Category: Cook

Pumpkin Bread

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Can I tell you something? I’ve never made a loaf bread before. Yes, I’ve made baguettes and other “rustic” breads from scratch. But the only thing I’ve made in my loaf pan was…meatloaf. So my gateway bread, is pumpkin bread. Then I will go for hawaiian style banana bread. And then start trying to make up some other sweet delicious bread.

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The best part of pumpkin bread, I think, are the delicious spices. A spiced bread is so yummy, and perfect for breakfast. I can’t believe I never tried to make it before.IMG_7629 IMG_7630 IMG_7634It’s so moist and delicious. I’m particular about the recipes that I use. I have to trust who’s writing it, OR I have to read it and mentally compute how it’s going to turn out. So I didn’t even bother googling a recipe for pumpkin bread. I knew what my favorite pumpkin bread was. Starbucks. So I went for that recipe, or something close to it.

Pumpkin Bread
Adapted from Todd Wilbur’s Top Secret Recipes Unlocked

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cups canned pure pumpkin puree
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.  Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a medium bowl.  Beat together eggs, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer on high for 30 seconds. Add the pumpkin and oil and mix well.

Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients in the mixing bowl and mix well. Pour batter into a well greased loaf pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until the top of bread is brown and toothpick comes out clean.

Leave bread to cool in bread pan. Once completely cooled, remove from loaf pan and slice.

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What’s for Dinner?

This happens to me a lot. It's after lunch, and I have nothing for dinner ready. Nothing marinated. Nothing prepped. No rice made. This is a normal occurrence. From my instagram and blog, you're like oh Miemo cooks every day. Well, I do cook often, but if it's Lao food, it's preplanned and I've made a trip to the ethnic super store.

During the week, I get flustered thinking about what am I going to make that isn't going to take me 3 hours to cook. I'm no Rachel Ray, dinner is never ready in 30 minutes (because, HA, jokes on you Rachel, none of us have our mise en place ready to go when we get home).

So I've decided, as much as I am on pinterest and on instagram checking out #dinner. You probably are too. And since you've already seen me cook it on instagram you probably want the recipe. Well now I will share!

Seared Pork Chops, Mac n Cheese and Fresh Green Beans

In this meal, I'm pretty sure that the thing that took me the longest to make were the green beans!

Grocery List
4 bone in pork chops
1 lb of fresh haricot certs, french cut green beans
1 box of mac n cheese mix (and ingredients needed for it)
5 slices of thick cut bacon
1/2 lemon, zest and juice
1 shallot
3 cloves garlic
sliced roasted almonds
butter
olive oil
kosher salt & black pepper

Instructions
1. Boil 1 cup of water. Add 3 tbsp salt and stir to dissolve. Remove from heat. Add 2 cups of cold water and the 3 smashed garlic. Lay the the pork chops in a 13×9 in pan in one layer. Pour the now room temperature water, salt, garlic brine over the chops. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2. While the chops are brining, bring another pot of salted water to boil. Blanch the greens for 2 to 3 minutes until tender but crisp. Immediately drain and plunge in an ice bath. Drain and let dry completely. Set aside.

3. Set up your ingredients. Mince shallots, set aside. Measure out 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil. Zest half the lemon into another small bowl.

4. Cook bacon. Drain on paper towels then chop into bite size pieces. Make mac and cheese according to box. Stir in bacon. Set aside.

5. Preheat the oven to 400F. When the oven comes to temperature, place a cast iron skillet, or oven safe skillet into the oven for 10 minutes. While this is preheating, remove the pork chops from the brine. Dry with paper towels. Rub a little olive oil on pork chops and season with salt and pepper or favorite seasonings. When preheated, carefully bring the skillet to the stove top. Over medium high heat, sear the pork chops on one side for 3 minutes. Flip over then carefully put the skillet back in the oven for 5-10 minutes (depending on thickness of chops) until the meat thermometer reads 145F at the thickest part. After cooked, remove chops from skillet and let rest while you make the green beans.

6. Heat a saute pan on medium heat. Add olive oil and butter. Stir until butter is melted. Add the shallots in the pan. Season with salt and pepper and sauté for 3-5 minutes until brown. Toss in the green beans and coat well with oil and shallots. Add the lemon zest and juice. Sauté 1-2 minutes until cooked through. Remove from heat and toss with almonds. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.

Plate your chops, mac n cheese and green beans, enjoy!

If you don't want to follow the instructions (to include multitasking) and just want the individual recipes. See below!

