Simple but Scrumptious

I misplaced an old recipe for baked chicken wings. And that made me very miserable. Because I was hankering for some caramelized, finger-lickin’ goodness. I tossed and turned, thinking of those succulent chicken wings. I grabbed my handphone in frustration and went on http://pinterest.com/. And almost immediately, I stumbled onto a recipe. It wasn’t exactly the same recipe, but it was close enough. I bookmarked it, plugged my handphone back to its’ charger and fell asleep. Yes, I don’t read bedtime stories to fall asleep, I surf for recipes. And I either fall asleep happy with my bookmarks or fall asleep hungry.

CARAMELIZED BAKED CHICKEN WINGS

2kgs chicken wings

2 tbsp canola oil

1/2 cup light soy sauce

2 tbsp ketchup

1 cup honey

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp cornflour

Salt & pepper, to taste

Oven : 200C

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine oil, light soy sauce, ketchup, honey, garlic and cornflour

**the original recipe indicates to sprinkle the salt and pepper just before chucking the chicken pieces in the oven, but since I had kids in the house, I added them all in the beginning, in the saucepan, so that the pepper taste mellowed out**

Whisking constantly, bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, taste the marinade as you go, and adjust accordingly to your own tastes

Set aside to cool slightly while you clean the chicken wings. Separate the drumlets from the wings. Score the fleshy meat of the drumlets to allow the marinade to infuse better

In a big bowl, toss the chicken pieces and the marinade together

Transfer them into a ziplock bag and chuck ‘em in the fridge for a bit. 30 minutes seem ok for me. (I was impatient). But you know, the longer, the better.

**I separated the wings seperately from the drumlets, because drumlets have a little more meat, and they take a slightly longer time for the marinade to seep through. And that I am a little anal about little details wasn’t  the main reason. Haha!**

Preheat your oven while preparing the baking sheets.

Line your baking sheets with aluminium foil (easy cleanup, no scrubbing later) and lightly spray with olive oil

Lay your chicken pieces in a single layer, spooning over some of the marinade

Bake them in the oven for 40 minutes, turning them once midway into the cooking time (at 20 minutes, duh!) and basting them with a little more of the marinade

Once they’re done, transfer them onto a serving platter and spoon over any remaining caramelized sauce left behind on the baking sheet.

For once, attack while still hot. Yes, you’ll get burnt tongues and fingers, but they’re SO worth it. No accompanying sauces needed. If you have leftovers, and that’s a big if, pick the meat off the bones and use it as pizza toppers. Slather some pasta sauce on slightly flattened pieces of bread, sprinkle the chicken meat and top with shredded cheddar. Broil them in the toaster oven for a few minutes, and ta-dah!!, you have some home-made pizza.

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My Happy Mistake

I’ve been feeling rather antsy and restless these past few days. I don’t know, it’s like waiting for something to happen. But I don’t know what… when… where… And it’s really getting to me. Yesterday, I re-visited an old favourite, and overloaded on the chocolate bits. Pure heavenly bliss. But somehow it still left me wanting.
So today, I went the healthy route (no chocolates involved) and made some muffins.

QUINOA MUFFINS – makes 12

1 cup uncooked quinoa (pronounced keen-wah)

2 cups water (to cook the quinoa)

2 cups plain flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup vegetable oil – I prefer canola

1 apple, peeled and chopped

A pinch of cinnamon

 

Oven : 175C

12 muffin cases

Rinse the quinoa and cook it in a saucepan with the water

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer

Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is tender

Turn off the fire and set aside to cool

While the quinoa is cooking, prep your other stuff…

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon

Whisk it well to break up the brown sugar clumps

Prep the apple : peel, quarter, chop – stir it into the flour mix

In another bowl, combine the milk, egg, vanilla and oil

Whisk it well to combine everything

When the quinoa has cooled sufficiently, dump it into the flour mix

Stir it until well combined

Drizzle in the wet stuff and stir it up real good until just mixed

Scoop batter evenly into prepared cases

Bake for 20-25 minutes (poke with a skewer to check for done-ness)

Remove from oven and cool for a bit before eating them.

Don’t be greedy like me. I ate them straight out of the oven. Burnt my tongue real good. The thing is… after I placed the muffins in the oven and started washing up the utensils…..

I.REALIZED.I.FORGOT.TO.ADD.OIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it has happened before. Waaaaaay in the beginning, I baked a batch of muffins, sans eggs. That batch went from oven straight to trash. No point salvaging. But that’s another story for another time. And that is where I am actually The Bumbling Baker, heh.

Anyway… this time, after hyper-ventilating and some hand-wringing, I stood transfixed infront of the oven, waiting for something to happen. Eh… my babies didn’t rise much. After the timer went off, I took the muffins out of the oven and promptly chomped into one. Not bad actually. I kinda liked it. It didn’t feel heavy at all. Burnt tongue aside, I loved how the chopped apples softened slightly, and with the cinnamon, was just perfect. It balances well with the nutty taste of the quinoa, and the brown sugar wasn’t overpowering, it just slightly sweetened the muffin.

I still haven’t tried this recipe with oil in it, but I think I’ll stick to my accidental version that doesn’t contain any oil. Maybe the juicy apples helped in keeping it moist. Or maybe next time replace the oil with apple sauce. And add a pinch of nutmeg. I think nutmeg will bring it to another level… oh… heaven…

My latest craving satiated, I am already thinking of variations. Maybe next time soak a handful of raisins or dried cranberries in orange juice before adding them in? Or adding in some chopped dates? Or mashed bananas and chopped walnuts? Or blueberries? Raspberries? Strawberries? Or switch up the plain flour to whole wheat flour? And add about two tablespoonfuls of flaxmeal? The possibilities… endless!!

I’m happy to say, this is one chocolate-less treat that I absolutely love. And the fact that The Army doesn’t really care for cinnamon, I get the whole batch to myself! What more can I ask for?

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Junk Food Made Good

The four of us caught some Seuss silliness last Saturday. The kids enjoyed it thoroughly, and The Boy made known to the whole theatre what he thought of it : “THAT WAS A SUPER AWESOME MOVIE, MUM!!” The bag I was carrying wasn’t big enough for me to hide in, unfortunately. But seriously, The Captain and I were left wondering… why call it The Lorax, when the story was about Once-Ler? But whatevs, the kids were entertained. And they were happy that they could stuff their faces with sweet popcorn and cheesy nachos and inhale a big tumbler of carbonated drink. I have to say, though, dealing with a super hyper six year old after the movie was the best bit of the whole evening. my patience and sanity as a mother was really tested.

I felt the need to win back some points for being a mean mum to The Boy the night before, so on Sunday, I decided to make his favourite, Baked Pasta. And plus I wanted to use up a bag of opened Lays Potato Chips. The saltiness of that stuff made me cringe. It never happened to me before. Something is really wrong with me. Must be the age. Or my current state of mind. Or just plain PMS. But anyways, yeah, I incorporated potato chips into baked pasta. Heh.

TUNA POTATO CHIP BAKED PASTA

(or whatever you want to call it)

Enough cooked pasta to feed your army – whichever type… up to you

Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup (or chicken, or broccoli, or potato)

Sliced button mushroom

Diced onion

Diced yellow, green, red bell peppers

Diced celery : go for organic if you can – why?

 http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/non-organic-celery-packed-with-67-pesticides/

tinned tuna

*steamed broccoli florets

*steamed cauliflower florets

*roasted garlic

(*next time, I’ll add these in)

Shredded cheddar

A big bag of potato chips, crushed to bits

A splash of milk

Italian herbs

Pizza topper herbs

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Oven temp : 180C

Baking pan, lined with foil and very generously sprayed with olive oil

(easy clean-up, no scrubbing – I’m lazy like that)

(or just use those disposable foil tins)

 

**There isn’t any specific quantities in this particular recipe, cos I was just winging it. I opened my fridge’s crisper and used up whatever vegetables were left**

 

While boiling the pasta, dice the onions, bell peppers and celery.

I tool the easy way out and bought the pre-sliced mushrooms.

Open up your cream of “something” soup and set it aside

Open up the canned tuna (depends how many tins you want to use, I used two),

drain the liquid and flake the fish, set aside

Heat up a skillet and pour in some olive oil

Sauté the onions, bell peppers, celery and mushrooms until slightly tender

Season with herbs, salt and pepper

Set aside to cool slightly

At this stage, preheat the oven

In a big mixing bowl, dump in the cooked pasta and cream of something soup

Mix in thoroughly

Then dump in the canned tuna, again mixing thoroughly

Then the sautéed vegetables

Then throw in a few handfuls of shredded cheddar and season with herbs, salt and pepper

If the whole mix looks a little dry, drizzle in some milk, but not too much,

you don’t want it to be soggy, just enough to bind everything together

Set aside

 

Now’s the time to make your super yummy topping…

On a plate, pour out the crushed potato chips

(some pieces or a handful might accidentally land in your mouth, it’s ok)

Add about 3 handfuls of cheddar cheese

Mix it all up real good

Set it aside and stop picking on it… I mean it!!

 

Scoop the pasta mix into your prepared baking pan

Add the topping on top of it

Be generous, skimping is totally not accepted

Then sprinkle some pizza topper herbs

Chuck the whole gig into your oven for about 30 minutes,

until the cheese has melted – but not burnt – burnt cheese is awful

Cool for about 10-15 minutes before sticking your knife in it (Freddy-style) and sharing it with others

Warning though: your knees might shake in anticipation of the crispy crushed chips and melty gooey cheese. Or maybe that’s just me. I made a 9”x9” pan, and 1/3 of it was gone on 5 minutes. My two spawns kids inhaled them. With tomato ketchup. Wuss! I had them (the baked pasta, not my kids) with my all favourite cock sauce. Sriracha. Nice.

This recipe can also be made into single portions; baked in cupcake liners or ramekins (grease with olive oil thoroughly). Portion control. Yeah. Something which I failed miserably over the weekend.

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Birthdays and Cakes

So my little drama boy had his birthday last week. And his crazy (understatement there) mom decided to bite off more than she can chew. A fully frosted rainbow layer cake (+ lots of tears and cussings) and 48 rainbow cupcakes later… I am all baked-out. I swore never to be crazy again (hah!) and attempt such a thing again as I packed away my KM mixer back into its’ box. Not only did that grand misadventure suck up all of my energy, I was reduced to a blabbering fool as I struggled to string words together to make a sentence. Plus the fact I only had 3 hours of sleep in two days… the grey matter up there was in no mood to cooperate, coaxing it as gently as I could.

Cutting a long story short – cake was a success, though my frosting skills still suck. I will NOT be uploading the disastrous end product, in case it somehow ends up on http://www.cakewrecks.com/ . And thank goodness I still had a semblance of some sense to buy (oh, the blasphemy – supermum – yay!!) a back-up cake to bring to school for his birthday. The spawns of evil adorable children wiped out all the cupcakes and the store-bought chocolate truffle cake. The kids’ reaction when I walked into class with three cake boxes… priceless. Good thing their eyeballs didn’t start to roll all over the classroom floor. And me being a zombie, forgot to take pictures.

After singing the birthday song and cutting the cake, the kids lined up and were given a boring cupcake (at first) with boring cream cheese frosting and blah sprinkles on top. They were a little disappointed (ungrateful little devils), picking miserably on the cupcake’s frosting while eyeing the chocolate truffle cake longingly. But when they started to peel away the cupcake liners… all hell broke loose in class. Shrieks of “So pretty!” and “There’s a rainbow in my cake!” were heard all around. Needless to say, yeap, my cupcakes went down very well. After finishing their cupcakes, they lined up to get a slice of the chocolate cake. These little buggers have endless pits for stomachs, I guess, cos a two-kilogram cake was nearly wiped out in minutes!! And, erh, apologies to a few mothers, whose kids had frosting and cream and whatnots smeared all on the front of their school uniforms. Because they couldn’t wait to get back to their seats to eat the cake. Sheesh!!!

To borrow the idea (well, not the exact words) from one of my favourite mommy-chick-lit books “The Secret Mothers’ Club” http://www.joannefedler.com/… kids are simple to please. It doesn’t matter what kind of cake it is. Just slap on store-bought artificial frosting on a store-bought sponge cake, stick a few candles in ot and call it a birthday cake. In the end, who are you trying to impress? The kids or the adult? Or just plain selfish self satisfaction?

These words kept running through my mind as I limped my way to the doctor’s a few days later for my swollen knee. Yes, I am a warrior mother, and I am a sucker for self-inflicted torture.

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Loaf-in-a-Loaf

The whole of last week, flu was in the air. All of us felt like wet socks… limp and floppy. When the weekend came, we decided to hibernate. Just staying at home, watching television and catching up on sleep never felt so wonderful. But as usual, for me, not a weekend goes by without me doing research and experimenting in the lab.

