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Butter Ramen Noodles

This was one of my favorite college foods. Ramens are delicious dry, and are tasty as a soup, but if it’s hot out or you need a quick meal, this is a great choice. I made this as a side for me and my husband, and it’s a great option as a side dish if you also have a family. The salty flavor of the ramen is complimented by the oil, and the oil helps distribute the flavoring evenly through the noodles. If you want, you can add an additional 2 Tbsp of water, if you’d prefer a thinner sauce. But this is a meal ready in minutes!

  1. Boil 2 packets of chicken ramen noodles in water for 5 minutes. Strain your noodles.
  2. Add 1/4 cup coconut oil to the pot, 1 Tbsp butter, and both packets of chicken flavoring from your ramen. Stir the mixture until the butter and oil melt. Return the noodles to the pot and toss until fully and evenly covered. Place in a bowl and enjoy!
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A New Big Project: Laminate Plank Flooring

Josh and I decided that with our stimulus money, we should do something large that we normally wouldn’t do for ourselves. After a lot of thinking, one big project we wanted to do was replace our carpets. When we first moved in, we were experiencing a lot of mold problems, which we learned was because of poor drainage around our yard. We have since added drain pipes around the problem areas, and as a result the house doesn’t have a musty smell anymore. With those old problems, we decided we need to remove all the old and likely damaged carpets and to just redo the floors ourselves. So, with about 1/2 of our stimulus check, and we got enough materials to replace all of the carpeting in the house with laminate plank flooring.

We bought Lakeshore Pecan from Home Depot, the link is here if you want to check it out (we are not sponsored). This is the second cheapest option they had, but the reviews were far better than the cheapest. Josh and I also liked the color and thought it’d look good in our home. Since we already did a closet with the same design for assembly, we decided to go for it.

Since we redid the closet already, we saw the underlayment was disgusting, and there was no vapor barrier despite the need for one when you have a slab foundation. So, we ordered a combination of vapor barrier and underlayment, and a floor assembling tool kit with all our flooring. (The flooring says not to use one of these tool kits on their flooring, however, Josh and I did, we were just very very careful to not damage the floor in any way.)

We made this purchase and these decisions months ago, and about a month ago, we were able to finish our first room. Keep and eye out as that post will be coming up in the next week or two!

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Sweet and Sour Chicken

To make sweet and sour chicken, you need your chicken and your sauce. For my sauce, I used a bottle of La Choy sweet and sour sauce. This sauce was not as overly sweet as you would find at most Chinese restaurants. This sauce was more on the bitter side, and was unique with some red pepper flakes that don’t add too much heat, but enough to taste it. If you wanted to make is sweeter, the bottle suggested, you could mix in some crushed pineapple, or you could just add some pineapple juice. This is a high quality product, and it will give you a new experience of the classic sweet and sour chicken. For my chicken, I pretty much followed my chicken nugget recipe. However, there are a few things I need to note. First, I was reusing canola oil. Because the oil was already used, the flavor was a little off, also, I’ve heard canola oil gets a weird flavor when fried, so I also recommend using an oil other than canola. I also coated my chicken twice for a crispy crust, but if you wanted the normal smooth finish, I recommend using half corn starch and half flour. I’ve seen many people also use only corn starch to achieve that smooth fried chicken finish.

  1. Heat 3 cups oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat.
  2. In a wide mouthed bowl add 1 egg and 1/4 cup water, and in another wide mouthed bowl, add 1 cup of flour, 2 tsp paprika, and 1 tsp soy sauce. Mix both bowls.
  3. Take 4 thawed chicken tenderloins, and cut into bite sized pieces. Place on to the side.
  4. Coat your chicken in egg, then transfer the chicken to your flour mixture and coat evenly. You can repeat egg then flour if you want a crisp chicken finish.
  5. Place your coated chicken into your hot oil. Cook on each side for 4 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 165 F. Remove chicken and place on a paper towel to strain before serving.
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Strawberry Shortcake with Homemade Strawberry Syrup

Strawberry shortcake is a great summertime treat. Fresh strawberries are only here once a year in the north, so when they come around you should always enjoy this sweet treat. You can freeze this syrup to preserve it, or you can can it. But, if you plan to use it, just simply store it in the fridge. Simply chop some strawberries and heat for a while and then you’ve got a diverse topping for ice cream, filling for pastries, or the main ingredient for strawberry shortcake. Find my recipe for pound cake here and stay cool!

  1. Clean your strawberries.Using a cutting board, cut the tops off your strawberries, then cut your strawberries into slices. Cut about 1 to 1 1/2 cups (more if you prefer it less sweet).
  2. In a medium saucepan, add 1/2 cup of sugar and your sliced strawberries. Heat over medium heat and stir often. Remove the syrup from heat when it thickens up to your desired consistency.
  3. Remove from heat, let cool at room temperature for 1 hour, or place in a container, and cool in the fridge for 20 minutes. Serve with pound cake.
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Homemade Pound Cake

Pound cake is delicious on it’s own, and this one certainly is no exception, however, pound cake is also the base for another popular treat, strawberry shortcake. Tomorrow’s post will be how to make the strawberry syrup for your sweet treat. The only weird thing about this recipe is the need for 1/2 an egg, to accomplish this, I beat an egg in a side bowl, then added 1/2 to the mixture, and fried the other half for an egg sandwich. This cake is very sweet, and can be served topped with ice cream, or just powdered sugar.

  1. Heat your oven to 350 F.
  2. In a bowl, mix together 1 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup of softened butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and 2 1/2 egg.
  3. Once mixed, add a pinch of salt and 1/2 cup of milk and mix. Add 1/2 tsp baking powder, and while mixing, slowly add 1 1/2 cup flour, then mix until the batter is smooth.
  4. Grease a loaf pan. Pour batter into your greased pan, then bake for 55 – 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
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