Easy Recipe: Pavlova

My niece who is gluten-sensitive was coming over for dinner, and I wanted to make a dessert that she could enjoy, so I searched the internet for "easy gluten-free dessert recipes" and recipes for Pavlova popped up first. I selected a recipe by Rosina from the Allrecipes.com website that had an average rating of 5 stars based on 496 ratings.  It looked fairly easy and I had most of the ingredients on-hand. I just needed to buy a box of powdered sugar, frozen strawberries (our local grocery store was out of fresh), and fresh kiwis. 

RECIPE:

• 4 large egg whites

• 1 ¼ cups white sugar

• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• 1 pint heavy cream

• 6 kiwi, peeled and sliced

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a round baking pie pan to draw a 9" circle on the paper.

Beat egg whites in a large glass, metal, or ceramic  bowl until stiff but not dry.  Gradually add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. 

Keep mixing until the mixture is white, glossy and thick.

Gently fold in the cornstarch, vanilla, and lemon juice.

Spoon (we poured!) the mixture onto the parchment paper, towards the center. Use a spoon to spread mixture out towards the edge of the circle, building an edge. There should be a slight depression in the center.

Use a spoon to spread mixture out towards the edge of the circle, building an edge. There should be a slight depression in the center.

Bake for 1 hour at 300 degrees.

The meringue should be dry on the outside.

Beat heavy cream in a mixing bowl until thickened. I added 1/4 cups of powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the cream to sweeten it up (that was the recipe for whipped cream on the box of heavy cream).

The recipe instructs us to fill the center of the meringue with whipped cream but the boys applied the whipped cream all over the top!

Top with fresh fruit of your choice and enjoy!

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Easy Recipe: Baked Drumsticks

Anyone can follow this recipe from the Healthy Recipes website to make moist, flavorful chicken in less than an hour. And best of all, all you need are three ingredients - chicken drumsticks (you could also use chicken wings or bone-in thighs), olive oil, and spices (make your own or use a pre-packed dry rub like the one pictured below).

While your oven is preheating to 400 degrees, line a baking pan with parchment paper, and then arrange your chicken in a single layer in the pan.  In a bowl, combine olive oil and spices and mix until it because paste-like. Then using a pastry brush or your hands, coat each piece of chicken with the oil/spices paste until evenly coated. Once your oven is done preheating, bake the chicken for about 40 minutes (or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F).  Baking times will vary depending on your oven and the size of your chicken pieces.

 If you do not have a dry rub, the recipe suggests garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, and cayenne pepper. 

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Easy Recipe: Smashed Brussels Sprouts

 

Brussels Sprouts - you either love them or hate them. In my quest to eat more veggies, I have started incorporating these mini-cabbage like vegetables to my diet. Brussels sprouts are low in calories but high in fiber, vitamins and minerals. But I struggle to eat them, because of their bitter flavor. Therefore, I have been trying to prepare them in ways that remove or 'hide' the bitterness.

I tried a variation of this recipe that I saw online for Smashed Brussels Sprouts. Why smash them? Apparently smashing them increases the surface area, allowing more charring and/or carmelizing. Plus it's fun for the boys!

But first, I boiled the brussels sprouts for 10 minutes to soften them up (it also helps remove some of the bitterness). Then I drained the sprouts and placed them on cutting board, and gave my boys a plastic cup and told  them to smash each one.

Then I tossed the sprouts in olive oil, garlic salt, and parmesan cheese and put them in air fryer at 375 degrees for about 10-12 minutes.  Done!

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Recipe - Key Lime Pie

One of my mom's favorite desserts is key lime pie, and since it was her birthday, I wanted to make a key lime pie for her birthday dinner celebration.  I decided to try this recipe entitled "My Mom's Key Lime Pie" from Marie Saba's website. It looked simple enough for me to make and I had most of the ingredients on-hand. I did need to buy heavy whipping cream, fresh limes, and sour cream, as those items are not usually in my kitchen. Tip: use a ready-made crust (pre-made frozen pie crusts work really well!).

Here's a recap of how I made this:

While the pre-made pie crust was baking in the oven, I combined 1 cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons of corn starch, 1 cup of heavy cream,  1/4 cup of unsalted butter (half a stick), 1/3 cup of fresh lime juice, and lime zest in a pot and continuously stirred it over medium heat until it started to boil. Then I reduced the heat and continued to stir it for another 10 minutes until it became thick, then I removed it from the heat and set it aside to allow it to cool down. By then, the pie crust was done, so I removed it from the oven and allowed it to cool as well. Once everything has cooled down, I folded in 1 cup of sour cream and stirred it until well blended, then I poured the mixture into the pie crust, and placed the pie in the refrigerator, and within 4 hours, it was set and ready to eat! No baking needed. I could have made whipped cream from scratch, but I decided to just bring a can of whipped cream for those who wanted to top their slices with whipped cream. 

My mom loved the pie, and she's usually a pretty harsh critic. If you or someone you know loves key lime pie, you must try this recipe!  Click here to see the recipe.

 

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Homemade Salmon Cakes

 

Salmon cakes is one of my favorite ways to eat salmon - it's fairly quick, easy, and I usually have all of the ingredients on-hand.  It's also great for snacking on in between meals!

I did a quick search on the internet for a recipe to follow, and I chose this one from Natasha's Kitchen. I must admit though, I didn't follow the recipe exactly as presented, but I followed the gist of it.

First I cooked a small filet of salmon on the stove.  You can also bake it at 425 instead of pan frying if you have more time.

While the salmon was cooking, I sautéed finely diced onions (about 1/4 of a whole onion) and a couple of cloves of minced garlic in olive oil and butter.  I removed everything from the stove, placed the onions/garlic mixture into a mixing bowl.  For the cooked salmon, I removed the skin and bones and flaked the salmon on the side before adding it to the mixing bowl.  I allowed the ingredients to cool before adding one beaten egg, about 1 1/2 cups of panko, garlic salt, pepper, 2 TBSP of mayonnaise, and 1 TSP of Worchester sauce to the mixture. Then I combined everything by hand, and then formed round patties (about the size of a scoop of ice cream) with my hands and placed them on a tray.  

After heating up about 1 TBSP of oil and 1 TBSP of butter in a frying pan, I cooked each patty on both sides until a nice crust formed on each side. 

These salmon cakes can be enjoyed with salad, rice, or hamburger buns!

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SPAM & Potatoes

Chef Alan Wong tasked me to cook more of the foods that I grew up eating, so I decided to start off easy.  I made a SPAM & Potatoes dish found in the 25th Anniversary Cookbook from the Hawaii's Plantation Village, with a few tweaks.

I simply sauteed half a medium onion, sliced, in some oil for a couple minutes before adding 1 can SPAM, cubed, and 3 cloves of minced garlic.  I sauteed for 5 minutes, then added 1 chopped tomato, and cooked for another 5 more minutes.

I then added in 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed, and poured in 1 14.5 oz can of chicken stock.

I let simmer for 20 minutes, and then it was done!

Add salt, pepper, shoyu to taste, and add an egg and chopped green onions, if desired.

This dish reminded me of something my grandparents used to make, but with slices of cooked pork.

Quick, tasty, and comforting!

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Easy Recipe: Sweetheart Cookies

 

I could not stop thinking about these cookies after seeing it pop up on my Facebook feed - sweetheart cookies by Taste of Home.  I love butter cookies, and I love strawberry jam, and this recipe calls for only 5 ingredients (6, if you want finish it off with confection's sugar for looks).

All you need to do is mix together the butter and sugar, add an egg yolk, mix in the flour, knead until well combined (it says to knead on a flat surface but I just continued to mix it in my mixing bowl).  

Roll into one-inch balls, use your finger to make a slight indentation, and fill the hole with 1/4 teaspoon of fruit preserves.  Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes.

After they're done, you can dust them with confectioner's sugar (I put about a teaspoon of confectioner's sugar into a hand-held strainer and gently tap the side with the other hand, over the cookies).

If you like chewy, buttery cookies, you'll love these!

Click HERE for the recipe!

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Easy Recipe: Salmon Cakes

We make salmon at home on a weekly basis, since it's a good source of protein and rich in Omega-3s. I decided to try a new method of cooking salmon - salmon patties. I looked for a simple recipe on allrecipes.com to find out what ingredients I would need, then I started cooking.

First I cooked my piece of raw salmon on the stove (you can also use canned salmon). Next, I chopped up my salmon and added it to my mixing bowl, along with minced onion, minced garlic, and panko. 

Then I added one beaten egg, mixed everything together by hand, and formed small patties about the size of my palm.  I then coated each patty with more panko, and pan fried the patties in cooking oil until the exterior of each side turned golden brown.

There are a lot of variations of this recipe on the web - some incorporate mayonnaise, green onions, parmesan cheese, crushed crackers or corn meal (instead of panko).  Next time I plan to make these with a garlic aioli sauce!

 

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Easy Baked BBQ Ribs Recipe

A couple of weeks ago, a lot of folks in Hawaii were in mourning over the closure of the last Tony Roma's restaurant in Hawaii.  Tony Roma's used to be THE PLACE for fall-off-the-bone BBQ baby back ribs. Even I rushed down a few days before closing to get my last serving of their ribs.  