The whole week, I was thinking of meatloaf… and I decided to tweak the usual meatloaf “presentation”. Instead of baking it in a loaf tin, I baked it in a hollowed-out French loaf. And I added a layer of sautéed mushrooms and swiss-cheese in the middle. My version of the mushroom-swiss-burger. Yeah. I had it going on my head already.

I winged the meatloaf recipe (the quantities below are, at best, estimations), because I couldn’t be bothered to go through my stack of recipes to look for my go-to meatloaf recipe. If, after reading this post, you want to attempt it with your own meatloaf recipe, go ahead, I won’t hold it against you.

I’ve split the ingredients and methodology into steps, so bear with me…

LOAF-IN-A-LOAF (my way)

1 medium-sized French loaf

—

a pack of turkey bacon

—

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1 pack portobello mushrooms, gilled, diced

(can be substituted with tinned button mushrooms, diced)

italian herbs

dried parsley flakes

salt and pepper to taste

—

sliced swiss cheese

(if you can’t get hold of it, replace with shredded cheddar or mozzarella)

—

1 kg minced beef

panko

1 handful grated parmesan cheese

italian herbs

dried parsley flakes

paprika

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

pizza topper herbs

———-

Set oven to 180C.

Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil.

———-

STEP 1.

Slice the French loaf length-wise, about two inches from each end, but DO NOT cut through to split the loaf completely.

Using a spoon or your fingers, gently scoop out the bread, taking care not to puncture the shell of the French loaf.

Set aside the French loaf, while we work on the bread filling first.

STEP 2.

Roughly cube the bread filling, place them on the prepared baking sheet, tossing them generously with olive oil.

Toast in the oven for a few minutes until crispy, but NOT browned.

Set aside to cool slightly.

Do not throw the aluminium foil yet, we’ll be using them again.

STEP 3.

Heat your skillet with a little olive oil, fry the bacon slices until cooked, but not to a crisp.

Drain completely on kitchen paper, set aside.

STEP 4.

In the same skillet, with the remaining oil, brown the diced yellow onions and add in the diced bell peppers.

When the peppers have softened slightly, add in the diced mushrooms.

Sautee them lightly, season with salt and pepper according to taste, and add a few pinches of Italian herbs and dried parsley flakes.

Set aside to cool slightly.

STEP 5.

Now back to self-made croutons… place them in a ziplock bag and smash-smash-smash!

You can use a food processor, but why clutter the workspace?

They will be incorporated into the meat filling, so you don’t want any big pieces.

So bash them up real good until they are as fine as the panko.

STEP 6.

Measure the bashed croutons in a measuring cup (duh!), and add the extra panko to make 1 cup.

Add in the parmesan cheese, italian herbs, dried parsley flakes, pepper and a pinch of paprika.

Stir to mix thoroughly.

STEP 7.

In a small bowl, stir together milk, eggs and salt.

STEP 8.

In a big bowl, dump in the minced beef.

Also toss in all of the seasoned panko and milk-egg mix.

Mix together until just combined, do not over-mix.

Over-mixing will cause the meat to turn tough.

(Something about the protein links in the meat… yada-yada-yada…)

STEP 9.

Now it’s time to assemble the loaf-in-a-loaf…

with the aluminium foil still on the baking sheet, place the hollowed-out French loaf in the centre.

Carefully line the inside bottom with the cooked bacon

(that’s why you’ve got to drain it real good, or else the loaf’s base will be soggy).

Then carefully scoop the meat mixture over it, until just halfway up in the shell, then pressing it down slightly.

Then layer the sautéed mushroom, pressing slightly.

Arrange the slices of swiss cheese/sprinkle on the shredded cheddar or mozza, pressing slightly.

Again, arrange the bacon slices on top of the cheese.

Then fill to the top with the remaining meat mixture, pressing slightly.

** the reason I keep on re-iterating to press down the filling at every stage ,

is to slightly compact it, such that when you slice the loaf, it doesn’t crumble and fall apart. **

***if there is leftover meat and mushroom filling that can’t fit into the loaf, no worries,

(arrange them in the same way as you did in the loaf) in a greased muffin pan and bake ‘em up the same way.***

STEP 10.

Wrap up the sides of the loafed-up loaf (is there such an expression?) with the aluminium foil

– to help keep its’ shape and that it doesn’t split open in the oven –

and chuck it in the oven for about 40-50 minutes.

STEP 11.

Remove it from the oven and test for done-ness with a skewer to see whether the meat juices run clear

(that’s when you know the meat has cooked thoroughly).

