Weekend Brunch Idea: Pancakes w/ Blueberry Sauce

See earlier post for pancake recipe: http://moussiekitchen.blogspot.ca/2013/02/puffy-pancake.html

Custom Frozen Berry Sauce
Ingredient:

-Frozen Berries
-Icing Sugar

How-to:
1) In a small sauce pan, add desired amount of frozen berries and turn on medium heat
2) Cook the berries until there's enough liquid to make the sauce
3) Thicken the sauce with icing sugar by adding 1 tsp at a time till the sauce appear to be slightly thickened (the sauce will become thicker when cooled)
4) Pour the gooey deliciousness onto your pancakes or waffles~Enjoy

Lazy FRiDaY Brunch: Curry Omelette

A tasty brunch to kick start a sunny weekend! Love the exotic curry flavor combined with the tasty freshness of the vegetables. 

Ingredients (make 1 omelette):

• 1 Egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Curry Sauce (I used leftover curry sauce from yesterday), OR 1/4 tbsp curry powder
• 1/3 Cup Thinly Chopped Fresh Vegetables (I used zucchini and celery) 
• Salt (Optional)

How to:

• Whisk egg till slightly foamy
• Add sugar and whisk, whisk and whisk till you get lots of foams (this will help to make the omelette  tender and fluffy)
• Stir in curry and mix well (no need to whisk too much at this point, as long as it's evenly mixed into the egg)
• Use med heat, add egg mixture into a non-stick pan. Do not stir
• Top vegetables on the the cooking egg
• Tilt the pan occasionally to evenly cook the egg
• When the top of the omelette is cooked (no liquid), add salt to taste if desired, and fold the omelette in half 
• Decorate and serve :)

*Baked* Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

Ingredients:

5 Chicken drumsticks, Skin-on, Bone-in (the mixture can easily make double my test batch)

1 cup flour, All-Purpose or Whole Wheat

1 tbsp Montreal Steak Spice 

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1tsp Onion Powder

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp Pepper

1 can (approx 2 cups) Coconut Milk, Butter Milk or Whole Milk

2 tbsp Butter, or Margarine (for baking the chicken)

1 tsp Butter, or Margarine (for dipping)

1 tbsp Sugar (for dipping)

How-To:

    1.  Soak chicken in coconut milk (salted with ½ tsp salt) for about 15min.

    2.  Mix all spices with 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

        3. Preheat oven to 400F (200C)

    4.  Line the baking sheet, covering all the depth and add 2 tbsp butter (mine has basil in it J) and melt it in the  preheating oven.

    5. Take chicken out of coconut milk and coat evenly with the flour/spice mixture. Do not discard the milk.

   6.    Place chicken 5 cm apart onto the baking sheet.

   7.   Bake each side for about 15-20min.

8. Coconut Dipping: Heat coconut milk (left from soaking the chicken) to a boil, reduce heat to low, thicken with the left-over flour/spice mixture (adding approx. 1tsp at a time), sugar and  butter. Make sure to whisk, whisk, and whisk to prevent the sauce sticking to the bottom of the pan.

9. Make it look pretty and yummy. Enjoy~

The chicken has a wonderful combination of flavors. The sweet and spicy coconut sauce reduce the heat and feels refreshing for the taste buds. I think it can be even healthier with the chicken skin removed. Boneless chicken breasts would be ideal. Next time I want to play with the texture by substituting whole-wheat flour with panko~

Puffy Pancake

Ingredients (Yield 4 med pancakes):

1 cup  Flour, Whole Wheat or All-Purpose
11/2 tsp Baking Powder (use slightly less if use all-purpose flour)
1 tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1 egg
1/2 cup Milk
2 tbsp Butter or Soft Margarine

How-To:

• Shift together dry ingredients
• Whisk in egg and milk mixture (mix till all chunks disappear, do no over mix)
• Melt 1 tbsp of butter and swirl to coat the pan evenly
• Portion about 1/4 of the batter at a time
• Cook each side on med-low heat (my stove setting at "3-4") for about 4 min till each side turns golden-brown

Mysterious Green Smoothie

Ingredients (Yield: 1 serving):

1/2 Banana
1/3 Cup of Cucumber (about same size chuck as the banana)
1/4 Apple
1    Cup Spinach
1/2 Cup Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Yogurt

How-To:

Turn on the blender and blend, blend, blend~

I'm always scared to try any green-colored smoothie, but this recipe I pull together taste delicious! Diversify the flavor by substitute the orange juice with any fruit juice. You can also use yogurt of any flavor. In this recipe, I used fermented almond curd (a yogurt substitute . The vitamin C from fruit juice and spinach combined is a good source of iron. Love it, especially refreshing after gym :)

Steamed Custard Puddings

Steamed Custard Puddings:

• 2 eggs at room temp.
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/4 cup sugar

How-to:

• Turn on the steamer
• dissolve sugar in milk and water mixture
• beat the eggs and add liquid mixture
• divide the mixture into 4 small cups (approx. the size of muffin tins, do no over-fill)
• once start to see steam, reduce to medium heat ("4" on my stove setting) and steam for about 8-10 min

Ta-da! you have these cute pale-yellow colored pudding that doesn't taste too sweet, but satisfy your craving for desserts. The light, fluffy texture is so addictive~ Top with anything you like to decorate them <3



Woof...can I have some, too?





Recipe adapted from: http://lilyanette.blogspot.ca/2009/03/sweet-egg-custard.html

Seafood Crispy Bites

Seafood Crispy Bites:

• puffy pastry sheet
• seafood mix
• tomato
• fresh basil, chopped
• garlic paste

How-To:

• Add olive oil to the pan 
• Sauté seafood till translucent
• Add diced tomato, chopped basil and garlic all at once
• Sauté till seafood is cooked
• wrap the cooked seafood in 2'' by 2'' puffy pastry squares
• bake at 350F for around 15 min

These are perfect for appetizers, side dish or served as a quick treat! The pastry is fluffy but the seafood is juicy. Enjoy :)

veggie casserole w/ potatoes

When I was preparing my veggie casserole today, I realized my key ingredient, tofu, went rancid. I used potato instead. taste good...at least sister said so :)

special stir-fry

I was quite happy with how my special stir fry turned out. Actually, I was proud of it, so I have been showing off my lunch two days in a row...

But the five-spice tofu didn't turn out so well...I think. I was too bland despite its heavily-coated look. I need to figure out a way to make it a bit more salty. It's a good source of calcium and protein, so I will work on the recipe to make it more tasty :)