journal #2
Hello Friends!!
Nostalgic moments.
I’ve been looking back at my old photos and I believe it or not, I do miss my college days.. Late night conversations, late night meals, late night hang outs. It was all so much fun.
Some baking I did to look forward to!
Apple Fritters! Oh my goodness my house smelled insane when I made these. It took me ALL morning! When I was done.. I was so so happy with the results. I need my apple fritters to be crispy when I bite into it but then super soft and pillowy on the inside. So these are it:)
Fluffer nutter cookies! Remember those fluffer nutter sandwich cookies in elementary? Yup these cookies are literally those. This is a collab with my favorite all time Justin’s peanut butter brand! This will probably go up sometime in October.. STAY tuned!
biscoff banana bars
oooooh man. If you have riped bananas you have to make these. Biscoff and bananas just go so well together?!? its nutty and sweet…
My fav moments this week:
My mom.. Oh how I love my mom so much. She is so brave, resilient, strong and such a beautiful human. She loves me so so much and I feel her love every day. She came over and we just chatted. She also makes the BEST kimchi in the world and always restocks my fridge with it. She does things without asking. She is always giving and I inspire to be like her. Before I blinked, I was living with her and she drove me to school every day. Now I am 26 and married. Cherish your moments. Cherish what you have because time will pass so fast.
I got sent 8 LB of pistachio butter from my #1 favorite pistachio brand. The two founders are the sweetest ever. They are a small business but growing FAST. They have been so so sweet to me and I am a huge fan of them. They make the best smooth creamy pistachio butter. It is perfectly nutty and sweet. I literally gasped when they said they will send me 8 POUNDS of it. It is so unreal that I have this bucket on my counter rn lol but anyways stay tuned for some more pistachio content!
THIS WEEKS HIGHLIGHT DINNERS:
BEEF CHOWFUN:
I LOVE making beef chowfun. It is my favorite chinese noodle dish. I order this at every chinese restaurant lol. One of my friends dad made us this dish back in college and I fell in love.. it just hits the spot and its so so easy to make.
if you are asian, you definitely already have these sauces.
I used this recipe: https://cookingformysoul.com/beef-chow-fun/#recipe
for the meat, i used top sirloin steak from trader joes and cut it against the grain. baking soda REALLY makes a difference in your meat. It tenderizes it and so soft.
I added egg and broccoli for extra veggies.
this is the brand of noodles i use! and i soak this in hot water for 5-10 minutes before using. Its so fresh:
CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAPS (PF CHANG INSPIRED):
This meal is so easy and literally comes together in 20 minutes. I bought organic ground chicken from trader joes and these cute organic butter lettuce from sprouts.
ingredients:
1 lb of ground chicken
1/2 of an onion chopped
chopped green onions
2-3 tbsp of hoisin sauce
2 tsp dark soy sauce (for color!)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp rice vinegar
drizzle of sesame seed & sesame oil at the end
Directions:
in a pan, i drizzled some oil and added the ground chicken. saute it. then add the minced garlic & onions. mix until the chicken is 90% cooked. Then i added the hoisin sauce, dark soy sauce, mirin and rice vinegar. i mixed and added the celery and garnished with green onion & sesame seed & sesame oil
butter lettuce goes really good with this! i sometimes add chopped white mushrooms in this. i didnt have any in the fridge this time:(
LASAGNA SOUP
Even though it is 100 degrees outside here in AZ still, i wanted to make lasagna soup:) i will definitely be remaking this over and over in the fall/ winter time.
Tastes so so good and actually uses pretty healthy ingredients! And HIGH protein!
my lasagna soup recipe:
1/2 pound broken lasagna noodle
1 lb ground beef
1/2 onion diced
jar of pasta sauce 9 oz (any tomato sauce )
4 cups of chicken broth ( used 1 container of the kettle chicken broth)
1 heaping tbsp of minced garlic
1 tsp oregeno seasoning
1 tsp italian seasoning
pinch of paprika
salt & pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp honey! (to sweeten)
fresh basil ! ( i didnt have any but this wouldve topped it off)
1/2 cup warm heavy cream
ricotta cheese and parm for topping
Directions:
In a pot i mix olive oil, diced onion and minced garlic. Then added the seasonings.
Added ground beef and broke it apart into small pieces.
Add the jar of pasta sauce, chicken broth and mix..
Add broken lasagna noodles and cook for 10-11 min.
After the noodles are cooked, at the warm heavy cream and mix again
Add in some parm cheese.
After pouring the soup in a bowl, top it off with ricotta cheese and more parmesan cheese!
I also made garlic pull apart gruyere cheddar cheese bread. It was amazing.
pull apart bread:
400g bread flour
8g instant dry yeast
320g whole milk
40g granulated sugar
7g salt
garlic butter:
30g unsalted butter (melted)
1 tbsp minced garlic
pinch of salt
in a stand mixer i put all the ingredients in there any used the dough hook to mix until dough was less sticky and smooth
Knead until no flour is visible.
Ferment in a warm place for an hour and it should double in size.
divide it into 16 Wait for 10 minutes 160gMozzarella cheese You can place it in any size or shape you like. Place in a warm place for about 30 minutes Milk(can be omitted) Bake at 180℃ for 12 minutes
weighed the dough and split each piece into 50g. cut up small gruyere cheese or cheddar cheese or mozerella! your choice of cheese and form it into a ball.
place in a warm place and over for 30 min.
preheat oven to 350f
brush with milk and bake for 12 min
brush with garlic butter mixture and bake for 12-15 minutes
like i really popped off for this dinner. my husband loved it!
LIFE LATELY:
With everything going on in this world, I’ve been praying to God. My relationship with God has been stronger than ever. I went to church today and my pastor had pointed out several amazing points. I do not get too political but I will never tolerate what happened a few days ago with Charlie Kirk. Celebrating somebodys death is insane to me. He is a human being. A father. A husband. No matter what I will never be okay with that. Charlie spoke facts. He spread the word of God. He believed in traditional values straight from the Bible. I will forever stand by those traditional values. JESUS IS KING. FOREVER.
Verse of the week: “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory” - Isaiah 6:3