Category: Dairy

New camera, wedding bands and Toad in the Hole recipe.

I tell you, it seems like the universe is conspiring against me when it comes to blogging. First, my long time camera just stopped performing.

# – Abused and used.

I mean it still take pictures and all but every picture has a faint line across it and the screen is basically purple now, thanks to hubby sitting on it on a drunken stupor. We’ve used it for almost 3 years? I’m not too sure it seems a looooooooong time and we’ve certainly gotten our money worth.

# – Purple.

But all is well, we’ve bought the Canon G12. I wanted a camera with flip camera for easy camho so I was thinking of getting the G1X, but after trying it…it’s macro capability is basically laughable. 20cm is not macro, I mean if I had shorter arms I probably wouldn’t be able to camho with it WTF? Stupid.

So we decided to go one generation back with the G12…smaller, can take closeups so close it’s crazy and best of all, a lot cheaper. Very happy with the purchase and hopefully, I will start blogging more actively again.

# – One of the 1st test shots with the G12 – flip camera for perfect camho yay!

Besides not having a camera that works properly, I was also bogged down by a lot of wedding planning. It’s quite crazy how consuming researching about wedding is. I mean, I sat down thinking I’d give it an hour browsing through vendors and stuff but when I looked at my watched, 5 hours gone. Just like that.

One thing I’ve come to conclusion is that wedding not only takes up your money….it takes up A LOT of time too.

# – Speaking of wedding AND money, have chosen my wedding band. Here it is with my engagement ring. Platinum with more bling teehehehe cause they are forever mah (p/s: See how close I can get with my camera!)

# – G’s band is actually exactly like mine, only without the rocks.

Anyway, we’re collecting the rings in a month, so, so, so excited!!!

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I know I’ve neglected blogging, but I’ve also neglected cooking too for the same reasons – no camera and no time :P

So with the new camera, cooking mood instantly comes back! So decided to share a Toad in the Hole recipe.

Why is it called Toad in the Hole? No idea. How do English people come up with names like Spotted Dicks, Pork Scratchings and Bubble & Squeaks?

The chinese always call their foods majestic names, no matter how disgusting they are but the english name theirs after genitalia, unattractive habits and slimy animals. Weirdos.

Anyway, toad in the hole is basically sausages baked in yorkshire pudding. OMFG right?

# – Toad in the Hole.

The ingredients:

  • 115 grams of flour
  • 290 ml of milk
  • 3 eggs
  • A pinch of salt
  • 6-10 good quality sausages
  • Cooking Oil

    • #1 – First, mix flour, milk, eggs and salt in a bowl.

    #2 – Whisk hard until combined. This is your yorkshire pudding batter. Leave to stand for 30 minutes.

    #3 – Heat up oil in a roasting tin (just about cover the bottom) in a preheated oven at 210 degrees celcius. Don’t put too much oil (my picture shows too much oil, I had to pour it out in the end :P) or you’ll get soggy puddings.

    #4 – When oil is smoking, dump the sausages in. I recommend that you thaw the sausages out first, frozen’s fine but it is SCARY! Close oven door quick! Will be quite smokey at this point too…

    #5 – Turn the sausages all the time to brown evenly. After about 10 minutes, pour the yorkshire pudding batter straight into the roasting tin. Then quickly close the oven door and never open again for 20 minutes. As it is a complex manuever, I didn’t take picture but this is the sight after 20 mins. Puffed up magnificently!

    #6 – Toad in the hole, DONE!

    #7 – Serve with a dollop of wholegrain mustard and onion gravy (recipe in next post, very easy to make).

    Till the next post, hopefully not too far away. Have a good week!

    Recipe for my version of incredibly awesome mac & cheese.

    You know what, this is not even really mac & cheese because I used spirali rather than macaroni.

    You could substitute macaroni with other kinds of short pasta and it doesn’t matter what pasta you prefer but do take into account the pasta shape.

    “Will it be able to trap all the delicious sauce?” – that’s the question you must constantly ask yourself!

    # – Spir & cheese, heh.

    This pasta & cheese bake was so delicious. Creamy, cheesy, a little tart from the mayo to balance it all out. The addition of ham gave it some yummy savoury notes.

    Without further ado, lets get on with it.

    Ingredients:

  • 200 grams of short pasta (I used spirali), cooked and drained
  • 1 cup of mayonnaise
  • 250ml of whipping cream
  • 2 cups of grated cheddar
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 1 red capsicum, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1 canned of straw mushroom or button mushroom, sliced
  • 3 slices of ham, julienned
  • 3 slices of bread or garlic bread crisp, torn
  • Salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • Olive oil or grapeseed oil for drizzling

    • # – First, cook the pasta according to instructions on the packet. Drain, give it a dash of olive oil and set aside.

    # – In a pan with some oil, shallow-fry the sliced mushrooms, onions and capsicum until fragrant.

    # – Then, add the cooked pasta and stir.

    # – Pour in the mayonnaise.

    # – Followed by the whipping cream.

    # – And lastly, the cheese. Stir…

    # – Add salt to taste.

    # – Don’t forget the ground black pepper.

    # – Pour the mixture into a baking tin. Then, lay julienned ham all over the top.

    # – If you’re using garlic bread crisp, pound it with a rolling pin until it becomes smaller pieces.

    # – Sprinkle the garlic bread crisp all over the top. Otherwise, just tear out ordinary bread and sprinkle all over :)

    # – Drizzle olive oil or grapeseed oil all over.

    # – Bake in pre-heated oven of 190 degrees celcius for 20 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown.

    # – Spir & cheese, DONE!

    # – Dig in!

    This is a crowd pleaser, if you have complaints…can scold me :D

    Let me know how it goes.

    No butter, no sugar fluffy pancake recipe.

    Fluffy pancakes. One of the most satisfying breakfast options in my humble opinion.

    Pass the lips and onto the hips, I know, I know. But really, this recipe is preeeeeetty healthy; no sugar, no egg yolks, no butter but still fluffy and delicious.

    # – Fluffy pancakes!!

    Without further ado, here’s how to cook these pancakes.

    The ingredients:

  • 2 cups of flour
  • 1 3/4 cup of water or milk
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 egg whites

    • # – Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl, twice.

    # – Gently stir in the water or milk.

    # – With a wooden spoon, stir mixture till smooth. The desired consistency is achieved when when a clear line is created after you run your finger on the back of the spoon. If it’s still too thick or too thin, add more flour or liquid accordingly.

    # – In the meantime, beat the egg whites.

    # – When it has reached soft peaks, add the salt.

    # – Continue beating till it holds up when you hold the bowl upside down :D Good luck!

    # – Gently fold in the egg whites into the flour mixture. Fold until it resembles a fully combined, thick, fluffy batter. Be gentle when you’re folding the egg whites in as you do not want to beat all the air out.

    # – Heat up a greased non-stick pan over medium heat and pour one ladle of batter into it. Just let it the batter spread on its own, do not tilt the pan or try to spread it with the back of the ladle.

    # – Let the batter cooks until the top side bubbles and forms holes. This is the sign that it’s time to turn the pancake to cook the other side :) It’s advisable to time how long it took for the batter to form holes so you’d know how long to cook the other side later.

    # – Cook the other side with the same amount of time it took the top to bubble previously.

    # – Serve with whatever you want, fruits, jam etc but I served mine with too many crispy streaky bacons and a sunny side up :D

    # – Drizzle honey or maple syrup all over. HHmmmmm.

    # – Time to eat!

    Hope you like these fluffy, pillowy pancakes ;)