remembering

While in Hawaii, I went through my mom's cookbooks, to give to a charity or maybe to the library...my brother will take care of where it will go (Thank you!)

She actually had some of Grandma's too.

That Hilo Women's cookbook is my Grandma's and is from 1953! There were some interesting recipes in there...

I also went through the shoebox she had of recipes from newspaper and magazine clippings....boy, were there a lot of char siu recipes...

Think about you all the time especially today, Mom.

Love you.

cashew chicken curry

Made this curry last week.

It was good because it used cashews, one of my favorite nuts.

Cashew Chicken Curry adapted from "Hajimete no Spice Curry" makes 2 servings
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 nub of ginger, grated
2 small green bell peppers, cleaned and chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
150 grams canned diced tomatoes
50 grams cashews, unsalted
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground coriander
200 mililiters hot water
1 piece of grilled chicken thigh, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup skim milk

Puree tomatoes and cashews in a mixer to make a paste
In a frying pan, add the oil and on a medium high heat cook the onions and ginger.
Add the bell peppers and cook until the color changes.
Add the garlic.
Add the cashew paste and cook until the liquid evaporates.
Then add the turmeric, cayenne and coriander and cook for 30 seconds.
Then add the hot water and bring back to a boil.
Cook on medium low heat for 15 minutes.
Add the chicken to heat
And add the milk and heat through.
Serve over rice.

NOTES: this recipe was fairly easy. I used pre-cooked chicken but you could use raw, just add it after the hot water and simmer for 15 minutes. I was also supposed to use a half cup of cream, but didn't have any, so used milk instead. The recipe also called for hard boiled eggs, but I omitted that part.

I thought the cashews would make this curry a little sweeter but it didn't. It was quite spicy, which was a good thing. I'm making this one again.

chicken curry

Yesterday, the weather was crazy!

They predicted winds of 900-something hPa (typhoon level) and rain.

The weather dude is pretty on it these days and he said that between 6 am and noon the chance of rain was 50% while the chance of rain from noon to 6 pm was 90%.

Not having any ingredients for dinner, I ran to the store at 9-ish and the drops were already big and the wind pretty strong.

How's this? Little leaguers were practicing in that weather? Talk about crazy!

Anyway, I thought making a curry would be nice and comforting especially since Satoshi had to work and would probably come home soaking wet.

This curry says it is for 4 servings but the amount of sauce was only enough for 2, still it was really spicy and because I used spring onions, a little sweet.

Chicken curry adapted from "Hajimete no spice curry" : makes 2 servings
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder (if you have cumin seed use 1/2 teaspoon)
2 large onions
1 clove garlic
2 nubs of ginger
100 grams canned diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon ground coriander
100 mililiters hot water
100 grams deboned chicken thighs
80 grams plain yogurt

Slice one onion, and grate the other, keep them separate
Grate the garlic and ginger, put them together with the grated onion
Cut your chicken thighs into bite sized pieces (I removed the skins)
In a non-stick pan, put a tablespoon of oil and cook the sliced onion on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
After the 5 minutes, take the onion out of the pan and set aside.
Add the other tablespoon of oil to the pan and on medium heat add the cumin (if you are adding the whole seed then cook until it changes color)
The cumin powder will start to bubble, then add the grated onion, garlic and ginger and cook for 5 minutes until most of the liquid evaporates.
Add the diced tomatoes, and cook until most of the liquid evaporates, then turn down the heat to low and add the turmeric, cayenne and coriander.
Add the hot water and add the chicken, cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Then add the yogurt and turn down to simmer for 15 minutes (I covered the pan at this point).
After the 15 minutes, add the sliced onions and mix well.
Serve over rice.

NOTES: this was spicy but like I said using spring onions there was a little sweetness to it. I'm making this again.

kinoko tappuri curry

Tappuri means lots, full of.

This curry uses lots of kinoko (mushrooms).

Translated from "Hajimete no Spice Curry": 4 servings
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 nub ginger, minced

Spices:
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon coriander

2 teaspoons shoyu
300 mililiters hot water (about 1.5 cups)
2 packs shimeji (used only 1)
1 pack maitake
1 eringi
1 whole tomato, diced (used 6 cherry tomatoes, halved)
10 grams butter

Prep: Cut onion, garlic & ginger accordingly, set aside
remove mushrooms from their "stone" and separate by hand
Cut tomato and set aside

Method:
Heat sesame oil to medium in a pan and add onion, garlic & ginger.
Cook for about 7-8 minutes
Turn heat down and add spices & shoyu
Add hot water, mix well and cover for about 15 minutes
Add the tomato and cook for 2-3 minutes without the cover.
Add the butter and mix well.

NOTES: I ended up cooking this for more than 15 minutes, more like 1 hour!

There was just too much liquid plus covered and at a low heat, it hardly evaporated.

So, I upped the flame to about medium, took off the cover and cooked it down, which took about an hour.

This curry was served with paneer, or what the author calls cottage cheese.

I've never had paneer before, have you?

I didn't want to go out to get some cottage cheese nor did I want to follow his recipe to make some (it used 2 liters of milk!), so instead I used tofu.

I used tofu because the pictures I've seen of paneer certainly reminded me of tofu.

So, I put some tofu onto some cheesecloth and let it sit in the refridge for the whole day.

Then when I was ready to serve this I crumbled some on.

I also sauteed other veggies in a dry non-stick pan and added it to the curry.

Despite the cooking time, this was delicious, I would make this again.

Wow, it's Friday already, have a great weekend!

simmered pork curry

Okay, so I think I have curry on my brain now because within days, I tried another curry from this cookbook.

This one was a little more intense--taking up more time to make, but the end result was really ono (delicious)!

Simmered Pork Curry : adapted from "Hajimete no spice curry" : 4 servings

400 grams pork belly, fat removed, cut into bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons umeshu (apricot wine)*
1 tablespoon shoyu (soy sauce)
grinds of pepper

1 clove garlic, grated
1 nub ginger (about the same size as your clove of garlic), grated
100 mililiters water (1/2 cup)

1 large onion, minced

1/4 daikon, peel and cut into 2 centimeter thick pieces then the round piece into fourths

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon coriander

1 cup canned diced tomato

1 tablespoon ground black sesame

500 mililiters (2.5 cups) hot water

Marinate your pork in umeshu, shoyu & pepper for 2 hours or longer, mixing every so often.
After grating garlic and ginger, add 1/2 cup water, mix and set aside.

In a heated pan, add the oil and onions, saute on high for about 10 minutes (or longer) turning it a dark brown.

Add the ginger garlic mixture and cook for about 2 minutes to let liquid evaporate.

Add the diced tomato and let most of the liquid evaporate (about 2 to 3 minutes)

Add the 3 spices, one by one mixing each one well into the sauce before adding the next.

Add the ground black sesame.

When the sauce becomes thick almost like a paste, add the hot water, mixing it as you add the water.

Add the marinated pork and marinade, and add the daikon, turn heat to a low-medium and cover.

Cook for 1 hour then take off cover and cook for another 30 minutes.

NOTES: this took some pre-planning and time cooking but it was delicious! It reminded me of a slightly spicy pot roast with some Asian flair to it.

I served this with rice, goya, red bell pepper & carrots and would make this again.

*if you can't find umeshu (apricot wine) in your area, I would use sherry or a little port.

3-step curry

I'm always trying to find a way to get away from using the pre-made curry roux because most of them have stuff like lard and lots of salt, stuff we really shouldn't be eating, even if it tastes fabulous and it is convenient to use.

Anyway...this book called "Hajimete no spice curry" (literally first spice curry) by Mizuno Jinsuke, is pretty good.

Most of his recipes in this book use 3 basic steps (cut, saute, simmer) and 3 spices (turmeric, cayenne & coriander).

I tried his basic chicken curry adapting things here and there.

Spice chicken curry, adapted from "Hajimete no spice curry" : 4 servings

2 teaspoons garlic, grated
2 teaspoons ginger, grated
50 milimeters water

1/2 teaspoon salt
grinds of pepper
200 grams chicken breast, boneless, skinless, bite sized
200 grams chicken thigh, boneless skinless, bite sized

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion (200 grams) minced

200 grams canned diced tomato

3 spices: 1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon coriander

400 mililiters hot water

Method:
To the grated garlic & ginger add the 50 mililiters of water, stir well, and set aside (this is so that you won't have clumps of ginger and garlic in your sauce).

Massage 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper to chicken and set aside.

