: Oyakodon

2008-04-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Oyakodon

3/4 lb chicken thighs
1 onion
1 2/3 cups soup stock (dashi) - used Gen En Dashi no moto 1 tbsp mixed w/ 1 2/3 cups of water
7 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sugar
4 eggs

I made oyakodon!
I made oyakodon!
I made oyakodon!

Oyakodon is a Japanese chicken and egg bowl. I've been wanting to try out this recipe forever and I finally did!

I got the recipe from About - Oyakodon. I pretty much followed this recipe using the powder form of dashi to make the soup stock. I sliced the onions into thin slices, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Then I mixed 1 tbsp of dashi mix w/ 1 2/3 cups of water in a pan. I mixed the soy sauce mirin and sugar then I poured into the soup base. The oven was on low heat. I placed the chicken pieces in the mix and covered the pan. After about 15 minutes I added the onions and covered the pan. I also snuck in some broccoli florets. When everything was cooked I cracked the eggs and mixed them in a bowl. (in a video I watched it said not to mix them to well). Then you are supposed to turn up the heat boil the soup and pour the eggs over the mixture. I messed on this part and didn't boil first. But I allowed it boil after the egg mixture was placed in the pan. I prepared two bowls of rice and poured the mixture on top. It was soupy and quite delicious. It smelled so familar to me. It tasted like Japan. I ate two bowls of it! I was pretty happy with the recipe and very amazed I could make it. :)

I also watched this video Oyakodon video - Cooking with Dog (:D well he's not cooking the dog just with him :) haha ) .

Recipe: Red Hot Pepper Turkey

2008-04-20T21:33:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Red Hot Pepper Turkey

Ingredients:

1 package of ground turkey

1 onion
2 tablespoons Hot Pepper Paste (Gochujang)

1 tablespoon of oil

Directions:
Heat up 1 tablespoon of oil. Saute the onions. Add the package of ground turkey. Brown it then pour out the excess liquid. Add two heaping tablespoons of hot pepper paste and mix it. Serve over white rice.

This is one of Mr. Budding cook's favorite dishes. He loves it. He is in love w/ hot pepper paste. It taste hot and sweet. It's a budding cook original. ;) So this is one more dish you can use your tub of Gochujang for.

Related Recipes:
Korean spicy hot tofu stew pot

Shrimp pork paste bread

2008-04-10T22:09:00.000-07:00

Grandma's Birthday

My grandma's birthday was this past Tuesday. My mom told me to arrive at my grandma's at 2-3 on Sat. I rushed of the Trader Joe's and bought avocados and mochi ice cream (two of her favorite treats) and arrived at 4. I wanted to show up fashionable late (everyone is always late). When I arrived though there was nobody in sight. My grandma was shocked as much as I was. After much confusion calling my mom, who called my aunt, my grandma called my aunt, who then talked to me - we all figured it out and it was supposed to be a suprise at 5! Oops! Everyone started arriving at 5:30. We ate Costco pizza, KFC chicken, strawberries and ice cream, vietnamese pork and bread and pound cake. Everyone brought a dish. My grandma was slightly upset that she couldn't cook but she always takes too much effort in cooking and it was her birthday party. :D Above is a dish we get usually on special occassions like Thanksgiving. It's soooo dreamy. It's a shrimp and pork paste spreaded on sliced pieces of french bread and fried in oil. The pictures were from this past Thanksgiving...

Happy Easter

2008-03-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter... Well it's tomorrow but I had some time to post this up. Guess what the above picture is depiction of. :D Hint: He is the reason for this season too. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

I drew this w/ my waccom tablet. Not. :D

-budding cook

Hot Tofu soup w/ broccoli

2008-03-19T21:43:00.001-07:00

With some leftover veggies from the steam, I made my hubbie some *hot* tofu soup. :) He ate this w/ rice. When I told him I what I would make him, he exclaimed "I could eat that everyday!". I think he likes it. Hope he feels better.

Here is the recipe, the diary of a novice cook also made it from a recipe from none other than me! I got so very excited to see this post.

Veggie Alert!

2008-03-17T20:36:00.001-07:00

What can you do w/ all of this?

This is what I did: I steamed the broccoli and squash. Chopped up tomatoes and sauteed them w/ soy sauce and onions. Then after the steaming was done, I mixed the two. It tasted pretty good to me. The broccoli wasn't overcooked or undercooked. Mr. hubby thought it tasted too healthy maybe because it was!

feeling a wee bit content

2008-03-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

i'm feeling a wee bit content. it's been a little stressful of late and finally i feel like i have a handle on things.. so this is how i'm feeling right now. wish i could feel like this always.. but with no lows there can't be highs. :D

weekend bliss

2008-02-25T22:08:00.000-08:00

I made stamps this weekend on Sat. It was so peaceful and calming. I really enjoyed it a lot..Guess which one is my favorite? I drew the stems, and bodies.. :)

Another year

2008-02-23T01:25:00.000-08:00

My birthday was not too long ago. Mr. Budding cooked me a wonderful breakfast an omelette, turkey sausages and buttered muffins. We went to the a museum, frequented a mall in search for boots (no boots were found), drank boba tea, ate sushi and ended the night w/ a concert. :)

A another year, another year older... the nice thing though at the museum the guy asked if we had student cards and we didn't but he said you guys look like you are students and he gave us the discount anyways. Cha ching.. :) It made me feel better for turning a wee bit older.

Happy Belated Valentines!

2008-02-16T20:54:00.000-08:00

And what did a budding little cook get for Valentines?

Something that is good to eat?!?

These scrumptious little creations did eventually die but in my tummy. :) They were so thick, moist, and absolutely delicious. Thank-you Mr. Budding Cook. It was very SWEET! :D

Hope everyone had a very happy valentines!

Side Note - As I was walking back to my desk holding these, I ran into a wall because I was admiring the cookies. :D

The Budding Bunny...

2008-01-29T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Update: I told Mr. Budding cook about my blog posting and he told me that he wants me to cook again.. :) So I will soon enough. I'll start next week. :D

Can you tell that I haven't cooked in a very long time? I haven't. Mr. Budding Bunny got a new job and he doesn't bring food anymore. I attempted to cook a few weeks ago but the bok choy rotted and the cabbage went to waste. So I haven't been cooking. Not sure where life will take me but I didn't want to give up on my blog and I hope you don't give up on me. :) I'll still post up my adventures travelling, food when I can, craft making and maybe .... a poem. Inspired by the movie Once, I picked up my guitar again and started writing poetry. It's a past time of mine that I sort of got too busy for...

Older

the lines around your eyes.
don't make you any wiser.
you are the same person
as you were before...

disorganized
impulsive
full of whys
and sad

you say that you are different
that you have changed
but your actions show
a whole lot more...

the lines around your eyes.
don't make you any wiser.
you are the same person
as you were before...

Stamp Making: Bunnies

2008-01-22T22:49:00.000-08:00

I caught the stamp making bug from my little sister shrooms

Trip Report: Tokyo

2008-01-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

Trip Report: Tokyo

Some more details for a tigerfish and everyone... :) Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions.

Food -
The food was so good. I could definitely eat it all day. We ate udon noodles, katsudon, soba, sushi, curry rice, sushi bowls w/ rice, miso soup, snacks, mochi balls, gyzoa buns and more. :) Everything we ate there was quite delicious. We only had one bad experience at a fast food curry place. Besides that we usually chose the traditional style looking food places near our hotel (Shiba Park Hotel). My favorite dish perhaps was a pork don. Pork, mayo and egg. Yumms...

