Blueberry Cheesecake Cups

I eat fruit based on whatever fruit is on season, same with vegetable.  And when Whole Food had their one day 1 pint organic blueberries on sales for $1.99, I couldn't pass it up.  Did you all manage to get some too?  For the most benefit, it is best to eat it raw, without cooking or baking to get the most nutrients.  So, instead of baking with it, I used it as a decoration on these cheesecake cups.  The rest, we just washed and ate it by the handful.

I remembered my lazy cheesecake cups recipe that I did back in 2009 and this is another version revised from that recipe.  I used ginger snap cookies as a base this time and it soften up just like a crust.  Brilliant!

I did a no-bake cheesecake cookie cup in 2011 using the ginger snap as well if you are interested.
 

Milo Chia Seed Pudding

Chia seed is so popular these days because of its high omega-3 fat and long shelve life.  Also, it doesn't have to be crushed (unlike flaxseed) to get the full benefits.  I have been added it in bread, waffle, pancake and muffin. But I also like to try new thing and chia seed pudding caught my eyes.  It seem easy enough, just add liquid and chia seeds and see it transform into a pudding like consistency.

I made a small batch to test it out and luckily my girls loved it too.  Just that we have to add more syrup to make it tasty.  Next time I would probably mix the syrup with the milk first before adding the chia seeds so that the pudding would be sweet.  I think it would be delicious in the Asian style sweet soy bean milk too.

Pina Colada Yonana

It has been almost a year since I owned my Yonana maker and I am still loving it.  It is always cool to have a new recipe to try.  When I saw the Pina Colada recipe posted at Yonana's Facebook page, I just wanted to try it.  This recipe was posted by Gerry Quesinberry and thanks Gerry for sharing this fantastic recipe.  I made one quart (more than the recipe stated) to freeze so that I can have few scoops a day.  I always like to make a big batch so that I can freeze for later, also I don't have to wash the Yonana maker every time I feel like eating some.  *wink*

Flaxseed and Chia Seeds Waffles

You know I make my own bread/buns for breakfast right?  Sometimes I will make muffins or waffles as they freezes well.  My old waffle recipes used oatmeal and since I no longer buy oatmeal, I tried out a new recipe here.  I added flax and chia seeds simply because I have some in my pantry.  Next time I would buy the ground flaxseed  instead of  the whole flaxseed since it is easier for our bodies to digest.  (Update: I grounded my flaxseeds using a food processor and store it in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.)

I served my waffle with butter and Malacca palm sugar syrup and it was so delicious.  My girls asked me to make another batch of waffles after we are finished with this because they loved it a lot.  I used chocolate chips for them and raisins for us.

Vietnamese Shrimps Spring Rolls

I think I wrote about the Vietnamese spring rolls or summer rolls before but never really provided the method of making it.  Since I make this quite often now and have been playing with variety of fillings, I am definitely getting better.  I will show you a picture of my ingredients and guide you along in my next page (if you are a newbie of course).  As for my ever popular peanut hoisin dipping sauce, you can get the recipe here.  I have perfected the recipe, so you don't have to go else where for the recipe, just get it here!

This is definitely an appetizer or snack or lunch (it's great for picnic too) that you can make ahead of time.  It also becomes one of the food that I prepare for Evy's school lunchbox.  I cut the veggie, par-boil the vermicelli and shrimps and make the hoisin peanut sauce the night before.  Then, on the next day, I just have to wrap it with a rice paper and enclose it with a cling wrap individually (so that it won't dry out and easier for her to eat) .  I also pack a small container of peanut sauce for her to dip.

Brown Rice Kimbap/Gimbap (Korean Rice Rolls)

I am loving kimbap/gimbap because you can basically put everything you desired as fillings.  I loved to make kimbap using my leftover turmeric barley brown rice (hence the yellow color) or brown rice .  These days, I would keep some nori seaweed wrapper in my pantry so that when I feel like making some kimbap, I can.  I made the above for my girl's school lunch, she loved eating it and there was no mess.  I would make another for Edda as well when she comes home from school. 

Close up of my fillings above:  Fried eggs, imitation crab meat, spicy tuna, carrot, pickled radish and blanched bean sprouts (I wish I have some cucumber though for extra crunch).  The filling is very versatile, if you can think it, you can make it.  In fact, I like to make kimbap using leftover. 

