From My Perspective: Tips

Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

What's for Dinner: Chicken Tawook and Roasted Potatoes

Today marks my parents 30th wedding anniversary!

I've been out of the kitchen for the most part post-surgery, but tonight I made these chicken kababs. Tawook
is pretty much cubed chicken that is marinated, skewered and then grilled.

I marinated the boneless chicken cubes with salt, black pepper, chili powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, ginger powder, onion powder, thyme, ground mustard, lemon juice, yogurt, and raw papaya [to help tenderize the meat]. Let the marinated chicken sit for a few hours.

Set your broiler on high. Skewer your chicken. Put it under the broiler for about 15 minutes. Take it out, flip them over, and set back under the broiler for another 7-10 minutes.

Broiling Tip: Whenever you use the broiler feature in the oven, make sure you leave the oven door open a little bit.

I served the chicken alongside a combination of corn, peas, and roasted potatoes.

For the roasted potatoes: I took small gold potatoes-- cut each in half, and then each half into quarters (small pieces-- you get the picture). I seasoned them with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, and chipotle powder. Drizzled them with olive oil. Mix well. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.

For dessert, I made chocolate chip cookie a la mode. A la mode means to be served with a scoop of ice cream. I'll try and post that tomorrow: easy and delicious as usual.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

What's for Dinner: Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake

Cheesecake and chocolate chip cookies are pretty high on the list of "my favorite desserts". Here are a few other variations I have done as well: my chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake and chocolate chip cheesecake.

What I did today, instead, was use cookie as the base of the cheesecake [crust], and put chocolate chips in the filling portion along with the little leftover cookie dough batter. Just mix it right in.

It was pretty much a chocolate chip cookie cheesecake...yum!

What you need:

Your favorite cookie dough recipe or store-bought cookie dough.
2 [8-ounce] packages of cream cheese, softened/room temperature
1/2 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
[about] 2/3 cup of milk chocolate chips

What I did was:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Spray your springform pan with non-stick cooking spray as an extra precaution.
Make your cookie dough using your favorite recipe or use a pre-made dough/log [let it come to room temperature]. Press the chocolate chip cookie dough down into the base of your springform pan.
To make the filling, in a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Add a cup of milk chocolate chips [and any left over cookie dough batter you have] and mix. Tip: to keep your chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom, toss them with about a teaspoon of flour.
Transfer your filling to the spring-form pan on top of the cookie dough base.
Bake in your preheated oven for about an hour.
Optional: for presentation purposes, if I was serving this to guests, I'd melted milk chocolate chips and drizzled that on top of the cheesecake before serving it.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

What's for Dinner: Mini Chicken Pot Pie [Biscuits]

Yesterday was a cold and snowy day [the complete opposite of the day before] and I wanted something warm. I had this idea saved in my "must try sometime" pile for a long time, and decided to try it out yesterday.

I didn't want to make a pie dough, and didn't have a pre-made one on hand... so I used something I almost ALWAYS have in my fridge. Refrigerated biscuits. I use it in so many different ways, yet almost never just bake them as is for simple biscuits. You can find my biscuit recipe by clicking here.

For the "pot pie" filling, I used:

Boneless Chicken, cut into tiny pieces.
Pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
Paprika, to taste
Onion powder, to taste
Cayenne pepper, to taste
Chili powder, to taste
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Thyme, to taste
Parsley, to taste
2 cup of chicken broth/stock
1 cup of 1% milk
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
3 cups of frozen mixed vegetables [mine had peas, corn, carrots, and beans]

Next time, I'd cut the chicken broth and milk in half because I was left over with some "filling" after 16 biscuits.

What I did was:

Starting with the chicken: I seasoned mine with black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, onion powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, red pepper flakes, thyme, and parsley. Spray your pan [so the chicken doesn't stick] with non-stick cooking spray. Cook over low heat, until the chicken is cooked through.
Meanwhile combineyour chicken broth/stock with milk over low heat. Season with black pepper, garlic powder and paprika.
Combine about two tablespoons of cornstarch with a little water [just enough to dissolve the cornstarch]. Add this mixture to your milk/broth mixture and whisk over medium-high speed for a few minutes! This part helps gives that nice creamy milk color and texture we all love so much in chicken pot pie... without the fatness/heaviness of cream, half and half, etc. Tip: Make sure you continuously whisk to avoid lumps.
Once your sauce/filling has thickened, add in your frozen vegetables [they will soften in the sauce and even more so in the oven] and your cooked chicken. Mix everything together.

