5 Foolproof Breakfast Recipes

Photo Credit: Flickr Assorted Danishes

1. Apple Pie Muffins
2. Cream Cheese Danishes

Photo Credit: Flickr Muffins

3. Buttermilk Pancakes
4. Bread Pudding

Photo Credit: Flickr Challah French Toast

5. French Toast


Note: For recipe #2, I used vanilla extract instead of lemon juice and I discovered I didn't need a sugar glaze at all. For recipe #5, I used challah bread and substituted chocolate chips for walnuts.

I did not grow up with Western desserts. I did grow up with steamed buns filled with red bean paste or lotus. My dad made pancakes from a box mix and I liked artificial maple syrup so I did not learn about what non-Chinese people eat for breakfast and brunch until I married Nik.

It's been a fun and challenging experiment, trying out dishes that I didn't experience as a kid. For example, I asked, "What is a casserole?" Even for church luncheons until age 12, it was Chinese beef stew, pork BBQ buns and emerald green bok choi. This means I have relied on BettyCrocker.com, MrsHappyHomemaker.com and Foodnetwork.com to recreate my husband's comfort foods.

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol's Kitchen Danish

Last evening, I made homemade cream cheese danishes. 

In turn, he's learned how to make dirty rice from my fascination with food from my NOLA trips, stuffed squid from my teen years and bread pudding from my studies as an English major.

Chinese Restaurant Review: Norcal vs Socal

Photo Credit: Flickr Avlxyz Beef Hor Fun

Photo Credit: Flickr Pinguino Chinese Fried Shrimp

I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but in my year and a half here in Southern California I've come to love Los Angeles. No, I don't love the traffic. However, I dig the diversity of entertainment here. For instance, I spend Saturday nights at the Getty Center museum with my husband, Saturday afternoons at the Natural History Museum admiring the Gem Exhibit with my girlfriends and Sundays hiking or running on the beach. Plus there's upscale but well-priced bars, bowling in Hollywood, and crepes in Santa Monica. I'm a happy gal.

Photo Credit: PolkaDotCupcake Blog Oxtail Stew

This post is a comparison of a Norcal Chinese restaurant and a Socal Chinese bistro. Yes, this can stir the Norcal vs Socal rivalry but I must comment so read on.

Today I am reviewing:

Photo Credit: Flicker OpenCage Info Chinese Restaurant

Photo Credit: Flicker Rick's Red Bean Dessert Soup

• Three Brothers from China in Pleasant Hill, California
• Garden Cafe in Alhambra, California

Photo Credit: Flickr Avlxyz Mapo Tofu

Criteria

• Value
• Quality
• Service
• Ambiance
• Menu Items

Garden Cafe

This is an excellent MSG-free alternative to the equally highly rated Tasty Garden next door. The price point is higher than Three Brothers from China for beef chow hor fun, however it's inexpensive and high quality for SoCal Chinese food. The waitstaff is polite unlike the crew at Tasty Garden. If you know the Chinese language as a patron, you are in luck. The restaurant attracts mainly Asian clients or interracial families. The appearance is clean and contemporary with lots of white and lime green in its decor. The track lighting and plasma screens give the medium size restaurant a feeling of spaciousness. The open kitchen is a true source of pride. It is exceptionally clean and currently boasts an A rating from the health department. The menu items include oxtail, baked spaghetti, walnut shrimp and tofu dishes. This pleases a Cantonese gal like me with Hong Kong parents. My German-Lithuanian American husband agrees that this place is fantastic especially because it doesn't season with MSG. He is allergic. 9/10

Three Brothers from China

Photo Credit: Flickr Nhong Lam's Chinese Banquet

This is a medium to large restaurant with a banquet room that can fit up to 11 round tables. Disclosure: this is where I held my wedding reception. The price is moderate and the decor is a blend of modern bar and traditional Chinese. You'll see faux stone relief of emperors and princesses, red-gold dragons and Chinese blessings on the walls. I like the red, black and orange decor. The waitstaff is fast and the owners make the effort to greet frequent customers. The owners are friendly, confident and fun to chat with in English or Chinese. This restaurant attracts Chinese, non-Chinese patrons and interracial families. The menu is more extensive and the portions are larger than Garden Cafe. For instance, you can order Peking Duck here and Yee Mein. You can also purchase expensive banquet meals for small, medium or large parties. Hot dessert soups are served after every dinner. This means you get to enjoy taro root tapioca or red bean soup on some nights. I awarded this Chinese restaurant a higher score because of a menu that includes banquet items, more interaction with the owners and a better price point. 9.7/10

Tip: Ask for the 3 item menu. It's a secret. Tell them Renee sent you. 

Molasses Review

Photo Credit: Renee Marchol's Kitchen

Photo Credit: Flicker Star 5112 Molasses Cookie

Cooking or Baking with Molasses

Brands:
First Street Molasses from Smart and Final
Grandma's Molasses from Ralphs

My rating criteria:

• Value
• Sweetness
• Moisture

First Street Molasses 9/10
This versatile molasses has served me well when making caramel, molasses cookies, gingerbread cake and savory Chinese dishes. Whether used in a sauce or baking, the texture is right.
Value 9/10 inexpensive in bulk
Sweetness 9/10 not overly sweet
Moisture 9/10 better than pre-packaged brown sugar

Grandma's Molasses 6/10
This molasses has a stronger sulphur taste and works well with Western desserts, specifically baked goods. It is runnier than the other brand and seems better for baking than sauces made on the stove.
Value 4/10 expensive
Sweetness 6/10 more bitter than sweet
Moisture 7/0 too runny

Photo Credit: Flicker BluColt Gingerbread House

What are the test recipes I used to evaluate the molasses?

1. Chinese 5 Spice Chicken
2. Gingerbread Cake
3. Molasses Cookies

Candy Cane Brownie Cookies

After a chocolate chip cookie failure, I gave holiday cookie baking another try. My hubby dubbed this "superb" and he knows better than to lie to me about my cooking. Why? Because I warned him, "If you are not honest, I'll keep making this dish the same way for 30 years."

I bought inexpensive candy cane white chocolate Hershey's kisses this morning before work.

As an aside, you can find the best deals on protein on a weekday morning. For example, I bought skinless, boneless chicken breast for $1.97 per pound today at Ralphs.

It might not be good enough for the church cookie swap on Thursday but I was pleased with them. Two warnings: Do not substitute ingredients. Just omit the peppermint extract if you don't have any. Texture is everything for this quick brownie-like cookie. These are based on Betty Crocker's Chocolate Mint Crinkle Cookies recipe.

Heed Betty Crocker's advice to press the kisses immediately upon pulling the cookies out of the oven. This means unwrapping the kisses beforehand. You have about 15 minutes to do this before the cookies are done. You don't want to fumble with foil and Hershey's flag removal during this critical window. If you are too slow, the kisses won't adhere.

Suggestion: If you have time, allow these cookies to cool for 45 minutes. If you are in a rush, use individual cupcake or muffin liners to separate your crinkles. Why? Because I tried packaging 13 cookies in a decorative carrier without separating the cookies. I only lined the carrier with parchment. What happened? Only two coworkers tried the cookies and they didn't go back for seconds. The candy cane kisses had spilled over and melted into unattractive craters. The brown blobs were not fully disconnected so you can imagine that it looked like ribbons of bloody bird dookie on dog poop. Bad!

In contrast, the ones double-layered in another container looked pristine and inviting. Again, I highly recommend the individual liners for each cookie. Use an ice cream scoop for uniform cookies. I usually split the dough scoop into two after I roll each ball into the powdered sugar.

Did you know you can avoid all this and just reduce the water in a package of box mix brownies? It's true, I taught my younger brother this trick when he was in junior high. Any cake mix can be made into cookies just by omitting the water and using only two eggs. Try it and let me know the results.

Budget Casserole After Thanksgiving

I finally found chicken breasts under $7 per pound. They cost $3.49 per pound. Not great but much better priced than the past two months.

Since chicken isn't cheap anymore, I wanted to use a fool proof recipe. When I need recipes that work the first time and every time, I rely on Betty Crocker. It's also my guide to Western comfort foods for my husband. I chose Green Bean Chicken Casserole. If your family is craving something creamy after a week of dry turkey leftovers, this is the recipe for you!

I didn't have canned mushroom soup so I made my own with heavy cream, butter, caramelized onions and sauteed button mushrooms. Rachel Ray gives instruction on how to caramelize onions. I also made my own herbed Panko crumbs. Panko gives food the appearance of being fried even if oven baked as in the picture above. I seasoned Panko, in a zip top bag, with thyme, seasoning salt and a tiny bit of Herbs de Provence.

