Cravings: Iced Gem Biscuits

I remember as a little kid, my mother would always buy Iced Gem Biscuits for me and my sister at the local Chinese store. They were packaged in mini plastic purses, making them even more appealing to young girls. 

Once we arrived home, we'd devour these cookies. First, biting off the icing off the biscuit and then eating the biscuit. It was our favorite snack. I even remember a tooth falling out when I was eating these once. Oh, the memories. I haven't seen these cute snacks in stores here in California for 10 years. They totally disappeared. I miss these snacks. 

I know, these biscuits aren't the healthiest thing in the world but at least they're not the most unhealthiest thing. It's a craving I would definitely give into. It's been too long since I've last eaten these. 

I've seen these online available for purchase but I wish they would sell them in stores. I was so happy to find these when I went to China the past summer. I found them in my parents hometown, Taishan. We were at a grocery store in the town when I found them. I was so happy to have found them. I immediately grabbed the bag and bought them (after asking my mother, of course). We (I) finished eating them within 3 days. They were just so good! 

I know. This is an ugly picture of me but I'm holding the bag of iced gem biscuits we bought. I wish I bought extra to bring back to the states. I forgot to go back to buy some before leaving Taishan. They also had red bean kit-kats I wanted to buy too. Oh well. The only way now is to order these online. 

I'm really craving these biscuits right now. I should probably learn how to make these. I just wonder if I could get the icing on top just right. 

I'm so sorry about this rant. But, I just had to get it out there. There are so many childhood foods I used to like eating but they don't really sell them anymore. Especially these Iced Gem biscuits. Of course, there's Pocky and Hello Panda but they are still around. I wonder when Iced Gem biscuits will make their way back into the markets. In the meantime, I'll have to learn how to make these or possibly order these online. 

Do you like Iced Gem Biscuits?

What's your favorite childhood treat?

汤圆 Tangyuan

冬至快乐!

 Hey everyone! Today is the first day of winter. Happy Dongzhi Festival. During this day, the family comes together and eats tangyuan (汤圆). It symbolizes reunion. 

Well, exactly is tangyuan? It is balls of glutinous rice flour. There are sweet kinds with fillings (such as red bean paste and sesame paste) with sugar water and there are savory ones made with a broth or soup (like the one I made with my mom, pictured above). 

This is a traditional recipe from which my mom brought here from China. She started making it since she was a little girl living in the villages in China. There are no exact measurements for the recipe but the ingredients and directions I tell you do matter. Enjoy. 

Savory Tangyuan (汤圆)

Ingredients:

• 1 bag glutinous rice flour (1 lb)
• water (to add to the flour unti it forms a dough)
• chinese sausage, sliced
• fish paste
• pork, cut into pieces
• cut up nappa cabbage
• shrimp
• daikon radish
• chicken broth (homemade or canned)

Directions:

1.  Cut up and slice the radish. Cook it with the cabbage. 
2. If you like fish cakes, pan fry the fish paste. If not, ignore this step. 
3. Add water to a wok and then add chicken broth until it's 3/4 full. Boil it. 
4. While you wait for it to boil, pour the bag of flour into a mixing bowl. Slowly mix in the water until a dough forms. The dough should be barely sticky. 
5. Take a section of dough and roll back and forth into long rolls, then pinch off a marble-sized dough and roll it between hands to form a ball. Once the water/broth mixture starts boiling, add in the rolled dough balls. Add in the shrimp, pork and sausage. If you didn't make a fish cake, then drop ball sized pieces of fish paste into the boiling water/broth.
6. Cover the wok until the balls expand. 
7. Then, add in the radish and cabbage. 
8. Enjoy. 

Now, here's the recipe for the sweet tangyuan.

 Sweet Tangyuan (汤圆)

Ingredients:

• water
• 2 sticks brown sugar pieces
• 1/2 bag glutinous rice flour (1/2 lb) 

Directions:

1.  Fill a small pot 3/4 full with water and bring to a boil. 
2. While waiting for the water boil, make the dough from glutinous rice flour just like from the savory tangyuan recipe. 
3. Once the water boils, add in the brown sugar pieces. Once the sugar melts, add in the glutinous rice balls. Cover and cook for 1 minute. 
4. Turn off the heat. 
5. Serve. 

I love this simple sweet tangyuan because of the sugar soup. It tastes so good.


