Green Bean Casserole

I believe this is my first time making the traditional Green Bean casserole. Again, I was tasked with bringing a vegetable dish, preferably the infamous Green Bean casserole and honestly, I am not a fan of this particular vegetable dish. Based on my experience, there are many veggie dishes that are much better. But tradition is tradition, so I will participate will a smiley face and love in my heart. 

I did some online research for a variety of ideas and recipes that might be more appealing to me. Not a huge difference in ingredients, but maybe an improvement over what I have eaten, This was a good idea and I was really pleased with how the new recipe twists I learned about made a real difference,

For the most part, I decided to stick with the same main ingredients, but with a few minor changes. I am still using the store bought French Fried Onion as well as using a can of cream of celery (that is what I have in my pantry, I would use cream of mushroom if I have that but either is fine).

So, here it is.

             Green Bean Casserole dish ready, enjoy!

                           

                     Cooked green bean, mushroom and onions and 2 tablespoonful of fried bacon bits.     

                           Dish topped with cream of celery and ready to go into the oven at 350 degree

                               for 30 mins.

               Once the dish is taken out of the oven, I sprinkle generous portions of French Fried Onions and

                serve immediately, I have added more French Fried onions later on the leftovers! Great as

                leftovers. I will make these again.

Recipe:

1 pound green bean (snipped both ends of green beans)

1 8oz white mushroom

1 medium size onion, finely sliced

2 Tbsp oil

2 tsp ground basil

1 10oz can of cream of mushroom/celery

3/4 cup of milk

salt, pepper, 2 Tbsp soya sauce, 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 Tbsp bacon bits

1 can French Fried Onions

Instructions:

In a 4 quart pot, bring water to a boil. Add green bean and let boil for 6-7 mins.

Remove green beans and run tap water over green beans, set aside.

In another sauce pan, heat oil on pan. Add onions, saute for 2 minutes.

Add mushrooms, basil and soya sauce and saute for another 2 minutes.

Add green beans, bacon bits and balsamic vinegar, saute another 3 minutes.

Scoop to a casserole dish.

In a bowl, stir together cream of mushroom/celery and milk.

Pour cream of mushroom mixture over the casserole dish and spread evenly to cover dish.

Bake at 350 degree for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with French Fried Onions over dish and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

A Potpourri of Decorated Christmas Cookies

I have enjoyed baking and decorating cookies the last few months now. I get a lot of enjoyment out of the challenge and the beauty of what I make. Others enjoy the tastiness. But this is the first time I went all out to decorate my Christmas Cookies in the most festive way I could.
 For me, it was an amazing ride as I tried a variety of different shapes, designs and colors. I was really pleased with the results, especially my little elf cookies, which were a  fun play on an upside down ice cream cone design I had used in the past. They really looked like Santa's little helpers. Very creative design , don't you think ?

                                    This is my first batch, star snowflakes.

                                             Next I have the Christmas Tree

                             storing in container layered with parchment paper.

                                                         bigger snowflakes

                                 big and small snowflakes ... different colors

                                                 tada!!! Elves ... aren't they cute/!!

                                                     FUN, FUN, FUN !!!

that time of the year ....

 Today marks the first day of Advent. It is during the Advent season we focus on anticipating Christ’s birth. We do our best to prepare ourselves spiritually during this special time leading up to Christmas. So we work with a grateful spirit as we prepare our home for this special time. We start by bringing out all the boxes with all the Christmas decorations. We put together a Christmas village with churches, barns, a theater, some village shops and houses with lighting so festive it makes you dream of a cozy white Christmas. We hung up wreaths and stockings with colored lighting to bring that holiday look of this special season. The house is warm and festive with Christmas music playing in the background and freshly baked goodies mixing wonderfully with the scented candles we both enjoy. It really is beginning to look, taste, smell and feel like Christmas !

