Super Fast and Easy Pizza!

I can’t remember where I got this recipe from, but whoever it was (or wherever it was), a big Thank You!! This recipe has made my life so much easier when I’m pressed for time but dying to have freshly baked pizza (and not the kind that you order in either).  This recipe is super easy, only takes about ten minutes to put together (20 if you include resting time) and in no time at all, you’ll have the smell of freshly baked dough, cheese and whatever else you care to put on top wafting through your kitchen.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp dry instant yeast

1 cup warm water

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp honey

a pinch of salt

2 tbsp olive oil

1  tbsp cornmeal

Method:

1. Combine the yeast and water together in a large bowl. Stir until yeast has dissolved properly.

2. Add the flour, salt, honey and olive oil.

3. Mix dough until it comes together and forms a soft ball.

4. Let dough rest for about 10 minutes in a warm place.

5. Turn out onto floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.

6.  With a rolling pin, roll out into a round shape, enough to fit your pizza pan. You may need extra flour for rolling.

7. Transfer into your pizza pan and top with your choice of toppings and sauce.

8. Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese and pop into an oven to bake, at about 180-200 Degrees Celcius.

9. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

These smell divine while they are cooking and after you take them out of the oven, and they taste like Christmas in your mouth

Try making these with your kids, your family or your partner and see how much fun you have decorating them! Then, if you can stop yourself from eating them, package them up nicely and give them away to family and friends. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 cups all Purpose Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1tsp vanilla essence

Icing:

1/2 cup icing sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla powder

Food colouring

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 Degrees Celcius.  Place Flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix lightly together.

2. In another bowl, place the butter and white/brown sugar together. Cream until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs in one by one, making sure to stir through after each addition.

4. Add the vanilla essence and mix well.

5. Slowly add the flour mixture until well combined. Using your hands, work the dough into a smooth round ball.

6. Turn onto a floured surface and roll out with a rolling pin, about 1/2- 1 cm thick.

7. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters.

8. Place on a lightly greased cookie tray, leaving a little bit of room between each cookie shape as they will expand a little while cooking in the oven.

9. Cook in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. Take out and allow to cool before decorating with icing.

Apple and Strawberry Cake

Delicious!!

Actually, this is kind of a cross between a cake and pastry.Fairly simple to make and utterly delicious to eat.  I first came across a similar recipe here but wanted to add some kind of fruit mixture in there to make it more filling and take away the overly-sweetness of the original recipe.  Plus,  I like have different textures to play with in my mouth so with this recipe, you have the flaky softness of the pastry/cake, the stickyness of the jam/preserve filling, and the slight crunchiness of the apples.  Vary as much as you want. You could even omit the apples and replace them with another fruit of your choice such as peaches or pears. Or add some nuts if you want.  Just go crazy.

A warning though: You have to watch the juice from the apple and the strawberry preserve while it’s cooking in the oven so that they don’t end up burning. I learnt this the hard way.

Ingredients:

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup softened butter

3 tbsp cream cheese

2 medium sized apples (granny smith if available, otherwise any apple will do), peeled and sliced thinly

1 jar of strawberry preserves (or Jam)

For the Syrup:

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla powder

2 tbs milk

Method:

1. In a saucepan, place a spoonful of the strawberry preserve /jam and the sliced apples over medium heat and cook until apples have softened. Leave to cool.

2. Meanwhile,  preheat oven to 230 degrees Celcius. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix, then add in softened butter and cream cheese.

3. Using your hands, work the butter/cream cheese into the flour until mixture starts to resemble large breadcrumbs.

4.  Mixture should be soft enough to form into a ball. If not, add a tiny bit of milk to soften it up and help bring the mixture together.

5. Knead dough lightly onto floured surface for about a minute.

6. Place dough onto lightly greased baking paper (long enough to cover the baking tray later) and using a floured rolling pin, roll dough out into a rectangular shape.

