Muffin Variations

Variations of muffins using the same basic recipe. If you do not have much time to prepare, this is the recipe!
The original recipe is from kuali.com.
I've made some modifications to create different flavours.

Chocolate Peanut Muffin
Reduce flour and add same amount of peanut. Add in some chocolate powder.

Wheat germ Muffin with Cheese and Roasted Sunflower Seed
Reduce flour and add same amount of wheat germ, sprinkle cheese and sunflower seed onto muffins before baking.

Ingredients:
Plain Flour (2 cups)
Baking Powder (3 tsp)
Salt (1/2 tsp)
Castor Sugar (3/4 cup) –sometimes I use brown sugar depending what’s available ;p
Egg (1)
Milk (1 cup) – I’ve also tried it with yoghurt and soybean milk
Oil (1/4 cup)

Preheat oven at 200C.

Method:
1. Sift plain flour and baking powder together. Mix in salt.
2. In a bowl, beat egg and sugar. Mix with milk.
3. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix in oil.
4. Fill muffins cups up to 2/3 full and bake for 25-30min or until cooked.

Baked Pasta with Fish & Vegetables

This is pretty easy to do and quite yummy. The best thing I like about this dish is the “oil-free” preparation. No stir frying, so the kitchen floor is oil free. Haha…


Ingredients:
Pasta (cooked till semi soft)
Fish (cut into bite size and marinate with cooking wine, salt and pepper)
Potato (cubed and cooked till soft)
Broccoli
Carrot (cut into wedges)
Onion (cut into thin slices)
Tomato (remove seeds & cut into small pieces)
Yellow Bell Pepper (cut into small pieces)
Milk (200ml)
Cheese
Salt
Black Pepper
Herbs
Olive Oil

Preheat oven at 200C.


Method:
1. Put some olive oil in a baking dish.
2. Mix milk, pasta, fish and all the vegetables in a bowl.
3. Season with salt, pepper and herbs.
4. Pour and arrange the mixture into the baking dish.
5. Top with cheese. You can also put some cheese in between the mixture.
6. Bake for 30min or until cheese has melted and turned a little golden brown.

Stir Fried Chicken with Bell Peppers & Mushroom

Time to go back to some Chinese stir fry :)
I didn’t know what to do with the chicken meat I’ve bought but since I got to include some meat in a meal for VIP, I just stir fried it with some bell peppers and button mushroom. I think the taste would be better if I had added some Chinese cooking wine.

Ingredients:
Chicken meat (marinated with some light soy sauce & cooking wine)
Bell Peppers –red and green (cut into bite size)
Button Mushroom
Garlic (chopped)
Salt
Black Pepper
Oil
Corn Flour
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil and saute garlic.
2. Add in bell peppers and button mushroom and stir fry for a while.
3. Add in chicken and stir fry for 1-2min.
4. Season with salt and black pepper.
5. Add water and let it simmer for 1min.
6. Thicken sauce with some corn flour mixed with water.
7. Serve with rice.

Apple Yoghurt Cake

I baked this cake for Sunday church refreshment and everyone loved it! The ingredients listed here can produce one medium sized cake and a small one (what you see in the pic).


The cake is not too sweet and quite moist. If you love apple, you'll love this one.
I reduced the baking temperature to 160C after the first 30min. It depends on how hot is your oven.






Ingredients:
Plain Flour (320gm)
Baking Powder (1 tsp)
Baking Soda (1/4 tsp)
Butter (220gm)
Sugar (220 gm)
Egg (5)
Plain Yoghurt (120gm)
Medium-sized Apples (3 – remove skin and cut into small pieces)
Cinnamon Powder (1/2 tsp)
Raisin (50gm)

Preheat oven at 175C.

Method:
1. Sift plain flour, baking powder and baking soda. Leave aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light.
3. Add in egg one by one and mix well.
4. Add yoghurt into the mixture. Mix till combined.
5. Pour in the dry sifted ingredients and mix till just combined.
6. In a bowl, mix apples, raisins and cinnamon powder.
7. Pour the apple mixture to the mixture in no. 5. Mix till combined.
8. Bake for 60min or until cake is cooked.

Stir Fried Animal Pasta

I was in KL after Christmas to visit a few good, old friends and naturally, shopping is part of the agenda of the trip. Surprisingly, we didn't buy any clothes or bags or shoes but we filled our shopping bags with foodie from Marks & Spencer. Hahaha....That's where I 'discovered' these cute little pasta. It costs much more than normal pasta but I couldn't resist buying these!!! These are whole wheat pasta and if you have not tried it, you might not like the 'rough' texture of the pasta but the cute animal shapes compensated for the taste ;p

Although it seems to be good for kids but I think mothers might run into the problem of having to feed them for hours to finish their meal. Kids are a curious lot and they might spend their own sweet time trying to figure out the animal shape of the pasta. Hohoho...

Say....can you spot the horse in this pic??






Ingredients:
Animal-shaped Pasta (cooked per packet instruction)
Carrot (chopped coarsely)
Broccoli (cut into small bite size)
Tomatoes (cut into small pieces)
Red & Green Bell Pepper (cut into small pieces)
Button Mushroom (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (chopped)
Mixed Herbs
Salt
Olive Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil and sauté garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in tomatoes, carrot, broccoli, red and green pepper and button mushroom. Stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Season with salt and herbs.
4. Add a little water and let it simmer.
5. Mix in pasta and sir fry for 1-2min. Add more herbs if you prefer stronger aroma of the herbs. Ready to be served!