Fish Baked Rice

It's another no-brainer dinner as I've ran out of ideas again :P


I cheated, cooked the rice with campbell soup and transfer it to a casserole when rice are cooked. Added a layer of frozen peas and sweet corns, followed by sliced fish (I use mackerel) and drizzle some terriyaki sauce on top.


Topped it with grated cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake in preheated oven of 200C for 30 mins or till cheese are browned.

Stand for 10 mins before serving.

Chocolate Waffles

As promised, here's the update on the chocolate waffle I made while staying over at my parents.

Niece S likes waffle so I thought I might as well bring my iron back so I can make some waffles for her and my children. I decided on a chocholate waffle because niece S likes the plain waffle with chocolate fillings. As I do not want to lug back my whole kitchen, I prepared the dry mix at home and packed them into containers.

Brother M was at home when I made these and he ate 3 waffles loaded with butter! That was his lunch by the way.

My parents didn't quite like this as they find it too bitter. My children ate 1 waffle each :) As for niece S, she ate none. She doesn't like chocolate waffles, she only likes plain with chocolate fillings :(

Original recipe yields 6 waffles but if you are using Bluesky like me, you get more waffles. I can't remember exactly how many but I think there should be 8 waffles.

Chocolate Waffles
Makes 6 waffles.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a medium bowl, or a large measuring cup, thoroughly whisk together eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract.
3. Add to flour mixture and whisk until just smooth.
4. Preheat waffle iron and make according to directions.
5. Serve immediately.

Cooking for a troop

Finally got back my camera from my parents. Just doing a quick update on what I've cooked there. I only managed to capture 50% of what I've cooked there, the rest of the cooked food were all snapped up before I rem to take a pic of it.

Thick Bee Hoon soup with fish cake and fish ball. I used a wok to cook this, it fills up to the brim of the wok!! OMG, this is the first time I cooked for a "troop"!

Sweet corn and carrot soup with red dates and wolfberries.

Stir fry prawns with salt and garlic.

Fried fish - don't know why my fish got stucked to the pot again... I used my AMC pot to fry them.

My favourite Light & Crispy Waffle. The waffles are browned nicer this time round, the iron is definitely getting more seasoned ^-^

Chocolate waffles (I'll blog about this another day).

Vegetarian Chap Chye (cooked using my 26cm AMC pot). This is my first time cooking chap chye and I do it without any recipe in mind! Both my dad and I love this dish, we had a big bowl of it with rice for lunch and dinner :)

Butter rice.

Stir fry asparagus with fresh mushrooms.

Blueberry Maple Frozen Yogurt

Following the episode on Blueberry Muffins, I have 5 more punnets of blueberries sitting in my fridge.


With so many punnets still very much alive in my fridge, I googled for recipes to utilise them. Found this super cool blog by Closet Cooking. He has loads of yummy recipes and most importantly, I found a recipe to utilise my blueberries!

After cooking the blueberries, maple syrup and sugar, I wasn't sure if this is the right texture. The blueberries exuded quite a fair bit of water and I was worried that it may be too watery after mixing in the yogurt. I drained them slightly, keeping a cup of liquid aside and dumped the berries into a blender. After mixing in the yogurt, I poured the reserved liquid back into the mixture.

Oh.. what a beautiful colour!!

As I do not have an ice cream maker, I did it the manual way. After mixing in the yogurt, the whole mixing bowl went into the freezer as I was too lazy to transfer them to a container since I'll need to scoop them out into the mixing bowl again later. After a good 3 hours, the yogurt has set about 70%, I took it out and mix it with my 350W mixer to break up the ice crystals. Back into the freezer for another 3 hours and beat it again.

Froze them in my ice pops tray and pudding moulds (yields 4).

DS2 is too eager to try this.


Verdict: Yummy! And a less sinful dessert as compared to ice CREAM ;-)

I'm posting my modified version for my own records as I've omitted pecans and reduced the sugar slightly. You may view the original recipe from here.

Blueberry Maple Frozen Yogurt
Ingredients
250g blueberries

130g sugar

60ml maple syrup

400ml plain yogurt

Method

1. Heat the blueberries, sugar and maple syrup and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Remove from the heat.
3. Let cool then mix in the yogurt and test for sweetness.
4. Put in the freezer to freeze for 3 - 4 hours, beat once with electric mixer.
5. Return to freezer for another 3- 4 hours, beat again.
6. Pour into ice cream tub and freeze overnight.
   

Apple Tart (Crostata di mele)

Sis C came over with her twins so the children can get to mingle and play together. I've always wanted to bake an apple tart but was afraid it will be too much for us. Since we have visitors today and I've got all the ingredients, why not give it a shot?

I love tarts but I hate blind-baking as it takes up too much time. When I saw this recipe from she bakes & she cooks, I had it on my To-Do list as this recipe does not require blind-baking :)

After kneading the pastry, I cooked the apples. The apples need to be cooled before spooning into the pastry. As it was running late, I had to prepare dinner and didn't have time to follow up on this tart. After dinner, I made Apple & Celery Juice for them and was busy washing up the kitchen. Next, it's time for kids to sleep... I only started rolling out the dough at 10ish at night. By the time the tart is baked, it's almost midnight... This shall be our breakfast then.

The recipe for the pastry seems too much so I froze 1/2 the portion. But as I was rolling out the dough, I realised it's only enough for my 18cm pan, there's nothing much left for the lattice. And to bring out a portion of the pastry dough from the freezer to thaw takes some time. I didn't want to waste time waiting so decided to bake it "naked".

Crostata di mele (apple tart)
Country cooking by stefano de pieri, pg 3, delicious Mar 05 issue
Serves 8-10

Ingredients
5 golden delicious or granny smith apples

50g unsalted butter

4 tbs honey

1 pinch cinnamon

Icing sugar, to dust

Shortcrust pastry

1 and ½ cups (225g) plain flour

2/3 cup (100g) self-raising flour

2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar

150g unsalted butter, softened

¼ cup (60ml) full-fat milk

2 egg yolks

Method

1. For the pastry, process the flours, sugar and butter in a food processor, then mix in the milk and egg yolks. If dough is too wet, add a little more flour. On a lightly floured surface, bring dough together, then knead until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
2. Meanwhile, peel and core the apples, then cut into quarters. Melt the butter in a frypan over medium heat, and when it begins to froth and brown, add the apple and cook until brown and softened; about 5-10 minutes depending on the ripeness of the apples. Add the honey and cinnamon, reduce heat to medium-low and stir continuously for about 10-15 minutes or until the apples are golden and caramelized. Cool to room temperature.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degree celcius. Grease a 24cm loose-bottomed tart pan. Once pastry has rested, roll out on a lightly floured surface to 5 mm thick and line pan with pastry.
4. Place cooled apples into pastry shell. With any remaining pastry, use a crinkled pastry cutter to cut 1cm-wide strips to make a lattice to place over top. Bake 30-35 minutes. Dust with icing sugar before serving with ice cream or cream.

Pizza Bread

Feeling super lazy today... the weather's so hot and humid!!

The weather plays an important part in my cooking. I'm in no mood to cook today. Checked that I still have a loaf of bread sitting in my freezer, I decided to have pizza for lunch ;-)


Rolled out the bread, spread some tomato sauce, layer with sliced tomatoes, shredded ham and cheese. DS2 helped me to assemble them :)

This is what I get after sending them into the oven for 25 mins.

Noticed the sides are slightly charred for these? These 2 couldn't fit into the oven so I used my toaster oven. Tada! That's our simple lunch today :P

As for dinner tonight, I'm still clueless...

Potato Pattie

Salmon is a very healthy fish given that it is very high in fatty acids. I love it especially when served as sashimi, yum!!

I cooked this for lunch so that DD3 can have it with her porridge. The 2 elder siblings went over to their cousins' house to play so they had their lunch there. For the balanced salmon, I mashed them up, add to mashed potato and steamed carrots, add some seasonings and shape into balls. Flatten it and coat it with eggs. I had wanted to make croquette but realised I ran out of cornflakes so I just left it as it is.

DD3 didn't quite like it, only finished 1/2 pc of the small potato pattie. On the other hand, DS2 loves this, he actually ate up 1 big and 3 small patties. That must be pretty filling for him.

Fund Raising Appeal

I came across this blog in a mothers' forum and I was saddened by it. This girl, Charmaine, is barely 4 but she has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma (cancer - stage 4). Her chance of survival is very low if she continues to seek treatment here in Singapore. Her chance will be higher if she receive a drug treatment from New York, but the medical fee is USD350,000 for upfront deposit.

Her mother, Cynthia Lim, is a divorcee. When she was pregnant with Charmaine, she received an sms asking for a divorce. Her husband left her for her good friend.

Do take a little time to visit her blog.

Little Charmaine's blog

Her medical report

Her mother's appeal

A quote from her blog, "Charmaine needs bullets to fight". Are you willing to be her weapon?

Coincidentally, I received an email from sister E today. She sent me the appeal link and mentioned that Cynthia is her ex-colleague. I decided to blog about this and seek your help in her fund raising appeal. Thanks!

