Category: Random Rants

Foodie Fridays: Tofu Breakfast Muffins with Quorn Bacon = B’s Eggless Egg Muffins Recipe!

6 Comments

I tried making this at home after thinking about how much I loved McDonald’s Egg Muffins when I was non-veg.  I tried to somehow make a vegetarian version of Egg Muffins!  It was divine.

Here’s the result!

Image

It was really easy too!  Great for a weekend brunch 😉

The most important step is marinating the tofu so the flavour and colour gets absorbed properly.

Here’s a picture of how the tofu pieces should look after marinating it:

Image

B’s Tofu Breakfast Muffins with Quorn Bacon 

Makes: 4 Muffins

Ingredients:

  • Half packet of firm tofu cut into big rectangles (see picture above)
  • Quorn Bacon Slices
  • 4 Muffins
  • Cheese Slices
  • Seasoning: Turmeric Powder, Soya Sauce, Chilli Powder, Salt, Pepper (Mix in a bowl

Method:

  1. Place kitchen towel under and over tofu pieces to absorb extra moisture.  Leave for half an hour.
  2. Marinate the tofu with the seasonings mentioned above.
  3. After half an hour, pan-fry the tofu patties till they are done (a bit crispy on both sides).
  4. Pan fry the bacon slices.
  5. Assemble with cheese in the muffins.

Enjoy it with any sauce you like 😉  I had it with BBQ sauce and baked beans on the side with hash browns!

xx

B

Related articles

Foodie Fridays: B’s Red Sauce Topped Over Spinach & Ricotta Tortellini

8 Comments

Last night’s dinner was divine.  Well, how can anything with cheese be less than divine?  😉

Image

I felt guilty using everything that was basically ready-made so I made the red sauce.  I like pasta extra saucy so I make sauce in abundance!

B’s Red Sauce Topped Over Spinach & Ricotta Tortellini (EASY)

Makes enough for 2 starving souls.

Ingredients:

  • 1 packaged of Spinach & Ricotta Tortellini (I have no skill or patience to make my own pasta! LOL)
  • Some olive oil (around 2 tbsp)
  • Handful of Cherry Tomatoes (the more the healthier) I use about 250g- cut in halves
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 can of Italian Plum Tomatoes
  • 1 can tomato puree or ready made red sauce (optional just to increase the amount of sauce)
  • 2 tbsp of concentrated tomato puree
  • some cheese (the more the merrier)
  • Seasoning:  fresh basil, dried herbs, salt, pepper, tabasco, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, sugar

Method:

  1. Put oil in pan and cut finely chopped onions.  After onions are translucent and a little brown add tomatoes and cook.  If its drying up add some water and keep cooking.
  2. Add the can of plum tomatoes and the concentrated tomato puree.  Simmer for half an hour or longer.
  3. Cool and blend afterwards.
  4. Add all the seasoning and some water (see your preferred consistency.  I don’t like my sauce to be too runny!) Add sugar according to sourness of the tomatoes.  If you simmer it longer it will be less sour and less sugar will be required to combat it.
  5. Add cheese just before switching stove off so it will be stringy. Yummy! Add it to the prepared tortellini 😉

Note:  I serve it with herb baguette and roasted asparagus to just make the meal a bit more complete! Bon appetite!

xx

B

Related articles

Technology Thursdays: The New iPhone 5c and 5S

2 Comments

The latest announcement by Apple has finally been made.  There had been a lot of anticipation for it at home (my husband of course)!

So what’s all the fuss about?  What’s the actual difference?

Basically I can sum it up in three points.

  1. They now come in colors!  (But is it worth buying it just for a color especially since there are colored cases available?)
  2. They are cheaper. (That’s good if you don’t already own an iPhone)
  3. Tighter security with the users thumbprint is now possible. (That’s really cool but it doesn’t warrant me buying a new phone since I already have the iPhone 5) – iPhone 5S

Hmmm…  I don’t actually get the fuss. The functionality is pretty much the same – but it looks pretty.

Image

Here’s a screenshot of it from the Apple website.  I wonder how the sales would be for this one!

xx

B

Related articles

B’s Eggless Milo Custard Recipe

8 Comments

I really really wanted custard last night.  So yes, I made custard at 11 pm and made a variation for my husband with Milo.  It came out really really yummy for chocolate lovers!

Image

So I made normal eggless custard and added milo to it.  I was pretty generous with the milo as you can see.  While it was on the fire I whisked it so it became a smooth chocolately (it’s a word I swear! hahaha) custard.

