Grilled Chicken with Broccoli Florets Medley

My husband does most of the cooking when we are home together. We both like the taste of grilled meats and these grilled chicken breasts were perfectly marinated overnight with simple lime juice base. He added garlic, salt, pepper and Italian salad dressing and let it sit in the frig overnight. I decided to cook a veggie dish made from broccoli florets and some left over sweet peppers that had to be used before they went bad. I was able to quickly put together a tasty stir fry that really complimented the grilled chicken.

Direction on Veggie Dish:
2 bunch of broccoli (cut into florets)
8-10 mini peppers
1 small tomato
1 small chinese sausage ( you can use ham or any other meat if you prefer )
1 Tbs Thai Tom Yam sauce
1 cup water.

In a 12 inch skillet pan, pour water into pan and add all the chopped vegetables and chinese sausage.
Over medium to high heat, steam all the chopped vegetables and chinese sausage for 8 mins.
Stir and mix vegetables.
Turn heat to medium low, add Tom Yam sauce to the pan, continue to steam for another 5 mins.
Serve over Grilled Chicken.

Simple tasty, hearty and healthy dinner, yum!

Citrus Lime Cake

I was interested in  baking a citrus flavored cake. I really like lime flavoring but could only find recipes for a lemon flavored cake. Here is a really good recipe I found for lemon cake. I had to tweak it a little bit but the basic recipe really worked out very well. Tasted great, will make it again for sure.

Here are tweaks:
I used lime juice in place lemon juice and I used orange zest in place of lemon/lime zest.
Margarine was used in place of butter.

Lessons learned: Leave the cake completely cool before removing from the pan. I made the mistake of removing cake from pan while cake was still warm thus cake didn't come out clean and smooth from the pan.

Cilantro Garnish on Grilled Salmon

This is my favorite garnish yet. OMG, you can dab this garnish just about on anything. My husband was looking for a salmon recipe and stumbled upon this garnish to go with the grilled salmon. It goes so well also with any poached or grilled summer vegetables.

Recipe is so simple and easy. But I like to prepare two different consistency to give a twist and bite to the garnish.

Here are the ingredients:
3 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 red onion
1 large tomato
1/2 cup cilantro ( or a little more )

Works really well to coarsely chop up all the ingredients listed. Divide 1/3 in one bowl and 2/3 in another bowl of the chopped ingredients. Place all the chopped ingredients from the bowl with 2/3 chopped ingredients into a small electric chopper, pause chopper several times to obtain a semi-pureed sauce. Pour puree back into bowl, now scoop the coarsely chopped on top of semi-pureed bowl.

     Delish !!

       Now, look at this sumptous dinner, grilled salmon and green beans topped with cilantro garnish...
         ..... so so delish !! who says hearty dinner has to be unhealthy!

        Here is the 1/3 bowl of coarsely chopped garnish

               Here is the 2/3 bowl of semi-pureed garnish

                 Coarsely chopped on the left   and   semi pureed garnish on the right

Sweet Raisin Bread aka Polish Babka

Watching this week's edition of the Great British baking show was inspiring to me. The show featured a bread baking competition that exposed me to new and unique types of bread, I have aspired to baking a new kind of bread to me called babka, I found this easy recipe at King Arthur Flour, I love the recipe because they looks very simple and delish, I jumped right on it. I am very pleased with the result of my bread :), Supposedly this bread is traditionally an Easter bread, But hey, I am sure it is fine as well to serve this bread anytime, don't you think ;) ....update! and oh, it is a thumb's up from those that tried them and ate more than one slice this morning!

