Christmas Dinner Part 1: Szechuan Green Beans

During a recent trip to China, I had the best green bean dish in a small restaurant next to the apartment complex I stayed at. After that, I wanted to see if I can make it myself for Christmas dinner. So, after some research, I found a recipe I wanted to to try.


It was a relatively easy recipe to make, the only problem was, I made too much sauce for too few beans.. so the dish was too salty. Unfortunately, even after the dish was watered down (I saved the leftover sauce and used it for another green bean dish), it still didn't taste quite like that elusive green bean dish.

I guess this means the hunt for the best green bean recipe is still on!

Cooking Jambalaya Together

I've been looking forward to Cyn's visit since she planned it earlier this year. We've been talking about cooking something together and we decided on jambalaya since Cyn has always wanted to try it and I just wanted to learn to cook something. It was a relatively fast dish to prepare since we used cooked rice instead of cooking the rice with the broth as the recipe called for. It was also simple -we only needed one pot that we added all the ingredients into. However, we had to transfer pots once we added all the rice because it was very challenging to mix the ingredients thoroughly in a full pot.


Click here for the recipe.

Guacamole!

A couple of months ago, two of my coworkers were exchanging recipes. One of them was sharing his guacamole recipe with the other, and I was (while on the phone), taking copious mental notes. I've been itching to try it out ever since I heard him claim "it's the best guacamole I've ever had," and finally got around to doing it. Unfortunately, since I was a little distracted (seeing that I was on the phone during the recipe exchange), I didn't quite remember the measurements, so I just decided to wing it and do it by taste. Here's what I did:

4 avocados

approx. 1/2 Tbsp garlic (minced)

approx. 1/3 c chopped onions (my coworker specifically said white onion, but unfortunately, I didn't have any of those at the time)

approx. 1/4 c cilantro
1 jalapeno (minced)

1/2 lime

salt and pepper to taste

The reason I love guacamole so much is because it's so easy to make! The hardest part is prepping for it, and it's more tedious than difficult. So I just mixed all the ingredients together, and I guess it's up to you how you like guacamole--I like mine chunky, so I didn't go too crazy mashing it. Here is the final product:

The only thing I would change is, I probably wouldn't take out all the jalapeno seeds (I got scared it would be too spicy and took them all out), since I could barely taste it even after adding one whole jalapeno! Otherwise, I think this was definitely a success! Got a lot of compliments on it, and will definitely make some more again. After all, I have to use that other 1/2 lime before it dries out, right?

Arugula salad with Lemon-Romano Dressing

Wow! After such a long unintentional hiatus, I finally made something I haven't made before--completely unplanned and last minute too! I wanted some salad, and have always been a huge fan of arugula. The only dressing I had at home was one of those asian kinds, which didn't really go super well with arugula (not too bad, but not amazing either). So, I decided to try and make my own dressing!

It was actually relatively easy, I just tossed everything into the Magic Bullet and let it do all the work. The salad itself is just arugula, some chopped tomatoes and toasted pine nuts. The dressing was pretty easy to do also, but I didn't have any Parmesan, so I used Romano instead, and it still tasted good! It was just basically some olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest and Romano (Parmesan) cheese. Will definitely try this again--delicious! :D

Here's the end result:

Chocolate Chunk Deep Dish Coookies

Chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven are one of my favorite things. I tried a variation by baking the cookie dough in a ramekin. The result -a larger serving of soft, chewy and barely-baked cookie dough in the center. If you like your cookies crunchy this is not the recipe for you. I used a 4" ramekin and filled it halfway with cookie dough, only the top of the 1-inch high cookie was crisp. You could use a wider skillet to bake a flatter cookie if you prefer a crisp cookie.

Click here for the recipe.

Chocolate Pistachio Almond Tart

 

I loved the warm chocolate tart I made before and decided to try something similar. I found this recipe for chocolate pistachio almond tart online and everything in the name appealed to me. It's more time-consuming to bake since there's an additional layer of pistachio almond filling. The end result however, was well worth it! 

Just a tip, read through the ENTIRE recipe before doing anything. I knew I would have to pre-bake the tart shells so I did the prep for that in the morning; however, I was not expecting to have to chill the filling before baking them in my pre-baked tarts. After all the prep and waiting, my finished chocolate pistachio almond tarts were very satisfying. 

These are by far, my favorite chocolate dessert. It had the rich chocolate flavor of the warm chocolate tart plus the crunchiness and sweetness of the nut filling. It was much easier to eat a larger serving (though I haven't decided whether this is a good thing or not). I highly recommend you try this recipe out. I have received positive raves from family and friends and was even asked if I would sell them. Although it was time-consuming, it is an easy recipe and simple enough for new bakers (such as myself) to do.

Click here for the recipe.

Bittersweet Brownies

Brownies were the first thing I learned how to bake. They're quick, simple and can satisfy my chocolate craving anytime. As I've gotten older and as the trend for chocolate has been towards the healthier dark chocolate, my taste in brownies have changed as well. I prefer a bittersweet chocolate so I found this recipe and decided to try it. It did not disappoint! My one regret was forgetting to grease my pan so I had to scrape brownie chunks off the bottom of my pan. The brownies were moist, fudgy and very rich. I cut them into 1x3 inch rectangles because any larger and I would have gotten a sore throat. Make sure you cool the chocolate before adding in the eggs so you don't cook the eggs while you're incorporating them. I baked only half-batch of the recipe but in the same-sized pan as in the recipe so I had 1/2 inch-thick brownies. I left them in the oven for 35 minutes and it was enough to get the crunchy top without over-baking the brownies. 

Click here for the recipe.