Sweet Heart Sugar Cubes

Ingredients:

1. Fine granulated white sugar – 1/4 cup
2. Water (boiled and cooled) – 1/2 teaspoons
3. Food color – 1 or 2 drops (depend how deep you want the color to be)

Utensils & Tools: 
1. Small bowl
2. Tea spoon
3. Cookie cutter (mini heart) or candy mold or chocolate mold
4. Cardboard
5. Pencil
6. Scissors (if using cookie cutter)
7. Tray

Prepare Wet & Colored Sugar

Get ready all the ingredients to make sweet heart sugar cubes.
I used Americolor soft gel paste but any food color will do. If you need deeper color, add more food color but you need to reduce the water amount.
Add 1/8 tea spoon of water into the sugar at a time and mix well every time you add.
Mix well and evenly. The wetness is a little dryer than the wet sand when you build a sand castle.
If the sugar is too wet, it is hard to hold up it’s shape after molding.
If the sugar is too dry, it will not get harden after it is dried.
Add 1 or 2 drops of food color into the sugar mixture and mix well.
If you are not sure how deep the color you will get from your food color, add 1/2 of the amount of the water to wet the sugar, then 1 drop of food color, mix well. Add more color or water as per your color reference.
You can mix food colors to get the color you want in another small container before adding it into the sugar.
The texture of the colored wet sugar. When you press the wet sugar, it formed into shapes easily.

Mold With Cookie Cutter

Trace the heart shape of cookie cutter onto a cardboard.
Cut the heart shape out from cardboard. Cut it a little smaller so that it can go through the cookie cutter.
Scoop some wet sugar into the cutter, press with finger until they get firmed in the cutter.
You can fill the sugar to any height as you like and not necessary to the full height of the cutter.
Place the heart shaped cardboard on the top of the cutter. Press the sugar until it is firm and level especially if it is not filled to full height.
Slowly lift the cutter up and push the sugar down. Use tea spoon handle to push the cardboard if the cutter is too small for your finger to get in. I need to use tea spoon handle because the cutter is just too tiny as you can see from the picture.
It might take you a few attempts to get the sugar comes out nice and even by not over pressing it while lifting the cutter. Just put back any failed sugar into the bowl and mix again to reuse.
Repeat.
I did a few colors from the primary color, red, blue, yellow. The green was from blue and yellow mix.

Mold with Chocolate or Candy Mold

Press the wet sugar into the clean and dry candy or chocolate mold.
Level the top flat.
Turn the mold and lightly knock the mold against the tray to pop out the alphabet sugar cubes.
Wet molded sugar cubes in alphabets are formed. Gently transfer or arrange them on a tray for air drying.



Place the sugar cubes on a tray to air-dry completely. Or, you may use a 200F oven to dry it for 5-10 minutes.I left mine overnight and a morning before storing them away into an air-tight container.
Keep them in a cool dry place and consume as soon as possible.

Be the sugar cubes for valentines or special occasion, it sure melts the heart of your loved one.

Cauliflower Rice Recipe

Cauliflower Rice Recipe

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
1 green jalapeno
3 eggs, whisked
coconut oil to cook in
salt and pepper to taste
(coconut aminos or soy sauce to taste - optional)
Instructions
Cut up the cauliflower florets into large chunks and place into a food processor with the blade attachment (this forms the cauliflower "rice"). Squeeze out excess liquid.
Food process the onion and the peppers as well. Squeeze out excess liquid.
Saute the onions gently in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil. When they're translucent, add in the peppers (or other vegetables).
In a separate pan, add in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and pour in the whisked eggs. Cook on a low heat. When the eggs start to form a pancake of sorts, scramble it up a bit so that you end up with smallish pieces of egg.
Add the eggs to the onions and peppers.
Add the cauliflower "rice" to the onions and peppers (you might need a big saucepan for this).
Cook until the cauliflower reaches the desired softness (I like mine soft, but you might want it less mushy) - add the eggs to it as well.
Season with salt and pepper (and coconut aminos or soy sauce) to taste.

Thanks to: http://ancestralchef.com/cauliflower-rice-recip/#sthash.u6HU56Oc.dpbs

Cutest Recipe i ever saw

Brown Butter Lucky Charm Cereal Bars.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 10 oz marshmallows
• 6 cups Lucky Charms cereal

Instructions

Melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Add in the marshmallows and stir constantly to prevent sticking or burning. Once completely melted pour over cereal. Quickly stir together and pour into prepared greased pan. Allow to cool and cut into squares. Store in an air tight container.

