Cornflakes & Apricot Bars

I got this recipe from the cornflakes packaging that I bought last week. The ingredients are pretty simple which I already have in my pantry. So, decided to bake this for afternoon tea!

Here you go…

Ingredients

250g cornflakes
50g coconut desiccated
80g sugar
80g diced dried apricots
125g butter
1tbsp honey


What to do

(1) Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
(2) Place butter and honey in a saucepan and melt over low heat.
(3) Pour butter mixture over dry ingredients and mix well.
(4) Press mixture firmly into a lightly greased baking pan.
(5) Bake in a moderate oven at 180 degree for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
(6) Cut into bars when cold.

Marinara Cheese Baked Rice

Ok… here’s another meals that I did for our lunch yesterday. I had a pack of marinara and some left over rice sitting in the fridge so here’s my Marinara Cheese Baked Rice which is very easy to prepare yet delicious! = )

Ingredients

1 cup rice

250g marinara
some minced garlic

50g cream

1/2 cube of chicken stock

1/4 tsp salt

some black pepper

some grated mozzarella cheese

dried parsley

What to do

(1) Heat up pan with some olive oil and stir fry minced garlic. Add in the marinara and continue to stir fry for about 5-7 minutes. Add pepper and salt to taste.
(2) Add in the cream and chicken stock. Stir well and bring to boil.
(3) Add in the rice. Stir well and cook for a few minutes or until the sauce is almost fully absorbed by the rice.
(4) Place rice into a foil container. Cover top with grated cheese.
(5) Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 degree, till the cheese turns golden brown. Sprinkle with some dried parsley and serve.

Bacon, Egg & Cheese with Batard Bread

Finally I am back to do baking and cooking! Somehow I was getting lazy after Fernny’s visit last week. :P We’ve been eating out, travelling, had fun all over the weekend. The passion of baking was gone temporarily and now it is back! Hehehe… I woke up early in the morning and started my first cooking which is this simple breakfast on the lovely Sunday morning. = )

I am not a coffee addicted person but sometimes I like to have a cup of hot Latte or Cappuccino for my breakfast. This yummy breakfast came with a cup of hot cappuccino. Hmm… one word to descript - “perfect”. = D

Ingredients

90g shortcut bacon
2tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
2 tasty cheese slices
2 white bread batard
Barbecue sauce, to drizzle
Baby spinach

What to do

(1) Spray a large non-stick frying pan with oil.
(2) Cook bacon on medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until brown. Remove
(3) Place 2 egg rings in same pan, add a little olive oil inside rings to grease pan.
(4) Carefully crack eggs into rings, cook for 1-3 minutes or until done as you like.
(5)Top each egg with 1 slice of cheese and bacon. Reduce heat to low and cook for 1 minute, until cheese melts.
(6) Meanwhile, divide the batard bases. Top the each base with an egg stack, a drizzle of sauce and spinach.
(7) Sandwich together with another half of batard to serve.

Oreo Cheesecake

I made this no-bake Oreo Cheesecake for my colleague’s birthday on Sunday night. This was the first time ever I had a helper doing the baking with me, my cousin, Fernny who visited from Malaysia. She said she wanna learn to make this for Sam’s (her boyfriend) birthday.

Since the cheesecake was a gift for my colleague, I had no chance to slice it for some nice shot. The taste was good though as I’ve tasted the cheese mixture before I put into the baking pan. = )

The methods are very easy, all you need to do is mix everything together and chill it overnight. This recipe was taken from Happy Home Baking but I’ve modified some of the ingredients. Here you go! Enjoy making! (“;)

Oh yeah, for the decoration, you can blend some Oreo cookies or dark chocolate and sprinkle on the top. I’ve decorated with some dark chocolate shavings.

Ingredients

Base
110g oreo biscuits, chopped into fine crumbs
40g melted butter


Filling
300ml whipping cream (chilled, I used Bulla Thickened Cream)
250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
50g icing sugar
45ml fresh milk
8 pieces of oreo cookies (coarsely chopped, with cream removed)
4 pieces of oreo cookies (finely chopped, with cream removed)

Note: 1 piece refers to half of the oreo cookies


What to do

(1) Mix biscuit crumbs & melted butter together and press firmly with the help of a spoon onto the base of a 18cm cake tin. Chill for 30 minutes.
(2) Beat whipping cream with electric mixer until 70% stiff or until mousse-like. Do not over mix. Takes about 2 to 3mins on low speed. Keep in the fridge.
(3) With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese , icing sugar and milk until smooth & creamy. Blend in whipping cream with a spatula.
(4) Pour half of the cheese mixture into a bowl. Stir in finely chopped oreo cookies. Mix well. Pour the mixture the cake tin. Chill for 15 minutes.
(5) Sprinkle coarsely chopped oreo cookies on top of the first half of cheese mixture which has been chilled. Pour in the remaining half of the cheese mixture. Chill for 3 to 4 hours before serving. Remove from pan and decorate with chocolate shavings or as desired.

Cheesy Ham and Macaroni Bake

This is rather easy yet delicious meal that I prepared for our lunch. The whole process took less than 40 minutes and I think that was pretty fast for getting such a delicious homemade dish! :P

I like the golden cheesy crust, they were just so yummy but there were not enough for me. I should have sprinkled more cheddar cheese on top. :D I will remember to sprinkle more cheese on my next pasta bake.

