~ Scrambled Tofu and Egg

Adapted from:
Oprah's and EatingWell

Description:

Flavoursome high protein, low-carb breakfast!

Ingredients:
300 g silken tofu, well-drained and crumbled

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp pepper flakes

1 tsp oil

2 tbsp diced tomatoes (~1 small tomato)

1 egg

1 tsp soysauce

Dash of pepper

Directions:
1) Stir fry tofu in curry powder and pepper flakes for 2-3 min.

2) Add in diced tomatoes and cook for another 2 min.

3) Lightly beat egg with soysauce and pepper before adding into the tofu mixture.

4) Scramble till done.

Remarks:

The tofu taste is quite apparent, so do cut down on the amount of tofu or add in more spices if desired. I personally liked the way the taste of egg and curry powder cut into the tofu, so I'm pretty ok on the overall experience. Tomatoes were optional, but I just added them as I do not mind an additional lycopene boost!

~ Ginger Milk Pudding / Curd

Adapted from:
Thanis

Description:

A milky Southern China delight with ginger~

Ingredients:
1 C milk

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp ginger juice

Directions:
1) Heat milk and sugar till steam rises.

2) Take off heat and cool by pouring milk from one cup to another.

3) Place ginger juice in two separate bowls, and add in the milk.

4) Leave to curdle for 10 min.

5) Refrigerate, or steam to eat.

Remarks:
Too spicy argh~! We couldn't taste the milk at all. The ingredients were added based on estimation, hence the weird taste. Shall give this a try again using measuring spoons!

Somehow the chilled one was firmer than that of the steamed one:

Oh ya, having a semi-spoilt handphone battery is a good excuse to not have anyone bother you while you are out having fun:

~ Creamy Cheesy Spinach and Mushroom Spaghetti

Adapted from:
Allrecipes

Description:

Healthy vegan creamy spaghetti!

Ingredients (serves 2):

150 g spaghetti

200 g baby spinach, roughly chopped

150 g oyster mushroom

100 g vegetarian meat

1 tbsp olive oil

125 g cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 C milk

4 slices of processed cheese, shredded

Pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Cook pasta in salted water till al dente. Drain most of the liquid, reserving around 1/4 C, and set aside.

2) Sauteed mushroom and vegetarian meat in olive oil and set aside, leaving the liquid in the saucepan.

3) Stir cream cheese and milk into the saucepan, till smooth and bubbly.

4) Add in the processed cheese and pepper. Stir till smooth.

5) Cook the spinach in the sauce till slightly wilted, before adding in the sauteed mushroom and meat.

6) Toss pasta in the hot sauce and serve, garnished with a slice of processed cheese or spice.

Remarks:
The pasta was divine when its piping hot! Cheesy and full of flavour, it certainly leaves a lasting impression on the consumer!

~ Hardboiled Egg

7 min in boiling water.. and an express lunch on the go!

~ Apple Honey Cake

Taken from:
Steve Manfredi

Description:
Honey-infused cake with apple filling~

Ingredients:
2 eggs

40 g sugar

45 g honey

40 g butter, softened

1 tbsp milk

150 g self-raising flour, sifted

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 Golden Delicious apples, skinned and chopped

Directions:
1) Beat butter, sugar, honey and milk till pale.

2) Beat in eggs, one at a time, till fluffy and well-mixed.

3) Fold in the flour gently. The batter should be slightly tacky, but not doughy.

4) Spoon 1/4 or 1/2 of the batter into a well-greased and floured 12 cm round tin.

5) Bake in preheated oven at 160 deg for 75 min, or till done. Cool before unmoulding.

Remarks:
It's a long time since I baked! So long that I can't even follow the recipe correctly (may I'm just too stubborn to follow any recipe exactly)! =p

Firstly, I measured 1 1/2 C of plain flour, 1/2 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of baking powder, thinking that the combination would substitute the self-raising flour and only realising that it's 150 GRAMS of flour. Fortunately I found out the mistake before adding the flour to the egg mixture. Secondly, I was greedy again and added 2 apples instead of 1 1/2, which almost overfilled my baking tin. Thirdly, I must have measured something wrongly as the batter turned out to be too dry though I used 2 eggs instead of 1 1/2 as stated in the recipe, so I had no choice but to add in one tbsp of milk. Fourthly, I beat sugar with butter first, not with eggs. Fifthly, I brought down the oven temperature from 180 to 160 deg after 10 min of baking, and shielded the crust of the cake with an aluminium foil. Lastly, in an attempt to accentuate the honey taste, I changed the proportion of sugar and honey (it's a good move I guess, for the batter tasted really good!).

The cake was alright, abit on the bland side as the honey taste wasn't very apparent. I'm still on the search for better apple honey cake recipes. Maybe I shall try this out the next time.

