Memorial Day 2011

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. Service Members who died while in the military service.[1] First enacted by the an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)[2] to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War – it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

Memorial Day often marks the start of the summer vacation season, and Labor Day its end of summer. Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 auto race, held since 1911 on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.

Shrimp and Chive (Ku Chai) Pancakes

The chives in my containers are growing like weed and I can’t eat them fast enough. Some of it has become too tough to eat so I have to cut and throw it away. I will usually add it into my fried noodles , dumplings , prawn fritters and make omelets with it. I remember my mom used to make this pancakes for us during the weekends and we used to eat it with chili sauce. She will usually add some dried shrimps to it but I used fresh shrimps since I don’t have any of it in my pantry. It is simple and easy yet so comforting. You can check out the other type of pancake which I made some time ago. Chive Pancake Rolls

Soy Sauce Eggs

I remember years ago there was a myth that said eating too many eggs is bad for you as it will leads to high cholesterol. As for now they do encourage you to eat eggs as they were a great cheap source of protein. Eggs have such amazing versatility to it. You can do all kinds of bakes with it and cook it in many ways. I will throw in a few hard boiled eggs into my stew all the time. Another way I like to prepare them is boiled them in soy sauce. The savory umami of soy sauce, the simple flavor of the whites and the buttery richness of the yolks are fantastic together. I like eating this with rice porridge.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Kylie Kwong: Simply Magic

½ dozen hard boiled eggs – removed shells
3 tablespoon dark soy sauce
½ cup brown sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tablespoons Chinese cooking wine
7-8 slices fresh ginger
1 ½ cup of water

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel

A SPECIAL NOTE TO : "FOOD-DRINK" DO NOT STEAL MY CONTENT AND PICTURES!!!

I do my grocery shopping once a week and I will buy big bunch bananas to last us for a week and normally towards the end of the week at least 3-4 bananas will be over-ripe. So the over-ripe bananas will end up in my baking. If you are a fan of banana cake and chocolate this cake is for you. This cake is incredibly moist, light and chocolaty. I am submitting this cake to Aspiring Bakers #7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) , hosted by Doris of Tested & Tasted.

Coffee cake is intended to be served with coffee or for similar breaks and snacks. Under this definition, a coffee cake does not need to contain coffee. They are typically single layer cakes that may be square or rectangular or loaf-shaped rectangular cakes. Coffee cakes are typically flavored with cinnamon, nuts, and fruits. These cakes sometimes have a crumbly or crumb topping called streusel and/or a light glaze drizzle. Some similarity to teacakes may be found, though teacakes are often smaller individual items served with tea

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks/3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (4 bananas)
2 eggs
4 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Spinach

I will like to thank each and everyone of you who take the time to comment and support on my last posting. It really makes me feel so much better. Don't worry, I won't stop blogging because of people like this.

The pork loin was on sale a few weeks ago and I bought a few strips and freeze it up. Sometimes I will just do stir-fry with it or just ground it up to make something with it. For today I stuffed it with spinach. This stuffed pork tenderloin is one of those recipes that looks very impressive when you presents it to your dinner guest. In fact is quite simple to prepare. You can basically stuffs anything into it.

Ingredients:

About 1.5 – 2 pounds of pork loin

Filling:

1 packet (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach – thawed and squeezed out all the water
1 medium size onion – chopped
2 cloves garlic – chopped
3 tbsp of cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Open Letter to Whoever That Steal Photos and Contents of My Blog

I often get requests from fellow bloggers to use my photos or recipes on their blogs and usually accommodate as long as there is proper attribution. Many readily agree on the condition. But of late, a growing number are downloading my photographs and whole contents from my blog and posting them as their own without my permission. I have contacted some who were decent enough to remove the photos or gave me the credit via links and comments. However, some hide behind privacy features that prevent me from getting in touch to tell them. What they do is unethical and that they need to stop stealing.

My questions to these bloggers is -- Why are you doing this? My guess is you want a blog to be proud of but are too lazy to do research on cooking/baking techniques continuously, cook/bake/grill every other day, take hundreds if not thousands of pictures and spend hours on end editing them. THAT is what it takes for me to build up My Kitchen Snippets. I don't claim my blog is a work of art or the likes, but it is my little home which doors I willingly open to anyone interested in my kitchen adventures. I feel that my generosity is abused when you 'STEAL' after visiting my home. If you like my contents and photographs just ask or have the courtesy to create a link back to my blog as the source. You cannot steal in the hope that I won’t find out because I will.

The next and subsequent blogs where I find my photographs and contents without credit to me will be reported to their blog hosts under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Moroccan Style Roast Chicken Thighs

Most people like chicken as they are inexpensive and one of the most commonly used meats. I cooked chicken at least 3 times a week. I stew it, stir-fry, steam it and every so often roast it. You can basically rub any type of spices to it and it will always turn out great. The chicken turns out juicy, crispy and very succulent that everyone will love.

Ingredients:

4 whole chicken legs and thigh attached

Aprons Giveaway - Results

I am sure you are eager to know the results of the Aprons Giveaway. I really appreciate your participation and kind comments. By using ‘Random Number Generator’ I type in number 1 to 72 (total comments) and let it drawn the winners.

The 1st winner is commenter No 28 (Belle)

The 2nd winner is commenter No 64 (Sweetylicious)

The 3rd winner is commenter No 34 (Min)

Thanks to everyone who participated, and keep reading My Kitchen Snippets for more giveaways soon.

Note: Can Belle and Min please get in touch with me at snwann(at)gmail(dot)com to claim your prize.

