Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

Bacon is delicious! And so is brown sugar!
Put them together, and you get deliciousness^2!

Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

Ingredients
- 1 lb. bacon
- 1 cup of brown sugar

Directions
1. Lay each strip of bacon on a paper towel, blotting each slice dry.

2. Pour the brown sugar into a wide plate, making an even layer of brown sugar on the plate.















3. Coat both sides of the bacon in the brown sugar. Make sure you press the sugar into the bacon.

4. Preheat your oven to 435.

5. Place the bacon onto a sheet pan.

6. Place the bacon in the oven, until brown and glazed (15 minutes or so). You can also use the broiler, which takes less time.

7. Transfer to onto paper towels to soak up any excess grease.

Simple Butternut Squash Mash

Butternut squash so sweet and so delicious, I have no idea why I never make it more often!

Butternut squash is so commonly overlooked as a dish to make during the holidays.
But here is a little secret: it is quick and easy to make.

Make this dish as a side for a holiday meal, and you are sure to WOW the crowd.

Simple Butternut Squash Mash

Ingredients:
- 1 butternut squash - roughly4 pounds
- 3 tbsp of brown sugar
- Water

Instructions
1. Cut the butternut squash in half, and remove the seeds. Save the seeds for toasting later :)














2. Cook the butternut squash.
You can do this by steaming this for 30 minutes, or covering the butternut squash halfway with water, and cooking in the microwave for 15 minutes.














3. When the squash is done cooking, let cool, and peel off the skin.

4. Mash the squash in a bowl, and mix in brown sugar. You can also use maple syrup in place of brown sugar.

5. Enjoy!

Seafood Vegetable Medley

I hope everyone is having a lovely holiday season, filled with lots of warmth, love, and FOOD!!

Here is a dish that is much lighter than typical holiday fare: seafood and vegetable medley!
A lot more figure friendly, and it won't put you to sleep!

Seafood Vegetable Medley

Ingredients
- 1 pound of shrimp
- 0.5 pounds of imitation crab meat (or any other seafood ingredient of your choice)
- 3 ounces of fish, cubed
- 1 cup of chopped veggies. I picked asparagus and edamame
- 1 tsp of oil
- salt for taste. About 1 tsp, more or less depending on preference.
- 1 tsp of tapioca starch
- 0.5 cup of water

Instructions
1. Heat the oil in the skillet.
2. Add all the ingredients, except for the shrimp, since shrimp cooks faster than the rest.















3. Stir for about 3 minutes.

4. Add in the shrimp.














5. Stir and add the salt.

6. Dissolve the tapioca starch in the 0.5 cup of water and add to the skillet. This creates a thickened gooey gravy.

7. Heat on medium high until boiling.















8. Serve

Yellow + Italian Squash for Halloween

For Halloween this year, I went over to a friend's apt for a small get-together.
He was grilling chicken and sausages at the party, so I offered to bring over some type of vegetable dish (to offset all that meat!)

I decided to cook up a squash dish. I usually prefer Italian squash, however, to make the dish a bit more colorful, I added some Yellow squash too!

This recipe is very easy and requires practically 0 preparation time.
After a busy long day at work, I had enough time to squeeze into my Halloween outfit, whip up my squash dish, and head over to the party!

Yellow + Italian Squash for Halloween

Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of squash (italian & yellow)
- 1 tbsp of seasoned salt (less if you don't like it so salty)
- 1 cup of chicken broth or 1 cup of water + 1 chicken bouillon cube
- pinch of salt

Instructions:
1. Peel and slice the squash into strips. I actually like to leave half of the peel on, for more fiber, without eating all that hard bitter peel.




















2. In a skillet, heat up a bit of oil.

3. Toss in the squash and seasoned salt + pinch of salt. Mix thoroughly.














4. Add the water/broth and cover the skillet.

5. Let the squash simmer until they are cooked thoroughly (takes about 10-15 minutes). Be sure to stir occasionally, so all the squash has a chance to soak up the broth.














6. Scoop it onto a plate, and bring the dish over to a Halloween party!

Chicken Chow Fun/Rice Noodles

This is an Asian noodle dish, where the noodles are thin, flat, white, and made out of rice. These are usually referred to as rice noodles or "chow fun" (I think the name is derived from a Cantonese pronunciation?)

