Celebrating the Holidays with A Matcha Cookie Tree

December 31, 2021

The holidays are upon us again this year. Originally, the plan was for my family to visit Kev and I in Mass, but due to the ongoing pandemic, my family decided to postpone until the future. This means the holidays this year will be just Kev and I again. Kev usually requests some form of Chinese food during the holidays. His favorite are obviously soup dumplings, which I made plenty of for the holiday season last year. We simplified Christmas this year with a much simpler meal consisting of my mom’s rice cakes featuring lap cheung, dried baby shrimps, scallions, and minced garlic. For dessert, instead of the matcha chocolate log roll I made last year for Christmas, I scaled back on baking and made a simple matcha cookie tree decorated with vanilla buttercream and some festive gold sprinkles. More to come on the matcha cookie tree in a little bit. Going back to our Christmas celebration, we had to scale back on desserts this year because of all the holiday treats we’ve been indulging in lately. Kev and I have been snacking on chocolate biscuits, over-the-top hot chocolate, and savory holiday snacks. The pre-pandemic holidays are usually a time where we head back to New York City to visit family. Kev always looks forward to the trip because he knows we typically make a trip out to Manhattan or Queens just so he could get his fix of soup dumplings. It’s his absolute favorite food in the entire world and he requests it all the time for special occasions. I started making soup dumplings back when I lived in Ohio because of how difficult it was to access legit soup dumplings in Ohio. The soup dumplings do take some effort to prepare at home, but it’s usually worth the effort just to see the joy on Kev’s face as he enjoys the soup dumplings. This year, for our simplified Christmas celebration, I spent the morning FaceTiming mom to learn how to prepare her rice cakes. I had initially planned on making turnip cakes, but somehow, I forgot to pick up turnips at the Asian grocery store earlier in the week. My mom’s solution was to make rice cakes instead, another savory dish I ate a ton of growing up in Brooklyn. I followed my mom’s instructions for the rice cakes to the best of my ability and they turned out pretty well given the instructions from my mom often lack measurements. (I’m currently working on refining the recipe to share in a later post.) While I was preparing the rice cakes, I set out the ingredients I would use to make my matcha cookie tree. I first developed these matcha cookies last year when trying to create a matcha version of a butter cookie. When testing out the recipe last year in the days leading up to the holiday season, I played around with different types of flours and ratios of ingredients until I came up with the ideal combination of an all-purpose flour and cake flour blend. The all-purpose flour allowed the cookies to maintain a firmer structure, while the cake flour helped the cookies achieve the perfect tenderness. When combined together, I was able to get a cookie with the perfect balance of tenderness and structure. Instead of just matcha cookies, I divided the batter in half and made a raspberry version featuring freeze-dried raspberries grounded into a powder form. The raspberry version ended up developing a deeper purplish color rather than a vibrant red. The matcha cookies came out a perfect shade of light green. As I was piping out the cookies, I took care to pipe out different sizes for my vision of a stacked holiday cookie tree. The cookies did not take long to bake at all. Ten minutes in the oven was all the cookies needed to reach the perfect consistency. The cookies are amazing straight out of the oven, but they also stay perfectly tender as they cool to room temperature. Letting the cookies cool before decorating them is essential for building the holiday cookie tree. When the cookies have cooled sufficiently, I whipped together the simplest vanilla buttercream using just unsalted butter, confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. I even brought out my festive gold sprinkles for decorating the holiday cookie tree. Building the holiday cookie tree was the fun part. I started by dabbing on some buttercream frosting and placing the largest cookie at the bottom of a small cake stand. Then, I started layering on smaller cookies and adding layers of buttercream frosting in between each of the cookies. When I finished building the tree, I moved onto decorating the tree with gold sprinkles to ensure the frosting did not harden before the sprinkles have adhered to the tree. Once I finished decorating the tree, I had to set it out to snap some photos before serving it up as the centerpiece dessert for our dinner. The holiday cookie tree was so pretty, neither Kev nor I wanted to cut into it. We wanted to soak in the lovely dessert for just a bit longer before enjoying it. As we rounded out our dinner with a simple stir-fried rice noodle and yu choy, we sat around our Christmas tree just a while longer to enjoy the final moments of Christmas before the clock struck midnight. Our Christmas holiday was finally complete. Hopefully, by next year, we will be able to gather with family once more. Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Thanksgiving in Massachusetts, Holiday Festivities, and Aged Gouda Herb Biscuits

