Julia Child's Chicken Liver Mousse with Gruyere Crostini

Liver is not something that is often loved. Truth be told, when I first encountered it as a child I was terrified of it. But even then, I was always known to always try something at least once before dismissing it. I'm glad I still have that quality because I would have missed out on a lot of things if I didn't have the courage to just overlook their 'scariness factor' and get on with it. 

What's lovely about the Vietnamese heritage is that it's heavily influenced by the French, and who doesn't want to be mixed up in all that loveliness? My dad actually learned French as his first language before he even learned Vietnamese or English and I'm still dreaming of the day when I get to visit myself. Anyway, one thing I thank the French for is pâté, which taught me how to love liver. We Vietnamese spread it all over our sandwiches every chance we get. I decided to try to make it myself using Julia Child's recipe and it was quite possibly the easiest, quickest appetizer I've ever made. Oh yes, and very, very delicious. I couldn't believe how good it was, especially with the super flavorful and crispy Gruyere crostini! I served mine alongside some cornichons for an added tangy contrast.

Julia Child's Chicken Liver Mousse

Yields: about 2 cups

Original recipe here.

2 cups chicken livers

2 tbsn. minced shallots (I used one whole shallot)

2 tbsn. butter

1/3 cup cognac

1/4 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. allspice

1/8 tsp. pepper

pinch of thyme

1/2 cup melted butter

kosher salt and pepper

Remove any greenish or blackish spots from the livers, as well as any sinew. Cut the livers into 1/2" pieces. Melt the butter over medium heat in a sauté pan until the foam has subsided. Saute the livers with the shallots in butter for 2 - 3 minutes or until the livers are just stiffened, but still rosy inside. Scrape into a blender jar. Pour the cognac into the pan and boil it down rapidly until it has reduced to 3 tbsn. Scrape into the blender. Add the cream and seasonings into the blender, cover, and blend at top speed for several seconds until the liver is a smooth paste. Add the melted butter and blend several seconds more. Adjust the seasonings to taste. Pack into a bowl or jar and chill for 2 - 3 hours before eating.

Gruyere Crostini

Yields: 20 - 25 crostini

Original recipe here.

1 loaf of crusty rustic bread or sourdough

4 tbsn. butter

1 tsp. smooth Dijon mustard

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsn. finely minced parsley (optional)

1 1/2 oz. finely grated Gruyere (about 1/3 cup)

2 tbsn. finely grated Parmigiano or Romano cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Using a bread knife, slice the loaf into thin crostini (about 1/2 - 3/4 cm thick) In a small bowl, combine the melted butter and mustard and whisk to combine. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Use a pastry brush to brush this mixture lightly on each side of the crostini. Lay the crostini on a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet side by side. In a small bowl combine the two cheeses and parsley. Sprinkle the cheese over the tops of all of the crostini. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown or even a little darker if you prefer it a bit crunchier. These are best eaten right away or the same day. 

Cheesy Quinoa Bowl

This is one of the easiest meals ever! And so uberly delicious. I am totally enamored with roasting veggies right now... because, well, almost anything tastes good when it's roasted. I guess the same concept that applies to frying food applies to roasting food, because it's worked for me! Seriously, any veggie roasted equals happy stomach for me, plus, I don't get why brussels sprouts get such a bad rap? They're so friggin' delicious, and they're so cute - like mini cabbages, which, basically they are!

Anyways, the quinoa is just a great base to any meal you'd want to cook. It's incredibly simple. All you do is cook the quinoa in your rice cooker, and it does all the work for you! No simmering over a pesky stove or stirring and all that jazz. After it's all cooked, just quickly sauté it up with some garlic and Parmesan and by gosh, it's so tasty. 

I top it with whatever I have at the moment, like above, I had some roasted brussels sprouts, I wilted down some spinach, and topped it with feta and pine nuts and it was so satisfying and so healthy! One of my favorite quick meals, honestly. But the possibilities are endless. As a side to some grilled salmon, or the base of a salad - use your imagination :)

Cheesy Quinoa Bowl
Yields: about 6 servings


For the quinoa:
2 cups cooked quinoa (I used 1/2 regular and 1/2 red quinoa)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup crumbled French feta cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsn. olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste


Optional toppings:
roasted veggies of any kind
sautéed spinach with garlic
poached egg
seared salmon
... the options are endless


In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the quinoa and heat until warmed and the garlic flavor is fragrant throughout. Once warmed through, add the Parmesan and heat until it starts to melt, about 1 - 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, then stir in the feta cheese and pine nuts. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve under anything you'd like!

