Homemade Miso Soup

I used to get my husband an instant Annie Chun's Miso soup in a bowl all the time for a long time. He loves it. Since my husband is a vegan I have to make sure to prepare something special for him. Thanks to Whole Foods and Tunnies they're our life saver. They have plenty of vegan food choices that you can imagine. Over there in Whole Foods I found this organic Miso chickpeas paste to make for a homemade hot Miso soup, and fresh Udon noodles to go with it. To complete the ingredients I bought Wakame (dried seaweed) at the oriental store.

This is how the soup looks like after done cooking. For a liquid base I used vegetable broth instead of plain water by the way, it brings so much flavor, of course the scallions are Asian favorite herbs so I might as well added it. In all fairness this soup is very tasty... I should live so! :) This is not as cheapest car insurance as what you've think of, this is real healthy soup for us.

Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips and Brussels Sprouts

When I found this recipe in one of my recipe books that mom gave to me, I never hesitate to try it, besides it so easy to make, and likes the vegetables choices for this recipe. So, I give it a shot! In all fairness this food is taste so good. The sweet potato and parsnips are a good combination. Love the sweetness of them.

You will need: 1/3 cup of evoo, 3 medium carrots, cut into 1 1/2-inch thick circles, 1 1/2 brussels sprouts (halved), 4 cups red bliss potatoes, cut into 1 1/2 thick slices, 3 medium parsnips, cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices, 1 cup sweet potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch thick slices, 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, dried rosemary, dried thyme, dried basil, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper.

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place vegetables in baking sheet and add the dried herbs, salt and pepper. Toss well, evenly coating all the vegetables with the seasonings and oil. Add more oil if the vegetables seem dry. Spread the vegetables evenly on a large baking sheet. Place on middle rack in oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.

 

enjoy!

Baked Acorn Squash

Cut one squash in half, scoop out seeds and strings. Place in baking dish cut-side down. Add a little water and bake at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 45 minutes or until tender. Fill cavity with dabs of butter, brown sugar and pecans. Salt and pepper to taste.

Fettuccine with Shrimp

This is my ultimate favorite food so far, had this at least once every week. I'm really not kidding here. But I only cook enough for me to consume in a day or two. Just enough. I love everything of this ingredients, the mushroom (fry the mushroom do not just saute) taste so sweet. Also, the lemon juice makes this pasta taste so great. Yum! 

Ingredients you'll need:

uncooked Fettuccine (1 package)
1/2cup butter
1 pound large uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined
3 large garlic cloves; chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Salt and Pepper





In a large pot, bring to boil water for packages of pasta. Add salt and cooking oil if desired.  Add pasta and cook, uncovered stirring occasionally about 7-10 minutes or until soft. Rinse with cold water. Drain well. Set aside.

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat until melted. Add mushroom- fried until it turn brown, then, add shrimp and toss to coat. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, and parsley. Cook until pink and no longer translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add cooked Fettuccine continue to toss to combine.

Mushroom Ramen

Flipping my old cook books or magazines when I don't know what to cook for dinner is somehow a big help especially when at times of my laziness.

While flipping through pages I came across with this simple recipe the Mushroom Ramen. Luckily I have two pouches of ramens I bought last month perfect for this recipe. I'm starving so I have to try this. To cook is just easy no sweat required. 

This is my finish cook. Not bad at all. I ate everything in just one sitting. Yum!

Easy To Prepare Food

When I'm busy I just dumped whatever foods I have that are easy to be prepare in the oven while I do something else. Just like these ones, an organic chicken patties and aubergine are so easy to prepare. That chicken patties I bought are ready-to-cook,  but the bake aubergine is a homemade. Just slice it like an oblong shape, brush both sides with olive oil, layered it with spinach, sprinkled a little bit of salt and pepper every layers,  pour sauce and top it with mozzarella. et voila! dinner is ready to serve in just 15minutes. :)

There is nothing better than homemade food.

Butter Angel Hair Pasta

As long as I have boxes of pasta at home whether a fettucine, angel hair, or rotini plus olive oil, balsamic vinegar and cherry tomatoes I can make a meal for the whole day out from them. Pasta is so easy to prepare unless if you want a simple recipe like I always prefer. Besides I watch my eat so I won't be needing any of the best fat burning supplement ,you know for loss weight?

In this case, I cooked butter Angel hair with cherry tomatoes. I saute the cherry tomatoes with butter, add salt and ground pepper to taste while boiling the Angel hair pasta in the other pot. When the pasta is cooked mix it all together in the sauteed butter cherry tomatoes. Et voila! Done. For my side dish I use an instant meat made out of tofu(rky) for vegetarian food. Just so you know, I'm not a vegetarian, my husband does. It just so happen that this particular instant meat for side dish is so good, really taste good. That's why I ate it. :)

Fettucine Pasta

Even though I have so many works to be done lately but I can still managed to cook at home. Pasta is my best friend after all it doesn't require so much time to cook. I've been cooking Fettucine pasta in a particular especially with chicken and vegetables, shrimp and  lemon, oh, I love it! It made my tired body so alive. Hehehe

Don't you like broccoli? I love broccoli just don't over cook it cause it taste awful. However, eaten raw broccoli is a lot good and very nutritious it has a high Vitamin C and dietary fiber- it is good for the colon perhaps? If so, its a good substitute for colon cleanser to help prevent sickness. Anyway, Italian Fettucine in spinach is what I have been eating lately, I'll tell you it is good.

Brocoli Pizza

It's good to have pizza dough, marinara sauce, cheeses and vegetables are stocks in the fridge cause anytime I gets lazy cooking especially now that I am working back again and have some homework in tow to do Pizza is my best friend. So easy to prepare and cook. This Pizza is made of zero cholesterol. We won't feel guilty each bite we take at all because the dough is made of gluten free and no eggs its quite pricey but its worth every penny we spent of it. Also the cheeses I used are non dairy from animals, it is made of rice and soy. We really don't have to worry about of getting weight loss product because it won't gain us more weight. Besides we're eating this pizza once in a while or at least once a week.

Adding broccoli on pizza is something I skeptical about I just don't like the idea ...but my husband's insisted me to put on it after all this is his pizza. Again I was wrong the broccoli pizza isn't bad at all. I surprised. It's yum!

Oh Hot Chocolat

Drinking hot chocolate every morning is now my new obsession. It all started when I watched the movie Chocolat (2000) of Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp a couple of weeks ago. That movie  really inspired me to try make a hot chocolate. Why not, I love chocolate by all means.  So lo and behold  moi went to a store to get cocoa powder (black&greens organic cocoa powder), rice milk and condensed milk to make my own version of hot chocolate. I decided not to copy the way how in the movie Chocolat did.  Because number one I don't know where to find Mayan chocolate in our neighborhood. Two, I don't like spicy. Three, I don't like too sweet for my drinks. I make strong hot chocolate just like espresso instead. I want simple yet strong hot chocolate. My measurements did get a good result because my hot chocolate taste sooooo good.  Love it!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of rice milk or whole milk

1/2 cup of boiling water

2 teaspoon of bittersweet cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of condensed milk

To prepare:

1. Whisk the cocoa powder with boiling water until the powder dissolves. Sit aside.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add rice milk or whole milk until bubbles appear around the edge.

3. Reduce heat to low; add chocolate and condensed milk whisking occasionally until chocolate and condensed milk dissolves.

4. Turn off heat.  Serve in small cups and sprinkle a small bit of ground cinnamon.

Oven Ready Lasagna (Vegetarian Style)

I'm no Giada De Laurentiis nor Ina Garten but I'm so proud of myself because I can cook the way I wanted to. They both really are my inspiration. Thanks to them because cooking is  now one of my hobbies and most of all I make my husband's tummy happy. Cooking is easy-- we don't need  to have a natural cooking talent for it, neither to be a chef! Unless you want to have your own unique recipe now that's another story. It's actually like when we study for a certain subject all we need to do is to follow the instructions.

Anyhow, noodles or pasta is one of our favorite. They simply amazing! I finally cook lasagna (vegetarian style) for the first time. Mother-in-law used to cook this for us but now it's my turn. Hey, this is good if you're dieting I know this may sounds cliche because its our perception that pastas are loaded of carbohydrate. No! It depends on how you cook and serve it.

Here's how:

Ingredients

1 (12oz.) package Oven Ready Lasagna
2 (15oz.each) containers Ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded (Rice made) Mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmessan cheese
1 tbp. dried basil
1 (26oz.) jar of organic Miranara sauce
1/2 cup water
1 lb. Morning Star Soy fake ground beef (soy made), no need to cook!
or
1 lb. lean ground beef, cooked and drained

2 eggs (optional- for vegetarian)


To Cook

Preheat oven to 375 degree farenheit

In medium bowl, combine Ricotta, 1 cup Mozarella cheese,

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, eggs (optional), and basil; mix well.

In another medium bowl, combine spaghetti sauce, 1 cup water and the Soy ground beef; mix well.

Brush Lasagna with Olive oil. (optional)

In 9" x13" pan, spread 1 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Place 4 sheets of Lasagna over sauce. Spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture over Lasagna, top with 1/3 of meat sauce. Repeat layering once. Top with 4 sheets of Lasagna then sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Wrap the Lasagna tightly with a double layer of foil. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until the Lasagna is fork tender.

******

Sounds yummy right? I'll tell you this recipe really is good. The taste between Soy ground beef compare to real ground beef has no difference. I really can't tell the difference. I used all my cheeses made of rice instead of dairy cream because I intend to cook it as a vegetarian style. This way you will never gets high cholesterol. It's our choice anyway. But if you chose the regular style go for it just don't forget to take hydroxycut after eating to burn the fat. Heehee I kid, I kid! Okay folks, enjoy your meal!

Ciao.

Parisian Macarons

No, this Macarons is not the same as Macaroons with the shredded coconut ingredient. Although both of these are gluten free. Macarons are made of ground blanched almonds with the mixture of egg whites and confectioner sugar, compare it with the Macaroons that are made of shredded coconut and condensed milk. The two are both taste good in a different way.

I familiar with Macaroons I grew up eating it. Until I read from so many travel and food blogs in the net talked about it and that's how I learned about the Parisian's Macaron. Everybody says Macaron is to die for especially the ones in Lauderee, in Paris. I thought this is overrated. But you know how much I love sweets goodies food. I said to myself one day I'm gonna try it. Unfortunately this Macaron is can not be found in mostly local pastries bakery or restaurants in USA. There are only few pastries bakery making this in the country one is in NYC. Well, thanks to the food bloggers out there I somehow found a recipe to bake on my own. I stumbled upon at Martha Stewart website alas the recipe is up there. I had no doubt to try baking it in fact I was giddy and excited. It requires to have electric mixer to bake, and I have none. But that doesn't stopped me there instead I beaten the egg whites by using the whisk manually. I know it can be tiring but I don't care. I planned to make 3 flavors-- vanilla, almonds and espresso. Imagine I have to whisk the egg whites in 3 batches many times. I manage to baked the vanilla flavors almost perfect (see the photos above) I was so happy. Unfortunately my second flavor was unsuccessful. I think the egg whites whisking is the problem the icing didn't came out too thick. That's why the merengue cracked. I was disappointed. I stopped then. After all I had perfect ones. Those were enough for me. 

Therefore I conclude baking is not my kind of gig. Although I love to eat pastries that can't be denied but I'd rather to leave it up to the masters and buy some ready-to-eat at the bakery store instead.

As for the taste, it is SWEET. Its good. I have no idea if this can compare to the Parisian Macarons. Wish I tried the original first then so I  know the difference.

Vegetarian Food: Jumbo Shell Pasta with Mushrooms and Garbanzo Beans Stuffing

Today I'm having this pasta dish for lunch. This is my own experimental recipe. Not that I'm biased but I could swear to my dead granny that this food is such a delish. :) It really came out good (sorry for gushing again). Because of the fresh and unique combination of the herbs and spices, mushrooms and garbanzo beans.

Stuffing:

For the herb- I used fresh Basil leaves and some lemon zest. For the spices- I used onion, garlic and sweet bell pepper.

For the vegetables- I used regular mushrooms (chops), carrots (chops), garbanzo beans (mashed).

For the meat- I used ground tofu.

To cook just saute all the spices with olive oil and cholesterol free butter in 2 minutes, then, add the mushrooms and carrots, lemon zest and a few drops of lemon juice in 5 minutes. Add the garbanzo beans, ground meat and basil leaves, salt and pepper to taste cook for about 3 minutes more.

In case you wondering, of course I boiled the pasta before hand. This is what we need to do first if we cook pasta, right?

So I stuffed the pasta with this stuffing. I add mozzarella cheese on the top of it and drizzled some ground pepper and baked for 5 minutes in 350- Fahrenheit degrees oven. Add any pasta tomato sauce (i used ragu) before dig-it-in.

et viola! enjoy!!

Cooking 101: Hawaiian Pizza

Though.. not all of my ingredients are made from scratch that's why this is an easy recipe to cook in just 15 minutes from Food Network magazine.

I have cooked different kind of vegan pizzas for The Husband this time for the first time I made pizza for myself. Although I did not make the dough for the crust but I'm still proud of making this just for trying. Of course I love the fact that I cooked it well, and ate even more. Okay, without any further ado, here's how I cooked it.

Note 1: I don't have time to make a dough. I bought Organic California Style Pizza Wheat Bread  (about 15-inch round) in Tunnies instead.

On the crust add:

1. 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Spread it equally.

2. 1/2 cup tomato sauce use anything you want (mine, i used Ragu). Spread it equally.

3. 8 slices of pancetta- a dry cured bacon Italian style (instead of pepperoni).

4. 1/2 cup of diced pineapple

5. 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

6. bake until golden.

I enjoyed eating this pizza so much. I had this a quarter slice every dinner in four days since I watch the calories I take. This is good to have in the house once in a while I'm sure you gonna love it as much as I do.

Note 2:  If you have time, here's how to make a pizza dough.

Whisk 3 3/4 cups flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Make a well and add 1 1/3 cups warm water, 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 packet yeast. When foamy, mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil; knead until smooth, 5 minutes. Bursh with olive oil, cover in a bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Divide into two 1-pound balls. Use 1 pound per recipe.

Enjoy!

Cooking 101: Baked Chicken Breast with Cream of Mushroom

This is a long overdue post. Thanks to my friend Leah for sharing this delicious recipe of yours and i love it. Yum!! It won't take me too long to prepare though to cook was long but it's worth all the waiting because this dish is absolutely good.

This is how to cook:

1. preheat the conventional oven for about 425 degrees fahrenheit.
2. season the chicken breast with olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. put the chicken breast in the oven safe dish and pour the cream of mushroom on it.
4. bake for about 45 minutes or until the meat is tender.

For the side dish I cook mashed potatoes. Its just so easy. Boil the potato with salt. When it cooked mash it with butter. That's it! How simple and easy.  Try it and enjoy!

Cooking 101: Fettucine with Shrimp and Basil Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Fettucine pasta noodles, uncooked
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 gloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 pound shrimp, cleaned and deveined
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook Fettucine according to package directions, drain. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt butter
over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until lightly browned. Add shrimp cooking 4 minutes or
until shrimp is pink. Stir in basil, salt, pepper, and cream. Let simmer 5 minutes. Pour sauce over pasta and serve immediately.

enjoy!