I prefer my chow fun with beef, but since I rarely cook beef in the household (I just consume beef when dining out), I used dark chicken meat instead.

Chicken Chow Fun

Ingredients:
- 1 pound of chicken meat. Cut into strips
- 3 eggs
- 1 package of rice noodles. These are usually freshly made and warm at your local Asian market.
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp of oyster sauce.
- 1/2 cup of onions, sliced. I actually forgot the onions when I made the dish, so please do not make the same mistake
- chopped green onions (optional)
- Veggies of your choice. I chose some leftover cooked broccoli I had lying around.

Instructions:
1. In an oiled skillet, add the chicken strips and onions + green onions until almost cooked.














2. Scramble some eggs in the same skillet.














3. Add the rice noodles.














4. Add the veggies, soy sauce and oyster sauce, and mix.














5. Cover and let the noodles cook for 8 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

sloppy joes

I crave sloppy joes, about, once every 10 years.
How about you?

Sloppy Joes

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounces)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup of water

Instructions:

1. Ground the beef

2. Add the onions and cook until translucent














3. Add the rest of the ingredients, and simmer for 15 minutes.














4. Scoop into toasted hamburger buns

Chinese Chicken Curry

Curry is pretty good.

I love thai curries, (my fav!) japanese curries, indian curries, chinese curries... hmm. these are all Asian.
Is there such a thing called European curry?
If so, I would love to try some of that!

But for today's recipe, it is a Chinese chicken curry dish. But I think I added so many veggies, it's probably more a veggie dish rather than chicken dish!

Chinese Chicken Curry

Ingredients
- 8 legs of chicken meat (you can also use any other meat of your choice)
- 2 potatoes, cubed
- 5 carrots, chopped
- 3 tbsp curry powder
- dash of salt
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 of onion, chopped

Instructions:
1. De-bone the chicken, and discard the fat/skin. Reserve the bones in your freezer to make chicken broth.

2. Cut chicken meat into bones.

3. Cut up veggies.














4. In an oiled skillet, toss the chicken and the onions until the chicken is cooked on the outside














5. Add the potatoes and carrots and salt. Stir.














6. Add the curry powder and water. The water should cover the veggies + meat.














7. Boil then simmer for about 20 minutes.














8. All done! Phew that was easy. Enjoy with rice.

Shapely Steamed Buns (man tou)

I love eating steamed buns (pronounced "man tou" in Chinese).
What is also fun, is making the steamed buns.
What is even more fun, is making the steamed buns into fun shapes and sizes!

What to learn more about steam buns/man tou?
Mantou sometimes known as Chinese steamed bun, is a kind of steamed bun originating from China. It is typically eaten as a staple in Northern parts of China where wheat rather than rice is grown. Made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents, they are similar in nutrition and eating qualities to the white bread of the West. A similar food, but with a filling inside, is baozi.

Last weekend, I took the time to make some fresh homemade steamed buns.
Below are the proportions and instructions.

To see my Steamed-Bun-Making photos, go here:

Making Steam Buns (Man Tou)

http://picasaweb.google.com/xJenniferLinx/MakingSteamBunsManTou


Steamed Buns (Man Tou)

Ingredients:

- 4 cups of flour

- 1/2 cup of sugar

- 1.5 cups of warm water

- Slightly less than 1 tbsp of yeast

Instructions:
1. In a cup, pour the yeast into half a cup of warm water. Sit for 15 minutes

2. Mix together the flour and sugar

3. In a giant mixing bowl, make a hole in the center, and pour in the yeast mixture, and the remaining cup of warm water

4. Thoroughly mix the ingredients together.

5. Cover the bowl and let the dough sit for 15 minutes.
6. Knead the dough.

7. Return the dough to the bowl and let it sit in a warm room for an hour or two. The dough should rise.

8. Knead the dough.

9. Roll the dough into small buns. You can also make the buns into creative shapes and sizes (look at my photo gallery for my shapes).

10. Get your steamer ready by boiling some water.

11. Line the steamer with a wet towel, or paper towel, and set your buns in the steamer, about 2 inches apart.

12. Steam for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy!