Crowd Pleaser: Potato Casserole

One of the things I learned to make in the kitchen was potato casserole. I remember thinking that it was so hard when I was helping my friend made it. But just a spoonful of it made me realize all the hard work was worth it.

So today I am sharing this potato casserole recipe that my friend taught me. I used to cook it like once a year only but in the past two weeks, I've cooked it 3 times! One of the reasons was I found a simpler way to cook the potatoes. You see, sometimes I don't follow the recipes quite closely, I change stuff around so it becomes an easier dish to make.

Ingredients:

--10 potatoes (just buy a bag of medium size potatoes and use 10. Don't buy 10 individual potatoes that are huge.)

--1 cup and a half of mayonaise.

--1 teaspoon of white vinegar

--1 can of cream of chicken soup

--1 can of water (after you've emptied the cream of chicken soup. use the can for the water)

--1 onion, diced.

--3 cups of plain corn flakes, crushed (use a ziplock bag for this. put the corn flakes in it, make sure the air's out, and then seal it. Use a cup and crush the corn flakes.)

--2-3 tablespoon of butter, melted in the microwave.

--1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

--1 teaspoon of salt

Instructions:

1. Wash and bake the potatoes in the oven at 400 degree fahrenheit for 50 minutes.

2. (Don't start this til your potatoes are almost done cooking in the oven.)In a pan, drizzle some olive oil and stir fry the onions til they are soft, not brown.

3. Add the cream of chicken soup to the onion in the pan.

4. Add one can of water to the soup and onion.
Stir and mix.

5. Add the mayonaise to the mixture. Stir and mix.

6. Add the vinegar, salt, and half of the 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese. Stir and mix.

7. When the mixture is boiling, turn the fire off and let it cool while you wait for the potatoes to be done cooking.

8. When the potatoes are done, take them out from the oven and let them cool a little.

8. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop their inside off the skin into a 9x13 baking dish.

9. Mash the potatoes with the spoon a little just to make the big chunks smaller.

10. Pour the mixture of onion, chicken, mayo, and cheese into the baking dish with the potatoes and stir them so the mixture don't just rest on the surface but mix in with the potatoes.

11. On top of the casserole, add the crushed corn flake with melted butter to the top layer and make sure they are distributed evenly and cover the potatoes.

12. Heat your oven to 375 degree fahrenheit.

13. When the oven reaches 375 degree fahrenheit, put the baking dish in and bake for 20 minutes.

13 steps might seem very complicated but it really isn't that hard and the outcome is sooooooo great!

Happy Cooking!

Chicken Alfredo Linguine

Lately I have been craving Chicken Alfredo pasta. There were a few times when I was so tempted to just go to Olive Garden and order some Alfredo Fettucine despite how expensive it was. But I managed to talk myself out of it because this scrumptious food seem easy enough to make. So I googled some recipes and came up with my own recipe for my favorite chicken alfredo linguine.

I love how during the proceess of imitating a recipe, you sometimes recreate new recipes that fit your taste bud better than the original recipes do.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and found something more personal for you in the process of cooking.

Ingredients:

--Half box of linguine or however much you desire. I used half a box for my husband and I.

--4 chicken fillet or 2 chicken breasts. Cut into small pieces.

--2 teaspoon of butter

--1 teaspoon of garlic salt

--A dash of black grounded pepper

--8oz of Classic Alfredo Pasta Sauce. * I use the Walmart Great Value kind. And I use about half a bottle of it.

--2 teaspoons of Parmesan style grated toppings/parmesan cheese. *Again, I use the Walmart Great Value brand.

Instructions:

1. Boil the linguine in 10 cups of water for about 15 minutes or til the pasta gets tender.

2. When the linguine is done cooking, drain the water and put the pasta aside.

3. Heat the pan on high and put in the butter. Wait til the butter melts.

4. Put in chicken pieces and stir fry them for about 2 minutes.

5. Turn the fire down to medium and occasionally stir and toss the chicken pieces to get them cooked evenly. This takes about 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn the chicken.

6. Put in the garlic salt and keep tossing and stirring the chicken.

7. When the chicken is cooked, stir in the Alfredo sauce and mix evenly.

8. Pour in the cooked linguine pasta. Stir the sauce, chicken, and pasta together and mix evenly.

9. Put in the black pepper and parmesan cheese.

10. Stir and coat evenly. Then turn off the fire.

Cheap, tasty, and home-made.

Happy Cooking!

Soft Sugar Cookies

My husband has been craving some sugar cookies, so I found a recipe online for "soft" sugar cookies, because I don't like the flat hard ones.

I came across a pretty good recipe that didn't disappoint.  Here is where I found the recipe: AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, shortening and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, stir into the creamed mixture until dough comes together. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and roll the balls in sugar. Place them on an unprepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake cookies 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until bottom is light brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

We also needed some frosting, as it is Sunday and we couldn't go out and buy some.  So I found another recipe online that is super easy.  Now, it's not necessarily my favorite frosting, but it would be great to make for little kids as it is so easy and we had fun coloring it.  Here is where I found the frosting recipe: AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners' sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

Chocolate Haupia Pie

About a year ago, I was missing Ted's Bakery's Chocolate Haupia Pie. I used to eat it so much when I was in Hawaii and I never got sick of it. It's heaven in every bite! Anyway, I went online and searched for the recipe, doubting I would find the recipe since it was so rare and probably copyrighted. Amazingly, I came upon this newspaper interview of Ted's Bakery on Oahu and the article was accompanied by THE recipe I was looking for!!

