Sardine Puffs

This morning I decided to make sardine puffs after seeing a picture of the sardine rolls that Pat had for breakfast yesterday.

I used one piece of 9" pie crust which I cut into four pieces. I had to trim the edges a bit so they don't look too bad. I rolled the dough from the trimmed edges and was able to make two small skins for the sardine puffs.

This Pillsbury pie crust is really flaky. I like it! I should try making curry puffs using this too.

Good thing I still had one can of sardine in tomato sauce left. I added chopped shallots and chilli into the mashed sardine.

I still don't know how to fold the edges of the puffs properly.

Ta da! Fresh and hot out of the oven! I dusted some beaten egg on the top of the puffs to give it this golden look. I will most certainly try to make curry puffs using Pillsbury pie crust. It saves me time as I don't have to make the crust from scratch! I don't even know where my rolling pin went! :-)

Save while you shop

When I shop at the grocery store I always look at the clearance items especially at the meat department. I am not too fussy about the freshness of my meats, as long as the grocery store can guarantee that the meat is still fit to eat!

This morning there was quite a large selection of meat that was on clearance. I bought a nice sized piece of pork that was already marinated in peppercorn. I also bought about two pounds of lean ground beef patties, and a packet of Italian turkey sausages.

Italian sausage and beef patties

I also bought 2 boxes of frozen pizza which were on sale. They are handy especially when I don't feel like cooking. Pop one in the oven, and dinner's ready!

I couldn't wait to put the marinated pork in the oven as soon as I got home. I had an early lunch of roasted pork with sweet potatoes, pineapple chunks and sliced tomatoes, and again for dinner.

Roast pork for lunch, and dinner! :-)

Today's Lunch

Stir fried daun ubi with anchovies

Beef masak hitam (last night's leftover) and daun ubi for my lunch today.

This morning I went to the Galt Market and found some young tapioca leaves (daun ubi). I must have not paid much attention to the vegetables sold at the market because before this I had never noticed daun ubi being sold there.

It was by chance that I saw the daun ubi because I started chatting up a guy who looked like he was Malay, and in his plastic bag were two bundles of daun ubi. He turned out to be Indonesian and he was buying stuff because tomorrow is the start of Ramadan. The vegetable vendor where the Indonesian fella bought his daun ubi had sold out all the daun ubi she had. But I found another vendor, with the help of this Indonesian fella, further down the aisle who had some.

As soon as I got home, I started preparing the daun ubi. I plucked the leaves, washed them and used my mortar and pestle to pound them. I stir fried the daun ubi with chopped garlic, thinly sliced ginger, sliced chilli, some ikan bilis and seasoned the whole thing with salt and pepper. Yummy! :-) I wished I had more than just a bundle because then I could have made chicken with daun ubi with santan - masak lemak. Maybe next week, eh.

Banana Bread

I just had to give Chef Gertrude's banana bread recipe a try after seeing Rita's version of the recipe. I had some over-ripe bananas so there was no reason not to give the recipe a try!

The only problem with my attempt was that it was too moist. I knew when I put the bread mix into the baking pan that it could have done with just a little bit more flour. I used what was left of the flour that was in a bag, and it was just a tiny bit less than 1 1/2 cups. I had 2 other new bags of flour but just didn't want to bother with opening a new bag for just a tiny bit more. Arrggghhh.

Overall though, it wasn't all that bad. Denice didn't like it because she didn't like the walnuts in it. Duncan had a piece and he said, "Yummy". I liked it very much. Had some with my bitter melon tea as a midnight snack last night. :-)

Cheesy Soft Pretzels

This recipe is taken from And Miles to Go. The picture of the pretzels was so tempting that I had to snag the recipe and give it a try myself! :P

Cheesy Soft Pretzels

1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese
2 TSP baking powder
1 TSP sugar
3/4 TSP salt
2 TBSP cold butter
2/3 C milk
1 egg, beaten
coarse salt

In a bowl, combine flour, cheese, baking powder, sugar,, and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in milk until just moistened.

Knead on a floured surface for 1 minute; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 12 inch by 8 inch rectangle; cut each into 8 inch long strips. Fold strips inhalf, pinching edges, and twist into pretzel shapes. Place on greased baking sheets. Brush with egg and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately. Makes 1 1/2 dozen.

source: unknown--on a piece of chicken scratched paper

Spaghetti anyone?

I have never been particularly fond of Italian cooking. In fact I can count with one hand the number of times I have eaten at an Italian restaurant this past year, and I still have fingers to spare! All that cheese and tomatoes! I am lactose intolerant, and that is one reason why I avoid food with cheeses, also I have and acid stomach. Imagine what eating food with lots of cheese and tomotoes will do to my stomach!

But still I have to add variety to my home cooking. To be honest, I am bored with the dishes that I have cooked up in recent months. I wished I was rich enough to hire a private chef to prepare my meals, or better yet been married to a husband who knows some gourmet cooking! :-)

Anyway, last Wednesday, I cooked spaghetti for dinner. It has been a long while since I last cooked spaghetti. This time I tried Ragu pasta sauce with lots of chunky mushrooms in it. I also bought some grated parmesan cheese and some 4% fat ground beef. I was surprised how good everything tasted! That is why I made spaghetti again for dinner last Sunday. Doug had no complains because he loved spaghetti and brought some left-overs to work this morning. Best of all, my stomach was only slightly bothered by the meal!

Beef Stew for Dinner

At weekends, I hate to cook lunch. Usually Doug and I will eat whatever leftovers we have in the fridge. We need to eat the leftovers because they can really pile up!

This morning I cooked rice porridge for breakfast and since I had breakfast really late, I skipped lunch and started preparing dinner at 3.30 pm. Since I had planned on cooking beef stew, I thought 3.30 p.m. was a good time to start cooking. The beef pieces were quite chunky and even though I still have all my teeth, err, almost all, I hate to eat food where I have to chew and chew and chew. My jaws get tired really easily. No kidding!

Cold beef stew after dinner

My previous beef stew did not taste quite the way I remembered beef stew is supposed to taste. This time I bought the McCormick beef stew seasoning. I think I bought other brands previously. I read the instructions on the little packet carefully, and made sure the beef chunks were properly coated with flour and properly browned on all sides before I poured in the water and the seasoning. I let the whole thing simmer for an hour before I added the vegetables, as per the instructions on the packet!

I guessed that did the trick because the beef stew was quite tasty. Thick and flavorful, and far better than my previous attempts!