Foodie Fridays: B’s EASY STOVE-TOP HOMEMADE SALTED POPCORN RECIPE

Hello!  I’ve been trying popcorn at home.  I’ve adapted my recipe from this blog.  I really can’t believe how incredibly easy it is to make popcorn.  Not to mention – how cheap it is too!  (Cinemas mark up the price by 1000% or more! HAHAHA) Popcorn is best eaten when its warm 😉  Actually I love sweet popcorn (cinema-style) and have tried 2 different recipes but am not fully satisfied with the outcome.  So if anyone knows a good one, please leave me a comment or link!! 🙂

And here’s the picture of my home-made popcorn:

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B’s EASY STOVE-TOP HOMEMADE POPCORN RECIPE

Makes: Enough for 2 hungry people

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup corn kernels
  • 4 tbsp oil (enough to cover entire base of pan)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp butter

Method:

  1. Put oil in pan on medium heat,
  2. Add kernels and give it a shake to ensure kernels are coated evenly with oil.
  3. Put the lid on the pan (loosely) to allow air to escape.
  4. Give the pan a bit of a shake.
  5. Kernels will pop in 1-2 mins.
  6. Transfer popped corn (LOL poped corn = popcorn! LOL)  in a bowl and drizzle with butter and salt.

Note:  Putting half the amount of salt in the oil works well too.  😉  Do as you prefer!!

Enjoy!

xx

B

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B’s Eggless Milo Custard Recipe

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!

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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.

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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

Foodie Fridays: B’s Easy Jacket Potatoes

Hello all… It’s Foodie Friday again! Yipppeee.  Thought I’d blog about something easy, fatty and British.  JACKET POTATOES.  Simple to make and yummilicious (It’s a word I swear- well it is one in Sparkle Bubble hahaha!).  Here’s an easy recipe!

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Hmmm.. Doesn’t that just look delish?  Ok and sort of like a heart-attack on a plate, but we can ignore the fat part.  Whenever I indulge in Jacket Potatoes it becomes my brunch.  I think that honestly compensates for how heavy it is. Spreading it across two meals makes it justifiable. Yes, I love making myself feel better. Hahahaha!

B’s Easy Jacket Potatoes

Bakes: 4 servings, well if you use 4 potatoes. 😉

Ingredients:

  • 4 Jacket Potatoes
  • 2 tins of Heinz Chilli Beans
  • Butter
  • Cheese
  • Salt & Pepper

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 C.
  2. Wash the potatoes.
  3. Cut a cross in the middle of the potato.
  4. Poke all sides with a fork for even baking.
  5. Bake for 1 hour 20 mins.
  6. In the meantime, put beans in a pot and add salt, pepper and any desired seasoning.
  7. After the potato has baked, open the potato up gently and butter the inside.
  8. Pour baked beans generously and top up with cheese.
  9. Return dish to oven till cheese is bubbly!

Note:  You can serve this with coleslaw as it goes very well.  I’ve also made Jacket Potatoes with different toppings such as:  Veg Tuna and Quorn Minced Meat.

Enjoy!

xx

B

B’s EGGLESS SCONES

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.

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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!)

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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

Coconut Scones

Hello everyone 🙂 I’ve been experimenting with Scones lately.  I altered the BBC recipe a bit to make coconut scones.  I had to make these twice as I was unsure of the amount of coconut to put in it.  The first go,  I used 50g of coconut.  The second go, I increased it a bit to suit my palette more!

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I tried different shapes, just for fun!

B’s Coconut Scones

Bakes: About 12 small scones, but I made some big funky shapes instead.

Ingredients:

  • 225g Self Raising Flour
  • 55g Butter
  • 50g Caster Sugar
  • 75g Fine Desiccated Coconut
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 150ml milk

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 coconut and sugar.  Mix in the milk and knead lightly to a dough.
  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 butter.  🙂

I personally like this the best with just butter as you can then appreciate the taste of the coconut.  I raised the amount of sugar in this recipe as a result.  As served with butter, it should be a bit sweeter than a normal scone that is served with jam.

YES, the FOODIE thought about it properly!  Give it a go. You know you want to!

xx

B

Olive and Cheese Breadsticks (Bisquick)

Just made dinner (Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta) and thought homemade breadsticks would be the perfect side. I wanted something easy to be honest as I’m pretty tired.  Although saying that, compromising the taste is not an option for me. Bisquick. Quick being the key word was an effervescent moment.  This just seemed perfect.

I’d come across Betty Crocker’s Recipe a few days ago and tried it out today.

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It was simply delectable considering how easy it was.  It was more beautiful than my picture. It was definitely one of those moments – love at first bite.  You must try it out.

Olive and Cheese Breadsticks

Makes: About 15

Ingredients:

Method:

  1. Heat oven to 350°. Spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. Stir Bisquick mix, milk, cheese and olives until soft dough forms. Place dough on surface dusted with Bisquick mix; gently roll in Bisquick mix to coat. Shape into a ball; knead 10 times.
  2. Divide dough into 15 equal parts. Roll each into a breadstick about 8 inches long. Place on cookie sheet.
  3. Brush milk over dough. Bake 11 to 14 minutes or until light golden brown. Serve warm with olive oil or marinara sauce for dipping.

**Note the recipe is exactly the same as the Betty Crocker link.  I’ve only changed brushing the breadsticks with egg to milk.  Now it’s completely vegetarian! 