Easy Pork Chops and Haricots Verts

 

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Pumpkin Spice Macarons

I can’t believe I perfected this. Is perfect too strong of a word? I think I can say that when I’ve worked and tested a recipe multiple times to get the right recipe down to share. And EUREKA! I’ve done it. It’s all pumpkin errrythang season and I’ve made pumpkin bread and will be making pumpkin creme brûlées for thanksgiving.
Pumpkin spices. Did you know you could just make your own? With stuff you probably already have in your spice cabinet?
The pumpkin spice shells were a no brainer. Making a worthy filling was the hard part. Ganache will always be the right consistency. I promise. This will be the base for all my macarons now. Sorry if you don’t like chocolate!

Pumpkin Spice Macarons

Ingredients
For Filling:
5 1/4 oz of baker’s white chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 cup cold heavy cream
1/3 cup Libby’s pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the shells:
110gm sliced blanched almonds
200gm powdered sugar (then subtract 2 TBSP)
1 TBSP ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
3 egg whites (approximately 90 gms) aged at room temperature for 24 hours
25gm granulated sugar

Directions:
Melt and stir chocolate and butter over a double boiler until completely mixed. Should be warm to the touch. Transfer to a tall plastic container that would be good for an immersion blender.

Warm corn syrup in the microwave for 10 seconds. Add to the chocolate mixture. Blend with immersion blender for a minute or so. While still blending stream in cold cream. Misture should become shiny and smooth.

Add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon and salt. Blend until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

For Shells

In a food processor, grind almonds and powdered sugar until the almonds are a fine powder. Add the spices. Pulse until well mixed. Pour the dry mix through a fine mesh sieve and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip eggs until frothy. Then slowly add sugar while the eggs are still whipping. Whip until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat. Gently add the dry ingredients to the egg whites. Fold the dry ingredients in approximately 50 strokes. Batter should flow like lava. Do not over mix.

Put the batter into a piping bag, and pipe one inch circles on a silpat/parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Tap the pan a couple times to help level the tops. Let rest for 30-45 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 300F. Bake the shells for 10-15 minutes (check so it doesn’t burn!) with the door of the oven propped with a wooden spoon.

Allow to cool completely before trying to take it off the mat/paper. When cool, match up the shells by size.

Take the ganache out the refrigerator and spoon into a piping bag. Pipe on one shell and top with the other. Voila!

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Chicken Pot Pies

I don’t know why I was intimidated to try this. Maybe because I thought I was going to make the pie crust from scratch. HAHA. I think I am a lot more ambitious than I really am.
Basically the night before I decided to make the pot pie, I roasted this beautiful bird. I should really just eat it at this point. But I didn’t. I will have to roast this again, just to tear into fresh out the oven. Who else likes crispy skin?!

This is a fairly easy dish. I liked making them in individual ramekins, so that I could refrigerate and reheat during the week for a quick lunch or dinner. I would probably make again from leftover turkey or chicken!

My brother, who thinks chicken pot pies are gross, had two of these. I used my two favorite seasonings, Lawry’s and Nature’s to get that comforting homey feeling.

Mama Miemo’s Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons Butter
1 small onion, diced
2 Carrots, diced
3 Celery stalks, diced
1/2 cup of frozen peas
Shredded chicken from 2 breasts and 2 thighs (or however much you want)
1/4 cup Flour
3-4 cups Chicken Broth, Plus More If Needed
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt And Pepper, (or your favorite seasonings) to taste
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
2 Unbaked Pie Crusts
1 whole Egg
2 Tablespoons Water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat, then add the onion, carrots,celery and peas.

Cook until onions are translucent. Add chicken, then flour, stir it until it’s all combined. Cook for 1 minute, then pour in chicken broth. Stir then let it cook and thicken. Once it starts to thicken add the seasonings to taste.

Add heavy cream, then stir the mixture and let it bubble up and thicken, about 3 minutes. If it is too thick, you can add more broth until your desired consistency.

Scoop your filling into the ramekins. Cut out dough to fit the ramekin top with a little extra around it. Press the dough so that the edges stick to the outside. Use a knife to cut a vent into the surface of the dough.

Mix together the egg with 2 tablespoons water and brush it all over the surface of the crusts.

Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.

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Butternut Squash Soup

So guess what. I’ve never had butternut squash before, let alone the soup. My friend made me some that was so delicious, that I had to make some for myself. You can make it in a variety of ways, but here’s how I did it. A coworker gave me 2 butternut squashes from his garden, that’s what initiated this interest in cooking them.

Like most cooking there’s always the mirepoix and here it is, carrots, celery and onions. I didn’t want the soup to be too smooth, so these gave it something nice to bite into.

The hot italian sausage was definitely the base of the soup. Spicy, sweet, salty comforting deliciousness is this soup.

Topped off with a little sage and cream.

You’d be surprised at how much soup 2 butternut squashes make. I’m still eating it. It’s full of spices, sweet and savory and just so comforting. I’m glad this made it into my list of soups, or else I’d be missing out.

Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
2 medium to large butternut squash
Olive oil
1 tbsp of chinese five spice
1/2-1 tbsp cayenne pepper
salt and black pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. Peel and chop butternut squash to 1 inch cubes. In sheet pan, spread out butternut squash. Mix with rest of ingredients. Roast for 30-40 minutes mixing every 10 minutes in pan so it can brown on all sides. When done (when a fork can easily be inserted), mash with potato masher or in food processor while hot.

At this point you can freeze until ready for use, or continue…

Ingredients
3 hot italian sausages, casing removed
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, chopped fine
3 stalks celery, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp thyme
mashed roasted butternut squash
3-4 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper, to taste
1-2 tablespoons sage, chiffoned
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

In large pot over medium-high heat, break up and brown sausages. Add minced garlic, saute for a minute or two. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil if needed. Add carrots, celery, and onion. Add in thyme. Saute until carrots are slightly softened.

Add in mashed roasted butternut squash. Add in chicken broth gradually. Stir throughout. Add more if you want a slightly soupier consistency. Add in salt and pepper to taste.

Let simmer at low heat for 20-30 minutes. At this point, you can choose whether you want to blend it smooth or not. After, add in sage, cook for a minute or two. Add heavy whipping cream to taste. I added 1/2 cup, depends on how thick and creamy you want it to be.

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Sriracha Hot Wings

Oh. My. God. I couldn’t have imagined that it would taste this good. Surprising really. Maybe because I don’t usually go for the traditional hot wings on wing nights, but these…yes. I haven’t made hot wings in awhile (I also have another hot wing sauce up my sleeve) and I wanted to try out this sriracha recipe because, well everything is better with sriracha, amirite?!

I marinated the wings over night in a mixture that had coriander, cumin, cinnamon and salt. Then the next day, I brought it to room temperature, baked it for 30 minutes, then deep fried them, and tossed them in the sauce.

That sauce. Oh that sauce. Melted butter, sriracha, lime zest, lime juice, cilantro. Yum. I haven’t written out measurements or anything because I was just whipping it up based off a Food & Wine recipe. I will be making it again and measuring out how I made it, but you can find their recipe here!

 

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Mama Miemo’s Chillin’ Chili

Another cold weather favorite. Chili in the belly for chilly nights… or days depending on when you are eating this hearty bowl of goodness. An awesome thing about chili? You really can’t go wrong with throwing things in a pot and simmering for a couple hours.

 

I’ve had good feedback on my Chillin’ Chili. You can try it for yourself. And always remember taste as you season. My measurements on the spices are just an estimate, you can do more or less, depending on your preferences. Enjoy!

Mama Miemo’s Chillin Chili

Ingredients

1.5 lbs ground beef
14 oz can of tomato sauce
15.5 oz can pinto beans with liquid
15.5 oz can kidney beans with liquid
1 medium onion, diced
4.5 oz can diced green chilies
2 stalks celery, diced
4 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp red cayenne pepper
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp lawry’s seasoning salt
2 tsp chipotle seasoning
1 cup water

Directions
Brown ground beef in your chili pot, then drain. Smash and stir into crumbles. Add tomato sauce, beans with their liquid, and the rest of the ingredients. Stir and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, stirring often for at least two hours.

Serve with cheese, sour cream or anything else you like!

 

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Pistachio Pesto

This new vitamix is crazy. I love it. One of the first non smoothie thing I made was pesto. This thing is a champ. I didn’t have to prechop anything. Just threw in the nuts, garlic, basil, olive oil gave it a whirl and it was beautiful.
So much so, that I had too much pesto. And of course I had to make 2 things, pizza and pasta!
Pesto goes great with grilled chicken. Always handy to have it around. And look at those grill marks. YUM. Thank you Le Creuset.

Pesto is fairly easy to make, fresh and delicious. I got this recipe from my friend Anna. But you know me, I don’t measure! So this recipe is straight from wherever she got it. Hope it works for you!

Pistachio Pesto

Ingredients:
1 cup shelled pistachios
2 cups fresh basil
2 large cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of olive oil

Directions

Process the first 4 ingredients then slowly add olive oil to your desired consistency.

 

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Vitamix

It was between this and the Ninja Kitchen system. I mostly like ninja because well…it’s called a ninja! But after reading all the reviews, we went for the Vitamix, and I love it. So far I have only made smoothies with it, but its fast, and easy to clean! I also got the dry blender to make my own flours. Looks like I need to get back to making macarons!

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Krispy Kreme Donut Breakfast Sandwich

Aka the “Travis”. You have heard of the Luther. Meet it's breakfast counterpart, the Travis. Sausage, egg and cheese squeezed between a Krispy Kreme doughnut. This is real. Real delicious. I was nervous about how people would like it, but it was well received! These went fast, as well as some of my other favorite brunch items.

Bacon egg toast cups.

 

And Mama D's famous challah French toast.

I love hosting brunches, complete with a build your own MIEMOsa bar!

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