Spicy Ramen Noodles

For lunch today I made spicy Ramen noodles based on a modified version of The Chew recipe from Friday.

I combined chicken broth and half a can of coconut milk into a dutch oven over medium heat.  I added chopped button mushrooms, grated ginger, minced garlic, 2 quartered jalapeno peppers, 2 packs of Ramen noodles (not including the spice pouch) and a little salt.  I cooked for about 10 minutes.

In each individual serving bowl, I chopped 1 fresh mint leaf along with about 5 fresh basil leaves.  Also, I grated carrots and added them.  Finally, I added a few peanuts.

Then I poured the hot soup over the ingredients in the bowls.  Make sure to remove the jalapeno quarters if you do not like spicy food.

I loved it (I didn't eat the peppers, just used the peppers for flavor prior to serving), but Ryan ate the peppers and had an adverse reaction.

Egg Bacon Bread with Onion and Spinach

From Everyday Foods, I found this recipe.  It was a very unique way to have breakfast for dinner.

1st I hard boiled eggs and sliced them.  Then I cooked bacon in my dutch oven.  I toasted Italian sliced loaf bread and spread Dijon mustard and sprayed a little olive oil.  I added the sliced eggs and topped with crumbled bacon.

2nd I kept the bacon grease in the dutch oven and cut an onion in half and put the sliced side down in the dutch oven.  I cooked for 5 minutes.  Then I added some chicken broth, flipped the onions over and cooked at 450 in the oven for 15 minutes.

Once the onions were done, I removed them from the dutch oven and added fresh spinach and a little more chicken broth.  I cooked over medium heat until wilted.

This was a very good dinner.

Meatballs with roasted carrots and couscous

I found an old recipe from Everyday.  Since I needed something to entertain me prior to the Bachelorette Finale tonight, I decided to make something with a lot of ingredients.

Carrots:
I sprayed olive oil on 2 servings of baby carrots and sprinkled them with salt and pepper.  Then I roasted them at 450 for 20 minutes, tossing half way through.  

Meatballs:
I combined cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, egg, chopped cilantro, chopped green onion and mixed in 1 lb of 85% ground beef.  I formed about 16 meatballs.  Then I browned them in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 8 minutes in a skillet in medium high heat.  Then I added 1/4 cup of water, covered, reduced heat and cooked for 5 minutes on low.

Couscous:
In a sauce pan, I added about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and added the chopped white part of the green onion over medium high heat.  I cooked for about 3 minutes then I added 1 cup of water.  I covered and let it boil.  Then I added 1 cup of couscous.  I mixed, removed from heat and covered for five minutes.  Then I added sliced almonds.

Chili sauce is really good with the meatballs.  I had no idea roasted carrots were so good.  Couscous is only good with butter and zucchini in it (from my Le Cordon Bleu Paris cooking class).

Spaghetti with Rosemary Sea Salt Pizza Bread

My dad came over for dinner tonight so I made use spinach spaghetti with ground beef.  Also, I spread whole wheat pizza dough in an oiled 9 in cake pan.  Then I flipped the dough over so the oil would be on both sides.  I chopped fresh rosemary from my yard and spead it on top of the dough along with sea salt.  Then I baked it at 400 for 20 minutes.  The bread was delicious with the tomato sauce. 

Scones - Chocolate & Coconut

Nothing gets your husband out of bed faster on a weekend morning than the smell of coffee and baked breakfast food.  I used a general scone recipe and added semi-sweet chocolate mini-morsels and sweetened shredded coconut. 

Coconut Cake with Berries & Cream

For Father's Day weekend, my father-in-law, brother-in-law and his girlfiend came over for a game of corn hole and dinner.  We made a delecious steak dinner on the grill and for desert I made a delicious cake.  From Living magazine, page 135 July 2012, I made the Coconut Cake with Blueberries and Cream.  I used half the recipe ingridents because it called for a 9x13 in pan, but I just used a 9 in round cake pan.  The recipe said to have the cake refridgerate for 3-5 hours, but mine took an overnight stay in the refrideragtor to set completely. 

It was the first time I used coconut milk in a cake.  It was super sweet combined with the sweetened condenced milk and heavy cream.  I probably could have used about a quarter less heavy cream when I poured the liquid over the cooling cake.  For garnish, I whipped fresh cream and smeared it on top of the refridgerator set cake like frosting.  Then I laid fresh blueberries on top.

Strawberry Layer Cake

Post Easter dinner, my mom made a beautiful strawberry layer cake. She layered meringue with pecans, cream cheese mixed with whipped cream and strawberries 4 times. Beautiful cake, but really hard to cut. We agreed individual little cakes would be best so that you don't have to slice it. Southern Living April cover cake!!!!