Image

It was good… Hmmm… The husband loved it.

B’s Eggless Milo Custard Recipe

Makes:  Enough for two hungry people.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 1/2 tbsp custard powder
  • 2 tbsp evaporated milk
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • vanilla essence to taste
  • generous amount of milo (optional)

Method:

  1. Boil milk with sugar until its dissolved.
  2. Add evaporated milk.
  3. Mix custard powder in a bowl with water till there are no lumps.  Add to the milk and whisk.
  4. Add vanilla essence.
  5. Custard is ready 🙂  Add milo and whisk if you want a chocolate mixture!

Note:  I love custard and can eat it with anything!  When my sisters were here, we had it over scones topped with Nutella.  That was really good 🙂 The leftover custard can be refrigerated in a bowl.  It will set in a few hours and can be eaten cold! 🙂

Enjoy this simple vegetarian dessert 🙂

x

B

Related articles

OPI: PINK – Suzi’s hungry again!

8 Comments

Image

Am loving the shade of pink on my nails right now!  I got to admit when I first read the color, the foodie in me was like huh?  Sushi?  Hungry again?  That just about shows that I am hungry again!  What a weird name for a pink color… Suzi’s hungry again!  Yet, its a name I won’t quite forget!!!

Loving my nails! xx

B’s Easy Green Smoothie

8 Comments

I finally tried a green smoothie after thinking it looks like Shrek’s pee.  I’ve been hearing about all the health benefits about the it so thought i would give it a go.  I didn’t have chia seeds or flax seeds on hand but will definitely be adding it next time.

Image

There you have it – a GREEN SMOOTHIE!

B’s Easy Green Smoothie

Makes: 2 glasses

Ingredients:

  • 2 sliced frozen banana
  • 1 cup of Kale
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup water

Method:

  1. Put liquids in the blender first and then remaining ingredients.
  2. Blend till its smooth!

Note:  You can put 2 cups of kale instead but since I am new to this I preferred tasting just banana. Although it appears to look rather green, the kale was completely tasteless. Honey is optional as it is sweet enough without honey!  it’s amazing how sweet bananas actually are 🙂

xx

B

Related articles

B’s Day Trip to Bicester Outlet Village and Oxford

Leave a comment

ALERT TO ALL BRAND-LOVING SHOPPERS – this post will cost you!  It’s highly likely you’d end up here after hearing my undying love for brands at a good price.  🙂

I also recommend Bicester to all my friends who visit London.  My favourite shop there is Burberry as you get good merchandise for an even better price! 🙂

Brands that I personally like there:

  • Burberry
  • Roberto Cavalli
  • Prada (though I’ve not bought anything yet- I’d really love to win the lottery one day and shop without checking the price-tag!)
  • Dior (I liked a pair of sunnies once and some lady took them right under my nose!)
  • Guess (they have pretty funky tees for a good price)
  • MK (I end up just browsing)
  • Juicy Couture (Bought a really nice wristlet for my iPhone 5 – during my latest trip)
  • Gucci (I’ve not bought anything from the outlets but I always browse – just ‘coz you never know!)

When my friends visit we often plan a day trip there! I’m on a shopping diet right now and this post is making me want to buy something. arghhhhh.

After a day of shopping we went to Oxford and walked around a bit.  Oxford is a beautiful place though in retrospect I prefer Cambridge.  But if you are spending a day in Bicester, Oxford is a mere 15 minute drive so it only makes sense to explore!  I loved the fact that it was so quaint.  

Here are a few pictures of Oxford:

ImageImageImage

I found the picture with the heads really weird – almost creepy.  But it was worth a photo 🙂 hehehe.. 

Enjoyed walking around and was exhausted after!

Image

B’s tired feet. 

xx

B

 

B’s EGGLESS SCONES

8 Comments

Yes – so I’ve made eggless scones many times.  This is very easy and quick.  My previous recipe does not seem to work as well for me as I’ve made tiny adjustments here and there.

I’ve also experimented a lot with Nutella as a topping as that’s just a winner. 😉  Baking eggless scones is really easy, so if you haven’t tried it out – you really really should.   Most recipes online for scones are eggless if you omit brushing the top with egg and replace it with milk.

Image

This picture should entice you… Hmmmm…  It’s ready to eat 😉

I’ve taken pictures before the toppings too! Ok so I take a lot of food photos.

Scones before the free fat topping.  (I love doing that: free fat.  The reverse of FAT FREE.  How can a dessert be FAT FREE?  It’s FREE FAT FOR ALL! Can’t allow me to get FAT ALONE!)

