Challenge #1: Ready, Set, Blog Post

Foodbuzz is all about foodies and it's a food lover's community which has launched a food blogging contest called Project Food Blog and they're looking for the next Food Blog Star and I have decided to give it a go and enter it.

What is Project Food Blog? This contest will consist of a series of 10 weekly challenges with contestants being systematically eliminated after each round. The challenges are set out to encourage us to go further and beyond in our foodie adventures and the winner will receive a $10,000 grand prize. So far there have been over 1800 entries and this very first challenge only 400 will move onto the next challenge. So here's Challenge#1....

Challenge #1: Ready, Set, Blog! What defines you as a food blogger and why you think you have what it takes to be the next food blog star?

Where has the time gone? I've been blogging since... oh I have to check this again, um since... March 2010 says my profile. I started out blogging for fun and to try to get back into writing or at least some form note taking to account for the things that I've been up to up until now with being a stay-at-home mum and looking after my three kids and trying to deal with different tastes and varying appetites during all hours of the day.

My biggest foodie critics.

I having an active almost 2 year old who eats just about everything all except peas, which he would pick up from his plate and flick over all areas of the house. I don't think he registers them as food and will hide them all over the house if he could. He seems to take alot of joy out of aiming them at our dear old cat, Sakura but lucky without any fatal shots. I have another son who eats anything with cheese, ham and his favourite .... chicken wings at all times of the day and almost nothing else. A very fussy eater but I'm hoping that will change someday so I try very hard to offer him different foods to tempt his taste buds. And lastly I have a daughter who grew out of her almost all meat diet to being an adventurous eater daring to try out new dishes and now loves her vegies. When she was younger and before she started school she was a very good eater with all her food and wasn't fussy at all... that was until she started school and that all changed when they were given cooked meals at lunch. She was a smart little cookie when delegating who would get her vegies and everything else she didn't like. I guess eating vegetables wasn't the "in" thing at kindergarten but I'm glad it's all changed. So with these three people at home I have the task of trying to get them to eat a balanced meal and I try my best to serve up my style of homecooking. It's a mix of what the kids like to eat and what the adults like to eat, sometimes I  have to compromise with a smuggled vegetable and spices here and there but it all seems to work. 

The food.

My blog is about the food we love to eat, some favourites and some new creations I've stumbled upon that just work well but all of them are foodie adventures that I want to share with anyone who loves food and family. My food is about trying to make a meal that's simple, good and quick to make. They are easy to follow not too complicated, some that have been handed to me from my grandmother... a treasured secret to share and some that have been family staples that have gotten us through the week. I'm always looking out for something to try out or something that evokes a foodie moment from when I first realised my love for good food. I guess you could say food in our family is always about comfort and that's the best kind of food. A meal that is shared and one that gives you that warm "comfy" feeling inside....like all homecooking from a mum's kitchen. As a mum the best compliments are the smiles from the people you love and hearty request for "Mum, can you make this again. I can eat this all the time." or the best compliment so far is from the almost 2 year old... "More?" 

The best compliment...
just a little bit "more" and a quick snooze!

I'm not a trained chef or cook but it's been more of an "on the job" sort of training with a lot of trials and errors.... split gravy, burnt casseroles, smoking volcano cakes and many more misadventures which have lead me down this path. What has kept me going is my passion for food and passing it on to my kids with the hope that they will learn about good food, the love of creating meal and the known pleasure that a shared meal amongst family and friends are one of the simplest and most rewarding feeling a foodie adventurer can have.

one month.....

It's been a while but I'm back... had a bit of a blogging dry spell. I've been cooking and taking photos but putting all down to draft. There's lots to catch up with over the next few days so I hope that these photos will do for now.

Blueberry Snow Skin Mooncake with Chocolate and Strawberry Filling

Mooncake season is here and I've always like those little golden pillows of lotus paste and pandan paste and red bean paste. Until a few years ago you could only find two or three traditional types of mooncakes but now you can find all sorts of new Snow Skin mooncakes or otherwise known as Ping Pi Mooncake. They are completely different from eating the traditional ones as they are usually eaten chilled and the texture of the skin is soft and chewy and much like lo mai chi or mochi. And instead of having just the plain filling with a salted egg you can now have fruity fillings like strawberry, banana, blueberry, pandan and even durian!

