Simple Meatball Soup

I had never intentionally made this meatball soup. It's just one lazy rainy day before June, and my daughter was nagging all day, asking me to cook for dinner. I hadn't bought groceries, so my fridge was almost empty. There were some frozen stuffs, some greens and leftover, that's all. One thing that caught my attention was frozen meatballs on the top shelf. Actually, it's a variety of seafood meatballs that I bought from supermarket several days ago. And on the door shelf, there's a bottle of chicken broth that I made a week ago. So, it's all just came to my mind. As long as you have chichken broth, you can make any soup. :)

All I needed was those frozen seafood meatballs: crab, fish, shrimp. I had 20 meatballs at that time. Since I cooked for 3 people, it's just enough. And another main ingredient was chicken broth, about 1 liter, could be more or less. And for seasoning, I just used: garlic (3 cloves), 3 small red chillies (Indonesian call it cabe rawit merah, very spicy and hot), salt to the taste, and dried parsley (or fresh if you have it). And you can add lettuce for garnish.

Method:

• Boil the broth on medium heat, until it simmers.
• Add the chopped garlic and chillies.
• Add the meatballs, and after they're cooked (usually they're getting bigger for a while), add salt.
• Wait 1 minute until all is corporated, then put off the heat.

Eat this soup with rice or noodles, it really gives you a kick on a gloomy day. :)

Pan Fried Sausages with Jam

Sausage has been one of my favorite food for all time. You can just fried them or grill them, eat them with buns or nothing else. Their smoky savory  flavour just goes well every time. And usually I season the sausage with butter or hot sauce or any other sauce. But, recently I just found out, that sausage and jam could make a perfect marriage.

I got the inspiration after watching an episode of Rachel Zoe Project when she made her famous baked salami with apricot preserves. Afterward, I tried it with beef sausages, since I don't eat pork, and I used dragon fruit jam to subtitute the apricot. Not trying to be fancy, but at that time I only had the dragon fruit jam in my fridge. And the result was amazing. The sweet-sour jam got caramelized and add extra richness to it. I also prefered to pan fry them, just to make it simplier.

This light meal is great for snacking, or for your party platter. You just need a few ingredients, and a short time of preparation.

Ingredients:

• 6 beef sausages (10cm long)
• 3-4 tbs fruit jam.
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 
• oil/butter

Method:

• Mix jam and chilli powder in a mixing bowl.
• Make incision in every sausage so that they won't explode when exposed to the heat.
• Rub the sausage with the jam mixture, and let it rest for several minutes (approx 15-30min)
• Grease the frying pan and put it on medium heat.
• Put in the sausages, and turn every 1-2 minutes to keep them from burning. Cook until they're slightly charred.

You can use any kind of fruit jam, but I prefer sweet-sour jam to make the best result. You can also mix the jam with hot sauce or chilli sauce. It all depends to your imagination.

Pasta Leftover Omelette

I think the title explains all :)  As a pasta lover, sometimes I tend to cook more than I need. So, the leftover is unavoidable. If I store it in a fridge, eventually I forget about it. And usually the pasta become stale. So, I have to throw it to the garbage bin. What a waste! The worst thing is I still remember the taste when it's good. So, it's like saying goodbye to the loved one.

One day, I was just like having ephihany, and I decided to make an omelette from my pasta leftover, before it's going bad.

The ingredients are super simple. I only need the 3 items. First, the leftover itself. As the pasta is already seasoned, I don't need other spices or herbs. This time I use farfalle, a beautiful shape pasta that looks like butterfly or bow tie, since I just made farfalle aglio olio with green beans few days ago. But basically, you can make this with any kind of pasta, whether it's bolognese or aglio olio or carbonara.

Canned Baked Beans and Couscous

When I buy my groceries, I'm always drawn into canned food racks. I can find any kind of food that have been processed there. It's like heaven! Well, some people may not agree on this. I know, it's not a healthy habit. And honestly, fresh food is always the best. But, I always think that keep some preserved or processed food will come handy sometimes. We never know when we face an urgent situation, right? :)  That's why I always have canned food at home, such as: tuna, corned beef, fruits, cooked fish, corn and beans.

I have my canned baked beans for some time in the pantry. So, this time I'm gonna use it. I just saw some Moroccan culinary on TV, so I decided to cook some Moroccan food my style. ;)
Moroccan food is associated with couscous. Since I have it also in the stack, it's not gonna be a problem.

Here the ingredients:
1 can of baked beans
4 scoopsof  couscous
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
black pepper powder, to taste
2 tsp paprika powder
cumin powder, to taste
salt, to taste
virgin olive oil
few slices of cheese, chopped

Method:
Cook the couscous first. Put the couscous in a pan with 1 cup of water or more, if you want the couscous to be more fluffy and tender. Use the for to breakdown the couscous. Then, add a few drizzle of virgin olive oil. Let it rest.

Sautee chopped onion and garlic in the pan, using few tsp of olive oil, until it's golden brown. Add baked beans, paprika powder, cumin powder, black pepper and salt. Stir slowly until all incorporated. Don't forget to taste. Remove from the heat.

Place couscous in plate and pour over the baked beans, topped with cheese. It's ready to serve!

for 3-4 servings.

Oatmeal For (Kids) Meal

I haven't updated my blog since 10 months due to some pc problems and all. And thankfully, all problems solved. So, today I feel like I need to share something. :) 
Actually, I'm not a fan of oatmeal, though I know it's healthy food for your heart (said the commercial :D). But, my daughter is a real fan. She frequently asked me to cook oatmeal for her, but I always ducked the best I could. Tthe request became repetitive like a broken record. So, reluctantly,  I've browsed the Internet, looked up recipe books to search for the best recipe (maybe). I've read here and there, even in some people's blogs, but nothing interested me the most. Until  one day I just had a light bulb in my head and  gave it a go. 
At that time, in my pantry there's a package of oatmeal  that I just bought without knowing what to do. So, after picked up here and there from some recipes, I made the first bowl of oatmeal that my daughter love the most. And it's really easy. Well, it took a little effort actually, but no sweat at all. I just need dried fruit like apricot, kiwi, raisin, and berries; soy milk, honey, nuts (every kind of nuts to your liking), and a pinch (maybe more) cinnamon powder.

In my case, I use:
- 1 1/2 cup oatmeal
- 1 1/2 cup sweet soymilk (can be less or more)
- 1/2 cup  dried kiwi and blueberry
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp crushed pecan
- a pinch of cinnamon powder

Remember, those measurements are not absolute. :)

Then, mix together oatmeal, dried fruits and soy milk in a pan, and stir it with low heat, until it reach thick consistency. Pour it in a bowl, and topping it with honey, pecan and cinnamon powder. Well, the meal is ready!