Exams!!!!

It's crunch time for me right now. Exams coming up. Lots of catching up to do. I'll be posting a lot less in the next week or so. Don't miss me too much! That's only a female representation of me by the way.

Kitchen Myths

I found this website recently and it blew my mind. He has different sources for each of his arguments, so sounds legit. Did you know all of these things are false? These are the ones that I believed until now:

• Searing meat seals in the juices
• A box of baking soda in the fridge or freezer absorbs odors
• When baking muffins, you should put water in any empty cups in the muffin tin
• Sushi means raw fish
• You cannot deep-fry in olive oil
• You cannot do serious cooking in a microwave
• Foods such as chicken salad made with mayonnaise are prone to quick spoilage

Did anyone learn something new? Do you know any cooking myths you know are false?

My food is problematic

Anybody a Firefly fan? On one particular episode, River attempts to eat a frozen dessert called "ice planet". Having trouble eating it, she states that "my food is problematic", which quickly turns into a weird internet fad. It looks like this:


Two awesome fellow geeks made an edible version of it here. They will forever have my respect.

Potato and Horseradish Crusted Salmon

This is an old recipe from last summer (I made it with my sister for my parents). Potato and horseradish mixed together has an interesting taste, so I really recommend you to try it out! I didn't know horseradish tastes like wasabi, so it surprised me when I first tried it.


Ingredients

• 1 medium russet potato peeled cubed
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Four 6-ounce salmon fillets
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half
• 2 to 3 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish
• Chive for garnish
• Salt and pepper
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Boil and salt some water in a saucepan and cook the potatoes until tender. Drain and set aside. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Preheat a medium skillet on medium-high. Heat 2 tablespoon of butter and brown the salmon on both sides (1 1/2 minutes a side) then place it on a cooking sheet. Mash the potatoes, 2 tablespoons of butter, half-and-half, and horseradish. Season with salt and pepper. Time to get messy! Use your hands to put the potato mixture onto the salmon (like a crust) then brush with melted butter. Put the salmon in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes (or until it's cooked). I prefer my salmon slightly pink. Garnish with the chive and serve.

Roman-style Chicken Minus the Roman

I should explain the name of this recipe first. I started off with a recipe for a Roman-style Chicken, but ended up with something completely different. It was one of those moments in the kitchen where I realized in the last second that I don't have the time or the ingredients to follow the recipe and ended up winging it. The result was a chicken-stew-soup-vegetables-like concoction. It wasn't bad at all, the sauce ended up being too watery eat with pasta, so I just ate it as is.



Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
• 2 slices of bacon, chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 cups of chopped broccoli
  
• 1/4 cup chopped parsely
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and brown the chicken on both sides then set aside. Using the same pan, cook the bacon until they're crisp then add the peppers, broccoli, and garlic for a couple of minutes. Then add the tomatoes, wine, thyme, and oregano. Put the chicken and stock into the pan and simmer, covered, for about 20-30 minutes (until the chicken is cooked). Add the parsley then serve.

Hamburger Cupcakes

This is possibly the most awesome cupcake I've seen (sorry Laura). This is from smileys sweets on Flickr. It's creations like these that makes me wish I can bake.

Chicken Parmesan

This is an unconventional post for me because I actually sought out the ingredients for this recipe instead of using ingredients I have in the refrigerator. Something unfortunate happened while making this and it didn't come out exactly as planned, but it was my first time making Chicken Parmesan and everything worked out in the end.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups bread crumbs (I used Italian styled ones)
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4skinless boneless chicken breast halves
• Olive oil
• About 3 1/2 cups tomato sauce (pick your favorite)
• 3/4 cup mozzarella
  
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get 3 medium bowls together. In the first one, mix together the bread crumbs, oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In the second, mix the egg whites and milk together. In the third, the flour and the rest of the salt and pepper. Dip the chicken in the third bowl (flour), shake, then the second bowl (eggs), then the first (bread crumbs).



Shake off excess and put into a glass baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes on 400 degrees. Pour the sauce over the chicken and top with the cheese. Bake for an additional 10 minutes then serve.



I said I ran into a little problem halfway through making this and the problem was I did not have mozzarella cheese. I ended up using cheddar, which tasted OK, but it was unfortunate nonetheless.

