~ Peach Yoghurt Salad

Taken from:

Kat's and Tiff's

Description:
Another colourful bowl of low-fat natural fruity goodness!

Ingredients:

1 apple, diced
1 orange, diced
g dried cranberries
25 g raisins
50 g whole almonds
150 g low fat peach yoghurt

Directions
1. Mix everything together and enjoy!

Remarks:

Versatile yoghurt mix, just throw in anything one likes!

~ Sandwich Lunchbox

~ Chocolate Oatmeal

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Heart-healthy breakfast for those on the go!

Ingredients:

75 g instant oatmeal
2 tsp cocoa powder
2 tsp sweetened condensed milk
150 ml hot water

Directions
1. Mix oatmeal and cocoa powder together, and stir in the hot water. Allow to stand for 5-10 min.
2. Stir in the condensed milk and enjoy!

Remarks:

I have this for breakfast almost everyday, and the reasons are really clear.
1) Breakfast is important - you need to break the fasting through the night so that you can rev up your metabolism for the day. Studies have shown that people who take breakfast are less likely to overeat during the day and thus, are able to better maintain their weight and health.
2) This recipe's packed full with antioxidants (cocoa has a higher antioxidant amount compared to dark chocolate), and imparts heart-saving benefits (consuming 75 g of oats a day has been shown to decrease the risk of heart diseases and cholesterol). Skip the condensed milk if you simply abhor sugar, but the taste may be too bitter to swallow!
3) Quick to prepare. I just add water to the oats before I brush my teeth in the morning and leave it to stand; stir in the condensed milk and consume after washing up.
4) Saves $.
5) Prevents my hyperactive tummy from bringing me embarrassment when I'm in class.

Try to have a serving of fruit/vegetable after this quick breakfast (I like apple dipped in yoghurt). Remember your 5 servings of F&V a day!

~ Potato Egg Salad

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Creamy eggy crabby pota"tw0" salad!

Ingredients:

2 russet potatoes
2 hardboiled eggs, chopped
2 imitation crabsticks, sliced
2 tbsp diced red onion (1")
2 tbsp diced celery (1 stalk)
2 tbsp chopped cucumber (1/4 med)
2 tbsp miracle whip/mayonaise
2 taste: salt and pepper

Directions
1. Mix all together well and adjust with salt and pepper.
2. Refrigerate and serve cold, on bread, cracker or just on its own!

Remarks:

I simply love potato salads! The best one I had was at Aston's, but it gives me a bloated feeling as though I had consumed a whole tub of full fat cream! So since I was tasked to prepare brunch on this lazy Sun and there was some nice potatoes and veggies lying around, I came up with this mix to satisfy my potato salad craving. The recipe is designed in such a way that one does not have to remember the amount of ingredients to add, just two (2) tbsp or pieces of each! Actually the main idea is to display the flexibility of salads. Feel free to add whatever you like (corns, cranberries, chopped nuts, mustard, paprika..) and wa-lah~ u get a lip-smacking good salad that you can call your own! Try mixing the dressing together with the rest of the ingredients and do a taste-test before tossing with the potatoes, unless you like mashed-up potatoes like I do. For more tips, visit here.

The potato salad was utilised in sandwiches for brunch, and here's my first greedy attempt:

And after that I had another sandwich, which looked really cute so I had to take a snapshot:

Apparently, it lacked something so I gave it "hair".

See the fun you can get from making your own salad and brunch?

~ Pork Floss Rolls

Taken from:

Mum's

Description:
A simple alchemy of pork floss wrapped in egg rolls and deep fried to golden crispiness.

Ingredients:

-

Directions
-

Remarks:

The description says it all!

~ Pineapple Tarts

Modified from:

Mum's

Description:
Fragrant butter cookies loaded with pineapple jam; meant not just for Lunar New Year and also for one's everyday comfort treats!

Ingredients:

500 g flour
10 g creamer
250 g butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
200g pineapple filling

Directions
1. Cut butter into the flour till crumbly.
2. Lightly beat one egg with vanilla essence, and add to the flour with butter. Knead to form a pliable dough.
3. Shape the dough 1" balls, and shape the pineapple filling to 0.5" balls.
4. Flatten dough balls and wrap them around the pineapple balls. Make designs of the cookies based on own preference.
5. Brush with the remaining egg and bake at 180 deg for 10 min. Remove from oven, brush the cookies again with egg and bake till golden brown.

Remarks:

It's really a simple and quick recipe if one were to be able to get hold of instant pineapple filling. The cookies held together well and did not crumble as much as the last time mum made them (eons ago). The egg glaze is definitely a compulsory item, for it imparts a golden sheen to the cookies. Oh, the uniform oval-shaped cookies were made by Mum and the oddly-shaped rounded ones were made by me. Despite committing the mistake of using unsalted butter which kind of decreased the savory aspect of the cookies, I still find these little festive gems a great treat!

~ Frosted Chocolate Rum Cake

Modified from:

Allrecipes (cake)
Allrecipes (frosting)

Description:
Chocolate + rum = match made in heaven!

Ingredients: (7" cake)

1 1/2 C flour
5/8 C sugar
1/4 C cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C & 2 tbsp water
2 tbsp rum
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 C oil
1 tbsp distilled vinegar

Ingredients: (frosting)
125 g butter
135 g icing sugar
100 g cocoa
60 ml rum

Directions (cake):
1. Dissolve sugar and salt in water, rum, vinegar and vanilla essence.
2. Sift flour, baking soda and cocoa together in a separate bowl. (can double-sift)
3. Make a well in the flour mixture and mix in the liquid component in step 1 till there are no lumps. Pour into a well-greased and -floured 7" tin.
4. Bake in preheated over at 175 deg for 45 min, or till cake is done.
5. Allow to cool completely before slicing and frosting.

Directions (frosting):
1. Cream butter and whisk in the icing sugar and cocoa till smooth.
2. Add in the rum and adjust to suitable consistency with more rum/milk.
3. Frost when the cake is cool.

Remarks:

I made this cake for Dad's birthday discreetly as I didn't make a card for him (ops for not producing a card and for baking despite Mum's Ban). The rum in the cake wasn't very evident, more rum could have been added, say around 1/4 C or 1/2 C. It lacked a rich chocolatey taste, maybe cause I omitted quite alot of sugar from the original recipe. The top crust was removed and made into crumbs for decoration. The cake was then sliced into two very thin layers so that I could spread the frosting in between.

The frosting was very good, and its really versatile - just add more chocolate or rum to suit one's preferences. I was so hooked to the frosting till I almost licked the bowl clean! The amount of frosting was too much for one 7" cake though, should reduce the butter by half (actually I used more butter than what the original recipe called for). One important aspect for making successful frosted cake is to have a crumb coat before continuing with the actual frosting process. A crumb coat seals in the moisture of the cake and prevents the cake crumbs from spoiling your otherwise perfect cake. Just spread a thin layer of frosting on the cake and allow it to set in the fridge before frosting and decorating the cake. I placed mine in the freezer for 15 min to speed up the process (I'm really an impatient person). After frosting the cake, I left it in the fridge so as to consume it at night, but for don't-know-what reasons, the rum taste seemed to diffuse away.

Decoration-wise, I just spruced up the frosted cake with some almonds, cranberries and leftover crust crumbs, which complemented the cake well.

~ Yoghurt Salad

Taken from:

Kat's and Tiff's

Description:
A colourful bowl of low-fat natural fruity goodness!

Ingredients: (serves 2-3)

100 g seedless grapes, cut into halves
1 kiwi, diced
1 apple, diced
25 g sunflower seeds
150 g low fat yoghurt (of any flavour)

Directions:
1. Mix fruits and yoghurt together in a bowl. Refrigerate.
2. Dish onto plates and sprinkle with sunflower seeds. Serve immediately.

Remarks:

This sweet dessert satisfies any sweet tooth without piling on the guilt! Easy to whip up in minutes too! There are endless combinations of fruits to add in (yoghurt salads are really versatile), so do play with it! The sunflower seeds add a nice bite to the fruit salad, try not to omit it or just throw in any other seeds/nuts.

~ Blanched Baby Kailan & Xiao Bai Cai

Taken from:

Kat's and Tiff's

Description:
Delicious greens with sealed-in vitamins and minerals, all in minimal effort!

Ingredients:

Baby kailan
Xiao bai cai
2 L water
1 tsp salt
Soysauce (to taste)
Sesame oil (to taste)

Directions:
1. Bring water to boil, and add in salt.
2. Submerge the veggies in the water for 2-3 mins.
3. Drain veggies and immerse in cold water for a few seconds to stop the cooking process.
4. Toss with soysauce and/or sesame oil or any other seasonings of one's preference. Serve.

Remarks:
Greens are meant to be GREEN, and yes they are! Blanching veggies seals in their nutrients and retains their natural crisp. The kailan was deceptively sweet while the xiao bai cai was at its peak of crunchiness. Good!

~ Mushroom Noodles

Taken from:

Kat's and Tiff's

Description:
A lovely garden of spinach noodles in clear mushroom and veggie broth!

