Sweet and Sour Sardine Dish

This is one of my go to dishes whenever I only have 15 minutes to prepare a meal. Just opened a can of sardine, chop the other ingredients, 

  Stir fry on the pot, then Ta Da!

 Sweet and Sour Sardine Dish

Ingredients:

Roasted Brussels Sprout Recipe

I have been seeing these beautiful Brussels Sprouts lately whenever I go to Farmer Market but I don't know how to cook them so I went to Mr. Google to look for a recipe. I found two recipes, one uses fish sauce and the other uses balsamic vinegar. Since I like them both I decided to use both. The result: super duper yummyyyy Roasted Brussels Sprout:

Do you know Brussels Sprouts grow on stalks? Little Max was helping taking them out of the stalk

First, cut each of them into half, then put them inside a bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients then place them on a baking pan

 

Optional: spread bacon bits on top:

Bake in 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 35 minutes

Done! Eat as is or drizzle some honey on top before eating

Roasted Brussels Sprout
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound of Brussels sprouts

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves - minced

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 teaspoons sugar {more or less as prefer}

Dash of salt and pepper to taste

Optional: bacon, cut into small bits  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 to 425 degree Fahrenheit (depends on your oven)

Rinse the Brussels sprouts, cut off the brown end, and pull off any yellow leaves. Cut them in half vertically then place them inside a bowl

Toss in the rest of the ingredients except the bacon and mix them together

Place an aluminum foil on top of a baking pan then transfer everything from the bowl into the pan

Place the bacon bits on top

Bake for 30 minutes or until the sauce is caramelized and the sprouts are soft and ready to eat

Hope you like it as much as I do.

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Stir-Fried Bitter Melon

Spicy Egg Plants

Stir-Fried Snow Peas

Spaghetti Meatballs Recipe

Like most kids, my boys love spaghetti meatballs. This is one of those quick and easy meals that I cook for their lunch. It's perfect to be paired with french bread and balsamic vinaigrette. 

Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe

I have been back at making lots of Homemade French Bread with Balsamic Vinaigrette during Thanksgiving week and people always asked for the recipe so here it is. We use this for Bruschetta or as salad dressing.

Fettuccine Alfredo with cream cheese

This is one of those meals that I cook when I have little time to prepare, mostly for lunch with the kids because my husband is not a big fan of cheese and he usually eat salad for lunch at the office.

Max has been enjoying fettuccine since he was a toddler

Fail-proof Banana Bread Recipe

 

I wasn't a fan of banana bread before until I tasted the one that my mentor made. She kindly shared her recipe with me, which I've tested for many many times. I only made a little change by reducing the amount of sugar and adding blueberries. If you never make banana bread before, give this recipe a try and you wouldn't want to buy from the store again. 

Quick and Easy Dish: Broiled Cod or Salmon

This is one of the Quick and Easy dish that I have cook whenever I have less than 30 minutes to put meal on the table. I usually use either cod or salmon fillet (I got mine from Trader Joe's)
Place, the fish on top of baking dish then dry both side of the fish fillet with paper towel.

Season both sides

Broiled in the oven for 12-15 minutes depends on how hot is your oven

Roasted Okra

I have been hearing the health benefit of okra so when I saw them at local's Farmer's Market, I couldn't wait to cook with them. My last attempt of cooking them wasn't so successful. None of us like its slimy texture so this time I tried roasting them in the oven. No more slimy texture and even the boys can eat them. Yes!

First thing first: rinse them then let them dry

Cut them into smaller pieces

Hainan Chicken Recipe

I haven't cooked this dish for a long time. My friend posted this dish on her Instagram, which made me cook this dish again. The boys love it. The ate until there is nothing left on their plate, which makes me very happy because it is a super easy dish to make.

My boys loves this dish. It's very quick and easy to make because I am using this:

Plus some other ingredients:

How to make cold brew coffee

A few years ago my friend, Myrna shared with me a cup of cold brew coffee she made. It was perfect. She used the Pioneer Woman's recipe. The next morning and every morning after, I  almost always start my day with a cup of cold brew coffee. During cold season, I would skip the ice and warm up the coffee in the microwave.

Little Max helping making her momma's morning coffee
The ingredients:
Cold Brew Coffee Recipe

Mix the ground coffee with water in a large container then leave it in the room temperature for 12 hours.

Cooking Chicken Soup with Instapot

I don't know about you but hearty chicken soup is one of those meals I long for when I am not feeling well, when the weather is cold, or whenever I miss home. Unfortunately, my chicken soup is not the same kind that my husband grew up eating. "There's something missing," he said and he didn't know what it was. Until last month when we went home to Indonesia, my sister in law was cooking chicken soup and my hubby tasted it. He told me that's it tasted the same as chicken soup his mom used to cook. We finally figured out the  missing ingredient: candlenut, a nut commonly used in Indonesian cooking. This is optional ingredient though. I didn't use it for years and the soup taste just fine.

Ingredients:
chicken with bones, carrots, potatoes, salt, and white pepper
Three main spices: shallots, garlic

and candlenut

mince/ grind them

Banana Blueberry Muffins

My husband loves Sweet Tomatoes restaurant's blueberry muffin. So I thought I should try making it at home. I tried too make one with banana and another one without banana. We agreed that the one with banana was the clear winner both the texture and taste.

Indonesian Fruits Drink a.k.a. Es Teler

Whenever we have potluck with our Indonesian friends, either one of us would  always bring this staple Indonesian fruit drink. It is so easy to make and always loved by both the adults and kids.
Since we couldn't find fresh tropical fruits here, we use canned fruit from Asian supermarket such as Ranch 99 or Lion Supermarket. Sometimes, we can find fresh jack fruit there too so we don't have to use the canned one. You can add other fruits as well like avocado, berries, or apples.

Cut the fruits into bite size pieces

Place them inside a large container

Chewy Chocolate Chips Cookies

One of the reason I bake is because most of the store bought cookies or cakes are too sweet to my taste. So if you have a sweet tooth, you may want to add the amount of sugar or chocolate chips on this recipe. We rarely bake cookies except during winter time to be enjoyed with hot chocolate, milk, coffee, or tea; the choice is yours. 

First thing first, the ingredients: I use dark chocolate chips instead of the regular semi sweet chocolate chips on mine. 

The boy who hold the background:

Getting snack after working:

Process the ingredients in the mixing bowl: