Crockpot Philly Cheesesteak

I love Cheesesteaks. I've never made it from scratch. I used to just take roast beef slices and sautee them with onions, bell peppers and mushrooms and they came out really good. When I saw this in my crockpot cookbook, I wanted to give it a try. It came out very flavorful and really good. Hubby said it looked like restaurant quality. I topped it with some leftover cheese sauce I used for my macaroni and cheese and served with a side of fries.

2 lbs. round steak, sliced

2 Tbsp. butter, melted

4 onions, sliced

2 green bell peppers, sliced

1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder

1/2 Tbsp. black pepper

1/2 cup water

2 tsp. beef bouillon granules

crusty Italian or French rolls

cheddar cheese slices, or cheese sauce

1) Combine steak, butter, onions, bell peppers, garlic powder, black pepper and salt in the crockpot. Stir.

2) Whisk together water and bouillon in small bowl; pour into crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours until tender.

3) Remove meat mixture and place on rolls. Top with cheddar cheese or cheese sauce.

Easy Dirty Rice

I've never had dirty rice. I always see the boxed version of it and always thought it looked yummy. I came across a recipe from my crockpot recipe cookbook and thought to give it a try. It was pretty easy, but thought that it tasted a little bland. I don't know if I would repeat this recipe again. Maybe, I'll adjust it to better suit my taste.

1/2 lb. bulk Italian sausage
2 3/4 cup water
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper/cayenne pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1) Brown sausage in a skillet for 6-8 minutes over medium-high heat, stirring to break up meat. Drain fat. Place sausage in slow cooker.

2) Stir in remaining ingredients, except parsley. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. Stir in parsley.

Happy Valentine's Day and Gong Hay Fat Choy!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all those in love and those who wish to be in love.

Today marks the 8th anniversary of when hubby proposed to me. *sigh* I can't believe we're now 7 years married. But still happily in love. Hubby and I don't normally celebrate Valentine's day. It doesn't turn out to be romantic when you're waiting in line at a crowded restaurant for 40 minutes to an hour. Even with reservations! So we usually celebrate it before or after the 14th. This year, we celebrated a week early by going on a movie date to see "Dear John." Then yesterday, we went out to lunch at Max's restaurant and had some Caldereta, Bicol Express, and Chicken Sisig. Yummy! I haven't had real Filipino food in a while. Its a shame that I'm not a good Filipino cook.

My parents took us all out to a Sunday brunch after church to commemorate Valentine's day and to treat some relatives who just came from the Philippines. We went to one of my parents' favorite places, Delmonico's Lobster House. I've never been here other than for brunch, but they have the same awesome spread every time.

Yummy Broiled Lobster, Lobster Thermadore, prime rib, eggs benedict, pasta.......I could go on and on.

Today also marks the year of the Tiger in the Chinese Calendar. "Kong Hay Fat Choy" to all my Chinese friends, family, and those who celebrate Chinese New Year. My mom somehow celebrates Chinese New Year, even though we're not Chinese. After our brunch, we hung out at my parents house for a bit. There, I saw the bountiful basket of fruits that they would usually place for New Year's. Like I said, my parents are pretty superstitious. So they always have something prepared for Chinese New Year to help bring in good luck.

Asian Ginger Beef with Bok Choy

Here's another great recipe from my never-ending crock pot cookbook. It tastes just like my crock pot korean short ribs or my crock pot korean bbq-style soup. Do you notice a trend here? lol. They're all delicious and all very easy to make.

2 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch piece
6 cloves garlic
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. asian chili paste
9 ounces fresh udon or cooked vermicelli
3 cups bok choy, trimmed, washed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro

1) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear beef on all sides in batches to prevent crowding. Sear last bach of beef with onions and garlic.

2) Transfer beef mixture to slow cooer. Add broth, water, soy sauce, ground ginger and chili paste. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until beef is very tender.

3) Just before serving, turn crock pot on high. Add noodles and stir well. Add bok choy and stir. Heat on high until bok choy is tender-crisp. Garnish beef with cilantro and serve hot.

