Quinoa greek salad

Today I made a super healthy salad with Quinoa.  I really love the nuttiness of this grain and paired with vegetable and lemon...its out of this world.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Quinoa ( wash in a small strainer)
1  cup water

Let this come to a boil and slow down the heat to simmer.  Cover the lid and cook till all the water had evaporated and the grain has a white ring around it. Fluff it up and set aside.

Vegetable

Cucumber         - diced
Baby tomatoes  - cut in half
Bell pepper       - diced
Onion                - diced
Garlic                - chopped
Parsley              - chopped
Feta cheese        - crumbled

The dressing I used a pear and cranberry balsamic vinegar and squeezed half a lemon but you can actually use any kind of dressing preferred.

Let the flavors develop for at least 2 hours.

21st Birthday SS

I made a regular white cake for my daughter's 21st birthday and used raspberry jam as filling. As for the frosting I used whipped cream and gelatin to stabilize it. Not quite happy with the recipe for the cake and I actually used a box mix last minute for the top layer. 

Shai 23rd Birthday

 My baby boy turned 23 this year and he loved Tiramisu so I decide to make him one instead of buying it.  Indeed I must say homemade cake are the best ! I used lady's finger cookies  on the outside.  The cake is layered with whipped mascarpone and heavy cream frosting and kahlua.

My birthday cake ...Black Forest

I love love absolutely love Black forest cake.  Something about the sweet cherries and whipped cream in between the cakes and the texture of the cake itself is moist and chocolaty.  The cake was frosted with whipped cream which was stabilized with gelatin.  Even after 2 days the cake was very moist .  The only regret was I did not have the cherry liquor and just used Vodka.

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder ( dutch processed)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk ( I mixed in 1 cup milk and 1 tbsp lemon juice)

1 cup hot water

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Cherry Liquor

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup cherry liquor

Whipped Cream Frosting

1 tbsp water

1 tsp gelatin

3 cup Heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare 2 8inch cake pans with parchments.

Place all dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add the eggs and the wet ingredients.  Beat with handheld mixer till everything is blended nicely.  Batter will be very thin.

Pour into prepared pans and bake about 45 min and test with wooden skewer if the cake is done.  The skewer should come out clean.  Cool for 10 min in the pan and then turn over to the cooling rack.

Prepare the cherry liquor by mixing everything together and set aside.

For the whipped cream...First mix the gelatin in a cold water and set aside.  once gelatin is soft, put in the microwave for couple of seconds and let it cool. Beat the heavy cream with powder sugar for 5 min or so.  Add the room temp gelatin in and whipped the cream to soft peak.  Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

51st Birthday Carrot cake

Well this surely doesnt look like a carrot cake because I was so busy that I forgot to sprinkle the pecans our the cake.  No doubt the cake was delicious and moist.  My hubby loves carrot cake and this surely made his birthday special.  Recepi is adapted from here

I made another carrot cake for my friend's  husband and managed to add the nuts :)

Refrigerated cutout sugar cookie

Today I decided to try yet a other recipe for sugar cookie but this time the cookie dough needed to be refrigerated for at least 4 hours and I thought since I had the time why not give it a try.  I am so happy that I did because the cookie was soft and it held up its shape while baking.  The taste of the cookie was amazing.
Source.  Haniela

Ingredient

3 cup four
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 stick butter
1 egg

Option..can also add lemon or orange zest to the dough

Directions

In a small bowl whisk egg and essence, Set aside

Cream butter and sugar. The creamed butter should be light and fluffy.  Add egg mixture and mix well.  Beat for about 1 minute.

In another bowl, sift dry ingredients.

Gradually add flour mixture into the butter in 3 additions.  Scrape the dough into a large bowl and knead with your hands till everything is combined,  Bind dough together and make into a disk.  Wrap the dough in a plastic and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.

Divide cookie dough in half.  Roll one half of the cookie dough into about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut out as many cookies as you can.  Place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Chill the cutout in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Bake for 8 minutes depending on your preference.

Let the cookies cook on the baking sheet and then transfer to cooling rack.

Store in airtight container for up to 2 to 3 weeks or freeze undecorated cookies between pieces of wax paper in a large container.

Decorate as desired with royal icing.

Christmas cookies

Made another batch of cookies for Christmas with this recipe.

Strawberry Swiss Roll

I used one of my old swiss roll recipe.  Moist and delicious.  Filling is whipped cream and strawberry

Best Cut-out Sugar Cookie

Yummmm, this is such a keeper recipe.  I made this but forgive my decorating skills.  Me and my daughter had so much fun doing this.  The cookies itself kept fresh for almost 1 week in a airtight container.

The best part of this recipe is that it does not need refrigeration and all you need to do is just let it rest for couple of minutes then cut out and bake.

If you dont like the cookie to spread out and soft, add a little more flour but start of with 2 1/2 cup then gradually add more.

Cookie freezes well.

Ingredient


2 stick butter, softened
2 1/2 to 2 3/4  cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup confectioner sugar
1 egg
3 tsp flavoring
1 tsp salt

Directions

• Cream together softened butter and confectioner’s sugar. Crack the egg into a separate bowl, and add the flavoring. Add that to the butter sugar mixture and mix until the egg is thoroughly incorporated. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add little by little to the mixture. 
• Roll out on parchment to about 1/4 an inch thick, use flour for dusting as necessary. Then, cut and bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes. This version makes 2-2 1/2 dozen, doubled, it makes 4-5 dozen.

Royal Icing


2 lb confectioner sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 tb meringue powder
about 3/4 cup water

20th birthday

We celebrated my daughter's birthday today and since I have been seeing a lot of drip cake pictures, I thought of giving it a try.  Loved the cake and how it turned out.  The ratio for the chocolate drip was a little runny.  Next time need to reduce on the heavy cream.  The cake was a  White Almond Sourcream Cake.  My filling was strawberry preserves.