Little did I realize how easy it is to make BBQ ribs at home. My mother-in-law made it for us last weekend and she kept saying how easy it was to make. I didn't believe her until she gave us the recipe and we tried it for ourselves.

1) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is heating up, arrange the pork ribs on baking sheets and sprinkle salt (preferably Hawaiian salt) on the ribs).

2) Bake in the oven for one hour. 

3) After one hour, pour bottled BBQ sauce over the ribs (both sides), then bake for one hour.

4) After the second hour, turn the oven to hi broil and broil for a few minutes.

5) DONE!

We applied more BBQ sauce after broiling, as it looked the ribs needed it.  We may not have poured enough sauce on the ribs during the cooking process.

It's one of those recipes that you can tweak each time, until you figure out what works best for you and your palate!  I wouldn't say it was as good as Tony's Roma's, but it was definitely a hit with my family and a good "go-to" the next time we need to provide a main dish for a family gathering!

 

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Recipe: Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

It's been a while since I've been inspired to bake banana muffins or banana bread with extra ripe bananas. But when the mini saw our bananas getting black in color, he asked if we were going to make banana muffins, and I said "sure, if you're going to help me".  And sure enough, he washed his hands, put on his toque, stepped up to the counter to start mashing the bananas.

I went to all recipes.com and searched for a banana muffin recipe. I decided to this this one called "Banana Muffins II", since it had an average of 5 stars based on  over 4,000 reviews. Yep, that's how I select my recipes! I also scan the ingredients list to make sure it doesn't require a whole lot of ingredients or steps, and to make sure that I have everything on hand.

This recipe called for the usual ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, 3 large bananas, one egg, sugar, and melted butter. 

We added our own mini chocolate chips, because we love chocolate chips!

The recipe yielded exactly 12 muffins, deliciously moist! 

Here's the recipe from allrecipes.com:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• ⅓ cup butter, melted

Directions:

• preheat oven to 350 degrees
• melt butter
• sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one bowl
• combine mashed bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in another bowl
• gradually add the flour mixture to the mashed banana mixture, stir until smooth
• fold in chocolate chips (optional)
• fill muffin pan (lined with paper liners or greased) about half way
• bake approximately 20-25 minutes (for regular sized muffins)

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Recipe: Mini Blueberry Cheesecake Tarts

It was National Cheesecake Day, and since I wasn't able to go out and buy a cheesecake dessert from one of my favorite local bakeries in town, I decided to make some at home. Luckily I had one box of cream cheese and some leftover lemons, so I browsed the internet for a cheesecake recipe that I could make using the ingredients that I had on hand.  I came across this one that I decided to try, with a few modifications, and they turned out great!

First I made the crust using Keebler Graham Cracker Crumbs, following this recipe from the Kellog's website. I cut the recipe in half since I knew I would be making only half of the cheesecake tart recipe (since I only had one box of cream cheese), and also added a dash of cinnamon. 

After making my crust mixture, I put a spoonful of the mixture in each muffin liner, then used the spoon to packed it down.  

Then I made the cheesecake part by combining one box of 1/3 fat cream cheese, 1/4 cup of sugar, one egg, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and fresh lemon juice from 1/2 of a lemon.  I used my hand mixer to mix these ingredients together.

I filled each muffin liner (with the crust) to the top, and baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. After removing them from the oven, I topped each tart with a dollop of blueberry pie filling (the recipe called for Cherry Pie filling, but I only had blueberry) and placed the tarts in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.  

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Shelter-In-Place Cooking - Salmon Patties

We've had cans of salmon in our pantry for months now, so I finally decided to make something with them - Salmon Patties!

They are quick to make, and I simply served them as is, with some dill sauce and quinoa, but you can easily be made into bigger patties to make sandwiches.

I simply took two 7oz cans of salmon, 2 eggs, 1 cup of panko, and 1 tsp all-purpose seasoning, and mixed everything together. 

I pan-fried the patties until golden brown on each side.

That's it!

The kids ate them up! 

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Peanut Butter Blueberry Bars

While browsing through the StarAdvertiser online, I came across this recipe that looked delicious (peanut butter is my weakness!) and easy to make. Since I had all of the ingredients on-hand, I decided to make it on the spur of the moment. The recipe was originally published by the New York Times (click here for the original recipe post).

In a large bowl, mix together one stick of unsalted butter, one cup of peanut butter, 1/2 cup of brown sugar (packed), 1/2 cup granulated sugar.

Add to the mixture one large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder. 

Press 2/3 of the dough into a 8 x 8 baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Mix together 10 ounces of frozen fruit (I used frozen blueberries) with 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Spread evenly on the dough.

Crumble the remaining dough into large chunks and spread evenly over the blueberries.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Let cool before slicing. 

Try it with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!

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