Drink -
We were in awe of their vending machines. Everyday we were there we would run up to them and choose different types of drinks (Super H20, tea, yogurt drinks). They ranged from about from 80 cents and up. When my husband and brother stumbled on the 100 yen store and the drinks there we stocked up but we still couldn't resist the white little vending machines w/ their drink displays.

Subways-
I enjoyed walking up and down the streets, people watching, riding the subways. Just walking.. It feels nice to just walk and not have to worry about exercising every day in an ugly old stinky gym. Below is a picture of the subway at Disney. :D

We used this book to get around:

Tokyo City Atlas Mr. Budding cook loved it because it told you which subway exits to go to etc.

Money -
The best tip is to get travellers cheques they have a better exchange rate than cash. Also capital one doesn't charge! So we used our capital one credit card when we could. However as I have read and it is the case there - most places only accept cash (yen).

Hotel -
Shiba Park Hotel - We stayed here for 5 nights. It was a decent hotel w/ nicely sized rooms. The best part was it was near three subway stations and and we enjoyed the food near there.

People -
The people are all so neat and clean and repectful and helfpul. I only saw one person wear sweats the whole time. I loved looking at them especially at Tokyo Disney Sea where all the girls dressed up in little peacoats, tights and boots. So adorable w/ their cool styles. :D

Shopping -

I got a tip from Glida's guide to Tokyo to shop at Ueno for gifts.

So we found a grocery there with very cheap cheap food! We totally stocked up. We bought candy, treats and loads of rice crackers. The 100 yen stores also have cheap cheap food and treats but this place in Ueno was even cheaper! Here is a sampling of what I bought below. We stopped by harajuku to find a nodding doll for mushroom meadows . I thought most of the stuff there looked more upper scale so we didn't shop too long. We also went to Odabia and they have many malls. I bought two shirts from Honey in Decks for only 10 bucks a piece. :D I'm a bargain shopper. I wish I had more time to shop shop shop. But we did our fair share of shopping. I noticed toys (electronic ones) were cheapest in Akihabara. We bought four toys from SoftMap.

More Travel Guides and cool sites:
We bought the following travel guides.
Frommers: Tokyo

Lonely Planet - Tokyo/

I found these sites helpful:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2164.html

http://wikitravel.org/en/Tokyo

Tokyo: Summary

2007-12-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

I just came back from Tokyo a couple of weeks ago. I have to say it's one of my favorite trips next to my honeymoon so far. It was my first out of country experience. I thought that it would be more of a culture shock but it wasn't. The people were quite lovely and respectful. The subways were pristine. It felt safe. I'll post a more detailed trip report next. :D For now enjoy some pictures...

Merry Christmas ...

2007-12-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and guess where I just came back from?

Here is a hint:

Recipe: Cashew Kreme

2007-11-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

Late at night one night I was flipping channels and saw an episode of the Tyra Bank show. It was diet wars. Instead continuing the flip, I watched the entire episode. This was the first I heard of raw food! So I searched the web and found a cool little site called Ani's Raw Kitchen.

I was excited because:

I could assemble food without having to actually cook ?!! Yes!
I could make something for lunch the next day without having to radiate? Yeah!

Here's my first recipe using raw food concepts. I didn't have nama shoyu which is raw soy sauce.

Reference: Ani Phyo's Cashew Kreme, Carrot, Pepper and Nori

Recipe: Cashew Kreme

Cashew Kreme

1 cup cashews (soaked overnight and rinsed)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup water

Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse. In her recipe she makes little nori rolls. For me I placed the kreme on top pieces of romaine lettuce and served it with grape tomatoes.

Conclusion:
My little bubbies liked it. But since I threw around the term raw so often in excitement by the end of the week he was craving a double cheese burger from McDonald's. :D Next time I'll call it salad dressing.

Boo to you!

2007-10-31T17:56:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Bunny Food

2007-10-26T12:48:00.001-07:00

Recipe: Bunny Food

Was reading about bunnies the other night and found out that bunnies create their own food! They produce two types of poos: one soft, green cecotropes and another harder pellet. They eat the cecotropes and they are full of vitamins etc. The other pellets they leave behind.

Another rendition:

Recipe: Salmon Avocado Cheese Sandwich

2007-10-25T00:40:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Salmon Avocado Cheese Sandwich

1 can of salmon
1 avocado
1 slice of monterey jack
2 slices of wheat bread

Directions:

Mash the contents of the can of salmon w/ deseeded and cut avocado. Then place into bread w/ a piece of monterey jack cheese. It turned out to be a delicious sandwich. :) I'm sure canned tuna would taste good too. I'm going to try that next time.

Cute

2007-10-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Isn't this cute? I got one of my little sister's creations! Just wanted to say hellooooooo!

Recipe: Sweet Potato Puff Pastry

2007-08-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Sweet Potato Puff Pastry

Ingredients:
1 box of puff pastry
3-4 sweet potatoes
1 red onion
1 package of ground turkey

Directions: (makes 18)

Inspired by the numerous dishes at WokAndSpoon, I decided to mix sweet potatoes and coconut milk. So to make these sweet and salty treats: Bake the potatoes in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Smash them w/ a fork and add coconut milk until a nice smooth mixture is formed. Brown some ground turkey with red onions. Mix everything together. Thaw puff pastry per directions. The puff pastry is folded into three. Separate them into three pieces. Then create about 9 squares per 2 sheets. Fold them into triangles and add the mixture in between. Press the edges with a fork. Poke a few air holes. Place them in the oven for 15-20 minutes per instructions on the box. These were a treat. I brought them to a party and we gobbled them all up. Mr. Bubbies liked them a lot.

Trip: Seattle

2007-07-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Trip: Seattle
We went to Seattle recently. In four days we went to the space needle, drove to Mount Rainier, drove to Olympic National Park, up hurricane ridge, to the rainforest, around Lake crescent, to Ruby Beach, visited Pike's Market place, the EMP and rode a rollercoaster! We stayed in one hotel and went on day trips around to national parks and to the city. It was fun. We ate sushi, fish and chips, fried oysters, calm chowder (Ivar's), drank an oregon chai tea from a mini drive thru coffee house on the way to Rainer, ate a chicken burger, mini cheesecake, and had dungness crab cakes. Delicious! My little friend 'Yore' went with me. He's a model pal. :) He's posing in the pics above.

Goal: Eating all the colors of the rainbow

2007-06-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

Scrambled eggs: Green onions, eggs, onions, garlic, red peppers just give them a little whirl

Tuna Salad:
cannellini beans, green onions, cucumbers, red onions and tuna
Fruit bowl: Pinapples, red grapes, kiwi
Made two for just for me and you In the fridge they went ...all the hard work was a good time spent!!!

I did all of this in one night after work for lunch the next day. :D My husband and I unfortunately take turns being sick. I had the flu (I think) two weeks ago and my bubbies (new nick) was sick last week. So instead of trying to lose weight which never works my new goal is to be healthy. We need to exercise more and need to eat better. So to start let's eat all the colors of the rainbow...

Definition: Boba

2007-06-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

Question: What is boba?

To answer WokAndSpoon : Those little balls on the bottom of the milk tea are called boba or Tapioca balls balls. :D Places have been springing up all over Southern California for years now. I love the mini ones. Yum. Above is my partially full drink from Lollicup. On the bottom it states, "Please drink slowly to avoid choking ...!" Yikes I just looked up the nutritional value and it's 440 calories for 16 fluid oz of boba milk tea. Wah I cry inside.

Happy Graduation Day!

2007-06-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

(Look there is a little ant pooh crawling on the flowers!)
(A gift for WHOOOO - my brother)

I just wanted to say congratulations to my little brother for getting his college degree. I was the proud happy older sister. Mr. Budding Cook and I took the day off to celebrate. We attended the cermony, ate seafood for lunch, painted with oils, ate some baguettes for dinner, drank some boba and mango smooties and played good old pac man. Little mushroom meadows (my little sister) said it felt like the nice hot summer days we used to have 10 years ago. It did. Ah...it was fun.

