Corn on the "COB" cupcakes

Last summer, I ended the summer mentally with Watermelon Pie. This summer

I think I will mentally wrap up the summer (especially since I wore long jeans this week-

--- getting chilly) with Corn on the Cob Cupcakes.

Does it look like corn on the cob? It's kind of cute huh?

Making food in a way that isn't the "normal" way makes me strangely giddy. 

Making food for me is a way of how I de-stress after a long day.

Start with baking some vanilla cupcakes. I made these with Pillsbury French Vanilla Cake Mix.
After hearing "Cake Boss" say that he has been known to use cake mixes...
I just conveniently use the Pillsbury or Betty Crocker cake mixes.

Once your cupcakes are done, let them cool on a cooling rack or a cutting board.
While the cupcakes are cooling down a little bit, add a few drops
of yellow food coloring to your vanilla icing.

Ice your cupcakes and then line up some "Jelly Belly" jelly beans to make it look
like corn kernels. I used pop corn flavor with a few lemon (yellow) and coconut (white)
jelly beans. I also used the yellow Starbursts candy to represent butter. Haha!
Lastly I cut a bamboo skewer in half and put them in the 2 end cupcakes just to represent
them being skewered like actual corn on the cob!

Chicken Pot Pie Muffins

Ah, the muffin pan. I know I say this often but a great quality for a product especially in the 

kitchen is when you can use something for more than 1 purpose. DOUBLE DUTY!

The muffin tin is SO versatile that it really is endless--- how many things can be cooked in it.

A few weeks ago, I made some individual chicken pot pie muffins. 

It was cute but very eater-friendly as well. 

This chicken pot pie recipe is ridiculously easy. 

You will need:

~a muffin tin,

~chicken breast (cut into little bite size cubes) 

2 breasts will be more than enough for 12 chicken pot pie muffins.

~a Mirepoix (pronounced  "meer-PWAH") 

  which is the french word for the trinity of carrots, celery and onion

~ 1 potato cut into small cubes

~Bisquick pancake mix

~and a little chicken or veggie stock

Here is a pic of the Mirepoix with potatoes.
Mix 1 cup of the Bisquick as if you were going to make pancakes.

Turn your stove on to medium-high heat and let the veggies all cook together  for about 10 minutes
in chicken or veggie stock. (The stock will really give it great flavor)
A few minutes in... not to be too technical but around minute 7-8 add your chicken.
Basically, you want to add the chicken towards the end to prevent it from over cooking
which will make the chicken too dry.  Keep in mind, this is going to go into the oven.
As far as seasonings, I added a little salt, black pepper & garlic powder.

Take your Bisquick mix and fill about 25-30% of the muffin holes.

Then spoon in the Chicken Pot Pie filling inside the muffin holes.

Then use the remaining Bisquick mix to top the muffins.

Bake it in the oven until it gets golden brown on about 350degrees.

You could make this with a chicken soup as well. You could add your chicken pot pie muffin
into your favorite big soup bowl and then ladle in chicken soup on top of the muffin!

It's great for portion control and quite easy to eat as well. You could easily freeze these as well.

Home-made Calamari with Panko

Many of us enjoy ordering an appetizer of calamari.  Some restaurants serve their calamari with

bell peppers often in colors of red and green and some even serve their calamari with fried broccoli.

The negatives of calamari is when the batter is soggy. It's a total FAIL when you bite

into the calamari and the batter just isn't crispy. 

SO, I decided to make some at home! Why not right? 

I started with the purchase of 2 calamari which come from the squid family.

Calamari comes from the Italian plural of "calamaro" and the late Latin  "calamarium" 

which means ink-horn, or pen case referring to the ink ejected by the squid. 

blah, blah blah right?.... 

First wash the squid really well. Make sure it isn't slimy.
As you wash it, you will notice that you can very easily pull off the brown texture looking skin.
I usually pull the head off and discard.
(If you are making a seafood broth... it would give it great flavor)
I usually cut the bottom end so that I can run the water through the whole calamari-
The inside "stuff" will be washed out and that's including the plastic tube like straw thingy.
After you've thoroughly washed the suckers, then you can cut them into rings.
I usually cut them into 1/2 inch pieces.

It's easy if you have 3 bowls or plates next to each other ready to go...
one with 2 eggs (well beaten), the cut and ready to go calamari itself and
the batter which is a mixture of Panko and corn starch. (equal parts)
The starch in corn starch helps to adhere the bread crumbs better
than flour which ultimately makes for that crispy golden batter.

Soak your calamari in the egg wash so that it is completely submerged and covered

in the eggs. Then cover the calamari (with egg) in the Panko-starch mixture.

After you fry them on medium or med-high heat, - they will quickly start to float to the top and

turn that golden color-- you can take them out, lay them on a paper towel to get the
excess oil off and sprinkle some salt and pepperon them while they are still hot.

The sauce on the side is sweet chili. Yes, these calamari pieces are as crispy as they look!
I like to drizzle a fresh lemon on them right before eating as well. The hint of lemon on calamari
or any seafood is wonderful.

You can make and eat calamari as an appetizer or snack or you can make a mini meal with
garlic mashed potatoes and flour coated -pan fried tofu. (The green garnish are chives)

This dinner was great. It was crispy with a great taste of sweet and spicy sauce along with
smooth garlic mashed potatoes and great texture and flavor from the soy sauce on the tofu.

Strawberry Basil Green Tea

One of my favorite teas is an infused tea. It's quite simple to make as well.

It's green tea (4C brand) with strawberries and basil.  Being that basil and cilantro

are my favorite herbs... there is always some in the refrigerator. Fresh strawberries

seem to be everywhere especially during the Spring and Summer months.

You can cut or not cut the strawberries and basil. I tend to do it both ways. It's really whatever

mood I'm in. 

You can have the strawberries and basil in your cup if you'd like but I usually like to
keep the fruit and herbs in the pitcher so that it continues to fuse the tea.
If you're serving the tea  for guests- you can always
take a whole strawberry, cut a little slit and garnish your cup with it.

Mini Lattice Pies...

I'm like a fat kid eating cake when it comes to pie...
or chocolate, ice cream, brownies, .... anyways,
Remember the Mini apple pie?

Well, this is the same but blueberry and apple lattice.
Purchase a box  (I usually get 2... 1 for extra---
and you can always freeze the rest for another time)
of already made pie crust. Roll it flat and take a jar lid or something round
to do a cut on that will fit your muffin pan. After spraying the muffin tin, you can
fill your pie with pre-cooked strawberry or blueberry, even black berry, apple etc...

To pre-cook the berries or diced up apple--
all you have to do is add a little spoonful of butter or you can just use
about 3-4 TBSP of water (if you don't want the extra butter) and simmer your fruit 
on a saute pan for about 15-20 minutes until it breaks down.

You can add a full top of the pie like my previous mini apple pie
or make little strips to make it a lattice.
Apple pies are often known to have the lattice top.
Lattice is a type of pattern (if you didn't already know that)  
Similar to my friend's new fence which is a lattice fence.

It's quite simple and not as overwhelming like a large pie might be.
It's also great for portion control and great to easily share or have as presentable desserts. 

Bake in the oven on about 350 degrees until the crust gets to be a golden brown color.
You also want to place your muffin tin in the center of your oven on the middle rack
as well for even distribution of heat but, these are little so the bottom of the pies 
shouldn't really get soggy like a large pie might get.  Just think middle when baking 
this mini pie from muffin tins.  Muffin tins are the ultimate double-duty times a hundred. 
It really is endless what you can use a muffin tin for!

Nengmyun (Cold Buckwheat Soup)

Nengmyun is a cold Korean noodle soup.
Now, it might be slightly weird sounding when I say cold soup
especially a cold noodle soup but this broth literally gets ice in it.

Nengmyun is especially good to eat on a hot summer day.
It's not too difficult to make as well.

The noodles are often made of buckwheat but can be found in potato and
arrow root these days as well as seaweed and even green tea flavor.
They are very wire-like and extremely stiff before cooking.

Once you boil them they will get waaay more pliable and soft.
They are very chewy but that's the fun and number 1 characteristic of Nengmyun. 
The long and chewiness of the noodles. Traditionally,
the noodles were eaten long and not cut to symbolize good health and long life.
These days people often cut the noodles with kitchen food scissors. 
(Please don't use the scissors in your garage!)

After boiling the noodles, you can taste a noodle or 2 and once they are soft, they are done.
Nengmyun noodles are often wrapped around your hand to make bunches that stay as
clever bunches because of the starch. 

The broth is a beef broth.  You can get any kind of beef chuck
and typically because chuck has a little more fat in it 
so the juices of the beef really make this broth tasty.
I like to add a drizzle of soy sauce and sesame oil. (about 1 TBSP)

                             

Once the broth has been vigorously boiling for a minimum of 30+ minutes ---

You can take that beef chuck and slice it into long strips or flat pieces 

and drizzle a little soy sauce, and some hot pepper flake/powder. 

You can add some chives or scallions also if you'd like.

As far as the broth, take it off the stove, put it into a large bowl and 

add a dozen ice cubes to chill it.

You also want some type of pickled veggie. Typically, a pickled cucumber and 

radish go into Nengmyun. They are usually separate but I decided to julienne the 

2 and combine them. I used a mandoline for the cucumber and radish.  

I then added a drizzle of rice vinegar and more hot pepper flakes and a sprinkle 

of salt and a teaspoon of sugar)

Closeup it even looks better. Doesn't it? Hello... anyone there?

Nengmyun is also always topped with a hard boiled egg.

Add your mound of noodles, top with the cucumber/radish, add the beef, 

hard boiled egg and then ladle in your chilled broth. 

This chilled noodle dish is quite refreshing on a hot summer day

but it's actually really good all year round. 

ENJOY your Nengmyun with chopsticks!

Strawberry Cream Cheese Croissants

Did you know that strawberries help lower sugar?
Strawberries also help our immune systems grow stronger,
it aids in the kidney and urinary tracts and they also work as
anti-inflammatory agents as well.

Hmm, what else might be interesting about the strawberry?
WELL, the strawberry is the only fruit to have the seeds on the outside
and an average strawberry is known to have about 200 seeds.
They are also the first fruit to ripen EVERY. SINGLE. Spring.

Strawberries are grown in every single state of the USA but California
grows the most... so many that they say if you lay them berry to berry
it would wrap around the earth 15 times...
I always wonder who estimates these silly facts.

Even though there are soooooooooo many ways to enjoy the favorite berry--
here's another quick way to enjoy strawberries.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Croissants

Take a handful of strawberries, wash them, cut them up and.... throw them into a sauce pan on
medium heat and let them sweeten up and breakdown a little bit from the heat of the pan.

After about 15 minutes on the stove- it will start to have a jam consistency.
Turn the stove off and after 5 minutes of cooling down in a bowl, add a dollup
of cream cheese. Take out some already made crescent rolls that you can easily
purchase from the refrigerator section of the supermarket and ----

 

fill, roll and lay them on a tray/sheet/pan. I like to use the non stick foil because there

is no washing or scrubbing required afterwards. You simply take the croissants off 

and throw away the foil.

 After about 20-25 minutes on 325-350 degrees ----------- they will come out golden brown.

These would probably be best for a brunch on....... a yacht, in a sundress with a huge,
wide-brimmed hat and a spritzer.... I mean 
they are good as a snack anytime or place!