Shrimp Salad

This is a great salad to make while entertaining since it's so easy to make huge batches of. I rarely make non-savory shrimp dishes (and salads), so it's refreshing making something new. This salad is basically shrimp with a converted tartar sauce. I will definitely make it again when I have the time.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 2 slices of lemon
• 12-16 large shrimps
• 1/3 cups mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• White wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped pickle (relish)
  
• 1/4 onion chopped (I used a very large one)
• 2 stalks of celery chopped

Directions

Fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Add the lemon, a tablespoon of salt, and the shrimp and reduce heat to medium. Cook for approximately 3 minutes then put the shrimp in a bowl of cold water.

Peel the shrimp and set aside. Stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper, and dill then combine with the shrimp. Add the onion and celery and taste. You're free to add anything extra (I added more pickles because I like the flavor). Done!

Ridiculous: Family "Too Fat" To Work Wants More Benefits!

I cannot describe my level of disgust right now. Before I start, let me say I'm not hating on fat people right now. After you read this you'll probably share my disgust. Anyways, this family lives in BlackBurn, UK. They weigh a combined 1162 pounds. Of course, obesity issues are a prevailing problem in many developed countries, so why am I picking on these people? The Chawners haven't worked in 11 years. They claim a yearly £22,508, which is a little more than $40,000. Guess what? They want more! Mr Chawner says, "What we get barely covers the bills and puts food on the table. It's not our fault we can't work. We deserve more". This is what they have on an average day: cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner. Really now? Their reasoning for being unemployed is that "All that healthy food, like fruit and veg, is too expensive. We're fat because it's in our genes. Our whole family is overweight". Emma, one of the daughters, says, "I'm a student and don't have time to exercise". I beg to differ Emma.

I can spew an endless amount of profanities right now, but I will refrain myself. I am simply outrage by their lack of digity. They make excuses to live off taxpayers. They continue to eat unhealthy foods and refuse to exercise even though they are obsese and unemployed. The solution is extremely simple: get off your caboose and take a walk (even to the grocery store). There is one bright side I see in all this. At least the chances of there being a next generation of these idiots are low (heart disease anyone?). Would any sane man want to be with one of their daughters? They lack motivation, digity, and arguably intelligence.

Enough from me, what do you guys think?

*I read this from here*

Chicken Cream of Corn

This is a quick and easy to make dish that takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and about 30 minutes to cook. My roommate used to make this from time to time when he wanted to cook something but didn't have much time.


Ingredients:

• One can of cream of corn
• 2 chicken thighs
• Salt and pepper
• Any chicken marinate of your choice

Directions

Marinate the chicken however you want. I have a batch of frozen chicken in the fridge ready for emergencies such as these, so I usually use those. Preheat the oven to 400 F and roast the chicken in an oven proof pan. Depending on the size of the thigh, it should take between 20 to 30 minutes to cook. I don't take taking any chances with chicken, so use your discretion. Next, put the cream of corn onto the pan and heat for a few minutes. Cream of corn with chicken on rice is really tasty!

Beef Wellington

I made beef wellington for my family last summer when I was inspired while watching Gordon Ramsey's show the F-Word. There's just something about a big slab of beef wrapped in pastry that's intriguing . Making it was pretty complicated, but it was fun and the only thing that can go wrong is if you overcook the beef. Even if everything falls apart it'll still taste delicious. It was also quite difficult finding a big piece of beef fillet; I ended up going to Costco and buying a giant piece of beef tenderloin that I used 1/3 of.

Ingredients:

• 400g Beef fillet
• 400g Flat mushrooms
• 4 slices Parma ham (your deli may not have it, so ask for alternatives)
  
• English mustard
  
• 200g puff pastry
• 2 Egg yolks
• 1 Clove garlic, crushed
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Then heat some olive oil in a large pan and brown the beef on all sides. Searing the beef will keep the juices in while in the oven. When the beef is cooled brush it with the mustard. Puree the mushrooms in a food processor then heat it on a pan to evaporate the water. Roll out some cling film (enough to roll the beef in) and lay out the ham slightly overlapping each other. Spread the mushroom over the ham. Now put the beef in the middle and roll the ham and mushrooms over the beef tightly. Twist the ends and put it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes so it will set and keep the shape. Now roll out the pastry thinly and put egg wash on the edges.Put the beef in the middle and roll up the pastry and fold/cut the excess (it should make more sense in the video). Brush egg wash over the pastry and bake for 35-40 minutes. Let it cool and slice thickly to serve.