Nyonya Style Fried Noodles

I cook noodles very often as it is something that I will eat for lunch when I don’t want anything elaborate. This is something that I will cook for Diana too for her lunch in the office. This is a little bit different from the traditional Chinese fried noodles. It has some blended chilies, dried shrimps, lemongrass and fermented bean paste in it. It brings a great aroma to the fried noodles.

Ingredients:

400 gram yellow noodles – wash and drain
1 piece chicken breast – sliced thinly
15 shrimps – peel and deveined
2 cups bean sprouts
2 pieces fried tofu – cut into small cubes
1 small bunch Chinese chives – cut into 1” length
Some cut red chili for garnish

Bitter Sweet Brownies Cookies

If you love chewy brownies and soft cookies, this is for you. They are wickedly good. This cookies are perfect with crispy edges, chewy gooey center and awesomely chocolaty. I like mine without nuts but you can add it in if you want to. I am submitting these cookies to Aspiring Bakers #7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011) , hosted by Doris of Tested & Tasted.

Ingredients:

2 cups bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks

Edamame Orzo Salad with Grilled Shrimps

After indulging in all the rich food from our short vacation recently, it is time to have something fresh, healthy, light spring foods. I made this salad using the leftover orzo from my previous Cheesy Orzo Frittata. Orzo is pasta that is similar to rice in shape, but a little thicker and larger. I like making pasta salads and soup with it. This salad is simple and fresh. I loved the crunchy edamame and tender sweet grape tomatoes. I added some fresh parsley from my garden to it too.

Ingredients:

1 cup orzo
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
1/2 pound medium size shrimps – shelled and deveined
1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes - halved
1 small bunch fresh parsley - chopped

Aprons Giveaway (closed)

To tell you the truth I don’t owned a nice apron. What I have is one that I used over 8 years and I am still using it. I went shopping the other day and found some very cute ones and bought one for myself. It has been a while since my last giveaway, so I thought maybe I should get a few more and gives it away to my loyal blog readers.

Thanks to all of you that have visited My Kitchen Snippets regularly, left comments, motivated and kept it interesting for me to continue posting. It's always nice to receive comments and even better when someone out there becomes a friend - and there are many of you that have become real life friends. Some people say that blogging relationships aren’t real, but I know first hand that they are.

Anyway, I am giving away 3 cute aprons to three of my lucky readers.

The 1st winner will get this cute black/pink and purple apron that says ‘with the right shoes I can cook ANYTHING’

The 2nd winner will get this light blue/yellow and white apron that says ‘If you Want Breakfast in Bed….. Sleep in the Kitchen’

The 3rd winner will get this brown and white apron that says ‘My name is not Cinderella. Care to lend a hand?’

To enter once:

Leave a comment here telling me which recipe or recipes from my blog that you will like to try out.

To enter twice:

Post about this giveaway at your blog, linking back to this post. Come back and leave me a comment with the link to your post.

In case you are wondering, this giveaway is open to anyone anywhere in the world and not just for USA readers. Remember to leave your email address in your comment, so that I have some way of contacting you if you win. I will pick 3 lucky winner (s) by a random drawing. Dateline for the Giveaway will be on the 17th May 2011 at 6.00pm (Eastern Time) Good Luck!! Remember to leave your email address here too.

Tuna Rolls

It has been a long while since I last made these. I’ve been thinking of it for the past few weeks and finally made some for our afternoon tea. I used to made sardine rolls often during my teen years as that was the first kind pastry I learned to made in school. Since Carlos is not a fan of Sardines I change it to can tuna. As for the pastry, I just use my favorite shortcrust pastry recipe. This pastry is light and very flaky and it will be great for pies too.

Pastry:

2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup/1 1/2 stick/170 gram cold butter – cut into small cubes
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
2-3 tbsp cold water
1 egg – beaten (for egg wash)

Banana Walnut Date Loaf

I had some leftover dates in my fridge and I started thinking how I can use it in my baking. I know I have a recipe for date bars somewhere but I can’t seem to find it in my files. So I end up making Banana Date Loaf with the over-ripe bananas on the kitchen counter. This quick bread is simple to make as everything is done in a food processor. You will be awarded with aromatic banana flavor bread with crunchy walnuts and the right sweetness from the dates. This bread taste even better after it sits a day or two.

Ingredients:

200 gram whole-wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
120g butter – soften
120 gram brown sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla
250 gram mashed very ripe banana
2 large eggs
100 gram sour cream
150 gram chopped dried dates
100 gram chopped walnuts

Ground Beef Tacos

Do you like Mexican cuisine? How about a delicious meal that can be put together easily that you and your family can enjoy? The Mexican here in the US will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo on May 5th so I am featuring one of their dish here. You can read more about Cinco de Mayo here. These spicy beef tacos combined with some fresh toppings is a much healthier version than the one you get from the fast food joints or restaurants. I think this will be great for a party as your guest can top up their tacos with whatever toppings they prefer. Another dish that will go great with your party will be Chicken Fajitas.

Ingredients for Beef Tacos:

1 pound of lean ground beef

1 large onion – cut into small cubes

3 cloves garlic – chopped

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

2 tsp cayenne pepper (you can put less)

1 can 14 oz crushed tomato

½ cup beef stock or water

1 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp vinegar

Apple Strudel

Old-fashioned, Viennese Apple Strudel contains simple ingredients, like apples, raisins, sugar and cinnamon but when it comes to the pastry it is another story. It involves a lot of rolling, stretching and patience. You need to roll the dough into a very thin layer. It has to be translucent enough to read newspaper behind it. Of course I took the easy way out. I used store bought puff pastry. The final results were absolutely amazing. A flaky, buttery crust stuffed with apples and raisins. I am sure your family will enjoy the homemade taste and old fashion goodness of this delectable apple strudel.

Ingredients:

1 packet (2 sheets) puff pastry - thawed
1 egg – beaten