Teriyaki Sauce & Marinade

This teriyaki sauce is wicked easy and wicked good!!!

I'll never buy bottled teriyaki sauce again!!

This recipe is slightly adapted from allrecipes.com.



Teriyaki Sauce & Marinade
2/3 C mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
1 C soy sauce
4 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1/3 C brown sugar
7 cloves garlic, grated
1 TBLS minced fresh ginger
1 dash cayenne pepper
black pepper to taste

Bring mirin to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour in soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and brown sugar. Add garlic, ginger, cayenne, and black pepper; simmer an additional 5 minutes. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator.

This is what you'll need...


Bring mirin to a boil...


Whisk in remaining ingredients...


Simmer 5 minutes.

Store in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container.



How easy is that??

This is wicked good and wicked easy!! I'll never use bottled teriyaki sauce again!!

Huevos Rancheros ~ Three Ways

Hey... remember me??

Please forgive my recent absence. I've embarked on a new healthy lifestyle. I'm eating balanced healthy meals and exercising EVERY day! Some of my balanced healthy meals have been a major FAIL... others are tasty and delicious. But it takes a LOT more time and planning to be consistent. So, I think I finally have the healthy eating and exercising thing down. (I've lost over 30 pounds and 22 inches this year!) Yay me!

But I think I can finally get back to blogging!

So anyway... It's Cinco de Mayo!

I LOVE Cinco de Mayo!!

I really don't know anything about The Battle of Puebla, other than the Mexican Army beat the French. I just love Mexican food and tequila! Also it's my mother-in-law's birthday. (Happy Birthday Judy!) I wish it was my birthday! But then I wouldn't be an Aries... hmmm... nevermind... I'll just eat Mexican food and drink tequila on my birthday... but I never seem to do that, now that I think about it. Ok... that's why I try to always have a Cinco de Mayo party! Although technically it will be Ocho de Mayo this year.

Anyway... today is Huevos Rancheros... Three Ways!

The perfect way to get back to blogging on Cinco de Mayo!





First you'll need to make a Rancheros Sauce. It's wicked easy!

Rancheros Sauce
2 small yellow onions, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 large jalapeno, diced
1 large can of diced tomatoes (about 3 cups)
1 TBLS fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tsp chile powder
1 big pinch cumin
a little veggie oil

Heat a little veggie oil in a skillet. Saute onions, garlic and jalapeno until tender. Add tomatoes. You can totally use fresh tomatoes, but I made this during the winter, in Pittsburgh and the tomatoes around here at that time of the year aren't very flavorful. Simmer that for a few minutes and add chile powder, cumin and cilantro. Simmer a few more minutes. Blend with a stick blender. I like it to still be a little chunky. But blend to your chunky preference.

That's it! Wicked easy, right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chop up the veggies.


And get them sauteing in a little bit of oil.


Add tomatoes and simmer a few minutes.


Add chile powder, cumin & cilantro and simmer a little more.


If it's too chunky, hit it with the stick blender a little. I gave it the smallest whir.


Now you have Rancheros Sauce!

It's time for Huevos Rancheros!

First I went classic.

Fry up a couple of Over-Easy Eggs.


Heat a couple of Corn Tortillas.


Add some heated Refried Beans.


Slide those beautiful Over-Easy Eggs on top of the Refried Beans.

(not sure what happened to the light here!)

Add some of that gorgeous Rancheros Sauce and some fresh Cilantro and breakfast is served!!



I had plenty of Rancheros Sauce, so the next day I put a Mexican spin on my Eggs in Purgatory.

Pour some of that lovely Rancheros Sauce into a ramekin.


Crack in a nice fresh egg.


Sprinkle with a little cheese.

Cojito would have been nice, but I only had Colby/Jack, so that's what I used.

Bake at 375F for about 10 minutes for a soft yolk.


And why exactly did I neglect to put cilantro on this??

Serve with warm corn tortilla wedges.


Mmmmmm.....


And on the the last version...

Huevos Rancheros Pizza!!

Thanks to Shane of Culinary Alchemist for the idea!

First you need pizza crust.

Make your own or use a prepared crust.

I used a prepared crust, because I had one.


Spread on some refried beans.


Some of that gorgeous Rancheros Sauce!


I made little wells in the sauce, then cracked in two eggs.


Sprinkled on some Colby/Jack Cheese.


Some fresh Cilantro


And into the oven until the eggs are set and the cheese is melty!


Breakfast for two!


I have to say, I loved all of the versions of Huevos Rancheros that I tried that week. But my favorite would have to be the pizza!!

I'd LOVE to have one of those right about now!!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Ganache is something else I had never made.

I know most people love chocolate. (even though I'm not one of them)

I thought my family and friends would really enjoy it on top of Mini Cheesecakes.

This seems to be a basic Chocolate Ganache recipe that was repeated over & over online.



Chocolate Ganache
8oz bittersweet chocolate, broken into small pieces
1 C heavy cream
1 TBLS liqueur

In a double boiler, combine heavy cream & chocolate over medium low heat. Stir until chocolate is melted and well combined with cream. Stir in liqueur. Cool until still pourable. Now it's ready to use!


Combine chocolate & cream in double boiler over medium heat.




Stir in liqueur. I used Starbucks Coffee Liqueur.




Cool until still pourable and it's ready to use!

I topped Mini Cheesecakes with it.





As with the Lemon Curd, I thought this was too bold for these cheesecakes. And again, opinions were split. Some really liked them topped with the Chocolate Ganache. So you just have to try it yourself!

Now since I only had 8 mini cheesecakes to top with ganache, I had quite a bit left. I stored it in the fridge and gently reheated it a couple days later.

I used it to top chocolate chip cookie bars and peanut butter cookie bars.

It was GREAT!!!

Lemon Curd

I had never made lemon curd and really didn't even know this WAS lemon curd!

(and if it's actually NOT lemon curd... please let me know!)

I wanted an easy lemony topping for Mini Cheesecakes and found this recipe at baking911.com.

I didn't change it all.



Delicious Lemon Topping Sauce
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1/2 stick butter room temperature
1 tsp fresh grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and whisk over medium heat until it thickens and just starts to bubble. Cover and chill. That's it!! Ready to use lemony stuff!!





I used it to top Mini Cheesecakes.





On this particular cheesecake recipe, I thought the lemon overwhelmed the cheesecake. But opinions were split. Some agreed and some thought it worked well. I guess you just have to try it and see for yourself!

Even though I thought it was a bit too much for those particular cheesecakes, I really enjoyed the flavor and will try this again for other recipes.

Tangy & delicious!