I waited for a long time to bake this because I didn't believe in my baking skills (growing up we never baked in our house. We didn't own an oven til I was older, like 18 or 19). I invited my friend, Nikki, to bake it with me. I am very proud of what we made, although I got the wrong chocolate :( I got the unsweetened Ghiradelli chocolate and the pie came out tasting bitter despite the sugar and coconut we added.

It is worth the try though. I would totally bake it again!

The bottom layer was the chocolate + coconut layer

The top layer was the coconut only layer

Ingredients:

1 9-in. unbaked pie crust
1 cup milk
1 can coconut milk (14 oz.)
1 tbsp. coconut extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup cornstarch
7/8 cup chocolate (Dutch chocolate, or any chocolate with high cocoa butter content)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Bake crust for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

3. In a medium saucepan, whisk together milk, coconut milk, coconut extract and 1 cup sugar.

4. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in water.

5. After bringing coconut milk mixture to a boil, reduce to simmer and slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Continue stirring over low heat until thickened—about three minutes. Divide evenly into two bowls.

6. In another bowl, microwave chocolate until melted.

7. Mix chocolate into one of the bowls of coconut pudding, then pour mixture into the pie crust, spread and let sit.

8. Pour the remaining bowl of coconut pudding on top of the chocolate-coconut pudding mixture and spread smooth being careful nut to mix the two layers. Refrigerate the pie for an hour or more.

9. Whip the heavy cream with 1/4 cup of sugar until stiff. Layer the whipped cream on the pie surface. Garnish with chocolate shavings.

Enjoy and happy cooking!!!!

Szechuan Chicken

This is one of my favorite things to cook for dinner when I forgot to plan or I just don't have a lot of time. It's great because all the ingredients are things that I always have on hand!

Usually I don't really measure and I just kind of wing it, but here is an approximate recipe:

Ingredients

Chicken

Cornstarch

Oil

Garlic

Soy Sauce

White Wine Vinegar (or normal White Vinegar)

Sugar

Water

Green Onions

Cayenne Pepper

Directions

Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes and lightly coat with corn starch

Heat some oil in a frying pan, add minced garlic (I like a lot)

Add chicken and fry until all sides are white

Add soy sauce (I would say for 1 lb of chicken it would be about 3-5 tablespoons)

Add vinegar (for the same amount of chicken 1-2 tablespoons)

Sprinkle with sugar

Add a couple of tablespoons of water. It just depends on how strong of a flavor you want and how runny you want the sauce.

Add diced green onions and cayenne pepper. You can make it as spicy as you want.

Anyways, I know these aren't very good directions, but it's really good so you should try it! Just serve it with some rice, it's delicious!

Oven "Fried" Chicken

I love this dish so much! I made it for my family for New Year's Eve dinner and for my husband on Valentine's Day. It is also super easy to make. I love fried chicken, and oven fried chicken makes frying no hassle!



Servings: 6

1. 8 pieces of chicken fillet
2. 1 cup all purpose powder
3. 1 teaspoon salt
4. 1/2 teaspoon pepper
5. 1 large egg
6. 2 tablespoon water
7. 1 cup dry bread crumbs with herbs
8. 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
9. lemon wedges for serving

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degree celcius or 400 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Rinse the chicken in cold water. Pat dry with kitchen paper.
3. Combine the flour, pepper, salt, on a plate with a fork to mix. Coat the chicken pieces on all sides with the flour and shakes off the excess.
4. Sprinkle a little water on to the chicken pieces, and coat again lightly with the seasoned flour.
5. Beat the egg with the water in a shallow dish. Stir in the herbs. Dip the chicken pieces into the egg mixture, turning them over to coat them thoroughly.
6. Combine the breadcrumbs and grated parmesan cheese in a plate. Roll the chieken pieces in the crumbs, patting with your fingers to help them adhere.
7. Place the chicken pieces in a greased shallow baking dish, large enough to hold them in one layer. Bake until thoroughly cooked and golden brown, 20-30 minutes. (To check if they are cooked, prick with a fork; the juices that run out should be clear, not pink. ) Serve hot, with lemon wedges.

Coconut Shrimp--Hawaiian :)

This is a recipe I found in a magazine at my friend's house. The first time I had the coconut shrimp was at Jackie Chan Restaurant in Hawaii. It was really good but quite expensive. I am glad I found this recipe because now I eat this dish whenever I feel like it!

The original recipe comes with a salsa dip for the coconut shrimp, which I did not end up making myself. But I will share it nonetheless :)



Serving: 2-4

Ingredients:
1. 12 jumbo shrimp (If you don't have jumbo shrimp, I just use large shrimp that I bought from Wal-Mart)
2. 2 cups Vegetable oil
3. 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten. (I used only one egg white for my 20 large shrimp)
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. 1/2 cup cornstarch
6. 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut (I used more than one cup)

Instructions:
1. Peel shrimp, leaving tails on, and devein.(I bought shrimp that are already peeled and deveined)
2. Pour oil into a frying pan. Enough to cover the shrimp. Heat oil on medium high fire.
3. Combine egg whites and salt in a shallow bowl. Place cornstarch in a separate shallow dish.
4. Coat shrimp with cornstarch, shaking off the excess. Dip shrimp in egg white mixture and dredge in coconut.
5. Fry shrimp in 2 batches, 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain.

To make salsa, you need to have
1/4 cup mirin
1/4 cup chile sauce with garlic
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cups finely diced pineapple
3/4 cup diced papaya
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup seeded cucumber
1/4 cup diced red onion

Stir together. Makes 7 cups.