pumpkin spice hot milk

It's such a rainy cold day. I can't help thinking that we need something warm at home. Here is my homemade pumpkin spice drink. In truth, the pumpkin really matters just a very little. It's the spice and the milk. For some, it's also the sugar.

Recipe: Pumpkin spice hot milk (for 1)

Ingredients:
- 1 TB mashed cooked calabasa
- 1/2 tp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tp dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup condensed skim milk
- 1/4 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup water

Procedure:
Mix everything in a pot and bring to simmer for 1 minute. Serve hot. It would be even better if the calabasa is finely pureed.

Baked stuffed chicken breast with cottage cheese and bacon

I rarely stuff chicken breast, because of the unfamiliarity with the technique to flatten the chicken. But then, how else can one learn apart from practicing?

Recipe: Baked stuffed chicken breast with cottage cheese and bacon (make 5 servings)


Ingredients:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 5-6 slices of precooked bacon (drained of fat)
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup fat-free cottage cheese
- 2-3 TB low-fat mayonnaise
- 2 TB bread crumbs
- 2 TB dried okara
- 1 TB parsley flakes


Procedure:
1. For thick chicken breast, slice into two thin pieces. Dry each piece of meat with paper towel.
2. Place each chicken breast between two layers of plastic. Hammer until thin, about 3/8" thick.
3. Place 2 slices of precooked bacon on the bottom of a plate. Place a slice of pounded chicken breast on top of the bacon. Spread about 1 heaping TB of cottage cheese on top of the chicken.
4. Roll up the chicken breast and place the open side down on a tray lined with foil.
5. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on the top of the chicken roll.
6. Mix bread crumbs, okara, and parsley flake. Spread on top of the mayonnaise. Press to firm.
7. Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. Once the bread crumbs on top turn golden, cover top with foil and continue baking at 350 to 375F.
8. Juice from the chicken should start coming out in small quantity after 20-30 minutes.
9. Slice and serve.


Results:
5:51pm, a chicken breast being pounded on:

5:56pm, three pieces of pounded chicken breast:

6:05pm, chicken rolled up in cottage cheese and wrapped by bacon:

6:12pm, chicken roll covered with mixture of bread crumbs, okara and parsley:

6:14pm, to bake in toaster oven at 350F, at first uncovered, then when bread crumbs turn golden, cover with foil:

6:53pm, baked 40 minutes, with a little liquid from the chicken:

6:54pm, cut to see doneness:

6:56pm, to serve:

7:04pm, a juicy bite:

Observations:
1. The cooked bacon has a small amount of grease that helps provide some fat to the chicken. The bacon, cottage cheese, and mayonnaise all are richly flavorful. Therefore, the dish does not need extra seasoning.
2. The chicken breast is surprisingly tender, to an unbelievable extent.

Lasagna

Tonight, hubby said that the lasagna I made is the best I've ever made to date. It's in the consistency, I guess, and in my use of the sauces that he is familiar with.

Ingredients:
- 4 slices of lasagna noodles
- about 1.5 to 2 cups 1% milkfat cottage cheese
- 1 to 1.5 cup canned spaghetti sauce
- 80% lean ground beef
- 1/4 of a small onion
- 1 slice of green pepper
- 1 tp garlic powder
- dash of pepper, cumin, cinnamon
- 1 tp each of dried marjoram, thyme, oregona
- 1/4 cup red wine

Results:

5:37pm, amount of 1% milkfat cottage cheese to be used:

5:37pm, consistency of the tomato sauce with beef, onion, green pepper, and spices:

5:37pm, boiling lasagna noodles, two pieces at a time:

5:39pm, first layer (beef and cheese):

5:39pm, cheese left after first layer:

5:39pm, beef sauce left after first layer:

5:40pm, second layer (noodles):

5:41pm, third layer (beef and cheese):

5:41pm, cheese all used up after third layer:

5:41pm, beef left after third layer:

5:42pm, fourth layer (noodles):

5:43pm, fifth layer (beef):

5:45pm, sixth layer (mozzarella cheese):

The assembled casserole is allowed to sit cover in foil, until it's time to bake.

6:20pm, baking started at 375F for 10 minutes, then temperature lowered to 350F:

7:06pm, baked 45 minutes, done with bottom bubbling:

7:06pm, parsley toppings:

7:07pm, details on the top when done:

7:08pm, side when done:

Pan allowed to rest in off oven until served, no longer than 20 minutes.

