dinner for three

walk with me as i share how i made our dinner tonight....
so my friend was going to make some stuffed tomatoes and stuffed mushrooms so i decided to follow the "stuffed" theme and decided to go and stuff a chicken (more like a roll)

i went ahead and cut the vegetables into fairly thin strips to that they'd cook quickly



bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic


i pounded the chicken tenders fairly thin so that the cooking time would be very short.
after seasoning the chicken (with salt and pepper), i sprinkled cheese and layered on all the vegetables along with some parsley.


rolled them up, rolled them in egg then panko.
i didnt need to use a toothpick because these chicken tenders were small.



dont they look all peaceful inside the oven? hahaa
i let them stay in the oven for about 15 -18 mins at 350 degrees F.

some of the friends of the chicken roll:


tomatoes stuffed with mushrooms, celery, parsley tossed with balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard :)


same stuffing but with panko crust on top prior to going into the oven


bomb freaken salad....with feta cheese, cranberries, sliced almonds, balsamic vinaigrette yum

we also drank this wonderful sparkling pink lemonade
love the bottle it came in :)

thank you friends for sharing this wonderful dinner with me :)

Snickery Squares

while looking through the cookbook (baking: from my house to yours) i came upon this recipe for the snickery squares. sounded delicious and i checked the TWD website and saw that they already did this recipe long ago so i figured i'd try it out.

today i had dinner plans to meet up with some friends for a friends birthday. this played as the perfect time for me to try out this recipe.




good combo i would say....i needed to make the dulce de leche...i dont think i cooked it long enough....actually i know that i didnt cook it long enough...but i got tired hahaa....

happy birthday grace!!!

Trattoria Farfalla

ok let me share with you the little journey my friends (olivia and angela) and i took at this little restaurant called trattoria farfalla. i swear our server must've thought we were crazy for ordering so much hahaa

start off with their:

bread with olive oil infused with the flavors of sundried tomatoes and garlic



started our course off with calamari fritti with arrabiata sauce.
calamari was layed on top of cut romane lettuce. the arrabiata sauce was perfect.



tagliolini con gamberetti zucchini - this one was very good. its on the lighter side. filled with a lot of shrimp, garlic, and zucchini....might've been my favorite from the night.



gnocchi alla bolognese . this was my first time trying gnocchi...interesting to say the least. the sauce was good..it almost had a floral kick at the end....gnocchi kinda has the same texture and taste of a korean "dduk".........i dont think i'll gnocchi again (i'm not a big fan of dduk)


scaloppine del giorno - almost looks like veal cutlets. covered with a pureed spinach? not sure and then mozzarella. served with a side of potatoes and vegetables.

dessert - plating if a little weird haha not pretty at all but the taste is good.




tiramisu - very light. i kinda wish they didnt use the plate they used. could've placed it on a white plate and it might've looked better. we tried it because they said it was home made. couldnt really taste the expresso or even the liquor....


tarte della nona - this was pretty good. the crust tasted almost like the thin pie crust. the center was a custard tasting similar to a creme brule but much thicker....it even had chocolate chips inside it. and on top there were pine nuts. next to it was a big ugly blop of whipped cream that kinda looks over whipped.

TWD: classic banana bundt cake

yay to my first week of participating in TWD's baking :)

this week called for a banana bundt cake
i dont own a bundt pan yet so i figured i'd bake them into muffins.



they came out perfectly
the recipe called for 28-32 mins for this size but i took them out a couple mins before that



heres one up close...

oh and i added some mini chocolate chips because i had some left over from the weekend


they're pretty delicious
not too sweet.
i kinda wish i put some nuts in them but i didnt have any and i frankly didnt want to buy any haha

high five for me for successfully completing my first TWD baking.

Daring Bakers Challenge:Milan Cookies

This month marks the start of baking something because of the bakers challenge.
i must say these were quite interesting....the cookie didnt come out to the texture we wanted but oh well...



heres a close up:


i'm excited to see what next month will bring.

we also had a choice on baking some mallow cookies but i passed on those

macaroons

i was asked to bake some macaroons for a baby shower.
i read through a lot of comments that ppl left under recipes to see if i could better the recipe or technique...

someone suggested using a cupcake tin
cut out circles from parchment paper, place inside the tin
place the mixture on top the parchment and follow baking instructions.

this definitely gives you a different texture and doesnt give a chewy ring around the macaroons...
but they come out exactly the same which allows for better presentation.
i think i like this macaroon like this better
the baking is somewhat even, and the outer ring almost tastes like toffee :)

first real order

apologies for the reflection of the flash in the photo but its the only one i've got.
a lady made an order for a baby shower
she just told me to go with the color themes of pink and brown and let me do whatevers
i decided to try mini cake towers ...
you cant tell by the picture..but they have some height to them
i'm sure the next time will come out better
cupcakes are definitely more fun to do (and much easier)