Cilantro Lime rice

I had some leftover rice from yesterday, so I decided to make some cilantro lime rice (as the title implies.) This classic recipe has become quite well-known to anyone who has been to a Chipotle burrito place. The acidic hint of lime is balanced out with the softer tones of cilantro, and the whole thing is just delicious. My little brother loves this recipe as much as he loves Chipotle (which is a LOT) and I make it whenever I feel like adding a little zing to my plain rice but am tired of regular greasy fried rice.

It makes a great complement to a burrito as well as a nice side dish, and can be served on it's own as well. Of course, I had to check out how the original recipe went from the source itself at chipotlefan.com, and found the ingredients to be super simple. Pretty much just throw in whatever you want, just keep a watch on the lime juice because a little goes a long way on that front.

RECIPE: (from the original source)
*1 teaspoon vegetable oil or butter
*2 tsp. fresh cilantro
*2/3 cup white basmati rice (pretty much any rice will do)
*1 cup water
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 Lime

PREPERATION: (If you have pre-cooked rice like I did, just stir-fry everything in a skillet)
1.) In a 2-quart heavy saucepan, heat oil or butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted.
2.) Add rice and lime juice, stir for 1 minute.
3.) Add water and salt, bring to a full rolling boil. At boiling, cover, turn down to simmer over low heat until rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork.

Chinese-style pasta

Stir-fried tomatoes and scrambled eggs with noodles is like the Chinese version of marinara sauce and pasta. Though originally the noodles are supposed to be hand-pulled, I hadn't had much time today (or the skill, really) to hand-pull the noodles, so I just boiled some angel-hair noodles.
It took took only twenty or thirty minutes to make, and brought back many flashbacks of my early childhood. I feel like this is another classic dish that really personifies simple asian home cooking, and a dish even pickier kids are garanteed to love.

RECIPE:
Serves 4

*2-3 medium sized ripe tomatoes
*5 oz angel-hair pasta
*2 stalks green onion
*7-8 eggs
*2 teaspoons salt
*2 teaspoons pepper
*1 tablespoon dried shrimp
*2 tablespoons vegetable oil

PREPERATION:
1.) Dice tomatoes to pieces about the size of the first joint of the knuckle of your thumb, and dice green onion.

2.) Heat oil in skillet and scramble eggs

3.) Throw in chopped tomatoes and green onions

4.) Sprinkle salt and pepper in skillet with the frying eggs and tomatoes

5.) Add the dried shrimp bits and mix well

6.) Boil pasta until soft and edible

7.) Drain and serve pasta with the eggs and tomatoes

Even easier guacamole

I've posted a guacamole recipe before, but here's a recipe that's super simple, and possibly even tastier than I made before! I was looking and experimenting for a guacamole recipe that can be thrown together in minutes, and found it HERE.
Unfortunately, I had to borrow a pic off of someone else's site for this post, because my family gobbled it up before I could take a pic. About 99.5% of the pictures on my blog, especially the recipe ones, are original, but since I live with someone who's appetite is practically insatiable, occasionally there are times when the dish I made was eaten before I could take pictures. And since I am an extremely live-in-the-moment person, I often will not repeat the recipe again or will forget the recipe unless it was extremely sucessful, and even then I'll probably forget to blog about it.
Anyways, enjoy this quick and delicious guacamole recipe that you can serve as a snack, side dish, or even as a light meal.

RECIPE: Serves 4
3 avocados, peeled and chopped
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt

PREPERATION:
Mash together all ingredients and serve wth tortilla chips!

Stir-fried green beans; unglamorous home cooking

With so many pretty, perfect-looking dishes out there, (most of which taste fantastic, so I'm not hating by any means,) at the end of the day, I still prefer a home-made meal prepared by my mother. Stir-fried green beans is an extremely common dish in Chinese cuisine and I'm sure you've all had them before; whether made like southern-style collard greens, at a Chinese restauraunt, or perhaps at home.

This dish requires really only 4 ingredients, and I usually like to have it served with rice, as it is usually just a side dish, but you can serve it as a main course if you would like. Of course, you can add bacon, chicken, or pretty much anything else in it if you find just green beans too plain. Play around! This recipe is really just to establish kind of a base for anyone who wants to learn more about asian cuisine.

For the more health-conscious people out there,you can vary the amount of oil you want to use, but obviously with more oil it tastes better!

RECIPE: serves 2
*4 cups green beans
*2 tablespoons to 1/2 cup vegetable oil, depending on personal preference
*About 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of salt, depending on taste
*3-5 cloves garlic, depending on taste

PREPERATION:
1.) Chop beans to about finger length
2.) Mince garlic
3.) Heat oil in skillet and fry the beans until they turn a darker color and are soft, which takes about five minutes. Toss in the garlic after the beans have cooked for about 2 minutes
4.) Serve with rice and enjoy!

Potato experimentation- virgin recipe

Prepared some muy delicioso pan-fried, starchy vegetables drizzled lightly with some virgin olive oil and garlic sauce made from scratch. Pretty much just whatever I had on hand, thrown together. Simple, but the notes of cumin and olive oil keep it from being too boring. And anyways, I came up with this on a Wednesday some time ago, and Wednesdays have always been productive but not very creative days for me. As for the garlic sauce; I got inspired when I was craving some garlic bread the other day. Today's the first time I've made this dish since that long-ago Wednesday, but my head is now buzzing with ideas to take it to higher levels. A little lemon juice, perhaps? Or maybe some oregano or sprigs of fresh cilantro. The possibilities are endless!
One thing's for sure- you'll probably see a new and improved version of this recipe come up some time in the future on this site.

RECIPE: (original; for veggies) Serves 2

*2-3 medium potatoes
*1/3 onion
*1 medium carrot
*Pinch ground cumin powder
*1 teaspoon salt
*1/2 teaspoon pepper
*1 to 1/2 stem green onion, depending on taste and size of plant
*1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1/2 tablespoon virgin olive oil

PREPERATION:

1.) Chop all large vegetables into medium-sized chunks
2.) Dice green onion
3.) Stir-fry all vegetables into skillet with vegetable oil, then add in the cumin, salt, and pepper.
4.) Fry until fully cooked, stirring, for about 10 minutes.
5.) Serve with garlic sauce.
6.) Drizzle about 1/2 a tablespoon of virgin olive oil to taste.


GARLIC SAUCE RECIPE: Serves 6- perfect for dipping breadsticks in!

*1/2 cup mayo
*1 tablespoon sour cream
*5 cloves pureed garlic
*2 tablespoons butter

PREPERATION:

1.) Soften butter and mix with sour cream, garlic, and mayo
2.) Stir in a saucepan set to low until completely mixed

Great vanilla frosting

Baked a vanilla sponge cake yesterday, and found this great recipe on cooks.com for vanilla frosting. Uber easy and goes great with anything! I only added 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar, however, because I don't like super-sweet frosting.

EASY VANILLA FROSTING:

RECIPE:
*1/3 cup soft butter
*3 cups confectioner's sugar (I used about 2)
*1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
*2 tablespoons milk

PREPERATION:
Mix the butter and sugar together, then stir in the milk and vanilla extract. Enjoy!

Banana Muffins

Still sticking to my all-natural resolution, though the not-eating-meat part has given me some difficulty. If God didn't want us to eat meat, why'd he make it taste so damn good? It's a dark and gloomy day, and a thunderstorm is raging outside right now, so I thought the wonderful aromas of baking might cheer me up a bit. I baked super-easy banana-walnut muffins today using using a recipe from catcancook.com , which is a great site for simple and easy to make but delicious dishes and desserts. I'm sure many of you have heard of her famous banana muffins, but it can't hurt to read about it again!



(I apologize for the poor lighting; my brother's colossal head was in the way and there's a thunderstorm boing on)

 RECIPE: Makes 12 muffins
*3 or 4 Large bananas, mashed (the more bananas the moister, so I use 4)
*1/2 cup white sugar (original recipe calls for 1 cup, but I don’t like them too sweet)
*1 slightly beaten egg
*1/3 cup melted margarine or butter
*1 teaspoon baking soda
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 1/2 cups flour

PREPERATION:
1.) Mix the mashed banana, sugar, egg and margarine together. Set aside.
2.) In a separate bowl, mix together baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour.
3.) Mix wet and dry ingredients all together!
4.) Pour into greased muffin tins, and bake in 350 degrees F oven for approximately 20 minutes.

*These are much more flavourful the next day, and they freeze very nicely too!
You can add a handful of walnuts (or any kind of nuts, really) or chocolate chips if you like. I added some walnuts and almonds, because we ran out of chocolate chips. Yum!