December 05, 2021

December 5, 2021

Hello from Massachusetts! Kev and I have finally settled into our new home in Massachusetts. We are approaching our second full month of living in our new home out in the quiet-ish suburbs. It took a bit of time for both Kev and I to adjust to our new home, a new state, and two new roles. My family in particular has been super excited for us to move back to the East Coast since we will only be a few hours away by car. When the holidays started to inch closer this year, Kev and I invited my parents to stay with us for a week and celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Thanksgiving in our family is an important time to gather, enjoy good food, and celebrate all the things we are thankful for throughout the year. It is one of the few holidays throughout the year where we spend almost the entire day cooking up a feast in the kitchen. Even though we just settled into our new home, there was no way we were going to skip the tradition this year. With my parents visiting this year, I was even more excited to roast up a whole turkey and some succulent side dishes. I absolutely love Thanksgiving weekend because of all the festivities packed into one weekend no matter the year. The festivities start on Wednesday night as we prep as much as we could before Thanksgiving Day. For me, it’s usually brining the turkey in vegetable broth seasoned generously with kosher salt, black paper, and a few squeezes of fresh orange juice from a whole orange. When the turkey is brined, I move onto cubing the loaf of bread and setting it out to dry out on the counter before I use it for dressing the next day. The final prep work I like to do before Thanksgiving Day is to prepare the pie crust dough using my trusty food processor. With just a handful of ingredients and a few pulses, the pie dough comes together in almost no time. The next day, I can transfer the pie dough from the fridge to the kitchen island and let it rest for 10 minutes before I begin rolling it out for my pie. Any leftover pie dough on Thanksgiving Day is cut into small triangles and used to make pigs in a blanket for an easy afternoon appetizer before the evening feast. Once those three tasks are crossed off my prep list, I can calmly go to bed. The next day, I wake up early to prepare my aged Gouda herb biscuits with a simple mushroom gravy. My take on biscuits and gravy is a great way to start off Thanksgiving Day with a filling breakfast. Mom and I wake up early to prepare the biscuit dough for the Gouda herb biscuits. Usually, when I make biscuits, I only prepare one batch of biscuits, which yields 8 biscuits. This time though, I decide to double the batch just to ensure we have enough for both breakfast and dinner. The Gouda herb biscuits are super easy to make and come together fairly quickly in the oven. The base of the biscuits starts with all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, granulated sugar, and unsalted butter. We use our hands to crumble the ingredients together until we form coarse crumbs. Mom then tosses in the Gouda cheese directly into a large bowl as I toss in the oregano and crack in tons of freshly cracked black pepper. We pour in enough milk (¾ cup) to allow the biscuit dough to come together. I use a flower shaped cookie cutter roughly the size of a biscuit cutter to cut out floral shaped biscuits from the biscuit dough. Mom arranges the biscuits neatly across two large baking sheets lined with parchment paper, brushes on some whole milk, and grates additional cheese on top of the unbaked biscuits. I top the biscuits with additional herb and kosher salt before carefully transferring the baking sheets into the oven to allow the biscuits to bake for about 13 minutes at 425°F. Once the biscuits were puffed up and golden brown around the edges, they were ready. While the biscuits were baking away in the oven, I made a quick mushroom gravy using unsalted butter, ap flour, diced onion, minced garlic, thinly sliced baby portabella mushrooms, kosher salt, and whole milk. In about ten minutes, the mushroom gravy was ready for serving. Mom, Dad, Kev, and I gathered across the dining table and ate breakfast together for the first time in a few months. We filled our bellies with the fluffiest cheesy biscuits and shroom gravy before moving on to prepare the rest of our Thanksgiving dinner menu. Mom assisted me with making my cheddar apple pie and roasting a whole turkey rubbed with rosemary olive oil butter. To round out the rest of our menu, we whipped together a sausage dressing, layered on the green bean casserole, tossed together some roasted potatoes, stirred up the fresh orange cinnamon cranberry sauce, and scraped together the turkey drippings for a simple pan gravy. By 6:00 p.m., Thanksgiving dinner was finally ready. We invited one of Kev’s friends, Clay, to join us for dinner. The five of us ate and chatted into the evening. When dinner ended, dad carved up as much of the turkey meat as he could before mom transferred the bones of the turkey into a slow cooker to make turkey soup. Clay brought home some of the leftovers while we saved the rest for the next few days. With another Thanksgiving dinner successfully done, we retired to bed early to enjoy the rest of our weekend festivities – exploring downtown Boston on Friday afternoon and watching the one and only game on Saturday. The win on Saturday was the cherry on top of a truly wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Now, I can’t wait until Christmas festivities begin.

