Ricotta Pancakes

 On some long weekends, or a special week day when hubby works from home, I like to go "all out" and makes some waffles or pancakes. This was one of those days.
Growing up, I would have meals with my grandmother as my parents are often home late from work. It's a big treat to be able to sit at the dinning table with my whole family together!

One of the things we like to do is to have meals as a family.  With Asher, we try to do as many meals as we can on the weekends together. Eating out in cafes or dinners at home. Asher is growing up too quick now and is fast approaching the big 1 year milestone. His meals are also changing. I'm cooking more family meals and chopping it up for him.

Pancakes are of course a winner for a little boy (and with the bigger man too). He could hold it, squash it and stuff it in his mouth. Self feeding to the best. ;)

Ricotta Pancakes (Around 8-10 pancakes)
1.5 cups of Almond Meal
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp of cinnamon
3/4 cup of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of almond milk

Whisk everything up together. Heat pan up and pour in a ladle of batter. Flip when bubbles appear.

I had mine with berries compote, some sliced bananas and a dollop of greek yogurt.

Haloumi and Pea Fritters with Smoked Trout

 Happy Friday!!! Fridays are usually a funny day for me. I'm looking forward to the weekend, but somehow, slightly reluctant to cook. It's feels like "Yay! I should be able to enjoy and take time out to cook" but ended up with "hurry up! it's the weekend!"

Although I have to confess, sometimes, it feels like that through the week.

There are some Fridays, where I go real simple. Like plain grilled salmon with salad on the side. Or a grilled steak with some veges. All these doesn't take me more than a 15-20 mins to cook up.

But sometimes, I get bored. Flipping through Donna Hay magaines, I came across a recipe grating haloumi and using it as a base for fritters. It's pretty much savoury pancakes for dinner. Brilliant idea.

Best of all, less brain cells to kill with the thinking of "what's for dinner!"

Haloumi and Pea Fritters with Smoked Trout (enough for 4)

1 cup of plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped dill
1 tsp of lemon rind
2.5 cups of frozen peas
120 grams grated haloumi
seasoning
250 grams of smoked trout
1 lebanese cucumber- using a peeler, peel thin slices.

Combine flour, baking powder, egg, buttermilk, dill, lemon rind, peas, haloumi and seasoning. Stir till well combined.

Heat pan with some oil. Cook 2 tablespoons at each time, 3-5 mins on each side. Place smoked trout and cucumber slices on top. Serve with some sour cream or attack if desire.

Herb and Nut Cheese Roll

 Sweet Happy Mothers Day to all amazing mothers out there! Hope your family is pampering and bringing you lovely breakfast in bed on this pretty Sunday.

To our mothers, oh what amazing joy is it to be your children. I could never ask for more being blessed with hardworking, self sacrificing mothers. Both my mum, mother in law and grandmother taught me how a strong woman should be like. I take pride in calling them my family.

Recently, we were invited to a gorgeous dinner with our french friends. Here lies a dilemma, what do one bring when the french invites you over for dinner? They said no food... but finally agreed that I could bring drinks. I couldn't resist, and decided to thank them for creating such a wonderful meal for us by bringing what I thought would be appropriate- cheese!

Camembert and cream cheese blended together then rolled in chives and pistachio nuts. I was told that both cheeses went well, and the pistachios gave it a nutty kick. Unfortunately, I didn't have the chance to try it as I was in the kitchen getting all excited in seeing a dessert being made. I got a text though from our friends later on who told us that they loved this simple cheese roll.

and I'm pleased. I have managed to bring something that the french like! ;)

Herb and Nut Cheese Roll

250 grams camembert cheese
150 grams of cream cheese
a small bunch of chives chopped
1/4 cup of pistachios shelled and chopped

Whisk both cheese together till well mixed. Place the mixture onto baking paper. Roll it up and twist both ends. Fridge it for at least 1 hour.

Unroll, roll cheese on to chives and pistachios. This time round, wrap mixture with glad wrap. Again, roll it and twist both ends. Fridge it for another 1 hr at least. Serve with crackers.

Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Feta Dip

I have been experimenting with a few dips recently. A light bulb moment occurred when I was standing at the aisle of the supermarkets trying to find a dip with the least fat and preservatives. I realised then, that most of these dips are vege based and could be easily blended at home.

This was actually inspired by a chickpea/pumpkin dip that I bought a few months ago. Having a chat with my colleagues one day about myself trying to experiment with pumpkin as a dip, one colleague mentioned roasting the pumpkin while the other suggested using some roast garlic as well. For seasoning, I decided to use feta and abit of paprika.

