EGGNOG

This time, I made the famous Christmas beverage in US which is eggnog. I knew there is a drink called eggnog since I was a kid, of course from movies ;). Then, I wondered how's the taste?

Once I moved to US, for some reason, I forgot about eggnog. Until, last thanksgiving my MIL bought 2 carts of eggnog and that was my first experience with eggnog :).
When I tasted it for the very first time, honestly, I didn't really like it. But then, after few drinks, I started to like it.

That's why this Christmas I tried to make homemade eggnog....and...voila...it tasted alot better than the one my MIL bought at store. Why? Because I can control the sugar. So, the sweetness of this homemade eggnog is just right for my hubby and me.
Some eggnogs are using alcohol, but mine, I omitted the alcohol. It's alot healthier, don't you think?

Lots of people posted the same eggnog's recipe in the internet, so I don't who invented this recipe. But the important thing is this eggnog is good :)

Don't worry, the process is not hard at all. The thing you should keep in mind is cook the milk-egg mixture over low heat and keep stirring it constantly. Then, the rest is just a piece-of-cake ;). Do you dare to try?

Eggnog

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups milk
2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tbsps dark rum

Directions:

In large saucepan, beat together eggs and sugar. Stir in the milk.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat a metal spoon with a thin film and reaches 145 F and is held there for 3 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in whipping cream, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and rum.

Cover and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, several hours or overnight. Serve garnished with whipped cream and nutmeg.

CHRISTMAS SOUP

Another appetizer on our Christmas dinner this year. My Christmas soup has kielbasa sausage, bacon, celery and potatoes. Its really different than the other soups I ever made.

This soup is more likely western-kind-soup which is thick soup. I looked around in the internet and I found lots of christmas soup's recipe, until I decided to make my own Christmas Soup. And fortunately it tasted really good, tasty and tangy. My hubby and I loved it :).

Christmas Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb kielbasa sausage (or you can use italian sausage)
1/2 lb bacon
8 large red potatoes, peeled and diced
7 stalks western celery, thinly sliced
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
1-1/2 tbsps italian seasoning
1 tbsps oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt, sugar and blackpepper, to taste
Minced fresh parsley for garnishing


Directions:
In a 5-quarts saucepan, boil the potatoes and celery over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, in a teflon skillet, fry bacon in olive oil until the bacon is almost crispy. Drain the bacon from the grease. Using the same skillet with bacon's grease, fry the sausage. Drain the sausage from the skillet, thinly slice it and set aside. Put the onion on the skillet immediately. Caramelized the onion. Set aside.

Scoope about half of the potatoes into prepared blender. Blend it until smooth and sticky. Then, put it back into the saucepan.

Transfer the onion and the oil into the boiling potatoes, stir it well. Add in sausages, bacon, italian seasoning, oregano, thyme and rosemary. Season it with salt, sugar and blackpepper, to taste.

Pour in heavy cream, stir it well and boil it for 2 minutes. Serve it hot and garnish it with minced fresh parsley.

HERB-BAKED POTATOES

After I baked broccoli, bacon and cheese potatoes as side dish for many times, this time I chose herb-baked potatoes for the Christmas side dish.

Surprisingly the potatoes came out good! It is tangy, zesty and sweet. My hubby really liked it, so do I :). Plus, the preparations are alot easier and more simple than the broccoli, bacon and cheese baked potatoes.

Again, I made up my own recipe for this herb-baked potatoes ;)

Herb-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 lb new potatoes
2 tbsps olive oil
2.5 tbsps herbs de provance
1 tbsp oregano
1.5 tbsps thyme
1 tbsp dill
1 tsp italian seasoning
1 tbsp salt (you can add more salt if you like salty)
1 tbsp blackpepper

Directions:
Preheat the oven into 350F.
Wash the new potatoes until clean. Then dry and wipe it with paper towel. Spread the potatoes in an 8-in baking dish evenly. Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil, fold it until the potatoes are coated with olive oil. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
In a small bowl, mix herbs de provance, oregano, thyme, dill and italian seasoning. Sprinkle it onto the potatoes. Cover the baking dish with alumunium foil.
Bake it for 30 minutes. Then, uncover the potatoes. Continue to bake it for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and tender. Serve it immediately.

DEVIL'S EGG

This was one of our Christmas appetizer. For the first time, I ate devil's egg at MIL's house on thanksgiving last year. Actually my sister-in-law who made it. On my first bite of devil's egg I liked it already.

So, this Christmas I tried to make homemade devil's egg. Also, I found the egg's platter. This plate is really helpful to make the shape of the eggs are nice.

The recipe is made by me based on the taste that I remember from my sister-in-law's devil's egg.

