Life 'n' Such

I am not sure, if this is the exact recipe for Waldorf salad, but I made this salad sandwich (you know when I made the mayo; that day). It is so delicious, and so flexible. You can use whatever you have at your disposal. The end result is going to be great.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast, roasted, cut in bite size pieces
1 small apple, diced,
handful of grapes, cut in half,
dry cranberries, handful,
celery sticks, chopped handful,
walnuts, chopped, 3 tbsp
celery, chopped, handful
mayonnaise, as much as required,
salt as per taste
Method :

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl. Spread a little mayonnaise on the bread slices, put the filling, and press down the other slice on top.

Enjoy, as your lunch or afternoon snack.

I ran out of the Mayonnaise (store bought) yesterday. And our drive way was covered with snow, so I thought, why not make it at home. One word for making mayonnaise, rather two… Patience, and care*!

I needed it to make a Ina Garten’s Chicken Salad recipe (Do you watch Barefoot Contessa on FOOD NETWORK, its one of my favorite shows – She is pretty awesome)

Anyhow, here is the recipe, I made after looking at lots (I am lazy, I mean a couple ..hey..I am allowed to exaggerate at times) of recipes on Google.

The basic science is to make an emulsion, with egg yolk as the emulsifying agent (like in a cake, it mixes the oil and the water)
Ingredients:

1 medium size Egg yolk
1/2 lemon juice,
3/4 cup canola oil ( I read on some websites, you could use light olive oil, or almond or walnut oil for more flavor)
salt for seasoning

Method:

In a small food processor, put the egg yolk and the lemon juice, and pulse a few times. After a minute or so, add a few drops of oil. (If you have a oil dispenser, it will work best, as it can control the flow of the oil). Start the food processor, and let it go for a minute or 2. Then repeat the oil step again (few drops at a time, gradually increase to tablespoons). After about 5-6 minutes, you will see the mix thickening. This is it.

If its too thick, add a couple tsp of water, if too thin, then you got it wrong. But dont discard, add another yolk, and start the process again. (You will need more oil, and maybe more lemon juice).

That’s it. A dash of salt, and its done. You can store this for upto 5-6 days. Use it for sandwiches, salads, etc etc
I have taken a picture of this. I will upload it soon
Note: ( I tried to whisk it first, but it takes a loooooooooong (no exaggeration here) time, so I switched to a food proc.)
* Handle raw eggs very carefully. It may lead to salmonella etc.

Hey, its February already and its my big bro’s birthday, and Nurhan’s bday. Hi guys…Miss you..And Happy birthday to you guys!
The white part of a boiled egg I can tolerate, but not the yellow. But this recipe by my brother for Boiled egg sandwich is so yummy, I love it.

Here it goes:

Ingredients For 1 sandwich:

1 boiled egg, sliced
salt, black pepper, butter, any jam (orange, apricot would be my choice)
2 whole grain bread slices

Method:

Butter the bread slices, on side put jam, lay the sliced egg over it, sprinkle salt and pepper. Then put it in a sandwich maker, and toast till its golden. Done!

I know it kind of sounds weird, but trust me…its excellent!!!!!!!!! Try it, you wont regret it!
Note: If you dont have a sandwich maker, and you have George foreman grill, use that. Same effect, but you wont the diagonal cut.

You know what we did last night, instead of ordering a pizza, we went to the grocery store, got a pizza base, some mozzarella cheese, and basil, and with some ingredients at home, made an awesome, pizza!!

Ingredients:
large pizza base (pre-baked, bought from a store)
mozzarella cheese grated (as much as you like)
fresh basil leaves chopped up (they have a strong flavor, so use a few leaves only)
olive oil for brushing the top of the base
fresh tomato cut in slices
salt, pepper
a little pizza sauce or tomato ketchup (like 2 tbsp)
Method:

Brush the base with olive oil, then spread the sauce, sprinkle half of the cheese, then arrange the tomatoes, sprinkle the basil, some salt and pepper. Finally put the remaining cheese. Bake as per the instructions on the pizza packaging. (The one we got, needed to be baked in a preheated oven at 425 deg F for about 12 minutes)

I wait until the cheese is evenly melted and started to bubble.

Yumm Yumm! We almost ate the whole pizza!!!

This turned out to be cheaper, fresher (and may I add healthier) than a store-bought pizza.

Bored of the same old food, day in and day out. Then why not make Chinese food! First off, its easy, its healthy, and most importantly its yummy!

I made Chinese meal last weekend. I made spring rolls, chicken satay (which is more Thai actually), fried rice (Fauzia taught me how to make this), Chicken Manchurian (or whatever that was, but very very good, my dear Sis-in-laws recipe).

Ingredients:

Spring Roll sheets (thawed as per the instructions on the package)
Cabbage and Carrots (shredded), I used Cole Slaw mix – great idea huh?
Scallions also called Spring Onions in India – chopped
Salt, pepper, a bit of soy sauce
oil for cooking
Method:

In a little oil, fry the onions for a minute, then add the Cole slaw mix to it. Cook covered till the cabbage is tender crisp. Add the salt, pepper and a dash of soy sauce.

Cool the filling. Then using one sheet at a time, put about a table spoon of the filling towards one corner. Wrap the end, once. Then lift and fold in the two opposite ends on either side of this corner (to seal off the ends, so the filling wont fall out). Then tightly roll away. Dip the end of the roll in water, to make it sticky enough to seal off the roll.
( You can prepare these a day in advance, and refrigerate them in an air-tight container or even freeze them)

Shallow fry till golden brown.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Enjoy!

Now lets take a step further, and bake your own bread this time. Are you ready? Its really easy, if I didnt mess it up in the first try, so would you, or rather, so wouldnt you. Whateva, I dont know. Btw, have you seen the Whatever video on Youtube. Its hilarious, there is this little asian (maybe from Korea) girl, who keeps rolling her eyes, throws out her hands, and says “Whateva” Its supercute.

Back to the bread, so I was saying, you could make this easy breezy recipe, and impress your guests! Again another recipe from Mrs. Vanard (my neighbor), I think she said, this was about 20-30 yr old recipe that she still follows.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar,
1 cup milk,
1 1/2 tsp salt,
1 1/2 tbsp shortening (or margarine),

1 pkt yeast,
1/2 cup warm water,
1 cup cold water
6 cups flour,

butter for smearing on the top

Method:

First take the first four ingredients, and scald it (that means, not boil, but heat till it gets bubbly on the edge). Let it cool to lukewarm.

Then, put the yeast in a bowl, and then pour the warm water over it. Wait 10 minutes. Then pour the cold water in this. Transfer this to a kettle (or any metal deep bowl). Pour in the milk mixture.

To this, add the 6 cups of flour, mix with a spoon (a few times, everything will be mixed). Wait about 3-4 hours (overnight is fine too). It will rise, then poke it down with a spoon. Again, wait an hour. Poke it down again.
Then using flour, pinch out little balls from the dough, and  make round little or big balls, place on a greased baking tray (i use a metal tray). Finish up the remaining dough in this way. Then brush the tops with melted butter or egg.

Cover this with a towel, and wait for about 45 minutes. They will become bigger in size.

Bake at 425 deg F for about 15-20 minutes or until they are golden in color.

Gulay and her family from NJ came in for a surprise stopover! Baby Nilgun is super cute! Had a good time. They liked this bread, and Gulay this recipe is for you.