No Bake Peanut Butter Cookie

I'm going to a friend's holiday party and it is a cookie exchange party. So I have to make some cookies. I haven't done any desserts before, it's time I try.

I google and looked at recipes and decided that baking and dough handling is not what I want to do right now. I found a no bake cookie and it looks good. Here goes.

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats



First, I boil the sugar, butter, and milk in a sauce pan. When I first put everything in the sauce pan, it didn't make sense to boil this solid mass of sugar, but it worked. Crazy. Boil it for a minute then take it off of the heat.

Mix in everything else and stir it until it become a uniform blob of brown.



Spoon little patches onto a big piece of wax paper to cool and set.



Once set, eat!



This turned out a lot better than expected considering how easy this is. It's a little too sweet for me, but I wouldn't know how to make just as much with less sugar. Would I use more milk? Either way, I'm happy.

-a

Chili with Poblanos and Pozole

This is my favorite chili from the Chopping Block class I took a couple weeks ago. This is a thicker chili that can be served in a tortilla or in a bowl.

2 Onions
3 garlic cloves
1 and a quarter pounds of tomatillos
2 and a half pounds of cubed pork shoulder
cumin
cilantro
3 poblano peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
a can of hominy
salt and pepper



First I put the quartered onions, the tomatillos (removed husks and rinsed), the jalapenos, and the poblanos in th broiler to char the outside a bit on all sides. I added the garlic cloves near the end because they burn easy.

I browned the pork in a big pot in two batches because there are so much. Then I set the pork aside.



I take the vegetables out of the broiler and put the onions, jalapenos, tomatillos, and garlic in a blender. Save the poblanos for later. Blend the vegetables into a puree.



In the big pot add cumin and the vegetable puree in the pot and add the meat back in.
I add just enough water so all the meat are touching the liquid. Add salt and pepper to season. Bring it to a boil and simmer for two hours.



While the chili is simmering, I peel the charred skin off of the poblanos and cut them into strips. Rough chop the cilantro and set everything aside.

After 2 hours of simmering, I added the poblano strips, cilantro, and hominy in the chili and turn the heat off. Stir everything up and let it sit for a few minutes.





I served it with tortillas and made tacos. It was delicious. My favorite chili from the class. Favorite chili I ever made.

-a

Chili Class

A couple weeks ago I took another class at the Chopping Block. We learned to make 3 different chilies and corn bread. Fun class. I got lazy about writing but I will be making my favorite of the three chilies today. Will post about this.

Recent failed experiment = Ginger candied carrots. Don't ask.

-a

Update

I haven't posted in a long time. This have just been a crazy-busy-fun-at-times-painful-at-times summer for me and I just haven't had the chance to really make anything new and interesting or have the motivation to write much. Cooking haven't been a high priority lately. Summer is almost over and I will cook more stuff for the blog in coming weeks and months.

I did make a few new things I didn't write about. I don't even remember how they were made, I just have some pictures. I'll post them here.

I made pork ribs one time. It was good.



I made some beef short rib. Marinaded it too long and it was too salty.




Split pea soup was a sucess. I will redo that one sometime.



Then, I went off the deep end with the bacon wrapped salmon (terrible).




I am looking to go a different direction with the cooking blog and have a more specific theme. I might concentrate on "cooking on a budget" recipes, maybe more seasonal recipes, more technique based blog entries instead of recipes, mix in some restaurants and product reviews, maybe more vegetarian dishes, or I might go nuts and turn this into a kitchen laboratory and make up crazy stuff like bacon wrapped salmon. You got to play to win right? Cooking is my toy anyway why not really have fun with it? Right now I don't know. I am planning on taking more classes to get more ideas.

-a

Shrimp Boil

It's been a while, I know.
Yesterday I made shrimp boil. I used a store bought premade spice pack to make this.

1 box of seafood boil spice pack
2 lbs of shrimps shell on
some salt
3 corn cobs
4 smoked sausages, I wanted to use andouille sausages, but I can't find them at the store
2 lemons



I fill my big dutch oven with water to about 2/3 full. Add the spices and some salt to taste. Bring the water to a boil.

