Classic Lasagna

Well, kind of classic because it's a red sausage with cheese and sausage...not so classic since I put sriracha, sugar and soy sauce in it. But that's the secret, family! Sounds weird but oh so delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 box lasagna noodles, cooked
• 1 lb Italian sausage
• 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
• sriracha, to taste (optional)
  
• sugar, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste
• soy sauce, to taste (optional)
  
• 1 8oz tub of ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoon fresh parsley (or basil), chopped
  
• 1 (2 cup) bag of shredded mozzarella
• Parmesan cheese
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Cook sausage in pan until brown. Add spaghetti sauce and season with sugar, sriracha, soy sauce, salt and pepper.
3. In a medium bowl, mix ricotta, parsley and egg until combined.
4. In a 9 x 13 casserole dish, put a layer of sauce on the bottom so the noodles won't stick and you will get clean cuts.
5. Next layer noodle, then ricotta, mozzarella and meat sauce. Repeat 3x or until you only have 4 noodles left.
6. Top with mozzarella & Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes or golden brown.
   

Banh Chuoi Nuong

(Vietnamese Baked Banana Bread/Pudding)

Growing up Mom always made this with left over bread and overly ripe bananas. I love it. I remember eating it for breakfast the big morning of the Whittier earthquake and how everybody was upset the food tank almost fell on mom but I was upset I lost my banh chuoi during the quake. LOL. (Selfish, fat kid...)

I have a lot of ripe bananas and we bought a bag of day-old bread at Lee's Sandwich for 50 cents. I called Mom and she told me how to do it over the phone. So of course, there are no measurements.

Ingredients:

• Day old French bread
• Milk
• Sugar
• Bananas, sliced length wise
• Butter

Directions:

1. Break the bread into small pieces (1/2 inch cubes or pieces)
2. Mix milk and very little sugar (since bananas are sweet) into the bread in a large bowl. Bread should be soaked with milk mixture.
3. Butter a pan and put a layer of the bread mixture in.
4. Layer bananas next. Sprinkle with sugar to caramelize.
5. Put a thin layer of bread on top of the banana later.
6. Lastly, pour melted butter over the top. Sprinkle with a little more sugar.
7. Bake at 350 degree for an hour.

Notes:

• Don't use too much milk and the cooking time should decrease. Just enough to soften the bread.
• Use salted butter

Peanut Butter Cup Trifle

BEWARE: This is NOT diet food. I am not responsible for what this trifle could do to your waistline!

Using the brownies I posted earlier, I made this peanut butter cup trifle. Very similar to the pistachio one I made in the past, it came out delicious. Love the different texture the peanut butter cup added.

Ingredients:
1 batch of peanut butter cup brownies, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 (3.9 ounce) box of instant chocolate pudding
1/2 cup warm water
1 pint (8 oz) whipping cream
1 16 oz cool whip, unfrozen
caramel sauce
9 mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Directions:
Mix chocolate pudding with water until combined and set aside.
Whip up whipping cream until firm peaks.
Take 1/3 of the whipped cream and mix it into the chocolate pudding mixture.
Fold the rest of the whipped cream into the choclate mixture until combined.
To assemble the trifle, put a layer of brownie, then spoon over some caramel sauce, then pudding, then cool whip and repeat.
Garnish the top with 9 miniature Reese's peanut butter cupcakes and drizzle with caramel

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

The husband brought home a delicious peanut butter cup brownie on Tuesday and I've been thinking about it ever since. I'm making a trifle for dinner with friends tomorrow night so I decided to try it. Of course since I'm making a trifle, I'm not going to bake it from scratch. I go the good ol' Ghirardelli brownie mix, cut up some mini Reese's peanut butter cups and the rest is DELICIOUS! So easy. You have to try it if you like chocolate and peanut butter.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Ghirardelli brownie mix
• 12 mini Reese's peanut butter cup, cut into quarters.

Directions:

1. Prepare brownies according to box instructions.
2. Pour batter into a greased pan.
3. Dot with peanut butter cup quarters, pressing it into the batter a little.
4. Cook for as long as the box says (until a toothpick come out clean)
5. Enjoy with a big glass of milk!

Ga Kho Gung (Carmelized chicken with ginger)

I thought that since I'm a mom now, I should seriously start trying to cook like mine. Trust me, I've tried before and fail miserable every time, some how, I think I got it. I made this last night. (Now I know why Mom cooks in the garage...my house STILL smells like nuoc mam today!)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup mam
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tbsp ginger, shredded
• Sprachia hot sauce
  

Directions:
Put oil in to a skillet on medium high. Brown the chicken in two batches and set aside.
Put the sugar in the skillet and cook until brown. Add mam and water until boiling.
Add chicken back in and cook covered for 30 minutes.
Remove cover and cook until the sauce reduces and is thicken. Add some Sprachia hot sauce to taste.
Serve with rice.

*Don't forget to use the pot to make Com Bac 7, sisters! That's the best part!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I got this recipe off of Allrecipes.com for chocolate cake and modified it slightly for cupcakes! It's so moist and chocolatey! I'm definitely using it again.

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes (rotating the pans half way through, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes thoroughly in pan at least 10 minutes. Take out of pan and completely cool on a cooling rack before frosting.
   

Baked Egg Muffins

I came across this recipe while browsing the web. It's really fast and really rather tasty and all you really need is your basic breakfast items to assemble. Cook the bacon the night before to save time, and simply assemble and bake in the morning. I added a bit of truffle oil before serving and it was delish!

Ingredients
-bread
-butter
-bacon
-eggs
-cheese
-chives

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Butter your muffin tin. Cut edges off the crusts of the bread and butter the bread slices. Press each slice gently into the bottom of the muffin cup. Bake for 3 to 6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bread, until it is starting to crisp.

Remove tin from the oven, place the bacon on the bottom of each cup. Save some bacon for garnishing. Crack an egg into each cup. Season with salt and pepper, and cover with cheese.

Place the muffin tin back into the oven and bake for 10 to 14 minutes until the whites are just set, or to the desired consistency. Remove the bread cups with a spoon, garnish with chives and bacon bits.

note: I baked mine for 15 minutes because I didn't want the yolk to be too runny.