Ham & Spinach Pizza

Uhm hmm, the title came to be because I need to salvage a can of near expiry canned tomatoes /satisfied

It's super easy to make and super tasty to eat! So there's really nothing to not like about it. Here's the lowdown:

Ham & Spinach Pizza

Ingredients:

1. Store-bought pizza base (in the absence of a pizza base, you can always use wholemeal bread, pita, baguette, etc. But I'd suggest to use breads that are hard enough to hold the fillings up.)
2. Ham, diced/pulled/chopped/however you like it
3. Spinach, roughly chopped up
4. A clove of garlic, roughly smashed up
5. Canned tomatoes
6. Grated parmesan and/or mozarella (I have neither, so I used a piece of cheddar)
6. Dash of olive oil
7. Sprinkle of salt

1. Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius. Line the tray with baking sheet and place your pizza base on it.

2. This is the fun part, there's no right or wrong, just do it your way - scoop the tomatoes from the can and smear it thickly over the base, distribute the mashed up garlic, layer on the spinach and the ham.

3. Drizzle the olive oil, sprinkle a little salt and the cheese over the pizza.

4. Send it into the oven and baked for 12-15 minutes, until the spinach is wilted.

5. Loudly proclaim bon appetit the Julia Child way and dig in!

Yum!

The (Sad) Story Of A Lazy Baker

OK, so by now you should know that I'm a lazy cook and a lazy baker; I love recipes that are hardly recipes, a bonus when the result turns out amazing, that recipe will get lots of loving and raving, like duh, obviously. z.

And so the story goes like this, I've been dying and craving to bake and eat baked goodies of late, but it's a little impossible (mostly out of sheer laziness) for me right now with my two precious tornadoes locked out behind bars constantly standing at the baby gate whining and wanting hugs and attention all the time.

And so the craving shot up to its max one day and I just HAD TO BAKE AND EAT NOW!

And so. I took out my mug, anyhowly spoon in some flour, sugar, salt, oil, cocoa powder, nutella, gave it a good stir and in it went into a saucepan of boiling water, to be steamed to its perfection, of course! Erm, because I'm... creative like that? 

I thought nutella mug cake is a foolproof recipe, I mean, 9 out of 10 persons who perused the method often came back with rave reviews, but yeah lah, maybe because I so smart go and steam it, not that the thing turned out awful, it just came out... funny. Like eating a mat salleh kuih. HAHA!

Ah well, the Frap took a bite and gave me the thumbs up. Heck, I took the first bite and gave her the thumbs up too. And then she refused it by covering her mouth tightly with one hand, and waving the other left and right vigorously to say no AND running the opposite direction by the third bite. Erm, maybe she's on a diet gua... /shifty eyes.

p/s ok fine, for reals, the texture was seriously like eating some kinda kuih, the taste was a little weird but I conclude that was because my cocoa powder has been kept for quite sometime, and really, by the third bite all my craving for baked goods are gone. For good.

Behold! Steamed Mat Salleh Kuih Nutella Brownies

Easy Recipes For Kids: Beetroot, Pumpkin, Carrot Soup

I’m so excited to share this, once again, super-simple-hardly-a-recipe beetroot recipe! Now I was never a fan of beets. I don’t like the earthly taste. So when my mom gave me one and asked me to eat it, it’s good for you, I cringed loudly inside. 

I rummaged the net for cool recipes, but they all call for spices and herbs and time and patience, which I have not. So I decided to anyhowly make a soup out of it with what little ingredients I have in the fridge – carrots and pumpkin! 

And it turned out nice! The fact that I’m feeding my family beetroot makes me feel pretty good about myself too. So I hope you’ll like it!

Beetroot, Pumpkin, Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

1 pc chicken breast, chunk-cut
1 stick carrot, cubed
1 big slice of pumpkin, cubed
1 small beetroot, cubed

1. While boiling water in a medium sized saucepan, prep and clean up the chicken breast. When the water boils, put the chicken in the saucepan and bring to boil.

2. Add in the carrot and pumpkin, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 60 minutes. Season with a little salt for taste.

And we are done! 

Frap, Oli, and I shared a big bowl of rice flooded with the soup and it was glorious! If you do try this recipe, let me know how it turns out! 

p/s you can also add corn and/or potatoes, if that’s what rocks your socks. Happy eating!

Easy Recipes For Kids: Pasta In Potato & Carrot Soup

Whenever I’m out of idea on what to cook for the frap, carrots and potatoes are always my go-to ingredients. Always. Maybe because that's what my grandma used to cook for us as children. Ah, comfort food. 

Here’s a super simple recipe, erm, it’s hardly a recipe! But it tastes great, Frappy finished her first bowl and requested a second!

Pasta in Potato & Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

1 stick carrot, cubed
2 potatoes, cubed
1 tomato, cubed OR a spoon of tomato paste
1 piece of skinless chicken thigh, cut
1 cup of shell pasta
3/4 saucepan of water

1. While boiling water in a medium sized saucepan, prep and clean up the chicken thigh. When the water boils, put the chicken in the saucepan and bring to boil.

