I’ve got this fancy food making thing down pat.

Homemade bread made by the Cajun’s mom. She calls it honey bread, and it does have that hint of honey throughout it. Love those breads. I was telling the Cajun how we may never buy bread again, we’ll just go get some from her.

Two sliced hard-boiled eggs. I didn’t want to mix it in with the mayo. For some reason, slicing it seemed like a great idea.

A tablespoon of Kraft’s Mayo, the one with Olive Oil in it.

Two leaves of romaine lettuce.

A tablespoon of bacon bits.

I think you all can tell how to make a sandwich. I’ll leave how to layer it to you.

It’s a yummy type of pie with pecans and chocolate chips and a gooey middle type of texture. If you bake it too long, I think it becomes a cookie, but that isn’t too bad either.

This pie serves eight people (average pie size).

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup pecans or 3/4 cup walnuts

This pie is easy peasy to make. Simply stir up the ingredients and viola. Pie filling is ready. It’ll make a liquefied cookie batter type. Just pour it into some pie crust and then bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until brown on top.

There might be ‘bubbles’. When those turn a darker brown than the rest of the ‘cookie’ around it. You know it’s very done.

There are some great additional recipes out there that involve Karo Syrup and Bourbon. I haven’t tried those yet, but it’s tempting.

For the crust, you can use your own recipe. This is the one I used for this one.

1 cup Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

When that’s mixed, add shortening, and cut into the mix. You can use a mixer, but I just used a fork. Kind of mash the stuff into the flour and mix around until it starts to crumble into peas.

Add one tablespoon of water at a time until the flour is acting more like pastry and you can separate the dough from the bowl. Add what you need, of course, one tablespoon at a time, until it looks right.

Use a rolling pin and just smooth it out on a flat surface, thickly, just to be able to put it in the fridge. It should be refrigerated for 45 minutes or so. You want the dough firm and cold.If you leave it in there longer than 45 minutes though it may be hard to shape the dough so you might need to let it set.

When it’s ready, take it out and roll on a flat surface using floured rolling pin, etc. Roll until it’s about two inches larger than the nine inch pie pan. When it’s ready, drape it into the pie pan and mold to the pan. Flute as you would like. I was using my two thumbs pressing them together along the crust. You might want to use a fork or something fancier.

I managed to use all of the dough, I just folded it in over itself and it still came out great. I might add sugar to it next time. It was OK but I think it needed a little sugar to make it a sweet pie.

Also works with Milk Chocolate chips. Or mix and match nuts and different types of chips.

Gabriel’s company graciously sent me several products, of which I’ve tried. Once I tried it, my face actually felt better than a non-organic mask. And I can also rest knowing it’s all organic and not worry about my face peeling and drying out from chemicals in the product.

What I love most that it isn’t a diet. You can eat what you love, you just make better choices about what you eat.

Now they’ve created a new book called Eat! Move! Play! Weight Watcher’s new book actually has some great ideas about making the lifestyle change. Here’s some tips that I particularly love from the book’s section:

How to Make Healthier Choices

Instead of: Grabbing fast food or take-out when you’re rushed and don’t have time to cook dinner

Try: Picking up a rotisserie chicken and cooking frozen veggies you’ve been keeping on hand

Instead of: Indulging the munchies when your child is frustrated, upset, or otherwise out of sorts

Try: Suggesting that you go out and toss a ball or play croquet or badminton to blow off steam

Instead of: Letting bedtime arrive when it’s convenient for everyone or your kids are simply too exhausted to keep going

Try: Establishing a clear bedtime and introducing a consistent sleepytime routine with a bath, reading a story, or listening to calming music together

I really need to focus on the part about not just hopping out to dinner or to a fast food place because no one feels like cooking. You could just as easily go to your local deli and grab a cooked chicken and salad in just the same amount of time as grabbing a fast food dinner.

Here’s a sample recipe that I’ll share from the book.

Mexican Chicken Chili

Serves 10

Prep 30 minutes

Cook 1 hour 45 minutes

6 bone-in skinless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 onions, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup chili powder

3 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in puree

1 (12-ounce) bottle beer or 1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1.       Combine the chicken and enough water to cover in a large, heavy pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through, about 12 minutes. Drain the chicken, reserving the cooking liquid. Cool the chicken, remove and discard the bones, and coarsely shred the meat.

2.       Meanwhile, place the same pot over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, cocoa powder, oregano, and coriander and cook until the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, beer, salt, and 3 1/2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer; reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.

3.       Add the beans. Simmer, uncovered, until the chili thickens, about 30 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and simmer until heated through.
Per serving (1 1/2 cups): 239 Cal, 6 g Fat, 1 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 44 mg Chol, 488 mg Sod, 26 g Carb, 8 g Fib, 22 g Prot, 103 mg Calc.

Reprinted from the book Weight Watchers Eat! Move! Play! With permission from John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Don’t get me wrong, I love cereal. It’s sweet and filling and I grew up on the stuff. I also know that by mid-morning, I’m usually hungry again, whereas the Chinese rarely eat snacks. They completely fill themselves three times a day, fueling their bodies as much as possible.

Chinese porridge is made from about three tablespoons of dried rice boiled and cooked in about 4 cups of water for a long time, usually about 50 minutes, until the rice is mushy and the porridge is thick. Topped with fish, bits of meat, or vegetables, while the base recipe is the same, the flavor can change with what you add to it.

Photo by indyz

Since my new favorite combination of flavors is the holy trinity of Chinese cooking, (spring onion, garlic and ginger), I plan to make this dish very soon. Since it takes quite a bit of time to let the congee cook, I have to wait for the weekend to attempt the recipe. I plan on stir frying the trinity, and perhaps topping with leftover bits of chicken or meat if it’s available.

For a simple Chinese recipe, it’s a staple tradition in the homes of many people across China and neighboring countries. Chinese porridge seems like an inexpensive, healthy dish and I hope to learn the secrets to making it taste great.

The more I cook Chinese food, the more I love the holy trinity in Chinese cooking. Ginger, spring onion (scallions) and garlic. Three ingredients that makes all the difference in a wide variety of food. I love the things I can do with this combination. Rice is less boring. Meats and tofu taste better. Vegetables are a delight. Sauces are more flavorful. It’s a mixture of savory, tart, sweet, salty and pungent. It’s a taste that will begin to seep it’s way into more and more dishes in my kitchen.

Photo by greekgod

Now that I’ve learned about the trinity, I’m on to bigger things. Like perfecting the fine art of cooking a great noodle. My last stir fry noodle batch came out rather… icky. I wasn’t happy with the results, so I’ve got to dig out some noodle recipes.

By the way, if anyone knows how to make “Poor Man’s Noodles”, send over a recipe. I had some in a Thai restaurant and I haven’t found a duplicate recipe yet.

Chinese cooking has become more than an obsession. It is now becoming another edition to the wide range of cooking in my kitchen. Much like a roast and potatoes, or spaghetti dinners, a stir fry rice is another great weekday meal.

Photo by waggaway

I’m looking at investing in a good recipe book for all the new recipes I find on the Internet. I prefer not to drag my netbook into the kitchen with high amounts of wet things flying about, or the possibility of dropping it from the counter. The kitchen isn’t big enough ( I complain, yet the Chinese probably have less space than I do in their kitchens, how do they do it?) for a netbook to sit atop a microwave, a valuable space for a cutting board or a mixing bowl.

So much to learn…

This time, it’s cooking healthy. But there’s a catch. The food has to be good, because I’m a picky eater. The food also has to be filling. If I bother to cook or prepare food, I’m not about to go hungry doing so.

It also means being a bit frugal. I’m actually scouting for coupons, checking out grocery deals, and buying the sale products, too.

And I’m learning about Chinese cooking, and how to eat healthy on a Chinese diet. It’s actually going pretty well. I found great recipes for General Tso’s Tofu, which was fantastic. I also tried stir frying and I soon want to try different sauces and mixtures of vegetables and rice. I have a few noodles for this week.

Random comments on this recipe:

This was ABSOLUTELY THE BEST recipe I’ve found on this website so far! I’ve never had the real thing, but DANG!

Next time, I’m doubling the sauce, and adding all the veggies I can get my hands on!

Wow! This is the best recipe from Vegweb I have gotten so far, and I am always impressed with the stuff I find here. I did make some extra sauce, as someone recommended, and I was so glad. That sauce is amazing. I kicked myself for not picking up the shiitake mushrooms I was eyeing at the store, but the snow peas and green pepper were a lovely addition to the recipe. I used SG brown rice for the bottom. Man oh man, this stuff is pure heaven. I could go on for hours…

Photo by Climb3rChick

I completely agree. I made a double sauce one day, without making the tofu, just to top on rice. It was great and lasted in the fridge for about a week. I bought shiitake mushrooms for this recipe and forgot to use them. Maybe next time.

So you may be hearing a lot from me about cooking, the way Chinese and Japanese people eat, healthy food, frugal shopping and more.

One book I’d like to recommend is: Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories by Lorraine Clissold. It’s a great book with recipes and secrets to how the Chinese eat, and why they are so healthy all the time. It does make a lot of sense to fill up on rice and noodles, eat soup at meals more often, and to center meals around vegetables, not meat. Let the meat flavor the veggies, not the other way around.

The Ultimate Brownie is my absolute favorite brownie. It is tall like a cakey-brownie, but is dense like a fudgy-brownie. I’m sure it will be one of your favorite brownie recipes too.

Text and Photo by Carroll Pellegrinelli

I have never made brownies from scratch before, but these are just fantastic. We didn’t have a blender. (Why do some recipes assume everyone reading them has a blender?) But we just stirred by hand and viola. Worked great.

They even made a separate ‘photo blog‘ of the process on making brownies. How awesome is that?

But what makes for a great brownie recipe? Here’s my idea. I like a big batch, like the one produced here fills a 9 by 13 inch pan. I also like fudge-like brownies, but not so bad you can’t open your mouth after a few bites. Cake ones are OK, but if I wanted cake, I’d make cake.

There’s also a chocolate frosting I’ve had before, other people have made them but I haven’t found that recipe yet. I like to drop some powdered sugar all over my brownies. I’m not big on nuts. I like plain brownies, or ones with chocolate chips in there.

If you have a better recipe to challenge this one, leave a comment. I’d love to do comparison batches. What’s the best recipe for brownies online?