Green Pesto
21 May 2012 Leave a Comment
I got this beautiful Basil for 99 Cents at this Produce store that my friend Gina took me to. So when you have fresh basil, there are so many awesome possibilities. I went with Green Pesto.
I had some Pistachios and Cashews, so instead of the traditional pine nut basil pesto I decided to use that.
so I used:
1/4 Cup Pistachios
1/4 Cup Cashews
A whole bunch of Basil
Olive oil
Herbs de Provence
a pinch of salt
I still haven´t gotten THE FOOD PROCESSOR of my dreams so I am using this little one. It serves its purpose but.. its kind of little. So put nuts in and grind them until they are a little bit coarse.
Like this 
Add the leaves of Basil and some olive oil… the amount is up to you .. I like a it a little bit runny so I add a good amount.
Since the nuts are already salted, I only need to add a dash of salt, a pinch of Herbs de Provence and you mix it for a little bit.
also good to add if you have it is freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
This is good as a spread or even a sauce on pasta. You can Saute some veggies and add a couple of tablespoons of pesto. Then add some of the pasta water to it and you´ll have a amazing pesto pasta!!!
Lazy Sunday Cookies
13 May 2012 Comments Off
I love love love cookies!!! I had never realized that there were so many variations of cookies. So one day I had sugar crave (just a normal everyday thing) but didn’t want to go and buy some candy, I looked in my pantry to see what I could come up with and VOILA!! I found chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and some crushed Heath bars!! So on a mission to make something scrumptious I came up with Lazy Sunday Cookies.
I used a basic cookie dough recipe
1/2 Cup butter, softened
1/2 Cup shortening
1 Cup packed Brown sugar
1/2 Cup sugar
2 1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 TSP baking soda
2 Eggs
1/2 TSP Vanilla
First I mixed the butter and shortening together until they were smooth. Next I added the brown sugar, sugar and Baking Soda. Then I added the Eggs and vanilla. All mixed really well and at last adding the flour. I added the flour little by little since the dough gets kind of stiff.
Now my favorite part!!! 1 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 Cup peanut butter morsels and 1/2 Cup crushed Heath Bar. Add it to the dough and mix well.
Then make even sized balls, with a two inch or so between them. Put it in the oven at 375°F or 190°C for 8-10 minutes.
Gluten Free Krispie cake
06 May 2012 Comments Off
My good friend Amy has a son that suffers from Celiac. Its a condition where you do not tolerate Gluten. Its hard to go out to eat or find yummy treats since most food contain Gluten in one way or other. We make this at home with Cornflakes or Rice Crispies. I found a box of gluten free rice krispies so I figured why not try it and make Dylan´s day where he could have something that doesn´t taste like cardboard.
You´ll need:
100 gr baking chocolate
100 gr butter
4 TBSP of Lyle’s Golden Syrup (its super thick) if you can get it just use regular syrup
4-5 Cups Rice Krispies
Heavy whipped Cream
Caramel Sauce
Handful of Caramels
1 TBSP of Heavy Whipping Cream
take the butter, chocolate and syrup and melt over medium heat in a big pot.
Once it’s melted and blended well together you add the Rice Krispies.
Keep stirring until the chocolate and the rice krispies are well coated.
Pour the mixture in a spring form pan and let refrigerate for at least an hour.
Meanwhile the cake is cooling in the fridge make the caramel sauce for the cake.
put the caramel and cream in a pot and melt over a low heat
Once it has melted and is a smooth caramel, let it cool for a bit before you pour it on your cream covered cake… LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!!!!!
whip the cream and spread it over the cake
Enjoy!! its not so good the next day… i would eat it all up same day!!!!
Stuffed Mushrooms
01 May 2012 Comments Off
So I haven’t been posting at all, for a while now… So I am starting the New Year (in May) with hopes of doing better
In Iceland we have all these fabulous cheese, all kinds of flavors. When we go to the summerhouse or camping, heck even just BBQ in the backyard we sometimes stuff Mushrooms with these cheeses. Since moving to the States my options aren’t really that many. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!!! In the land of plenty, there are not similar cheeses here!! So I had to come up with something similar. This recipe is SUPER SIMPLE and as close as I have come to recreate the cheese I love back home.
So you’ll need Cream Cheese, I like Philadelphia the best, black pepper, garlic powder and a pinch of salt for the cheese. Then How ever many mushrooms you like.
