Bon Voyage Chicago... Our Third Baby Shower!

What a day! Today my brother hosted a special Baby Shower/Bon Voyage party for Louis and me so we had a chance to see our What's Cookin, Chicago friends once last time before we moved. It was a great turnout and I loved that we were able to spend some time catching up with everyone that attended.

Caramel Pecan Cupcakes

So this is it... a week before we move out of our little urban highrise and into our suburban home. My pots and pans are packed, my pantry is cleared out and the kitchen will be closed for a week until I'm settled into the kitchen waiting for me in the suburbs. I'm anxious yet bittersweet about leaving my amazing kitchen views of downtown Chicago. However, I know waiting for me is a bigger kitchen to play in. To end my cooking and baking adventures in my small and cramped city kitchen, I'm celebrating on a sweet note. Surprisingly, these little cupcakes were made with very minimal ingredients in my pretty scarce pantry... and yeah, it's prettty scarce.

Tuscan Garlic Chicken

I've been craving Olive Garden lately (yes, I admit this guilty pleasure of mine) and when I don't get a chance to dine there, I do the next best thing... check out their website for recipes! I'm back to cooking from my skimpy pantry yet again and was surprised that I made this dish with a few substitutions. The result? A really, really good pasta dish that I can't wait to make again soon!

Steamed New Zealand Mussels

To finish up our week of New Zealand inspired dishes, here's a classic recipe for steamed mussels using New Zealand mussels. My friend Kelly prepared this dish for our Wine & Dine event and they were a hit! In fact, this dish is often seen in many French restaurants as a popular appetizer.

Fresh Blackberry Topped Pavlova

Sometimes it takes another culture or cuisine to open my eyes to how a few simple ingredients can make an impressive and delicious dish. Such is the case with Pavlova, a popular dessert of Australia and New Zealand. I previously made a pavlova last year and when my friend Linda brought this dessert to our recent Wine & Dine event, I was reminded how sweet and light this dessert is!

Homemade Irish Bangers

It's St. Patrick's Day and to celebrate I tried my hand at homemade Irish sausage or "Bangers." It's actually quite simple and a great way to use up some spices you have lingering in your pantry! Some folks seem to think homemade sausage requires some elaborate equipment but if you have a food processor, you can make homemade sausage in no time. If you do prefer to make sausage in casings, then you may have to get your hands on some specific tools like a KitchenAid sausage stuffer attachment.

Passion Fruit "Slice" Bars

When passion fruit comes to mind, I automatically think of Hawaiian cuisine. When I was in Oahu, Hawaii a few years ago to visit family and friends, I loved drinking passion fruit juice and enjoying this tropical fruit in desserts, salads and even some savory dishes. It's been awhile since I've enjoyed passion fruit in any capacity so I was thrilled when my friend Jen brought in these Passion Fruit "Slice" Bars for our recent Wine & Dine dinner event highlighting New Zealand cuisine.

Tropical Grilled Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

Because of New Zealand's geographical location, the cuisine often gets a lot of influence from surrounding islands and culture. Often times, you'll see a lot of tropical ingredients used in 'Kiwi cuisine' including pineapple and spice mixtures that are influenced from India or southeast Asian countries. This dish was prepared by my friends Marie and Tom, who shared it at our recent Wine & Dine dinner to pair with New Zealand wines. It was refreshing, light and so delicious! 

Savory Meat & Potato Pie

Kiwi cuisine... have you heard of it? It's actually a slang term to describe the cuisine of New Zealand. Last night, friends and I got together for a wine dinner highlighting Kiwi cuisine paired with New Zealand wines. This potluck dinner included some great dishes and really opened my eyes to both the food and culture of New Zealand. My contribution to the table included this dish for a meat and potato pie.

Wine & Dine: New Zealand

It's been awhile since I hosted my usual monthly wine dinners... not to mention having a nice glass of wine! But tonight I co-hosted a wine dinner while my friend Kelly took the lead in preparing and hosted the wine tasting. The theme for this month's Wine & Dine dinner was New Zealand wine and paired along with "Kiwi cuisine."

Balsamic Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Rice Pilaf

Don't underestimate the power of salad dressing! This past week I've been cooking from my pantry in an effort to use up the random ingredients I have before we move. Tonight's dinner highlights how salad dressing can dress up more than your favorite salad.

Bacon, Peas & Goat Cheese Bowtie Pasta

Cooking from my pantry lately has been interesting and I'm always up for a challenge, especially when I have limited ingredients to work with. Tonight's dinner was one that was quick and easy... and only involved 4 ingredients! Inspired by a peas and proscuitto pasta dish I saw in a magazine earlier today, I whipped up the following pasta recipe.

