Chinese Style Green Beans & Happy New Year!

This green bean dish can be easily spotted at the Chinese buffet table. In fact, that was how I discovered this cooking method. Below is how I imagine this dish is prepared and I made it for our Thanksgiving dinner. It was very closed to the original except I needed more sauce.

Ingredients:

Green Beans
3-4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
Salt to taste
1 tsp. chicken stock granules
Cornstarch water

Method:

1. In a pot of boiling water, add a pinch of salt and a little oil. Blanch the green beans for a little while. Dish out and place in cold water.

2. In a wok, add in a little oil. Stir-fry the garlic until fragrant and golden brown. Add in some water. Season with chicken stock granules and salt. Thicken it with cornstarch water and add in the cooked green beans. Stir-fry until well coated with the sauce, dish out and serve.


TO ALL READERS, HAVE A GREAT AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010, MAY YOUR WISHES COME TRUE FOR YOU!!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Do you ever have some apples sitting in the refrigerator for weeks that no one wants to eat? I always have a few sitting there. One day, I was out of bread so I decided to make some apple muffins for breakfast; one, I could get rid of the apple; two, we could have muffins for breakfast. I wanted this muffin to be healthier too so I used some whole wheat flour, canola oil and lots of apple. I always love muffin with crumbs topping but that would means added fat as normally it is made with butter, flour and brown sugar. So, my healthier alternative would be cornflakes cereal for the extra crunch. It is really crunchy and delicious when eaten on the same day. But the cereal will turn soft the next day when kept in an air-tight container, but not to worry, just toast it for 4-5 minutes in the toaster oven to crisp it up and warm the muffin before consuming. Enjoy! It also makes an healthier snack compared to cupcakes packed with frosting.

Fish Paste Tofu Egg Drop Soup

Whoa, it is very COLD here, as I am typing this, it is 15'F (-9'C). The high today is only going to reach 21'F even though it is sunny outside. We had snow shower the previous day and it is going to be a white Christmas for us here. According to the weather forecast, it is going to snow on Christmas day (tomorrow). How to keep warm on such a cold day except staying at home, treat yourself with a cup of hot coffee or hot chocolate, exercising on Wii Fit Plus (this is a great one to keep warm, LOL!) and serving up a bowl of warm soup. Here sharing with you a bowl of my warm soup to warm yourself up and wishing all my readers a joyous and safe holiday seasons. Be happy, be healthy, be stress free, eat healthy and exercise more in the new year!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

The easiest way to serve sweet potatoes for holiday dinner, no steaming, no mashing required, just bake it in the oven. Minimal washing too as you just need to throw away the aluminum foil. That's why this can be prepared last minute. I am waiting for it to go on sales again on Christmas week so that I can make this again.

Ingredients:

• Sweet potato, cut into fries shape like above
• Olive oil or extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Paprika
• JoJo potato seasoning

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375'F. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Put the cut sweet potato fries on top.

2. Pour some olive oil on the sweet potato fries, season with salt, pepper, paprika and JoJo potato seasoning. Toast to coat well.

3. Bake for 15 minutes, flip it and bake for additional 10 minutes. Turn the oven to broil and broil for 2-3 minutes before serving (keep an eye on it).

Evy & Edda Updates (Nov & Dec. 2009)

Evy has a Holidays recital coming up, she is practicing her piano. Her hair is getting long too, more feminine and look nicer to me. She is currently top at her class, rated at 1.9 whereas the kindergarten started at 0 level. We are thinking whether to jump her to Grade 2 next year or not. A lot to think about, for those who has his/her child skip a grade, what's your thought on this, to skip or not to skip a grade? Currently she is going to the Kindergarten Enrichment session once a week for some extra academic opportunities. Since we speak 90% of Mandarin at home, I really wanted her to learn English or to improve her vocabulary. She reads perfectly but she is unable to understand the meaning behind it (given the fact we speak Mandarin at home), so how to increase her understanding of what she read? The more I think about it, the more I want her to remain in her grade, at least she can learn more English and still remain the top in her class. Also she gets to go to the enrichment session and if she is still the top in her class at Grade 3, she will get to go to the Talented and Gifted class. It is the understanding of the meaning and comprehension of the things she read that is worrying me. If we put her in Grade 2, she might be having a little hard time and feel challenging at school. Yet I know for a fact that if we put her in Grade 1, it will be no challenge for her as she knows most of the stuff already (she already rated 1.9 at this mid-term assessment).


