Category: Recipes

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sweet and sour pork for her birthday

Cantonese Sweet and Sour Pork begins with slicing pork tenderloin and placing it into a simple marinade. CLICK on the picture above or link below to see our vairiation of a wonderful recipe.

One of our family’s favorite meals is home made  Cantonese inspired sweet and sour pork!  When someone reaches their birthday in our family, we seldom let them cook and we make for them the meal of their choice as part of the celebration. However, when we make this dish, everyone gets involved!

Today, we do a certain amount of simple preparation: 1) slicing and marinating the pork tenderloin 2) making the main sauce and 3) finding the right vegetables for the occasion! One of the world’s great cuisines is Chinese and in all of their tasty variations. Although we used many canned ingredients we use many fresh as well.

Just a few of the items in use for this special occasion!

In addition, we will add some of the produce of California: red bell peppers, green onions, white sweet onions, and fresh garlic.

Cooking together is always fun… Tonight we will do our ‘first’ frying of the pork!

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soft egg pretzels for laura

soft pretzels are best
Laura doesn’t ask for much… but when she does, I like to make it for her. In any event, many of the recipes you find are very similar… but where they differ is significant and there is a bit of a trick to it.

Dad’s  Pretzel Recipe
( a variation of our cracker bread recipe)

3 cups flour ( I prefer Bread Flour )
¼ cup special flour (whole wheat, rye or spelt)
3 tablespoons gluten
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon or package yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup ‘special’  flour (whole wheat, dark rye, or your choice)
1 egg ( white for mix, yolk to brush after boiling)

For 1 dozen   

  1. Put yeast, sugar, salt, butter, water, egg white and 1/4 cup of the special flour into a bowl and mix.
  2. Mix in remaining flour, mix and place in greased bowl, cover and place in a warm place
  3. Let dough rise for 1 hour
  4. Divide into 16 pieces and form as pretzels, cover and allow to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes
  5. Prepare the baking soda-water mixture and bring to a boil on stove. 5 tsp baking soda mixed in 4 cups water in a saucepan.
  6. Place them into boiling water-baking soda mixture  .
  7. Preheat oven to 475 F
  8. Let the pretzels boil for on both sides for about a minute a side
  9. Place on greased pan and brush with egg yolk dip in coarse Salt   before baking
  10. Bake for 12-15 minutes until pretzels are colored desired is attained

Oh, BTW… they were good!

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individually frosted cakes

Nerus in the SG1 series reacts with delight to a new culinary innovation "Individually frosted cakes!!" CLICK on picture to read more about Nerus

Our family loved watching ( and we still do) the Star Gate Science fiction series and enjoyed laughing very heartily at the clownish actions of one of the many villians; this one named ‘Nerus.’ You can actually find exerpts of him on  YouTube!

In any event, whether at a picnic or a barbecue, ‘Individually frosted cakes’ are always a popular and a neat dessert. This time around I made: Brownies,  Baklava  and  Carrot Cake.

CLICK on the photo for our Amarula Carrot Cake recipe that includes fresh pineapple and apricot jam

Pleasures come from the little things in life… this time, the come from ‘individually frosted cakes!”

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chicken tetrazinni for someone you love

the best chicken tetrazinni you'll ever have! CLICK on this picture for a step-by-step recipe!
"make it for someone you love!" CLICK on this picture for a step-by-step recipe!

 I made ‘Chicken Tetrazinni’ for Laura years ago and it is one of her favorites. If the truth were known, I would say that my Chicken Tetrazinni recipe is one of my most popular among women…. although the men who write me like it’s meatiness! The original recipe has a romantic history which you can read about by clicking the link above… and I will leave that to you.

chicken tetrazinni
Making a good Tetrazinni takes time ... but it is worth it!

In any event, Laura ‘hinted’ that she would like some more and I couldn’t resist preparing some for her and placing a large casserole in the fridge for a gathering down the road. It is certainly worth preparing for someone you love.

Roger

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Amaretto Biscotti in search of perfection

amaretto Biscotti
CLICK on the picture to read more about Amaretto

My family knows that I am a bit over the edge of the map on anything resembling a Biscotti… I am constantly — in the interest of science — trying new recipes for this favorite snack! Most of the time,  I play with my standard recipe with fun results.

Of all the nuts, I probably like the humble almond the most. While most would add vanilla or almond extract to enhance this recipe, I thought it would be fun to add a healthy amount of Amaretto that has hints of almond and apricot flavors– two of my favorite.

So at 3pm, I sit with a cup of coffee and enjoy this  marvelous treat!

“Fateci godere questo spuntino in buona salute! “

Roger