In a pan, heat on medium and add the oil
Add the diced onion and toss to coat with the oil
Turn the heat to high and for the next 4-5 minutes don't touch the onion and let them brown
Then for the next 3-4 minutes mix with a wooden spoon, making sure the sides don't burn.
When it starts turning dark brown, turn heat to medium and mix more often with wooden spoon

Add the ginger, garlic mixture to the onion, mix well.
After 20-30 seconds, there should be steam rising, cook for 1-2 minutes to let some liquid evaporate.
Add the diced tomato, turn the heat slightly up.
Cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add the spices (turmeric, cayenne, coriander) in that order and mix in well before adding the next.
It should look quite thick at this point.

Turn the heat to high and add the hot water slowly to the mixture, bring to a slight boil.
Add chicken and bring back to a slight boil.
Turn heat to a simmer and let bubble for 30 minutes.
If after 30 minutes the curry is still watery, let simmer a little longer.
The consistency should be a thick stew.

NOTES: Even though this was technically "3-steps", it did take some time to make. But, I liked the fact that I could control the salt and oil. I liked the heat from this and the taste was like some Indian curries we've had. I served this with corn, some carrots, green beans, red bell pepper and rice.

Satoshi liked the heat from this also and also mentioned that this curry wasn't as salty as some he's had.

I can't wait to try some of the other recipes in his book.

aramaki rose park

Wednesday, Satoshi had the day off so I packed some foods for our breakfast, and we headed to Aramaki Rose Park.

We love this place especially during Spring because the blooms are the most plentiful.

One item in our bento was this chicken which was really easy to make.

Baked chicken with mustard adapted from "Colorful Bento" for 2 servings

120 grams chicken thighs, skinless, boneless (1 serving = 60 grams)
2 teaspoons tonkatsu sauce
2 teaspoons grainy mustard

Mix tonkatsu sauce and mustard together, spread onto chicken pieces

In 150C (300F) oven bake for 15 minutes

NOTES: This was easy and delicious.

Also in our bento was some goya kinpira, kinoko (mushroom) shigure-ni, a few rakkyo and rice.

For the shigure-ni, I upped the amount of kinoko (mushrooms) and instead of beef, used konnyaku (jellied devil's tongue).

I also packed some coffee in a thermos.

As with previous visits, the park was filled with lots of school children and elderly people.

The flowers were in full bloom and every time the wind blew you could catch a "whiff" of the roses.

This particular rose was unusual and called "love".

The weather is slowing warming up during the daytime and it was nice to get out and about.

It's Friday here, hope you have a nice weekend!

baked furikake sweet potatoes

I bought some sweet potatoes recently and wondered how I should cook them.

My "normal" way would be to steam them, but I wanted to try something different.

Bring in an easy recipe from the Peko Peko Charity Cookbook... (Have you bought your copy yet?! I hope so.)

The recipe comes from Barbara Kiebel, who has a beautiful blog (apparently, the blog is no longer online).

I didn't cut the potato into the "strips" like she instructed, my sweet potato was kind of small and skinny, so I just did relatively thin slices.

Here is her recipe: serves 2-3

2 large sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 tablespoons nori komi furikake

1. Preheat the oven to 425F (220C)

2. Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into 1/4 inch wide slices then 1/4 inch wide strips. Cut the strips in half if they are longer than 3 inches. Transfer to a large bowl, add the oil and mix to coat evenly. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the furikake seasoning on the potato strips and mix carefully.

3. Lay the potato strips in a single layer on a baking sheet, do not over-crowd or they will steam and not crisp. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning once to brown both sides.

4. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of furikake seasoning. Serve warm.

NOTES: Since my oven is small and everything has to fit on the turntable to bake evenly, I used one sweet potato which I didn't peel.

For the furikake, I used one of those small packets and divided it in half, sprinkling half before baking and the rest afterwards. Also, the furikake I used was an okaka gobo (bonito & burdock).

Instead of vegetable oil, I used olive and used 1 tablespoon, I think I could have used 1/2 a tablespoon.

They didn't crisp up too much, but they were tasty, and easy. I'm making this again, maybe with some curry furikake next time.

UPDATE: curry furikake on these potatoes are awesome!

it's really here

Recently, I told you that the Peko Peko Charity Cookbook was for sale...well, I finally got the copies I ordered!

It took about 15 days from the time they said they shipped it out to arrive in Hawaii.

I can't wait to read through it and then try some of the recipes.

I hope you got your copy too.

it's here

Three months have passed since the Tohoku Earthqauke hit.

Debris is still being removed from many areas and there are still many in shelters.

Many are still missing.

There are many still donating monies though it is still having a hard time being distributed to the people.

There is talk of cutting electricity usage country wide over the Summer months to help out the several nuclear electric plants that had to be shut down.

You can already see some changes like the trains run with the windows open and some lighting in the stations and stores have been either turned off or lessened.

We're all trying to do our part...

I wanted to tell you that the Peko Peko Charity Cookbook is completed and now for sale at Blurb (update: this book is no longer for sale)!

Stacie, Rachel, and Marc put a lot of hours into getting this project together and I am honored to be a contributor.

100% of the profits will go to Global Giving's Japan Earthquake Tsunami Relief.

I'm not sure if they ship internationally, but they do ship to Hawaii...

I can't wait to see the finished product and have ordered several copies.

Hope you'll purchase your copy today!

ndd & peko peko

Apparently the first Friday of June is National Doughnut Day...not sure if I'll be able to get my hands on some doughnuts today, so I thought I'd give you a look at some of the doughnuts I've already had...

An update to the charity cookbook...A lot of hard work was put into this project and it looks like the charity cookbook is almost ready for sale...check out the Peko Peko website for more info (update: this website no longer exists).

I can't wait to order some copies!

It's Friday here, hope you have a great weekend!

trying new recipes

It has been some time since I've made a main dish with fish, so I was thinking of doing some salmon.

Then I found a really old can of halibut in my pantry and decided to make Ellie Krieger's salmon cakes using the canned halibut.

According to my archives it has been awhile since I've made these patties and that time I used a canned of smoked halibut.

This time, the halibut wasn't smoked so I tried the creamy ginger-sesame sauce which is in her "The Food You Crave" cookbook (same page as the salmon cakes).

She says that the sauce "makes a fantastic dip for raw vegetables, especially snow peas."

So, instead of raw, I served steamed asparagus and carrots.

The sauce is really easy to put together, I think the thing that took the longest was draining the liquid from the yogurt for the sauce.

NOTES: The combination of ginger, shoyu & sesame oil matched these patties and veggies perfectly. I think this sauce would be perfect on an Asian-type of salad too, creamy without all the calories. The serving size for the sauce is 1.5 tablespoons but I only used 1 tablespoon. I would definitely make this again.

Since I only made half the recipe of the patties & sauce, I had 6 patties. We ate 4 for dinner and with the other 2, we had halibut sandwiches for breakfast...delicious.

peko peko

I'm participating in a charity cookbook project called Peko Peko charity cookbook for Japan.

I believe "peko peko" is the onomatopoetic sound your stomach makes when it is really hungry.

This project is being coordinated by several bloggers and there is a website up (the website no longer exists).

Hopefully the cookbook can be put together quickly, check back here or the website for more info.

roasted pumpkin, garlic & cauliflower soup

The weather has been overcast, one day it rained. Kinda gloomy.

I'm getting over my cold while Satoshi seems to have caught one.

Soup weather.

The recipe comes from here, but instead of onion, I subbed cauliflower.

I also increased the amount of water and consomme cube to twice the amount.

After roasting some pumpkin and cauliflower, I measured 3 cups of water and used some to whiz the veggies as smooth as my teeny food processor can handle. (I'm still working on getting an immersion blender.)

Then I whizzed some roasted garlic I had in the freezer.

I added two consomme cubes and the leftover of the pre-measured 3 cups water.

Heated it and added some salt and pepper.

Dinner.

Served with some rosemary toasts, this was simple, delicious and hit the spot.

I'm also sending this to Deb, for her Souper Sundays, to see an array of soups (sandwiches and salads too), check out her blog on Sundays for the round-up.

Here are some of my previous entries:
Veggie Miso Soup
Kim Chee Chige
Gazpacho
Chinese Chicken Salad
Chili Soup
Beef and Dark Beer Chili
Tomato Miso Soup
Beef Barley

foodie staff party

Satoshi's staff party entailed 7 co-workers, some new some not. Apparently we won't have to do this again next week.

We got together a little after noon and had...

Layered Taco Dip made with Ellie Krieger's Black Bean Dip

Ellie Kriger's Grilled Thai Beef Salad

Kim Chee Potato Salad

Spicy Poke

Shrimp Chips

And for dessert Cocoa Berry Mochi...which was inspired by something I had while in Hawaii at the Peace Cafe, only thing is that this version isn't vegan.

