Today is Chinese New Year. My family loves Chinese food, but I find that takeout is never cheap because we end up getting so much food (so many items! “I’ll take an order of this and an order of that and a quart of this…”). It’s also never healthy. So, over the years, it has evolved that I make dinner for Chinese New Year. I love making it, but there’s a lot of cook time involved, especially if you go nuts and make all the things I did.

Every year I try to make something new. Last year I made egg drop soup (which is amazingly easy – chicken broth, eggs, and lemon juice). This year, I made steamed BBQ buns. This is one of our dim sum favorites and I was excited to try it myself. This is adapted from a recipe I found in Cooking Light 3 years ago and have held onto. The Cooking Light recipe uses pork, I use beef.

Dough:
1 cup warm water
3 tbsp sugar
1 package dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
3 1/4 cups flour
3 tbsp canola oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Combine water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let stand for 5 minutes. Add flour, oil, and salt and stir until it forms dough. Then turn it out and knead it until it is smooth and elastic. This took only a couple of minutes for me. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for an hour or until doubled.

Punch the dough down and let it rest for 5 minutes. Knead in the baking powder and let it rest 5 minutes. Separate the dough into 10 sections.

Fried Rice

Filling:
3/4 lb sirloin, cooked until rare and thinly sliced, then diced
3 sliced green onions
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce or tamari (I always use tamari)
1 1/2 tsp honey
1 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp salt
Mix ingredients together while the dough is rising and allow to sit.

When the dough is ready, roll each piece out to about a 5 inch round. Place 1/10th of the filling in the center. Gather the side and pinch together, twisting slightly.

You’re supposed to cook these in a bamboo steamer, but I don’t have one, so

Shrimp Lo Mein

I used a big saute pan, which I filled with water which I brought to a boil. I set the buns on a round pizza pan the kind with holes in it (put them on seam side down with a couple of inches between them). I covered it tightly with foil and set it on the saute pan. I allowed it to steam for 15 min, then I allowed it to rest for about 5 minutes. They were done perfectly. The dough is fluffy and light and the meat inside is rich and flavorful. These were a huge hit and I’ll probably have to make them every year!

The other dishes on the table last night were:
Fried rice: you can see my usual recipe here, this time I used zucchini, carrot, savoy cabbage, green onion, white onion, and bean sprouts

Edamame

Shrimp lo mein: I boil buckwheat soba noodles with 1 head of chopped broccoli, then quickly cook 2 heads of baby bok choy with sesame oil and teriyaki sauce. I add the noodles and broccoli and about 1/2 lb of shrimp. I add more teriyaki and some tamari and stir until the shrimp are done

Edamame: I boil a bag of frozen edamame about 4 minutes, drain and cool and sprinkle with kosher or sea salt

Potstickers: I had some in the freezer fortunately, from the last time I made them. I always make these with ground turkey. I mixed up a dipping sauce of tamari, sweet and sour sauce, hoisin, ginger, green onions, and water.

We had green tea and I bought a box of fortune cookies for dessert. I wanted to make sesame chicken, but I was out of chicken!

Happy New Year!

Today is Chinese New Year. My family loves Chinese food, but I find that takeout is never cheap because we end up getting so much food (so many items! “I’ll take an order of this and an order of that and a quart of this…”). It’s also never healthy. So, over the years, it has … Read more →

The pick for 2/7 is from Pru at Perfecting Pru and is beef bourguignon.

2/14 is sauteed sole chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet.

Ana at Sweet Almond Tree has chosen chocolate biscotti for 2/21.

The pick for 2/7 is from Pru at Perfecting Pru and is beef bourguignon. 2/14 is sauteed sole chosen by Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet. Ana at Sweet Almond Tree has chosen chocolate biscotti for 2/21.

Acorn squash is my new pal, so I’ve been trying it out lots of different ways. I love it in this recipe with chicken and apple.

To make each individual packet:
1/2 cup cooked instant brown rice
1 chicken breast
1/2 cup peeled, roughly chopped acorn squash
1/2 of an apple, cored and roughly chopped
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp thyme
1 tbsp apple juice or cider
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
pinch dried mustard

You can cook the instant brown rice in the microwave in a glass bowl, or use leftover rice you have. Place the rice on the parchment and lay the chicken breast on top. Place the squash and apple on top. Drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle on the cinnamon, thyme and dried mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the juice or cider and vinegar. Fold and bake at 400 for 22 minutes. Allow to rest about 3 minutes before opening.

This is a great entire meal in a packet. The flavors are wonderful for a cold winter or fall night.

Acorn squash is my new pal, so I’ve been trying it out lots of different ways. I love it in this recipe with chicken and apple. To make each individual packet: 1/2 cup cooked instant brown rice 1 chicken breast 1/2 cup peeled, roughly chopped acorn squash 1/2 of an apple, cored and roughly chopped … Read more →

I’ve lived in the Buffalo, NY area all of my life, so I know my wings. Wings are a staple of parties and nights you don’t feel like cooking in this neck of the woods (which may explain the average waistband around here too). We have a yearly festival and locals hotly contend who makes the best wings. A lot of us also make our wings. In this post, I shared a recipe I like to use for baked wings. Nothing compares to hot and fresh wings right out of the fryer at the Anchor Bar or Duff’s (where President Obama made a stop here when he was in town last year. We locals analyzed his order for weeks and weeks) though.

