Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I have always wanted to try quinoa.  I wonder what it tastes like.  A lot of clean eaters actually include quinoa in their diet.  Quinoa is considered a superfood and it's gluten free.  It's also a good source of protein iron as well as fibre.

It took me a while to get round to trying quinoa.  I finally bought a pack of the organic quinoa and decided to make them today.  I browsed through the world wide web and this recipe from Skinny Taste caught my eye.

If you are planning to cook something light or trying to eat clean, you may want to try this recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 large red onion, diced
1/4 cup kalamata olives, diced
1 japanese cucumber, peeled and diced
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 tbsp brine from the bottled olives
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Using a fine sieve, rinse the quinoa to remove the saponins.
Fill the 2 cups of water in a pot and add the quinoa and bring to a boil.
Once the water boils, reduce heat to low and cook the quinoa covered for about 15 minutes.
Removed from heat and fluff the quinoa.  Transfer it to a mixing bowl and let it cool
Once cool, add the chopped onion, olives, cucumber and tomatoes and mix well.
Then drizzle in the lemon juice and brine as well as season with salt and pepper and toss well.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Note - You may crumble feta cheese if you have.  I guess it will make a whole lot of difference to the taste of this salad.  

7-Layer Dip

I love gatherings and preparing food for guests.
Besides the Cheese Platter which I pepared for appetiser for the mini family gathering, I also made a 7-Layer Dip.

As promised yesterday, I will share with you a step-by-step process of how to make a 7-Layer Dip.

Step 1 - Heat 2 cans of refried beans spread it over the bottom of a serving dish.

Step 2 - Immediately sprinkle cheese over the beans.

Step 3 - Then you spread about a cup of guacamole.

Step 4 - Next salsa .. And I don't mean dance.

Step 5 - Next spread over some fattening sour cream .. you can use light sour cream if u like.

Step 6 - Then you layer on chopped onions.
Step 7 - Next layer on chopped tomatoes. 

Garnish with lime and there you have it - 7-Layer Dip.
Enjoy it with nacho/tortilla.

Cheese Platter

I know I have not been updating my blog.
Well that does not mean I have not been productive in the kitchen.
It's just that with work and school and projects, I have not been able to update this blog.
Well to think of it, I have gotten my baking mojo back but have yet to find the mojo to update my blog.

Here's something I'd like to share - Cheese Platter - which I made at mum's for a mini gathering with my siblings.

You can choose any cheese of your choice but for this platter, my little sister had requested for Blue and I chose Brie just because I love soft cheese.

Ingredients

Blue Cheese
Brie
Mixed Nuts
Grapes
Crackers

Method

Plate all the ingredients nicely on a nice plate and enjoy!

And dear readers, do check back tomorrow for I shall share with you a recipe for 7-layer dip :)

Chicken Quesadilla

I've always loved quesadilla and I didn't know how easy to make them. Just throw in anything you like, cheese, chicken, beef, tomatoes, whatever!

Enjoy it with a side sour creme and salsa!


Here's my super simple version.

Ingredients

Large flour tortilla
Shredded roasted chicken
Grated cheddar/mazzorella

Accompaniment

Sour creme
Salsa

Method

Preheat anon stick pan.
Place a tortilla on the pan.
Take a handful of grated cheese, sprinkle over the top of the tortilla.
Then take a handful of chicken and do likewise.
Fold the tortilla into half.
Ensure cheese has melted and tortilla gets browned.
Remove from pan and cut into wedges.

Pancake for BF and Spring Roll for T

My bil and nieces came this morning. When I asked them whether they had breakfast (BF), they said they had theirs at macdonalds.

Ahah .. dat gave me an idea of whippin Pancakes for my gerls .. i asked if they had space for more pancakes and the answer was yes.

I said these to my nieces "These pancakes aint nice as the ones at MacDonald's"
They answered "Yah"
And them being the goody goody gerls, they went further "But Auntie Murnie, this is homemade!"

Hehehe .. smart gerls who just didnt want to hurt my feelings. Dun the heart shaped pancakes look pretty?!?! (well, the pic dun do justice though) Well, they tasted good with maple syrup, nevertheless.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups milk
butter

Method

Mix flour with sugar. Make a well, and add the beaten eggs and milk.
Whisk well to form smooth batter.
Heat butter in a non stick pan and pour 1/4 cup batter in.
Wait till bubbles start to appear on pancake and turn over.
Serve warm with maple syrup.

For tea, I made Spring Rolls with Potato & Mince Meat Fillings. My mum gave me the fillings yesterday. She might have made the fillings to make something but I think she abandoned the idea and gave me them instead.

Since I have spring roll wrappers at home, I made them for tea (T).

And so we had these with hot cuppa tea on a cold rainy day.

Oteh-Oteh (Fritters)

For breakfast dis morning, I made Oteh-Oteh. This originates from Indonesia. It is really a nice snack for bfast or for tea. Dip these in chilli sauce accompanied with a cup of hot tea .. mmmm ...

I have to thank my bro's maid for sharing this recipe with me.

Oteh2 being deep fried in a non stick pan.

Oteh2 waiting to be walloped by me and family .. hehehe

Ingredients

500 gm flour
500 gm prawn, cleaned and diced
2 carrots, shredded
100 gm beansprouts, tail picked
1 big onion, pounded
6 cloves garlic, pounded
some cilantro, chopped
a pinch of salt
1 tsp of chicken stock
1/2 tsp white pepper
enough water
oil for frying

Method

Mix all the ingredients above with just enough water.
Batter should be thick.
Heat oil in a non stick pan.
Put tablespoons of batter and deep fry till golden brown.

Eat these hot and dipped in chilli sauce.

Crab Rangoon

I chanced upon this Crab Rangoon while searching for other recipes on the net. The recipe I saw has ingredients which I personally do not like and it only uses 3 crabsticks. Too little crabstick and too cheesy a mixture for me. I tweaked the Crab Rangoon recipe to suit my tastebud.

Ingredients

250 gm Philladelphia cream cheese, softened
8 pcs crabstick, boiled and diced
lotsa spring onion, thinly sliced
salt and sugar to taste
wanton skin
water
oil for frying

Method

Mix cheese, crabsticks and spring onion together.
Add salt n sugar to taste.
Spoon mixture onto middle of wanton skin, fold and seal the sides with water.
Heal oil in a frying pan and fry the crabsticks.

The wanton tastes good when dip in mayo and chilli sauce.