My uncle also made a spinach dip recipe and gave me the recipe. I'm going to make it healthier by substituting some of the ingredients. I'll post the recipe once I make it. I have tons of other recipes I want to post too but it will take time. I want to make hamantaschen, coconut macaroons (dipped in chocolate), russian tea cakes (butter balls, mexican wedding cakes) and a lot more things.

I also baked vegan brownies to bring to work. My co-workers like them. One even asked for the recipe. I'm so happy. I gladly gave her the recipe. I made regular ones and vegan ones. Here's the picture of my brownies:

Can you tell which ones are vegan and which ones are regular?

At work, I also ate this dark chocolate square with peppermint bark. It was delicious!

Anyway, more about my day. I went grocery shopping a lot the past couple days because of the holidays. I bought shredded coconut (to make macaroons, which I hope to make soon), chocolate chips. cocoa powder, powdered sugar, almonds, Skippy All-Natural Creamy Peanutbutter (yummy!), apple sauce (for the vegan brownies I made) and some other things too.

I also bought these:

Greek Yogurt, Van's Lite Waffles, Vegetable Mix, Cut Leafy Spinach and Steamable Asian Vegetables. The Greek Yogurt, spinach and and vegetable mix are some of the ingredients I'm going to use to make the spinach dip my uncle made. I also bought some Clif Bars, of course. I'm addicted to Clif Bars. Now, my new favorite Clif Bar flavor is the coconut chocolate kind. It's not white chocolate macadamia anymore or the chocolate almond fudge.

By the way, I also ate some Slow Churned Cookies N Cream Ice Cream with 2 mini chocolate chips. It looks cute, right? It kind of looks like Mickey Mouse.

So, now, it's raining on the first day of winter, the supposed dooms day. I'll see you next time.


What's your favorite dip?
        I love hummus! I also like guacamole, salsa, and the spinach dip.

How do you eat your waffles? With ice cream? Chocolate? Syrup? Peanut Butter? Strawberries and whipped cream? Blueberries?

Do you celebrate the first day of winter? If so, how?

Chinese Hoisin Pork

大家好!

I made Chinese Hoisin Pork the other night for the first time and it was delicious. I adapted the recipe from this website. Sadly, I was unable to take the picture of the finished dish. My family devoured it before I got the chance to take a picture. However, I do have the picture of the sauce, which you can cook with pork and other meats too.

Here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

• pork tenderloin, cut into pieces

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup plum sauce
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Season the pork with:

• garlic salt
• salt
• sugar
• black pepper salt
• ginger (sliced)
• garlic (whole)

Directions:

1. To make the sauce, combine all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl and mix. 
2. Season the pork with garlic salt, salt, sugar, ginger and black pepper salt. 
3. Oil a wok and add in the garlic. Then, add the seasoned pork. 
4. Fry until it's cooked and then add the sauce. 
5. Remove from heat and pour onto a plate. 
6. Enjoy

 I, personally, did not eat this dish, since I don't eat pork. However, judging from my family's comments, this dish is a winner. I did try the sauce and it is good. 

Do you guys like pork?
What's your favorite food?

Brown Rice Fried Rice

I've been craving fried rice for such a long time. I mean, my parents do make fried rice, but they always put spam in it and use jasmine white rice. I don't eat pork and I don't usually eat white rice.

Finally, I made myself some fried rice last night. I cooked a batch of brown rice, so I decided to make some fried rice with it. I'm so glad I did because it was delicious. Yea, it's not the same as the ones my parents make, but it's still really good. It's also a lot healthier too. The recipe is only around 330 calories, and it's a lot of rice too. I was going to save half for another meal but I ended eating eating all 330 calories worth of it because it was just too good.
Before I give you the recipe, I have some things to say. I still have to write up posts about fats as well as proteins. My nutrition class went over proteins this week. They will be up eventually. So, be sure to keep an eye out for them. There'll also be product reviews coming up too.  Also, I finally ran my best mile time ever in my life. 7:50 for one mile. I ran 5 miles in 37:20 today.


Here's the recipe. You can use just egg whites instead of the whole egg if you want, but the egg yolk has a lot of nutrients to it.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 egg
• 1 stick imitation crab meat
• 1 mini turkey sausage link
• 2 tablespoons frozen peas (optional)
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
• olive oil cooking spray (to coat the pan)

You can put anything you want in your fried rice.

