Lunch Break: Meat 'n Veggie

Oh my…., I’ve been quite for several days on here, but I’m happy I’m back! I was just a bit busy baking for a friend’s occasion on my previous days. I’m pleased when I’ve got a chance to bake for someone. Thank you all..! *smileys…

Let me share you a sneak preview on some of my enjoying minutes in the kitchen lately:

 

Hope I can find much much time to share these simple kitchen crafts the next time!

 

Meanwhile, I have this very easy yet healthy meat and veggie recipe for you. I know that you are familiar with this recipe already and this is not new to us anyhow but I just love to share how I prepared mine on this delicious, fast, and healthy dish. I hope you enjoy preparing this at home too!

I had this for my late lunch (since everyone got their lunch on time already. Besides, I know that having a late meal is unhealthy but forgive me, I will never do this again!) *sigh….. Well; here’s a treat for myself: meat and steamed veggie! It sounds interesting for those both meat and veggie lovers out there!

 

As you can see my pork chop was slightly over browned but not burned out it's okay! What's important is I made my steamed veggies taste perfect here!

 

Veggies are good when they are fresh and are not overcooked. Who doesn’t agree? Well let me just share you this healthy tip by Dr. Murray from sharecare.com. According to him, it is very important not to overcook vegetables since overcooking will lost the important nutrients and drain its flavor. And also, the best ways to cook vegetables are through baking, light steaming, or quick stir fry. For him, boiling vegetables are not advised unless you are making soups. Yeah right, I’ve got him thumbs up on that of course! And I hope I can practice that every time I am cooking veggies!! hmmmmm?? *promising J So, taking his advise and to complete my recipe, what I did was steamed the carrots and lightly fry it in the pan. Some would do this by just steaming the carrots alone and eat; some also eat this vegetable raw. While I wanted to make steamed vegetable more flavorful, I lightly fry it on a melted butter. I love the taste since you really savor the freshness of the vegetable… -it’s sweet and crunchy! Love it!! Enjoy!

 

Ingredients:

For Pork Chop

• 2 pork chops (or more to create more serving)

• Salt, for coating

• 1/4 cup olive oil, for frying
• oyster sauce, to garnish (optional)

For Steamed Veggie

• 1 medium size carrot, sliced

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (if using salted butter, just lessen the salt)

• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• pinch of brown sugar, just to add more taste

Procedure

For Pork Chop

Coat pork chop with salt. Pour olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Fry and cook the pork until color turns golden brown. Drain excess oil in the pork chop with a kitchen tissue. Garnish with oyster sauce. Set aside.

 For Steamed Veggies

Pour about 1 cup of water in a heat proof bowl with a steamer. Place the sliced carrots then bring water to boil. Cover and steam carrots for about 5 minutes. (You can also use a strainer over a heat proof bowl with water. Place the carrots on the strainer, cover and steam with the same stated minutes). If you are preparing more serving, steam the carrots for about 10-15mins.

Meanwhile prepare the frying pan. Heat a pan with a tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Stir until butter has melted. Add-in pinch of sugar and salt (if using unsalted butter). Be careful not to burn the ingredients. Add-in steamed carrots and stir fry for about 1 minute. Transfer to a serving plate and serve with the meat and steamed rice.

That's it! Your fast and fresh dish is ready to serve!!

Shrimp on a Sweet and Spicy Sauce

Hello guys! I am now going to share with you another Shrimp recipe to make at home. This is quite different from my previous recipe a while ago which was the traditional and simplest way as well of cooking shrimps: the stir-fry method! Click link for the recipe This time I am going to share my Shrimp recipe again, but on a Sweet and Spicy Sauce. Oh so yummmm….I love spicy dishes! Well, I think there's no need for me to speak further regarding this recipe since the title tells more: Sweeeeet-and-Spicy!!!!!

This is a healthy and delicious recipe to prepare but…… this might turn you stay longer in your dining table and grab some extra rice on your plate, and might as well can ruin your diet! *laughs…..Just be careful and stick on your healthy diet rules anyway! So stay put in front of your computer, and scrolls down your cursor to check out and enjoy this easy recipe for your family!

Happy cooking!

Ingredients

• 1/2 kilo fresh shrimp, cleaned
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 medium size ginger, cut into strips
• 8-10 ripe medium size chili, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil, for frying
• Scallions, chopped or designed to garnish (optional)
• Garlic, minced to garnish (optional)

Procedure for Shrimp on a Sweet and Spicy Sauce

1. In a small bowl mix together soy sauce, ketchup, and sugar. Set aside.
2. Place a pan over medium heat. Heat oil. Add-in ginger, garlic and chili. Cook until ginger and garlic turns light brown and the chili is nice in smell.
3. Put-in the shrimp and stir fry for about 1 -2 mins.
4. Pour-in the ketchup mixture. Stir fry for about 2-5 minutes.
5. Add salt and pepper.
6. Transfer to a plate.
7. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

 

Fried Tilapia inThai Sauce

 

Tilapia can be served as plain fried, which I also love and shared to you a while ago click here for the recipe and are also best when served with various sauces. These are sold in the market affordable and are one of the best Filipino dishes to enjoy together with your family in a meal. This time, I am going to share you this dish with a touch of Thai sauce garnished in it. I have known that when we say Thai dishes, the main ingredient are seafood’s cooked with various sauces that taste sweet, sour and spicy; some are also served in a delicious curry sauce too and all mixed up with different spices and herb that result into a nice aroma! I love those…yummmm….

 

Since my family love to dine out in our favorite Thai restaurant, I got curious how this delicious food were prepared, which ideally meant not just to satisfy our eyes and nose, but really touches our appetite behind each dish! One thing that would always invite us to come back in the place is our favorite main dish which is the Fried Lapu-Lapu or Fried Tilapia served in a delicious sauces. Out of my curiosity I search online what made Thai dishes famous and delicious…and for me, I would agree that the sweet and spicy combinations made it unique!

I cooked this for dinner and it was such a fulfilling meal though! The verrrrry nice aroma of fried chopped chili’s mixes in a garlic while preparing really boost my appetite! I love the spiciness blended in a delectable sweet and sour sauce!! I also added a little cornstarch on it to thicken since I find the mixture a bit runny upon mixing everything of the ingredients. I love cooking this again using tamarind or lime juice which mostly Thai sauce recipe calls for. Since I don’t have any of these available from the kitchen, I’m thankful I’ve found this helpful substitutes which are orange juice and a squeeze of fresh lemon; while the other is lemon juice and a touch of sugar mixed with it. I just wanted to try and experiment on the latter for now; and the result?? soooo great!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 medium size fresh Tilapia

• 6 pcs fresh lemon, squeezed (you can also use 1/4 cup tamarind or lime juice)

• 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped

• 4 ripe medium size native chili, chopped

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons fish sauce

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon of water

• 3 tablespoons water

• 2 tablespoons minced garlic (optional)

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, for frying + 2 tbsps for the sauce

• red bell pepper and scallions, for garnishing

Procedure:

Prepare the fish

Properly coat the fish with salt. Fry and cook in a non-stick pan until golden brown. Set aside. (Tips: You can also dip the fish coated with salt into tablespoons of milk before frying to avoid this fishy smell or lansa. This brings the fish more tasty too).

Prepare the Sauce

1. Place a clean pan over medium heat. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable or olive oil.
2. Add-in chopped garlic and stir fry until nicely brown. Add-in chopped chili. Stir until very nice smell.
3. Add-in fish sauce, sugar, minced garlic, and cornstarch. Stir until sugar has melted and mixture is smooth.
4. Add-in water while continue stirring. Gradually add more water if sauce is still sticky. Continue stirring for about 2 mins.
5. Turn off heat and pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish.
6. Serve and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

kwaliteatime@home: Fried Tilapia inThai Sauce

kwaliteatime@home: Fried Tilapia inThai Sauce:   Tilapia can be served as plain fried, which I also love and shared to you a while ago click here for the recipe   and are also ...

Chocolate Moist Cake

 

Who doesn't like chocolate cakes? Me..? I am not one of those...what more if these were made moist and delicious! I just simply love it!! This is our choice of dessert to have, in one of our favorite restaurants when we got to dine out with my family. I have tested so much chocolate recipes in the kitchen a while ago, and made lots of experiments on it, trying out to get the restaurant-taste-like cake! (*laughs)…. After much trial and error, this got to be a perfect one for chocolate moist! Thus, I have no reason not to share this to you! I am more than happy I’ve tried this one at home!

I got this recipe online (bonappétit.com) and am grateful enough I’ve found them and have posted such a nice recipe for everyone! I made some alteration on some of the ingredients just like the buttermilk, since I haven’t find any in the grocery so far so what I did here was, use a cup of milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice as a substitute. (source: Food.com). For the frosting recipe, I used my own style here to garnish the cake. You can also use your favorite recipe for garnishing if you wish to.

 

These were awesome and become my favorite recipe then! These are best in cupcakes as well!! Here’s how!

