~ Carrot Oatmeal

Adapted from:
Eatmedelicious

Description:
Carrot-cake oatmeal minus the fat and sugar.

Ingredients:
1/2 C milk
1/4 C carrots
1/4 C instant oatmeal

Directions:
1. Cook all ingredients together and stir till desired consistency. Serve warm.

Remarks:

Why does most of the food I make turn out to look like baby food? Or I'm just so attracted to recipes that churn out soft mushy food (too lazy to chew my food right?). Anyway, the carrots add an interesting texture to the oatmeal, with a slight tinge of sweetness and carroty goodness - a perfect way to sneak some veggies into breakfast! However, I omitted many ingredients from the original carrot cake oatmeal recipe to cut down on the calories and also due to the fact that I do not possess the necessary ingredients. Do try the original recipe, unless you don't mind a simple fare for simple tastebuds :)

~ Prawn and Fruit Salad

Adapted from:
Swenson's

Description:
A feast for both the eyes and gut~

Ingredients:
9 prawns, deshelled and deveined
1 C strawberry yoghurt
3/4 C mixed fruits (I used fruit cocktail: cherries, grapes, peaches, pears, pineapples)
2 lettuce leaves, shredded

Directions:
1. Cook prawns in salted water, and place them into cold water once done.
2. Arrange lettuce on serving plate, and top with mixed fruits and prawns.
3. Toss with yoghurt to serve.

Remarks:

This was an attempt to recreate the prawn and fruit salad from Swenson's, and well.. it's somewhere there but not yet there =x This deviation could be due to several reasons: I couldn't get hold of a mango yoghurt, and had to replace it with a strawberry one. The absence of cherry tomatoes and raisins accounted for something too.

Nevertheless, it still makes a good, quick and healthy lunch!

~ Broiled Tomato Toast

Taken from:
Tiff's

Description:
Quick and cheesy open-faced tomato toast

Ingredients:
1 tomato, sliced into 4
1 wholemeal bread
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 slice of cheese
Herbs (to taste)

Directions:
1. Spread peanut butter thinly on the bread slice and arrange tomato slices on top, followed by the cheese.
2. Broil for 5-10 min in the oven at 200 deg. Sprinkle with herbs.

Remarks:

Usually such a combination turns me on, but somehow the peanut butter didn't really feel right in this case. It could be due to the herbs; butter seems to be a better choice as a spread in my opinion. The cheese sticks really well to the mouth palate, do beware.

~ Sweet Potato Glutinous Balls

Modified from:
Dad's

Description:
Spongy sweet potato balls swimming in Dad's signature sweet spicy ginger broth~

Ingredients:
1/2 C boiled and mashed sweet potato
1/2 C glutinous rice flour
Ginger broth or any other sweet dessert broth

Directions:
1. Stir mashed sweet potato and rice flour together till a smooth pliable dough is formed. Add in one tbsp of rice flour or more to adjust to suitable consistency. Roll into balls.
2. Cook the balls in broth till the balls float. Serve with broth.

Remarks:

Dad made sweet potato and green bean soup and I just hitched a ride to make these balls since I had cravings for tang yuan :) They somehow remind me of the gnocchi that I've been thinking of making.

~ Benne Wafers

Modified from:
Allrecipes

Description:
Crispy black sesame wafers from South Carolina~

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C sesame seeds
1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 deg.
2. Place the benne (sesame) seeds on an ungreased baking sheet and toast for 10 to 12 minutes, until light brown. Watch closely to avoid burning.
3. In a large bowl mix the brown sugar, melted butter, egg, vanilla extract, flour, salt, baking powder and toasted sesame seeds together until combined.
4. Drop dough by 1/2 tsp 1 1/2 inches apart onto a lightly greased baking sheet and flatten with a spoon.
5. Bake at 190 deg for 6 minutes, until light brown. Let cookies cool for about 2 minutes before removing from baking sheets to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container.

Remarks:

These are really crispy, fragrant and addictive after being cooled down. Now I have a sorethroat because of them. I found that the oil and sugar were too much though. Should have tried the benne wafer recipe from Gourmet instead as it seems healthier compared this one. Try not to burn the cookies in the oven as burnt sesame seeds are bitter.