Tender Beef in Black Pepper Sauce

I found whole beef tenderloin on sale for ONLY $3.99/lb and so I had to get it. What A Bargain!!!! I cleaned it and saved some to make Beef Wellington later but I made this quick and easy stir fry for lunch today with some of the beef I bought. The beef was soooo tender and good, but I guess if you don't have tenderloin, you can probably use sirloin or eye of round or another good cut of beef.
Here is the recipe:

1 lb beef tenderloin, cut in bite size pieces
1 TBS tapioca starch or corn starch
1 TBS minced garlic
1-2 TBS crushed black pepper
1/2 cup Brandy or beef broth or water
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS oil
2 bunches green onions, cut in 1 inch (optional)
pinch of salt
Cut beef into thin bite size piece and sprinkle a little salt.
Mix the tapioca starch and beef.
Heat oil and garlic till the garlic sizzle. Add the beef and stir fry for 2 min. Add soy sauce and stir fry for another min or 2.
Add pepper.
Remove from heat and add brandy and light it with a long kitchen match. Let burn till the flame dies. This step can be skipped if you are not using Brandy. Just add water or broth instead.
Add green onions.
Cook till beef is done. You don't want to over cook the meat. So, stir quickly and cook fast.
Serve with steamed rice.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

My favorite pot roast is one that is made in a slow cooker. To me, it is just more tender and moist than one made in the oven. This easy recipe can be prepared ahead of time in a slow cooker, so frees up your time for other things. I like that pot roast already has vegetables and I don't have to worry about making side dishes. We usually eat it with steam rice (we love rice) at my house. Here is how I make mine.




You'll need:
2-3lb Roast (I like rump or chuck)
1 bay leaf
2 TBS olive oil
3 stalks of celery
3 medium carrots
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
4 medium potatoes ( I like Russet)
4-5 cups beef broth
salt and pepper
Heat up the oil in a pan and add garlic. When it sizzles, add the meat that has been salted and peppered and brown both sides well. Take the meat out and out aside.
In the same pan add your vegetables that have been chopped roughly except potatoes. Potatoes should be peeled and halved. Cook the vegetables for about 5 min.
Transfer the vegetables into your slow cooker,and add the meat.
Add potatoes and broth.
Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
Enjoy!

Thai Tom Yum Shrimp.....Hot and Sour Soup

This week's theme for iheatcookingclubs is Sustaining Soups and Stews. Having failed to participate the last two weeks in a row was making me feel guilty and so I made sure I participate this week and cooked up this delicious soup. Our featured chef Nigella Lawson calls this soup Hot and Sour Soup and it is hot and sour. This is a very popular Thai soup also called "Tom Yum" in Thai language. I am already very familiar with this soup since I lived in Thailand. I did look at Nigella Lawson's recipe but added a few things such as the galangal root (aka Blue Ginger, picture shown above left) and culantro leaves. Here is her recipe from food network.


Ingredients
6 1/2 cups chicken stock (I made shrimp stock and used that instead)
1 heaping tablespoon tom yam hot and sour paste
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped, optional (or use lime zest if it's easier)
1 stalk lemongrass, bottom, inner part only, roughly chopped
1 lime, juiced
4 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
2 to 3 small jalapenos or fresh red or green chilies, finely chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons, straw or button mushrooms, halved or quartered
1 pound (2-ounce) peeled, raw shrimp
5 (1-inch) pieces small scallions, sliced thin
1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped

Directions
In a medium saucepan, heat chicken stock, tom yam paste, lime leaves, lemon grass, lime juice, fish sauce, chilies, and sugar. Once it has come to a boil, add mushrooms and simmer for 2 minutes. Add shrimp and scallions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes allowing the shrimp to cook but still be tender. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately. Place extra cilantro on the table for people to add more.



Tom yum paste can be found easily in any Asian grocery store or online. Also, can be made from scratch but I'll save that for another post. :)
Shrimp is often used but chicken, fish or mixed seafood is also delicious!
Making shrimp stock using the shrimp shells/ and or heads is easy. Just boil with some water and salt.
Herbs are very important to get the wonderful flavour of this soup. Culantro is also a good herb to add besides cilantro, green onions, and lime leaves. I remember having to go cut lemongrass and pick some lime leaves for my mom from our yard when she made this back home.
I used babybella mushrooms today but the best is fresh straw mushrooms which I cannot get easily here. The second choice is oyster mushrooms. Mix different mushrooms for more flavor and fun!
Serve this with Jasmine rice and other Asian dishes or as an appetizer before main course. Also can make it in a big hotpot family style!!

BROWNIE TORTE

Are you a chocolate lover??? I know I am. So, is my aunt. Today is her birthday and because it falls on a Tuesday I came up with this easy yet chocolaty and yummy torte for her instead of making a cake. I have used this recipe from All recipes before and we liked it. It's very simple and most likely you are gonna have everything you need in your pantry and won't even have to go to the store. Another good thing about this recipe is it can be done in one pan and don't need to use a mixer or anything. Go ahead and use your fork to mix things up. it creates little mess compare to other complicated cakes. Most of all it's from scratch and its chocolate!!!!

Original Recipe from ALLRECIPES: Yield 1 - 9-inch round cake

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup chopped walnuts
Glaze:
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish:
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries (optional)

Directions
Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake pan.
In a pan over low heat, melt 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup light corn syrup.
Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips until melted.
Remove from heat and add sugar and eggs, and stir until blended.
Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla , flour, and nuts.
Pour into pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or until center springs back when touched.
Cool in pan 10 minutes. Then place on a cooling rack.

To Make Glaze: Combine chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter or margarine and corn syrup in pan. Stir over low heat till chocolate chips are melted. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Frost tops and sides of torte. Chill until set. Garnish with sliced strawberries.

In a pan over low heat, melt 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup light corn syrup.
Stir in 1 cup chocolate chips until melted.
Remove from heat and add sugar and eggs, and stir until blended.
Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla , flour, and nuts.
Pour into pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or until center springs back when touched.

Cool.
Make glaze.
Glaze.
Glaze the torte.
Ready..Yummy..Eat!!!

Shrimp With Asparagus and Mushrooms

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables. I think it's a little bit pricey so I only buy it when it is on sale. I usually sit fry it a lil garlic butter with salt and pepper as a side dish. Today, I made it with shrimp for my family. This is similar to when my mom used to make it for me back home. It's easy yet yummy! The recipe is:
1 lb Asparagus
1 cup diced mushrooms
1 dozen medium peeled and deveined shrimps
1 TBS oil
1 TBS soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic

Asparagus. I beat the asparagus stems with the end of my chef knife to kinda break them so all flavors can go in more.
Shrimp.
Asparagus and mushrooms.
Heat oil with Garlic.
Add asparagus first.
Then add shrimp.
Then add Mushrooms. Cook for a few min till everything is done.
Serve with rice!

Amish Friendship Bread and the Endless Variations

Baking Amish Friendship Bread is a fun and yummy thing to start if you like to bake. You can do so many versions of it just by changing the flavor of the pudding you put in. I will warn you that you will be buying a lot more flour, sugar and milk than you ever did before and will be baking every 10 days if you continue. However, you can easily freeze your starter and it'll taste great once you thaw and start back from Day of of the starter cycle. Use this recipe if you want to make the starter or buy online or you may get it from a friend..hence the name Friendship bread :). I got mine from a friend. Once you have the starter bag, follow these easy instructions. and you will get the basic original cinnamon flavor bread...(although it's sweet and taste more like a muffin or loaf cake). Once you get tired of the basic recipe, try the variations. There are a million variations floating around on the Internet or you can use your imagination. Try it!!! I am having so much fun with it. great gift for neighbors or for holidays as well! Below are a few that I've tried and they are really GOOD!!!


Apple Cinnamon.

1 Chopped apple added to the original recipe.










Banana Nut.

Vanilla pudding is omitted from the original recipe.

Banana cream pudding, 2 frozen bananas meshed, half tsp nutmeg, 1/2 Cup chopped walnuts added instead.

Lemon Cranberry.

Add lemon pudding instead of vanilla.

Omit cinnamon, but add 1/2 cup crasins.







Chocolate.

Add Chocolate pudding instead of vanilla.

Omit cinnamon, but add 2 TBS coca powder. ( chocolate chips are optional)

Amish Friendship Pancakes

So, most of us know Armish people make good food..very good food that we love. Anyway, I am not sure when and why started this, but I brought home an Armish friendship bread starter and baking every ten day ever since and haven't stopped even though I have had more than enough Armish friendship bread in the last month or so both at home and at work. If you don't know what I am talking about, go ahead and read closer...I'll try to explain the story of THE ARMISH BREAD and how it's not going away! Let's start with the starter. You can make the bread starter with this recipe or buy online or you may get it from a friend..hence the name Friendship bread :). I got mine from a friend. Once you have the starter bag, follow
these easy instructions. Just remember it takes 10 day till the baking day.I will talk about many variations I've tried with this starter, but I will share the recipe for the pancakes in this post because they are absolutly delicious. Also, if you end up with too much starter in hand, this is a good way to get rid of it because the recipe calls for 2 cups of the starter. The recipe I used is below:

Combine in large bowl:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Combine in smaller bowl:
2 TBS oil
2 cups Amish batter (batter from day 10)
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

Add ingredients of smaller bowl to ingredients of large bowl and mix on medium speed.
Spoon batter onto greased griddle.