Homemade 蔥油餅

This must be my ultimate favorite snack/appetizer in Chinese cuisine. It translates to "scallion pancake." Astonishingly addicting. Restaurant-bought is nice, but homemade is a bit healthier and saves your wallet!

Ingredients include a can of biscuits (flaky is better!), green onions, and canola oil.

Rinse and chop green onions.

Also, open the can of biscuits and let the dough rest for a bit. Snag a rolling pin and a tiny cup of flour.

Next, sprinkle over the top of a biscuit generously with green onions. Fold and mush into a ball.

Use flour to avoid sticking! Then roll and flatten with your pin. Add a dash of salt.

Heat a pan of canola oil just under boiling. Gently drop a pancake in, away from your body. 

Sizzling means you're doing it right.

After a few minutes, check underneath to see if it's browned and deliciously done. If so, carefully flip over.

The texture is part soft, part crunchy, all incredible. Dig in with a splash of soy sauce!

Enjoy~!

Quick & Cheesy Kolaches

As a college student, breakfast is simply nonexistent. As a college student, kolaches are 76% of my total food intake. As a college student, a super quick, extremely easy, and utterly cheap way to make kolaches is irresistible!

Note: there is nothing terribly healthy about this breakfast item. But do try to select a leaner sausage package!

There are only two ingredients, of course.

I personally love cheese sausages. 

Prepare a sheet of aluminium foil.

Separate the biscuits and flatten.

Simply lay a sausage dog onto the biscuit and roll snugly.

Make sure the fold is underneath. Preheat that oven to 300 F!

When the kolaches are golden brown with the kitchen smelling madly incredible (aka 15 minutes), take them out and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Take 'em on the go, because you're finished! Hot and fresh.

Enjoy~!

Applesauce Pancakes

Breakfast can be awfully delicious and healthy, too. Pancakes, flapjacks, hot cakes, whatever you'd like to call them, are beyond ideal for a perfect morning meal... but often loaded with unnecessary sugar and oils. 

This shockingly easy and quick recipe yields the most fluffy stovetop pancakes...
and it's made with applesauce! 

What's the difference? Only that it tastes oh so good.

Ingredients: white flour, wholewheat flour, baking powder, eggs, salt, milk, and applesauce. That's all!

In a mixing bowl, combine 1/3 cup white flour, 1/3 wholewheat flour, and 1 teaspoon baking powder.

Next, crack one egg and dump in 2 tablespoons applesauce. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt (or a pinch). The applesauce is our substitute for fatty oils!

After pouring in 2/3 cup milk, fold in the egg and stir the mixture well.

Honestly, how long did this just take you? With a small oiled pan on MED HI, use a little measuring cup to dollop.

Only after about one minute, check to see if the surface has settled and won't drip as you flip the pancake. Then, flip for another minute!

Good morning! 

Of course, generously add some light syrup and a more healthy option of butter.

Breakfast can't go wrong this way. Adorn with some fresh spring fruit. All finished.

Enjoy~!

Chicken Dumpling Soup

If America had to select one soup to represent itself in all its glory, it might as well be a bowl of creamy chicken dumpling soup. Usually it can pack on its calories, but this specific recipe maintains that aromatic chicken flavor, soft dumpling dough, and deep creaminess while being light on your diet.

To start from scratch, boil a raw chicken breast in a pot of water. Then simmer for 10-15 minutes. 

For our ingredients, yellow onion, kale, carrots, frozen peas, and celery.

For our dumplings, a can of biscuit dough. And for the cream, a package of white gravy mix.

Dice celery, onions, and carrots accordingly. 

Remove chicken breast from your pot of now fresh chicken broth, and shred. 

With the chicken broth on simmer, Dump in celery, carrots, and onions.

Meanwhile, chop the kale and knife the biscuit dough into smaller pieces. It's divided into fourths shown in the picture, however after simmering, the pieces definitely needed to be much smaller. Perhaps into 8 or 10 little pieces per biscuit. 

Salt the soup to taste.

One by one, plop in the biscuit bits.

Gradually, and with patience, the biscuit bits will begin to soak in the chicken broth... and become small and juicy!

Next, add kale and frozen peas.

Finally, prepare the gravy according to its direction, and pour into the pot. Slowly, and stirring a great deal.

After a bit more stirring, you are completely done!

Just wait until your first bowlful. Bright, vibrant, and ideal for the first cool days of springtime. All finished.

Enjoy~!