Dainty Bites

I have owned this Scones, Muffins and Teatime Treats by Family Circle for the longest time. I would think that this is probably my first cookbook I have ever bought. The pages are yellow and well-thumbed, however not from cooking from it, but reading the recipes over and over again (remember that this is my first cookbook and probably exhibiting signs of a budding cookbook addict!). So far I have only made a few of the recipes in it and this Banana Muffins is by far the best! I make it countless times and still in love with it. At times instead of making muffins, I would baking it in a loaf pan and slice it. I bought the paper cups from a SKP shop, perhaps due to my lack of skills in portioning the batter, somehow the muffins turned out loop-sided. *Sigh* Anyway, here is a cross section of the muffin. ***************************************** Banana Muffins (Adapted from Family Circle's Scones, Muffins and Teatime Treats) ***************************************** 3 cups self r

Inspired by Evan 's Mac & Cheese , this is my version adapted from Good Housekepping Illustrated Cookbook . My first attempt at making this dish was at least 2 or 3 years ago, which was a complete disaster! After that, the only Mac & Cheese I ever eaten were from either Seah Street Deli's or Kenny Roger's. I was quite upset about the failed Mac & Cheese since the recipe is from Allrecipes.com, a site which I trust (or should I say trusted) implicitly. Well, maybe something just didn't work out then. Anyway, Good Housekeeping's rendition is good enough, but perhaps I ought to have invested in a better cheese (maybe say Kraft's Velveeta?). Instead of using butter to saute the onions, I substituted it with drippings from my roast chicken previously and it gives an added flavour to it. If I am ever to make it again, I would perhaps add cubed ham or bacon bits to it to satisfy our carnivorus tastes! (^.^)

Over in this part of the world, we spell chilli with double Ls, but in US, it is one less. There are two definitions for it: (1) very hot and finely tapering pepper of special pungency; or (2) ground beef and chilli peppers or chilli powder often with tomatoes and kidney beans. Our case in view is, of course, the latter. I don't quite know why I was attracted to chilli in the first place. Maybe it is the novelty of Mexican cuisine thingy, maybe it is the generous amount of yummy ground beef swimming in a thick spicy gravy. Whatever the reason, my first attempt at making chilli was at least 2 years ago from a recipe found at Allrecipes.com. The resulting dish was absolutely wonderful for a first timer. However, I didn't really like the idea of relying on the El Paso Chili pre-mix as it might (or should I have said certainly) contain MSG. So the search for a chilli recipe which starts from scratch began. Then last week, I came by this recipe at Allrecipes.com. Though the ini

Another dish from Betty Saw. The title of the dish doesn't fully describe what this dish is really about. Initially I had thought that it was the soya sauce chicken sold at chicken rice stalls ( jiang-you-ji in Chinese) . I think that a better name for this dish would be Braised Chicken with Mushrooms, Spring Onions and Ginger. Again, needless to say, kudos to Ms Betty Saw, the dish was delicious.

This is my version of Betty Saw's tandoori chicken sans the red food colouring. I love spicies and I love anything that is spicy. The only reason why I haven't attempted this earlier is because the marinate calls for DIY Garam Marsala, which is a mayriad of aromatic ground spices. (More info on Garam Marsala here .) It would have been easier if I had bought it off the shelf, but I thought it would be more fun if I try my hand at it. Then the procastinating monster took over. Thank goodness I managed to kick the monster off in the b**t and here's my tandoor chicken (finally!). As a side note, I have been searching for a Betty Saw Fan Club or something equivalent. As I have been trying out quite a few of her recipes, I wonder if there are anyone out there trying her recipes too and perhaps we could share experiences. Something similar to this site Joyful Cooking . The author of the blog cooks mainly from the book Joy of Cooking and shares her experiences. I would have love

I have always loved one-pot cooking. It is so convenient. Just dump it right in and cook. That's why I love my slow cooker. The ang-mohs call one-pot/one-dish meals as casseroles. Whatever the name, it really is a time saver. Over the weekend, I turned on my slow cooker again and made more lentil soup. This soup is much richer than the previous Lentil and Ham Soup as it has lots of sausages in it. Initially, the soup tasted just right, but the leftovers can be quite salty. Perhaps when reheated, the water content reduces hence making it more concentrated. But otherwise, this is really a tasty and hearty soup which goes really well with a crusty bread. Here's my Slow Cooker Lentils and Sausage *************************************** Slow Cooker Lentils and Sausage (adapted from Allrecipes.com ) *************************************** 450 gm dry green lentils 1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes 1.4 litres of water 1 Knorr beef stock cube (optional) 1 carrot, diced 1 celery, diced

Made this wonderful creamy potato soup once the last drops of clam chowder disappeared. Got this recipe from Allrecipe.com. I am a big fan of cream and/or cheese soups, but as my "underwriter" is trying to pare down his weight, all these calorie-laden soups will be KIV-ed or cooked very infrequently. This is the Apple Coleslaw I mentioned previously . My usual roast chicken.

I once heard Hubby commented that he likes chowders and especially clam chowder, so I filed that in memory under "KIV". I was quite hesitant about cooking clam chowders of all chowders cos I am not really a big fan of clams. Again, browsing at Allrecipes.com, I found this recipe and thought maybe I would give it a shot. Unfortunately, the chowder as it was too thick and creamy for me due to the huge amount of evaporated milk used. But Hubby said loves the chowder and finished almost the whole pot by himself. Taking the chowder as a standalone, I find it rather rich, so Hubby suggested having it with some butter biscuits (think Ritz Crackers) or using it as a dip for steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Both serving suggest is quite good as it tones down the creaminess. Note: If you are interested the try the above recipe, please leave the evaporated milk out and cook on HIGH for 4-5 hour or LOW for 9-11 hours. Add the evaporated milk together with the clams and then cook for