Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup and macaroni salad from America's test kitchen and Onigirazu

This tomato soup is from a special edition of America's Test Kitchen Magazine called "All time favorite recipes". I love this tomato soup and I made it a few times already. One time, I made it for a friend who just had a baby and she and her family loved it.

This tomato soup use canned tomato and does not have any cream but it is creamy and great.

In America, I think it is common to have tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich, however my son doesn't like cheese so we didn't make grilled cheese with it. But I am sure the grilled cheese will taste great with this tomato soup.

It is great with crouton and the recipe called for homemade crouton but I was too lazy to make it homemade so I just used store bought crouton.

My son love it. I am sure we are making this soup again and again especially during the winter season.

I love America's test kitchen or Cook's illustrated magazined because they try lots of different methods and come up with the ultimate one. They explain all the details and troubles they went through in the process and it is very interesting and educational, I think.

This book is a collection of their favorite recipes and it is a great one to own. I love it. I haven't made all of them yet but I sure would love to try all the recipes in there.



Well, another thing I made is "Onigirazu". This is a new version of rice ball and it seems like it is very popular in Japan at the moment. Regular rice ball is triangle or round but this one is square and you just place seaweed, then add some rice, then add some ingredients you like and add more rice on top and then wrap them with seaweed like a present. Here is how it looks.

I think the reason why it got popular is  because you can add more stuff in it and it is easier to eat than regular rice ball.

This was had Spam and lettuce in it. Spam Onigiri is very popular in Hawaii. Hawaii's spam onigiri looked like nigiri sushi. They put Spam on top and wrapped it with thin slice of seaweed.

Well, the spam was too salty but I like this shape of onigiri. I think you can come up with many different like of stuffing inside.

I also made some sushi roll since we had avocado and imitation crab. I don't know why but it was so difficult to roll these sushi. I guess I am out of practice. I got so frustrated rolling those sushi. I almost gave up but my husband calmed me down and I finished about 6 rolls. 3 of them came out OK but the other 3 were disaster. Oh well.

I also made macaroni salad from the same book which I introduced earlier.
This came out great. I Actually added more vegetables than the recipe called for.

I think this is great for potluck party or BBQ or something like that. It was really good but the portion I made was huge. We had to eat macaroni salad everyday.... Well, I am glad my husband loved it so he didn't mind eating them everyday :-)

Warm Maitake Mushroom Salad

Yes, it is yet another salad. This one has warm mushroom on top. 

This is also what my mother-in-law made for me before. This salad is great especially when you need something warm and meaty with salad. 

You can use any kind of mushroom but I had Maitake mushroom in the fridge so I used it for this salad. You can also mix different kind of mushrooms. I love mushroom and every time I go to Japanese or Korean supermarket, I buy all different kind of mushrooms. 

Anyways, for salad I used mixed green, tomato and avocado but this also can be anything you like. 

Warm Maitake Mushroom Salad 

Mixed Green (or any kind of salad leaves)        a handful 

Tomato  (Small)                                                  2~3

Avocado                                                              1

Maitake (or any kind of mushrooms)                 a handful 

Butter                                                                  1 Tea spoon 

Olive Oil                                                             2 Table Spoon 

Soy Sauce                                                           1 Tea Spoon 

Balsamic Graze                         as much as you like (for me about 2 table spoon) 

1, Cut Mushrooms into bite size pieces. 

2, Add 1 tea spoon of butter and 1 table spoon of olive oil into a pan and heat up. 

3, Add mushrooms into the pan and sautee the mushroom

4, Add soy sauce into the pan and mix. Turn the heat off. 

5, Place salad leaves on a plate. Cut tomato and avocado and add on top of salad leaves. 

6, Add mushrooms on top

7, Drizzle olive oil and balsamic graze. 

Caprese salad

Yes, it is salad again! This is very pretty and easy Caprese salad (Tomato and Mozzarella salad). I Love Caprese salad and my husband loves it even more. 