Image

Image

B’s Easy Eggless Scones

Bakes: About 4-5 large scones

Ingredients:

  • 225g Self Raising Flour
  • 60g Unsalted Cold butter, cut into cubes
  • 25g Caster Sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 120 ml milk , a bit extra for brushing

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 220C.
  2. Mix together the flour, salt and rub the butter. Make sure the butter is cold. This ensures softer scones.
  3. Add in the sugar.  Mix in the milk and mix lightly to form a dough. Do not knead. (NO NEED TO KNEAD!! LOL)
  4. Move to a floured surface and cut the shapes required.
  5. Brush with milk.
  6. Bake for about 13 minutes, till golden on the top.
  7. Serve with clotted cream, jam or Nutella.  🙂

Finally my revised version of eggless scones.  Have been meaning to do this- as I don’t use my previous recipe much anymore!  We had this with hot custard the other day and it was divine.  🙂

xx

B

Related articles

B’s Day Trip to Brighton

4 Comments

Hello everyone!  i’n going to be blogging a bit more than my usual to compensate for my absence.  So even if I was not missed – let’s just pretend I was 🙂 HAHA!

Last weekend I went to Brighton for the second time and it was lovely. When I first went there I was a bit taken aback by the lack of sand  on the beach.  I’m more used to Australian Beaches (Manly Beach, Bondi Beach, Gold Coast etc) where your foot just sinks in the soft sand.  However, never seeing a pebbly beach before I was intrigued.

This made me return there 🙂

Image

I absolutely love beaches – just sitting and watching the swash and backwash of waves gives me a sense of peace.  The concept of water merging with water and forming an indistinguishable embodiment of water is intriguing.  It draws a parralel to humanity – we are all the same, yet we aren’t.  We merge into one light at the end (that’s what I believe).  I wasn’t planning to get philosophical there 😉  But yet I absolutely love sitting in beaches.  This one was a bit different as it did HURT.

TIPS FOR BRIGHTON BEACH:

  1. Take a comfy picnic mat – as stones can be rather pokey.
  2. Take a pack of playing cards to play (just because we did that) haha!
  3. Eat yummy vegetarian food in Pompoko (Japanese restaurant!)  A great find 🙂
  4. Watch the sun set and take silhouette pictures – just because they come out so artistic.
  5. If taking a car, park after 5pm as it’s a flat rate of 5 pounds.

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Image

Image

Image

The yummy vegetarian food in Brighton deserves a separate caption…

Image

(Vegetarian Prawns:  Basically crispy tofu with veggies in the middle)

Image

Tofu Sesame Don 🙂

The last time I went to Brighton we couldn’t find anything vegetarian besides pizza, so this was really a refreshing option for vegetarians.

Brighton is worth a day trip for visitors in London 🙂

xx

B

Related articles

B’s Day Trip To Cambridge

Leave a comment

I’ve recently decided that I have to explore UK as a country.  It sounds pretty obvious but somehow when you live in a place, you often take it for granted.  I had the opportunity to travel within UK while my sisters were visiting and the voice in my head basically screamed “THIS IS AS GOOD AS A EUROPEAN HOLIDAY – DON’T OVER LOOK IT’S BEAUTY”!  Yes – Cambridge was nothing less than beautiful.  It reminded me of a combination of Venice (primarily its canal like structure) and London (the British Architecture).  

We hopped on a direct train (45 mins) from Kings Cross Station and alighted at Cambridge.  It was pretty straight-forward as we didn’t get lost.  I’m quite directionally challenged otherwise!  I usually rely on my husband on holidays where directions are concerned.  However, we reached just fine…

My number one tip would be:

See Cambridge while punting!  You will be able to cover all the major sites of Cambridge in this 45 minute experience.  The punters are pretty good looking too 😉 HAHAHA!  But yeah friendly punters are a great bonus!

ImagePunting made me nostalgic.  I was reminiscent of Venice!!  Saying that – gondolas are definitely overpriced in comparison.  Just FYI – we should all buy little boats next time and take them to Venice.

Tip NO 2:  Take photos with King’s College (as it’s free to do so!) ok – so take photos with everything.  The architecture is simply immaculate.

ImageImage

Image

Go into Pembroke College if you want to see a college for free 🙂 The name seemed pretty apt with “broke” in it.

Image

Enjoyed Cambridge very much and would recommend it as a day trip for visitors in London 🙂

xx

B

Related articles