Wake Up and Smell the Cake

The little one woke me up just after 4 for milk, and at that time I didn't feel sleepy at all so I played games on the phone and got up at 5 to make today's breakfast and lunch. It was clear-the-fridge aglio olio! Sadly some of the mushrooms have gone bad, but I managed to salvage some. I also have cauliflower, capsicum and fried chicken to clear. For a portion of 2, the following ingredients were used: 4 cloves garlic, minced 3 cili padi, sliced 1/2 capsicum, sliced Whatever mushrooms I had 1/2 floret of cauliflower 2 handfuls of shell pasta (HA HA lazy me used hands as unit of measure) 2 cooked chicken breast, sliced Extra virgin olive oil for dressing In the interest of time, I boiled the cauliflower in the same water as the pasta. Cauliflower was cooked first, taken out then pasta goes into the boiling water added with salt and oil. I also pre-fried the capsicum in a little oil, mainly cos I fried the whole capsicum and set aside half for another day. In

When Husband's not around, I become more hardworking HAHAHA. I clean more, I cook more. Saturday I made lontong goreng tomyam for breakfast, and yesterday I made my first ever chicken rice. I even have ingredients to make aglio olio, which I think I'll make either tonight or early tomorrow morning for breakfast. The lontong goreng was a pure experiment, no inferences from recipes and all but it turned out good. Not sure if it's something Husband would eat haha! Lontong Goreng Tomyam 1 packet lontong instant Adabi, cut in cubes 4 tbsp tomyam paste 2 eggs, pre-scrambled Handful of mushrooms Chicken breast, sliced Coriander leaves (I didn't have lemongrass or lime leaves) 1/2-1 tsp salt Fry the tomyam paste in some oil, then add the mushrooms and chicken to cook them. Add some water so the paste doesn't dry up. Add in the scrambled eggs then the lontong cubes and fry until mixed well. For yesterday's chicken rice, I adapted slightly from a reci

Husband's gone for 15 days. Third time in two months, or 22 out of 60 days. That's a whole lot of days. I usually stay at my mum's when the Husband isn't around especially for long periods, but I decided to stay on our own, and this will be the longest ever with him around. So far I've managed well, though I feel I should be bringing them out more on weekends, but I am just occupied with basic housework stuff. This weekend I shall make an effort to bring them to see Elmo and Cookie Monster. Haha. The day he went off, he wanted to eat some homecooked meal, and requested for rendang. I already have a rendang recipe from my mum , but we tried the minang version, provided by my friend. I tweaked it a bit, but I will show you the original recipe as well. Rendang Minang original version 1kg beef 1 litre pati santan 2 tbsp kerisik 1 pc asam keping 2 tbsp gula melaka 2 daun kunyit sliced thinly 3 tbsp cili kisar Ingredients to blend: 10 red onions 4 clove

No photos today, but just wanna document my breakfast effort this morning! Marinated chicken (garlic powder, ground cumin & coriander, black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper) with stir fried capsicum from the oils of cooking the chicken, butterhead lettuce and sour cream in a wrap. Yummy! But I'm kinda hungry now hurhur. I should've put more chicken. I think I'm gonna get for myself yoghurt.

Excess tart shells + cheese about to expire = mini cheese tarts. Easy peasy cos the tart shells are pre-made, so all I had to do was to bake the shells, make the cheese filling and bake again! My son wanted to help so I got him to fill the shells with the cream cheese mixture. He's more descriptive now, and it's a joy to hear his comments and questions. Found this recipe from the facebook group Baking's Corner, since someone posted just a couple of days ago, hence the inspiration. Cream Cheese Filling 500g cream cheese 40g butter 2 eggs 120g sugar Beat all the ingredients together until no lumps, using a handheld electric mixer. Scoop a tablespoonful of filling and fill the baked tart shells. Note: Tart shells were baked at 180 degrees Celsius for 14 minutes and left to cool before filling can be poured in. Bake the filled cheese tart for 10-12 minutes untill cooked. The tart shells have a milk powderish taste, which doesn't feel like what shortcr

