Updates

I've been really busy lately. Ever since my discovery of eating gluten free, I haven't made many recipes that I think that are ready to be posted. Also, I left my job a month and a half ago to go back to school and pursue my Masters full time in Education. I plan to be an elementary school teacher. School was a bit overwhelming at first since I haven't been back for so long. But overall, I can't wait to start work again and be around little kids. I'll be looking for a job next month. I'm surprised there are many gluten free recipes online and I can't wait to make something.

I'll definitely keep everyone posted on my progress and will try to post something soon.

Kyle's Birthday

A few weeks ago, we celebrated my SIL's son's birthday. It was a great day for a bbq and it was a great opportunity for the adults to catch up on the conversations while the kids played in the backyard. There were plenty of kids running around playing slip and slide, playing basketball and attemping to hit the pinata. I'll attached a few pictures of that day. It was cute to see all the kids really enjoying themselves. I made two watermelon baskets for the occasion. It turned out to be a really nice centerpiece and it seems like everyone enjoyed it as well.

Gluten Free Diet

I recently found out that I have an intolerance to Wheat and Gluten. It's a lifestyle change for me. For so many years, I've struggled with not knowing why I had constant adominal pain after every meal. Just 1 1/2 weeks ago I was dignosed with Celiac Disease. It's a prevalent disease that is heredity. 1 in every 200 people have this but are not aware of it. It took 3 physicians to finally dignosed my symptoms using a blood test and a performing a biopsy. The only way to avoid further damaging my small intestine which was unable to absorb all the nutrients that I was intaking is to live Gluten Free.

I'm glad to finally find out what was wrong with me. At first I thought it was an ulcer or just antacids. It's been 2 weeks so far living gluten free. I did lose some weight, which is a plus. But,
I must admit it's still a challenging transition since majority of foods which I love I can no longer have. Although, I have found other alternatives to work around wheat and gluten products. I started baking again. Yesturday I made a gluten free banana chiffon cake using rice flour and it turned out just as good as the wheat version. Since, gluten and wheat is found in most condiments as a binding agent. It was difficult to cook stir frys since I usually use soy sauce which contains wheat. I've found a specialty market "Mothers" which carries a gluten free version. I guess you can say it's going to be a long journey but this is just the beginning. It's been going okay so far. I have been feeling much better after every meal. No more adominal pains.

I scream you scream we all scream for Ice Cream!

Dh and I purchased an ice cream maker from Bed Bath and Beyond a month ago. We were really excited to make our own ice cream. and started the very next day. It's been a fun journey since day one. I've made plenty of ice creams varieties ranging from coffee, fat free yogurt, lavendar ice cream to garlic ice cream. Yes, you didn't read this wrong. It's actually really good. The first time we tried this was at the Stinking Rose in Los Angeles. After that, I wanted to make my very own. I made my very first batch a week ago. I'll be sure to post the recipe on my blog.

One ice cream I defininitely recommend lavendar lovers is to try lavendar ice cream. One of my friends picked up a container of fresh culinary lavander for me. Since then, I've made some lavendar short bread cookies and some lavendar ice cream. Both are a real treat. The recipes below were adapted from Epicurious.

LAVENDAR ICE CREAM

*Adapted from Epicurious

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup half-and-half

2/3 cup mild honey2

tablespoons dried edible lavender flowers

*2 large eggs1/8 teaspoon salt

Special equipment: an ice cream maker

Preparation

Bring cream, half-and-half, honey, and lavender just to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, then remove pan from heat. Let steep, covered, 30 minutes.
Pour cream mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and discard lavender. Return mixture to cleaned saucepan and heat over moderate heat until hot.
Whisk together eggs and salt in a large bowl, then add 1 cup hot cream mixture in a slow stream, whisking. Pour into remaining hot cream mixture in saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170 to 175°F on thermometer, about 5 minutes (do not let boil).
Pour custard through sieve into cleaned bowl and cool completely, stirring occasionally. Chill, covered, until cold, at least 3 hours.
Freeze custard in ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

Cooks' notes:• To cool custard quickly after straining, set bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stir until chilled. • Custard can chill up to 1 day before freezing. • Ice cream keeps 1 week.

