Gazing at wonders: Tis the season'

This post is reflective of the last few days in early December. Food. Times with Friends and Family. :D

Broccoli Salad

I made some lunch for my friends one Sunday afternoon, and this salad was super easy, yummy and healthy! And since then, I have been changing a few of the ingredients for variety. This recipe was taken from allrecipes.com broccoli salad.

Here are the ingredients:

10 slices bacon (I've substituted it with crab meat- for a seafood broccoli salad)
1 head fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup raisins
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup mayonnaise (I used low fat mayo).
1 cup sunflower seeds (I've used almonds instead)
(I've added thin slices of carrots)

Here's how to cook it!

(If using bacon) Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the broccoli, onion and raisins. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar and mayonnaise. Pour over broccoli mixture, and toss until well mixed. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
Before serving, toss salad with crumbled bacon and sunflower seeds.

From making this recipe, I've learned an important cooking technique of blanching and shocking vegetable! Having grown up in Asian family, I've eaten cooked vegetables for most part, except for the very few salads I know how to make with romaine and iceberg salads, but this technique almost allows me to eat most vegetables soft and cold. With this broccoli salad, all you really need to do is cut the broccoli, wash them, and boil them only till the stem is soft. The article talks about checking how soft the stem should be by inserting a small knife through the stem and if it comes easily, then its done the boiling part. (I suppose this would be like checking if the cookies are ready with a fork!) And when the broccoli is done the boiling part, you need to put it in a bowl with very cold water and ice (hence this is the shocking part) and then when its cooled, drain, and use!! So easy! Give it a try!

On the same note with food, I've been able to make Chocolate Chip cookies this week from one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen. I've tried their Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies! Voila some pictures!

Okay, so I haven't baked Chocolate Chip cookies in a long time, but I did needed it for any occasion. And these turned out not bad. Although, one big faux pas I did was I accidentally put two cups of brown sugar instead of one! Oops. You can tell when I am not a baker, in fact, I didn't even notice that I read the instruction wrong till I made the second batch and realized my mistake lol.

Alright, here's what you need and how-to-do:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
3. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time (for giant cookies) or a tablespoon at a time (for smaller cookies) onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
5. Bake larger cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for smaller ones (check your cookies before they’re done; depending on your scoop size, your baking time will vary) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Yum. And after baking the batch, I allowed myself two cookies to try afterward, and then wrapped them up and put this note on them. Its a Bible verse for the Sunday School this past week. Very convicting, especially about self-control!