This would make a great picnic lunch as well.  I can't wait for summer to arrive so that I can go picnic with my girls.  Well, if the weather turns nice like in the 70s, that's a good reason to go picnic, doesn't have to wait until summer. :-P

Oyster Sauce Topokki

As I mentioned earlier, Topokki or Dukbokki is a popular Korean street snack made of rice cake sticks and fish cakes.  This is my sweet and salty oyster sauce version of topokki.  I added Korean smoked fish ham, rice cake sticks, onion and fish cakes.

I sliced the rice cake sticks into half for faster cooking time.  This dish is more suitable for children or those who can't seem to take spicy food.

Easy Guacamole

When avocado is on sales, I like to buy some to make guacamole, milk shake, or add in salad.  Guacamole is very easy to make and I would prefer to make it myself rather than buy it at the store.  I think it is very versatile as you can also add red or color bell pepper, jelepeno (for a spicy kick), roasted garlic and white onion.  Basically just whatever to your fancy or just keep it plain.  It makes a great appetizer or party snack!

I served my guacamole with Sprout's multi-grain tortilla chips, loved that chips!  It is a great way to add shallot, cilantro and tomato for my girls as usually they are kind of picky with those.

Deep-Fried Nian Gao with Seaweed and Sweet Potatoes

Nian Gao/ sticky rice cake (年糕), a must have for every Chinese New Year (CNY) because of its' symbolic meanings.  Eating nian gao is said to bring you good luck in the new year.  Also "nian nian gao sheng",  年年高升 means whether in your career, money wise or studies or whatever you do, you will get better each and every year.  Eating something sticky also means your family will stick together.  The above nian gao is made with my Super Easy Steamed Nian Gao recipe that I devised for people who want to make homemade nian gao the easy way.

I fell in love with deep-fried spring roll nian gao 2-3 years ago.  This year I tried it with a piece of seaweed and the seaweed imparted an extra fragrant to the fried nian gao with sweet potatoes.  This is super crispy and irresistible!  Try it with your leftover nian gao from the CNY and enjoy this delicious snack!!

Lemon Sables and Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing all my readers a very Happy Valentine's Day in advance!  I am killing two birds with one stone here by incorporating one of my Chinese New Year cookies into a Valentine's day cookie!  I am posting this early just in case someone might want to make this for his/her valentine.

Sables is a classic French's butter cookies originating in Normandy France.  The texture is crisp, sandy and crumbly with the fragrant of butter.  For my lemon sables, it is fragrant with lemon of course but it still has the buttery taste in it.  I think it looks sweet for Valentine's day, what do you think?

* I am also submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover* 

Butter Custard Cookies

This Butter Custard Cookie is a spin off of my Custard Cookies that I made in 2011.  That cookie was delicious and I wanted to make it again this year, but when I looked through the recipe again, it has cornstarch in it.  I threw away my cornstarch a while ago and have no plan of using it again, so here's the spin off!  I like this cookies a lot as it is very fragrant, it's buttery, custardy, and also smell of vanilla.  It is light and crispy.  Both my girls loved this cookie and told me they could finish all the cookies in one day.  Hahaha... 

You are welcome to double the recipe as this cookie will go fast.  Maybe doubling and make a few batches if you intend to give it as gift.

* I am also submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover* 

Peanut Butter Oat Squares

When I saw this recipe at Go Bold with Butter, I wanted to try it.  The reason being it has rolled oats and some of my favorite ingredients in there.  Not sure what happen but mine came out looking different from their photo.  Nevertheless, it is still crispy and crumbly like they described.  I think it would taste even better with chocolate chips, flax seeds and possibly walnuts in it.  I would probably play with the recipe when I make it again.

* I am submitting this post to Chinese New Year Delights 2013 hosted by Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover*  Well, a change from the traditional Chinese New Year cookies!  Actually it is quite similar to the cornflakes cookies without flour except this one uses oats.  So, I think instead of bar squares, you can also do it in a pretty mini paper cups.

Korean Spicy Kimchi Topokki

My variation of topokki.  Kimchi Topokki!!  I figured the intense flavor of kimchi would give the basic spicy topokki a boost and I was right.  I actually liked this version better as I found the flavor was more well rounded.  This makes a great meatless meal too.

Feel free to adjust the thickness of your sauce as I think mine was a bit too dry.  I think it would taste better with a little more sauce.  Happy experimenting and whoever try this, please feedback to me ya! 

