Yummy Shrimp Alfredo

I love to cook, but do I "LOVE" cooking enough that I will still enjoy it if that is my job? Probably not.

That being said, I love trying out new recipes, but it is so frustrating and discouraging if it seems like a good recipe turns out not so good. That is a waste of time and money.

There is one time I tried a casserole recipe and it was so bad that we were slowly and quietly eating. I guess we were processing in our minds if we were imagining it was bad or it was bad for real... then I had to put the fork down and told everyone to stop eating. They had this look of relief and gladly stopped eating. I think we went out to get something afterwards. That has never happened to us. That is why we refer to that as the "bad dinner incident" and laugh.

This recipe on the other hand... it. was. so YUMMY!

It was easy, tasted great, and not too pricey to make. What more can you ask for?

I knew it was going to be good when I tasted the sauce, but my family... once they had their first bite, their eyes got wide and they said, "Mmm!"

Now, that is a good sign.

It is exciting to find a good new recipe. I added it to my binder right away!

Pinterest Baking Day

Do you collect lots and lots of recipes on your pinterest board? I do. Do you actually go back and make them?... My answer to that is not really.
I woke up one morning and really wanted to try out some of the recipes from my pinterest board. I decided to bake a couple of my newest pins.

This key lime pie recipe is by Mom on Time Out it was super easy to make and delicious. Personally I could do with less sweetness, but everyone who had this loved it.

My wonderful neighbor gave us the zucchini from their garden. That inspired me to bake this bread. Ohh...it was so heavenly. The recipe was by Sally's Baking Addiction and as she said in the recipe, you need to serve the bread when it is cool. It is so much better and moist. Everyone loved it!

It is so discouraging to try a new recipe and it doesn't turn out as good as you thought it would. This time, the result was the opposite. Both recipes were so good, I will be making them in the near future again. :)

Do You Want It? ~Recipe for Honey Bun Cake~

I am so happy to see that many of you participated in my first link party! Thank you so much for your readership and your support for of my new adventure. I am thinking about hosting either a weekly or a monthly link party. What do you think? I couldn't leave a comment on each one of your posts, but I visited everyone of your lovely blogs. I am marveled by all of the projects! The link party will be open until Sunday night at midnight.


Two post ago, I posted our Sunday dinner, and I recieved many comments and emails for the "Honey Bun Cake" recipe. I found this recipe in the local paper and it is originally from www.bettycrocker.com. Yes, this is a cake that uses a cake mix! Super easy and good. I love baking from scratch, but when I don't have time, a recipe like this is definately a life saver.

{Honey Bun Cake}

1 Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix
2/3 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
4 eggs
1 8 ounce container sour cream (1cup)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350. Lightly flour and grease 13 x 9 inch pan, or spray with baking spray with flour.

2. Beat cake mix. oil, eggs and sour cream on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Spread HALF of the batter in pan.

3. In samll bowl, stir together brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon: sprinkle over batter in pan. Carefully spread remaining batter evenly over pecan mixture.

4. Bake 44 to 48 minutes or until deep golden brown. In another bowl, stir powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until thin enough to spread. Prick surface of warm cake several times with fork. Spread powderd sugar mixture over cake. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Store covered at room temperature.

I actually had this cake warm with vanilla ice cream on top. It was sooo good! (This explains why I haven't lost the last 10 lbs. of my pregnancy fat yet. I love food too much!) My whole family loved it. It was all gone by the next day. Enjoy!

Easy Chocolate Treat

This morning, Rachel and I made this:


I wanted to make something easy, chocolaty and good. So, I looked up some recipes but didn't find anything I had in mind (I know it's out there but I didn't know where to look).

With my little assistant's help, I came up with this treat and it was pretty good!
So, here is what I did

You will need (makes about 5 - 6 dosen)

1 box(17.5oz) of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal
2 bags of chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 bag of Reese's Pieces

How to make

1. In a big bowl, pour all the cereal and 3/4 bag of Reese's Pieces. Lightly mix.

2. In a separate microwavable bowl, pour in the chocolate chips and heat 1 - 2 min to melt them. The chocolate chips may not look melted, but you need to stir them with a fork and see. If you over heat, they get hard and dry and won't be useable.

