*MY FAVORITE RECIPES* | Jaden's Steamy Kitchen

Roasted Duck and Pomelo Salad

I know this photo sucks - my kids played with the camera and did something with the settings and I didn't find out until after the food was eaten!

from my column in Tampa Tribune

Two weeks ago, I took a trip to Los Angeles to teach a couple of cooking classes and to visit family. So, I thought it would be a great idea to bring both of my boys along with me since tickets were only $250 each round-trip for a direct flight from Tampa to Los Angeles.

It was a deal too good to pass up, as I'm a Wal-Mart shopper and easily wooed by a bargain. I wouldn't normally buy tangerine-flavored fingernail polish, but if it's on sale for 35 percent off? OMG. I cannot resist. Give me the entire lot of them.

So, when I saw that the airfare was practically half off, I quickly purchased the tickets, not really thinking of the consequences of spending five hours in a small, enclosed flying contraption with no easy access to reinforcements, aka husband, teachers or relatives. Tag team, FAIL.

Thank goodness for the rolling minibar and $3 Snickers. That newlywed couple in the next aisle going to Hawaii for their honeymoon? My money says they probably swore off having children for the next 11 years. Who knew that flying with kids would be such great birth control? Next time your teenager talks about sex, have 'em sit next to us on an airplane. Cheaper than an intervention or therapy.

(more...)

April 30th, 2008 in *MY FAVORITE RECIPES*, Chicken & Turkey, Fast, Feel Good, GF-Adaptable, Great for a Crowd |

Grapes and Grappa, Figs and Olives + Free Cooking Light Cookbooks!

Since I've been working on my cookbook, which is all about modern Asian cooking, almost everything edible that comes out of my kitchen has been Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian or Korean. Yes, it can be tiring and I'm considering starting a new blog called "Steamy Kitchen, UnAsian" just to break the monotony. Gimme some Brazilian! Moroccan! Australian!

My family has been begging for something different, and everytime that I ask the kids, "so what do you want for supper tonight?" They chime excitedly, "McDonald's HAPPY MEALS! Hip, hip, HOORRAYYYY!"

Which is fine. I give in. Because I do love me some McD french fries dipped in soft serve ice cream. I know, You're groaning. It's a leftover habit and craving from my pregnancy days.

Please tell me that I'm not alone in this craving! Please tell me that you, too have strange culinary cravings and secret flavor combinations that just make other people squirm uncomfortably in their pants.

Tell me and I'll enter you in the drawing to win one of three gorgeous Cooking Light The Complete Cookbook - this baby is MASSIVE, weighing in at 4.4lbs with 1,200 recipes, 630 color photographs and a companion DVD. Plus I think there is an offer for 1 free year of Cooking Light magazine subscription inside.

OHOHOH! And there's a bonus...at the end of this post.

(more...)

April 25th, 2008 in *MY FAVORITE RECIPES*, Chicken & Turkey, Fast, Feel Good, GF-Adaptable |

How this food adventure all started...

So, you curious about how I started teaching cooking classes? It wasn't that long ago, 3 years ago to be exact. While this published in my weekly food column in Tampa Tribune, I wanted to share the column with you guys here on the blog as well. The point of sharing how I started is because I know many of you would LOVE to have a food related career, whether it's food writing, food photography, food blogging, teaching classes or maybe even owning your own restaurant. And hey, if I can do it without any formal culinary training (psssst...I've never even worked in a restaurant before either), anyone can.

Or, in other words, to borrow from great master, Martin Yan, "If ~~Yan~~ Jaden can cook! You can too!"

btw, in the paper, I'm limited to 650 words (which includes the recipe), and I have so much more to say than just these 650 words! So, first the text from the column, and then more from me afterwards:

(more...)

March 19th, 2008 in Uncategorized |

Ginger, Coriander & Orange Braised Chicken + Free Spice Drawing!

I teased about this awesome package that I got and asked for several testers to help out with product testing. Thank you to the 15 testers to responded! I sent each of them 1-3 samples of tsp spices, and they each cooked with the spice and gave me a short 2 sentence review.