 The pictures below are from a small batch of winter cookies to I made for our church's coffee fellowship this morning. I will take some more Christmas cookies pictures soon as I will be making more Christmas all during this Advent season. The next batch will look more 'Christmasy' than these !

The picture below is of a couple of wreaths I repurposed into one very festive Advent wreath wreath that I display at our front entrance way to our living room. What do you think ? Pretty nice, right ?

one more reason to be Thankful ... Cookies

I am so thankful for the many blessings God has given me 'every day in every way' ... "Blessed Beyond Belief" is my mantra. It is a great way to start each day.  And here is another reason to be thankful;  I get to bake more wonderful batches of cookies to help bring in this festive and joyful Thanksgiving holiday. It was a joy to ice these cookies .. it definitely make me smile :)   and I hope my tasters will enjoy them as much as I did making them. Let's us give Thanks to the Lord !!!

this girl runs on Cupcakes and Jesus

 "This girl runs on Cupcakes and Jesus" was an artistic and creative gift from Ella and her mom, Nicole. It inspired me to make a batch of cupcakes for the Fall Fest at our church .I had so much fun making these cupcakes, and my camera loved them too ! Lots of great pictures to look at . I actually went ahead and bagged them individually and then tied them with pretty fall ribbons to give them an extra festive look.

Pink Floral Cookies

My pink floral cookies seem to be perfect for a Mother's Day celebration. They are lively and lovely and just say love in every bite. Take a look ! :)

simple cupcakes

I wanted to bake a quick batch of simple cupcakes for our church's coffee fellowship.I wasn't really sure what to make, so I went through my pantry and refrigerator and was able to get enough ingredients together to make these delicious little cakes. I call these cupcakes "Joanne's leftover surprise". They ended up being very sweet, light and lovely.  So, here they are !

July 4th Carrot Coconut Cupcakes

I made a batch of carrot cupcakes in celebration of July 4th. I will the recipe and/or the recipe later. I am just too tired right now.


I want to at least post these cupcakes on my blog.

mini summer cake

This is a mini cake and thanks to Ella for helping me made all the trucks cut-outs. Though my original plan was to make a 2 tier cake but I have to change my plan and went with this quicker cake. This is sort of a test run of the next full version to come in a couple weeks.

Here it is.

Fall Tea Cookies

This is a very simple tea cookies I made with Ms Ella.
I will add the recipe shortly, I just want to post this out before I forget.

Ingredients:
2 stick of margarine (1 cup)
1 cup sugar
3 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Direction:
Mix margarine and sugar in slow speed for a min.
Mix in egg and vanilla.
Fold in flour and don't over mix.
Scrap dough together and wrap in  saran wrap and store in fridge for an hour.
Dough can be used immediately too.

Roll out dough into 1/4 inch thickness and cut to desired shapes with your cookie cutter.
Place cookie on cookie sheet at least an inch apart
Bake at 325 degree for 8-10 mins.

Cranberry Muffins

I was asked to bake some muffins for our Christmas Ornament & Breakfast gathering this past Saturday, my first thought was to bake cranberry muffins. I used bake cranberry quick breads every Christmas but had stopped baking them several years ago. While I will always love my cranberry bread recipe, I also like to try new recipes :)  And I found this recipe from Taste Of Home here supposedly award winning recipe.

I have to agree, these muffins were so crumbly and light tasting, crowd pleasing .. I thought ;) . It will work great for breakfast or tea time treats and especially looks very festive for Christmas!

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh cranberries, quartered
8 tablespoons sugar
1-3/4 cups self raising baking flour
1 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Cinnamon-sugar

Directions:
1. Sprinkle cranberries with 2 tablespoons sugar; set aside.
2. Measure flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. In the mixer, beat oil and remaining tablespoons sugar.
4. Add egg to mixer.
5. Alternate milk and flour mixture to mixer.
6. Scoop 1/3 of cranberries and add to mixer and mix well.
7. Fill (paper lined) standard muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly with cranberries on each muffin and with cinnamon-sugar.
8. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden stick comes out clean.