Going Vegan- Carrot fries

In order to drop a few pounds of water weight, and mostly to purify my body, I'm going on an all-natural, vegan diet for the next few days. (Goodbye, leftover birthday cake.) However, this doesn't mean I have to nibble on all-natural wheat germ and lettuce all day. I've been perusing various vegan food blogs and cookbooks for insipring and delicious recipes that are both good, and good for me.
These carrot fries are a recipe from Color Me Vegan by Colleen Patrick Goudreau. I don't have that many mouths to feed, so I only made half the portion described, about 2 servings.



RECIPE: Serves 4

*16 medium carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks

*1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

*1 teaspoon salt

*Freshly ground pepper, to taste

*1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

PREPERATION:

1.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F

2.) Place the carrot stics in a bowl and pour the olive oil over them

3.) Using your hands, toss the carrot in the oil to thoroughly coat

4.) Spread the carrot sticks in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

5.) Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cumin

6.) Bake the carrots until they begin to crisp, about 45 minutes, checking every 15 minutes or so to toss or turn the pan to ensure even cooking

Uyghur lamb-and-rice

Coming from the Northwestern part of China where there are many different indigenous populations and minorities, my family's cooking is highly influenced by the culture of that region. The Uyghurs, the largest minority in the Xinjiang province, have many unique styles of cooking that most Han Chinese families (like mine) have adapted to. Lamb and rice is a classic Uyghur dish and a family favorite that I grew up eating.
I managed to wrest the recipe from my mother yesterday, and it turned out great. As is extremely common in Asian cooking, however, the recipe isn't very exact. I tried my best to write out the measurements, but f you find it too salty or not to your taste, adjust it to your own preferences. The secret to this recipe is when you stir fry in the rice, cooking it and letting it sit in the juices of the lamb- that's what makes it so good.


Remember this pic? It was on my first post ever! My mom had made this dish that day and I just had to take a picture as well as a bite, it was so good.



Recipe:

*2 cups jasmin rice (you can use other kinds of rice too, but this kind works best. Buy your rice from an Asian Food store to garauntee authenticity, and don't use brown rice)

*4-5 carrots

*1 1/2 lbs lamb (goat works fine too. Chop into seperate ribs or pieces if desired)

*Varying amount of salt

*1 large white onion

*1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preperation:

1.) Soak the rice until completely submerged for about an hour

2.) Set stove to simmer and boil lamb for about 1 hour with about 1 teaspoon salt (adjust as needed) and save the juices (the water you boiled the meat in) 

3.)Grate carrots, preferably using a cucumber peeler to make strip rather than shavings

4.) Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon salt in the grated carrots and mix

5.) Chop onion into small, thin pieces, but make sure the pieces aren't smaller than the first knuckle of your thumb. You might want to wait until the meat and the rice are almost ready to prepare the onion, because you'll be cooking the carots and rice in with the onions later

6.) Stir fry onions until soft with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt, then add grated carrots

7.) Cook until carrots are soft

8.) Pour in the rice, and stir evenly

9.) Pour in the water you simmered lamb in, so the juice get cooked in. Pour enough lamb broth to cover the bottom of the pan and until it reaches the level of the rice, but don't let it rise above the rice

10.) Put the lid on (KEEPING the lid on; no peeking!) and let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until all the broth is gone, then stir evenly

11.) Stir the lamb meat into the rice

12.) Set stove on medium and put lid back on, letting it simmer with the meat well stirred in for around half and hour

Serve and enjoy!

Spice-sauce salad

Originally I had planned to make carrot cake with the fresh carrots I purchased from the farmer's market yesterday, but ran out of baking soda so instead I experimented a little with various salad sauces, and came up with my own asian-inspired sweet-and-spicey spice salad dressing. The salad primarily consists of fresh radishes sliced and salted, carrot shavings, and fresh shredded cilantro. Add chopped almonds or sunflower seeds if you feel it needs some more crunch.



I know, I know- another radish post. What can I say; they're my favorite salad vegetable.

Salad recipe:
*1/2 cup to 1 cup shredded cilantro
*1 cup carrot shavings
*About 7-9 radishes
*1/2 teaspoon salt

Salad preperation:
1.) Quarter and slice radishes thinly, then salt with 1/2 teaspoon salt for 20-30 minutes
2.) Mix all vegetables up in a bowl with the dressing

Sweet-and-spicey dressing:
*1/2 cup water
*1 teaspoon dried pepper powder
*1/2 teaspoon sugar
*1/4 teaspoon salt

Sweet-and-spicey dressing preperation:
1.) Heat up water in a small saucepan
2.) Stir in dried pepper powder, sugar, and salt
3.) Remove from heat and let cool

We all Scream For Ice Cream





The weather skyrocketed to the 90's this week, and with humidity levels so high, every time I step outside I feel like a lobster in pot. (Preferably prepared with lemon juice, seaweed, rosemary, oysters,and my special sauce.) It's the perfect weather for ice cream, and one of my favorite indulgences is homemade ice cream.
However, in lacking an ice cream maker, I have to go through the long and tedious process of freezing the prepared ice cream custard and stirring it every thirty minutes or so for hours on end. Yet the result is often worth the toiling and taxing of my patience.