Instead of using a greased pan, I like to line mine with parchment paper. So much easier! You will want to grease the spoon though.

http://www.sweetbellaroos.com/2013/03/01/brown-butter-lucky-charms-cereal-bars/#comments

Chocolate Cookies with Cherries & White Chocolate Chips.

Ingredients

• 10 T. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 c. flour
• 6 T. unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. dried cherries
• 1/2 c. white chocolate chips

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, or grease them, or use silicone liners.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Walk away if you need to, but let it get really well-combined. Add the egg and almond extract and mix again. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to the butter mixture slowly, so you don’t end up in a cloud of cocoa-flour, and eventually increase the mixer speed to combine everything thoroughly. Mix in the cherries and white chocolate chips on a very low speed or by hand. Chill your dough for half an hour, minimum, and then drop by tablespoonfuls (use a melon ball-style scoop for ease and uniformity) onto your prepared pans and bake for 8-10 mins. The cookies will be soft coming out of the oven but will firm up in just a few minutes. Store them in a tightly-sealed container for up to 5 days; makes about 40 cookies.

http://cookcanread.wordpress.com/tag/dried-cherries/

Coconut curry shrimp with coconut rice.

Ingredients:

For the Coconut Curry Shrimp1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined2 tablespoons coconut oil2 cloves garlic, minced1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger1 onion, diced1 cup green bell pepper, deseeded, diced2 tomatoes, deseeded, diced2 cardamom pods, crushed1 tablespoon curry powder1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper2 teaspoons hot sauce, to taste2 cups seafood or chicken stock2 cups coconut milk2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, choppedFor the Coconut Rice2 cups white rice2 cups coconut milk1 cup water1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

To make the Coconut Curry Shrimp:
In a large cast-iron pan or frying pan over medium-high heat, heat the coconut oil. Add the garlic, ginger, onion, bell peppers and tomato. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add cardamom pods, curry powder, black pepper and creole pepper sauce and stir well. Add shrimp and saute for 5 minutes. Remove shrimp and set aside. Add stock and coconut milk to sautéed vegetables and reduce over medium heat for approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Return shrimp to stock, add fresh cilantro and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Serve on a bed of freshly cooked coconut rice.

To make the Coconut Rice:
In a large saucepan over high heat, bring rice, coconut milk, water and salt to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until liquid is fully absorbed and rice is fully cooked.

http://www.steamykitchen.com/25694-coconut-curry-shrimp-with-coconut-rice-recipe-video.html

Egg Drop Soup Recipe.

Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons corn starch
3 tablespoons water
1 ¾ cups (425 ml) homemade chicken broth or 1 can (14-oz/400-g ) store-bought chicken broth
1 cup (250 ml) water
½ tomato, diced
3 dashes white pepper
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Method:

1. In a small bowl, mix the corn starch with the water. Stir to blend well. Set aside.
2. Bring to boil the chicken broth and water in a pot. Add the tomato, white pepper, salt, and thicken the soup with the corn starch mixture. Stir the soup with a ladle and turn off the heat.
3. Swirl the beaten eggs into the soup and immediately stir around for three times with a pair of chopsticks. Cover the pot with its lid for 2 minutes. The eggs should be cooked and form into silken threads.
4. Dish out into individual serving bowls and serve immediately.

http://rasamalaysia.com/chinese-egg-drop-soup/2/

Skillet Eggplant Parmigiana

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, sliced
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup breadcrumbs (I used Italian Style)
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup marinara sauce
sliced fresh mozzarella
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup freshly chopped basil leaves

Directions:

Heat oven to 400°. Heat large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Slice eggplant in thick slices. Add egg, milk, salt and pepper to a small bowl and whisk well. Add breadcrumbs to another bowl. Coat eggplant slices in egg and dredge in breadcrumbs.

Add eggplant slices to a pre-heated skillet drizzled with olive oil. Brown on both sides. Add marinara sauce around eggplant slices and on top as shown in picture. Add mozzarella and transfer skillet to oven. Bake just until cheese begins to melt and then remove from oven. Garnish with lots of grated Parmesan and fresh basil leaves.

http://eclecticrecipes.com/skillet-eggplant-parmigiana#respond