When I lived in Chicago, I fell in love with deep dish pizza. I would meet up with friends at the Giordano’s on Halsted near the blue line for dinner at least once a month. We would order the meatiest pizza on the menu and a side salad to round out our meal. The pizza always took anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to prepare, but we didn’t mind because we could spend the time catching up on everything going on during the past month. When the pizza finally arrived, we would all devour the pizza in a matter of minutes. The pizza was so good, it didn’t matter how intense our conversations were, we would stop to enjoy the delicious marvel in front of us. During the years I lived and worked in Chicago, I developed a deep appreciation for Chicago style pizza. Giordano’s, Uno Pizzeria, and Lou Malnati’s Pizza were some of my favorite restaurants serving Chicago style pizza. These are mainly tourist spots, but I’ve been at the restaurants many times and the deep dish pizza are always so good. After moving away from Chicago, I still occasionally crave deep dish pizza. This morning, when I woke up, all I wanted was a slice of deep dish pizza. I pulled out my trusty old cake pan to build my deep dish pizza on. The best part about making pizza is you could add whatever ingredients you want into the pizza. It makes for a great way to clean out any leftover ingredients in your refrigerator. I actually attempted to make a deep dish pizza a few weeks back as a way to use up some leftover ingredients. The pizza turned out absolutely amazing. Both Kevin and I ate the entire pizza before I had the chance to document the process. Today, I made a slightly different version using ham and greens in honor of Easter.
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Mixed Berry Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
My addiction for the last month has been baked breakfast bars. I discovered baked breakfast bars when I was shopping for groceries at Meijer one Friday afternoon. I saw a box of Kashi ripe strawberry baked breakfast bars on sale and decided to give it a try. Since discovering these treats, I have probably gone through five or six boxes in the last month. I’ve been packing a couple bars in my work bag for days when hunger strikes. These days are typically Tuesdays and Wednesdays since I head straight to my evening classes after work. After going through my sixth box, I finally decided to make my own version of breakfast bars at home. This way, I could at least save some money and still enjoy these treats. Thus, two weekends ago, I made my first batch of berry oatmeal breakfast bars using some leftover homemade strawberry jam and some black raspberry fruit spread sitting in my refrigerator. The breakfast bars turned out absolutely amazing and both Kevin and I ended up eating most of them the same day. We did save a few to bring to work during the week. Just last weekend, I made another batch of my oatmeal breakfast bars using homemade fruit jam. This time, the bars turned out even better after I baked them, cooled them, chilled them, and cut them into pieces. I’ve been trying to be more strategic with cooking and baking in bulk since these upcoming weeks were going to be especially busy for me. Projects, presentations, and assignments for my evening classes have been picking up as we enter the homestretch of the spring semester. I’ve been working nonstop to make sure I stayed on top of all of my commitments. On weekends though, I still make sure I dedicate at least one day to testing out new recipes and cooking in bulk for the week. I’m excited to share my mixed berry oatmeal bars since they turned out great and made for the perfect portable snack to pack for breakfast in the morning.
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Everything Pretzels with Scallion Cream Cheese
Growing up in New York, I’ve eaten my fair share of bagels. I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten more bagels than any other food in all of the other food groups. It seems as if there is a shop or bakery selling bagels on almost every other street corner in New York City. Sometimes, when I’m really craving a bagel, I pretty much settle for the closest bagel shop to where I’m at. I’m always amazed by how great the bagels are no matter where I go in New York City. When I finally make my way to the bagel counter, I order either an onion bagel or an everything bagel and always with either vegetable cream cheese or scallion cream cheese. There was a period of time when I made the trek to the gym in Sheepshead Bay a couple times a week just so I can stop by Bagel Boy for an everything bagel with a thick layer of scallion cream cheese. Going to the gym gave me an excuse to indulge right after. When I moved away from New York, I missed New York style bagels dearly. The bagels wherever I went just did not have the same crispiness on the outside and chewiness on the inside like the bagels in New York City. Most of all, I miss being able to pick up an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese for breakfast and stroll through the streets of New York City right after. Yesterday, I was especially craving soft pretzels (another wonderful marvel offered on the street carts of New York City) and bagels and decided to combine my two cravings into everything pretzels with scallion cream cheese dip. I didn’t have everything bagel seasoning on hand, so I ended up making my own using some poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried minced onion, dried minced garlic, and kosher salt. When making the everything bagel seasoning, I combined equal parts of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion, and garlic, and about ¼ part of kosher salt. Once my everything bagel seasoning was ready, I got started on the pretzels.
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Overnight Sweet Red Bean Soup
Sweet red bean soup is a staple in many Chinese households. It is one of those simple desserts you can prepare from scratch and serve to guests for special occasions. My earliest experience with a bowl of sweet red bean soup was when I attended my uncle’s wedding as a child. His wedding reception was held at a large Chinese restaurant. The menu featured an abundance of chicken, pork, beef, and seafood. The final dessert course included fresh sliced oranges, red bean paste filled steamed buns shaped like peaches, and a simple tang shui (sweet soup). My favorite was the sweet red bean soup. I’ve had variations of sweet red bean soups with different ingredients added to the soup over the years, but I always prefer the version in its most basic form – red adzuki beans cooked until tender with a hint of sweetness. When Kevin and I had our wedding in New York last summer, we honored our Chinese culture by serving a simple sweet red bean soup as one of the desserts during the dessert course of the reception dinner. The other dessert was fresh fruit. On the days leading up to our wedding, it rained every day. Luckily for us, the rain skipped our wedding day. Our family and friends shared with us shortly after our wedding how much fun they had throughout our wedding. One of the more memorable parts of our wedding (as told to us by our family and friends) was the food served at the reception. Our reception dinner menu featured chicken, pork, beef, seafood, noodles, rice, and desserts. During the past weekend, I was scrolling through the photos on my phone and came across my wedding photos. The photos made me feel a bit nostalgic and enhanced my craving for some sweet red bean soup.
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Garden Cobb Salad
Easter is around the corner. Just this weekend, it felt as if spring had officially begun. I can usually tell when spring has begun because my nose tends to flare up. Just today, I was overcome with an urge to sneeze multiple times throughout the day. I’m not at the point where I sneeze a couple times a day yet, but once spring is in full swing, my daily sneezing will begin again. The start of spring means a shift from eating warm, comforting, and heavy foods to eating more light, colorful, and healthy meals. My favorite meals to prepare during warmer months usually require less cooking. I made a salad over the weekend inspired by the colors of spring and Easter. In preparation for Easter Sunday only a couple of weeks away, I began planning my brunch menu. This year, Kevin and I celebrated Easter early with an Easter brunch. When I think of Easter, I think of beautiful colors in all of my foods. For Saturday’s brunch menu, I prepared colorful dishes including a garden Cobb salad, strawberry and orange scones, asparagus, ham, and mushroom frittata, and fresh watermelon juice. This was definitely a lot of food for two people, but I was already planning to pack some for lunch throughout the week. The star of the menu was my garden Cobb salad. I named it a garden Cobb salad because it featured mainly vegetables in different shades of the rainbow. I topped my salad with bright tomatoes, crunchy carrots, savory chicken, creamy avocado, crispy bacon, and sweet red onion. The only real cooking involved is cooking the chicken and bacon.
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Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Back in my college days, I was the biggest fan of buffalo chicken pizza. It became my go-to food order on Tuesdays when my friends would drag me to the nearest local bar in Ann Arbor for dollar burgers. I’ve never been a huge fan of burgers. There I said it. My friends, however, craved large, juicy burgers quite often. Tuesdays though are the days where their cravings kicked into high gear because of the low prices. Dollar burgers aren’t actually dollar burgers when you start adding on the cheese, onion, pickles, tomato, lettuce, and any other toppings you can think of. After you account for these additional add-ins, the burger costs as much as a burger on any other day. My favorite part of dollar burger Tuesdays was being able to connect with friends, catch up on the week, and bond over great food. The buffalo chicken pizzas I remember eating in my college days were always brimming over with pulled chicken, blue cheese crumbles, and buffalo sauce. The flavor profile was hard to beat. The buffalo sauce gave the pizza a tanginess. The carrot, celery, and red onion added a crunchiness. The blue cheese and mozzarella blend gave the pizza an unbeatable creaminess. The pizzas were so good, I can’t believe it’s been seven years since I last had a buffalo chicken pizza. It seems like after I graduated from college, I forgot all about the buffalo chicken pizza until this past weekend. Over the weekend, I had a sudden craving for buffalo chicken pizza. I cannot tell you why. I just craved it. I purposely purchased some blue cheese and Frank’s RedHot sauce to add to my buffalo chicken pizza.
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Hoisin Glazed Meatballs
My hoisin glazed meatballs are an Asian spin on the more western style meatballs I typically make. When I was testing out my Asian style meatballs a few weeks back, I made some simple alterations to the meatball recipe I make in my baked meatballs and spaghetti by replacing some of the ingredients with Asian ingredients. I didn’t know whether or not the meatballs would be received well by Kevin, but it turns out, he absolutely loved them. Just this past weekend, he requested I make Asian style meatballs again. When I made my Asian style meatballs again this weekend, I made sure I captured all of the steps. My hoisin glazed meatballs used ground pork, red onion, and cilantro instead of ground beef, white onion, and parsley. The replacements worked well and yielded some savory, succulent meatballs. We enjoyed eating the meatballs over the weekend as we anticipated the start of spring. It’s officially April, but the weather seems to be playing tricks on us. One day is warm. The next day is cold again. Aside from the fluctuations in temperature, I am excited for April to finally be here. This month marks the home stretch of my Spring semester classes. Mid-May is when all of my classes for the Spring semester will end. The end of Spring semester means I am halfway through my two certificate programs.
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Brown Sugar Blondies
Lately, I have been absolutely addicted to blondies. I considered myself to be a brownie fan more than a blondie fan since childhood, but after all of my experimentation with developing variations of blondie recipes, I fell utterly in love with blondies. Blondies have a distinctive brown sugar flavor which caramelizes beautifully when baked in the oven. When I made my chai tea blondies a couple weeks ago, I could not stop myself from eating them. The next thing I knew, I already ate five pieces. I had to pack the blondies away in the refrigerator to keep myself from reaching for yet another piece. The best part about the blondies was they stayed moist, soft, and delectable even after a few days in the refrigerator. I couldn’t seem to get the flavor of my chai tea blondies out of my mouth after I finished the last piece. A few weeks later, my cravings for blondies struck again. This time, I ended up making some blondies in its most basic form. My basic brown sugar blondies made for the perfect dessert to celebrate my nine year anniversary with Kevin. Nine years ago, Kevin and I met through our mutual friend, Xin. Since 2010, I’ve made a variety of desserts to celebrate the day Kevin and I started dating. As my love for baking and cooking grew, Kevin’s appetite for certain treats also grew. He has become an instant fan of blondies over the last month. It seems like he has also converted from a brownie fan to a blondie fan.
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Salt and Pepper Roast Chicken
I’ve made a lot of roast chicken over the last few years. My favorite though is a basic roast chicken made with just a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper. Last year, I started roasting my chickens in a cast iron pan over a bed of diagonally sliced baguette after I had the most amazing roast chicken served in a cast iron pan at a restaurant in Maine. This was two summers ago when I traveled to Maine to visit my close friend, Ada. It was my first time visiting Ada since she had moved to Maine and like the good host she was, she made reservations at all of these quaint places for both Colleen and I to see throughout our stay in Portland. Even before I landed in Maine, Ada had been raving about Fore Street Restaurant, a rustic restaurant located in Portland. She described the lines for the restaurant as impossibly long. We didn’t expect to be able to get a table at the restaurant, but luckily, when we spontaneously showed up one evening in July (just a couple minutes before the restaurant opened its doors for its evening shift), we were able to get a table right away. One of the dishes we ordered off the menu was half of a roasted chicken. The chicken was served over a bed of sliced baguette. The chicken was so succulent, moist, and seasoned to perfection. While the chicken was fantastic, the bread which sat at the bottom of the chicken was even better. Throughout the cooking process, the bread had absorbed all of the delicious juices released by the chicken. The cast iron pan also gave the bread a wonderful crust at the bottom. Ada and I could not stop eating the bread until both the chicken and bread were gone. The roasted chicken was definitely a very memorable dish. To this day, I can still remember how wonderful the chicken turned out. For my anniversary celebration with Kevin, I wanted to recreate a roasted chicken in its most basic form using the same technique I saw at Fore Street Restaurant.
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Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing
This week has been an incredibly busy week for me. Typically, I have evenings off to meal plan, complete assignments, and study for my classes, but this week, I was short on time. I officially started a third class this Wednesday as part of my baking certificate program. I was excited for this particular class because the course focused on food safety and sanitation. In between work and classes, I also had doctor and dentist appointments. While the upcoming week should be better, I still took some time out over the weekend to meal prep for the upcoming week. One of my favorite bulk meals to prep around this time of the year is pasta salads. With the longer days and weather become warmer in the next few weeks, I started craving lighter, healthier meals. My pasta salad with a homemade Italian dressing was the perfect dish to serve for a light lunch (and save for lunch throughout the week). Whenever I make pasta salads, I like to add a lot of colors and textures. I prefer to use crunchy vegetables to add another textural element to the salad. I started out by cooking an entire box of tricolor rotini pasta following the instructions on the pasta package. While the pasta was cooking, I diced up some carrots, red pepper, green pepper, celery, and cherry tomatoes. I also prepared a simple Italian dressing by combining some vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, kosher salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. Not only was this pasta salad extremely easy to put together, there was enough pasta salad left over for five additional servings after Kevin and I each had a serving. The best part of the pasta salad is how delicious the pasta salad tasted the longer it chilled in the refrigerator.
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