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I'm one who can't live without breakfast. I have no idea how some don't have any appetite and just skip breakfast altogether! I've been lazy in preparing breakfast again, and since school closed, there's only one stall opened here and practically everything is fried, and/or laden with coconut milk. The tipping point was yesterday, when the man at the stall charged a higher price for the exact same thing we ordered the day before! And when I mentioned that why is there a difference, he totally ignored us. So here's to more homemade breakfasts again, and I have to either sacrifice my sleep, or be more efficient and somehow find breakfasts that can be made in a jiffy. Yesterday we bought minced meat, butterhead lettuce, eggs, vegetables and smoked salmon with peppers. The ingredients are enough to make sabsuka, egg sandwiches or wraps, aglio olio, and if I have more time, quiches. Today I woke up later tha

I love apples in cakes but sometimes the amount of apple is just too little. I had 6 apples to use up, and I figured, why not try replicate Swensen's apple crumble! So I searched for apple crumble cake, which some call the German apple cake. This recipe is by allrecipes UK . Apple Crumble Cake For the cake base: 100g butter (I used 30g butter, 70g oil cos I was lazy to thaw more butter) 100g brown sugar 200g flour 1 tbsp baking powder 3 eggs Apple layer: 6 apples, peeled and diced sprinkle of cinnamon Juice of 1/2 lemon Crumble top: 125g butter 125g sugar (can reduce to 100 next time) 150g flour Mix the cake base like a normal cake/muffin method and pour into an 8 or 9 inch springform pan lined with baking paper. Important to always line the tin! Mix the apples with the cinnamon and juice, then layer over the cake base. You can press in the apples into the cake base so that the cake won't be apple-less haha. Using your fingers, mix the crumble ingredi

I realised I haven't written down nasi lemak recipe in here. I've made a few times, some hits some misses, especially with the salt for the rice. Maybe next time I'll try using coconut milk instead of cream, and low fat option too. Nasi Lemak 1 packet santan cream (Kara brand) 9 pandan leaves, knotted 5 of my cups of rice, which is probably equivalent to 5 cups additional water after the cream 3 tsp salt Sambal Tumis To blend/ pound: 3 onions, sliced 7 cloves of garlic 1 inch ginger 2sq cm belacan 1 tsp tamarind paste, soaked in water 8 tbsp cili kisar prawns/boiled eggs 2 tbsp sugar Fry the blended paste in oil, then add in the cili kisar and fry. Add in the water from the tamarind paste and sugar. 

Last Friday I was craving some tomyum creamy pasta from Pastamania. I thought I'd have that for my me time lunch. But. I got turned off at the queue with lots of students. Urgh. How much pocket money do these kids get?! So I went NTUC instead and got ingredients for Sunday's experiment meal. I couldn't find much tomyum pastes, which I thought was weird, so I settled for NTUC brand paste. Didn't get any seafood either cos I don't fancy seafood that much. The darling daughter had 3 hours nap, which left me with much time to iron clothes, sweep the floor, cook the pasta sauce and marinate chicken breasts to be eaten with the pasta (I didn't put meat into the sauce). I cooked for dinner for myself and Husband, with agarations as usual since there's no recipe per se. Cooking the veges first Tomyum Creamy Pasta 1 onion, sliced 2 lemongrass, bruised 3 tbsp NTUC tomyum paste  (2 for less spicy) 100ml cooking cream 100ml milk (no need salt!)

Today my baby boy is celebrating Children's Day in school and everyone was to bring goodies or food. I made brownies for him to bring since they are easy to transport and they're chocolatey. Kids like that right? I tried another recipe, one which is more trustworthy. Hershey's! I had Hershey's cocoa to use up too. It is a perfect go to brownie recipe! I don't usually come across 4 egg brownie recipes but that made this brownies more moist and less prone to being hard in case of overbaking. I made one batch yesterday morning before work as a test, and since it was good, I made another this morning but with nuts and some chocolate chips for the office and our home. This is husband approved! :) Two batches worth of brownies Hershey's Brownies 225g unsalted butter 1/4 tsp salt 4 eggs 2 cups sugar 3/4 cup cocoa powder 1 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking powder Melt the butter and mix with the salt and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and incorporate int

