Consequence of too much pumpkin pie….tiny bitty starrized pumpkin pie

I am having pumpkin pie from the thanksgiving holiday….till yesterday….oh my, countless pumpkin pies across entire month. and I am not bored of it ..yet!!! I love its moist, not-so-sweet fillings, and the delicate smell of cinnamon and ginger. adding a big whipped cream. awesome sweet endings.  When I stroll down the supermarket aisles, a can of pumpkin pie filling jumps into my basket for no reason   I miss the pumpkin !!

So here comes this tiny bitty starrized pumpkin pie:

Yeah, I don’t need a big pumpkin pie to pamper myself…as ya know that I have packed 2.5 pounds during this holiday. So I keep “portion control” in mind , and indulge in a tiny bitty sweets . oooops, the star is a bit burned on top…but I’ll convince you why its called a starrized pumpkin pie later

the tiny pie crust :

6 slices of toasted bread.

2 tsp of butter. ( or maybe i used three…)

blend them really well until its kinda stick together.

Press the mixtures into the little cups gently.

the pie fillings:

1. 2 large egg white, beat till perk form.

2. 2/3 can of that pumpkin fillings, 2 egg yolk, 1/4 cup of sugar (do you think that’s too much? …okay…you can get rid of that). 1/2 cup of flour.  Beaten till well mixed.

3. Mix the pumpkin filling and the egg whites together and get ready to fill the crust.

turns out that my pumpkin filling is too much for the crust…so I made some pumpkin pie without the crust…purely holy moly pumpkins . oh yah!

Now I will show you why its called starrized!!!

ta dah!!!! I drip some chocolate syrup on each pie and use a small knife to carve out some stars . But I didn’t expect them to be burned….T.T  should be checking out them more frequently next time. But I do think that chocolate syrup decorate my pre-oven pumpkin pie well. Love’em .

So my taste bud is greatly satisfied today, haha

Ho Ho Ho…. I am back! Merry X’mas Everybody! Shepherds Pie and Gingerbread Coffee Bread (wait, there are two bread in that name!)

Where did I go??? Nowhere.

How come you are so slacking in posting??? No idea.

hehe Just being lazy, and overwhelmed by all the parties, friends gathering, AND enjoy the first X’mas that I officially celebrated in the U.S!!!   alright…I will catch up , yah!

The average weight American gains during the holiday season is 10 pounds…well, mine is 2.5 pounds…(could you please not count that new year party??) :-p . But who can resist the temptation of the aroma in the holiday kitchen ? M’m , just can’t wait to talk about foooood !

The Shepherds Pie is my secrete weapon So for the holiday dinner, it is irreplaceable !!!

The dish is so easy to make, yet the presentation and the flavor definitely stand out in the dinning table!!

Ingredients:

1. half pound of grounded beef (I use 75% lean – oh come on , its holiday, we need a bit nice flavors that comes out of that fat ) I didn’t use lamb  - if you could find them! there are two things that I can never find in our local super market : one is duck (oh I miss it!), the other is lamb….

2. 1 big yellow onion , diced. carrot , diced; 2 Russel potatoes.

3.  Soysauce, TJ’s grill seasoning, 2 tsp of butter, milk, pinch salt.

4. optional: I use some edamame – if that’s your favorite bean

Here is how:

1. Brown the onion, and then sautéed the beef , carrot, edamame.

2. add 1 cup of water, and 3 tsp of soysauce, bring it to simmer for about 20 min…until you couldn’t resist the aroma ….

3. in the mean time, make the mashed potatoes.

Put the sauteed beef into a dish pan, gently press them. It will release lots of juice when it is baked in the oven. if you do not press it ……the juice will pops out and ruin the presentation of the potatoes ….

For the mashed potato, do it your own way I mashed them with 2 tsp of butter, and 1/4 of soymilk, pinch salt.  oh yeah and 2 tsp of real mayo.  haha….I am letting myself go a bit these days….

spread the mashed potato on the dish, scoop by scoop, and make some fancy edges so it has some brownish spot when it comes out of the oven.

alright, last step :

oven, broil, for about 20 minutes.

Smells so good….but I have to wait until the party to eat them!

