Thanksgiving is right around the corner. At my house this means baking, lots of baking. I have to make the family’s favorite pies like sweet potato, pecan, and of course pumpkin. But in a family that has a child who’s allergic to eggs, nuts, and dairy none of these pies will do. So for my grandson Jett we make a special Vegan Pumpkin Pie. He loves it!
This Vegan Pumpkin Pie is super easy to make, it contains no dairy or eggs. We have been making it for Jett every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s something he totally looks forward too. By the way it’s tasty enough to serve to the whole family so if you don’t want to make 2 types of Pumpkin Pie go ahead and just make this Vegan Pumpkin Pie. If you don’t tell anyone it’s vegan they might not even notice. Yes it’s that good!
1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar (you can use cane sugar if you can’t find coconut sugar)
1/4 Cup Cornstarch
1 Unbaked Pie Shell – homemade or frozen (be sure it’s allergen free)
Directions:
Mix Dry Ingredients except corn starch together and set aside
Mix Pumpkin Puree, coconut milk, and maple syrup together until well blended
Add mixed dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix very well
Sprinkle cornstarch in 2-3 increments over the pumpkin mixture making sure to stir cornstarch into the mixture very well – you don’t want lumps
Pour pumpkin mixture into unbaked pie shell
Bake in a pre-heated 350° oven for about 1 hour or until tester comes out clean
Do not over bake, once tester comes out clean remove from oven and set on the counter, center may still be soft and wobbly when shake, it will set firm as it cools.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. I serve it with spray canned coconut whipped cream I buy at Safeway next to the Rediwhip.
1PcUnbakedPie Shellhomemade or frozen - just be sure it's allergen free
Servings:
Instructions
Mix Dry Ingredients except corn starch together and set aside
Mix Pumpkin Puree, coconut milk, and maple syrup together until well blended
Add mixed dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix very well
Sprinkle cornstarch in 2-3 increments over the pumpkin mixture making sure to stir cornstarch into the mixture very well - you don't want lumps
Pour pumpkin mixture into unbaked pie shell
Bake in a pre-heated 350° oven for about 1 hour or until tester comes out clean
Do not over bake, once tester comes out clean remove from oven and set on the counter, center may still be soft and wobbly when shake, it will set firm as it cools.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. I serve it with spray canned coconut whipped cream I buy at Safeway next to the Rediwhip.
Pancit Molo is a Filipino soup dish that makes you wonder why it’s called pancit. Pancit refers to noodle dishes, and this dish doesn’t have noodles at all. It uses wonton, soimai or molo wrappers. Not to mention most of the pancit recipes are dry while this pancit molo is a soup.
Pancit Molo is a soup dish composed of a mixture of ground pork wrapped in wonton wrappers, shredded chicken meat, and shrimps. This dish is a well known Filipino dish that resembles the Chinese dish called wanton soup but the finest ingredients and flavor makes this dish stand out.
Today I will give you my version of this dish, I’m sure you will love it.
Soup Ingredients:
30 wontons
1 onion, peeled & sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
1 tbsp. cooking oil
10 cups homemade broth
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 pc. green onions, ends trimmed and chopped
1 cloves fried garlic bits
½ tsp. salt to taste
¼ tsp. pepper to taste
For the Homemade Broth:
3 pounds bone-in chicken parts (wings, thighs)
12-13 cups boiling water
1 onion, peeled & chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
1 tsp. pepper corns
1 tbsp. cooking oil
2 pcs. bay leaves
1 tbsp. salt to taste
For the Wontons:
2 pounds ground pork
1 pack (30 pcs.) wonton wrappers
1 small carrot, peeled and shredded
1 tbsp. soy sauce
½ cup green onions, finely chopped
½ cup water chestnuts, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tsp. salt to taste
1 tsp. pepper to taste
Directions:
For the Homemade Broth:
Heat oil in a deep pot over medium heat then add onions and garlic and cook until limp and aromatic.
Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 4 to 7 minutes or until chicken changes color. Lower heat, cover, and cook for about 17 to 20 minutes or until chicken releases its juices.
Raise heat to high and add boiling water.
Add bay leaves and peppercorns, season with salt.
Lower heat and return to simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
With a slotted spoon, remove chicken pieces from broth.
Allow to cool to touch. Remove meat from bones and shred.
Set aside chicken meat and keep warm. Break bones to expose marrow and return to pot.
Continue to cook at barely a simmer, uncovered, for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until liquid is reduced and concentrated. Using a cheesecloth, strain stock to remove bones and aromatics.
For the Wontons:
In a bowl, combine ground pork, water chestnuts, green onions, soy sauce, carrots, garlic, salt and pepper. Gently stir until well-distributed.
Separate wrappers into individual sheets. Spoon a heaping tablespoonful of meat mixture on middle of wrapper and then gather sides to form a cup around mixture.