Last week, Martha did a show about meatballs. Oh, how my family loves meatballs. I make Asian meatballs, Greek meatballs, and I almost always have a bag of my turkey meatballs in the freezer. Meatballs sub are a favorite for leftover meatballs here. So the idea of a meatball show had me quite excited. I was even more excited to see Martha and guests make Buffalo Chicken Wing Meatballs.  I HAD to give this one a try. I followed the recipe, however instead of using 3/4 cup of hot sauce, I reduced it to 1/4 cup – and this was still almost too hot for me (I am very sensitive to spicy foods – but the rest of the family did not think it was too spicy at all). This was very easy to make and they turned out perfectly. I did not make the bleu cheese dip recipe and instead used Marie’s light bleu cheese dressing, which is always in our fridge. This was a total home run. They tasted exactly like wings, but without the mess, high fat, or bones. This is absolutely a MUST make for Superbowl Sunday. We had this for dinner, but it’s really supposed to be a party food and it would work perfectly as that. This recipe is getting the highest rating from these chicken wing lovers!

I’ve lived in the Buffalo, NY area all of my life, so I know my wings. Wings are a staple of parties and nights you don’t feel like cooking in this neck of the woods (which may explain the average waistband around here too). We have a yearly festival and locals hotly contend who makes … Read more →

Have you ever bought an ingredient for a recipe then been simply unable to locate it anywhere in your house? That’s what happened to me with this. I needed mini size cupcake liners or candy wrappers for this recipe. I bought them. I brought them home. They sat on the kitchen table for a few days. Then I put them in the pantry. Then I moved them to a shelf in the pantry so that I would be able to easily find them. Then, when I went to make this, they were just gone. We looked everywhere. So I had to improvise, and I used full size cupcake liners.

This project is from February Living and was chosen by Sassy Suppers. All you do is melt bittersweet chocolate (which I do in the microwave) and then brush into the inside of the cups. Let it dry and do it again. Simple, right?

It actually was pretty simple. The only hard part was getting the paper to peel off. I had to call in Mr. MarthaAndMe for that. He popped them in the freezer for a minute then was able to get it to peel off.

You can add anything you want to the cups – fruit, mousse, ice cream, etc. Martha suggested peanut butter but I didn’t want to eat that much peanut butter. So I did fruit and ice cream. This is super cute and would really be a great way to serve dessert for a dinner party.

Have you ever bought an ingredient for a recipe then been simply unable to locate it anywhere in your house? That’s what happened to me with this. I needed mini size cupcake liners or candy wrappers for this recipe. I bought them. I brought them home. They sat on the kitchen table for a few … Read more →

I love mac and cheese, but sometimes I like it with a bit of a twist. Here’s my latest version, which I must confess is extra good if you serve it with some meatballs, but excellent by itself. And you will feel virtuous because it has lots of veggies.

2 slices wheat bread

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup fontina cheese

1/2 cup Gorgonzola cheese

1/4 cup cheddar cheese

1/2 lb whole wheat penne

1 1/2 cup frozen peas

2 oz fresh baby spinach

2 cups cooked cauliflower florets

2 tsp butter

2 tsp flour

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Make the bread into breadcrumbs in the food processor. Add 1/4 cup Parmesan, and 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Mix and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400.

Begin cooking pasta, you want it done about the time the sauce below is, so make them simultaneously if you can. Just when it reaches doneness, add the vegetables to the pot and cook until they’re hot and the spinach is wilted (about a minute or two).

Mix cheeses in a bowl. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk in flour, cooking for about 30 seconds. Whisk in the cream and turn up to high, bringing to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, stirring occassionally, for about 1 minute. Add in 1/4 tsp salt and pepper.

Drain pasta and vegetables and place them on top of the cheeses in the bowl. Pour the cream sauce on top. Cover and let it sit for 3 minutes.

Pour into a greased 13×9 baking dish and cover with breadcrumb mix, pressing it down into the pasta. Bake at 400 for 7 minutes until the breadcrumbs are slightly browned.

I loved this. I am generally not a Gorgonzola fan, but the little bit in this recipe gives it a really interesting tang. This was creamy and cheesy but it had enough veggies in it to make it feel like a meal to me. Oh and if you just happen to have a bag of turkey meatballs already made in your freezer, adding one to your plate makes this supreme.

I love mac and cheese, but sometimes I like it with a bit of a twist. Here’s my latest version, which I must confess is extra good if you serve it with some meatballs, but excellent by itself. And you will feel virtuous because it has lots of veggies. 2 slices wheat bread 1 cup … Read more →

I need your help. I recently made Chicken Chesapeake, which is from Paula Deen’s magazine. Here’s the recipe

8 oz lump crabmeat
6 boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup butter
8 oz sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
1/2 cup minced green onion
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup cream
8 oz cream cheese
Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 13×9 dish. Sprinkle crab in bottom.
Season chicken with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper then cook in 2 tbsp melted butter in a skillet 4-5 min per side. Remove and place on top of crab.
Melt remaining butter, add mushrooms and green onions. Cook for 6 min until mushrooms are tender. Add wine and cook 6 min until reduced by half. Add cream and broth, cook for 10 min until slightly thickened. Stir in cream cheese. Add remaining salt and pepper. Pour over chicken and bake for 25-30 minutes.

It sounded SOOOOO good. But it wasn’t. It actually was pretty awful. I did use a refrigerated can of pasteurized crabmeat and I cut the recipe in half. Other than that, I followed it exactly. It was horrible. The sauce tasted delicious when I was cooking it, but over the chicken it was tasteless. The crab tasted not so great. Nothing about this was good and I was so disappointed. I don’t cook with crab a lot and am wondering if I expected too much? I tried squeezing some lemon over it on my plate and that didn’t help much. Any suggestions for making this recipe work?

I need your help. I recently made Chicken Chesapeake, which is from Paula Deen’s magazine. Here’s the recipe 8 oz lump crabmeat 6 boneless chicken breasts 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp pepper 1/4 cup butter 8 oz sliced Baby Bella mushrooms 1/2 cup minced green onion 1 cup white wine 1 cup chicken … Read more →

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got a freezer full of salmon from our recent Alaska trip, so coming up with new recipes for it is a must! I recently read a great cookbook called Cooking in the South by Johnnie Gabriel, who is Paula Deen’s cousin. One recipe in there is for a salmon dish with a BBQ-like sauce. I actually intended to just make that recipe, but I realized I was missing a key ingredient – ketchup! So I improvised, and here’s the result:

1 pound salmon

2 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

1 tbsp yellow mustard

1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce

1/8 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp garlic powder

4 tbsp condensed tomato soup

1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

salt and pepper

Place the salmon on parchment paper (I was using one large piece, but if you have individual fillets, you can cook them together or separately). Place all the other ingredients in a glass bowl or measuring cup and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir it well. Pour half of the mixture over the salmon (reserving half). Fold up the parchment and bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Serve with the reserved BBQ sauce on the side.

This fed two hungry people at my house, but could definitely feed 2 adults and 2 kids who were not famished. The sauce has a great tang and sweetness to it which really complements the salmon. Serving the reserved sauce on the side allows you to add more if you like yours heavily coated in sauce.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got a freezer full of salmon from our recent Alaska trip, so coming up with new recipes for it is a must! I recently read a great cookbook called Cooking in the South by Johnnie Gabriel, who is Paula Deen’s cousin. One recipe in there is for a salmon dish … Read more →

Artichoke Parmesan Crostini was a quick and easy recipe that would make a great hors d’oeuvre or party food. I put all the ingredients in the food procesor and whizzed them up. It was ready literally in minutes. I think I might add a little more cheese next time. Thanks to Megan’s Cookin’ for selecting this.

Next week’s project is chocolate cups from p. 56 of Feb. Living. Let me know if you need the recipe.

Artichoke Parmesan Crostini was a quick and easy recipe that would make a great hors d’oeuvre or party food. I put all the ingredients in the food procesor and whizzed them up. It was ready literally in minutes. I think I might add a little more cheese next time. Thanks to Megan’s Cookin’ for selecting … Read more →

The first article I ever wrote about food,  12 years ago, was about making take out food at home and potato skins was one of the recipes. At the time we were living in a rural area, I’d just had my second baby and we were pretty much dead broke since I’d left my law practice to stay home. I spent a lot of time looking for ways to save money.

I’ve always had a thing for the potato skins at TGI Fridays. I get them whenever we go there (which isn’t very often!). Because eating out wasn’t on the agenda much back then (or now for that matter), I learned to make my own.

Bake 4 Idaho potatoes in the oven until done (don’t use the microwave – they have to be baked in the oven). Scoop out most of the potato, leaving a thin layer (when I made it this time, I used the insides to make baked potato soup). Spray the inside and outside of the skins with cooking spray (or brush with olive oil) and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 for until they are crispy but not getting too brown (about half an hour). Take out of the oven and sprinkle shredded cheddar or American cheese (or any cheese you like) and sprinkle some cooked, chopped bacon (I used 3 pieces this time). Sprinkle with salt. Put back in the oven until the cheese melts. Mix some chopped chives or scallions into sour cream and serve to dip in (I always make about 1 cup for this amount of skins).

These are a special treat in our house – not something we have often, but when we do, everyone loves them. You could jazz this up with some jalapenos, salsa, chopped ham, French onion dip, or different kinds of cheese. It also makes a great party snack (think: Super Bowl).

The first article I ever wrote about food,  12 years ago, was about making take out food at home and potato skins was one of the recipes. At the time we were living in a rural area, I’d just had my second baby and we were pretty much dead broke since I’d left my law … Read more →