Korean Sugar Pancakes (hoddeok)

Hey guys!
My dream is to one day go to Korea! I haven't had much experience with the food or anything like that but I really want to try as much as I can! So when I found this recipe I just had to make it! I mean come on who doesn't love stuffed pancakes!!! I know I do! Could you imagine what you could stuff them with? The traditional recipe is just brown sugar and pecans but imagine it with brown sugar and dried blue berries or cranberries! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it!So lets make a few!!!

Hoddeok Dough Ingredients:
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of yeast
1 cup of warm water
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil 
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Directions:

1. Mix water, yeast, sugar, salt and oil together until dissolved. 
2. Add in the flour and mix with a spatula just until incorporated.  
3. Cover the bowl, and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
4. While you wait for your dough to rise, make the filling:

Filling Ingredients:
 1/2 cup of brown sugar
 2 tablespoons of any nuts, chopped  
 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

*Mix the sugar, chopped nuts and cinnamon together in a bowl. Set aside.*

Directions:

1. This is what the dough looks like after the initial 1 hour rise. It will have doubled in size and will be very sticky.
2. Punch down the dough using your hands or a spatula and let it rest again for another 20 minutes. 
3. This is what the dough looks like after the 20-minute rise.
4. Pour the sticky dough onto a floured surface and knead for a while with well floured hands until the dough comes together. 
5. Roll into a ball and cut in half and then cut each half into four smaller pieces, so you’ll end up with 8 pieces of dough.
6. Again with floured hands take each ball of dough and pat it flat with your hand and fill the middle with a heaping spoonful of the sugar mixture. 
7. Slightly push with the back of a spoon so the sugar sits nicely in the dough. 
8. Fold each end up and pinch slightly together so it seals shut.
9. In a well oiled cast iron skillet/griddle (or any pan if you don’t have one) pour in a little vegetable oil so there is a thin coating and heat on medium flame.
10. Put the ball of dough pinched side down and cook for about 30 seconds until browned. 
11. Flip over and carefully push the ball down into a flat pancake with the back of your spatula and cook for another minute. If it seems like you can’t flatten the ball anymore, then don’t force it - you might have put in too much filling and the sugar will just burst out.
12. Flip again and cover with a lid and cook for a minute until the sugar is nice and melted.
13. Keep repeating the cooking steps until all the dough-balls are cooked. Stack them in a plate and serve right away.

Review:

So what can I say about this recipe? Firstly, when pressing the dough in the pan I guess I didn't push down hard enough but it still turned out well and very delicious.  My friend and I had a blast making this recipe. The first few we burnt because we were laughing so hard and not paying attention to what we were doing. I think everyone should have a good friend like this, who you can cook with! She is the one I am always planning cooking and baking days with. Plus she has a love for Korean culture and food as much as I do! Be very careful when you eat them. Ours were very hot so we had to cut them in half and let them cool before we could eat them, but once we took that first bite we couldn't stop!!! It was the perfect balance of sweetness! I loved the Pecans in it and the dough wasn't overly sweet and had a fun texture! It was like a gummy awesomeness! haha! I totally suggest this recipe for anyone who has a sweet tooth! Its perfect for those kind of days! Talk to you guys soon!

Ta Ta For Now,
Lil' C

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Bowl

Alright guys, sorry about last week. I had a minor freak out over my flight being canceled and the airline losing my bag that had my lap top charger in it but I will try to fix it by adding two recipes this week! Today I have for you one of my new favorite winter foods! I love tacos and I love chicken. Its my one draw back from trying to be vegetarian.... So I made this recipe for the first time and let me tell you it was hard to keep my hands out of the slow cooker! My small apartment had an amazing taco smell! Okay before I get to the review I will start the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1½ lbs. chicken breasts
• 1 (16 oz.) jar salsa
• 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained
• ½ lb. (8 oz.) frozen corn
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• ½ Tbsp cumin
• ½ Tbsp minced garlic
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• ¼ tsp salt
• to taste cracked pepper
• 2 cups dry rice
• 8 oz. shredded cheddar
• ½ bunch cilantro (optional)

Instructions

1. Add everything except the rice, cheese, and cilantro to the slow cooker along with ¼ cup of water (for good measure). Give everything a good stir and make sure the chicken is covered in the mixture.
2. Secure the lid on your slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hrs.
3. Near the end of the cooking time, cook the two cups of rice according to the package directions (Bring the rice and 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium pot with a lid in place, as soon as it reaches a boil, reduced the heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving).
4. After 8 hours of cooking, carefully remove the lid of the slow cooker. Stir with a fork to shred the chicken (it should be super tender and will shred easily). Build the taco bowls by placing rice on the bottom, then the taco chicken mix, shredded cheese and fresh cilantro.

