Crumbed and Stuffed Chicken!

Ahhh this was tonight's dinner! Crumbed chicken with pancetta, spinach, sundried tomato pesto and cheese! :) I roasted some potatos for the side dish, and to make it complete, sliced up some cucumber! :)

This was fairly yum!!! A bit of work though, because of the assembling, and also because you had to first coat it with flour, then dip it in the egg + milk mixture, then coat it with breadcrumbs, leave it in the fridge for 30mins, then pan fry it each side to get it nice and brown, then place it in the oven for about 10mins or until the chicken is cooked through!

This is the first time I'm using pancetta... hmmm... I think I may go for bacon next time, because I could hardly feel or taste the effects of the pancetta... however, I think bacon may be a little too strong....

I'm not sure if my picture does justice to the chicken, but it was quite a satisfying meal!

Do have a go when inspiration hits you! :)

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!!!

8 Days to go before Christmas!!!

I love this time of the year! :) The cheer, the festivity, the relaxed atmosphere, the christmas carols, just everything about December! I wish December lasted a little longer than a month... :) Anyway, so I had big plans to bake, and maybe even do a Christmas cake... but with 8 days to go, none of it has happened :( - There will be always be the hope for Christmas 2007.

However, we had a christmas dinner for the YAs, and Janice and I were placed in charge of catering dinner for 60 young adults!!! It was a huge task, at times seemed too large and a mountain too high to climb, but we had so much fun, and Janice is absolutely amazing with her decorations and food ideas! So we had heaps of fun!!!

Thank you to all the wonderful people who helped us out! :) Couldnt have done it without you! :)

Incase I don't see or speak to you guys soon, just want to...
wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a very blessed 2007!!!
May 2007 be an even better year for you, with more dreams coming true and success in everything you do! :)

Thanks for reading my blog - may 2007 bring even more food and cooking inspiration!!! :)

Check out the photos below.........

The beginning of the feast for the night....

Another view of the food... :)

The yummy ham Eulynn roasted....

The turkey I roasted... not exactly the best shot but thank God it worked out well.
Did you know turkey porridge is extremely yummy??? :)

The summer berry trifle that I made! :)
(check out the cool food labels that Janice made!!!)

Perfect Mini Fruit tarts!

Heyhey!!! Yes I know, it has been so long since I last blogged! I just realised there were NO entries in November! I have been pretty busy, didn't bake all that much actually, on reflection. But promise there will be a few more entries coming up! Okay for the first time ever, I made proper custard.... this is called pastry cream, and it was really good! But I want to modify it next time... I'll post the recipe below and write little notes at the bottom on how I would modify it. It was really delicious, a little bit too sweet (which is why i would suggest the following modications), I used real vanilla instead of the essence... it was a pastry cream hence if you want it a little firmer, you prob should add in more cornstarch. But this certainly beats the box custard! So try it sometime! :) No, I didn't make the shortcrust pastry - bought the mini tarts (Pampus) brand - follow instructions, real simple and totally yummy! I brushed some gelatine over the top of the fruit.

Perfect summer treat especially when chilled!!! :)

2 cups half-and-half (mixture of milk and cream)
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated white sugar
A pinch of salt (1/8 tsp.)
5 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Heat the half-and-half, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and salt in a saucepan until the mixture simmers. Stir occasionally to dissolve sugar.

2. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks in a bowl until smooth. Whisk in the remaining sugar (2 tablespoons) with the egg yolks. Whisk the mixture for about about 15 seconds. Whisk in the cornstarch and keep whisking for about 30 seconds.

3. When the half-and-half mixture is simmering, gradually add the the hot milk/cream mixture to the egg yolks, only a little at a time. Return the mixture to the pan and simmer until the mixture is thick and shiny, about 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. If you prefer a smooth pastry cream, strain the mixture through a sieve. Refrigerate the pastry cream for at least 3 hours, until it is cold. You can keep it for two days!

Source: http://kokonuggetyumyum.blogspot.com/2005/05/biggest-disappointment-ever-strawberry.html#111638886260095363

*Liz's modifications: Here is what I would suggest for next time - mind you, I havent tried this modified version, just some thoughts I had after tasting it - it is fairly sweet, so I would cut down the sugar by 1/3. I would perhaps add in an extra tablespoon of the cornstarch*

Shortbread varieties!

