Sloppy Joes

This weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to try making some sloppy joes. My sister made it before, using this recipe, but I also found a recipe by Rachael Ray that got great reviews, and decided to incorporate some elements from that as well. We mainly followed the first recipe, but instead of using 3/4 cup of ketchup, we used 1/2 cup, and substituted the remaining 1/4 cup with barbecue sauce. We also added some Worcestershire sauce (per Rachael Ray's recipe). Delicious!

Sushi Night!

This weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to be a bit more adventurous with our meal--we both love sushi, so we decided to stop by a Japanese market and make some for dinner!

It was super easy (considering we were able to buy sushi rice, which normally takes up almost 50% of the work), and just cut up different types of sashimi (in our case salmon, tuna, and hamachi), some green onions, avocado, and imitation crab.
We made three different rolls using different combinations:

Salmon roll with avocado and green onion

To make the spicy rolls, we took some tuna/hamachi and minced it, then mixed in some Sriracha sauce to get that kick:

Spicy Tuna roll with imitation crab

Spicy Hamachi roll with green onion and avocado

And used the leftover fish as sashimi:

Overall, a huge success! We stuffed ourselves silly while watching the Oscars (when I showed my mom the pictures, she said, "you ate all that?!"). What better proof of success do you need? ;P

Fajitas!

This weekend was definitely a cooking weekend. This time, it was a team effort, with my boyfriend and sister helping as well. We decided to have some fun and make some fajitas! 

We marinated some steak (I believe it was flank steak?) using this recipe, and left it in the fridge for a whole afternoon. Unfortunately, our steak didn't look as mouth-watering as that recipe's, but it was still delicious!
As luck would have it, we had some Rice-a-Roni in the cupboard for Spanish rice, so we decided to throw that in as well, for some added flavor. 

After stir-frying some bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms, we were done!

 Overall, a success!

Mushroom Soup

It's been pretty cold, so I wanted to make something warm and hearty, but relatively easy to make. I decided to visit 101 Cookbooks, which I used for a lot of my recipes in the past and found a Mixed Mushroom Soup recipe that looked too good to pass up.


Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good variety of mushrooms at the local grocery store, so I just got one kind, and cut it up really small. I also used green onions instead of chives. I was afraid that the soup would not be a success, considering I was straying so much--I didn't have any barley or rice to add either, but it turned out great! Huge success, according to the boyfriend :)

Will definitely try again!

Chinese Corn Soup

I've been on a soup obsession recently, and have been looking for different soup recipes to try. This one is an oldie but goodie for sure:

It's really easy to make, here are the ingredients:
2 cans chicken stock
2 eggs (beaten)
2 cans creamed corn
1 can corn kernels
cornstarch
salt/pepper
green onions, chopped


Place chicken stock and creamed corn in soup pot and let boil. I like to put water in the empty chicken stock cans and swirl it around to get any chicken stock left, and add that to the soup pot. Use your judgement: if you feel that the amount of liquid is not enough, add more water (be careful though, I've added too much water before and ended up with really watery tasting soup). Once it's boiling, add corn kernels (as well as any meat/veggies you want to add--soft tofu is delicious with this soup) and let simmer. Make a cornstarch/water mixture in a small cup/bowl and add to soup until you reach the consistency you want. Remember that soup gets thicker once cold, so don't add too much cornstarch to the soup! Mix in eggs. I like to stir while adding about 1/2 of the eggs to get that nice wispy quality to it, and then not stirring as much with the rest, to leave bigger egg portions in the soup. Finally, add some salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with green onions. Enjoy!

Tri-berry Muffins

Ever since I made the cream of fresh tomato soup, I've been itching to try another Barefoot Contessa creation. There was one that I've been eyeing for a while now though, and now that berries are in season, I've finally gotten the chance to try it out!


From the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook, Tri-Berry Muffins!

It turned out great! Relatively easy to make also--the main berries were strawberries (chopped), blueberries, and raspberries. The only thing was, I thought I put the oven temperature for 375, but apparently, I actually put it on 325. Whoops.

So I'm not exactly sure how that affected the muffins, but for next time, I'll definitely make sure to double check. And probably put a little less sugar. And butter. Try to at least make it a bit healthier. :)

Chicken and Orzo with Parmesan and Basil

After such a long cooking hiatus, I finally made something! (Mostly because I had some orzo leftover and needed to make something with it). I found this recipe online and decided to give it a shot.

It turned out pretty well! And the recipe is actually really easy to follow. After prepping everything, I melted some butter over the pan, and put some garlic in for taste. I sauteed the orzo in the pan until it was brown (just a warning, once the orzo starts to brown, it burns pretty fast). After taking out the garlic, I poured a can of chicken broth and let the orzo cook. Once all the liquid had evaporated, I added the parmesan cheese (a bit less than what the recipe called for), basil, and some cilantro. Salt and pepper to taste.

For this dish, I decided to add some ground chicken also, which I cooked beforehand (with some salt and pepper) and added at the very end. I was afraid the dish would taste weird with it and so I wanted to sample it first before adding all the chicken in. The combination is actually pretty good.

I highly recommend it--it's easy and tasty!