Tag: Cook

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

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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!

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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:

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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

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B’s Eggless Milo Custard Recipe

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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

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Foodie Fridays: B’s Easy Jacket Potatoes

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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

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Foodie Fridays: B’s Vegetarian Tuna Pizza (Without Yeast)

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Hello everyone.  I LOVE CHEESE.  I really wish I didn’t as it’s so very fatty, but I just love cheese.  Like love love love cheese.  I hope I have emphasised my undying love for cheese to illustrate my passion completely.  It’s funny how words do not do justice to your emotions at times.  But I’m sure you’ve got the point, if you haven’t, I LOVE CHEESE.

Ater turning vegetarian, I really missed having Tuna as it was one of my favourites.  Fortunately, I discovered Vegetarian Tuna (made from soya).  It actually tastes like the real thing!  I’ve had it in salads and sandwiches so far.  Today, I wanted to try it warm.  I thought I’d try it on pizza.

I’ve always been terrified of yeast.  I don’t know why – I guess yeast rising is creepy in someways.  I googled pizza dough without yeast and gave it a shot!  I came across this link.  Majority of the comments were good, which made me lean towards it!

Here are my photo-steps:

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A ball of yeast-less pizza dough. YAEY!!

ImageRolled out and ready for the oven!  I thought it was wise to bake them for 10 minutes first to avoid it to get soggy! This is the pic after the oven btw! Tried a thin base and a thick base.  Always good to try out to different kinds in your first go.  OPTIONS ARE GREAT. Good to know what you prefer!

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Toppings are on – and ready to go!

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It was that good.  I left out photo-editing as I felt it would be unfair to the pizza to touch it up when it looks this good 😉  Yes pizzas can be personified in my world.

ImageThe pizza deserved a second angle 😉  DELECTABLE. DELICIOUS. SCRUMPTIOUS.

B’s VEGETARIAN TUNA PIZZA 

Makes:  2 Large Pizzas and 1 baby one (LOL)

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cup plain flour
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 3/4 water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • Tomato passata, basil, salt and pepper
  • Veg Tuna
  • Cheese

Method:

  1. Mix dry ingredients together.  Add water.  Add oil.
  2. Mix with hands to form a dough.
  3. When it forms into a ball make sure it is not too sticky.  If you’ve added extra water, add a bit more flour to balance it out.
  4. When the texture is right (Smooth) start kneading on a surface with flour for 3-4 minutes.
  5. Roll it out to the desired shape.  I tried my best to make it look like a pizza but one pizza looked like the shape of India on the atlas!
  6. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 C.
  7. Put tomato passata in a pot and heat it with seasoning.  Mix some of the sauce with the tuna.
  8. Add the tomato base on the pizza, top with tuna and cheese.
  9. Bake for 20 minutes at 200 C or more depending on how you like it!

Enjoy your Vegetarian Tuna Pizza that has no yeast in it’s pizza dough. Yeast is creepy.  Until I overcome my yeast-a-phobia I will be using this recipe as I loved it!  What a find – thank you Terry!

xx

B

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B’s Easy Vegetarian Chow Mein (Chinese Noodles)

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Hello everyone.  Hope everyones been very good 🙂 Here’s another one of B’s Recipes 🙂  I am really enjoying this platform for me to blog and share.  Comments and likes are really encouraging, so please do keep them coming! 🙂

Thought I’d share an easy Chinese recipe that I’ve made up quite a while ago.  We have this usually about once a month with variation of veggies (depending what’s in my pantry!)

Hubby’s Chow Mein (it just looked more colourful than mine.  I DO NOT EAT CHILLI. I am Japanese at heart. Mild food = good food):

ImageDoesn’t that just look great?

Here’s a pic of all the veggies while cooking:

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And a pic of my noodles, slightly less colourful in comparison but more delectable:

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B’s Easy Vegetarian Chow Mein (Chinese Noodles)

Makes: Enough for 3-4 people depending on appetite! haha!

