Mango Sticky Rice

I looked everywhere for this recipe this week to make for my book club (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet) even though I think it's more of a Thai recipe than Chinese or Japanese.

I didn't find the recipe and considered making moon cakes instead but had no idea where to get lotus seed paste for the filling and thought you probably needed a mold ..... so served unimaginative marble cheesecake & fortune cookies instead.

I stumbled across it today (isn't that always the way) and am posting it here - mostly for my own benefit, so I can find it gain when I want it!

We love to serve it as dessert on the days I make Thai Lettuce Wraps for dinner.

Oh summer we miss you, hurry back!

Mango Sticky Rice (makes 6 servings)

1 cup glutinous (sweet) rice (available at Asian markets.)
1 can light coconut milk
raw shredded coconut
water
salt
1 - 2 mangoes; diced


Place 1 cup rice in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add 1 cup of cold water and let soak for 30 minutes to soften.

Make the coconut sauce. Whisk together 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt, and 1/2 cup of coconut milk. Whisk until the sugar dissolves and set aside.

Cook the rice, adding 3/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup coconut milk and 1 tablespoon of raw shredded coconut. Stir, then bring to a simmer over medium heat, turn down the heat to low and simmer covered for 15 minutes.

Slice or dice the mango.

After 15 minutes the rice should be soft and sticky - cooked and not crunchy. With a fork, stir in the coconut sauce in two additions. (Pour half and stir it in, then repeat.) Do this while rice is hot, so it really soaks in. It will look kind of soupy, but as it sits it will really tighten up. Let rice sit covered for 15 minutes.

Toast some shredded coconut (in a dry pan) until it's a light nutty brown.To serve, scoop the rice into a mound in the center of a plate. Spoon mango around it & top with toasted coconut. Can be served hot, room temp or cold.

March 20th - 26th

So this week ended up with a few days of take out and one day of leftovers ... not much in the recipe department, but enjoy what's there.

SUNDAY - Sweet & Sour Chicken. White Rice. Steamed Green Beans.

We tried this recipe from my sister in law, Lacey. We thought it was good and everyone ate it (making it an instant inductee to the regular rotation.) The only thing was I thought it was very, very sweet. Next time we'll cut the sugar in half - or even less than half.

4-6 Chicken Breasts
2 eggs
Cornstarch

Beat eggs together in bowl
Dip each chicken breast in egg
Put Cornstarch in a plastic bag or on a plate and coat chicken
In a frying pan with some veggie oil, brown each chicken breast...only until the coating is golden.

Sauce:
1 1/2 C Vinegar
3/4 C Ketchup
3TBS Soy sauce
2 1/4 C Sugar
Dash of Salt
In a sauce pan bring ingredients to a boil and then simmer until sauce becomes slightly syrupy.
Place Chicken in a baking dish (9x13)
Pour Sauce over Chicken
Bake at 350 Degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

MONDAY - Leftovers.

Em was home sick throwing up and my stomach felt queasy all day. I didn't feel like eating OR cooking, so I gave the other kids some left over chicken I had in the fridge and served it with corn & cucumber slices. Rick usually gets his own dinner on Mondays (we usually have pasta on Monday's & he hates pasta) so it was quick & easy. Then I left the laundry in piles all over the basement floor, and all the mess everywhere else & went to bed. Sometimes it just has to be that way!

TUESDAY - Ham & Potato Soup. Rolls.

Potato Soup
 
4 potatoes, cubed
1 T butter
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
4 T flour
1/2 lb chopped ham
1 1/2 cups corn

In a deep pot, saute celery, onion and salt in 1 T butter until the onion is clear and soft. Add potatoes and water to cover. Boil and cook 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. In a separate pan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Add the flour and stir until creamy. Remove from heat. Slowly add the milk while stirring. Return to heat until thickened. Add to boiled potatoes. Return to a boil and cook until desired consistency. (I sometimes add a little extra milk.) Add ham and corn and heat through. Serve with french bread

WEDNESDAY - Spinach, Green Onion & Smoked Gouda Quiche. Spinach Salad.