Ingredients: (serves 4)

2 packets of enoki or golden mushrooms
1 can (425g) button mushrooms, drained
4 dried mushroom, soaked and sliced
Other assorted mushrooms, diced
1 1"thick ginger, finely sliced
1 large head broccoli, separated
1 stick of carrot, grated
4 packets of spinach noodles
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp tapioca starch, dissolved in 1 tbsp water
Sesame oil (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Parsley (for garnish)
Water

Directions:
1. Bring 1.5L of water to boil, along with ginger and all fungi except for enoki mushrooms. Lower heat to simmer for around 10-15 min.
2. Add in the broccoli, grated carrot and enoki mushrooms.
3. Once the broth is boiling, stir in the soy sauce and dissolved tapioca starch.
4. Cook noodles to al dente in another pot of water with some salt. Drain noodles.
5. Serve noodles either lathered generously in mushroom soup, or tossed well in your favourite sauces (e.g. chilli, sesame oil, soysauce, pepper) with mushroom soup as side.

Remarks:
Noodles were springy and every mouthful was bursting with the goodness of plump fungi! Simple, healthy and delicious!

~ Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Taken from:

Tiff's

Description:
Quick and nutritious snack for peanut butter and banana lovers!

Ingredients:
1 slice of bread
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1/2 banana

Directions:
1. Spread peanut butter on bread evenly.
2. Cut the banana into 0.5" slices and arrange on the bread.
3. Fold in half to contain the banana slices, and serve.

Remarks:
Being a fan of peanut butter, this treat made me excited as I sunk my teeth into the thick loaf. The banana slices oozed gooey paste which complemented the fragrant peanut butter, and the bread held the whole gastronomic experience together (though some of the banana slices dropped out of the bread shell due to the greediness of the author).

Previously in the morning, I whipped up a quick tomato peanut butter mush (like baby food as I gave up mashing the tomato into paste) using one boiled medium size tomato and 2 tbsp of smooth peanut butter. Whoa, that was one amazing concoction of smooth peanut buttery soup with tomato chunks that would satisfy a peanut butter addict! Nutrition-wise, this soup is choke-full of lycopene that's high in bioavailability, as boiling the tomato increases the lycopene content and that the oil in peanut butter dissolves the lycopene for better absorption. But beware of the calories from peanut butter, resist the urge to spoon a few more tbsp of peanut butter and stop at one serving =p There are recipes around that calls for such a base, why not try googling "tomato and peanut butter"?

~ Lime Konnyaku Jelly

Modified from:

Hollyfarm's Konnyaku Packaging

Description:
Healthy detoxifying jelly spiked with tangy limes, that's good to the gut as well to the palate :)

Ingredients:
1 package (150g) konnyaku jelly powder
500 ml water
5 limes

Directions:
1. Juice the limes and grate the peel of one lime. Add the grated peel to the moulds.
2. Boil 500ml of water and turn down the heat.
3. Stir in the konnyaku powder and stir for 5 min.
4. Stir in the lime juice.
5. Pour into prepared moulds and cool in the refrigerator. Serve cold.

Remarks:
Sweet lime jelly. They were wobbly as konnyaku jellies are, and I simply adore the grated lime peel inside which adds a great bite to the otherwise plain smooth jellies. Try not to let too much of the water evaporate, if not you'll end up with unfilled jelly moulds like I did (made 23 instead of 24). I would prefer more lime taste, perhaps can add 6-7 limes.

Side-notes: Banned from baking, so I guess I'll just be posting some simple dishes till the ban is lifted! =x

~ Persimmon Cookie & Biscotti

Modified from:

Allrecipe

Description:
Chewy persimmon cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C persimmon pulp
3/4 C sugar
1/4 C oil
1 egg
2 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C almonds
3/4 C raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 deg. Lightly grease or line one baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine dry ingredients.
3. Cream egg and sugar. Stir in oil and persimmon pulp. Add flour mixture and mixed till combined. Stir in nuts and raisins.
4. Drop by teaspoons, 2" apart, onto the prepared baking sheet.
5. Bake at 190 deg for 12-15 min.

Remarks:
Added batter by tablespoons onto baking sheet, and baked for 18 min, producing quick-bread-like cookies that are undercooked inside. Baked a further 10 min but the results remained. As the batter was too much and I'm a lazy person, I decided to bake the rest of the batter using a bread tin, hoping that the bread will be better. Unfortunately, it turned out the same as the cookies, cooked on the outside but very undercooked inside despite baking for 2 hours at 150 deg. The loaf was sliced up and baked at 175 deg for 20 min for each side of the slice, resulting in hard persimmon biscottis (the way biscottis are supposed to be, but a tad bit too hard to bite). Could have reduced the time to 15 min for the 2nd side of the slices as some of biscottis were charred and they were quite tough to chew. The biscotti turned hard and chewy the next days and are not really edible.