You can use any kind of tomato and mozzarella but in here I used mini tomato and these small mozzarella called "Bocconcini". These are about same size so it looks beautiful and easy to each together. I julienned basil and sprinkle over. 

For dressing, I simply used white balsamic vinegar and olive oil. (I know, it seems like I only use those two as salad dressing lately..) 

This is quick and easy beautiful salad you can eat as a main with bread or as a side of your main dish. 

Those small mozzarella balls are addictive. I couldn't stop popping into my mouth while I was making this dish. 

Greek salad

It am eating salad everyday for lunch. Even though I went out with my friends in Manhattan last night at Greek restaurant called AVERA and had greek salad, since I had ingredients for greek salad I made it for lunch and enjoyed it. 

Olive was little too salty for me. I should wash it out next time before I use it. 

Anyways, this is super simple salad but tasty and perfect for summer. 

Greek Salad 

Green salad leaves       a handful 

Cucumber                    1/4 cup (chopped) 

Mini Tomatoed            1/4 cup  (cut into half) 

Feta Cheese                  1/4 cup  (Crumbled) 

Olive                             1/4 cup 

White Balsamic Vinegar   1 Table Spoon 

Olive Oil                           2 Table Spoon 

Dried Oregano                  1/4 tea spoon 

The greek salad I had last night also had red onion in it. Since I didn't have red onion, I skipped it today but it is a great idea to add red onion stripes. 

The restaurant we went last night was very busy. I didn't know about this restaurant by my friend book it and it was delicious greek food. We had some appetizers such as grilled octopus, grilled Sardine, Greek Salad, Zucchini Chips. All were really good but my fav was grilled octopus. It was so tender and yummy!!! 

For main course, we shared branzino. It was really fresh and wonderful. 

We had so much fun together last night. I laughed so much that my cheeks were hurting afterwords. 

It is great to have friends like this whom I can laugh with. I am very thankful to have them in my life. We realized that we don't do this often enough. We decided to get together at least quarterly from now on. I am looking forward to our next quarterly meeting! 

Easy summer salad with farm fresh corn and tomatoes

I just came back from a farmer's market and got some fresh vegetables so I had to make a salad for lunch. Today, I got those corn, mini tomatoes, egg plants, potatoes and basil.

The tomatoes were just amazingly sweet and I couldn't stop eating them.

Simple Summer Salad with corn and mini tomatoes

Serving 1

Salad leaves    a handful
cucumber         1/4 cup (cut into small pieces)
Corn                 1/4 cup (boiled)
mini tomatoes    about 8
Crumbled Feta Cheese   1/4 cup
Olive Oil           2 table spoon
White Balsamic Vinegar    1 Table Soon

1, Toss salad leaved and cucumber with vinegar and olive oil

2, Add Feta Cheese, tomatoes and Corn on top

I love eating Salad in summer especially when you find fresh ingredients. This is super easy salad which you probably don't need recipe for and you can add any kind of vegetables of your liking.


By the way, we were in Germany to see our in-laws. We had a great time there and since my in-laws were watching and playing with my son all the time, I was able to do some reading for myself. Here are the books which I read during the trip.

This one is a mystery which is quite dark as the title indicate.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307341577/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307341577&linkCode=as2&tag=mauskit-20&linkId=P6SZV5VXLIE63EHJ

Since I like her other book "Gone Girl", I might have expected too much. It was OK but not as good as "Gone Girl" in my opinion.



This another book is called "The Glass Castle". It is about authors childhood and it is quite a childhood this author had. It was very interesting and I liked it.



Since I finished two books which I brought with me, I went to the library in Germany and borrowed this English book.


After I borrowed this one, I realized that I actually read another book from this same author before.
I did not really like this book. I think the concept was good and it makes you wonder what happens next throughout the book but it was actually a bit disappointing at the end for me.

The other book I read before from this same author was this one.


