Soft Pretzels

Have an urge for soft pretzel but don’t feel like going out and don’t have any yeast in the house well lo and behold a recipe that does not require yeast. After searching the web for yeast-less soft pretzels, I found one with good ratings and that seem to have ingredients that would make good pretzels. I didn’t salt my pretzels but they turned out good nonetheless. Also, unlike the original recipe I used bread flour instead of whole wheat flour along with the all purpose flour. The pretzels were soft and have a little sweetness to them. I am very satisfied with this recipe. You guys should give it a try too if you like pretzels:)

Yummy Brownie Mix

When I was talking to one of my friends about brownies, she asked if I ever tried Ghiraradelli brownie mixes. I said no. She claimed that they were one of the most delicious brownies she has ever eaten and that they could give bakeries a run for their money. Being curious, I had to try it. I bought a box of double chocolate brownie mix and followed the directions on the box. To add a little something extra, I topped the brownies with crushed M&M’s. The end result was awesomeness. The best brownie mix I have tried thus far in the twenty-one years assuming that I remember what and how things tasted like when I was a toddler. They were soft, very fudgy, moist, and dense. I would say they are comparable to gourmet brownies. I wanted to take a picture of the whole tray, but I forget and started to eat the brownie (to be exact I forked the brownie). I did not want to scare you with the mess I created so I cut a slice for the photo. This mix is a 200% thumbs up for me. You guys should try it!!!

Surprisingly Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes and Buttermilk Cupcakes

I wanted to make cupcakes for a graduation party, but didn’t have enough butter so I searched the internet for oil based cupcake recipes. Surprisingly, I was able to come across a vegan recipe for chocolate cupcakes that overall received a great rating. At first, I was really skeptical of the recipe because it did not require eggs or milk (but then again it was a vegan recipe) and used distilled vinegar instead, but after carefully reading a handful of reviews and looking at pictures, I decided to try the recipe and I am glad I did. However, I made some changes based on the reviews. I incorporated semi-sweet chocolate chips and more cocoa powder into the recipe because many reviewers commented how the cupcakes were not chocolaty enough. Many reviews said the batter is more liquidly than a normal cupcake batter, but I thought the consistency of the batter was comparable to other cake batters. This can be due to the fact that I added chocolate chips as well as more cocoa powder. 

The cupcakes turned out really well. They were very chocolaty, a little dense, moist in the inside, and harder/drier on the top---very delicious. I topped these cupcakes with homemade vanilla butter cream frosting.

Just in case people did not like chocolate, I wanted to have another favored cupcake. I decided to make buttermilk cupcakes since I had a lot of buttermilk leftover. I was able to find a recipe on a blog that required ingredients that I have. When searching for buttermilk cupcake recipes, I learned from reviews that you can actually make buttermilk by adding 2 tablespoons of distilled vinegar to a cup of milk. Next time, I shall try this instead of purchasing buttermilk. After whipping the ingredients together in the recipe, a very fluffy batter like whipped cream formed. This was my first time ever making a batter as fluffy as this one, but the cupcakes turn out very good. It reminded me of sponge cake---very light and tasty; however, I would have been more satisfied if the cupcakes did not shrink after cooling. To top these fabulous cupcakes, I used homemade chocolate butter cream frosting.

After frosting all the cupcakes, I placed them in tray pans and decorated them. At the party, these treats goodness were a huge success. Many of the attendees praise how good they were and I saw many people taking seconds. I will definitely use these recipes in the future again---maybe I will try to make cake versions next time. The recipe to these wonderful delights are below. Enjoy:)

Pasta Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing

For a potluck, I made pasta salad. I was thinking about just adding bottled dressing to some pasta and vegetables but decided against it. Bottled dressings are load with sodium so I thought it would better to make my own Italian dressing. I found a recipe for zesty Italian dressing on GrouponRecipe. However, I made some changes since I did not have some of the ingredients---I used garlic powder instead of garlic salt, I used Italian seasoning in place of oregano, thyme, dried basil, and I omitted the celery salt. Below you can find the recipe for the pasta salad and homemade Italian dressing. I made two batches of the homemade dressing separately but of course you can just double the recipe. Overall, I like the dressing and pasta salad. It was good, light, and not salty. Also, I receive positive from my friends at the potluck. Therefore, this recipe is a keeper for me.

Food Pictures

I found some pictures of food on my cellphone so I wanted to share them with you. Below are the pictures and below the pictures are brief descriptions.

Oatmeal with Dried Longan

A great way to start your day is by having a bowl of oatmeal. Oatmeal is excellent source of fiber, vitamin E, zinc, selenium, copper, iron, manganese, and magnesium. Foods high fiber keep you fuller for a longer period and can also help lower bad cholesterol levels; therefore, I highly recommend the consumption of high fiber foods to improve health. To make the oatmeal tastier, I added Dried Longan and some brown sugar. Dried Longan provides a number of health benefits as it have been said to improve concentration and memory, stomachache, insomnia, and amnesia. It is also a good source of fiber and iron. Try eating oatmeal with Dried Longan and tell me what you think. You can find the simple recipe below.

Bread Base Pizza

Sometimes for a snack or for lunch, I would make something that can be classified as a downgraded version of a pizza. I would use whole wheat bread slices as the base, ketchup as the tomato sauce, and top them with various ingredients. Then I would bake them in a 350 degrees Fahrenheit preheated oven for about 10 minutes to melt the cheese and toast the edges of the bread. One time, I topped the slices with shredded mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, sliced cherry tomatoes, diced red peppers, and grated Parmesan cheese. During another occasion, I used onions, sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped onions, shredded mozzarella cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, ground black pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning to top the bread. I think these are fun to make. You should give them a try especially when you have an urge for pizza. 

Fresh Salsa

Homemade salsa and tortilla chips are great refreshing healthy snacks during a hot day. Besides eating salsa with tortilla chips, you can use it to top your tacos, add it to your salad, or eat it alone. In this salsa recipe, I used tomatoes, onions, cilantro, red pepper, salt, lime juice, oil, and pepper. I really do encourage everyone to try adding cilantro into your salsa. It makes a difference and adds a fresh taste. If you like the sweet taste of bell peppers like I do, you can also add some green bell peppers. I wanted to add green pepper but I only had red peppers. Without further adieu, below is the recipe. I hope you enjoy!!! If you have any questions or comments, please post it on the comment post. Thanks.

Simple California Rolls

I wanted some sushi so I made some simple California rolls. I used Kirby cucumbers so for each roll I putted two slices of cucumbers to make it long enough for the roll. I used imitation crabsticks but you can also use imitation crabmeat. Imitation crabsticks can be easily found at Asian supermarkets. They are easy to use and cheaper than imitation crabmeat sold in American supermarkets or at least where I live. Below is the detailed recipe. I had my sushi with pickled ginger.

Frozen Mango and Orange Treat

As I mentioned in one of my earlier blog postings, it is hot in Philadelphia. To cool off, I made mango and orange popsicles with a molding that I bought from the dollar store (I love dollar stores). The recipe for the popsicles can be found at seasaltwithfood.com. I have also typed out the recipe below. Give it a try. The popsicles are delicious and would make excellent treats for kids. It is a better alternative to sugary popsicles made up of only artificial flavorings and dyes.

My Failed Margherita Pizza

So I didn’t have pizza dough or yeast so I tried to make the dough with a recipe from COOKS.COM that uses baking power. Well, it didn’t turn out that great. I think I baked the dough too long so it became too hard especially around the edges. The texture was not right, but it did have a pizza crust taste. I have to try this recipe again when I have time. It received good reviews and I feel like there is a high chance I can be successful at making this dough, too.

For the topping, I used a recipe from Food.com. The topping was okay, but next time when I make it I am going to use garlic powder instead of garlic cloves. I thought the taste was too strong for me. 

Chewy Oatmeal, Cranberry, and Dark Chocolate Cookies

I wanted to make cookies as a gift for my friend’s graduation. Since I had oatmeal, dried cranberries, and a lindt chocolate bar, I decided to make oatmeal, cranberry, and chocolate cookies. But I would need a recipe that would not require butter because I didn’t have any butter in the house. Luckily, I was able to come across a recipe for oatmeal cookies on Allrecipes.com that used oil instead of butter. I made some adjustments to the original recipe such as eliminating coconut flakes, reducing the sugar, and putting in cinnamon, dried cranberries, and chocolate. To add a little celebratory touch to it, I decorated the cookies with congratulatory words made of icing that hardens. The recipe for the icing can be found at Food.com. The icing in the original recipe was used to accompany gingerbread cookies; however, I didn’t try the gingerbread cookie recipe.

The cookies turned out really well. They were chewy and not too sweet---I really enjoyed them. More importantly, my friend as well as her family members loved it. You guys should give this recipe a try. It is easy, delicious, and don’t have as much calories as oatmeal cookies made from butter. Next time when I bake, I will try to substitute butter with oil to see if it works as well as it did in this recipe. Also, I might consider using this recipe as a base for other cookies. I will let you know how it turns out.

Honey Lime Tofu

If you like lime and honey, I would recommend this stir fried tofu. This recipe is adapted from My Kitchen Snippets. Unlike the original recipe, I used tofu instead of tempeh (fermented tofu), used mint instead of curry leaves, added carrot and celery, eliminated the bird eye chilies and as usual omitted the salt. Right now, in Philadelphia, it is very hot and humid and I wanted a light dish for dinner. I didn’t feel like eating a salad, though. The tofu goes well with rice. I had it with brown rice. It makes a nice meal for a spring or summer day.

Tangy Chicken Wings

Some of my friends and I were having a potluck. I wanted to make chicken wings but I want the recipe to be simple, low in sodium, and easy. I finally found a recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken Wings by Martha Stewart that fitted my criteria; however, I made two adjustments to the original recipe---I used red wine vinegar instead of sherry-wine vinegar and I omitted the salt.  The chicken wings turned out great and had a tangy taste. My friends also liked it. Below is a picture and the recipe.

Cubano Press from Marathon Grill

Marathon Grill is a chain restaurant local to Philadelphia. I had a giftcard to Marathon Grill given to me by my former employer; therefore, I decided to try their Cubano Press sandwich for lunch one day. The sandwich was basically roast pork, coppa, swiss, honey mustard, and pickles on a cuban roll. It was my first time trying a Cubano Press sandwich and I loved it. The meat, cheese, pickles, and honey mustard combination provided a tasty favor (zesty, salty, and sweet). I would totally recommend this sandwich. It makes a great lunch. 

Deee-licious Shrimp Fried Rice

I had some brown rice left over from last night so I decided to make some shrimp fried rice with it.  Check out the picture below. 

                                     Doesn’t it look gorgeous? It actually tastes good, too.