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Thursday, May 19, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Breakfast Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Thu, May 19, 2011 at 5:30 PM
These muffins are wicked healthy. In fact, a bit too healthy. I had to eat them with honey or a slather of almond butter to make them taste sweeter. The texture was nice and hearty due to the oats, but the muffins just weren't sweet enough to be enjoyable. You'll rarely ever see me do this to a recipe, but next time I'll be adding sugar.
Despite the issue with the sweetness, these are definitely salvageable! I love how these muffins include steel cut oats, buckwheat, and blueberries. Eating one of these is like eating oatmeal, buckwheat blueberry pancakes, and a muffin for breakfast all at once. They pack quite the nutritional punch per muffin.
I'd suggest making them, but just add a 1/4 cup of sugar.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Dinner / Pasta Shrimp pasta in a foil package
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, May 9, 2011 at 11:07 AM
Pulling an aluminum foil package out of the oven to serve your guests probably isn't the classiest thing you can do, but you'd be surprised how incredibly easy and delicious cooking this way can be. Ain't no shame in it.
This recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond. Basically, you cook some pasta and make a quick tomato sauce, then you dump raw shrimp over the sauce, and then pour the pasta over that. Then you transfer the entire mix into a foil package and throw it into the oven for 15-20 minutes.
What comes out is a fragrant linguine dish tossed with succulent, garlicy shrimp infused with bold flavors after being steam cooked in fresh, homemade tomato sauce. It was so good I was practically sucking up the sauce with a straw. Well, not really, but I think I may ditch all my other pasta dishes for this one.
A tip: I created and baked the foil package in a baking pan to prevent any liquid from spilling into the oven.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Drinks Margaritas for Cinco de Mayo
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Wed, May 4, 2011 at 2:29 PM
Espolón Tequila asked three top mixologists from New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco to craft what could be the country's first Taco Truck Cocktail Pairing – just in time for Cinco de Mayo. To pair with tacos, the mixologists came up with tequila drinks like Bebida de Puebla (made with Benedictine and coffee liqueurs), Sidra de la Mula (Apple Cider Mule, made with bitters and Sidral Mundet), and Bucking Borracho (made with ginger syrup, lemon and lime juice, and chocolate bitters). Click here to see all the cocktail and taco recipes.
Wanting to get in on the fun, I came up with my own tequila creation: The Cara Cara Espolón Margarita. Made with fresh Cara Cara oranges, limes, simple syrup, and Espolón Tequila, this Mexican cocktail is refreshing and light.
Never one to really enjoy those calorie-laden, super tart and syrupy sweet margarita mixes used a restaurants, I made sure these are just sweet and tart enough, and not artificial-tasting and over done.
I only made a couple of these citrus margaritas, but you might want to make a whole pitcher of these tomorrow.
And if you prefer your margaritas be made for you, check out Creative Loafing's big list of Cinco de Mayo parties here: http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/atlarge/2011/05/03/cl-presents-our-list-of-2011-cinco-de-mayo-parties/
Monday, May 2, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Cookie Peanut butter-stuffed chocolate chip cookies
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, May 2, 2011 at 8:00 AM
What's better than dessert?
TWO desserts!
These cookies are like two desserts in one. Chocolate chip cookie dough batter is wrapped around a Reese's-like peanut butter ball. Eating the resulting cookie is like stuffing a chocolate chip cookie and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in your mouth at the same time. I guess you could do that and get the same effect, but this is a much more civilized way of doing it.
Pick your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe for the dough. I used the Toll House recipe. You can find it here. I chilled the dough overnight to make it easier to work with.
For the peanut butter part, combine 1 cup of peanut butter with 1 cup of powdered sugar. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and set aside.
To form the cookies, roll a bit of cookie dough into a golf ball-sized ball. Then create a little indent in the middle, while also flattening it a bit, using your pinch-pot skills from elementary school. Place a peanut butter ball in the middle, roll chocolate chip cookie dough around it enclosing the filling completely, and then roll it between your palms to create a nice little round ball. Repeat until all dough is gone.
Place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheets. Bake according to chocolate chip cookie recipe.
They're best when eaten warm. I'm sure you can imagine how deliciously ooey gooey they are fresh out of the oven.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Dinner Rice Peepsie Treats
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 2:04 PM
... Or is it Peeps Krispie Treats? Or Rice Krispie Peeps?
Anyway, I murdered some Peeps to make this recipe.
I creamated Peeps marshmallows left over from Easter and reincarnated them as Rice Peepsie Treats. I followed the original Rice Krispie Treats recipe on the back of the cereal box, but subbed in my yellow friends for some of the marshmallows. (Since I only had two packages of Peeps (10 total), I had to use some plain marshmallows, too.)
I had originally wanted different colored Peeps to make a rainbow-colored mish-mash, but since I only had yellow ones, I added some drops of food coloring to the marshmallows to make my technicolored Rice Peepsie Treats.