LAVENDAR SHORT BREAD COOKIES



1 1/2 cups (3/4 pound) butter, at room temperature (no substitutes)

2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons very finely chopped lavender florets (fresh or dried)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

2 1/3 cups flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F.Cover bottoms of two baking sheets with parchment or brown paper. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, lavender, and mint with an electric mixer. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour, cornstarch, and salt and beat until incorporated. Divide dough in half. Flatten into squares and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm. On a floured board, roll or pat out each square to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 -inch squares or rounds. Transfer to baking sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Prick each cookie several times with a fork. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until pale golden (do not brown). Cool slightly, then transfer to a rack. Sprinkle with lavender powdered sugar. Garnish:lavender powdered sugar: Put a 4 or 5 sprigs of lavender flowers in a sealed jar with powdered sugar for a day before using the sugar.

Enjoy!

Edible Arrangements (Belated Mother's Day)

This past weekend we celebrated a belated Mother's Day. One of the projects that I have always wanted to do was make an Edible Arrangement. I've seen them in ads and they look really pretty. Therefore the night before, Dh and I bought all the supplies we needed. I felt bad because we did our last minute shopping at 10:30 pm and I stayed up till 1:30am putting int he finishing touches to the two pots. I made two arrangements since we only took my mom out to dinner and the other would be for my mother in law. Here are some pictures of the two vases Dh and I put together. It was a little difficult at first but once you get the hang of it. It's pretty easy.



Making your own saves you a lot of money as well as you can add in your own creativity.

Slow Roasted Garlic Bulb

Yum! If you're a garlic lover, I definitely recommend making this recipe. Dh and I love garlic. I don't like it as much as he does but we still enjoy it together. That's definitely a plus, since you don't want to be the only one with bad garlic breath. It's also good for you health. Garlic has many uses and it is sometimes labeled as the herbal "wonder drug." Some benefits includes preventing the common cold or flu and also acting as an antibiotic and fighting certain bacterias. On the same note, I decided to roast some garlic bulbs.

There are many uses. You can spread it on breads for added flavor as well as using it in pastas and any other dishes. I adapted this easy online recipe.

Time needed: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

Garlic Bulbs (3 or 4)
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup of water
*salt to taste (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove as much of the paper from 2 whole heads of garlic as you can without breaking apart the cloves.
Place garlic heads in 1/4 cup water in a small baking dish.
Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Cover with aluminum foil or baking dish cover.
Put into oven and baste with olive oil/water mixture after 30 minutes.
Bake until garlic is soft and easily pierced with a thin-bladed knife, about 1 hour total cooking time.

Slow Roasted Garlic Bulb

Yum, it turned out really easy. I had some crackers in our pantry and decided to spread a few cloves on each. I can still taste the garlic.Be sure to spend extra time brushing your teeth the next morning. Enjoy!

Birthdays Birthdays and More Birthdays

April is definitely a popular month for birthdays. This weekend I attended 2 birthday parties. Both were for Henry's niece. Little Jasmine turned 5 and baby Roxy turned 1 month. Both girls were definitely dressed for the party. Jasmine was wearing a cute little flower dress and baby Roxy a cherry printed outfit. It was a nice little party with activities like water balloon fights, hide and seek and to top it off, it ended with a pinata. It was really cute seeing the kids run around and having so much fun. I'll be sure to share a few pictures of this event.

Friday night, I decided to bake some cupcakes to bring to the party. I ended up baking 75 . Yes, 75 little strawberry cupcakes. Although this time, I didn't make it from scratch. It took longer than usual because these were mini muffins. Below are a few pictures my DH took from the night before. The cupcakes were left to cool on the rack.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Above: frosted cupcakes with sprinkles and cream cheese

Above: chocolate frosted cupcakes with sprinkles and fresh strawberries

Although we ended up with so much left over, Since there was so many different types of food. I definitely had a great time making them. I always enjoy baking and cooking in my free time.

Hi Everyone,

Sorry, I haven't been able to post up my new creations. I've been busy helping my DH with the wedding photography business (HenryC Photography) http://www.henryc.com/ . I assist Dh manage the business and can say, I'm enjoying it so far and at the same time I'm slowly picking up things about photography that I never knew, which is pretty interesting. '

Oh! A highlight to this past weekend was that I just celebrated my 27th birthday. Boy, do I feel old. I wish I was 24 again. I want to thank my friends who help plan a nice dinner and dancing celebration for our group. I had a lot of fun, enjoyed great food and received some awesome gifts! I really appreciate everything and love them for putting this together for me. DH got me a really nice GPS. I can't wait to use it. It'll save me a lot of time from getting lost.


Back to the kitchen, I managed to make a few things in the mean time but have not had the opportunity to post them. Check back with me in a few days on the recipes below.