Recipe: Spicy Korean Hot Tofu Pot (Stew)

2007-05-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Spicy Korean Hot Tofu Pot (Stew)

Recipe: Spicy Korean Hot Tofu Pot (Stew)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon sesame oil
A couple tablespoons of garlic
2 tablespoons Hot Pepper Paste (Gochujang)
2 tablespoons Hot Pepper Powder
1 bunch of enoki mushrooms
1 egg
about 7 oz of beef, chicken or veggie stock
1 package of tofu

Directions:
Pour about 1 tablespoon of sesame oil into pot. Add garlic and sautee. Then drain the tofu and place into pot w/ 2 heaping tablespoons of hot pepper paste. Mix tofu up breaking it into bits and mixing w/ hot pepper paste. Add just enough beef stock to cover the tofu. Add 2 tablespoons of hot pepper powder for a more spicy flavor. Allow mixture to boil. Wash enoki mushrooms and cut off the ends. Add enoki mushrooms just at the end. Make sure to cover them in the stew. Then just before serving crack a egg into the mix. Serve over white rice.

I love this dish. It's not exactly authentic since I don't own a claypot and improvised with the recipes I have found. :) I think it's pretty tasty though. It is a nice spicy stew. I'm in love w/ the Gochujang flavor. I could eat w/ a spoon. :D The key is this hot pepper paste and powder. You can change the amounts of pepper paste/powder to add depending on your likes. My hubbub loves this dish as well. My friend told me about the key ingredients and the basic steps to make it in a conversation through instant messanger. I have since looked up different recipes and improved upon it. She compared it to making instant noodles! It's that easy but so much more tasty. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do. We've eaten it many times since I first learned how to cook it.

Recipe: Taco Salad

2007-05-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Taco Salad

Ingredients:

Mexican Shredded Cheese

Salad
Refried Beans (Jalapeno flavor)
Salsa
Ground Turkey
Taco Seasoning

Flour Torillas

Inspired by: Taco Salad Made Over

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make a fist size ball of foil paper and place the flour torilla on top. Spray it with cooking oil. Bake for 8 minutes. Make ground turkey taco mix per taco seasoning directions. Place all the ingredients in the bowl! Wah la yummy taco salad!

Sorry haven't been a posting! I just got back from the Aloha state! Will post some pictures. :D

Gone Bananas!

2007-04-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Trader Joe's Chocolate Dipped Bananas (count 4) - for a $1.99. I've gone bananas for these frozen treats. Have you ever had the frozen bananas at Disneyland? I remember my parents buying frozen bananas for us from the vendors there when we were little babies. :) So these brought back some fond memories. *chomp*

Recipe: Fat rice noodles and Broccoli

2007-04-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Fat rice noodles and Broccoli

1/2 package of rice noodles
Broccoli
Garlic
1 onion
Oil for frying
Some hoisin sauce

I love the fat rice noodles and broccoli combination. The bits of garlic are very sweet. Sautee the onion and garlic. Toss in the broccoli. Then break noodles apart and combine them. Fry them all up and serve w/ hoisin sauce. It was very tasty. Hoisin sauce is so yums. The cost was very low too. Rice noodles are like under 2 bucks and broccoli from costco is under 4 dollars. I still have broccoli and I only used half of the rice noodles for this dish. (Serves 2)

Recipe: Onion Wonton Envelopes

2007-04-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Onion Wonton Envelopes

Ingredients:

Oil for deep frying

Wonton wrappers

2-3 Onions

1 egg for sealing

Directions:

Chop the onions by cutting ends then slicing the onion in half. Place the cut side on the board and slice. Take a wonton wrapper lay it out, place the onions in the middle. Fold the ends up creating an envelope and seal it with a kiss (no seal it with some egg wash) where the onions are fully enclosed. Deep fry the envelopes until they are golden brown.

We had extra wonton wrappers laying around and I was scouring the kitchen for some ingredients. Avocado I thought? hmm.. okay maybe not. I found an onion. The recipe I made yielded only about 10 wontons. So if you are using a full package I'd recommend maybe 2-3 onions. I like onion rings! Similar I think but w/ a twist. My baby cousins helped me wrap up these cute little envelopes. It was fun and yums to eat.

Happy Easter

2007-04-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

Ohhh Ahhh Happy Easter! Hope you all have a good time w/ your family today. :D

Recipe: Mushrooms Tomato Ground Turkey

2007-04-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Mushrooms Tomato Ground Turkey
1/3 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1 pound Ground Turkey
1 can tomatoes
10 oz of mushrooms
Pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix ground turkey and 1/3 cup of Worcestershire sauce in sauce pan and cook on medium heat. Mix in tomatoes. Drain the cooked turkey. Saute some mushrooms and mix ingredients together. Sprinkle pepper on top. Serve over white rice.

I was testing out using my newly purchased Worcestershire sauce. This was very tasty w/ white rice. Do you ever drain your food? This time I did. I packed this for hubbub and myself for lunch and I usually place the food on top of rice. So I didn't want the rice to be too soggy. :D

What taste good and is good for you? A: Kim Chi.

2007-04-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

I love eating Kimchi. :D My mother in law gave us some that she bought from costco and it's so good w/ white rice. My hubbub is convinced that anything that taste good is bad for you. So I looked up kimchi and healthy. What do you know, Kim-chi is quite delicious and healthy.

Kimchi has been cited by Health Magazine as one of the world’s five “healthiest foods,” for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and perhaps even preventing cancer. "

Recipe: Bananas Foster

2007-03-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Bananas Foster

Vanilla Bean ice cream

Rum

Bananas

Dark Brown sugar

Butter

I need to get the exact recipe from my friend. He's an amazing cook. :) This was so delicious. From what I saw you cut up the bananas. Throw the butter, dark brown sugar together. Pour in some rum. Then try to light the rum on fire! :) It didn't exactly work as planned but the alcohol did burn off leaving the sweet taste of rum. Scoop over vanilla bean ice cream and serve immediately. I will update this recipe once I get full details but for now you can look at this delicious dessert. I really enjoyed it. This is the first time I've had it. :)

Recipe: Yellow Coconut Curry

2007-03-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Yellow Coconut Curry

Ingredients:
1 can of coconut milk
1 can of corn
6 potatoes peeled and cut
2 carrots
1 tablespoon of yellow curry powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut peel carrots and potatoes. Mix curry powder and coconut milk together. Place all ingredients into oven proof pot (dutch oven perhaps? if so rub oil on lid and inside the pot :D). Cook for 50 minutes to an hour. Serve over white rice.

This is my first time using coconut w/ curry! It's yummy. :) Hubbub liked it. (Like the new nickname?)

Recipe: Teriyaki Salmon Avocado and Mushrooms

2007-03-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

Recipe: Teriyaki Salmon Avocado and Mushrooms
2 pieces of salmon (Costco's Atlantic Steaks)
1 avocado
10 oz of mushrooms (Bag pre-washed)
1/4 cup of Teriyaki sauce
Sesame oil
2 cloves of garlic (Spice world minced garlic)

Directions:
Preheat oven for 450 degrees. Rub sesame oil on dutch oven's lid and in pot. Add minced garlic, salmon, mushrooms to pot. Drizzle on the teryaki sauce. Top off w/ slices of avocado. Place in oven for 50 minutes. Serve over white rice.

