apple pie

Ingredients:
4 cups tart apples, peeled, and thinly sliced
3 tbs maple syrup
1 tsp fresh lemon syrup (i used lemon juice)
1 tbs unbleached flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon (i usually like to put more)
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Premade pie crust (i have yet to find a pie crust recipe that i like)

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. In a large bowl, combine the apples, maple syrup, lemon juice
3. In a small bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg, toss with the apple mixture
4. Add the filling into the pie shell
5. Bake the pie for about 1 1/2 hr or until the piecrust is golden

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Had some leftover oats in the kitchen that needed to be used. So, I decided to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for my siblings upon their request.




Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup tahini paste (the kind you use to make hummus!)
4 tbs butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F
2. In a small bowl mix together the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, salt, and oats
3. In a larger bowl mix together the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and tahini paste
4. Pour the dry mixture into the larger bowl mix well to create your dough. Add the chocolate chips
5. Drop one tbs of dough on cookie sheet, place in oven and bake for 10min or until golden brown

Berrylicious

Ah, I love this dish its sooo healthy (minus the butter and vanilla ice cream part) and scrumptious!



Ingredients:
3 cups of fresh or frozen berries
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbs cornstarch
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnut)
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
Vanilla low-fat frozen yogurt or ice cream

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Place the berries in an 8-inch baking pan
3. Combine the flour with the cornstarch, rolled oats, nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a mixing bowl. Mix in the butter to make the mixture crumbly, sprinkle over the berries
4. Bake for 45 min or until golden brown and bubbly. Serve warm, topped with ice cream or yogurt

Poached Pear

Ingredients:

4 medium pears, washed and peeled

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh cranberries

1/2 cup sliced toasted almonds (I used pecans)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 cup apple juice

2 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure:

1. Peel the pears and cut them in half from stem to base. Core the pears and leave the bottom intact. Drizzle them with the lemon juice

2. Fill each pear with an equal amount of cranberries and almonds. Sprinkle the pears lightly with the cinnamon. Arrange the pears, filled side up, in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon sticks to the pan and pour the apple juice and vanilla extract around the pears. Simmer uncovered, over medium heat for 20 min

* adapted from The Candle Cafe Cookbook *

Raspberry & Chocolate = Heavenly

Oops, it has been a few days since I have posted some of the dishes I have made these past week. It's been kind of busy here so haven't had the time to write. Here goes some raspberry smoothie, muffins and lastly a savory chicken chocolate pasta to top it off! Enjoy the recipes and pictures.

Raspberry Crumble Muffins + Raspberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 cup milk (I used oat milk)

1 1/4 cup fresh raspberries

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/2 brown sugar

3 tbs flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tbs butter, melted

 

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into a bowl and the sugar and blend

3. Place the butter, egg, and milk in the mixture until everything is combined

4. Stir in the raspberries and spoon the batter into the muffin tins

5. To make the crumble topping, mix the pecans, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl, stir in the melted butter

6. Spoon some of the crumble over the muffins and bake for about 25min

Raspberry Smoothie

If you have not yet heard of Vitamix yet, I strongly recommend you taking a look at it. Though slightly expensive it is worth the investment because it is so versatile and it makes really good smoothies! It can break down anything so you don't have to spend your time peeling, cutting and seeding out your vegetables or fruits!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh raspberry

1/4 cup fresh cranberry

1/4 cup fresh blueberry

1/2 cup vanilla/plain yogurt

1/2 cup water

1 tbs lemon

* Optional: add nuts like almonds

Procedure:

1. Place all your ingredients in a blender and blend until the consistency is like smoothie!

Savory Chicken Chocolate Pasta

This dish might sound kind of odd to you and you probably think you can only taste this at restaurants. However, it's possible to recreate this dish in your very own kitchen! I found this recipe on the label behind the chocolate pasta I bought. Of course I accidently threw out the wrapper so now I have to recreate the proportions for you here! Sigh. Well, if you get a chance to buy your own chocolate pasta you will enjoy the three recipes it provides in the back! But for the time being, hopefully this adaptation below will help!

Ingredients:

1 package chocolate pasta

1/2 medium onion chopped

4 skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1 1/2 cup chicken broth (I think I just used vegetable broth)

2 medium tomatoes diced

3 tbs cocoa powder

* Add more spices if needed to your liking

Procedure:

1. Heat a oil in a pan add onions and stir until golden brown

2. Add tomatoes, and the spices and cocoa powder continue to stir for another 3min

3. Pour the chicken broth into the mixture and let it simmer for 30min

4. In a separate bowl make your chocolate pasta by adding it into a pot of boiling water for about 12 minutes, drain and drizzle it with some oil to keep it from sticking

5. Mix in the chicken in the sauce mixture until the chicken is tender

6. Put the sauce over the pasta and serve

Petite Oat Cookies

These are yummy petite oat cookies with almond slices. If you want to make another variation of oatmeal cookies try this one out.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tbs wheat flour

pinch of salt

1 egg beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup of nuts (I used almond slices, you can use walnuts, pecans)

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat

3. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, sugar, flour and salt

4. Add the butter, the egg and vanilla extract into the dry mixture

5. Mix until blended, then stir in the chopped nuts

6. Drop rounded tablespoons on a baking sheet and bake for about 8min until golden brown. Leave to cool for 2min and then transfer to a wire

Mini French Toast Cupcakes!

I found this recipe on bigoven and thought it was kind of creative, I've never heard of french toast cupcakes and have had my fair share of various cupcakes. Since the recipe called for white flour and other ingredients I kind of tweaked the recipe....

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter (I substituted this for olive oil or you can use applesauce)

2 eggs

2 tsp maple syrup 

1/4 cup soy milk

Icing

1/2 package cream cheese

1/4 stick (2tbs) butter (used oil instead)

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp maple syrup

Raisins to top off the icing on the cupcakes

Procedure:

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl

2. In a large bowl mix the oil, sugar and eggs until smooth

3. Mix the maple syrup and soy milk slowly into the mixture

4. Add the dry ingredients from the medium bowl into the large bowl, beat until smooth

5. Place the mixture into cupcake tins

Icing

1. Place all the ingredients for the icing except raisins in a bowl and mix

2. Let the mixed icing sit in the fridge for about half an hour

3. Once the cupcakes are cooled spread the icing on top then add a raisin as a finishing touch

tofu.tofu.tofu

One of my all time favorite part of any meal is dessert! Probably most girls would agree that they always have space for dessert after a meal. Of course there are those occasional individuals that refuse to eat any sort of sugar, butter, flour, related goods. Why? Well, I don't really know but lately I discovered making healthy desserts that doesn't include butter or sugar but with TOFU. 

Growing up in Asia I've had the luxury of eating lots of tofu and tofu related goodies. Desserts made of out tofu is quite deceiving because it tastes just like ordinary bakery goods, but of course healthier. For those that have been in New York City and have tried Kyotofu, it is possible to recreate those delicacies at home!  

Try making some Chocolate & Green Tea Pudding or Chocolate Tofu Pudding at home. Thanks to 101cookbooks and vegcooking for their recipes. I top the pudding off with some fresh bananas and maple syrup.

Next on my list is making tofu ice cream. Bought these miniature tofu ice cream at Mitsukoshi today flavors are sesame, chestnut, red bean and original.