Homemade Chai Tea (Latte)
Ingredients
3 cups water
1 stick of cinnamon
20 cardamom pods
20 whole cloves
2 Darjeeling tea bags
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/3 cup soy milk
Directions
Bring to boil water, cinnamon, cardamom pods, and whole cloves.
Cover & simmer in low heat for 10 min.
Turn off heat and add the tea bags, brew for 2 minutes.
Remove the tea bags and mix in the sugar.
If you're ready to serve, add soy milk and serve immediately.
Otherwise, refrigerate the tea.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Chicken Stock / Chicken Noodle Soup
Simple Crock pot Chicken Stock / Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
Ingredients
1 pack chicken breast (2 breasts)
3 Cups water
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalk, sliced
Dried herbs (oregano, parsley, basil, etc)
Salt & pepper to taste
Egg noodles (optional)
Directions
Place chicken breast, water, carrots, celery, and herbs in a crock pot.
Set crock pot at high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
(To make chicken noodle soup: Add egg noodles at the end for about 10 minutes.)
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Ingredients
1 pack chicken breast (2 breasts)
3 Cups water
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalk, sliced
Dried herbs (oregano, parsley, basil, etc)
Salt & pepper to taste
Egg noodles (optional)
Directions
Place chicken breast, water, carrots, celery, and herbs in a crock pot.
Set crock pot at high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
(To make chicken noodle soup: Add egg noodles at the end for about 10 minutes.)
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Baked Onion Rings
one of my vice is onion rings. when i'm eating out, and there is an option of ordering onion rings as a side, i don't even consider looking at other side choices. if i didn't mind the "fried" smell that you get when you fry something at home, and if it wasn't so bad for you, i would eat it every day.
but alas, it's not so good for you, is it?
yes it is! yes it is!! or at least, there is a healthier alternative.
Baked Onion Rings
Recipe adapted from Food Doodles
1 medium sweet onion
1/4 Cup flour
1/4 Cup Italian Seasoning Bread Crumbs
1/2 TBS finely chopped Rosemary
1 egg, beaten
1 Cup Panko bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Slice the onions about 1/2 inch thick. In a large ziploc bag, add flour and Italian Seasoning Bread Crumbs and mix. Add onion and shake well to coat.
Put Panko bread crumbs into a large plate or bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, beat egg and mix in some of the chopped rosemary. Coat onion ring in egg mixture and then coat in panko crumbs. Place the onion ring in a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until bottom edge turns golden, then flip the rings over and bake for 10 more minutes or until the rings are nice and golden.
now, mind you, my pictures don't do justice, but if you go to Food Doodles link above, you will see BEAUTIFUL pictures of the onion rings. and i mean, b-e-a-utiful.
after i took the picture above, it took me about 10 minutes to chow down all the rings. i cleaned up afterwards so my husband won't know that they even existed... hehe.
Homemade Maple Almond Butter
one day, i had this wild idea of making my own peanut butter. since we are in love with our Ninja Kitchen System, i figured i would give it a try. needless to say, my peanut butter (honey peanut butter) was delicious.
so naturally (har har), i figured i would take the next big step and try to make the (*gasp*) almond butter. i got the idea from Justin's Maple Almond Butter, which is sold in regular grocery stores. Their almond butters have very basic ingredients, which is exactly what i prefer in any of my food. so if you don't want to make your own almond butter, Justin's is definitely a great alternative.
aaaaaaaanyway, my first few batches were not so pretty. they were yummy, of course, but it was very tough to spread. to describe the end result, they were like... silly putty except they were thicker and tougher to spread out. i didn't know what it could be until i read the ingredients on Justin's bottle again - they added Palm Oil!
of course!
Almond butter on its own has enough oil to keep it smooth; however, once you add salt and maple syrup, the butter "seizes up" and becomes putty. but no worries, a little bit(?) of oil will help relax the butter and make it smoother, once again. for this recipe, i used 2:1 ratio for oil to maple syrup. i tried 1:1 but that failed... miserably. 1.5:1 may work if you want to use less oil.
below is the recipe that i used for my latest batch. i may have to edit it a bit later, but for now, i think it works. and just as an FYI, we like our almond butter a bit on the salty & sweet side. So if you prefer a regular almond butter, then you won't even need to add any of the other ingredients. if you prefer less salty & less sweet, just cut the maple syrup & salt by 1 TSP and 1 TBS, respectively. and if you cut down the syrup by 1 TBS, you can probably cut down the oil by 1 TBS as well.