Cooking 101: Baked Sweet & Klondike Gourmet (red-yellow) Potatoes with Fresh Rosemary Herb

To cook this food is easy as 1-2-3! All you needs are sweet potatoes+klondike gourmet potatoes+fresh rosemary herb+extra virgin olive oil+ salt & pepper.
Slice potatoes into cubes after washing. Mix all the ingredients above I mention. Preheat the conventional oven before to bake of at least 45 minutes or until it turned soft.

This is how it looks before I bake the potatoes

And this is how it looks after cooking.
I ate the bake potatoes with chicken adobo. yum!

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Water Melon Smoothie

A very refreshing drink that could bring so much joy.
just add water melon fruit+ ice cubes+ evaporated milk+sugar.
ahh.....yum.

Cooking 101: Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp & Tomato

As long as I can afford to buy fresh shrimps this recipe I'm going to share with you will always be in my cooking list at least once or twice a week. I do writes a list of the recipe I'm going to cook and the ingredients I'm going to buy for the week in order to fasten my task. The husband and I are both like the Angel Hair Pasta for some reason. So I always stocks a few boxes of it in our house in case the stores are running out of stock. (not! hehe) Tomatoes in the other hand are our favorite fruit (?) if you may ask why tomato is a fruit? technically it is a fruit, it is also consider as a berry. go figure through Google!)
Also tomato is our favorite food ingredient especially for the pasta. Such as dried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and the sauce. We actually try to stay away from butter base sauce for our pasta because of the cholesterol. Besides in Italy tomato sauce was their famous main ingredient for their pasta even until now, so I stuck from the original. :) Anyway, to cook on this was so easy. It does not requires a lot of your time.

Here are what I usually add on the ingredients:

*Angel Hair pasta noodles, fresh shrimps, fresh cherry tomatoes, dried tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, baby carrots, dry white wine, tomato paste, garlic, onion, bell pepper, salt & ground pepper to taste.*

Please bear with me as I could not give you the exact ratio of each ingredients. When I cook, I do estimation. Adding amount of ingredients are according on what my taste like. For example, if I am planning to consume this for 2 days I will add 10 pieces of large fresh shrimps in it with 6 pieces of cherry tomatoes, a few drop of dry white wine and tomato paste something like that. It's like "go figure again"?! Sorry. hehe

Here how's to cook:

1. Cook noodles in boiling salted water until it firm. Drain.
2. In a separate pan toast the spices ingredients with olive oil in just a few minute, then add the shrimps and baby carrots cook until the shrimps turn brown.
3. Add a few amount of dry white wine following the cherry tomatoes, dried tomatoes, and the tomato paste. Simmer in just a few more minutes.
4. Add noodles to the heated sauce, mix it.

Voila, that's it! You will never disappoint the taste because it does taste good. Promise.

A Warm Meal

Winter is everywhere in the USA! Florida is experiencing cold too but good thing we don't have snow- thank God. The weather right now (at exactly 10:47pm) is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm freezing to death when I went outside earlier to walk my dog even though I have my jacket with a hood, thick socks, pajamas, and gloves. I couldn't stand the cold- I'm not use to it really. Good thing the dog didn't stay long outside she does not like the cold i guess. Well, it's about time for me to make food anyway we must hurry up.

So I cook soup! A soup that is perfect during this winter time to warm up our cold body. It's so easy to make. And it didn't requires a lot of ingredients. All you needs are; garlic, onion, evoo (extra virgin olive oil), stocks (either veg. or chicken), chicken meat, and bean thread noddles.
To cook is as easy as 1.2.3!
just stir the spices and chicken meat, then add the stocks let it boil.
add the noddles simmer until the noddles become sticky. of course don't forget the salt and pepper to taste.

Happy weekend!