Update (22/9/09) - Found the following info for using honey in baking that seems useful:

For people trying to cut refined and processed foods out of their diets, honey is the original all-natural and unprocessed sweetener. And, since it's sweeter than white sugar, you can use less of it when baking:

Use ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon of honey for every cup of sugar
Decrease the liquid in the recipe by ¼ cup
Add ½ teaspoon of baking soda for every cup of honey
Reduce your oven temperature by 25 degrees

Another reason honey is great to use when baking is because it's hygroscopic (water-attracting): it absorbs moisture from the air, keeping your baked goods moist and delicious for days.

~ Washing Grapes

If u have 1.29kg of grapes on hand and you are clueless to how you are going to go about removing the greyish stuff on every single globe, you've come to the right place!

Here's what you can do:
1) Place the whole bunch of grapes in a big pail of water.
2) Put on a pair of gloves and work some toothpaste into a smooth lather.
3) Wash the grapes with those toothpaste-lathered gloves, while removing the grapes from the stems.
4) Once done, rinse the destemmed grapes 2-3 times in running water to remove the toothpaste (or a few times more if the grapes are minty!)
5) Pat the grapes dry and eat/use! (I froze mine for a refreshing treat!)

~ Steamed Tofu with Spicy Dipping Sauce

Taken from:
-

Description:
Low-calorie snack to ease the hunger pangs

Ingredients:
1 block tofu, cubed
2 tsp thai chilli sauce
1 tsp huadiao wine
1 tsp fish sauce

Directions:
1) Mix the chilli sauce, wine and fish sauce together. Set aside.
2) Cook the tofu cubes in water for 5 min before draining them and serving them with the sauce.

Remarks:
It's always the simple things in life that makes one smile =)

~ Cabbage Soup

Taken from:
-

Description:
Fibre-rich soup to fill up your tummy!

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 carrot, sliced thickly
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cabbage head, coursely chopped
1/2 chicken stock cube
500 ml water

Directions:
1) Bring 500 ml water and stock cube to boil before adding onions.
2) Once onions are translucent, add in the rest of the vegetables. Bring to boil, and simmer for 10 min.

Remarks:
Stock cubes are convenient, but they sure can't replace the goodness of real chicken meat and bones!

~ Dessert Crepes

Taken from:
Allrecipes

Description:
Fragrant versatile crepes for every occasion!

Ingredients:
1 C flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp butter, melted
5 tsp sugar
2/3 C milk
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1) Blend all till smooth in a blender.
2) Ladle an appropriate amount onto a greased pan, and cook on medium heat till the top is dry. Flip over and cook the bottom till brown. Serve warm or stack the crepes on each other with a kitchen towel in-between.

Remarks:

Yummy! These smelled great, tasted fantastic and were a snap to make! We made them into savoury brocolli mushroom and cheese crepes,

sweet fruits and nutella crepes,

and durian crepes!

~ Toasted Wheatgerm

Toasted them for 5 min, and stirred constantly to prevent burning. Keep a close eye on them - they burn fast!

~ Carroty Tomato Soup

Taken from:
-

Description:
Plumy and carroty soup for a beta-carotene and lycopene boost!

Ingredients:
1 medium tomato, diced
1 medium carrot, chopped into chunks
1 tsp wheatgerm
Salt (optional)

Directions:
1) Fill the bottom of a sauce pan with a thin layer of water and add in tomato and carrot. Simmer till most of the liquid has evaporated.
2) Top with wheatgerm.

Remarks:

Most vegetables lose their nutrients if they are cooked. But not for carrots and tomatoes. By cooking, their major nutrients (beta-carotene and lycopene respectively) are being liberated from the fibre matrix for better absorption.

It was a wrong move to add the raw wheatgerm which spoilt the sweet plumy taste. Toasted wheatgerm would seem better in this case.

~ Sweet Potato Soup

Taken from:
Dad's

Description:
Traditional sweet potato 甜汤 - 吃在嘴里，甜在心里!

Ingredients:
3 small sweet potatoes, skinned and diced
1/2 C rock sugar
1 knob ginger
Bunch of pandan leaves
1 L water
1 tbsp mini sago

Directions:
1)Boil pandan leaves and ginger in 1L water till fragrant (around 10 min) before adding in the sweet potatoes.
2) Bring to boil, and simmer till potatoes are soft but firm.
3) Dissolve rock sugar in the broth first, and then add in the sago.
4) Simmer till sago is no longer opaque. Serve warm.

Remarks:

Despite the fact that the sweet potatoes were really sweet, the dessert seemed to pale in comparison to the ones Dad make. The broth can be made spicier with more ginger or sweeter with sugar to one's taste.

~ Berry Nice Yoghurt Smoothie

Taken from:
-

Description:
Sweet strawberries and creamy milk blended with berry yoghurt for a chilled luscious smoothie~

Ingredients:
1 C (150 g) mixed berries yoghurt, frozen
1 C milk
1 tbsp ribena
1/4 C ice
5 strawberries, destemed

Directions:
1) Place all in the blender and pulse till smooth. Serve immediately.

Remarks:

Use frozen milk and omit the ice for a thicker smoothie.

And photograph immediately after blending!