Welcome back!  Today, we have another chiffon cake! Evidently, we really like chiffon cakes, but there's a good reason - they're actually not too hard to make once you get the process down, and you can really make a lot of variations. Plus, you get a nice big, fluffy cake. In other words, it's delicious! This version uses the pineapple preserves that we made a while ago; it's a great combination with the innate flavor and texture of the cake. Pineapple Chiffon Cake Makes an 8" cake Ingredients: 6 egg yolks 60 grams oil 80 grams orange juice (or milk) 120 grams pineapple preserves 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (optional) 120 grams cake flour 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (optional) 6 egg whites 1 teaspoon lemon/lime juice 60 grams sugar Directions: Mix the egg yolks along with the oil. Add the orange juice and pineapple preserves (the Grand Marnier too if you want), then mix. Sift the cake flour and baking powder in, but don't over-mix! In another bowl, put in the eg...

Welcome back!  Today, we have a traditional Filipino dish: Chicken Adobo! Adobo is a very classic Filipino flavor involving vinegar, peppercorns, and bay leaves. It's used for many different types of meat; pork is another very common choice. The dish should not be confused with a Spanish variety of adobo, which has a similar concept but different ingredients - there's a heavier emphasis on spices like paprika and oregano. Filipino Chicken Adobo Ingredients: 2 pounds chicken drumsticks 1/2 cup rice vinegar 1/3 cup soy sauce 6 cloves garlic, minced 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns 3 bay leaves 2 tablespoon sugar Directions: Prepare the marinade by adding in all the ingredients except for the chicken. Mix this together. Put the chicken in and let it marinade for a few hours, preferably overnight so the flavor really soaks in. Take the chicken out. Keep the marinade! In an oiled pan, sear the chicken for 2 minutes on each side (imagine that the drumsticks have two sides). Remov...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another recipe for a stuffed pork tenderloin! This one has a different filling as well as a special sauce on top. After last time , we decided to experiment a little, and so we got this. It's nice and cheesy, and because of the simplicity of ingredients, you really get all the flavors. Stuffed Pork Tenderloin II Ingredients: 2 pork tenderloins (about 1 pound each) Stuffing: 8 ounces baby spinach 6 ounces prosciutto 6 ounces shredded cheese (we used Gruyere) Sauce: 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 4 tablespoons honey 1 teaspoon garlic puree Salt and pepper Directions: Prepare the meat: Butterfly cut the tenderloin, and fold it out so that it's one big flat piece of meat. Pound it evenly. Saute the spinach in a pan. Drain this once you're done. Prepare the sauce by mixing together all the ingredients listed under "Sauce". Assemble: Put a layer of prosciutto on top of the tenderloin. Try to make this layer as even as possible. Put the spin...

Welcome back!  Today, we have another great recipe for fruit preserves: this time with pineapple! We did this a couple times because sometimes, you just get a pineapple that isn't good: it's too sour, or maybe it's a little funky. Fortunately, if you make it into preserves like this, you can get rid of all that, and you get delicious jam that you can add in various dishes and store for a long time! Pineapple Preserves Ingredients: It largely depends on how sour your pineapple is (it can really vary!) and also how sweet you like the jam to be. We did this twice, one with a more sour pineapple, one with a less sour, but not particularly sweet pineapple. More Sour Pineapple (about 3.5:1 pineapple to sugar): 850 grams pineapple 250 grams sugar Less Sour Pineapple (about 5:1 pineapple to sugar): 800 grams pineapple 160 grams sugar Directions: Chop the pineapple into small pieces. They'll shrink about halfway during the cooking process so that'll give you an idea of how b...

Welcome back!  Today, we have some variations on our Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars recipe! Much as you can make different flavors of cheesecake, you can add your own variations to this interesting fusion recipe! Here, we have two versions of the dessert: one with jam or fruit preserves and one with peanut butter. They're both great and complement the cheesecake really nicely! Sopapilla Cheesecake Variations This one's with jam... This one's with peanut butter. Makes a 9" by 13" dish Ingredients: 2 cans (8 ounces each) Pillsbury crescent rolls With jam/preserves: 2 8-ounce boxes of cream cheese 1/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 2 tablespoons cake flour 1/2 cup fruit preserves (ours was a peach-mango-passion fruit combination) 2 tablespoons butter, melted 2 tablespoons coarse sugar With peanut butter: 2 8-ounce boxes of cream cheese 1/2 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 to 1 cup peanut butter chips 2 tablespoons butter, melted 2 tablespoons coarse sugar ...

Welcome back!  Today, we have an interesting Sichuan dish of stir fried bean threads! A more colloquial name for this is "ants climbing a tree", or ma yi shang shu (螞蟻上樹) in Chinese. Yes, it's kinda strange of a name, but apparently that's what the dish is supposed to resemble! It's just as the name implies: it's noodles made out of starch from beans (which typically involves sweet potato or tapioca nowadays) stir-fried with some ground pork and sauce. It's a great, chewy dish with quite the Chinese flair. Stir Fried Bean Threads Ingredients: 140 grams bean threads 4-6 ounces ground pork 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon ginger paste 4 green onions, chopped 2-3 tablespoons spicy bean paste 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon rice wine 1 teaspoon sugar 1 1/4 cup broth/water Directions: Prepare the bean threads by soaking in water until soft (this will take about 20-30 minutes). Drain the water when soft. In a pot, cook the ground pork until it browns. Add ...