All posts in category cooking

ranch blt pasta salad

we take a break in your regularly scheduled programming, you know, our slow cooker/crockpot series, to bring you a nice, fresh salad!

my colleague and friend first made a similar pasta salad for an office potluck and i just couldn’t get enough of it.  i made sure to pin the recipe so i could make it later.  finally, i had a chance to whip some up for lunch this week.

this pasta salad is full of bacon, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese, then it’s all topped with ranch dressing.  served over a bed of lettuce or field greens, it mimics all of the flavors you would find in a blt served with a salad with ranch dressing.  okay so that’s not really a thing, but believe me – all the flavors come together beautifully.  i also love that the lettuce lightens up the salad a bit, so i don’t feel as bad eating bacon and cheese and carbs and dressing.  oops!  still it’s delicious and that’s what matters right?

but you know what is good about this recipe, it makes a bunch so chris and i have lunch ready for most of the week.  all i have to do is put some greens in a container and top it with a couple scoops of pasta salad.  done and done.

this pasta salad is super duper easy.  first, get your ingredients prepped and ready to go.  fry up some bacon.

drain the tomatoes (i used fire roasted tomatoes which is why there are little black flecks on the tomatoes – try them.  they are sooo good!)…

then cook the pasta, rinse with cold water, drain well, and pour it in a large bowl.  allow the pasta to cool completely.

then add the shredded cheddar cheese,

the bacon,

the tomatoes,

and finally the chopped green onion.

mix it all together.

then take some ranch dressing, like this:

and pour 1/2 cup over the pasta mixture.

mix until all the pasta, bacon, cheese, tomatoes, etc. are covered with dressing.  then sprinkle on a little pepper, to taste.

let the pasta salad chill for a bit to allow the flavors time to meld together.

serve the pasta salad over a bed of lettuce or field greens – it’s scrumdiddlyumptious!

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by miki on January 30, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on January 30, 2013

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/ranch-blt-pasta-salad/

slow cooker black beans

next up in my slow cooker/crockpot series is slow cooker black beans!

making black beans in the slow cooker couldn’t be easier.  this is awesome because cooking your own beans from dry beans is sooooo much cheaper than canned beans.  plus you don’t have to worry about all of the sodium they add to canned beans.  awesome!  so i picked up a huge four pound bag of black beans from the grocery store.

it was only a little over $6.00 for the whole bag and i will actually be able to get the equivalent of 12 cans of beans out of that.  usually a can of beans is about a $1 so that’s a 50% savings!!!  do a dance!  this is exciting stuff people! :-)

now i’ll be able to make all kinds of recipes that call for black beans like this southwestern quinoa…

and this crockpot turkey taco chili…

to make the slow cooker black beans, all you need to do is sift through the beans in a baking pan or cookie sheet.  just make sure to get rid of any debri or rocks or any other yucky stuff.

then pour the beans into a colander and rinse them off.

put the beans into the slow cooker and then pour 6 cups of water over the beans.

cook the beans on high for 4-6 hours.  it took a full 6 hours for my batch of beans to be nice and tender.

then give them another rinse and they are ready to use.

1 pound of dry beans makes about 6 cups of cooked beans and 2 cups of cooked beans equals about 1 can of beans.  so i divided up the beans into 3 bags with 2 cups of beans in each.  i put 1 bag in the fridge because i plan on making black bean cakes this week.  the other two bags went into the freezer for later.

i haven’t tried this technique with any other kinds of beans but i’m guessing it would work?  i quickly googled it and this post doesn’t say anything about needing to use a specific kind of bean, so you should be okay… oh and i know some people do like to soak their beans overnight but it’s all personal preference.  now go make some beans and remember…

beans, beans, they’re good for your heart
the more you eat, the more you fart
the more you fart, the happier/better you feel
so let’s eat beans with every meal

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by miki on January 28, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on January 28, 2013

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/slow-cooker-black-beans/

crockpot bolognese sauce

i have a problem.

i am officially obsessed…

obsessed with my slow cooker.

