Chewy Apple & Almond Multigrain Granola Bars w/ Coconut Milk

My other contribution to tomorrow's breakfast... This is also another recipe that I am working on so I will give you specifics when I have it all figured out. I used multigrain cereal (oats, rye, wheat, and barley), apples, roasted almonds, grade A maple syrup, coconut milk, vanilla extract, canola oil, and raw sugar.

I baked it at 400 degrees for about 2 hours. I allowed it to cool overnight and cut into it the next morning. The texture was perfect - crunchy on the outside and chewy in the inside. It was also not too sweet and the coconut milk really added something special to bars. I hope everyone enjoys it tomorrow!!!

Here's the maple syrup, coconut milk, canola oil, vanilla extract, and raw sugar.



The multigrain cereal.



I diced 3 medium sized apples and threw it into the mix.



I chopped up the almonds a bit in the blender.



Here's what it looks like when the ingredients are all mixed together. Oops, I also added some sunflower seeds!



Grease your baking dish w/ canola oil and press the mix down firmly.



Once done, allow it to cool before cutting into it.



How cool is this...



Nice and packed for tomorrow.

Homemade Poptarts Attempt I

Don't ask me why but I really, really wanted to make homemade Poptarts. I was okay with making the jam filling but when it came to rolling out the dough and shaping it, I completely lost it. I need a cutter. A much LARGER cutter if I want to make poptarts. These bento-making cutters I have just won't do the job. Until next time...

For the jam, I crushed strawberries and blueberries, and cooked it with sugar. I let it cool in the fridge overnight and the next day, the jam was perfect. Although i didn't get to use much of it in my puff pastry, however, I am looking forward to smearing it over the cream cheese on my bagel tomorrow morning. :D


Here's the jam in process...



and the next morning.



Puff pastry. Bunny cutter. Yeah, you can tell just quite how excited I am in describing this part.



On the baking sheet.



Not quite attractive but very delicious!



I will improve on this recipe and give specifics in the near future. Hmm, maybe after the bar exam.

Mini Quiches

This was my contribution to the Friday Breakfast at my friend's company for tomorrow + to bring to my office for my last day. The night before, I prepped the ingredients and today, I spent 3 solid hours baking over 50 mini quiches. Yeah, I felt like a machine. Instead of using puff pastry, I went with wonton wrappers which are not just easier to work with but make these quiches taste so much lighter and much more fun to eat!

I was so engrossed in baking and making sure they didn't burn that I did not get the chance to take many photos. I am still working on this recipe so I won't give you the exact measurements. The ingredients included eggs (of course), milk, canadian bacon, feta cheese, mushrooms, onions, and shallots. I used italian spices, salt, and fresh ground pepper for seasoning. However, to spice things up a bit - I did add a dash of dill and some lemon juice.

I set the oven to 400 degrees and used muffin tins. I lined the tins w/ the wonton wrappers and pour in the egg batter. I baked these guys for about 10 minutes and repeated the process until I used up all my wrappers.


I used way too many eggs to whisk the mix by hand so I used my blender. It took 7 seconds to blend everything together.



In a medium sized pot, I cooked the bacon, onions, and shallots. I allowed it to cook for a bit before adding it into the egg batter.



I used these wonton wrappers that I got from my local asian grocer.



So... imagine 50 of these.



Not too bad looking eh?

Simple Roasted Whole Chicken

Seriously simple. Will need some spices (I used rosemary), salt and pepper. Yup, that's it. When you have a good piece of protein + foolproof cooking method then you don't need all that fancy and unnecessary hard-to-pronounce spices/sauces. Yes, seriously.

Turn your oven to 375 degrees - roasted.

Make sure your chicken is at room temperature. As long as it is fully defrosted and not too cold (yes, I'm so technical). And a no-no if it is still frozen. One thing I didn't do, and should have done, was to tie the legs together and have them press against the breast firmly. Just like what you see when you buy a whole roasted chicken at the market.

Anyway, look at what I got in the mail today!!! I love freebies.



Here's my 3 lb chick.



Throw in some garlic, don't peel, and allow it roast and melt. YUM.