7. Spread the rest of the strawberry preserve/jam down the middle, making sure to leave the sides of the dough free to cover the top later.

8. Place the softened apple mixture on top of the strawberry preserve/jam.

9. Using a sharp knife, cut the sides of the dough diagonally (about 2-3 cms apart), making sure to stop just before hitting the preserve/apple mixture.

10. Fold strips over the preserver/apple mixture, alternating one side with the other, until all the strips have been folded over.

11. Carefully lift the baking paper that the pastry is on over onto a baking tray.

12. Place the baking tray in the preheated oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until the pastry turns golden brown.

13. Take out, leave to cool before serving. If you like, serve warm with Vanilla ice cream, or drizzle with some White Syrup.

For the syrup: Combine icing sugar, vanilla powder in a small bowl. Slowly add in the milk until mixture is smooth and slightly runny (should not be too thin). Drizzle over the top of the cake.

I don’t know what it is about the Christmas season that makes me want to bake batches and batches of cookies. Chocolate. Choc-Chip. Peanut Butter. Vanilla. Gingerbread. Coconut. There’s nothing more welcoming (or relaxing) than coming home to freshly baked cookies, plopping down in front of the television (or computer) with a cup of tea or coffee, and munching through them until your stomach starts to hurt.

Here’s a recipe for tonight’s cookies: Coconut Choc-Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup softened butter

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup crushed nuts

1/4 cup dark choc-chips

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 Degrees celcius

2. In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar (both brown and white). Beat in the egg and vanilla essence until mixture is slightly smooth.

3. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

4.  Pour the flour mixture in with the butter mixture and mix well.

5. Add the shredded coconut, the crushed nuts and dark chocolate chips and fold into the wet mixture.

6. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto an un-greased cookie sheet, leaving room in between each spoonful so that the cookie can spread while cooking inside the oven.

7. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes until cookies have spread and have turned golden brown and crisp at the edges and bottom.

8. Take out and transfer onto a rack to cool for 5-10 minutes.

9. Serve with a hot cup of tea or creamy coffee. YUM!!

Note: If you would like a more thicker texture to the cookie, add an extra 1/2 cup of flour to the mixture before adding in the coconut/nuts/choc-chips.

Cookies baking on the tray

Cookie Dough

J absolutely adored this recipe for Sweet Honey Baked Chicken and it’s sooooo simple too. Just throw the chicken in with the ingredients for the marinade, let it sit for about an hour (or more if you have the time), whack it into a deep dish pan and cover with foil, bake and then serve.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it….mmmmm…chicken…

Ingredients:

half a kilo of chicken pieces

1/2 cup barbeque sauce

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

salt

pepper

1 tsp ground bayleaf

Method:

1. Place the chicken in a bowl with the barbeque sauce, honey, lemon juice, soy sauce, salt, pepper and ground bayleaf.

2. Mix until chicken pieces are thoroughly covered in the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

3.  Line a deep dish pan with lightly oiled tin foil and lay the chicken pieces out in a single layer. Pour the rest of the marinade juice over the chicken pieces.

4. Cover the top of the pan with foil and bake in an oven at about 220 degrees celcius for 25 minutes.

5.  After 25 minutes, lower the heat to about 200 degrees celcius, take off the tin foil lid and bake for another 10 minutes uncovered so that the sauce on the chicken browns a little further.

6. Take out and turn the pieces over and cook, uncovered, for another 15-20 minutes until the chicken has completely cooked.

7. Take out and let rest for about 5 minutes.

8. Serve on a bed of steamed white rice.

This is so ridiculously easy to make but a little bit fidgety.  Nevertheless, the taste is so freakingly awesome, you won’t be able to stop at eating just the one (or two, or three, or four….or ten). Trust me. Now, what you need to do, before you follow any of the steps below, is head on over to your local Asian Grocery store and see if you can find yourself these ready-made tofu triangle cases. They usually come in a packet that may look like this and included inside are packets of seasoning and rice wine vinegar.