These are definitely better than plain Rice Krispie Treats. Anything rainbow-colored tastes better, right?
Friday, April 22, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Dessert Easter Caramel Popcorn
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 10:18 AM
I've really overdone it this time. Oopsie daisy.
I've created a giant pastel-colored sugar monstrosity that contains ingredients that should probably be kept a secret. This crackcorn, I mean popcorn, needs to be pawned off ASAP. (Thanks, co-workers, for sharing this guilty pleasure with me.)
I first laid eyes on this caramel popcorn recipe while perusing FoodGawker.com. It was just so cute with the pretty colors, the sprinkles, the white chocolate drizzle, I couldn't stop thinking about it for days.
So I just gave it and made the darn thing ... with one cup of butter, two cups of brown sugar and everything else.
The recipe comes from the blog "Heather Cristo Cooks." She does a great job photographing the entire process. Check out her blog for step-by-step photos.
You could wrap the Easter Caramel Popcorn in little cellophane bags and tie them up with ribbons to make cute Easter treats for kids. (Hey, a little popcorn is a lot healthier than a giant chocolate rabbit, right?)
Tips: I used a bag of microwave popcorn instead of popping my own from scratch, which made it a snap to make. Also, you might want to use a large rimmed cookie sheet or perhaps two sheets because the caramel tends to bubble up and overflow over the edges while baking. To get my finished popcorn to crisp up, I stored it in the fridge.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Cookie Homemade Fig Newtons
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 8:00 AM
Try your hand at these fig-filled cookies.
I did. Mine turned out ugly!
See if yours turn out prettier than mine.
They are homely, but quite tasty. Homemade fig puree is tucked inside strips of rolled dough, wrapped up, and then sliced into bars.
(You can find Black Mission Figs at Trader Joe's in the nuts and dried fruit section. At the Midtown Trader Joe's store, they are located on the bottom shelf in a round plastic container.)
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / cake Key Lime Cheesecake
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 3:53 PM
Pucker up.
This key lime cheesecake packs a cool, creamy punch. The dense cheesecake sits upon a tropical crust made of coconut, flour, sugar, and butter.
As a big fan of key lime pie, I was eager to try a cheesecake version. I followed the recipe without any deviations, baked the cheesecake in a water bath, and it turned out perfectly crack-free. Success. (Tip: Don't shock the cheesecake right out of the oven by throwing in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature first to prevent cracks.)
To keep the cake dense, don't over-beat the batter. And don't over-bake your crust either ... mine was a bit dark.
Serve it with raspberry coulis or whipped cream and slices of key lime for garnish.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Breakfast / cake Ina Garten's Lemon Cake ... with a twist
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 8:00 AM
I love Ina Garten's Lemon Cake. It's so tart, tangy, and tasty. Ina's cake is a lemon loaf cake, soaked with lemon syrup, and then topped with lemon glaze.
Craving a slice, I was set on making it this past weekend. I ran into a little problem though – I had no lemons in the house.
When life gives you no lemons, what's a girl to do? I was forced to get creative and I made a grapefruit version of her loaf cake.
The grapefruit cake turned out surprisingly well. It was still tart and sweet, but not as tart as the lemon cake. The grapefruit flavor was a nice change. The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup lemon zest, but I cut the amount of grapefruit zest to just 2 tablespoons, as grapefruit peel is a bit bitter.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Recipe / Priscilla Tsai / Dessert / Breakfast Zucchini and Sweet Potato Bread
Posted By Priscilla Tsai on Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 8:00 AM
This bread is the marriage of two unlikely ingredients. Who would think to pair zucchini and sweet potatoes together?
Not me.
But when a friend requested that I find a good zucchini bread recipe for her, I found this Zucchini and Sweet Potato Bread recipe from Epicurious.com.
The recipe got rave reviews and received a four "fork" rating from fellow bakers. Convinced, I gave it a whirl.
The bread (really, cake) turned out delightfully dense, moist, and slightly spicy from cinnamon. It tastes similar to carrot carrot cake. Containing both zucchini and sweet potato, I'm eating it guilt-free as I'm counting each slice as two servings of daily veggies. (Dieters, don't quote me on this. I made it up.)
As suggested by many reviewers, I cut the sugar from 2 cups to 1.5 cups. Next time I'll cut the sugar even more because I found it still a tad too sweet. To amp up the health benefits, I subbed 1 cup of white flour with whole wheat flour. A few reviewers suggested using apple sauce in place of the oil – perhaps I'll try that next time, too.
I had way too much batter to fill one loaf pan (but not enough to make 2 loaves), so I made 8 muffins on the side.
Co-workers at CL demolished the bread in one afternoon, which goes to show it's a crowd-pleaser.
Find the recipe below, with my notes in parenthesis.
Have an item you want me to find and test a recipe for? Just leave a comment below.
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