3. When the chocolate is melted, add oil to it and mix well.

4. Pour the chocolate over the cereal mixture, with a spatula, mix well.

5. Take a large spoon full of the mixture and place onto wax paper, wet your finger tips and put some pressure, so they will stick together.

6, Before the chocolate gets hard, place 1 or 2 Reese's Pieces on top for some color.

7, When it cools you can remove them from the wax paper. Then, it is ready to eat!

I wanted to be creative and picked Vanilla Almond Corn Flakes, but honestly, the flaver of the Reese's Pieces is very strong, you can't really tell the difference in flavor. So, it is fine to use regular cereal, instead.

Also, when the cereal and chocolate mixture get hard, you can put it in the microwave for 20 second or so, that way, the chocolate will melt again, then the mixture will stick together.

Rachel was so happy to be a special helper for this, she was especially delighted when she could lick the chocolate covered utencils. This treat is so easy to make and it makes a lot. It is perfect for Halloween parties or to share with some neighbors.

I can't believe it's almost Halloween! Once Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is right around the corner! I am thinking about doing a give away in the beginning of November to give thanks to you, my readers. So, check back often and see what I have decided to do.

Ohhh... so exciting!

I hope everone will have a fun and wonderful Halloween!

Recipe---Mom's Pot Stickers---

So many people asked for my pot sticker recipe, so here's the truth...
I don't really have a recipe. This is one of the dishes that I've made so many times with my mom that, I just know how to make them. I don't think my mom has a recipe either.

When I was little, my mom worked at a ramen noodle restaurant for a short while. The owner learned how to make the pot stickers in China and came back to Japan and opened his restaurant. Eventually, my mom learned how to make them.

My mom used to say we're having a "pot sticker wrapping party" and made my sister and I help her wrap them. Although I thought it was forced child labor at the time, I remember that I had enjoyed the time with my mom and sister. We talked and laughed a lot while we wrapped so many of them.

So, I decided to guesstimate the pot sticker recipe for my beloved readers.
You might have to make them several times to get it right. Please give it a try, my mom's potsticker are soooo yummy! You won't want to eat pot stickers from anywhere else. Sorry, I am not going to be modest on this one.

Mom's Pot stickers

ingredients

3 lb Ground pork
1 lb Ground beef
1-2 bunches of green onions---minced
6-7 nappa cabbage leaves---boiled and minced
Fresh Ginger about 3 inches---minced
2-3 cloves of garlic
4-5 Tbs Sesame oil
Pepper
Pot Sticker Wrappers---you will probably need 3-4 packages

How to make

1, Squeeze as much excess water from the minced green onions and nappa cabbage as you can.

2. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, grate in the garlic and then mix well with your hands.

3. Wrap them with the wrappers: Prepare a bowl with water and wet your finger tips to moisten the wrapper's edge, so it will stick.

4. If you are lining them on a plate, put Katakuri-ko(Potato flour) so the pot stickers won't stick to the plates. If you don't have this, flour should be fine.

5. In a large skillet, pour 2 table spoons oil and when it gets hot, start placing the pot stickers into the pan.(high heat whole time)

6. When the bottom of the pot stickers are dark golden brown, pour in 1 cup of water and put a lid on and steam cook. do not open the lid!

7. If you listen carefuly, you can hear the difference in sound in the pan. Sorry it is kind of hard to explain...

8, Serve with Soy Sauce and chili oil. I love hot and spicy food, so I pour lots of chili oil. You can also, try mixing in vineger too.


If there is an asian food specialty store in your area you should be able to get everything you need for this. Like I said in the beginning, this is a guesstimated recipe, so, you might have to make it several times to get it right. Let me know how it turns out.

I am planning to start teaching my children how to make pot stickers. I am looking forward to carrying on the tradition my mom started, by having a ... "Pot sticker wrapping party".