Pork Ribs and Barbecue Sauce

Don't you hate it when you have plans to wrap up a 40 hour work-week by going out on a fun date with your husband but then the car breaks down...when it's 102 degrees outside?! I do! But at least it's a lot more interesting when it happens in Austin, even if living here does remind me of being trapped inside of a convection oven (not that that's happened to me...yet :).

So why is it more fun? Because getting stranded outside of a flower shop can be quite entertaining, especially when one of the locals decides to jump into the flower shop's dumpster and climb back out with a dozen red roses perfectly in tact for...who?! Before I could figure out who, the flower guy took off in his beat up but fully-functioning pickup truck filled with a variety of trash-to-treasure goods. (The saying here is Keep Austin Weird - we practice what we preach. :)

This is what happened on Friday evening. Thankfully, it happened when the hubby and I were together. We couldn't help but laugh at the abandoned-flower-arrangement rescuer and...our far from fully functioning VW Passat. (It might be a cute little car but it has plenty of annoying qualities.) With a busted alternator, our car helplessly sat there while we waited for the AAA tow truck to pick us up and take us home.


Because Jose's full of good ideas, he thought it'd be best to get ahold of a mobile mechanic. That way, we wouldn't have to spend a ridiculous amount of money and time at a dealership while missing work and losing even more money in the process. It was a great idea; the mechanic came to OUR house Saturday afternoon, and just a few hours later, our car was good as new! The other silver lining? Instead of going out Saturday, I had the chance to stay home and make the juicy ribs I'd been craving for a few weeks now. I also decided to go a step further and make the BBQ sauce myself! I made sure to spend some time 'studying' a few recipes beforehand, so I wouldn't come up with anything too crazy; the end result was inspired by this recipe.

Stuffing also sounded good; I tried remembering what my parents put in their stuffing, but I couldn't remember all of the ingredients, so I added a few of my own. Only thing is...it came out a bit flat - sort of the way cookies taste when I forget to add the salt! Here are the components of the stuffing, or dressing :): Cornbread, bits of black forest bacon (and the drippings), cranberries, golden raisins, sweet onion, carrots, celery, savory, rosemary, sage, a pinch of butter, olive oil, and poultry seasoning. I know I could've added some chicken broth...but what else is missing? Salt? Next time, what can I do to take this recipe to a tastier level? I welcome any tips!

Ok...so I know I said that I'd be posting a 'Traveling the World One Plate at a Time' recipe at least once a week, but last week I went out of town and this week...well, I remembered that Texas is like another country (and we eat plenty of ribs here)! :) Is that a good enough excuse? ;)

Cupcakes and Biscuits: A Carb Lover's Heaven :)

(This week's dish for "Traveling the World One Plate at A Time" is Italian. A friend let me use a recipe from her significant other's grandmother's collection, but I want to make sure it's ok to put the recipe on here first...so I probably won't be posting the dish until later this week :)

I kind of went crazy with baking this weekend...I think it's because I secretly wish I had 60 batches of cookies to bake, but now that I've jumped over that hurdle without skinning my knees too badly (there were a few accidents, but I survived them!), I have a greater desire to bake than I did before the cookie baking task was assigned to me. My husband is very happy with that, even if I do turn the kitchen into a floury disaster zone every now and then. Thankfully, I had success with Celine's (Have Cake, Will Travel) Lemon Rolls with Rosewater Filling recipe. Though I couldn't get ahold of any rosewater (I gave them a vanilla twist instead), they were still a delicious and comfort-foody dessert that hit the spot. I've never even thought of making anything other than cinnamon rolls, so it was refreshing coming across this lemony recipe. She also has a recipe for pumpkin rolls posted that I plan on making later this week, how delicious!