Chop up the potatoes and corn. I cut them into big chunks. Add them to the boil. Return to a boil and let it sit for about 15 minutes.

Chop up the sausage into big chunks as well and add to the boil. Let that sit for about 10 minutes.

Add the shrimps and bury the shrimps to the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat off and let it sit for 5-7 minutes.



Then it is ready to be serve. I took all the food out of the water and into a big bowl and squeeze the juice of 2 lemons on everything.



This was pretty good. Lots of work to eat. I think if I had shrimps with head on it would be better. Next time I think I will try crawfish and or crabs.

-a

Saffron Rice with Shrimp

It's been a while since the last entry. I've been busy with work and other stresses. Been cooking old stuff and haven't done any new recipes in a while.

This new one I found in a free little recipe book in a rice cooker that my mom gave me. The dish sounds very easy to make, so I changed the vegetables up a bit and added shrimp because I like shrimps. The shrimps and rice are made separately.

First for the shrimps.

1 lb of shrimps shell on
garlic powder
red curry powder
olive oil
red pepper powder
salt and pepper

I throw everything listed above in a ziplock bag and let in marinade for about an hour.

Next is the rice.

2 cups of white rice
a box of chicken broth, about 30 oz.
5 stems of asparagus
2 stems of green onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 serrano peppers
a tiny tiny bit of saffron maybe a tenth of an oz.
salt and pepper to season.
some cilantro for later.


The ziplock bag in the picture is the shrimp marinading.

The saffron is expensive. I bought a half oz package of it for 27 bucks. Whatever it is, it better good.

I chop up all the vegetables small and all the rice ingredients except for the cilantro into the rice cooker and cook.

I pan fried the shrimps and it smelled delicious.



The rice was not ready but I cannot wait so I ate a couple of the shrimps.

Once the rice cooker is done, let it rest for about 15 minutes. This is suppose to let the moisture get absorb back into the rice.

Now it is ready to plate.



This is very good. The shrimp was perfect. The rice taste great, maybe a bit too wet, but not bad. I still can't identify the taste of the saffron, but if it is the general goodness of the rice, then it was worth it. At 27 bucks a half oz, this is like the most expensive spice in my cabinet.

The rice cooker is great. At first I thought I used too much broth, but the rice cooker just cook the broth away without burning the rice. What's left is a very flavorful rice.

-a

Pizza Potpie

I saw this one on the food network. Some restaurant around here does this. It looked fun to make. It is a pizza that is cooked upside down in a bowl.

Pizza dough
slices of mozzarella cheese
pasta sauce (I choose one that has sausage in it)
mushrooms
pepperoni
Basil leafs



First I prepare the bowl by spraying some cooking spray on the inside.

Then I stack the cheese on the bottom of the bowl. On the cheese I added a layer of pepperoni, then 4 or 5 whole mushrooms, more pepperoni then I pour on the sauce. I sprinkled some Parmesan cheese.



This next part, I have no idea what I am doing. I have to make a pizza crust with this pre-made pizza dough. I rip a small chunk of dough and started making a ball. Then I flatten it and try to stretch out the dough as evenly as I can. I used some flour to make it more workable. The crusts I made was very ugly, but it's ok. I am only using them as lids to the bowls.



Bake the bowl at 435 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Pull the bowls out and let it cool for about 10 minutes.



Serve it by putting the bowl upside down on a plate and dump the pizza on the plate.
Easier said then done. I either didn't use enough flour or I didn't grease the edge of the bowls. One of the two crust got stuck. I had to cut it out of the bowl and it didn't look any good. Luckily the other bowl came off easy.



The pizza tasted like a pizza, nothing impressive. I didn't cook this for taste but just thought it would be fun to make pizza this way. In Chicago here I can order a pizza a hundred times better for less than I spend on making this.

There is one big problem with this, the sauce inside got watery and it was more like a tomato soup on a thin crust than anything. So it got messy.

I have to make the sauce thicker. Since it is cooked covered, the sauce didn't have a chance to dry. I would have to use tomato paste instead maybe? Maybe add corn starch? This just didn't turn out that good. Not worth the effort. Maybe I should go to this restaurant to try it.