Anyway, once you have this, you’re practically set.

Ingredients:

2 cups of steamed white rice (still warm)

Yubu Chobap triangles (about 14-16 pieces)

Yubu Chobap ready-made seasoning

Yubu Chobap ready-packed vinegar

25g Mince meat (optional)

Method:

1. Place the rice, Yubu ready-made seasoning, vinegar and meat together in a bowl and mix thoroughly.

2.  Take out the Yubu Chobap triangles one by one and open up the slit.

3. Take a small handful of rice and stuff the insides of the each triangle until full. Even out the top.

4. Arrange on a tray and serve!

Note: You might want to wear disposable plastic gloves while stuffing the rice into the Yubu triangles as it can get quite sticky.

See? Easy.

I made my own version of Korean ‘Pajun’ (or Korean pancake) last night. Not a whole lot to it and you will see that it’s pretty quick and easy to make. Great for those nights (or days) when you don’t feel like slaving over a hot stove, but still want something hot and filling.  Koreans usually love eating this during rainy days and since yesterday was raining (and freezing), I thought ‘why not?’ . This recipe makes about 2 pancakes.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 egg

1 cup milk

Salt

pepper

4-5 stalks of green onion

1 cup mushroom (your choice)

Oil (for light frying)

Method:

1. Wash and cut the ends off the green onion. Cut stalks in half and leave to dry.

2. Cut the mushrooms into small pieces (about 1-2 cm in length and width) and set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix in the flour, egg and milk until smooth. The batter should be slightly thin and runny. If the batter is still a little thick, add some water to thin it down.

4. Heat a frying pan with a little bit of oil and then add the mushrooms to brown lightly. Lower the heat and place half of the cut green onions on top across the frying pan and then pour the batter to cover.

5. Cook for 2-3 minutes until one side has browned, then turn over and cook for another 2 minutes on the other side.

6. Take out and set aside on a plate and repeats steps 4 and 5 again until batter is finished.

To make the Chilli Soy Sauce:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 tsp chilli powder

2 tbs white vinegar

1. Mix soy sauce and vinegar together in a small dipping bowl. Sprinkle chilli powder on top. Serve with the pancakes.

This is a really simple dish that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. I whipped this up about thirty minutes before my boyfriend was due for dinner and after he took the first forkful of this pasta dish, he was hooked. This recipe serves 2 people generously.

Ingredients:

320g cooked Crab meat (shredded)

3 cloves garlic

50g onion, sliced and diced

1 tbs butter

1tsp olive oil

2 tbs + 1/4 cup lemon juice

100g carrots

100g zucchini

2 tsp red pepper paste

250g Penne Pasta (or your choice of pasta)

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method:

1. In a large pot, boil salted water. Once boiling, pour in pasta and cook until al dente.

2. While the pasta is cooking, prepare carrots and zucchini by cutting them into thin strips, about 5cm long.

3. Crush and finely chop the garlic.

4. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter together.  Place the garlic in the sauce pan and fry for a minute. Add the onion and brown lightly.

5. Add the crab meat to the saucepan and cook for another minute before adding the carrots, zucchini, red pepper paste and the 2 tbs of lemon juice.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Turn on low heat and cook for another 3-4 minutes then take off the heat.

7. Once pasta is cooked, drain and mix with the crab mixture. Add the extra 1/4 cup of lemon juice and toss all ingredients together well in a large bowl.

7. Serve and top with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and enjoy!

I’m a sweet potato kind of girl. I love anything with sweet potato. Boiled. Baked. Fried. Roasted with honey. In cakes. On top of Pizzas. You name it, if it’s got sweet potato in it somewhere, I’ll eat it.

What I love to make on occasions, seeing as how it’s so easy and doesn’t require me to watch over it the whole time, are baked sweet potato wedges. Healthy, sweet and filling. What more could you want?

