Monday, September 29, 2008

Mini Chicken Shepard's PIe

Another yummy treat :)

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Chocolate Chip Cookies (2nd attempt)

I had some free time this morning so I decided to try my hand at Chocolate Chip Cookies again. The first round failed. This time round I shortened the baking time and it was slightly better but not to my expectations. I will try again .....

This was before baking..



Voila!

The recipe can be found here

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Banana Walnut Bread with Nutella

It sounds crazy but this was actually my dinner tonight. Reached home only at about 9pm from work. All I could think of was spreading my favourite Nutella on my favourite Banana Walnut Bread from Gardenia :) But not a very nice shot.. :(

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Amaretti Cookies

Went to Kar Mun's place to bake on Saturday. Wanted to bake Carrot Cake (with cream cheese frosting on top) but felt very lazy. So I decided to bake an easy one.. Amaretti Cookies and Oreo Sponge Cake. Looks quite different from the original source :P My Amaretti Cookies didn't seem to turn out well. I'm not even sure if I got it right as the recipe required a food processor to mill it.. I only whisked it :P I dont really like my end product but Kar Mun and family were ok with it.

I consider this my failed attempt.


Friday, September 19, 2008

Baked Amorini Pasta

I came across some pasta websites a couple of days ago. Saw some really nice pictures so I got inspired and decided to make myself a Baked Pasta for lunch. It's really quite simple. Just need to gather some ingredients from the supermarket and that's it.

Amorini Pasta



Ingredients
2 cups of pasta (I got myself Amorini, but you can use shell pasta or fusili)
60g shrimps
1/3 cup shitake mushroom (sliced)
2 crab sticks (sliced)
1/3 cup mixed vegetables (I dislike peas so I got myself only carrots and corn kernels)
1/2 tsp chopped garlic
1 + 1 tsp olive oil
2 cups shredded mozarella cheese
Dash of basil leaves
Dash of salt and pepper

Perheat oven to 180deg C. Boil pasta and drain. Heat oil in saucepan. When heated, fry garlic till slightly darker yellow. Add in mushroom. Stir for a while. Throw in mixed vegetables and add salt and pepper to taste. Remove and set aside. Heat oil and fry shrimps, followed by crab sticks. Add salt and pepper to taste. Fry till 80% cooked. Remove and set aside. Add pasta to casserole followed by all the cooked ingredients. Spread mozarella cheese on top, covering pasta and ingredients. Add a dash of basil leaves. Bake till golden brown (approx 25min). Ready to serve!



A more close up shot of the pasta.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Low-fat Orange Yoghurt Cake

After trying the Strawberry Yoghurt Cake, I thought it was healthy and worth trying again. But this time, I tried the Orange version, from Happy Home Baking blog again. Just as nice :) But the tough part was getting the zest of the orange.. it was just too tedious.




Ingredients
250g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
70g butter (softened at room temperature)
zest of 1 orange
180g sugar (I cut down to 160g)
2 eggs (beaten)
1 cup plain non fat yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla essence (I added 2)
2 tbsp orange juice (I added 3)

Preheat oven to 180deg C. Grease a 20cm diameter loaf pan. Sift tog cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a bowl, mix yoghurt, vanilla essence and orange juice. With electric mixer, beat butter and orange zest for 1 min. Add in sugar and beat on high speed for 3min. Add in eggs gradually a little at a time and beat constantly for 2min. On low speed, beat in1/3 of the flour mixture. On medium-high speed, beat in 1/2 of the yoghurt mixture. On low speed, beat in half of the remaining flour mixture. On high speed, beat in remaining yoghurt mixture. On low speed, beat in remaining flour mixture. Pour onto pan and bake for about 45min.

Light Japanese Cheese Cake

I've always liked the Japanese version of cheesecake - light and not so guilty.

What you will need:
140g caster sugar
6 egg whites
5 egg yolks (original recipe calls for 6)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50g butter
250g cream cheese (I use the Philadelphia brand of cream cheese blend)
100ml fresh milk
2 tbsp lemon juice (original recipe was 1)
60g cake flour
20g cornflour
1/4 tsp salt

Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over double boiler. Cool mixture. Fold in flour, cornflour, salt, egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Add in sugar and whisk till soft peaks form. Add in cheese mixture and mix well. Pour into 8inch round cake pan at 160deg C for about 30min.

(Source: Diana desserts)