The result was a sweet and tasty dip. Healthy too since I used only 2 tsp of the grapeseed oil from the feta cheese. The rest was lemon juice. I love how the feta and garlic added the flavour without over-powering it. I love this feta especially as it was bought from at one of my favorite market place Kalamanda Markets.

A bonus is the vibrant colour that this dip has. The roasted pumpkin and garlic releases it sweet flavours and showed of its bright shiny orange! Garlic is said to have its antioxidant properties whereas pumpkin is full of vitamin C. Hopefully this is a far healthier dip than we can buy from the markets.

Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Feta Dip 

500 grams of Butternut pumpkin
2 big knobs of garlic seperated and scattered on the oven tray

Roast these on a baking tray 30 minutes on 180 heat.

Roasted garlic and pumpkin
20 grams of feta cheese
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp of grapeseed oil
3 tsp of paprika
cracked pepper

Peel skin of garlic. Whiz all ingredients in blender for 30 seconds. Taste test and then adjust pepper accordingly. You may not need salt as feta is salty.

I'm sharing this with Weekend Herb Blogging this week. I have been waiting to participate in this event more regularly and this is my chance! This week it is hosted by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina.

Cheese Twists

Oh a quick idea for left over puff pastries. Cutting the pastries into quarters, I sprinkled some cheese, rolled it up and twist it.

It's like the old song "twist it..shake it shake it shake it baby"!

Cheese Twists (I made around 4 of them)
1 puff pastry defrosted
3/4 cup of cheese
sprinkle of paprika

Preheat Oven 200C. Quarter puff pastry, sprinkle cheese and paprika. Roll and twist. Song and dance optional.

Toblerone Cheese Cake

My cheese cake experience is far from perfect. I had my fair share of sunken, cracked ( i hide it with chocolate)  and ugly  baked cheesecakes. In fact, the only cheesecake that I was successful was the Jap Souffle Cheesecake, which has a slightly different methodology than the usual New York or store bought cheesecake recipes. 

This cheesecake was made for a friend's birthday. Having spot this recipe in Janelle Bloom's Fab food for Family and Friends, I couldn't resist trying it out. I have used Janelle's recipes many times before and nearly always it is a success. Long before Nigella Lawson or Jamie Oliver, Janelle's recipes was what I tried because she was a frequent contribute to Food Ideas Magazine which I bought regularly when I first arrived in Australia.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw how easy this cheesecake was. More importantly, she features mascarpone cheese as a frosting- to cover any cracks and sunken mistakes I thought!!

Thankfully (with heaps of positive self talk), I didn't need to cover anything at all. The cheesecake came out perfect. My first perfect baked cheesecake without flaws. Ahhhhh...

Toblerone Cheesecake (serves 8-10) 

750 cream cheese softened (I used 500 grams of 70% fat free cream cheese and 250 grams of 5% fat cream cheese).
3/4 cup of caster sugar (original called for 1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs room temp
2 tablespoon of plain flour
300 ml sour cream (I used weight watchers)
2 x 100 grams toblerone choc broken into pieces
250 grams mascarpone cheese
cocoa powder to dust
chocolate flakes for decorations

150g Nice biscuits
100 grams butter melted


Preheat Oven 180C no fan. Grease and line base and side of spring form pan (23cm) with baking paper.

Base- Break biscuits and place in food processor. Process till fine. Add butter till combined. Using a large metal spoon press mixture into base of cake tin. Refrigerate till firm.

Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla till combined. Add eggs. Sitr in flour. Fold in sour cream.


Pour cream cheese mixture over base. Top with toblerone. Press them in (it will burn if exposed). Place pan into baking tray and bake for 1hr 30 mins till set. Turn it off and leave cake pan in oven till completely cool (I left it overnight as I baked it in the evening). Refridgerate till chilled.

Spread top with mascarpone cheese and dust with cocoa powder and chocolate flakes.

Creamy Smoked Paprika Tomato Chicken Pasta

I have finally found it...

A creamy and healthy chicken pasta that I can deemed as "guilt free"

Looking at my "free" copy of cheese cook book called "Simply Heaven", I came across this recipe that appears really simple to cook-not to mention slightly healthier than other cream version of pastas. The trick? is to use really light cream cheese. 


I tweaked quite a few things and came up with this version-most of the changes is that I added in quite abit of veges in it.