After dinner tonight, the perfect square of butter in the fridge totally distracted me! Days ago, I was thinking of baking plain shortbread with chocolate shape print in the middle, so totally eager to make these perfectly shaped cookies, I headed straight into the kitchen after dinner.

I made choc chip shortbread, plain shortbread and "double decker" shortbread! My initial idea of those shortbread with cute patterns in the middle disappeared after I tried doing it, too much work, far too delicate and for some weird reason, my dough tonight seemed to be a bit drier than I remembered it was previously!

Anyway it turned out well! So here I am, 2 hours later, kitchen cleaned, shortbread baked, waiting for it to be cooled before packing it away! Tomorrow is the first day of the month, busy time @ work - hopefully these cookies will bring some sense of comfort to us in the midst of urgent journals, accounting issues and tight deadlines! :)

Have a happy mid-week everyone! :)

More Apples!!!

Entry on Sunday: Yes yes yes! More apples! Weekends seem to be getting busier! After a REALLY busy Saturday, today seemed like a holiday :) I even managed to do my laundry and watched "The Break up" too - I had heard mixed reviews about it. My quick review of it: dialogue was VERY realistic, and shows the different ways in which guys and girls work! Ending was a bit ermmm... iffy.... if there is such a word! It was perhaps a "blah" movie... in which you cant really comment on for more than 2 sentences! :)

A couple of weeks ago, I bought the Nov 06 issue of "Food Idea" and saw a recipe for a "Apple and Custard teacake" - that seemed interesting enough! Seeing the huge basket of apples that we still had and liking custard, this seemed like the perfect recipe to try!

Taste verdict: Not bad! Although I think the previous apple cake was a better recipe! That one had an incredible fluffy texture! But this one was definitely really nice and moist because of the custard. The cake formed a slight apple and custard layer at the bottom.

An Apple a day keeps the doc away? :)

Yes of course! :) So what better way to consume your daily prescription of fruits than in a yummy Apple & Cinnamon teacake?! Haha! Well, ok this probably wouldnt be what a doctor would prescribe, but nevertheless there are real fresh apples in this cake!


Recipe came from the "Good Taste" Sept 06 magazine! I have been starring at it for ages, and was hoping to bake it on the weekend... but didn't end up baking it. So tonight, after a loooong day @ work, I was STILL thinking about the cake... and was going through the "should I or should I not" thought process, and then BANG! thought why not! How long would it take me anyway?! And so in less than an hour, it was sitting very nicely in the oven... 40mins later, the aroma filled the kitchen, and shortly after, here it was! Taste was really quite lovely! The texture of the cake was nice and fluffy and very light, yet moist! A very even textured cake :) Apples were nice and sweet and it was all just right! I increased the milk a bit just to make sure it would not be dry, but other than that, I didnt change the ingredients!

Hor Fun

One of my friends asked why I didnt mention his name in my blog when he was part of the "blog action"! Haha! I told him I would devote a whole entry to him then - so here it is, this "Hor Fun" entry is for you - hahaha! To someone who is entertaining to watch eat, always likes savouries, who doesnt like sweets, and only enjoys about 2 desserts in the whole world!!! (that has to change one day! haha! :P)

A few weeks ago, I started cooking this dish - I'm sorry I dont have the recipe - Im being like a typical asian cook and just adding this and that to the dish to taste! - I now understand my Mum! :) It's basically white noodle sticks (Kway Teow) - that you buy fresh from the asian shops and you fry it with oil and garlic, and to make it brown, simply put a bit of the dark sticky black sauce! You then cook the egg sauce and once completed, you ladle the sauce over the kway teow. This was dinner tonight - my family enjoyed it - phew it passed the high quality food control family testing! :)

A trick to make the egg sauce - crack the whole egg in and swirl it very quick and only a couple of times, otherwise the sauce looks too eggy like scrambled eggs! :)

Best eaten with the green pickled chilli, but we forgot to buy some, so ate it with some hot red pickled chilli instead!!! :)

Green tea cupcakes!!!