Goodbye to Ohio and Black Raspberry Hazelnut Chocolate Pastry Pockets

October 31, 2021

It is with a bittersweet heart that we officially say goodbye to our home in Ohio. Kev has been offered a promotional opportunity within his company, which requires us to relocate to Massachusetts. My post today will be dedicated to Ohio-themed pastry pockets, a nod to a place we’ve called home for the last several years. Ohio was the first place Kev moved to shortly after college. I joined Kev in Ohio after stopping through Chicago to teach high school for a few years. Initially, when I moved to Ohio for work just over six years ago, I never thought I would grow to love life in Ohio. As time passed, I started to realize how much Ohio had to offer – wonderful people and even better cost of living. Everything cost a dollar or two less than what I was used to growing up in New York. In a few short years, Ohio became our home. We were very happy living in Ohio and thought it would be where we would land permanently. Of course, life doesn’t always work the way we imagine it. When May rolled around, Kev sat me down and let me know he was offered a promotion within his company with the caveat that the position was located in Boston. We had many discussions and sleepless nights discussing what relocating to Massachusetts would mean for us. By the end of summer, we had decided the move would be beneficial for both of us. It was located in the New England area, which meant my family was only a few hours away by car. We packed up all our belongings, said our goodbyes and moved to Massachusetts. The last recipe I developed in our home in Ohio was my take on pastry pockets. I wanted to make some Ohio-themed pastry pockets featuring one of my favorite ice cream flavors from my favorite ice cream shop in Ohio, Graeter’s. When I first visited Ohio, Kev tried to help me assimilate to a new area by taking me to some of the popular food shops in Ohio. One shop, an ice cream shop, was known for its amazing ice cream. The most popular flavor among our friends was the black raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream. The ice cream featured a beautiful purple hue and was flavored by the fruity and tart flavors of black raspberry. The black raspberry ice cream weaved in large chunks of chocolate chunks. I definitely had a moment of love at first bite when I tasted the ice cream. I loved the combination of a slightly tart, sweet fruity black raspberry ice cream paired with a bittersweet chocolate. The marriage of flavors struck my tastebuds in a familiar yet new way. I loved the ice cream so much, I just could not get myself to buy any other flavor of ice cream whenever I visited the ice cream shop. The flavors stayed on my mind for years after. When I came across a black raspberry jam sold at the local supermarket near our home in Ohio, I could not help myself but to buy a couple jars of black raspberry jam. The black raspberry jam led me to creating my black raspberry hazelnut chocolate pastry pockets. My first exposure to pastry pockets was in the form of Pop Tarts, a treat I ate one too many times throughout my childhood. I loved trying new varieties and popping the tarts into my toaster oven to warm them up right before serving. When I got older, I stopped eating them and instead starting making my own version in the form of pastry pockets. There is no better way to say goodbye to our home in Ohio than to make Ohio-themed pastry pockets. My take on pastry pockets features my trusty pie dough recipe prepared in advance and chilled. The chilled pie dough is rolled out, cut into the state of Ohio shapes, and filled with melted chocolate, crushed hazelnuts, and black raspberry jam. I seal up the pastry pockets by crimping the edges with a fork, brushing on some egg wash, piercing some holes into the pastry pockets to allow for venting, and baking them to golden-brown perfection. When they are out of the oven, I let them cool slightly before topping them with a black raspberry glaze and colorful sprinkles. My black raspberry hazelnut chocolate pastry pockets taste best when served warm. Biting into one seems to seamlessly transport me back to moments of my childhood enjoying Pop Tarts and moments of my adulthood settling into Ohio life. Kev and I enjoyed the pastry pockets as we toasted to our time living in Ohio. Ohio will forever hold a special place in our hearts. For now, farewell to Ohio!