Ingredients
12 oz sliced mushrooms
1/2 onion diced
3 TB Herbs
Seasoning salt
1 stick butter
6 oz heavy cream
3 cups bread crumbs
3 pounds of chicken
16 oz haricot verts
butter flavored cooking spray
powdered sugar

1. Saute the sliced mushrooms and diced onion in a dash of salt, 1 TB butter and 1 tsp sugar.
2. Layer the raw haricot verts. Snap these beans in half. Pour the sauteed vegetables on top and pour cream on top.
3. Slice chicken breasts into 1 inch pieces. Lay these on top of the vegetables.
4. Use 1/3 stick of butter and disperse pieces over chicken. Top with seasoned bread crumbs. Spray with cooking spray to brown crumbs.

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour 20 minutes. Test to make sure chicken is no longer pink.

Note: If you make your own mushroom soup base, it is lower in sodium than if you bought the canned version. In addition, you don't have to worry about MSG if you make homemade. This is low-carb. You can reduce the bread crumbs or choose a gluten-free substitute for the topping.

80 cents per serving

Thanksgiving Eve and Missing Ingredients? No Problem. Adapt

It was such a wretched battle on the city streets, after work, this Thanksgiving Eve that I didn't bother to go to the grocery store for the five items missing for my holiday meal prep. This meant I had to change the menu. Though I had the prosciutto, I did not have fresh lemon or the right cheese for poultry saltimbocca. So this meant I had to face roasting a whole 12 pound turkey tonight. If that didn't turn out I would make ordinary panko covered chicken breasts as a substitute.

Ingredients:
12 pound turkey
1/4 cup ground Saigon Cinnamon
4 TB dried rosemary

Equipment:
oven
roasting pan
oven safe roasting bag
oven mitts

I roasted my turkey for 3 hours at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Since I used an oven cooking bag, I was not allowed to raise the heat any higher. The result? Great browned turkey skin and fully cooked all around! The meat thermometer read 190 degrees Fahrenheit when I tested the thickest part of the breast. Good! The turkey was frozen but I thawed it under cold running water and stored it in the fridge with a drip pan for 48 hours. It was pre-brined so I only seasoned it with Saigon cinnamon and dried rosemary.

That was the entree.

What about a side? Vegetarian lasagna.

Ingredients:
12 lasagna noodles
boiling water
1 jar basil marinara sauce
12 oz. pureed pumpkin
2 TB ground cloves
10 oz low fat mozarella
20 oz ricotta
1 tsp dried oregano
10 oz shredded carrot
8 oz shredded zucchini
12 oz fresh or frozen spinach
6 oz mushrooms

Equipment:
Tall pot
wooden chopsticks--handy for lifting noodles without breaking them like a pasta claw
water
oven safe rectangular or square pan 3" deep

This is a story. I actually baked it twice. How? I don't recommend this but I forgot the spinach and mushrooms for the first baking so I did something sneaky. I wanted it to still appear nicely browned and bubbly on top yet I didn't have any more mozzarella. This is how I did it. I took a finished rectangular pan of lasagna and recut it. I cut the rectangle into two squares and sandwiched the sauteed spinach and mushrooms in between. Without a doubt this made a conspicuously tall square lasagna but it had the bubbly top layer I wanted.

What will I do differently with the veggie lasagna beside remember the spinach and mushroom layer? Next time I will pre-cook the shredded carrots. At first I thought that the carrots would soften in the oven. However, even through the second trip to the oven the carrots were still crisp. That meant a strange crunch amid all the wonderfully soft zucchini bites, warm riccotta, tender noodles and stretchy mozzarella. Since this was a pumpkin lasagna I recommend keeping the clove seasoning. It's delicious with the mild cheese!

What's for dessert? Pumpkin trifle.

At first I was going to do a simple repeat of the modified recipe from Sandra Lee of Food Network. I didn't use any liquor and I made my own gingerbread chunks last time. I also used chocolate chips baked into the cake rather than butterscotch chips scattered in the layered dessert.

What was missing this evening? The shortcut. Last time I used Sandra Lee's great cheat! I used boxed vanilla pudding mix and used heavy cream instead of the milk. Since I didn't want to brave the crazy, pushing crowds and picked over supermarket shelves. I dared to make my own stirred custard!

Keep in mind most stovetop puddings have failed even though I thought I followed Alton Brown's suggested proportions for powdered milk, powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa and cornstarch. One time it became an aspic. Another time it was horribly bitter. Another time it became a dried flattened gel much like a peelable fruit snack.

