Asparagus salad with scallops and mango-chilli sauce

I am going away on business for the whole week next, so I won't be posting much. However, after I cooked my simple dinner tonight, I knew it was a winner and that I had to post it out here. It was fresh, healthy, simple and delicious!

Asparagus salad with scallops and mango-chilli sauce

Mango Dressing:

- 2 very ripe mangoes, peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup Asian chilli sauce
- Salt and black pepper, to taste

For dressing, place mango, garlic, and vinegar in a blender. Puree. Add oil and chilli sauce and blend to mix. Season with salt and pepper. It would give you a lot of sauce. I am sure it would be good on grilled chicken or pretty much anything.

Asparagus

I quickly steamed them, and then grill them on the barbecue.

Scallops

I seared them, I had too small scallops to grill them and I felt like I wanted a little bit of that crusty butter taste on the edge.

How to:

Put the asparagus on the plate, cover with all the scallops you want and drizzle with the mango-chilli sauce.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Who does not like strawberry cupcakes? Last Sunday, after I got home from groceries shopping, I realized that I had yet again bought too much strawberries. What a better way to ensure no waste than make delicious cupcakes? Besides, those little piece of heaven made me the most popular girl around the office.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 large egg
6 ounces All Natural Vanilla Lowfat Yogurt (or any other fruit flavor of yogurt)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Frosting:
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 fresh strawberries, about 2 Tbsp. mashed



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. With an electric hand mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg, the yogurt and vanilla, blending until smooth.

2. Measure the dry ingredients into the bowl and blend, then fold in the strawberries.

3. Divide the mixture equally between the 12 paper-lined cupcake cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. Beat together butter, powdered sugar, and mashed strawberry in medium-size bowl until creamy and smooth. Chill frosting for 15 minutes or until thick. Frost cupcakes with a spatula. Keep cupcakes in the refrigerator loosely covered.

Asian Night: First Guest Blogger!

My friend Miss N came over yesterday for dinner. Long story short, I was to make salad roll + coconut shrimps. I know she loves Thai food so she was thrilled to join me. She accepted to be my guest blogger and do Pad Thai. We were in for a feast and tons of yummy food!

Salad rolls

- Rice paper
- Iceberg lettuce
- Crab meat (I am cheap, I used crab sticks)
- Shrimps
- Mint
- Rice vermicelli
- Sesame seeds

Dip the rice paper (1 at the time, they are going to stick together otherwise) in cold water for about 30 seconds. Shake off the excess water. Place a bit of lettuce in the center of the roll, top with a crab stick, add a handful of rice vermicelli (it all depend on the size you like your roll). Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Add 1 or 2 leaves of mint, and top with 3-4 shrimps. Wrap like a burrito. (There must be a trick as mine were not as tight as the one in the restaurant)



Crushed peanut and Lime vinaigrette

You cannot have salad roll without having a dip can you? Well, not in my house, these rolls are made for dipping!

- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup brown sugar (I used brown splenda and N didn’t even noticed)
- 2 ½ tablespoon of fish sauce (I didn’t have any, I used oyster sauce)
- 1 ½ olive oil (or sesame)
- 2 tablespoon of fresh mint (I kinda cheated and added ¼ cup)
- ¼ cup crushed peanuts
- 1 teaspoon of chillie
- Garnish with green onions

How to: Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. It can be done up to 3 days in advance. (Some people add cilantro; I do not like cilantro so I didn’t put any)



Coconut shrimps: I cheated, they’re store bought



Miss N Pad Thai

Miss N uses a box for the Pad Thai. The box only says to add meat and that’s it. Miss N completely overhaul the recipe and added mushroom, garlic, red and yellow pepper, mint and lime juice. It was great!!

Guinness Shepherd’s pie

Alright, I must give the credit to the Hungry Housewife. I saw the recipe and her website and since my husband LOVE Guinness, I had to try it.

Ingredients

- 1 ½ pound of ground beef (Can also use veal)
- 1 (1lbs) bag of frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
- 2 packets of dry brown gravy mix
- 1 medium onion
- Olive oil
- 2 bottles of Guinness beer
- 2 tablespoon of tomato paste
- 2 cup of sharp cheddar cheese
- 3 pounds of baking potatoes
- ¼- ½ cup milk
- 1 stick of butter
- Salt and pepper

How to?

1. Turn on the oven at 375.
2. Boil the potatoes in salted water. Use the milk and butter to do mashed potatoes. (don’t forget the salt and pepper. I also added garlic salt
3. Cook and drain the ground beef. Place the ground beef in a skillet and add 1 bottle of the Guinness. Cook until the beer has almost cooked out.
4. Add tomato paste to the meat
5. In a medium saucepan, prepare the brown gravy according to the package directions, however, use beer for half the liquid called for (1 cup of water, 1 cup beer). Pour gravy into the meat mixture. Cook together until you get nice thick gravy.
6. In a medium skillet, with olive oil, sauté the onions until soft. Add the thawed vegetables and cook until warm throughout.
7. In a baking dish, add meat as a bottom layer, then add the vegetables, then the mashed potatoes and top with the shredded cheddar cheese.
8. Cook at 375 for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is nice and bubbly!
It is delicious, even for those that aren’t fans of Guinness beer.

Great pork tenderloin in the slow cooker

On busy week nights, I don’t always know what to cook and it’s always a scramble to fix dinner. The slow cooker has been really useful then as I throw everything in it in the morning and when I get home, it smells good and dinner is ready.

Ingredients

- 1 (2 pounds) pork tenderloin
- 1 envelope of dry onion soup mix
- 1 cup of water
- ¾ cup of red wine (doesn’t it already sound great?!)
- 3 tablespoon of minced garlic
- 3 tablespoon of soy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste

How to?

1. Place the pork tenderloin in the slow cooker with the content of the soup packet. Pour water, wine and soy sauce over the top, turning the pork to coat. Carefully spread garlic over the pork, leaving as much on top of the roast during cooking as possible. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover and cook on low for 6 hours. (depend on the slow cooker)

Coconut cream pound cake.

There is cake, there is sissy cake, and this cake is definitely not for the dieting cake craving people. It’s rich, it’s delicious, and its calories pack but very yummy!
I have had a crazy couple of weeks with days of work well over the regular 8 hours. I found time to cook (As we should always eat fresh food and little processed). My slow cooker has been a savior and my husband a tremendous help. Anyhow, I felt like baking a cake and when I came across this recipe, I knew I had to bake it. I’ve warned all of you, this cake is not a light cake-ish thing, its heavy (It’s a pound cake after all) and people should not overindulge.



Ingredients

- 1 cup of butter softened (not melted)
- 1 package of cream cheese softened (I used light cream cheese)
- 3 cup of white sugar (Used Splenda)
- 6 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (I love the African vanilla we brought home from our honeymoon)
- 3 cup of all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon of baking powder
- 2 cup of unsweetened coconuts flakes.

How to?

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the cream cheese until well blended. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs one at the time, then stir in the vanilla extract. Mix in flour and baking powder until just moistened then stir in coconut flakes. Spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.
4. Once cold, add icing if you like. (Already rich enough for my taste!)