Squid in Lemon Sauce
Topic: Squids
I got a new idea of cooking large squid to make it soft and easy to bite, before cooking the squid properly, it must have to be drop in a briskly boiling water for 10 seconds then remove and drain immediately. After that, you can start cooking it in any recipe you want to cook. I tried it with this recipe last night and it was really soft indeed.

Ingredients:
350 grams squid, cleaned and sliced
2 tbsp. grated ginger
1 medium carrot, sliced thinly
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced thinly
2 tsp. oil
salt to taste

Sauce:
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. sugar
1 cube chicken bouillon

Directions:
1. Prepare the sauce. Blend the cornstarch and sugar in a small bowl with the lemon juice and water. Stir in the soy sauce and chicken cube. Set aside.
2. Drop the squid into a saucepan of boiling water. Boil for 10 seconds. Remove immediately. Drain.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet. Stir fry the carrots for 2 minutes.
4. Add the ginger, mushroom and squid. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
5. Add the sauce. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture boils and thicken.
6. Add salt and more lemon juice if you like. Serve.

Apple Sauce Cake
Topic: Snacks
Wondering what to do with the unused apple sauce in the fridge last night, I came up an idea of making a cake, actually that was my first time to make an applesauce cake. As usual, I tried experimenting again, I add some dates and cashew nuts because we have lots of it at home, it might be expired so better do something from it. Throwing foods is not my habit, lots of people out there have no foods. Now back to the cake, unfortunately it was almost overcooked when I baked it because I mistakenly setted the oven temperature, I baked something 2 days ago with high temp. and I did not able to adjust it last night when I baked the cake. I went to te bedroom after putting it in the oven, then after a while my husband asked me if I'm baking something because he smelled it, I hurriedly went back to the kitchen and saw that my cake was almost burned! (see the pic, :)!) Still delicious, though!



Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 cups applesauce
1 cup milk
3 eggyolks, beaten
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup dates, chopped
1/2 cup cashewnuts, chopped or ground

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour cake pan.
2. Cream together sugar and butter. Blend in eggyolks and apple sauce. Add milk.
3. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend thoroughly.
4. Add dates and cashewnuts. Blend.
5. Pour into prepared cake pans. Bake until done.

Chicken with Quail Eggs
Topic: Chicken
Here I go again, chicken breast, I'm always worried whenever I saw many chicken breast stocked in the fridge imagining what to do with it, being not an expert cook, it's really difficult for me to decide :( , first I want to stir-fry it but I changed my mind when I saw the quail eggs.

Ingredients:
350 g chicken breast, deboned and sliced into strips
1 doz. quail eggs, boiled and peeled
1 medium carrot, sliced
10 pieces baby corn, cut into halves
1 medium bell pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. peppercorns, crushed
3 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Marinade:
1/3 cup Italian Dressing
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. sugar

Directions:
1. Combine marinade and marinate chicken for 1 hour. Drain and reserve marinade.
2. Heat oil in a pan, stir fry the chicken for 5 minutes, then add onions and peppercorns, stir until the onions become translucent.
3. Add in the carrots and baby corns, mix. Pour in the reserve marinade, chicken broth, tomato paste, sugar and garlic powder. Simmer until the liquids are reduced.
4. Add the bell pepper, stir and cook until all the liquids are absorbed. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Turn off the heat. Stir in the oyster sauce and eggs. Serve.

Strawberry Milk Juice
Topic: Drinks
It's summer season in Kuwait and very hard to find a fresh strawberry, so if you want to drink a strawberry juice in summer days, its better to do it with the frozen one and it taste almost the same. One thing I love during winter season is the strawberries, we always buy it when we go shopping.



Ingredients:
1 cup frozen strawberry puree
2 cups non-fat milk
1 (8 ounce) carton plain yogurt
4 tablespoons sugar or honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. In a blender container combine strawberry puree, milk, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla.
2. Cover and blend until smooth.
3. Pour in glasses.

The picture above has ice cubes, I add it there because I eat my meal first before I decided to drink it, so by the time I finish eating, the juice become less cold already and I want it to be very cold.

Sweet Chili Shrimp
Topic: Shrimps
Shrimp again, as I said in my earlier posts that it's shrimp season in Kuwait that's why most of our meal this summer season has shrimps.

The original recipe of this dish was basically chili shrimp but I add some ingredients like sugar and sweet tomato ketchup to minimize the chili taste. The result? Wow...delicious, even the non-chili eaters ca eat it, and no leftovers when I served it last night.

Ingredients:
400 grams shrimps, peeled
1 large onion, sliced
1 large ripe tomato, thinly sliced
1 tbsp. grated ginger
1 tsp. ginger powder
2 long green peppers, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, cut into ctrips
1 tsp. peppercorns, cracked
1/2 tsp. black pepper powder
1/3 cup sweet tomato ketchup
1 tsp. hot sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. cooking oil
1/2 cup shrimp broth (you can make shrimp broth by boiling the shrimps' head with 1/2 cup water for 3-5 minutes)
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a pan, saute onions until clear. Add tomato and ginger, cook until the tomatoes are tender.
2. Add shrimps, stir for 30 seconds, add in the soy sauce, peppercorns and broth. Simmer for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and cook for about 3 minutes or more.