Corn Bread

I've tried so many corn bread recipes, and this recipe was created after so many tweaking of several recipes. It's moist and savory. I love to serve this corn bread with chili and cheese on top.

Corn Bread

Ingredients:
- 1 can cream style corn
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn flour
- 6 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp sour cream and onion powder

Preheat oven to 375 degree F.  In a medium bowl, add corn, eggs, oil and milk, and stir well. Add the rest of ingredients (all dry ingredients) to the corn mixture, stir till all are incorporated. Pour into a greased 2 qt baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Children's book inspired colorful sugar cookies

Yes, it's about time to update this one.

I did not grow up with Dr. Seuss, but I love his books and so do our kids. I'm learning all kinds of rhymes and interesting words like " These cookies were inspired by one of our favorite books of Dr. Seuss, "Oh , the Places You'll Go!" One day, my son wanted me to make some so that he can share with his 1st grade teacher who lives in the neighborhood. And he did. He told his teacher "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" is one of his favorite books and he has been enjoying reading books this summer.

 

For the recipe itself, you can use whatever your favorite sugar cookie recipe. 

But here is my favorite:

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cream of tartar

Beat powdered sugar and butter in a medium mixing bowl until smooth and creamy. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Mix dry ingredients into creamed butter mixture.

Then you add food coloring to make the colors of wonder.

 

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2-3 hours.

 Roll dough into ropes on a plastic wrap

Put another piece of plastic wrap, roll it and cut in half

 

 Roll it to make it even in width and thickness

 Roll the dough from the edge

 

Roll up tight

  

All the way to the end

 Wrap the rolled dough and put it back in the fridge for another while to firm up the dough. 

Slice into about 1/4 inch thickness. (no photo)

Pace on parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven (375F) for 7-8 minutes.

 Here is another "pattern"

You can experiment the different designs by arranging dough. 

This was my 2nd try with more random placement of dough.

 

Roll it as shown above, slice it, and bake it

 

 Which pattern would you like?

 Happy baking!

Baked Beans

This one is my original. It started simply because I wanted baked beans for a BBQ gathering with friends but didn't have baked beans on hand. I used whatever beans I had and started adding seasoning...then, Viola! My 5-year-old loves them.

Ingredients:
- 3 cans/pints of beans (Great Northern, Black beans, Red Kidney beans, Black Eye, etc.), rinsed and drained
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 lb. bacon, sliced to 1/4 inch strips
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped (or about 1 Tbsp chopped garlic in a jar)
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup KC masterpiece BBQ sauce (I tried others, but KC does the best job)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp real maple syrup
- salt and pepper to taste

Heat about 1 Tbsp of oil in a medium size pan over medium heat. Cook bacon strips for about 5 minutes to get grease out. Add garlic and onion. Cook another 5 minutes till onions are translucent. Add the rest of ingredients. Bring to boil. Turn the heat down to low, and simmer for about 45 minutes or till beans are tender and liquids are thickened. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.

Tabouli

Ingredients:

1 large cucumbers, cubed

2 roma tomatoes, cubed

1 bunch (8) green onions, sliced

1/2 bunch flat parsley, finely chopped (about 1 cup)

1/4 bunch mint, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

2 oz. Feta cheese, drained and crumbled

Couscous, made by following direction to 4 cups, cooled down

Dressing:

1/2 cup lemon juice (if using fresh lemon, about 2 lemons)

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

1/2-1 tsp honey

1-2 tsp salt or to taste

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Make couscous by following direction on the box, cool. In a meanwhile, prepare all the vegetables, beans, and feta cheese, and place them in a large bowl. Add cooled couscous, mix well. Whisk ingredients for dressing, pour over the vegetable mix. Stir well. Chill over night for better flavor.

Tator Tots Casserole

I am not a big fan of casserole nor canned green beans, but this turned out good. I just simply can't follow recipe exactly. I have to tweak it. So this one is tweaked version of my sister-in-law's (actually, her mother-in-law). It's a simple quick meal. My super picky 3-year-old ate a lot of it!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
1 can French style green beans, drained
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp soy sauce
dash of ground pepper
1-1/2 cup french fried onions
About 2 cups tator tots, frozen

Preheat oven at 350 degree F. In a medium bowl, mix ground beef, green beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk, soy sauce, ground pepper, and 1 cup of french fried onions. Spread the mixture in an oven-safe 2 qt size pan or 8x8 pan. Fill the top with tator tots. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle the rest of french fried onions, and bake additional 5 minutes till french onions are crispy. It makes about 4 servings.

Peanut Butter Cookies

It's about time updating this site. I don't remember the source of this recipe, but it's my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe.

Ingredients (3 groups):

Dry ingredients (medium bowl)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt

Egg mixture (small bowl)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Butter mixture (large bowl)
- 1/4 cup oil
- 2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar

Mix each group of ingredients in their bowls. For the butter mixture, it might be easier to start mixing butter and peanut butter first, add oil and mix well, and then add sugars and mix. Or, you could use large stand mixer (butter mixture will be the main bowl) In the large bowl with butter mixture, add egg mixture, stir well. Add the dry ingredients, stir till they are incorporated. Dough can be greasy, but because of it, it is easy to roll into balls.
Make 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet 2 inch apart. Press with fork to make pattern.
Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 8-12 minutes.
Makes about 3 dozens.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients
2 small carrots, peeled, cubed or chopped to desired size
2 stalks celery, cubed/chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tbsp oil
4 cups water
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/8 tsp celery salt
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
Home made noodle*(shown below)
Chopped fresh parsley

In a medium to large pan, heat oil on medium-high heat. Saute carrots, celery and onion for about 5 minutes till onion is translucent. Add water, chicken bouillon cubes, celery salt, and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Turn down heat. Simmer with lid half way on, for about 20 minutes till vegetable are tender. While cooking the soup, make noodle (below). Add noodle to soup, and cook additional 10 minutes or till noodles are cooked. Add chopped fresh parsley (about 1/2 Tbsp). Salt and pepper to taste.


*Home made noodle
1 large egg
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp olive oil
about 3/4 cup flour

Make a mount of flour on clean kitchen counter. Make a well in the middle large enough for egg. Place egg, salt and oil in the middle of flour. Slowly mix the egg mixture to flour. Be careful not to spill the egg mixture. It'll became a dough consistency (not sticky, but still soft). Knead for about 5-10 minutes till dough is smooth. Let it rest for 10 minutes. On lightly floured surface, roll the dough with rolling pin to 1/8 inch thickness. Using pizza cutter to cut the dough into noodles of desired length and width. Remove excess flour before place in soup.