Feta Couscous Salad

So after spending a week and a half observing sick kids, i have officially crossed out Pediatrics from my list of potential specializations. Hmm... actually, Pediatrics isnt permenantly ruled out, but for now it is. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE kids. But even though I'd be trying to make them feel better, i still think i would kill myself if i had to inflict pain on them every single day. Argh, i just can't stand babies cry! The occasional wail for attention is okay... I'm talking about the screaming and kicking, big fat tear drops, ceaseless sobbing type of cry. Breaks.My.Heart. And to think that I would be feared and hated by kids of all ages just beats the purpose of being a pediatric. I don't know why they say dentists are more prone to comit suicide when pediatrics have it 10x worse than them! Waaha, but that's just my screwed up point of view so we'll see... i still have 2 more years of pediatrics to go before I make my final decision. So anyway, here's the recipe for a couscous salad that I made for my 15 minute hospital lunch breaks. I've always thought couscous was some type of rice but it's actually pasta formed into little grains (Wiki it). This is the first time I ever cooked couscous and I'm starting to really like it! It only takes 5 minutes to prepare-- all you have to do is pour hot water into it and let it steam! Take another 10 to chop up your veggies and toss it around and there you have your instant healthy fast food.

Feta Couscous Salad
derived from allrecipes.com and videos.about.com
INGREDIENTS:

• 1-1/4 cups couscous
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1/2 onion, diced [soak it in water so they won't be so overpowering]
• 2-3 stalks spring onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the couscous in a big pot and drizzle with the olive oil. [picture 2]
2. Use a fork to coat the couscous with oil (couscous should resemble wet sand). [picture 3]
3. Boil the chicken stock and pour it into the pot of couscous. [picture 4, 5]
4. Cover the pot with a lid (or foil) immediately to let it steam and cook by itself. [picture 6]
5. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and use a fork to fluff up the couscous. Let it cool. [picture 7]
6. Add the cucumbers, red bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, spring onions, feta cheese, and vinegar to the couscous and mix well. [picture 7]
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate.

NOTE: i spiced up my couscous with shredded pork knuckles from the previous entry.

Feta Couscous Salad

German Pork Knuckles

About a week ago while i was going through my daily dose of recipes, i came across this page: 李家咖哩小舖. It was a German pork knuckle recipe by a Taiwanese blogger so I had a few doubts on the authenticity of the dish. I went online and googled for a German one but none of the recipes I found looked convincing, so I went ahead and made the asianized German pork knuckle since it sounded so easy to make; just brine-->boil--> and bake! But like I said, i had some doubts on the recipe so instead of following the instructions, i decided to put in around 3 tablespoons of salt when it only called for less than half of that. MmmHmm, i chugged down at least one liter of water with my meal. Wahaha... Osmosis, powerful thing I tell you. I couldn't finish it so with my 廢物利用 skills, i shredded it up and it instantly became Ham! I threw it into my couscous salad (shall update later) the next day and that's how my pork knuckle-ham found a new home :) But even though i screwed up the knuckles, I must admit 李家咖哩小舖 had a good recipe... so don't let me bring you down and check out that website!

German Pork Knuckles

from 李家咖哩小舖

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pork knuckle (pork hocks, not the hooves)
• 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon five-spice powder
• thyme (optional)
• ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup red wine (i used vodka)
• 4 slices of ginger
• 1-2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine all the ingredients (except the knuckles) into a container and mix well.
2. Place the washed pork knuckles in your container and marinate/brine for 7 days (refrigerate, flipping the knuckles once everyday). [picture 1]
   - if 1/2 cup of wine isn't enough, just add enough water to cover half of the knuckles.
3. After 7 days, boil the knuckles (along with the marinade) in water and simmer for 45 minutes (remove the dirty foam as it boils). [picture 2, 3]
4. Refrigerate the boiled knuckles for another day. [picture 4]
5. Bake at gas mark 5 (190ºC, 375ºF) for one hour or until it's nice and crispy.