Mushroom and Chicken Dumplings with Vinegar Soy Dip

October 10, 2021

Fall weather has arrived. I can feel the crisp, cool weather all around me as I stroll through the streets. I have even begun dusting off my fall sweaters and preparing to wear them throughout the season. Fall time is the best time to enjoy cozy, warm foods and spiced drinks. One of my favorite foods to make pretty much year-round, but especially during the fall time is dumplings. My usual go-to dumplings are my pork and cabbage dumplings. They are a family (and friend) favorite in our household. Dumplings are one of those food items where both Kev and I ate tons of growing up. Kev grew up in Hong Kong, so his experience with dumplings differs quite a bit from my own experience. Kev’s favorite dumplings of all time will forever be soup dumplings. He would order soup dumplings whenever and wherever the opportunity arises. For me, I prefer traditional pork dumplings served both fried and steamed. My experience with dumplings was heavily influenced by the variety of dumplings I ate growing up in New York City. I would hop onto the train and take it straight into Chinatown just so I can enjoy some steaming hot dumplings from any one of the restaurants throughout Chinatown. Even on days where I chose not to head straight to Chinatown for dumplings, I usually could access equally good dumplings in the Brooklyn neighborhood where I grew up. My family loved dumplings. They would order them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner whenever the opportunity arises. The popular options served in the restaurants I grew up eating at were usually pork, vegetable, or crab. While I enjoy all three, my favorite is still pork dumplings. These plump juicy gems are always a welcome addition to the dining table. Lately though, I’ve been making a version of dumplings featuring a blend of mushrooms, ground chicken, and aromatics. The composition of a truly good dumpling is a thin wrapper (although I do prefer a thicker wrapper at times) and a juicy filling. Pairing ground meat with a watery vegetable usually does the trick. You get the juiciness of the dumplings from the combination of the ground pork and watery cabbage. Those features are what make pork and cabbage dumplings so good. Since ground chicken is a leaner meat, pairing the ground chicken with a juicy mushroom achieves the same juicy effect. My mushroom of choice is of course dried shiitake mushrooms. The dried variety has a stronger punch of flavor and pairs perfectly with the ground chicken once the mushrooms are reconstituted in some water. The rest of the filling for the dumplings are rounded out with the Asian trifecta of ginger, garlic, and scallion, and a variety of sauces and seasonings to pack in a flavorful punch. My favorite way to cook the dumplings is to fry and steam them in a large pan. I start out with a layer of cooking oil, transfer in the dumplings one by one, let them crisp up at the bottom, add water to steam the dumplings, let the water evaporate, and let the dumplings fry a little bit longer before serving them up. The dipping sauce for the dumplings is always a blend of vinegar and soy sauce with optional garnishes added to brighten up the dipping sauce. These dumplings are so good, we just cannot get enough of them in our household. Even though soup dumplings and traditional pork dumplings still hold the first rank in Kev’s heart, he is slowly beginning to make room in his heart for these mushroom and chicken dumplings. The balance of flavors and textures within these dumplings is what makes them truly delicious.