Baked Pork Floss Pastry





Fruit Tart Cake

Japanese Cotton Soft Cheesecake

This coming weekend will be my mom's birthday. To celebrate the occasion this year, I will be making her a cheesecake. Here's a great recipe provided by a friend. I'm actually making two this week. My first one as a test and to ensure it turns out good and the other will be the actual one presented at her birthday. Today was Sunday and I started my day off by running some errands. Mid afternoon after returning from the supermarket will all the ingredients, I attempted to make this great cake everyone was raving about. Stay tuned for my pictures and reviews.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I was scrambling through my fridge a couple of days ago and noticed that I have a container of unopened peanut butter in addition to soy butter. A constant dilemma we face is attempting to finish our food before it goes bad. Most of the time it’s the milk. When I first moved in with Dh, we purchased milk by the gallon and it would go sour. Since then, I have learned my lesson and purchased milk by the quart instead. When I go grocery shopping, I make it a point to purchase items that expire as far as advanced as possible prior to it expiring. However, we still have difficulty since Henry rarely drinks milk unless I use it for cooking. Otherwise, I would have to finish it myself. So to stick to the topic, I will be making peanut butter cookies from a recipe I found online. This will be my attempt to finish some things in our fridge and make space for others. Stay posted for the recipe and my reviews. It looks like a fairly simple recipe.


Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Kisses Cookies

*RECIPE:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt


Whisk the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Mix in the peanut butter and egg. In another bowl mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.) Stir the dry ingredients into the sugar butter mixture and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined and the dough forms a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Preheat oven to 375°F. Seperate the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten in crisscross pattern with a fork. Bake until light brown, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for a minute then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

For chewier cookies, bake at 300°F for 15-18 minutes.Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

SIDE NOTE: For the Hershey's kisses version, add kisses 10 minutes after the cookies begin to bake and then remove them from the oven and press the kisses into the center of the cookie. Next put the cookies back in the over for another 5 minutes. Remove immediately after, as the chocolate will start to burn. Place cookies on cookie rack to cool down.

ENJOY!

*adapted from an online blog

Craving Noodles

Tonight I had a craving for some dry noodles. When I came home from work, I decided to rummage through my fridge to see what I had. I happen to find some ground pork, spring onions, and some soft tofu. It was the perfect combination for Ma Pao tofu. Ma Pao tofu is a stir fried tofu dish with brown gravy that was created by a grandmother ( Ma)-- her surname. It's a delicious and light dish to enjoy either with rice or noodles. I decided to make mine with noodles instead. Other quick ways to make this dish is by purchasing pre-packaged Ma Pao tofu sauce. It's available in most Asian supermarkets. Since I didn't pick up the sauce to make this dish in advance, I decided to make my own instead. It's fairly simple.

Ingredients

-1 box of soft tofu
-ground pork (tennis ball size--sorry, I don't have the exact measurement)
-1 teaspoon of Oyster Sauce
-1 tablespoon of soy sauce
-3-4 cloves of chopped garlic
-1 teaspoon of sugar
-1 cup of water
-1 spring onion (for garnish)

Method:

Stir fry the ground pork in a wok, add some oil if needed. (If the pork is fatty, omit cooking oil). Cook it until it is medium well. Then remove the ground pork from the wok and set aside so the fat may drain. Add chopped garlic into the wok and continue to stir fry until it becomes medium brown. Once the garlic is ready, combine the pork in the same wok and add the teaspoon of oyster sauce to the mix. Cook the mixture for another 1-2 minutes. Next cut up the tofu into small cubes and toss it into the wok with the pork. Then combine soy sauce and sugar into the tofu and pork stir fry. Cook it for another 1-2 minutes and then slowly add water. Continue to cook until it comes to a boil. Let it simmer as the tofu will slowly soak up the gravy. For a thicker gravy, you can add 1 tsp of cornstarch and water to the mix. However, I kept it as is: which is just as great. Pour this sauce over noodles and enjoy. I decided to use Ramen. Any type of noodles will do. It's really up to you. All in all, DH and I both enjoyed our Ma Pao tofu noodles tonight. Stay tuned for the pictures.