Again, I think the concept was interesting but I didn't really like the story and how it end. Well, it seems like she is a popular and famous author so I guess it is just I don't like her style and many people find her book very interesting.

This last one was the most entertaining book I read in this trip. Actually, I wasn't really interested in reading this one but I didn't have anything else to read so I borrowed this one from my father-in-law.


I know the author is super popular and many of his books were made into movies. I just didn't think I would like this kind books. I thought the vocabulary will be too difficult for me since it was about lawyers and tax and stuff. However, I was pleasantly surprised how easy and entertaining to read this book. Now I know why he is a popular author and I would love to read his other books also.

I would definitely watch the movie also. I think Tom Cruz is a good choice for the main character. I am just very interested who else were casted for other roles. You know, when you read a book, you have a certain image in your head for all the characters and sometimes it is right on when you watch a movie but something it is so different from what you have in your head. Anyways, I am curious.

Well, I am excited to cook some food with the vegetables I bought today at farmers market. Love Summer!

Refreshing Fruit Salad with Mint

Summer is here! Even though I love summer, sometimes it is very difficult to cook something when it is really really hot and you are sweating just sitting.

So one hot summer day, I made this very refreshing Fruit Salad for snack. My son and myself enjoyed this snack and I regained coolness to tackle in the kitchen with heat.

This Salad is super easy. This time, I used Strawberry, Blueberry, Orange, Banana and Mint. You can use any kind of Fruit but the important part of this Fruit Salad is the MINT!!!

I didn't add any sugar or honey but if your fruit are to tart, you can add some sugar or honey.

This is super healthy snack for you and your kids in summer!

It is a good idea to grow mint at home. They are super easy to grow and you just need a small pot for it. I have Mint, Basil, Thyme and chili peppers on my small balcony and everytime I need one of those, I take it little bit from the balcony.

This saves a lot of money since often times you buy these herbs and won't be able to use them all.

Well, enjoy this salad on a hot hot summer day! This for sure cool you down and refresh you!

Grilled Salmon Salad with Quinoa and Yogurt sauce

It has been quite nice temperature here in NY lately. I can definitely feel the fall approaching but not too cold to wear short sleeves. This weather reminds me of areas in California where I used to live.

I loved the weather in California. It was dry and warm all year around but one thing I realized after I moved to NY is that you appreciate summer more and also you can actually enjoy four different seasons in a year. I like warm weather and I don't like cold weather but at the same time, I kind of enjoy   a little bit cold fall night when I feel like baking or cooking something hearty.

Anyhow, I always buy salmon from Costco and this is also from Costco salmon. I froze half of it and used the other half for this salad. This is definitely a summer dish. I made this dish on Sunday.

Grilled Salmon Salad with quinoa and yogurt sauce!

The salad itself is very simple with romain lettuce, cucumber and corn with some store bought Caesar dressing.

On top of that, I added some quinoa with cilantro, raisons, pine nuts and garlic. This is something my friends told me about and I made it once before. The recipe is from Food Network. Here is the link for the recipe if you are interested. 

For salmon, I just sprinkle salt and pepper then sautéed with olive oil in a pan 6 mins each side.

Then, I made this yogurt sauce which is with greek yogurt, chopped cilantro, grated garlic and lime juice plus salt and pepper.

My husband absolutely loved this salad and especially the yogurt sauce. He was so impressed how I came up with this sauce but I have seen yogurt sauce with salmon in many places and I don't think it is nothing new but he was quite happy. Normally, yogurt sauce for salmon has dill but I only had cilantro so I used cilantro for both quinoa and yogurt sauce. For someone like us who love cilantro, this was great.

This is a great light dinner for hot night. It is super easy and healthy and delicious.

Enjoy!

Greek Salad

Today, I would like to share Greek Salad I made. This is also something my mother-in-law made for me.
It is called Greek Salad because it has dolma, Olives and Feta Cheese.