My basic vanilla ice cream recipe:

*1/2 pint heavy cream
*1 1/2 cup white sugar
*4 teaspoons vanilla extract
*1 pinch salt
*2 quarts half-and-half cream

Preperation:

IF YOU HAVE AN ICE CREAM MAKER:

Combine all ingredients and put in freezer section of ice cream maker, and freeze according to directions.

Quick and easy- you lucky bitch!

IF (like me) YOU DON'T HAVE AN ICE CREAM MAKER:

Combine all ingredients and put in freezer, stirring it every 30 minutes.

NOTE: this takes 2-3 hours

Guacamole

I often think of guacamole, that heavenly blend of mashed avocado and various spices, as similar to an attractive and flirty girl who is very un-photogenic. As with many dips, it looks dubious but tastes delicious.
 I also find that guacamole tastes great with plain crispy bread croutons too.

Recipe: Makes about 1 cup, just double or triple to make more
*1 ripe avocado
*1 tablespoon finely diced onions
*1 teaspoon finely diced jalepeno pepper
*1 tablespoon finely diced tomato
*1 teaspoon finely diced garlic
*1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice (bottled or canned is fine, but make sure it's pure and there aren't any other ingredients, especially sugar)
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preperation:
1.) Mash avocado until smooth and sauce-like
2.) Sprinkle all other ingredients in and mix thoroughly

Serve with tortilla chips/ corn chips, and enjoy!

Radish pickles

Due to a minor kitchen accident yesterday, my cooking these couple of days will probably be confined to baking in a plug-in electronic oven, salads, and more minor (safer) methods of cooking.
One of my favorite summer delectables is the bitter, tart crunchiness of pickles. (Somehow, in the winter they don't seem as crunchy. Psychological effect, I suppose) These yummy radish pickles perfectly fit the score. Recipe owing to the archives of Gourmet.com .

Quick Radish Pickles
Makes about a cup

*6 oz radishes (about 7), quartered
*3 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)- regular black vinegar works fine too, but it doesn't come out as pretty and pale
*2 tablespoons sugar
*1 (1-inch) piece peeled ginger, cut into thin matchsticks (1 tablespoon)

1.) Toss radishes with 1 tsp salt in a bowl and let stand 30 minutes. Drain in a sieve but do not rinse.
2.) Heat vinegar with sugar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and add radishes, then stir in ginger.
3.) Transfer to a small bowl and marinate, chilled, at least 2 hours.  Radishes can be marinated up to 1 day.

3-step peanut butter cookies

I've been in a baking craze since yesterday, and officially am indepted to Kraft for coming up with the easiest and yummiest peanut butter cookie recipe EVER and printing it onto their peanut butter cans! It's so easy that even my mother, who's a phenomenal cook but possibly one of the worst bakers in the history of the world, could make it. If you feel like it, you can add nuts or press a single Hershey's kiss into the centerof each cookie. Serve with milk or eat plain, and enjoy!

You only need three ingredients: (I added chocolate chips, but that's totally optional.)
*1 beaten egg
*1/2 cup sugar
*1 cup smooth peanut butter

Preperation:
1.) Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees farenheit
2.) Mix all of the ingredients together
3.) Dollop 24 cookies onto tray and bake for 10 minutes

Banana bread

After I did my usual yoga workout routine this morning, I was still super inspired by last night's baking craze, so I baked banana bread.
My favorite Banana Bread recipe of all time is a simple, basic recipe to which I usually add whatever is at hand- walnuts, chocolate chips- and since I was craving sugar (as always) I iced half the sliced loaf with cream cheese icing, another fave, and topped it with walnuts. My mom doesn't like super-sugary stuff, so I left half of the loaf un-iced and plain. Either way, it was moist and delicious.
QUICK TIP: Make sure to let the loaf cool for at least 5 minutes or else it'll crumble when slicing

Recipe: (courtesy of simplyrecipes.com)

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preperation:

1.)Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C)

2.)With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.