To put together the mini pot pies:

When I was almost ready to form the mini pot pies, I took the biscuits and rolled them each out so they were thinner and about twice the size they originally were.
Spray your muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray so they come easily once baked.
Line with one of the biscuit dough, pressing it in so it fits nicely and there is enough excess dough on top to "seal" them.
Fill the biscuits with your filling, and seal them with your fingers.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

You can see my Pot Pie recipe from last year's Pi day by clicking here. On that link, you will also find how I make my chicken broth.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Monday, February 3, 2014

What's for Dinner: Chocolate [Football] Cake

I wasn't planning on making anything for the Super Bowl party my brother's were having last night... but the night before I just couldn't help myself and started brainstorming ideas.

Since my brother's were ordering food, I narrowed it downto desserts and finally decided to make a cake. It had to be a football-related cake [it was the Super Bowl afterall] but I didn't have a football-shaped baking pan.

So what I ended up doing yesterday afternoon was: making the football shape on my own using my round spring-form baking pan.

I used my homemade vanilla cake recipe and added 1/4th cup of cocoa powder to the batter to make it a chocolate cake. I baked it in a preheated 350 degree oven for about thirty minutes. There was just enough batter left to make five cupcakes that I baked for about 15 minutes.

Tip: After letting the cake cool, what I did to make the football shape out a circle cake was: cut a two inch strip of the cake out down the center of the cake [cut less if you are using a smaller pan]. Move the two semi-circles to whatever you will use to serve the cake on. When you connect the two semi-circles, it is now in the shape of a football!

I used store-bought milk chocolate frosting to frost my homemade cake. I have vowed to never make homemade frosting until I can get a Kitchen-Aid stand-mixer.

Tip: whenever I frost cakes, I line the bottom of the cake with small pieces of parchment paper [easier to remove than one large sheet] so the bottom and edges look clean at the end and avoid a big mess.

After frosting it, all that is left is to decorate the top of the cake with the details of a football.

Another tip: I took coconut flakes and dyed them green to make "grass" to put around the football cake.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

What's for Dinner: Homemade Oreo Truffles

Back at the end of August, when we had the party at our house, Nadia made and brought her homemade Oreo truffles [that she had mentioned to me in the past several times]. It was my first time trying them, and let me tell you: absolutely delicious. I may or may not have consumed most of them...

I asked her how she made them, and for some reason or another didn't get around to making them until today.

Making Oreo truffles at home are incredibly easy [not good for someone like me who has a major sweet tooth], and take no time at all. Although there are a few steps involved.

Not only is it easy to make, but only requires three ingredients.

What you need is:

Oreos [or any cream filled chocolate cookies]
1 [8 ounce] package of cream cheese, softened
2 [7 ounce] containers of Bakers dipping chocolate [milk chocolate]

What I did was:

Take about 4-5 Oreos and finely crush them [in a food processor]. Set aside for later: you will use these to sprinkle on top of the truffles.
Finely crush the rest of the Oreos [in a food processor]. Add your cream cheese and mix the two ingredients until they are combined well.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take about a teaspoon of the mixture, roll into a "ball" and lay on the baking sheet. I made 36 truffles, but quantity will vary and depend on the size you roll the truffles into. When the baking sheet[s] are full, set it in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes so they are easier to work with. Once you take them out of the fridge, they will be easier to roll them into balls if you couldn't before because of the gooey texture.
Melt the dipping chocolate as per instructions. It took about 90 seconds to melt for me I'd say.
Using two teaspoons [or a toothpick], dip each of the balls in the chocolate, and lay back on the lined baking sheet.
Immediately sprinkle them with the Oreo crumbs you set aside before. Tip: sprinkle the truffles right away because the dipping chocolate hardens fairly quickly. Don't wait to do this part at the end once all have been coated.
The truffles can be eaten right away [which is of course, what I did], but I'd set them back in the fridge to firm a little more.

I used a food processor for everything, but you could just as easily crush the cookies in a ziploc bag and then just mix the cream cheese and Oreos together.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Monday, November 18, 2013

What's for Dinner: Kulfi

Very similar to the mango ice cream ingredients, and just as easy. Once again, you just pretty much combine the ingredients, and freeze!

You need:

12 ounce whipped cream
1 14 oz condensed milk
1 evaporated milk
1 bread, grinded
Almonds and Pistachios, to taste, grinded.

For the almonds and pistachios, for the above quantities, I'd say I used about 3/4 cup of each.

Mix everything together and freeze. Either in Popsicle molds or something similar.

Tip: if it's being made for a party, we divide them into small singled-serving-sized cups before freezing for convenience. It's easy to serve, and eat!

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Saturday, November 16, 2013

What's for Dinner: Mango Ice Cream

I love mangoes, but ironically not anything made out of mangoes. This mango ice cream, however, is something the rest of my family loves [and everyone else]. Weird side note: my brother Ayaz won't eat mangoes but loves mango juice!