Saturday night, after watching the very cute movie, Ratatouille (it's such a sweet movie -- Remy reminded me so much of my witty guinea pig, Yoshi!) I decided to bake up a batch of strawberry cupcakes. Now, these are not your ordinary strawberry cupcakes, they're much more than that! With strawberry filling hidden in the center to surprise you after the first bite, and a moussy frosting that's light but fruity and flavorful, any cupcake fan will fall for these yummy and appropriately pink sweet treats. You'd never guess they were dairy and egg free -- these vegan cupcakes are close to perfect...but the frosting is kind of hard to work with, particularly if you don't have much experience working with vegan butter (aka margarine that's hydrogenated oil-free). I'm quite inexperienced! Now here's where I start making a mess of the kitchen and get frustrated as a result of my ignorance :). (Whenever I start feeling like I've made a major mistake in the kitchen, the thought of throwing my failed "creations" away really disturbs me. Yes, if it tastes horrible, I throw it out, but even that bothers me. I have this idea that food turns into money as soon as it hits the trash bag. I hate wasting!)

This is what I discovered after making a few mistakes:

1. I added way too much batter to the cake pans, and sadly, these little cupcakes sink in the middle when that happens. Next time, I'll follow the cupcake rule (usually I just make huge cupcakes that rise easily -- can't do that with these)!

2. It's best to refrigerate the frosting over night. Vegan butter melts very quickly at room temperature. Also, next time I'll refrigerate the cupcakes as soon as they're frosted!

3. These cupcakes darken quite a bit as they bake, so next time I'll be sure to check on them more ofen; they don't take 20 minutes like the instructions say (more like 15).

I decided to take a break from the cupcakes after I realized that I was getting more frosting on myself than on their sunken tops.

I opened my fridge this morning and, to my surprise, the frosting was the perfect texture! I took a bite of one of the poorly frosted cupcakes and they were delicious -- I even ate one (and a half) before breakfast :). Thanks to my husband who suggested that I let the frosting cool in the fridge over night, these cupcakes were saved :). Oooh, and as he was keeping me company in the kitchen (watching me turn into someone resembling the Pillsbury Doughboy's sister, because I was getting covered in the powdered sugar I was using to try to thicken the frosting) he surprised me with a gift :)! He ordered me a copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and My Sweet Vegan! I'm looking forward to baking some very tasty cupcakes with the help of these two fantastic books that my sweet husband ordered me.

So if you'd like to make a batch of these tasty cupcakes, you can click here for the recipe.

If this entry is entitled Carb Lover's Heaven, it should have at least 2 carby recipes, right? So here it is...

Well, I came across another recipe online this weekend that I didn't have much luck with... I've been trying to find a great biscuit recipe that isn't loaded with butter and shortening. I still haven't found one worth holding on to. Sadly, I had to throw away the biscuits from the about.com recipe I used (I could literally taste the baking powder, the after-taste was even worse). Thankfully, I had enough energy left over afterward to make another batch. This time, I was determined to create my own recipe. I remembered that a dumpling recipe I used in the past called for canola oil, so I thought I just might be able to use that very ingredient in the biscuit recipe I'd be putting together. It worked! I did use some butter, just enough to give the biscuits a buttery taste... here's the recipe for these low-in-saturated-fat biscuits :).

Lightly Buttered Buttermilk Biscuits

2 to 2 1/4 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 to 3 1/2 TBSP melted butter
¼ cup canola oil
¼ tsp salt

1 TBSP butter, for brushing

Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Remove biscuits from oven, use about 1 tbsp of butter to brush on all the biscuits. Bake for 5-7 more minutes at 350, until golden.

These taste great right out of the oven with a bit of honey or jam. Store them in a plastic container and they'll be ready for you to eat the next morning with breakfast. I bet homemade gravy would taste really good with these too!

Classic Apple Pie

I had a pretty productive weekend in the kitchen, baking and cooking up a storm :). Some of the things I made were based on recipes, like the French muffins, fudge, hashbrowns, and apple pie...I've never made any of these from scratch before, so it was fun getting my hands dirty with batter, potatoes, and chocolatey goodness. One of the reasons why I've been baking a lot more on the weekends is because it's part of my job now! During the weekdays, I'm the blogger at Key Ingredient, and on the weekends, I try out the recipes that our members post on their KI profiles; it's a lot of fun. I'm learning quite a bit about food. I was always intimidated at the thought of baking an apple pie, but now that I'm getting in the habit of taking a baked good to work about once a week, I'm willing to face my baking/cooking fears a little more. I asked my co-workers what dessert they were craving and the response was apple pie...so I faced my apple-pie baking fear head-on today. I used a few recipes from How to Bake by Nick Malgieri, and was mostly happy with the results. The pie itself tasted great, but I think I should've taken the pie out of the oven before the suggested 40 minutes of bake time were over...it came out a little more toasted around the edges than I would've liked, but it definitely had that homemade apple pie taste that made all the work worthwhile!

