Homemade Granola Bars

I used to buy granola bars from supermarkets for my snacks,

as I need to travel, sometimes I get really hungry and there's absolutely no time for me to grab a bite.

So these bars help me to regain some energy!

But hey~ nothing is better than homemade ones!

This is my first attempt in making these...

I looked through Alton Brown's recipe, 

but did not follow exactly as I wanna use the ingredients that I have.

It's a pretty flexible recipe!

I used these organic multi puffs..

This pack consists of Hulled buckwheat, Sorghum, Brown rice

A really wholesome food~ 100% whole grain~

Eat it like your cereal! Definitely healthier!

Doesn't it look great!?

My batch was not really firm, I will increase the honey and reduce the sugar the next time~

Those bits which became loose can be collected and eaten with milk for breakfast or snacks..

Awesome!

Taste wise, I can't comment now.

I've lost my sense of smell from the irritating flu!

Argh! I can't taste any of my food too~

But still, I'm going to bring some along with me tmr as it's a long day for me~

Homemade Granola Bars

180g Rolled Oats

35g Multi Puffs

100g Whole Almonds

100g Sultanas (soak in water for 10 minutes, drain and cut briefly with scissors)

110g Butter

70g Brown Sugar

60g Honey

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence/Extract

A Pinch of Salt

1. Toast rolled oats, multi puffs and almonds in a preheated 180 degrees oven for 15minutes. Stir ocassionally.

2. While toasting, melt butter over low heat. Add brown sugar, honey, vanilla essence/extract and salt. Stir continuously. Remove from heat when sugar has dissolved.

3. When dry mixture is done, remove from oven and pour it into the wet mixture immediately. Add sultanas and stir until combined.

4. Butter a 11" X 5" pan, and pour mixture in. Spread evenly and firmly.

5. Bake in 170 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. 

6. Let it cool completely before cutting.

7. Store in an airtight container, and it can be kept up to a week.

Vegetarian Shrooms Fried Rice

Sorry for the lack of post...

I was down with flu, sore throat and fever for the past 3 days,

and my wedding is next week! 

Luckily it did not happen on my big day.

The day before I fell sick, 

I made this for dinner...

2 kinds of mushrooms in the fried rice,

Enoki and Shitake...

Just fry garlic in oil and stir fry all the ingredients together with some Japanese Sukiyaki Sauce..

& done~ very easy~

OK I know all these are boring food..

I'm craving for some sinful desserts right now!

After my wedding, I will bake all sorts of evil desserts!!!

Wait for me!! =p

The Healthy Pumpkin Soup

The thick soup with no oil, butter or cream...

Just 3 simple ingredients!

Pumpkin, water and milk~!
But it taste just as nice~~Yummy~~

it goes so well with freshly baked homemade crusty bread..

I specially made just 1 small loaf to have it with the pumpkin soup.

That's all for our dinner! =)

The Healthy Pumpkin Soup

600ml Water

700g Pumpkin (Cut into 2 inches pieces)

150ml Low Fat Fresh Milk

A Pinch of Salt

1. Mix water and pumpkin together in a pot. Bring to a boil and turn to low heat.

2. Simmer until pumpkin is tender.

3. Remove from heat and let cool.

4. Puree!

5. Heat again and mix fresh milk in.

6. Simmer until bubbles can be seen at the sides of the pot.

7. Serve, and drizzle fresh milk on the soup as desired.

The Fresh Strawberry Bread

I've not been baking for quite awhile...

Yesterday, I baked 2 kinds of bread.

One crusty bread and this, the Fresh Strawberry Bread...

This bread is filled strawberry slices!

It's a very moist cake...!

A no butter recipe...very easy to make. 

Measure, mix & bake~!

It's nice to be eaten warm or cold.

The Fresh Strawberry Bread

200g Sliced Fresh Strawberries

195g All Purpose Flour

180g Sugar

3g Ground Cinnamon

3g Salt

3g Baking Powder

3g Baking Soda

150ml Vegetable Oil

2 Beaten Eggs

70g Chopped Pecans (I omitted this)

1. Preheat oven to 175degrees.

2. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder & baking soda in a large bowl. Mix well. 

3. Blend oil, beaten eggs into strawberry slices.

3. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blend until dry ingredients are just moistened.

4. Stir in Pecans. Do not overmix!

5. Pour batter into 9" X 5" loaf pan.

6. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean.

7. Let it cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn loaf out & cool completely.

Recipe Source From: All Recipes

Nabemono, The Japanese Steamboat

Nabemono...nabe stands for big cooking pot and mono for things.

The one pot wonder..

prepare, wash, arrange. Done!

Add water...

And I added sukiyaki soup base for short cut =p

This is Shirataki.

Konnyaku in the noodle form.

They have it in 2 colours, white and dark grey.

Now I personally prefer Shirataki,

as it's easier to eat!

Anyone went to buy Kanten??????

The Kanten Diet (The Natural Way)

This is Kanten 寒天

My uncle introduced this to me, 2 weeks ago. 

It's a kind of Japanese Agar Agar Powder made from 100% seaweed extract.

How to use it?

there's 4 sachet in a box, 

dissolve one sachet in half mug of VERY HOT BOILING WATER.

It must thicken in order to work.

Drink it before your meal. 

It's meant to trick your body into believing that you are feeling full,

hence you will actually take in less food.

Since 2 weeks ago till now, I'm only on my 4th sachet.

Not very hardworking on this plan, 

only drink it before some day's dinner.

But i feel that my appetite has became smaller.

Another thing to take note of when you take this is,

you have to drink lots of water! At least 8 glasses a day.

& according to my uncle, it will block out some of the food's nutrients,

so not advisable to take for a long period. 

I searched online, and a website stated that some people got choked by this too.

As it's very thick~

So take extra care if you want to try.

It helped diabetic people to regulate their blood sugar by taking in less food.

And people who are obese benefits from it too.

Although weight loss result is slower than all those crash diets,

I feel healthier, as I still get to eat the things that I want to,

just in a smaller portion and there will be less cravings for food~

You can get it @ Medi-ya, Liang Court,

$4.50 per box, 

not cheap, can just get one box first to just try it out.

If you are not using it for diet purposes, 

with Kanten, you can whip up lots of delicious food and desserts!

I will show mine soon! =)

Hope all these information helped.

Roasted Edamame Salad

Have you tried roasting Edamame before?

I did it~

A healthy vegetarian dish! Suits me really well~~

I was inspired by Alton Brown from Good Eats.

I love to watch his show, really creative & always interesting~!

Lots of explanation done, from chemistry to physics..

Actually any kind of explanation about food~

A great program!

I did not follow the recipe closely,

just adapted his idea of roasting all these ingredients together.

Topped my brown rice porridge with this salad, 

and that's all for my dinner.

felt good without feeling sinful~!

 And it's easy to make..take a look at the recipe =)

Roasted Edamame Salad

1 Cup Shelled Edamame

1 Cup Corn Kernels

15 Cherry Tomatoes

1 Head of Garlic, Minced

1 Medium Yellow Onion, Chopped

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

A Pinch of Salt

1/2 tsp Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven @ 200 degrees.

2. Mix all ingredients together. 

3. Place them in an oven proof dish.

4. Bake for 15 minutes.

5. Serve it hot or refrigerate it to serve cold.

Konnyaku - Eat And Lose Weight!

Some may be wondering..

What are these dark in colour slimy looking thing..

They are actually Konnyaku (Devil's Tongue).

For Chinese, they call it 蒟蒻,

& many more names.

I first had konnyaku when I was really young,

I didn't know that it's such a wonderful food,

until my blog reader, Tricia from Canada told me about it 2years ago.

Thanks Tricia! =)

What's Konnyaku?

It's made from Konnyaku potato some call it yam and calcium (may be extracted from eggshells)

If I'm not wrong, 90+% of the block is water.

It does not have fat, rich in dietary fibre and is low in calories. 

It can normalise cholesterol level, blood sugar and pressure!

Isn't it wonderful?!

A more interesting part is, it helps in losing weight too!

as 1 serving  only contains 10 calories!

Amazing!
So, just substitue your rice/noodles/pasta with Konnyaku,

your calorie intake will be definitely much lower!

