Quiche cupcakes with Red Pepper and Tomato

Don't let that burnt one fool, it was crazy good!

Feels good to blog again; heck, feels good to really cook! Recently I had been rather moody and down on myself, so my boyfriend took me out to the mall to cheer me up. Though I didn't buy anything there, I did pick up some groceries for the upcoming week.

It's funny because I only came to the supermarket to pick up bread and cola and came out with a miniature shopping trip. After that, I set out on a 4 hour cooking marathon making various dishes for the sake of variety. I'll post each recipe as I post each bento box.
1 can of crescents pastry (8 ounces)


Filling
1 whole red pepper
1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk
1 egg
3 1/5 oz of mozzarella, diced
Topping
1 tomato
Salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning
Olive oil
Shredded cheese (my personal favorite is the Italian blend)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a cupcake tray with cooking spray.

Cut the pastry into 7 equal sliced and spread into the tray to make cups.

To make the filling, combine the milk, egg, mozzarella and pepper into microwave safe bowl. Heat on high for 3:30 to 4 minutes. Blend with a spoon until creamy.

While the cream cooks, cut the tomato into eight slices and drizzle some olive oil. Season to taste.

Pour into the cream into the pastry cups. Top with the seasoned tomato slices and a scant one teaspoon of cheese on top. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Serves 7.

Happy New Year 2010 // Book Review: Bento and Sushi Books and Recipes

Happy (belated) New Year 2010!! May it bring you all happiness, health and love to you and your families!

Like every year before it, I make a couple of resolutions to complete ASAP. One of them is improve my health, and that means three things:

1. Cut the insane amount of cola I drink and substitute with water
2. Keep experimenting with foods (get over my fish phobia, try new foods,new ingredients)
3. Eat smaller portions (before, I could eat like a man and not gain a pound...needless to say, that's gone)
   

To start off with all three, I'm planning to restart my bento-making habit. It was temporarily alive for the summer since I worked while in class, but I wasn't blogging/taking pictures them accidentally from the stress of classes.

For reference, I've been reading up on Japanese cuisine again. There are so many ingredients that aren't available in the typical supermarket. After a trip with my friends and boyfriend, we found Oriental Food and Arts; the only Asian grocery shop on the entire Island. It's super stocked with ingredients and certain tools that are used in Asian cooking. I only scored some nori, but the moment I get more funds and a chance I'll stock up on more things for authenticity.

Edit (01/14/2010): After checking out a tip from a friend, I found that there's a small selection of key sushi ingredients and other international ingredients nearby. Here's the address for anyone that's interested.

To get some ideas for this year I picked up some literature.

Hana Sushi: Colorful & Fun Sushi for Parties by Boutique Sha
Good God, this book is beautiful. I just wanted to buy it to enjoy the pictures. Hana (designer) sushi is explained thoroughly in sections. I just wished the book was a little cheaper in the bookstore.

Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go by Naomi Kijima (Author), Laura Driussi (Translator)
A more serious book on Japanese cooking, centered in making several kinds of bento. Unfortunately, it's too focused on its roots and forgets that the translation is aimed at non-Japanese audiences.

Kawaii Bento Boxes: Cute and Convenient Japanese Meals on the Go by Joie Staff
A very cute handbook on building bento boxes. It's mainly aimed at creating boxes to impress. The book's ideal ratio is 1:1:1 on carbs, meat and vegetables (pretty good, in my book).

The Manga Cookbook by Yoko Ishihara
The very first gift my boyfriend ever gave me. Basically, it's an introduction to Japanese cooking. It's made into manga form with several great recipes to try out, with coloured photographs to give you previews of them.

Japanese Cooking by Emi Kazuko
My first taste to the cuisine, my father got it for us a long time along with many others (Borders sale = gold) . It's out of print, and a good read for those who want to learn the history, basic techniques and traditions.

Hope this mega review was helpful to anyone that's interested in starting the new year on the right foot!

New Camera Dance!

After almost 4 years of my old camera, a Samsung Digimax A402 4MP (that died out on the second year from an accidents), I felt like it was about time to get a new one. So Santa Claus managed to find one that was cheap and fit my only condition (no less than 7 MP) ...

A Nikon Coolpix L20 with a 3.6x Optical Zoom! It's incredibly gorgeous in real life (and the fact that it goes well with my netbook and my cellphone helps a lot), takes great pictures and has many, many modes to play around (like Portrait, Fireworks, and Food).

Naturally, I goofed off with it for a while. I'm actually considering taking the Photography class in the Art curriculum to use all its features and get better.

First set-up picture: Little Turkeyshire with The Betty Crocker Cookbook 10th Ed.

My mom's most recent cake before tomorrow's commission.

Three Layered Chocolate Cake with creamy chocolate ganache in the middle.

My favorite shot for now; close-up strawberry fans.

Early Morning Omelette

My version of Healthy, Fast and Cheap: Leaving Home Cookbook and Survival Guide's The Omelette with the added step of baking (for some reason, I wanted to bake it, I think I saw it in "Good Eats") and a change in ingredients. A big breakfast for my boyfriend and his study group after pulling an allnighter, and a chance to cook after being sick almost a week.

Ingredients
6 eggs
Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 red onion
1 tomato
1 green pepper
Tex-Mex seasoning
black pepper
shredded cheese

Start by preheating the oven at 250 F.

Add the oil into a large, deep skillet and heat to medium.

Meanwhile, chop the all the vegetables thoroughly. After doing so, whisk slightly the eggs together (or 2 at a time) until fluffy.

When the oil spreads easily, add the vegetables to cook. Once they're ready, pour the eggs over them, making sure they spread evenly. Add the seasoning to taste.

Cook until just about set, then stick in the oven for 10 minutes to finish cooking. The egg will adquire a golden coating and a pizza-like state.

Serve covered in cheese and enjoy!

Serves 4

Chicken Alfredo with Tomatoes (college style)

An interpretation of a dish served at a small Italian restaurant that my boyfriend took me to eat way back in Valentine's Day of this year. It's a deceiving small place with a traditional feel.

The photos do no justice to how gorgeous it actually looked. :'(

Ingredients
2-3 handfuls of pasta
Salt
1/4 cup of cooking oil

1 cup of Alfredo sauce (if not available, there are plenty of easy online recipes!)
2 small boneless chicken breasts (or one normal)
1 tsp butter
All purpose seasoning ('Adobo')
about 1/4 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
2-3 grape or cherry tomatoes.
Parsley and Oregano
Instructions:
Start by boiling the water in a pot and add the salt. Heat up a skillet at medium heat.
 

Defrost the chicken breasts if needed. Once done, cut out as much of the fat as you can and slice into thin, short strips.
 

Once the salted water's boiling, add the pasta and the oil. Let it cook for 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the chicken with the all-purpose seasoning and parsley.

Melt the butter on the hot skillet and carefully place the chicken strips. Cover and let it simmer until well cooked. Uncover it and let the butter evaporate almost completely. Add enough Alfredo sauce to cover the whole skillet thinly on medium heat. Add a bit more parsley for taste and a handful of Parmesan cheese. Cook for 5 minutes.
 

Once the pasta is cooked, drain completely and bring it back to the pot on low heat. Add about 1/4 cup of Alfredo sauce and a bit of oregano to the pasta and turn it over a few times.
 

When the chicken-Alfredo is creamy but fragrant, mix into the pasta throughly. Add more cheese and let it melt into the pasta.
 

Serve hot with the fresh cherry tomatoes cut in half and cover with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Book Review: Healthy, Fast and Cheap: Leaving Home Cookbook and Survival Guide

It's about time I write up another review; too many recipes at once can be quite boring.

This book first caught my attention while shopping with my boyfriend and two of his friends. We had just finished giving the mall a thorough sweep (because, to be honest, it's the only worthwhile thing to do in town besides the bars and the movies). One of them picked it up from the Discount aisle and showed it to me.

What caught our collective attention was the light, informal tone of the book itself. After convincing myself to buy it for $8, it took me an entire week to get around reading it completely.

Leaving Home is geared towards people who are most likely starting to live on their own, notably those who have never cooked a day in their life. The author starts off with a basic idea of what are the basic cooking tools, budgeting pointers, and the good and not-so-good food types with clear explanations for each type.

It then proceeds to the recipes divided by importance in terms of use:

-Snacks: to keep you going using proteins and carbs.

-Breakfast: to start the day right, with pointers to get things done ahead to make the most out of the morning.

-Lunch: because eating lunch out will drain your money much faster

-Dinner: with subdivisions for all meats and grains

-Desserts: to make better use of sugar and other refined carbs.

The book's binding is also convenient, allowing the reader to remove any page for quick reference or for sharing with friends.

Overall, it's a good read since I plan on making a few of the recipes myself (particularly in the snack area).

What I personally did not like at all was the constant reminder of the author's brand. It felt like he was trying to market Healthy, Fast and Cheap(tm) and the all organic diet towards me. As much as I would love to go organic, it's simply not available to me.

To wrap it up, Leaving Home achieves what it sets out to do: encourages the newly independent reader to try new things and eat healthier, all within their budget.

Sardine pick-me-up dinner

 ...Or getting-over-my-fear dinner.

Another of my culinary surprises for my guinea—err, boyfriend. While he was burning his brain away last Thursday night, a friend of mine and I got some quick grocery shopping done to get through the last remainder of the semester. Among the things I bought was a can of sardines.

I must confess that I have ichthyophobia, or fear of fishes. Dead or alive, I feel uncomfortable around any of them. If you want to laugh at my expense, show me fish, and I will jump so high, I'll touch the ceiling.

So making this dish is a baby step to getting over that fear and show how much I appreciate my boyfriend.

Ingredients
1 can of sardine fillets
1 tomato
1/ 2 cup of Feta cheese (I used  Feta Mediterranean, found in the cheese aisle or section of your supermarket)
2 tbsp extra virgin oil + extra for drizzling
1 small red onion
Italian seasoning
black pepper
slices of bread
Shredded cheese, Italian mix for topping

To start, preheat the oven to 400 F

Prepare the sardines by sprinkling some Italian Seasoning on both sides. Pan fry the fillets in a shallow skillet with the oil until both sides have become golden, but not crisp.

Slice the tomato and onion into disks.

Drizzle some oil on the bread slices and add some more Italian seasoning.

Assemble the dish on a previously greased baking sheet by placing the tomato slices on the bread, followed by the fillets, Feta cheese and finally the onion.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese has just begun to melt.

Sprinkle some shredded cheese to taste and enjoy.

Typically makes 3 pick-me-ups.