Bang Bang Shrimp!!

My dad is in town, so I thought what a great opportunity to try out a few new recipes!!  Since it is good Friday I settled on a few Shrimp recipes.  Who could resist the name?!?!  Bang Bang Shrimp!!  the photo on Pinterest was lovely too, I am afraid my photography skills are lacking, but who cares how it looks in the picture, we want to know if it tastes good!!

Bang Bang Shrimp, Thai Red Curry Shrimp, Pad Thai

And the verdict is.... DELICIOUS!!  Definitely a to make again recipe.  I would make Bang Bang Shrimp, Bang Bang Chicken,  Bang Bang Fish, BANG BANG!!  Everybody loved it!

The recipe was pretty easy to follow.  Peeling and deveining shrimp can be a pain in the behind, but husbands usually come in quite useful for those tasks, or you can pay a little extra and by the shrimp ready to go. 

The sauce is quite tasty.  I used more than 4-5 teaspoons of chili garlic sauce, because we like a little extra heat in our house.  I probably could have used even more.

Breading the shrimp for frying.... well I am very messy when I do it, so I had clumps of the mixture everywhere. I ended up having to make an extra batch of the breading mixture to fully coat all of my shrimp.

The final touch, putting the sauce on the shrimp!  My sauce was a lot thicker than the original picture.  I used a lot more sauce than the 1/4 of the sauce recommended, but I also like my food well covered in sauce.

Bang Bang Shrimp

Ingredients

• 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

For the sauce:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 4-5 teaspoons chili garlic sauce, such as Sriracha sauce  I used 5 or 6 and would use more!
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

For the egg mixture:

• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk

For the breading mixture:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder - I couldn'f find my onion powder so I left it out :-0
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil

For frying:

• 8 to 12 cups vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl; cover and set aside.
2. Combine beaten egg with milk in shallow bowl; set aside.
3. Combine flour, panko, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and basil in another shallow bowl; set aside.
4. Bread the shrimp by first coating each with the breading mixture. Dip breaded shrimp into the egg and milk mixture, and then back into the breading. Arrange the coated shrimp on a plate and pop them into the fridge for at least 20 minutes. This step will help the breading to stick on the shrimp when they are frying.
5. Heat oil in deep fryer to 350 degrees F. Use amount of oil required by your fryer.
6. When oil is hot, fry shrimp 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on rack or paper towels.
7. When all shrimp has been fried, drop the shrimp into a large bowl. Spoon about 1/4 cup of sauce over shrimp and stir gently to coat.

The original recipe:
http://fakeginger.com/2011/10/02/bang-bang-shrimp/

Hope you enjoy the dish as much as my household did!!

Happy Cooking!!

JoJo!!

I Did It! I Ran!

After struggling to find my motivation to run the past few days, I finally got it together!  I didn't do it alone, I had some help, we all need a little help sometimes!  My friend sent me a text message this morning to get me up and running.  Just knowing she was expecting me to get up and run, and she was cheering me on and supporting me, made it that much easier to get my butt out of bed and out of the door.  The sun was also shining, so that helped me out a lot! 

Today's run:

10.01km - 53:02minutes - average pace: 5'18"/km - fastest km: 4'50' - 652 calories burned.

My homework run was supposed to be 55min.  In my head I was hoping I would cover 10km in just over 55min, so my goal for myself was to run 10km.  I was very pleased when I stopped my GPS at 10km and saw I was 2 min under my goal time!  I did not run the route I had planned.  I had already run 5 or 6 hills though out my run, so when I to 9.3km and saw the giant hill in front of my face I took a left, and ran down to the park.  I ran around the park to make up the 10km distance.  I am ok with skipping out on the hills, this time. I feel I did my fair share. I even got up one of the hills faster than somebody next to be on a bicycle! (I really pushed myself on that hill)

Next time.... I will run that last hill, and I will run it hard!!

Still struggling to get out there? Get your friends involved. Post it on FB that you are going for a run. Do something to make yourself accountable!!

Happy Running!

JoJo!

Trying To Find A Little Motivation!!

Wow!!  I am really needing a little motivation!!  I am finding it a little too easy to not go to the gym, and not go out on my run the past few days!! 

I know once I get out there I will be fine, the problem is getting out there!  

Monday was gym day. The baby goes to child minding at the gym, so we have no excuses right? Well, it was was easy to not go to the gym, my parents just arrived, the baby went down for her nap, my hip/leg really hurt.... how many more excuses do I need?!?!

Tuesday (today) is long run day.  Had a rough night with the baby, slept in until after 8, it was raining out, I felt a little dehydrated, and my hip/leg still hurt.  I am pretty sure I can come up with a few more if I need to....

The worst part about being unmotivated and not getting out there and working out/running, is I feel bad about it for the rest of the day, so why didn't I just do it??

I am really hoping that I talk myself into my run tomorrow. I know my hip/leg is sore, but it needs a little excercise.  I wont melt if it rains, hopefully, so I have NO excuses!! Oh I hope it is not raining in the morning!!

Happy Running!!

JoJo!!

White Chocolate / Double Chocolate Marble Cake

How Delicious does that sound?!?!  I saw a post on Pinterest for "Zebra" cake, or Marble cake. I just loved the idea, so it got me on the hunt for two delicious recipes with similar cooking temperatures and times.  I had the recipe for white chocolate cake, which is my husbands favorite, and the double chocolate pound cake, which is one of my favorites, so I thought that would be perfect!  The chocolate cake cooks at 325 for 60 min (when using the giant cupcake pan), and the white chocolate cake at 350 for 35 min. I figured not using the giant cupcake pan the chocolate cake would cook a little faster, and not the white chocolate cake would cook a little slower at a lower temperature! Fingers crossed!

The Double Chocolate Pound Cake is courtesy of Wilton.  It is delicious.  I have used it many times for many different cakes and it always gets great reviews.   It is a pound cake, so it is a dense/heavy cake.  The recipe is fairly straight forward, so I mixed up the ingredients and set it aside.  The White Chocolate Cake is courtesy of Allrecipes.com.  Also a delicious cake, that always receives fantastic reviews. This is also quite a dense/heavy cake.  The are both great cakes for stacking.

To make the marble/ zebra cake, I just dropped alternating 3 scoops of each cake mix, and making sure they spread out a little before dropping the next layer.  Pretty easy, and great dramatic effect!  I set the oven on 325 and baked the cakes for about 40 minutes (using 8" cake pans), 35 minutes (using 6" cake pans and the large cupcakes took about 30 minutes.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE POUND CAKE

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 1/2 cup water boiling
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder unsweetened
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 sticks butter softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour or use pan spray with flour to prepare pan. 
2. In small bowl, dissolve instant coffee in water; stir in cocoa powder and mix well. Set aside to cool. 
3.  Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
4. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
5.  Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla; mix well.
6. Combine cocoa mixture and sour cream. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating after each addition until smooth.
7. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon 4 1/2 cups batter into top of cupcake pan; spoon remaining batter into bottom of pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. 
8. Turn cake onto wire rack to cool completely. To assemble cupcake ice top of cake's bottom half. Place top half of cake atop iced bottom half. Decorate as desired.

WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
•  
• 6 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
• 2 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. In small saucepan, melt 6 ounces white chocolate and hot water over low heat. Stir until smooth, and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 1 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix in melted white chocolate.
4. Pour batter into two 9 inch round cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. To make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine 6 ounces white chocolate, 2 1/2 tablespoons flour and 1 cup milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick. Cool completely.
6. In large bowl, cream 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add cooled white chocolate mixture. Beat at high speed until it is the consistency of whipped cream. Spread between layers, on top and sides of cake.

Happy Baking!!

JoJo!!