Granny Smith & Gouda Salad

You know, sometimes you give and you give and you get nothing back. I've come to accept that it's just a part of life. You've heard of that anecdote, "Life's not fair," right? Well, it's true. Sometimes life can hand you a bucket full of sunshine and other times you want to stuff yourself into a closet and never come out. Yeast makes me feel that way sometimes...

The last couple months, with all the free time I've been having, I wanted to give myself a bit of a challenge: yeast (well maybe not a bit, more like a mound). First, it was Jim Lahey's groundbreaking no-knead bread. Did I mention I met the guy while at his bakery in New York? Yep, it was amazing and he was incredibly kind and witty. Even though the bread was incredibly easy, I still managed to mangle it a little by over baking it. Hmph!

Next, it was lion house rolls. Upon first meeting, it charmed me with its warm buttery bliss. But, the next day it dried out like a river in the summer. Dry, dry, dry. Tears were shed. Anywho, then it was on to this epic 7 grain bread that received more than merry reviews from the plenty of folk at Allrecipes. It came out beautifully yeasted, nice and toasty brown on top but the flavor was less than satisfactory. After all this... I have come to the conclusion that yeast and I are not friends. No siree. 

After all of that mess, I've decided to take a break from yeast for a while. It was necessary. During this break, whaddaya know? Life brought me something delicious, addicting and all kinds of good. The dressing is my favorite part; slightly tangy and just a bit creamy. This salad is filled to the brim, but don't let the crowd of ingredients scare you! They all fit together wonderfully. 

It was funny, as I was shooting the salad, I noticed so many other things in my garden that exhibited the same color palette as the salad. It was awesome. Please enjoy!

Granny Smith & Gouda Salad
Yields: about 4 - 6 servings
Original recipe here.


For the green apple vinaigrette:
1/2 Granny Smith apple, cored and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tbsn. Dijon mustard
3 tbsn. honey
3 tbsn. minced shallot
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2/3 cup vegetable oil


For the salad:
8 oz. smoked gouda, cut into matchsticks or cubed

1 large granny smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

1 red delicious apple, cored and thinly sliced

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced diagonally 

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup candied walnuts
10 oz. fresh baby spinach (I used baby greens), about 8 lightly packed cups
salt and pepper, to taste
*smoked turkey can be added for a heartier salad


To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients except the oil in a food processor and whiz until well combined. With the food processor still running, slowly drizzle in the oil until slightly emulsified and combined, set aside in the refrigerator until use. To make the salad, toss the gouda, green apple, celery and onion in a large bowl with enough vinaigrette to coat lighly. Toss the spinach in another large bowl with enough vinaigrette to coat lightly. Season the spinach to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach on top of each plate. Top with some of the gouda-green apple mixture, then sprinkle with some tomatoes and walnuts. Lastly, arrange the red apple slices around the salad and serve.

Panko Mozzarella Sticks

So, here's another Pioneer Woman recipe. Fried, panko-covered, ooey-gooey mozzarella sticks. Yes. I did it, I made them. I had a craving, I gave in and now I have a smile on my face. A big smile because it was delicious, which is no surprise because after all, it IS a Pioneer Woman recipe.

Anyways this recipe is super easy. I actually didn't even really follow the recipe, and used it more as a guideline. I just felt like a little snack so I made a teeny portion for myself, eyeing everything. I literally whipped this up in less than 15 minutes. So if you're ever craving something salty, cheesy and yummy, this is it. I enjoyed mine with some of my homemade Korean-Mexican hot sauce hybrid because I didn't have marinara on hand, and let me tell you, it was pretty delicious.

Panko Mozzarella Sticks

Yields: 8 servings

Adapted from here.

16 pieces string cheese, removed from wrappers

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

3 tbsn. milk

2 cups panko bread crumbs

1 tbsn. dried parsley flakes (I used 2 tbsn. of fresh)

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. granulated garlic

Canola oil, for frying

Slice the string cheese in half (I sliced them in four for bite-sized pieces). Place the flour in a small bowl. In another separate bowl, combine the bread crumbs with the parsley, salt, pepper and garlic, stir to combine. In a shallow dish, whisk the eggs with the milk to combine. To assemble, one by one, dust the cheese in the flour, tapping the excess off. Next, dip the cheese in the egg mixture, covering completely. Then lastly, roll the cheese in the panko crumb mixture. Gently remove and place on a baking sheet. Place the sheet in a freezer for 20 - 30 minutes to flash freeze sticks.

To cook, fill a medium saucepan with the canola oil until it reaches a height of about 1 inch. Heat over medium-high heat until hot. When hot, add the mozzarella sticks, 8 pieces at a time. Watch closely and turn over to evenly brown, cooking less than 2 minutes. Do not allow the cheese to bubble and leak. Remove and drain on a paper towel lined plate. Enjoy!