So this Mid Autumn Festival or Mooncake Festival I've decided to give it a try and make my own Snow Skin Mooncakes and I guess the hardness thing to come up with is what type of filling to put in it. 

Blueberry Snow Skin Mooncake with Chocolate and Strawberry Filling! This is my first attempt at making this.... a very messy but rewarding job.

It was a little tricky getting the mooncakes out of the mould but it turned out ok.

The main ingredient: Glutinous Rice Flour, Rice Flour and Lotus Paste. There are so many moulds to choose from with different patterns. 

Chocolate Banana Custard Pie

With everyone having their own favourite things to eat for dessert. I wanted to combine all of them together and this is what I came up with. I have been wanting to make a banana cream pie so I use that for inspiration when I came up with this creation. 


Chocolate for Tristan, Custard for hubby and Ashley and bananas for Jacob. 

CHocolate + Custard + Bananas = Chocolate Banana Custard Pie!

I combined all the flavours but still tried to keep them separate and instead of mashing the banana to make it into a real banana custard I laid a layer of sliced bananas on the bottom of the pie and laid a layer on top of the custard. It went pretty well and hubby thought I had mashed them but the older kids asked me why I had put mushrooms in the custard. They didn't realise that it was bananas and I couldn't believe they had thought I had put mushrooms in their custard pie....really!

Chocolate Banana Custard Pie

1 cup plain flour

80 g butter

1 egg

2tbsp sugar

1/3 cup custard powder

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups milk

3 bananas

100g dark chocolate

1tbsp plain yogurt

1. Using a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar and butter and rub together until they look like breadcrumbs. Add the egg and knead it until it forms a smooth dough. If it gets a bit sticky just add a bit more flour. 

2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 23cm pie dish and roll out the dough to fit the pie dish. You can place a layer of greaseproof paper and some beans or rice onto the pie dough and bake for 10 mins. Remove and set aside.

3. Using a medium saucepan, pour in the milk and mix in the custard powder and sugar. Stir it continuously and bring to a simmer. Keep stirring so that the custard doesn't stick to the saucepan and remove once the custard is very thick. Leave the custard to cool down for about 10 mins.

4. Slice 2 bananas into thin slices and then place a layer onto the pie crust. Pour the custard over the bananas and then slice the remaining banana and lay them on top of the custard layer. 

5. Gently melt the dark chocolate and when it has melted add the yogurt and stir until combined. Using a spoon to gently drizzle the chocolate over the pie. Put the pie in the fridge to cool down for about 2 hours before serving.

Alfabeto Pasta Soup

It's a perfect day for soup. A cool, overcast sky and the rains just waiting to fall. A bowl of soup is what is going to keep us warm for lunch. 

Some tomato, chicken stock and lots and lots of alfabeto pasta and we have a bowl of alfabeto soup. Would you like to have some soup?

Alfabeto Pasta Soup

1 1/2 cup Alfabeto pasta

1 large tomato, roughly chopped

300g chicken breast, thinly diced

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

410g tomato puree

1.5 L chicken stock

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1 1/2 tsp sugar

50 g butter

salt and pepper to taste

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Add them to a saucepan of melted butter. Stir until soften and then add the chicken. Add the basil and paprika and stir until the chicken is cooked.

2. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, chicken stock and sugar and gently stir. Add the pasta and bring it to the boil. Keep stirring, reduce the heat and gently simmer for about 8 mins. If you need to add more liquid just add a bit more water. The soup should be nice and thick more like a meal than a soup. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Apple Pie

We were invited over for dinner at a friend's place and I always love to bring over something as a little thank you gift. I just love making pies. Apples pies are my favourite ones to make. Apple filling piled up high and sweet shortcrust pastry with a huge dollop of vanilla ice cream. 

I had actually planned to make this apple pie just the family but when hubby told me about our dinner invitation I immediately thought of saving this pie to share with our friends. 

Apple Pie

180 g butter, cold

2 cups plain flour

2 egg yolks

1/4 cup icing sugar

2-3 tbsp cold water

1 tbsp milk

Filling

10-12 medium granny smith apples

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup sultanas

1. Using a mixing bowl, add flour, icing sugar and cold butter. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and the water and combine until it forms a dough. If the dough is sticky just add some more flour. 