I bought the following Glorious One-Pot Meals (Spiral-bound) cookbook. It's pretty cool for a person like me with little time to cook. It has 63 recipes and teaches you a method to cook with the little red dutch oven. This particular recipe is not in the cookbook but most of the recipes are in the similar style. Elizabeth Yarnell - the author even patented this method. :) She usually has everything in the pot including rice. Being asian or being fat rather we eat way too much rice so I separated the rice from the red pot for all of my dishes. Well I adore the book. It's a bit pricey and it doesn't have many pictures maybe only like 2. But It's inspiring and it puts my little red pot to good use...

Recipe: Thit Heo Kho (Braised Pork w/ Eggs)

2007-03-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

Wandering Chopsticks, Thank-you for the recipe.

Recipe: Thit Heo Kho (Braised Pork w/ Eggs)

Ingredients:
1-2 pounds of pork shoulder
Fish Sauce
Pepper and salt to taste
4 eggs
1 tbsp sugar
1 medium onion
1/4 cup water
1 8 oz can of coconut juice (coco rico as Wandering suggest, I picked up canned drink coconut juice :D)

Directions:
Boil 4 eggs, Cut up meat. Marinate meat in salt, pepper and fish sauce for 10 minutes. Place sugar and coconut juice together. Dissolve it on heat. Place water, coconut juice, onion and meat into dutch oven or a pot. Heat on low for 1 hour. Place eggs in about 15 minutes before finishing. Serve over white rice.

I was impatient so I didn't wait for the coconut juice to caramelize. :D It still turned out delicious though. :) Note, I didn't use that whole pack of meat. I used about 1 1/2 pounds. The rest I placed in the freezer. :D

The Little Red Pot Who Could

2007-02-27T22:26:00.000-08:00

Introducing The Little Red Pot Who Could

So for my birthday I was allowed to buy something anything. I wanted this little Staub Round 2-Quart Cocotte, Pimento Red Pot after seeing, Wandering Chopstick's cute tomato pot. I thought I should get one. It looks cute eh? It's a Staub. It's from France. It seems useful? It's on sale. Right when I was about to purchase it though, the price doubled from $50 to $100. Rats! So I continued to monitor it. :D Then it went down to $44.50. Should I? Shouldn't I? I convinced myself out of it. I don't know how to cook that well. What if I don't know what to do with it? I've never purchased anything for the kitchen that cost that much. Most of the cookware I've received were wedding gifts. Too much indecision caused me to miss the deal again. Amazon stop playing with my mind!!! So after forgetting about it for a couple weeks, the price dropped again to $44.50. I hopped on the sale and purchased it! Just my luck though, the next day it dropped 5 bucks.:D WAH. Luckily though we were able to get a price adjustment. Yay.

My little red pot arrived. It's cuter than I thought it would be. It's darker red on the bottom and is two toned. Viva La France! It's a dutch oven, though Le Creuset calls their versions French ovens. I think that's clever. Stay tuned for many recipes from the little red pot who could. My brain has exploded w/ all the recipes I want try. Plus I'm still searching for more recipes. :) Any thoughts? Do you have one of these cast iron beauties? Can you tell I'm excited?

Recipe: Wonton Pineapple Coconut Dessert

2007-02-23T20:47:00.000-08:00

I tried really hard to recreate the delicious looking treats from Melting Wok's No bake macaroon recipe. I however was unsuccessful. My little treats fell apart. :( I think I didn't leave the pineapple on the heat long enough? Perhaps it didn't form into a paste? Melting? :D Not sure but this is my first time cutting a pineapple and didn't want it to go to waste! Plus I tasted the mix of coconut and sweet pineapple and it was so refreshing! So instead my little brilliant red brain thought to place the mixture into the wonton cups.

Recipe: Wonton Pineapple Coconut Dessert
1 fresh pineapple
1/2 bag of shredded coconut
1 bag of trail mix
1 bag of large wontons

Directions:

Wontons:
The wonton cups were made the same way as my as my little dynamite wontons . Cut large wonton sheet into smaller rectangles. Pinch the two ends and place into mini muffin pan creating a pinwheel type shape. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

Mix:
Place the trail mix into a sandwich bag and use a mallet or in my case a meat tenderizer and crush the nuts. Cut pineapple and place into blender. Put pineapple into a pan on low heat until the pineapple forms a syrup like paste. Mix coconut, pineapple and crushed nuts together. Refrigerate mixture before eating. When the mixture is cool enough and it's time to eat, spoon the mixture into baked wonton cups.

What color is your brain?

2007-02-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

Take this test. There are only four questions and it seems pretty accurate. I do daydream a lot! So tell me, What color is your brain?

Your Brain is Red

Of all the brain types, yours is the most impulsive.If you think it, you do it. And you can get the bug to pursue almost any passion.Your thoughts are big and bold. Your mind has no inhibitions.
You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about love, your dreams, and distant places.

To bring it back to food - Have you ever eaten brain? If so what? I have yet to consume brain. My friend said that she knew someone who turned vegetarian after his experience in China. I guess he was at a restaurant where they plop a live monkey in the middle and chop off the top of the monkey's head. He was then supposed to spoon out the goodness. He saw the moneky cry and never ate meat again ...

Recipe: Mini Dynamite Wontons: Salmon Motoyaki

2007-02-21T00:48:00.000-08:00

(Click on picture to see a larger image)

I remember the first time I had a dynamite at a Japanese restaurant - It came right out from the oven (a slighty browned mayo on top of salmon and oysters and rice). Ever since then I've tried dyanmite at almost all of the sushi restaurants I frequent, none of them good as the first. However, I think I've struck gold (golden mayo that is) thanks to Chow Times! I didn't have any oyster shells so I thought of using baked wonton wrappers. Besides that I pretty much followed the recipe for the salmon mix. These are scrumptious.

Recipe: Mini Dynamite Wontons: Salmon Motoyaki

Ingredients:

1 piece of salmon

1 onion

Cutie Japanese Mayo

1 package of large wonton wrappers

Pepper to taste

Bakeware:

24 cup Mini Muffin pan

Directions: (makes about 54 mini dynamite wontons)

Cut large wonton sheet into smaller rectangles. Pinch the two ends and place into mini muffin pan creating a pinwheel type shape. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Slice up salmon into little bits and onion. Sautee onions add salmon. Sprinkle some pepper into the pan. Place fully cooked salmon mixture into the pinwheel shape wontons and then cover w/ mayo and then sprinkle on some parmesan cheese. Broil in oven for 2-3 minutes on lo. I made a couple of batches for our new year's party. :) I ate a lot of them.

Recipe: Banh Day

2007-02-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

The story behind Banh Day:

Legend has it that the ancient King, King Hung Vuong was growing old and wanted to find a successor to the throne. Not knowing which one of his three sons to choose he decided to challenge them. Each of them were to provide a dish of food that they would serve to him at the end of the Lunar Month, and based on that dish they would be come the ruler of the Kingdom. The first brother offered a fish dressed in sweet chilli and expensive lotus seeds. The second offered a boar dressed in mushrooms and rare wild fern sauce. The third prince opened his basket to reveal simple plain rice cakes:

He said:
"Rice is the most precious and valuable of all food found in this Kingdom, yet it is also the most abundant. I have prepared a dish that represents my love for you and our beautiful Vietnam. I have cooked it thoroughly then molded it into a round rice cake, and called it Banh Day as it symbolizes the sky we live under. I have cooked a square rice cake, stuffed it with cooked bean paste and ground meat in the middle and called it Banh Chung. This will symbolize the earth we live on."

Realizing that he was the wisest one of the three, the third prince became the successor to the throne. The recipes were passed to all the people of the Kingdom and are traditionally given to family and friends in celebration of the new year. The following Banh Day recipe I pass on to you as we celebrate! Happy Tet!