If it isn’t clear, return it to the oven for a few more minutes.

YOUR CREATION IS NOT DONE YET!

STEP 12.

After testing that the juices have run clear, arrange more cheese on top.

Go to town with the cheese. Don’t skimp.

Cheese is good for you.

Then on top of it, sprinkle some pizza topper herbs and return it to the oven.

STEP 13.

Leave it in there for a few minutes until the cheese starts to melt and bubble.

Watch it like a hawk, you don’t want the pièce de résistance to burn.

STEP 14.

This time, remove it from the oven for good.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes while still wrapped in the aluminium foil.

Then unwrap it and slice up the baby.

Ooouuuuuhhhhh………. Awesome…..

 

The loaf-in-a-loaf slices go well with parmesan-mashed-cauliflower (in place of mashed ‘taters) or broccoli-mayo-cheddar salad, along with some onion or mushroom gravy. But I just grab my trusty sriracha. Love that cock… sauce to death!

 

I am still finding the scrap of paper that I jotted the salad recipe on. Yes, I owe the recipe to another friend… she mentioned once that her daughter loves broccoli. I haven’t forgotten, M!

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erm…. yeah……

http://mingmakescupcakes.yolasite.com/

 

 

Make ‘em. Make ‘em all. And give me ten one three. For breakfast lunch and dinner. ‘Cos you’re kind. And you want to make me happy.

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Cholesterol + Cholesterol… But it’s all gooooooooood…..

With eyes on the prize, both The Hubby and I sit opposite each other. The steaming hot dish between us. Mwahahaha…..

It all started after we woke up famished after our afternoon nap. I opened the fridge to see what I could whip up in a short time. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And then I saw it when I opened the freezer. I could almost hear the choir sing. A bag of frozen prawns, cleaned and ready to be cooked. So out it came from its freezing abode. And the salted eggs. And the evap milk… and the other stuffs.

BUTTERED PRAWNS WITH SALTED EGGS

60 G BUTTER

2 TBSP COOKING OIL

3 SHALLOTS, PEELED AND SLICED (I SUBSTITUTED WITH REGULAR ONION)

6-8 CHILLI PADI, SLICED (ADJUST ACCORDING TO YOUR PREFERENCE)

3 SPRIGS CURRY LEAVES

3 SALTED EGGS, YOLKS ONLY, MASHED (I USED 4)

150 ML EVAPORATED MILK

3 TBSP WATER

500 G FRESH MEDIUM PRAWNS, CLEANED, DE-VEINED

SALT & SUGAR TO TASTE

HEAT BUTTER & OIL IN WOK ON HIGH HEAT

SAUTE SHALLOTS TILL FRAGRANT

ADD CHILLI PADI AND CURRY LEAVES, CONTINUE SAUTEEING TILL FRAGRANT

ADD EGG YOLKS, STIRRING, AS IT MELTS IN THE HOT WOK

ADD MILK & WATER, LETTING IT BOIL FOR A BIT

SEASON WITH SALT & SUGAR ACCORDING TO TASTE

ADD PRAWNS & STIR IN, SIMMERING IT UNTIL SAUCE THICKENS (DO NOT LET MILK SEPARATE)

ONCE PRAWNS ARE COOKED , REMOVE FROM HEAT AND TRANSFER TO SERVING DISH

SERVE HOT

Sit back and see your loved ones enjoy this dish with steamy hot rice, lightly toasted baguette slices or pasta. There will be no squabbling on the dinner table. All you’ll hear are grunts of appreciation and the occasional pair of eyeballs rolling back in food ecstasy. Or maybe that’s just me. But be smart and set aside a portion for yourself before calling them to the dining table.

Actually, The Hubby and I were quietly challenging each other on how many prawns we could inhale in one sitting. He lost. Haha!

As this was my first attempt trying this recipe (and it was a success, on the whole), The Hubby and I agreed on one thing. To increase the amount of sauce the next time I cook this dish. And maybe use smaller prawns. So we don’t have to waste time peeling them. Yeah, we’re lazy eaters like that. And that’s why I used prawns instead of crabs in the first place. But I’ll still head to the other end of the island for that wonderful big platter of salted egg crabs. And the big pile of deep fried mantou buns… **eyes glazing over**

So there, cholesterol (salted egg yolks) + cholesterol (prawns) for a cool Saturday evening. I might sneak out for some ice-cream later. Maybe. Just to round off my dinner. Heh.

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