Vanilla SourCream bread

Another interesting ABM recipe which turn out very well - super fluffy & tall loaf! Another keeper. As usual, I made some changes so u might want to go back to d original post if this does not work out.

• ½ cup low-fat milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• 3 cups bread flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp yeast

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.

Pandan Milk bread

Had this recipe on my to-dos list for d longest time because I didn’t have a loaf pan with a cover. So tonite, I decided to go ahead & bake this in my ABM instead. With a twist, I added pandan water instead of pandan essence. Also, I didn’t want to waste d rest of d egg so I leave d whole egg & reduced d milk instead.
End result – a very ‘springy’ loaf (holes in d pic proof that)! Cant really c d pandan green & also not much of a pandan taste but ‘springy’ enough for my family. However, it does not freeze well. But still a keeper!

• 52g low-fat fresh milk
• 66g pandan liquid
• 60g egg (1 large egg)
• 25g caster sugar
• 5g salt
• 250g bread flour
• 4g Instant yeast
• 38g butter (unsalted)

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.

Awesome Crusty Bread

With no eggs in d fridge, I went online searching for a bread recipe that’s does not require egg & decided on this Awesome Crusty bread, simple & easy ABM recipe.
End result – true to its name, awesome & crusty! & with my newly bought yeast, d loaf rise high to only miss d ABM cover by ½ inch! & it's so diff to slice due to its softness & height! Definitely a keeper!

• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 1tsp yeast
• 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 ½ cups (300g) bread flour

Put ingredients into ABM as per manufacturer's instruction & select normal white bread setting with light crust.

Banana Bread

Have not done my groceries shopping, thus, still no ‘active’ yeast on hand. And with a branch of over ripping bananas on hand, I decided to give this banana bread a try. It’s really a very super easy/simple recipe from 1 of my fav must-visit blog – Joy of Baking.com. I have tried many recipes from this blog & have been 85% successful so far. Thus, I was actually quite eager to try this out as I have actually put this in my to-do list for quite a while now.
End result – a super moist texture cake with soft crust! And the smell is so, so heavenly! I actually baked this in my ABM & went out for dinner be4 d baking cycle has completed. Imagined our surprised when we entered d hse smelling of banana after our dinner! It was simply lovely!

Hubby took a slice as dessert & was quite surprised that d crust is so soft.

• 1¾ cup(230g) all-purpose flour
• 120g white sugar (alrdy reduced)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 110g unsalted butter, melted & cooled
• 355g ripe bananas, mashed well (abt 1 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix d shifted dry ingredients in a big bowl & set aside.
2. Mix d wet ingredients in another bowl.
3. Be4 mixing, start up d ABM on d baking cycle.
4. Fold in d wet mixture into d dry ingredients lightly, ensuring not to OVER mix.
5. Pour d batter into d ABM pan without stopping or pausing d alrdy started baking cycle.
6. If u prefers a much softer crust, just leave d loaf in d ABM after d cycle ends. D moist collected during d cooling period of d ABM will moist d crust further.

'Dead' Yeast

As my past 4 days of baking from d ABM were quite flat, I decided to do d yeast test today & found out that my half pkt of bal yeast is 'dead'! No wonder my breads were flat!

So I decided to give this soda bread recipe a try. End result – still flat loaf & d base of d bread were quite chewy… really not sure what’s wrong... am I losing my touch on baking...

Then I realised that I have throw it away without taking a pic of it first so no pic today on this post. And since my bake was not successful, I decided not to post d recipe in case I ruined d originator's reputation...

元肉雞湯

After 2 mths of Hot Yoga & reducing my food intake, my weight still floats betw 59k (on good days) & 61kg (on worst days). With not much improvement in my weight, I decided to give this soup therapy a try.
From d pic, it's looks oily but it's actually not oily at all. But it's quite sweet due to d dried longan meat.
元肉雞湯
雞肉 (切片) 四兩 Ckn meat 200g (washed & sliced) I replaced with pork ribs
當歸 八錢 Angelica roots 4-5slices (washed)
龍眼肉 一兩 dried longan meat 50g (washed)

將所有材料放入燉盅內，加適量的水，燉盅加蓋，隔水用文火燉三小時，最後調味即可飲用。
Put all ingredients into a stew pot. Add enough water to cover all ingredients. Cover & double boil for 3hrs. If desired, add seasoning be4 drinking.

李醫師指出此湯有養血活血和美容養顏之效。如你感消瘦無力、頭暈和面色乾枯，可試飲用。Recipe is provided by Dr Lee Nam, who stated that this soup is nourishing & promotes blood circulation & has the effect to improved 1’s appearance/color. If you feel unable to lose weight, or feel dizzy, or has withered/dried-up complexion, do give this soup a try.

Beef Bulgogi

For tonite’s dinner, I tried beef bulgogi but I think I might have used d wrong kind of beef, thus, end result – very tough beef. However, d onions & mushroom were very nice. D sauce is also very good to be eaten with rice.
330g sliced beef (marinated)
200g Shiitake
1 large or 2 small onions
6-7 cloves of garlic

Marinate with beef for 1hr

1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp seasame oil
3 tbsp mirin
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp paprika

1. Saute onion/garlic in olive oil for few mins till tender.
2. Add marinated beef & stir well to break up d beef.
3. Stir-fry till beef is cooked.
4. Serve over rice.

Oreo Cookie Bread

Another new & interesting ABM bread recipe. End result - loaf didnt rise as high as stated in d original post. It’s soft but not that creamy. Not sure if that’s because I replaced the egg with whipping cream since I run out. No matter what, Hayden loves it!