Ingredients:

·   2 cups cake flour

·   2 cups sugar

·   3/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened

·   3/4 cup salted butter, room temperature (you can also use unsalted butter, just increase the amount of salt to 3/4 tspn if using)

·   1 cup buttermilk (I substituted to 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp of lemon juice)

·   1 cup coffee, HOT (I only used 3 teaspoons instant coffee powder on this)

·   2 teaspoons vanilla extract

·   1 1/2 baking soda

·   1/4 teaspoon salt

·   3 large eggs

Frosting:

·   1/2 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened

·   1 can condensed milk

·   2 tablespoons butter

To prepare for buttermilk substitute: Add-in 1 tablespoon of  lemon juice over 1 cup of milk. Wait for about 5mins to thicken then mix well to combine. This is now ready to use as buttermilk for your recipe.

 

Procedure for Cake:

1.    Grease a 9x4inch baking pan (I used butter for greasing and dash about 1 tablespoon of flour on the pan and shake off the excess) and place parchment paper on the base of the pan.

2.    In a clean bowl, sift together all dry ingredients except the sugar: flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside

3.    Cream the butter in your electric mixer. Add-in sugar until everything is combined.

4.    Beat-in the eggs one at a time. Add-in vanilla extract.

5.    Gradually adding-in the flour mixture then beat. Pour about half cup of buttermilk substitute (buttermilk if using) and beat again until just blended. Repeat this procedure until you consume all the flour mixture and the buttermilk.

6.    Slowly add hot coffee and beat until smooth.

7.    Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake in a preheated oven 325 F. Bake for about 40-45 mins or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

8.    Remove from the oven and loosen the edges with a knife and let it cool for about 15-20 minutes.

9.    Invert cake into a wire rack and cool completely.

10.  Once the cake is completely cooled, you can cut the cake into two layers and spread with your prepared frosting then topped with the other layer. You can use the remaining frosting to cover and decorate the cake.

11.  Serve chilled and enjoy!

Procedure for Frosting:

Combine cocoa powder and condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until well combined; while stirring constantly, add-in butter until melted. Turn off heat and transfer to a clean bowl. Set aside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homemade Croutons on your Simple Caesar Salad

I came into this idea of making Caesar salad when we had an Aussie friend who came to visit in our place a while ago so I am planning to make him a treat for his breakfast. But then again I have a problem; I was not able to find sold Croutons available in the stores so I decided to prefer making this at home to complete my recipe! Why not?! (Well...hoping this would taste right for him! and yeah! I was given a cool thumbs up from him though!) *smileys

Croutons are breads cut into small pieces and can be served as fried or toast. These are used to garnish on served soup or salads. This is a very easy yet healthy thing to prepare; so here is another simple recipe for you if you are looking for garnishing on your favorite green leafy salads!

This time I’m going to share you how I made my homemade croutons and of course my simple Caesar salad as well. For you to have a beautiful salad, choose the clean and fresh lettuce available in the market! By the way the only kind of lettuce to use in this salad is only Romaine, so check this out in grocery stores in your place.

Ingredients:

Croutons

• 2 slices of bread (preferred brand), cut into cubes

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or you can use 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper)

Procedure for Croutons:

Take the slices of breads and cut these into cubes as shown above. Place them in a plate. In a separate clean bowl, mix olive oil and garlic powder (or pepper and salt, if using) until well combined. Pour pieces of bread into the mixture and mix everything up until the breads are well coated with the ingredients. (You can also brush the slices of breads with olive oil mixture  first by using a pastry brush, before you can slice it into cubes to properly coat them). Meanwhile place a pan over medium heat. Once hot, lower the heat and scatter evenly the breads into the pan. Cook for about 2-3mins or until the breads are nicely browned. (Flip the breads once in a while and make sure not to burn it. You can also bake the cubes for about 10 mins if you like). Remove from the pan and transfer to a clean bowl. Set aside. (You can place it in the fridge to preserve the crisp of the croutons until ready to use).

Caesar Salad

• 1 medium bunch of Romaine

• 2 tablespoons of ready mixed salad dressing (preferred brand)

• 3 tablespoons grated cheese

• 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

Procedure for Caesar Salad:

Pull the leaves of the head of the Romaine. Wash and clean properly each of the leaves with cold water. Using your hands, carefully tear the Romaine into small pieces or bite sizes and place them in a strainer. Shake off until excess water is drained. Transfer them in a bowl, add-in the croutons. Spread the dressing and mix everything to combine. Sprinkle parmesan and grated cheese then toss. Serve immediately.

So there you go, you’re delicious and healthy salad is done! Remember to add more ingredients little by little to achieve your desired taste. And also, never mix the Romaine with the dressing or with the other ingredients if you are not about to eat them right after you prepare or else your salad will become 'wetty' or soggy. If you prefer to prepare it ahead, you can place the cleaned Romaine in the fridge, then just spread the dressing and other ingredients when ready to serve.

Cinnamon Rolls

 

Cinnamon has been popularly known delicious and healthy. Some has been included this in their every day diet, and partly on their cooking and baking regimen as well. This made me thought of looking for a recipe that has this healthy powder, and finally I found one; this delicious Cinnamon bun from Joy of Baking. These were made in a lighter version. I altered some of the ingredients too, so with the procedure on how has been made. Instead of letting the dough sit overnight, (and my taste buds were in a hurry to eat these buns on that day), I only did this for a couple of hours, trying if the rolled buns would turn out right in this procedure! hmmmm.. we'll see! I also used fresh lemon juice here instead of honey. Before, I got curious how these buns were made because honestly, I was thinking of this powder inside the buns were cocoa (*laughs)… Since I wanted to try bread recipes, I decided to make one of these at home! This time I know already what ingredients I am going to prepare - a cinnamon powder; Not cocoa! (*smiley’s)

I was so excited making this since it was my first time to try bread recipe at home. I really don’t know if I fail on this; or I’m going to finish it successfully with the same taste of my favorite bought products! (*smiley’s)….funny it is, but I’m just being hopeful! Nevertheless, the result was awesome! I love the chewy taste of the buns with the crunchiness on the sides! The taste of the cinnamon powder and the sweetness of brown sugar in the filling lingers through your mouth in every bite…Delicious! My husband loves eating this when paired with a hot cup of coffee during breakfast!

 

I’m happy to share this with you, and thankful I did this almost perfect! I cut down the ingredients for the topping that is why the buns were not as sticky on top as you can see. I’m afraid if the buns were made so sweet that my husband won’t appreciate it anymore. But if you had a sweet tooth, you can add the sugar and butter in the mixture of your topping. Since these were not so sweet as what I have expected, I added glaze to add more taste. But overall, these buns were great! I like the tanginess of fresh lemon juice mixed with the sweetness of the sugar on top! Not bad at all.

 

Preparing this recipe took you a while in the kitchen since you need have to set the dough to rise for long hours. I would suggest that you have to make use of your time on doing some other things so you will not get bored while on cook; and to give also the dough rise in its proper time otherwise; you are always attracted to check out the dough if it’s already done or not. What I did here was, setting always my alarm clock for me to be reminded with my buns. The thing that you are making homemade breads is quite tiring and time consuming I admit; yet, this effort is indeed worth it!

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons yeast
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup salted butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 eggs medium size eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup salted butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 1/4 cup unsalted peanut, crushed

Topping:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

 

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 3 teaspoons evaporated milk

Procedure for Cinnamon Rolls:

 

Make the filling

Whisk together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon powder. Combine well with the cold butter until the mixture is powdery. Place it in the fridge to cool and excuses the butter to melt.

Prepare the dough:

1. In a clean bowl, combine well the flour and yeast. Set aside.
2. In a pan over low heat, pour the milk, butter, sugar until warm and the butter has melted.
3. In a bowl of your electric mixer with a dough hook, pour flour mixture then add-in the milk mixture while beating on a low speed. Add-in eggs one at a time while continue beating. Take a spatula and scrape everything in the side of the bowl and mix on a high speed until a dough forms into a ball.
4. Lightly sprinkle flour on clean surface and transfer the dough. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. You can sprinkle flour little by little on the surface while kneading if the dough is still sticky. Continue kneading until the dough is free from cracks.
5. Form the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap until the dough increases its volume into doubled for at least 2 hours. Gently punch the dough to release the air and let it rise again for another 5 minutes.
6. Roll the dough to flatten and form a square. Evenly sprinkle the filling over the layer leaving a space about half inch of all sides of the dough to keep intact and wont spill out when rolling up the dough.  Lightly brush one end of the dough with a milk to seal the edges. Roll up the dough to form a log. (Do not roll the dough too tightly so the buns won’t break up while baking.)
7. Slice the log evenly into small parts. Arrange rolls in a greased baking pan. Cover rolls loosely until almost doubles for at least 1 hour.
8. Punch each bun using a toothpick that has bubbles. Lightly brush again the rolls with milk.
9. Bake in a 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oven for 30-40 minutes or until dough turns light brown, and a toothpick inserted into the buns come out clean.
10. Remove rolls from oven. Invert onto a baking rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Transfer to clean plate by inverting it. Drizzle with Glaze. (I only do it by putting glaze into the buns since my topping looks dry and not so sweet and sticky. You don’t have to do this when you’ve made your buns as sweet as it is).
11. Serve and enjoy!

Prepare the topping:

Melt the butter in a pan. In a clean bowl pour the melted butter. Add-in the sugar, lemon juice and peanut. Mix until well blended. Pour the mixture over the rolled buns inside the pan.

Makes 8-10 rolls depending on your desired size.