Want to challenge her academically or not? Or let her cruise through?



My little one hair is getting long but she loves her long hair. I managed to potty train her before she turned three. I thought she would be the difficult one as she never potty in her potty before but guess all the mental preparedness worked. She is starting to speak in English too. Sometimes her sister will speak to her in English and both of them will be role playing in English. I had a hypothesis and I tested it out on both of my girls and it proved true. We speak 90-95% of Mandarin with them, their first language was Mandarin but at three years old, they started to speak a second language English naturally. We teach them Mandarin, the television teach them English. LOL! If you are interested in learning my hypothesis, read through my older posts on my girls.


Don't you just want to pinch that cheeks of hers? I do!

Here wishing you all a very Happy Holidays!!

Stir Fried Vietnamese Rice Noodle (Loh See Fun)

I found the Vietnamese rice noodle at my Asian supermarket. This is just like the Malaysia Loh See Fun as it was made with rice flour, wheat starch and water. The texture is soft unlike the previous one that I had. Instead of preparing it in soup, I did a quick stir-fry in white sauce. I was too lazy to prepare the soup for it and wanted a change from my usual black sauce.

Step-by-Step Zebra Cake Guide

I promised my friend, SIG to show her the step-by-step pictures guide the next time I made the zebra cake, so here it is girl friend.


Two different colors batter.


First, put a dollop of white batter in the center of the pan.


Next, put a little dark batter on top of the white batter.


Then, you add another dollop of white batter on top of the dark batter.


Again, add another layer of dark batter on top. Just keep alternate different color of batter on top of each other until all batters are used.


I didn't do a great job on this as it was not center.


Example of how it would look like when baked and cut. Good Luck!

Recipe of this marbled banana chocolate cake can be found here.

Longevity Noodle Soup

Chinese loved to eat long noodle on their birthday because it signify long life, it is like a tradition especially for older people. We will have long noodle, red eggs and peach steamed buns for older people. Today, I made my noodle soup with ShanDong ramen (山东拉面). It is similar to the noodle that Taiwanese served on their beef noodle soup. This noodle is packaged dried in a rectangle box that you can get in the Asian store. Good in soup and stir-fry.



Ingredients:

ShanDong ramen, homemade chicken stock, tofu fish cake, fried fish balls, napa cabbage and mini sausages.

Method:

1. Prepare the homemade chicken stock with 1 chicken, 1 big yellow onion, small piece of smashed ginger, 2-3 stalks of scallions, 3 carrots (cut). Simmer for 2 hours. Season to taste with salt, sugar and chicken stock granules.

2. Cook noodle per package instruction. Set aside.

3. Sieve the chicken stock. Turn the heat to high, when boiling, add in napa cabbage, tofu fish cake, fried fish balls and mini sausages. Let it cook for a minute or two.

4. In a bowl, place in the noodle. Scoop the soup on top with ingredients to serve hot. Eat with chili padi (bird eye chili) for extra kick.

I'm sharing this noodle with Presto Pasta Nights, an event created by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week host is Kevin, do go and check out Closet Cooking delicious round up on Dec, 11th! Thanks!

Mini Sausages with Special Sauce

This is the Asian sauce I created for the mini sausages. I used this sauce before for my Yong Tau Foo and it's a good mix too. This sauce is on the sweet side because I wanted it this way. Salty sausages with sticky sweet sauce as coating, sounds good right? This dish was well received by kids and adults.

Ingredients:

Mini sausages, sauce mixture= (3 Tbsp. hoisin sauce + 1 Tbsp. honey, mix well)

Method:

In a wok, add in a little oil. Stir-fry the mini sausages until hot. Add in the sauce mixture. Coat well and serve.