CRUST

6 TBSP butter, softened

2 TBSP 1% milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 large egg yolk

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

FILLING

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 cup thinly sliced green onions

3 cups fresh baby spinach

1 cup 1% milk

3/4 cup grated smoked Gouda cheese

3/4 tsp salt

dash of grated nutmeg

3 large eggs

I actually don't have the method to this recipe - but you know what to do.
I usually make my pastry in my Cuisinart food processor with the dough blade. I usually also wrap it in plastic & pop it in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour before rolling it out.


Bake about 45 minutes at 350, until firm.

THURSDAY

Em has swimming until 6pm on Thursdays and book club was at my house tonight ... so we had sandwiches. I actually love a good sandwich and we eat them for dinner once a week in summer. My only issue is that Emily & Jane won't eat them. They just have the fillings on plate and then the bread separately. I know. It's weird.

What are some of your favorite sandwiches?

FRIDAY

Pizza Dough

1 ½ cups warm water

2 TBS sugar

1 TBSP yeast 

3 cups flour

½ tsp salt

• Mix yeast, water & sugar & wait 5 mins. Add flour & let mixer run for 10 mins (with dough hook.) Roll out into a rectangular shape & cut into strips with pizza cutter
• Melt 1/3 cup butter in bottom of 9 X 13” pan & place in dough strips
• Brush with melted butter & sprinkle with seasoned salt & Parmesan cheese
• Allow to rise for 30 mins.
• Bake 15-20 mins at 350F

Pizza Sauce

1 large (30oz) can crushed tomatoes

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp garlic (minced or powder)

1 Tbsp parsley

1 Tbsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt

SATURDAY

Sorry - no recipe again.

Emily swam in the junior Olympics all day .. it was great to be there with her and we are so proud of her accomplishment to have qualified to go. Rebekah had play rehearsal all day but the rest of us went to cheer her on & show our support.

We ended up coming home LATE ... with little kids who needed to go right to bed and me to get bek & myself to the YW General Broadcast, so we stopped at Fairway for pizza. yep, pizza a second night in a row. Fairway pizza is very yummy and it was right on the way home.

I really need to be better at anticipating these kind of nights and making something in advance. (In my defense, the swim coach had assured us we'd be finished by 1pm and I did think I'd be home in time to make dinner!)

Popscicles

I LOVE Donna Hay and have a lot of her recipe books but I don't get her magazine. It's super expensive to have it mailed from Australia - and the seasons are always off, (you know winter here, summer there) so I don't bother.

I do occasionally check it out online and so I saw THIS ...

 You tell me, could you resist those popsicles? They immediately made me wish it were summer & my kids and I were hanging out on our patio after swim team practice eating them .... pure happiness.

I e-mailed my sister, Liesa, and begged her to buy it and send it to me. She said she'd been thinking of something to send for my birthday & happily would!

On my birthday I got a great surprise - she (& my parents) also got me a gift card to Williams-Sonoma for the Zoku popsicle maker. It freezes them in JUST SEVEN MINUTES!

Oh man, we cannot wait to try some of these beauties.

I also got the storage case (for those days when our instant-gratification-selves can't even wait the 7 minutes for them.) And I got the tool kit & extra sticks ....

And who says that popsicles have to be summer only treat anyway! Check out these Christmas popsicles.

Yep, we have big plans for popsicle making this year!

Now I just have to figure out a way to get my hands on THIS ....

Strawberry Huller

I am kind of a sucker for cool kitchen gadgets, but having our tiny kitchens in the two appartments we lived in in Brooklyn & now our pretty small kitchen here, I have learned that anything I buy really needs to be worth the space it will take up.

I find the OXO brand of kitchen tools very well made, so when I was looking for a new meat mallet the other day and saw this handy little tool, I was intrigued. It is little - so little I decided it was worth a try. Plus, it was only about $6 so no huge amount to be out if it didn't work out.

This baby is AWESOME. I've never even seen a strawberry huller before, and this is so easy to use and pops out the leaves so quickly and easily. The kids could even do it and liked using it.

Dinner this week.

It's the time of year when I tend to plan meals a week or two at a time - then switch days around as needed. This usually happens in spring (not that we are quite there yet - it snowed this morning) and because the weather in NY is notoriously un-predictable and if I plan for soup & rolls weeks in advance it will undoubtedly be 75 degrees that day!

