Thursday, May 08, 2008

Flaky Pie Crust



This is for Gert. I adapted this recipe from allrecipes.com. I love this basic pie crust recipe and has been using it for all my homemade pies. I even used it to bake curry and pork floss puffs. For the above chicken pot pie, I used two pie crusts.

Ingredients: (yield one 9 inch pie crust)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, cold, cubed
3-5 tablespoons ice water

Method:

1. In a food processor, add in the flour, salt and cubed cold butter. Pulse a couple of times.

2. Add in Tbsp. of cold water while pulsing at the top opening until a dough is formed.

3. Turn the dough on a plastic wrap, wrap well and refrigerate until ready to use.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Fried Rice w/ Egg Roll



I was invited by Mochachocolata-Rita to participate in her first ever virtual party to celebrate her 88th post in her blog. She wanted us to create a dish that resembles the Chinese Take-Out and we can be creative with the recipe. Since I'm leaving to Malaysia in few hours, I could only make some fried rice with a real Chinese take out egg roll. We love to order chicken fried rice and what's better way to accompany the fried rice but the Chinese egg roll. Rita, thanks for hosting this Chinese take out party!



Here's my simplified fried rice recipe using the leftover grilled chicken from Famous Dave restaurant.

Ingredients:

Leftover cold rice, about 5 cups
Grilled chicken breast, shredded
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
2 eggs, beaten


(A)
Oyster sauce
Chinese white white
Soy sauce

Method:

1. Heat wok with oil and scramble the eggs until cooked, dish out and set aside.

2. Heat wok with oil again and add in the chopped garlic. Stir-fry until slightly golden, add carrots, bell peppers and grilled chicken. Stir well and add the white rice. Stir until mix well and add (A) to taste. Stir-fry until the rice is jumping in the wok, dish out and serve.



Check out the Chinese Take-Out Party on May 12th.

Here at Last

Yes, we are finally here in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Getting use to the hot and humid weather again but this time I find the weather is tolerable. My girls are doing good as well, at least they didn't complain they are hot. Going to Singapore this weekend, at least my girls will have some fun visiting Sentosa Island and Vivo City and their relatives. Here in J.B. is pretty boring, nothing much to do and nothing special to eat. Thus far, my hubby got his new passport done. It was done in few hours, surprisingly fast, went there in the morning and collected the passport in the afternoon and I waited 3 months to get my passport from U.S. Will update more after the trip to Singapore.

Monday, May 05, 2008

Green Tea Oats Cookies




I was browsing through food blogs and then some and then I felt my hands itchy again. Itch to have some action and then my mind started to wander. I wanted to make something very easy without taking out my electric beaters and incorporating green tea powder (as I love it) and sort of healthy at the same time and thus this was created.

If you like crunchy oats cookies with green tea fragrant, this is the recipe for you. I used this Oats Cookies but instead of vanilla extract, I used 1/2 tsp. of green tea powder, omitted the raisins and choc. chips and used 1 cup of oats instead.



The resulted cookies of the day! The color and shape of this cookie seem to me very suitable to serve on Halloween. :P I can imagine adding two tiny choc. chips as eyes and I will have myself a plate of little green goblins starring at me. LOL! Surprisingly, this cookie was well received by my hubby and two girls.

Friday, May 02, 2008

Vacation Finally!!

In few hours, I will be on the plane heading back to Malaysia. I will be back for a month. First stop would be Johor Bahru where my in-laws are. This is my long awaited vacation to Malaysia. I also get to attend my brother's wedding banquet in P.J. at the end of the month. We will visit Singapore, Melaka and Genting & Cameron Highlands in this trip and I can't wait to visit Sentosa Island after 20+ years. I also can't wait to eat my way through Melaka and visit the Jonker Street. Stop at the Ostrich Farm at P.D on the way to P.J. And visit my high school friends whom I haven't seen for 14 years!! Cool down at Genting Highlands and Cameron Highland (will be needed for sure) and let the kids have some fun at the theme park, shopping at KLCC and visit more friends from college days. Can't wait!!!

I will keep updating in Malaysia whenever I have access to the Internet. I also have some drafts that I will be posting in Malaysia so stay tuned! Oh by the way, I might be late in responding to your comments, but rest assure that I will, just a bit late! :o) Also, I might not be able to visit your blog often or in the month of May at all, sorry in advance ya!

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Chicken Pot Pie



I made Gert's chicken pot pie the other night because I have all the ingredients at home. I omitted the potatoes because we don't really like it and added the corn kernels. I made my own pie crusts as well. With a food processor, pie crust is very easy to make. I did the lattice by hands, didn't know we get to buy the lattice pie cutter these days, can really save a lot of work.



Since I used raw chicken breasts instead of cooked and omitted the potatoes. My cooking method was slightly different. First, I had to saute the chicken until cooked with the onion, and I only used one cup of water since I didn't have to boil cook the potatoes. Lastly I thicken the sauce with some cornstarch.



A slice of the pot pie the lazy way (instead of the individual ones, Gert & I made it into one big pie)! My hubby actually liked it and had three huge pieces. Edda liked it too except the picky Evy. I think that was because she didn't like celery but she did finish the top crust and most of the filling. Gert, thanks for sharing this recipe. :o)

Editing to add:



This is what happen as of now, cloudy with heavy snow falls !! And it's MAY 1st TODAY!!