Meatballs

This week on pandagrub we are making meatballs with another pandagrub viewer from New York City. The meatballs are made with the same recipe.

The panda in the picture above is named Blossom. Blossom has a identical twin sister named Plum who lives in New York City. Let's watch Blossom make her meatballs first. Blossom is soaking the sandwich bread in water. She is soaking the bread in water to make the meatballs soft.

 Here is Blossom sitting with some of the ingredients used to make the meatballs. Blossom is sitting next to minced garlic, raisins, and flat leaf parsley.

Here is Blossom with the meatball batter.

 Blossom is ready to put the meatballs in the oven. Make sure to roll the meatballs into balls a little bigger than a golf ball.

 After being baked at 325 degrees for 25 minutes, the meatballs are ready to be soaked in tomato sauce. Simmer the meatballs in tomato sauce for 30 minutes.

 Blossom has decided to make meatball sandwiches. Yum!

The panda in the picture above is Blossom's identical twin sister, Plum. Plum lives in New York City. In the picture above Plum is sitting with all the meatball ingredients.

 Here is a picture of Plum with the flat leaf parsley. The flat leaf parsley is also called Italian parsley.

Plum is so lucky she gets a whole plate of delicious meatballs to herself........ For the full meatball recipe click here.

Restaurant Review: Lunar

 This week on pandagrub we are doing our very first restaurant review! This restaurant review is going to be about Lunar, a Korean and Chinese restaurant. Lunar is in Irvine, California. The panda chosen for the restaurant review is Egg.

 The Lunar restaurant is a very clean, modern, and friendly place. (They didn't mind at all that Egg was sitting at the waiter's station.)

Here is Egg waiting to be served. Look at his hungry face............

 Look at Egg trying to catch a ride on the lazy susan. Hang on, Egg!

Here is a close up of the wall painting. The Lunar restaurant's walls are full of these beautiful paintings.

 Egg is now sitting on a silk chair that is fit for royalty. Yay, it's time to eat because the dishes are ready!

 The first dish is called yoo rin ki which is fried,crispy chicken with soy sauce and vegetables. The chicken was a little dry but still very crispy and good.

Egg is enjoying his feast. In front of Egg is sweet and sour pork. The plate is almost empty because everyone thought it was  delicious. The pork was very tender and crispy. We ordered this in both pork and beef.

The next dish is the gai lan, which is Chinese broccoli. This could have used a bit of oyster sauce and bit less corn starch.

Next is the dish that most Koreans in a Chinese restaurant wait for. This is the infamous ja jang mein which is noodles in black bean sauce. This version had a lot of seafood in it. Egg found the squid to be a little chewy.  Can you see the kim chee in the lower left hand corner?  That's how you know this is a Korean-Chinese restaurant!

This is a picture of part of my family and of course the newest member of this family - Egg! Egg said that he hopes to return to Lunar someday. For the full information about Lunar click here.

Egg is tired from a great meal and a full stomach ........ Time to go to bed.

Baked Brie In Puff Pastry

This week on pandagrub, we are making baked brie wrapped in puff pastry. The panda in the picture above is named Dumpling. The picture above shows the ingredients used to make the baked brie wrapped in puff pastry.

 First roll out the pastry dough. Make sure that the pastry dough is large enough to cover the brie.

 Then add your brie and spread the jam on top.

 Then flip over brie so that the jam is facing downward.

 Then flip over again. After cutting off excess dough brush lightly with egg wash.

Use excess dough as decorations by using mini cookie cutters to make stars, shapes, flowers or whatever you wish. 

 Make sure to brush the decorations with egg wash!

 After being baked for 375 degrees for about 30- 35 minutes or until golden brown, it's done! You can serve the baked brie in puff pastry with Asian pears, apples, or crackers. For the full puff pastry recipe click here.

Look at the gooey cheese.... Yum!

Pandagrub Christmas Edition

Welcome to Pandagrub Christmas Edition! I love pandas so much I decided to get a panda ornament!  Part of my family's  holiday tradition is to bake holiday cookies.

Hmmm I wonder what kind of cookies you can make with Andes mints?!? Why chocolate 

 mint candies cookies! 

 These cookies are full of chocolately deliciousness. Check out the melted candies on top. For the full recipe click here.

 The next cookies we are making are peppermint pinwheel cookies. For the red color and minty flavors you must use Pure Peppermint Extract and red food coloring.

These cookies are minty, delicious, and flavorful. For the peppermint pinwheel recipe click here.

Next is my favorite holiday treat, FUDGE! This fudge is my favorite  because it is very rich, creamy, and full of  chocolate flavor. The topping is made of crushed  candy cane and green sprinkles. For this holiday treat click here.

 Next is my brother's favorite cookie.... snickerdoodles. After being rolled in cinnamon sugar the cookie dough is ready to go in the oven. 

These snickerdoodles are crispy and soft at the same time. For this delicious cookie recipe click here.

 The panda in the picture above is named Shabster. Shabster is very excited for the Christmas cookies.

Shabster has been waiting for days to eat these holiday treats.

 After making all those cookies  BamBam is ready to decorate gingerbread house. There is nothing sadder than a naked gingerbread house.

Let's see if our friend Chloe can help BamBam decorate his naked gingerbread house.

Happy Holidays!

Pudding Done a Whole Different Way

This week on pandagrub we are making corn pudding. The panda in the picture above is named Brooklyn.  To make the corn pudding you need these ingredients: 1 stick of unsalted butter, melted,plus additional for greasing, 3 cups of corn kernels, 2 eggs, 1 cup of sour cream, 9 oz of monterey jack or pepper jack cheese, cut into cubes, half of a cup of cornmeal,1 (4 oz) can whole green chiles and cut into half inch pieces, half a cup of parmesan cheese, and a touch of salt. ( Instead of chiles you can also use 4 oz of scallions.) 

After gathering the ingredients we can now start to make the corn pudding. First, puree together 1 cup of corn kernels with melted butter and eggs. Then in a large bowl combine all remaining ingredients except the parmesan cheese. Add pureed corn and mix well.

 After buttering a casserole dish pour corn mixture into it. Then put it in the oven at 350 degrees.

 After being cooked for thirty minutes look how delicous the corn pudding looks! Too bad we don't have smellavision, because the corn pudding smells so good!  Brooklyn has no trouble just digging right in.

 Yum!

Thanksgiving: Pandagrub edition

Today we are introducing a new panda -- he is from Chengdu, Sichuan Province in China!  My daddy just brought him over from China last week.  Since Sichuan is the home of many spicy hot foods, I decided to name him Spicy!  Isn't he cute?  He came just in time to discover American Thanksgiving!

Got leftover fruit or vegetables? Well here's what you do with them. First get some sprayable glue and different color glitter. Then roll the glitter onto the fruits and vegetables.  

 As a warm welcoming to guests you can make some warm apple cider. First add 2 cinnamon sticks, one tablespoon of cloves,and a quarter cup of brown sugar to a crockpot or slow-cooker. Then add a gallon of apple juice and some orange slices. Set crockpot or slow-cooker on low and serve.

 For Thanksgiving Spicy also made stuffed acorn squash. Inside the stuffed acorn squash is: sausage and  apples. For the full recipe click here.

We also made dry-brined turkey. My mom used to do a wet brine but she stopped doing that a few years ago because when I was three years old, I almost fell into the brining bucket and drowned.  Anyway, dry brining is much easier.  Spicy is very excited for Thanksgiving! For the turkey recipe click here

This is the stuffing. The stuffing has 10 cups of bread, 2 pints of mushrooms, onions, 2 sticks of butter,a cup of turkey stock, giblets from the turkey, 2 eggs, and salt and pepper.

In the picture above are a nice green salad and a cranberry and orange relish. I cooked the relish all by myself.

Here is Spicy's Thanksgiving feast. The boy in the background is my brother, Jason.   Right behind the golden spaghetti squash, you can see the delicious pumpkin thyme rolls.  They are so good.  Here's the recipe.  Also -- my uncle brought deviled eggs which are my most favorite food in the world.  You can also see some meatballs to the right of the photo and also some kimchee (which my cousin made from scratch from homegrown red peppers).  (We are part Korean so we must have kimchee and rice!) We also had some mashed potatoes -- which my mom placed in the oven to stay warm and then forgot about.  Luckily, she remembered them before we were done with dinner.

For dessert Spicy is having a pumpkin cake with cream cheese filling and a slice of pumpkin pie.

THE DAY AFTER.........

What can you make with Thanksgiving leftovers? Well the answer is simple. Make STUFFED BREAD for the ultimate Thanksgiving sandwich!!!!!  Inside the bread is turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry relish.

Yum!


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!