I said this blog would be composed of crafts and food. And I finally have something to show for the ladder! :D I've been looking up various non-Asian recipes lately and trying to make them using what we had in the fridge and cupboards... not hard, but not easy either, considering a majority of our spices are Asian. But we did somehow buy tons of corn tortillas so I made chicken enchiladas once! Yay :D
It's made from corn tortillas, chicken pieces with salt and pepper, ground chicken molded into chunks seasoned with ground red pepper, black pepper, and seasoned bread crumbs, avocados, onion, green bell pepper, and tomato and basil sauce.
I also made pineapple upside down cake with canned pineapples and my first attempt was making the cake from scratch. I didn't have baking powder, so I found a recipe with baking soda but... alas, the cake didn't rise and was very dense (but delicious, still). The recipe also called for too much butter and brown sugar... when I took it out of the oven, the butter and brown sugar mixture was still liquid and very wet! :X Next time, if I try making a pineapple upside down cake again from scratch, I think I'll use a recipe with baking powder.
Next we went to an Asian party so I decided to bake two cakes. But I was lazy and didn't feel like making them from scratch, so we went to Walmart and conveniently picked up two pre-made cake mixes ^_^ The first one was red velvet, and the second one was pineapple upside-down cake!
I made the red velvet batch into cupcakes... but I wasn't too impressed with the batter. Sure it did the job, but maybe I overbaked or something because the inside wasn't as moist as I expected it to be. I've tried many cake mixes from this brand, and this was the first mix that wasn't moist and soft, like the others.
Still, I made some cream cheese frosting, put in into a zipblog bag (I'm planning to get a legit frosting pipette soon), and made some swirls. Then decorated each cupcake with a 1/6 of a slice of lemon and orange, and chopped craisins. Delicious, and beautiful.
I also made another pineapple upside down cake using the cake mix from the same brand. Oh. My. Goodness... this cake was SO aromatic and fragrant while baking. It was very tropical and so delicious, it's definitely one of my favorite cake mixes so far! So much goodness in each bite. I love fruity cake flavors, and this cake was by far one of my favorite cakes. I will definitely be making it again in the future.
Anyways, I had bought an actual 9 x 13'' cake pan before baking the cake, seeing as I didn't have one. Therefore, the can of pineapples didn't have enough rings to fill the whole surface of the pan. So I made each ring smaller and filled the spaces with... plums. I was afraid, since they weren't black plums, that the color wouldn't turn out to be pretty but I was wrong- they baked into such a pretty shade of pink and red!
Look at the plums! So beautiful!
And the day before, I baked a quiche for lunch and stuffed breaded chicken breasts and asparagus and bell pepper with sweet balsamic vinegar sauce for dinner. The chicken was stuffed with broccoli, smoked salmon, American cheddar cheese, and mozzarella cheese. Absolutely amazing. I forgot to take a picture of the quiche, but here's the chicken.
I know the quality of the pictures suck, but my camera isn't the best... still, in the future, I plan on having better lighting and presentation!
Until next time :)
