Rhubarb Compote!

TGIF! We’re finally at the next weekend?

Last weekend I ran out of time so there was no time to bake AT ALL! However, my mom made it clear on Wednesday night that we had to get rid of ALL the rhubarb.  I went straight to search up something.  She seemed like she really wanted to make jam out of it.  I just worry about how sour it would turn out.

After some research and debate, I ended up with choosing to make Rhubarb Compote!

My first time doing compote and here’s how it turned out:

Rhubarb Compote cooled off and stored in a jar 🙂

Here is the link for the recipe: http://www.marthastewart.com/336492/rhubarb-compote?search_key=rhubarb

I followed most of that recipe.  I did add a few little strawberries to the mixture.  For one, I was hoping that it would make it a little sweeter.  Second, I had some in the fridge and wanted to use them up 🙂

This is an extremely quick recipe.  The preparation work, especially cutting the rhubarb is the most time consuming.  Other than that, you pop in a large saucer and you stir while it simmers on reduced heat.  Extremely fast and easy! What more could I ask for, right?

My mom was the first to taste it and she put it on her toast as jam.  She said that it tasted good just a little sour.

Later on after dinner, I wanted to try it with a banana, cut into pieces 🙂

Banana topped with Rhubarb Compote

Then my mom came up with adding in some mango to it! I love mango so it was a keeper!

Add in some Mango! Yummy!

Healthy and delicious! It tasted fantastic! The mangoes were very sweet, banana was perfect (not too ripe and not too raw) then mix in the tart and a little sourish taste of the rhubarb compote and we’re in business! 🙂

I would eat with ice cream but I ran out.  It is also a good combination if that’s more your style!

My rhubarb is almost all used up! I believe the last batch will be done this weekend..then I continue with requests 🙂

Feel free to drop me some requests if you’d like and I’ll line them up to try one by one!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Linguini with Chicken, Broccoli and Peppers in Light Sesame-Ginger Vinaigrette

The main course of Sunday`s meal is finally here.  Its long to type these recipes up or else I`d load you all with it in one post. This turned out to last me to the next night for leftovers and some for lunch as well.

Whats great about this recipe is that its loaded with veggies.  The sauce is quite delicious and pretty healthy as well.  Plus, I love chicken and this had it also.

The recipe is called Orient Express in the Looneyspoons collection by Janet and Greta Podelski and here it is:

Makes 4 Servings

12oz uncooked whole wheat linguini*

2 tsp olive oil*

1 cup chopped onions

2 tsp minced garlic

1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1/4 cup each reduced sodium soy sauce and ketchup*

3 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar*

1 tbsp each freshly squeezed lemon juice, sesame oil and grated gingerroot

2 tsp liquid honey

1 tsp hot pepper sauce *

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp cornstarch

2 cups chopped or sliced cooked chicken breast

1 1/2 cup broccoli florets

1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper*

1 cup carrots, cut into thin strips*

Instructions:

1) Prepare linguini according to package directions. Dran and keep warm.

2) While pasta is cooking, prepare sauce.  Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic.  Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 4 minutes.  Add broth, soy sauce, ketchup, vinegar, lemon juice, sesame oil, gingerroot, honey, hot pepper sauce and black pepper.  Mix well and bring to a boil.  Blend cornstarch with an equal amount of water until smooth.  Add to sauce.  Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and has thickened, about 1 minute.

3) Add cooked chicken pieces, broccoli, red pepper and carrots to sauce.  Mix well.  Cook 3 to 4 minutes, until vegetables are tender-crisp.  Pour chicken-vegetable mixture over warm linguini and toss to coat evenly.  Serve hot.