Gingerbread Coffee Bread

“TJ now has a Gingerbread coffee for you and your family to celebrate this wonderful holidays….”

right after heard it on the radio, we went straight to the TJ and get this Gingerbread coffee !! I had tried it Penera bread and Starbucks,  and instantly enlisted it in my favorite hot drinks well you know that I am not a big fiend of coffee. maybe I am attracted by the gingerbread!!!!

Despite my limited tolerance level of caffeine, I can’t help brew 4 cups of this ginger bread coffee….I shared with my roommate who is so confused “I bet you got insomnia before you finish that big jar….” well. words taken. I stopped after one cup. and make the rest into a gingerbread coffee bread

I have absolutely NO recipe to follow…its just the spur of the moment. I pour 2 cup of Gingerbread coffee into 3 cups of self rising flours, and literate amount of black rice and barleys. I find that putting barleys and black rice into the bread is a great idea to add some crunchiness.

I Knead the dough pretty hard and extreme patient bake them in the 350 oven for about 30 minutes. it surprise me when it comes out as a “bread”!!! I was intentionally make them into biscotti . shhhh….

Hey ! that’s very Gingerbread !!!!  Enjoy!

and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!

Parties Parties Parties!!! and….party leftovers !!! Cashew Milk, Enchilada, and Dessert is served.

Guess every body is busy with parties now, end of the year, celebrate with friends and colleagues…. and not surprisingly, so much food leftovers from all the parties. what do you do  with them? I am not gonna toss all the cookies and chocolates and beef stews, just not feel good to throw away food that can actually adds flavors to my routine eats. so today’s eat is all about recycles !

Tons of beef stew leftover, plus some pork stew… though I am not a carnivore , I am happy to have some tender beef stews every now and then. So made this Left over Enchiladas ( Not an attractive name, I know, haha

Not a very typical enchilada that packed with cheese. But I love the crunchiness where the tortilla is not melted with cheese.  I guess there is much less calories than the one I had in Austin grill – oh man, that one, is full of cheese and full of ….??? sorry I can only remember I was eating lots of cheese Please don’t blame me if you feel cheese the essence of this dish, haha

I mix the left over bite size beef and pork stews with diced mushrooms. wrap in a tortilla, sprinkle mozzarella cheese and olive. Bake them at 350 for 30 minutes.

Sizzling again!! I just can’t help eat them all. The smoky smell from mushroom well blended with the beef and pork stews, and the tortilla is soooo crunchy!!

You want some as well?

Maybe you all have the experience of bringing back home the left over cookies and cakes from the party….or is it only me???? hahaha, last week we had a department party. everyone else decide to bring back the left over beers….while I was attracted by those chocolate crisps and cookies do i just have a fate of gaining weight ?? hehe. but I had an idea already what I’m gonna use them for.

It’s my M’M Cake. yeah, M1= morning, M2= moist! did I just get my creativity back ??

The cake itself contains :

1. “bean dreg” from cashew milk that I’ll introduce later.

2. 1 cup of self-rising flour, 1/2 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of wheat bran, 1 egg, 1 banana.

3. LEFTOVERS!! I didn’t use any extra sugar, instead, I borrow the sweetness from 2 chopped chocolate chip cookies, and 1 scoop of strawberry ice cream cake. for the top, is the finely chopped chocolate crisp from the party.

Sorry I am pretty liberal (again!) in terms of cake ingredients. I am not selling my cake anyway, as long as it taste good, I am 100% satisfied!!!

the ” bean dreg” is actually cashews and sesame. so if you are a NUTS lover as me, you will love the smell when its baking!! and banana just add in another nature sweets for the cake. The red bites (if you can see it) is the ice cream...first time I am using ice cream in my cake, am I nuts????

but I promise, the cake is so dense and moist, and very fulfilling !! it instantly become my new breakfast lover. 2 slices are even not enough !!

last but not least, I am serving some cashew milk with my soymilk maker:

with about 1/2 cup of cashews, 2 tsp of black sesame which is good for your hair and digestion system.  I am STILL excited with my new baby, and have so many thoughts about my morning drinks:

My little pinky piggy friend again being my best accompany for breakfast!! I wish you could try them too!!

Have a good night everyone

Hey have you try that Banana Hammocks lately ???

