China Shopping: Taobao Paper Goods

I was about to title this Taobao Thursday -- its still Thursday somewhere right? Thankfully its Friday for me! Its been a long week and I'm ready for a break from school this weekend!

Taobao is my go-to spot for pretty napkins. You can get packs of 20 for about Y2-3. I keep a stash for any time I'm hosting anything. I've used this seller recently and he has a lot. Be careful getting ones that are rectangular--they are often tissue sized!

I used to ALWAYS have to ask for muffin/cupcake liners to be sent in packages or brought by visitors. Long gone are those days, thankfully. Taobao has SO many cute paper liners and they are SO cheap. I typically buy from this store who also has tons of other baking supplies. These are just a simple polka dot pattern in various colors--packs of 100 for Y5 and they fit a regular sized muffin pan (5cm). I would suggest these 3.5cm liners for mini muffins--Y1 for 50. (He has 2.5 cm as well but they are quite small.)

These aren't the only sellers out there with these type items! Have fun!

Any good Taobao or Amazon.cn finds to share?

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bars

Well, I think we're all back in the school swing. Summer temperatures are finally dropping a bit. All this and a few cooler rainy days have me dreaming of fall. We're not there yet, but I think it will be coming before too much longer. Whether we're full on there or not, I've got the urge to get in the kitchen and use things like apples, cinnamon, and pumpkin. We had apple pie last week. I made some pumpkin puree and now have pumpkin spice syrup for lattes on hand. Pumpkin spice granola and some apple almond oat bars are on my radar. And until writing this, I'd totally forgotten about how awesome apple pie BARS are! I love fall baking. If you're not on the train yet, maybe these pumpkin bars will help! I have adapted the recipe from one in the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking cookbook. I thought they were just right. If you prefer more chocolate and no craisins, go for it. Or trade out the craisins for raisins. Or maybe for nuts. Have fun!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bars

3/4 cup butter

1 1/3 cups brown sugar, packed

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground allspice

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup pumpkin puree (strained to be thicker)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 - 1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 - 1 cup loosely packed dried cranberries

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the brown sugar and stir to combine. Cook only a bit more until its hot and bubbling slightly. Pour into a mixing bowl and allow to cool. Meanwhile measure out all the spices! Once butter/sugar mix is cool enough to test with your finger, beat in vanilla, baking powder, salt and spices. Add the egg and mix until smooth, making sure everything is well incorporated. Stir in the pumpkin, flour, chocolate chips and dried cranberries and mix thoroughly. Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350F (180C) for about 40 minutes. Bars are done when a knife or tooth pick comes out clean. Allow to cool. 

Tip: Like any brownie, these cut best with a plastic knife or plastic baker's bench knife! 

Notes: Because the butter is melted, I don't see why you couldn't sub an equal amount of oil if butter is expensive or hard to get for you. You'd just sacrifice a bit on the flavor the butter would give. But my go-to pumpkin bread is made with oil and its awesome. 

Cake Tip: Two-Tone Frosted Cupcakes

My son just turned 9. We turned a corner in birthday cakes. He really debated if he even wanted a cake--he thought about other desserts. In the end, he decided on cupcakes. I didn't feel I was creative enough to make a cake that matched the theme of his party, so I asked if the cupcakes could just be plain and he could pick the icing colors. He chose blue and green. Once I got in the kitchen, I got to thinking I'd seen a tutorial somewhere on piping two different colors onto one cupcake. I decided that might make the cupcakes seem more special. It was super easy to do, so I thought maybe I'd share what I did with some of you. Then you have a fun trick up your sleeve for your next big-kid or adult party!! 

Two-Tone Frosted Cupcakes

You will need:

3 frosting bags or zip locks with the corners cut

1 jumbo coupler and tip for frosting cupcakes

Bake up some of your favorite cupcakes and whip up a batch of your favorite buttercream frosting. 

Once you are ready to go and you've got your icing colored (I like using Wilton gel colors). You'll need to make sure you have your jumbo cupcake tip and coupler on the bag. Using two other bags with smaller holes, fill them each with one color of frosting. 

Very gently stack the two frosting filled bags evenly and slide them into the large bag with the tip on it. 

Fold up the top and begin to squeeze the frosting down into the tip. You might lose a little but squeeze out until you get an even flow of both colors and begin piping it onto your cupcakes! 

Nothin' to it! 

Greek Salad Dressing

I love Greek salads. My favorite part is the feta and olives. Too bad those are both hard to get and expensive ingredients for me in my little part of China. But I was recently making our favorite Chicken Gyros for dinner and wanted a good salad to go with it. I found this dressing recipe over at Allrecipes, adapted it a bit, and fell thoroughly in love with it. Even without the olives and feta our salad had a great flavor--I used tomatoes, cucumbers, and sliced red onion that I had quickly soaked in water. The onion really made the flavor I think! I've also used it as a marinade for chicken this week that I then used in a wrap. Do you have any favorite salads?

Greek Salad Dressing
3/4 cup oil (I used canola)
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
3/4 cup red wine vinegar (white wine or cider would also work nicely)

Place oil and spices in a jar. Add vinegar. Shake thoroughly. Serve and enjoy! Refrigerate up to 1-2 weeks. 

Undercover Secret Agent Birthday Party

I had SO MUCH FUN with this party theme! We did this for our son's 6th birthday this past spring. There are tons and tons of spy/secret agent type parties out there. This is what I came up with for us!

