Swedish Almond Toasts .

I'm not sure if the recipe is originated in Sweden, but Rob's mom makes these, which gives me an impression that they are Swedish.  These are Rob's absolute favorite.  The texture and after-taste are so addictive that "I bet you can't just eat one."

                      

A:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup half & half

1 tsp. almond extract

B:

4 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 cup chopped almonds

Preheat the oven to 350F.

1. Cream together the ingredient A.

2. Add the ingredients B into A.  Mix well.

3. Spread into two sprayed loaf pans.

4. Bake 40 to 50 minutes.  Cool and take them out and cool more.

After the loaves completely cool down, slice into 1/2-inch thick slices.

Dry in single layer on cookie sheets in 300F oven for about 1/2 hour, turning toast over a couple times.

 

Banana Bread.

This is Tyler Florence's recipe.  I fell asleep while baking the bread in the oven (don't recommend that.) and ended up over-baking it.  Still it's very good.  We all love this banana bread, especially my nephew adores it.

                                 

3-4 over-riped bananas

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, melted, cooled

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1. Mash the bananas.  With  an electric mixer, whip bananas and sugar for 3 minutes to make light and fluffy banana cream.

2. Add melted butter, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat well.

3. Mix in dry ingredients, just until incorporated.

4. Pour the batter into a sprayed loaf pan.

5. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the center is cooked.

          

All American Meatloaf.

Yes, I make meatloaves though I'm Japanese.  I think it's one of the greatest comfort foods, especially when you eat it with mashed potatoes with a lot of butter.  Again, this is James' favorite food.

                             

Meatloaf:

2 lb. Ground beef or turkey (I used ground turkey here)

1/2 cup panko or crushed Ritz

1 pkg. Lipton Onion Soup 

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tbs.  Worchestershire sauce

ground pepper

Topping Sauce:

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup BBQ sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Spray the loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the meatloaf, using your hands until well mixed.

3.  Put the meat into the prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix all the sauce ingredients.

5.  After 30 minutes, carefully pour out grease from the pan, if necessary.  Pour the topping sauce over the meatloaf.  Put the loaf back in the oven for 30 minutes more.

Sweet n' Sour Chicken.

This is Rob and James' ultimate favorite of all.  It's a bit time-consuming, but friendly Asian recipe that doesn't require fancy exotic ingredients, just soy sauce and rice vinegar.

                                   

Chicken:

2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup cooking sake or sherry (if you don't have either, water will do just fine.)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Cornstarch to coat the chicken

Oil for deep frying

Vegetables:

carrot

onion

green bell pepper

celery

oil for stir-fry

2 tablespoons ketchup

Sauce:

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Mix soy sauce and sake in a bowl.  (I use pyrex 8x8 pan.)  Add minced garlic.  Marinate chicken cubes for 20 minutes.  You don't want to over marinate them, otherwise the chicken will be too salty.

2. In a large ziploc bag, pour some cornstarch to coat the chicken.

3. Heat oil in a wok or deep pan enough to deep fry the coated chicken.  Fry for 6 to 7 minutes per batch.

4. Put them onto layered paper towels to degrease and cool the chicken.

5. In a large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil on high heat.  Stir fry vegetables and season with salt and pepper lightly.  When they are cooked but still crisp, take them onto a platter; set aside.

6. Mix the ingredients for sauce in a small bowl.

7. On the same pan used to stir-fry the vegetables, heat 1 tablespoon of oil.  When it's well heated, add ketchup and cook it for a minute until it has a deep red color.

Add sauce to the pan and stir.  

8. When the mixture becomes thick, add the cooked vegetables and the fried chicken.  Gently toss them to coat.

Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever.

This is my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe from Cindy.  I prefer raisins when it comes to oatmeal cookies, but the rest of my family like chocolate chips, so I make both kinds.  They are so good that I serve them often for our Sunday Night Group and we all love them.

                           

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

chocolate chips

For Raisin Oatmeal Cookies:

omit: chocolate chips

add:

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 ground nutmeg

Raisins

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4. Mix the sifted ingredients into the butter mixture until just blended.  Stir in chocolate chips. 

5. Drop cookie dough onto a baking sheet.

6. Bake for 11 minutes.

                                

Gooey Caramel Butter Bars.