Chocolate Covered Katie invents them I guess. M’m M’m soooo good . and yes I know there is a naughty joke about it, and I assume you know as well, hahahaha

I am kinda addicted to Nuts recently, especially NUTS butter (hey wait, aren’t I always ????) and I find my new fav: TJ’s fat-free cottage cheese (middle).  Light and cheesy, only 70 Cal for 1/2 cup.

PB (middle) is the TJ’s raw creamy, unsalted one. very very “liquidly” style. I love its consistency.

AB (top) is the TJ’s raw chunky, unsalted one. very very thick and chunky.

So now you can define my Nuts butter profile: RAW and UNSALTED.

this Banana Hammock definitely hit the spot !!!  can you still sit still and not try it out??

The other thing I made today is with Gigantic Mushroom I got from super market.

I put a peeler over it, so you can see how big these white babes are:

I am super excited to find them, and the first idea pops up is a Stuffed Gigantic Mushroom

Ingredients:

1. mix silk tofu and corn beef (no salt needed!)

2. clean the mushroom and make the whole BIGGER (like that on the left ).

3. Stuff it and lightly spray on some veggie oil, and sprinkle some TJ’s seafood grill seasoning. I know it’s not seafood – but that grill seasoning has tons of nice herb and spice that I couldn’t forgo !

4. Bake at 350 degree, for 30 minutes.

Ready to serve: -D

The flavor of corn beef well mixed with silky tofu, as well of the mushroom. Smoky, and very filling !  Hope you like it! 

Whole Grain Milk For Your Health :-D A tutorial of my new Baby

Perk up, soymilk/almond milk lovers here is the  tutorial of my new soymilk maker

This time my combination is Whole Grain Milk (should I get a label like whole wheat somewhere?)

Today’s Grains include : Brown Rice, Barley, Black Rice, Peanuts, Soybean, Black Bean.

I don’t have to convince you guys about how much fiber you would get from brown rice, barley and black bean.  The peanuts are used to add a nice touch to the flavor. But I do have to say something about the black rice (and I just know its other names is forbidden rice!!! ):

“Black rice is one of several black-colored heirloom plants producing rice variants such as Indonesian Black Rice, forbidden rice, or wild rice. High in nutritional and medicinal value, forbidden rice is rich in iron and considered a blood tonifier. Unlike other black rice from Asia, it is not glutinous or rough. This grain is high in fiber and has a deep, nutty taste. The deep color of black forbidden rice, and the deep purple color when cooked, suggests the presence of phytonutrients. It has a relatively high mineral content (including iron) and, like most rice, supplies several important amino acids.“

The black rice , as dates, is especially good for girls – help with the blood circulation, make your face glow (it does!!) that’s why it is an irreplaceable ingredients in my Grain milk.

Aren’t they perfect in line with the idea of “whole grain diet”  ???? if you are not a big carb eater for lunch or dinner ,  incorporate some grains in your breakfast milk would be a wonderful idea.

Also, I’ll try to  make some almond milk, cashew milk, peanuts milk, etc later

Soak them overnight, and rinse them really well. Then, put them in the soymilk maker:

You could “sweeten the deal” with some dark chocolate , as I did , irresistably.

Plug in, then 20 minutes later, the grain milk is here.

The color is nicely purpled because of the black rice and black bean. So now is all about your creativity !!!

so after filter out those bean “dregs”, you will left with some really nice purple , nutritious , thick Whole Grain Milk

Or, You can have the residues of the grains with your favorite oatmeal, top with some cookies / muffins (or something healthier of course).

So you are eating whole grains that extremely high in fiber, and just smell the ‘thick’ purple grain milk – you will fall in love with it the first time you try! it just taste so much better than the silk soymilk. I love its “dense” texture.

or , use it for your muffins :

By adding in : oatmeal, raisin, wheat bran, a bit flour, 1 egg, and grain milk. Bake them as the way you bake your muffins:

Hope you enjoyed this breakfast journey!!! I just can’t say enough good about my new baby :-p

Have a wonderful day every one!

Final Crunch Vs Party Time! Tofu Box(ing), and My Prep for the Party tonight!