It's a little misleading to show breads all dressed up like a cake, But you know me,  just love to add a little sweet twist to my fun creations.

         naked Bread

           

Ingredients:
Bread:
1/2 cup lukewarm milk (heat milk in a cup in microwave for 25 sec)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 Tbs margarine (or butter)
2 cup All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp yeasts

Rose Water:
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanila

1. Heat milk in a glass cup in microwave for 25 sec.
2. Add yeasts to milk and let yeasts proof while you mix the below.
3. In a mixer, mix margarine and sugar until well blended.
4. Add to mixer eggs and mix well.
5. Pour in flour and milke with proofed yeast.
6. Mix at low speed and gradually to medium speed for 1 min
7. Mix in raisins and continue mixing medium speed for another min.
8. Using a spatula, scrape side of bowl and fold the dough together.
9. Cover with towel and let dough proof in warm dry place for 30 (if warm place) -60 mins (if making this during the winter)
10. Greased bundt pan, transfer dough to pan, let dough proof again for 30 mins.
11. Preheat oven at 350 degree, bake for 28-30 mins until bread looks golden.
12. Prepare sugar/rose water by heating up 1/4 cup water in microwave for 40 secs.
13. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanila (or rum, I use vanila since I don't rum) to hot water and stir until dissolve.
14. Poke holes all over the bread with long kebab wooden sticks.
15. Pour sugar water over warm bread and let syrup soaks to bread about 20-30 mins.
16, Slightly use a spatula to loose side of bread, turn bread over onto a rack and transfer to cake plate.
17. Cut, serve and enjoy! Optional glaze or icing can be added.

Cake inspired by Ella

Ella wanted a chocolate birthday cake for her birthday, her wish is granted. Ella is helping making her own cake and it is her idea on decorating her birthday cake. She chose the color scheme and created all the design prints. Happy 9th Birthday Ella !!!

Here is the finished cake.

Vanilla Cupcakes for Bake Sale

I baked 2 dozens of cupcakes for our church Flea market bake sale. The recipe is one of my usual vanilla cake recipe. Cupcakes are frosted with buttercream and lightly sprinkled with granulated sugar on a few cupcakes and the rest with multi color sprinkles.

Here are some pictures.

Hawaiian Bread Pudding

Every Sunday there is Hawaiian sweet bread left over from our communion service at our church. It is very delicious bread and blessed as well. So I hate to see it to go to waste. But what should I do with all this bread ? Recently my husband and I have begun a low carb diet so bread is no longer a daily part of our meals. So it can't be for us to eat, at least not very often.
 So I think about it and decide to save it until I have enough to make numerous bread pudding casseroles for fellowship functions at our church. I sent a sheet of the dessert to a recent men's event to see how my idea and baking was received. There were many desserts to compete with, so I was surprised that very little of the bread pudding was left over.
 Whole Foods has excellent bread puddings and I was hoping that I could try to make that recipe myself, but I couldn't find their recipe anywhere online. I guess it's a big secret. So I came up with a recipe of my own. Take a look below for the complete recipe. I think the extra eggs and the coconut makes the biggest difference with how mine tastes, at least that is my husband's opinion. Bon apetit !

 I also made some delicious Ham & Cheese Pinwheels, here is my recipe to send to the fellowship party.

Ingredients:  (for easy instructions, I provided a one recipe I made  1 1/2 recipe for extra large dish)
1 loaf of hawaiian bread, cut in small cubes.
3 cup milk
1 cup sugar
8 eggs
1 1/2 Tbs flour
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup sweetened shedded coconut
1 tsp cinnamom
2 Tbs butter (room temp)

Directions:
On a baking dish, spread thin layer of butter all over the dish, bottom and sides.
Layered and pack bread cubes on dish.
Sprinkle raisins and coconut on top of bread cubes.
Followed with sprinkle cinnamon on top.
On mixer, mix eggs and sugar starting with low speed and increase to medium speed.
Then reduce speed to low and slowly pour stream of milk into mixer while mixer is running at low speed. Once all milk is added and mix well, turn mixer off.
Pour egg & milk mixture over baking dish to soak ensuring all the bread is soaked in.

Bake at preheated oven at 325 degree for 1 hour.
Turn off oven, slightly let oven door stay opened by inserting a knife between the oven door.
After 15 mins, take bread pudding oven.
Cut and serve over ice cream or caramel sauce or alone, yum!

                       

                                            ingredients all line up

                                             buttered dish filled with hawaiian bread cubes

                                          top and sprinkled with raisins & shedded coconuts

                          bread filled dish soaked with egg & milk mixture ready to go into oven