Playing with fire....

Ok, it's getting late and it's a weeknight, so I will make this a quick post! Summer is here and I have been noticing a lot BBQ/grilling inspired food products at the grocery store lately, one of them is S'mores! There are s'mores ice cream, s'mores cookies and even a s'mores making kits! I love S'mores, I mean what is there not to like, it's chocolate, marshmallows and cookies are wrapped into one.

I decided to whip up a batch of  s'mores inspired cupcakes for a coworker farewell party one night, and here is what I did:

S'mores Cupcakes (Trial and Error)

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1 box of Swiss chocolate cake mix
3/4 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Melted chocolate (Semi-sweet chocolate blocks/chips melted in the microwave)
Jumbo Marshmallows

I have never made these before and didn't really follow any recipes, all of them were trail and error. Since I was too lazy to make a real marshmallow topping (ie. using egg white, etc) and decide to just use the marshmallows I already had, I had to be creative.

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter together, press the mixture into the bottom of the muffin liner. Bake for 15 minutes, keep an eye on this, it burns very easily (Sigh, which is what  did).

Prepare the cake mix as per package instruction, mix the semi-sweet chocolate chips into the mixture. Pour cake mix into the muffin pan and bake as directed.

After the cupcakes are cooled down, this is the fun decorating part.

Option #1: Scoop out a little piece of the cupcake top, and drizzle melted chocolate into the hole, place a jumbo marshmallow on top, slightly burn the top of the marshmallow with a blowtorch (or use a ghetto lighter like me, since I don't have a blowtorch and would LOVE to have one..hint hint HUBBY!). This option makes a really cute cupcake, but the marshmallow cools down very fast and doesn't really have that melted gooey taste...but it's still good if you stick it into the microwave for 15 seconds before serving.






Option #2: Melt some of the marshmallow in the microwave, dip the cupcake into the mixture, and place them under the oven broiler to brown the top. This is fast and easy, super gooey, but it burns really quickly and the final product doesn't look that great.

Option #3: Exactly same as option#2, but instead of placing them under the broiler, I torched each cupcake with my ghetto lighter (at least it's the kind of light with a long tube piece, not the ones you put in your pocket). This is my favorite one, it was warm, gooey and looks good, but it took forever since I didn't have the proper equipment.

 The next time I make these, I will continue to use the cake mix, which saves a lot of time, but will definitely spend time to make a real marshmallow topping and invest in a blow torch! But nonetheless, it was a pretty decent cupcake!

The Meatball Shop Spicy Pork Meatballs

Hubby and I went to NYC without our dear son back in February, we have been there a few times before, so we were able to skipped all the touristy areas, and made it into a culinary adventure. We woke up early in the morning to eat, ran around the city to look for the best food and also hit a few places that were highly recommended by others. And one of those places was The Meatball Shop (recommend by my sista sista) it's a tiny little restaurant tucked in a quiet street, but the experience was amazing! The lineup is insane, the concept is very simple, the restaurant serves up a variety of meatballs, by itself (naked), as a slider and on top of pasta/salad/risotto. After the first taste of the incredibly moist and flavorful meatballs, we totally understood why this place is sooo packed!

I have been using the Martha Stewart meatball recipe for years, I usually spent a Sunday afternoon making these meatballs and freezing them for later use. They are still great and I will still keep making these, but they are not nearly as good as the ones from The Meatball Shop. I was so excited when the owners of The Meatball Shop went on the Today show, and they even shared all their recipes!!!

My favorite meatball combo is their Spicy Pork Meatball with the Parmesan Cream, so after getting a copy of the recipes, I gave it a try....

Spicy Pork Meatball Adapted from The Meatball Shop from Today Show

• 2 pounds ground pork
• 1 plus 1/3 tablespoons salt
• 1/3 cup pickled banana pepper
• 1/4 cup pepper pickling liquid
• 4 slices white bread, minced (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Combine all of the ingredients except for the olive oil in a large mixing bowl and mix by hand until thoroughly incorporated.
Drizzle the olive oil into a large baking dish (such as a 9 x 13), making sure to evenly coat the entire surface (use your hand to help spread the oil). Roll the mixture into round, golf ball-size meatballs, making sure to pack the meat firmly.
Place the balls into the oiled baking dish so that all of the meatballs are lined up evenly in rows and are touching each other.

Roast until firm and cooked through (about 14 minutes). Allow the meatballs to cool for five minutes before removing from the tray.