2. Add in the carrots and the potatoes. Reduce the heat to low, and let simmer for 60 to 90 minutes. I didn’t have tomatoes, so I added a spoonful of tomato paste. Season with a little salt.

3. Come meal time, add in the pasta and let cook until al dente. Serve. (The Chinese in me like to add a dash of soy sauce in my clear soups, it gives it a sweet boost, somehow!)

What did I say? Is it simple or simple? Haha! You can always add celery, cabbage, peas, onion, and bacon (I'd sweat the diced onion and cook the bacon for a coupla minutes before adding the chicken and other root veges, and then water/stock), or whatever ticks your interest, to make it more flavourful and wholesome. I think this soup is somewhat like minestrone? Tis a chinese version! Haha. Anyway it goes wonderful with baguette and toasts, too! Or rice!!! YUM! Bon appétit!

Easy Recipes For Kids: Pasta with Marmite

This is one of Nigella’s recipes which my bro intro-ed me to. While the combo of marmite and pasta just doesn’t sound too right, I assure you, it is really very erm, edible. No, seriously! Not to mention it’s quick to cook with almost no preparation needed; I’d say it’s a perfect go-to dish if you are too busy to prepare lunch for your kiddo (or even yourself!). 

This is the second time I’m making the dish; the first time I followed the recipe fully using spaghetti, I also added the 1 tbsp of reserved pasta water as instructed and it turned out too wet. That aside, I thought the result was a little bland, appearance-wise, so I sprinkled it generously with mozzarella and baked it for a cheesy, chewy meal. This time around, I used colourful spirally pasta and I simply omitted the pasta water and added mixed veges. It turned out much better!

Nigella posted the basic recipe on her site and here, I’m sharing my version, using hers as a base. Do try it and let me know if the recipe’s a keeper or a bummer :)

Edit: Simplified the steps! 

Pasta With Marmite

Ingredients:

Any kind of pasta
½ to 1 cup of frozen mixed veges
50g butter
1 teaspoon of marmite or more according to liking
Your choice of grated cheese (optional)

1. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water, according to instructions. 1 or 2 minutes before the pasta is done, add in the mixed veges. Once done, drain the water, set pasta aside for later. Add a small chunk of butter and a teaspoon of marmite into the pasta+vege combo, mix well and serve with grated cheese.

2. In a saucepan, melt the butter, and add in the marmite, mixing well until dissolve. Remove the sauce from heat, and stir in the pasta + mixed vege combo. Serve with grated cheese, if you like. 

Do you have an easy recipe to share? I’d love to hear from you!

Siu Yoke (Roasted Pork) Pizza

I just had to post this up! Too. Good! Imma gonna make this every week! OK chill, I'm just saying -.-

Easy Recipes for Kids: Tuna Risotto

The Frap has been eating a lot of porridge since she’s started on solids. Even I got boring cooking it. So in a bid to feed something more… interesting (and definitely easy to cook!), I’ve been playing with some recipes and ingredients, hoping to get her to eat healthier, without losing the flavour.


To journal my experiments, I’ll be starting a new category here in my blog – Easy Recipes For Kids – for my own reference; I also hope it’ll be helpful for mothers or young mothers who have been experiencing severe headache from thinking of what to serve come meal time. I improvise a lot as I strive to keep the steps as minimun as possible haha, so feel free to modify to suit to your own convenience and your toddler’s liking! Happy cooking (and uh, feeding!)

Tuna Risotto

Ingredients:

Oil
Chopped onion
About a cup multigrain rice, washed
Chopped,cubed veges of different colours
A clove of crushed garlic
Tomato paste/sauce
A can of tuna fish
Salt and pepper

1. Heat the oil in a small pan and fry the onion for a few minutes, until softened.

2. Add the rice, veges, garlic, tomato paste, and 1 cup of water. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Bring to the boil and simmer uncovered, about 10 minutes. Then drain the tuna and add to the rice mixture, stirring. Continue cooking, making sure to stir occasionally, until the rice is tender and creamy.

4. Lunch is ready, baby!

Of Ayam Kurma, Nutella, & Cinnamon!

Been acting very erm… motherly, lately! Cooking and baking and ironing clothes! I do amaze myself sometimes. Must be the pregger hormones!


What I’ve been up to in the kitchen recently:

Chicken & Lots-O-Root-Veges Kurma

You can't really see the chicken because this is leftover from dinner! OK, it might not look very appetizing (I like stewy, one-pot-cooks-all stuff like that), but man I tell you! This is da bomb! Here, I just had the leftover with toasted sunflower seeds bread for lunch. YUM!