Directions:

1. Heat up a non-stick pan or wok to medium heat. Spray with olive oil cooking spray. 
2. Cut up the turkey sausage and the crab eat. 
3. Crack the egg into the pan and scramble the eggs. Add in the meats and the vegetables that you wish to put in and cook the.
4. Then, add in the rice. Mix well and stir in the pan. 
5. Mix in the soy sauce and any other seasonings you wish to add. Garlic salt, salt, pepper, sugar, anything you like. I didn't add any to keep things simple and still tasty. 
6. The fried rice is now done. Enjoy with some steamed vegetables if desired. 

 

Do you guys like fried rice?

Do you guys try to make healthier versions of ethnic foods? 

紅豆沙 Red Bean Soup

 I love eating anything red bean. I think I've said that before. So, I was so happy when my mom decided to make 紅豆沙, red bean soup, today. It's been a long time since I have eaten it. It's delicious.
I remember when I was younger, I used to not care for this dessert. I don't know what I was thinking. My mom would try to get me to eat it, but I refused. Now, it's my favorite. Red bean is awesome.
The restaurants make it a bit differently then my mom does, in that they don't add many nuts and beans and that stuff. Usually, restaurants just have the soup, red beans, rice and occasionally some weird pearl stuff. Theirs is also sweeter. I like mines sweet but not to sweet. Also, when my aunts make 紅豆沙, theirs is twice as sweet. Literally, since they add twice as much brown sugar pieces than my mom does. Me and my mom don't like it too sweet and it's also a bit unhealthy adding all of that sugar. So, if you guys like things sweet, you can add more sugar than stated in the recipe. Also, there are no exact measurements for this recipe. Enjoy.


Ingredients:

• half a bag of red beans
• 1/4 bag of mixed beans
• 1/4 cup lotus seed
• peanuts 
• 1 cup rice (my mom uses Jasmine White Rice)
• 1 bag Brown Sugar Pieces (Rock Sugar)
• water

Directions: 

1. In a large saucepot, combine all the ingredients EXCEPT for the brown sugar pieces. Rinse and rain them a few times. Then, let it sit in the water for half an hour to an hour. 
2. Add water until the pot is almost full. Then, bring it to a boil. 
3. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and let it cooked uncovered for 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs. 
4. Then, add in the brown sugar pieces. Stir until it melts. Taste the soup. If you like it sweeter, add another bag. 
5. Enjoy. 

No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Happy Superbowl Day everyone! I didn't watch the Superbowl, but I heard that the Giants won.
Anyway, my aunts came over yesterday and we made a lot of foods, including chinese steamed cupcakes 发糕, Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls , and 碱水粽. The only thing is that for the Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls, my aunt made them and they look so much better. I'll post pictures later in the post, but for right now, let's talk about cookies.
I made no bake cookies yesterday before my aunts came over and I just had to share the recipe. They are so delicious! No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are so delicious. It's my first time making and eating no bake cookies, actually. I'm surprised they turned out. I've heard people having problems with it setting or it being to crumbly. Mines came out perfectly, except for the looks. They don't look that good.
My sister likes these cookies. The only thing is that they might be a bit too peanut buttery. However,  I love them. My dad says they are a bit too sweet but I can change that for next time. My aunt said the cookies were good. Then again, she loves peanut butter. Anyway, here's the recipe for the no bake cookies. Warning: They're addicting.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar (maybe 1 1/2 is enough)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (4 tablespoons)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 cups quick cooking oats 

Directions: 

1. Set wax paper out so that you can make the cookies right when it's ready. 
2. Combine the sugar, cocoa powder, butter and milk together in a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil. Once it's at a rolling boil, boil for 2 minutes. 
3. Remove from heat and mix in the vanilla extract. Then, add the peanut butter and mix it until it's melted. Quickly mix in the oats.
4. Working quickly, drop teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the wax paper, trying to make it a cookie shape. 
5. Let it cool. It should set. Then, enjoy eating it. :)

* I just added the pictures of how to make the cookies. 7/20/12. Please excuse the day and time of the pictures. I haven't changed the date from the China time since I came back from there a couple days ago.

 Anyway, here are some pictures of some things me, my mom and my aunts made.

Steamed Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls

 碱水粽

 I don't know the English name, but it's suppose to look like some sort of bird.

How the dough is suppose to look.

 发糕

"It looks like an elephant!"- my sister said that.