One of my most favorite friends and I made these bars together.  They were very rich and gooey!

                               

For the crust:

1 Lb butter room temperature 

1 cup granulated sugar

1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

1 tablespoon vanilla 

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

 

For the filling:

1 bag(14 oz) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons rum 

pinch of salt

1 cup pecans or walnuts(optional) 

Powdered sugar for dusting

To make the crust:

In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar.  Using an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat together until creamy.  Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined.  Sift the flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until a smooth, soft dough forms.

Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan lightly with nonstick cooking spray.  Press one third of the dough even into the pan to form a bottom crust.  Pat the remaining dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm at least 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 325F.  Bake until firm and the edges are a pale golden brown, 20-25 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

While the bottom crust is baking and the remaining dough is chilling, make the caramel filling.  Place the unwrapped caramels in a microwave-safe bowl  add the cream vanilla, rum and salt. Microwave on high for 1 minute.  Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth.  

Sprinkle the nuts over the bottom crust.  Pour the caramel filling over the nuts, using a small metal spatula to nudge the filling evenly over the crust.  Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it even over the caramel.  Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubbly and the crumbled shortbread topping s firm and lightly golden, about 30 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

                 

Beef Taco.

I make this at least once a month.  I have accidently served this dish to a family twice in a row!  I love this recipe because it's so easy (though time consuming) and tasty. Like any other stewed meat, it tastes even better the next day.

                            

Beef Taco

Ingredients:

Oil

1 1/2 lb. beef chuck, cut into 3/4 inch cubes

1 cup salsa (I use El Torito bland)

1/4 cup low-sodium beef broth

2 Tbs. minced garlic

2 Tbs. dark brown sugar

1 Tbs. soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Cilantro, limes, sour cream, cheddar cheese and tortilla

1. Heat oil in pot over med-heat.  Grind black pepper on the beef cubes.  Fry the beef in the pan until brown.

2. Add salsa, broth, garlic, brown sugar and say sauce; bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

3.  Uncover the pot and continue to cook until the sauce thickens.  It depends.  I continue to cook 45 more minutes, but the original recipe says 5 minutes.  If you find it rather dry, you can add more broth to it.

4. Season with salt and pepper.  Mix in cilantro and lime juice.  

5.  Assemble tacos however you'd like with salsa, guacamole, cheddar cheese, sour cream, cilantro and so on.

Recipe from Epicurious.com

Salsa.

                                       

Ingredients:

1/2 red onion, roughly chopped

1 to 1 1/2 cups of cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 jalapeno chili pepper, roasted and chopped (more for hot salsa)

1 28oz. can of whole tomatoes, drained

1 can of ROTEL original, drained (photo below)

1/4 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. salt

pinch of sugar, if needed

Put the first 4 ingredients in the food processor and chop them.  

Add the cans of tomatoes to the processor and chop them to your preferred texture.   Add salt and cumin.  

If the salsa tastes too aciddy, add a small pinch of sugar to cut back the acid.

                                               

Homemade? Pizza.

                           
I use Trader Joe's pizza dough and TJ's pizza sauce and pesto.  I shred mozzarella cheese rather than using packed shredded mozzarella.  

For toppings, my favorites are Canadian bacons, red onion, black olives, sun dried tomatoes, and basil leaves, if I have ones.  

                                                                                                                             

After rolling the dough flat, I bake it in 400F degrees until it's golden brown.  

                                                                              

Take the baked dough out and spread either pizza sauce or pesto on the dough.  Cover it with shredded cheese and top it with my, Rob's or kids' favorite toppings.

Put the pizza back into the oven until cheese gets bubbly.

                                                              

Mmmmmm........

Lemon Bars

                                          

This recipe is from my mother-in-law's sister, aunt Julie.  I changed the recipe a little bit to suit my preference on the texture of the bottom layer.  

Bottom Layer:

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup flour

1/2 confectioner's sugar

Mix together and pat into 9" square pan.  Bake 15 minutes at 350F degrees.

                                                         

Top Layer:

1 cup sugar                                                            

2 Tbsp. flour                                           

1/2 tsp. baking powder            

2 eggs, beaten                                             

3 Tbsp. lemon juice

Combine and pour over baked bottom layer.

Bake 25 minutes at 350 F degrees.  

Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.