Recipe: Angel Hair with Tomatoes, Peas and Basil

Mar12

I played around with a recipe this past week and came up with this dish! I’m very happy I did because it tastes delicious! And other than the dab of mayonnaise you throw in to make it creamy, it is very good for you! Let me share the pictures first:

Doesn’t that look good? I tried to make it look good for a picture, I need to wipe the sides off better next time, lol.

I used three roma tomatoes and two pints of grape tomatoes

Me and my crazy garlic again, I used a whole bulb

My basil was a bit wilted in the fridge but they tasted fine! I sliced up 20 basil leaves for this recipe

Angel Hair Pasta – cooked just below al dente since you heat it up in the sauce too

Frozen green peas, it can be left frozen even up until cooking

Heat up some good olive oil and saute the garlic

Add the tomatoes

Once the tomatoes release some liquid, add the basil

As the mixture cooks down, more liquid comes out. I added about 1/4 cup of mayonnaise to this to make it creamier

Add the peas in just as the sauce is done. You don’t want to overcook the peas so add it at the end to just warm them up

Here it is! Finished! And so delicious. I added salt and pepper to taste and then added a mozzarella and parmesan shredded cheese right before consumption.

Angel Hair with Tomatoes, Peas and Basil

Ingredients:

1 lb. Angel Hair Pasta (I used Barilla brand)
1 bulb of Garlic, minced
3 T Olive Oil
3 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
2 pints Grape Tomatoes, sliced
20 Basil Leaves, julienned
1 package of Frozen Peas

1 tsp of Salt
1 tsp of Pepper
1/4 C of Mayonnaise
Mozzarella/Parmesan Cheese according to your taste

Heat up the olive oil in a big skillet, add the garlic to saute. Once the garlic has browned for about a minute, add all the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes has cooked down a bit and released liquid, add in the basil and mix it together. Lower to medium heat and continue simmering. Once the mixture has released enough liquid to become a sauce (about 5 minutes), add the mayonnaise to thicken the sauce. Add the frozen peas and simmer for about 3-4 minutes. Add salt and pepper, taste and adjust seasoning according to your taste.

Turn off the heat. Add the noodles in and mix it up. Sprinkle cheese on top as you serve the dish. Enjoy!

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Recipe: Corned Beef Hash – Island Style

Feb28

I need to start this with…YUM. I found this recipe a few weeks back and have made it twice already! Then I remembered that I first had this before Christmas of last year when my coworker brought some in to work. She made it really well – I think I need to put a better browning on the corned beef hash. I think this is a pretty typical recipe but my other coworkers don’t seem familiar with it. I think it’s a great recipe, easy to make and delicious over rice! Let’s get to the pictures and recipe.

I’ll be honest. I don’t buy a lot of corned beef hash so when I got to Times, they had all brands on sale. This one, this Palm brand was the only one that was locked behind their sales counter. I figured that’s the one I should get since the others were left out in the open…lol. It wasn’t too bad but I think I need to try the Libby’s brand to compare!

Diced Tomatoes. I removed all the excess seeds but I didn’t go nuts trying to get them all out.

Diced Potatoes

Sliced Onions

Garlic garlic garlic…can’t get enough of this

Corned Beef Hash – Island Style

Ingredients
1 small can of corned beef, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, sliced (I used a medium sized onion)
1 large potato, diced
1 large tomato, diced (I used like 3-4 small tomatoes)
2 tablespoons oil

ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Open the corned beef and place in a bowl. Use a fork to mash it. Crush the garlic, slice the onions, dice the potato and chop the tomato.

In a skillet, fry the garlic and onions in oil. Add the potatoes and fry. Crumble the corned beef and mix well until the potatoes are cooked through. Remove from heat. Stir in the tomatoes. Sprinkle with pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl. Serve hot with steamed white rice.

Jenny’s Notes:
– Next time, I’d like to pan fry the potatoes on their own to get a good crust on them.
– I would also like to pan fry the corned beef hash on it’s own to get a good crust on them too! The brown yummy bits will add lots of great flavor.

Recipe from Hicookery.com

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Recipe: Custard Mochi

Feb23

Okay before I begin, I have a funny story to tell about this. I saw this recipe online and was amazed at this mochi. I had never seen a mochi recipe that separated into a layer of mochi, a layer of custard and then a glorious layer of crust (yes, I count a good crust as a layer!). Needless to say, I had to make it right away and I am so happy I did. It’s a pretty crazy recipe, it asks for 4 cups of milk and 4 eggs…but we are making custard! How did it turn out? Heavenly. Absolutely perfect. I followed the recipe exactly but I have some tips of my own after the recipe I’m going to post.