Creamy  Smoked Paprika Tomato Chicken Pasta  

4 chicken fillets (I cut mine i smaller pieces)
1 onion chopped 
1tsp of garlic
1 tablespoon of flour
4 tsp of smoked paprika
1 can of chopped tomatoes
125 grams of very light cream cheese
2 cup of chopped mushrooms
2 carrots chopped
1 fresh tomato chopped
pasta cooked

Saute garlic and onion. Coat chicken with flour  and pan fry it. Add in some water and tomatoes, Season with paprika and salt/pepper. Whisk cream cheese with fork and then add to sauce. Simmer for 2-3 minutes and add veges. Serve on pasta.

Sharing this idea with Presto Pasta founded by Ruth. This week, she is hosting!

Swiss Adventure- Rosti and Halomi at home

During our trip to Switzerland (Interlaken), we hurried to try the local cusine. Cheese Fondue with white wine-checked. Rosti- Checked. While I wasn't ready to try out the strong cheese fondue at home (just didn't sit too well in my tummy), I love love love the rosti.

Re-creating dishes that we try and love overseas back at our humble kitchen is one of my passions. While our little rosti cakes did not look anything like what we had in Switzerland, it brought us back memories. The human brain is so amazing, recording our memories not just by sight, but by all senses. Having this, just brought us back a little more of what we have experienced. I can't help but drool with the sight of the runny egg on a bed of potato!

At home, I grated the potato, added some melted spread, season and proceeded to shape them in little cakes. It worked really well and turned crispy despite not having much oil added to the pan. I suppose it would have to be the butter on the potato cakes.

The shredded delights hit a big spot in us. We paired it with a light salad with grilled halomi cheese.  While I tried this cheese briefly in cafes, I have not thought of using it in salads before. Grilling it made it slightly crispy and I was greeted with the crispy outer and creamy cheesey insides. Superb!

 

Rosti with Halomi Salad (Serves 3-4) 

50 grams of Halomi cheese sliced to 2 pieces

Rosti 

2 potato grated

2 tablespoon of spread melted 

lots of freshly cracked pepper

1 tsp of chilli flakes 

1 tsp of minced garlic 

1 tsp of mixed herbs 

sea salt  

Mixed all ingredients together. Shape into patties. Preheat pan with a little oil. Fry rosti up.

ps- I like my potato with a little bite so I didn't pre boil it.  

Grilled Halomi- Preheat another pan with oil. Grill it till it turns crispy on the outside. Serve on bed of salad. 

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

We went for a quick overnight trip to Mandurah and bought a BIG BIG bag of fresh organic carrots for $1. It was soooo big that I was wondering how in the world am I going to use it up?

So I grated half a kilo and proceed to make a carrot cake (still too much!!)

Although there are many recipes out there, I chose this time to use trust Donna Hay again. The addition of sultanas not just gave it a juicy texture but an added surprise. The cake turned out moist and delightful. I brought it to a group gathering and it was a hit! All gone in 20 mins. *beams*

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup of Brown sugar (original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup of olive oil (original recipe calls for vegetable oil)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup of plan flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarb
2-3 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp of ground nutmeg (omitted)
3-4 cups of grated carrot (original recipe calls for 2 1/2 cups of grated carrot!)
1 cup of crushed walnuts (original recipe 1/2 cups of crushed pecans)

Preheat Oven 180C. Beat sugar and oil for around 2-3 mins. Add eggs and beat well. Sift in flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and mix well. Add carrots, walnuts and sultanas. Pour mixture in greased and line cake 9 inch pan and bake for 55-60 mins.Cool and frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream cheese frosting- Beat 205g cream cheese with 1/3 cup of icing sugar and 1.5 tablespoon of lemon juice.

Japanese Souffle Cheesecake

I recall the days when my friends and I attend evening maths tuition. We usually end class at around 9:30pm and then we will head downstairs to the shopping centre in hope to grab some cheap Japanese souffle cheesecake. Sometimes, we score-and even get a few free pieces (we think the girl who sold the cheesecake had a crush on our tutor! ;p)



While I have always want to attempt this at home, I usually pushed that at the back of my mind thinking that it is a)too hard, 2)too many egg whites involved and 3) I will probably be the only person consuming such a high calorie cheesecake!



Well, I was wrong on all three counts. This recipe is dead easy and results in an ultra smooth and velvety cheesecake. Oh, I used Philadelphia 80% fat free cream cheese which is one of the lowest fat content of cream cheese one can obtain in AussieLand. Not bad hey.

Thanks to Aimei from Baking Cottage for this wonderful inspiration! Check out her blog for the recipe.

