Newtons Fruit Thins

Mmmm...mmmm....yum.....yum.....

What was my little Edda eating that was so delicious?  It was Newtons newest product!!  Newtons Fruit Thins is made with real fruit and packed into a thin and crispy whole grain cookie.  It has 8g of whole grain per serving (three cookies) to strike the perfect balance between sweet treat and wholesome snack.  My girls liked to enjoy it plain and as for me, I liked it with a cup of coffee.  :-)  This cookie definitely has the thumb up from me except it was sort of pricy, so I would buy it when it goes on sales or when there is a $1 off coupon (which was recently in the smartsource coupon in the mail).

As a tastemaker of Foodbuzz, I received the Cranberry Citrus Oat Newtons Fruit Thins to sample.  We could taste pieces of real dried cranberry in each cookie with a great citrus taste.  What's best for me was it has zero gram of trans fat and no high fructose corn syrup and made with real fruit. It came in three other flavors as well such as Chocolate Raspberry, Blueberry Brown Sugar and Fig & Honey.  I am eager to try them all.  Have you tried it?  Do you like it?

Stir Fried Long Bean with Minced Pork

I created this recipe with the Malaysian side in me.  Have you ever seen such a dark color vegetable dish before?  Haha...  First I wanted a dark color dish, then I tried to match it with a sauce that will guarantee it to be delicious.  And this dish was created!  Besides long bean, you can use green bean or french bean as well.

If you are too busy to cook, this dish makes a great one dish meal as well because it has meat and vegetable in one.  So, you get a balance meal in a bowl, of course for me, it is best to pair it with brown rice that was cooked with minced garlic and ginger.  You can read more about garlic rice here, these days I only cook brown rice and also added minced ginger as well.  Since both are super food so why not right?

Stir Fried Zucchini with Dried Small Shrimps (炒西葫芦和虾皮)

This is another way to enjoy the dried small shrimps or 虾皮.  If you want to learn more about 虾皮, click here.   This is a delicious stir-fried zucchini dish that even my picky hubby and Evy turned out liking.  They don't like to eat zucchini, but if I sliced it thinly like this and stir-fry it, they turned out liking it.  With the garlic, dried small shrimps, this dish was really flavorful with just a touch of salt and sugar.

Dried Mussels with Chicken and Mushrooms

Another dried mussels recipe from me!  The one packet of dried mussels can actually make with few dishes, I still have half a packet left.  I had tried it with Lotus Root Soup and Chap Chai and now tried it with chicken and mushrooms.  But I would probably say it would taste better with pork belly or drumsticks.  But if you are health conscious, then just use skinless chicken breasts like me.   Perhaps I will use the dried mussels in a vegetable soup next.

Stir Fried Konnyaku Slice (炒半边腰花)

I went to my Asian market when they were having a cooking demonstration day.  I discovered this Konnyaku slice or 半边腰花 at the Lee Kum Kee's cooking booth.  Frankly it was my first time seeing this vegetarian thingy but it reminded me of the kidney that my mom used to make soup.  I got a sample and really loved the texture of this springy Konnyaku slices.  I loved it so much that I bought a packet of this and the LKK sauce that went with it.  I will show you the picture of the packet and the LKK sauce in the next page.  It was my first time trying this sauce as well and really loved it.  The store manager told me they used this sauce to pour on their steamed fish.  Now I know what sauce the restaurant used for their fishes.  Hehehe...

I pan-fried some cut firm tofu and then stir-fried with these Konnyaku slices with the LKK sauce.  Very easy to make and the sauce went well with rice.  The Konnyaku slice can be found at the frozen section of the market.  Just thaw it in the refrigerator a day before use or take some out and soak in water to thaw.

Erythritol Whole Wheat Buns

I was contacted by Emerald Forest Xylitol to sample Erythritol and create a baking recipe for their Website.  For those who doesn't know, Erythritol is a natural sugarless sweetener that comes from corn.  It is 70% as sweet as sugar, but has 0 calories.  Erythritol is well known within the diabetic community as the Glycemic index is a 0, whereas sugar is 100 and anything below 55 is considered "low glycemic" and is therefore safe for diabetics.  I think this natural sweetener is ideal for the borderline diabetics as well.  Please avoid all the artificial sweeteners and consider this natural sugar free sweetener instead.  Please go to their Website as I believe there is a special going on right now (if you are interested).

I used Erythritol to replace sugar in this recipe and the outcome was identical to the original recipe I created.  I didn't bother to increase the sugar amount and we didn't miss it.  Couldn't tell the difference actually and the bread turned out soft and yummy as well.

I am also submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers # 8 and this month theme is "Bread Seduction" hosted by Sweetylicious.