Salmon and Goats Cheese Muffins

I know sweet muffins are popular. Blueberries, or a white chocolate with raspberries always tend to hit the spot. There are times though, that I do prefer savoury muffins.

You may recall that my husband wakes up early for work. He sacrifices sleep so that he can spend time with us. Well, actually more with Asher as I usually pop to the gym for an hour (including travel time). This was one of my freezer/fridge friendly recipes as he could warm it up in the microwave as he prepares to go to work.

I do like the combination of Salmon and goats cheese. That many amount of eggs means I know my husband is getting enough protein. Goats cheese lifts this muffins up for sure. I like adding some goats cheese to freshly roasted vegetables and in salads. They are pretty expensive though and lucky for us, a little goes a long way.

For me, knowing that my husband is nourished and have a good start to the day makes me happy.

Salmon and Goats Cheese Muffins (mades around 10)
1/2 cup of almond flour
1/3 cup of coconut flour
1 carrot shredded
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder

6 eggs
1 tablespoon of maple syrup

60 grams of smoked salmon
30 grams of goats cheese crumbed

Prepare muffin cups and tray. Preheat oven to 180C.

In a bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. In a jug, mix wet ingredients. Pour wet to dry and fold through. Fold salmon and goats cheese through. Spoon into muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Sausage Egg Frittata

I can have this for breakfast, lunch or dinner any day! It's such a quick and simple recipe that I do not know why I have not done this before!

The other day, hubby said to me that he realised how much his views of food has changed since I have tweaked our family meals to become clean and healthy. His line manager treated himself and team to frozen coke. Hubby took a few sips and couldn't have any more. He said he simply felt ill.

Oh that was a proud moment for me.

As a wife and mum, there is nothing more I want than good health for my family. It's such a lovely feeling when even hubby realised that this is a lifestyle change and he felt better because of it.

So sausages- are they really healthy? I believe they can be. We do not have sausages every day. However, I think it is important to find a butcher who can make gluten free and hopefully sugar free sausages with quality meat. Not the rubbish supermarket sausages that we have no idea what's in it. Usually that's full of preservatives, sugar and flour.

That paired with eggs and spinach- ahhhhh....quick and easy meal DONE!

Sausage Egg Frittata (serves 4)
3 or 4 good quality pork sausages casing removed
1 red onion diced
1 tsp of garlic
2 red chill diced
1 cup of spinach leaves
1/4 cup of chives chopped
4 or 5 eggs
1/4 cup almond milk

Preheat Oven at 180C. Saute onion, garlic and chill. Brown sausage mince meat. Fold through spinach leaves. Meanwhile, Whisk eggs with almond milk and chives. When sausage meat is cooked, spoon into oven safe dish. Pour eggs on to sausages. Bake 20-25 minutes till done! Serve warm or cold.

Shakshouka with Poached Egg

I can never tell if Shakshouka is Spanish or Arabian in decent. Regardless, I love a mean shakshouka for breakfast. I recall the first one I had was at Perth Art Museum in Fremantle. The tangy tomato and  oozy egg yolk simply seduced me.

I have good intentions to create this dish for breakfast. I told hubby 3 weekends that I will experiment and create this for him. However, when each weekend rolls along, there would be an excuse for me not to do it. Fed up, I decided that this could be a dinner dish instead.

After all, who doesn't like breakfast for dinner?

It's probably not authentic- I do not have a tagine for the flavours to develop further. But if I dare say so, it's a pretty good darn delicious meal even without the right tools. So simple as well. I probably made more of a tomato stew but I loved it.

I have experimented and made a few versions of this. Left over christmas ham? Checked. Left over roast chicken? Done that. One of my favourite version though is chorizo. On lazy nights, I pop an egg in the stew and cooked it. On other days when I felt like practising my poaching egg skills, I added an poached egg.

Shakshouka with Poached Egg (serves 4)
1 red onion chopped
1 tablespoon of garlic
2 chorizos diced
1 can of diced tomato
1 fresh tomato diced
2 cups of water or stock
Half a can of chickpeas
1 tablespoon of parika
2 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of chill flakes

4 poached eggs

Saute onion and garlic with spices. When it smells heavenly, add chorizo. When chorizo is brown and sizzling, add tomatoes and chickpeas. I add water then and put my pressure cooker lid on. Cook for 10 minutes or so. Serve with coriander and poached eggs.

Roasted Eggplant, Pumpkin and Bacon Frittata

Asher is going to be 7 weeks young tomorrow! Just one more week and he is going to be 2 months old. Woah, that's massive. Is it september already? It seems just yesterday when it was July and I was waddling around the house, pottering around the kitchen.

My baby boy makes cooing noises and when I place Mr Eeyore near him, I swear they were having a conversation. I am sure every mum says that, but I can't believe I can be so in love with a baby. Every small milestone makes me happy.

What has changed since we had him?
- Sleep. We can never have enough..NEVER.
- Meal time. Usually one of us is caring for him while the other eats.
- Identifying a change room wherever we go!
- My relationship with my mum. A greater appreciation of how she care and loves me.
- My routine is around his feeding/resting time.
- My going out bag has grown twice the size than it normally is.
- I can sing heaps of silly songs!

My kitchen still belongs to my mum, but I have attempted to bake a few things in the past weeks. It's nice to be cooking again.

I'm a fan of eggs. I can eat eggs anytime! Scrambled, fried, poached, soft boiled... It's a good hit of protein and so easy to use. I had a jar of roasted eggplant on hand- (even though we could have easily roasted one on the stove top, it's nice to have some handy jars around!) and left over pumpkin. I combined them together with some grilled bacon, grilled onions. eggs and chives, and here we go..a simple dinner done. The star I felt was the grilled onions, it added a sweetness to it!

This recipe was created before I delivered and no doubt, I will be digging it out again after my family return to Singapore and I have to start making meals again (Horror!).  This will even make a good breakfast the next morning.

Roasted Eggplant, Pumpkin and Bacon Frittata 
1 eggplant roasted and slice or a jar of pre roasted egg plant
around 200 grams of pumpkin roasted
2 red onions chopped
2 slices of bacon chopped
6 eggs
1/4 cup of almond milk or milk of your choice.
hand ful of chives
Salt and pepper

Salad to serve

Grill off bacon. Chopped it into small bites. Saute red onions till nice and caramalised. Whisk eggs and milk with seasoning together. Sprinkle bacon and onions base of baking tin and place slices of pumpkin and eggplant on it. Pour eggs over it and sprinkle chives. Bake 180C oven for 25 mins.

Thai Style "Pad Thai" Omelette

Eggs- my favourite breakfast or snack. On weekdays, I usually have some yogurt and berries, or maybe soft boil eggs with salmon. On most days, a good breakfast will last me till lunch time.

Growing up, my mother would purchase my favourite breads to entice me to eat something before school starts. I went through a phase as well in baking our own bread. The smell of fresh bread in the morning is just amazing.

While I still do indulge in bread and muesli occasionally, I find that starting the day with protein and some fat seems to sit better with me. I'm not sure if it is my digestive system or just how my body seem to function. Certainly hubby is noticing a difference as well and for the time being, we are sticking to this routine.

Breakfast is still one of my favourite meals of the day. While I wouldn't say I am a natural morning person, having a good big hot breakfast just seem to make it a bit better isn't it? Especially a hot breakie on a cold morning.


On weekends, I like to make omelettes or scrambled eggs. In this version, I sautéed some prawns, chill and fish sauce. Somehow, it reminded me of the flavours of pad thai without the noodles. Come to think of it, this can also easily be a side dish for dinner or even stand alone for lunch.

Thai Style "Pad Thai" Omelette (serve 2)
8 prawns
4 eggs
few tablespoon of almond milk or milk of your choice
1 tsp of fish sauce
dash of chinese wine
1 tsp of garlic
1 cup of mushrooms
handful of basil leaves

Saute garlic and cook prawns and mushrooms till done.  Add fish sauce, chinese wine and pepper.
Beat eggs with milk. Pour into pan and let it set. Tear up some basil leaves while it is setting. Serve!

Smoked Salmon and Mushroom Frittata

I'm not sure if you are as egg crazy as I am. I have recently discovered eggs to be one of the most nutritious food. Also, the protein in egg white resembles our protein we need in our bodies- hence it also helps in repairs in our cells and muscle tissues.