Sweet Potatoes Porridge

Sweet potato is super cheap this time of the year. I saw it as low as 25 cent/lb at WalMart. I regretted I didn't buy some at this price to keep. Edda was not feeling well and I decided to cook her some porridge. Instead of the usual fish porridge, I tried the chicken and sweet potatoes porridge. I made the porridge quite watery and cut the sweet potato into tiny cubes for easy swallowing. But guess what? She didn't like it at all. I think she is not a fan of sweet potato cooked in this way. Anyway, you can substitute the sweet potato with pumpkin.

Roast Chicken with Garlic and Thymes

I tried a new chicken recipe for my Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe can be done last minute as it doesn't need to be marinated/seasoned before hand. This chicken was fragrant and tasted divine. You can eat the garlic together with the chicken or spread it on bread to enjoy. Remember to place the garlic close and underneath the chicken when baking or else it will be burned and turned rock hard. You can substitute the dried thyme with fresh thyme. Stuff a few inside and sprinkle some cut thyme on the skin.

Last Minute Thanksgiving Dinner

Baked Chicken with Garlic and Dried Thymes


Baked Sweet Potato Fries


Chinese Style Green Beans


Mini Sausages with Special Sauce

Serve with soft and fluffy buns and sparkling ciders (picture not taken). Truly a last minute dinner as we were having Dim Sum with some friends in Denver up until 2pm and rushed back to cook this. Nothing traditional as I didn't buy turkey again this year (just didn't want to deal with the big bird for days even though it was super cheap) and I cooked something that we all liked to eat. The mini sausages were of course for the kids with my special Asian sauce instead of BBQ sauce. Asian style green bean instead of green bean casserole and baked sweet potato fries instead of mashed potato with gravy. Recipes of each item will be shared in individual post later.

Whole Wheat Oats Cranberries Cookies

I loved cookies! A cookies lover since young and coming from Asia, we were used to the hard and crunchy cookies. I only got introduced to soft or soft and chewy cookies when I came to America. It got some getting used to but frankly I am still not use to the soft cookies. My hubby brought back some cookies from his office and it was so soft that it disintegrated into pieces, not only that it was very sweet too. It was nothing like eating cookies at all, more like eating soft dough. Needless to say, I am still not a fan of soft cookies but I like the chewy and soft cookies (yet not too soft) like the one I made here.

I am also for healthier cookies so I experimented with whole wheat flour, rolled oats and dried cranberries for this cookies. I made this cookies before using all-purpose flour and the texture was different, with AP flour the cookies spread out and chewier. With whole wheat flour, it didn't spread out as much during baking. Regardless, it is still a tasty cookies to us. You can change the dried fruit to what you have a home. A healthier cookies to make to give to your friends during this Holidays season eh?

Stir Fried Vietnamese Noodle

While shopping at my Asian grocery store recently, I spotted this Vietnamese noodle that looked very similar to our Malaysian "Loh See Fun, 老鼠粉" or silver needle noodle. This Vietnamese noodle is made with wheat starch, potato starch and water. Whereas silver needle noodle is made with rice flour, wheat starch and water, thus softer in texture. This Vietnamese noodle has more bite to it. I was glad to find it as I made my own "loh see fun" before and it was hard work. I used some frozen leftover chicken breast for this. You can use any meat or seafood you like.

Coffee Chiffon Cake

A lot of people liked my Pandan chiffon cake recipe. I also created a lot of other recipes based on this recipe and here sharing with you another variation of chiffon cake, I called it Coffee Chiffon Cake. Really soft and spongy!