For the Final Pancit Molo:
Heat oil in a pot over medium heat.
Then Add onions and garlic and cook until aromatic.
Add broth and bring to a simmer.
Add fish sauce and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes then season with salt and pepper.
Add wontons and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through.
Add chicken and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through.
Divide wontons, shredded chicken and broth into serving bowls.
Heat oil in a deep pot over medium heat then add onions and garlic and cook until limp and aromatic.
Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 4 to 7 minutes or until chicken changes color. Lower heat, cover, and cook for about 17 to 20 minutes or until chicken releases its juices.
Raise heat to high and add boiling water.
Add bay leaves and peppercorns, season with salt.
Lower heat and return to simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
With a slotted spoon, remove chicken pieces from broth.
Allow to cool to touch. Remove meat from bones and shred.
Set aside chicken meat and keep warm. Break bones to expose marrow and return to pot.
Continue to cook at barely a simmer, uncovered, for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours or until liquid is reduced and concentrated. Using a cheesecloth, strain stock to remove bones and aromatics.
Wonton
In a bowl, combine ground pork, water chestnuts, green onions, soy sauce, carrots, garlic, salt and pepper. Gently stir until well-distributed.
Separate wrappers into individual sheets. Spoon a heaping tablespoonful of meat mixture on middle of wrapper and then gather sides to form a cup around mixture.
Soup
Heat oil in a pot over medium heat.
Then Add onions and garlic and cook until aromatic.
Add broth and bring to a simmer.
Add fish sauce and cook for about 1 to 2 minutes then season with salt and pepper.
Add wontons and cook for about 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through.
Add chicken and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes or until heated through.
Divide wontons, shredded chicken and broth into serving bowls.
Everyone loves Chocolate Chip Cookies. It’s the world’s most popular cookie! Last week I shared the recipe for The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie. It is one of my favorites! But sometimes I get a craving for more chocolate and that’s when the Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies come in handy. They are simply delicious!
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I’m sure you’ve seen them at Starbuck’s and other retail bakeries. I think there are even some packaged ones by Pepperidge Farms. But nothing comes close to my Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re definitely chocolaty but the white chocolate morsels I add give it that extra yum! They like crunchy brownies with a kick of delicious white chocolate. They go great with a cold glass of milk!
I use a chocolate cookie dough, milk chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips, that’s why they’re a triple treat! I use the best ingredients I can find to make these cookies, skimping is not an option. I use Guittard Unsweetened Cocoa Powder or Vallrhona Cocoa Powder.
Another tip for making bakery quality cookies is to have the proper tools. In this case to make really good looking (and tasting) cookies you’ll need a measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, an electric mixer (a standing mixer is easier but costlier so a hand mixer works too), a 1 Oz. Scoop (they make the cookies all the same size) and a Silicone Baking Mat (or you can use parchment paper, either one works well, but the mat ends up cheaper in the long run and is definitely more eco-friendly). I know it seems frivolous to buy these things specially if you don’t bake often. I remember back in the day when we really didn’t have the extra money to spend on them (they were much more expensive then) I used to make do with whatever I had. But these days with online shops and big box stores baking equipment has become much more affordable!
But you don’t have to rush out and buy mats, scoops, and whatever. Use what you have or borrow from a baking friend or your mom! Just make sure you use the best ingredients that you can find, that’s the most important thing!
A chocolate chip cookie, the ultimate comfort food. Who can resist them? But do you know its history? Most of us don’t and it’s really quite interesting no matter which version you believe!
For starters the chocolate chip cookie is a true American concoction that came to be quite accidentally when its original baker ran out of Baker’s chocolate, or nuts. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Ok back in 1930 a dietician named Ruth Graves Wakefield and her husband Kenneth purchased a Cape Cod style house in Whitman a town between Boston and New Bedford, Massachusetts. The house was originally built in 1709 and was used by travelers to rest, change horses, have a meal, and pay any tolls needed to use the road. Ruth and Kenneth soon turned their home into a lodge which, with a nod to its past, they named “The Toll House Inn”.
Now Ruth was a skilled baker and soon drew in visitors from all over the northeast. Many came to sample her delicious baked goods. One of her favorite desserts were Butter Drop Do Cookies and her recipe which dated back to colonial days called for Baker’s chocolate. So one day in 1937 Ruth was making these Butter Drop Do Cookies and found herself lacking the chocolate, so she chopped up a bar of Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate into tiny pieces thinking that the chocolate would melt and spread throughout the dough. When it didn’t the chocolate chip cookie was born! Well that’s one version; another version is she ran out of nuts and substituted the chopped chocolate; still another version claims she accidentally dropped a bar of chocolate into the dough and it broke into tiny morsels. Whatever the version it’s all part of chocolate chip cookie history!