2. Knead it on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth. Divide the dough into half and roll  out the dough to place on a greased 23cm pie dish. I would sometimes just flatten portions of dough on my hand and just roughly cover the pie dish. It gives it a rustic look and I sometimes do it this way to save on rolling out the dough. Set aside the remaining dough and pie dish in the fridge.

3. Filling

Peel the apples and cut them into thick slices. I found this really great apple cutter at Ikea and it just cuts the apple into perfect slices and cores the apple at the same time. Put the apple slices into a sauce pan. Add the sugar and sultanas and heat the pan over med/high heat and constantly stir so that the sugar does not burn. I don't usually add water as I find it makes the pie to watery. You have to constantly stir the apples and you will see that the moisture will come out of the apple and then you will have to cook the apples until the sauce thickens and reduces. Set it aside to cool and when it has cooled down continue with the pie making.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C. Take out the pie dish and remaining dough. Fill the pie dish with the apple filling. Roll out the remaining dough to form a cover for the pie. Seal the edges and poke a few holes with a fork. I usually have some dough left over so I would normally use it to decorate the pie. Brush over the pie with the milk and sprinkle the pie with some cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 30mins or until the pie is golden brown.

Spring Onion Dumplings

Over the weekend I woke up in a sneezing frenzy in the early hours of morning. It was just getting bright with the sun waking up and I just couldn't get back to sleep. Too much restless tossing and turning and I had to get out of bed. Now I don't really get up that early if it can be helped but at 4.40am I found myself completely awake. What should I do? Hhmmm maybe I should make something for breakfast? 

It was an early start but I got myself into the kitchen and put my apron on... "cooking mode" switched ON. So having this cold wasn't too bad I did felt some how energised with the cold medication and I was ready to get creative in the kitchen. 


So what should I cook for breakfast this morning? A stable item on the breakfast menu has always been something with eggs so it was scrambled eggs with ham and cheese. The kids would like that. Next thing up was bread, nice thickly sliced bread and just so right for french toast. I make it simple with nothing much but some eggs and sugar and it always turns out well but I think it has to do with the type of bread you use. I buy this Japanese cut English bread from this local bakery called Strawberry Cake House and it is the best here in Kota Kinabalu. I don't know what they put in it but even my family from Sydney love it. 


With the french toast and scrambled eggs down I still had time to make something else for breakfast as it was only 5.30am. Okay what would it be? Dumplings! I knew I had some spring onions in the veg keeper back in the fridge. A bit of chopped spring onions in the dough and some in the filling and that should be fine for breakfast dumpings.

Spring Onion Dumplings

1 1/3 cup plain flour

3 tbsp cold water

6 tbsp hot water

2 tbsp spring onions, finely chopped

Filling

200 g chicken mince

2 tbsp spring onions, finely chopped

1 tsp rice wine

2 tsp light soy sauce

1/2 tsp sesame seed oil

1 tsp corn flour

pinch of black pepper

1 tsp chicken stock powder

small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp ginger, finely grated

1. Using a mixing bowl, add the flour and gradually mix in the hot and cold water. Combine well until it forms a dough. It might need some additional flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and let it rest while you make the filling.

2. In another bowl, add all the ingredients for the filling and mix until it is all combined. Set it aside.

3. Roll out the dough onto a floured surface and roll it into a rope and divide into 1 inch portions. Using a rolling pin, roll the portions into a roughly 10 cm circle. Repeat with all the dough. 

4. Place about 1 tsp of filling into the dough and seal the edges and gently fold the edges.  Place them standing up on a plate and set aside for frying.

5.Using a wok, heat up about 2-3 tbsp of oil and arrange the dumplings standing up so that the base will brown. Once the bottom of the dumplings have browned, add water till it reaches halfway up the dumplings, cover and boil off the water. You might have to cook the dumplings in 2 batches but just repeat the frying and boiling process. Serve with garlic soy sauce.

The "Other" Cocoa Powder.....Black Cocoa Powder/Black Onyx Cocoa Powder

I've been searching for some inspiration to get me back into a cooking mood and I think I've found it in the "other" cocoa powder.... Black Cocoa Powder or otherwise known as Black Onyx Cocoa Powder. It's super dark, really dark and almost black or charcoal like in colour and gives that something special when you're making that super rich chocolate cake or a real chocolatey double chocolate cookie. 