The recipe I got from my mom is made in a 9"x13" pan, which will NOT fit in my teeny oven, so I cut this recipe in half.

For this mochi recipe I needed 1/2 a can of evaporated milk and 1/2 a can of coconut milk...and when I went to Seijo Ishii, I was pleasantly pleased to find 1/2 sized cans.

In Japanese evaporated milk is called "eba milk" which is a shortened term. They don't have a "v" pronounciation so it pronounced with a "b".

Anyway, here is the recipe if you'd like to try it.

Cocoa Berry Mochi adapted from Koganji "Simply Delicious"
2 cups mochiko (rice flour)
2 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 can (12 ounce) evaporated milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 can (12 ounce) coconut milk
1 cup total of dried fruits, walnuts & chocolate chips

Mix everything well. In a greased 9"x13" pan, bake at 350F (180C) for 45 minutes.
Cool completely then cut into desired serving size.

It seems that everyone enjoyed themselves and ate everything.

I hope everyone had a nice time...I enjoyed having everyone over, now to clean up.

trying new recipes

With the weather being weird as it has, one day rain, one day clouds, all around humid, I stayed indoors and recently tried a couple of new recipes.

The first one was adapted from "The French Market" by Joanne Harris. "Thon aux deux haricots" (tuna with two beans).

This recipe was really easy to put together.

Instead of olives, I used capers.

Steam some green beans and sear some tuna in some olive oil, I did about a minute (or less) on each side.

Take the tuna from the pan and replace with the rinsed white beans to heat through. Add the zest of a lemon plus the juice, garlic, capers, basil and some cherry tomatoes.

Serve tuna on top of the veggies.

(I split a piece of tuna the size of my palm between Satoshi and I, I figured since I was serving it with beans, we didn't need to have a whole piece of tuna each (plus the price of tuna is kinda crazy!))

This dish was so refreshing and light.

The second recipe was from my blog friend, Pocky.

She suggested I try a splash of lime juice on my feta-watermelon salad.

Yum! another refreshing dish.

Satoshi kept commenting on how well feta and watermelon go together.

The last recipe was something I've made in the past, a wheatberry salad from Ina Garten.

This time around, I used pearl barley and wheatberry.

I roasted a red bell pepper and some zucchini.

For the dressing I used the juice of 1/2 a lime and a tablespoon of olive oil. I also added some minced white onion, tomato, Italian parsley & feta cheese.

I'm making these again! (soon!)

It's Friday, hope your weekend is a nice one.

"food matters" and it is "so easy"

Two weeks ago, the weather was crappy...it rained for two days straight! It rained so much that there were a lot of landslides. (Luckily not in our neighborhood)

To keep myself entertained indoors I decided to try some new recipes.

From "Food Matters" by Mark Bittman...I tried the "Nutty Oatmeal Cookies". Instead of chocolate chips, I added nibs and in place of butter I used olive oil.

My oven is so teeny that it took me some time to bake the half a batch that I tried.

I used a scoop but think I may have made some too small because I actually ended up with 20 cookies instead of 18.

Anyway, these are delicious and gives your jaw a nice workout.

Also from "Food Matters" I tried the "Hybrid Quick Bread", since I didn't have whole wheat flour, I added some ground flax seed (about a tablespoon).

Also, I put them into cupcake papers so that I would have individual servings. (Way easier to store and clean up.)

I made half the recipe and was kind of worried it wouldn't rise because I didn't have the correct amount of baking powder, but it turned out okay.

I also didn't add the optional honey nor the sprinkling of salt on top, so these need jam, sauce or something. I really like the texture of this, soft and a little fluffy.

We had this with an over easy egg and salad for breakfast one morning...yum!

From "So Easy" by Ellie Krieger, I tried her recipe for "Cherry Almond Chocolate Clusters".

Only 3 ingredients---dark chocolate (60%-70%), dried cherries and almonds...easy, right?

I melted the suggested amount of chocolate (I used 70%), added the almonds and cherries and put tablespoon mounds onto parchment paper.

Chilled them in the refridge and got these delicious treats. Serving size is one piece.

With some of the leftover chocolate, I filled one of my Hello Kitty cheese molds.

Even with the two days straight of rain, this year our rainy season seems to be late, in fact, we've been having cool weather.