German Pork Knuckles
with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut

Chili

Some time last month i got super lazy and decided to make something that could last me a week. The first thing that came to my mind was Chili (a.k.a chili con carne). Like my Mexican casserole, i got the recipe from Food Management class in high school. We never made it in class so i tried it out at home and my mom loved it! Ever since then, Chili became my first choice week-long food cuz you can derive and make so many other dishes from that one pot of Chili. The good thing about it is: you can substitute the meat with ground pork, ground beef, ground chicken, sausages, or even leave it meatless. I like the original ground beef best but this time i used ground turkey since PP was out of beef. Anyhoo, all you have to do is chuck everything in a big pot and let it simmer for a few hours, sound easy enough? I had my chili in 4 different ways: with rice, with macaroni, chili fries, and with chips. So for like, 4 days, all i had was this and I'm still not sick of it :D Wahahaha.

Chili
serves 12
INGREDIENTS:

• 1 kilogram ground beef, cooked (or any type of meat)
  (leave the meat out for a vegetarian chili)
• 3 cups tomato sauce
• 3 cups kidney beans
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 cups tomatoes, diced
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 cups water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add all ingredients into a big pot and let it simmer for 2-3 hours.
2. Garnish with grated cheese and onions.

Chili

Strawberry Mousse Cake and Strawberry Charlotte

So last week my roommate and I had to run some errands downtown... our freakin residence card is being delayed due to the annual "techincal" problem of theirs. Sighhh, it's ridiculous how inefficient Poland can be some times. There was only one lady that was attending the window/stand at the immigration office and I was already getting pretty annoyed waiting in line... then to find out that their problem wont be fixed until AUGUST is just )*(#&%)(*@%&)(#@*%&)(@#&. ARGHHH, I do not want to pay another 3,000 NT for a freakin unnecessary visa. Even though i could just use my Brazilian passport, i still don't want to worry about the 90 days limit. Its not even our fault anyway, at least reimburse us with free visa. Sheeeshhh... Well, after wasting our time at the office, we went to the far ING bank and passed through a strawberry stand. The strawberries looked so fresh and smelled so sweet that you could smell it 2 feet away, no kidding. So on our way back we couldn't resist but to stop by and get ourselves a bag of strawberries each. As if the freshness and prettiness wasn't a good enough reason to get them, then 4.00 zl for 1 kg must be 了吧!! Yep... looking at my past strawberry entries, 4.00 zl for 1 kg by far the cheapest. I could've gotten 2 kgs but I already had 500g of strawberries at home. So yep, that gave me 1.5 kgs of strawberries to work with XD.
After blending 1/3 up for yogurt-shakes, I decided to use some for a Strawberry Mousse Cake. But for some reason i just kept on screwing up and ended up wasting 1 liter of milk, 7 eggs, and tons of whipping cream, sugar, and other ingredients. Sighhh... i was pretty pissed off but hey, if you don't make mistakes, then how can you learn from them, right? So the next day i gave it another go and reduced the size to a small 5.5'' cake. Sigh, 真的是 with low expectations comes great satisfaction... it turned out 10x better than I expected! I divided it into 8 pieces-- gave one to little A, one for myself, and JLo ate the rest... in one sitting ;) Wahahahaa, that felt pretty good. Anyways, here's the recipe!

Sponge Cake
from ytower.com
makes a 8.5'' cake (I halved recipe to make a small 5.5'' cake)
INGREDIENTS:

• 290 mL (1 and 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 35 mL milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 35 mL vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare ingredients: [pictures 1, 2]
   - add sugar and salt together.
   - add milk, oil, and vanilla together.
   - sift the flour.
2. Add the sugar+salt into the eggs and blend with an electric mixer immediately. [picture 3]
3. Blend until the egg mixture becomes foamy and tripled in size (around 5 minutes).
4. Add in the flour and mix well. [picture 4]
5. Pour some of the mixture into the milk+oil and stir until well blended. [picture 5]
6. Pour it back into the original cake mixture and use your spatula to fold until well blended. [picture 6]
7. Pour into a cake mold and bake for 35 minutes at 180 C (Gas 4). [picture 7]

Strawberry Mousse Cake
makes a small 5.5'' cake
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 layers of sponge cake (cut off 1 cm around the edges)
• 200g fresh strawberries
• 1 egg yolk
• 3-4 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100 mL milk
• 2.5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 150g fresh strawberries sliced in half.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Blend and puree 200g of fresh strawberries. [picture 1]
2. In a saucepan, mix the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla. [picture 2]
3. Pour the strawberry puree (around 150 mL) into the egg mixture. Mix well. [picture 3]
4. In another saucepan, add the gelatin and milk and heat until gelatin has dissolved. Pour it into the strawberry mixture and continue heating until everything comes together. [picture 4]
5. Remove the mixture from the heat and place the saucepan in cold water until it reaches room temperature.
6. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form. Pour it into the strawberry mixture. [picture 5]
7. Fold until blended thoroughly. [picture 6]
8. Place the 1st layer of sponge cake in the center of the mold and arrange sliced strawberries on top. Pour in the mousse until strawberries are covered. [picture 7]
9. Place the 2nd layer of sponge cake in the center and cover it with more mousse. [picture 8, 9]
10. Refrigerate until set (4 hours). Decorate and serve.

Strawberry Mousse Cake

For Strawberry Charlotte:

1. Dip the bottom of the ladyfingers in raspberry or strawberry syrup.
2. Line up the ladyfingers side by side along your springform pan.
3. Fill up the inside as directed with the Strawberry Mousse Cake recipe above.
   

Strawberry Charlotte

Bulgogi

I haven't been doing much these days except waking up early in the morning to make 便當s (Bento/lunchboxes). JLo's 3rd year DDS schedule is pretty screwed up; on their last 3 weeks, the school decided to add 3 new classes for them. They have classes every day from 8am - 5pm, with only two 30-45 minute breaks in between. On top of that, they have to study for their Pharmacology final and 3 other finals for their new classes. Freaaaak.... so to make his life easier, i thought I'd take care of his lunches so he could have something to look forward to in the looong, tedious day of his. On my first day of 便當-making, i made Bulgogi with the marinade his mom sent him from Taiwan. Since JLo has a pretty big appetite, I made a 2 portion lunch with 1) chicken bulgogi and 2) beef bulgogi. I'm pretty sure he liked it cuz he asked me to make it again. So on Friday, i made him another 2 portion 便當 with 1) beef bulgogi, 2) chinese dumplings (will update on it later), and a salad :D. I actually quite enjoy waking up early to cook; not only does it fix my biological clock, but I also get first pick on fresh food at PP! Morning grocery shopping at PP is the best! Now I finally understand why moms are so willing to wake up early to shop and bargain at markets, hahaha. Well anyways, too bad I can only make lunches until next tuesday (pediatrics training is starting soon). So for now, JLo can continue being one lucky + happy man ;)

Bulgogi
INGREDIENTS:

• 200g beef, cut into thin slices
• Prepared Bulgogi marinade
  - If you don't have/cant find this, try this recipe.
• 1 small onion, sliced
• 1 stalk of spring onions, cut into 2 inch pieces

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl, mix together the beef and about 2 tablespoons of bulgogi marinade. Refridgerate overnight.
2. Heat oil in a skillet and stir-fry the onions and beef. Add Bulgogi marinade sauce to taste.
3. When beef is about done, add in the spring onions and stir fry for another minute.
4. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve with rice.

Bulgogi

JLo's Bento Lunch- 2008.06.13

Berry-Mi-Su: Berry-me-up

I went to Italy for the 2nd time last December with JLo. On our last night there, while we were packing, JLo suddenly realized that we FORGOT to eat Tiramisu (his favorite dessert). 到了ITALY, 該去的地方都去了, 該看東西的都看了, but his trip wouldn't be complete without a Tiramisu. Well, it was already 11pm when we realized this (and we've already had an exhausting day walking across Rome cuz we were too cheap to buy metro tickets XD), but he still dragged me out of our hostel for our last meal. We went to one restaurant and ordered seafood pasta (another must). Then to a second restaurant where we finished our night off with a latte and tiramisu. Omg, you REALLY have to go to Italy for the best Tiramisu. On my 2 trips to Italy, no Tiramisu I’ve tasted has ever failed me. That piece of tiramisu we had was so good that every time I tell JLo about my next baking/dessert project, he'll always go, "Noooooo.... I want Tiramisu... make that instead!" HMPH, 有得吃就好了, 還讓你挑??

I REALLY don't like being told what to do... so instead of making what he wants (the original Tiramisu), i tweaked it up a little and made a BERRY-mi-su. Tee-hee. What is it? Berry-misu is just a way to jazz up the normal, traditional dessert you can find almost everywhere (ahem, JLo). This Berry-misu tasted good the way it was… but even better when it's half frozen!
Oh yea, it took me a while to blog about the berry-mi-su... but it took 3 different desserts to FINALLY use up my 1kg of strawberries :)

Berry-Misu: Berry-Me-Up
from Rachael Ray's Berry-Mi-Su: Berry-Me-Up and ytower.com.tw

INGREDIENTS:

• 2.5 teaspoons un-flavored gelatin
• 90mL sugar
• 75mL water
• 250g marscapone cheese
• 150mL whipping cream
• Lady fingers
• 1/2 cup coffee
• Fresh strawberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat water, sugar, gelatin until dissolved.
2. Whip cream until 60% whipped.
3. Thaw marscapone cheese until room temperature.
4. Add the marscapone into the gelatin mixture and mix until well blended.
   (you may want to use a electric mixer)
5. Fold in the whipped cream.
6. Dip ladyfingers in coffee.
7. Layer the Berry-Mi-Su with cream, dipped lady fingers, sliced strawberries. Repeat until ingredients are used up.
8. Refrigerate for 3 hours or more until set.
9. Decorate the top with fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, chocolate syrup, or anything you like.

Basic Steps:


Berry-Mi-Su: Berry-Me-Up

Orange Cream Cheese Mousse

So instead of using my time wisely and study for my Pathophysiology final last weekend, my procrastination took over and out came another dessert XD. Okay, in my defense, I HAD to make something before my cream cheese expired the next day. I didn't really know what to do with it since I wasn't in the mood for any more cheesecakes, so I went back to the hundreds of recipes I saved in My Favorites and found this: 柳橙起士慕斯 on
玉英的部落格. It looked so pretty that I had to try it myself. Thankfully the recipe called for 250g of cream cheese, which is just what i had left... so no calculating or dividing needed. Anyways, 做來做去, another afternoon of studying was wasted and i dreadfully suffered the consequences when i began studying 2 nights before the freakin Final. Gahhh, I have a love/hate relationship with cramming + pulling all-nighters. Even though chugging down a big cup of coffee at 3 AM sounds pretty bad, but to be honest, I rather use that one night and push myself to the point where I can just drop dead after the exam than to die a slow, painful death by studying everyday. Call me a masochist, but i really ONLY work well under pressure-- Stress is my driving force.... haa..aaa..a...a..... But thankfully i had many cups of mousses to help me through those nights so... if you think about it, my 混 was actually time well spent *chuckles*.

Orange Cream Cheese Mousse
from 玉英的部落格

INGREDIENTS:

• A layer of almond cake cut into 8 small circles
• 250g cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 1/3 of a vanilla pod (i used 1 teaspoon vanilla extract).
• 2.5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin (dissolved in a little bit of water)
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 package of orange jello OR:
  - 200 mL orange juice
  - 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  - 2 tablespoons sugar
  - 2.5 teaspoons unflavored gelatin

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat the cream cheese and sugar until soft, add in the seeds in the vanilla pod + lemon juice.
2. Mix in the dissolved gelatin and beat until everything is thoroughly mixed.
3. Separately, whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form and fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
4. Place the cake layers in molds/cups and pour the mousse on top. Refrigerate until set.
5. Prepare the orange jello according to package directions.
   - OR combine the orange juice, lemon juice, sugar, gelatin together and heat until dissolved.
6. When the jello has cooled down, pour over the mousse and refrigerate.
7. Decorate with orange slices + whipped cream before serving.