Konnyaku is jelly like but much more chewy and harder.

Have to really chewy properly before swallowing,

many people got choked by attempting to suck Konnyaku like a jelly.

& another reason for chewing properly is that Konnyaku doesn't break down in our body!

Sounds scary? 

You just have to chew patiently! =D

My simple lunch here...

Miso soup base with sliced Konnyaku, fish and vegetables.

I guess this meal is really low in calorie!

You can get it from Meidi-ya or cold storage.

Any brand will do...

I bought the cheapest brand..cost $2.45 for 1 block.

Look out for this grandmother! =)

Happy dieting!

More to share with all of you soon~

Kani Gunkan + Onigiri

Prepared these the night before for my man's next day's breakfast + lunch bento..
gave some to my family too...
The ingredients left in my fridge are crabstick and japanese cucumber,
so I only used them.

 

Gunkan Sushi..

it's called the battleship sushi too!

Onigiri made using moulds definitely looks nicer!

Normally I will mould it by hand...

Love for him~ =)
 He loves Kani/crabstick alot!

Kani Gunkan

Rice

2 Cups Short Grain Rice

3 Cups Water

1/2 Cup Rice Vinegar

1. Wash and rinse rice, mix with water and cook.

2. When it's cooked, add vinegar immediately while it's hot and keep mixing.

3. Let it cool before handling.

Filling

6 Shredded Crabsticks

1/2 Diced Japanese Cucumber

2 Tbsp Japanese Mayonnaise

Seaweed Stripes (2 inches in height)

1. Mix crabstick, japanese cucumber and mayonnaise together.

2. Set aside.

Making the Gunkan

1. Wet your hands with water before handling the cooked rice, so it will not stick onto your hands.

2. Mould about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of rice into an oval shape.

3. Wrap seaweed stripe around the rice. Seaweed should be taller than rice.

4. Top with kani mixture.

5. To store, place gunkan in an airtight container and refrigerate them.

When Fusilli Meets Chinese Cooking Style

Another kind of stir fried pasta...Fusili...

But in a chinese way...

and it's a vegetarian dish..

A weird combination right??

But it tasted pretty good!! HAHA!!

Fusilli in Chinese Style (serves 1)

1 Serving of Fusilli(cooked as directed on package)

1 Yellow Onion

A Bunch of Vegetable

One Handful of Frozen Vegetables

2 Tbsp Water + 1 tsp Light Soy Sauce + White Pepper

1 tsp Oil

1. Heat oil in wok.

2. Stir fry onion until a bit tender.

3. Add Fusilli and stir for 1/2 minute.

4. Add vegetables and stir for another 1 minute.

5. Drizzle water + seasoning in and stir well.

6. Remove from heat after 1 minute.

Olive Vegetables Brown Rice Porridge

Our favourite brand of olive vegetable.

How do we use it?

Just cook a pot of brown rice porridge then add all kinds of veg and mushrooms.
Mix some olive vegetables in the pot of porridge..

Top with more olive vegetables.

Simple!

But beware, the porridge can get a bit oily. But I don't mind. Hehe..

As olive vegetables are preserved food,

take in moderation and less frequent.

My motto is "It's always fine if you eat (not so healthy food) once in a while" =)

Salmon Miso Soup

This was our dinner~

Maybe you will be wondering,

will we feel full after the meal?

But after using the new diet method, really FULL !!

With no starvings...and somehow I didn't crave for more food for the whole night.

I hope this will maintain..

I mixed some Kuzukiri into the soup.

It's actually Japanese arrowroot starch noodles.

You can see it in sukiyaki or soup in the Japanese restaurants.

We love the chewiness of it.

And restaurants are often stingy in the portion.

The oily soup filled with omega 3...

And I realised that.

we don't have to go to Ichiban to have our salmon miso soup anymore!

It tasted 100% the same!