For this recipe I did,
1/2 brick Philadelphia Cheese (4.0 oz)
1 tsp Black pepper
1 tsp Ground Garlic
a pinch of salt, really really really little!!!
Mix it all real good together until smooth
prep the mushroom by taking the stems off
Stuff it to your heart content
pack it foil
Normally I BBQ them but… my grill ehmm has died!! Thanks Florida for your erosion!!
I leave them on the grill for a few minutes, the oven was at 400F/200C for 7 min
Garlic and Cilantro Naan Bread
23 Nov 2011 Comments Off
Been pretty hectic for me, Christmas cleaning and getting ready for Thanksgiving. My friend Skotta left for Ecuador, arrived safe and sound. While she was visiting me, we made some Indian food. She gave me this awesome recipe of Naan bread. Learn from my mistakes!!! read the recipe!!!! and pay attention.. I totally did not!!! I ended up putting way way way to much yeast in it. Also when you roll it in salt and spices.. GO EASY ON THE SALT!!! When I made them they came out way to salty!!! Another thing, my oven is a gas oven which is a new experience for me. I am still learning how to bake in it. Skotta found out it was best to broil the naan breads in my oven rather than bake them. It only took a few minutes on each side, so we had to watch them closely.
Garlic Cilantro Naan Bread
200 ml milk, warm
2 tbsp sugar
11 gr. dry yeast
600 gr Flour
1 tsp Salt
4 tbsp Olive Oil
250 ml plain yogurt
to dust the bread with before baking
1 tbsp salt
1tbsp Indian blend of spices (curry or some other)
for after baking
25 gr butter
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
bunch of Cilantro, chopped up finely
Mix the yeast and the sugar in a bowl and add in the warm milk. Let sit for 15 minutes. Add in the flour, salt, oil and yogurt together. Kneed the dough until it is soft and elastic. You can always add more flour if it is to wet. Put the dough aside and let it rise for an hour or so.
Heat the oven at 450°F (or broil like I ended up doing). On a plate to the side mix the salt and the Indian spice blend together. You can split the dough up in 10 parts and make them in to 10 rolls. Pat rolls down until they are pretty thin. Press the flattened out dough into the salt and spice blend (learn from my mistake.. easy on the salt!!)
Add the bread onto a parchment paper cookie sheet. I used my Pampered Chef stone so I didn´t need the parchment paper. Bake for 5-7 minutes and flip them over half way through.
Once they are all baked, put them in a bowl, melt the butter, add in the garlic and cilantro. Pour over the Naan Breads and they are ready to be served.
Hmong Pho
13 Nov 2011 2 Comments
When I started to work at Cedar Lane Elementary I had never heard of Hmong people. I consider myself lucky to have met four wonderful friends that are Hmong. They pretty much took me as their own, invited me to family dinners and functions, made me feel like I belonged.
Hmong people immigrated to the US after the Vietnam war. They are huge communities in Northern California and Minnesota. As it was explained to me, Hmong people were mountain people who belonged to no country, they helped during the Vietnam war and therefor were refugees. I loved learning about their culture, attended their New Years, learned how to cook some of their food. When I was pregnant with Isabella I lived off Pho, it is the best comfort food!!
There is really no trick to make Pho, other than get the right ingredient. Before I moved from California I went to my favorite Hmong market and stocked up on Pho Packets. I’ve seen many variation of the packets, some are paste but I just get what my friend said was best. It says GIA VI PHO BO – instant beef broth for Vietnamese noodle soup. You should be able to get it at a good Asian store. I took a picture of it so you guys could see.
What I do is I’ll boil water with sliced onions, 2 stalks of lemon grass and then add my packet. While that is coming to a boil I prep the veggies.
These veggies are not a necessity but are really good to have with it.
- Cilantro
- Lime wedges
- Bean Sprouts
- Fried Onions
- Crushed Peanuts
- Mint
- Basil
- Lettuce
- Green Onions, cut up
Then there are the condiments:
- Oyster Sauce
- Fish sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
- Fried Garlic Chili Sauce
- White Pepper
- Sugar
Crescent Chicken Wings
10 Nov 2011 Comments Off
Here in the states people go nuts over chicken wings. There are whole restaurants dedicated to just chicken wings. You can get them with all kinds of sauces and marinates. I had many variations, some quite excellent and others just not really good!