Fried Peanuts

My hubby loved to buy roasted peanuts in shell from the supermarket to snack on. But he is very particular and picky about his taste. Once, he bought a bag of peanuts and decided he didn't like the taste and refuse to eat it anymore. So, what was I going to do with a big bag of peanuts? I shelled all of it while watching T.V. (yeah, multi-tasking is women talent) and freeze it. One day, when I was watching the CC4 "Everyday Food" cooking show, the chef was featuring crispy fried peanuts and that was it, I was like, "Now I can reuse the peanuts!" So, I reused the peanuts to create this "new" snack and my hubby loved it. HAHAHA... He couldn't stop snacking and had to set it aside in order to control himself. He definitely had no idea where these peanuts came from. LOL!

Curry Chick Peas with Chicken

Chickpeas also known as Garbanzo beans are high in dietary fiber, low in fat and a good source of protein, zinc and folate. In Malaysia, we called it chickpeas and it is normally associated with Indian cuisine. I remembered I used to have it in the form of boiled/steamed white chickpeas in con shape wrapped paper (or newspaper) in the night market as snack. It was ages ago, not sure whether they still sell it like that. Today, I buy chickpeas already cooked in a canned. Just need to drain and rinse before use, how easy is that? Since in my mind, chickpeas is good with curry and I just bought my favorite Madras Indian curry powder, this is how I am going to cook it. Very easy and my girls loved the chickpeas too, even though this was the first time I bought it and introduced it to them. Guess, from now on, chickpeas will be a regular in my shopping list.

Healthy Garlic Rice

Garlic has been known to have medicinal properties and found to have antibacterial, antiviral, and anti fungal activity in test tube studies. It is claimed to prevent heart diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other. Garlic has been used as both food and medicine in many cultures for thousands of years. I received an e-mail saying that someone who cooked garlic rice every night and in half a year, her high blood pressure is cured. I don't know whether it is true or just an anecdote. But I don't see a harm in eating garlic rice. Seriously, the fragrant of garlic rice when cooking is perfume to me, unless you really hate garlic, I don't see why you won't enjoy the smell of garlic or benefit from eating this. If you have slight high blood pressure or high cholesterol level and not on medication yet, why not give this natural remedy a try? If you are on medication, you can consult with your doctor first. I cook this just because I love the smell of garlic and for prevention. I also tried adding few slices of smashed ginger along with the garlic, the smell was even crazier, better than garlic alone. Ginger is also known for anti-oxidant and anti-inflammation. Who needs to pay so much more for imported fragrant rice when I can make my own with Arkansas long grain rice? :P Good tips is meant to be shared. I really wanted to share this healthy cooking tips with my readers. I have been cooking this for a month and will be continued doing so with added ginger. I don't eat the ginger, just used it to infuse the rice. Feedback to me if you try it ya! ;)

Homemade Chicken Meatballs

I wanted to make my own chicken meatballs for ages but never gotten to do it until the day I took my food processor out to process the chicken breast and shrimps for my Deep Fried Seaweed Beancurd Rolls. I had an extra large chicken breast ready to be used, so I took this opportunity to process the chicken breast (since the food processor was already out) to make some bouncy meatballs. I never measured the weight of my chicken breast so I used half of the seasoning liquid as stated. You know just figuring my way through it. The resulted chicken meatballs was bouncy but not as smooth as Redneck. I guess I better stick to the recipe next time huh?

MSG, Monosodium Glutamate

I wanted to write a blog post about MSG or monosodium glutamate, or the sodium salt of the amino acid glutamic acid from my stand point. Are you afraid of the word MSG? Because I do, I was brought up to fear or stay clear of MSG. My mom and media always said how MSG is bad for our health, American even have the so-called, "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" anecdotes. Thus over the years, MSG is kinda taboo to me, a product to avoid while shopping at the Asian stores. It became so much so that I felt unease when I spotted a packet of MSG in my friend's kitchen cabinet. I believe I have been brainwashed.

In reality, MSG is concluded as safe by FDA for most people when eaten at customary amount. It usage is like salt, just a little to season the food at the end for the ultimate "Umami" taste, the so-called fifth taste or meaty/savory taste. A lot of researches had been done on MSG and the results were the same, it is a safe "food enhancer" or "food addictive" to use. Chinese and Japanese have been using MSG for years with no problem. They openly used MSG in their cooking shows (which prompted me to research about MSG in the first place). I wonder what would happen if the American food cooking show openly uses MSG in their cooking shows?

Our bodies need Glutamate or amino acids. Our bodies produce it. Even human breast milk has a fair amount of glutamate compared to cow milk. If nature thinks amino acids is safe for newborn baby so why are we so afraid of it? Tomato, mushroom, soy sauce, Parmesan cheese have natural occurring Glutamate (free Glutamate) in them. We eat them with no problem because it makes the food taste better. Modern commercial MSG (sodium form of natural occurring glutamate) is produced by fermentation of starch, sugar beets, sugar cane, or molasses. Fermented products such as soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce have levels of glutamate similar to foods with added MSG. Lots of bottled Chinese sauces, American canned food, broths, chips, condiments, bouillon cubes have MSG in them. I eat them and I never suffer from any sort of "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". We are so taboo of the word MSG that the manufacturers had to come out with a different name to conceal it. Such as hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, yeast extract, soy extracts, hydrolyzed yeast just to name a few. Even now if you do a search on Monosodium Glutamate, lots of anti-MSG web pages are there.

Recently as I was watching the Chinese cooking show, the host even said the latest finding on MSG is actually good for health. It also promotes appetite especially for older people, picky children, pregnant women to at least make them eat some food and thus increase the nutrient intake. Also read that by using MSG, you can significantly cut down the salt intake. But I am so brainwashed that I just couldn't pick up a packet of MSG from the store. But I have no problem picking up chicken stock granules though, my reason being it is chicken stock with added MSG, as opposed to 100% MSG. I know I am kidding myself, even you cooks out there who use the commercial chicken, beef or vegetable stocks, bouillon cubes to cook your food, you know MSG does make the food taste better. Hey, you loved to add Parmesan cheese and soy sauce on your food right?

Why are we so brainwashed? FDA already concluded that MSG is safe except to some small amount of over-sensitive people after some intensive research . It is so controversial that there are more bad news of MSG than good on the web. But billions of Chinese have been using MSG like salt as another form of food enhancer, we have been eating it unconsciously or consciously in restaurants and packaged food all this time. SO?

I wanted to conclude that I am brainwashed as even now my mom and older aunties still telling me to avoid MSG as it is bad for me. But I did some research and I can see the fact and I am going to be more open-minded because I know most of the bottled sauces have MSG in it, even soy sauce that Chinese cook can go without and frankly I have been consuming MSG all my life just in another form. So, why all the hype about the word "MSG" or "Ajinomoto"? = I am kidding myself. As for the majority of population, MSG is safe unless you have vitamin B-6 deficiency, or overly-sensitive to MSG.

Sources:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/fdamsg
http://www.squidoo.com/monosodium-glutamate-health
http://www.whatprice.co.uk/food-drink/MSG.html#ixzz0MvYD7PDO
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Monosodium_glutamate
http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/msg.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/monosodium-glutamate/AN01251
http://www.starch.dk/isi/bio/msg.asp
http://www.drtindall.org/Monosodium%20glutamate.htm




I would love to thanks Tracie Moo from Bitter Sweet Flavours for passing me these two lovely awards. I am not going to pass it around as I stop doing tag long ago. Thanks though Tracie! :)

Penne Tuna Pasta

Have you tried the pouch tuna? I recently bought some to try because it was on sales and I seriously liked it. No draining required and it was so convenient. It was fairly expensive without the sales so stock up when it goes on sales. Friday noodle/pasta night again and of course I had to think of something to cook. Saw a packet of Penne pasta and pouches of tuna in my pantry and my sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil on my kitchen counter and thought it would make a good combo. I read that tomatoes, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese have naturally occurrence glutamate (amino acid) that said to produce the fifth taste called "umami" by Japanese. No wonder so many people loved to sprinkle Parmesan cheese on their pasta and pizza and love tomato based products and mushroom soup. Parmesan cheese especially has high level of glutamate, so I am wondering if you stay away from MSG (salt form of glutamate), do you stay away from Parmesan cheese too?

