Chocolate hazelnut wheat cakes.

1st row: chocolate matcha mix
2nd row: chocolate
3rd row: matcha

Yesterday I got a bag of wheat flour.  I opened it up today and the first thing I made were vegan wheat pancakes.  Wheat pancakes are just not the same as non-wheat pancakes.

So here we are... trying to figure out how I can use this wheat flour that seems to absorb liquids if allowed to sit.  This was one of those just mix it in a bowl and hope it will turn out right. Well not really, I sort of measured things out using proportions that should would work.

wheat flour
chocolate chips
butter
baking powder
brown sugar
eggs
chocolate hazelnut spread(nutella.)

matcha chocolate

The cake was moist and very chocolatey.   I also still have some matcha(green tea) powder  so I also did a mix of green tea batter.  I used the rest of my cake flour for the matcha cakes so they came out a little lighter than the chocolate wheat.

Initially I was going to try layers with the green and brown.  But working the batter was a little more difficult than I expected.  Some were green-brown-green, brown-green or like the one on the picture to the right sort of marbled.  Reminds me of an army camouflage.

Matcha chocolate shortbread cookies.

I used my mom's shortbread cookie recipe. I was originally going to do the traditional arched type cookie but after the first batch came out I decided to use my cookie press.

I actually did a test and placed the dough into a cookie press while the first batch was cooking. (At first I didn't care for the cookie/ frosting press when my mom or maybe it was my sister gave it to me. I thought it was just another kitchen gadget that would take up space. Yes, one of those things. The tips I use with a plastic bag when making cream puffs. I also take it out every so often and enjoy the results of not having to use a cookie cutter.)

My first batch of white chocolate burned in the microwave. I was busy filling another cookie sheet with cookies and did not stir it. As to not waste it I am going to crispy up the burned white chocolate and see if I can make some caramelize candy.

To ensure I did not burn more chocolate. I did the chocolate with a double boiler method that way I would have to pay attention to it. I used about a cup of chips and a teaspoon of Matcha. The chocolate was so thick I added a bit of butter to help it thin out. I think I should have gone with a bit of milk instead.

I ended up having to spread the chocolate onto the cookie.

Seriously what a mess! I gave up after a while since the chocolate was sticking to the spoon, butter knife, spatula... more than the cookie. I really tried all of these utensils.

The cookie started to crumble as the chocolate started to cool. I did not want to place the chocolate back in the double boiler. So I just matched up the cookies and did a thin spread of chocolate on the bottoms and stuck them together. I did not put too much chocolate in between because I was afraid of them being too sweet. Now I wished I had added a thicker layer since the cookies are on the thick side more chocolate would have added a stronger Matcha flavor. More Matcha in to the white chocolate would not have hurt either.

Ah well, I will try again when these are all gone.

Turkey meatloaf

So it has been a while since I made things to freeze and be eaten later.

Today I decided to experiment with some ground turkey. Lately since I've been just doing turkey meatballs, I decided to make a loaf instead.

I was feeling lazy and did not want to make bread crumbs, neither did I want to use the whole wheat bread that I had.

During December there were many sales on stove top stuffing. I admit I like stove top stuffing for some odd reason. I like homemade stuffing better but box stuffing is good and quick. So I crushed the bag of stuffing mix. I diced some yellow onion and some red onion. I like to have green peppers in my meat loafs but today I didn't have any peppers.

Since the box stuffing usually is well seasoned I just tossed everything into a large bowl and added two eggs. If I want to add spice I will normally add cayenne, today I added sriracha.

Also a little water to add moisture to the crumbs. I mushed it all together with the ground turkey.

The meat was formed into a loaf shape in to a 9x13 pan that was lined with foil. I would say the loaf was a little bit higher than the sides of the pan.

I basted the top of the loaf with more sriracha and topped it with tomato paste. Coating the whole surface with a layer of tomato paste. I set in the oven which was already hot from the cookie baking I did.

After 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven I poured a can of tomato sauce over it. This was to add more tomato to it as well as to prevent the tomato paste from burning.

I let it cook maybe another hour or so. I made the loaf a little on the higher side so that if I wanted make it into a meat loaf sandwich it would be the perfect size for the slice of bread.

Adding the tomato on top of the meat loaf just means the liquids in it will reduces and you get an intense tomato flavor. I actually do not mind if it gets a little blacked.

I decided not to add anything else to it being that I have not done this type of seasoning before. I did not want it to end up too salty. Options would have been maybe some cheese on top of the tomato. Some kosher salt to help bring out more of the tomato flavor. Or some fresh ground pepper.

I just plated it with a simple salad that was topped with a mild sesame dressing. No starch since there was stuffing in the meatloaf. It came out a little smaller than I expected. Next time I need to make it a little higher which would mean I more time in the oven.

Yummy!

Spinach salad

I happen to like salads so when asked to bring one for a party I try to think of something everyone would enjoy. Kent wanted to do spinach.

We like spinach salads that are served with a vinegarette. Preferably a balsamic that is tangy. But to simplify things I decided not to do everything from scratch. I guess we could have just bought a balsamic dressing. I find the bottled dressings tend to be too sweet. Kent was in charge of the bacon and washing the spinach. We plucked the stems off together and saved the stems in a zip sandwich bag to be used later for an omelette.

Bacon

The bacon was cooked in the toaster oven. Toaster oven bacon is a nice way to do a small amount of bacon with an easy clean up. Foil the toaster oven tray and lay out the bacon, I was able to place 4 slices on the tray.(Yes, I placed the bacon, but since I didn't want to keep an eye on them Kent was to make sure they did not burn and was cooked to crispy.) The bacon goes into the toaster oven, no pre heating and set it to 400 degrees. In 15-20mins maybe longer the bacon should be crispy. You might want to flip it at some point maybe even drain some of the fat dripping. Try not to open the toaster to much.

Onion

I bought a regular red onion so I sliced it and let it soak in some cold salted water to try and draw out the sharpness of the onion. Careful to not let it soak too long. It will become salty and lose its crispness.

Boiled egg

I don't have one set way of doing my eggs. Sometimes I start with the water at a slight boil, other times I'll place them in when the water is lukewarm. It all depends if I remembered to take the egg out to get to room temperature and the size of the eggs. Let's be honest here, even though the egg carton says large on it, the eggs in side will sometimes look small. I'm sure they need to be a certain weight to be considered large. It was probably a carton sabotaged by one of those people that stand there swapping eggs around. For a solid yolk, 10-15 mins at a full boil. If I feel the egg needs to be cooked longer I let it sit in the water after turning off the heat.

Ranch dijon dressing

The dressing this time was a mix of ranch dressing and a bit of dijon mustard. I added just a smidge of dijon so not to overwhelm the ranch. This got mixed in a zip sandwich bag for easy clean up and also easy of drizzling it over the spinach. Just careful cut the corner of the the bag. Being careful since the dressing can ooze all over the place if the hole is too big

Add a little more dijon and it makes a really good spread for a ham and cheese sandwich.

We had walnuts, but they never made it on to the salad.

Make sure the spinach has time to dry after washing. It is possible to layer everything and chill a couple hours before, but the spinach might wilt a bit so do it bit before you want to eat the salad. Spinach- toppings- spinach- toppings. Or you could always server the dressing on the side for those people that like to drown their veggies.

Butternut squash

Searching for something to make I came across a simple butternut squash recipe from the Barefoot Contessa.

6 tablespoons Butter

¼ cup light brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons of kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

The butternut squash was washed. Peeled and chopped. Then placed on a jelly roll pan. Any flat pan would work. Just needs to be big enough so you can spread the squash in an even layer. I use jelly roll pans because it keeps any excess liquids from spilling.

The butter was in a microwaveable dish and was heated for a few seconds to melt it. I had made the brown sugar mixture the night before. It was added into the melted butter and stirred.

The butter and brown sugar mixture was poured over the squash and tossed to coat all the sides of the squash.

I think it would have been better to coat the squash with the butter then sprinkle the sugar mixture on top. To help get a better caramelized squash.

Roast 400 degrees for 45-55 minutes. I did 50 minutes because I was short on time. I would probably have left it in for the full 55 minutes to get a darker caramelization on the squash and maybe tossed it a few more time during cooking. I think because I didn't toss it enough the butter and sugar ended up mostly on my pan than on the squash.

Kosher salt and unsalted butter

Just in the last month I started cooking with kosher salt. I have table salt, sea salt, rock salt, cure salt, and now kosher. I can understand why using kosher salt is better for some cooking. I never bothered because I didn't think it would make much of a difference. I should have known since using Hawaiian rock salt does make a difference when cooking, that I would notice the difference when using kosher salt. This is the same for butter. I have been using unsalted butter for a while now. I find it easier to moderate the salty flavor when cooking with unsalted butter. I still keep regular butter on hand, for when I want the more creamy flavor of butter.

Sticks and twin balls

When my mom was here for a couple days I went with here on her various visits to the different asian markets. We saw these Rice cake twin ball and Rice cake sticks.

My mom informed me that in the K-dramas (Korean dramas) the children are always eating this. Seems K-dramas are a popular things to watch. My parents and aunts trade and share their K-drama DVDs.

The cooking instructions/ recipe on the package were in both Korean and English.

Recipe on bag:

1. Wash pieces of rice cake in cold water and take them out of the water.

2. Mix up the rice cake and sauce(hot pepper paste, ketchup, sugar, and spices)

3. Boil the rice cake and sauce with booiled fish paste, carrot or cabbage to your taste until the rice cake is done.

Although the directions were simple I decided to not follow them. Honestly I rarely follow a recipe completely how it is written.

I washed the rice cake and started a pot of water to boil. When the water was at a boil I added the rice cake, ketchup, salt, black pepper, crushed red chili and pepper. After it boiled a little while I added a packet of dashi.

When they looked like the were close to being done I drained the pot of all liquid. Put in 2 cans of tomato sauce. As it cooked I added more chili pepper, salt and pepper. A bit of sugar. Powdered garlic.

I just cooked it till the sauce thickened and it was ready to eat!

Not so white colored Hello Kitty gelatin

Gelatin, sweetened condensed milk, and water. Placed strawberry jam into the bow part and poured some gelatin in and mixed.

I think the condensed milk made it too sweet and ivory colored. Remedy? Chop it up...

Place cubes in a cup and add soymilk...

Add Oolong tea...

Use a large straw. And I have a yummy soy tea drink with milky cubes.