since we got a new slow cooker from our dear friend tammy, i have made a ton of different crockpot recipes.  it makes cooking soooooo much easier!  i can make a big batch of whatever it is and have some for a couple of meals through the week, plus a bit to freeze for later.  i have made everything from meatballs to black beans.  i’ll be posting all of the recipes slowly but surely and first up is this absolutely divine, crockpot bolognese sauce.

although it’s not a completely authentic bolognese sauce, it is completely delicious and perfect over a bowl of rigatoni pasta topped with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.  i also used this sauce to make stuffed shells which i will post about soon.  plus i saved a few cups and froze it so we can enjoy a quick meal in the future.

this sauce is full of vegetables, ground turkey, tomatoes, and even some bacon.  really, you can’t go wrong.  so bust out your slow cooker and whip up a batch of this crockpot bolognese sauce!

first up, the vegetables.  i used my small handy dandy food processor/hand blender to mince a bit of onion, carrot, and celery.

next cook some pancetta… i used bacon because i didn’t have any pancetta on hand.  be sure to cook it until it’s nice and crisp.  i failed to do this and there were still bits of bacon fat even after being in the slow cooker for hours.  boo.  oh well you live and you learn.

then add the vegetables and about a tablespoon of chopped garlic and cook for a few more minutes until the vegetables are tender.

ready freddy…

now add the lean ground beef or turkey.  i used turkey because i happened to have a bunch in the freezer.  also sprinkle on some italian seasoning.

cook until the turkey/beef is browned and then drain off the excess fat.  i actually used a baster to do this which worked really really well.

then add some red or white wine and cook until it reduces down a bit.

finally, the meat and vegetable mixture is ready to go into the slow cooker.

okie dok…

pour the crushed tomatoes on top of the meat and also add the bay leaves and some salt and pepper.

mix everything together and set your slow cooker to low.

cook for 6 hours.  p.s. i just love the fact that my slow cooker has a way to program it to cook at a certain setting for a certain amount of time.  when the time is done, it automatically switches to warm.  amazing!

once it’s done, add some basil.  i used my good ol’ tube of basil…

and a bit of half and half and some parsley.

mix it all together…

and it’s ready to eat!

since i didn’t make a ton of drastic changes to the recipe, i’m going to send you over to one of my new favorite blogs, skinny taste for the recipe.  just be sure to add about 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic to the pancetta/bacon and vegetable mixture, 1 teaspoon of italian seasoning to your ground beef/turkey, and about 1 tablespoon of chopped basil to the finished sauce.  

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by miki on January 27, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on January 27, 2013

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/crockpot-bolognese-sauce/

pork hash

this year for new year’s, chris and i had a couple friends over for a lovely asian/hawaii food feast.  it was the perfect low key night we were looking for after traveling to maine for christmas.  we enjoyed a great night with awesome friends and delicious food.  for dinner we made mochiko chicken, crab mandu, chinese chicken salad and pork hash.  pork hash is a local favorite that’s similar to shumai or gyoza.  we actually bought some while we were in hawaii and planned to bring it back with us but i forgot it in the freezer!!!  ahhhhh!!!!  we were really looking forward to eating the pork hash, so i had to make some of our own.

i found this recipe online and though it wasn’t exactly the same as the kind that we get at home, it was still pretty tasty.  plus i got a chance to use our new bamboo steamer, which i absolutely love!  i can’t wait to use it again.

the pork hash starts with the filling.  it includes ground pork, chopped water chestnuts, green onion, sesame oil, oyster sauce, egg white and some other seasonings.

mix it all up.

then take your round won ton or mandu wrappers…

and put about a tablespoon of filling in the middle of it.

now place it in your hand,

and then gently form the wrapper around the filling, like this…

fold the pleats in the same direction and the pork has is assembled!

repeat until all of the pork hash are formed.

arrange the pork hash in the bamboo steamer.

now cook them for 30 minutes.

and they’re all pau! [don't mind the missing one in the middle.  i had to do a taste test ;-) ]

i served the pork hash is a simple sauce of soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, and green onion.  but i didn’t really measure the ingredients while i was making it, so here’s a recipe you could use.