Funny story. So I got into work and wrote an e-mail out to the staff about how I never saw this kind of mochi before and told them all to give it a try. Then one of my coworkers tells me she has made this same exact recipe and brought it to the office at least three times. OOPS. I felt really bad but I kept laughing too! Not at her but at me writing that e-mail to the staff like I found something new or something! Luckily she wasn’t too mad since we are pretty close…lol. Here are the pictures!

Look at that awesome crust. No can beat that…

You see the layering? Oozy custard in the middle…

Wish I had a nice one sliced up to take a picture of…I was too busy trying to eat it! It is crispy, creamy, chewy all at once. All that texture makes for the perfect dessert.

Custard Mochi

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 cups milk (2% or higher)
4 whole eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups mochiko (rice flour)
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 13 X 9 pan. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until center is firm. Cool and chill in refrigerator. Cut into squares — my mom suggests using a plastic knife for easier cutting. Do as Mom says, she knows best.

Recipe from Wasabi Prime.

Jenny’s tips:
1) You must use a glass pan, no exceptions!
2) Do not chill it in the refrigerator! For me, I baked it at night and let it cool overnight at room temperature. Then I served it out to my office in the morning and bugga was gone before I could even throw it in the fridge. Well I did save a few pieces for my family which I did throw in the fridge (since there’s custard) and it did not taste good. The crust got really mealy and ruined the whole mochi for me, but these are just my personal tips.

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Recipe: Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Feb21

I’ve been trying to vary up my home lunches in an effort to continue eating home lunches and save money! When I saw this recipe, I really wanted to give it a try! Roasted garlic in salisbury steak? Yes please. Here’s how it turned out.

Here are two bulbs of garlic rubbed down with olive oil and salt ready to be roasted. There’s my first deviation already, the recipe only calls for one bulb of garlic.

Caramelized red onions…yummy

Sautéed mushrooms. Can’t go wrong.

Finished product with the gravy and mushrooms oozing on top…

First of all, here is the recipe:

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

3 tsp olive oil (divided)
1/2 sweet yellow onion, diced
8 oz of button or cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 lb of lean ground beef (96/4)
Bulb of roasted garlic
2 pieces of bacon, crumbled
Snider’s Prime Rib seasoning (or your favorite steak seasoning), to taste
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1-2 packets of brown gravy mix, prepared per instructions

Prepare roasted garlic (click on link above for directions). Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat, once done remove to a paper towel to drain. Remove all but 1 teaspoon of bacon grease from the skillet then add 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil. Once hot, add the diced onion and cook until soft and tender, about 5-6 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Add the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil to the same skillet over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms once the pan is very hot. Let them sit, without stirring for 3-4 minutes for a nice golden color. Flip the mushrooms and continue to cook for a few minutes until golden brown.

In a small saucepan, prepare gravy per instructions. Once it’s thickened, add the golden mushrooms and simmer.

Combine the ground beef, bacon bits, caramelized onion, roasted garlic bulb, steak seasoning, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper in a large bowl. Form into oval shaped patties, not too thick or thin. Add the last teaspoon of olive oil to the same skillet over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the salisbury steak patties and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, or to your desired degree of doneness.

Place the cooked steak patties on a serving dish and cover with mushroom gravy. Enjoy.

Credit: For the Love of Cooking

So what did I think? I thought it was all right. I did of course make little changes in the recipe. I enjoyed the addition of more roasted garlic. If you haven’t had roasted garlic, you really have to. It is such a mellow garlic taste and it is SO easy to make! This recipe called for bacon, prime rib seasoning AND salt and pepper. Well I didn’t want to buy a whole pack of bacon so I bought a pack of bacon bits. I used the prime rib seasoning but didn’t add salt and pepper because I felt like the dish already had a lot of salt and spices. Besides, the gravy on top would add even more salt! All in all, I think it was good though. Maybe I did a horrible job of forming the patties because they fell apart. I’m not a big fan of bacon so I think I would leave that out next time.