 

No Bake Nutella Cookies

OK, visually superbly unpresentable. But the recipe says "drop it quickly on the wax paper" So I got very kancheong and antsy when it came to that step, and anyhowly just drop every blob abruptly and very quickly. erm, so maybe the measurements are not right either, because I didn't use proper measuring equipments? So they didn't set very well. They sat out on the table the whole day and were still gooey, in the end I had to freeze them in the freezer. Brought them to home-life, and everyone very give-face-ly had one. But it's really not that bad lah. Erm alright, I rest my case. -.-

No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls

I woke up wanting to eat these stuff so much, I had to google the simplest recipe, and bugged my sister to bake it with me at night. I was so gungho about it that I drove all the way to my mom's place at night to get these done. Since it was our first time making these, it obviously didn't turn out very well, too sweet and dough-y for our liking - we overdid on the sugar and cinnamon and rolled the dough too thin. But, hey! It feeds the craving! :)

Easy Recipes For Kids: Spirally Pasta In Béchamel Sauce

So I got tired of making porridge everyday for the Frap, so I came up with something really simple, but equally boring for her! Haha!

Spirally Pasta In Béchamel Sauce

I thought it looked pretty ok, except a bit bland, which it was la to be honest, but I am very proud of my effort ok! Recipe for the, ahem, Béchamel Sauce (which really, is actually just plain white sauce!):

Ingredients:
Butter
Plain flour
Milk
Salt and pepper to taste


Melt the butter and stir in the plain flour for about a minute, until the mixture turns golden. Then remove from heat and stir in the milk until smooth. After that, return to the heat and continue stirring until the mixture boils and thickens. Season as required.

Voilà! C’ést tout! Béchamel Sauce, how glam!

A Hungry Tummy Is A Random Mind

I was working on some (never ending!!! Urgh!) translations and got really hungry. And since I was on a mission to clear out my fridge, hence, this weird combo came out of the kitchen…

Kolo Noodle With Mushrooms & Luncheon Meat

... right into the growling tummy.

Butterfly Kisses' Playing On My Radio T_T

In a bid to eat healthfully and properly, I’ve started to add one or two super ingredients into our food to boost our diet, well as much as I can lah. I must admit I’m totally not a housewife material, one who cleans, scrubs, sweeps, mops, babysits, tidies, AND COOKS EVERYDAY FOR EVERY MEAL. Urgh. I won't go about putting up a front trying to be a supermom cum wife.
But I digressed. -.-

So anyway, seeing how Frappy is growing and how I’ve started her on cereal, we need to set good eating habits and examples for her, not to mention save a ton from eating out. So I’ve make it a point now to visit the market more (bleurgh!) and try preparing healthier food.

Last night I made Sesame Ginger Chicken, which was a little bit of a failure, because the minute Frappy cried, I over fried my ginger. Zzz. Not to toot my own horn, but it was still nice (there's no way you can fail this dish seriously!), albeit the bitter-ish taste. Gotta remake this dish! Humph!

And this afternoon for lunch, I made a Chicken & Avacodo Avocado Sandwich, using Ramly chicken patty (Hehe! I know! Not very healthy to begin with! But I don’t have chicken breasts hokay!), avocado, cheese, and drizzled with chilli sauce! It’s actually quite yum. Haha! The fact that I’ve packed in a super ingredient in my meal makes me feel good about my effort, and that motivates me to do more!

So here’s to simple but yummy meals and a healthier life! :)



Qualified, Totally!

I just cooked the most amazing tasting bowl of rice wine tomato mee sua with dried oyster and poached egg. I now declare myself a chef *smug*

Oh, by the way, “what’s Moorpark spelled backward?”


Kraproom.

(Granpa, Valentine’s Day)

HAHAHA!

Hey Mr. Smith!

I love simple recipes. Better still, if the recipes include a cleaner to clean and wash up the mess after me. Heh.

I saw this awfully simple pasta recipe on AFC’s Chef At Home by Michael Smith the other day and I was inspired, to have spaghetti, that is. All I need were bacon, onion, rosemary, and a can of tomato sauce or paste, I think!

Since Jason is a non-tomato eater (hah! His loss!), I decided to cook it for lunch. It was however, a huge disappointment when I found out Tesco Puchong don’t sell bacon! -__- So I had to settle with ham.

What you need to do is basically:
- Chop the bacon up
- Brown them in a pan without oil
- Pour off excess of bacon fat
- The chopped onion goes in, sauté till soft
- If you fancy garlic, one whole head will go in the pan too after the onion’s almost soft, because according to Chef Smith, garlic browns/burns way much faster than onion does
- After a few minutes, the whole can of tomato sauce goes in along with a splash of water
- Throw in the rosemary too. I used dried rosemary instead of fresh ones. Sprinkle in salt and pepper, I added a tiny dash of sugar too
- Simmer for an hour. I did mine in 30 minutes heh
- Boil the type of pasta you fancy. Spaghetti is the way for me, baby.
- Top up the sauce
- And dig in!

I added one more step to the recipe:

- Sprinkled some cheese over the dish and baked it for 5-6 minutes in the oven, till the cheese melted and is gooey.

And I did a bruschetta (kononlah!) with the leftover sauce for tea break. Oorh! I can eat pasta sauce everyday like this! +.+ Yum!