• 250g bread flour
• 170g fresh milk
• 25g whipping cream
• 20g sugar
• 3g salt
• 55g oreo cookies (crushed)
• 10g unsalted butter
• 1tsp yeast

Add milk into ABM be4 adding d cookies. Then add rest of ingredients according to manufacturer's instructions. Selec basic setting & start.

Yogurt Cake_II

Previous attempt on d yogurt cake was not quite successful (in my eyes) simply because it has not raise as high as d original recipe has stated. So when my neighbour pass another Thai snacks to my son, I decided to bake d yogurt cake again & give it to her in return for her nice gesture.
This rd, I sit down & went through d originator’s post again to review what I might have done wrongly in my 1st attempt in order to ensure no more flat cake. D only diff I found was that I used a 20cm square baking pan instead of a 20cm springform tin (which I am assuming its round as shown in her pic). So for my 2nd attempt, I decided to use my 16cm round baking pan instead. Also, this time, I shifted d flour & baking powder twice. I also omitted d zest as I don’t have any on hand.
End result - it worked! D cake rise nicely, even through still not as high as d original but good enough for me… ;-p I didn’t get to taste it cause it’s gg to my neighbour but am still happy that it looks more like a cake than a flat bread.

SB Marshmallow Cake_III

Hubby’s ofc gals requested for d Strawberry Marshmallow cake so I checked for ingredients. No normal UHT milk but lots of strawberry pkt milk, no red/pink color jello but got blue (berries flavour) color jello… mmm… I went ahead & made it. So here’s a diff color version of d SB MM cake (no-bake).

Yogurt Cake

With limited time on hand, I decided to try out this 'instant’ fix recipe. It’s stated that this is a very, very simple recipe & even a 4yr old can bake it. However, mine end pdt does not look like d original pic at all! Maybe I really shd attend baking class instead. I have also reduce d sugar amt to suit my family.
End result - both MIL & hubby still commented it’s still too sweet for them... sigh…

½ cup of yogurt
1½ cups of plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
¾ cups of caster sugar
79g of unsalted butter (melted)
3 eggs
Zest from 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 170°C.
Line a 20cm baking pan with baking parchment.
Put yogurt, flour, baking powder, salt & sugar in a large bowl. Mix in d oil & eggs be4 adding d zest.
Pour batter into prepared pan & bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into centre of cake comes out just clean.

Corn tonic soup_玉米滋补汤

With everyone in d family falling sick, there was no grocery shopping during d wkend. Furthermore, all of us have not got our appetite back so I better cook something simple. Thus I have to make do with withever I have in d fridge for tonite’s dinner. With limited ingredients on hand, this soup therapy recipe is d only recipe that I have almost all d ingredients.

玉米滋补汤Corn tonic soup

材料1 (洗净, 切段)
玉米 : 3 – 4条 Corn
红萝卜 : 2条 Carrots

材料2
枸杞子 : 15 – 30g Wolfberries
玉竹 : 30g P. odoratum

材料3
鸡肉/排骨 : 200 – 300g (川烫过) chkn meat/pork ribs (washed & scalded)

方法
1) 枸杞子, 玉竹洗净, 用水浸泡30分钟
Wash ingredients (2), then soak in water for abt 30mins
2) 加入玉米, 红萝卜和鸡肉, 大火煮开后, 转小火煮2 – 3 小时, 加入少许盐即可
Add rest of d ingredients, bring to boil be4 switching to low heat for 2-3hrs. Add salt if desired.
功能
有滋补强壮, 健脾开胃的功效
There is strengthen & nourishing effect on the spleen, efficacy in whetting/increase 1’s appetite
可日常饮用, 不燥不滞
Can be taken daily, it’s not dry/parched or sluggish

Dried Fig Muffins

Hayden has been sick with diarrhea & vomiting after his sch Halloween’s party. And he’s not eating at all because he was aware that he will be vomiting them out later. Thus, within 2 days, he has lost almost 1kg! Even d doc suggested putting him on drip in order to ensure he does not dehydrate further & stress out his kidneys. But in d end, hubby decided to take him home & try medication instead. So, with Hayden not eating well, I went online to search for something to bake that will have a strong taste to get Hayden interested in eating again.
That’s when I saw this interesting muffin receipe from HHB’s blog & since I love figs, I decided to give it a try. But as usual, I made some adjustment to it to reduce d sweetness since d originator stated in her post that it’s still too sweet for her even after she has reduced d amt.
End result – Hayden ate ½ muffin! Hubby commented that d muffin texture is ok but it’s too sweet for him & he does not like it at all. I informed him that I have reduced d sugar amt by 1/3 alrdy & d sweetness is from d figs. Well, cant go rd & please everyone. Since d main aim is to get Hayden to eat, I will consider this a success…
Yield 9 muffins

• 205g dried figs (de-stem & cut quarters)
• 90g unsalted butter
• 250ml apple juice
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 315g plain flour
• 2½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 125g sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Heat juice & butter in a saucepan over low heat until butter has melted.
2. Remove from heat & add in figs & zest. Leave to cool for abt 1hr or till figs r softened.
3. Preheat oven to 170C.
4. In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, salt & baking powder.
4. Make a well in d centre & add all d wet ingredients. Stir until just combined with d batter still slightly lumpy. Do not over-mix.
5. Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling to d rim of d cup.
6. Bake for abt 25-30 mins or until golden. U can also insert a toothpick into d centre & it’s done when toothpick comes out clean. Transfer muffin onto cooling rack & leave to cool completely.