POPOVERS & Chicken Parmesan

Popovers! (I made these because Martha Kent on Lois and Clark offered Lois Lane's mom one in one of the last episodes.) I didn't have a popover tin so I just used a muffin pan, but they came out just fine.



* Chicken parmesan, which turned out PERFECT...the chicken was perfectly tender, and I had plenty to eat for days:

Here's the REALLY EASY recipe:

* 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
* 2 beaten eggs
* 1 cup Italian bread crumbs (I just used Japanese panko--browned a little with a tiny bit of olive oil in a pan first)
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 1 jar spaghetti sauce (15.5 oz)
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Dip chicken into eggs and into bread crumbs
3. Heat olive oil
4. Cook chicken in oil until well browned on both sides
5. Pour spaghetti sauce into 11x7" baking dish
6. Place chicken on sauce and top with cheeses
7. Bake 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and lightly browned

New Year's: Part II (The Desserts)

* I realized I have a LOT of food pictures to put up here. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that I can't find my camera's battery charger...it's not like I'll run out of pictures anytime soon.

Pistachio cake (Mom made the cake; I frosted it):




Our traditional fudge tortes (SO good and rich):


Mascarpone cheesecake (with a blueberry swirls) from Vons, which was quite good (nice and creamy...with a soft cake on the bottom instead of a crust). Last year we bought a Boston Cream Pie from them, and it was REALLY good, so this year I tried getting one again, but they didn't have any so I got this instead:

New Year's: Part I

Tonight I made those vegan whole wheat chocolate chip pumpkin muffins again today without paper cups (so much better without the cups), but I think they're too sweet...even the ones I made without the chocolate chips. So next time I'll cut some of the sugar out. Might have something to do with me using just brown sugar.

NEW YEAR'S FOOD
Okay, my family's Japanese, so we always have a lot of traditional (as well as non-traditional) Japanese food on New Year's day (New Year's is big in Japan). Being a fourth-generation Japanese American, I don't know much about Japanese culture...so I can't tell you exactly what everything is called or what certain things symbolize or whatever, so sorry in advance!! Here are pictures of SOME of the food:

Of course, ya gotta have sushi of some kind... cucumber rolls, raw tuna, uh....pickled pink thing (?), and unagi (eel) with tamago (egg), cucumber, and...I forgot what else was in those big ones:

Salmon (this was the first type of raw fish I learned to like because it's not too fishy-tasting):

Won-tons made of shrimp, pork, water chestnut, green union, and I'm not sure what else (my dad made these...this isn't even a quarter of what he made though):Dad cutting the tako (octopus), which I don't like:
There was more food than what's pictured in this post.
Oden, a traditional soupy dish that my grandma makes ever year. It's made of stuff like kamaboko (fish cake thing--the pink and white objects), daikon radish, and a single boiled egg. I'm simplifying it...I really don't know what the rest is, but Wikipedia has a nice description and list of ingredients, although this particular oden doesn't have a lot of the things on that list...
Of course...SAKE, which I still think tastes gross:

These aren't Japanese...haha. spinach and cheese fillo triangles:I'll post the dessert pics later.

The 3-Layer Chocolate Cake

Mom and I made this cake (the recipe was in a magazine...I don't know the name of it) for our family friends (and yes, I washed my hands repeatedly in order to take these step-by-step pictures):


The Frosting:
This cake tasted fantastic. Both the cake and the frosting were rich and wonderfully chocolatey. It wasn't too too difficult, although it takes extra time because you have to make three layers and then frost the whole thing. You also have to be careful not to put too much frosting in between the layers because I had JUST enough with which to cover the top. Perfect. If only it were low in sugar and fat. Haha.