When I went to school in Oxford, England I lived with 6 other people in a dorm, over there its called Halls. We were a interesting mix. Two blokes from England, girl form Thailand, boy from Sri Lanka and then a girl from China. My culinary enthusiasm took flight really there, I learned something new on regular basis… ehmm school wise not so much. My education vastly improved in the kitchen. I learned something about Indian food, Pakistani food, Thai food, Scottish food and REAL Chinese food.
Did you know that they don’t have ovens in China!!! I had no idea!! I had to teach my flat mate how to make Pizza, to her it mind boggling! She taught me how to make these Chicken Wings that are sooooo YUMMY! with a little kick!
Huifang always got the fresh chicken wings and cut them up herself. So that is what I do too. I’m sure you can use the precut ones, but since I learned it this way and its cheaper I do it the old fashion way 
You get how ever many chicken wings and you cut them up in three sections, just where the joints are. It’s good to have a really sharp knife or kitchen scissor because I didn’t and now I have this massive blister on my finger!!
Once you part them at the joints you discard the little piece at the end. You could use it to make chicken broth but I just throw it away. Now you cut ginger and chili finely (I had dried chili available so I just used that). Add it to a big bowl, then add good measure of Soy sauce and Dark Soy sauce, it has to be dark soy sauce because if you just use soy sauce it will become way way to salty!! Next you add a good amount of sugar, mix it well together.
Add the chicken Wings and let marinate for at least an hour.
Then chop up a few cloves of garlic and fry them on a pan with oil. Be careful not to make them crisp. Add the chicken wings with the marinade.
Let it simmer for a while, make sure the chicken is getting cooked evenly. I put on a lid just so to make sure it cooked evenly. Kind of cheating but with chicken you can never be to careful! So after I was confident it had cooked almost all the way, I took the lid off and let it simmer for a while to get the marinate reduced. It should get sticky. Put it on a plate and it is ready to be served.
Crescent Chicken Wings
Chicken Wings, how ever many you like
1 part Soy Sauce
1 part Dark Soy Sauce
1 part Sugar
1-2 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
1-4 fresh chili peppers, just depends how much kick you want, just remember if you leave in the seeds its hotter.
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Cut up the chicken into parts, discard the wing tip. Stir together both the soy sauces, sugar, ginger and chili and the chicken wings. Let marinate for at least and hour. Fry in a pan the garlic and then add the chicken wings and fry them for a minute or two, pour in the rest of the marinate. Simmer until the chicken wings are fully cooked. The marinate should reduce to a sticky syrup. Remove from pan and serve.
Like this:
Pumpkin Cheesecake
06 Nov 2011 1 Comment
October and November is the Harvest time of year. I personally love this time of year. So many yummy things to make and bake. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and of course you can’t get away from the whole pumpkin craze!!! I never had pumpkin until I met my husband. I love pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheese cake, pumpkin pancakes… The list could go on! Needless to say I really like pumpkin!! One thing I really miss about California is the Bishop’s Farm pumpkin apple muffins! I would go every year with Kindergarten to Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland. It was so much fun, they had a train ride, petting zoo, hay rides, corn maze, pan for marbles, cider mill and REAL pumpkin field!!! I really regret that Isabella will not remember any of it. Who knows one day we might go back.
I wanted to make a pumpkin cheese cake so I used a basic cheese cake recipe as a base and then I added pumpkin and spices that I thought would taste well.
Heat the oven to 350 F, mix your crust, made out of Graham Crackers crumbs, tbsp of sugar and melted butter. Mix it well, not into a paste but so it will be crumble. Then press it into your spring pan and half way up the sides. Bake it in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile start your cheese cake filling. Whip together cream cheese, cup of sugar and 2 tsp vanilla. Whip it until smooth. Next add the pumpkin and the spices and keep whipping it until it is smooth and silky. Pour the filling int to the baked crust.
Bake at 350 F for 60 – 70 minutes. When it is done baking remove it and let it cool. Then refrigerate it for how ever long you like. When serving I heard people use dental floss to cut it, so its cut clean. It can be served with whipped cream, cool whip or just plain.
Pumpkin Cheese cake
1 and 1/2 Cup Graham cracker crumbs
5 tbsp Butter – melted
1 Cup plus 1 tbsp Sugar
24 oz Cream Cheese (3 pks) softened
3 Eggs
1 and 1/2 Cup Pumpkin puree
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Ginger powder
1/8 tsp ground Cloves
Crust is Graham Crackers crumbs, 1 tbsp sugar and melted butter, mix well and press the mix into the pan and up the sides. bake for 5 minutes at 350 F
Whip cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla, then add pumpkin and spices. whip well. Pour into crust and bake at 350 F for 60-70 minutes
Roasted Curried Cauliflower
03 Nov 2011 2 Comments
Haven’t been able to do much of late since this household has been plagued with stomach bug, flu and cold. ONE AFTER THE OTHER!!! ohh the JOY!! but now we seem to be back to healthy (Knock on Wood)
I love Indian food! There are so many Delicious things you can make. I have yet to find a REALLY good Indian restaurant. So next best thing is to make it yourself.
My friend Skotta is visiting and she shares my joy for different kind of food. So we decided to make some Indian. Skotta has this recipe for a Garlic Cilantro Naan Bread that is out of this world. I’ll post that recipe when ever I get the chance but today our focus is on the Roasted Curried Cauliflower. It turned out really well, my husband really liked it.
The menu was Tandoori Chicken, homemade Naan bread, Bombay Potatoes, Roasted Curried Cauliflower and Rice.
I had never made Roasted Curried Cauliflower before, I’ve had it many times at restaurants and always really loved it. So my quest was to find a recipe. I looked all over the internet and found many many different versions of it but finally I found a recipe on Epicurios that kind of fitted my pantry. I really didn’t want to go and buy bunch of stuff just for one recipe so I tweeked it to fit what ever I had on hand.
First I roasted the cumin seeds on a pan for 5 minutes on medium heat or until they turned a little darker, I would roast the coriander seeds too if I had any. I only had Coriander powder.
Then you add it and ground coriander to a mortar and pound it until its some what fine. After that you pretty much add the rest of the recipe in, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, paprika, curry and red Cayenne pepper.
You turn your oven to 450 F. Take you Cauliflower and break it down to florets. Pour your mix over and coat your cauliflower well. Put on a cookie sheet or something that is good for roasting.
At last you put it in the oven for 35 minutes. Once it is done you put it in a bowl and serve.
Roasted Curried Cauliflower
Fresh Cauliflower
1 tsp Coriander seeds (coriander powder if you don’t have seeds)
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 Cup Olive oil
1/3 Cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 and 3/4 teaspoons Salt
Roast the Coriander and Cumin seeds for 5 min under medium heat. Put in a mortar and pound with pestle until somewhat fine. Add the rest of the spices, oil and vinegar. Whip it together well. Put the Cauliflower florets in a bowl and pour the mix over. Let it cover all the florets well. Put in a roasting pan or a cookie sheet and Roast in the oven for 35 minutes at450 F. Serve in a bowl.
Chili-Red Bell Pepper chutney
20 Oct 2011 Comments Off
Chili – Red Bell Pepper Chutney
My mom makes this awesome chutney/jelly; it’s made from hot peppers and red bell pepper. It has a little kick to it but at the same time taste sweet and sour. It is soooo yummy!! I’ve been wanting to make it for a while now, so I thought there is no time like the present. My mom uses probably Anaheim chilies since they are the only ones I’ve seen in Iceland. Like I said variety in Iceland is pretty scarce. I had the pleasure to get a hold of Thai Chilies, they are extremely HOT but they have a little sweetness to them. Sound weird I know but it’s true.
I got introduced to Thai Chilies by my friends Carolyn Xiong, Mailee L
or, Youa Chue and Nou Vang. They are Hmong and they introduced me to Hmong cooking. This is amazing! I’ll make some of the things they taught me at a later date!
Back to the Chutney, since I used the Thai chilies this was a kind of experiment to taste the hotness, so I pretty much added one by one and tasted. Kind of back fired of me, since I cut the chilies with bare fingers, which means that the hotness of the Chilies stuck to my fingers. Me being the silly person to taste the hotness of Chilies, pretty much had the burning taste in my mouth the Whole time. So the Chutney didn’t come out as HOT as I wanted but it’s still pretty hot.
I doubled the recipe and I had 8 Red Bell Peppers and cut them up and deseeded them. I put them in a food processor to mince them. The chilies like I said was by taste I cut them in half and deseeded them since the seeds are the hottest part of them. I added one by one until I thought the mix tasted hot enough.
Getting started
19 Oct 2011 Comments Off
I finally found a produce market here that was reasonably priced and good quality fruits and veggies.. and the best thing it is only located few miles away. I was amazed by there selection! They had lemon grass, thai chilies and other exotic vegetables Pure Joy!!
I’m going to use the produce I bought to make a Chilli Pepper Chutney!!
haffah