Green tea green tea green tea! It has a very subtle fragrance! :) I'm not sure what it is about it, perhaps the thought that it may ermm have a healthy element to it that makes it appealing? Nah not really! Hehe! Anyway, I finally got round to baking these "different" sort of cupcakes - thanks to the Cupcake Bakeshop @ http://cupcakeblog.com/! Check this blog out, it is all inspiring!!! :) Takes the idea of a cupcake to a whole different heavenly level! :)

I once thought and still do think that green tea has a bit of a fish food flavour to it, and I remember my friend once asked if I had actually tasted fish food! No! Of course not, but really, you have to admit it does have that type of flavour to it... :)

On that ermm interesting note, here are the fruits of my oven labour this afternoon! :) Very good - a recipe to keep! This is not your fluffy airy type of cupcake - it is one that has a fairly solid feel to it, and you can definitely taste the green tea - it's subtle but it's there. For those who dont like a strong taste of it, you'll appreciate this, and I love the fact that these cupcakes are green! :) Kinda different! :)

I cut down on the sugar to 1.5cups of sugar instead of the 2 cups... refer to the Cupcakeshop blog for the recipe :)

Enjoy all! :)

I am alive!!!

Hello hello hello!

Okay, so it has indeed been awhile since I wrote or updated this blog! Sorry! Things have been so busy! :) I have though been cooking! Just havent been taking snaps and writing it up here! I've been exploring and cooking more savouries - I figured I should invest more time into this area, although more useful and tasier, not as fun or pretty as desserts! :)

Anyway, thank you for those who are still checking in once in awhile - in approx 2 weeks this blog should hopefully be more alive! I'm dying to try out the green tea cupcakes that was in someone's cupcake blog - looks fab! So that shall be happening soon - plus I still need to try the Spanish Roast Chicken by Jamie Oliver... talking about Jamie Oliver, his Sticky Toffee Pudding is awesome! Love it love it love it! Simple to make, so moist and well... delicious! :)

A couple of annonymous bloggers have dropped in to say Hi! Thanks! and Hi back! :) For the person who asked for the Raspberry Donna Hay cupcake recipes - I will post it up in about 2 weeks if that is ok? Please check in from time to time! :) You'll love it! :)

Okay till then, happy eating everyone!!!

Cheers, Liz :)

Nutty choc chip cookies!

Last week's bake!!!
Choc chip cookies with a bit of a variation - used brown raw sugar instead (this gave it a bit more of a grainey feel) and tossed in some chopped almonds! :)

Good morning!!!

Check these pancakes out! I made these for our Sat breakfast! :)

These were from Jamie Oliver's Happy Days recipe book, and they were like the hotcakes from McDonalds! Fluffy and fairly thick, and surprisingly it browned real nicely! :) Although a little more complicated and time consuming to prepare, as you need to separate the yolks and the whites, but it was worth it! :)

The recipe doesnt have sugar in it, so you can make it either sweet or savoury and the variety of toppings is just endless! I drizzled maple syrup, whipped up some cream and cut some strawberries, simply divine!!! :)

Harry's in Perth?!!!

Refer to earlier postings on "Harry's Hotdogs" in Sydney :) So anyway, we decided to try making our own today for lunch! It was actually pretty nice! We didnt make the sauce from scratch(!), bought the Taco seasoning, and added in our own onions and garlic, diced tomatos, kidney beans and minced beef :) Pretty yum! And added the Master foods hot chilli sauce! It did come quite close to the real thing, but we still need to find the right sausage... the American hotdogs from Woolworths was not solid enough!

However, overall quite a tasty Saturday lunch! :)

Cake mixes?!!!

Okay, I admit I am usually quite skeptical about using cake mixes because 1) I think it's not enough fun, not enough of a challenge and 2) it may not turn out nice! Either too bland or too sweet or something like that!

However, on Thursday night we stopped by Woolworths, and I was browsing through the cake section! I wanted to make choc chip cookies, but decided that I would feel too guilty if I spent too much time in the kitchen when I really should be doing a lot of other things... ie study, assignment, etc etc! Then these very attractive cadbury boxes caught my eye! My 2 above hesitations immediately accompanied it!!!

I decided yes to "cheat bake" so that I could have a little bit of fun in the kitchen and yet not take TOO much time...... so I bought the Cadbury Choc Swirl Cake mix!

Verdict: Simple to make, so if you like a challenge in the kitchen, there is absolutely NONE, but it turned out well! Yay! Light, spongy and tasty, and the frosting was really yummy too! :) So do give this a go, it's pretty good value @ $4 a box, and simple to make and tasty!

My colleagues enjoyed it, so it was all worth it! :)

Glutinous rice in Lotus Leaves!

I've been dying to try this out for absolute ages - even before my last exam and before my Sydney trip! Yay finally I managed to find some time (at the expense of my tax assignment... hmmm hmmm :P) on Sunday afternoon and made it!