For a more detailed version of the tet story and my resource:
http://www.chaobannewsletter.com/article-tetstory.html

I believe this is not exactly the traditionally way of making them. The traditional way requires that you break up Glutinous rice. Here is a quick simple recipe:

Ingredients:
1 16 oz bag of Glutinous rice
2 tablespoons of Rice flour
2 tablespoons of Oil (Don't use olive oil)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of milk
Banana Leaves (1 sheet)

Directions:
Microwave the milk for one minute. Just so that it's at room temp not boiling. Mix all the ingredients in together. If it is too hard then add some water. Take some mixture it should be about a size of a small lemon. Take it and flatten it a bit. Dip your hand into some oil and rub it on the side and place on a small piece of plastic wrap. Place the pieces in a steamer. Steam for 10 minutes. You can also cut little squares out of banana leaves. Remove plastic wrap and place the Banh Day on the leaf. Traditionally this is eaten w/ Vietnamese Ham.

OverStuffed chillies (Yong Tow Foo) over rice noodles

2007-02-12T20:37:00.000-08:00

*overstuffed*

I used Rasa Malaysia's Yong Tow Foo stuffed chillies recipe and Tigerfish's use of rice noodle and garlic to create this flavorful, colorful simple dish.

To make the Yong Tow Foo:
2 stalks scallion
9 red chillies
3 dashes of white pepper
1 tub of fish cha ca

Yong Tow Foo Sauce:
2 tbsp of garlic
2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon starch

Rice Noodles:
Oil for frying
Rice noodles
1 clove of Garlic
2 stalks scallions

Directions:
Thaw the cha ca the night before. Chop scallions and 1 red chilli and mix w/ cha ca and 3 dashes of white pepper. Deseed chillies and cut off the tops. Place the mixture into the chillies and place in steamer. Steam for 5-10 minutes. Heat up oil. Stir fry w/ garlic and scallions. Break up noodles and place into the mix. The rice noodles will soften. Once done plate rice noodles and place chillis on top. Pour over Yong Tow Foo Sauce. Makes two large *overstuffed* servings.

Do you like my little steamer? I just got it. It was only 10 dollars. :D It's cute and it is three levels high. 2 for steaming and 1 for the boiling water. :D

Sweet Love: Peanut Butter Cookies

2007-02-08T01:43:00.000-08:00

I am participating in the monthly mingle hosted by "What's for lunch Honey?". I made peanut butter cookies for my husband. I am not much of a baker but my husband loves peanut butter. His favorite candy is peanut butter m&ms, one of his favorite cakes is the peanut butter chocolate bomb, and his favorite brownie made by a co-worker is oozing with pb. Well I am still up in the wee hours of the night because I started cooking late at 10:30 p.m. and now it is past 2:00 a.m.. I even enlisted my husband's help to make the little cookie balls and place them onto the cooking sheet. I was cooking 3 things at once and had a pile of dishes to wash! Woe is me. I wrote this poem for him:

Sweet Love, Happy Early Valentines!
I'm not a baker. Just a budding cook,
Sometimes it takes me hours,
Before you can taste and look.
You say I bite off more than I can chew,
Just know that these cookies were made especially for you!

Love,
Your Budding Cook

Recipe:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of peanut butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of sugar
4 tablespoons of corn starch
4 tablespoons of water (ack I just noticed I think I only put four teaspoons of water, and 4 teaspoons of corn starch. hmms no wonder the dough was so hard to mix! I tasted it though it taste pretty good.)

Update Budding Cook Miship #6: My hubbie didn't like them. oops I guess they don't taste that good the next morning! I didn't have eggs so I used an eggless recipe. Tasted kinda of raw and I didn't sift my flour so there were little bits...eww

Note: There is an encrypted message in the slide show for my husband. Can you see it? It's another puzzle! :D Winners don't have to eat a cookie.

Recipe: Peppered Gio Lua Sandwich

2007-02-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Recipe: Peppered Gio Lua Sandwich

Ingredients:

Pepper, White bread and Gio Lua.

Directions:

Lay out a piece of white bread. Cut the gio lua into thin slices. Place on top of the bread and pepper it to taste. Top with another piece of bread. Gio Lua is a vietnamese ham. My grandma made this gio lua. It's delicious. You can also find this at an asian market. I saw some this weekend. It is in the fridgerated aisle. It's wrapped in banana leaves and then foil. I saw some next to the rice noodles. :D This is the way my mom would pack my dad's lunches for work. I like to smash the bread together a bit. :) Yummy.

p.s. My pictures aren't very nice. Sorry I made the sandwiches and snapped some pictures really quickly before rushing off to work.

Meme: 5 things Most people don't know about me

2007-02-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

I've never been tagged before :). I was tagged by TigerFish.

1. It's my birthday today.
2. My favorite animal? The bunny. Could you guess? :) There is a little bunny that comes every night to our yard and eats carrots we throw out.
3. On the note of TigerFish being a prankster, my older sister and I created little candy like shapes in different colors and passed it out to friends in elementary school. Little did they know it was actually "Play DOH!" haha. We were nice because we stopped them before they ate it. When I was making this dish, it reminded me of the incident. :)
4. I hate to admit but I watched Top Chef after Rasa Malaysia told me about it. My favorite character was Sam. :) She said she liked Marcel. :D
5. My husband loves rollercoasters and I tag (pun intended) along. :) So we've ridden this back to back like 13 times in one day. :D
I'll tag:
Mushroom Meadows
TT from Playing with My Food
Suanne and Ben from ChowTimes
Rasa Malyasia
Trinigourmet
Ruth from My little cyberspot

You are it! :D

Vietnamese Chao Ga - Chicken Congee Porridge

2007-02-01T21:26:00.000-08:00

Everyone has their rendtion of porridge or congee. From Sim cooks to TigerFish's recipe, this is my mom's rendition. With her verbal directions, it tastes just like it did growing up. Yummy. I'm feeling slightly under the weather. But we use to eat porridge any time of the year. How do you cook your porridge?

Recipe: Vietnamese Chao Ga - Chicken Congee Porridge

Ingredients:
1 cup rice
12 cups of water
3 chicken drumsticks
Pepper to taste
Fish sauce to taste

Directions:
Throw rice, 12 cups of water, and 3 drumsticks into a nice large pot. My mom said for this dish you don't have to wash the rice. Place on medium heat for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. When finished the rice will be broken and unrecognizable. The meat will be so tender it can easily be taken off the bone. I just use a spoon to take of the meat and I threw out the bones. Pepper the dish to taste and add as much fish sauce as you want to your liking. I probably squirt about 3 large squirts of fish sauce. My brother squirts even more. Mix up the ingredients and dive in.:D I love this dish especially on a cold day like today. I only defrosted 3 drumsticks but the first time I made this dish I used 4. :) If you have green onions you can chop some up and garnish the dish as well. Hope you enjoy.

Recipe: Garlicy Baby Bok Choy

2007-01-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

Recipe: Garlicy Baby Bok Choy

Ingredients:

4 cloves of garlic
4 lbs of baby bok choy (1 full bag probably 10 little stalks)

couple of dashes of soy sauce

Directions:

Cut and wash baby bok choy leaves. Blanch baby bok choy for 1-2 minutes in boiling hot water.Use a slotted spoon to remove the baby bok choy from the water. Sautee 4 cloves of garlic. Top baby bok choy w/ garlic and a couple dashes of soy sauce. Serve over white rice. I bought baby bok choy after seeing the cute stalks on Rasa Malaysia's site. They are cute but not cute enough to save from the budding cook's budding belly. ;)

Budding Cook Reveal:

Costco sells minced garlic for under $4. :) I thought this looked interesting and I love garlic. :D So I used this garlic in the above recipe. Doesn't the garlic look so uniformly cut? :) It was cause I didn't do it.