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Recipe: Yubu Chobap (Korean Inari Sushi)

Feb8

I love stopping by Palama Supermarket once in a while at night when they mark down all their hot foods! There was a sushi set leftover once and while I normally wouldn’t have bought it, since it was marked down…I did! It included maki sushi, a cone sushi and some other forgettable roll. The inari sushi took me by complete surprise. While the tofu skin is exactly the same as all cone sushi we eat, the innards was a mixed rice with minced vegetables…it tasted like a savory fried rice. It tasted SO good that I had to find the recipe to make it. I made it for a work meeting and people really enjoyed it! So let me share with you the recipe…

Yubu Chobap – ready to eat!

Minced carrots. These were such a chore to do…hahaha

Minced onions. I cried, of course.

Rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, chopped small.

Put the oil in the frying pan and fry up the carrots for about a minute. Afterwards, I pushed the carrots to the side and added the onions to cook.

After you cook the onions and carrots for about 1-2 minutes, push them aside and add the mushrooms. The original recipe calls for like bulgogi or some kind of teriyaki meat chopped small too – I didn’t have that and I honestly don’t feel like you need it!

I add the sauce when I add the mushrooms and cook them altogether. I can almost smell it now as I’m typing this. It’s good to add the garlic at this point so it doesn’t burn as you cook the mixture…but still cook it long enough to get rid of the raw flavor.

I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture of this beforehand but when I put the rice in for cooking, I added two medium pieces of dried konbu on top to cook with the rice. I lightly rinsed the konbu beforehand then cooked it with the rice as you normally would. When the rice is ready (let it stay on the warm setting for a while too) – remove the konbu. After the mixture is finished cooking, add it to the rice and mix it together!

You also add some furikake to the rice mixture. I added a salmon furikake mixture and I thought it worked great!

This recipe is winners! I think it’s healthy but still very tasty so people enjoy it very much. The hardest part is just the mincing of veggies but if you’re super lazy, you can use a food processor (lol). So before this recipe, I hadn’t purchased too many bean curd pockets before and didn’t realize how expensive they are! The recipe I am sharing yielded 18-20 very generously filled pockets. Don Quijote has a pretty big selection of it, Times did not. When I visited Palama Supermarket last week, I noticed they sell the bean curd pockets for a good price! Cheaper than both Don Q and Times. Give this recipe a try and let me know how it goes!

Yubu Chobap (Korean Inari Sushi)

Ingredients:

3 cups rice (medium grain)
1 large piece of konbu (dried kelp), broken into medium pieces (lightly rinsed)

Sauce
2 T soy sauce

5-6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

Vegetable Mixture

1 tbsp of sesame oil
1 large carrot, minced
1 medium yellow onion, minced

6-8 dried shiitakes; rehydrated, drained, and minced

Splash of shaoxing wine (this is what I used – it’s not typical in this recipe)Furikake – I used salmon furikake
1 package of Bean Curd Pockets (this recipe makes enough for about 20 bean curd pockets)

Preparation:
1. Place rice and water into rice cooker, place pieces of konbu on top and cook. Remove kelp once rice is steamed (feel free to eat the konbu separately, it’s very good for you!).

2. Heat oil in pan on medium high heat. Cook carrots first for about 1-2 minutes, push aside and add onions to cook. Mix all the vegetables in and create a small well in the middle to saute shiitakes, add sauce mixture to shiitakes after about a minute of frying. Mix all the vegetables together in the pan and add a splash of shaoxing wine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool.

3. Mix together the rice, vegetables and furikake. Fill the bean curd pockets with as much filling as you want! Great served hot or at room temperature.

Original inspiration from: Korean Rice in Bean Curd Pocket by Anna Metcalf (YouTube Video)

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Recipe: Baked Spaghetti

Jan16

I got a request from a reader (thanks yuko!) for my Baked Spaghetti recipe so here I am to share it! Always a pleasure to share recipes. 🙂 My recipe is super specific, down to the brand name but this is what I do to make some gooood baked spaghetti. I’ll share some pictures and the recipe after the cut.

140116-01 This is the stuff! Ooey, gooey and delicious. Join me won’t you?

140116-02 Ground beef ready to go!

Ground beef and minced onions

This is how the dish looks like after the initial baking. This includes the noodles, pasta sauce and cheddar cheese.