-a

Ox Tail Soup

This one is from the OG. I added some mushrooms to make it mine.

3 lbs of ox tail
A bunch of black Chinese mushrooms (been soaking overnight)
lots of green onions
a few cloves of garlic
salt
parsley



First trim the excess fat off of the ox tail. Ox tails are fat. Trim them a bit.
Then chop up the green onions and throw them and the garlic in a dutch oven. Then put in the ox tails. Add as much water as the dutch oven will allow. Add some salt. Bring to a boil.



Boil it at medium heat (not simmer) for 3 hours. Skim off the fat that floats to the top, there will be a lot.

I made the mistake at hour 2 when I tasted the soup and it tasted bland, so I added more salt. Stupid me.

After three hours, I added the mushrooms too. Let that boil for about 45 minutes.



I made rice to eat the soup with. Made a minced ginger in soy sauce for a dipping sauce for the meat. Topped the soup with fresh parsley and some raw green onion.



I over salted the soup. It distracted the beef broth taste. It was disappointing. The beef broth would've been really good. Damn it. The rice really came in handy here. The oxtail was delicious though. The ginger soy sauce is great for meat.
I really want a do over with this one, this could've been so good.

-a

Catfish with Black Bean Paste

This is one of my favorite dish that my mom makes. I'm adding some heat to it.

a pound and a quarter of catfish nuggets
a couple spoon fulls of black bean and garlic paste
some minced ginger
2 stems of green onions
1 jalapeño pepper



Chop up the green onions and pepper. Toss the green onion, ginger, and jalapeño in a skillet with oil in medium heat and toss it for a few minutes. Add the fish and the black bean paste mix is well so all the fish pieces are covered in sauce. Saute for about 6 to 7 minutes.



This is delicious, it's a bit salty so I served it brown rice and green beans.



Just like home, but with a bit of heat which I think makes it even better. This is awesome and cheap to make too. I'm going to end up making this every week.

-a

Shepherd's Pie

I made Shepherd's Pie over the weekend.

4 lbs of premade mashed potatoes (it was on sale at the store, otherwise I would try to make my own, and I felt lazy)
2 lbs of grounded beef.
1 can of corn
1 can of green peas
a couple cloves of garlic
1 can of mushroom gravy.
3 shallots



This is another easy and cheap recipe. First I brown the ground beef in big skillet. I added some cumin, salt, and grounded pepper on the beef as it browned. While the beef was browning, I chopped up the shallots and garlic. Put the browned ground beef and all of the vegetables in a casserole tray and mix them up.

Pour the gravy evenly on top of the beef and vegetables. Then layer the mashed potatoes on top of everything. Smooth it out so it is nice and even.



Bake the shepherd's pie for 45 minutes at 350.



This is much better tasting than it looks. The picture above looks kind of gross.
Every ingredients in this just fits together. I probably could use an extra can of gravy. Actually the next day after I put it in the fridge, it stay together better and it wasn't a mixed up blob like the above picture.

This is something that I can try and experiment with different vegetables, different spices on the meat or even different types of beef. I can see pot roast working great on this. Maybe next time.

-a

Corned Beef and Cabbage

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day besides drinking myself silly, I'm making corned beef and cabbage. I found this recipe through Google and it seem very easy.

a 3 lbs piece of corned beef brisket
a big head of cabbage
5 carrots
7 red potatoes.



First, I put the corned beef and the flavor packet that came with in my dutch oven. I put enough water in the dutch oven to cover the brisket. I let that simmer for about 2 and half hours.

I then put in the chopped carrots and potatoes. The recipe said to put in the potatoes whole, I had to chop mine because they are bigger and my dutch oven is not that big. Everything have to fit. I let that cook for about 20 minutes.

Then I took the brisket out and put the chopped cabbage in. Again, I have to do this because my dutch oven is not big enough to fit everything. Cook all the vegetables for about 15-20 minutes.

Let the brisket rest for 10 minutes, then carve.



Put everything together and eat.



This was very easy to make and pretty damn good too. One of those can't mess it up recipes. I might do this more often than just having it during St. Patrick's Day.

