Simple Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti

When I have some time, I like to style my food a little, play with my food.  Visually aesthetic food make s for very good eye candy and it also sets the stage for a fantastic meal ahead.  Most importantly, it also shows that the cook cares, that it wasn't just a mish mash of ingredients thrown together.

Here's the recipe for this simple dish:

Ingredients:
dried spaghetti
garlic, minced
onion, chopped
celery, chopped (reserve a few celery leaves for garnishing)
tomatoes, chopped
salt
black pepper
chicken thigh with skin on, deboned

1. Cook spaghetti as per instructions on packaging.  Drain spaghetti, reserving some of the cooking water.
2. Heat up frying pan.  Season chicken thigh with salt and pepper then place skin side down into the pan.  Let it cook for a few minutes until the skin is crispy and golden brown.  Flip over and cook till the chicken is cooked through.
3. Remove chicken from pan and set aside, keeping the oil (from the chicken) in the pan
4. Add garlic and onion to the chicken oil in the pan and fry till fragrant.  Then, add the tomatoes and celery and a ladle or two of the spaghetti cooking water reserved in (1).  Cook for about 5 minutes, and season with salt and pepper.
5. Add spaghetti to the pan and stir until well mixed
6. Presentation time!!  Serve spaghetti in a plate, arrange the pan-fried chicken on top and garnish with celery leaves.  Viola!!

Of course, all this styling is reserved for special days.  When in a hurry, which is most of the time, you could use chicken pieces instead and just mix everything together :)

Honey Cinnamon Popcorn

Honey Cinnamon Popcorn

I love sweet popcorn!  Whenever I go to the movies, it has to be SWEET popcorn, not the salty ones.  This is a really quick snack which is really fun for kids, and they get to eat it too :)

To make the popcorn, I heated up some oil in a pot, then added about 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels.  How do you know when the oil is hot enough? Try adding 1 or 2 kernels to test first before adding the whole load in.  Remember to cover the pot with a lid, leaving a tiny gap for hot air to escape.  In a few minutes, you should have a whole pot of freshly popped popcorn!

For something a little special, melt a little butter in a pan, add honey and a little cinnamon powder and mix well.  Spread popcorn on an aluminium foil lined tray, pour honey sauce over the popcorn and mix well.  Spread the popcorn into a single layer and bake for a few minutes in the oven at about 180 degrees Celsius.

Turmeric Chicken Drumlets

Want something easy to cook yet unique enough for the guests to talk about over dinner?  Try these exotic Tumeric Chicken Drumlets!

Tumeric Chicken Drumlets

Ingredients:
Chicken drumlets
Turmeric powder, a dash or two
Light soya sauce
Black pepper

1. Marinate chicken drumlets with turmeric powder (not too much or it'll end up bitter!), light soya sauce and some black pepper for at least 30 minutes.  I like to marinate the chicken for a few hours or even overnight.
2. Bake them in the oven at 160°C for about 45 minutes (or until cooked), turning them every 15 minutes or so.
3. Serve immediately!  Now wasn't that easy? ;)

Healthy Seafood Soup

There's something warm and fuzzy about drinking a warm bowl of soup when it's cold and rainy, or when you are feeling under the weather.  All it takes is some boiling over the stove and you can practically dump in anything that you like.  For today, I have Seafood Soup!

Healthy Seafood Soup

Ingredients:
Garlic, a few cloves
Chicken bones
Carrots, cut into 1-inch long wedges
Tomato, cut into wedges
Fish, sliced (I used Mackerel here)
Prawns, shelled and cleaned
Lettuce, a bunch of leaves washed
Light soya sauce
White pepper

1. For the soup, bring a pot of water to a boil and add in the garlic, chicken bones, and carrots.  Scoop out scum as necessary.  Remember to lower the fire once it gets to a furious boil at the start.  I like to boil my soup base for about 20-30 mins.
2. While boiling the soup base, prepare all other ingredients.
3. When soup base is ready, remove chicken bones and garlic.
4. Turn the fire up and add in tomato, fish and prawns and boil until fish and prawn are just cooked.
5. Throw in lettuce and give a quick stir.  Add light soya sauce and a dash of white pepper to taste.  The healthy seafood soup is now ready to be served!

First Loaf of Bread Machine Bread

First loaf of bread from the bread machine

This is THE first loaf of bread that came out of our first ever bread machine.  Using the basic recipe that came together with the machine, it takes just minutes to throw in all the ingredients into the bread machine.  In about 3h, the bread is done!  Ah.... the wonders of technology.  I love my gadgets!!!

Psst.... try making some kaya (coconut egg jam) or peanut butter to go with your bread!

Tuna Potato Patties

Ever since the kids came along, most of my cooking has been of the quick and easy kind, but once in a while, I like to experiment with new things that could be more time consuming to prepare as well as to wash up.  Here's one such experiment -- tuna potato patties!

Ingredients:

1 can of tuna (I chose tuna in water)

red onions, chopped

red pepper, chopped

potatoes (I chose Russet)

salt

pepper

corn flour

1 egg

oil

1. Boil potatoes in water until cooked through.  Peel and mash.
2. Place tuna, red onions, red pepper, mashed potatoes, egg, some corn flour, salt and pepper into a bowl and mix well.  Mixture should be able to hold it's shape and not be too wet.

   

   Tuna, potato, red onions, red pepper mixture

3. Heat up some oil in a frying pan.  Shape patties using the mixture, coat the exterior with corn flour and place them in the frying pan.  Let one side brown slightly before turning over and browning the other side.

   

   Frying tuna potato patties

4. Best served hot with salad and sour plum dipping sauce!

   

   Tuna potato patties with salad

Fried Broccoli, Cauliflower & Chicken

Fried broccoli and cauliflower

Broccoli together with cauliflower has to be one of the vegetable dishes that I cook most often.  For this dish, I added in some chicken to make it a quick and easy one-dish-meal to be eaten with rice.

Ingredients:
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrot
Chicken breast
Garlic
Vegetarian oyster sauce (mushroom based)
Light soya sauce
Black pepper
Corn flour
Oil

1. Cut chicken breast into bite-sized cubes and season with light soya sauce, black pepper and a little corn flour.  Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.  Marinate for longer if you have the time.
2. Mince garlic.  Wash and cut up broccoli, cauliflower and carrot
3. Heat up frying pan with a little oil.  On low heat, fry the garlic until fragrant and slightly golden brown.
4. Add in chicken to cook for a while.
5. Add in broccoli, cauliflower and carrot.
6. Add vegetarian oyster sauce and a little water, stirring to mix all ingredients in the pan.
7. Cover pan and bring up to high heat and let cook for a few minutes or until vegetables are cooked but not overly soft.
8. Uncover the pan and give it a final stir before dishing out onto a plate.

Steamed Chicken Wing

Steaming is a healthier way of cooking as compared to frying, and so much easier when it comes to cleaning up.  Here's a steamed chicken wing recipe that can be whipped up in no time with a few basic ingredients.

Steamed chicken wing

1. Season mid section and tip of chicken wings with light soya sauce, dark soya sauce, sesame oil, black pepper for at least an hour.  (To prepare ahead, season chicken wings and freeze in a ziplock bag.  Take out to thaw and cook when needed)
2. Cut some ginger
3. Arrange seasoned chicken wings in a plate, drizzle with the seasoning and top with the ginger.  Steam for 15-20 minutes or until chicken wings are cooked through

As for washing up, there will be only 1 plate to wash!  Choose a plate to be used for steaming, thaw chicken wings on it, arrange on the same plate to steam, then eat from it =)

Dinosaur Cupcakes

My big one requested for a dinosaur cake.  As the YouTube video only showed how to decorate the cake, I went in search for recipes for both the cake as well as the frosting.  I even went to raid my Mum's well stocked baking equipment cabinet(s) and brought home a few cake tins.  However, the icing bag with different tips that I remember using as a kid was no where to be found.

After lots of thought, I decided to abandon the dinosaur cake... What if the cake doesn't turn out right? What if the icing is horrible?  Assuming I'm successful, how will I bring the cake to big one's school?  Yes, yes, as you can see, I'm a worrier type...

So, I planned something different.  It still involved dinosaurs, and if it failed, I wouldn't feel so bad about wasting (throwing away) everything I was going to make.  Here's my plan: cupcakes with dinosaur decoration!

Step 1: Make chocolate dinosaurs

Chocolate Dinosaurs

Step 2: Make cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes

Step 3: Make icing and ice

Iced cupcake

Step 4: Top with dinosaurs!

Dinosaur cupcakes!!

Note: Cupcake and icing recipe can be found here

Big one was very happy to see these when he came home from school!!  A few days later, there was only one dinosaur cup cake left but big one kept saying he didn't want to eat it.  Why?  "I want to keep it for my birthday!", he said.

"Don't worry, you can eat it.  I'll make more of this again for your birthday".  (Birthday is a few months away) *tired but happy Mummy*

Quick and Good for Busy Mums

For all mums out there looking after babies, you'd know how much work there is to be done, especially if you are home alone during the day.  There are baby's needs to tend to, housework to be done... do you still have time to cook?  But as a breastfeeding mum, can you afford not to eat?

For times when baby is not cooperative, I have a back-up plan -- Instant oats!

Instant oats - a life saver for busy mums!

For desperate times, you could just add hot water to instant oats and drizzle on some honey.  But, I like adding in an egg for a little more nutrition.  It'll only take about 5 minutes of "cooking" time:

1. Start boiling a little water in a saucepan on high heat
2. Grab an egg and crack it into a bowl and beat lightly
3. Get ready to pour instant oats into saucepan once the water boils (this shouldn't take long as only a little water is needed)
4. While stirring the oats, pour in egg (I like streaks of egg)
5. Pour your meal into a bowl and drizzle honey to taste and you are done!

For those who don't like washing up (just like me!), there are only a few things to wash:  Bowl (for egg), saucepan, bowl (for eating), spoon (for stirring while cooking and eating), fork (to beat egg).

So there you have it:
Cooking time - 5 minutes
Washing time - 5 minutes