Ingredients

350g macaroni pasta
18g butter
18g plain flour
135ml milk
100g grated cheddar cheese
40g shaved ham, chopped
1tbsp parsley, finely chopped


What to do

(1) Preheat oven to 180°C. Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water, following packet directions until tender.

(2) Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When foaming, add flour. Cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Add half the milk and whisk until smooth. Add remaining milk and whisk to combine. Return pan to heat. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 3 minutes or until sauce comes to the boil and thickens. Stir in 1 cup cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

(3) Drain pasta and return to saucepan. Add ham, parsley and white sauce. Stir to combine. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Serve.

Scrambled Egg & Ham Croissant

It's weekend again... what a relaxing day! I love weekend as I can spend more time in the kitchen to do my favorites activity - **baking and cooking**.

I've prepared this for our lovely Saturday morning. It was perfect for a relaxed weekend breakfast! Must try out… (**;)

Ingredients

4 eggs
30g pouring cream
2tbsp olive oil
2 large croissants, warmed, halved horizontally
4 pieces of sliced bacon
2 tasty cheese slices
Baby spinach

What to do

(1) Spray a non-stick frying pan with oil. Cook bacon on medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until brown. Remove.
(2) Whisk the eggs and cream in a bowl until just combined. Add in a little oil in the pan and swirl the pan to coat the base.
(3) Add the egg mixture and cook, without stirring, for 30 seconds. Use a flat-edged wooden spoon to push the mixture, scraping the bottom of the pan rather than stirring, from one side of the pan to the other. Repeat every 10 seconds, lifting and folding the egg, until three-quarters of the egg mixture is cooked. Remove from the heat and gently fold the egg twice.
(4) Divide the croissant bases, cut-side up, among serving plates. Top with cheese, ham, egg and some baby spinach. Serve.

Lamb Cutlets and Glazed Potatoes

I cook these for our dinner on Saturday which is simple and easy to prepare yet delicious. The lamb cutlets were so juicy and the potatoes were so soft inside and the skin was crispy too! Hubby loves the cutlets as he said he can has this for tomorrow lunch as well. Hehe… = D

Here you go for the recipes…

Glazed Potatoes

Ingredients
2 medium sized potatoes
20g olive oil
10g lemon pepper breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper, to taste

What to do

(1) Turn oven to 180 degree. Grease a shallow baling dish.
(2) Slices pieces of potatoes about 2cm thick. Peel out skin.
(3) Arrange pieces in the baking dish. Sprinkle pieces with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid of foil and bake for 35 minutes.
(4) Pour the olive oil in the frying pan and stir in the breadcrumbs.
(5) Take foil lid off and pour crumb mixture all over potatoes. Bake it (uncovered) for about 20 minutes.

Lamb Cutlets

Ingredients
6 lam cutlets
1 garlic clove
2tsp olive oil
½ tsp Sea salt
Ground black pepper

What to do
(1) Trim the cutlets of excess fat from the outside edge and scrape the fat away from the bones.
(2) Place in a single layer in a shallow dish. Chopped the garlic and mix with olive oil, sea salt and cracked ground black pepper.
(3) Pour over the meat, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
(4) Lightly spray a non stick frying pan with olive oil and cook the cutlets over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side. Remove the cutlets and serve with the glazed potatoes.

Banana Muffins

I was cracking my brain on what to prepare for hubby’s breakie and I found this recipe from the newspaper. This recipe is simple, easy and fast to prepare that was just perfect for my situation as it was 9.30pm at night and I should have probably gone to bed. :P

Hubby kept nagging at me that I should have gone to bed instead of staying in the kitchen. Well, you know breakfast is very important for a day’s start. That’s why I was doing this… (*_*)

Ingredients

260g self-raising flour

180g castor sugar
100 canola spread

300g bananas
3 eggs30ml milk
¾ baking powder

What to do

(1) Cream butter and sugar at medium speed till light and fluffy.
(2) Add in eggs one at a time and mix well till batter is smooth and creamy.
(3) Mash bananas and stir into milk. Fold in mash banana mixture.
(4) Sift flour and baking powder together and gently fold in.
(5) Pour batter into muffin cup and bake at 180 degree for 20 minutes.

Ham and Cheese Wheel

This recipe was taken from a kids’ cookbook and it is very easy to prepare! ^_^

The original recipe uses ready made puff pastry. I didn’t have it in my freezer so I used bread dough instead. The bread dough recipe can be found here; my previous bread baking. Of course you will need to spend some time to make the bread dough compared to if you use ready made puff pastry.

After the dough is ready to use, roll the dough with a rolling pin and press the dough into a rectangle size. Spread some butter over the dough then sprinkle some cheddar cheese (30g, divided into half as the other half will use later) all over and place the slices ham (5 slices) on top and again sprinkle the other half of the cheddar cheese on top of the ham.

Roll up into fairly loose coils and cut the dough into 2cm thick slices and arrange on an oven tray. Bake for 15 minutes until crispy and golden then remove to a rack to cool. Serve warm.

Crispy, Cheesy, Yummy!