samedi, octobre 16, 2010

Winter in Autumn

It's only Autumn, but it's so cold. We have not change the daylight saving time yet, but it seems like we are ready to celebrate Xmas! LOL

Anyway, when the first cold weather hits, Tartiflette comes in mind. The potatoes, Reblochon cheese, the smell.. ahhh Bliss... It is lucky that I am entering the Consolidation phase in my diet. I did not regret to start the diet during the Summer. Hehehehe... In the consolidation phase I am allowed to have 2 Gala meals per week.

So this week it will be Tartiflette :D Big thanks to Chef Sylvain who did the ingredients shopping :D

The basic and important ingredients are potatoes and Reblochon cheese. Get the Reblochon de Savoie.. yummmaaayyy!!
Then you may add in cream cheese (creme fraiche), onions, ham, bacon bits, turkey ham... Depends on your liking.

Steamed bio organic potatoes. You can also boil the potatoes. Me like me potatoes steamed :D
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Peel the potatoes, and slice the Reblochon.
Important Note: Keep the cheese crust!!!
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Spread cream cheese in the baking casserole. Slice the potatoes then top with the cheese slices.
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Hop! Into the oven!
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Serve hot!

As for the dessert, I baked Apple Pear Bread. It is an adaptation from the Apple Cinnamon Bread.
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dimanche, octobre 10, 2010

Oat Cake Muffin

I got this recipe from a french website. This is one of the great dukan recipes which I approve of. Not that easy to get a nice tasty cake recipe while on diet.

Oat Cake Muffin (adapted from 'La Cuisine de Nathoo")

Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 5 tablespoons oat bran
- 3 tablespoons wheat bran
- 8 tablespoons powdered sweetener (like Canderel)
- 1 pot of petits suisses 0%MG (soft cream cheese)
- 1/2 teaspoon flavor of your choice (I used Caramel flavor)

Methods

Preheat the oven at 180 C (up and bottom heat).

In a bowl, mix egg yolks, sweetener, cream cheese, both brans and the flavor.
Let it sit for 5 minutes.

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During that time, in another bowl, beat egg whites until soft peak is formed.

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Add the egg whites into the mixture of other ingredients. Fold bit by bit until all is incorporated.
By this time the mixture is light and well mixed.

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Pour the mixture into cake mold. I used muffin molds.

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Bake for 30 minutes.

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vendredi, octobre 08, 2010

Apple Cinnamon Bread

Let's try something airy, with scent of spices and fresh fruit. Let's try Apple Bread!!! I like this recipe because it does not use butter, it uses fresh apple (no need to caramelize the apple) and it's so easy.
I made this apple bread last night around 11 pm. Yes that's at night and after I had my Body Combat at 8-9pm, cook for dinner, and some TV moment with hubby. It shows how easy and quick you can make this lovely bread for next day's breakfast.

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The recipe is adapted from a great food blog 'Le Petit Pierogi'.

Here it goes....

Ingredients
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. Allspice - I skipped this
1 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
2 Eggs, Beaten
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
2 cups apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped - I used red apples
1 cup broken walnuts - I used chopped almonds
2-3 tbsp apple cider (optional) - I used couple spoons of store bought Bio Apple Compote

Directions
In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, allspice, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In large mixing bowl, place oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and apples. Stir into flour mixture. Add walnuts and mix (if using).

Then add in the apple compote. Actually I don't really need to add compote, but I bought it at the store day before that so might as well use couple of spoons.

Put the mixture in greased mould (loaf mould if you want it to look like bread loaf. I use the my usual square mould.

Bake at 150-160C pre-heated oven for 40-45 mins. But mine is done (slightly overdone I might say) at 30 mins. Use the skewer test to check the doneness.

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This is the recipe that can never go wrong!! :D

lundi, octobre 04, 2010

Steamed (Cup)Cake

Another experiment this Sunday with my Mom's Steamed Cake recipe. Apparently the fruitcake recipe I made is different from this Steamed Cake. Although they both use mixed fruits, but they are actually 2 different recipes. When it come to steaming, I have a bit of problem. I have only a bamboo steamer medium size. Perhaps I should invest in a bigger steamer.

Anyway, as my mom mentioned, the tricky part is the caramelized sugar at the end. I made a couple of mistakes with this. One, I made the caramelized sugar ahead, so by the time I need to incorporate it into the mixture, it became hard. So my caramelized sugar appeared as blots in the cupcake. Second, I use hand mixer all the way, which is not good. By the time I add the flour and onwards, I should've used spatula.

So here's the recipe... (The measurement is a bit odd, I know)

Ingredients
2 glasses flour
3/4 glass fine sugar
1/2 glass fine sugar (to make caramelized sugar)
9 oz butter (I used 250 gm butter)
3 eggs
some candied cherries, 1/2 lb mixed fruits (I used 250 gm mixed fruits and raisins)
1 nutmeg (powdered)
lemon zest
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Preparations:
- Prepare the steamer with boil water.
- Mix butter, sugar, eggs.
- In a bowl, sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and nutmeg
- Use spatula, add in the sifted ingredients.
- In another bowl, add some flour to the mixed fruits, mix together until the fruits are well coated
- Add the fruits to the cake mixture
- In a casserole, heat the sugar, let it come into boil.
- Quickly pour the caramelized sugar into the cake mixture and at the same time mix vigorously (It is advisable to have someone else helping you at this step)
- Then, put the mixture into the cake mold
- Steam for about 2 hours. (As I use 5 medium sized cupcake each time, it took 1 hour). Test by inserting skewer or knife in the middle of the cake, and it should come out clean)

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