Devil's Egg

Ingredients:
12 large eggs, hard boiled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tbsps mustard
5 tbsps sweet relish
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps lemon juice
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
Fresh parsley for garnishing

Directions:
Hard boiled the eggs one day before, then keep it in the refrigerator. The refrigerated hard-boiled eggs are alot easier to cut. Then halved it lengthwise.
Scoope out the yolks and transfer it to a small bowl. Add in mayonnaise, mustard, sweet relish, sugar, salt, cayenne powder and lemon juice, mash it with a fork. Fold it until thoroughly mixed. (don't forget to taste it and you can add more ingredients as your desire)
Place the halved hard-boiled white eggs on the platter. Fill the white egg's cavities with the yolks' mixture. Garnish it with fresh parsley. Serve it cold.

DDUKBOKKIE (HOT AND SPICY KOREAN RICE CAKE)

I saw ddukbokkie *hot and spicy korean rice cake* in the Korean drama series for the first time. It looks good, but at that time I didn't know what is that. Then, two years ago when I passed the food courts at Bugis Junction, I saw this hot and spicy korean rice cake. Of course without think twice I bought it. But, after the first bite, I am really dissapointed :(. Because it didn't taste good :(.

Few days ago I saw ddukbokkie recipe at maangchi.com. I guess I will give a shot to make it. Guess what? It tasted really good!! Absolutely different taste than the one I bought before. I love it love it love it!! I guess Maangchi's recipe is the best recipe for Korean food :).

For Korean food lovers, you have to try this recipe. The recipe is highly recommended! :)

Ddukbokkie (Hot and Spicy Korean Rice Cake)

Ingredients:
1 package (450 gr) rice cake
4 cups water
3 tbsps small dried anchovies
6 tbsps hot pepper paste (Belzy - use 4 tbsps if you dislike to spicy)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp hot pepper flakes
6 stalks scallion, sliced

Directions:
Boil water and dried anchovies in a pan for 10 minutes over medium heat.
Remove the anchovies and add hot pepper paste, sugar and hot pepper flakes. Stir it until the hot pepper paste is thoroughly mix in the water. Add the rice cakes. Stir it constantly. Add in green onions. Keep stirring until the sauce is thick and the rice cake is shiny. Serve it hot.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE SPREAD

I have nothing to do today, so I tried to make homemade chocolate spread and it tasted good!! Easy recipe and easy process :).

Homemade Chocolate Spread
Source: cdkitchen

Ingredients:
1/4 cup unsalted butter // 125 gr mentega tawar
3 tbsps cocoa powder // 3 sdm bubuk coklat
1/4 cup cream cheese // 125 gr cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste // 125 gr gula, (gula bisa ditambah kalau ingin lebih manis)

Directions:
Melt the butter in a small saucepan. // Cairkan mentega di panci kecil.

Add the cocoa and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes over low heat. // Tambahkan bubuk coklat dan aduk2 selama 3 menit dengan api kecil.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. // Angkat panci dari api dan istirahatkan selama 5 menit.

Stir cheese into the cocoa, then mix in the sugar to taste. // Masukkan cream cheese dan aduk rata, kemudian campurkan gula, aduk rata.

Chill the spread in a covered container for up to 3-5 days in the refrigerator. // Dinginkan selai coklat, pindahkan ke kontainer, tutup rapat dan simpan di kulkas. Selai tahan 3 - 5 hari.

BISCUITS AND HAM GRAVY

Yesterday, my hubby talked about his childhood biscuits and gravy which made by his mom. He said that it tasted good but very greasy. I who never eat or see what this biscuits and gravy look like wondering hows the taste of it.

So, I looked the recipe and found this 2 recipes, and I tried both :). One recipe is using buttermilk and cold butter. The other recipe is using milk and melted butter. For the texture the first recipe made a bit harder than the second recipe. But for the looks, the first recipe is alot nicer :). My hubby liked the second recipe, because the biscuits are soft.

I will post both recipe, so you can have more choices based on my experience :).



Biscuits and Ham Gravy

Biscuits Recipe 1 (Recipe courtesy of Darlene B.)
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon butter or margarine, melted

Directions:
In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Combine milk and butter; stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Biscuits Recipe 2 (Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse)
Ingredients:
2 cups flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons buttermilk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and blend thoroughly. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add buttermilk and quickly blend in, making sure to not overwork the dough.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of 1/2-inch. Use a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass, press out as many biscuits as possible. Gather up scraps and quickly knead back together, then cut out as many additional biscuits as possible. Place biscuits on prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Ham Gravy Recipe
Ingredients:
300 gr ham slices
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour + 1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup chicken broth
3 tbsps chopped parsley
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Heat a large skillet over high heat and saute ham slices4 to 5 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate, then diced it. Set aside.

Add butter and onions to skillet and cook until onions are softened, scraping up any browned bits on pan bottom. Add flour and stir well to combine. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, then add milk, chicken broth and the mixture of 1 tbsp flour + white wine. Whisk well to combine, then allow sauce to cook until thickened, about 6 minutes. Add chopped parsley and heavy cream and cook 5 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve over the biscuits.