Orange Cream Cheese Mousse

Tortillas + Chicken Quesadillas

I have one more final to go and I'll be done! (that's if I pass it today) But yea, after that I'll have even more time on my hands... all the way till June 18th, where I'm the last group to start Pediatrics. I'm not that bummed about being the last group to finish though. I don't have much summer plans and most of my friends are either staying in the states or... they live in Taichung or Taipei :( dang it. And since JLo also lives in Taipei, i wont be seeing him much over the summer... so i might as well stay here and spend more time with him before i start our summer long-distance relationship. How sad.

Now back to food: I'm here posting up the (so-far) best tortilla recipe that i've found online: Texas Flour Tortillas from homesicktexan. After trying many different recipes, this version makes the softest ones that actually STAY soft without drying or cracking up. They're thick, fluffy, and soft-- perfect for burritos, fajitas, enchiladas, or..... Quesadillas! Yep, which brings me to the second recipe of the day: Chicken Quesadillas. These are like the easiest things to make and they're quite filling too. If you're too lazy to cook chicken, a simple bean+cheese tortilla will also do. So here, no need to spend the extra money (7 ridiculous zlotys in Poland) when you can make double the amount with what, a maximum of 2 zloty worth of supplies?

Texas Flour Tortillas
from Homesick Texan
makes 8 tortillas

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup warm/hot milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix flour, baking poswer, and salt together.
2. Add the oil and warm milk.
3. Knead for 2 minutes. The dough should be firm and elastic.
4. Cover dough in a bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes.
5. Seperate into 8 euqal pieces and rooll ou tthe tortilla until very thin.
6. Heat oil in pan and cook until it starts bubbling.

Chicken Quesadillas
INGREDIENTS:

• 4 tortillas
• 1 cup refried beans (or mash 1 can of kidney beans)
  - Heat/steam the beans until soft and mash.
  - Season mashed beans with salt and pepper.
• 1 cooked chicken breast, cut into thin slices or shredded
  - Season chicken breast with 3 teaspoons cumin, salt & pepper.
• 2 cups shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup onions

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat tortilla until it bubbles.
2. Layer half of the tortilla with refried beans, onions, tomatoes, chicken, and sprinkle with cheese.
3. Cover the tortilla and heat until cheese has melted.

Chicken Quesadillas

Pão de Queijo- Brazilian Cheese Buns

picture taken at El Rodizio, Madrid-Spain (12/25/07)

Last year, i had the BEST Christmas dinner EVER! JLo and I were in Madrid, and my aunt (who has been to Madrid a zillion times) made reservations for us at "El Rodizio" restruant. This place isn't just any ordinary res truant-- it was a Brazilian barbecue buffet (emphasizing on "Brazilian" and "buffet", haha). Back in Paraguay, we used to go to Brazilian barbecues almost all the time. What makes Brazilian buffets special is that the food comes to you rather than having to get up 2-3 times throughout the meal. There's tons of waiters walking around from table to table with huge skewers of meat (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3, picture 4). They serve different cuts of beef, pork, chicken, chorizo sausages...etc, and they ALL taste DIVINE! If you're not a meat person, no worries, you can always pig out at their crazy salad bar + Brazilian food buffet (picture 1, picture 2, picture 3). I can honestly say, without the slightest speck of hesitation, that South American barbecues are THE BEST. I can't even find words to describe how great it is so I'll stop here. Back to my Christmas dinner at "El Rodizio"-- I had like 3 rounds of buffet food... and what i mostly got were these cheese breads called: Pan de Queso (in Spanish), Pão de Queijo (in Portuguese), or Cheese buns (in English). I was overwhelmed with joy when i saw these. Ohhh, the good old Paraguayan days when i would pop these little buns like Skittles. Sigh... I couldn't help the nostalgia so I searched up a recipe and made them myself. And ohhh gosh... they tasted just like home :)

Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso
from brazilcook.com
INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup tapioca or manioc starch(225 grams)
  (i used potato starch)
• 1 egg
• 100g of grated Parmesan cheese
  

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring to boil in a big pan the water, the milk, the oil and the salt.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tapioca starch. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cool down.
3. Put the mixture in a bowl, add the eggs and knead well.
4. Add the grated cheese and keep kneading until the dough is smooth.
5. Roll 1 tablespoon of mixture into small balls.
   (Tip: Grease your hands with oil if it's too sticky.)
6. Place the balls onto a greased baking tray.
7. Bake the cheese buns in hot oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Put the cheese rolls in a basket and serve them warm.