Yield: 12 standard-size.

Patriotic Trifle

We are going over to a friend's house for the July 4th Cookout Party this afternoon and I offer to bring a dessert.  hmm.... what would be new for me to try and just right for the occasion?

So it is good to seek and peek what is out there in the Pinterest world of Patriotic desserts... and low and behold this one caught my attention.

I really like this recipe found at Chef-In-Training site here. So I am making this trifle with some minor changes. Perfect for the 4th celebration and hopefully this will please the crowd :)

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

• 10 oz. angel food cake, cut into 1-inch cubes (can use pound cake instead too)
• Fruits of your choices, I used the followings:
• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• 2 bananas. sliced
• 1 cup black grapes
• 1 1/2 cup globe grapes ( seeded out and halfed )

Cream Filling

• 6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk ( or can use 6 Tbsp icing sugar )
• 1½ cups cold water
• 1 pkg. white chocolate instant pudding mix, dry
• 8 oz. cool whip whip 
• 
  
• Directions:
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the condensed milk (or sugar if you are using sugar) and cold water. Add in the dry pudding mix and whisk for an additional for 2 minutes, or until it thickens. Let the filling sit for a couple minutes. Once it has thickened, fold in the cool whip until evenly combined.
• Arrange half of the cake cubes in the bottom of a  trifle dish. Sprinkle a layer of globe grapes and bananas evenly over the cake cubes. Next, pour half of the cream mixture over the fruits and gently spread. Top with a layer of strawberries. Repeat layers. Top with the remaining strawberries and black grapes, arranging them in a pretty pattern. Cover and refrigerate at least one 1 hour or until ready to serve.
 

Pizzelle Rice Cookies

I like to make believe these cookies are Kuih Kapit as these are made of rice flour. Obviously I have chosen to use all the Kuih Kapit ingredients. Though, I am using the Pizzelle Electric maker and thus, I am limited to being able to make the cookie as thin as the authentic kuih kapit and the cookie shapes are not as pretty. ( Perhaps, I need more practice on making them ).

Nevertheless, I accomplished my mission of giving this cookie making a try, after all I bought this pizzelle maker awhile ago. Glad that though these cookies are not as nice looking as I wanted them to be.. I managed to bake a good bunch of edible and tasty cookies :)

I hope the next time I make these cookies, I can make nicer looking cookie shapes... need to improve on the art and technic :)

Gong Xi Gong Xi to all :)

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cup rice flour
1 Tbs tapioca starch
3/4 cup fine granulated sugar
1 can/400 ml Coconut Cream
4 whole large eggs
1 tbsp margarine.

Directions:
Mix eggs and sugar till sugar is dissolved.
Add coconut milk to the mixture, continue to stir and mix well.
Add all the flour to the mixture and mix well.

1. Wipe the pizzelle maker moulds with damp oil to completely grease the moulds.
2. Heat up pizzelle maker. Wait pizzelle maker is hot to the touch on the mould.
3. Drop 1 1/2 Tbsp of dough mixture to the bottom-side of mould, slight spread dough in circular motion to thin and spread out the mould.
4. Cover pizzelle lid.
5. After 20 secs, clamp the handle of pizzelle.
6. Cookie should be ready in total of 2 to 2:30 mins. (depending on how brown you want the cookie to be cooked)
7. Pick up cookie using a kebab wood stick or bare finger. Should be pretty easy to pick up cookie.
8. Lay flat or roll or fold to desire shape as soon as cookie is out of pizzelle maker.
9. Repeat step 3-8 on the next cookie.

Cool cookie and store in air-tight container.

Tapioca Cookies

My first attempt on Kuih Bangkit recently was not successfully. They turned out to be a very different cookie than my intension, the cookies were rubbery, almost felt like marsmallow cookies on every bite. I believe I didn't prepared the flour dried enough.