Ingredients:

  • 1 packet Chow Mein Noodles
  • 4 carrots
  • 6 mushrooms
  • Handful of green beans
  • 3 Quorn Sausages
  • Seasoning: Light Soya Sauce, Dark Soya Sauce, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, Sesame oil, mushroom seasoning

Method:

  1. Prepare noodles and drain.
  2. Put sausages in oven as instructions show and chop in bite size pieces.
  3. In a wok, put 1 tsp normal oil and 1 tbsp sesame oil.  When hot stir fry cut mushrooms till done.  Add grated carrots and cut green beans.  Add sausage pieces. Add seasoning to taste.
  4. Add noodles and adjust flavour.

It’s easy, healthy, vegetarian and yummy.  You really need to try this!

xx

B

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Easy & Vegan: Scrambled Tofu

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Prior to being Vegetarian, one of my favourite combinations was scrambled egg with rice.  Growing up I used to have it like fried rice, more like butter-glistening rice with egg.  It was my go-to comfort food 🙂

I’ve now found a replacement to suit my new vegetarian lifestyle.  It’s been 10 years.  It’s definitely a commitment that I hope would be life-long.  So anyways!  I made tofu scramble for lunch yesterday, didn’t want it to have butter/oil or any fat.  So here’s a low fat, protein filled easy recipe.

But hold on – first have a sneak peak...

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It was yummy!  Packed with flavour and grilled asparagus on the side. 🙂

All you need is:

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B’s Tofu Scramble

Makes: Enough for 1 (or 2 if you are eating with something else on the side)

Ingredients:

  • 1 packet Firm Silken Tofu (refer to the picture)
  • Seasoning: Turmeric, Red Chilli Powder, Soya Sauce, Salt, Pepper

Method:

  1. Put the block of tofu in the pan.  Keep mashing it.  All the excessive water to evaporated.
  2. It usually takes around 5-7 minutes on high flame.
  3. Keep mashing.  When it is dry and resembles egg, start seasoning.
  4. Start off with some Turmeric (about 1/2 tsp) to give it an egg color.
  5. Add chilli powder, soya sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Note: I like a lot of flavour, as a result I add a lot of seasoning.  Always remember that tofu, unlike egg is rather bland.  Season away!

Enjoy it with brown rice and a side or even on top of savoury waffles with sausages. (I have had that before too, and it was really good!) 🙂

Enjoy! 

xx

B

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Foodie Fridays: B’s Quorn Teriyaki Steak Sushi

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I absolutely LOVE sushi.  I guess being brought up in Japan does have something to do with that.  Japanese food is definitely an acquired taste.  However, in recent years the growing exposure to different cuisines has played a huge role in people experimenting with different flavours.  Japanese food is now everywhere.  Being vegetarian, the variety of sushi is limited in restaurants. 😦  Anyways, when you have a creative mind and hands that are willing to get dirty (dirty with food is always ok, not with mud. There’s a difference! I’m not an outdoor-hiking-kind fyi) then there’s no limit!

Having a love for aesthetics, the food I eat has to look as good as it tastes.  The taste is always takes precedence though, I will never compromise on taste.  Saying that, I would compromise on it just if it is very unhealthy and I’ve just come back from cardio. The cliche aphorism works well for me – health is wealth.

Ok, so you got the point.  The fact that the sushi looks impeccable and it is healthy makes it a winner.  Here’s a picture of the sushi I made:

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Please stare at it in awe as I did.  My husband thought it was very professional!  And I got tons of likes on Facebook and Instagram which boosted my ego.  Small things make me happy.  Happiness then leads to big things 🙂  So try being happy with small things in life, don’t just wait for the big things as they might not come and you’ll end up being a grumpy-old lady by then! I’ve met many, and boy are they unpleasant.

Back to Sushi –  just went slightly off tangent there.