7:26pm, served:

7:32pm, consistency when served:

7:58pm, consistency when cooled down:

Coffee in liqueurs

Sometimes, my stomach just feels the disturbance of coldness. So I like something really strong and soothing. Here is one of my latest favorites:

Recipe: Coffee with liquors

Ingredients:
- 1/2 pack of starbuck decaf instant coffee
- 1/4 cup evaporated milk
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1/2 oz (half a shot glass) amaretto liqueur
- 1/2 oz (half a shot glass) kohlua liqueur

Procedure:
Heat instant coffee in boiling water and milk until it boils again. Add liqueurs. Mix and serve.

Kohlua cocoa

Found this incredibly inviting recipe from Joy of cooking:

Recipe: kohlua coca (for 1)

Ingredients:
- 1 TB unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tp sugar
- 1/3 cup evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 1+1/2 TB kahlua
- dash or nutmeg or cinnamon

Procedure:
Mix cocoa powder and sugar in a small pan. Vigorously stir in milk, first by tablespoons, then in a steady stream. Heat mixture on medium heat until bubbling. Dilute with water. Then remove from heat and add kahlua. Top with spice of choice.

double-boiled egg and milk

When I was growing up, my parents frequently made an egg dish for me. It's simply egg, evaporated milk and sugar, beaten together, and steamed until it forms a custard. My parents have done it so many times that they are able to make it very tender, without too many bubbles. One morning, I thought of this childhood favorite, and decided to make it for my own breakfast.

Recipe: Double-boiled egg and milk (for 1)

Ingredients:
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup evaporated whole milk
- 1 strawberry
- 1/4 tp honey

Procedure:
1. Beat egg and evaporated milk in a souffle dish until the two are well blended. The liquid should come up to about 3/5 or 2/3 the height of the souffle dish.
2. Boil a pot of water, with a steaming stand in it. The water level should almost reach the level of the egg mixture when the souffle dish is placed on the stand. Bring the water to a boil.
3. Place the souffle dish in the pot, about half submerged in the boiling water. Be careful to remove any bubbles trapped under the souffle dish. Turn heat down to medium.
4. Allow the water to simmer in the pot for 5-10 minutes. Do not bring to a boil in case the water may spill over into the souffle dish.
5. If it is desired to cover the pot with a lid, then place a lid on the souffle dish before doing so. This prevents condensed water vapors from falling onto the egg and marring the top.
6. The surface of the egg mixture will slowly solidify. Shake the dish gently to detect the thickness at the center of the dish.
7. When the egg at the outer half of the radius of the dish has solidified, turn heat off and cover lid. Allow the warmth to slowly diffuse to the center of the dish. Done when the center has hardened.
8. Serve with a strawberry and a drop of honey.

Just started double-boiling:

Edge of the egg started to solidify:

Egg half-done, turn heat off and allow to cook slowly in the warmth of the water bath:

Egg done:

Interior of the egg:

Large bubbles may come from the stirring. Does the edge look overcooked?

Curry chicken and eggplant with milk

In this experiment, I am learning how to handle chicken breasts. They tend to become rubbery and tough when over-cooked, and the problem is that they overcook too readily. So my attempt is to shorten its cooking time. I also discover that evaporated whole milk can completely change the flavor of a curry dish, making it a lot milder and smoother.

Recipe: curry chicken and eggplant with milk

Ingredients:
- 1 medium Chinese eggplant, cut to 2" pieces
- 3-4 oz chicken breast marinated and fried in home-made dijon mustard, cut to 2" pieces
- 1 TB onion powder
- 2 tp tomato paste
- 1/4 tp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tp paprika
- dash of cumin
- garlic powder
- 1/4 tp salt
- 2 TB evaporated whole milk
- 2 TB oil
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 stalk spring onion

Procedure:
1. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Add Chinese eggplant and all the spices and dry seasonings. Allow to brown gently. Then add chicken stock and tomato paste. Mix well. Bring to a boil for a minute. Then let simmer for 5 minutes. Then turn heat off and allow to sit on stove top, so that the eggplant will not cook until disintegrate.
2. 15 minutes before serving, add chicken breast pieces. Bring the pot to a low boil. Then turn heat down to low. Slowly stir in evaporated whole milk.
3. Serve hot, topped with spring onions.

I have yet to tune the flavor of this dish. But one thing sure is that my husband likes tomato in a paste form much more than whole tomatoes.

Roasted tomatoes with shrimp and cheese toppings

Here is an experiment that turned out not bad. Not my husband's favorite, but a good experiment on roasting tomatoes and baking shrimps. I'd say that cottage cheese may not be the best choice for this dish. Maybe mozzarella or mayonnaise would give better result.

Recipe: Roasted tomatoes with shrimp and cheese toppings

Ingredients:
- 3 ripe tomatoes on the vine
- 3 cloves of garlic, cut into small pieces
- 6 medium raw shrimps, shelled and de-veined
- 3 tp fat-free cottage cheese
- 1 slice low-fat cheddar cheese, cut to strips
- parsley flakes
- 2 TB olive oil

Procedure:
1. Halve the tomatoes. Slip small pieces of garlic into each of the halves.
2. Oil a baking pan covered with foil. Oil the skin of each tomato half. Then place the tomatoes, cut-side down on the pan. Bake at 300F for 1.5 hours.
3. When done roasting, use a spatula to flip each tomato. On top of each half, spread 1/2 tp cottage cheese, place a shrimp, then top with a few strips of cheddar cheese. Return to oven and bake at 350F for 15-30 minutes, until shrimps are pink.
4. Sprinkle parsley flakes on top. Serve hot.

Refining yogurt chicken fillet

With time, my yogurt chicken fillet keeps getting better. Now I am learning to make a sauce out of the browned yogurt when pan frying chicken fillet. Yogurt tends to get cooked and burnt easily. So it needs to be watched very carefully while cooking. It seems to be at its best when it's cooked to a deep brown but not burnt yet. The color looks like paprika, and has a fine taste that is nothing like diary.

Recipe: Yogurt chicken fillet with yogurt sauce

Ingredients:
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced to fillets
- 1/3 cup homemade yogurt, using milk with 1% milk-fat
- 1 tp garlic powder
- dash of lemon dill flakes
- dash of turmeric (optional)
- green part of spring onion, finely chopped
- 1-2 TB oil

Procedure:
1. Stir the yogurt to form a smooth paste. Marinate chicken breast fillets in yogurt overnight in the fridge.
2. 20 minutes before cooking, take chicken out of the fridge to warm up.
3. Heat oil in a flat non-stick frying pan on high heat. Place chicken fillets with all of the yogurt marinate on the oiled pan and allow to sizzle. Sprinkle garlic powder and lemon dill flakes on top while cooking. Plenty of water will come out from the chicken. Turn heat down to med-high or medium. When the chicken is half-cooked, move each piece gently to prevent sticking. Scrub off any bits of yogurt that is sticking on the pan. Allow to continue cooking until almost cooked. Flip each piece to cook the other side. The cooked side to be golden brown. If not browned enough, flip the side down to brown a bit more. Do not allow the pan to dry out completely and burn the yogurt.
4. Mix about 1/4 cup of yogurt with garlic powder and turmeric. When the liquid on the pan's bottom is almost dry out, add in the yogurt mixture and turn heat down to med-low. Mix with the browned liquid in the pan. Cook until the yogurt forms a sauce.
5. Serve when the sauce is ready. Top with greens of spring onion.

Oh very very yummy!

Beef khoresh with eggplant and tomatillo

I miss khoresh! It's been a while since we had it. So I made a deliberate trip to the market to get some vegetables today to make a beef khoresh. What I found are Chinese eggplant and tomatillo. Tomatillo looks like green tomato, but it's actually not a variety of tomatoes. It tastes in between tomatoes and gooseberries. I've learnt to use yogurt to tenderize meat. It's been very successful with chicken white meat. So I tried it out on the very lean cut of beef too. According to my husband, who is my food critic, the beef tastes really good, though the yogurt flavor is not distinctive. In fact, it's likely to have been completely covered up by the spices. Since the yogurt is merely for tenderizing, it's not important whether its taste comes out in the dish. The eggplant and the tomatillo matter more because their presence directly contribute to the complex flavor of the dish.

Recipe: Beef khoresh with Chinese eggplant and tomatillo (for 3)

Ingredients:
- 8 oz lean beef cut
- 2-4 tp plain yogurt (flavored ones will do too)
- 1 medium tomatillo, cut to 8 slices
- 2 small Chinese eggplants, coarsely cut to irregular shapes
- 1 teaspoon (tp) sugar
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1-2 tp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tp strong chili powder
- 1 tp paprika
- 1/2 tp garlic powder
- dash of cumin powder
- 1 tablespoon (TB) oil
- 2-4 TB water or meat stock

Procedure:
1. Cut beef into 1" cubes. Place in a bowl and mix with yogurt. Make sure that all sides of the beef is coated with a bit of yogurt. Cover with plastic wrap. Allow to chill overnight. Take out of the fridge to warm to room temperature about 2 hours before cooking.
2. Broil chopped eggplants in oven at 450F until the eggplants give out a sweet aroma. Set aside.
3. Heat 1 TB oil in a non-stick pan on high heat. Add the beef to the pan and allow all sides to brown lightly. Then add turmeric, chili, garlic, cumin, sugar and salt. Mix the seasonings with the juice from cooking the beef. Cooking for a few minutes until the aroma of the spices is strong. Then add the eggplants. Mix well.
4. Transfer the mixture to a sauce pan. Add a little water or meat stock to cover up to 1/2" of the bottom of the pan. Allow to cook on low heat for about 30 minutes. Do not stir, else the eggplants may disintegrate. About 15 minutes before serving time, add the paprika and tomatillo. Stir gently to make sure the paprika dissolves into the gravy, and the tomatillo is soaked. Continue cooking on low heat until serving time.
5. Serve with steamed rice.

This is such a very very tasty dish, one of our favorites!! 

Cultured buttermilk

The cultured buttermilk surprises me. I thought it's going to be a sour thin liquid, plus I got it non-fat. But it turned out to be a thick creamy milk, almost like a yogurt drink. In fact, it thickens with time. I really like its taste too. Buttermilk powder is very good for baking bread. I drink the milk with a few bites of frozen pomegranate seeds. It is totally refreshing!

Mastering pan-fried yogurt chicken fillet

I must congratulate myself for having at last conquered chicken breast! This has been one of the hardest things for me to cook (because chicken breast gets rough quickly under heat) until I discovered yogurt as a marinate. Again, the same motto: "Practice makes perfect!" So I'm practicing again. This time, my experiment is to cook chicken breast as a fillet (or a steak, whatever it's called!) so that it can be served either at dinner or as a sandwich. My objective is to control the heat better so that the chicken is properly browned without getting the yogurt burnt.

Recipe: Yogurt chicken breast fillet (for 2-3)

Ingredients:
- 1 chicken breast, deboned, skinned and trimmed of fat
- 2-3 tablespoon (TB) of whole milk yogurt
- 1 to 2 teaspoons (tp) garlic powder
- 1/2 tp paprika
- dash of cumin
- dash of salt
- 2 to 3 TB oil

Procedure:
1. Cut the chicken breast into thin slices of about 1/3" thick. One large breast yields about 3 slices with some smaller pieces. Make sure that all the pieces are no thicker than 1/3".
2. Mix the chicken meat with yogurt in a bowl enough to contain the meat. Make sure that all sides are coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to chill for 6 hours. Take the bowl out of the fridge to warm up 2 hours before cooking.
3. Just before cooking, sprinkle paprika, cumin, garlic powder and salt on the chicken. Mix well.
4. Heat oil in a flat bottom non-stick pan on med-high heat. Place chicken slices flat on the bottom of the pan. Initially, some of the yogurt may stick to the pan. But once the chicken starts to give out water, the yogurt will not stick to the pan any more.
5. Allow the pieces to cook until the top side becomes lightly cooked (ie. heat has transferred from the bottom to nearly the top of the pieces). Then flip the slices and cook the other side. The chicken and the yogurt sauce will not burn as long as the chicken continues to give out water. Once the water dries out, the pan will be coated with just oil. At this point, the temperature of the pan may go up quickly. Turn heat down to medium. At this point, the paprika will start to become dark red when heated in the oil.
6. Flip the chicken slices every now and then to allow all sides of the chicken to be coated with the browned paprika. Flipping helps prevent one side of the chicken stick to the pan.
7. When the desired color has been achieved, turn heat off. Take the chicken out of the pan right away to prevent it from absorbing the oil. Serve right away.