Waffles

Ever since I bought my waffle maker, I've been scouting around for a reliable recipe. I've tried the Light & Crispy Waffles and the family likes it. While at my parents, I made it for them and get good reviews too. The only issue is, I need to rest the batter for min 30 mins and to me, time is very cruial. I can only make them for snacks but not breakfast since morning is always the busiest for me.

Attempted a chocolate waffle recipe (photo in my camera left @ parents), probably because it's slightly bitter, no one likes it as much as my brother M. He ate 3 full set of waffle with butter! Will blog about that when I get my camera back.

Coming back to this, when I saw this recipe, I wanted to try it as it's relatively simple. Most importantly, no egg separation and whisking to peaks needed! I hate to lug out my mixer to do something simple.

This waffle is somewhat denser, slightly like what you get outside minus the crisp. However, I ran out of coconut milk and replaced it with full cream milk. The waffles ain't very fragrant. I only had a set of the waffle and I'm quite full. If you want something heavy, then this is the one for you. Personally, I prefer the light and crispy waffles better.

PS: As you can see, the waffles are more evenly browned now. Looks like the iron is getting more seasoned :)

Waffles, recipe adapted from here

Ingredients
4 eggs
200g sugar
250g coconut milk
¼ tsp vanilla oil
300g self-raising flour
50g melted butter

Method

1. Mix eggs and sugar, stir till sugar dissolves
2. Add coconut milk and vanilla oil and mix well
3. Add self-raising flour mix well
4. Add melted butter mix well
5. Grease and heat the waffle iron. Pour in a suitable amountof batter. Close the iron and bake until both sides are golden brown

Blueberry Muffins

Fresh blueberries are in season now and most supermarkets are having promotional offer! Todate, I've purchased 10 punnets within 3 weeks! My 2 elder ones can finish a punnet all by themselves, and with DD3 joining the crowd, 1 punnet is no longer enough for them.

2 days ago, I bought 2 punnets from our local supermarket. I don't usually cook/bake them as my kids like to eat them fresh. However, these 2 punnets of blueberries are all very sour! OMG! I rem reading in Precious Moments blog that she has a really good Blueberry Muffins recipe. It never occur to me that I'll ever attempt a recipe from her blog. You see, I started visiting her blog when I first started my baking adventure a few years back. I admire her culinary and photography skills. Whatever she cooks/bakes just seem so perfect and I don't think I can ever attain that.

With a punnet of sour berries on hand, I decided to overcome my fears. After measuring out the igredients, I realised I ran out of baking soda and I can't find my baking powder! It was a mere 2 weeks without baking and my dementia is getting to me again. Thank goodness I still have 1/2 packet of Self Raising Flour on my cabinet. Also, I used less cinnamon powder as I don't like it too strong, just a little to enhance the taste is good enough.

Note: In case you are wondering, I'm using my spare camera at home ;-)

This recipe I'm posting is what I've done for this effort. You may view the original recipe from here.

Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

(A) Dry Mix

250g self raising flour

155g castor sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

(B) Wet Mix

250ml milk

125g corn oil

2 eggs

(C)

125g blueberries

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Prepare muffin tray.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, add wet ingredients and whisk till smooth.
4. Add wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir till just blended.
5. Add in 3/4 blueberries and stir till evenly incorporated.
6. Spoon onto prepared tin.
7. Sprinkle the reserved blueberries on top.
8. Baking for 15 - 20 mins or until cooked.
9. Cool on rack.

Missing Camera

Darn! Left my camera at my parents and I can't upload what I've cooked there. I lugged my biggest AMC pot and my waffle maker there :) Will update when I retrieve back the camera, hopefully soon.

Being appreciative

Time passed fast in the past 1 week despite no access to the internet. That's because I've been really busy at my parents'. I never knew I could cook up a storm :P Alright, I must admit it is not anything fanciful but to cook for 6 - 7 adults and 4 children is not a simple task. I've never cook this much throughout my entire life! For those who know me, you know I'm a Technican student with no Home Econs background. I can neither cook nor bake, and of course, I can't do needlework. How I got started was after having DD1 when she started eating solids. I had no choice but to step into the kitchen and I only started baking "intensively" 1 - 2 years ago.

Back to being appreciative... I used to complain about my MIL (mother-in-law), the way she handles/cooks our meals. When I was back at my parents, I was shocked to see the amount of frozen food in the freezer!

