~ All at Once!

Oh no, I plead guilty to neglecting my blog. Please do not flog me =/ Anyway I haven't been feeding the lizards or cockroaches in Mum's kitchen for quite some time after my last pictorial post, so not much harm's been done. But to redeem myself, I'll just post all the images of the limited number of food items that I'd made in the remaining of 2010 (newest first), and shall endeavour to publish posts as often as I can in 2011!

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

This was specially-baked for the ones I love for Xmas!

Also made to be distributed to my dear Pharmacy friends and staff of the NUS Pharmaceutics Department.

Ingredients:  30ml oil
75g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 orange essence
1 egg
110g flour
1/2tsp baking powder
30g cranberries, soaked
50g pistachios, chopped
1 tbsp orange peel

Steps: Mix dry and wet ingredients and make a 8X6" log.
Bake 150 deg for 25min. Cool 10min. Bake 135 deg 10-15min per side.

Green Tea Soba with Broccoli and Poached Egg

I'm as green as this dish in terms of pairing ingredients with soba!

Avocado Milkshake

Really basic avocado, simply blend milk and avocado. No sugar please!

Banana Muffins

I'm terribly ashamed to put this image up. For the banana muffins looked extremely distorted, overflowing with gooey messy batter.. What a reflection of rusty baking skills and estimation. Oh well, this is the first few times I had used the new small oven since the previous Kenwood one broke down, and I hadn't been baking for a long long time...

Green Tea Soba with Soft-Boiled Egg, Parsley and Tomato Dipping Sauce

Soba - so good! =)

Cocoa Avocado Milkshake

Added some cocoa powder onto the basic avocado milkshake.

Chocolate Honey Avocado Milkshake

Another of one of my love.

Bird's Nest Drink

I have to admit, this is one of the yummiest beverage ever! I wasn't the one who made it though, Mum did!

Milk Bubble Tea

I'd been wanting to make my own bubble tea, and so I did! But after this, I think I'll just join the queues at Koi or Gongcha or bubble tea stalls.

Tom Yum Instant Noodles

Instant.

Cauliflower Instant Noodles

Another variation of instant noodles.

Seafood and Mushroom Instant Noodles

Yeah, I love instant noodles.

Peanut Porridge, Fish Cake and Stirfried Cabbage with Egg, Ham and Carrot

A simple lunch for me and my bro. Don't get me wrong, this is my share of the lunch.

~ Assorted Pancakes (Apple, Chocolate Chips, Cheese)

Taken from:
BBC

Description:
Fluffy pancakes!

Ingredients:

135 g flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp sugar

Pinch of salt

1 large egg, beaten

130 mL milk

2 tbsp melted butter

Directions

1). Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.
2) Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
3) Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm (½in) thick.
4) Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.
5) Serve with lashings of real maple syrup and extra butter if you like.

Remarks:
-

~ Citrus Muffins

Taken from:
Recipezaar

Description:
Soft fluffy muffins with a burst of citrus flavours~

Ingredients (makes 9):

2 C flour

1/2 C brown sugar

1/2 C white sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, beaten

1/4 C vegetable oil

1/3 C low fat yoghurt (used Meiji's Soft Yoghurt with Aloe Vera as it is not very thick)

3/4 C freshly squeezed citrus juices (used 1/8 C mini key limes, 3/8 C limequats, 1/4 C lemon)

1 tbsp grated citrus rind

Directions

1) Add all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt) in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle.
2) Combine wet ingredients, and incorporate into the dry ingredients along with the rind.
3) Spoon into 50 x 39 mm souffle or muffin cups till 3/4 full and bake in preheated oven at 180 deg for 25 - 30 min till tops are golden brown.

Remarks:
-

~ Japanese Sweet Potato Shortbread Cookies

Taken from:
Cakepia

Description:
Shortbread cookies with a sweetness of Japanese potatoes~

Ingredients:

250 g Japanese sweet potato
30 g butter
20 g sugar

1/2 (20 g) egg, whisked
50 g flour, sifted

Directions

1) Wrap a wet kitchen towel over the sweet potato, and followed by a plastic wrap. Microwave on high for 7 min till the sweet potato is soft. While warm, press the sweet potato through a sieve and retrieve 100 g of sieved sweet potato.
2) Cream butter and sugar.
3) Stir in sweet potato and egg till well-blended.
4) Incorporate flour till there is no white specks left, and wrap the dough in a plastic wrap to be refrigerated for at least 1 hour.
5) Slice or cut into desired shape. Brush shaped cookie dough with egg. Bake in preheated over at 180 deg for 15 - 20 min till golden brown. Cool before storing.

Remarks:
Leftover ingredients in the kitchen pose a great temptation to me, for I'll definitely think of ways to use them up! Take for instance in this case, Mum left 2 purple sweet potatoes hanging around in the kitchen and not long after, they appeared somewhat different:

As I didn't know the recipe was for shortbread cookies at first, I baked the nuggets till brown and baked them further till they were no longer soft in the middle. It is only when I was blogging then I realised my folly ops.

Anyway, I was quite surprised that the cookies came out with a nice brown sheen over them (it's not oil). And during baking, the whole kitchen smelt like condensed milk, which was pretty odd since there wasn't even milk added into the dough. I guess it's probably due to the caramelization of the natural sugars in sweet potato and reaction with the butter.

Each cookie is one tough cookie! It was hard to bite through, and once you do, a milky flavour fills the entire mouth. Seriously, where did that milk come from?

~ Carrot, Apple, Tomato, Celery Blend

Every time I have no vegetables cooked in my preferred ways on my dinner table, I would feel a intense compulsion to get my vegetable fix. The sense of foreboding over having ill health due to reduced intake of vitamins and minerals as well as having harder stools certainly plagues me well.

So upon reaching home today, I pulled out my blender to make a vegetable and fruit drink instead of having them as a salad. In went 2 carrots, 1 apple, 1 tomato, 1 stalk of celery and some water and ice, and I had an antioxidant blend that comes with a lovely orange hue specked with red traces of apple skin. And for once, a vegetable blend was agreeable to my tastebuds~

Just to share a dusk scene which triggered emotions in me while I was waiting for my bus: