I lost my MoJo...

I had a terrible weekend. Attempted to bake muffins but both batches come out horrible. (+__+)" I reckon I lost my MoJo... so please excuse my sulking this whole week

Anyways, sulking away and bored, i stummbled upon these clever recipes in "The Broke Ass-Bride", while blog surfing.

The Menu:
Marvelous Minted Pea Soup (served chilled)
Heavenly Herbed Heirloom Tomato Salad
Mouthwatering Watermint delight

THE SOUP
3 cups frozen peas
1 can vegetable broth
a handful (more or less) of fresh mint leaves
juice of 1/2 fresh lemon (optional)

Put them all in your blender - hit "go" and that's it! Its stupidly easy, and ultra delicious and healthy!
*note: if you want to get real fancy, pass this mixture through a food mill to produce a silky smooth soup, then dollop a spoonful of cream fraiche on that badboy!
*Flab to Fab tip: double the batch and save 1/2 in pre-measured tupperware for fast, free, healthy lunches!

THE SALAD
1 large, juicy, ugly heirloom tomato (remember, its not about looks with these!)
fresh sprigs of mint and basil
Good olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Coarse ground sea or kosher salt

Cut the tomato into slices, cut slices in half, and arrange on plate. Chiffonade the herbs and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Drizzle a little olive oil, lemon juice and salt. DONE!
*note: if you want to dress it up, throw in some english cucumber for crunch!

THE DESSERT
Fresh Watermelon - cubed
Fresh Mint - torn into small bits
Coarse ground salt (optional)

Toss all together, in advance to let the flavors marry. Chill until ready to serve!

Thanks Broke-Ass Bride for the clever recipes. Will definately try the salad and dessert (when I get my MoJo back)...

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Baked up a batch of Brownies as a Gudbye and TQ gift for my ex-colleagues. ^__^

Ham & Cheese Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder
• 1/2 tsp ground hot paprika
• 80g butter
• 130g chopped ham
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated cheddar cheese
• 1 medium egg, lightly beaten
• 250ml milk
• sweet paprika for sprinkling on the top

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 200C.
2. Grease a 12 hole muffin pan or use non-stick (Do not to use paper cups. The muffins will stick to the paper).
3. Sift together the dry ingredients and rub in the butter with your fingertips.
4. Stir in the chopped ham and grated cheese.
5. Add in egg and milk.
6. Spoon mixture into the muffin pan, sprinkle with paprika and bake for about 20 minutes (until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).

Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

Currently there seems to be a cupcake craze in Kuching. I thought I try my hand at cupcake making. Unfortunately, Mom's oven went bonkers. One batch of cupcake took us more then 2 hours to bake. I hope Dad gets her a new one soon. I gotta stop baking for a while. -__- sigghhh.

Basic Vanilla Cup Cake Recipe
Ingredients

• 5 oz (150g) Butter - softened
• 5 oz (150g) superfine (castor) sugar
• 6 oz (175g) self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350oF (180oC).
2. Line a 12 cup cake pan, with cup cake papers.
3. Crack the eggs into a cup and beat lightly with a fork.
4. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl.
5. Beat with an electric mixer for 2 minutes, until light and creamy.
6. Divide the mixture evenly between the cake cases.
7. Bake for 18-20 minutes until risen and firm to touch.
8. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.
9. Allow to cool fully before icing. Notes Makes 12 cakes.

Butter Cream Frosting
Ingredients

• 5 oz (150g) Butter - softened
• 8 oz (250g) confectioners (icing) sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp hot water

Method
1. Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric beater.
2. Once well combined, add the vanilla and water. Beat until smooth and creamy. Notes Makes approx 12 cakes.

Homemade Pizza

I made homemade pizza for dinner on Sunday night. I manage to find an easy no-yeast pizza dough recipe online at Recipezaar. Its perfect for me cox my family loves thin crusted pizzas and I hate fussing around with yeast. For toppings I used leftover Christmas ham, mushrooms, capsicum, cheddar and mozzarella cheese. You can use anything you like. Easy-peasy.

I saved some for my friend who enjoyed his snack after his golf game. For someone who hasn't have pizza for ages, he comments were "nice, but everything is nice when you're hungry". My responds -__-... (mumble, mumble) "kanasai!"

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Methods:

1. Heat oven to 180 deg Celsius
2. Measure ingredients into a bowl.
3. Mix until mixture leaves the side of the bowl.
4. Gather dough together and press into a ball.
5. Knead dough in bowl 10 times to make smooth then divide dough in half.
6. On lightly floured surface roll each half onto a greased tray.
7. Add toppings and bake for 20-25 minutes of until it looks done.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Made this last Sunday but I didn't manage to post d recipe till now. I made this for a friend of mine which was feeling a bit down. He loves chocolate and keep reminding me of the brownies I made previously for him from a premix. This time I opt to make it from scratch since Happy Home Baking has a pretty easy recipe to try.

He loved it and he felt a bit better after the treat. I think it won't be long till he request for it again.

Ingredients:

• 150 g semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 120 ml sunflower oil
• 180 g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 65 g self-raising flour
• 4 tablespoon cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Optional:

• 1/2 cup Chopped walnuts (I omitted this)
• 1/2 cup Chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degC. Lightly grease a shallow 19cm/7.5 inch square pan.
2. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
3. Beat together oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl. (I used a whisk for this)
4. Stir in the melted chocolate then beat well until evenly mixed.
5. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the batter. With a spatula, fold thoroughly until all the flour mixture incorporates into the batter.
6. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Mix well.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared square tin. Spread the mixture evenly to the edges. (The mixture is rather sticky and gooey.)
8. Bake for about 30 ~ 35 mins until the top is firm and crusty. Cool in the pan before cutting into squares.

Inspired by Happy Home Baking. Her recipe can be found here.

Green Fingers...maybe not

My 2nd attempt at planting parsley. So far...it does not look promising :(My first pot of Spring Onions...looks great i must admit :)
A little pot of Mint/Peppermint...
First few steps to owning my own Organic farm...oh well maybe not...

Impossible Coconut Pie

Ingredients:

1/4 cups soft butter/margarine
2/3 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 cup grated coconut
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together and beat well.

Mixture will be very watery. Possibly lumps of butter might float. Do not worry. This is why it is call the "Impossible Pie". Looks impossible but turns out great.

1. Pour into a 10 inch pie pan
2. Bake at 170C oven for approx 1 hour

The pie would be of a custard like texture.

Milo Doggie Cookies

Using the same recipe as the Horlick Doggie Cookies, I made a batch of these for my cousins in Spore. Instead of using Horlicks, I used Milo. End up with brown doggies. "Negro Poppy".

Some of them end up with cracked faces because the oven was to hot. Reminder to self - stick with the temperature mentioned in the recipe. Don't be clever and hike up the temperature.

The original Poppy - being lazy (as usual)

Boking inspired by Happy Home Baking

Horlick Doggie Cookies

Gong Xi Fatt Chai

I made these cute Horlick Doggies for CNY. I followed a really easy recipe from Happy Home Baking. The recipe is can be found here.