While you're at it, throw in a few red bliss potatoes. I think that's what those are...



Rub the chicken w/ some canola oil, rosemary, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper.



Cover the chicken.



After 1.25 hours... uncover the chicken and allow it to broil on medium heat for about 10 minutes until nice and brown.

YIPPEE!!!



It cuts in half pretty easily.



On the side, I made a healthy mac 'n cheese w/ asparagus, broccoli, and carrots.

GinGa Restaurant, Brookline, MA

Man, I have been eating out a lot these past couple of weeks. Usually, at max, I eat out about twice a week but cooking for one has really demotivated me to cook as often as I have been. The good part is I have been able to eat some pretty delicious stuff. For example, I went to Cafe Mami the other night and FINISHED my teriyaki hamburg set. Impressive, eh? Yeah, I know... sometimes, I'm Canadian.

Anyway... my friend's aunt just opened this new Japanese restaurant, GinGa, in Brookline so we went there to check it out. The place was adorable and absolutely perfect for a casual but still very romantic date night with your partner. Towards the end, we shared a tempura green tea and ginger ice cream that was just pure decadent.

Here are some photos,


Just because...



This was a special that was on the house. I believe it was white fish dipped in batter and fried.



Classic seaweed salad.



My favorite!!! Agedashi Tofu.



Scallop thingy.



Sea Breeze Roll. This was S-P-I-C-Y.



California Roll. Dena doesn't eat raw fish.



Caterpillar Roll.



Ice cream!!!




SERIOUSLY. I need a better camera, ASAP.

Childhood Memories IV: Súp Nui (Vietnamese Macaroni Soup)

My friend Dena and I were reminiscing over our childhood memories of eating this soup. We were talking about the differences in how our mothers make it - Dena's mom kept it simple and sweet while my mother did her version of the classic Chicken Noodle Soup by adding celery, carrots, and sometimes potatoes. Dena was complaining about how she bought chicken broth and attempted this dish without much success - so I explained to her that the base of this soup is made with pork and not chicken. Plus American chicken broth is made with other vegetables which I believe gives it that distinctive taste. I have made chicken broth before, many times, and trust me, chicken bones + water does not taste like store bought chicken broth, ever.

I don't have a lot of photos but the recipe is simple. Make your own broth with pork bones. Cook macaroni according to its instruction on the box. Add whatever vegetables you like and season to your liking (means you must add fish sauce). I used chinese black mushrooms, bok choy, and yu choy - because that's what I had in my fridge. I also added a couple of chicken breasts which I later shredded and put in the soup. It worked out quite perfectly. We ate some at my place and I packed some up for Dena to take home and enjoy later. I know, I'm such a Mother Hen.

I mainly used the stalky parts and saved the leafy parts to use in another dish.



These were our bowls. It really reminded me of being 5 and sick. Yes... still good memories though.

Fresh Spaghetti w/ Homemade Marinara Sauce

OMG. This meal was so delicious. Why did it take me so long to attempt to make marinara sauce?! This store, DePasquale's Pasta, is less than a 2-minute walk away from my apartment so of course I had to go there to pick up some fresh pasta to go with this tasty sauce. There's not much more to say except that I have to make this more frequently because the taste and texture of this homemade sauce beats that of any sauce in a jar. YEAH!!!


For $2.95, this is a bargain, no? It was perfect for 2.5 people or 3 small people. Yeah, that didn't sound right. Anyway...




Fresh spaghetti takes about a minute to cook in rolling boiling water. How awesome is that (statement, not question).



In a skillet, I tossed the spaghetti w/ 1/2 T of olive oil and a couple ladle-full of sauce before serving. I also threw in some minced garlic to give it that intense garlicky taste and smell.

Marinara Sauce

I have been wanting to make marinara sauce for some time now and especially when I can get tomatoes for cheap at Haymarket, I knew I had to make it. I will recommend that you should use very ripe plum tomatoes and don't make the same mistake I did by using semi-green and fairly firm ones. The recipe is very simple, you will need about 3 lbs of ripe plum tomatoes, some olive oil, basil, and garlic. Season the sauce to your liking.

In a large pot of water blanch your tomatoes until you can peel the skin off pretty easily.



It should look like this. Remove the tomatoes from pot and peel.



Once peeled, throw the tomatoes back into the pot and add 1/2 cup of water. Cook on low-medium heat. You will want to use some kind of masher to help break up the tomatoes. It should become quite easy when the tomatoes have been simmering for some time.



Grab a bunch of basil and a few cloves of garlic and throw it into your food processor with about 2T of olive oil. Pulse for a bit until finely chopped. Pour this into your marinara sauce. Ahh, doesn't that smell wonderful?



After about an hour on low-medium heat, it should reduce down to this texture. If you want a very garlicky taste, throw it some minced garlic, cook for about 5-10 minutes, then serve immediately. The sauce is not as red because one, I didn't use ripe tomatoes and two, I used way more basil then I should have. However, it tastes and smells delicious. I can't wait to have it tonight.

Roasted Herbed Chicken and Asparagus Bruschetta

My friend Dena was coming over for lunch so I made a trip out to Haymarket to grab a few things. I knew I wanted to buy a baguette and a lot of tomatoes to make fresh marinara sauce for tonight's dinner. Other than that, I was so not sure what I would make for lunch. While I was at a stall trying to pick out some vegetables, I felt someone leaning up very close to my person - so close that I could few the person's private against my backside. I immediately turned around and pretty much pushed this pervert away from me and said something that was way too polite. I mean, there was no one standing to my left or right - and this man, wasn't even holding a shopping bag. In fact he was empty handed and did not look like he was out there to buy anything. I gave him the nastiest look and kept looking to see where he was going and what he was doing next. I had a feeling he picked Haymarket for cheap feels since it's usually very crowded. I was so pissed. In fact, I still am.

In any case, I left out some drumsticks to defrost while I was at class this morning and since I just bought some fresh vegetables, I thought it would be fun to make bruschetta. I am missing a lot of photos because I was busy making marinara sauce and talking to Dena about girly stuff. So you're going to have to use your imagination in this blog.

Set your oven to 400 degrees - roasted.

First, I lined my baking dish with tin foil (just because) and added 2 T of canola oil, 2 T of Italian Spices, and 1 T of kosher salt. I made sure to coat the drumsticks (3 LBs) well with the spices then roasted in the oven for 30 minutes covered and another 10 minutes uncovered.



In another baking dish, I chopped up 1 bunch of asparagus and 4 garlic cloves tossed in some canola oil. I allowed that to roast for about 20 minutes.



In a medium-sized pot turned to medium heat, I added 1/2 T of canola oil and 1/2 ounce of butter. I sliced garlic, button mushrooms, and diced two plum tomatoes. When the fat was hot, I added the garlic first until brown then threw in the mushrooms and cooked for another 2 minutes then I turned off the heat. I threw in the tomatoes and tossed in all that fatty goodness for a few more minutes.

*Imagine mushrooms and tomatoes going into the pot. Also imagine how I also sliced my baguette to about 2 inches thick and toasted then in the oven.



When everything was done, I placed two sliced toasts on the plate, topped it with the asparagus, mushrooms, and tomatoes, then placed the drumstick on top. I spoon some of the fatty but delicious juice from the chicken over the plate. It was really delicious and perfectly seasoned. All you need to do is add some fresh ground pepper on top and enjoy.

Breakfast of Champions

This is quite mean. My professor conveniently cancels classes at his leisure then schedule us to come in on a beautiful Saturday morning for class. Is he forgetting we all live in Boston and we are only getting (if lucky) about 30 solid days of good weather out of the entire year?! As much as I enjoy constitutional criminal law, I'd rather be frolicking in the Boston Common and soaking in the sun. I mean, best day ever to be out playing catch.


So I brought with me this morning, a bottle of water, cappuccino, Aloe Vera drink that my friend Dena got for me, and an orange (I really, really like citrus fruits).



This is what you find when you live with a boy.



This is what you find when you live with a girl (more specifically, yours truly). Pretty pleated home made dumplings.