I'm pretty sure this will affect the veggies and fruit this year.

miso dip

When we went to Kobe last Wednesday, I popped into Fine, a shop by Cerfeuil to see their jams and to see what was new.

I noticed some savory types and checked my cookbook written by them.

Inside the book they had a recipe for a miso dip with sesame seeds and garlic.

The recipe calls for you to fry the garlic, but since I was afraid I would burn the garlic thus getting bitter garlic, I instead roasted it. (425°F/220°C for 40 minutes with some olive oil)

It came out really good and reminded us of houba miso, which we've had in Takayama (pre-blog) and abura miso, which we've had in Okinawa.

A little sweet, a little salty, a little kick from the roasted garlic and nuttiness from the sesame seeds.

We had this with steak but I think it would also be nice with veggie sticks.

Great with beer.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe...makes about 1/2 a cup

40 grams awase miso*
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon sake (rice wine)
1/2 teaspoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
10 grams garlic, roasted (about a clove and a half), then minced
2.5 grams black sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil
green onions, chopped (amount to your liking)

*Awase miso is a mixture of miso made with beans and miso made from rice. Different makers combine the two in various ratios. I made my own in a 1:1 ratio. If you can't get the two types just use what you have on hand. Depending on how sweet your miso is, you may have to adjust the amount of sugar. Or if you don't want the dip to be too sweet and more on the salty side, you can cut back the sugar.

Mix everything well. Let chill.

Enjoy!

NOTES: The recipe didn't include this but I also added some chopped green onions for a spicy crunch.

The cookbook says that it would be nice mixed with some vinegar as a sauce for yakiniku (grilled meat), but we think it may not match.

It also said it would be nice in a musubi...so that is what I did and you know what? It was.

I had some leftover steak, so I cut it up into smaller pieces and heated it up with some green onions and a half teaspoon of the miso dip.

Put it into the musubi and lunch was served.

The book only talks about the dip matching with beef but I'm pretty sure this would work with pork and chicken too.

In fact, I sauteed some thinly sliced pork with onions in some sesame seed oil then added the miso (about a teaspoon), a scrambled egg and green onions.

Poured over rice, it was a great buta don (pork bowl).

We love it and I'm making this dip again.

ellie's energy bars

Yesterday, the 3 year memorial service for FIL went smoothly, but I am pooped.

Here is something I've had in my drafts.

I tried Ellie Krieger's Energy Bar recipe from "The Foods You Crave".

If you don't have the book, you can find the recipe here.

I didn't have all of the ingredients, so I kind of ad-libbed here and there.

Still, it was easy to put together, though after baking it, it still smelled and tasted a bit "eggy".

I was looking at other energy bar recipes and I think the next time I try this, I will use egg whites instead of the whole egg.

before it gets too cold

Thought I'd post about these before it gets too cold to talk about...

Boba tea. I made my own with tapioca pearls and earl grey tea. I think I should have sweetened the tea a little more, still it was a delicious treat during the Summer. Next time I see tapioca pearls at the gourmet store, I should pick some up.

Red Rooster Amber...meh, a bit on the watery side for me, I think I like their dark beer the best.

Chimay Red. This Belgian beer had a little bite to it, but we enjoyed this.

Lion Stout. This Sri Lanka beer was smoky and easy to drink. I would get this one again.

With my leftover roasted chicken breasts from Thanksgiving, I threw together Ellie Krieger's "Waldorf Chicken Wrap", from "So Easy".

I didn't have the wrap breads that her recipe called for, so we had this with sesame rolls. Also, I didn't have walnuts and subbed pecans. This recipe also called for lettuce, but I didn't have any in the house, so left it out.

This was delicious. Loved the crunch from the pecans and sweetness from the apples (I used Fuji). I put it together after Thanksgiving dinner and let it meld overnight. It was great for breakfast.

I think the next time I make this, I may add some dried cranberries and some celery.

Have a good week!

UPDATE: Since her recipe isn't online yet, I'll just give you what I did and you can ad-lib from there...this made about 2 servings
handful of walnuts
2 Tbsp greek yogurt (I just thickened 2 Tbsp plain on cheesecloth)
1 tablespoon mayo
2 tsp lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 cup cubed cooked chicken breast
1/4 large apple, seeded and diced
black pepper to taste
lettuce
whole wheat wrap breads (I used rolls)
Mix all together and serve with wrap/rolls.

Enjoy!