Makes about 24 golf ball-size meatballs

The recipe calls for pickled cherry pepper, but I read the recipe wrong and picked up banana peppers (the ones you get with your subs/hot dog) instead, it tasted just fine! The finished product tasted almost the same as the ones we had at the shop, and totally brought us back to that night in NYC! These meatballs are less greasy, since they are baked and not fried. They are super moist and freeze very well. Overall, I highly recommend this meatball recipe and they paired perfectly with the Parmesan cream sauce (I didn't take a picture!), but would be just as great with a store bought pasta sauce!

The beginning of the BBQ SEASON!

My hubby is a BBQ fanatic, he loves to stand in front of the grill, even after a long day of work. We started barbeque the moment the last snow patch melted off the ground! Before spring started, I promised myself that we are going to spend more time outdoors this year, and enjoy more "alfresco" dining even during the week.

We love barbeque burgers and sausages, but we are usually sick of them by the end of May. So I'm always looking for other easy bbq options for weeknight dinners, but these recipes have to fit a few criteria. 1) QUICK - we usually get home around 6pm, and would like to have dinner on the table by 7pm. Anything that requires alot of prep is out of the question. 2) EASY -  Tyler loves spending time outside with us, but he doesn't like waiting for his food either. Whatever we put on the bbq has to grill up quickly and can't require too much care, since Tyler is always trying to get us away from the grill to play with him.3) YUMMY - well, pretty self explanatory, it has to be yummy for both us and the little man. So this is what I came up with for last Monday's dinner:

Coconut chicken satay skewers
I made up this recipe from combining a bunch of different recipes, I made minor changes based on what I have in my pantry.

1 cup coconut milk
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
A pinch of fresh ground black pepper
2 boneless chicken legs, cut into chunks
bamboo skewers


In a small bowl, whisk together everything except the chicken, until the ingredients are incorporated and the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the chicken,and marinate for as long as you've got! (I had 30 minutes)

Soak skewers in water for at least 30 minutes.

Thread 4-6 pieces of chicken on each skewer. Grill the chicken, turning frequently, until crisp, 5 minutes per side.

The shrimp skewers were marinated in a sweet thai chili sauce, a staple at my house, this sauce is also good for marinating chicken wings and as a dipping sauce for  spring rolls.

Sweet Thai Chili Sauce

 The skewers are good as they are, but even better served with peanut sauce.

My ad-hoc peanute sauce
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup of peanuts
1 tbsp black vinegar
2 tsp fish sauce
3/4 cup of water
1 tsp of hot sauce (or to taste)

Put all the ingredients into the food processor, process until a heavy cream consistency. If the sauce is too thick, add more water.

This is a really simple recipe, the chicken would've benefited from a longer marinating time, over night would be ideal, but it was overall very tasty. I would probably add a bit of lemon grass and lemon juice next time in the marinade. This dinner took only 45 minutes from prep to the table, and being able to spend some time outdoor after a long day at work is definitely worth all the work! And watching my little man explore the great outdoors is PRICELESS!

Happy Mother's Day (belated post)

This past Mother's Day was my third (including the year when Tyler was still in my tummy) one as a mommy.  The weather was amazing but I was mostly at home nursing a really bad flu. Tyler managed to keep me entertain with all his silly ways, and although I was sick, I still get to enjoy some time with my family. Hubby surprised me with some nice flowers, I can't wait until Tyler can make me a mother's day gift, I'm going to be such a proud mama!

Hubby decided to make dinner, so he is going to be my "guest speaker" for this post! He made his famous Steamed Mussels:

• 4 pounds mussels
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, shaved
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 cup chicken broth, low-sodium
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 tomato, peeled, seeded and cut in large dice
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Rinse the mussels under cold running water while scrubbing with a vegetable brush. Discard any with broken shells. Heat oil in a 6 to 8-quart stockpot. Saute the shallot, garlic and thyme to create a base flavor. Add the mussels and give them a good toss. Add wine, lemon juice, chicken broth and red pepper flakes; cover the pot and steam over medium-high for 5 minutes until the mussels open. Toss in the tomato, parsley and butter, recover the pot, and steam for another minute to soften. The tomatoes should keep their shape. Serve with plenty of grilled garlic bread to sop up the broth.

This is our favorite way to cook mussels, the broth is actually the best part. Sometimes I will take the leftover broth and boil it down into a sauce for pasta, it is soooooooo good!!

Anyways, back to Mother's day.....We went to Brassaii for brunch with my family and dinner with my in laws.  I love being able to celebrate this special occasion with the family, but I think next year....I'm going to ask for a day off at the spa instead! =)

To my dear Tyler, you have given new meanings to Mother's day for me, I now not only get to be in this elite group of amazing women, but I also appreciate my own mom soooo much more. I would have never truly understand a mother's love and sacrifice until I became one myself. It is the hardest job in the world! Happy belated Mother's Day to all the amazing moms out there!!