I love Dolma and now I can get already made dolma from Trader Joe's. This is great! because I think it is quite a hassle to make dolma on your own.

Anyway, this is salad so it is quite easy. You just have to cut the ingredients and mix them. So for this salad, I added butter lettuce, orange pepper, yellow pepper, red pepper, tomato, kalamata olive, feta cheese and dolma. I used simple dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

This is great salad! This is yet another great dish from my mother-in-law. Dolma has rice in it so this is very satisfying salad. You can have this salad as a main course.

Jamie Oliver's Fruit Scone and my Fiesta Salad and about E-books

I take my son to a class called Mother Goose once a week at the local library. This is a great program for little kids where they can sing, dance, play with some toys and read books.

I made some friends from this class and the other day, I made scone with one of the friend whom I made there. I love cooking or baking with my friends so it was really nice to do this. I definitely would love to do this again.

Anyway, we made scones from Jamie Oliver's book. This is the book I used.

This is what came out. 

It tasted good but I think I mixed them too much. It got hard and was not soft scone which I expected. This is totally my fault because in the book, it specifically said not to mix it too much. The photo in the book looked a lot higher and better. I guess I need more practice on this one. 

Maybe I mentioned this before but I heard that people in England use clotted cream when they eat scones. I had this cream at the Plaza hotel when we had afternoon tea and loved it. I have been trying to find one here in NY but no luck. So we had this scone with some jam and whipped cream. 

Now, I would like to show you a salad I made. 

First of all, I found this strip of tortilla chips at a supermarket. 

Ever since I got this, I wanted to make this Mexican inspired salad. 

This is what I call "Fiesta Salad"

This has salad leaves, avocado, corn, boiled egg and tortilla toppings. This will be great with cilantro dressing from Trader Joe's but unfortunately, I didn't have it so I just made up some dressing with Dijon mustard. It was really good! I mixed Dijon Mustard, white vinegar, water, Olive oil, salt, pepper, grated garlic and lemon. My husband loved this salad also. If you want to make it heavier dish, you can add some grilled chicken. 

I love this tortilla topping! It is colorful and crunchy and taste great! 

By the way, do you read books in paper or digital? I read them in paper since I like the feel of paper book. But I was thinking the other day about how easy will it be to get Japanese book for me if I have device such as kindle or ipad. 

Since I love reading Japanese books, sometimes I ask my family to send some to me but the shipping is pretty expensive so if I can but digital book from here, it will be much much cheaper. 

So I researched some to see if such a thing is possible. To my disappointment, it seems like digital books are not popular at all in Japan. I was so surprised but it is true. Here it is so popular that now even libraries lend out e-books. 

I really really hope that it will catch up in Japan also so I can buy some Japanese books from here. 

Then, I have to buy Kindle or ipad or some sort. ipad is kind of expensive but it sure looks cool but if Kindle fire is same as ipad technically, I think I would go with Kindle fire. Well, I need to do more research since I am not sure if Kindle Fire can do same things which ipad can. 

Well, anyway, I have to wait till Japanese people start reading more e-books. I guess it will take a while. Maybe a few years? Who knows. I hope the day will come very soon :-) 

Chicken Salad & Chicken Picatta from Trisha Yearwood cookbook

As I mentioned in the last post, I borrowed some cookbook from the library. Well, I do this quite often. I love looking or reading cook books. It is one of my hobby, I would say.

Anyway, I made two dishes from one of the book I borrowed. The book I used fro these dishes is Trisha Yearwood's cook book.


I didn't quite know about Trisha Yearwood but found out that she is a country singer.  I normally don't listen to country music so I didn't know her but I got to know her by finding this cook book.

This cook book has lots of family recipes which she acquired growing up.

I like the idea of gathering all your favorite recipes from your family and friends and make a book out of it.

I think food is very important part of your memory and eating something reminds you of the time you spent when you had that dish or people you were with.


Anyway, I made two dishes from her cook book. One is Chicken Salad.