Also, Corinne requested I be better about putting the recipes on here, and I might be able to manage that better a week at a time.

March 6th - 12th

SUNDAY

Yogurt Parmesan Chicken. Pear & Gorgonzola Salad.

This chicken is a family staple. It's easy, and everyone likes it. I especially love that Rick and the kids can whip it up on a Sunday afternoon while I am taking a nap (that certainly adds to the deliciousness.)

Yogurt Parmesan Chicken

2 C crushed Ritz crackers
3 Tbs Parmesan cheese
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp seasoned salt

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8oz plain yogurt (I use Greek)
1/4 C melted butter

Combine cracker crumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic salt and seasoned salt in large large Ziploc bag. Set aside.
Coat each piece of chicken in yogurt, then toss in crumb mixture. (I slice the breasts into strips - about 4 per breast).
Arrange chicken in 9x13 pan and drizzle with melted butter. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or until tender.

See the post below this for the Salad recipe.

MONDAY

Linguine with Lemon & Olive Oil.

Super fast, super yummy and super easy. What more could you ask for? We ate this with leftover salad from last night. I followed the basic recipe from smitten kitchen but doubled the ingredients for the sauce (with 1 1/2 lbs linguine) used all the zest from 3 lemons and didn't add any reserved water (it seemed wet enough.) I also added a very scant amount of Parmesan cheese to the finished dish (I've decided that I should try and reduce the MASS amounts of cheese we consume around here!)

We love lemons and this was so yummy & lemony. Mmmmm.

1 pound linguine

Salt

3 lemons

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil , plus additional for serving

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 ounce finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 1/2 cup), plus additional for serving

Ground black pepper

Small handful fresh basil leaves, shredded

Cook linguine or spaghetti in well-salted water to your al dente tastes in a large, wide-bottomed pot. (You’ll have fewer dishes to wash if you use this pot to assemble the dish as well.)

While pasta is cooking, zest lemons until you have a little shy of a tablespoon of zest. Juice lemons — you’ll have anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice.

Drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups of pasta cooking water. Dry out your pot, then boil the olive oil, cream, zest and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water together for two minutes over high heat. Return pasta to pot and stir until coated. Add the cheese and 1/4 cup lemon juice and toss, toss, toss everything together. Add more pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time, if you’d like your dish a little looser. Quickly taste a strand of pasta and see if you want to add the remaining lemon juice (we did). Stir in basil or arugula and season generously with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately, drizzling individual portions with a bit of extra olive oil and sprinkling with extra Parmesan. cheese.

TUESDAY

Bronzed Sea Bass with Lemon Shallot Butter

From the Pioneer Woman

• 6 ounces, weight (to 7 Ounces) Piece Of Sea Bass, With Or Without The Skin On
• 3 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium-sized Shallot, Minced
• 1 whole Lemon, Zested And Juiced
• 3 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• Kosher Salt And Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season both sides of the fish generously with salt and pepper.

Heat canola oil in a medium-sized oven-safe pan over high heat for a few minutes to let the oil get nice and hot.

Once the oil has heated up for a couple of minutes, drop the sea bass into place and let it sit there untouched for two minutes. (Don’t overcrowd the pan, as this will kill our ability to create a tasty crust on the fish.) Sear over high heat for 2 minutes, then transfer the pan into the 375-degree oven WITHOUT FLIPPING THE FISH OVER. Set the timer to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, begin making the lemon shallot butter sauce. Melting the butter over a medium-high heat. Add in the minced shallot and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes.

When the shallots have become a little softer, squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon. Whisk together and reduce the heat to medium until you’ve got an incredible-smelling sauce. (Skipping the shallots in this process will make a super-simple lemon butter sauce.)

Once the fish has been in the oven for 8 minutes, remove it and let it rest for a moment before serving. Take this time to remove the pin bones if your butcher didn’t do it for you.

This exact method will work well with halibut, salmon, or any other thick fish. Great results every time.

WEDNESDAY

Grilled Chicken & Pineapple Quesadillas

Also from the Pioneer Woman Cooks. I like recipes that can be somewhat individualized, since there are so many varied tastes (AKA picky eaters) in our family. Rick, Jacob & I will eat these just this way. Emily & Jane will have it without the pineapple and Bek will eat hers sans chicken. Everyone is happy & I don't have to work hard to do it. You're welcome family!

• 8 whole Flour Tortillas
• Butter Or Margarine
• 2 cups Grilled Pineapple, Sliced
• 3 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 3 cups Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
• 1 whole Jalapeno, Sliced
• Cilantro
• 3 Tablespoons Barbecue Sauce

Preparation Instructions

(To grill pineapple: cut wedges, stick on skewers, and grill over low heat. Cut into slices.)

(To pound chicken, place inside a Ziploc bag and pound with a mallet or large can to flatten to uniform thickness.)

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and Cajun spice (or cumin/cayenne, etc.) Drizzle olive oil on a grill pan and grill on both sides until done, brushing with barbecue sauce. Set aside and slice into very thin slices.

Warm griddle over medium heat and put sizzling butter or margarine in the pan. Slightly warm and toast tortillas on both sides, then remove from griddle and set aside.

To assemble, sprinkle four browned tortillas with grated Monterey Jack. Arrange chicken slices evenly over the surface. Add pineapple slices and jalapeno slices. Sprinkle on cilantro. If desired, drizzle extra barbecue sauce over the top. Add second browned tortilla on top of each one. (You’ll have four complete quesadillas at this point.)

Add to oven to warm, or back to skillet to warm, until cheese is melted. Cut each quesadilla into six wedges. Serve with sour cream, pico de gallo, and lime wedges.

THURSDAY

Jacob was having his 24 hour EEG. I wasn't sure how late we'd be so didn't plan dinner. A friend actually made us pasta, bread sticks & broccoli. The bread sticks were wonderful, so I asked for the recipe. Emily LOVED these &has big plans to try making them herself soon.

Bread sticks.

Makes about 20-25 bread sticks.

1 ½ cups warm water

1 tablespoon instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

3 ½ cups flour (I usually use a combination of unbleached all-purpose flour and white whole wheat flour but use whatever you have on hand!)

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, melted (for the baking sheet)

Mix all ingredients (except melted butter) in a large bowl or electric mixer and knead for three minutes. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spread melted butter onto an 11X17-inch baking sheet. Roll out the bread stick dough about 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick and cut into strips with a pizza cutter. Twist slightly if desired and place about 1/2-inch apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with garlic salt, herbs of choice (I vary this depending on my mood but it usually consists of rosemary, basil, or thyme in some form and crushed finely) and Parmesan cheese. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown.

FRIDAY

Homemade Pizza

I often make my own dough, but sometimes we just buy it from our local pizza store (they sell rounds of dough for $2.)

The kids love to roll their own and add their own toppings. My favorite is tomato slices, fresh mozzarella and snipped fresh basil. Or my other favorite is fresh mozzarella covered with

thick slices of portobello mushrooms & and chunks of crumbled blue cheese. Mmmmm.

If you want to make your own dough, I love this one.

Emily has been into making pizza dough lately and uses her own preferred recipe. She makes it entirely herself. Honestly. I am usually not even in the kitchen at all and she does a great job! It's a decent pizza dough although a little too "fluffy" for me. I prefer my pizza crust thin and a little crispy on the bottom ... but the kid is making dinner for me, so what can I say?

 Emily's Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water

1 Tbsp yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon oil

3 cups flour

Pour warm water into a bowl. Sprinkle yeast in and let sit for five minutes. Add salt, sugar and oil and 1 ½ cup flour. Mix then add remaining flour and knead well.

* The munchkin prefers to knead this by hand, but I'm sure 5 - 10 minutes in an electric mixer would be easier. The we usually let it rise for about 30 minutes, or while we go to Lacrosse practice, or swimming, or whatever else we have going on that afternoon! When we get back to it, we punch it down & roll it out ... you know how to do the rest.

SATURDAY

We ate out. We were out late running errands & generally cramming everything that we need to do as a family into the one day we are all home .... we ended up at the pet store to get our "Millie" supplies around dinner time. It was right by a Red Lobster....

I've never eaten there before, so we thought we'd try something new. It was OK and even Bek & Em (my non-fish eaters) enjoyed their meal.