Homemade graham crackers

CLICK PICTURE TO PIN

S'mores season is back. Time to bake graham crackers. Graham crackers are relatively healthy snack option, so while my older nieces and nephews eat up the full on s'mores, I am happy to let my tot grab graham crackers. These tastes just like store bought, if not better. I don't usually like whole wheat's rough texture but for graham crackers, it just tastes so great.

I sat at the table with some coffee and a magazine, and my tot with his graham crackers and his book "the cat in the hat", it was a happy mid morning. Listening to him reciting his book is such a joyful thing. He's almost 2 1/2 and clearly he doesn't know how to read yet but he remembers the lines accordingly as he looks at each page. Some pages, I ask him what it says. He gives me this cutest look and says, I can't read, mommy. Haha. Kids are amazing.

Homemade graham crackers

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

Directions :

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

2. Mix all the wet ingredients together and add dry ingredients. Mix well.

3. Roll it out on a cookie sheet very thin. I recommend as thin as you can make it, if you want it more crispy. Move the cookie sheet carefully onto a baking sheet. Cut into shapes you want. I used a pizza cutter to make lines. Pierce with a fork.

4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges start to brown.

5. Cool on the baking sheet and enjoy.  

*Recipe from servingjoyfully. 

 

Broiled lobster tail with garlic sauce

CLICK PICTURE TO PIN

 Steve has been working late lately and since I didn't want yet another leftover dinner for lunch, I asked him if he'd be coming home early enough to have dinner at home. He said probably not. I said aww..poor you working late again. But "Oooo, seafood dinner!!!!!" was what was going on in my head.(As some of you know, Steve doesn't eat seafood.) Sorry hun. =P

I know traditional way is to serve the lobster tail with clarified butter but since I was sharing with my tot, I wanted to go a little easy on the butter. Plus I just never dunk my crab or lobster in butter for some reason. This garlic sauce is what I use for a lot of simple and quick seafood dish. Like when I grill or broil shrimp or scallops. Lobster looks lonely on the plate but I really just made one. Haha. I served it with one skillet spinach orzo pasta which is so easy, I will post the recipe some time soon. 

Broiled lobster tail with garlic sauce

Printable recipe

Ingredients :

1 lobster tail

1 tsp chopped chives for garnish

Garlic sauce

1/2 Tbsp butter

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp paprika

fresh ground black pepper   

Directions :

1. Using kitchen scissors, cut the lobster tail front and back shell lengthwise. Carefully open up the shell slightly, separate the meat from the shell then place it back in the shell.

2. Mix the garlic sauce ingredients in a little bowl and drizzle between the shell and the meat and on top.

3. Broil for 10-12 minutes depending on the size of the lobster tail.(If you have a very large lobster tail, it could even go close to 20mins)

4. When done, sprinkle chopped chives and serve. 

Salted chocolate shortbread cookies

CLICK PICTURE TO PIN

Last Saturday, my town had a community festival and there were all kinds of events. One of them was bake sale to fund fire department and ambulance corp. You submit your cookies to cookie bake off and they will be judged and they will give prizes to 1,2,3rd places. Sounds like fun, even if you don't win, you're still part of a good cause. But I had no idea who the judges would be. The day of, I submitted the cookies and waited around enjoying the beautiful day and events. Later I found out that you pay $10 and sample all the cookies submitted, then vote. I could have given myself tons of votes if I wanted to donate tons of money. Haha

 

The first place went to a local cupcake bakery owner. Oh, come on, I didn't know I was competing against professionals! It's funny how at first, I was like, it's for the good cause, I don't care about the prize. After I tried these cookies, it gave me some strong hope! These are that good. Crunchy texture with chocolatey flavor with a hint of saltiness. Best supporting role definitely goes to the salt. I have made three batches in one weekend. And I have a feeling I'll be baking these a lot.

Salted chocolate shortbread cookies 

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

11 Tbsp(1 stick and 3 Tbsp) butter, softend

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp fine sea salt plus for sprinkling

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions :

1. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and set aside.

2. Cream butter and add both sugars, salt and vanila and beat for another 2 minutes.

3. Add dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

4. Place the dough on a work surface and make two 9 inch logs. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.(Dough can be refrigerated for 3days or frozen for 2months - when frozen, defrosting is not necessary, just bake for 1 additional minute)

5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325F. Slice the logs into 1/2 inch thick rounds and place them on a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle a small amount of salt on top.

6. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool them on the sheets as they're very soft when warm. Serve or store when cooled.

*Recipe from browneyedbaker.

Grilled honey balsamic chicken

CLICK PICTURE TO PIN

I hate to admit but I am not a huge fan of chicken breast. I mean I eat it, sometimes like it but never really love it. I much prefer wings or legs. But with this honey balsamic marinade, I actually loved this meal! Balsamic vinegar truly does the magic here.

I served it with some grilled zucchini(my family's absolute favorite vegetable which you would see in almost every savory dish) and spaghetti with pesto which is a fantastic match for balsamic.

I am so glad I found this recipe, this made me realize I, a dark meat gal can actually love chicken breast. =)

Grilled honey balsamic chicken

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

3/4 tsp onion powder

Honey balsamic sauce

2 Tbsp honey

2 balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp ketchup

2 tsp garlic, minced

Directions :

1. In a ziplock bag, add first 6 ingredients and coat the chicken well.

2. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for honey balsamic sauce and pour half of the sauce over the chicken in the ziplock bag. Marinate for at least 30minutes.

3. Grill the chicken 3-4 minutes per side or until temperature reaches to 165F or no longer pink. Once cooked, brush remaining sauce on top and serve.

*Recipe from therecipecritic

Asian spaghetti and meatballs

CLICK PICTURE TO PIN

A while ago, I fell in love with this one hoisin meatball recipe. Fabulous appetizer. Then I thought, why not use these flavorful little guys in a weeknight dinner?

I used meatball blend meat(beef, pork & veal blend) simply because my mom always uses pork and beef mixture for her Asian meatball dishes. Just something I'm used to and I think it actually makes the texture a little more tender. But Steve prefers simple beef meatballs. So It's simply up to your preference.

Recipe makes plenty of meatballs since it's intended to be an appetizer/cocktail food. If you have too many meatballs because you're make a smaller portion meal(which happens to me a lot), you can cook meatballs a little less than suggested time and freeze them. When you need them, pop them in the toaster oven and make half the portion of the sauce and enjoy. 

Asian spaghetti and meatballs

Printable recipe 

Ingredients :

1 lbs thin spaghetti

1 bag of baby spinach leaves (12oz)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp olive oil

Meatballs

1 lbs ground beef(or meatball blend)

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1/2 cup panco

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 large egg

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 green onions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish

sesame seeds for garnish

Hoisin sauce

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

4 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Directions :

1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

2. Add all the meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix until well combined.

3. Make them into 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch meatballs and place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until cooked through. 

4. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti as package instruction.

5. Add all the ingredients for hoisin sauce in a bowl and stir well.

6. Heat up olive oil in a skillet and saute garlic and spinach.

7. Add cooked spaghetti in the skillet and add half of the hoisin sauce.

8. Toss well and add meatballs. Drizzle sauce on top of the meatballs, garnish with green onions and sesame and serve. 

*Hoisin meatball recipe from damndelicious

Garlic and herb smashed potatoes

CLICK PICTURE TO PIN

This is such an easy side dish for steak, chicken or anything. My usual potato sides were roasted cut up potatoes, basically like potato hash but these little potatoes are so cute and I love how creamy yet crispy it turns out. 

This is one of the favorite side dishes of my tot's. If I let him, he would just sit there and snack on them. You can make them with rosemary or any kind of different herbs you would like. I made it with thyme today as my tot said we should use some thyme for the "Ittle potatoes". He still has a hard time with the L sound with some words, it's so cute. He used to call our dog Chloe, "Ko-ee". =)

Anyway, accompany this easy "ittle potato" side with any of your meat dish, you will be satisfied.

Garlic and herb smashed potatoes

Printable recipe

Ingredients :

24oz dutch yellow baby potatoes

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic,roughly chopped

1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

1. Preheat the oven to 450F. 

2. Place potatoes, some salt and enough water in a large pot and cook the potatoes. About 15minutes. Drain well.

3. Smash the potatoes with a bowl or a masher and put them in a bowl, add olive oil, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and mix gently.

4. Place them on a baking sheet in one layer and bake for 20-25minutes.

* Recipe from damndelicious.

 

Grilled balsamic skirt steak with chimichurri

CLICK PICTURE TO PIN

 

With our herb garden getting fuller and weather getting warmer(more like hotter), I've been feeling the urge of using a whole bunch of herbs for dinner lately. Chimichurri is the perfect fit. I am loving this weather that enables the use of BBQ, because the whole house won't have to smell like steak or whatever I am grilling, with the dog running around the kitchen area as if she saw some kind of madness happening.

My little helper helped me getting some parsley and oregano from the garden. The big leafy stuff on the right corner is called perilla which is commonly used in Korean cuisine. They're very fragrant and delicious, fantastic with Korean BBQ. But you can only find them at Asian supermarkets so even in NYC, I planted some of them in the roof top garden. They are getting big, I should cook with them soon too.

Skirt steak can be very tough when they're overdone(like any steak) but when it's done perfectly it is amazing. With flavorful chimichurri adding freshness to the tender steak, it is just so delicious. 

 Grilled balsamic skirt steak with chimichurri

Printable recipe

Ingredients :

Steak marinade

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

2 tsp dark or light brown sugar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 lb skirt steak(or flank steak) 

salt and pepper to taste

Chimichurri

1 cup fresh parsley, tightly packed

2 Tbsp fresh oregano, tightly packed

5 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes(add more for more kick)

 

Directions :

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients and marinate for at least 30minutes.

2. For chimichurri, place parsley, oregano and garlic in the food processor and pulse. Put them in a bowl and add oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and mix well.

3. On a heated grill, cook the steak to your liking. I like mine medium and it takes me about 3minutes per side. When done, cover with foil and let it rest for about 10minutes. 

4. Move the steak to a cutting board and slice against the grain. Otherwise you'll be left with tough bites.

5. Top with chimichurri sauce and your choice of side and serve.

Recipe from chimichurri-kitchenrunway, steak marinade-pointlessmeals