Kalua Pig Fried Rice
Have leftover Kalua Pig? Unlikely! But if you do, make fried rice of course!
ingredients:
3 cups white rice, cooked
4 slices of bacon
1 cup kalua pig, cooked (recipe here)
1/2 cup corn
2 eggs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
pepper to taste
Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook until crispy. Set aside to drain.
In the same pan over medium high heat add the cooked white rice. To the sizzling rice add the eggs, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Stir to combine.
Once the eggs are cooked and the rice starts to cook through, add the bacon, kalua pig and the corn. I had cooked my kalua pig with cabbage which added some nice color to the dish. Season with pepper to taste.
WWVE – mini banana
What Would Vader Eat at recess? Sith Lords like healthy snacks.
See all of Vader’s past lunches, here.
Chick Pea+Sausage Soup
It’s National Soup Month – drink up!
It’s getting colder, so to warm up I’m turning to lots of warm soups and comforting foods. This soup is hearty and full of flavor and texture. A perfect meal for those cold winter nights.
ingredients:
1 (14oz) kielbasa
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 cup corn
1/2 cup peas
1 diced carrot
1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans
2 (14 oz) cans chicken broth
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Chop the kielbasa into small pieces. In a large pot over medium high heat cook the kielbasa with the minced garlic for about 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, corn, peas and carrot. Pour in the chicken broth.
Add in the seasonings: basil, oregano, celery seed, cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.
National Pie Day
Today is National Pie Day and to celebrate here’s a recap of my faaaave pies both savory and sweet!
Broken Glass Jell-o Pie (recipe here)
Mac ‘n’ Cheese Pie (recipe here)
Captain America Apple Hand-Pies (recipe here)
Nutella Strawberry ‘Pi’ on a stick (recipe here)
Mini Chicken Pot Pies (recipe here)
Ninjago cupcakes
This week the Kid turned 8! Last year he had a party where I made all Lego themed foods. This year was more low key but Legos were still a huge part of his big day!
We took a trip down to Legoland in San Diego (mecca for all brick-loving kids) and got to see Lego art form at its best. Right now the kids are really into Ninjago. Pronouced nin-jah-goh, personally I think it should be pronounced ninja-GO, but what do I know. Of course it’s not only a toy but also a tv show. Mmmhm, figures. The little Lego ninjas sure are cute and perfect inspiration for cupcakes!
I decided to make chocolate lollipop toppers, focusing on just the ninja mask – the eyebrows are what gives them character!
ingredients:
yellow candy melts
red frosting
black frosting
white frosting
cupcakes (I used cookies and cream, recipe here)
I melted candy melts over a double boiler, then poured them into lollipop molds. I’ve become addicted to chocolate molds. I’ve used them for everything from Phoenix-Jean Grey cupcakes to Lego minifigs!
Since Lego heads are yellow, the yellow pop provided a good background for the face.
Using a #5 tip and red buttercream I piped the outline of the ninja mask.
Then I filled in the two outer edges – leaving an opening for the eyes.
Using a #2 tip and black tinted frosting I piped two small round eyes.
Then I added the arched eyebrows. The eyebrows really start to give the ‘face’ some definition.
A white dot for the pupils completed the eyes. I popped them in the freezer to give them a little shine.
I placed the finished lollipops into cupcakes topped with chocolate ganache. They made the perfect birthday treat for my Lego-loving 8 year old!
Cakespy contest finalist!
I’m excited to announce that I’m a finalist in the Cakespy contest!
Please vote for my SmoresTroopers cupcakes by either commenting on the blog post, ‘like’ing on facebook or commenting on flickr! Thanks for your support!
Green Tea Noodle Soup
It’s National Soup Month! Is it because it’s cold or something because it was hovering around 80 here in LA for most of January…Anyway, to celebrate I’m posting soup!
Green tea noodles make this soup special. Then again so do lightsaber chopsticks.
ingredients:
1-1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
1 bundle green tea udon noodles
1/4 cup roasted chicken
2 Tablespoons edamame, shelled
2 Tablespoons sweet corn
3-4 slices kamaboko
fried nori chips
In a large pot of boiling water, cook the green tea noodles until soft, approx 6 mins. Drain (do not rinse) and set aside.
In a saucepan heat the chicken broth, soy sauce and mirin on medium high until hot.
Pour the soup into a bowl, add the noodles and top with the chicken, edamame, sweet corn, kamaboko and nori chips. The beauty of this is you can put in anything you have around. I even added two gyoza for the heck of it.
As many ingredients as this has, this is still a fairly light soup – perfect for a cold day or…an 80 degree winter day at the beach.