As usual, I had some modifications and I’ve indicated them with *asterisks.  First of all, I used normal linguini and not whole wheat. I’m still working on the bundles of pasta sitting in my cupboard that my mom bought.  I ran out of olive oil so I used grapeseed oil.  Apparently, its really good for you also.  I lowered the quantity of the ketchup by half.  As for the rice vinegar, I only have the normal type, I’m not sure what seasoned rice vinegar is or what its seasoned with.  I’ll have to look into that and see if it would have made a difference in taste.  I omitted the hot pepper sauce completely as I don’t own it and I wouldn’t be able to eat it if it were added.  As you can see, I decided to dice the carrots and peppers instead of slice in thin strips.  Either would’ve been fine.

Also, I have cooked chicken highlighted because I didn’t read the recipe beforehand and when it came to the part that I needed cooked chicken, I flustered about in the kitchen trying to not spoil the sauce but cook chicken and multitask at my max potential to get it all together. My boyfriend was tremendous help and came to make sure that nothing was burnt and mixed the vegetables and chicken and sauce together when the time came.

This dish tasted A-MAZ-ING! I’m starting to think this cookbook can do no wrong. I think I had one slightly over sweet recipe and changes here and there but most of the time, its absolutely delicious.  I’ll definitely be trying out more of their pasta recipe although, next week, I’ll be aiming to try out the Pad Thai recipe for one.

Some people like the texture of Spaghetti, or they like lasagna, and some like rigatoni, I’m a huge fan of farfalle.  Do you have a special type of pasta that you like?

Sunday Cooking Part 1: Minestrone Soup

Sunday is my day to cook dinner.  Most other days, my boyfriend does the honors because of work schedule of course.  With dragonboat season being on break right now and work calming down a bit, I’ve had time to research and make a decent meal from scratch.  After talking about it for a while, I finally cracked down and made Minestrone Soup.

I’ve never made soup before.  The closest thing to soup I’ve ever made was simmering chinese vegetables and then it would turn into a nice little soup once you put in ginger.  So this was fun but had so much preparation.  I think I spent 30 minutes just chopping all the ingredients and vegetables, etc.  Other than that, it was pretty easy to do.

I found this recipe in a newsletter from my gym (that I used to go to).  I don’t understand why they still have me on the list, but at least its healthy.  It was originally a Turkey Minestrone Soup but my boyfriend and I both prefer Vegetable Minestrone Soup. So as usual, I’ll post the actual recipe and then show the modifications I had done.  I have to translate from a French recipe so if you see any measurement errors, please inform me.

Turkey Minestrone Soup

Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 big onion, diced

2 medium carrots, diced

8 branches of celery, cut in pieces

8 cups (2L) of no-fat chicken broth

3 1/2 cups (871 mL) canned conserved tomatoes, diced

2 cups (500mL) cooked turkey, in cubes

2 2/1 cups (500mL) canned white beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups cooked macaroni (preferably whole wheat)

1 teaspoon dried basil

Salt

Pepper

2 cups spinach, chopped coarsely

Directions:

1) In a big pan, fry garlic and onions in oil for 3 minutes on high heat.  Add the vegetables (carrots and celery), broth, tomatoes, and basil and bring it to a boil.

2) Reduce the temperature and let simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

3) Add in the turkey, the beans, macaroni and the spinach and let it cook for around 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Here’s what I did: I made Vegetable Minestrone.  I didn’t use turkey instead I made another dish which I will post up tomorrow.  I didn’t add macaroni, spinach or basil.  No macaroni because my boyfriend didn’t want it and well, I just forgot to buy spinach altogether (and the basil too).  Also, I replaced the white beans with green ones and I bought them fresh instead of canned.  That didn’t affect the taste in the end.  Believe me on that.  It had plenty of taste as is.  Also, in my terms, I always believed that beans are considered vegetables so I just added it along with the carrots and celery.  I don’t think it made too much difference.

In the end, it turned out really good.  The taste was perfect, there was lots of veggies, everything was balanced, not too sour either.  I think we’ll be exploring more soups.  Meanwhile, Part 2 is coming up tomorrow!

 

Zucchini Bites!

Yes! After a very long time, I have broken out of routine and cooked.  Well, maybe not.  Its more like I baked a main dish (instead of the usual dessert) and they were pretty awesome.