Here's Ramsey's video for reference:

Oh St. Patricks Day.

Hurray for St. Patrick! A day to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland and your Irishness! Wait, that's not what people do? Oh right, St. Patrick's day is national "get smashed for no reason" day. When did university students need an excuses to get drunk anyway? I think it's a bit silly defiling a religious holiday for the sake of an excuse, but I guess it's the norm for religious holidays nowadays (Christmas, Easter, Valentines day anyone?). To keep in the spirit of things, here's how to make green beer!

Ingredients:

• Beer (go for a light one)
  
• Green food coloring (3 drops)
  

Directions:

Do you really need directions?

Coolest Lunch Boxes Ever!

AnnaTheRed takes playing with food to the next level with her awesome bento box art.










See more at her flickr page.

Nasty or Not?: Bacon and Cheese Roll

In the first segment of Nasty or Not?, I will look at this creation by dan from foodproof.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to eat a couple pounds of bacon and cheese, but the creation process is pretty ingenious. One bacon slice is about 50 calories and one cup of chedder is 532 calories (there seems to be a little more than one cup in there). Even being conservative, that's 1082 calories. The average daily calorie intake is 1940 calories per day for women and 2550 for men.

Do you think it's nasty? Would you ever try it? I know I would try a TINY TINY piece. Then throw up.

Extremely Useful Conversion Chart

Have you ever printed recipes online and messed up because they're using a different system of measurement? I know I have. Print this out, stick it on your fridge, and never get confused again! There's tons of these online, so print whichever one looks best for you.

U.S. to Metric

Capacity
1/5 teaspoon = 1 milliliter
1 teaspoon = 5 ml
1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1/5 cup = 50 ml
1 cup = 240 ml
2 cups (1 pint) = 470 ml
4 cups (1 quart) = .95 liter
4 quarts (1 gal.) = 3.8 liters

Weight
1 fluid oz. = 30 milliters
1 fluid oz. = 28 grams
1 pound = 454 grams


Metric to U.S.

Capacity
1 militers = 1/5 teaspoon
5 ml = 1 teaspoon
15 ml = 1 tablespoon
34 ml = 1 fluid oz.
100 ml = 3.4 fluid oz.
240 ml = 1 cup
1 liter = 34 fluid oz.
1 liter = 4.2 cups
1 liter = 2.1 pints
1 liter = 1.06 quarts
1 liter = .26 gallon

Weight
1 gram = .035 ounce
100 grams = 3.5 ounces
500 grams = 1.10 pounds
1 kilogram = 2.205 pounds
1 kilogram = 35 oz.

Cooking Measurment Equivalents
16 tablesppns = 1 cup
12 tablespoons = 3/4 cup
10 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons = 2/3 cup
8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup
6 tablespoons = 3/8 cup
5 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon = 1/3 cup
4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup
2 tablespoons = 1/8 cup
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons = 1/6 cup
1 tablespoon = 1/16 cup
2 cups = 1 pint
2 pints = 1 quart
3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
48 teaspoons = 1 cup

Crunchy and Delicious Roasted Potatoes

I looked up a recipe for roasted potatoes online and this was supposed to be a Greek styled roasted potatoes, but I deviated quite a lot from the recipe so it's nothing specific now.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
• 2 tablespoons thyme
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 tablespoon paprika
  
• 2 minced garlic
  
• 3 pounds potatoes cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• Salt and pepper

Directions


Preheat oven to 425 °F. Mix together the oil, lemon juice, shallots, thyme, parsley, and garlic to make a vinaigrette.


Put the potatoes on a baking sheet and put half the vinaigrette in. Now pour the chicken stock over the potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Now bake for 45 minutes while turning the potatoes frequently to prevent sticking (although mine still stuck).


