Pumpkin Pancake

Pumpkin Pancake, Mickey Mouse Style

Sometimes, on easy Sunday mornings, I make pancakes for my family. If I'm in the mood, I'd add a little twist to the flavour and also the presentation. Well, at least I attempt to.

Pumpkin pancake is quite a common feature in my house. I always add oats the the batter to increase fibre and nutritional value.  I thought I'd style it a little differently for a change. Thought it might interest my toddler.

Anyways, here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Pancake
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp rolled oats
about 200g of pumpkin, steamed
1 cup milk
1 egg

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, oats and sugar.
2. Mash the pumpkin.
3. Beat the egg together with the milk and mashed pumpkin.
4. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Beat till smooth.
5. Leave the batter for a few minutes before making the pancakes.

I made one big pancake and two small ones and assembled them to form a cartoon character. And then I painted the face with blackstrap molasses using a spoon.

The results... taa... daa....
Noted, it looks more like Scary Mickey but my daughter didn't complain.

Oh well, Mr. Smudge Eye gets eaten anyway.

Cheers to a healthy home made breakfast, however it may look like!

Drink Your Greens!

Thanks to a friend, I discovered green smoothies and have sort of become addicted to them. I find it much easier to take my vegies and fruits in blended form rather than to chew them in as they are. Not only that, they also taste great!

No one needs a recipe for this I guess. You just blend fresh green vegetables with a mixture of fruits. Something like this ...

A green smoothie with a touch of pink

If you wonder what the pink is, it's red dragonfruit smoothie!

Apple Upside-Down Cake

Tea time!

Some weekends are lovely enough just to be comfy at home, especially when there's cake  for tea.

I modified the original recipe a little, by adding Cointreau and poppy seeds in the cake. Here's the recipe:
 

Ingredients

3 apples , cored and sliced
150g butter , softened
25g light brown muscovado sugar
125g golden caster sugar
2 eggs , beaten
125g self-raising flour
2 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
a dash Cointreau

1.       Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the apples in a large, non-stick frying pan with 25g butter , muscovado sugar,  1 tsp cinnamon and Cointreau. Cook over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, until just tender and caramelised, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.

2.       Butter and line a 20cm round, deep cake tin. Arrange the apples in the base, reserving the syrupy pan juices. Beat the remaining butter and sugar together until fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Fold in gently until combined, then spoon the mixture on top of the apples. Level the surface and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch.

3.       Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out on to a serving plate.

Growing Your Own Food

Fenugreek Sprouts



My sprouts left to develop greens on my balcony

I've read about growing sprouts at home. It seemed easy enough to do. So I tried it at home and the results were good. For breastfeeding mothers who take fenugreek tea as a galactagogue, this is a nice and different way to consume fenugreek.

The steps are simple: soak, rinse, drain and keep in a dark place. Basically just rinse about twice a day and you’ll get nice sprouts in about a week. I find that the jam jar is convenient to use. Just attach 2 pieces of gauze to the opening with a rubber band. To ensure having a dark place for the jar, I just covered it with old newspaper.

After 6 days I put the jar out in a bright place for a day to develop some chorophyll. Then it’s all good to eat!

Up close: you can see the little green leaves

Fenugreek Sprouts and Anchovies Salad

This isn’t a real recipe, I just sort of made it up:

Fenugreek sprouts and anchovies salad

Fenugreek sprouts, washed and drained

Handful of dried anchovies (ikan bilis)

1 tomato

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon (or less)

1 tsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp honey

Salt and pepper to taste

1.    Fry the anchovies in oil until brown and crisp

2.    Cut the tomatoes into cubes or wedges

3.    Mix together the lemon juice, honey, olive oil and poppy seed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4.    Toss everything together.

Fresh from the Oven

 

A loaf of bread.

It's easy to buy one from the shop. But isn't it so much nicer to have it baked in your own kitchen?

The yeasty aroma is enough to make you feel justified for all the kneading and punching that you had to do. Really, commercial bread is convenient, but there’s nothing like home-made bread.

Here’s an adapted recipe I used. The measurements aren’t exact but they’re somewhere around there.

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread


32 oz bread flour
5 oz rolled oats
2 ½ cups water
½  cup milk
3 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
1  tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 cups soaked and drained raisins

Steps:

Mix the yeast and warm milk and water. Leave mixture to froth.

Mix together dried ingredients.
Add yeast mixture, honey and oil to dry ingredients.
Knead.
Leave dough to rise till double in size.
Punch down and knead. Shape to a loaf.
Leave dough to rise.
Top with extra oats.
Bake.
Eat.

Purple Smoothie

Red Velvet Smoothie

I've been making smoothies since sometime last year. It was a way to add Emma's breakfast variety of breakfast other than oatmeal or pancakes. Since then, I've trying trying out different kind of smoothies including healthy green smoothies.

Here's a nice an easy one that I whipped up on a Sunday afternoon. I used cooked beetroots and chocolate malt powder.

Do give this a try. It's not only pretty but also delicious.

Avocado Salads

Ever Lovely Avocados

Who doesn't love avocados?

Well, maybe some people don’t. But they soft texture and subtle flavour is a favourite amongst many. You can eat scoop up the flesh and eat it on its own or you can slice them up and add them to your salad. Here are two versions of avocado salad that I’ve concocted.

Avocado salad with mangos

Caesar salad with avocado and cheese sausages