Invitation
My totally awesome husband used a template on iMovie to create a spy movie trailer that we used as the invitation for this party. So cool. For an easy printable, however, just download a secret agent font for free online and add a couple simple clip art like a thumb print or a magnifying glass along with the party details. Invite kids to wear an undercover disguise.

The Cake

I went with a Hercule Poirot type disguise cake. You could do all kinds of things. This was really simple to free-hand onto a 9x13 cake and super quick and easy to do!

Games
Our party kind of had an ongoing theme of everything fitting into a spy training.

Assign Under Cover Code Names - I had two bowls of papers for kids to draw from. One had colors and the other had nouns. So some of our names were things like Grey Tiger, Pink Ninja, Black Bomber, and Teal Terror.

Target Practice - We used Nerf guns to shoot targets.

I tried to incorporate gadgets into the party so we did a QR Code Scavenger Hunt. The kids scanned an initial QR code with a phone that took them to another part of our neighborhood. At each place I had some older kids or friends who were undercover. The kids had to give them a password and they would give them the QR code and password for the next location. Just for fun, we wrote the passwords on magician's flash paper so the agent could make it "self-destruct." Very fun element!

During one run from one place to another, the kids had to stop at a station and change their disguises because their cover had been blown! I had lots of wigs, dress-up clothes, mustaches, glasses, etc that I had bought cheaply from Taobao.

The last clue sent the kids to go through a laser field that we had made with cheap Chinese red packing string.

Before the kids could enter the house for cake they had to scan their finger on an iPad using a free fingerprint scanning app I had found.

Decorations
I didn't do anything to decorate our house. I just used some solid colored plates and napkins with mustaches I'd found in the US last year.

Favors
I found some secret agent foam stickers in the US. We put those, some candy, and some little mustache erasers I'd found at a local stationary store in the favor bags. I also sent kids home with cheap sunglasses and a wig from the party.

Taobao Links
Wigs, beards, etc
Kids Sunglasses
Flash Paper

Recipe Remake: Spanish Quinoa

I may be a little late to the party, but I'm finally trying some recipes using quinoa. I really had mostly seen casseroles and cold recipes using it and none had jumped out as must tries for me. Nor was it very readily available in China. I did, however, finally find a Taobao seller with some for a reasonable price and free shipping. I decided since I hadn't seen any quinoa recipes that I was anxious to try that I would just try trading it out for rice in something I regularly make. I'm all about getting in a healthier alternative in something we already like. I decided my go-to Spanish Rice recipe would be a good one to try first. My husband and I both thought it turned out great! I've done it a few times since and we've continued to like this healthier alternative as a side to our favorite Tex-Mex dishes!

Spanish Quinoa
2 Tbs oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups quinoa
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2-1 cup chopped tomato plus 1 Tbs tomato paste (more or less tomato to your taste)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp chili powder

Thoroughly rinse quinoa several times. Heat oil in skillet (one that has a good fitting lid!). Add onion, garlic, and quinoa. Cook and stir until quinoa is browned a bit and onions are slightly tender. Add remaining ingredients. Bring liquid to boil. Cover skillet of quinoa and turn heat to low. Cook for ~20 minutes or until quinoa is done. You may need to add an additional bit of water near the end if it is cooked out and quinoa is not tender. Stir to fluff and serve. Enjoy!

Notes: I'm totally guessing on amounts of cumin, oregano, and chili powder but I'd say they are fairly close. You'll have to experiment for your tastes. The original recipe just says to add them but doesn't give amounts, so I just shake some in. Also, for better flavor over the years, I've started putting in a handful of chopped tomatoes and about 1/4 cup of the salsa I've made to serve with the meal instead of just tomato paste (I do this 100% of the time now). Also, if I don't feel like opening a can of paste, I just put the tomato, but it does add a nice little something to put just a Tbs of it. When I'm just making this for our family, I cut the recipe at least in half, if not quartered! We just feel the leftovers are dry and don't enjoy them as much.

Almond, Coconut, and Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I blogged a new favorite granola bar recipe a few weeks ago. I shared a fruit and nut variation then. The beauty of this recipe is that you can change it up to suit your tastes. Change up the flavor profile by doing a variety of add in mixes--using different nuts, dried fruits or chocolate chips. My absolute favorite we've done so far is an almond, coconut, and chocolate chip one. I use coconut oil to add a little more coconut-y flavor to it. My husband doesn't even really like coconut but he loves these. Give them a try!

Almond, Coconut, and Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
1 2/3 cups quick cooking or rolled oats
1/3 cup honey
3-4 Tbs brown sugar, lightly filled
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
1/2 tsp almond extract (or all vanilla)
1/4 cup coconut oil
2/3 cup chopped almonds
2/3 cup chocolate chips (I used these mini ones)
2 Tbs coconut flakes

Mix everything together and press into a parchment lined pan. I have found that 7x11 works okay or one slightly larger that allows you to get them slightly thinner. But a full on 9x13 is too big. They seem to work best though when you can get them no more than 1/2 inch thick, well pressed, and baked for the full time. Bake at 325F (160C) for about 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars. 

Notes: I usually grind my own wheat flour. Sometimes in this I put part wheat flour and part wheat germ. It works fine, too. I think I've also used oat flour from the oat groats available locally (燕麦).