Sorry I haven’t been updating here for so long, life has been busy and some of my cooking passion and creativity just left me for a while. I am glad to say the passion and love for cooking, blogging and all that passion for life and work is burning inside me once again. I love it and feel more like myself and full of energy. (No, I still don’t exercise but I am getting to it, seriously.)
For the coming back recipe, I am going to share with you this super easy and healthy salad I love – Apple Chicken Salad.
Anything shaped like donut tastes better, at least, that’s my opinion. I love banana bread and always want to glaze it with something. So, I decided to bake it in a donut pan and glaze with chocolate, shredded coconuts and sprinkles. This recipe is Not A Donut Recipe, it’s banana bread in donut shape. If you are looking for a donut recipe, move on and I don’t want to get in your way to those tasty donuts. However, these cuties are just as addictive and delicious, you should give it a try.
Banana Bread Donuts Recipe (Makes 18)
Ingredients:
1.5 cups Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Cocoa Powder (Unsweeten)
1/2 cup (1 stick) Cooled Melt Butter (Unsalted)
2 tbsp VegetaOil
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tbsp Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
2 Large Eggs (Beaten)
3 Ripen Bananas
(Optional) Melted White Chocolate, Shredded Coconuts, Sprinkles (For Decorations)
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, mash bananas. Add eggs, butter, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and milk, mix well.
3. In a medium bowl, add flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa powder, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda, mix well.
4. Mix half of the dry ingredient into wet ingredients until well combined. Fold the rest of flour mix into batter until just combined.
5. Grease donut pan with unsalted butter (not included in recipe), fill each donut mold about 3/4 full, bake for 13 – 15 minutes or until toothpick test come out clean.
6. Cool in pan for 3 minutes, remove and place on metal rack to cool off. Eat immediately or decorate as desired.
Ingredients:
1 rack Pork Baby Back Ribs
1.5 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
2 tablespoons Barbecue Sauce (Any brand/ Homemade)
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 325F, lined a big baking sheet with foil and place a metal rack on top.
2. Pat ribs dry with paper towels, cut into two half if too big, sprinkle salt and black pepper evenly all around.
3. Lay seasoned ribs on metal rack, put in the middle position in the oven for 3.5 hours.
4. Brush barbecue sauce on cooked ribs, rest for 5 minutes and serve.
I love squid so much but never prepare and clean one all by myself. It took me a long time to clean it but it was really fun and I learned something new. This squid was so big (3 pounds) I made it into 2 dishes, most of it turned into spicy calamari, taste great serving it hot but even better chilled it in the fridge overnight as a cold appetizer. I love it hot. I love it more when they are cold. Warning: this is really really spicy, adjust the chili sauce amount to your taste.
Spicy Calamari Recipe
Ingredients:
2 pounds Squid (cleaned, sliced)
1/4 cup Green Onion (finely sliced)
1/4 cup Chili Garlic Sauce
3 tablespoons Soy Sauce (Dark)
to taste Sugar (Optional)
I have been trying to figure out how to make fluffy pancake for a long time. Saw this method on TV from American Test Kitchen and Iron Chef Michael Symon from the Chew, so I decided to give it another try. This recipe requires to separate the eggs into whites and yolks, whisk the whites and fold it in at the end. Sound like should be more fluffy, however, when I used it to make the Hong Kong style egg waffles, I didn’t notice enough different, so I decided not to bother with the extra step. After created 2 okay pancake recipes, I made up 2 other recipes today and one of them using this whisk egg whites method. To my surprise, the pancakes came out really fluffy and soft, much different than the other one. (Compare photos at the very bottom of this post if you are interested)
Banana is one of my daughters favorite fruits, so nutritious and convenient. It is a great ingredient to add in bread, smoothies or baked goods. This bananas walnuts bread has a sweet crispy crust, I like a dense feel of this bread, if you like a lighter and softer bread, use 1.5 cups of flour instead of 1.75 cups. I used 1.5 cups for cupcakes size banana bread, if you like to try that, cut the cook time in half to 30 minutes, the smaller the bread, the faster it cooked. To make the crust crispy, a cast iron pan is essential, increase the temperature to 375F at the last 5 minutes, will make the crust even more crispy. Rest 10 minutes before serving, the crispy crust only stay for a few hours, overnight baked good never taste as good as it fresh out of the oven.