3.)Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.

4.)Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.

5.)Add the flour last, mix.

6.)Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Stuffed peppers

Stuffed bell peppers are one of my favorite ways to cook veggies when I want something savory but fresh and tart. The strong flavor of the onion dominates but doesn't overpower the general taste of cheese, chicken, mushrooms, and other ingredients, making it so that you can taste each flavor more clearly. This is a recipe of my own devising, very loose and insipred, and you can throw in pretty much whatever sauces or vegetables you want. You can add alfredo sauce, shrimp, garlic pepper, celery, carrots, jalepeno... be creative!

RECIPE: serves 1 halve, simply double, triple, quadruple etc. to make as many as you want.
(original recipe)
*1/2 large bell pepper
*1 tablespoon chopped onion
*1 1/2 tablespoon chopped tomato
*2 tablespoons shredded spinach
*1 slice of your favorite meltable white cheese
*Pinch of shredded cheddar cheese
*Small chunk of chicken, boiled and shredded (as much as you can stuff into the pepper with the veggies and not spill out)
*1/4 stalk spring onion (just enough to sprinkle over everything)
*Pinch of black pepper
*1/2 small jalepeno pepper (optional)
*3-4 small mushrooms
*1 teaspoon soy sauce

PREPERATION:
1.) Clean out the halve of bell pepper and wash
2.) If not already prepared, wash and chop all veggies (except mushrooms, which belong to the fungae family anyways) to tiny slivers or blocks
3.) Stuff all chopped veggies into pepper and arrange as best fit, mixing in soy sauce and/or any other spices you would like to add
4.) Stuff the shredded, prepared chicken into pepper, making sure it's not past the rim of pepper
5.) Arrange mushrooms on top
6.) Sprinkle with cheddar and black pepper
7.) Cover top of bell pepper with the slice of white cheese
8.) Garnish with a few sprinkles of chopped spring onion
9.) Steam for 2-3 minutes, and voila! ( if you decide to make more, don't cook for longer than 3 minutes.)

Teriyaki Pork Jerky

Is everyone else tired of plain old beef jerky yet? I was, after living off it for an entire week when we went camping once (raccoons ransacked all our other food supplies). However, I decided not to hold it against all jerkydom (is that a word?) and my mother and I baked Teriyaki Pork Jerky today. Sure beats plain old barely-seasoned beef jerky, and is fresh but chewy.

RECIPE: Teriyaki Pork Jerky (Serves one)
recipe courtesy of my dear mother, who picked it up from her mother's kitchen. The romantic pass-down-by-generations story ends here, because I'm almost positive my grandmother got it out of the local newspaper
*1 tablespoon soy auce
*1 teaspoon black pepper
*1 teaspoon garlic powder
*1 teaspoon chile powder
*1 tablespoon sugar
*1 teaspoon hoisin sauce- you can get it in almost any asian food store, and it might help if you ask for the seafood sauce
*1 lb pork tenderloin, sliced

PREPERATION:
1.)Marinate pork in sauce for 2-3 hours
2.)Preheat oven to 300 degrees Farenheit
3.)Bake for 1 hour until it turns dry
4.)Take out of oven and let it sit for 5 minutes to dry out and cool

Not your average Spinach Salad

Sometimes people associate spinach salad with canned products and week-old frozen veggies. Having eaten in a school cafeteria before, I understand your point of view. However, there are countless ways to make deliciously fresh spinach salad that is truly a delight for the senses. My very own recipe for spinach salad (works great with basil leaves too; we ran out so I used spinach) is simple and takes only about ten minutes to prepare, tops. Just lightly steamed spinach or basil with half a cup of chopped tomato, drizzled with olive oil and honey, and sprinkled with some crumbled feta cheese and some walnut halves. If you feel like a heavier meal, add some scrambled egg (no ketchup please! For some reason, eating ketchup with fresh tomatoes for me feels akin to eating bacon for breakfast while watching pigs. Plus, in this dish it ruins the taste and crunchy zest.)

RECIPE:
1 cup fresh spinach or basil
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon crumbled feta cheese
6-8 walnut halves

PREPERATION:
1.) Steam spinach for ONLY 1-2 minutes
2.) Arrange chopped tomato pieces as desired
3.) Drizzle virgin olive oil and honey lightly, making sure to cover whole salad
4.) Sprinkle feta over dish
5.) Add walnut halves, and enjoy!