Pineapple Angel Food Cupcakes

I saw this really easy recipe for a Pineapple Angel Food Cake and had to try it for my friend's birthday. I ended up using the exact same ingredients as she did but I wanted to make mine into cupcakes.

This picture is from her blog.

Here are how mine came out.

I ate one hot, right out of the oven. The top was crunchy and sweet because of caramelization of the pineapple juices. It was ok, not too much pineapple flavor. So, I ate another one after they had cooled. It tasted a little better. But I wanted more flavor. Therefore, I had to eat a third one but with chocolate whipped frosting on it. hehe It was ok too.

After eating 3 of them, I have to be honest. I don't know if I like them. 

I did not read the side panel of the box or I would've known exactly how to cook them as cupcakes. Usually cupcake instructions are on the back along with the other instructions so I just thought that you shouldn't make them into cupcakes. Stupid me because I didn't cook them at the right temperature. I will have to try them again but cooking them at the right temperature and time according to the box instructions. What I did was cook them at 350 degrees and checked them after 15min. They were done but as soon as they left the oven, they deflated. :(

I tried 2 other cakes and now I know why they say don't spray the pan because Angel Food cake needs to climb to be nice and fluffy. As you can see, the one in the loaf pan with the parchment paper deflated horribly.

My mom likes it because she likes pineapple and she doesn't like anything too sweet. They are light too.

I might just stick to my pineapple whipcreme pie. :p But that's for another post. hehe

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

So my friend who is in Advanced Individual Training in the Army requested Chewy Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cookies in his next care package. I decided to combine to two. I therefore went to the smartest person I know, the Internet. I searched and saw that many of the cookie recipes were similar. 

My Recipe

I took notes and compared 5 different recipes. Then I took what I thought would be best from each or what was similar in most of the recipes and make my own. I probably should have watched Alton Brown or read his cook books on the subject in order to really get a perfect recipe but I winged it. (The same friend bought me all 3 of Alton's cookbooks! Eeep!!! Was so surprised and happy when I got it in the mail. :))

Here are how the cookies turned out. They are more crunchy than chewy but I think it's because they are too small. I made the recipe and then split it in half for Chocolate and Peanut butter chip cookies and Chocolate and Walnut cookies. 

They both turned out to be very yummy but it was a workout! I only have a hand mixer so creaming the butter and mixing this batter was really hard. My right arm got a workout mixing in the oats and chips as well. Now I need to work out my left arm a little to even them out. :p 

After they cooled enough to touch, I couldn't help myself and ate 2 cookies. I surprised myself at how fast they went into my tummy. :) There was a strong smell of pumpkin because I used pumpkin pie spice but I think I will leave it out next time. If you don't smell it, the cookies taste just fine but the smell was kind of overwhelming. I packaged them up in bags and jars.

I am going to send a tin full to my friend, Bunny. And a jar full to my Army friend. I might have to take out some stuff from his care package to send more cookies. That way, I don't get fat eating them all. :)

Here is the recipe I used:

- Unsalted Butter 1 cup

- White Granulated Sugar 1 cup

- Dark Brown sugar (packed) 1 cup

- Eggs - 2

- Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoonful

- All-purpose flour 1 1/2 cup

- Baking soda 1 teaspoon

- salt (take out if using salted butter) 1/2 teaspoonful

- Cinnamon (optional) 1 teaspoonful

- Nutmeg (optional) 1/4- 1/2 teaspoonful
- Pumpkin spice (optional) 1/2 teaspoonful 

- Quick oats 3 cups

- chocolate chips - 1-1.5 cups

- peanut butter chips 1/2 cup

- chopped walnuts 1/2-1 cup

1. pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cream butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together

3. add eggs and vanilla
4. In a separate bowl combine/shift together: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg
5. combine butter and flour mixtures
6. stir in oats and chocolate chips
7. separate batter into 2
8. add walnuts to 1/2 and peanut butter chips to the other 1/2
9. Let batter cool in fridge for at least 20min.
10. Drop rounded tablespoonful of the batter onto an un-greased non-stick cookie sheet 2 inches apart from each other
11. Bake for 9-12 min, rotating halfway through. Pull the cookies when the edges are browned and the center is still a little gooey. The cookies will finish on the warm sheet and it will make the cookies more chewy.
12. let cool on the sheet for 1-2 min
13. let cool completely on cooling rack
(Let the cookie sheet cool completely before the next batch.)

I read on the comment section of the recipes that some people had their cookies fall flat. Some tips to avoid that: do not grease your cookie sheet, chill the batter before you bake it, don't over cook it, and heap on the batter. :)

Hope you have a good baking experience! :)

Yummy Warm Apple Cider

I get feeds from Paula Deen's facebook page and today it led me to this yummy warm apple cider recipe on her blog. I just had to share it. I am going to try it once it gets a little cooler. :) I know it will definitely put me into the fall/winter mood. :)

Picture of the apple cider from the blog post

Here is the recipe from the blog:

Warm Apple Cider:
1. Fill a crock pot ¾ full of apple cider.
2. Add ¼ C brown sugar, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1 Tbs cinnamon sugar, a few dashes of nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice, and 4 large pieces of crystalized ginger (the secret ingredient!).
3. Add half a chopped apple (red delicious is my favorite) and a whole orange (peeled and in chunks).
**Your entire house will smell wonderful after making this yummy drink this fall!**

Thank you Martha Lee for this. :) There are two more recipes on the blog page too. :)

May we all live through this crazy holiday season. :) Good Luck!