Recipe: Vietamese Ca Kho (Basa Fillets Fish with thick soy sauce)

2007-01-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

2 Basa Fish Fillets

3 Dashes of Fish Sauce

1 tbsp (estimated) of thick soy sauce

1 tbsp of oil for frying

Directions:

Rinse the fish under cold water. Heat tbsp of oil in saucepan. Place the fillets in the pan and fry on both sides. Squirt some fish sauce onto the fish. It will turn white in color when fully cooked. Then take some thick soy sauce and rub the color into the fish with a spoon on both sides. I estimated 1 tbsp but I'm not exactly sure. I just used it to color the fish. :) In vietnamese my mom calls this nuoc mau or color water. This makes the fish taste a little more salty. Serve over white rice. My mom likes this fish because it's boneless. And guess where it orginated from? It's a type of catfish. Answer: Vietnam

Well I searched online for Ca Kho and they say it's fish simmered in caramel sauce. However this is how my parents have ever made anything "Kho" with this thick soy sauce . :) What are your methods of "Kho"-ing or Braising ?. :)

This is my mom's recipe. When I took a bite of it, it reminded me of home and how I miss *home*. ;)

Recipe: Simmered Okras and Tomatoes

2007-01-25T21:43:00.000-08:00

Adapted from Best Ever Three & Four Ingredient Cookbook

Ingredidents:
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Cumin
Dash of Pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes with onions
Okras - About like 20

Directions:
Add tomotoes to pan. Put a big dash of cinnamon, cumin and pepper. Bring to a boil. Slice up okras. Once it is boiling put okras into the mix. Mix around for 1-2 minutes. Then bring the heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes mixing once and a while until the okras are softer. Serve with rice.

My husband and I liked this dish a lot. The book said this was a Middle Eastern way of preparing okras. It had a very nice aroma. The original recipe also called for a dash a cloves and fresh coriander. I found the cook book at Costco for only $5.99. I don't usually buy cookbooks. I probably only have like 4 to my name including this one. :D But this one caught my attention. It has a lot pictures (like my favorite blogs). :) The only bad thing is sometimes it'll say buy store bought pancakes or buy pre made so and so. I think it's because it's trying to keep with being only a 3-4 ingredient recipe. Cheaters. :) I liked it though. I even brought it the gym to flip through while on the elliptical. That must of looked weird.

Well the budding cook is back and back to basics. Though my husband liked all the the exotic food I was making he has requested to eat rice again. :) So I'll be scouring your blogs for some good rice dishes. :) I already have many in mind. ;)

Recipe: Chicken Flavored Ramen and Egg

2007-01-24T00:23:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
Chicken ramen Instant Noodle - Maruchan (Recommended by Mr. Budding Cook)
Water per directions
1 egg

Directions: Cook instant noodles per directions and then crack and egg in it before removing from heat. Flip egg around try not to break it but make sure it's cooked.

Introducing Mr. Budding Cook - This is my husband's creation (recipe) and his picture taking. :D He isn't feeling too well lately and he wanted a soupy substance. So he made himself some ramen. He called himself the budding cook. hehe So I decided to feature him. He loves Maruchan chicken flavor. This however is Nissin. Only 12 cents at Albertson's :). He said they taste similar. Did you know that instant noodles are fused w/ oil? I saw it on the tv show Unwrapped! Why must everything good be fused w/ oil? wah...

The Riddle: Not da recipe Part II

2007-01-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

Part of Attempt 1, out of 2 one was burnt

Attempt 2, too doughy, too glutinousy hehe

Attempt 3, i didn't have pork or chives so i put potatoes in it.. not sooo good. haha...and looks can be deceiving :D

Thank-you all for particpating in the riddle game. Click here to see your results. You were all so close. How did you guess pan fried, chives, and pork? hehe

The Answer though is.....Chinese Chive Dumplings. But these are not da Chinese Chive Dumplings. :D I actually think I had these at Dim Sum the other day. It doesn't taste exactly like the way my in laws make it though. Theirs are more doughy. :) Hopefully one day I can get the recipe or see how they make it. Everytime we come over they are all done and all we do is chomp. so spoiled

So there are some days where cooking is rewarding (jumping for joy) and some days where it's frustrating and disappointing... (eating your mistakes as my friend says she does) Making these were kinda of disappointing. Boo..:/

Your eyes can spy on how they are supposed to look here: Google Image Search :)

Will the budding cook be able to cook her next meal without disspointing results? Will she regain her confidence? Is the budding cook knocked out? Will she get up? Stay tuned. Same budding cook time, same budding cook channel .. but is she the same budding cook?

The Riddle: What is this? Part 1

2007-01-18T22:44:00.000-08:00

my first attempt, good but not perfect too crispy, it almost almost tasted like it but no no it's not IT

Question: Have you made this? Has your mouth been able to bite into this? Your nose been able to sniff in it's goodness? Has your stomach been warmed by it? Have your eyes lightened up when you've seen it? Have your thoughts been drawn to it?

The Riddle: This is something that I've been craving, drooling over and dying to make ever since my husband's grandparents made it. It's round, pan fried and oh so delicious. When you eat it, chives (green onions) and pork ooze out. It taste best when hot. The middle is soft and the outside is crispy but not too crispy. It's of Chinese descent. You can eat 2-3 of them. Or if you are like my husband - 5. It is soft. It is yummy. It fits perfectly in my tummy. What is it?

The Answer:
I want to reveal the recipe when I've perfected it. :) So to be continued...

Please tell me what you think this is? Or if you have a recipe, make me some on your blog hehe. My quest for perfection continues. :D

Peek into my kitchen

2007-01-18T20:53:00.000-08:00

From left to right (Seasoned rice vinegar, Sesame oil, Chinese Rice Wine, Soy Sauce, Sriracha sauce which is hot chili sauce, pepper)

From left to right: Koon Chun's Thick Soy Sauce, Chili Garlic Sauce, White Pepper Powder, Chinese Five Spice, Koon Chun's Hoisin Sauce. My Mom has the thick soy suace and Hoisin Sauce in her kitchen. :)

I will try to keep my list of ingredients updated. :) I always love sites w/ ingredient list. So take a peek into the kitchen of the budding cook. :)

A refreshing drink on a cold winters day

2007-01-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

Smoothies. Who needs Jamba juice or Orange Julius when you can make your own? I get my frozen strawberries from costco in bulk. :) Yum this was quite refreshing. The recipe is from Mushroom Meadows. This site is very cute might I add. :)

Recipe: Spicy Peanut Chicken Drumstricks on Soba Noodles

2007-01-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

Spicy Peanut Sauce: (Adapted from the Spicy Peanut Sauce in Teany Book)
4 tsp Soy Sauce
4 tbsp Sriracha Sauce (has a rooster on it)
2 tbsp Creamy Peanut Butter
2 tsp Sesame oil
2 tsp rice Vinegar

Soba noodle:
Place soba noodles in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Drain and place under cold water.

Directions:
Place chicken into oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Flip chicken over for another 30 minutes. Once the chicken is pretty much cooked, lather peanut sauce onto the chicken. Bake for another 20 minutes on each side. Serve over hot soba noodles.

This was the first time I tried my peanut butter sauce on chicken. It was actually through a conversation with a friend. He said that he usually makes spicy peanut butter wings. And we found out that we use used Sriracha sauce in both our recipes. The teany book didn't specify the type of asian chilli sauce to use. And I decided to use the rooster sauce. Woo hoo I think that means that I'm really a budding cook! :) You could try variations of the peanut sauce. I think this version may be too spicy. I tried it on a group of girlfriends once over soba noodles alone and it was way too hot for them. If you want to lessen the hottness factor add more peanut butter and soy sauce and reduce the number tablespoons of hot sauce.

Related Post: Japanese Soba Ground Turky Gyozas

Recipe: Curry Puff Pastries

2007-01-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

I got the Recipe: Curry Puff Pastries from SimCooks. It was quite easy and delicious. I modified mine a bit.

Ingredients:
Curry Mix - Used Golden Curry Mix
Potatoes
Pastry Sheets - Used Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry cost 4.99 at Albertsons. :D

Directions:
Defrost the puff pastry sheets for 40 minutes per directions. Place a towel on them so as to not dry out (Sim's advice). For one pastry sheet it comes in three rectangles, instead of rolling it into one sheet I cut out nine equal squares. Place the curry in the middle and fold in half. I used a fork to poke holes and crimp the edges. Place on a ungreased baking sheet in a 400 degree oven. Please look at Sim's blog for her detailed instructions as well. :) With the left over pieces I created different curry puff creations as seen above. Hope you enjoy. I did. I will make this again but next time for a party. :) Yummy Curry Puff Pastries are the best! yum yum

I think I want to make my own puff pastry myself next time. :) Seems like a fun exercise. Has anyone tried it? Is it easy?

XXX-Rated Naked and Glutinous Goodies

2007-01-08T22:48:00.000-08:00

In honor of Simcook's froclicking shrimp, I decided to name my dish XXX-Rated Naked and Glutinous Goodies. :)

This dish calls for glutinous flour. While slurping up these little goodies, my husband turned to me and said "These must be fat huh?". I then looked it up on the wiki . It turns out that they are only named "Glutinous" because the flour is sticky and not because it contains gluten. :) Doesn't this look like gluttonous? Wheew luckily it only sounds fat.

I got the recipe from TT's Playing with My Food website. He describes why these little guys are called "Banh It Tran" in vietnamese meaning "Naked Pasteries". It's because they aren't wrapped in banana leaves. I've been dying to try some of the recipes here. I have a long list of recipes that I will try from all the master cooks I've been reading. :D For now I'm just the little apprentice. :)

Below is my redition. Thanks TT for all your advice.

Ingredients:
3 tsps of Fish Sauce
A couple shakes of Pepper
3/4 lb of Ground Pork
3/4 of a 16 oz Glutinous rice flour bag
2 stalks of Green onions
Warm Water

Directions:
Fry the onions. Add the fish sauce and pepper and brown the ground pork with the onions. Form dough by adding warm water. The recipe doesn't specify how much water is to be added. TT said that it is forgiving. What I've seen is that you add just enough water to make a soft dough and if you add too much water the flour becomes too sticky. In that case you would probably want to add more flour. Flatten the dough and place ground pork into the middle. Roll the dough up creating little balls. Place them into a boiling pot of water. Once the critters float to the top you'll need to cook them for another 10 minutes. You can then scoop these babies out. I didn't add a lot of ingredients that the recipe called for: shrimp, mung beans, onion oil etc. I had dry mung beans but I didn't know how to cook them. :P Boil? Oh well next time...

After they were all done and plated, the little guys realized that they were naked and asked to be covered. So I topped them with some green onions and then ate them. :)

The End (At least for them. ;))

Vietnamese Soy Sauce Chicken Drumsticks

2007-01-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

This is my mom's recipe. It's sooo good with rice and it's quite simple.

Ingredients:

Chicken Drumsticks, Soy Sauce, Sugar, Water to boil

Directions:

Boil chicken for 20 minutes in water. Take chicken out and place in a pan. Sprinkle sugar on chicken. I sprinked about 1 to 2 tablespoons on six drumsticks. Then squirt a generous amount of soy sauce on chicken. Cover for about 10 minutes. Flip over a couple of times. Serve w/ rice.

(The above picture is before the chicken was covered. I had just finished squirting soy sauce. The chicken should be light brown in color in the end. You can also use chicken thighs. Optionally you can add green onions to the mix.)

Easy Cheesy Guacomole

2007-01-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

Easy indeed but not really cheesy.

Ingredients:
1 Hass Avocado, Ripe (They are darker in color almost black when they are ripe)
4 tablespoons of your favorite salsa
2 teaspoons of lemon or lime to taste (optional)

Directions:
Cut avocado in half. Take the seed out. Scoop into bowl. Add salsa and mash avocado up. Add lime or lemon to taste. I got this recipe from my aunt. It's quite simple.

Budding Cooking Tip #3: Leave the seed in the bowl to keep the guacomole from browning.

Bottomless Steamed Wonton Shrimp

2007-01-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

Adapted from Rasa Malyasia's Shrimp wontons. I even took lessons from Rasa Malyasia's wonton wrapping cooking video. :)

I tried steaming the little shrimp with my Black and Decker steamer. I got it as a wedding gift. :) I've used it to steam veggies but I thought I'd venture off and try this. The only problem is the wonton sticks to the plastic so the little bottoms fell off hence the name ;). Does anyone know what the difference is between using this type of steamer vs stainless steel or a bamboo one?

I want to start making little steamed goodies. yum yum. And was wondering if I should invest or will this do?

Toxic Fumes Part II

2006-12-30T00:43:00.000-08:00

Update regarding my blue salad bowl mess - I turned the oven on to 500 degrees, filled the house w/ toxic fumes and passed out. j/k I didn't pass out but I didn't breathe through my nose until the blue pieces of plastic melted away from the rack and dropped onto foil paper. They were hot and loose enough to wipe off with a napkin using an oven mitt. My plan worked out brilliantly except I didn't expect the house to be filled with so much smoke, the smell to still be so potent, and my hand to get burnt. My husband was afraid of leaving me at home alone cause he thought I might burn down the house.

Yippie!! With just a little bit of suffering the nasty pieces of plastic are gone and I can bake again!!!

Happy New Year! Just for you some budding cooking tips. :)

Budding Cooking Tip #1: Don't try to maneuver your hand in a hot oven without an oven mitt.
Budding Cooking Tip #2: Wet oven mitts are not effective. :)

Wonton Shrimp

2006-12-29T23:55:00.000-08:00

Wonton Shrimp - This is a dish my grandma makes a lot for family gatherings. I'm not sure if it's of Vietnamese origin. But my grandma started making this a couple of years ago and it shows up almost every gathering. We just had it last week for Christmas. :)

Ingredients:
Wonton wrappers
Shrimp
Egg wash to close wrappers
Soy sauce for marinating shrimp
Oil for frying - I used olive oil.

Directions:
I bought a package of frozen shrimp from Costco. Defrosted them and marinated the shrimp in soy sauce for about 20 minutes. Leave a little part of the tail out and wrap the rest of the shrimp in the wonton forming a little envelope. Use the egg wash to seal the wonton together. Fill the pan with oil and let it heat up. Then place the little shrimps and let them swim in the oil for 4 minutes per side until they are lighly brown and crisp. Take them out and place them on some paper towels to remove excess grease.

mishap #158: i didn't turn on the fan and the tile is greasy now. my husband noticed. is that what the fan is used for? oops. another duh moment brought to you by the budding cook. :( i will mop tomorrow.

Modern Art or Not

2006-12-26T21:30:00.000-08:00

(Don't try this at home)

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees for the egg tarts yesterday. With my back turned to the oven I was carefully pressing the dough into the muffin pan. In the corner of my eye I noticed FIRE. Blue plastic was melting down and dripping onto the heat rod inside the oven. There was a huge flame much like one in a fireplace. I forgot to take out my large blue plastic salad bowl. I screamed FIRE and turned off the oven. My husband ran down with an extinguisher. Luckily the flames extinguished on their own. That's what I get for using my oven as a storage facility. Above is the picture of my contribution to modern art. I still need to clean the rest of the oven. How do I get the other pieces of blue plastic off the rack? Any ideas? Maybe I could turn the oven back on to melt the rest of the plastic off. After it dries it does form into hard plastic. I might give it a go but I'm a little scared something might go astray. As for my egg tarts I brought all the ingredients and baked them at my mom's house. We fanned out the house since it was toxic smelling.

