Shepherds pie

Since my hubby is not eating at home today, I can cook with beef. Wanted to try shepherds pie for a while so this is a great opportunity. Must use Russet potatoes - I got the potatoes from the market and they were not fluffy enough. Fine to eat but the mashing will be much better and nicer with the Russets.

Here's the beef with onions and some mixed veggies.

Assembled pie with mashed potatoes.

Freshly baked from the oven ! Can even hear the sizzling sound !!

Side view. The 2 of us ate half a pie :)

Baking cookies etc

Last Saturday I wanted to bake some chocolate chip cookies - saw this recipe which included cornflour and wanted to test the texture. Interesting - it's actually not very crispy as was mentioned. Instead it was a softer texture - not too bad but I think I prefer a crispy choc chip cookie - will look for another :)

But we finished all - it was very edible :) The dough baked almost 4 bottles. Gave 1 box away :)

Also baked these...

And some mini cheesecakes - yummy !!

Black pepper chicken udon

An easy to cook dish for lunch or dinner - just season some chicken strips with black pepper, cook some udon and throw some nice veggies and mushrooms for a ready to eat meal.

You can ransack your fridge for the veggies available - that's what I did for this :)

Lor mai gai

Another experiment - with glutinous rice - never cooked with this before. The rice didn’t turn out quite as starchy as those sold outside. I soaked it overnight per the recipe - not sure if that is the reason. Quite easy to put together and next time, will need to season the rice else it’s not quite tasty.

Minestrone soup

Here’s my son’s fav minestrone soup. I made some earlier but since son did not have his seconds, and I have lots of celery in the fridge, I remade another big pot.

It’s a relatively clear soup and comfort food especially for a cold day - not the current weather. It’s scorching, with some heavy short-lived showers in the afternoon.

Really good with a good old sandwich for a easy meal.

Dry laksa

This is a simple but tasty laksa - dry version, with lots of daun kesom (laksa leaves), taugih, fishcake, tau pok and prawns, or you can add cockles like the soupy laksa version.

Yummy - I made some for lunch yesterday and since there was lots of leftover ingredients (I bought thick bee hoon for 2 but there is enough to feed 4!), I made it again today ! Remember to get lots of daun kesom - wonder if I can plant some - really love the smell and taste of those leaves.

More muffins

I baked 3 trays of muffins one afternoon - Carrots with cream cheese fillings (getting exotic right?), cranberry and banana walnut chocolate chips !!

And the next day I baked blueberry muffins with blueberry cereal, apricot, honey and oat muffins, and (normal haha) chocolate chips muffins.. I gave most away to neighbours, and the doc and nurses :)

Some desserts

My first attempt at making lek tau suan - oversteamed the mung beans but the overall taste is still fine. Son had to queue for the you tiao for 15 mins though ! I thought it would be more complicated but actually it's really simple. Will make it again as I like my tau suan less starchy and the ones sold outside can be really starchy.

Also made some chendol agar agar. Wanted to put in small moulds but son wanted to use his "Happy Birthday" mould .. funny right ?

One dish meal - Stewed pork ribs with kuay teow

Used the slow cooker to cook stewed pork for dinner. After 8 hours of stewing, the meat literally falls off the bones. And I chose lean parts :)

Then added some blanched veggies and kuay teow and voila .. dinner is ready :)

Cooking with zucchini

Zucchini - looks somewhat like a cucumber (my hubby for one bought a Japanese cucumber when I asked him to get a zucchini!) - is an interesting vegetable (a squash to be more exact). I have only used it a few times - in soup. Saw this zucchini fritter recipe and since there is one z in the fridge, decided to make some to go along with the lemongrass grilled chicken.

You need to squeeze dry the zucchini first else it will be too soggy. I added some flour, breadcrumbs, cheese, onions and eggs to it and pan-fry them. Goes nicely with the chicken :)

Hmm next to try zucchini quiche :)

Muffins day

My sis gave me a big pack of dried cranberries and I can’t really take this now. But this recipe seems tempting so why not .. Oooo the result is a really tasty cranberry muffin ! Used nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger as base spices and the overall effect is just nice - not too strong.

Also did a batch of orange muffins.

Kong Bak Pao

Saw this lovely kong bak picture in the recipe book and had my personal shopper get some belly pork from the market this morning to try my hands on this dish !!

Enjoy the sight :)

I think this will be better if simmered for slightly longer. I started cooking a bit late and had to feed the boys - but it’s definitely a good first try :)

Made some teriyaki chicken pizza for lunch, with red capsicums and mushrooms.

Pre-bake look ..

Chap chae

Felt like some Korean glass noodle so here goes ..

I forgot bean sprouts - those big headed ones but there are enough veggies. Love this dish ! Accompanied with pork bulgogi, which btw tastes good but doesn’t look good enough to show ;}

Also made some coffee muffins for breakfast :)

Harvest today

Wow had quite a bake-off and minor cook-off today :)

Started with konnayaku jelly, then jam, followed by some muffins and cupcakes.

Tray of orange, walnut and choc rice muffins

Some chocolate cupcakes (missing icing sugar) for someone’s teacher’s birthday present !

Wanted to try making apple crips in mini muffin tray but was too tired after dinner, so settled for apple tart on puff pastries (another great use !)

This is an interesting combi - black sesame with sweet potatoes.

Cooked teriyaki chicken and cawanmushi but forgot to take some pictures … will try and remember the next time I cook (too hungry ;)) ..

Claypot chicken rice

For dinner, I thought we will have claypot chicken rice.

Also healthy version - just used some chicken thighs, cut into small pieces and marinade with some pepper, sesame oil, hua-teow wine, and teeny bit of black sauce. Used 1 chinese sausage (must have this for the taste and oil) and some shiitake mushroom (forgot to soak the dried mushrooms).

Stir-fried some spinach and of course old cucumber soup made with the magic pot (this is very very useful!).

Looks fancy but really quick to put together !

Pizza

Made my first pizza today !! Used my good old breadmaker to make the dough :) I wanted to make the thin-crust version but the dough was a little hard to manage so in the end I went with the thick-curst one. It’s great - the dough turned out really soft and nice !

Used 3 types of mushrooms, onions, green capsicum and ham, and of course 3 types of cheese. Here is the before and after :)

Heavenly :) And not so guilty !

Corn chowder

Back from my short stay and thought of making some comfort food. Saw this corn chowder recipe which looks easy enough to put together. Piled with potatoes, celery, carrot, corn, ham and a dash of black pepper. Cooked on low heat slow cooker from morning (it’s filled to the brim !) and had it with my flaxmeal bread lightly toasted with some butter. Really comfort food :)