Homemade Soft Pretzel

I was not a fan of pretzel before until I tasted the soft pretzel selling in the Malls. I was then hooked on this soft pretzel. Whenever I was shopping at the Malls, I always got attracted by the delicious looking large soft pretzels. With the sweet tooth that I have, I prefer the sweet pretzel. I don't know, we Asian seem to prefer sweet bread instead of salty. However, pretzel is not cheap, at almost $3 a piece, it needs some consideration on my part. Am I willing to spend that much for a pretzel? I guess occasional treat would do. But fear not, soft pretzel is not that hard to do and I can easily made a bunch for less than $3. I made mine in salty version because I thought it would be better for freezing. I didn't prove mine long enough as they were harder than my first attempt.

Miso Seaweed Soup

My girls and I loved wakame while my husband won't touch it. He doesn't like the texture and taste of wakame at all. Oh well, more for us. :) Wakame is the edible seaweed that mostly consume by Japanese and Korean. It usually sold as dried seaweed and need to be constituted in cold water before cooking. It will expand when soak and need to cut into smaller pieces before cooking. It is green color, slightly chewy, slippery texture and taste of ocean (to me). It is very good for health, rich source of omega 3 fatty acids and has high level of calcium, iodine, thiamine and niacin. Traditionally and to this day, Koreans eat seaweed soup on their birthday. Sharing my easy way of preparing this miso seaweed soup.

Deep Fried Seaweed Beancurd Rolls

Deep-fried food, hardly anyone can resist. Deep-fried beancurd rolls with seaweed, give me anytime! I finally bought some frozen beancurd sheet at my last visit to the Asian market and I was so eager to try this out. Of course my homemade version was not as pretty as I made the rolls too long. So, when I tried to roll the seaweed around, I noticed that it looked weird with just one seaweed wrapped around it, so I wrapped two seaweeds, one on each end with the thought that I could cut it in half and made a better presentation. And thus tada! This beancurd sheet is actually the vegetarian version of the pork fat sheet that we used to make "5 spice meat roll" (五香肉).

Stir Fried Cabbage With Tofu

Another simple and healthy home cook dish from me. I would buy cabbage if I did not go to the Asian supermarket to get my vegetable for the week as cabbage has a long fridge life. With cabbage on hand, just add some colors and some tofu and oyster sauce, a delicious and healthy meal awaits you. You can't go wrong with oyster sauce, so stock up on Lee Kum Kee's oyster sauce for easy Chinese stir-fry. I don't like other brands so I always stick to my trusted LKK brand for my oyster sauce. Look for it when you shop at your local Asian supermarket next time.

Creamy Corn Tofu

I created this dish by accident one night. I had a block of silken tofu for dinner but had no idea how to cook it. I looked through my pantry and saw a canned of creamy corns and thought why not? It should pair well together as we loved the creamy chicken corn soup with tofu. And I was right, this dish was so easy to put together and guarantee deliciousness. Smashed the silken tofu and served the rice with lots of creamy corn sauce. You can have this dish along and be satisfied. If you don't have the chicken stock granules, you can substitute it with a little sugar. Try this dish on one of your lazy nights, hey it's healthy too.

Singapore Style Fried Vermicelli (星州炒米粉)

We came to know this dish when we came to America. Frankly, we were curious at first to see Singapore Fried Vermicelli (星州炒米粉) in the Americanized Chinese restaurant's menu. We were like what they know about Singapore vermicelli? So, we ordered the vermicelli and gave it a try. As you guest, it was not a noodle we had before in Malaysia or Singapore (10+ years ago). It was a vermicelli fried with curry powder and they called it Singapore style fried vermicelli. But today, I guess it's pretty wide spread, so I am curious, have you seen people in Malaysia or Singapore cooking this curry powder packed vermicelli these days? This Singapore vermicelli is very common in an Americanized Chinese restaurants today, not only that even the authentic Chinese restaurants cook this dish. For this dish, it is best to cook with the yellow Indian curry powder, not the Malaysian Baba's red curry powder. Since I only have the Baba's curry powder, I used that and the fragrant was not as great as the Indian yellow curry powder that they used here.

Spice Chicken

I made this spice chicken as a side dish for my nasi lemak (fragrant coconut rice). Because my girls couldn't take the ikan bilis sambal (too spicy for them), so I had to come out with a side dish that they can eat with their nasi lemak. I also saved some fried ikan bilis (anchovy) for them. So, my girls version were hard boiled egg, cucumber slices, spice chicken, crispy anchovies and roasted peanuts. They loved the fragrant coconut rice so I wanted them to be able to enjoy this dish too.

Mom's French Toasts

As a Foodbuzz Tastemaker, I received two loaves of Nature's Pride breads to sample (100% Whole Wheat and 12 Grain). If you know me, I'm pretty health conscious and have been eating mostly 100% whole wheat bread for the past years. I was delighted to sample this Nature's Pride bread as it is the only 100% natural brand of bread available across the country (as they claimed). They are committed to baking the tastiest bread with wholesome and natural food choices such as no artificial flavors or colors, no high fructose corn syrup, no trans-fats, and no artificial preservatives. Sharing this bread with you with my mom's version of French Toasts. She added sugar into the eggs mixture and we ate it without any syrup, fruit puree, whipped cream or powder sugar. It is great as it is!

Nasi Lemak (Fragrant Coconut Rice)

Nasi Lemak or Fragrant Coconut Rice, a Malaysian favorite dish! I don't know anyone who doesn't like nasi lemak. I am a sucker for the banana leaf wrapped nasi lemak that used to sell for 50 cent a pack. Right now, I have no idea how much is it, $1? $1.50? One thing for sure, it was not that cheap anymore. The combination of coconut rice and the ikan bilis sambal (anchovies chili sauce) blended so well together, it is hard to stop at just a packet! And when it is wrapped in banana leaf, oh mine, the fragrant of the banana leaf with the coconut rice, it's explosive! So, if you are going to visit Malaysia, this is a must-try dish. Even now, when I go back to visit my parents, it's my must have breakfast.

My girl friend back in college gave me the idea of adding pandan paste into the coconut rice. She made this dish for a cooking competition and won first place. So now, for variation I also added some pandan paste into my coconut rice. I served my nasi lemak with the usual ikan bilis sambal, roated peanuts, fresh cucumber, hard boiled egg and spice chicken (recipe coming up).

For the above nasi lemak, wash the rice, instead of water, use coconut milk, add a little salt, some black peppers and pandan paste. Cook in rice cooker.

POMx Iced Coffee

When I was contacted to sample the POM new product, Iced Coffee, I was delighted and curious at the same time. Curious as in how would a coffee with POMx added in tasted like. POMx is a potent antioxidant rich extract from POM Wonderful pomegranates. This iced coffee is best suited for people who needed a coffee or caffeine boost everyday and yet wanted it to be healthier, like packed with antioxidants for example.

POMx Iced Coffee combined a potent antioxidant rich extract from pomegranates, Rainforest Alliance Certified shade-grown Arabica coffee beans, rBST growth hormone-free milk and organic cane sugar. It came in three wonderful flavors, Chocolate (fat-free), Cafe au Lait and Vanilla. It is either fat-free (yes 0% fat) or low-fat and preservative free.

Can you imagine your cup of morning coffee to deliver a "Healthy Buzz" of energy? With 650mg dose of polyphenol antioxidants from pomegranates (more potent than those found in red wine, green tea, grape and acai extracts) and 175mg of high caffeine-content for extreme energy boost. And it was made with premium, all-natural ingredients to give you a healthy buzz. The POMx Iced Coffee Chocolate is a deliciously rich coffee with chocolate flavor (what's best is it is fat-free). I couldn't taste the POMx at all which is a good thing. LOL! Evy even said it tasted a lot like the coffee at Starbuck. What best to kick start your day than with a glass of this powerful and antioxidant rich coffee?