Black Cocoa/Black Onyx Cocoa Powder and Dutch Cocoa Powder in the background

I was doing some shopping at our local baking shop looking around for some cocoa powder and I came across this small packet of black cocoa powder. I had never heard of it before but then it occurred to me that this was the secret to the famous dark rich almost black colour to the "Oreo" cookies that the kids love to eat.... I always wondered how they got it so dark and now I knew how.


I found out that there are actually three types of cocoa powder; natural, dutch and black onyx. It all comes down to how they process the cocoa bean and how they treat it with alkali to neutralise the natural bittersweet taste in the cocoa powder. In the natural cocoa powder there is no alkali use to process the beans and the taste is much stronger and bittersweet. This flavour of the cocoa is usually used in the traditional Mexican dishes and baking where the taste is more intense and acidic. Dutch cocoa powder is usually used in things like chocolate drinks and it is processed using an alkali, giving it a milder taste but less bitter and it is more reddish in colour. Black cocoa powder is processed to the extreme with alkali and this gives it that almost black colour. It has an intense cocoa flavour but it has less cocoa fat in it so it can be drier when used so it is often recommended to use a 50/50 mixture of black and dutch cocoa to give it more fat content so that when you use it for baking it doesn't get too dry.... interesting!


Anyway I thought I'd give it a try today by baking some Chocolate Chip Cookies and transform them into Super Rich Chocolate Chip Cookies with a bit of help from my new discovery, the Black Cocoa Powder! I used as recommended a 50/50 mixture of the black and dutch cocoa powder and it produced a really intense black chocolate brown colour. I must admit I was a little startled by the colour when I was mixing it in and I was happy I didn't try to use just the black cocoa powder on it's own. Could you imagine how intense the colour would have been! .... It's is pretty surprising when you take it out of the packet because it actually looks like charcoal dust but it looks and smells like regular cocoa powder just the colour is something to get use to. 

Super Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies


150 g butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tbsp black cocoa powder
1 1/2 tbsp dutch cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
150 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped


1. Cream the butter, sugar and egg. Add both the cocoa powders and mix until smooth. 
2. Roughly chop up the dark chocolate into small pieces and add them into the mix. The colour is really intense when you mix it into the mixture and it almost looks like mud.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add it gradually into the mixture to form a dough.
4. Preheat the oven to 180C. Using a dinner spoon, scoop out half a spoonful onto a baking tray and allow for room to spread. Bake for 12 mins and allow to cool. It can be a bit difficult to see if the biscuit is baked because of the intense colour but it will eventually cool and harden. 

World Cup ... 4 more years to go.

We cheered, we cried, we booed, we rejoiced and we ate! The FIFA World Cup is finally over and although none of my favourite teams didn't win, we all had a good time watching the game. 


Australia got out early in the game. England left too but not without trying. Holland came so close..... Another 4 more years to go and we'll be up again at the midnight hour watching with anticipation for the game to begin again.

Pizza Swirls

I was talking to my mum last night about ideas for school snacks and she was telling me about these great mini pizza snacks that she's been buying at the local bakery. They're not your ordinary mini pizzas but little swirls of pizza and they come in all sorts of fillings. Apparently they are so popular that they sell out by 10 am and if you want to guarantee getting some you have to place an order. 


Can you imagine that, all sold out by 10 am? .... When mum told that I just knew I had to make them for the kids and I'm sure they would be a hit too. 

We don't normally have pizza for lunch but I was pretty sure the kids would love a surprise when they open up their lunch boxes to find some pizza swirls. Pepperoni and cheese filling! I knew I had some wholemeal bread dough in the cupboard so instead of making bread today I used it to make the base of the pizza. Rolled it out into a rectangular shape and topped it off with some tomato puree, beef pepperoni, cheddar cheese and rolled it back up like a swiss roll. I then carefully cut it into slices and laid it out on a sprinkling of cornmeal.

Oh the kids absolutely loved it! They must have though ...Wow, mum is actually encouraging us to eat pizza at school and for lunch too!!! I really don't mind as long as it's from home and I know it's healthy. I'm thinking of making a ham and chicken pizza swirl for  next week's school menu!