This chicken salad has grapes, poppy seeds, dill, almonds and so on. For me, this is very American chicken salad. I love the sweetness of grapes and crunchy of almonds. This was a great chicken salad and my husband absolutely loved it.

We made chicken salad sandwich with pita bread for dinner.

Light yet very satisfying meal!

The other dish I tried was "Chicken Picatta". Actually, I had never made chicken picatta so this was first time for me making this dish.

This particular chicken picatta has capers, butter, lemon and stuff.

This was absolutely amazing! I think caper here is doing a great job. Plus, it has lots of butter in it so of course it taste good! Everything taste better with butter, right?

My husband also loved this dish. This is a great looking and wonderful tasting dish. I would love to make this sometimes when we have guest. This is really impressive. I loved it.

There are some more dishes which I would like to try from this cook book. I will show them to you when I try.

By the way, my son is now 6 months old! Time flies. He is growing up too fast. He is rolling around and almost sitting on his own. He needs lots of attention and he is getting very active and alert.

I feel so lucky that I can stay home with him and enjoy every little thing he does. It is wonderful to discover what he does differently today from yesterday. I really don't want to miss anything. It is amazing how much and how fast he grows. I cherish every moment with him. I am so blessed to have him. It is wonderful time right now to watch him grow.

Well, he is cranky and crying right now so I have to stop now and go talk to him!

Things I recently made and cook books I recently borrowed

Summer is finally here and I am enjoying my first summer with a baby. Sometimes, it is too hot but I put him in a water bath outside my house and he loves it. We take him to the beach sometimes also. He doesn't really like the ocean water. I think it is too cold. Anyhow, my life is perfect with him!
He is already 5months and we just started to give him solid food. we started with rice porridge. (He is a half Japanese :-) It is interesting to see how he develop. He is growing up too fast!

Well, I have been cooking more lately but just didn't have time to update my blog. So I would like to upload some of the things I made recently.

First of all, I made biscuit. I had homemade biscuit the other day at a restaurant in Brooklyn and I wanted to try making it myself ever since. Here is how it came out.

Not bad, right? It tasted good also! I didn't know how easy to make biscuit at home. I love having it with butter and strawberry jam when it came right out from the oven. Yum!

I used the recipe in this book which I had for this biscuit.















Also, I made an indian dish. This is chicken with some indian spices with lots of cilantro and tomato. My husband and I love this dish. I didn't make it super spicy this time so we didn't need to be crying while we ate. For some reason, I love eating spicy food when it is hot.

Next, I made salmon and napa cabbage. Salmon is just with salt and pepper and sautéed in a pan. Napa cabbage is cooked with bacon and some vinegar. I love this cabbage dish. I can eat a bowl full of this cabbage.

And, this is a edamame salad. We love edamame and we eat them quite often but I never had it in this form. This is a warm salad with mushroom, roasted bell pepper, snap peas and so on. I found this recipe on Martha Stewart magazine. I bought frozen shelled edamame. For flavor, I used vinegar and chili paste and stuff so it is a bit spicy but very good. To my surprise, my husband liked this dish. It is very healthy but tasty dish.

Speaking of edamame, I bought edamame plant this year for my container garden. It is growing some edamae but it is just like 5 of them so I don't really know what to do with them.

I also got basil for my garden as I always do every year. This year, basil has been growing really well so I have already harvested them twice and made pesto pasta. This pesto was really good. I wrote it down the recipe so I would like to upload it some other time.

I went to the library the other day and borrowed some books again. One of the book I borrowed was for my husband. This is from my favorite Japanese author named "Kotaro Isaka". He is very popular in Japan and I found that one of his books is finally translated into English. I always wanted my husband read one of his book so I borrowed it for him.

This is the book.

I read many of his book but I actually haven't read this one yet. I thought about reading it in English but I decided to get it in Japanese and read it in Japanese.

My husband finished reading it and he liked it.

He said he didn't like the first half of it but then he got into it and really liked it when he finished reading.

I went to this Jpaaneses used book store called "Book Off" in Manhattan the other day and purchased the original version of it. I am excited to read it. My husband ask me every day if I read it already or not. But I still have other books to finish so I haven't really started yet. (Plus, with a baby, my reading time is quite limited right now)

Other than the above book, I borrowed lots of cook book again. I realized that there are many celebrates publishing cook book lately.





This is a cook book from an actress "Eva Longoria". Since her parents are Mexican, I thought I can get some good Mexican recipes from this book. I liked many of the stuff I saw. I am excited about trying it.










This is my favorite celebrity chef Jaime Oliver's cook book about food from American continent. There are many dished which looks really good from all different regions. Very interesting book.











This is a book from iron chef Cat Cora. I actually have never tried her recipe so I would like to try something from this.













This is a cook book from Trisha Yearwood. I think she is an country singer (I am sorry but I am not sure about who she is)

In this book, there are lots of American classic recipes and some of them looks really good. I would definitely try her chicken salad and chicken casserole.







When I borrow or buy cookbook, the most important feature is pictures of the dishes. I don't like cookbooks without any pictures of the dishes. All of these cookbook above had many pictures of the dishes. However I wish they have pictures for each and every one of the recipe they have in the book.

Anyway, I am excited about trying some of the dished from these book. The only problem is that it is too hot to cook lately!

Shrimp and Asparagus Salad

I ate a lot while our friends were here so I decided to make something light. It is a Shrimp and Asparagus Salad. Well, since this was a dinner and I didn't want to be too starving when I go sleep, I volumed up with lots of shrimp and vegetables. 

First, I just cut asparagus into smaller peaces and sauteed in a pan. Then I took them out and in a same pan, add some butter and chopped garlic and sauteed shrimp. When shrimp is almost done, I add the asparagus back to the pan and add some sweet chili sauce for flavor. (I also add some salt and pepper) 

I used this sweet chili sauce.   

For the salad part, I used romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, radish, corn and avocado. I made maple syrup dressing (Click here for the recipe) and tossed the salad with it. 

Then, added cooked shrimp and asparagus on top and done! 

Since the portion is pretty big, even though it was just this salad for dinner, it was very satisfying and I didn't get hungry late at night. 

I think lots of people ate a lot during the holiday season so I think this will be a perfect dinner to balance your body. It is yummy and satisfying yet pretty healthy. Hope you enjoy it. 

Apple Cinnamon Muffin & Potato Cabbage Gratin

I had a craving for cake all of a sudden so I was searching something at home. I found this muffin mix which I bought a while ago. Since I didn't want to spend a lot of time baking, this was a perfect choice for my craving.

This is a very famous brand in Germany but I see this brand quite often here in the U.S. also. This one is organic muffin and somehow looked little bit healthier than other brand's muffin mix and I just love the smell of apple & cinammon.

Anyway, those cake or muffin mix are great because you just have to add milk and egg and bake. This one took me about 15mins to prepare before putting it in the oven.

It amazes me how many different kind of those mixes there are at a supermarket. I haven't try many of them but I would love to try different kinds. The best thing about it is that normally it comes out as it should be. (Even though, I had to ruin three boxes of brownie mix once. I had no idea what I did wrong but it did not came out the way it should had been...)

For dinner, I wanted to use potatoes which I had at home. I also had some leftover cabbage and mushroom and so on so I decided to make potato cabbage gratin.

This is how I made it.

First, I sauteed sliced onion and bacon and chopped garlic in a frying pan.

Then, added cabbage.

Then, added mushroom and leeks.

Then, added sliced potatoes

After sauteing a while, add flour and milk and cook until it thickens.

Transfer to a casserole container and sprinkle with cheese, cover with foil and bake in the oven for about 1 hour. When it is about 50mins into baking, take the foil off to make a golden/brown top.