Here is my "Take 2" on these cookies. I am using only tapioca flour this time (without adding any corn flour). I paid more attention on the dryness of the flour and I heated up the tapioca flour in smaller batches on a large flat plate by spreading a thiner layer of flour on the plate and heat up the same way in the microwave. I also added a little margarine and used only coconut cream.

I was able to use the wooden moulds (thanks to my mom's hand me down cookie moulds) to cut the cookie shapes successfully and patiently. I am happy with the taste and texture of these cookies, though 100% like my mom's but close enough :)

Ingredients:
500 gm tapioca flour
100 gm tapioca flour - for dusting cookie dough
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
120 ml coconut cream (avoid using the water part of the milk)
2 Tbs margarine

Directions:
Flour Preparation -
In a large plate,
1. Spread 1/3 cup of tapioca flour on thin layer on plate.
2. Heat flour in microwave for 1 minute on the first heat up
3. Take out plate and stir flour lightly, repeat heating for another 40 seconds.
4. Pour heated flour in a big bowl.
4. Repeat the above steps on subsequent 1/3 cup flour batches until the flour is all heated up.
5. Save flour bowl and let flour cool overnight.

Cookie Making -
In a mixer, beat egg and sugar till light. (Scoop out 1/4 cup of egg mixture as reserve for later use if needed if dough gets too dry).
Add margarine, and beat a few more minutes.
Add flour gradually, one spoonful at a time to egg mixture and mix and knead well.
(Reserve 100 gm flour for working on the dough, dusting and cutting the cookie.)
Add coconut milk one spoonful at a time to flour and egg mixture and knead till it form to a nice workable dough texture. (not too dry or too soft).

Line parchment paper on cookie tray.
Keep a damp paper towel or using a air tight cover to cover dough in container while not in use.
Pull a small ball of dough from container,  (working in a small tennis ball size dough at a time).
Dust wooden mould with flour, press a tiny piece of dough onto mould and smooth the surface of dough out to level the mould. Light knock out cookie mould onto working area and pick up cookie gently and transfer to cookie tray. (cookie can be place slightly apart just enough so cookie won' collide together)
(If dough gets too dry, add a few drops of egg mixture to mix well to form workable dough)

Bake at preheated oven 350degree for 12 mins.
Let cookie cool, serve or store in air-tight container.

Chocolate dipped Mini Spring Rolls

As promised, I decided while I am still so keyed up with this mini spring rolls, I went ahead to make 1/2 a batch of mini spring rolls dipped with chocolate melts.

These mini spring rolls were prepared the same way as I did on those filled with cream cheese. I like to repeat these mini spring rolls are really healthy snacks (for those of you watching those high calories, these are BAKED not fried without the grease) and tasty especially when freshly made.

You can get recipe on the Mini Spring Roll filled with cream cheese : here

Once the mini spring rolls are baked, start preparing the chocolate melts for dipping:

Chocolate Ingredients:
4 oz Chocolate Chips
1 Tbsp butter

1. In a bowl, add chocolate and place bowl in microwave for 1 min.
2. Take out bowl and stir chocolate.
3 .Reheat chocolate in microwave for another 30 microwave watching through the glass door of microwave making sure chocolate does not splatter out.
4. Repeat #3 again until chocolate is soft to the stir, add butter and stir well.
5. Chocolate mixture should be very fluid.
6. Dip each mini spring roll half way onto the chocolate mixture, give a a slight shake so excess will drip back to the chocolate bowl.
7. Place dipped mini spring roll on lined cookie tray to dry firm ( I used the cookie tray I used to bake the mini spring roll earlier ).
8. Once the chocolate dipped mini spring rolls is set dry and firm, serve or store them in air-tight
container.

     

I am linking this post to Bake Along event, Chinese New Year Cookies for the month of Jan 2014 organised by Lena of Frozen Wing, Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.