Check it out!

1. You can purchase these dried lotus leaves from Asian grocery shops - soak them in hot water for an hour till it is soft.
   

2. Most recipes will ask you to soak the glutinous rice in water overnight and then steam it for about 30mins - My mum taught me a quick way of just microwaving it for about 20mins (I used about 3 cups of rice for this recipe) - just place enough water to cover it about 1-1.5 inches above the surface of the rice. I think it's better to have less water than more, as you can always add in more later! :)

Place the rice in a steam-proof container and steam for about 30mins.

3. Ingredients are chinese mushrooms, shrimp, chinese sausage (see below) and chicken breast. Soak ingredients, other than the chicken in hot water for about 30mins. Up to you how much ingredients you would like to use :)

Marinate the sliced chicken fillet with a bit of sesame oil and soya sauce.

4. Thinly slice the chinese sausage.

5. Simmer the ingredients. Heat the pan with oil, and fry the chicken till slightly brown. Place the chopped garlic, chinese mushrooms, chinese sausages and shrimp once chicken is fairly cooked and fry for a few mins. I like the filling to be brown, so I threw in some dark soya sauce and oyster sauce. Make it as tasty or as not tasty as you like! :) Oh yeah, and throw in some spring onions as well!

To make the sauce thick, combine some cornflour with cold water and mix it into the cooked ingredients, and simmer for a few mins.

6. The steamed glutinous rice.

7. Place a big tablespoon of rice in the middle of the lotus leave, and put a bit of the ingredients into the centre, and cover it with the glutinous rice. Wrap the 'rice parcel' with the lotus leaves like an envelope.

Steam for about 30mins or so.

8. This is it! :) Yum yum!!! The lotus leaves really do give it a nice fragrance! :)
Eaten best when straight out of the steamer!!! :)

Agar Jelly!

Fellow foodblogger from "Grab your Fork" asked ages ago for the agar jelly recipe! Sorry it has taken this long!

Extremely simple - it's basically follow the instructions at the back of the pack of this particular brand of agar powder that I used! Absolutely no tricks there! I like using the powder version, heaps quicker! Actually I have never used the strips before, but Mum has said it is more of a hassle!

Some quick pointers on making the layered jelly (besides it being absolutely time consuming, but totally worth while when it works out!):

• I like using coconut milk to get the pastel colours - I dont really have a set amt of how much of it I use. Eg. 1 recipe = 1L of water, you could do half water and half coconut milk. I have never used 100% coconut milk before!

• Each layer takes about 3-5mins to harden - use a toothpick to lightly tap each layer to make sure it is actually set before pouring in the next layer.

• To get a nice pandan flavour, use the green pandan flavour colouring which can be purchased from Asian grocery shops.

• A problem I had was how do you keep the jelly from not hardening in its pots/containers whilst you wait for each layer to set? Keep it on a low flame! Otherwise it will most likely set in the pot :)

• Recipe asks for 250g sugar... I always use just under a cup of sugar.. I think this is less than 250g sugar, and just right if you ask me! :)
  

Pretty in Pink!!!

For those that know me, I love PINK!!! I'm not sure when or how this obsession happened but it did! A couple of weekends ago, Mum and I went to this cake decoration supply shop in Bibra Lake and I bought some royal icing sugar (which you can buy from Coles as well) and decided to buy some liquid food colouring to try! Of course I chose my favourite colour - Pink! Surprisingly, you only need a tiny bit of this liquid (so yes this tiny jar is going to last me yonkers!!!) to get a really lovely pink colour!

I did refreshments again this week for church and inspired by the pretty pictures in the August 06 Good Taste magazine of their cupcakes, made the White Chocolate Mudcake cupcakes, but made them Mini size. The recipe was simple enough and seemed really good, but I guess with all mini size cupcakes they often tend to be more dry... anyway going ahead with my initial plan, I decided to "dress" it up in Pink! Used Betty Crocker's vanilla frosting and with a bit of the pink liquid food color, the gorgeous pink was born! I bought a really cute set of little cutters to get the tiny heart shapes :)


Oh, and just a quick one - I tried out the Orange Yoghurt cake from "Milk and Cookies" blog (http://ilovemilkandcookies.blogspot.com/) last weekend - and perhaps it was just me, as her review on the cake was excellent, but yeah it was a bit dry and more solid than expected. Flavour wise was really nice though, the fresh burst of orange flavour! By the way, check out her blog, it is really cool! :)

Made Nigella's brownies - haha funny how sometimes it turns out different each time you make it, but as my friend Cheryl comforted me, sometimes this works out for the best! And true enough it did - altho not as fluffy as it was the previous time, it was still delicious, and moist - just gotta warm it up and serve it with cream/ice cream! Yumm!!! It was probably more brownie like this way! :)

Taronga Zoo!