-a

Chinese Mushrooms on Bok Choi

This is a pretty common dish when I go out with my family to dinner in Chinatown.
I'll try to make it with my own little twist (bacon).

A big bunch of baby bok choi
three hand full of dried Chinese mushrooms (soaked overnight)
a half pound of bacon
2 cloves of garlic
some green onions
a bit of oyster sauce
a couple cups of beef broth
a bit of corn starch



First cut the bacon slices into little pieces then brown them in a medium skillet. Take the bacon out and leave the bacon fat in the skillet for later.

Mince the garlic and put in the bacon fat. Add the bok choi, add a bit of water and salt, cover and let simmer for about 6-7 minutes.

Now the mushrooms, put them in a pot add the browned bacon, chopped green onions, and beef broth. I also added some of the water I used to soak the mushrooms in. The water smelled good and I thought it would be good. Let it come to a boil, then in a separate little dish mix the oyster sauce, corn starch and a couple spoon full of water and mix them. Add that into the boiling mushrooms. Continue to let it boil and reduce it to about about 2/3.

Uncover the bok choi and toss it a bit for a few minutes and put them in a plate. When the mushroom sauce reduced to a nice thick sauce, pour it over the bok choi.



I served it with rice.



This was pretty good, the sauce is different from what I have had in restaurants. I think they didn't use beef broth and just cooked in water and oyster sauce and corn starch. I like what I made though. I was impatient and didn't brown the bacon enough. I would have liked it to be more crispy. Next time, I'd brown the bacon more and maybe use less beef broth and more oyster sauce to change th sauce up a bit.

-a

Meat 101 Class

I went to another class at The Chopping Block. This one was about cooking meat.

It was a lot of fun. We made a "Red Wine Beef Daube" which is a braised beef stew type thing. This was ok, I think if the class was longer and it had more time to cook this would taste a lot better. The beef could be a bit more tender. The sauce was good though, it was red wine and a bunch of veges and spices. I forgot exactly what.

We also made a "Sausage and Mushroom Stuffed Pork Loin". This was pretty good. My group kinda made it too big and it took a little longer to cook than everyone else's. I was already full by the time this was ready. I probably learned the most cooking this dish. Learned to butterfly a loin the right way; learn to deglaze and make sauce. Although we didn't brine the pork, we talked about it and I will have to try that sometime.

Lastly we made a "Grilled Lamb Chops 'Scottaditti'". This was my favorite. Delicious and easy to make. It's probably expensive though, it uses a rack of lamb.

Like the knives skill class I took, this reminds me of all the kitchen equipment I need to buy. I'm gonna have to go shopping soon.

-a

Cold Soba With Peanut Sauce

I had to make something vegetarian for a little get together at my place, because one of my friends is vegetarian. I like when I have guinea pigs to try my experiments.

one pack of soba noodles (about 12 oz precooked)
two handfuls of dried Chinese black mushrooms
half a head of red cabbage
a few stems of green onions
a pound of baked tofu
a handful of shredded carrots
lots of sesame seeds
Sesame oil
Peanut sauce
soy sauce



The mushrooms takes a bit of preparing. I had to soak them in water overnight. When they're done soaking, they're nicely plumped and soft. Cut off the stems and cook. Boil them in water for a little while. Drain and rinse in cold water until they are cool.

Cook the soba in boiling water for a few minutes. It only takes about 3 or 4 minutes. Then drain and rinse in cold water until the noodles are cool. Set the noodles aside.

Chop up the cabbage, green onions, tofu, and cooked mushrooms. Throw them and the carrots in with the noodles. Sprinkle a lot of sesame seeds, I used about a half cup and probably could've used more. Add some soy sauce, not too much. Add sesame oil, a good amount. Toss and add peanut sauce, use a lot. Use as much as necessary. I tasted it as I toss to make sure I'm using enough.



Either put the whole thing in the fridge for a little or just let it chill in room temperature. Then serve.



Haha. This turned out very good. I liked it, my guests like it (or at least that's what they said). This dish is probably better for summer, but it was good anyway. The cabbage adds a nice crunchiness to it. The sesame oil adds a very nice smell, it goes great with peanut sauce.

I always thought vegetarian dishes are hard to season and stuff, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

-a