What could I do? I had guests anticipating pumpkin recipes so I gave stirred custard a try! Would you believe  it worked! I made it from scratch and it worked. I danced in the kitchen. Since I knew it was delicate kitchen chemistry at work, I didn't stir in the pumpkin puree haphazardly. Instead I whisked and tended the stovetop liquid until it began to thicken. When I dropped in the butter and stirred for 8 minutes more on medium heat then I was sure the pudding was stable. I took it off the heat, poured the cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg stirred custard in a pan to cool. Then I used the same saucepan and stirred pumpkin puree with a little cream, more sugar and a bit of cornstarch on its own until I was confident it wouldn't dilute and break the binders of the other batch. I stirred the clove custard and whisked it for 3 minutes with the pumpkin. Success!

I confess it was a little lumpy. I learned my lesson. If the pudding pours out smoothly do not attempt to scrape any residual pudding from the pan. Hidden danger! I found rogue cornstarch at the bottom. If I wasn't greedy then my stirred custard would have been lump-free! The recipe from eHow for stirred custard worked perfectly. "How to Make Homemade Custard" by eHow was foolproof. I obeyed the proportions for starch, water and evaporated milk. I admit I added about 1/4 cup more sugar though. I wanted to compensate for the unsweetened pumpkin puree. Also instead of vanilla I spiced the pudding with cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pumpkin spices. I also used 4 TB of butter instead of 1 TB to make it richer.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

1 Winning Biscuit Recipe

After 3 failed attempts, I had 1 kitchen victory this week!


Lessons Learned
1. Revert to proper measuring.
2. Avoid cooking when dead tired.
3. Under-season when trying a new recipe.

My husband has eaten over-salted chicken saltimbocca, way too eggy pancakes and gristly beef patties this past week. Poor man! The only dish I am proud of is my Herbs de Provence biscuits.

I altered Giada de Laurentiis's recipe for chicken saltimbocca because I did not have black pepper, frozen spinach or prosciutto. I used white pepper, fresh spinach and turkey bacon. That wouldn't be so bad but I also used 1 TB of seasoning salt. This was a very bad idea considering I also use the suggested amount of salty parmesean and chicken broth. My fault. Not Giada's. The flattened and rolled chicken breasts looked great on the plate with green, red and gold from the cheese. Next time I make this I will substitute the parmesan for bland ricotta or mozzarella. I am very attached to seasoning salt since hubby prefers it. The allure of this recipe was the use of lemon juice and spinach. Next time will be better.

I used a Food Network Kitchen's recipe for plain pancakes and added chocolate chips to the batter. What went wrong? I only had a little bit of all purpose flour left in my kitchen cambro. I didn't measure it and used all the given amounts of liquid ingredients. The result? Dark yellow pancakes, overly rich with yolk. My husband was right when he said that the pancakes tasted like fudge with scrambled eggs. Fail again. In hindsight, I could have mixed my all purpose flour with some cake flour for the right amount of flour for the recipe. I also should have reduced the yolks to one and used the whites of two eggs. Since I decided to add the chocolate chips, I should have reduced the sugar in the batter and avoided the sweet rum entirely. Oh well.

I bought 80/20 ground beef from Trader Joes because at $3.49/pound it was less expensive than chicken. Chicken is still at $7/pound in most grocery stores this season. Maybe it's because I froze the beef and grilled it two days later but it was a terrible texture. Hubster said it was too fatty. I found it too dry. I was very tired after work when I made dinner so I made a number of mistakes. For instance, I only partially defrosted the beef. Next, I made the patties more than 2" thick and slammed them on the George Foreman grill. When they were still tar tare raw but dry on the outside, I shove them to broil in the oven--in hopes the oven would reach the bloody core. The meat had no chance. It had a dry awful crust and a freezer burned taste. I think even the best grade of meat would taste awful cooked this way. Next time I will grill the patties the same day I buy it without freezing it. I will mix the ground meat with flavorful BBQ sauce and form small 1/2" thick patties. I will avoid putting ground meat under the broiler!

My Herbs de Provence biscuits are actually Betty Crocker's recipe for pan rolls with 3 tsps. of baking powder instead of yeast. I also swapped cream for milk. I sprinkled a 1/4 tsp of dried Herbs de Provence. The biscuits were baked at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 21 minutes. They were tall, flaky and wonderful! I felt proud.

If you have three kitchen failures in a row, you are not alone! Don't despair and try again.