You need:

1 can of Mango pulp
12 ounces of whipped cream, softened
1 [14 ounce] can of condensed milk
1 can of evaporated milk

Mix everything together, and freeze. Can it be any easier?

Tip: if it's being made for a party, we divide them into small singled-serving-sized cups before freezing for convenience. It's easy to serve, and eat!

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Sunday, June 9, 2013

What's for Dinner: Basketball Cake

On May 30th my cousin, Sabih, graduated from college and yesterday we celebrated!

He loves basketball - and when I came across a similar idea a very long time ago, I had immediately thought at that time that I have to make this for Sabih! Fortunately, I remembered last week and decided to try it out this week.

Here's the end product:

I made a homemade yellow cake as the base [that was absolutely delicious]. Here's what you need:

2 cups of [all-purpose] flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 stick of [unsalted] butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3/4 cup of [1%] milk

The no oil part in this cake? Love it!

To make the cake:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a [non-stick] 9-inch spring-form pan with non-stick cooking spray for extra precaution.
In a mixing bowl, mix together your flour, baking powder, and salt.
Next, cream your softened butter and sugar together until they are nicely incorporated together. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until completely combines.
Combine your wet and dry ingredients together into one bowl. Add in the milk. Beat your mixture together until the batter is mixed together and smooth.
Transfer into your baking pan. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes back clean.

For the frosting? I used store-bought [milk] chocolate frosting today. From the [Oreo] Buttercream Frosting from this post back in April I learned my lesson the hard way: no more homemade frosting UNTIL I get a stand mixer. Why are they so darn expensive?! Would make my life so much easier!

Tip: Make sure to let the cake cool completely before you attempt to frost. Makes a world of a difference, I'm telling you.

After I frosted the cake, I separated the orange and brown candies from a bag of Reese's Pieces to use to decorate the top of the cake.

Using the brown candies, I first used them to draw a line straight down the middle.
Turn the cake 90 degrees, and do the same. You should now have the cake divided in 4 sections and a visible "+" sign.
Next, again using the brown candies, I drew two half circles on either end.
Finally, fill in all of the areas where the frosting is still visible with the orange colored candies.

Tip: I can't emphasize enough how much laying pieces of parchment paper underneath makes a difference in the end result.

I thought about doing this cake with M&Ms originally, but a) who wants to separate all the oranges and blacks from I don't even know how many bags of M&Ms I would need b) I've already made a cake with M&Ms before and c) half the fun is experimenting!

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Sunday, June 2, 2013

What's for Dinner: Chocolate Chip and M&M Cookies

Apparently on a baking spree today. Not only did I make Chocolate Chip & Pecan Muffins [from scratch] for breakfast today, but then I also made homemade [from scratch] cookies with chocolate chips and M&Ms in them.

I don't know anyone who doesn't like a) cookies b) chocolate and c) M&Ms. So a combination of all three? Yum!

I used:

1 stick of [unsalted] butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups of [all-purpose] flour
1/4 cup of corn starch
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
[about] 1 cup of [Milk Chocolate] M&Ms
[about] 1/4 to 1/3 cup of [milk] chocolate chips

To make them:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line your baking tray with foil or parchment paper.
Beat together the butter and brown sugar until well combined. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Add in the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until everything is combined.
Add the chocolate chips and the M&Ms.
Bake in your preheated oven for about 12-14 minutes or until the edges are golden brown

Tip: I think next time, right when they come out of the oven, I'll sprinkle in more M&Ms on top so the colors pop.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Saturday, May 18, 2013

What's for Dinner: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake

Continuing my streak of incorporating nuts with my cheesecake, Friday I made a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake.

This time, I experimented with a graham cracker base. Three cheesecakes, three different bases so far. Each one, very different but oh so good. Click here and here for my other cheesecake recipes so far.

For today's version, you need:

1 and 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs
5 tablespoons of [unsalted] butter, melted
1/2 cup of macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
2 [8 ounce] packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 can of condensed milk
3 eggs
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of white chocolate chip morsels, melted

To make your cheesecake:

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
Combine the butter and graham crackers. Press the mixture into the bottom [and across the lower sides if you would like] of your springform pan to form the crust.
Roughly chop your macadamia nuts. Sprinkle evenly over the graham cracker crust layer.
Next, in a large bowl, beat your cream cheese until it is smooth. Add in the condensed milk and beat the mixture well [until it is evenly incorporated].
Next, add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Do not over beat the mixture, just beat it until your mixture is smooth.
Add in the melted white chocolate. Combine.
Pour your cheesecake batter on top of the macadamia nut layer.
Bake [in your preheated oven] for about 70 minutes. Or until edges are light brown and center is almost set. I'd keep an eye on it staring around the one hour mark.
Let it cool [and completely set] for at least several hours [if you have the will power] before cutting into it.

Tip: for presentation purposes, I drizzled the top of my homemade cheesecake with [store-bought] caramel. This part is totally optional.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Sunday, May 5, 2013

What's for Dinner: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

So last night, I wanted chocolate chip cookies. I was tired, however, and after starting to mix the ingredients together, I just didn't want to have to sit there and form each individual cookie, and then bake them in batches and whatnot. Epitome of laziness, I know.

The compromise? I decided to just turn the cookies into bars. This couldn't be simpler to make.

What you will need:

1/2 cup of butter, melted
1 cup of [light] brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of [all-purpose] flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of [milk] chocolate chips

To put your Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars together:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray your non-stick [8x8] pan with non-stick cooking spray as an extra precaution.
Combine your melted butter and brown sugar.
Next, add in your vanilla extract vanilla and egg and mix everything together.
Then, add in your dry ingredients slowly [your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt]. Combine everything together before transferring your mixture into the baking pan.
Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips. I sprinkled the chocolate chips on top, instead of mixing it into the mixture because I wanted the chocolate chips to pop out.
Bake for about 25 minutes in your preheated oven. Or until the top is golden brown.

Tip: Let it sit for a few minutes before you cut them into bars once you take the baking pan out of the oven.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

Thursday, May 2, 2013

What's for Dinner: Homemade Pizza

Slowly, but surely, I'm updating with recipes for things I've posted about in the past. Today is all about Homemade Pizza [click here to see my recipe for homemade pizza dough from scratch]. I've yet to experiment with making my own marinara sauce at home, mainly because the store-bought one I use? I love the taste of it.

Pictures is the Chicken Tikka and Peppers Pizza

The toppings I use varies, but here are a few of the most common ones to put together your pizza(s):

Chicken Pizza:
I take a few pieces of boneless chicken cubes (you don't need that many unless you prefer it to be full of a lot of chicken) and cut them each into very tiny pieces. I added salt and some grilling seasoning (I used Dash's) to the chicken, along with a little bit of oil and cooked it through on low to medium heat. The chicken cooks really quickly because it's not a lot of chicken and it's cut into such tiny pieces. Tip: Use salt-free seasonings so YOU can control the amount of salt.

Then use either a homemade pizza dough or one you bought [which I do plenty of times]. Roll out your pizza dough to fit your pizza pan. Pour and spread marinara sauce (you can use pizza sauce, tomato/pasta sauce or whatever you prefer... I find marinara sauce to work best) all over the dough. Then, I sprinkle mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese on top. Next, I sprinkle oregano and parsley flakes over the cheese. Finally, add the chicken (evenly spaced out). I baked this pizza for 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees.

For the Plain Cheese Pizza:
Again, either make a pizza dough or buy one. Roll out your pizza dough to fit your pizza pan. Pour and spread marinara sauce all over the dough. I, then, sprinkled a pizza cheese blend all over on top of the marinara sauce. Next, I added oregano and parsley flakes again on top. I baked this one for 25 minutes on 350 degrees as well.

For the Chicken Tikka and Peppers Pizza:
I made this one yesterday. Again, either make a pizza dough or buy one [For this one, I used Betty Crocker's Pizza Crust mix and was surprised how nicely it turned out]. Roll out your pizza dough to fit your pizza pan. Pour and spread marinara sauce all over the dough. I, then, sprinkled a pizza cheese blend all over on top of the marinara sauce. Next, I add in shredded chicken tikka pieces [see below for how I make it]. Sprinkle varying colors of peppers on top. Finally, I added some Italian seasoning. I baked this one for about 20 minutes on 400 degrees.

For the chicken tikka: I had marinated chicken with black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, yogurt, lemon juice, and tandoori masala a day or two ago to BBQ. It had rained, however, so I've been using said chicken in various forms this week. I, then, cooked it over low heat. I typically use boneless chicken but the one in the picture above - I used leg and thigh pieces.

Seasonings, spices, toppings, etc. can be altered to using your own preference... I just usually make it up as I go along based on what flavors I wanted and what my family likes.

Note: How long the pizza(s) take to bake in the oven will depend on your oven, how thick your crust is, etc... so keep an eye on it.

P.S. This post is a part of my "What's for Dinner" series, where I share what I've been cooking and my recipes. Grab and share my button:

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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Monday, November 18, 2013

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Thursday, May 2, 2013