Chicken & Waffles B.L.A.T.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Been busy in the lab trying to help get some data for a grant that the professor (who I work for) is submitting by the end of the month, hence my lack of wordpress activity. This post has been saved as a draft for about a month! But here it is, in time for Memorial Day! Maybe you are having a picnic, brunch, or other get-together this holiday. A waffle sandwich might hit the spot!

Recently, there seems to be a resurgence in waffle popularity. Nowadays, people are coming up with new dishes using waffle irons. Sorry, the wonut is a bit too over-the-top for me. Nevertheless, I am down to try my hand at waffle sandwiches, as kooky as that may sound. A couple of weeks a go, on a bus ride home, I was thinking about chicken and waffles and craving it. I thought to myself, how about a chicken & waffle B.L.A.T (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato) sandwich with sourdough cheddar and chive waffles!?

Fall delights–gobbling it up

What are your fall delights?  I’ll leave afternoon delights alone, LOL. For me, one fall delight is pie and a cup of coffee for breakfast on the day after Thanksgiving. Instead of Black Friday shopping, I’d rather eat naughty ;). I had no shame in it, especially after an hour long walk with the dogs 🙂 Thanksgiving, as always, was a splendid time spent with family, reflecting on things and being full of thanks. The holiday has come and gone, but it still lingers in my mind (+ we’ve been savoring the leftovers). How was your Thanksgiving? And we can’t forget about Thanksgivukkah/Thanukkah as well!

Brunching on donuts de pão de queijo com bacon…Happy Memorial Day Weekend 2013!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone! We hope you all are getting a chance to spend time with family and remember those who served our country. Though this holiday is synonymous with grilling and eating outdoors, I think it is important to remember why this holiday is significant and why we get together and celebrate. Thank you to all who have served. We appreciate it today and everyday. Cheers to you all!

Like many people out there, we like to spend Memorial Day Weekend relaxing and spending time together. We eat good food and play with the dogs. I think we do this for many other holidays as well. Earlier this weekend I made a brunch dish that would be perfect for this holiday to make you feel happy and in the mood for going outside and/or grilling. Doughnuts of course! Well pão de queijo shaped into doughnuts with bacon added in. Also with a maple bourbon Hollandaise “glaze.”

Passover Popovers

Popovers for Passover? Never heard of them until about a year ago when my Grandma-in-law gave me a recipe for it after we were all full from eating the really good food that she made for Passover seder last year. After getting that recipe, a few days later, I tried making them and they turned out to be delicious. Actually, they are “delectable” as Martha Stewart would often describe the food she was tasting on TV. This recipe is from a Martha Stewart episode on Passover years ago. These popovers are made from matzo cake meal, which I also used in the mocha brownies. The procedure is pretty straightforward. It’s like making choux pastry.

Chaat Masala Chips – Two Ways

About a week ago, at lunch, I was at home heating up a bowl of chicken and vegetable noodle soup and wanted something crunchy with my meal. Something crunchy that was also spicy. Chips! Who hasn’t liked those sensations that you get from eating chips? It’s those sensations that hook you. Crunch. Flavor. Crunch. That’s why chips are so addicting. Can’t explain that experience of eating chips into words very well. Some phenomenological qualia that’s addicting. Lol. However, chips are usually fried and I don’t like to eat fried foods often. When I make nachos, I make my own tortilla chips by baking them, so I decided to make myself some baked tortilla chips since I had some corn tortillas on hand. Of course, normal fried tortilla chips taste better, but baking the chips is a nice compromise. For the flavor kick, I used chaat masala, an Indian spice mix that I really enjoy. I like the hint of sweetness from the amchoor (dried mango powder) in the blend of spices.

I’m also a fan of veggie chips and earlier this week wanted some kale chips. Why not spice it up with some chaat masala? Kale with  garlic, salt & pepper is a great classic, but it also pairs well with the sweet and spicy notes in chaat masala. Below is a recipe for chaat masala chips, two ways:  spicy kale and tortilla chips.

Pan-Seared Scallops & Crunchy Apple Salad Lettuce Cups

I was watching Gordon Ramsay make a simple, yet elegant dish of pan fried scallops with crunchy apple salad on the first episode of his latest TV show Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course. Immediately, I knew that I had to make that dish for Thanksgiving.

For the meat lovers: Flap Steak and Nachos

Flap Steak also called Flap Meat or Sirloin Tip is an affordable, yet pretty good cut of meat. There’s isn’t much fat on it too. I don’t eat meat much meat (usually one meal a day) or red meat for that matter, but when I do, I want a juicy, tender, and flavorful piece of meat. This flap steak fits the bill perfectly. I love the grooves on the meat itself, which helps flavor the meat if you use a dry rub or marinade. My husband’s uncle is a master griller and BBQ guy who knows how to make awesome flap meat. I need to ask him for his recipe, but here I’ve used a spice rub based on a recipe from Serious Eats.

Pão de queijo (cheese buns), a cheesy gluten-free bread

Pão de queijo is a popular cheese bun in Brazil. It’s made from tapioca (cassava) flour so it is a gluten-free bread. Not that I am on a gluten-free diet, but I think it is good to know. My husband wants to eat healthier foods nowadays. I’ve had some tasty gluten-free foods and it’s fun to experiment with it. I’ll be posting my gluten-free recipe experiments pretty soon.

A couple of years ago, I encountered pão de queijo at Fogo de Chao, a Churrascaria (Brazilian Steakhouse) in Beverly Hills. We were celebrating my grandparents-in-law anniversary and their birthdays. For many of us in the family, it was our first time at a churrascaria. After discovering the cheese balls that were almost hidden in the cloth-lined basket, I ate quite of few of them. So did my mom. The parade of meat  and the sides were great, but I really enjoyed the cheese buns probably more than anything that I tasted there. Chewy, light and densely cheesy. So addictive!

Baked Brains and Halloween Bread

Happy Halloween! How are you celebrating Halloween? I don’t normally celebrate it too much and haven’t pranced around in a costume to do some trick or treating since I was a teenager. Nowadays I go out to eat, or like this year, decided to cook something spooky and traditional. This year I made Irish Halloween Bread (Barm Brack) from WineBarrelGourmet and Baked Brie Brains from Macheesmo. Head to their blogs for the recipes.

I was hoping to get some trick-or-treaters at my place so that I could give away the candy I bought, but we are left with a bag of Hershey’s miniature mix and a bag of fun-size pretzel M&Ms. Do any of you want them?

Baked Veg Manchurian

I told my husband that we are having vegetable balls for dinner. He responded, “I’m not into balls.”