Braciole

Do you want something Italian but not pasta? Why don't you try making Braciole?

Braciole is a meat dish wonderfully cooked, drenched and stuffed with Italian seasonings. 

I found Giada de Laurentis' version easy to do, but made some tweaking of my own to save time and ingredients. I'm sure hers taste wonderful, but my short cuts didn't really make it come out too bad! 

Check out her video at the end.

What you will need:

1 (about a pound and a half) Flank Steak

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

4 tbsp Olive Oil (2 tbsp for drizzling and 2 tbsp for cooking)

1 tbsp Garlic Powder

1/2 tbsp Parsley flakes

1 cup Grated Italian Blend Cheese

1 cup white wine (I used White Zinfandel because it's a tad sweet and it was the one I had at home)

salt and pepper

a jar of marinara sauce - about 3 cups ( I used one flavored with roasted garlic, onions and pepper)

You will also need:

butchers twine

foil

A cooking pan deep enough to hold a roll of meat and some sauce and can transfer from stove to oven

What to Do:

Preheat  your oven to 350F

Blend the bread crumbs, garlic powder, parsley flakes and cheese together in a bowl and set aside. 

Lay the flank steak flat on a surface and spread the bread crumb mixture on top of it. Drizzle with some olive oil. This will help keep the bread crumb mixture intact and held together.

Now starting with the short end, roll the meat to enclose the filling and secure with butcher twine. 

season all sides with salt and pepper.

Prepare your pan and heat up the left  over olive oil for cooking.

Place the meat and brown on all sides. 

Pour the wine on the meat and let it boil in the pan. 

Pour in the marinara sauce.

Remove from stove, and partially cover with foil. This will keep your sauce from reducing to a tomato paste consistency.

Put the pan in the oven. Cook for 1 hour. 

Check the meat at 30 minutes to baste with the sauce. 

Remove the foil cover and continue baking for another 30 minutes. 

Total cooking time in the oven is 1.5 hours. Don;t worry, this will make the meat so mouth watering and tomato-ey tender. 

Remove from oven. Take the meat out from the sauce and remove the butcher's twine. Slice to about 1/2 inch slices and serve by spooning some of the the sauce on top.

Enjoy!!! 

Here's Giada's Braciole Video from the Cooking Channel

Sesame Garlic Noodles

A month ago I went to a get together with some college friends over in San Jose, Ca. We all had an early dinner at Kickin' Crab. It was a delectable seafood feast, with a side of garlic noodles. The garlic noodles were the perfect compliment to all that seafood... it was delicious.

But since we live about an hour drive away (factor in trudging through the city traffic), a strong craving for just the garlic noodles was not enough of a push to get us to go there.

So, I made garlic noodles of my own, with sesame to add a slight change in the dimension of flavors.

You will Need:
Noodles - yellow noodles, egg noodles, fettuccine noodles, or spaghetti noodles will do.
A lot of garlic- for a pound of noodles, I added about a whole head's worth of minced garlic
Stick of butter
1 TBSP Oyster sauce
1 TBSP Maggi seasoning
1 TBSP Sugar
1/2 TBSP Fish Sauce
1 TBSP Sesame Oil
Toasted Sesame Seeds for topping (optional)
Grated Parmesan Cheese for topping (optional)

What to do:
Cook your noodles as directed.
Heat up you pan and melt the stick of butter.
Add the minced garlic, until cooked, but not browned and toasted.
Add the oyster sauce, Maggi seasoning, fish sauce and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Lower the heat so as not to burn the sugar.
Toss in your noodles until well coated. Turn off the stove.
Drizzle with the sesame oil.
Serve and then top with sesame seeds and/or parmesan cheese.

The perfect blend of the garlicky, sweet, and salty taste of the noodles is a great complement to seafood.

Kahlua Truffles

You Will Need

1 lb bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

2 tbsp butter

½ cup heavy cream

‘3 tbsp Kahlua

¼ cup Cocoa powder

On a double boiler, melt the butter and mix in the heavy cream.  Add the chocolate chips and whisk until everything is melted and turns into a smooth and soft consistency. Add the Kahlua.

Pour into a bowl and refrigerate for about 2 hours until firm. Think play dough like consistency.

Use a measuring spoon ( I used ½ table spoon) to scoop some of the mixture onto the palm of your hand and shape them into balls.

Roll in cocoa powder.  Keep cool until ready to serve. 

Kid-Stuff Christmas

Preparing for your Christmas feast is one busy feat. An idea to make it a bit easier on you is to get the kids busy while you prepare for your holiday spread.

Here are a couple of ideas.

Get the kids busy starting with having them make their own breakfast on Christmas morning. Have them make…

Reindeer Sandwiches

Mid-day is also crucial task-filled time especially when you are hosting your holiday party. Have the kids make their own creations while you make some magic happen in your own kitchen. Get them to create some

Marshmallow Men

When all the guests have arrived, greetings are done, gifts are opened, and food have been served, some catching up with invited friends and family usually commence.  While you and your guests get a chance for some adult time, have all the kids do a little get together of their own by decorating

Oh So Sweet ChristmasTrees

Oh So Sweet Christmas Trees

You Will Need:

Ice Cream Cones

Tub/s of Frosting (White or Green)

Paper Plates

Pieces of Candy

The first thing I ask the kids to do is to spread the frosting on the plate. I usually use white for a snowy landscape, then have them use green to spread all over the cone. Green frosting, however, is hard to come by. So I would put a drop or two f green food coloring on the white frosting and just mix it until all the green is evenly distributed. You can, of course, go all-white, for a White Christmas effect, or just all-green and tell them it’s for a grassy field or meadow! 

When the frosting has been put on the plate and on the cone. Invert the one over the plate. This will be the tree. Then use the candy pieces to decorate.

I just used the extra choco chips and M&Ms from the Reindeer Sandwiches, and what was left over from the Marshmallow Men, and added a little bit extra from what I could find in the pantry (think left over Halloween Candy!)

So the kids are a bit more invested in the creative process, tell them the best Christmas Tree wins a prize! When everything is decorated and done, have the children set all their creations on a table or corner and call in grandma to be the judge. The best one wins a special prize!

Marshmallow Men

You Will Need:

Toothpicks

Marshmallow in different sizes (during the holiday season they also come in different colors and Holiday flavors!)

Tube icing (optional)

This one is easy. All the kids need to do is use their imagination (which they seem to have an abundant supply of) to put together the marshmallow pieces and hold them with toothpicks. Use tube icing to make little dots for the eyes or mouth.

They need not create just one Marshmallow Man (or woman), they can make their own army of Marshmallow People! Or a whole herd of Marshmallow monsters, or Aliens. Let get carried away with their creations, but DON’T let them poke each other with the toothpicks! 

Reindeer Sandwiches

You will Need;

Sandwich slices

Plastic knife

Chocolate chips

Red M&Ms

Pretzels

Spread (could be anything your kid like)

The objective is to have the children get their own feel for food preparation. Whether it be making a PB&J sandwich (spreading peanut butter on one slice and jelly on the other) or a Bananas and Chocolate (spreading Nutella on one slice and having them peel and cut their own bananas), you want the kids have fun making food that they will eat. 

After deciding on what spread you want your kids to have, the Reindeer effect is all in the assembly. See the picture.

Use the pretzels for the ears, be sure to tuck them in the middle layer between the bread slices, use chocolate chips for eyes, and a red M&M for the nose.