Portuguese Egg Tarts

2006-12-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

I made 12 egg tarts from the recipe on Rasa Malaysia. I had to improvise since I don't have a strainer, electric beater or a rolling pin! So I didn't strain the filling, used a whisk to mix, and I used a meat mallet to flatten the dough. :D I used a silicon muffin pan so I didn't need to butter the pan. However the baking time is longer when using silicon. It took about 30 minutes instead of 10-20 minutes. The crust came out crispy and buttery. It tasted like it came out of a bakery. They were a success for the Christmas party. The only problem was I didn't make enough. This recipe is a keeper.

Baked Chicken Katsu

2006-12-19T22:04:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:
1 egg
3 tablespoons of flour
3/4 cups of panko strips
3 chicken breast filets

Adapted from: Fried recipe & Oven-Fried

Directions:
Cut chicken breast into thin slices. Roll in flour. Dip into beaten egg mixture. Lastly roll generously in the panko crumbs. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes depending on doneness of chicken for 500 degrees.

Sauce:
I tried a mix of ketchup with soy sauce and it actually tasted ok.

The Art of Cooking

2006-12-18T23:12:00.000-08:00

Discovery is probably one of the most rewarding things in life. Learning to drive for the first time (hugging the side of the road), the first kiss (not so romantic), marriage (quite lovely), cooking (not a chef but a budding one). Cooking is not as hard as I imagined. Well I'm still learning the basics but I'm glad cooking is not an exact science.

This blog is my slow discovery on what cooking really is.

How long does chicken take to cook before I stop cutting it halves to make sure the pink is no longer pink?

Holiday Beef Carrot Leaf

2006-12-18T21:56:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:

1 Beef - Cow Hole Punch
1 Carrot - Hole Punch
1 Leaf - Hole Punch
1 Glue Stick
1 Paper Shaper Scissors

Directions:

Punch little carrots out of different color paper. Pull off the leafy part to make Christmas lights. You can draw the wire from light to light. Punch little cows to make reindeer. I drew Santa's sleigh. Layer leaves on top of each other to create a holiday christmas tree or a wreath.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Pancakes!

2006-12-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

I tried the breakfast pancakes from Rasa Malaysia. I made two batches! The first batch I made with water and I dont' think I added enough. They came out way too the thick. The second batch I tried with milk. They yielded quite a lot of pancakes and my husband I were beyond full. They reminded me of desserts my sisters and I would make back when we were little.

Frozen Dinner?

2006-12-10T22:56:00.000-08:00

The ingredients did come from the freezer but it wasn't quite a frozen dinner - Frozen vegetables and Frozen Tilapia Fillets. I placed my $1 dollar frozen fillets in the microwave per the instructions on the back for 2-3 minutes. Then I dipped them in a mixture of flour and water and lightly fried them with olive oil.

We ate this with jasmine rice.

I liked it! It was yummy. I haven't really used flour yet in any of my cooking. I was craving something flour like after seeing the salty pancakes over at Rasa Malaysia.

So I'm back. I haven't stopped cooking though I don't do it as often now. Been busy changed jobs and getting adjusted and such.

I'm happy to be back though. I'll update soon with some Vietnamese recipes I've learned. Yum.

Chinese sausages and Sweet onions & mushrooms

2005-05-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had two very simple dishes with white jasmine rice.

First dish was green onions sauteed with chinese sausages.
Second dish was stir fried sweet onions, crimi mushrooms and soy sauce.

Sun Dried Tomato Pine Nut Hummus

2005-05-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

I was in the kitchen Tuesday night from the time I got home around 7 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. If the food processor is out might as well make some yummy hummus. I loooooove hummus.

Guess where I got the recipe?

I didn't have all the ingredients as usual so I improvised. That's the little budding cook in me. Instead of 1/3 a cup of Tahini which I added peanut butter. I read tons of hummus recipes and they do the same. So I gave it a try. I didn't have roasted peppers so I substituted sun dried tomatoes. I also used the reserve of liquid from the can. After a night of refrigeration, the Mr. and I had it for lunch today. It was soooooooo good!!!! I ate it before noon. I'm the FAToon alright.

I also made pita chips from All Recipes. I must of been tired because I didn't exactly read Watch carefully, as they tend to burn easily!

Pesto Pizza with Sun dried Tomatoes

2005-05-25T22:10:00.000-07:00

Pesto is pretty simple to make (little food processors come in handy).

Again from Moby Teany Book except I simplified it a bit. I didn't add capers or fried zucchini strips.

Pesto (olive oil, pine nuts and basil leaves) and sun dried tomatoes on top of focaccia bread (premade Trader Joe's).

The Mr. loved it. I did too. Except I spread the pesto on too thick (i.e too much oil per inch (poor Mr. He ate most of it))

Chipotle Chicken, Spanish Rice and Jalapeno Beans

2005-05-22T17:07:00.000-07:00

Chipotle Chicken
I sliced two chicken breasts and marinated them for a hour in Lawrys Baja Chipotle sauce. Then I sliced one yellow onion and sauteed the slices until they were soft. Finally, I placed the chicken into the pan turning each piece over once it looked done. (i.e. looked white and firm)

Spanish Rice
For the spanish rice, I got the recipe from Elise's simple recipes. I put too much chicken broth which made the rice a little mushy but it still tasted good. I also got the enchilada recipe from Elise's site. Simple is key. :)

Jalapeno Beans
The beans were from a can - Rosarito's Spicy Jalapeno Beans. I like this flavor of beans. They taste like the expensive frito lay bean chip dip to me. Yummy.

Enchilughdas

2005-05-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

I've made enchiladas twice before. They have turned out beautifully. Hubbister had wanted to try flour torillas so I subsituted corn for flour. For mexican cheese I tried american. For shredded cheese I cut large chunks (I don't have a grater). The end result made my hubbister want to pukester. After I made them I noticed they smelled like something I hated when I was young. My siblings and I tried to make pizzas in our younger years by using a slice of american cheese singles on a piece of white bread with a spread of tomato paste. It didn't taste too good and I guess neither these enchilughads. I'll have to try it again one day using the correct ingridents but I need to wait until the hubbister recovers from the trauma. He ate a lot just cause he felt bad which made him feel worse. He's sweet. I brought some to work today. I added some ground turkey. I'll see how that turns out.

Japanese Soba and Ground Turkey Gyozas

2005-05-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

I got the japanese soba with peanut butter sauce recipe from Moby's book called Teany Book. I didn't have all the ingredients but it was delicious!

The sauce had sesame oil, soy sauce, chilli sauce and peanut butter.

Japanese Soba (Buckwheat noodles)

I added some ground Turkey gyzoas. I found this recipe online.

The finished results with fresh cut carrots:

New Hoppy

2005-05-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hello,
I'm bunnyfatoon. My new hoppy (oops excuse me) hobby is to cook! My old and current hobby but of course is to.... eat!

Pictures of my fatoon creations to come.

Love,
BunnyFatoon

Edit: I just changed my name to BuddingCook!

Profile: Budding Cook

2005-02-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

About Me
I was born in America but am of Vietnamese heritage. Though my parents started to teach me to how cook in the 4th grade, studies took precedence and I was never able to hone my skills. Since getting married I have been trying to acquire and learn some of my mom and grandma's recipes. Hope you enjoy as I build up my cooking abilities as the little budding cook.