Today I opted to make Baked herbed sweet potato wedges as an accompaniment to dinner, and they were delish! I couldn’t stop eating them, and even ended up sneaking some off my boyfriend’s plate. But shhh. Don’t tell him.

Ingredients:

2-3 large sweet potatoes, thoroughly washed and dried. DO NOT PEEL!

2 tbs coarse salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tbs Olive oil

2 tbsp mixed herbs (dried)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220 Degrees Celcius.

2. After washing and drying the sweet potatoes, cut into small wedges, about 1/2 to 1 cm thick.

3. Put into a large bowl and toss along with salt, pepper, olive oil and mixed herbs.

4. Line a cookie/baking tray with foil rubbed down with a little oil (so that the sweet potatoes won’t stick to them) and line the tray with the herbed wedges, making sure they are in a single layer so as to ensure even cooking.

5. Put into the heated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, making sure to check halfway through to make sure they don’t burn and to turn over if already browned.  Bake for another 15 minutes.

6. Take out, leave to cool for a few minutes, then take out from tray and serve.

7.  Serve with a side of sour cream and sweet chilli sauce, if desired.

When someone says ‘Coleslaw’ I always think of KFC. I love, LOVE their coleslaw salad. I think it’s the best pairing for their chicken and will happily devour a tub of that salad alone when given the chance.

Unfortunately (or is that fortunately for my thighs and stomach?) there isn’t a KFC to be found anywhere near here. I have to travel all the way to Seoul to even find one. 3 and a half hour drive just for fried chicken and a salad…uh…no thanks.

So, this being the season for cabbages, I decided to make my own homemade coleslaw. Now, I could have cheated and just bought one of the bottles of coleslaw dressings from the supermarket, but God only knows how much fat is in there. So I put together a quick and easy dressing that uses low fat mayo and packs in a lot of taste too!

My Apologies for the blurry picture.

Ingredients:

150 g white cabbage, shredded and diced

150 g red cabbage, shredded and diced

1/2 an onion, sliced and diced

half a red capsicum, sliced and diced

For the Dressing:

1/2 cup low fat mayonnaise

2 tbs low fat milk (or cream, if you don’t care about the fat)

1tbs honey

a pinch of salt

a pinch of white pepper

2 tsp white vinegar

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp mustard sauce

Method:

1. Mix red and white cabbages, capsicum and onion in large bowl

2. In a smaller bowl, mix in mayonnaise, milk, pepper, salt, honey and mustard sauce. Stir until well mixed. Slowly add in the vinegar. Mix. Slowly add in the lemon juice. Stir again until all ingredients form a smooth, semi-runny texture.

3. Mix the sauce with the cabbage mixture and toss until the vegetables are coated in the mayonnaise dressing.

4. Place in the fridge to cool.

5. Serve cold as a side to your favorite dish!

Originally inspired by this dish, I created my own version using whatever ingredients I had on hand. The important ingredient here, of course, is the tofu, which really helps to add that balance to the sweetness of the sauce.

Note: this recipe is good for two generous serves.

Ingredients:

170g hard tofu

75 g Zucchini, cut into small cubes

75 g Carrot, cut into small cubes

3 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely chopped

half an onion, sliced and diced

1 thin eggplant, quartered (lengthwise) and then diced

50 g baby spinach

1 egg

1 tbs Olive oil

salt

pepper

For the Sauce:

1 tbs apple cider vinegar

2 tsp white sugar

2 tbs ketchup

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs honey

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

3 tbs water

1 tbs cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbs water

Method:

1. Heat Olive oil in a saucepan.

2. While oil is heating, dip cubes of tofu in the egg mixture and then place one by one in the heated saucepan.  Fry for 1 minute and then turn over carefully, browning all sides of tofu cubes.

3. Once cooked, take out and place on paper towel to drain oil.

4. In the same saucepan, quickly stir fry other vegetables for 2-3 minutes, until soft.  Take out and put in a bowl

5. In another smaller saucepan, put together vinegar, water, soy sauce, ketchup, honey and sugar, and on low heat, stir until sugar has dissolved and sauce has thickened slightly. Add in the cornstarch/water mixture and stir continuously until sauce begins to bubble slightly and thicken.Take off heat.