Mascarpone Cupcakes with Mango & Berry Glaze

Another 310 Purple Cupcake! This one was probably the easiest out of the whole batch! It uses a box cupcake mix (shhhhh!) and I was hesitant at first but after reading hundreds, and I really do mean hundreds, of great reviews on it, I decided to give it a try! They were SO delicious that I decided to make them again! The second time, varying the recipe a bit by trying a mango glaze as well. I really couldn't resist as mangos are my favorite fruit and are in their peak right now.

 Each were delicious though the mango flavor didn't translate as well as the berry did... sadness! But these cupcakes are amazing and beyond moist and creamy! Have you ever heard of a creamy cupcake??? Well that's the only way to describe it... CREAMYYY. Originally the cupcake was intended for mini-cupcakes but I made them into full sized cupcakes. I didn't think it was important then but these cupcakes are extremely fragile and break apart easily so as long as you don't mind cracked cupcakes, full sizes are still equally delicious. Cracks are welcome here any time; flawed is gorgeous and in this case, delicious!

Mascarpone Cupcakes with Mango and Berry Glaze

Yields: about

Original recipe from Giada De Laurentiis, which can be found here.

Printable Recipe

1 cup of mascarpone cheese, softened 

2 egg whites

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 box white cake mix

1 cup water

1/3 cup frozen berries, thawed and drained OR 1/3 cup fresh mango

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake pan with liners and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the cheese, egg whites and oil, beat until well combined and creamy. Add the cake mix and water and mix until smooth. Fill the cupcake tin about 2/3 full and tap against the counter to get the air bubbles up. Bake until puffed and golden or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 18 - 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before inverting them. In a blender or food processor puree the berries or the mango. In a bowl combine the sifted powdered sugar and the puree until smooth. Once the cupcakes are cool, add about one tablespoon of glaze per cupcake. Let the glaze set up for a couple of minutes and enjoy!

I made these at night, I just love the lighting!

Spinach & Feta Orzo Salad

My sister bought this ginormous bag of baby spinach the other day and we didn't think we could finish it by just making salads alone... so she made this orzo pasta salad. Yum! Later we added some roasted chicken for some protein but it would be great with grilled shrimp too. This salad is really versatile with mix ins, so don't be afraid to add something new, most likely it will turn out to be delicious. 

Spinach and Feta Orzo Salad

Yields: 4 - 6 servings

Slightly adapted from here and here. 

Printable Recipe

1 lb. fresh spinach, washed and dried

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

2 medium tomatoes, diced 

zest of 2 lemons

lemon juice, to taste

1 1/2 cups of orzo

24 basil leaves, torn

1 - 2 tbsn. olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

Pile the spinach leave on top of each other and julienne them into thin strips. Prepare the basil leaves the same way. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, lemon zest and chopped tomatoes. Cook the orzo according to the directions on the box. Once the pasta is drained, pour the hot pasta into the bowl with the spinach to allow it to wilt and the tomatoes to warm. Drizzle the olive oil on top and add the basil, salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste. Toss and eat immediately or refrigerate and eat later (it can be eaten warm or cold).

*** This would also be great with pine nuts, red onion, olives or whatever!

Rachel Ray's "The Only Pizza You Will Ever Want Again"

After a long day of school, a long tedious meal is the last thing on anyone's mind. Rachel Ray sure comes to the rescue when you're in need of a quick and satisfying meal, after all she has come to be known as the "Queen of Quick." This pizza was definitely a tummy pleaser and full of flavor and actually surprisingly nutritious and substantial. 

As a note, I recommend making a stop at your local Trader Joes for your ingredients. They have individual portions of pizza dough for only about $1.50 and in plain, whole wheat (which we used), and garlic & herb. You can find all of the other ingredients there also, which makes for an easy shopping trip. 

Recipe is as follows (tweaked for convenience):

For the crust:

1 (16 oz.) package of pizza dough 

2 tsn. olive oil

2 tbsp. grated Parmigiano Reggiano

For the toppings:

1/3 lb. broccoli, chopped and steamed

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 lb. chicken (pre-cooked), chopped

1 cup of part-skim ricotta cheese

10 sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

12 - 15 leaves of basil, chiffonaded

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 375 F. On a large baking sheet lined with foil, stretch out your pizza dough and form the crust. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the Parmigiano Reggiano. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta cheese and minced garlic, mix well. Spread the mixture over the crust. Top with the chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, and broccoli. Next, sprinkle the pizza with the mozzarella, salt, and pepper. Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes or until cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown. Top with the basil and serve.

How to Chiffonade Basil:

Stack your basil leaves on top of each other, then roll the basil into a little cigarette. Take your knife and slice the "cigarette" very thinly. And there you have it!