Homemade French Vanilla Cappuccino Mix in a Jar

Here's my Christmas post this year! Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Christmas can always be a tricky and difficult time to think of what to give to co-workers and relatives. I've always wanted to try giving this out in years past and just have not been able to devote time to experiment on the mix. So this year, I made time and the result is a pretty awesome-flavored hot drink just right for these cold days and nights.

This really is comparable to the store-bought kind and much cheaper and fun to make. Aside from its fancy name, what is really is, and more commonly known to Filipinos, is "three-in-one" instant coffee.

The recipe below will yield about four 8 oz jars. Feel free to reduce the recipe in half or multiply to give away in individual jars. There are many recipes online for this, some are more bitter, and some sweeter. For me, this is the perfect balance.

Needed:
1 c instant coffee granules
3 c powdered non-dairy creamer, plain
1 1/2 c instant chocolate mix, rich cocoa flavor, no marshmallows
1 1/2 c white sugar
1 small box of vanilla pudding mix
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg

How to make:
1. Make the coffee granules finer by grinding in a blender to "fine." This is required so that it blends better when mixed with the other ingredients and mixes well when stirred with hot water.

2. Transfer coffee to a big bowl and add in the rest of the ingredients, mixing thoroughly with each ingredient added.

3. Transfer to an air tight jar. Decorate as appropriate for Christmas give-aways. Add a note to the jar saying, "Mix 2-3 T with 6 oz hot water." 6 oz water is about a regular coffee cup, not a mug.

Tip:
Make sure to try the mix yourself first to ensure the taste is to your liking. Adjust as needed.

Note that:
By using "rich" hot chocolate mix, the mixture is more bitter, thus the 1 1/2 cups of sugar. If you use regular hot chocolate, the end result may not be as bitter and you should cut down on the sugar.

You can also use French vanilla-flavored creamer and if you do, you should omit the vanilla pudding mix. This, too, has added sugar, so cut back on the sugar a little bit.

Garlic Butter Roasted Crabs with Garlic Noodles

It's crab season again in the Bay Area and with the news that crabs were in abundance this year, we headed off again to Half Moon Bay to get our crabs. The local Asian markets were selling crab for $4.99 a pound, so we figured, the crab men were selling them at cheaper. We were excited.

Drew got a wonderful deal from one of the boats--6 good-sized crabs for only $50! Each crab weighed approximately 2.5 - 3 lbs, so we got a steal!

We love the An Family's Secret Recipe for roasted crab so much that through the years, I've tried to make my own spin. It's basically roasted with lots, and lots, and lots, of garlic and butter. What's not to love?? For those who have gone to San Francisco's Tanh Long in the Sunset District and its sister restaurant, Crustacean's on Polk Street, which can also be found in Southern California, you know what I mean when I say that their crabs are de-lish!

So, here's how I made "their" Roasted Crabs:

Ingredients:
3 (almost large sized) 2.5 - 3 lb crabs, boiled in hot salt water for approximately 30 minutes, drained, then chopped.
1 whole garlic, cloves peeled and chopped finely
1 stick butter, melted in a small pot on the stove
1 cube chicken bouillon
1/2 T freshly ground pepper
1/4 t white sugar

1. Set aside the boiled crab and let cool. Then, clean (remove the fins and sharp body parts) and crack into serving size pieces. After lifting the shell, I usually crack the body into 4 sections. I also pound on the leg shells to allow the butter sauce to penetrate the crab meat. Arrange in an oven-proof dish.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

3. With the melted butter still in the pot, add the garlic and over low heat, let infuse. Do not use high or medium heat as you will end up reducing the butter's volume. Let infuse for about 5-7 minutes to allow the butter to have a distinct garlic taste. Add the bouillon cube and crush well, mixing thoroughly. Add pepper (more for a more pepper-y taste) and the sugar. Dissolve completely.

4. Pour butter mixture liberally over the crabs. Add dash pepper and garlic salt, if desired. Be cautious to use sparingly. Put in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes. Do not leave longer than 30 minutes or the crabs will dry up.

5. Serve hot with garlic noodles or warm rice.

6. Be prepared to eat using your fingers and have lots of napkins handy.

And now, for the Garlic Noodles:

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked noodles (preferred, Asian Egg Noodles, blanched with hot water)
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 garlic, cloves peeled and finely chopped.
1 T oyster sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 T white sugar
Parmesan cheese

1. I did not have Asian Egg Noodles on hand, so I improvised with Angel Hair Pasta and it was okay. Not quite the Asian flair, but it was still good and served as a good side dish to the crabs. If you are using the cooked, pre-packaged Asian noodles from your favorite Asian market, do blanch it quickly with very hot water to remove excess oil and saltiness from the noodles. Set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Infuse with the garlic for about 5 minutes. Lower to low heat and add the oyster sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar. Mix well.

3. Take the Egg Noodles and add the garlic sauce sparingly, careful not to over-sauce the noodles. The noodles should be very lightly coated with the sauce. Add Parmesan cheese sparingly.

4. Serve as a side dish to the roasted crabs.

Enjoy your homemade "Secret Recipes!"

Red Curry Salmon

There's a Thai restaurant near my work and I've just been absolutely addicted to their Red Curry Salmon. There was one week I ate it twice that same week for lunch. Talk about addiction!

Well, since I seem to be spending too much at the restaurant, I decided to see how difficult it was to make the dish. To my surprise, it's quite simple!

I have to admit, the restaurant's had a more distinct flavor--probably from having the curry "sit" or "cure" for a while. Nonetheless, what follows is delicious and most of all, so simple to make and takes no more than half hour and it's ready!