First of all, I’d like to thank the recipe posted up by pumps ‘n iron. The link is here:http://pumpsandiron.com/2012/08/06/zucchini-squash-bites/

You should check out her site.  Its full of awesomeness for workouts, outfits, recipes.

For mine, I just made Zucchini Bites, I’m not a big fan of squash personally but I am a huge fan of zucchini (and I mean HUGE!).  So I replaced squash with even more zucchini.  I also don’t eat cheese so had to take out the cheddar.  Also, I ran out of onions…so I had to replace it with garlic.  I did do the exact portion because if not, I’m not sure anyone would want to be in close vicinities to me.  In the end, it still tasted fantastic.

It smelled and looked really good and was just so yummy.  Just check it out for yourself!

 

I’ve been wanted to give it a second run and its only been a few days.  The next time though, I’m definitely adding in onions, probably would taste even better.

I’m telling you, if you like little easy delicious recipes, this one does the job.  Go ahead and give it a shot!

Baked Rhubarb

From 2 weeks ago, I had rhubarb mentioned in a previous blog(s) where I had made the first batch into Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Bars.  There was a few stalks of rhubarb remaining from that batch.  After a few nights of debating between which recipe to make, either Rhubarb Compote or this recipe.

Clearly, you see who won…BAKED RHUBARB!

Here’s the recipe that I used: http://www.marthastewart.com/328106/baked-rhubarb?center=276955&gallery=275393&slide=259785

This was a wildly simple recipe, which is also why it won.  Just had to toss sugar and rhubarb and let it sit, then tuck it into the oven.  I didn’t have the vanilla bean though so, I think that affected it a bit.  Not as sweet or aroma was different, I’m not quite sure what effect the vanilla bean would’ve had.

Here’s how mine turned out fresh from the oven:

I had to cool it before I could taste it.  I’m lactose intolerant so I used marshmallows to replace heavy cream on the baked rhubarbs.  This is what mine looked like with its little marshmallow complement.

My suggestion though, when choosing rhubarb, red is probably sweeter (yes, I am the newbie at rhubarb, but I got mine for free so I won’t complain) and if you have that heavy cream and you can eat that, please do it.  Rhubarb (especially unripe ones) is extremely sour.  When I chewed that marshmallow with it, it felt like heaven after I had taken a bite of just rhubarb and sweetness exploded in my mouth to cover the sourness from before.  I do say that the texture is really good.  For a cooked fruit, this is one of the better tasting ones.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars

I’m finally back into doing some more baking!

This time was from last weekend’s trip to Rawdon which allowed me to get a big basket of fresh strawberries and a few stalks of rhubarb.  Just a side note, I have a huge obsession with rhubarb.  I even tried to plant it last year but it was a failed attempt.  I will eventually attempt it again though.  Since I manage to get some free rhubarb from my friend’s family chalet, I was able to start trying out recipes.

This was the recipe that won the debate: http://www.marthastewart.com/312987/rhubarb-crumb-bars?center=276955&gallery=275393&slide=257026

For this recipe, I halved the rhubarb portion and replaced with strawberries.  Everything else remained the same.  The only issue I had (or it appeared) was the texture of the  streusel.  It appeared to not be good but after coming out of the fridge (as the recipe says) and the baking, it was perfect.

So fresh out of the oven it came, looking like this:

And a closer view of the streusel texture:

So after a night of cooling (because preparation and baking took longer than I had expected), I cut it into little squares last night.

Just look at how nice it looks.

The aroma and the taste are both very wonderful.   I probably would choose a more shallow and wider baking pan next time though.  This time, the cake was very thick because the pan wasn’t big enough.  Also I would use the parchment paper to line the pan as well so that the cutting process and removing it from the pan would be easier.   This was a great recipe, I’ll definitely be looking into making more crumb bars in the future.

 I still have a few stalks of rhubarb left so this weekend, I will be looking into baking something else.  Another post will be coming really soon! If you have any suggestions, please do tell me.