Cheesy Baked Broccoli Macaroni Cheese

A twist to the classic macaroni cheese, I added some broccoli to it. Now somehow, cheese and veges just go well together doesnt it? I love this addition of the crunch texture. Not to mention, it is good for us. LOL I have a small packet of prawns and squid left so this sort of became a seafood baked pasta. A little fancy for macaroni and cheese but all worth it for a quick and hearty dinner!


Cheesy Baked Broccoli Macaroni Cheese (serves 6)
250 grams macaroni cooked drained and set aside

1 tablespoon of spread
1 tablespoon of flour
1 cup of milk
1 cup of cheese + 1/2 cup of cheese
1 tablespoon of grainy mustard.
1 broccoli chopped
1-2 cups of prawns
150 grams of squid cleaned and chopped
seasoning

Preheat Oven to 200C. Melt spread in saucepan. Add flour and cook till it turns golden in colour. Add millk and whisk till smooth. Add 1/4 cup of more if too thick. Add cheese and stir till it melts. Taste and season.

Pour sauce over pasta and toss it with all the veges and seafood. Spoon into pan and sprinkle cheese on it. Bake for 30 minutes.


Serving this with my friends from Presto Pasta founded by Ruth. Sara from I'm a Food Blog is hosting.

Classic Baked Cheesecake

A girl got to do what she has to do when she has a sweet tooth right? Oh, not to mention, a good reason to make a cheesecake is when we realised we have been married for 4 months. Woah, time just flew by so quickly..and to think it's 4 months already!

I have been eying this recipe from Donna Hay for ages now. And I suppose having a food processor makes this soo much easier too.No more crushing bickies using my handy roller! LOL.
I made mine with a few modications with the cheese-just because packaging doesnt come with 330 grams of cream cheese or 460grams of ricotta (What am i suppose to do with 40grms?). It still turned out creamy and light which is what I love.

Oh, and pardon the cracks- I do not have a light in my oven so I needed to open the door to give it a few checks. That is of course, a BIG no no to baking cheesecakes. This one is a smaller crack though so I'm giving myself a small pat on the back that it is not as huge as my last cheesecake that I baked.. LOL



Classic Baked Cheesecake
110 grams butternut cookies
2/3 cup almond meal
60 grams melted butter

filling
1 1/2 tablespoons cornflour
1 1/2 tbsp of water
250 grams cream cheese (original one was 330grms)
500 grams ricotta cheese (original was 460grms)
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon rind grated
1/4 cup of lemon juice

Base: Process cookies in food processor till crushed. Add almon meal and butter and process till combined. Line 9inch cake pan. Press biscuit mixture over base and refrigerate. Preheat oven to 150C.
Filling- Mixx corn flour with water till it becomes a smooth paste. Process cream cheese in the food processor till smooth. Add cornflour mixture, ricotta, eggs, sugar, lemon rind and juice and process. Pour cream cheese over bas and bake for 1 hour 10 mins(Mine took 1 hr 30 mins) till set. Refrigerate till cold.

Cheesy Chicken Spinach Parcels

I have written about one of my favourite wraps- Mountain Corn Bread a while back. It remains a versatile staple in our pantry-especially for a quick Sunday lunch after church. Remember my post about my love for bbq chicken? This recipe is another one to add to the list. Oh, and do check out Babe in KL's One chook 5 ways post. This further proves how creative bloggers are in utilizing our humble chicken!


Cheesy Chicken Spinach Parcels (makes around 4-5)
200 grams of shredded roasted chicken meat
50 grams feta cheese
1 cup of cheddar cheese
2-3 cups of baby spinach leaves
low fat mayo
seasoning

In a bowl, toss chicken meat, crumbed feta cheese, cheddar and spinach leaves. Add mayo- the amount to your liking. Season with some pepper.

Put 1-2 generous tablespoons of mixture onto your choice of wrap. Fold it into a parcel. Toast it and serve with some potatoes.

Also see Shortcut Crumbed fish wrap and Mango Chicken Wrap.

Cheesy Baked Pasta with Bacon, Mushrooms and Peas

Whenever we hit winter, I have this urge to cook baked meals. This comes in handy as well I suppose because then I cook in larger than normal quantities, freezing the meals. Comes in very handy on nights when I return home late.


I love creamy and cheesy pastas. The only thing is that I rarely order them in a restaurant because I know how bad they are for us. I'm thinking horror horror-calories and fat and the length of them I need to run in the next COLD winter morning to get rid of it. However, I tend to use reduced fat cheese and 98.5% fat free evaporated milk for the creamy sauce, allowing me to still enjoy a small portion of it without the guilt. The use of lean bacon is perhaps a little more expensive but worth it because it allow me to taste the salty savory cured meat that I miss!


Cheesy Baked Pasta with Bacon, Mushrooms and Peas (Serves 4-6)
250grams of penne pasta
180grams of lean bacon diced
2 cups of chopped mushrooms
1 cup of peas
2 cups of baby spinach

Sauce
1 tablespoon of flour
1 tablespoon of reduced fat spread
1 can of 98.5% fat free evaporated milk
1 cup of cheddar cheese
extra 1/2 cup of cheese
Cook pasta according to instructions. Drain and set aside. Toss bacon, mushrooms, peas and spinach with pasta.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 C.

To make cheese sauce, melt spread and add flour. Stir till the mixture becomes golden brown. Add milk. Whisk till it thickens and become creamy. Add cheese mixture. Stir till it melts. (Adjust by adding more milk of mixture turns too thick). Season.
Pour sauce on pasta. Toss with pasta. Spoon in baking dish. Sprinkle more cheese on top. Bake for 35 minutes or so. Serve HOT!

Sharing this with my friends at Presto Pasta founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week, it is hosted by psychgrad from Equal Opportunity.

Chilli Beef Pies

Due to my change in work hours, it is getting harder and harder to prepare dinner regularly. One of my favourite meals to make and freeze are individual pies. This is also probably one of the hubby's most requested meal-simply because it is easy for him to grab a few pies off the freezer and re-heat it before I come home or to take it to work for lunch.

It is rare that I buy a pie (Unless it is Jesters' Pie) from the shops. There is just something odd or artificial testing in pies these days. Making our own pies means that my paranoid of what goes in our body gets satisfied and we have "slightly healthier" pies to eat.



Chilli Beef Pies (makes around 12-14 pies)
400 grams of lean beef mince
1 red onion chopped finely
chopped mushrooms
3 tsp of chilli powder
2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
3 cups of shredded low fat cheese
5 pieces of reduced fat puff pastry

Defrost puff pastry. Heat 1 tsp of oil and cook onion till soft. Add mince and browned. Add mushrooms and chilli powder and sauce. Taste and season. Cool.
Preheat pie maker. Cut pastry to size. Place bigger round pastry onto maker. Top with beef then cheese. Cover with 2nd piece of pastry. Cook till machine says done!
Repeat for other pies!

Serve with salad and chips.

Strawberry Dark Chocolate Forest Berries Cheesecake

I bought a sandwich off the little cafe around the corner from where I worked and guess what I found on the lettuce? WORMS!

Imagine my ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Anyhow, I brought the sandwich back to them and they refunded me. Oh, and they gave me a hot drink as well. The problem is that I ate most of the sandwich already. I'm sure I will be ok but an episode like that spark a discussion with our admin lady on food hygiene and how it has become more common. Is it true?

Anyhow, I meant to blog about this cake today. It's one of my favourite cheesecake that I have recently made for a 21 birthday (for a friend obviously...haha). I love the tangyness and the dark choc on it.

It beats looking at worms on your sandwich anyday!


Strawberry Dark Chocolate Forrest Berry Cheesecake

Base
1 packet of ginger nut cookies 200grams crushed
125 grams butter melted
1 tsp mixed spice

Cheesecake
500 grams cream cheese (room temperature)
60 grams caster sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
40 grams corn flour
4 eggs beaten
300 grams of light sourcream
150 grams of mixed berries

Chocolate ganache
200 grams dark chocolate buttons
1-2 tablespoon of butter

1) Base- Combine all dry ingredients. Add in melted butter and mix till combined. Press firmly into base of 9inch lose based cake tin. Bake in 180C oven for 10-15 minutes. Cool.

2) Lower oven temp to 150C

3) Beat cream cheese till smooth. Add in sugar, vanilla and cornflour. Beat till combined and creamy, Add in cream and beat till thickened. Add in eggs.

4) Spoon half mixture onto the base. Place berries randomly onto the mixture. Top it off with the rest of the cream cheese mixture. Place cake tin in hot water bath and bake for 1 hr till set.

5) Turn off oven, leave cake for around 1 hr with door ajar. Pop cake into the fridge once it is cooled outside as well.

6) Melt chocolate and butter in a glass bowl on top of a saucepan of hot water. Once slightly cooled, spoon it over cheesecake. Ganish with strawberries. Serve!