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by miki on January 21, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on January 21, 2013

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/pork-hash/

gingerbread rice krispies treats

a couple days ago, i wrote about finding the awesome cinnamon chips at walmart while we were up in maine and along with the cinnamon chips, i also came across gingerbread marshmallows!

they had a whole bunch of other flavors too from peppermint to strawberry to chocolate – it was crazy!  even though it was after christmas, i picked up a bag of the gingerbread marshmallows to make a batch of these simple yet festive gingerbread rice krispies treats.

i’m sure you’re wondering why in the world am i sharing this recipe for you now, even though it is way after the holidays.  well i’m just a rebel like that but really just because it’s not the holidays anymore doesn’t mean you are banned from enjoying all of the fantastic desserts you usually enjoy just around the holidays!  plus, i’ve been seeing a lot of holiday and christmas candies/decorations/treats on sale, so why not?!?!

i whipped up these gingerbread rice krispies treats a couple weeks ago to bring with us to our friends’ place.  they had graciously invited us over for brunch and i wanted to bring something fun for dessert.  p.s. the recipe for the cake on the left is coming soon!

the process to make these rice krispies treats is exactly the same as making regular ones.  first, grease a 9×13 or 9×11 (if you like thicker rice krispies treats) with cooking spray or butter.

then set aside 12-15 gingerbread marshmallows – you’re going to use these to decorate your treats.

pour the rest of the bag of gingerbread marshmallows, plus 1 cup of regular mini marshmallows and 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pot.

over low heat, melt the butter and the marshmallows together.  the little gingerbread marshmallow men are say “ahhh, i’m melting, i’m melting!”

yay, the marshmallow and butter mixture is nice and smooth.

now pour the rice krispies into the pot.

mix, mix, mix until all the rice krispies are covered the marshmallow goo.

pour the mixture into the baking pan and spread out with a buttered spatula  or here’s what i like to do – use the butter wrapper to gently spread out and press down on the mixture.  since it has a little butter still one it, the rice krispies mixture doesn’t stick to it.

all ready to be decorated!

so add the gingerbread marshmallow men in nice rows and then allow it to cool.

finally, cut the treats between the rows of marshmallows so that each treat has its own gingerbread marshmallow man decoration.

rice krispies treats are one of my favorite desserts and i love them even more because they are super easy to make.  i can’t wait to try out different kinds of favors of marshmallows and different kinds of cereals.  so many possibilities!!!

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by miki on January 15, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on January 15, 2013

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/gingerbread-rice-krispies-treats/

crockpot kalua pork

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again – one of the things i miss most about home (hawaii) is the food.  fortunately, i’ve been able to figure out how to make a lot of my local favorite foods from chicken katsu and spam musubi to coconut mochi and chinese chicken salad.  about a month ago, i was able to check off another dish from my local food to make list – kalua pork.

kalua pork is usually made underground in an imu.  well, living in an apartment building close to the city, i don’t exactly have the space or the means to make an imu to make some kalua pork.  but you know what i do have?  a slow cooker!  it’s a great substitute since my crockpot will mimic the low heat that is made from the imu.

the kalua pork is made with 3 simple ingredients – pork butt/shoulder, hawaiian or rock salt, and liquid smoke.  but what develops the flavor and makes it so wonderfully delicious and tender is the fact that it is cooked for about 16 hours!  crazy right!  but it’s totally worth it… and it’s not like you’re really working hard here – you’re just hanging out, waiting for the slow cooker to do its thing.

start with your pork butt, which is actually the shoulder and plop (yes, plop) it into the bowl of your slow cooker.

then use a sharp knife to poke some holes into the pork.

now get your hawaiian salt – we brought this hawaiian salt back to dc with us last time we went home to hawaii… (i believe you can pick up some hawaiiian/rock salt from trader joe’s.)

and sprinkle some onto the pork.

next comes the liquid smoke…

and pour just a little bit of it on to the pork.

the pork is now ready to turn into kalua pork!

just set your slow cooker to low and let it cook for about 7-8 hours.

here’s what it looks like midway through…  not so pretty, but don’t worry.  it will be okay.

flip that bad boy over

and let it cook for another 7-8 hours, until it’s done.

take the pork out off the pot and place onto a baking sheet.

shred the meat using two forks, discarding the bones and fat as you go through the kalua pork.

pour just enough of the juices over the meat to moisten the meat and it’s ready to serve.  we like to enjoy our kalua pork with some rice and a nice salad or veggies.

for the recipe, please check out la fuji mama‘s post on slow cooker kalua pig.