B’s Quorn Teriyaki Steak Sushi Recipe

Makes: 3 rolls of Sushi (about 24 sushis – depending on the size) 

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups Japanese Rice
  • 6 Tbsp Sushi Rice Seasoning
  • Teriyaki Sauce
  • 1 Cucumber, cut in strips
  • Quorn Steak Strips (half the packet)
  • 3 Nori Sheets

Method:

  1. Cook rice in a rice cooker.  Japanese rice takes less water than normal rice, so be sure to check the instructions. The ratio of the rice I use is 1 cup rice to 1 1/3 cup water. Let the rice cool down, don’t refrigerate it.
  2. In the meantime, pour a bit of teriyaki sauce in a pan and cook steak strips.  Add water as needed, but make sure the end result is sticky steak and not watery.
  3. Add seasoning to the rice.  If you like it more on the sour side, add more.
  4. Oil Sushezi a bit before putting the rice inside, and follow instructions.  See the video- that’s what I did as this was my first attempt!
  5. Put cucumber on one side of your rice mixture, and the Quorn Strips on the other.
  6. Place glossy side of Nori downwards, and you’re ready to roll.
  7. Use water as a glue for the end of the Nori.  Refrigerate the roll for a while, then cut the sushi.  And put the cut pieces back in the fridge.  Sushi is best served cold with Japanese ginger and Wasabi.

Note:  Hands might get sticky with rice.  Keep bowl of water nearby and dip your hands in often to remove stickiness.To remove stickiness of knife when cutting sushi,  I like dipping knife in water after each cut.  Keeps the sushi clean and pretty!

Enjoy! Itadakimasu (いただきます)!  Have I mentioned I speak/read/write Japanese?  Ok so I do.  Not as well as before though, as I don’t have much practice anymore!

The phrase above translates to Bon Appetite 🙂

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Pad Thai

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Hello everyone!

In the midst of packing – I made a scrumptious Thai meal (Vegetarian Pad Thai).  Easy to whip up for busy days.  Thought I’d share it before going since my flight is pretty late at night anyways.  I made extra so my husband can have it for lunch tomorrow.  I’m nice like that. 🙂 So- voila!

photo (3)It’s actually just a rice-noodle stir fry with Thai flavours infused in it.  Very popular in Thailand 🙂

So here’s how I made it – hope you like it too!  I actually don’t have it on Paprika since I don’t use a recipe for it.  It’s my own version. 🙂

YUMMY-VEGETARIAN PAD THAI (for 2)

Ingredients:

  • Rice noodles (1/2 packet)
  • Tofu (1/2 packet)
  • Bean sprouts
  • Chives – cut into small pieces
  • Roasted peanuts – grind
  • Seasoning: Red chilli powder, Light Soya Sauce, Dark Soya Sauce, Brown Sugar, Salt, Lemon Juice, Cut Red Chilli

Method:

  • Soak rice stick noodles in hot water for about 10-15 minutes until they are soft.  Rise off.
  • Pan-fry the tofu in big squares.  Cut them up into little pieces after and keep aside.
  • Put some oil in the pan, throw in all the ingredients except for peanuts.
  • Stir fry everything together and add the seasoning.
  • Season to taste
  • Guidelines of my seasoning to my taste (lol):  About 1 tsp red chilli, you can cut some red chilli on the side too.  Around 2 tsp of light soya sauce and a bit more of dark to give it a nice color. Keep trying as you go along as there are different brands which have a distinct flavour.  I put about 3 tbsp of brown sugar (quite a lot!)  And I just put a tiny bit of salt (since soya sauce is salty).  I put about 2-3 tsp of lemon juice.
  • Lastly, add peanuts and garnish with cut red chili.  Enjoy!

**Basically my tip with seasoning would be to keep trying as you go along till you are happy with the taste.  I personally do not take too much spice. It’s meant to have a sweet-salty-spicy flavour!

Good luck and happy cooking!

XX

B

Foodie Friday – Cheese Loaf

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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!

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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