I used two different recipes for the shell and crust, I also added a few more spices to the crust:

Bottom Crust: Flaky Pie Dough
1 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp baking powder
8 TBSP butter (1 stick) <---lots of butter in this recipe :)
2 TBSP cold water

Top Shell: Sweet dough for pies
1 1/4 cup bleached all-purpose flour
3 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
4 TBSP butter
1 egg

Pie Filling:
2 lbs apples (I used a mix of fuji and golden delicious; I'm not a fan of really tart apples)
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 TBSP all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest


I actually made a crumb topping, even though I made a shell crust for the pie, I thought it'd make the filling thicker, and it really did...I didn't think it made that big of a difference last night, but I just tasted the pie again, and right out of the fridge it has the perfect gooey filling, more thick and rich than just a plain apple filling, here it is:

Crumble Topping that goes on top of the filling
(this is an extra thing I added to the pie, but it makes a big difference)
3 TBSP apple sauce (not part of the recipe, but it added good flavor)
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 cup flour
3-4 TBSP butter
2-3 TBSP apple juice (I love Simply Apple)

For the pie filling, everything gets mixed together in one bowl, minus the crumb topping (that gets sprinkled on top of the pie before it gets covered with the shell). For the pie crusts, after I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork, I put them in the freezer for about 15 minutes (the recipe said to refrigerate them for at least an hour before use, but I didn't want to wait :D!).

I rolled each of the pie doughs out separately between two sheets of parchment paper, making sure to add flour to the bottom paper and the top of the dough before rolling the dough out into a circle shape large enough to fit/cover the pie pan.

After I arranged the crust in the pie pan, added the filling, then sprinkled the crumbly topping on top of the filling, I topped the pie with the shell. I then pinched the crust and shell together with my thumb, making sure to keep an even distance as my thumb went around the pie.

Before placing the pie in the oven to bake, make sure there are some small slits on the top shell of the pie so that air can escape while the inside of the pie bakes. I wish I could've created a great design (maybe after a few more pies), but I just used a knife to make a tulip shaped design/slit on top of the pie.

The recipe I followed said to bake the pie for 40 minutes at 375, I feel that is too long, since my pie came out a little charred around the edges. I think 25-30 minutes would've been perfect, next time I'll make sure to monitor it a little more (I was making hamburgers while the pie was baking...I know, it was a very all-American day in my kitchen :). Oh! I talked to a friend at work today and she actually said that it's best to cover the edges of the pie with foil so that they don't burn, since burning is a common occurrence.

I think this is a great recipe to try if you're a first-time pie maker, it's a lot of fun and not intimidating at all. My pie-baking fears are behind me now :)!

healthy oatmeal raisin cookies

I actually have a good excuse for the time that's passed since my last post...I got married! Yes, the last couple of weeks leading up to it were a bit hectic, considering my then-fiance-now-husband and I weren't planning on having a ceremony in the first place...but now we're glad we did! It was a very simple but beautiful wedding, and even though I loved the dress, my favorite part was the vow-reading that took place during the ceremony, it was a very memorable moment.

Now, back to the topic of food, a few weeks ago I made some oatmeal cookies. They are a pretty traditional cookie, usually made with a simple recipe...but most of those recipes include about 2 sticks of butter. I hate deceiving myself into thinking that I'm eating something healthy because the word "oatmeal" is included in the list of ingredients of the baked good I'm savoring...so I've tried to improvise and had some success after a few experimental sessions...I traded in 2 sticks of butter for 2 TBSPs and my taste buds don't know the difference!

