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Scallion Pancakes

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I made these last week to go with our Peanut Noodles and Chicken I blogged about last Tuesday. These were a great side dish for an Asian infused meal. Very tasty and original.

The only down side was they were a little messy to make and roll out but nothing about them was hard. I originally saw them in Family Fun Magazine back in February 2010. It was an article about cooking with kids and while I wouldn't recommend making them with kids they were still not advanced by any means.

Scallion Pancakes

3 Cups Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Water, plus more for mixing
1/2 Cup Plus Two Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

1) In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt then form the mixture into a mound. Make a well in the center and add the water, first filling the well, then pouring what remains around the sides of the bowl. Use a large spoon or rubber spatula to combine the ingredients into a soft, raggedy dough. If it doesn't pull together after about a minute of stirring, add water, one tablespoon at a time(up to 4), to help the dough take shape.

2) Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it into a ball. Working with floured hands, knead the dough until it's smooth and springy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Shape it back into a ball and set it aside to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

3) While the dough rests chop the scallions then set aside.

4) Roll the dough into a log. Halve it crosswise, then cut each half into three pieces. Place five of the portions in a large bowl and cover it with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap.

5) Dust your hands and work surface with flour. Roll the sixth dough portion into a fairly round, 1/4 inch thick pancake. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil onto the dough and spread it evenly over the pancake. Scatter 2 generous tablespoons of chopped scallion on top, leaving a 1 inch border.

6) Roll the pancake into a log. Beginning at one end, wind the log into a spiral as if shaping a cinnamon roll, then tuck the loose end underneath. Use your palm to gently press the dough into a disk. Dust the dough lightly with flour, then roll it into a pancake 6 to 7 inches in diameter.

7) Warm a medium size skillet over medium high heat, then coat the pan with 1 1/2 teaspoons of vegetable oil. use a scallion slice to test the temperature of the oil. If it sizzles at once, the oil is ready for frying. If it doesn't , wait about 30 seconds and retest the oil with another scallion slice, repeating as necessary until the oil is hot.

8) Carefully lay the pancake in the skillet and fry it until its edges puff up and the bottom is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Flip the pancake, drizzle another 1/2 teaspoon of oil around the edges of the pan, and continue frying until the second side is golden brown, about 3 minutes m0re. Transfer the pancake to a serving plate.

9) Repeat Steps 5 through 8 for each remaining dough portion. Serve the pancakes hot or warm, cut into quarters or sixths.

Since some of these steps are a little hard to visualize so check out this link with pictures to Family Fun Magazine.

Enjoy!

Peanut Noodles and Chicken

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Whenever I make a dinner that my husband gets excited about it makes me happy. When he ate this one he said "Put it in the binder!" referring to the binder of our family favorites. I was happy about that because it was EASY!

I pulled this recipe from Family Circle Magazine back in October 2010 and it took me until now to try it. I was prompted by the desire to use up stuff in my freezer and chicken was on the list. I cheaped out on the bean spouts and cucumbers the recipe calls for but maybe when I make it this summer and we have more cucumbers than we know what to do with.

If you have leftover chicken this recipe is perfect.

Ok I think I have gone on and on about this enough. Add it to your menu plan for next week and you will be happy.

Peanut Noodles and Chicken

1/2 Pound Linguine
2 T Soy Sauce
2 T Lemon Juice
1/2 t Cornstarch
1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
2 Cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1/2 t Sugar
1/4 t Red Pepper Flakes
1 t Sesame Oil
1 Pound Cooked Chicken, shredded
1/2 Cucumber, peeled and cut into 2-inch matchsticks
1/2 Cup Bean Sprouts

Cook linguine following package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Mix together the soy sauce, lemon juice and cornstarch. In a medium size saucepan, combine peanut butter, garlic, sugar, reed pepper flakes and 1/2 cup hot water. Whisk in the soy sauce mixture and bring to a simmer. Whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat; stir in the sesame oil.

In a large bowl, toss together linguine, chicken and peanut butter mixture. Scatter cucumber and bean spouts over the top and serve at room temperature.

Ravioli With Arugula and Pecorino Romano or Parmesan Cheese

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Tonight I made a new recipe for my little family - me, my husband, and our cat who was looking at me and so I let him smell it. Needless to say, he did not like it. Should I be offended? : ) Anyways, I was looking through recipes online and found this recipe on Eating Well. I think I made too much dressing because the arugula was a little soggy. It is a fun and interesting idea to have arugula in your pasta so I might try this again. It definitely helped us reach our veggie count for the day. Overall, I am not sure about this recipe but the reviews are great on the Eating Well website. My final suggestion would be to add bacon or walnuts. That would make this dish much better. If you decide to try it, let us know in the comments section below.


Have a great weekend! Sheena will be back on Tuesday.

Homemade Rice A Roni

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We had friends over for dinner on Saturday for a turkey that we smoked on the Traeger. It was amazing and so moist. If you have a Traeger grill I highly recommend trying a turkey on it. For me, however, the real star of the meal was the sides!

I made Garlic Cheese Rolls from Our Best Bites and Homemade Rice A Roni from Food Network Magazine.

First of all the Garlic Cheese Rolls were AMAZING! I had made them before but this time I didn't put them in a muffin tin like suggested. Instead I baked them in a 13x9" pan like cinnamon rolls. This kept the rolls softer and gooey in the center. My mouth waters just thinking of them. They came out of the oven about 20 minutes before the rest of the meal was ready and non of us could keep away from them. They ended up being appetizers as well as a side dish.

The Homemade Rice A Roni was also fantastic and so easy! I have now added it to "the binder" which means it is a new family favorite. I am always looking for side dish ideas and this was perfect. The recipe was from Food Network magazine but I am not sure which issue because I tore it out of the magazine to try. I love food network magazine and always find many things in every issue I want to try.



Homemade Rice A Roni (they call it Rice-Pasta Pilaf)

Toast 1/2 cup broken spaghetti in a pot over medium high heat with 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in 1 cup rice add 2 cups chicken broth, 1 cup water, 2 garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon salt. Boil for 3 minutes, then stir, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes; fluff with a fork and smash the garlic. Stir in some butter and cilantro.

Tomato Stuffed with Quinoa

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This week at work I got the opportunity to speak at a childhood obesity prevention workshop. We were highlighting the We Can! (Ways to Enhance Childhood Activity and Nutrition) program from the National Institutes of Health. If you have children, I highly recommend checking out the We Can! website. Anyways, they have a cookbook that I brought home and I am going to start trying some of the recipes. They are super healthy and kid friendly.


The first recipe was this Tomato Stuffed Quinoa. I ended up changing the recipe a little bit with the ingredients I had on hand. It was really yummy and looked so pretty! The cookbook says to use this as a vegetable side dish but since we are eating more vegetarian lately, it looked like a good stand alone meal as well.

Ingredients:
1/2 Chopped Onion
3 Cloves Chopped Garlic
1/2 Chopped Green Pepper
2 Tablespoons Chopped Parsley
1 Cup Quinoa
2 Tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350. Over medium heat, saute onions and garlic first then add the green pepper (or any other vegetables that you think would be good). Cook the quinoa according to directions and add to the mixed ingredients. Hallow the tomato and place the quinoa mixture into the tomato. Cook the stuffed tomato for 15-20 minutes or until soft. Serve immediately.

Yummm!

Rich Gooey Chocolate Cake

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How does the week go by so fast? My new goal of posting every Tuesday was all but entirely forgotten until I was laying in bed at 11:00 last night. So better late than never...right?

This cake was something I spotted online when I was researching how to use up cake mixes I have. It jumped out at me because it looked very similar to Black Bottom Cupcakes a friend of mine made for us a few times. They were/are one of my husbands favorite desserts so I figured this was worth a shot. Also who can pass up a dessert with the name Fudge Lover's Cream Cheese Cake?

This turned out so good and gooey which I liked. I served it warm with vanilla ice cream that made it even better. It is a large recipe though so make it when you are expecting company. I took it to a family dinner for 6 and we still had leftovers. The leftovers were ok with my husband since he snacked on them the rest of the week.

I didn't make any alterations to the original Betty Crocker recipe so instead of copying it all down here follow this link. She took better pictures too!

Enjoy!

Feeding my Cravings: Macaroni and Cheese

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After church on Sunday I was in the mood for gooey warm delicious macaroni and cheese. I had a loaf of Pepper Jack cheese in the fridge that I wanted to use up so I decided to try it in mac and cheese. Of course my cooking began by scouring the Internet for what looked like the best recipe. I ended up deciding on an Alton Brown recipe from Food Network.com.

It was a bit more labor intensive than my quick macaroni and cheese that I have been making for years but so worth it. Right out of the oven with a crunchy top and oozing with cheese center. Perfect meal for a cold Sunday afternoon.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese by Alton Brown
(*with small changes by Sheena)

  • 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1 tablespoon powdered mustard
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 large egg
  • 12 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded*
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Fresh black pepper

Topping:

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup crushed cornflakes*

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

Temper in the egg (Put a small amount of the hot mixture onto the egg and combine to slowly warm the egg up before adding it to the rest of the hot mixture. I had to watch the video on Food Network to know what that meant). Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the crushed cornflakes to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.