The other thing I like is that it is a all in one oven dish. The kind you shove it in the oven and forget about for the next 20 minutes and then dinner is done. That kind of perfect.

The picture isn't that pretty, and really, it's not the real frittata. I was so short of time that I didn't even set the eggs on top of the stove. I just baked it.

I added in smoked salmon and mushrooms in it. Paired with a green salad. It's a quick dinner in the making. And if you are looking for something to make for your love ones... this could be it! ;)

Smoked Salmon and Mushroom Frittata (serves 4)
200 grams smoked salmon
8 eggs
1/4 cup of soy or rice milk
salt/pepper
4-5 field or button mushrooms chopped
1 tomato slice

Arrange mushrooms and tomatoes in a oven proof pan. Then arrange smoked salmon. Whisk eggs with milk and seasoning. Pour over veges and smoked salmon and bake in 200C oven for 20-25 minutes till eggs are set!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Poached Eggs on Halloumi Cheese Salad

There is something about Nigella that just calls out to me. Her way of talking about food, writing about food and just how she enjoys it. I spotted this recipe on her app and was excited about it straight away. We are having warm summer nights and salads just seem to be enough for dinner these days.

Oozing egg yolks on squeaky cheese is such a lovely combination. Why didn't I think of it before? No dressing needed, just a squeeze of lemon juice.

Poached Eggs on Halloumi Cheese Salad(Serves 3)
4 free range eggs room temperature
250 grams halloumi cheese sliced

4-5 cups of salad greens
1 lebanese cucumber
1 capsicum
cherry tomatoes
mint leaves if you like

squeeze of lemon

Using a cold pan, pan fry halloumi cheese. In a shallow pan, add water and bring it to boil. Add a tablespoon of vinegar swirl it gently. Pop an egg in a bowl first, then gently pour it into the boiling swirling water. I like to spoon some of the egg white to cover the egg yolk.

Mean while, assemble salad, put cheese on top. Pop poached egg on top of salads. Repeat to poached eggs. Squeeze of lemon to finish the dish.

Curried Egg Celery Salad

One of the first dish that my mother taught me was egg sandwiches. She taught me how to peel eggs, mashed them and mixed them up with creamy mayo seasoned with salt and pepper.

When I was in university, a uni mate looked at me in amazement when I asked her what was curried egg. You see, she was having some and I asked what it was. I had a taste and was hooked. Who would have thought that mixing some curry powder to a simple egg mayo would change the dish?

I could never find or could anyone tell me where does curried egg come from? Is it an Aussie thing? Nevertheless, it is a good light meal for a quick dinner. I paired it with some crunchy celery for that added texture.

Curried Egg Celery Salad
4 eggs hardboiled
2 tablespoon of low fat mayo
1 tsp of curry powder
salt and pepper
few stalks of celery (from the heart of celery) chopped

Mashed eggs and mix it with mayo, curry powder, seasoning and celery. Serve with some salad leaves, cherry tomatoes and avocado for a light meal or in between fluffy bread. I had some stuffed capsicum with tuna and couscous.

Smoked Salmon and Chorizo Basil Frittata

Weak nights are usually a mad rush for the both of us. Usually I would arrive home first, slapping on something on the stove or oven before rushing to the gym or to other appointments. On average, we have dinner 3-4 nights a week after 9pm.

Friends usually ask why would I still want to cook or prepare a meal if we are always in such tight rush for time. The main reason is because I love the control of what gets cooked and eaten. That way, I can add little dairy, little oil or other fat whenever I want. Recently, I have been trying to get both of us eating less processed food and carbs, which means preparing meals at home is a necessity.

It's not that difficult when one planned out weekly meals. I try to predict what my schedule is like for the next week so I can adjust and plan meals accordingly. For instance, most Thursday nights are wrap or egg nights. Pretty much no cooking and food can be eaten in a flash after a shower when I come home from gym. During winter, we had soup nearly every Monday night. Simply because I can pop it into my thermal cooker or even a slow cooker to simmer away before I come home at 10pm for a quick feed (but not too filling) before resting.

As the weather warms up, I find myself eating more easy to prepare salads. It's usually a 10 min prepare job with little fuss. I paired some greens with a easy to bake frittata and think it's such a fulfilling meal. think eggs baked with ingredients! Think of the lack of washing up to do later on!!

Smoked Salmon and Chorizo Basil Frittata (Serves 4)
8 eggs
100 grams smoked salmon
1 chorzo sliced thinnly
1/2 cup of soy milk
1 cup of basil leaves


Sizzle chorizo on cold to hot over proof pan. Meanwhile, whisk eggs with milk. Pour egg mixture into pan. Top with smoked salmon and basil leaves. Bake for 20 minutes in 180 C till eggs become set. Serve with green salad.

3 Eggs DOM Pork Stir Fry

They say that ideas appear at the most unexpected time. If you see that I have been relatively quiet lately, that was because we travelled back to Singapore and KL to spend some time with our families. Since we arrived back on a Sunday evening, I had to rummage the pantry, freezer and fridge for some tucker till I do my proper grocery shopping!

We bought some fresh eggs so that was one ingredient. I found a century egg and a duck salted egg in my pantry . I knew I had some pork in the freezer. Using those ingredients, some soy and DOM for its sweetness and taste, it became a dish.

I had some fresh spring onions on hand because that was what my local market had (not alot of variety! but it could do!). To my surprised, they added a bite of freshness to the dish.

Oh hindsight, it actually looked like the dark version of stir fry carrot cake! ;p

So ideas that occur the most unexpected time can be terrific too. What fantastic dishes have you created when you were short of time/ingredients?

3 Eggs DOM Pork Stir Fry
200 grams of pork fillet sliced
2 chicken eggs
1 salted duck egg diced
1 century egg diced
2 tablespoon of light soy sauce
1/4 cup of DOM or dry sherry
1 tsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of garlic

3-4 stalks of spring onion chopped

Fry garlic till fragrant. Add pork and cook till nearly brown. Add the salted duck and century egg. Toss throughly. Add soy, sesame and DOM. When it starts to boil, add chicken eggs. Fry everything together for another few more minutes and serve with chopped spring onions, rice and veges.


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Three Egg Fried Rice

I was sooo inspired by Mochachocolata-Rita's recent blog post. Her man and her cooked up a storm with this 3 egg fried rice. We still have our expensive century egg (AU$2 for each one!) and of course, free range chicken eggs in the fridge. So off I went to grab some salted duck eggs... and my eyes nearly popped out... $6 for 6 salted duck eggs. Oh why must they be so expensive. When I was growing up, I recall that I could have 1/2 a salted duck egg and plain porridge for lunch. Now, in Australia, salted eggs are a luxury food item? crazy!

Did I just use the "when I was growing up, la da de da" phrase? ARGH!

My version is slightly different from Rita's. I used whatever veges I have on hand, and added heaps of white pepper and some soy in it.

What I love about this dish? You would never know what egg you are biting into.. could it be the salty egg yolk? or the silky century egg? Always a surprise.

Three Egg Fried Rice (Serves 4)
1 salted egg cooked and diced
1 century egg diced
2 eggs
2 cups of cooked and cook rice (preferably cooked the night before)
2 cup of snow peas
2 capsicum diced
2 tablespoon of soya sauce
1 tsp of dark soya sauce
1/4 cup of hua tiao jiu or chinese wine (or sherry)
dashes and dash of white pepper
100 grams of pork mince (marinate with some hua tio jiu, sesame oil and soya sauce)

Heat some oil in a pan. Cook the pork mince through. Add rice and cook till HOT and nearly popping. Toss all the eggs through them and then the veges. Serve with some fried shallots.

Japanese Tofu with Spicy Pork and Egg Budget AU$15

 When the theme for this month's S$20 (or AUS$15) budget meals was announced to be Tofu, I got excited. Afterall, it is a humble ingredient that can be prepared in so many ways.

My favourite tofu, would be the silken egg tofu. The one that comes in a tube. I love to coat it with some cornflour and pan fry it, creating a slight crisp coating on the outside, but soft silky tofu on the inside. I fried up some mince, made an omelette and added the pre prepared tofu on the top.

While it looks messy, it is one of our favourite easy dish to have. The combine texture of crisp, soft, eggy..etc just makes it worthwhile.