As an unprofessional blogger , blogging at noon (1pm) is so not me…hehe, normally at this time, I would be busy preparing for the meeting in the afternoon, or squeeze my almost depleted cognitive resources into the never ending programming…

But today is a party day!!! we had a department tradition of celebrating the end of semester – well, it should be “celebrating we all survived another semester, no major head damaging, no major depression, no major physical injury, due to intensive reading, programming, writing, presenting ” !! so everybody will bring a dish to share and yes, it’s a department of Marketing, as Linda asked me yesterday: how could you be a PhD in Marketing ??? oh yes, in tonight’s party, you gonna see a bunch of people doing marketing, with a PhD title!

So I kick off the day with some “leisure” work. Since I just turned in my paper yesterday, I give myself a day break , Shhhhhhh…..

I was a bit slacking in posting, again!! this week , I’ll stop beating around the bush and go right into the topic : FOOOOOOD!

For lunch, I made some Tofu Box with Corned Beef. or should I call it Tofu Boxing to rock this a bit? haha.

This is a fun dish to make , and of course, very easy . I made this simply because I have a bigger project to do  - my food for the party. This one, only takes 5 minutes to prepare.

I use the silky tofu and make a little hole in it

and then, stuff in my leftover corned beef.

spray on a bit veggie oil to give it a nice golden edge.

Send to the oven, 400 degree, for 20 minutes. till u can hear the beef sizzling inside that tofu box.

The nice juice from beef flavored the tofu naturely, and I didn’t expect that the corned beef after baking will be soooo crispy!!

I pair this three tofu box(ing) with some veggies. but I have to admit that that tofu box completely win me over !!! I have almost all the veggies left in the plate when I am really full, haha

And then, my big project, is my favorite Pearl Coated Meatball. This is my secrete party weapon, since most people in my party would be meat lovers!!! So, Please stick a ruler up your eyelids !!

The meatball is made of corn beef, pork, and silky tofu (with 1 egg and minced ginger). When I blend the ingredients in the mixer, it turns out to be a very smooth mousse texture and I almost can’t help to dip my bread in it:

then, use your spoon to make meatballs from this mousse . it’s a bit hard this time because of the texture , but I have confidence that it will taste much better than the coarse texture ones.

then roll the ball in a bowl of sweeten rice that has been soak for 12 hours to absorb enough water.

Steam pearl-coated meatball for 30 minutes.

Then, made the sweat and sour sauce (isn’t that your favorite Chinese Sauce, hehe ):

1/4 cup of soysauce,

1 tsp of vinegar,

2 tsp of sugar,

1/4 cup of water,

while the sauce is boiling, stir in 1 tsp of corn starch to thicken the sauce to your taste. Pour the sauce over the meatball, sprinkle some greens ( I use green pepper) for garnish.

Enjoy my friends!!

Off to party, oh yah!!!

I got a new baby!!!

it’s so exciting to open the package, and makes it even better to open two!

so the first one is my award for the POM contest (Yah! thanks Coco!) I made those Salmon in the POM Sea. And then, miracly, I won the contest!

POM send me a big package:

8 bottles of POM juice, including one special Mango, and one blueberry juice, plus, 6 POM energy bars, and a very cute POM note book which I have decided to use it as my recipe book , haha

I have see so many POM juice flying around in the blog world, and can’t wait to try out them ! have a first sip –oh whoa, very fruity ! they taste exactly the same when I pureed those pomegranate .  because, the only ingredient is pomegranate!! The only thing I am little concerned is the sugar content is pretty high. (32g per serving) but I guess they are all naturally from the fruit.

then, of cause, I can’t wait to try out those POM bar:

Absolutely my cup of tea!!! very fruity taste, with nuts crunchy ( oh I am such a “nuts” person!), covered with dark chocolate. the bar is very dense, and moist, and not that sweet . The fiber is 16% , which surprise a lot! I guess it would be a really nice touch for the morning oatmeal (when I become a completely oatmeal fan!)

And the second package is ……(flash !!!)

Soymilk Maker!!! or Nuts milk Maker, or Grain milk maker, or Bean milk maker!

as ya all know…since I switch to soymilk, I can never find my way back to milk….

but the more I “research” the soymilk (silk) labels, the more I feel uncomfortable making it my morning buddy everyday… the high sugar content (about 7g per serving), and several ingredients that i guess play the role of preservatives, makes me a bit scared…. so as said in my food philosophy , I kinda avoid the packaged food, the silk soymilk, unfortunately, have its name listed.

and thanks to my dear parents, they insist me to take a healthier life style starting with this soymilk maker. They bought one several weeks ago and love it.  This soymilk maker not only make soymilk from soybeans, it actually can make every grain milk, bean milk, and nuts milk. That makes me really excited to have my whole morning eats completely comes out my own kitchen!!! drink – soymilk maker; Breads/Muffin – straight out of the oven!!!