Root Beer Tri Tip (crock pot)
On the list of things that I love – old skool rap and root beer is right on up there. I use Root Beer A LOT (check out all my other root beer recipes) in cooking because I love the flavor that it adds. Sweet with a hint of spice, it’s perfect for cooking meat.
Using a crock pot makes this tri tip fall apart beautifully and it is the perfect mid-week meal. Start it up in the morning and by dinner you’re good to go.
ingredients:
2-1/2 lbs tri tip
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
dash of cayenne
1 can root beer
Mix all the dry ingredients together and rub it on the tri tip. Place in the crock pot.
Pour in the root beer. Set the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.
Slice or pull apart the trip tip and serve!
Neapolitan Mochi Bundt Cake
This is my entry to the Hotpoint family baking competition
For the Kid’s homework he was asked to make a ‘favorite recipe.’ The Kid loves to cook and the choice was easy: my neapolitan mochi cake. He followed the entire recipe himself (a little helping holding the bowl, etc) and in the end he got to eat his creation!
ingredients:
1 pound mochiko (1 box)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 Tablespoons Valrhona Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
pink gel food coloring
Mochiko is a sweet rice flour. It’s very fine, almost dusty. You can find it in most asian markets or online. It gives a familiar ‘chew’ to baked goods, reminiscent of mochi itself.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a bundt pan by greasing it with butter. Personally I never flour it, but that’s all on you.
In a medium bowl whisk together the mochiko, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Stir together the melted butter and sugar. Then add the evaporated milk. Add the vanilla and the eggs and mix well. Now add it to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Divide the batter into three bowls, leaving one bowl as is.
In the second bowl add the Valrhona cocoa powder and the chocolate chips. Stir well.
In the third bowl add a touch of pink gel food coloring just until you get a nice pink. Set aside.
In the prepped bundt pan, pour in the chocolate batter.
Top that with the vanilla (plain) and then finish it off with the pink.
Place the filled pan on a baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes depending on your oven. Check to see if it’s done by piercing it with a large skewer.
Let the cake cool in the pan, then turn the pan over onto a wire rack and the cake will pop right out.
Slicing into the unassuming cake and seeing all the pretty colors is what makes this cake so fun! The Kid loves the mochi texture and he likes to eat each color one at a time. This Kid is methodical.
This cake is a delicious and fun family treat!
Hawaii Sunrise Jell-o
I always have things in the pantry that remind me of the flavors of Hawaii. One local favorite that I can’t do without is Hawaiian Sun juice – it’s a must at parties. Another ‘must have’ at parties is Jell-o, so I thought, why not combine the two! It turned out to be a great addition to the dessert bar at my New Year’s Day party.
I took the idea of a layered jell-o recipe, but took the layers down a notch to make things easier. The Kid’s fave juice is Orange Passion and the Baby’s fave is Pineapple so I wanted to layer those flavors together and it looked like an early morning Hawaii sunrise to me.
The flavor of the juice really shined through and everyone at the party said it was the best Jell-o ever! Make this for your next party, I promise it will be a hit!
ingredients:
1 cup condensed milk
5 envelopes knox gelatin
2 (3 oz) boxes orange jell-o
1 (3 oz) box pineapple jell-o
Hawaiian sun Passion Orange juice
Hawaiian sun Pineapple Orange Nectar
The only place I’ve been able to find pineapple Jell-o was in Hawaii, so if you can’t find that you can substitute lemon Jell-o, no problem.
In a small bowl mix the condensed milk with 1 cup boiling water, set aside. In another bowl mix 2 envelopes Knox gelatin with 1 cup of boiling water, once combined add it to the milk mixture. Set aside.
In a bowl add the orange jell-o, 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 3/4 cups boiling water. Once the jell-o has dissolved add 3/4 cups Passion Orange juice. Let cool slightly, then pour into a 9×13 glass pan. Place in the refrigerator to set for about 30 minutes.
Once the first orange layer has set pour HALF of the milk mixture on top of the orange for the next later. Back in the fridge. Now each layer will only take 15 minutes to set – yay – much faster!
Combine the pineapple jell-o with 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 3/4 cups boiling water. Add 3/4 cups Hawaiian Sun Pineapple Orange Nectar. Let that cool a bit, then carefully pour it over the set white layer. Place in refrigerator to set for 15 minutes.
Almost there! Now that the yellow layer has set pour the other half of the milk mixture on top of the pineapple one for the next layer. Refrigerate to set, again – 15 minutes.
Finally, combine the other box of orange jell-o with 1 envelope Knox gelatin and 3/4 cups boiling water. Add 3/4 cups Passion Orange juice, cool, then pour over the white – this is the LAST layer!
Chill to set and cut into squares!
This recipe is EASY I promise you, the steps are simple once you get the hang of it and in the end you get a lovely edible work of art!
