Maryland Blue Crab

Ramadan is here. The first day of fasting in my area was on Saturday, May 27, 2017. It went well for me since I stayed at home and just entertaining my 2 grandchildren. They both are too young to understand what fasting is. I didn’t indulge on food for morning breakfast before the sunrise nor do I cook much for breaking fast. I ate my regular breakfast food like pancake and eggs. I drank milk to give the energy throughout the day. On the first day of Ramadan, I had rice with fried chicken and shrimp egg foo young I bought from the Chinese takeout. The second day of Ramadan, I was invited to my in laws for some crab feast. It was really nice eating with family. The dinner feast was for observing the Memorial Day on Monday.

My vegetable garden is doing very well. Soon, I will be getting salad from the garden. The rainy days we have been getting has helped. The peas are growing faster than anything else. I have started to see the white flowers on the plants. I am growing mostly the sugar snap peas. I do grow some little marvel peas as well as the snow peas. Couple of days ago, I put in more string bean seeds in the ground. If the soil temperature went up above 70 degree, the bean seeds will germinate faster. Otherwise, I will have to wait about 2 weeks to see some growth. I already planted a 30 foot row of string beans when the soil can be worked on.

Ramadan 2015 Day 21 - Gnocchi and Pea Shoots

A simple meal for tonight's dinner, gnocchi with pea shoots. It was sort of cooking 2 items in one pot.

Firstly, I boil the gnocchi until it float. Fish the gnocchi out.
In a bowl, add the gnocchi, add 1/2 cup of alfredo ready to use sauce, and add 1 tablespoon of salsa.

I used the same water that I boil the gnocchi to blanche pea shoots. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to flavored.

Serve the pea shoots with the gnocchi.
Delicious!
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Cream Puff

Cream puff is one of my favorite food. But it was not cheap to buy. So, this morning I decided to bake them for myself. The ingredients are simple but the process is a little bit tedious.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of water
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
11/2 cups of all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 egg for egg wash

Method:
Preheat the oven at 425 degrees F.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a pot, heat on medium low water, butter and sugar until bubble.

Turn off the stove. Then sifted flour into the pot.

Using a wooden spoon, mix the batter.

Add one egg. Mix it well.
Then add another egg. Mix well.

The batter will be soft after all 4 eggs are incorporated into the batter.

Using a plastic bag, spoon the batter into the bag and cut a small opening at one corner. Pipe the batter into 1 inch size.

Brush the top with egg wash.

Bake at 425F for 10 minutes.
Change the temperature to 300F and cook for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve by piping butter cream into the cream puff or drizzle with some melted chocolate.

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Donut

Krispy Kreme donut is one of my favorite donut. This morning, I woke up and was thinking of making a donut. Usually, on Saturday morning, Mr. Big and I have an adult breakfast like eggs, sausage, pancake or home fries. This Saturday morning, was unusual...

I apologize for the irregular shapes and sizes of these donuts. I did not use any donut cutter or mould. I simply make a hole using my finger and smooth it a little bit before I fry them. They are delicious despite the shapes and sizes!

Ingredients: For the donut
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of instant dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/4 cups of warm  water
4 cups of cooking oil

For the glazed:
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method: Donut
In a big bowl, add flour, salt and instant yeast. Mix well.
Let it sit for 1 minute.
Add water. Knead into slightly sticky dough.
Let it rest for 20 minutes.
Knead again. By this time the dough is very soft.
Add some flour to the surface of a board.
you can use donut cutter or in my case, I just cut the dough into equal sizes.
Punch a hole in the center with my finger and smooth the sides.
Using a small pot, heat about one inch of olive oil on medium low.
Fry the donut one at a time. Depending on the size of the pot you use to fry the donut, you may be able to fry 2 or 3 donuts at one time.
Turn to the other side as soon as one side turned brown.
Let it cool on paper towel.

Method: Glazed
In a small bowl, mix sugar, vanilla and milk. Whisk until smooth.
Dip each donut in the glaze.
Place back the donut on the wire rack to allow excess glaze to drip off.

Mr. Big had a bite of the donut and did not say anything. After he finished 3 donuts then he said, so you think I am a small kid who needs sugary food for breakfast?
I smiled...