Inspired by the oatmeal cookie recipe on the traditional Quaker Oats container, I decided to make a healthier version of the delectable treat. Instead of using literally half a pound of butter, which would translate into 2 sticks, I remembered the beauty of applesauce...keeping in mind that with applesauce, at least with baking, a little goes a long way. So for this particular cookie, between 1/8-1/4 cups of applesauce are the magic measurements...but it also depends on what texture you're going for. If you want a cookie with more bite, then about 1/8 cups and 1 tbsp should do the trick. However, if you really like the big soft cookies, then put a little more applesauce, somewhere around 1/4 cup.

Ok...so here's the recipe. A few other changes went into the cookies, but I do have to thank the little Quaker Oats guy for coming up with the initial, though terribly unhealthy and a little less flavorful, recipe.

Improvised recipe (makes a little over 2 dozen, if you make 1 tbsp sized cookie dough servings):
1 1/2 cups flour
2 cups oatmeal (this is one less cup than the original)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2-2/3 cups raisins (the golden ones taste so much better!)
1 tablespoon cinnamon (a lot more than the original)
a few sprinkles (about 1/8 tsp nutmeg)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
about 1/4 cup applesauce
2 TBSP Butter

I baked these in a 350 oven for about 12 minutes...note: the more applesauce you use, the longer it takes for the cookie to harden.

P.S. I took these cookies to work, and they were gobbled up completely!

Random Fact: I read somewhere, and I'll find the link one of these days, that applesauce and brown sugar tend to soften things with time. So be careful not to add too much of either, if you don't want your cookies to crumble :).

baked "fried" chicken

First off, this is not fried! It may resemble fried chicken in taste and texture, but these little drumsticks were actually baked in a 350 degree oven for about an hour (oh, and I covered them in aluminum foil for half the time while they baked). It's a healthy alternative for those that want the taste of fried chicken without the grease. The secret to make this baked chicken taste good is Mayo! I know it sounds gross, but it works a lot better than dipping the drumstick in egg and milk before covering them in the bread crumbs; I actually got the idea from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com about 6 months ago. It works great--the mayo actually helps "lock in" the moisture, which is a must when baking chicken; it also helps the bread crumbs adhere a lot better. So here is the recipe, this makes enough for about 8 drumsticks:

1/2 cup mayo (there's actually a canola oil version now!)
8 chicken drumsticks
1 cup garlic and herb bread crumbs
1 tsp savory
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt and pepper

This is a great alternative that will not disappoint! Even Jose said he could it eat every day! That's a pretty big claim to make :).

Simple Goodness: Healthy Chicken and Dumpling Soup

Ever since I had my gallbladder removed a few months ago, I've had to improvise my way of cooking , especially on those days my intestines just can't handle all that new bile (a very common post-operative symptom). This is why I tend to cook with a lot less butter and try to focus on how to make things healthy, but still flavorful and preservative-free. Anyway, this chicken soup is easy on the tummy, but still pleasing to the taste buds. The spices I use are great flavor-enhancers and the soup itself is loaded with vegetables and chicken breast, what could possibly be healthier? Ok, maybe it would be healthier without the chicken, but I don't get full without meat...this is why I'm not a vegetarian. It's pretty easy to make, and the secret is probably the timing, how long everything cooks, especially the veggies. Nothing ruins a soup more than over-cooked vegetables and a watery broth for a base...oh yeah, and the spices, there needs to be just enough, but not so much that you can't taste the natural taste of all the other ingredients. So here's what I did:

I measured! Yay! And...

Measured 7 cups of water to boil in a good sized pot. Then I added all the tasty stuff: 3 TBSP Chicken Bouillon Powder (I've used the boxed organic chicken broths, and they work great, but I ran out :). Here are the spices that I threw in the pot of brothy water:

3/4 TSP black pepper
1 tsp Onion powder
1/2 TBSP Basil
1 TBSP Fine herbs (basically, a bled of parsley, green onion, cheruil, and tarragon)
1/2 TBSP Herb de Provence

Then I added 1 1/2 TBSP flour; it might seem like an odd ingredient, but I really don't care much for a watery broth in my soups, this helps to give it more texture without making the soup thick like gravy, because that's not good either.

I let all these spices cook in the broth over a medium flame for about 5 minutes, just to bring out their individual flavors, then I added 1 pound of cut-up boneless skinless chicken breast. (If you are a vegetarian, you could add 1 can of plain tomato sauce instead of chicken and veggie instead of chicken broth for a light vegetable soup.)

While I let the chicken cook over a medium flame for about 15 minutes, with a cover, I diced up all my veggies which amounted to: 1 1/2 cups carrots, 1 cup celery, 1 whole squash, 1 whole zucchini (both medium-sized). Then I added JUST the carrots and celery to the soup, cooking it on a medium-low flame for another 15 minutes. When they were almost done cooking, I added the zucchini and squash, along with the dumplings--making sure the flame was at the second to last lowest setting possible, because it's very easy to over-cook those last veggies. Oh, and here's the recipe for the dumplings:

1 Cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 Cup nonfat milk
1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1/4 tsp salt-free garlic and herb spice

Most dumpling recipes call for butter or even shortening, but those are very heavy, definitely not easy to digest. Canola oil is much lighter AND healthier, and you honestly can't tell the difference.

P.S. Isn't the bowl in the picture so cute? I bought it at a store called Marukai when I visited my family in Los Angeles this past winter break, it's one of my favorite stores.

P.S.S. When I had a break during my little kitchen session, I decided to pay my guinea pigs a visit, so I headed to the back room and fed them each some carrots and celery. The guinea in this picture is Yoshi, the baby of the family. He's a little camera shy and you can definitely see it here :):

the godfather meets pancho villa mac and cheese, really!

This is a little bit Italian and a tad bit Mexican. It is very rich, but Jose (my fiance) loves this stuff, and since I'm trying to learn how to make everything "homemade" I decided it would be a good time to experiment with a mac and cheese dish; this one definitely has a fun kick to it. I wanted a different mac and cheese, and this is good enough for me...at least until I think of another idea.

So here it is...there is a tad problem, I seriously have a bad time remembering to actually measure things (I cook every day, but I rarely measure--unless I'm planning on posting a recipe on this blog) so some of this is just what I estimated by eye, though toward the end, I did measure...I just figure, whatever "looks" right for two cups of pasta, that's what I used.

Instructions:
In a medium sized pot, Cook 2 cups (I measured this) of plain macaroni noodles (with about 3 1/2-4 cups water) until they are soft enough to bite, but not soggy and mushy. After straining the pasta, and putting it in a bowl on the counter somewhere...you can start cooking these dairy products on the stove in that same pot you cooked the pasta in (make sure it's cooked over a low flame):

Add about 1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded colby/jack cheese (I just used the shredded Kraft cheese that comes in the bag)
1/4-1/2 cup shredded Parmesan/mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 TBSP butter
2 1/4 TBSP cream cheese
1 1/2 TBSP olive oil
(I've seen mac and cheese made with eggs, but I don't use 'em)

Stir this mixture until it's all melted together, then you can add these spices:
1/2 TBSP salt free garlic and herb (I use the McCormick brand)
1 TBSP Italian seasoning
1 TSP Onion powder
1/2 TSP black pepper
1 TSP ground paprika
1/2-3/4 TSP chili powder
1/4 cup dried bell pepper (I buy a bell pepper blend at a gourmet grocery store here in TX, aka Central Market; if you can't get your hands on some of the dry bell, then just use 1/3 cup of pre-sauteed [with olive oil] bell pepper; use green, red, and orange.)

Let these ingredients simmer on the stove with the melted cheese/milk blend for about 5 minutes, but make sure you keep stirring it so that the milk mixture stays smooth and creamy, not lumpy. I added about 1/4 cup more of milk as the ingredients all cooked together, because the sauce was thickening more than I wanted it to...anyway, once you can smell that the bell pepper blend has cooked with the other spices, you can add the mac and cheese to the sauce and stir all these ingredients together for the last time before you serve.