Chinese Steamed Rice Balls

This yummy dessert is pretty simple to make, but you do have to have some interesting ingredients and a steamer. The coconut really tops it all off, so don't skip it!

Interesting Ingredients
Rice Ball Dough
2 cups glutinous rice flour
1 cup water
Filling
1/2 can red bean paste
Topping
1/2 can coconut milk
4 Tbsp. regular rice flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. shredded coconut

Supplies
Steamer
Wax Paper, cut into small squares

The Method
1. Make the topping by placing all ingredients, except the shredded coconut, in a small pot. Heat over medium heat and stir until thickened. Set aside. Toast shredded coconut in a small pan over medium heat (do not add oil) until golden brown.
2. Mix the glutinous rice flour with the water, adding more water or flour as needed to make a play-dough like consistency.
3. Take a small piece of dough and roll into a circle with your hands and fingers (using a rolling pin is too hard as the dough sticks too much).
4. Place a Tbsp. of red bean paste into the center of the dough and wrap up. Place on prepared wax paper.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until dough is gone.
6. Boil the water for your steamer. Place rice balls in steamer racks. Top each with a Tbsp. of topping and a small amount of toasted shredded coconut.
7. Steam for 15 minutes. Eat within 3 days.

Half Wheat Half White Bread

I bake this bread every Saturday for sacrament on Sunday and sandwiches throughout the week. It's easy to make and very yummy. Sometimes I make it straight in the bread machine, sometimes I take it out after the first rise then let it rise in a normal loaf pan for about 25 minutes before baking. Double the recipe if you want to make 2 loaves.

1 tsp. yeast
1 cup warm water
3 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup white flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water and let stand until bubbly. Add flour, sugar, and salt and mix well. Knead for 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed. Cover with towel and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place, or until double in size. Punch down and place into a greased loaf pan. Let rise again for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for about 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Spinach and Black Bean Polenta

This is something I kind of made up one day. I wanted to have something a little different, and decided on polenta. I thought that plain spaghetti would be boring, so I spiced it up.Polenta
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup cold water

Boil 2 3/4 cups of water. Combine cornmeal with cold water and slowly add to boiling water, stirring constantly. Return to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat. Cook for 10 minutes, or til thick. Pour mixture into a pie plate (or any small baking dish; I've even used oven-safe bowls to make individual portions). Cool; cover and chill until firm. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Cut into wedges. Makes 4 servings.Spinach and Black Bean Sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 can Italian-style tomatoes
1 cup spaghetti sauce
3 cups chopped spinach, fresh and uncooked
1 cup black beans, cooked (or canned)
1 tbsp dried basil

Cook onion in oil; add garlic. Stir in tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and black beans; add spinach and cook until wilted. Add dried basil and serve over polenta and enjoy!

Pumpkin Haystacks

So these cookies turned out to be a great hit. I brought some to work and my co-workers enjoyed them and asked for the recipe. Even Matt, who doesn't enjoy my fat-and-sugar-cutting skills most of the time, loved these!


The Whole Stack
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat flour
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1/3 cup plain, nonfat yogurt
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 (16-ounce) can solid pack pumpkin (or use the pureed pumpkin from the "Dinner in a Pumpkin" recipe)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Cream together butter, yogurt, and sugars until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add pumpkin, then gradually add dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts. Scoop by spoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets and bake for 20ish minutes, until cookies are firm and lightly browned.

These make roughly 4 dozen cookies, so be sure to share with friends and family. Eat them within 10 days or freeze them for random cravings.

Pizza, Pizza, Pizza

So Matt and I both love pizza (Matt a ton more than I do, however). I think at least 50% of the time when I ask Matt for ideas on what to cook for dinner, he says "Pizza!" So here's what I do when he says that and it's been at least a week since we've had pizza:

The Dough
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 to 4 cup flour (All purpose, or half wheat half white)

Add the yeast to the water in a medium mixing bowl. Once it's all dissolved, add 3 cups of the flour and mix. Add oil, salt, and as much of the rest of the flour as you can and mix well. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes. Rise in a warm place until double in size, about 45 minutes (make sure to cover the bowl with a towel so that it doesn't dry out). Punch down. Divide dough in half and roll into the size and shape of your pizza pan or cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

The Toppings
Basic Tomato Based
Your favorite kind of Spaghetti Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
Your favorite veggies: tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms
Other yummy stuff: chicken, pepperoni, olives, pineapple

BBQ Chicken
BBQ Sauce, whatever brand you'd like
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
1/2 small onion, sliced or diced
1 chicken breast, cooked and diced

The White Stuff
Alfredo Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
Spinach, cooked and drained
Mushrooms

So it's pretty simple: top the prepared pizza dough with whatever you'd like (I've given you some of our favs, but feel free to explore!) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes before cutting, then enjoy!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

Matt and I made this last October for Halloween. It's super yummy and real easy, just takes a little time for the pumpkin carving and baking. We've made this without the pumpkin or baking, and it was good that way as well.


The stuff
1 pumpkin
1 4-oz can mushrooms, sliced and drained
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cup cooked rice
1 8-oz can water chestnuts, sliced and drained
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar

How you make it
Cut off top of pumpkin and clean out the guts like you would if you were going to carve it. You can draw a face on it with a marker if you'd like. Save the seeds to roast. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook over the stove onion, soy sauce, brown sugar, mushroom, and soup. Simmer 10 minutes. Add cooked rice and water chestnuts. Spoon into prepared pumpkin. Bake for 1-2 hours, or until pumpkin is tender.

Enjoy the dinner, but don't throw out the pumpkin! Puree it and save for future baking endeavors.

Note: You can also add other yummy veggies, like peas, carrots, corn...whatever you'd like!