Shrimp with lobster sauce

I love ordering Shrimp with lobster sauce at Chinese restaurants. A couple of weeks ago, my sister-in-law had mentioned that she tried making Shrimp with Lobster sauce. So it inspired me to pull out my recipe binder and cook it for dinner tonight, since I haven't made it in a while. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com when I was trying to find a quick and easy Shrimp with Lobster sauce recipe. Contrary to its name, it does not contain Lobster. Very misleading, but I'm sure it would taste even more awesome if it did. hmmm.....I see an experiment of this recipe in the future. Maybe.

3 tsp. cornstarch
4 tsp. cooking sherry
1 1/2 lb. shrimp - peeled and deveined
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 cold water
2 eggs, beaten

1) In a medium bowl, dissolve 3 tsp. cornstarch in the sherry. Add shrimp and toss to coat.

2) Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add shrimp and cook until pink. Remove shrimp and place on a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.

3) Add garlic to the hot oil. Combine 2 cups water, soy sauce, sugar and salt. Stir into wok and bring to boil, about 2 minutes.

4) Mix together the remaining 3 Tbsp. cornstarch and 1/2 cup cold water. Pour into pan.

5) Return shrimp to pan. Bring to a simmer. Quickly stir while drizzling beaten egg. Cook for another minute. Serve over hot rice.

Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms

So on my last blog post, I said I would probably be cooking a lot of crock pot recipes because I bought a crock pot cookbook. Well, I couldn't resist this recipe because it looked pretty simple. And it tasted pretty good too.

1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
3 boneless, skinless chicken, cut into pieces
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 3/4 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup water
1 can evaporated milk

1) Combine salt, pepper and paprika in a small bowl. Sprinkle over chicken.

2) Layer chicken, mushrooms, green onions, and bouillon in slow cooker. Pour wine and water over mixture. Cook on low for 5-6 hours. Transfer chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm.

3) Combine milk and cornstarch in a saucepan, stirring until smooth. Add 2 cups cooking liquid from the crock pot. (note: if your liquid is less than 2 cups, add chicken broth to make 2 cups). Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Pour mixture over chicken and serve over rice.

Crockpot Beef Burgundy

I recently purchased a Crock pot cookbook which has over 500 recipes. So you know I'll be doing a lot of crockpot cooking. Especially now, since hubby has been out late for school.

This recipe reminds me of beef stroganoff, without the sour cream. It was pretty simple to assemble. I didn't have red wine in stock, so I substituted with white wine. I don't know how much of a difference the taste would've be, but it was still delicious.

1 1/2 lb. beef round steak or beef stew mat, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup red wine
1 small onion, chopped
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1) Combine all incredients in slow cooker. Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until beef is tender. Serve over egg noodles.

Red Velvet Cake Bon-Bons

I got the idea of making bon-bons out of cake from a few websites that I visited. So I decided to make my own versions. Making cake bon-bons is pretty easy. And you don't even have to make the cake from scratch. You can buy any boxed cake mixes to make different varieties of bon bons, but make sure the frosting you use matches the cake. If you decide to make the cake from scratch, you should still use the store-bought frosting so that the bon bons have a longer shelf life.

This Red Velvet cake bon-bon was made out of my red velvet cake recipe. I'm not a chocolatier, so some of the bon-bons aren't so "pretty," but it still tastes awesome. If you're a huge fan of red velvet cake, like my sister is, you'll love this one. My sister ate up most of the batch and is begging me to make more. This was a huge hit when I brought some to my office. One of the guys at work even asked for my recipe so he can try to make it for his girlfriend for Valentine's day. How sweet!

Prepared Red Velvet cake
1 jar of store-bought cream cheese frosting
2 bags of white chocolate chips

1) Make sure the cake is completely cooled. Crumble cake in a large bowl. Mix in frosting until it is well incorporated and the consistency of the mixture is almost like play-doh.

2) Form 2-inch balls out of the mixture. Place cake balls on a pan, lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

3) Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir chocolate. Continue to melt chocolate in 30 second increments until the chocolate is smooth.

4) Dip cake balls in white chocolate. Return bon-bons on the wax paper. Cool in the refrigerator until chocolate hardens.