Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've never made chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I may have attempted to a while ago, but I just felt that it was easier to buy the ready-made cookie dough at the supermarket. I love chocolate chip cookies. I love chocolate chip cookie dough even more. So I always buy the large tub from Costco and never felt the need to make them from scratch. Until I came across this Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Sing for your Supper... Its originally called the Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. This recipe has made its way all over the blogosphere. I've seen it in quite a few other blogs and I wanted to see what the hype was all about.

I happened to have bags and bags of chocolate chips that I bought from a local Cost Plus World Market that was closing. So I figured I should start using them before they go bad. This was the perfect recipe for them. And just like its name, these were big, fat and chewy chocolate chip cookies. Just the way I like them. I always love eating chocolate chip cookies when they're soft and chewy. Almost like they're only half baked. Perfect with a glass of milk. My daughter couldn't wait to dig into them. And neither could I.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 325 deg F. Line cookie sheets with wax or parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

2) In a medium bowl or mixer bowl, cream together melted butter, brown sugar and sugar until well blended. Beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon or spatula. Drop cookie dough by the tablespoonful or by using a mini ice cream scoop onto prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

3) Bake 15-17 minutes or until edges are lightly golden. Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to completely cool.

Dinner and a Game

Hubby and I haven't been on a real date in a while. Probably ever since our daughter was born. Yes, we'll go on a quickie movie date while we leave her at my parents house for 2-3 hours tops. We always feel guilty leaving her because we've been inseparable from her ever since she was born. When she started learning to talk, we would always leave my parents house one at a time, because it was better than leaving together where she would think we were both abandoning her. So we never really get to enjoy our movie, because all we do is worry and think about her. Tonight, however, we prepared her and told her we'd be watching a basketball game while we left her at my parents house and that we'll be sleeping over their house for the night. Surprisingly and thankfully, she was okay with it. And so off we went.

This date had been a long time coming. Remember what we gave each other for Valentine's Day? I got the mixer and he got tickets to see his favorite basketball team, the LA Clippers vs. the Toronto Raptors. After the long anticipation, we were finally going to see the Clippers. We decided to start off the date by going out to dinner before the game. We decided to have dinner at Trader Vic's at LA Live, which was across the street from the Staples Center. Hubby and I are very much into the Hawaiian fusion themed restaurants. That's why we go to Roy's Hawaiian Fusion a lot. So it was nice to eat at another island-themed restaurant.

Since I'm not much of an alcohol drinker, I ordered this virgin Mai Tai called the No Tai Mai Tai.

Unfortunately, it was nothing more than a watered-down Pineapple and Orange Juice with lots of ice. I guess its not really a Mai Tai without the alcohol.

For appetizers, we decided on this yummy Hawaiian Ahi Poke served with Taro chips.

Reminiscent of the islands.

For my main course, I decided to have the Cantonese Sea Bass.

Sea Bass has always been my favorite dish. Whenever there's sea bass on the menu, you know its what I'll be ordering. This dish did not disappoint.

Hubby had this Wasabi-encrusted Filet Mignon with Hawaiian-style fries.

The filet mignon was so tender and flavorful. And the Hawaiian style fries was encrusted with macadamia nuts and had somewhat of an Indian spice taste.

For dessert, we had the Tahitian Snowball.

It was nothing more than a scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with caramel and toasted coconut. Disappointing, but it satisfied my sweet tooth and I just wanted to get to the game. So I had not time to really complain.

Finally, we had an after-dinner cocktail of some Blake Griffin ;)

Yup, we were that close that I was able to get this shot. From Section 109, Row 2. It was an exciting game and the Clips won. I can't wait to go on our next Clippers game. We're hoping we can go more often next season. I've become a huge Blake Griffin fan and now hubby and I are talking about becoming Season Ticket holders. Maybe. But this was definitely a date to remember.

Custard Cake

Custard cake is a Filipino dessert made of a chiffon cake topped with Flan. Its one of my favorite desserts. I haven't had this in a long time and I miss eating it. One of my aunts used to own a restaurant and she would come over and bring us some custard cake whenever we had family functions at my parents' house. They no longer own the restaurant and we don't see her as often anymore, so its been quite a while since I've had custard cake.

One day, I decided to do a search for a custard cake recipe and found quite a few versions. Some made out of boxed cake mixes, most made from scratch. But I decided to settle with this recipe from Panlasang Pinoy, a website dedicated to Filipino cuisine. Its quite complex recipe, with 3 things going on: the caramel syrup, the flan, and then the cake. But organize your ingredients and it should be pretty simple and so worth all the preparation.

Flan

1 1/4 cup sugar

6 eggs

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk

1) In a small saucepan, heat 1 cup of sugar over medium heat. Do not mix sugar until the end, when sugar is almost all brown. Pour caramel in a 9 x 13 pan and evenly spread on the bottom and allow to harden like candy. Set aside.

2) In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, eggs, condensed milk and milk. Mix well. Pour over hardened caramel. Set aside while making the cake.

Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk, mixed with 1/4 cup water

1 tsp. grated lemon peel

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

2) Sift together cake flour and baking powder. Set aside.

3) In a medium bowl, beat egg yolks then gradually add 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue beating for another 2 minutes. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until well incorporated. Add 1/2 of the milk/water mixture. Add another 1/3 of the flour mixture and then the other half of the milk mixture. Beat until incorporated and add the final 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add grated lemon peel. Set aside.

4) In a mixer bowl, beat egg whites on high speed for about 1 minute. Add cream of tartar and continue beating for 3-4 minutes. Gradually add 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

5) Fold meringue into batter until well incorporated.

6) Pour 6-8 cups of hot water in a roasting pan. Place a rack in the roasting pan, and then place the prepared pan on top of the rack. Bake for 60 minutes, until toothpick test comes out clean.

Remove cake from the roasting pan cool completely. Invert cake on a serving tray and refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

Tuna Melt

I've always associated tuna sandwiches with Lent Fridays. That's because its what my parents used to always pack for lunch for us on Lent Fridays. It was either a tuna sandwich or an egg salad sandwich. With that said, I never really eat tuna sandwiches outside of Lent. Its not something I crave to eat. Nor would I go out of my way to get a tuna sandwich. So when hubby recently asked for a plain tuna sandwich, you can only imagine how I cringed at the thought. I decided to make a tuna sandwich for dinner tonight. But with a twist.

I've never really had a Tuna Melt, but I figured it was a great way to spruce up a plain old tuna sandwich. And maybe, just maybe, I would be able to look at a tuna sandwich in a different light. After doing my research on how to make the perfect Tuna Melt, I learned that it was nothing more than a tuna salad on toasted bread with melted cheese. So here is my take on the old classic. It came out pretty good. A warm tuna sandwich. However, I think I'll still be keeping the tradition of eating my tuna sandwich or melt on Lent Fridays.

12 oz canned tuna in water, well drained

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 stalk of celery, finely chopped

1/4 of a medium onion, finely chopped

1/8 tsp. paprika

salt & pepper to taste

8 slices bread

tomato slices

1/2 cup shredded cheese

1) Lightly toast bread. While the bread is toasting, combine tuna, mayonnaise, celery, onion and seasonings in a medium bowl. Stir until well incorporated.

2) Place about 1/4 cup of the tuna mixture on 4 slices of lightly toasted bread. Top with about 2 tablespoons of cheese (or more if you like it cheesy). Place in the toaster oven and set to "broil" for 8-10 minutes, until cheese melts. Remove from oven and top with tomato slices and the other slices of toasted bread. Serve warm.

Crock Pot Sauerbraten

Sauerbraten is a German-style pot roast usually served with buttered noodles, Spaetzel, potato dumplings or potato pancakes. Its known to be one of Germany's national dishes. Therefore, this dish is an ode to my mom who lived and worked in Germany for a few years before I was born. I came across this recipe from food.com and immediately thought of her.

In those years she lived in Germany, she learned to love the language and the culture. Ever since I was a child, my mom would boast about her life there. I was always in awe when she would tell her tales of Germany. How she and her friends would just take a bus ride to Switzerland or Holland for the weekend. How she ate this food and that food. After completing her contract, she went home and married my dad. And the rest was history. But you could tell how much she missed Germany. That's not to say that she would rather be there than here. It just goes to show how much of an impression it left my mom.

She hadn't been back to Germany until our family trip to Europe in 2000. During our trip to Germany, we visited my Godmother, who she used to work with at the hospital where they were both nurses. They took us to the old hospital they used to work at, which became a Mental ward. We had lunch at the cafeteria where I had my first taste of Sauerbraten. With German cuisine, I learned that they tend to blend sweet and sour in their dishes, which is exactly how Sauerbraten is. Sweet and sour. This German-style pot roast came out quite tasty. The meat was so tender with a sweet and sour gravy. It was a different type of cuisine than what we were accustomed to, but we gladly welcomed the change in taste.

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup cider vinegar

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges

2 bay leaves

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. whole peppercorn

1/2 tsp. whole cloves

1 (4 - 4 1/2 lb) lean top round roast

1/4 cup brown sugar

12 gingersnaps, crushed

1/4 cup water

1 Tbsp. all purpose flour

1) In a large saucepan, combine the first 8 ingredients and bring to a boil. Cool completely.

2) Place beef in a 9 x 13" baking sheet or freezer bag. Pour cooled marinade over beef and seal. Refrigerate for up to 3 days, turning twice daily.

3) Remove meat and place in a slow cooker pan. Strain marinade and pour over beef. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or until beef starts to fall apart around the edges.

4) Remove beef to a platter and slice 1/4" thick and set aside.

5) Strain liquid and return to the crock pot. Turn on high. Add brown sugar and gingersnaps, stirring until dissolved. Mix flour into 1/4 cup of water. Stir flour mixture into the broth and heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Return beef to the gravy. Cover and cook on high until gravy thickens, about 30 minutes. Serve with buttered noodles or spaetzel.