Baking Up Blueberry Lavender Scones for Brunch

September 26, 2021

September 26, 2021

Fall weather is just around the corner. With September winding down and warmer temp slowly turning to cooler temp, I can’t help but to try to get the most out of the in-season summer produce while I still can. Fall is one of my favorite seasons for many reasons. I love the cooler, crisp weather, the start of cozy sweaters and cardigans, and the transition to spiced foods and drinks. I am anxiously waiting for the spiced drinks to fill coffee shop menus throughout the states. Before summer ends, I definitely want to enjoy the warmer weather a bit more. Lately, I have been experimenting with infusing dried lavender flowers in sweet (and dare I say savory) dishes. My obsession with lavender began shortly after I discovered the magically delicious blueberry lavender almond beverage at a local Trader Joe’s near our home in Ohio one Saturday afternoon. Kev and I went to pick up groceries at Trader Joe’s and I made my way through each of the aisles hoping to discover a cool new snack. As I scanned through each aisle, my eyes were drawn to a nicely packaged container with the words “Blueberry Lavender Flavored Almond Beverage” printed across it. The beautiful contrast of the white and lavender packaging definitely caught my attention. What was more intriguing was the pairing of a fruity berry with a floral herb. I immediately grabbed a couple cartons of the beverage out of curiosity without even thinking twice and made my way to the register along with some other groceries. The instructions on the carton indicated the drink can be consumed cold or warm. I enjoyed the beverage warm more than cold. It didn’t take long before I became hooked on the drink. There was just something about the drink I found very comforting. I loved the hint of fruity blueberry and fragrant lavender laced throughout the drink. The flavors just seemed to complement one another very well. The drink inspired me to apply the flavor combination into one of my favorite morning treats – scones. My experiments led me to the creation of my blueberry lavender scones featuring bursting blueberries and fragrant lavender layered throughout my favorite version of scones. To test out the scones, I baked them up for a weekend brunch at a neighbor’s home. I folded some frozen blueberries and dried lavender flowers directly into my dough for scones, cut them into equal pieces, and baked them to golden brown perfection in a high temperature oven. Of course, when making scones, I had to reserve some of the dried lavender flowers to make a side of honey butter. Scones and honey butter is a staple treat in our home. Kev always requests extra honey butter to spread all over his scone. The amount of honey butter on his scone probably weighs more than the scone itself. I like just a hint of honey butter spread thinly across parts of my scone. I usually let the scone itself shine. When baking up the scones to bring for brunch, I packed along some homemade lavender honey butter as well. Honey butter is super easy to make and requires just some room temperature unsalted butter and a heavy dollop of honey. Folding in the dried lavender flowers into the honey butter was definitely a game changer as it added a wonderful fragrance to the already fragrant scones. When the test scones were done, I packed them up neatly and toted them to brunch. The moment I brought the scones to the table, they went flying off the table. Most people were intrigued by the combination of flavors. The blueberry lavender scones turned out to be a hit, so I ended up making them a couple more times for casual brunches shortly after. The best part of these scones is how easy they are to pull together. I pretty much just combine all ingredients together in a bowl, roll out the dough, cut them out, transfer them to a sheet pan, and pop them into the oven to work its magic. I sometimes watch the scones rise in the oven as they are baking through the oven door. Even before the timer on the oven is up, I can smell the delicious scent of the scones filling each and every corner of the kitchen. I often hover by the oven to make sure I snag a warm scone straight out of the oven. They are the absolute best when eaten straight out of the oven. Add on a swipe of lavender honey butter and the scones are perfect for serving.