My good friends Gen and Gloria and I always went to the Singapore Zoo whenever we went back to Singapore for our summer hols! So going to a zoo in a new city seemed quite natural!

it was with great fondest to visit a zoo again - Gen and Gloria, I still think the Spore Zoo is better!!! Although the view from the Taronga Zoo is breath taking! So nice! Worth the $34 adult entry fee! By the way, the zoo is 90 years old this year, so for the month of July, if you are born in July, you can get it for 90cents only! :)

My favourite was the giraffes! Check the pictures out - it says it all!!! I haven't posted pictures of any other animals, apparently Sydney is probably quite famous for its Gorillas (yes they look like King Kong!) and snow leopards - we only saw the tail... it was sleeping... :( But I have posted pictures of the view...

Bondi Beach & HUGE ribs!!!

Hahaha, yes I'm still blogging about Sydney... nearly finished, nearly there!

Anyway, here are some pictures of Bondi beach... I think I prefer the Perth beaches... however, what was really cool about this beach was that there was this swimming pool that was next to the Ocean! Check it out!


There is this fantastic restaurant that we went to for dinner that night at Bondi - it is just a street away from the beach! It is called Hurricanes! They are famous for their pork and lamb ribs! It's hard to actually see the size from the pictures above, but let's just say it was MASSIVE!!! I think the size of the plate was the size of your serving plates which you use to serve like 5 people!

The stack of ribs is bigger than a guy's hand! Yum yum yum.. pretty good value too, $27. No! Do not be horrified, I did not consume it all myself!!! The lamb looked a lot less than the pork.... as Gen's expression (which unfortunately I did not capture! It was a classic!) so well revealed! No one left home hungry, or unsatisfied! A must go place! The fastest service ever, considering we went in a group of 40! Go go goooo!!! :) - check out those bones... boy would Cruise have loved it! :)

Raspberry trifle Cupcakes AND Nutella Cupcakes!!!

(Note: Had heaps of problems putting pictures up... so this was written like nearly a week ago... on Sunday!!!)


The smell of chocolate is DIVINE.....!!! My nutella cupcakes are currently happily baking in the oven and wow.... I can really smell the chocolate!!! Yummmyyyy!!! Boy, have I missed my oven and kitchen! :)

This weekend was a food feast!!! Eulynn organised a really nice steamboat dinner last night (forgot to take pics!) for a few of us - such good fun! Loads of food and fantastic fellowship! Friday night we had 2 birthday surprises - which funnily enough I missed both of them by about 5mins! Hahaha! But yes there was more food.... and more laughs and tons of fun!!! This is what is called "home"!!!

Raspberry trifle cupcakes turned out pretty nice, except that I misread the custard icing method and hence it didnt quite have that nice peak form... but it was still pretty yummy! Bought REAL vanilla bean paste (@ $10 a jar! TINY jar too! yikes!) to use as well... :) Anyway, they look a lot prettier than the nutella cupcakes... and it was nice and moist, and not too sweet. This recipe was taken from Donna Hay's magazine... she has some really nice pretty cupcakes in there!

My nutella cupcakes are DONE! I was going to make some pretty decorations and cover it with chocolate frosting, but I think that is going to be an overkill by the smells of it! So perhaps next week we'll do something pretty, for now... we'll enjoy the cupcakes in its natural form, hehe!!! :) (Recipe courtesy from "Baking Sheet" http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com search for "Nutella")

Taste verdict: The recipe was not wrong when it said it would be a little bit tricky to swirl the nutella as the cupcake base is very thick and rich!!! My family enjoyed the cupcakes very much (yay!) - I think it was a rich and solid cupcake, but unfortunately, I think it could have been a bit more moist... it was a little bit more dry than I would have liked it to be! I think it's fairly ordinary... the raspberry trifle one was a little more special! :)

I think next weekend will be proper savoury cooking..... stay tuned!!!