Review

 So as you guys know I got stuck on my way home from my little vacation but that doesn't stop me from cooking!!! Plus any recipe that gets me to use my slow cooker I'm all for it! What can I say about this recipe that would make you try it? Well, lets start with how easy it is! All you basically do is throw everything into the crock pot and turn it on for a few hours! Its so easy but the only hard part is the smell. Once you get that taco smell its hard not to try it! Haha! I had so many almost tastes but then I remembered that there was chicken in there and I didn't know if it was cooked or not, so I didn't try it. I will say that when I finally did I was so happy with how it tasted and how fun it was to throw everything into the bowl and eat it! It was an awesome night!  We had left overs and I decided to show you what I do with my leftovers! I try and make everything into a breakfast bowl and believe me its easy! Basically  all I do is add an egg and its a Breakfast bowl! I have some pictures from that too!See how easy that is!!!

 As always,
Ta Ta for now,
Lil' C

Easy Veggie Ramen Bowl

Okay guys,
 I know Thanksgiving is coming around but with work and not being able to make it to my own Thanksgiving I have decided to not use something related at all! So that's why I decided to post this one! I know ramen is a gross, unhealthy thing but, you can actually make it taste good and it doesn't have to be bad for you. When shopping for ramen just get whatever flavor you like... I always use the noodles but not the flavor packet. The number one reason Ramen has a bad name is because of all the msg in the flavoring packet. So I always use can broth or even homemade to create a Delicious flavor! Okay before I ramble I'm going to get into the recipe.

Ingredients

 1 pkg ramen noodles

1 cup fresh spinach

3 medium button mushrooms
2 whole green onions
1 large egg (optional) 

1 tsp chili garlic paste (optional)

Directions:

1. In a small pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil, wash and slice your veggies. Once the water is boiling, add the dry noodles and cook according to the package directions (boil about 5 minutes). Add the seasoning packet (or half a packet if you prefer less sodium) and stir until dissolved.
2. Turn the heat down to medium and stir in all of your fresh veggies. Allow them to sit in the hot (not boiling) broth for 1-2 minutes or until slightly softened.
3. Make a well in the center of the pot and crack the egg into it. Allow the egg to poach in the broth until the whites are solid but the yolk is still runny. Alternatively, you can break the yolk and stir the pot just slightly to yield egg ribbons like in egg drop soup. The water should not be boiling at this point or else your egg will dissolve into such small pieces that it will just give you a cloudy broth.
4. Pour the soup into a bowl and serve with a dollop of chili garlic paste on the side.

So I know when you think ramen you instantly think about  the crappy instant kind. Yes you can have the instant kind and actually make it healthy! As I said before I don't use the flavoring packet. I know the recipe calls for it but you can change that to veggie broth. Basically all you have to do it sub the broth for the water and cook the noddles in the broth. Its brings the flavor into the noodles just make sure to not over cook the noodles! I love ramen and I was super happy to make this recipe! I wanted to something that was on the cheaper side and that was fast and believe me this is the recipe! when ever we make this recipe we change up the veggies! I think this time we just added peas and carrots but kept the others from the recipe! I love bok Choy and it goes well with this recipe but sadly my boyfriend thinks its gross so I don't get to add it. So you can really make it to your personal flavor pallet! I don't think I could say anything bad about this recipe. I did try it with the egg but I ended up cooking the egg in a different pan. I think its a good idea to cook it in the broth but when I tried it is was just a giant mess so I always cook my eggs in a different pan. Although if you do try it in the pot please tell me about it!!!

As always please tell me all about your changes to these recipes and please send me some fun recipes! Maybe I'll post them!

Ta ta for now,
Lil' Char