Goat Cheese, Spinach & Sun Dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken

What does the inside of your freezer look like? Mine looks pretty sparse but includes a hidden gem of a dinner... which took me some time to figure out. My freezer included frozen spinach, sun-dried tomatoes (the dried variety with no oil) and boneless skinless chicken breasts. When faced with random ingredients to work with, I figured any filling I can make would do well stuffed into a chicken breast.

Nutella Thumbprints

If there's any one item that's taking over my freezer, it's nuts... and lots of them! I have about 7 kinds of nuts chilling out in there (pine, walnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios, peanuts, and hazelnuts) and I'm always looking for ideas to use them up, especially now before we move. When I found out this week's Tuesdays With Dorie baking challenge was, I was thrilled to finally have a good reason to use some of my nuts up! This week's Tuesdays With Dorie baking challenge is Dorie's Thumbprints for Us Big Guys, chosen by Mike of Ugly Food Dude (who has the recipe within his blog).

Mushroom Marsala Risotto

I hope get back into the swing of things in my kitchen the next few days. Last week has been extremely busy and thankfully, life has slowed down just a tad for me to get some much needed kitchen therapy. I'm still working on using up the random ingredients I have on hand and with that, I had a box of arborio rice to play with. Being pregnant, I don't have much wine in the house as I used to. The only exception is the bottle of Marsala wine. Since I usually like using white wine to make risotto, I substituted the white wine with Marsala wine instead.

Our Second Baby Shower!

What a wonderful day! After such a busy week, it was wonderful to have a whole day spent with family and friends to celebrate the arrival of our little Joel! It was a fabulous baby shower thrown my by awesome parents, with the help of my sister, Jean and brother, John. Louis and I are so truly blessed with having my family in our lives. They have done so much for us and we love how excited and involved they are in our pregnancy. It will be so sad knowing my parents will be leaving for Philippines soon, but after today, I realize how many people will still be nearby to reach out to if needed.

Taco Pasta Casserole

So we're moving at the end of the month. What does that mean? It means I have to use up whatever pantry items and fridge/freezer contents I already have on hand without buying too many new groceries. The worst is having to schlep food 45 mins to an hour away along with the usual boxes, furniture, etc. that's moving with us too. As a result, my creativity is put to the test. Tonight's dinner is what I came up with using random ingredients and thankfully, it came out pretty darn good! It's amazing how things tend to come together nicely when the pressure is on.

Slow Cooked German Short Ribs

Before it gets warm out, I wanted to make a warm, comforting dish using short ribs. It's one of my favorite cuts of beef because it has such a rich flavor, especially after braising for hours. I picked up some boneless short ribs the other day and rather than making the usual wine braised short rib recipe, I wanted something a bit different.

Banana Pancakes with Maple Pecan Syrup

This past weekend I spent it with family up in the suburbs, hence the lack of posts the past few days. It was a great weekend, with Sunday being my favorite day of our visit. Lazy Sundays are the best part of the weekend, especially if you have a delicious breakfast to kick it off. I joined my brother for breakfast on Sunday and he whipped up these banana pancakes.

He got the base pancake recipe from Alton Brown and it was so fluffy and light. I loved that I could make the mix and store it in my cupboard to use whenever I'm in the mood for pancakes. It definitely is better than the popular 'Bisquick' baking mix and more affordable too!

When you prepare the pancakes using the homemade mix, let your creativity go and throw in your choice of fresh or even frozen fruits. Chocolate chips (or any baking chips) and/or chopped nuts would be great stir ins into pancakes too. When I'm looking for pancake inspiration, I'll even check out online or paper menus of some of my favorite breakfast and brunch places. So whatever you decide to mix into your pancakes (or enjoy plain since it's just as good too), have fun and start off your day with something delicious!

Banana Pancakes with Maple Pecan Syrup

2 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix, recipe follows
1 stick butter, for greasing the pan
2 cups fresh bananas, diced small
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup pure maple syrup

Heat an electric griddle or frying pan to 350 degrees F. Heat oven to 200 degrees F.

Whisk together the egg whites and the buttermilk in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.

Combine the buttermilk mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.

Check to see that the griddle is hot by placing a few drops of water onto to the griddle. The griddle is ready if the water dances across the surface.

Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)

Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle and sprinkle on fruit if desired. When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.

Serve immediately or remove to a towel-lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Hold in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes.

To make the syrup, warm the maple syrup in the microwave and stir in the toasted pecans. Serve the syrup warm over the pancakes.

"Instant" Pancake Mix
recipe adapted from Alton Brown

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (check expiration date first)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a lidded container. Shake to mix. Use the mix within 3 months.