• Fish X 4 packets
• Prawns X 7 packets (each packet consists of at least 20 prawns)
• Pork Ribs X 5 packets
• Shoulder meat X 3 packets
• Minced meat X 5 packets (I estimate it to be around 400g each)
• Otah (from Msia) X 6 packets
• Rice dumpings X 5 packets (each pack has 6 - 8 dumplings)
• many more...

I can't blame my parents as my mom has "unexpected guests" visiting all the time. You see, there are 8 siblings in the family and most of us are married with kids. And whenever there's a festival, we will all be back for meals. Even without any special occassion, any impromptu visit from either one sibling will add on to the amount of food she needs to prepare.

I've always taken my parents for granted, especially my mom. I only started to appreciate her after I've delivered DD1. Thinking back... what took me so long to understand her? As parents, they will do what is best for their children, which is what I'm doing now for my children. Even towards my parents-in-law (PIL), I've also taken them for granted when I first got married. After being a sahm, I've learnt to appreciate my MIL more.

Have you been appreciative towards the people around you?

Home Sweet Home :-)

Finally back home...

Nope, I wasn't away for a holiday although I wished I was. For the past few days, I was back at my parents because my mom had a fall last week and there is a crackline in her wrist bone. I do not know how bad is the fracture but she's currently on cast now. With a cast on her left hand, she can't do much. DH is such a dear, he suggested I go back to my parents place since it is school holidays. It didn't occur to me that he wanted me to go back to help out until Sister E mentioned the same thing.

It is definitely no easy feat to stay over especially when I have 3 young children. Imagine the amount of clothes and diapers (for DD3) I have to lug. Also, things are not the same there, no oven, no bread machine, limited kitchen space, different utensils etc... And most importantly, no access to the internet!! I missed chatting up with friends (you know who you are) and surfing the Net for new recipes.

Actually, there is internet access but I really do not have time to surf when I'm there. What's more, the computer belongs to my brother M and he needs to use the computer too.

Anyway, I'll be going back to my parents place again tomorrow and won't be back till Friday. This means that I won't be able to blog. Do drop me a note if you miss me ;-)

Light and Crispy Waffles

Sister E helped me to buy this waffle maker (Bluesky) from Carrefour 2 weeks ago but I only collected it 2 days ago. The usual selling price is SGD19.90 but I got it on offer, only SGD9.90 and what's more, if you are a DBS Everyday Card holder, you get another 10% off!

Along with the set, it came with a recipe that requires egg separation and to whisk the egg whites to soft peak. Being lazy, I started to search for simple recipes on the Net. I found Baking Bites's blog and she sure has lots of waffle recipes! Browsed through her blog and found a recipe that does not need egg separation. The waffle is indeed crispy and light but my waffles are very thin, unlike the Belgian waffles. I googled and found out from Wikipedia that this waffle iron is actually used for Scandinavian waffles (thin waffles made in a heart shaped waffle iron).

Also, the waffle doesn't brown evenly but I read somewhere that you need to season the iron and subsequently, your waffles will all be nicely browned. I'll have to use this more often and not let it become another white elephant (like my Penguin Waffle Maker :P). Nevertheless, I'm not complaining since this is such a good buy.

This waffle can be eaten on it's own if you do not have sweeth tooth like me or otherwise, you may add some maple syrup to go along (which I did for the kiddos) and top with some fresh berries, yummy!

Light and Crispy Waffles
(adapted from the Waffles of Insane Greatness)

Ingredients
2/3 cup all purpose flour (I just use Self Raising Flour and omit the other rising agents in the recipe)
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Make a well in the center and pour in milk, oil, egg and vanilla. Whisk together until fully combined.
3. Let batter rest for 30-60 minutes at room temperature.
4. Preheat your waffle iron and cook according to the manufacturer's instructions (the oil in the waffles should eliminate the need to grease the iron).
5. Serve immediately with syrup, butter and/or berries.

Banana Bread Pudding

There were some Banana Quick Bread left overs and I'm unsure if they freeze well so I made bread pudding with them.

I'm not a fan of bread pudding, in fact, I don't like bread pudding. However, I don't want to dump my banana bread into the bin so I came up with this.

The kids had this for tea break today and I'm glad they enjoyed themselves.

Ingredients

2 banana quick bread, muffin size (break into small pieces)

1 TBSP butter, melted

1/3 cup (50g) raisins

2 eggs

250ml milk

70g caster sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. Lay bread pieces in 8" round pan. Drizzle melted butter over bread and add raisins
3. Using a big mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon, mix well till sugar dissolved.
4. Pour egg mixture over bread. Use a fork to press down the bread so that they are fully soaked in the egg mixture.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until centre is set.