Foodie Fridays: Eggless Scones

I’ve really been wanting to eat home-made scones so thought I’d make them.  Last I baked them was a year ago in a friends’ baking birthday party.  It was actually an afternoon party where we bake what we eat (very smart of the host and I should incorporate this idea into my party planning) 🙂

I got this recipe from BBC FOOD and did not alter it – as I liked how it turned out!

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Yes its on my Paprika App, in case you’re wondering! 🙂  To make them eggless, follow the recipe through and at the end brush the scones with milk before baking.  It’s that simple.  Scones are faster and easier to make than cookies.  So get baking!

This is my baking process and the yummy end result:

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I can’t decide if I prefer clotted cream then strawberry jam or the other way around.  So the next morning I had it in reverse.  Both were delish!  Dilemmas of a true foodie.

Another interesting way to eat it is with a spread of Nutella and Peanut Butter.  My husband is not a fan of cream + jam and has his scones topped that way.  Although,  I like my scones done traditionally – clotted cream with jam = heaven.  So the choice is yours!

Added Notes:

Recently, I’ve improved on my scones and created a new recipe which I absolutely love.  Check it out – Coconut Eggless Scones

Foodie Fridays: Sugar Cookies

My little sis baked for my husband sugar cookies for me to bring back for him. Heart warming gesture. He completely adores this 10-year-old from Singapore.

And so do I.  Baking with a kid just makes the experience so much more fun.  🙂

While baking the night before my flight – I snuck in bites of cookie dough.  I’ve always loved the dough more than the actual cookie.  Although, in this case – this recipe is quite debatable as the thought of both make my mouth water.

So we baked eggless sugar cookies that came out yummy.  She had found a recipe online and we modified it a bit.  Hope you enjoy them 🙂

Warning: Sugar High might be on a High!

Eggless Sugar Cookies

Bakes 30-35 cookies (depending on size) 

Ingredients:

  • 1 stick salted butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg = 1/4 cup carnation milk + 1 tsp custard powder
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. In a bowl, mix together butter and sugar using a beater.  Beat in egg replacement.
  3. Using a wooden spoon, stir in flour and baking powder.
  4. Refrigerate dough for an hour.
  5. Mix dough up again – as it might be a bit dry.  Make into small balls and flatten.
  6. Bake for 8-10mins on a cookie sheet (I always use cookie sheets – no greasing needed!)  Take cookies out when a bit golden on the top.  Do not over bake as it’s best when its neither not too soft and not too crisp.

Note:  Cookie does not spread, so you can bake many at one go.  With this recipe I noticed  that two trays were suffice.

*Baby Sis wanted to call them Smurf cookies – so she added blue colouring to some of the dough 😉

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Foodie Friday – Cheese Loaf

Yummm.  Did someone say cheese?  I absolutely love cheese. It’s so heavy and I always feel guilty but I LOVE IT.  Anything topped up with cheese is always a winner. Always.  So when I came upon this recipe, I had to give it a go.  I’ve never made bread before, so I wanted to try quick bread.  Quick breads are usually breads without yeast – thus no rising time involved and no need to knead. It’s quite a chore to knead with long nails anyways.  So I prefer not to!

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This is my Paprika Recipe. Found it on Betty Crocker and made a few amendments to suit me.  Firstly, I substituted egg to make it vegetarian.  Also, I didn’t have any pepper-jack cheese so I used a mixture of cheddar and red leicester.  The appetizing color of red leicester made the loaf hard to resist.  I’ve always lived by the saying “you first eat with your eyes”.  As a result, I like the food to first LOOK GOOD. That brings about the phrase “you look good enough to eat” – inextricably web of phrases that make a lot of sense!

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The picture speaks my thousand words. Undeniably delicious!  Nothing beats a loaf freshly out of the oven, except for a cheesy loaf.  I personally loved it.  Though it was very heavy for two people.  So make sure to give away half to your neighbors as a kind gesture and to prevent becoming fat alone.

Cheers to the weekend!

x

B

Foodie Fridays – Chewy Brownie Cookies!

Hello food lovers!  😉  I LOVE food – which honestly makes it very hard for me to go on a diet.  Being a vegetarian (this year is my 10 year anniversary) – it’s ironically very easy to become overweight contrary to what some may think.  Many vegetarians do NOT like vegetables. This statement throws many off track – but its true.  My vegetarian friends (okay -and so do I)  love cheese, potatoes, bread etc – essentially food that turns into FAT.  So to combat all that – I regularly detox and try to go to the gym thrice a week. 🙂 Luckily though – I love fruit and veggies – which makes me the ultimate foodie.

My love for food makes me enjoy cooking.  I’m not talking about the before and after which consists of:  cutting, cleaning and washing up!  I enjoy the actual cooking – the mixing of flavors which has the potential to create something absolutely delicious! I usually view different recipe sites while watching TV with my husband at night on Paprika (my previous Technology Tuesday post was on this app).  I recently came across this recipe and thought I must give it a go.

Chewy Brownie Cookie

That’s the snapshot of my Paprika Recipe.  As stated in my notes, I made half the recipe – that’s because of the amount of sugar and calories these little bites of heaven had!  Although, I must admit – they were really yummy.  It’s that bit of brownie that everyone fights for – the chewy bite.  Every cookie was that exact bite.

Things to note if you are vegetarian:  you can substitute ONE EGG = 1/4 cup carnation milk + 1 tsp custard powder.  It always works for me.  I did this for these cookies too – and it would be impossible to tell that they are eggless. Also I didn’t have margarine at home – so I substituted it for unsalted butter and it worked fine 🙂 Happy Baking!

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Bon Appetite! That’s my end product – even the batter was divine.  And yes the next day I went to the gym.  Guilty as charged.

XX

B