Mixed Fruit and Lichee Jello

Hearing the jingle, J-E-L-L-O reminds me of the Bill Cosby commercials. I enjoy having Jello, it's light and a great treat for a hot day. Since the weather is becoming warmer, I thought I would attempt to make a different type of jello. This type of jello is made with Agar agar powder instead of the standard gelatin. To provide you some background knowledge on this product, I've done a bit of research. Agar agar is derived from seaweed or sea algae instead of animal fat. Since it is derived from a vegetable, it is suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Another difference is that agar agar will harden in room temperature with no refridgeration needed unlike gelatin. I'll be making a mixed fruit jello and lichee flavored one. I've always loved lichees so I thought I'd incorporate this in with the recipe. Stay tuned for the final product and I'll be sure to post the recipe.


Lichee Jello




Mixed Fruit Jello



Recipe:

1 box of agar agar powder (follow directions according to box)
2 cans of fruit (your choice--I chose Lichee and Mixed Fruit)
fruit juice from canned fruit

Make sure to save the fruit juices from the can so you can pour it in the boiled agar mix.
Once you are done boiling the agar agar, immediately pour it into your molds. The agar will slowly begin to thicken. Pour in some of the fruit juice you saved into the same mixture. Next slowly put in the fruits into the same mix. Let it sit at room temperature till it hardens. Refrigeration is not necessary for the mold to harden. However, it is optional. It should be ready to eat within 2 hrs. Enjoy!

MIL's Birthday

A few weeks ago was when I started spending more time in my kitchen. It all started when I found it was my mother in law's (MIL) birthday. I wanted to make her a cheesecake since my dh had told me that his family loves cheesecake. I didn't want to make the traditional New York Style cheesecake. So I thought, why not make something different.Therefore, I looked around online to see if there were any other varieties out there. I came upon finding an asian style cheesecake from another cooking blog. I'll make sure to reference the site once I remember which blog. I can honestly say, I'm not much of a cheesecake fan. I think it's the creamy cheese that I'm not too fond of. So on Friday night, I attempted to make the cheesecake from scratch. It took a little longer than expected since the recipe required that it sit for 25-30 minutes to cool before pouring it into the graham cracker base. Then additional time to cook before placing it in the fridge. I even managed to try some filling while I was putting in all the ingredients. The filling tasted pretty good. Not too creamy at all. It kind of reminded me of Porto's Bakery and their cheese rolls (yum!). Everything was all done and ready and I had placed it in the refridgerator to cool down. The time was about 10:30p.m. or so. Stay tuned to my reviews and pictures...

Asian Style CheeseCake

Okay, it turned out appetizing. However, I think it was a little too sweet for me. I followed the recipe to the T and it ended up too sweet. Next time I'll have to reduce the amount of sugar to half or a little less than that. I'll find the recipe and post it up. Also, the texture of the cheesecake was a little softer than the usual New York Style. I'll have to attempt to remake this to find out when I can do to change this.. But overall, it was a great experience for me. I enjoy learning new things.

What's for Dinner Tonight?

One thing that I love is fish. The odd thing is that I grew up not liking it at all. But now, I don't think I can live without it. So just to stick to the theme, I'm making steamed fish tonight as well as an egg custard soup. Yummy, one of my favorites and it's also quite simple.

Here are the few ingredients you need in preparation.

Steamed Fish

• 2-4 Fish Fillets (white fish: e.g. Tilapia, Catfish..) serving size depends on how many people you are planning to feed
  
• 1 tbsp Julienne ginger (feel free to add more if you like)


• Bamboo or Aluminum Steamer


• 1 tbsp Julienne green onions


• 2 1/2 tbsps Lee Kum Kee Seafood Sauce
  

Make sure to clean your fish prior to steaming. Place your fillets in the steamer and let it steam for 15-20 minutes (cooking time depends on the thickness of fillet.)
In a saute pan, put a little bit of oil and cook the julienne ginger. This will allow the oil to be infused with the ginger flavor. Next, slowly pour in the seafood sauce into the ginger oil and let simmer. I usually add one tbsp of water to the sauce to reduce the sodium level . Once the sauce comes to a boil, add in the julienne green onions. Turn off the heat so the green onions are not thoroughly cooked.

Once your fish is done, top it with the seafood sauce. Serve it with rice.

For the soup dish. I'll be making Steam Egg Custard. I've added the recipe below.

Steam Egg Custard Soup

This is a traditional teo chiu dish my mom makes at home. The consistency is similiar to soft tofu. However, there is no tofu involved.