Pão de Queijo - Pan de Queso - Cheese Buns

Thank Goodness It's (my own) Friday's 3-for-ALL

I took my 2nd-to-last final on Tuesday (immunology). To celebrate, and make-up for the past few studying days where I haven't cooked any proper meals for JLo, I decided to make Buffalo Chicken Wings. But having only buffalo wings for dinner sounded kinda dull... so since i had nothing else to do, I just went ahead and made the whole Friday's 3-for-all platter! From the mozzarella sticks to the bleu cheese sauce, it's all from SCRATCH! Hahaha, talk about having TOO much time on my hands. Making this plate of appetizers is actually really simple... so there's no need to wait for TGI Friday's to come to POZ. If, like me, you have lots of time on your hands, be sure to try this sometimes! Just don't be too surprised if you break out with pimples the next day... it's fatty and fried XD.

TGI Friday's Three-for-ALL appetizer

Buffalo Chicken Wings (recipe below)
Mozzarella Sticks (recipe below)
Baked Potato Skins (recipe below)
Celery sticks
Bleu cheese Dressing (recipe below)
Marinara Sauce (recipe below)
Sour Cream (I left this out)

Buffalo Chicken Wings
from allrecipes.com
INGREDIENTS:

• oil for deep frying
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup hot sauce
• few dashes of Tabasco (taste to your liking)
• 1 dash ground black pepper
• 1 dash garlic powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 10 chicken wings

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a small bowl mix together the flour, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt.
2. Place chicken wings in a large nonporous glass dish or bowl and sprinkle flour mixture over them until they are evenly coated. Cover dish or bowl and refrigerate for 60 to 90 minutes.
3. Combine the butter, hot sauce, Tabasco, pepper and garlic powder in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir together and heat until butter is melted and mixture is well blended. Set aside.
4. Heat oil in a deep fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). The oil should be just enough to cover wings entirely, an inch or so deep. Fry coated wings in hot oil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until parts of wings begin to turn brown. Remove from heat, place wings in serving bowl, add hot sauce mixture and stir together.

Mozzarella Sticks
from southernfood.about.com
INGREDIENTS:

• Mozzarella cheese, cut into 6 sticks or cubes
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• Oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a deep fryer or deep Dutch oven, melt about 2 to 3 inches of oil or vegetable shortening over high heat; continue to heat until temperature reaches 365.

2. Place the flour in a shallow bowl or pie plate.

3. Beat the eggs in a bowl.Place the seasoned bread crumbs in another shallow bowl or pie plate.

4. One at a time, roll each mozzarella cube or stick in the flour, dip in the eggs, then coat thoroughly with the bread crumbs.

5. Fry until golden brown.

Potato Skins
from Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 large baking potatoes
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste
• a small handful of bacon bits
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 3 teaspoons green onions

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wash and steam potatoes in 大同 rice cooker with 1.5 cups of water (or until soft).
2. Slice potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop the flesh into a large bowl; save skins.
3. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a skillet until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
5. Drizzle the potato skins with some oil and bake for 15 minutes.
6. Top the potato skins with bacon bits and cheese. Bake for another 15-20 minutes until cheese has melted and potato skins has turned golden brown.
7. Serve with Sour Cream.
   

Bleu Cheese Sauce
from recipesource.com
INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup Bleu Cheese, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon Milk
• 1 tablespoon White Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine all and mix well.
2. Refrigerate and serve with Buffalo Chicken wings and celery sticks.
   