I finally nailed it. Made this before but it was either too pedas, or too salty, or not salty at all. This is actually a recipe for nasi goreng kampung but my mum uses it for lontong goreng as well. My Mum's Lontong Goreng 2 packets cooked instant lontong, cut in cubes 4 eggs, scrambled To blend: 2 onions 5 green chillies 5 red chillis 3 tbsp ikan bilis 1 square inch belacan (the flat round one) a little bit of water for blending Fry the blended paste in oil until dry and the chillies cooked. Add in the scrambled eggs and lontong. You can also add in minced meat or chicken if you have them. I am itching to make maybe some salted caramel cupcakes. But who am I kidding. I should go make the caramel first haha! This calls for a trip to the supermarket to get some heavy cream!

Finally baked something over the weekend! I got my little boy to help me even though he was feeling all sorts of tummy aches and having fever. Made a simple butter cake, and the pan was chosen by the boy too. Marble Bundt Cake 225g butter 250g sugar 4 eggs 65g almond flour 240g self raising flour 1 cup evaporated milk 2 heaps of Hershey's cocoa powder Little boy brought his Boulder transformers along, and he helped with weighing, mixing and making patterns. Had a good weekend, going to USS for family day. Only took 3 rides though cos the boy's fever shot up again by noon. Tonight I'm gonna try make chicken baked rice for tomorrow's sahur. I did it before but I didn't write down the recipe, have to start from scratch again sigh.

Finally after trolling many food blogs and recipes, I got down to making sabsuka. And even though I trolled and found one I thought I'd use, I tried my own mix. I made once for myself only, and yesterday I made another bigger batch so I can keep and use whenever I want to. No pictures, though, but Husband loved the smell when I was frying the meat. Sabsuka 300g minced meat 1 onion, sliced 2 cili padi, sliced 1 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp cumin powder 2 tbsp curry powder 6 tbsp tomato sauce, add more if you want cos I didn't measure coriander leaves Fry the onion in minimal oil until soft, then add in the minced meat and all the powders and tomato sauce. Cook till the waters evaporate, or depending how wet you want your sabsuka to be. Add coriander leaves. To make into sabsuka, transfer to a baking dish, make 2 holes for 2 eggs and then bake for 15-18 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. I made some into a pizza yesterday. Use 1 piece of bread, sprinkle mozzarella

It's hard fasting while most are not. Haha. And I'm already hungry this early in the morning! Sigh. It's only Day 2 of 8, and I hope to complete at least 6 within Syawal! I'm bored of sorts lately. It's quite cyclical, once in a couple of months or so. This time round I think I'm getting tired of raya. I want a day that I can sit at home with no plans at all, so I can catch up on my housework and laze around with my family. I am, after all, the Raya Grinch. In other news, I turned 31 two days ago! Hijrah calendar of course. I haven't written a random post like this in ages, mostly it's recording of recipes these days. Maybe I should pen down such thoughts again.

After the egg tarts, I slowly built up the ingredients for shepherd's pie. Reason being I can't cook for a long period of time without having kids cutting in for attention. So I boiled the cauliflower (a whole head!) first while cooking baby's food, let it rest for some time, before frying the minced meat. That too rested in the frying pan until it turned cold. Haha. I added red capsicum, curry powder, coriander powder and 2 sprigs of curry leaves to the meat to make it fragrant. I mashed the cauliflower with low fat milk and cheese, also at another time when the baby was taking her noon nap. Managed to get 4 loaves/servings of shepherd's pie, one I baked for lunch and the other 3 refrigerated for the next few days' breakfasts. Easy peasy, bake it for half an hour, let it rest for another half hour and pack for work! It tastes better after a day, maybe because the cheese and cauliflower and milk have all blended well together. I did not make measurements

