#08 - Breakfast Banana Splits

Alright, alright, alright. I know the picture above does not look that appetising, but trust me, taste wise it is pretty creamy and sweet with a zest of citrus from the strawberries (which you are unable to see in this picture) and raspberries. Honestly, I never really understand why the strawberries we have in Singapore are never sweet. Or is it just me? I always seem to be buying strawberries that are sour no matter how ripe they are. Their bright red appearance are so deceiving! 

Anyway, Wednesday is usually my busy busy day with all the household chores to be done as well as lessons to prepare and to go to. So, just last Wednesday, I woke up in the morning with this feeling of wanting to fill myself up (with some good food, of course) for a busy day ahead. So, what I saw in the fridge were tonnes of fruits which I have bought over the weekend. So I thought, why not have a fruity morning! The idea of Breakfast Banana Splits just came to me. 

For those of you who know me, you will know that I am not so much of a citrus fan and that my tolerance level for sourness is really really low. Luckily, I found some grapes in my huge fruits collection in the fridge and of course I added them to the berries for my Breakfast Banana Splits. 

At the same time, I also wanted something a little crunchy and chocolatey and hence, I pulled out the last box of Koko Krunch cereal in the cupboard to go with the dish. If you are looking for something healthy yet yummy and at the same time, you are a huge fruits fan, try this recipe. Simple and easy to make and you are good to go in a couple of minutes. Have fun!

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Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

2 riped bananas, peeled

20g Koko Crunch Cereal, chopped into smaller size (with food processor/ rolling pin)

140g plain yogurt

4 strawberries, sliced 

18 raspberries, sliced 10 (keeping 8 of them aside for garnishing)

18 grapes

10g walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Slice the bananas in half (lengthwise) and place them separately in 2 serving dish.

2. Mix 3/4 of the Koko Crunch Cereal with the plain yogurt.

3. Spread half of the portion of yogurt mixture along the (top) length of the banana.

4. Place the berries and grapes on the banana slices. 

5. Spread the remaining yogurt on top of the fruits.

6. Sprinkle with chopped walnut and remaining 1/4 of the Koko Crunch Cereal on top.

7. Garnish with raspberries. 

#07 - Chicken & Mushroom Baked Rice

If you have noticed, the weather nowadays has been pretty unpredictable. It can be bright and sunny in the late morning but towards evening time, it may just start to pour. With such uncertainty, I like to play around with my menu planning accordingly to the weather. On a hot and humid afternoon, I love to make some simple yet yummy popsicles (like my recent Mango Yogurt Popsicles) but on a cold and windy evening, I like to make warm comfort food which can warm up my stomach. 

This Chicken & Mushroom Baked Rice is a great one-dish meal anyone can make. It is simple with few ingredients and you can pretty much throw in whatever meat/ vegetable you have in your fridge to create various versions of it. It is pretty much a perfect comfort food! Recently I made a new version of Cheesy Salmon Baked Rice with some minor changes to the ingredients and it still tasted great! Hubby actually prefers the Salmon version though. Will be sharing the recipe on that very soon. 

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Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 cup uncooked rice

2 cup of water (to cook the rice)

2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive oil

200 g canned (whole) mushroom, sliced

100 g picnic ham, sliced

200 g chicken thigh meat, cubed

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

3/4 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup

30 g shredded Parmesan Cheese

60 g shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 200C.

2. Rinse (at least 3 times) and drained the uncooked rice. Set aside.

3. In a saucepan, add the olive oil. Once the saucepan is heated, add in the sliced mushroom, ham and chicken pieces. Stir-fry over a medium-low heat until the chicken is semi-cooked with a white surface. Do not over cook the chicken

4. Add the washed uncooked rice into the saucepan and continue frying and tossing. Add salt and black pepper to it. Ensure that the content is well-stirred. 

5. Transfer the fried rice into a rice cooker and add in the water to cook the rice. 

6. After the rice is cooked, portion the content into a casserole dish (I use a 10" pie pan). Pour the cream of mushroom soup sauce over the top of the rice. Spread the sauce evenly across the surface. 

7. Top the sauce with a layer of shredded Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese.

8. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and give a golden brown crust at the top of the baked rice. Serve it while it is hot. 

#06 - Mango Yogurt Popsicles

On a hot sunny day, nothing beats having an icy cold popsicle to take away the heat. Don't you agree? During my last visit to the local mart, I came back with tonnes of fruits. There were mangoes, apples, kiwi, oranges, lemons, pears, grapes, banana, strawberries and raspberries. My refrigerator looks like the local fruit stall at the moment. Haha! But that's okay! Fruits are good for us right?

With the huge varieties of fruits, how can I not make something which is fruity yet cooling in this hot weather. This is a really simple recipe which does not require much work. As long as you have some mangoes and yogurt on hand, you pretty much have everything you need. 

These were the mangoes I used. As you can see, the mangoes were not fully ripe but that's okay since we are looking for a more citrus taste for our mango yogurt popsicle. A slight tint of sourness will be just fine. We wouldn't want to be using mangoes that are mushy or have brown pressed marks on them. 

When I was younger, I used to removed the skin of the whole mango before cutting it up into cubes/slices. The problem with this is that it isn't that easy to remove the whole skin of the mango. I often ended up with mushy mangoes due to over handling of the mangoes.

The better way to cut and prepare fresh mangoes for baking / desserts is to make a slice down one side (slightly off the centre) of the mango. After that, make another slice on the other side of the seed of the mango. Then, you may make vertical and horizontal cuts on the fleshy parts to get your mango cubes. Make sure when you are cutting the cubes, your knife reaches the skin but do not cut through it. You may then scoop out the cubes of mangoes with knife or a spoon easily.

For the remaining flesh around the seed, you can first thinly cut away the skin with a knife just like you are pairing an apple. Then you are remove the remaining flesh around the seed.

With these mango cubes, we are really to make our mango yogurt popsicles!

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Servings

Make 4 popsicles (depending on size of the mould)

Ingredients

2 mangoes

280g yogurt

1 tbs honey (optional)

Directions

1. Cut and prepare the mangoes. Place the removed mangoes cubes in a bowl.

2. Using a blender, blend the mango cubes and puree until a smooth blend is obtained.

3. Taste the mango puree for sweetness and add the honey, if necessary.

4. In a mixing bowl, fold in the mango puree into the yogurt using a spatula. 

5. Once the mixture if evenly folded in, pour it into the popsicle moulds. Freeze for at least 2-3 hours until the popsicles are firm. 

6. When removing popsicles from moulds, dip the moulds in a bowl of warm water. This will ensure that the popsicles come out smoothly from the moulds.