Mango Lo Mai Chi (Mango Glutinous Rice Balls)

As some of you already know I'm a little bit of a World Cup fan and I'm very pleased to say that Holland won in their Brazil vs Holland game. So hooray for Holland!!! Now who will be the winner of the Argentine vs Germany game tonight?.....


Let celebrate the win with these yummy chilled Mango Glutinous Rice Balls or otherwise known as Lo Mai Chi. They are these little soft balls of glutinous rice covered with a nice coating of dessicated coconut and hidden within it is a piece of sweet mango.

Mango Lo Mai Chi


2 ripe firm mangoes ( I used manila mangoes)
2 tbsp rice flour
220 g glutinous rice flour
110 g sugar
200 ml coconut milk
desiccated coconut for coating 


1. Peel the skin of the mangoes and cut the mango into small cubes about 2cm. Place the mangoes into the fridge to chill.
2. Combine the rice flour, glutinous flour, sugar and coconut milk in a bowl. Stir until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth.
3. Prepare a shallow plate for steaming with some oil to coat the plate so that the mixture does not stick. Pour the mixture into the plate. 
4. Use a wok for steaming the glutinous mixture. Pour enough water in the wok for steaming and place a steaming tray in the wok. Cover the wok and bring the water to a boil. When the water is boiling, place the shallow plate into the wok and steam for about 30 mins. To test when the mixture is cooked, use a wooden satay stick or a chopstick and place it into the dough and if it doesn't stick to the chopstick then it is ready.
5. Remove the plate when the dough is cooked and let it rest for about 10 mins. 
6. Prepare about 1/2 cup of desiccated coconut into a plate for coating. You will need more but just gradually add more when required. Using a spatula, scoop out about 1 1/2 tsbp of the dough and using plastic oiled gloves, gently roll the dough into a ball and flatten with your fingers it out into a 6-8 cm circle. The dough can be very sticky and hot so that is why you need to use oiled plastic gloves so that it does stick. 
7. Place 1 piece of the chilled mango into the centre of the dough and carefully pinch together the edges and mold it into a ball. Roll the glutinous rice ball into the desiccated coconut and place it onto a piece of greaseproof paper or a cupcake paper. Repeat the steps and place all the Lo Mai Chi into a container and chill in the fridge and it will be ready once it has cooled down.

Quick Proofing Yeast Dough ,,,,,, in the Microwave!!

The other day I did some experimenting in the kitchen again while making some cinnamon rolls. I wanted to see if I could try to quicken the time spent proofing the yeast dough so that it would double in size but with less than a fraction of time then the usual hour. 


Whenever I make anything which involves using dry active yeast I know I will have to leave it in a warm place for about an hour or an hour and a half to let it raise and double it's size. In the past I've heated up the oven to about 180C for about 3 minutes and turned off the heat to enable the oven to generate enough heat just to get it warm so that I use that warmth for my proofing. Having placed the dough in an enamel mixing bowl I would use a damp towel and leave my dough in the oven for about an hour and it would double it's size. It works without a  hitch and I've always found that this method is the best for me but I wanted to see if I could some how make that time shorter. Less time proofing and the faster I could turn out whatever I was baking. 


Getting back to basics whenever I make anything with yeast is to check if the yeast is still active. If it's going to work or not is the most important thing when you make bread. Now I'm not an expert at making bread but I know if the yeast is not working out than the bread is just not going to raise and you won't get that yummy fluffy soft bread. So for starters I've always put in one teaspoon of sugar whenever I proof my yeast with warm water and I've found that it always works.


Mixing and kneading just works the dough before you leave it to rest and final proofing or final fermentation to let it raise and double it's bulk. This is the part that takes the longest and this is what I wanted to see if I could fasten the time. So my experiment takes place here: 

How to quicken the time for the yeast dough to proof?

So I proofed my yeast till it was foamy and mixed it in with the bread flour and after a good 10 minutes of kneading I was ready to proof the dough. And how did I do this .... the microwave of course! Yes, the microwave..... I know not the most traditional method of proofing but it can generate quick bursts of heat and it actually works.

How do you Microwave proof dough?