This is the finished product:


The fish is the lemon vinaigrette rainbow trout I posted a while back. It was so good I had to make it again. I made these potatoes and some assorted vegetables to serve on the side. Yummy!

My Favorite Kind of Noodle: Udon

Udon is a thick Japanese noodle that is usually served hot with soup or stir-fried. There's even instant udon, but I prefer packaged ones that I can make myself. The broth for udon can be made many different ways, but the traditional broth is made from dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. Dashi subsitute and mirin can be bought at asian grocery stores, although I usually skip the mirin. Simply follow the instructions to make the dashi broth and put your prefered amount of soy sauce. If I don't have dashi I would even use chicken broth and a touch of seseme oil.

The best thing about udon is that so many things compliment it. The simplest of which is green onions, tofu (fried or not), or vegetables. Others include tempura, eggs (raw or hard boiled), seafood, or basically any type of meat (usually sliced). The possibilies are endless!

My Collection of Awesome Food-Related Pictures (Kinda)

I often surf the web mindlessly with the assistance of Digg and StumbleUpon. Surprisingly, there are a lot of cooking/food/culinary related sites dugg or stumbleuponed. Most of these contribute to my blog one way or another, through inspiration or awesome content. As a result, I have an abundance of funny pictures that I save. Here are the food related ones.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are underused in my opinion. It's a lot healthier has a unique taste compared to regular potatoes (it's sweet, duh?). They are rich in carbohydrates, fiber, vitamin C and B (says Wikipedia). My favorite thing to do with potatoes is to mash'em up. Read my old post to see how I make it.


Mashed sweet potatoes have to be made a little different though, as regular potatoes are savory while sweet potatoes are... sweet. Here are a few ideas on what to put in mashed sweet potatoes:

• Sour cream
• Salt and pepper
• Brown sugar
• Butter
• Orange Juice

These are the ones I've tried so far, but there's plenty more you can experiment with! Something like cinnamon should taste good with it.

Links: Batcave Wine Cellar and TasteSpotting

Batcave Wine Cellar:
Architects are amazing these days, always revolutionizing every aspect of the house. In this case, it's the kitchen! I found this in an article at Dornob.

This cellar can be built anywhere in your home, as long as you can dig a hole. Walking down those stairs must be an experience. It saves space and it'll impress your neighbors; what more can you ask?


TasteSpotting:

Another site I StumbleUpon'ed, this site has a grid of images of delicious looking food where you can sort by recipes, food, drinks, etc. It finds recipes from different sources, mainly blogs. It's a great way to find recipes since they always have a great looking picture. Sometimes it's better choosing a book by its cover.

Improv Cream of Chicken Pasta

I was hungry, tired, and in a hurry one day so I made a pasta sauce with random ingredients in the kitchen. I probably broke a lot of "chef" rules making this, but it was easy and it tasted pretty good.

Ingredients:

• 2x Chicken thighs (chicken breasts are preferred, but I didn't have any at the time)
  
• Tomatoes
• Onion
• Garlic
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive oil
  

Directions:

The chicken thighs were already marinated in the freezer, so I thawed it in the microwave and put it in the oven (375 degrees) for about 20 minutes (check if it's cooked through!). Then cut the meat into bite size pieces. Heat up the olive oil then put onion and garlic in the pan for 10 minutes then mix in the tomatoes and the can of soup. Put the chicken in and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so. Cook any pasta of your choice (I actually used macaroni... weird, I know) and serve. Done!

Meatballs

This is my first attempt at meatballs, using the expiring ground beef as an attempt to make the best of it. Meatballs are easier to make than I thought.

Ingredients

• 1 small (6-ounce) onion, grated
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 16 ounces ground beef
• Mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Take the onions, parsley, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, egg, ketchup, garlic, salt, pepper, and beef and mix them in a large bowl. Mix it gently so it it won't come out too hard. It should look like this.


Next, roll them into 1 1/2 inch balls and put the cheese into the center of each. There's supposed to be 12, but I ended up with 11 (I think I made mine too big).


Cook in the oven for 15 minutes until cooked through. Most people also brown the outside with a skilet before putting them in the oven, it's up to you. You can eat it on its own or make spaghetti and meatballs.