After the first bake, you sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Baked Spaghetti

32 oz. Meatless spaghetti sauce, any flavor – I use Hunt’s Brand – Garlic and Herb (in the 26 oz. aluminum can) – update: 5/4/14, they sneakily now make the cans in 24 oz. sizes. When the Hunt’s brand canned spaghetti sauce is on sale, it is much cheaper than the glass jars so I just buy two but still measure out 32 oz. for this recipe.
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes with green pepper, celery, and onion – do not drain (I use Hunt’s brand once again)
1 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, minced
1 box (lb.) spaghetti or angel hair pasta, whichever you prefer – I use Barilla brand spaghetti
1 8 oz. bag shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 8 oz. bag shredded mozzarella cheese (you can add more if you like a lot of cheese for both cheeses, for these pictures, I used only one each…when I’ve made the recipe in other times…I’ve added more mozzarella)

Either one 13 x 9 baking pan or two 8 inch baking pans.
Olive Oil Spray – to grease the pan(s)

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Break the pasta into 3 inch lengths. I usually yield about 3 “sticks” from each stick of spaghetti and then cook according to package directions. I usually remove it about 2-3 minutes before the pasta is cooked. The pasta will continue to cook later in the sauce and eventually in the oven so you don’t want to overcook the pasta. Rinse and drain the pasta, place aside.

Brown onions and ground beef together until the beef is cooked through. Drain excess grease if necessary. Stir in spaghetti sauce and diced tomatoes with the beef mixture and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Stir in the pasta. Once incorporated, stir in all the cheddar cheese. Stir the mixture until cheese is completely melted.

Grease your baking pan(s) and place your pasta mixture in.

Bake the spaghetti for 15 minutes, take the pan(s) out and sprinkle the mozzarella cheese on top and bake for 15 minutes more or until the cheese has melted to your liking. Enjoy!

Note: Another great thing about this recipe is that it freezes very nicely!

140116-06 You won’t regret making this. Adult and kids enjoy it! Let me know how it goes if you make it!

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Recipe: Baked Sushi

Jan2

Here is another one of my go to recipes for office get-togethers. Another super easy and super ono dish that people love! Let me share the pictures and the recipe with you.

Fresh out of the oven – can’t get better than that. Continue reading →

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Recipe: Autumn Pasta

Dec15

I went to TJ Maxx the other week and I love browsing through the home section. They have some great kitchen tools and some good food items too! I spotted a bag of autumn shaped pasta and just had to get em! It gave me great inspiration for a recipe! Check it out!

Continue reading →

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Recipe: Spice Cake (shhh…Prune Cake)

Dec13

So Prune Cake. Have you heard of it? I think I’m too young to know of it’s origins but I guess it used to be served at all the weddings a while back? I’ve been wanting to eat prune cake for a long time now and I don’t know why. I visited a craft fair a few weeks back and bought a mini prune cake loaf and it was DELISH. Why am I calling it spice cake? So people don’t run after hearing prunes. Why do prunes get such a bad rap! I really wanted to try to make this on my own to make up for that damn failed mochi donut recipe. I think I succeeded! Come and take a look!

Look at how moist this cake is…it is the most moist cake you will ever taste!

Continue reading →

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Failed Recipe: Lemon Mochi Doughnut

Nov27

I’ve been super busy this week preparing for our bake sale. I was pretty excited to do two recipes. First was a good standby, chichi dango. I’ve made it before and it’s a great sell for any bake sale. I played around with the colors and made it purple, pink and white. Was really cute. Well sort of. I was told that maybe I should put white in the middle next time since the purple and pink kind of blended together. Then, since chichi dango is super sticky, I had to cover it in potato starch. Well the potato starch then masked the colors even more. It’s okay, the taste was great so I’m fine.

My next recipe was this lemon mochi doughnut recipe I found online. Sounds intriguing right? Well as you can judge from this blog title, misery follows:

Cute yah? I got a great pan as a gift a while back and finally got to use it. Aren’t they cute?

Continue reading →

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!

Archives

Recipe: Angel Hair with Tomatoes, Peas and Basil

Recipe: Corned Beef Hash – Island Style

Recipe: Custard Mochi

Recipe: Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Recipe: Yubu Chobap (Korean Inari Sushi)

Recipe: Baked Spaghetti

Recipe: Baked Sushi

Recipe: Autumn Pasta

Recipe: Spice Cake (shhh…Prune Cake)

Failed Recipe: Lemon Mochi Doughnut