Okay this is how it works. I placed the dough in an ungreased microwave proof casserole dish (Corningware casserole in my experiment), uncovered and microwaved it for 3 minutes at low heat. Then I left it to rest for 3 minutes and microwaved it again for 3 minutes at low heat. I let it rest this time for 6-8 minutes but placed a cover over the dough..... and guess what happened it actually doubled in size! It worked and in roughly less than 20 minutes I managed to proof the yeast dough with the microwave and this would have normally taken me an hour. 

I'm not sure if this works for all types of bread but give it try and see what happens.

Pizza Time

This is a post from my other blog This side of the island.

It's been a pretty gloomy sort of day today, dark clouds cover the sky and predictable afternoon down pour of rain. It rains and it rains. No, I'm not complaining about it at all,  I actually love the rain. 

It's one of the better times of the year when the afternoons and nights are cooler and you can huddle up in bed and sleep in the cool breeze. This time of the year is a nice time to just stay at home and curl up with a good book or just lazy about in front of the tv and watch a movie. It's the closest thing to a season, apart from the all year round of summer that we have and I suppose you could call it our tropical "winter". 

So for some it's not the best time of the year, especially when it can cause flash floods and all outdoor afternoon activities are cancelled. No swimming for the kids in the afternoon or walks along the beach to watch the sunsets. It's time for the indoor stuff!

Indoor stuff.... to keep the kids busy today, I got them to make dinner. Yes, it was my night off from the dungeon in the kitchen (only kidding I love to cook) and time to put my kids to work. And so tonight Ashley and Tristan were set loose in the kitchen to make pizzas from scratch for dinner. Right from making the pizza dough, rolling it and making their version of pizza.

Rolling out the dough.... 

They both had a go at making their own pizza.... a few nibbles at the cheese by Tristan.

Pepperoni & Ham Pizzas!!! Our little food stylist was fast asleep during the pizza making!

Chocolate Custard Ice Cream

I did a little custard experimenting with my adventures in the kitchen today. Thought I'd try and make a quick ice cream with what I had on hand.... custard powder, milk, sugar and cocoa powder. All the ingredients I needed for an experimental go at making chocolate ice cream. 


Now I wasn't too sure how this would turn out so I only made a small batch, just a little over half a litre. I guess a little can go a long way if it taste good tonight. 


I've looking through some of the ice cream posts on Foodbuzz lately and I have to say that an ice cream maker is way up high on my wish list. I saw a few makers when I was in Sydney and didn't really think much about buying any, but oh now I wish I did. Can you imagine being able to whip a batch of any flavour of ice cream within an hour or so. Any flavour... vanilla, mango, banana, just mix in any fruit of the season and you have got yourself some seriously yummy ice cream. 


Well, here's my spin on my ice cream making skills ....without the ice cream maker.
... all ready for the England match tonight!

Chocolate Custard Ice Cream

570 ml full cream milk

2 1/2 tbsp custard powder

2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

5-6 tbsp sugar, to taste

1. Using a saucepan, combine all the ingredients and mix throughly until it is smooth. Constantly stir the custard and heat it over medium heat until the mixture has thicken. Remove from the heat and set it aside until it cools. 

2. Place the custard into a container and stir it. Put the container into the freezer and  stir it again in the next hour. Repeat this again for the next 2 hours. The constant stirring will prevent it becoming too hard. It should be ready to serve after about 3-4 hours in the freezer.

Jacob and Tristan enjoying their ice cream.

Father's Day Treat

This Father's Day I thought I'd treat hubby to his choice of dessert and so I asked him what he wanted me to make for him..... Cheesecake! Well, I had to perfect cheesecake recipe I wanted to try out and this was that special occasion for it. 

I found this Oreo and Yoghurt Baby Cheesecakes recipe posted by Denise @ Quickies On The Dinner Table. She made this delicious and oh so yummy treat for her son's 12th birthday and I've been wanting to make it ever since I saw it on Foodbuzz.

So thank you Denise for making our dessert time a special treat. We ate it all and planning on making another batch real soon.... This was Jacob's first time eating chocolate cookies and he had a real blast eating some of the remaining Oreos....Oreo crumbles and everything!

The Big Football Bite

I'm struggling to keep up with all the matches and keep in tune with my fav teams Holland, Australia and England. I think I need nourishment and plenty of it to keep my cheering lungs strong for the matches tonight. Holland vs Japan followed by  Australia vs Ghana.