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by miki on January 13, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on January 13, 2013

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/crockpot-kalua-pork/

skillet lasagna

chris and i recently got the cutest little puppy in the whole wide world.

clearly i am biased.  but isn’t she cute!?!?  her name is pua danger brooks.  pua means flower in hawaiian and chris picked “danger” as pua’s middle name.  funny, huh. ;-)

we just got her in november but i couldn’t imagine life without her.  having a puppy is certainly a lot of work, but it is well worth is because she is so much fun and i love her so much.  yup i am that crazy dog lady.  sorry!

so about this skillet lasagna… because we just got pua and have been super busy trying to keep up with our energetic puppy, i have been trying to be better at menu planning and figuring out meals i can make on the weekend that will last us through the week.  i saw this recipe for skillet lasagna on annie’s eats and immediately knew that it would fit the bill.  it makes six servings so we were able to have it for multiple dinners and lunches.  awesome!!!

it has all of the flavors that you love in traditional layered lasagna but is so much easier because you just make it in a skillet.  perfecto!  chris gave it rave reviews and i know we will be making it again soon!

to start, heat up a cast iron skillet with a little bit of oil.

then sautee some onions and green peppers with the salt and pepper.

  

meanwhile, chop the tomatoes.

back to the skillet, add the sausage – i used sweet italian turkey sausage.  break up the sausage as it cooks so that it is nicely crumbled and no longer pink.

  

now place the lasagna noodles on the sausage onion mixture…

and pour the tomatoes and its juices on top.

mix it together and cover it.  let it simmer for 20-24 minutes, stirring occasionally.

now mix in some of the ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.

then top it with the rest of the cheese.

broil the skillet lasagna until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

finally, top it with some chopped italian parsley and basil.

yum!

for the recipe, please visit annie’s eats.

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by miki on December 18, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on December 18, 2012

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/skillet-lasagna/

tomato jam

i actually made this tomato jam this past summer!  eeek!  i know it was a while ago.  but it was so good that i still wanted to share the recipe with you years later.

i talked about this before, but this past summer and fall there was an awesome farmers market right here on campus at university of maryland.  even though some things were kind of expensive for a farmers market, the convenience could not be beat and all of the vendors there were so nice and helpful.

i found the tomatoes above at the farmers market.  they totally look busted up but i got them “on sale” because they weren’t the nicest looking.  but the helpful vendor said that they would still be great, especially if i was cooking them down into tomato jam.  and you know what?  she was right!  they were perfect.  she helped me pick out a variety of tomatoes that would be good for jam and it worked wonderfully.

the jam is full of nice warm flavors from the cinnamon and cloves – actually it would be perfect as a fall or winter appetizer.  chris and i enjoyed the tomato jam on with wheat thins and a little bit of white cheddar cheese.  a to the mazing!  it was a bit too spicy for chris’ liking but he still ate it so that’s a good indication that this was some good stuff.

start off by putting all of the ingredients in a large pot or dutch oven.

mix everything together and bring to a boil.  then let it simmer…

and simmer some more.

finally after about 1 1/2 – 2 hours you have thick, sticky tomato jam.

serve with crackers and cheese or some crusty bread or use some in a sandwich, the possibilities are endless.