Needed:
1 T canola oil
1 - 2 T Thai red curry paste
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can coconut milk
1 lb salmon fillets, cut into chunks
7 - 8 basil leaves
salt to taste
Thai fish sauce, optional
1/2 T white sugar
Sliced vegetables: your choice of asparagus, baby corn, green beans, red pepper, green pepper, yellow squash, or all! Maximum of 4 cups vegetables combined as a ratio for the sauce and salmon

How to make:
1. Heat oil in a large pot with lid. Saute the curry paste first, then the chopped onion. Cook until onion is transparent.

2. Add coconut milk and allow to boil softly. Continue to let boil and add vegetables--place the harder-to-cook vegetables in first and cook (for example, put in green beans first as they are firmer in texture and will require longer to cook). Then, add the other vegetables gauging which ones will need to cook longer and putting those in the pot before the others that will take lesser time to cook. Let simmer to let the vegetables cook, until crispy (not mushy).

3. When the vegetables are cooked, add the salmon. Do not stir and just allow the salmon to cook in the sauce. Stirring will cause the salmon to break up.

4. Season with salt or Thai fish sauce according to your liking. Add a bit more red curry, for desired spiciness. Add sugar to enhance flavor. Cook for another 5 minutes. Salmon does not take very long to cook and if left too long, will become chewy and dry.

5. When ready to serve, ladle salmon, vegetables and sauce in a bowl. Stir in basil leaves.

6. Best served with warm white or brown rice. Or even Thai sticky rice (I'm sorry, I don't know how to make. LOL!)

Leche Flan Ice Cream

Others may call this recipe, "Caramel Ice Cream," but when I made it, to me, it tasted so much like "Leche Flan Ice Cream" so I've renamed it, as well as put my twist to it. You will see that the ingredients really is what you would use to make leche flan.

As with my previous ice cream recipe, I used my Old-Fashioned Ice Cream maker to churn this ice cream. While other homemade ice cream recipes say that you don't really need an ice cream maker, you will have to check on the ice cream regularly to stir and ensure that ice crystals do not form. For me, that's just too much work. LOL! With an ice cream maker, you can churn the ice cream and then just finish off freezing in the freezer.

This type of homemade ice cream is custard based--meaning, using eggs and milk as the base for the ice cream.

Needed:
1 1/8 granulated white sugar (1 cup separated for the caramel)
2 1/4 c heavy cream (1 1/4 c separated for the caramel)
1/8 t salt
1 t vanilla extract
1 c milk (I used reduced fat milk)
3 large eggs

How to make:
1. Heat the 1 cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat, stir constantly until all sugar has melted. Do not over stir. Once the sugar has melted, simply swirl saucepan around to ensure even heating. Continue to melt until sugar turns golden brown. Turn heat down.

2. Add 1 1/4 cups of cream to the heated, melted, caramelized sugar a little at a time. Be careful when adding because the caramel will boil over once the cold liquid is added. Continue to add over low heat until completely combined. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and vanilla then allow to cool.

3. In another saucepan, mix together milk, remaining cream, remaining sugar and bring to just about boiling. Do not let boil. Remove from heat.

4. In another bowl, whisk eggs and add milk mixture slowly. Be careful to not add all at once because the heated milk will scramble the eggs. Add remaining milk and combine thoroughly. This is now your custard base. Return base to saucepan and heat to 170 degrees Farenheit on a cooking thermometer. If you don't have a thermometer, bring to a point where the mixture sticks to the back of a spoon.

If you remain in the heat longer, the eggs will cook thoroughly and you will have to start over again.

5. Strain custard into a fine sieve to rid of lumps. Collect custard in a separate large bowl. Once all custard has been strained, add cooled caramel mixture and cool at room temperature.

6. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

7. Churn mixture in ice cream maker per manufacturer's instructions. The consistency will be that of soft-serve ice cream.

8. Continue to freeze in freezer until hardened.

9. Enjoy within one week.

Tips:
* Your ice cream maker canister and mixture must be really cold to make successful batches.

* Place mixture/base in freezer just before churning in ice cream maker. This gives the mixture a bit more chill for better results.

* It's best to let ice cream harden more after churning.

* Plan ahead for the ice cream making process. I typically make the mixture/base a day before, leave in the fridge overnight, then churn the next day. I let harden in the freezer about 4 hours for best results.

Enjoy!

Homemade Ice Cream

I absolutely love ice cream and what better way to feed my love for this dessert than to make my own! A Bed Bath and Beyond wedding gift card resulted in an Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Maker. I have never made ice cream before and this process is fun, relaxing, and reminds me of science experiments! LOL!

I made the basic vanilla ice cream as below. I researched many recipes online and this one proved to be the easiest. It's also not custard based, so the result was simple and lighter than custard mixtures. I was very happy with the texture and the ice cream maker really does let it have the store-bought consistency and without crystals.

Needed:

1 c milk

3/4 c granulated sugar

pinch salt

2 c heavy cream

1 t vanilla

How to make:

1. Whisk together with milk, sugar, salt until sugar is completely dissolved.

I whisked this by hand using a wire whisk. You can also use an electric hand mixer, but there is really no need to when this can be done by hand.

2. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla until completely blended.

3. Chill until very cold. Be careful that this mixture does not freeze up.

4. Prepare ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

5. Pour mixture in ice cream maker and churn until almost firm. You can add chocolate chips or nuts at this point prior to finishing, but should be added only when ice cream has thickened like soft-serve ice cream. 

Ice cream pictured above includes chocolate chips and walnuts. I did not toast my walnuts and in hindsight, I should have. Without toasting, the walnuts tasted raw. You can also bake the nuts coated in sugar for candied nuts.

6. Finish freezing in an air-tight, freezer-proof container.

7. Serve within one week.