I made ribs and lotus soup ( I realised I forgot to purchase some peanuts if not I would have added it there!) to pair with this dish. By boiling it in the morning before we head to work and placing it in the magic cooker, we were delighted to have a hot soup ready for us to drink when we got home in cold weather. A quick and simple bak choy stir fry was also made.

The Pork Ribs and Lotus soup was a bargain- Only $2.60 to make. We picked up some cheap pork bones which happened to be ribs for $3 for a big packet. We divided the packet into threes- So more soups for us! Lotus root was frozen though-nevertheless, it was $2.50 for a big packet (60cents). Enough to for at least another 2-3 meals. I added some dried scallops that was in my freezer which I estimated it to be around $1.

Bak Choy was $1 a bunch

Japanese Tofu with Spicy Pork and Egg was a little more pricey- around $7. On hindsight, probably one tube of tofu was enough but I got too carried away! So total cost of meal = AU$10.60. Not bad for a complete meal for 4.

Japanese Tofu with Spicy Pork and Egg (Serves 4-5)
2 tubes of Japanese Tofu
1 cup of corn flour
oil
200 grams pork mince
1/2 cup of hua tiao jiu
3 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 chili padi chopped
5 eggs
3 tablespoon of milk or soy milk

Slice tofu, coat it with corn flour lightly, shaking excess flour out. Fry tofu in hot pan with some oil. Turn after 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan and place tofu in plate lined with paper towels. Set aside.

Meanwhile, sauté chili padi with pork mince. Add the hua tiao jiu and soy sauce. Cook till mince is done.

Beat eggs with some milk. Pour eggs into pan. Cook till nearly set. Place tofu on the top of the omelette. Serve warm.

Hosted by Ellana from Cusine Paradise, this is my entry to Budget Meals.

Salmon Carrot Quiche

Buying cheap sometimes mean that I am left to deal with the leftovers. At one point, I wasn't quite sure what to do with the remaining 5 pieces of puff pastry in the freezer.

Given that I'm frequently bringing sweet items to gatherings, I decided to bring something savory instead.

This quiche is certainly more eggy than the usual one you will have. I added some seeded mustard and it was beautiful. Carrots to make me feel like I am consuming 1 more serve of veges. What I like about this is the crisp pastry together with the eggyness wants you to have about! Abit like the savory version of egg tart. LOL It's quick to do too which is always a bonus.

Salmon Carrot Quiche
1 sheet of puff pastry
50 grams of smoked salmon
4 eggs
1/2 cup of Bega low fat cheese
1/2 cup of milk (Soy milk)
1 tsp of seeded mustard
1 shredded carrot
seasoning

Defrost pastry. Preheat Oven 200C. Line pan with pastry.Place slide smoked salmon randomly on pastry.

Beat 4 eggs and add cheese, milk and mustard. Season. Add carrot. Pour mixture into pastry case. Bake for 30 minutes.

Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata

As the weather gets warmer, I return to having light meals for lunches. I love this recipe because it is so light and easy to make. Best of all, healthy and rather guilt free! One more slice for me please!

Now that Spring is here, I'm seeing more varieties of vegetables again! woohoo...

and as you are reading this, AR is bringing me out on a picnic date! YES! and he is making sushi!! (with my help of course!!! Long weekend..I love long weekends!! Short post today. ;)

Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata (For 2 with tea time left overs..lol)-recipe adapted from Australian Good Food Magazine
2 tsp olive oil
1 red onion sliced
2 potatoes peeled and sliced
1 bunch of asparagus trimmed
100 grams smoked salmon slices
60 grams fetta cheese (I used normal but u can use goats cheese feta)
5 eggs
1/4 cup of soy milk (or skim milk)
Cherry tomatoes to serve

Cook onion in pan till caramelised. Par boil potatoes in saucepan with salted water. Blanch asparagus.

Preheat Oven 180C
Place sliced potatoes onto baking dish. Top with layers of onions, smoked salmon, asparagus and fetta.

Whisk eggs, milk till combined. Pour eggs mixture over dish. Bake for 45 mins till it turns golden brown! Serve with cherry tomatoes or a green salad.