You guys rock.

What is tsp?

tsp spices are organic spices in perfectly measured, freshly sealed, single-use packages. Each tin comes with 12 spice packets - each 1 tsp of the spice. Their products, “packets of pure adventure,” make measuring spoons obsolete and also protect spices from light and air to ensure freshness and the fullest flavor. A reprieve from spice cabinet chaos, these one-teaspoon spice packets are stored in tin cans that look great displayed on the kitchen counter, which makes them a perfect gift for home cooks.

Dried spices lose their potency after 6-12 months and the more light and air that gets exposed to the spice, the shorter the shelf life. Simply put, if you've still got that ground ginger in the back of your pantry, inherited from old Aunt Martha, your food is gonna taste like...well...crusty Aunt Martha. Nasty. I love the concept of tsp, because I only open what I need. the rest stays fresh and sealed.

(photo from tsp spices)

Such fancy packaging...are they expensive?

$7-$9 a box (12 tsp per box) - which is about 30% more than I pay for non-organic supermarket spice. However, I've learned something this year. Rather than go find the best deal possible, I've decided that I want to buy less and splurge on things that are beautiful, lovely to use and good for my family. I want to really savor and enjoy the things I have in my home, especially in the kitchen. Let me tell you, these spices are gorgeous.

Actually, when I first opened the package, I said out loud to Scott, "Damn. All this packaging - so wasteful! What's the point of organic spices if you're going to waste earth's resources for the packaging?"

And of course, Scott replied, "Stop bitching. Reuse the boxes." So now my boys' matchbox cars smell like Oregano.

read on....I'm giving some tsp spice tins away!!!

(more...)

February 26th, 2008 in Chicken & Turkey |

No Knead Pizza Dough: Pear and Gorgonzola Flatbread with Baby Arugula and Shaved Parmesan

Opportunity Cost...Revised...

I've written about opportunity cost of eating out last year, and re-wrote the post with a brand new recipe for my newspaper food column this week...

Before we had children, my husband and I used to eat out no fewer than 3 times a week. Our evenings wouldn't even start until Seinfeld ended, and it wouldn't be uncommon for us to have dinner reservations at 10pm. We'd easily spend $300 in an evening for just the two of us, because that’s just the kind of thing that irresponsible yuppies living large during the dot-com boom did. I’m not ashamed of the thousands of dollars that we threw in the entertainment bucket, because short of stumbling upon a long lost millionaire father, this kind of lavishness won’t come around for another 15 years, 4 months and 27 days. And that’s only if my youngest graduates high school on time.

I love my 2 chubby-cheeked dumplings very much, but the truth is, the financial responsibilities of parenthood suck. Date night with husband is now a very different reality. It’s the expense of dinner plus gas plus cost of babysitter. Cha-ching! $190 is easily spent in just a few hours, and really, was the trio of fancy flatbreads, gelato, so-so service and 2 glasses of house wine really worth it?

In case you recall high school economics, let’s calculate my opportunity cost: For $190 I could have bought: each kid a pair of new sneakers, 2 killer shredded pork burritos from the Burrito Stand, a frozen CPK barbeque chicken pizza, a pair of summer flip flops for each of us, a quart of pistachio gelato, fresh roasted coffee beans shipped from Caffe Roma in SF, a trip to the library, giant bottle of Bariani olive oil, a week’s supply of organic vegetables from the farmer’s market, gummy bear vitamins, 2 McDonald’s Happy Meals, a day pass to Sarasota’s Jungle Gardens and a bucket of worms. These are all favorite things that we cherish, make us giggle with delight and gladly fork over hard-earned money for.

As for the fancy flatbreads that I had ordered at the restaurant, it was easily duplicated at home. Sure, I didn’t have an inattentive waiter at my beck and call, but the joy of a spontaneous pizza dough sling-fest in the middle of the kitchen with the kids was definitely priceless.

(more...)

February 19th, 2008 in Uncategorized |

« Previous Entries