Catfish with a side of Asian

I was tired of waiting on my friend to stop being lazy and cook this catfish that I had bought, so I decided to do some research, online of course, and cook it myself. I did the same for the sides. My limiting factor was that I did not want to go buy supplies, so I only used what was already at home. It came out well, I think. :) 

Dinner plated

I used this Catfish Amandine recipie, not because of the name..hehe..but because I had just about everything except the lemon and almonds. I think that the flavors of the side dishes over powered the subtle flavor of the sauce for the fish. But the fish's flavor was still strong enough to be good. I actually started to rub the fish in the green bean sauce, which was really good too. Next time, I will replace the green beans with the fish in the recipe.

For the green beans, I had bought this bag of green beans that were already cleaned and trimmed. All you had to do is steam them in the bag. I have been on a green bean, sweet pea binge lately..hehe I was going to stir fry it Asian style but I found this Thai recipe for Green Bean and Shrimp. I didn't have shrimp but I liked the sauce. It was really good. The green beans were crispy but slightly under done because I didn't have the wok hot enough to fry them quickly. I will remember for next time.

Those "boobies" hehe are Roasted Garlic and Wasabi Mashed Potatoes. I combined a couple of recipes for this. You boil the potatoes and add butter, milk, wasabi paste, garlic, and salt and pepper. The wasabi over powered the roasted garlic sadly. It still tasted good but next time I would do one or the other, not both. I will try to roast another garlic bulb. Roasted garlic tastes really good but I found it very messy when I tried to squeeze the garlic out of the bulb. 

Yes, I was running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Yes, I have a pile of dishes in the sink, But no, I did not make a huge mess of the counters and stove. :) Hopefully, someone else will do the dishes for me since I'm the one who cooked dinner. :)

Don't wait for others. Cook on!

Mom's Red Bean Mochi Bars

I have been craving my mom's red bean mochi bars for a couple of weeks and I finally got her to make it for me. I was actually asking her to teach me how to make it but I ended up making spaghetti and she made the dessert. hehe I got her to write down the recipe for me though so I would have it. :) 

Mom's Red Bean Mochi 

It smells so yummy! The smell permeates to the second floor too...drool...hehe My mom was saying how she over cooked it by 6min so the edges are too crunchy. It was still good. You see, my mom had to kind of remember how to make this, since she has not made this in years. Good job Mom's memory. hehe

The ugly but very yummy inside.

My mom didn't put enough of the mochi on the bottom and too much red bean paste so it came out looking ugly to her. It still tasted really good to me. The top is crunchy but the middle is sticky/chewy. I like the difference in textures. The red bean and mochi are both not too sweet. It was everything I remembered from childhood. :) I had two big pieces. :P

Rice flour to make the mochi part

My mom buys this brand. We get it from a Chinese supermarket named 99 Ranch. (Tip: you will have to pay for bags so bring your own) I did not realize that this is made in Thailand. :)

Sweetened Red Bean Paste

Yes, it is from a can but it is not that sweet and it is a lot easier than making your own paste. :) Yes, I had to lick the can just a little. hehe

She wrote down the recipe for me. :)

Now I am going to translate the recipe just for you guys. :)

Mix together:
1 bag of rice flour
3 Large Eggs
2 Cups of milk

1 cup of Vegetable oil
1 cup of white granulated sugar

Pour 2/3 of this mixture into a pan.
Add 1/2-1 can of red bean paste in globs randomly and evenly throughout the pan. You can just drop the globs of red bean on top of the mixture.
Pour the rest of the mixture on top of the red bean paste to cover.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Let cool. Cut and Enjoy. :) It will be sticky but not as sticky or chewy as mochi. :)

Doesn't every love their mom's and grandmother's recipes? It is really sad that more and more of these goodies are getting lost and not passed down. So, I DARE you ALL to take one day and learn just one recipe from the generation before you. It is a legacy that should not be lost in this day and age of fast everything. :)
Have fun! :)

P.S.
I forgot to tell you about my spaghetti dinner. I usually cook semi-homemade style. I took Prego spaghetti sauce added chili powder, red pepper powder, ground black pepper, garlic salt, chipotle seasoning, and paprika to make it spicy. :) I added sausage that I took off the skin and cooked like ground beef, mushrooms, and broccoli. Instead of spaghetti noodles, I cooked up wheat spiral pasta. I like it because 1. I don't like regular spaghetti noodles, I like thick spaghetti noodles 2. I am trying to eat healthy and 3. It holds the sauce better. :) Tip: add a little of the noodle water to the sauce, it helps to thicken the sauce with the starch from the noodles. :) You are also suppose to pull the noodles from the water 1min early from al-dente and put them into the sauce so it cooks the last min in the sauce and flavors the noodles more. :)

I love one pot well, here 2 pots but I love it when all my food groups are in one dish. The dairy is from the parmesan cheese you can put on top. :) I don't think it is because I'm lazy, per say...hehe I just like how it is easy. It is just like soup. I can put all of my food groups into a soup and it is really healthy. :)

Eat on!