6. Place fried tofu cubes in the bowl with the stir-fried vegetables and then mix with the sauce. Fold ingredients together until tofu and vegetables are well coated in the sauce. Serve.

I came across this lovely (and simple!) recipe for Spinach Gnocchi from The God’s Cake and decided today would be the perfect day to test it out. I had a bunch of spinach and a bag of potatoes sitting in the fridge , begging to be used and since I had all the time in the world to make it, why not? After taking out the ingredients, I also came across a small pumpkin I forgot I had bought earlier that week so I quickly took that out, deciding to make a creamy pumpkin sauce to go with the gnocchi.

For the Spinach Gnocchi:

600g Potatoes

350g Spinach

150g Plain Flour

1 egg yolk

Salt

Pepper

Method:

1. Peel, cut into quarters and boil the potato until soft and tender.

2. Drain, cool and mash. Set aside.

3. Cut the ends off the spinach, wash and then boil quickly for 1-2 minutes. Drain and rinse in ice cold water. Then squeeze out all the  moisture from the leaves. Finely chop.

4. Mix the Spinach, mashed potato, egg yolk, flour, salt and pepper together until well combined.

5.  Dusting hands with flour, take small amounts of the potato mixture and roll into small round balls. Place on a floured tray.

6. Once all the mixture has been rolled into balls, take a fork, dust it lightly with flour, and press lightly onto the tops of the balls.

7. In a large pan,  heat water until just before boiling point and then quickly turn down to simmer. Gently place gnocchi balls into the water, 8- 10 at a time so that there’s room for them to move around (which they will!)

8. You will know when the gnocchi is cooked as they will float to the top of the water. Scoop out and drain.

For the Pumpkin Sauce:

400-450g of pumpkin (your choice) , peeled, chopped and steamed until soft. Mash.

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

75g of cheese (your choice)

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp chopped parsley

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 stalk Green onion, finely chopped

1 tsp olive oil

salt

pepper

Method:

1. In a small saucepan, heat 1tsp of Olive oil.

2. Place chopped garlic and green onion and saute for 1-2 minutes until soft.

3. Place in the mashed pumpkin and mix.

4. Add Milk, cream, herbs, parsley and stir until well mixed and creamy.

5. slowly add in the cheese (in small amounts) making sure to continue stirring.

6. Set to simmer for 3-4 minutes until small bubbles start to form on the surface and mixture has thickened slightly.

7. Season with salt and pepper.

8. Gently fold in the cooked gnocchi.

9. Serve.

A quick and easy cookie recipe that doesn’t require a lot of time or ingredients. Note: If you like your cookies a little more on the soft and chewy side, then you might want to alter this recipe a little by adding more butter or using all brown sugar instead of half brown and half white.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted Butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla essence

2 Eggs

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup chocolate chips (or any kind of chocolate bits you have in the cupboard. I used chocolate seeds)

1/4 cup soft marshmallows (cut into small pieces)

1/4 cup crushed nuts (of your choice)

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 175 Degrees Celcius. In a bowl, mix in flour, baking powder and salt together.  Stir to combine.

2. In another larger bowl, combine butter and sugars and cream with a beater until light and fluffy.

3.  Add eggs in, one at a time, and whisking until well mixed

4.  Add in the vanilla essence

5.  Slowly stir in flour mixture, making sure to mix well.

6. Fold in the chocolate chips, nuts and marshmallows until well coated.

7.Line a cookie tray with baking paper and using two table spoons (or an ice cream scoop), drop balls of the cookie dough onto the baking sheet, making sure to leave space in between for the cookies to spread while in the oven.

8. Bake in the oven for around 15 minutes or until browned.

9. Take out and leave to cool. Then eat and enjoy!