So I can’t wait to try out my very first grain combination.

they are : soybean, peanuts, black rice ( good for blood circulation), walnuts, almonds, black beans.

Soak them over night, and throw in the soymilk maker, 20 minutes, ready to drink!!!

the milk is so smooth and “thick”, and has the special smell from the almond and walnuts, M’m so good!!! I instantly fall in love with my new baby!!!! it just made my day!!

Do I sounds over excited ? oh yeah I am!  :-D can’t wait to try out the new combinations!!!!!!!!!!

For dinner on Friday, I made a new version of Routatuli.

I watch that movie for probably three times…. simply because, i love food, and I love cartoons!

stacking things together is really fun.

I use the King Oyster Mushroom which is really juicy and tasty, stack with sliced red skin potatoes, and Chinese sausage.

then sprinkle with some Chinese Chives (I miss those flavor!), and a little bit cheese ( and I am a cheese person, as you know.)

send them to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. until the fat coming out of that sausage completely being absorbed by the mushroom and potatoes.

Great Friday!!!!! I hope you all have a great weekend, dear blog friends!

First Sign of Aging!!!!!!!!

is that…..I stayed awake , widely awake, till 4:40am this morning!!! why’s that?

I guess I am not that stressed out with my dissertation, though I did struggled a bit with the emails that should be send out before I went to bed. But I’d rather not believe that’s the reason I am staying up that late yesterday!

so I search all over my head…and finally realized that I had a cup of Joe around 3pm yesterday!! I confess that recently ( this month) I developed a really bad habit of drinking coffee , even though I am really not that drowsy. I had tried to switch to the hot cocoa which has less caffeine, and some fruit teas, they not really help. I am still, habitually, need to hold a warm cup of coffee, either for breakfast, or after lunch.

But I know I always over-reacted to the caffeine even in that tall cup. So I decided today that I need to change this habit. Challenge myself, for a coffee free week. I am not addicted to coffee at all before, and I am sure I can fix the prob and get the sleep I deserved! btw, I already hide my coffee at the back of my pantry! Dear friends, if you have a good way to do this, please, please let me know!

so keep on telling that widely awake story, I worked on my paper, while munching on some snacks….i know its bad, but I can’t think of a better way to makes me feel better ….

I hit the sack around 5am. then, wake up again at 9:08. $@#*$&^@*%$&!!! alright, I’ll just up, and take it easy. If I can make through the day, I’ll get back to my normal schedule. If not, I’ll just listen to my body nature.

So up till now (8pm), I am still up. feel A-OKAY . but definitely not energetic. or should I just say that I am on the verge of breaking down?!?! alright..not that bad. huh, we are still young… haha

To pamper myself for this tough night,  I had a chocolate coated French toast for breakfast.

I used the last two slices of my favorite TJ’s multi-seed bread! oh man, they are divine. I am so addicted with that poppy seeds.

for the chocolate coating, I use d:  1 tsp of coco powder, 1 egg, 1/4 cup of soymilk ( that last 1/4 cup!) I am clearing my fridge.

and, everyone knowns how to make French toast. I am just having it on weekdays, instead of weekend brunch.

Did I confess that I have a whole collection of Lindts Bar chocolate , from 0% to 99%, including their special editions? btw , they are all empty packages….

For lunch, I add a Firm Tofu – Pork Stuffed Pepper.

These peppers are way too spicy!!! I can barely eat them ! so the only way to clear it up is “roasting”

the stuffing : (back to T-day!) : flavored firm tofu, miced. (about 1/2 cup). 1/2 cup of grounded pork, 1 tsp of soy sauce.

Roast the pepper at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

and then, they are not hot any more!!! and of cause, the juice of the meat adds a nice flavor, plus,  the firm tofu is totally toasted into a crunchy bites. M’m, food makes me feel so much better….