Congo Bars

I was given some cookie bars during the holidays that left me with a favorable impression as it was really delicious.  I had no idea what it was nor I have tasted it before, so I went online to look for a cookie bar recipe that resembled the cookie that I had.  I found the picture of Congo Bars looked similar and decided to give it a try.  Later, I realized that this Congo Bar actually resembled Blondie very much as they both make with similar ingredients.  And Congo Bar is actually another variation of Blondie.  I might give Blondie a try in the future.  For this, the only difference I changed was I used cashew nuts instead of walnuts or pecans.  The taste was fairly closed and I am happy with the result.

The above picture is how I wrapped the cookie bars.  I used red and white tissue papers, cut them out and wrapped the cookie bars like wrapping a candy and put them in a decorative zipper bag.  You can also wrap it in foil first and then cover with a solid color cellophane paper and pack them in a decorative box as gift.

Green Tea Cream Puffs

I was left with some heavy cream from Thanksgiving.  So, I needed to use it before it expired and I thought of  making a green tea flavor cream filling for some cream puffs.  Cream puff is very easy to make, I just followed a classic cream puff dough recipe and play with the flavor of cream filling.

Cream puff freezes well and I especially loved how the heavy cream filling tasted after in the freezer.  To me, it tasted so much like ice-cream and making it so good.  You can drizzle the top with melted milk chocolate to make it more presentable for a party or potluck.

Korean Spicy Topokki

Topokki or dukbokki is a popular Korean street food that is made of rice cake sticks, fish cakes and gochujang.  You can spot the street vendors selling this popular snack food all day long.  Because of it's popularity, lots of variation had been created.  Most of it are spicy but there is also a sweet and salty variety that uses oyster sauce as a base.  Some added ramen, cheese, seafood, curry, meat, chicken, etc.

Here, I used the basic recipe that was at the back of the package of the rice cake sticks that I bought.  I liked the chewiness of the rice cakes and I didn't make it too spicy.  You can add 1 Tbsp. of  Korean chili pepper powder to brighten up the color further and make it spicier.  I will be sharing my other variation in a different post later.

Tricolored Soft Coconut Candy

This is a soft and chewy coconut candy that is very easy to make.  This is different from the hard coconut candy with bright coloring (from Malaysia).  Instead of making it tricolored,  you can shape each color into a ball (wear plastic glove) and serve it individually.  I think it would help in tasting the different flavors of the candies.  I found that when combining the three, I couldn't taste the individual flavor as the rose paste seem to be over powering the rest of the flavors.

When I flipped through my friend's recipe cards the other day, I saw a recipe that was very similar to this and it is called Coconut Ice, it is a traditional English candy that required no baking too.  You can read more about it here.

Korean Smoked Fish Ham

Look what I found while shopping at the Korean supermarket, H-Mart?  Smoked Fish Ham!!  I didn't know that fish can be made into ham, that was new to me.  A lady was doing the sample booth and offering me a sample of this fish ham and I really was impressed as it really tasted like ham.  Best of all, it was made of fish which made it slightly healthier?

It was on sales for $5 (usual price $8) and according to the lady it might increase to $10.  I certainly wouldn't pay $10 for it but since it was on sales and all of us loved it, I bought one along with some fish cakes.

I just sliced it into pieces and pan-fried it in a little oil as demo and served it with Udon noodle soup (not picture).  I put vegetable and mushroom into the noodle soup to make it more balance.

Taro Mochi Cake

Showing you pictures of my Taro Mochi Cake.  I am still in the process of experiment as I am not quite happy with the result so I won't be sharing the recipe for now.  It will be a while until I get my hand on some taro again and begin another trial on this mochi cake.  But will post the recipe once I succeeded in accomplishing the texture that I want.  Stay tuned!

It was okay but a bit too soft, so more experiment needed.  I want to do it differently the next time.

Matcha Mochi Cake with Sweet Potatoes/Yam

 

Why green tea you asked?  It's simply because I adore the Redman green tea powder, it's so fragrant and make your baked good vibrant in this beautiful green color.  I made sure I bought some when I went back to Malaysia few months ago. There is no substitution for me!  Not disappointed, my house smelled like green tea when this was baked and this mochi cake really fragrant packed with green tea smell.  If you just want a plain matcha mochi cake, just omit the sweet potatoes.

The texture of this mochi cake is sticky and chewy with the fragrant of green tea and sweetness from the sweet potatoes.  My next experiment will be with taro mochi cake, wait til I get my hands on some taro!