Here are the ingredients:

• 2 large eggs


• 2 cups of water (previously boiled and cooled to room temperature)


• 1 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp of black pepper (optional)


• 1 chopped green onion
  
• 1/2 tsp of chili oil (optional)

Whisk the eggs in a bowl slowly making sure not to form any air bubbles. Add salt and water to the eggs. Once you are done mixing it well. Pour it into a bowl that is suitable for steaming. Bring the water to boil in the steamer. Place the mix into a steamer and close the lid of the steamer. Reduce the heat to medium low. Steam it for 20 minutes before removing from the stove. Sprinkle the egg custard with some fresh chopped green onions, black pepper, and some chili oil. Similiar to tofu, make sure to serve it hot. Viola! Enjoy!

Note: Most of the time, I do not measure my ingredients. I base it on my taste preference. You'll figure your own taste preference as you continue to explore the world of cooking yourself.

Be-lated Vday Dinner

Since DH and I have been pretty busy with work, we decided to have our be-lated vday dinner today instead. This will be the first year we will be celebrating it as husband and wife. For tonights menu, I'll be making him a 4 course meal.. Yea, lucky hubby huh? You're probably thinking shouldn't he be doing something for me? Well, he took the day off of work just to take me out on the 14th to a nice restaurant and I enjoyed every moment of it. Well, here are the dishes I will be preparing tonight..

• Spinach salad with blasamic vinegarette sauce topped with glazed walnuts





• Seared scallops with black pepper sauce topped over snow peas sprouts
  



• Dry rub slow cooked baby back ribs
  
  
  
• Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Yum, blogging about it is making me hungry. I've already done some prepping this morning. Stay tuned for my reviews and recipes for the meal.

Ok, here's the recipe for the dry rub ribs. This was for 2 1/2 lb of ribs.

Dry rub slow cooked baby back ribs

• 3 tbsps brown sugar
  
• 1 1/2 tbsps paprika


• 1 1/2 tbsps salt


• 1 1/2 tbsps ground blk pepper
  
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Cook at 350 degrees. Make sure to check occasionally. It should be ready in 15-20 minutes dependent on thickness of meat , make sure to wrap the ribs in aluminum foil to prevent the meat from drying.
Feel free to reduce the amount of salt according to your taste. My ribs were a little thicker and I only had enough time to let it sit and marinate for 2 hrs. Next time I'll marinate for 4 hrs to ensure the marinade can fully soak in.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

While shopping for the ingredients to this menu, I found a great product at Costco for my chocolate dipped strawberries. Here it is.


Pretty convienent, I must add. All you have to do it pop the container in the microwave for 1 minute and the chocolate pieces will begin to melt. Make sure to stir the chocolate mix to allow them to melt evenly. Continue to dip your strawberries in the chocolate holding the strawberries by the stem. Tip: I used some kitchen knives to hold the strawberries in place while dipping. (Do not refrigerate final product) They should be ready to serve within 1-2 hrs. Enjoy!

Pandan Cake

I love how Pandan smells . It's so fragrant. Most Thai and Vietnamese desserts contain this ingredient in their desserts. A few weeks ago, I found a sponge cake recipe online and modified it to my liking, of course. So I thought I would try it out. It will be my first time making this and to my surprise it turned out really well. I've heard that spongecakes are difficult to make since most of the time turn out dense. I think the most difficult part of this recipe was getting the eggs fluffy. It took me about 30 minutes to beat. Keep in mind, this was using an electric mixer. Our entire home, was infused with Pandan aroma from the oven. I loved it. Here's a preview of my final product. Dh was kind enough to take some pictures for me. Yum! It turned out perfectly. I ended up bringing half of it to my mom since there's only Dh and I and we're not be able finish it. I have a feeling I'll be sharing a lot of my creations.

The Kitchen Nazi beginning

So, where do I start? I just been cooking quite a bit lately. After my wedding on 01/05/08, I realize I now have plenty of time on my hands. No more wedding planning on weekends, so Why not cook and create my own blog? I thought it would be fun to experiment with new recipes at the same time learn from them and feed my dh at the same time. So that's how this started.


A few have asked me how did I come up with the name "Kitchen Nazi." I believe I acquired this name some time in college when I moved into the dorms on campus and started cooking for the first time. I hosted some gatherings for my friends where we would make different types of dishes. I remember being called a Kitchen Nazi by my friend Linda. I think we were cooking pasta and I insisted it had to be a certain way. And made sure when she was away from the kitchen, I modified the recipe to my liking. I guess she was right. I guess I can be a bit anal as to how things should be. From then on, I tend to think I am a bit of a Nazi in my own way.




Note: Dh (Dear Hubby)