Finally got down to making some egg tarts and using up my store bought tart shells. I got them from Phoon Huat, and intended to make some savoury tarts for guests but those were just my never ending dreams. And another of my dream is to make sabsuka, and hence 2 dozen eggs in my fridge plus 2kg of minced meat in the freezer. I know right. Ha. Ha. Eggs need to be used up first, and after sifting through many recipes, I found one simple one that uses low fat milk which I have. None other than one of my favourite sites, Baking Bites ! They use only egg yolks. The egg whites I decided to make a fritatta of some sort but didn't turn out too well so not sharing it here. Egg Tarts 5 medium egg yolks 2/3 cup low fat milk splash of vanilla oil 1/2 cup sugar Whisk all together, pour into a measuring cup for easy pouring into the tart shells. Take tart shells out of the freezer and pour the custard in. Bake for 17-20 minutes at 170 degrees. These are husband-approved! Thoug

Made my cookies already! So happy. Was contemplating on making meringue kisses but looking at the time it will take in the oven and also the time I took contemplating, haha weekend over! :p Made the usual stuff. Almond London (2 batches!), pineapple tarts, chocolate chip cookies and cornflake cookies. Making cookies is laborious but I don't seem tired from it. The Husband said I'm having fun in the kitchen haha. I didn't take any photos for the cookies, mainly cos they are recipes I've used before. These 4 cookies, I won't look to other recipes. Not planning a major overhaul of the house, just cleaning up some things here and there. Most of the house has been springcleaned and unwanted things thrown pre-Ramadan. Am also not a big fan of dressing up the house just for raya, I like to keep it neat and practical. After all I have a boy with toys everywhere and a girl who is crawling and starting to climb all over. We had a change of carpet, and some new cus

Yes! No longer in my 20s as of yesterday haha. Getting older, I definitely can feel it. From the knee aches, back aches, to the reactions I realise I have on certain issues. More laid back, more composed and I'm learning to be more patient. Growing up definitely. Yesterday's celebration was simple, I didn't want buffet spreads or fancy cafes. Getting too old for such things haha! Buffet during Ramadan is not advisable, plus it's expensive. Cafes, so far all I've tried were disappointing, many people said sedap sedap but ok ok only, so I shall skip that and get food which I know is good. I actually wanted to eat Indian rojak ahhaha. But we ended up at Spize cos well rojak is usually at a hawker centre heh but Spize was good too cos we had a good table. Earlier in office, Husband surprised me with a bouquet of flowers on my table! Overjoyed! Too happy :) I don't usually ask for flowers, but hey which girl doesn't love getting flowers! Especially surpris

Yesterday I was on leave for my baby boy's birthday day out. Was feeling extra hardworking so I cooked salted egg chicken for sahur. Got up earlier to prepare and I'm glad I did! Later that morning I made bombay briyani for buka. Baby girl was at my mum's for the day so we can give full attention to the birthday boy. Salted Egg Chicken These take less than an hour to make, fast and easy peasy and totally yummy! I don't have to buy outside anymore! This is husband-approved! 2 chicken breasts (the big one, not the small pieces) 1 egg white Cornstarch + 1/2 tsp salt 2 tbsp butter 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 inch ginger, finely chopped 3 salted egg yolks, mashed Evaporated milk, about 7-10 tbsp, depending on how thick you want the gravy to be 20 curry leaves, the more the merrier 2 cili padi (I didn't have this so I used 2 green chilies) Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes. Coat them with egg white, then in the cornstarch dip, then deep fr

Ramadan is here, which means lots of dates, and time to think of ways to keep my supply up. I looked for a dates brownie recipe and came across this recipe from Annabel Langbein which uses a whole lot of dates and is the ultimate chocolate brownie. I halved the recipe cos it's just too much, and pitting and chopping a cup of dates is rather time consuming. Ultimate Chocolate Brownies 1 cup pitted and chopped dates 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/8 cup boiling water 150ml oil 2 eggs 1 cup sugar (can reduce) 1/2 cup cocoa 1/2 cup flour 1/4 tsp baking powder Soak the chopped dates in the baking soda and boiling water, then add oil and mix all together. Mash them to get a creamy consistency. I didn't fully mash them, there were still some chunks of dates in the brownies but can't really tell. Let it rest for about 20 minutes or until the mixture is no longer hot. In a large separate bowl, add sugar, then sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa. I used Valrho