Recipe for Maple Almond Butter
3 Cups Almond, toasted
4 TBS Oil (i used Grape Seed Oil because i didn't like the Olive Oil scent in my Almond Butter)
2 TSP Kosher Salt (less if you don't want it too salty)
2 TBS Maple Syrup
Toasting the almond
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread the almonds in a large cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 min. Remove the sheet and cool on a cooling rack to room temperature.
Making the almond butter
In your food processor (i used Ninja Food Processor), place toasted almonds and run on high (Ninja setting 3, "Crush") for 5-10 minutes, depending on the processor power, until the almonds have been turned into a paste. Run the processor for few more minutes until the oils have been released. (You will be able to see the gloss on the paste.) Once the paste seems smoother & glossier (and turns into a "butter"), add the oil and blend until the oil is mixed in. At this point, the butter should be nice and smooth. Add the salt and blend until it is mixed in. Lastly, add the syrup in low power. As soon as you add the maple syrup, you will probably notice that the butter texture stiffens ("seizes up"). Make sure the syrup is mixed in well.
my Ninja does all the work for me, and all i need to do is to watch the processor for about 10 minutes & add the ingredients towards the end. it's one of the easiest things to make, but i just couldn't find a recipe for it anywhere other than a basic almond butter... so i hope this recipe comes handy to whoever comes across my blog. :)
so naturally (har har), i figured i would take the next big step and try to make the (*gasp*) almond butter. i got the idea from Justin's Maple Almond Butter, which is sold in regular grocery stores. Their almond butters have very basic ingredients, which is exactly what i prefer in any of my food. so if you don't want to make your own almond butter, Justin's is definitely a great alternative.
aaaaaaaanyway, my first few batches were not so pretty. they were yummy, of course, but it was very tough to spread. to describe the end result, they were like... silly putty except they were thicker and tougher to spread out. i didn't know what it could be until i read the ingredients on Justin's bottle again - they added Palm Oil!
of course!
Almond butter on its own has enough oil to keep it smooth; however, once you add salt and maple syrup, the butter "seizes up" and becomes putty. but no worries, a little bit(?) of oil will help relax the butter and make it smoother, once again. for this recipe, i used 2:1 ratio for oil to maple syrup. i tried 1:1 but that failed... miserably. 1.5:1 may work if you want to use less oil.
below is the recipe that i used for my latest batch. i may have to edit it a bit later, but for now, i think it works. and just as an FYI, we like our almond butter a bit on the salty & sweet side. So if you prefer a regular almond butter, then you won't even need to add any of the other ingredients. if you prefer less salty & less sweet, just cut the maple syrup & salt by 1 TSP and 1 TBS, respectively. and if you cut down the syrup by 1 TBS, you can probably cut down the oil by 1 TBS as well.
Recipe for Maple Almond Butter
3 Cups Almond, toasted
4 TBS Oil (i used Grape Seed Oil because i didn't like the Olive Oil scent in my Almond Butter)
2 TSP Kosher Salt (less if you don't want it too salty)
2 TBS Maple Syrup
Toasting the almond
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread the almonds in a large cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 min. Remove the sheet and cool on a cooling rack to room temperature.
Making the almond butter
In your food processor (i used Ninja Food Processor), place toasted almonds and run on high (Ninja setting 3, "Crush") for 5-10 minutes, depending on the processor power, until the almonds have been turned into a paste. Run the processor for few more minutes until the oils have been released. (You will be able to see the gloss on the paste.) Once the paste seems smoother & glossier (and turns into a "butter"), add the oil and blend until the oil is mixed in. At this point, the butter should be nice and smooth. Add the salt and blend until it is mixed in. Lastly, add the syrup in low power. As soon as you add the maple syrup, you will probably notice that the butter texture stiffens ("seizes up"). Make sure the syrup is mixed in well.
my Ninja does all the work for me, and all i need to do is to watch the processor for about 10 minutes & add the ingredients towards the end. it's one of the easiest things to make, but i just couldn't find a recipe for it anywhere other than a basic almond butter... so i hope this recipe comes handy to whoever comes across my blog. :)
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