 I promise you that after this recipe, you will never be getting takeout pizza again. From the dough to the sauce to the amazingly spicy & sweet sauce, everything is from scratch. The best thing about homemade pizza is that everything is so, so fresh. I find that when making simple recipes like this, choosing the freshest ingredients and toppings make such a difference in your food so now is the time to use those fresh herbs in your garden or pick the juiciest, red roma tomatoes.
 Being a child who grew up eating homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade chicken stock, you can say I am spoiled when it comes to homemade everything. If it isn't homemade chicken broth, then the next best thing is the Costco kind- honestly amazing. But today we aren't doing chicken broth; I am always so used to cooking with meat that when I made this, I surprised myself when in the end I didn't touch any meat (except fish sauce oops).
Hi, hello, how are you? If you're reading this during the time of Coronavirus in 2020 then I really hope you are doing well, safe and healthy. This is a crazy, crazy time and I am lucky enough that I am able to be at home with my family healthy and happy. I could not be more unbelievably grateful to be able to raid my parents' pantry to cook! While most of us are locked up in quarantine, I hope you all are taking this time to appreciate the little things and maybe find that creative bug of yours. Let's get to the baos shall we?  Fluffy steamed buns. Fatty, juicy, slightly crispy pork. I don't know about you but that right there is enough to hook me, do I need to say more?
 Jammy Tomato Garlic Pasta printIngredients:
Directions: Bring a large pot of water to boil with 2 tbsp of salt (this may seem like a lot, but this is the only chance you will get to season your pasta). While the water is boiling, prep your ingredients; peel the garlic while leaving the clove intact (don’t smash it). Using a sharp knife, thinly slice the garlic so you get paper thin wafers. Have your onions ang herbs prepped as well. In a large pan, heat up the olive and canola oil. On medium low heat, add your onions and 1 tsp of salt. Saute for 3 - 5 minutes until softened and translucent. Turn up the heat to medium high and add your garlic, red pepper flakes and herbs de provence. Cook for 3 minutes until everything is fragrent - don’t leave your pan! Keep a careful watch to make sure your garlic is slightly browning but not burning, constantly move everything around with a wooden spoon. Once your water comes to a roiling boil (big bubbles popping rapidly), add your pasta. Boil it for one minute less than the suggested time. In the pan with the garlic and onions, add your tomatoes, sugar and lemon juice. The tomatoes will start to pop after 2 minutes and you can smash them with the back of your spoon. Keep on low heat until the pasta is done boiling. Before draining the pasta, reserve 1 cup of the pasta water. The pasta water is full of starch from the pasta so it will perfectly thicken the sauce and make it super silky! Add your pasta to the pan along with ½ a cup of pasta water, the parmesan cheese and herbs. Taste it and add salt if needed. These make perfect leftover and is the perfect alternative to store bought sauce!  Korean Glass Noodles (Japche) with Marinated Cucumbers printJapche Ingredients:
Directions: Prep all your ingredients first - make sure your vegetables are cleaned, peeled and sliced so you can work fast while cooking! Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once boiling, add the noodles and boil for 6-7 minutes until the noodles are slightly chewy. Once cooked, drain the noodles and rinse them under cold water. Using a scissor, cut the noodles (optional). To make the sauce, mix the soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, sugar and fish sauce. Set aside. While the noodles are cooking, heat a large skillet with 1 tbsp canola oil. Add the tofu and fry on high heat until slights crispy, around 3 minutes. Then add the bell pepper, carrots and red onion and cook for 3 more minutes until softened. In a separate large pan, on high heat, add half your beaten egg. This should only take 1 minute to cook. Roll up the egg into a cylinder, set aside and cook the remaining egg. Slice the cylinders width wise into thin slices. Back to the pan with the vegetables and tofu, add the spinach, noodles, egg and sauce. Turn off the heat and mix everything together. Marinated Cucumbers Ingredients:
Directions: In a small bowl, mix everything together. Store in the fridge for up to 1 hour before ready to serve. Notes: These noodles make for great meal prep! Keep in the fridge for up to 4 days and before eating, add 1 tbsp of water per serving and heat it up in the microwave for 30 - 60 seconds to soften the noodles. The best cucumbers are the Persian Cucumbers from Trader Joe’s! The skin is thin and they’re super crisp. The marinated cucumbers don’t store well so make immediately when eating. After a few hours they tend to shrivel up.  Sesame Ginger Chicken Recipe printIngredients:
Directions: Marinate the chicken thighs in the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili sauce and black pepper for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Heat a large skillet or grill pan with canola oil on medium high heat. Add the chicken, bone side up, in the pan and cook for 5 minutes or until it is well browned; don’t pour in the marinade. Flip the chicken and add in any harder vegetables (carrots, small potatoes, cauliflower...etc.); cook for 5 minutes. Pour in the rest of the sauce, honey, water and remaining vegetables. Toss everything around and on medium low heat, cover it with a lid and let it cook for at least 5 more minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Portion your meal prep bowls with your cooked grains at the bottom, chicken, vegetables, and then the pan sauce on top. Garnish it with some sesame seed and green onions if you want. Lasts up to 4 days in the fridge and also freezes well! Notes: Cook your grains in chicken stock (or broth of your choice) with garlic, bay leaves and a little salt to make it taste ten times better!! Hello there! Long time no see. It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post and so excited to get back on it. I thought the best recipe to share after being gone for so long was something that was simple yet sooooo scrumptious. Who doesn’t love pasta? I mean oodles and oodles of carby goodness in different shapes, yummm. My home is notorious for never eating Italian food out or using jarred pasta sauce. For us, we find it so easy, fresh, simple and cheaper to make sauces at home.  One of the first things my sister learned to make was tomato sauce- it was amazing! People underestimate the power of fresh herbs and fresh ingredients and it’s something I want to share with you guys!! Jarred sauce tends to have lots of sodium, sugar and can tend to taste a little flat. By making your sauce at home, you can control the amount of salt and sugar AND make the flavors even bolder with fresh herbs.  Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be sharing with you a tomato pasta sauce and an alfredo pasta sauce so you never have to buy store bought jarred sauce again! So that brings us to this recipe! If you are someone who just doesn’t like tomatoes or just want to try something besides your standard tomato sauce, this herby pasta is for you! It’s sweet and spicy, salty and herby, lemony and do so bright! Coming together in less than 10 minutes, this sauce has an olive oil base with super sweet onions, lots of garlic, a few spices and of course, a handful of basil and parsley.  You will probably look at the recipe and think, half a cup of olive oil?? Just kill me already! Well let’s wait a second, we’re using extra virgin olive oil, not your standard canola or vegetable oil. You know that really good stuff you use for salads or bring out for the fancy dinner parties? Ya we’re cracking out that baby today. Olive oil (in moderation) is actually really good for you and had such a nice flavor. This oil is what will give the sauce that ‘saucey’ part so don’t skimp on it!
You probably have all the ingredients in your pantry already so what are you waiting for??!! Clear your calendar as tonight is reserved for some pasta twirling and Netflix binging. 10 Minute Herby Pasta SauceIngredients: 16 oz of spaghetti 1/2 cup extra Virgin olive oil 1 bunch/ cup chopped parsley (I like using half curly and flat parsley!) 1 bunch/ cup chopped basil 2 tsp Herbs de Provence (optional) 1/2 a lemon, juiced 1 tsp red pepper flakes 3 tbsp plus 2 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper 1 sweet yellow or red onion, thinly sliced 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped Directions: In a large pot, bring water to a boil with 2-3 tbsp of salt. This is the only chance you get to salt your pasta so you need to add a good amount. 3 tbsp may seem a lot but you will drain most of it out. As the pasta is boiling, heat up a heavy bottom, wide pan with the olive oil. Add in the garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, herbs de Provence and 1 tsp of the salt. Cook until the onions have sweated, becomes translucent and easy to ‘mush’ on medium high heat, around 10 minutes. By now, your water should be at a roiling boil. When you start to see the water rapidly bubbling, add in your dried spaghetti and cook accordingly, except for 1 minute less than the suggested time. We want the pasta to be slightly al dente (with a bite) as it will finish cooking in the sauce. Add the herbs into the sauce along with the black pepper, remaining salt, sugar and lemon juice. Quickly mix it around and by now your pasta should be done cooking. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water and transfer your spaghetti to the sauce. Mix it around in the pan while on the heat and add around half of the pasta water- this will help emulsify the sauce and make it stick to the pasta. Taste it and add more salt, lemon juice and red pepper flakes to your liking! Serve a big healing of the noodles as is or mix in some Parmesan cheese. Mmm enjoy!!   Homemade Dumplings with Ginger Broth and Hot Chili Sauce PRINT
Ginger Broth: Ingredients:
Directions: Start your broth before you start the dumplings. In a large pot, add your garlic, onion, spring onions and ginger. On high heat, blister and char the aromatics to release the flavor- around 5 to 8 minutes. Add in your chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat with a lid until your dumplings are ready (at least an hour or longer to intensify the flavor). Before serving, add the salt, black pepper, white pepper and soy sauce. Add sesame oil and fish sauce to taste. Hot Chili Sauce Ingredients:
In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients. Dumplings: Ingredients:
Directions: The first step is making sure you devein your shrimp. Taking a paring knife, make a shallow incision on the top of the shrimp where you see a black line. Remove the vein (aka the poop, yuck). Search up videos on google or ask your buy pre-deveined shrimp if you don’t know how to do so! Once all your shrimp are deveined and have no shells, pulse them in a food processor or simply take a large knife and keep cutting them until they form a paste. There shouldn’t be any chunks and it should be relatively smooth. In a big bowl, mix together all the ingredients (there really is no order to it). The best way is just to get in there with your hands (wear gloves if needed) and make sure that all the cabbage, pork and shrimp is incorporated well with the spices and sauces. Taking your wonton wrappers, add a 2 tsp dollop of the mixture in the middle. Have a bowl of cold water nearby. Dip your finger in the water and trace around the edges. Fold the wrapper over diagonally forming a triangle. Use your fingers to press the edges together to make sure they are sealed. Now, wet the inside corner of one end and the outside corner of the other. Fold them together to form a package. Make sure both ends are pressed together tightly so that they don’t fall apart when cooking. While your broth is bowling, bowl a small pot of water on the side. Add in your dumplings while making sure it isn’t over crowded. Move them around with your spider or spoon and flip them over after 1 minute. Let them cook in total for 2 to 2.5 minutes until the wonton wrapper is translucent. Remove them and drain off the excess liquid. Set the cooked dumplings aside and repeat with the rest. Boil the bok choy in the same water while the dumplings are cooking, set aside. If freezing, read the following directions. Place your ready made raw dumplings in a flat layer on a plate or baking tray. Freeze them for at least 2 hours. Take them out of the freezer and sprinkle them with flour. Toss them in a bag and now you can keep them in a freezer for up to 3 weeks. Cook accordingly, but maybe for an additional couple minutes. To serve, add the dumplings and bok choy at the bottom of the bowl, pour over the broth, drizzle over the chili oil and sprinkle spring onions and sesame seeds over the top. You can also eat these alone with the chili oil and no broth. This makes the perfect warming and light soup for winter!  Grilled Steak w Chimichurri Sauce, Roasted Root Vegetables and Winter Salad printRoasted Vegetables:
Ingredients: 3 sweet potatoes (I used a mix of Japanese, yams and orange sweet potatoes) 1 red onion, chopped into chunks 1 head of cauliflower florets 1 head of broccoli florets 2 tsp of salt 5 garlic cloves chopped 2 tbsp neutral oil 2 tsp red pepper flakes Freshly ground black pepper Directions: Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. To prep your vegetables, wash the potatoes and remove anything sprouting from the outside. Cut them into 1 inch pieces (peel the skin if preferred). Lay the potatoes and onions on one pan, broccoli and cauliflower on another. In a small bowl, mix together all the other spices and oils. Split the mixture among the two pans and toss well. Bake the vegetables accordingly. Potatoes for 15 minutes, and cauliflower mix for 10 minutes, flipping both halfway through. Remove from oven and let cool before serving. Steak: Ingredients: 10 oz flank steak 2 tsp salt 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp oil 1 tbsp butter 3 garlic cloves Directions: Remove the steak from the fridge and using a paper towel, remove as much moisture as you can. This will ensure the steak cooks evenly and has a nice crust. Once dry, pat in the salt and pepper. Let it sit on the counter for an hour to allow the steak to come to room temperature and marinate. Using a cast iron pan*, add oil and heat it on a high flame for 10 minutes. Once heated, carefully place the steak (fatty side down) into the hot oil. Add in the butter and garlic cloves immediately. My preferred way to cook steak is medium rare. Cook the steak for 3 minutes on one side while spooning the garlic-oil-butter liquid in the pan, on the top of the steak. Flip it on the other side and cook for another 2 minutes. Cook longer if you prefer a less-pink steak. Once cooked, remove from pan and let it rest on a cutting board or plate for at least 5 minutes to allow the juices to soak in. Don’t throw away the pan drippings! Serve the juices along with the steak. Chimichurri Sauce: Ingredients: 1 bunch of parsley (with stems) 1 bunch of cilantro (with stems) 10 basil leaves 2 serrano chilies ½ red onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves 1 thai chili (optional) 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp sugar Freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsp lime juice 2 tbsp olive oil Directions: I work at a smoothie place on my college campus so I’ve basically become a professional when it comes to blending. If you have a super powerful blender, like a Vitamix, you can throw everything in at once and blend away. Unfortunately, I have a really small and weak blender in my kitchen, so here’s a strategy when blending. Make sure all your ingredients are chopped before hand. For the herbs, chop them roughly so the the stems won't get stuck in the blades. Put your liquids and herbs at the bottom, then your onions and garlic and finally all the other seasonings. Blend away! Serve with the steak and roasted veggies! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days. Winter Salad: Ingredients: 10 oz of chopped and cleaned kale 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp honey 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt Freshly cracked black pepper 1 grapefruit 1 orange 1 pomelo (or citrus of your choice) 1 cup of cucumbers, chopped 1 pomegranate, seeded 1 whole avocado, cut into wedges ½ red onion, thinly sliced Feta cheese, to top Directions: Using a big bowl, mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt and black pepper. Add in your kale and ‘massage’ the greens with the dressing. This will help your break down the fibers in the kale making it easier to chew and softer. Next, supreme* the citrus. If you read this last sentence and had no idea what I was saying, see the notes at the bottom explaining what supreming is and how to do it. Once your citrus is supremed, squeeze the remaining core that’s filled with pockets of juice straight into the kale. Add the citrus segments, cucumbers, red onion, pomegranate, avocado and feta cheese into the kale. Toss together. Notes:
Pumpkin Pie Spice makes: around a half cup Ingredients: 4 tbsp ground cinnamon 2 tbsp ground ginger 1.5 tbsp allspice 1 tbsp ground nutmeg Directions: In an airtight container, mix all the ingredients together and store in a cool dry place. Use in place of cinnamon for some extra flavor!  Pumpkin Waffles printmakes: 20 waffles Ingredients: Batter: 2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice 3 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 3/4 cup milk 1/4 cup maple syrup 4 tbsp butter melted 1 cup pumpkin purée Spiced Whipped Cream: half pint heavy whipping cream 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 2 tbsp maple syrup To Serve: maple syrup powdered sugar Directions:
 Pumpkin Spiced Lattes printmakes: 2 cups
Ingredients: 1.5 cups milk of your choice 1 tbsp instant espresso powder 1/2 cup warm water *2 cinnamon sticks *1 cardamon pod *1 half inch piece of ginger *3 cloves 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice 2 tbsp brown sugar/ maple syrup 1/4 cup pumpkin purée 1 tsp vanilla Directions:
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Who's Rachel?
Hello! Welcome to my little baby aka my food page where I funnel all my foodie fueled creativity into recipes and photos. My name, if you haven't guessed already, is Rachel and I am a 2nd year Statistics major at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Want to learn more about me? Click here!
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