It was a bit too liquid but tasted really good. I think I should have added some nutmeg though.

The muffin was pretty good. It was not too sweet so I think this is also great for breakfast. It is just amazing how easy this was.

We also had spinach salad with gratin. This is one of my favorite salad. It has some bacon, onion and tomatoes and mushroom.

This is a great satisfying dish with lots of vegetables. If you have leftover vegetables in your fridge, this might be a good option to clear your fridge.

Things I made a few years ago

Yesterday, I made Okonomiyaki which I make quite often and nothing special to this blog anymore so I would like to upload some of the things I made a few years ago.

First, this is chicken roll with tomato sauce. I don't even remember what I put inside but it looks pretty good. For the side, I made potato gratin which I love.

Next one is corn salad. I think I dressed this salad with cilantro sauce. This salad is very colorful with some red and green pepper. It is perfect summer salad.

This is one of my favorite dish which I made in my life. It is swordfish with coconut curry sauce. When I made this dish, I was so surprised how good it was. I think it was a recipe from Wolfgang Puck. I was sure that I will be making this dish more but I realized that I haven't made it since then. It might be time to make it again!

This is safran chicken dish. I think this was a recipe from Giada de Laurentis from Food Network. It was lighter than I thought it will be. It was pretty good. Looks pretty also.

This is pumpkin soup which I made with milk. It is very mild tasting and great for winter season. This dish made me feel cozy and warm.

Last dish is blueberry cheese cake. This is a recipe from my favorite chef Tyler Florence. It is a bite size cheese cake and so yummy and cute!

Sometimes, I like watching some of my old food photos. It motivate me to cook more and try something new. What should I made today? It makes me feel so happy and excited to think about what I am going to cook next!

Grilled Eggplant Salad and Sweet & Spicy Short Rib Tacos

I was watching Food Network and found some dishes which I wanted to try so I tried it the other day.
Both of them came out great. I really likes those recipes.

One is a recipe from Bobby Flay who is an iron chef here in America and have a few restaurant. This dish is called "Grilled Eggplant Salad". Click here for his recipe from Food Network Website.

This is how it looks.

You grill eggplant and onion then chopped them and mix with avocado and dressing. It is sweet and tangy and bit smoky. I really liked this salad.

Bobby was grilling outside of course but I tried to grill eggplant and onion inside the house. The kitchen ended up all smoky and I had to open all the windows so I will try grilling them outside next time.

For the main course, I made tacos. This recipe is also from Food Network's show called "Mexican made easy". Mercella Valladlid is a host of this show and she shows how to make Mexican food at home.

This dish is called "Sweet & Spicy Short Rib Tacos" Click here for her recipe from Food Network website. This is how it looks. Warm corn Tortilla and the meat with some sour cream and cilantro. Yummy! The recipe is for 6 people but I made half of it.

This dish is pretty easy to make but it takes some time. She made in a slow cooker on the show but I don't have a sloe cooker so I made it in the oven.

Also, the recipe required Dried Ancho Chiles but I couldn't find them at the store so I bought Dried Chipotle Chilies instead. I researched little bit and found out the Chipotle chili is little bit spicier than Ancho chile so I used just one of them.

First, I browned short ribs in the frying pan. It was already smelling good at this point.



While browning, I made sauce in a blender with onion, garlic, chiles and so on.

When the meat is browned, I transferred in a oven safe container and cover with foil and baked for 3 hours and half.

This is how it came out after 3 hours and half.

Meat is fork tender. I shred them in a bowl.

Skim the grease from the oven safe container and transfer remained sauce to the meat and mix.


Heat up corn tortilla, add meat, sour cream and cilantro.

For my second tacos, I add some of those grilled eggplant salad in it. It was great. I loved the taste combination!

I will definitely make this tacos again. Next time, I will find Ancho chile. It takes a long time to cook but the meat is super tender and it is worth the time. The short ribs were more expensive than I imagines but I think this is a great dish.