The new cookies were a hit and Ruth called them “Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies”. Her recipe was published in news papers all over New England and the sales of Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate bars rocketed.
Then in 1939 when “Betty Crocker” (she was a fictional character who had a radio show) featured them on her radio series “Famous Foods from Famous Eating Places” the chocolate chip cookie went big time! Ruth being a shrewd gal approached Nestle’s and struck a deal, they could print her recipe on all their semi-sweet bars and later bags in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolates. Lucky lady!
In the 1940’s Ruth sold Nestle’s the name “Toll House” and the cookies were widely known as Toll House Cookies. Nestle lost the trademarked rights to the name in 1983, Toll House is now legally the generic name for a chocolate chip cookie.
The cookie has become the most popular cookie worldwide and is the official cookie of Massachusetts. As for Ruth and hubby they sold the Toll House Inn in 1966 and it burned down on New Year’s Eve 1984.
So now you know its history. I’m sure you also know many versions of the chocolate chip cookie recipe have popped up, you may even have your own, I know I do! But have you ever tried The Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie? It’s one of our favorites! You can order it for dessert at their Mariposa Restaurant where you get a boxed set of 3 cookies and a recipe card, very cute! Or you can buy the giant sized cookie at their Bistro. And you can also buy tins of them from the Neiman’s gourmet food department at Christmas time. We do all 3! A box of 3 from the restaurant costs $6, the giant cookie at the Bistro is $5, and a tin of them will set you back about $20+.
But Neiman’s is nice enough to share their recipe, remember the boxed set at Mariposa comes with a recipe card. So if you don’t feel like shelling out $5 or more for a cookie or two; or if you’ve never tried the Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie then read on because I’m sharing it today!
Chicken Long Rice is one of my favorite comfort foods. It’s one of the simple dishes my Filipino grandmothers made when I was growing up, but Filipinos call it Sotanghon.
Living in Hawaii it’s a dish one can easily find on the menu of local restaurants and is a staple at Hawaiian Luaus. That’s probably why it never occurred to me to make it at home. So much easier to order it at Zippy’s or some other local eatery. Besides I didn’t have a recipe for Chicken Long Rice and never actually thought to go look for one.
Well that recently changed after I attended an Alumni Luau at my Alma Mater. Of course Chicken Long Rice was served, and like my classmates I wasn’t too impressed with it. The version served was pretty bland and tasteless. That’s when I mentioned that it was one of my favorite dishes but alas didn’t know how to make it.
So the discussions began and for the next couple of days during our class reunion a couple of classmates shared their recipes and tips. A week or so later I finally made some, tweaked the way I like it of course!
Now before I share my version I should explain what it is. In a nutshell Chicken Long Rice is Hawaii’s version of chicken noodle soup. But I suspect it’s a dish adapted from the Asian immigrants who came to the islands to work in plantations in the 1800’s.
I’m pretty sure just about every culture on earth has its own version of chicken noodle soup and Asia is no different. In fact I think every Asian country has a chicken noodle soup version; Udon or Ramen in Japan; Phð Gà in Vietnam; and Sotanghon in the Philippines just to name a few.
Where ever it originated Chicken Long Rice is simple chicken stock with clear bean thread noodles aka glass or cellophane noodles, seasoned with fresh ginger and topped with chopped green onions. I like it soupy and eat it with steamed white rice mixed in. So here’s my version of Chicken Long Rice, it tastes almost the same as the Sontaghon my grandmas used to make!
*Bean Thread noodles can be found at any Asian Market and sometimes in the Ethnic Food section of your local grocery store. Or you can order it from Amazon.
*I prefer to use Aloha Brand Soy Sauce as it’s milder than most brands available on the US Market (like Kikkoman and La Choy), but it’s not easily found unless you are in Hawaii or order it from Amazon. If you can’t find Aloha Brand Soy Sauce an alternative brand is Silver Swan Soy Sauce. It too has a milder taste and it can be found in most Asian Markets anywhere. But you can use any brand or your favorite brand of soy sauce.
*Use fresh ginger. Fresh ginger root can be found at most Asian Markets. Ginger can be frozen in a sealed ziplock bag for a long time. Just break of pieces as you need them. You can adjust the amount of ginger root in this recipe to suit your taste. I love the strong ginger taste and usually add a bit more to my broth.
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Chicken Long Rice
Ingredients:
4 Bone in chicken thighs. Be sure the skin is on too!
Pancit Molo is a Filipino soup dish that makes you wonder why it’s called pancit. Pancit refers to noodle dishes, and this dish doesn’t have noodles at all. It uses wonton, soimai or molo wrappers. Not to mention most of the pancit recipes are dry while this pancit molo is a soup.
Everyone loves 
A chocolate chip cookie, the ultimate comfort food. Who can resist them? But do you know its history? Most of us don’t and it’s really quite interesting no matter which version you believe!