Marinara Sauce
INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup tomato concentrate
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine all and mix well.
2. Refrigerate and serve with Mozzarella Sticks.

Thank Goodness It's (my own) Friday's 3-for-ALL

Light (Strawberry) Cheesecake

Continuing with the strawberry theme, I decided to use my strawberries for a light cheesecake. I've never been a fan of cheesecakes; a few bites are okay, but trying to finish a big slice can be torturing sometimes. Some are just so thick and concentrated that even swallowing can be a problem for me. I know, i can always choose to not finish it... but seeing people throwing/wasting/not finishing their food is one of my biggest pet peeves. Which is why 95% of the time, i always finish my plate of food... not matter how full i am or how bad it is. The other 5% is left for foods that are inedible, burnt, expired, or anything with bananas. XD The only cheesecake I can tolerate in large amounts are probably the ones they sell in Taiwan. I'm talking about the oval shaped ones they sell in big supermarkets. It tastes more like a cake than an actual cheesecake... and that's probably why i like them. Waha. I was afraid my light cheesecake would fail and turn out to be too heavy so i baked them in little muffin cups. But turns out i worried for nothing... they came out just fine :D So i poured the remaining cake batter into a small cake mold and baked it. This online recipe is a keeper. The only tricky part would be beating the egg whites- make sure the eggs are at room temperature before you start anything!

Light (Strawberry) Cheesecake
from skybake.com in chinese
(if you search their videos, you can see the video demonstration. Somehow the link doesnt appear on the site so i couldn't copy and paste)
INGREDIENTS:

• 200g cream cheese
• 110 mL milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 70mL butter
• 3.5 tablespoons flour
• 1.5 tablespoons corn starch
• 5 egg whites
• 130 mL sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Add the cream cheese + milk together and heat it up in a double boiler, stirring constantly [picture 1].
2. When the cream cheese has dissolved, add the butter and stir until smooth. Then add in the egg yolks and mix [picture 2, 3].
3. Sift the flour and corn starch together and add into cream cheese mixture until thoroughly blended. Remove from heat [picture 2, 3].
4. Beat egg whites with a electric mixer/whisk until it starts to bubble. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until it forms peaks [picture 4, 5].
5. Pour the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture and fold until thoroughly blended [picture 6].
6. Pour the cheesecake batter into a prepared mold [picture 7].
7. Place your mold in a shallow pan of water, and bake until edges have pulled away [picture 8]. (45-60minutes for cake molds. 20-30 minutes for muffin pans.)
8. Let the cake cool down and decorate with fresh strawberries and strawberry jam.
   

Light (Strawberry) Cheesecake

Strawberry Milkshake

Strawberry season is back. Once again, i went ahead and bought myself 1kg of strawberries. But this time, I'm not gonna go into how cheap strawberries are in Poland. Compared to the 1kg/6.49 zl last year.... the price doubled to 1kg/11.99zl. CRAPPP...!!! What's happening to this world. Everything's getting more expensive while the freakin' USD has no more value. Ugh, i hope i don't get too broke to the point i can't even keep a food blog alive. How sad will that be. Hmph.

On a brighter note, since i have a limited idea on what to do with my 1kg of strawberries, I decided to blend half of it up and make some strawberry milkshake. Yes, fresh strawberries, none of that McDonald's crap. I would like to say it's healthier than McDonald's...but thanks to the ice-cream, it only wins by a little. I could've gone for the low-fat version but... Nah! There's nothing wrong with indulging yourself in some guilty pleasure before you revert back to your summer dieting mode... right?

Strawberry Milkshake
from Billie's Favorite Strawberry Milk Shake
INGREDIENTS:

• 500g fresh strawberries
• 1 qt. vanilla ice cream
• 1/2 cup milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Process all ingredients in a blender until desired consistency, stopping to scrape down sides.
2. Serve immediately.

NOTE:
- For low-fat, cheaper milkshake, replace vanilla ice-cream with frozen strawberry yogurt.
- For a thinner shake, add up to 1/4 cup more milk.

Strawberry Milkshake