Mongolian Beef

I'm craving another good Asian beef recipe for dinner tonight. Perfect to use up some of the sliced beef I bought at Costco over the weekend. Then I remembered that I had saved this Mongolian Beef recipe from What's Cookin' Chicago? for later use. It looked pretty simple to make and I love Mongolian Beef. I love how tender the beef always is when I eat Mongolian beef at local Chinese restaurants. This one came out pretty good. It almost tastes similar to my Beef Pepper Steak. I'm not quite sure if this is the Mongolian Beef I was looking for, but it was pretty close. I may continue looking for another Mongolian Beef recipe.

2 bunches of green onion, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 lb. lean beef, sliced thin

salt & pepper to taste

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. onion powder

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 Tbsp. oil

1 onion diced

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup oyster sauce

1/4 cup soy sauce

1) Season sliced beef with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Sprinkle cornstarch over beef and toss to coat. Set aside.

2) Heat oil in a wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until softened. Add meat and cook until browned. Stir in oyster sauce and soy sauce until well incorporated. Just before serving, add green onions and toss to coat. Serve with steamed rice.

Thai Style Sweet and Sour Fish

My parents and lola each had their own versions of Sweet and Sour Fish. I think my parents used a bottled sweet and sour sauce, and lola would make her sauce from scratch. Each were equally delicious. I've missed those days of home-cooking.

Today, I couldn't decide on what to make for dinner. I haven't used my Thai cookbook in a while, so I looked through the recipes and found this easy Sweet and Sour Fish recipe that I decided to try out since I had all the ingredients it called for. The sauce for this dish is a tomato based sauce unlike my parents' or lola's version. It came out delicious and reminiscent of their dishes. I'm glad to have found my own version of this dish. The picture above doesn't do the dish justice. I apologize that its a horrible picture. But just know that hubby was pleased with the end product, as was I.

2 medium or large fish (Tilapia, snapper, mullet), head removed

4 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. chopped garlic

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh ginger

2 Tbsp. chopped onions

3 Roma tomatoes, cubed

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. ketchup

1 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce

3 Tbsp. water

cilantro, green onions for garnish

1) Rinse and dry fish. Score the skin diagonally on both sides. Lightly coat both fishes all over with 4 teaspoons of cornstarch. Shake off any excess.

2) Heat oil in wok or large frying pan over medium heat. Add fish and cook each side for 6-7 minutes, until brown and crisp.

3) Remove fish and place on a large serving platter. Pour off all but 2 tablespoon oil from the pan. Add garlic, ginger and onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes until golden.

4) Add tomatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Stir in vinegar, sugar, ketchup and fish sauce. Lower heat and simmer gently for 1-2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning by adding more vinegar, sugar and/or fish sauce if necessary.

5) In a cup, mix the remaining 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 3 tablespoons of water to make a paste or slurry. Stir into the sauce to thicken. Pour finished sauce over the fish. Garnish with coriander and green onions and serve with steamed rice.

Lemon Sunshine Bites

Its a gloomy, windy and rainy day today. Quite unusual for this time of year when we begin to prepare for spring. A lot of people hate the rain. I, on the other hand, love the rain. I just hate how people don't know how to drive in the rain. I was a little disappointed, though, that we couldn't take our daughter for a walk or bike ride around the block today. So she rode her bike around the house instead, while I tried to bring sunshine into the house by making these Sunshine Bites from Sing for your Supper.

I've been trying to use up the batch of lemons I got from my parents' lemon tree almost a month ago. Yup, I've had a batch of lemons for almost a month. The only thing I can think of to use them for were lemon cupcakes. The flavor in these cupcake bites were delicious. The cake was light and probably a lot more healthier than other cupcakes because it only uses egg whites. Almost like Angel Food Cake. However I wasn't too happy about how the batter stuck to the cupcake liners. So we weren't able to fully enjoy the cupcake because we literally had to rip the paper off the cupcakes. I don't know how I can improve on the cake, but I'm definitely keeping the frosting recipe. It was probably the best part of the cupcake. But frosting is always the best part of a cupcake ;)

Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

4 large egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tsp. grated lemon zest

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

juice of half a lemon

1) Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line mini cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

2) Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg whites. Set aside.

3) In the mixer bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. Rub together sugar and lemon zest with your fingers until sugar is moist and fragrant. Add butter and beat at medium speed for about 3 minutes, until mixture is very light.

4) Beat in vanilla extract and lemon juice. Add one third of the flour mixture. Beat in half of the buttermilk mixture, then beat in half of the remaining flour mixture until incorporated. Add the remaining buttermilk mixture and then the rest of the flour mixture. Continue beating for another 2 minutes to ensure that the batter is thoroughly mixed. Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Vanilla Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

6-8 cups confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

juice of one lemon

yellow food color (optional)

1) In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, 4 cups of confectioner's sugar, milk, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, one cup at a time, beating well before each addition, about 2 minutes or until desired consistency. Add a few drops of food coloring (if using).