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!

Hot Fudge Sauce

Baskin Robbins' Jamocha Almond Fudge is my all-time favorite ice cream flavor. Sadly, Baskin Robbins closed in the Philippines and I can no longer indulge in what was a staple during my childhood (My aunt owned a Baskin Robbins franchise and I used to eat it everyday. It's truly a miracle that I'm not diabetic and was  underweight.). I decided to make my own hot fudge sauce using my leftover Valrhona to enjoy with the pint of coffee ice cream that was in my freezer. I used Guanaja (70%) and I think the bitterness of the chocolate was a good balance for the sweetness of the ice cream. I added slivered almonds as a topping. I tried my hot fudge both after I had let it cooled down and was warm enough to enjoy with my ice cream without melting it instantly, and when it was cold from storing it in the fridge. I can taste the flavors of the Guanaja more intensely when it's served warm but I like the thickness of the sauce when it's served chilled. With Valrhona, there are really very few things you can do that will make it unpalatable.

Christmas Dinner Part 2: Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup

A few months ago, I went on a trip to LA for a cousin's wedding, and was introduced by my aunt to Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I heard lots of good things, but had to try her out for myself. So I rented a whole bunch of her cookbooks from the library when I got back from my trip, and decided to try this recipe first (mostly because I'm a sucker for any kind of Tomato-based soup).

My aunt was not wrong! This soup was DELICIOUS. I highly recommend picking up one of her cookbooks and trying  out her recipes. Fortunately for anyone reading, I found an online version of the recipe I used. It was relatively easy to make, it just took a LOT of time, mostly because I wanted to make a large batch (so I doubled the recipe) and had to run several batches through the blender (I didn't have a food mill, as the recipe asked for). It came out slightly chunky, but very tasty!

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?