Salmon Miso Soup (Serves 2-3)

1200ml Water

1 Sliced Yellow Onion

1 Shredded Medium Carrot

15 Strands of Kuzukiri 

1 Box Silken Tofu

Sliced Salmon

Wakam (Kelp) Briefly washed and cut into 1 inch pieces 

3 Tbsp Miso Paste

1. Boil the water, and add onion. Let it soften a bit.

2. Followed by carrot, tofu and kuzukiri. Bring to a boil.

3. Add salmon and bring to boil again.

4. Remove pot from heat and stir miso+wakame in.

5. Serve hot.

More Photoshoot Pictures

Another 2 pictures to share!

Since I'm not wearing the same gowns on my actual day...i think it's OK to show first. =)

These 2 pictures are taken towards the end of the session,

and my smile was already stiff, my cheeks and lips were trembling! 

The actual wedding gown for the photoshoot..

And supposed to look like Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

Oops..but I failed, look more like Princess Fiona in Shrek!!

*LAUGH OUT LOUD*

The Japanese costume~! 

HAHA! U know previously when I went to Korea about 3 years ago,

I wore their Hanbok, and looked sooooo crappy!!!

Luckily I still look OK in Japanese costume..HEHE.

Something new to share,

I'm on another kind of diet now.

Tested and proven.

Will share with all of you after trying out!! 

(Trial) Evaporated Milk Bread

My first trial in making Evaporated Milk Bread...

There were about 200ml of leftover evaporated milk from the steamed moist chocolate cake.

I didn't want to waste them, and my man kept requesting me to bake a bread for the past few days.

So I had this idea, to use evaporated milk instead of fresh milk

Results were...

Pretty ugly and out of shape,

as I thought it's only a trial,

just pressed the dough with my hands and did not weigh the individual doughs.

The texture is actually soft and fluffy!!
I had some difficulty in cutting the bread as it was soft to handle..
There's a hint of sweetness in the bread too!

I think it will go well with any Jam/Peanut butter or even butter!

Ermm..sorry I can't share the recipe as I really don't know the quantity,

just mixed everything together till I get a pliable dough.

The ingredients in there are:

• Hi Protein Flour
• Evaporated Milk
• Brown Sugar
• Yeast
• Butter

I think those who know how to make bread will know the estimation in quantity.

Anyone wanna try this?

简单的凉拌面 Simple Cold Noodles (Vegetarian)

Today's lunch!

Cold noodles and it's all veg....

some may not find it appetizing as there's no meat in there =)

But this is definitely a refreshing lunch! Especially with this warm weather~

I used organic udon...

After adding the sauce,

it becomes flavourful and it's best when chilled~

简单的凉拌面 Simple Cold Noodles (Vegetarian) 

One Portion of Noodle

Shredded Carrot

Shredded Celery

Shredded Cucumber

Sesame Seeds/Ground Sesame (best pan fried without oil or toasted)

Sauce:

1 1/2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

1 tsp Light Soy Sauce

1/2 tsp Sesame Oil

1 Tbsp Dark Vinegar

1. Cook noodles as directed on package.

2. Drain away water and transfer noodles to a bowl of cold water.

3. Shred all vegetables.

4. Mix seasoning together.

5. When noodles have cooled down, place them on a plate

and decorate with shredded vegetables.

6. Sprinkle with lots of sesame seed/ground sesame.

7. Drizzle sauce all over & mix well.

8. Chill again if you want it to be colder.

Note: to let noodles absorb more seasoning, mix sauce with noodles first,
and put in fridge for 30 minutes then add ingredients.

4th December will be the day! Wedding Bells are Ringing!

Just received our photoshoot layout ytd~~
I had a total of 6 outfits on that day..and my smile definitely became stiff @ towards the end of the session.
My mouth was very much trembling!!

Let me show some of the pictures =)

@ Botanical Garden...

We brought our kitchen helpers along!!

wanted to have something different, instead of all the same old bridal shots...
and this is more natural, our daily lifestyle and attire..
We will use these series as our huge picture to be hung in the house...
my mummy knew it and reprimanded me,
" WHY ARE YOU NOT HANGING THE BRIDAL SHOTS!?"
haha..!! SOrry mummy!

This is @ Tampines' Ikea

we didn't bring Piano (Our Doggie) along,

so we used this bulldog!

It's a pity that we didn't bring Piano...

If not, it will be perfect and complete!