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by miki on December 11, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on December 11, 2012

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/tomato-jam/

chunky potato chowder & an award

a few weekends ago, chris asked me to make some chowder.  he brought some crab earlier in the week and wanted to try some crab chowder.  after a quick internet search, i found this recipe.  but i don’t like crab so i adapted a little bit so that it would be an extra special chowder for chris once he added some crab, but still be a substantial soup for me without it.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8208/8196620225_3ec9f3c31e.jpg

this chowder is nice and creamy, with lots of veggies and a bit of smokiness from the smoked turkey sausage.  plus its actually pretty healthy, since the chowder achieves it’s creaminess from some skim milk and cream style corn instead of heavy cream and butter.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8488/8196621987_cc46565c5c.jpg

i hope you enjoy this easy, simple, yet delicious recipe!  it’s perfect for the chilly weather we’ve been having in the dc area.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8207/8196611747_1ac85121c1_m.jpg   http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8478/8196614331_b36c9407d5_m.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8483/8197708754_3e943e02b2_m.jpg   http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8210/8197709878_3cbafc11fd_m.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8350/8196617545_f0b27da261.jpg

now on another note, i got an amazing comment earlier this week from a fellow blogger, allie from pretty happy baking.  she kindly awarded me with the liebster blog award!

http://missmarzipandotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/liebster-blog-award.jpeg?w=227&h=222

how sweet is that?  i was actually given the award before, but this one included some questions that i thought would be fun to answer.  so here they are:

  1. Favorite recipe: ooo this is a tough one to answer… but i think i’m going to go with my caramel mocha cupcake recipe.
  2. Ingredient you can’t live without: vanilla extract or butter
  3. Recipe you can’t wait to try: peanut butter and jelly cupcakes from annie’s eats
  4. Favorite dessert growing up: ice cream
  5. Best baking/cooking advice you ever received: it’s okay if it doesn’t work out.  i used to get really annoyed and upset if a recipe didn’t turn out exactly right, but chris is great at calming me down and helping me realize that it’s fine if it’s not exactly perfect.  so instead of freaking out, i just need to let it go and try the recipe again another time.
  6. Who taught you to bake:  my mom – she is an amazing baker.
  7. Unique replacement ingredient in a time of need:  um… not really unique but a substitute that i use often is milk mixed with a little bit of lemon juice in place of buttermilk.
  8. Describe your baking style with three adjectives: cute, cupcakes (i know it’s not an adjective but i love cupcakes and make quite a bit of them), and fun!
  9. Favorite cooking/baking tool: hands down, my kitchenaid stand mixer.  i don’t think i could live with out.
  10. Favorite cookbook: the family cookbook my mom put together a few christmases ago.  it has all of our favorite family recipes and is definitely my go to when i’m looking for a comforting, homey recipe to make.
  11. Recipe that you or your family make every holiday season: my family hosts a christmas party each year and every single year my mom or i will make this puff pastry dessert.  it’s definitely one of our favorites.

please be sure to check out pretty happy baking and thanks so much to allie for the award!

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by miki on November 30, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on November 30, 2012

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/chunky-potato-chowder-and-award/

turkey taco chili

one of my colleagues and friends always finds these great recipes.  they are usually simple, easy to make, using ingredients you typically have on hand and they are always absolutely delicious.  since she uses pinterest, i just repin it to my board so i have these awesome recipes on hand.

this is how i found out about this amazing recipe for taco chili.  the original recipe call for chicken but she suggested using ground turkey instead, so that’s exactly what i did.  of course, it was super yummy just like all of the other recipes she’s shared with me.

just be forewarned that this makes A LOT of chili!  chris doesn’t eat chili so i was left eating chili for lunch all week plus i froze two more servings.  but i’m not complaining because i absolutely loved this chili topped with a little bit of cilantro and cheese served on rice or with some tortilla scoops.  yum!

first cook up some ground turkey.

then combine all of the other ingredients except the cilantro into the bowl of a slow cooker.

mix it all up and then cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours.  (did you notice our sad lid without a handle?  it’s super annoying trying to pick up a lid without a handle.  :-( a  big thank you to tammy for getting us a brand new slow cooker.  yay!)

then it’s all done.  i mean how easy is that?!?!?  it’s totally flavorful and the turkey is nice and tender – you really couldn’t ask for more.

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by miki on November 19, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on November 19, 2012

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/turkey-taco-chili/

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