Slow Cooked Mushroom Congee Served with Carrot Scallion Pancakes

September 12, 2021

The arrival of September means the start of football season. We’ve been waiting anxiously for the start of football season after Michigan’s performance last year. So far, the first couple of games have resulted in wins. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the remainder of the season as we face other opponents in our conference. In between watching football games, Kev and I have been doing some pre-fall cleaning in our home. We have some major changes coming up in the near future and needed to prioritize cleaning our home. It always seems a lot easier to accumulate stuff than to toss stuff out. I have to confess I have such a hard time tossing out (and donating) old clothes. During these busier days ahead, I’ve been turning to a dish I make a lot of on busy days, congee. Mushroom congee slow cooked and served with carrot scallion pancakes to be exact. Congee is something both Kev and I ate a lot of growing up even though we both grew up on opposite sides of the world. Kev grew up eating the variations of congee offered in the many shops available throughout Hong Kong. I grew up eating many versions of congee made by my family and influenced by the shops available throughout New York City. My grandparents and parents made congee almost weekly for me throughout my childhood and teenage years. Our household favorite version of congee is usually thousand-year egg and salted pork congee topped with roasted peanuts. It is one of the more popular versions of congee sold at shops throughout New York City’s Chinatown. This version of congee is very nostalgic for me and often reminds me of the childhood memories I had of my grandparents. These days, I often turn to simpler versions of congee as a way to save time. One of my go-to versions of congee is a variation of congee using dong gu (a.k.a. dried shiitake mushroom). I love cooking with dried shiitake mushrooms because of the deep, savory flavor imparted by the dried mushrooms into dishes. All I need to do is to toss in a handful of reconstituted dried whole mushrooms into a pot of congee and let it cook low and slow until ready to serve. With the addition of the dried mushrooms and some kosher salt, I get a delicious, savory pot of congee. Depending on my mood, I may or may not top my congee with even more toppings such as hard-boiled eggs, shredded chicken, diced char siu, chopped cilantro, sliced scallions, and a drizzle of my grandfather’s favorite oil and sauces – sesame oil, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. He swears by the trio of oil and sauces when serving up congee since they add depth and intensity of flavor to any bowl of congee. If I’m short on time, I usually just toss the ingredients into a slow cooker and let the slow cooker do all of the work for the congee overnight for an easy (set it and forget it) version of congee. On weekends, when I have more time to cook, I tend to cook the congee low and slow over a stovetop. This method does require more care as I need to stir the congee over the stovetop occasionally to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot. There is no other comfort food in our household like a bowl of warm congee topped with my grandfather’s trio of oil and sauces to help warm the soul. Making this dish always brings back heartwarming memories of the endless variations of congees my family used to make for me growing up. My family usually serves up congee with a heavy helping of you tiao, a type of Chinese fried dough usually in the form of sticks. We would dip the you tiao into our bowls of congee and eat the congee soaked you tiao for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I prefer serving some form of savory pancakes with my congee. My latest addiction to serve with congee is carrot scallion pancakes. These savory pancakes make for a super easy, savory, crispy, and addicting side to serve with a warming bowl of congee.

Summer Travels and Favorite Summer Salads

August 30, 2021

Summer time is also the perfect time to make a variety of refreshing salads. One of my more recent favorite salads was very loosely inspired by a salad I had last month at Ladybird in New York City. I had returned back to New York to visit family and ended up heading to the city to have lunch with my little brother at Ladybird, a vegan restaurant I have been eyeing from afar for quite some time now. We enjoyed a variety of vegan tapas from baos to mac & cheese. Out of all the items I had on the menu, the summer salad was my absolute favorite dish. All of the seasonal ingredients came together into a remarkably simple, yet super refreshing and tasty salad. I couldn’t quite forget the flavors I tasted within the salad and made a mental note to try to recreate it when I got back to Ohio. When I made the refreshing summer salad at home, I did deviate from the version I had at Ladybird quite a bit. My version featured a refreshing blend of diced cucumber, peach, nectarine, orange, and strawberries tossed with a squeeze of lemon juice. Crushed pistachios, caraway seeds, and thinly sliced mint leaves are added at the very end to give the refreshing summer salad some crunch and fragrance. My variation of the refreshing summer salad made for the perfect accompaniment to heavier main dishes. I served it alongside roasted meats, grilled bread, and chicken salad. I love the versatility of the salad and would swap in other seasonal fruits I had on hand when making it. The summer salad does take some time to prep, but I promise the end result is so worth the extra effort of prepping the ingredients. I’ve become so addicted to this summer salad, I found myself coming back to it time and time again over the last month. Even after returning from our summer travels, I am still thinking of the summer salad. Kevin loves to enjoy this summer salad alongside heavier summer dishes. This way, he can feel better about eating a more balanced meal. I’m okay with just enjoying this summer salad with some grilled bread as a light lunch or snack.

Summer Cooking and Jalapeño Macaroni and Cheese

August 14, 2021

We are in the midst of summer heat as we enter the middle of August. The month of August has been spent recovering from our travels last month. Kev and I hosted some friends in our home and then traveled to visit family and friends in New York and Boston. We had a blast reconnecting with family and friends, cooking and eating delicious food, and relaxing a bit before returning back to the daily grind. In my last post, I shared a tried-and-true recipe for my barbecue spare ribs, a dish I often make for family and friends throughout summer gatherings. In the same post, I shared photos of side dishes I love to serve with my barbecue spare ribs. One of those side dishes – which has become a favorite in our household – is jalapeño macaroni and cheese. I developed the recipe for my jalapeño macaroni and cheese on a whim one day. I was short on time and needed to get dinner to the dining table ASAP. I could not decide what I wanted to eat and just ended up staring deep into my pantry and refrigerator for inspiration. I kept staring until inspiration finally struck. I would combine the jalapeños I had lying around in the refrigerator (after making bánh mì) and the cheddar cheese powder I had left over (from making my twist on Chicago mix popcorn) together to make jalapeño macaroni and cheese. Thus, my recipe for jalapeño macaroni and cheese was born. Jalapeño macaroni and cheese is one of the easiest and cheesiest ideas for macaroni and cheese. It requires just a few ingredients and comes together very quickly. The jalapeños give the macaroni and cheese a kick and pairs nicely with the creamy cheese. The combination of flavors was in part inspired by the addictive jalapeño cheddar flavored Cheetos I used to eat back in my college days. I lost count of how many bags of those addictive snacks I ate throughout my college years. When I got older, I tried my very best to refrain from eating the addicting puffed corn snacks as much as I could (because of health). Yet, I still find myself reaching for the snack whenever the opportunity arises in vending machines. When making my jalapeño macaroni and cheese, I thought back to the flavor profile of the jalapeño cheddar Cheetos as inspiration. For the jalapeño macaroni and cheese, I opted for the cavatappi or cellentani pasta shape because of how well the pasta shape holds in heavy sauces. The first time I made jalapeño macaroni and cheese using the cheese powder, I poured in some water to help create the smooth cheese consistency. The second and third time I made jalapeño macaroni and cheese, I went straight for milk for a creamier consistency. I sometimes add in half milk and half water depending on the day. The easiest part of my jalapeño macaroni and cheese is it only requires one pot to prepare from start to finish. I start off with a large pot of water. The water is brought to a boil. I add in some kosher salt and gently toss in the dry pasta. I follow the instructions on the package of pasta and cook until al dente perfection. I drain out most of the starchy pasta water leaving about ¼ cup of starchy pasta water in the pot. I then sprinkle in the cheddar cheese powder, some parmesan cheese powder, kosher salt as needed, and jalapeño slices. Depending on how much heat my guests can withstand, I decide how much of the seeds to remove from the jalapeño ahead of time. In less than 30 minutes, a super easy, quick, and delicious jalapeño macaroni and cheese can be brought to the dinner table.

Summer Travels and Barbecue Spare Ribs

July 31, 2021

July has been a busy month in our family. I started the month off deep in recipe development mode and experimented with putting new spins on some of my favorite summer foods. Some of those delightful creations include my strawberry, chocolate, and hazelnut date bars loosely inspired by my love for Lärabars and a summer vegetable garden tart inspired by beautiful images I’ve seen all over the internet of garden focaccia. In between cooking, baking, general work and home projects, Kev and I also squeezed in some time to host some friends for a week at our home and travel to see family and friends on the East coast. I was eager to see two of my close friends when they visited a few weeks ago. My close childhood friends, Ada and Colleen, traveled to Ohio to visit me and check out some of the fun attractions in Ohio. We spent some time enjoying the delicious baked treats at Findlay Market early Sunday morning and then enjoyed a light lunch at Pho Lang Thang. With our bellies full, we headed to the Cincinnati Art Museum to check out some of the cool new exhibits before making our way to Jungle Jim’s for a grocery shopping experience. Ada was especially excited to check out the options at Jungle Jim’s. Colleen was just excited to see what kind of kitchen creations we would come up with after the grocery trip. We picked up enough groceries to last us for the whole week. For dinner on Sunday, Ada prepared some lobster rolls complete with lobster bisque – two dishes I absolutely adore, but don’t have the opportunity to enjoy too often. Ada, who lives in Maine, is able to access these decadent dishes fairly easily. I asked Ada to prepare some of her favorite versions of these two dishes and she definitely did not disappoint. Even though we still had to work throughout the week, we were able to enjoy dinner together every weeknight and squeeze in a board game each night for the entire week. When Thursday rolled around, we celebrated Ada’s birthday in the evening, packed our bags for our trip back home to New York City, and chatted into the late evening and early morning.

Summer Vegetable Garden Tart

July 16, 2021

We are in the midst of summer in Ohio. Summer in Ohio is when a lot of produce is at its peak of freshness. It’s the perfect time to incorporate as many fresh fruits and veggies into the food I cook as I can. I’ve been seeing a lot of amazing garden focaccia floating around the internet and felt inspired to create my own version. Instead of a garden focaccia, I opted to make a garden tart featuring spears of fresh asparagus, slices of beautiful heirloom tomatoes, discs of colorful baby potatoes, and rounds of jalapeños. The vegetables are sliced, trimmed, and arranged artfully over a canvas of homemade pie dough. The pie dough is then baked into a stunning tart making for both a stunning and delicious summer meal. Summer vegetable tarts are one of my favorite easy meals to whip together during busy weeks. This month has been especially busy in our household with projects at work picking up, family and friends visiting, and home appliances needing to be fixed. When it comes to busier days, I like to find ways to make simple, homemade meals using as little effort as possible. This is where my garden tart comes in. Not only is it super easy to pull together, it also makes for a tasty main dish. I just freehand the design using some of the produce I have on hand, bake up the tart, and serve the delicious dinner on the same sheet pan I baked the tart in. As long as I prep some pie dough ahead of time, slice up some veggies, and prepare the oven, the tart comes together fairly quickly. Usually, I like to make my tomato pesto tart during the summer using the fresh basil I’ve been growing in my AeroGarden and some heirloom tomatoes I pick up from the local supermarket. Making a simple pesto is beyond easy when I had some basil growing wildly in my AeroGarden. Pesto is not absolutely necessary to add in a tart, but it sure does make for an even tastier tart. I would often round the rest of my meal off with a combination of sliced up summer fruits and chopped mint. Mangoes, peaches, nectarines, citrus fruits, and even berries would often make it into the fruit salad. For my vegetable garden tart though, I deviated slightly from the tomato pesto tart I usually make. Instead of spreading a tasty green layer of pesto onto the pie dough, I just sprinkle on some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, kosher salt, and pepper. That’s it. The rest of the flavor in the tart comes directly from the seasonal produce. Making a tart is also a great way to use up some leftover tomatoes from making sandwiches and jalapeño from making crispy tofu bánh mì. For Kevin, the quicker the dinner goes from the kitchen to table, the better. My garden vegetable tart is one of those dishes where it’s impossible to mess up. It comes straight from the oven to table in almost no time. The tart is perfect on its own, but can also be made into a more substantial meal when served alongside some oven baked chicken wings, a simple minty fruit salad, and some iced tea. A summer vegetable garden tart is a tasty dinner waiting to be customized to one’s own liking. I can honestly say it has saved me on many occasions when it comes to getting a quick meal onto the table.

Hello! My name is Jia Pan and I love to experiment with food. My site is a collection of recipes and stories chronicling my adventures in the kitchen and around the world.
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