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Pepper Steak and Tortilla

Friday is a farmer's market day. Today's highlights are peaches, corn, peppers, eggplants and squashes. I have $15 to spent and ended up with 3/4 bushel of peaches($12), one buttercup squash($2) and 3 bell peppers($1). The weather is changing, soon from high temperature to breezy day. I am exhausted this week, not because of working so hard in the garden, but because of lacking in sleep. I have a lot of work to complete within a shorter time. Soon, it will be time to clean up the garden and to bring warmer season plants back into the house.
Tonight's dinner was very simple. For Mr. Big, I cooked steak (medium rare) and served with sauteed onion and green bell peppers. For myself, I had Pepper Steak with Tortilla.

Lightly toasted the tortilla wrap.
This pepper steak was infused with a hint of curry flavors. Yes, I like mixing the beef with some cloves, cumin, coriander, parsley, ginger, curry leaf and ground black pepper.
Saute the onion and green bell peppers with salt and ground black pepper. Set aside.
Using 2 tablespoons of olive oil, heat the steak that has been cut into bite size.
Add all the spices and mix well. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium high heat.
Turn off the stove.
Delicious!

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Shrimp Alfredo Pasta

Honey and I are not a pasta eater. However, once in a while I do like to prepare pasta for our dinner. I have to make sure that honey is up to it. This shrimp Alfredo was easy to cook.

I am using a jar of ready to use alfredo sauce. For those who cannot eat milk or egg, you can create your own alfredo sauce by mixing the flour with olive oil and add water. Seasoned it with ground black pepper and salt.
Boil pasta as in the instruction.
Drain.
Add alfredo sauce and mix them well.
Lastly, add shrimp. Mix well until shrimp turned pink.
Turn off the stove. Shrimp doesn't take long to cook.
Serve warm or cold.

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Pineapple Angel Cake

Easy peasy this is. I just need a box of angel food cake mix and a can of crushed pineapple.The cake came out beautiful, light and delicious!

The ingredients are an angel cake mix and a can of crushed pineapple in it's juice.

Mix both of these ingredients. It will become frothy and easy to assemble. I am using a 9 by 13 inch pan.

Heat the oven at 350 degree F. Bake it for about 30 minutes.

The cake taste sweet, and had a texture that is very easy to handle and almost like a very light bread. Superb!
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Ramadan 2013 Day 29 - Hot Dog and Perogies

Yeay! Finally, today is the last day of fasting. I am exhausted from the baking and cooking, so, for today's dinner, I had a simple meal. Just all beef hot dogs and perogies. Delicious!

I lightly toasted the bread. Add ketchup and hotdog relish with mustard. Deep fry the perogies until golden brown.

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Ramadan 2013 Day 24 - Spaghetti

Every so often, I like to cook spaghetti. It was really easy to cook. I just need 9 minutes to boil the spaghetti. Firstly, I will cook the ground beef. Toss it and set aside. Then I will cook the noodle.

Cook the sauce with the meat. Lastly, add the cooked noodle.
Delicious! I garnish this meal with grated Parmesan cheese.

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Ramadan 2013 Day 18 - Steak and Potato

The rain was here. It was a heavy rain. I love the rain especially when I don't have to water the plants in the garden. Let the nature help me on that. I was stuck in the house and was busy sewing my raya dress.This time I am making the kebaya. Kebaya is a traditional malay dress that has a defined collar style. So, for my dinner tonight, I am having a simple meal, steak and potato.

I am using one red onion that I grow in my garden to cook with the potato. I lightly seasoned the potato and onion with salt, ground black pepper, and rosemary. The steak was rubbed with some montreal steak seasoning. These two dishes are my favorite dish. It took only 10 minutes to cook these meals.Delicious!

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Ramadan 2013 Day 14 - Pizza, Chips and Guacamole

The weather was nice today. Breezy...perfect to sit outside. I was thinking of cooking kue teow for break fasting, however, I don't have hot peppers. So, I decided to have cheese pizza instead.

I just baked the frozen pizza in the oven on 375 degree F for about 15 minutes. To add side for this dinner is the tortilla chips with guacamole. The guacamole is just a mashed avocado mix with onion, salt and pepper. Delicious!

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Ramadan 2013 Day 11 - Veal Meatloaf and Scallop

I love meat especially veal. The meat is tender and when cook right, it taste so delicious. For today's meal, I cooked veal meatloaf. The other side dish that goes with the meatloaf are the vegetables and the scallops.

Ingredients to cook the meatloaf are:
1 lb veal
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of powdered hot pepper
1 teaspoon of dried parsley
1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of italian seasoning
1 egg
1 cup of italian seasoning bread crumb
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
3 teaspoons of powdered onion
1/2 cup of tomato ketchup (mix in the mixture)
1/2 cup of tomato ketchup for topping

Heat the oven at 375 degree F.
In a bowl, mix all the ingredients except the last 1/2 cup of tomato ketchup.
Using the loaf pan, top the veal with the rest of the ketchup and bake the veal in the oven for 45 minutes covered with tin foil.
Then remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes.
Turn off the oven and let the meatloaf cool down before cutting.

To cook the scallop, I just seasoned with salt and ground pepper. Use 3 tablespoons salted butter and seared the scallop on both sides. Do not cook too long or the scallop will become rubbery.
Delicious!
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Ramadan 2013 Day 9 - Fried Chicken and Collard Greens

Another super hot day today. Temperature stays at 100 degree F. We couldn't go outside to cut the grass. Neither could we go to the garden. I stayed at home and work on my dress. I added some beads on the dress. It look so much better with the glitter. Break fasting meal tonight was just a simple fried chicken thigh and collard greens that came right out of the can. I just heat up the greens on stove at low heat. Breaking fast was at 8:34 pm today. So, I start frying the chicken around 8 pm. It took 20 minutes to fry 4 pieces of chicken thigh with bones.

This collard greens is the best. It has full flavors and very delicious!

I am using zatarin fish fry spices. It was the best. The skin is crunchy and the meat is very tender. Delicious!
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Ramadan 2013 Day 8 - Lamb and Rice

Hot! Hot! day again today. The temperature went up to 106 degree F. I hope my plants in the garden are doing well. It was not good to water them in this heat. The steam could kill them. I try to cook a simple meal. I am using my left over rice and fry some lamb. I like to dust the lamb with zatarin's fish fry mix. Then deep fry the lamb for about 15 minutes. Delicious!

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Ramadan 2013 Day 6 - Grilled BBQ Chicken

The weather was very hot today. The temperature reached up to 103 degree F. I had to cancel my plan to go to the store again today. I went home and took a good nap. Mr. Big and I breaking our fast with a big piece of chicken quarter leg. We grilled the chicken outside and add bbq flavor to the chicken.

The appearance of this chicken wasn't as I expected. The chicken could be charred more. But we were in a rush. I finish cooking the chicken in microwave for 2 minutes. That would worked. Delicious! Share

Ramadan 2013 Day 5 - Steak and Mashed Potato

It was a sunny Sunday today. I was planning to go out to the store to get thread for my Raya dress. Unfortunately, the weather was too hot for me. I should have work in the garden yesterday when the weather was nice and shady. Today, I spent my time at home washing clothes and sewing my baju raya. I am in the mood of making a simple tunic with a flare skirt. My break fasting meal today was steak and mashed potato. I was so hungry that I did not take the picture of the steak. It was just a simple steak seasoned with salt and ground black pepper. I sauteed onion and it went on top of the steak. The mashed potato had the skin on since the potato I was using are small potato with soft skin. My dessert today are just some fresh blueberry and dates. As for the drink, I had a cup of hot tea with milk. Delicious!

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Ramadan 2013 Day 2 -Zucchini and Tapioca Pudding

Second day of Ramadan went well. I was at the garden yesterday and picked some zucchini and cherry tomatoes. Today, I decided to bake one of the zucchini. This ball shape zucchini is called Eight Balls Zucchini. This is my first time growing this type of vegetable. I am impressed with the yields given that I planted the seeds quite late in the season. Thanks to the heavy rain and hot weather, the plants are thriving.

The fillings for this eight balls zucchini was just basmathi rice cooked in briyani spices and BBQ beef. The rice and the beef were cooked separately. I scooped out the center of the zucchini. The zucchini was then baked in the oven at 400 degree F for about 40 minutes.

The dessert today was tapioca pudding. The tapioca pudding was the easiest to cook. I boiled about 4 cups of milk with 1/2 cup of splenda. I added a dash of pandan extract and a pinch of salt. Add about 1 cup of green pearl tapioca. Cook for just 10 minutes on low heat. Let it cool and then chill it in the fridge. Delicious! Share

Ramadan 2013 Day 1 -Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Yeay! It is time to fast again. The first day of Ramadan in my area was today, the 10th of July. Mr Big and I woke up around 4 am to have our super twilight early breakfast. I cooked chicken sausage for him and a bowl of oatmeal for myself. After breakfast, we went back to sleep until our alarm went off for us to get ready for work. Very exciting…I was not feeling weak or sleepy at work. The oatmeal and the dates worked. Breaking fast was at 8:38 pm today. I baked garlic bread and cooked spaghetti for our meal. I am having a big glass of sweet “rambutan” drink. It was very cooling. I should stock up on the fruits. Delicious!

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