Cornbread stuffing

Cornbread, recipe follows 
7 slices oven-dried white bread 
1 sleeve saltine crackers 
8 tablespoons butter 
2 cups celery, chopped 
1 large onion, chopped 
7 cups chicken stock 
1 teaspoon salt 
Freshly ground black pepper 
1 teaspoon sage (optional) 
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning (optional) 
5 eggs, beaten 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
In a large bowl, combine crumbled cornbread, dried white bread slices, and saltines; set aside. 
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion and cook until transparent, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the vegetable mixture over cornbread mixture. Add the stock, mix well, taste, and add salt, pepper to taste, sage, and poultry seasoning. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Reserve 2 heaping tablespoons of this mixture for the giblet gravy. Pour mixture into a greased pan and bake until dressing is cooked through, about 45 minutes. Serve with turkey as a side dish. 

Cornbread: 
1 cup self-rising cornmeal 
1/2 cup self-rising flour 
3/4 cup buttermilk 
2 eggs 
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into a greased shallow baking dish. Bake for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. 
To serve, cut into desired squares and serve with butter. 
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

* I used regular salt. Didn't have evaporated milk on hand. So, I used 1 cup fresh milk and 1 cup heavy cream. I also omit the cayenne pepper coz my kids dont like it spicy. And I put more cheese. 3 cups of cheddar cheese. 

Kosher salt 
2 cups elbow macaroni 
2 eggs, beaten 
2 cups evaporated milk 
1/2 cup butter, melted 
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
2-1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar 
1 cup bread crumbs 
1 teaspoon paprika 
1/4 cup grated Parmesan 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the macaroni and cook, stirring occasionally until it is almost tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, 1/4 cup melted butter, the cayenne pepper, and a teaspoon of salt. 

Put half the macaroni into a buttered 2-quart casserole and top with half the cheddar cheese. Repeat. Pour the milk mixture over the macaroni and cheese. 

In a small bowl, mix the bread crumbs with the paprika, the remaining butter, and the Parmesan. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the macaroni and bake until brown and bubbly, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm.


By Sri

Sweet and Sour Pork

Ingredients: 
300g Lean Pork Shoulder 
1 tsp salt 
2tsp sugar 
a little pepper 
1 tbsp cooking wine 
1 cucumber 
1 medium onion 
2 tomatoes 
1 capsicum 
2 wedge of pineapple 
½ tsp vinegar 
3 tbsp tomato sauce 
1 tsp chilli sauce (optional) 
½ tsp sesame oil 
½ cup water 

5tbsp cornflour 
1 egg white 
Cooking oil for deep frying 
½ tsp cornflour, blended with 2 tbsp of water 

Method: 
1) Clean and cut pork into 2cm square, 1 cm thick. Season pork with salt, pepper and wine. Leave pork to season for at least 30min. 

2) Skin cucumber, remove the soft centre, cut into cube. Cut onion into segments, quarter tomatoes, remove seeds, remove seeds from capsicum and cut into irregular 2cm pieces. Mix together the sugar, vinegar, tomato sauce, chilli sauce and sesame oil with water for gravy. 

3)Add egg white into season pork. Heat cooking oil for deep frying. Roll seasoned pork pieces in dry cornflour and deep fry in hot oil till cooked and crisp. Drain off oil and set aside. 

4)Remove oil from the wok. Add 1 tbsp oil in the wok, fry onion for a while, add capsicum, tomatoes and cucumber pieces, stir fry for a minute, pour in the gravy in 2). Thicken gravy with cornflour mixture. Then add in the fried pork cubes and stir till pork are coat with gravy. Turn off heat at once. Serve warm.

by Jennifer

Fettucine Alfredo with Spicy Garlic Shrimp Recipe

Here's the recipe.. 

I cooked the shrimps separate from the pasta as Yasmine doesnt like the alfredo sauce much and Jules doesnt like shrimps. I'll cook the shrimps, move them to a separate bowl, and using the same pan (without cleaning it), I made the sauce (so at least can taste the garlic and shrimps). 

You could always cook the shrimp separately and towards the end, toss them all together. 

Spicy Garlic Shrimps 

2 tablespoons evoo (extra virgin olive oil) or twice around the pan 
1lb shrimps 
5 cloves garlic * you can use more or less. Sometimes, I even use about 12 cloves. Depends on how garlicky you want it*  
salt 
pepper 
chilli flakes *if you dont like spicy, omit 

Heat the oil in medium heat. 
Sautee the garlic for about 2 mins or so. 
Add the shrimps. 
Season it with salt, pepper and chilli flakes. 
Once it turns pink, remove. 


Fettucine Alfredo 

12oz or 1 package Fettucine pasta *you can use others too like linquine etc 
2 tablespoons butter 
1 to 1 1/4 cups half-and-half or heavy cream 
1 cup (3 healthy handfuls) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano *or parmesan cheese 
2 pinches ground nutmeg or about 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg *this you can omit, if you cannot find it or dont have it..it'll still taste pretty good without 
Coarse ground black pepper 
A pinch coarse salt 


Bring salted water to a rolling boil for the pasta and cook to package directions for al dente pasta. 
Preheat a large skillet over moderate heat. Drain the pasta. Add the butter to the pan and melt. Add half-and-half to the melted butter. Stirring constantly, add cheese and cook sauce 1 minute. Season with nutmeg, pepper, and a pinch of salt. Turn off heat under sauce and add pasta to the skillet. Toss pasta until sauce coats the noodles evenly.

by Sri

Meatloaf Patties and Gravy Recipe

1 1/3 pounds ground sirloin, 90 percent lean ground beef 
1 slice white bread, spread with softened butter, then cut into small cubes 
1/8 cup (a splash) milk 
1 egg 
2 teaspoons grill seasoning blend, or coarse salt and black pepper combined 
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice 
1 rounded tablespoon tomato paste 
1 medium onion, finely chopped, reserve 1/4 amount 

3-Condiment Pan Gravy: 
2 tablespoons butter 
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped, reserved from meatloaf mixture 
2 tablespoons (a handful) all-purpose flour 
1 to 1 1/2 cups beef stock 
1 tablespoon ketchup 
1 rounded teaspoon spicy brown mustard *I didn't add this on mine. 
1 tablespoon steak sauce *didnt add this either 


Place meat in a large mixing bowl and create a well in the center of the meat. Fill the well with the bread cubes and dampen them with a splash of milk. Pour 1 beaten egg over bread and add seasoning or salt and pepper, allspice, tomato paste and onion to the bowl. 

Combine the meat, bread and grill seasoning or salt and pepper and form mixture into 4 large oval patties 3/4-inch thick. Pan fry meatloaf patties in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat 7 minutes on each side under a loose tin foil tent. The tent will reflect heat and allow the steam to escape the pan. 

For Gravy..... 
Remove meat loaf patties to a platter and return pan to heat. Reduce heat to medium and add butter and onion to your skillet. Cook the onion 2 minutes and sprinkle pan with flour. Cook flour 1 minute and whisk in 1 cup beef stock. Bring broth to a bubble. If gravy is too thick, thin with additional stock. Stir in condiments and remove gravy from heat. 
Slice meatloaf patties and drizzle with gravy.


by Sri