It's a long night and I've planned it well with a supply of meaty Hamburgers with a choice of beef patties or chicken patties all on a crusty bun. It's got to big enough and filling for hubby and enough choices for those fussy eaters who like to a variety of patties and fillings. I made my own hamburger buns with a good crusty Italian bun recipe courtesy of What's Cookin' Italian Style Cuisine , a beef pattie, freshly cut tomato, homemade BBQ sauce and we are ready for GOALS!!!

Juicy Beef Hamburger

300 g beef mince

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1 egg

1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs

2 tbsp homemade BBQ (tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, coriander, cayenne pepper, paprika)

salt and ground black pepper

plain flour for coating

Tender Chicken Hamburgers

300 g chicken thigh fillets, minced

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic, crushed and finely chopped

1/2 tsp thyme

1 egg

1/2 cup of fresh breadcrumbs

2 tbsp homemade BBQ (tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, coriander, cayenne pepper, paprika)

salt and ground black pepper

plain flour for coating

1. Using separate mixing bowls for each mixture, combine all the ingredients. Divide the mixture into quarters and shape it into balls. 

2. Roll the balls into the flour and flatten them out into patties and place them on a plate. Refrigerate the patties until they are ready to served.

3. Heat about 1-2 tbsp of oil in a sauce pan and cook the patties, alternating each side until cooked. Serve on an Italian bun or any hamburger bun with freshly cut tomato, sauted onions and a splash of BBQ sauce.

 

Teddies at the Footy

I know that you wouldn't normally find Teddies at the Footy but this World Cup they had first row seats at our place while we watched an earlier game, New Zealand vs Slovakia. I'm happy to say that both teams played well and had a draw at the game, 1-1.


As you can see my inspiration for the past few days has been the FIFA World Cup and my little Gingerbread Bears have been turned into football playing bears. I really wanted to do some icing and have them in our favourite teams; England, Australia and Holland but I thought about it again and it would have been too much work and too much of a sugar overload. 

My football playing Gingerbread Bears!!!

I've posted my Gingerbread recipe before but I've added a bit of mixed spice to this one.

Gingerbread

125 g butter, soften

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 egg yolk

2 1/2 cup plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 cup golden syrup

1/2 tsp mixed spice

Preheat oven to 180C.

1. Beat the butter & sugar until light and creamy.

2. Add egg yolk and beat until combined.

3 Sift the dry ingredients and stir into the butter mixture with the golden syrup.

4. Mix into a light dough and knead gently onto a lightly floured surface.

5. To shape the gingerbread you can either roll the dough in between 2 sheets of baking paper or hand shape it. The dough should be roughly 3 - 5mm in thickness for biscuit cutting. For a quicker way to shape the gingerbread I would smooth out a handful into my palm and use a flour biscuit cutter to cut out the shape rather than on the floured surface. The dough can be very sticky so be careful when using the rolled out method and remember the flour the biscuit cutter before you cut. You can use a variety of biscuit cutter so to make it interesting.

6. Bake for 10-12mins  or until lightly brown. The gingerbread should be soft and chewy.

The Wholemeal Wonderbread

So we are now on day 3 of the World Cup and I'm still recovering from that devastating game that Australia played. It wasn't very good but I still have hope for them...... but today is a new day and I'm happy to say that our household are also big supporters of the Netherlands. Why I hear you ask? Well my younger brother was born in Holland so we have been given our support to the Oranje.

And I'm happy to report that they played well and Holland won against Denmark. Yeah!!! We won!!!!

Well, getting back to World Cup snacks I've came across this really great wholemeal bread mix. I didn't make it from scratch myself but it's from this place that's known for it's bread so I hope that  counts... good bread. 

The kids love it, especially Tristan who doesn't really like any kind of "brown" bread but he was won over by the bread and he actually asked me to make it again. Now that totally won me over. 

So anyway I'm just going to share with you my little secret.... It was so easy to make. Just add dry yeast and cold water. I didn't even have to proof the yeast!! It's also very cheap and in terms of buying a 600+g loaf of bread, which would cost you about RM3.40 to RM5.60, this whole pack made two large 600+g loaves. 

Although it was easy to make, it hasn't taken away my interest in making bread from scratch. I'll still be experimenting with my bread making ..... successes and flops.