Cream Cheese Chicken Soup

Cooking cream cheese soup is my other way to use up the leftover cream cheese. This is fairly easy to make and should be ready in 30 mins or less. A bowl of creamy soup for lunch, anyone?





Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
1 chicken breasts, sliced
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
4 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can (14.75oz) cream-style corns
1 1/4 cup 2% fresh milk
1 1/2 cup water
1 tsp. chicken stock granules
Dash of black pepper
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
Chopped cilantro as garnish, optional

Method:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan and add onions. Stir-fry til slightly brown, add chicken breast slices. Fry til chicken no longer pink, add peas and carrots.

2. Add cream cheese, stir until cheese melted. Add cream corns and milk. Stir well to mix. Add water and chicken stock granules. Stir until boiling, turn off heat and stir in the mozzarella and a dash of black pepper.

3. Garnish as desired or leave without.

Update on My Girls

I realized I haven't update on my girls progress for awhile and so here it is.



My eldest girl just turned FOUR. She is learning to read and spell. So far she has done very well. We have started her on reading Dora's books. Once she learned the full page, she will be rewarded with a Dora sticker and once she finishes the whole book, she will be rewarded with a BIG Dora sticker. So far this method works very well, she finished one book already. The power of Dora! She can write A-Z, with problem with J and S, and 1-10, with problem writing 3 sometimes. Since she knows how to spell a few words, she can write a few words too. On Valentine's Day, she presented us with a card that she wrote on herself without help that read, EVY (insert love shape symbol) MOM, EVY (love symbol) DAD and EVY (love symbol) EDDA. Oh yeah, even her little sister got a card from her. Not only that, she can draw and color very well and she just finished a Kindergarten level activity book that I bought for her at Barne & Noble. Just got her two more books and she was so excited and did at least 20 pages per day. I had to set a 20 pages limit, if not she would probably finish the whole book in three days. She also knows how to do easy plus and minus already (1-10). I think we have prepared her well for kindergarten next year. With another year to teach and train her, she will be well prepared. By the way, we didn't send her to any pre-school, all home-taught. Not to say she is also conversing in Mandarin and English. Read and recognized up to 40 Chinese characters (from learning cards).



As for miss little Edda, she has turned into miss whiny!!! Oh my Gosh! This girl can whine, every little thing not her way, she will make me that face and start whining, got ignore, turned into crying. OMG! I need to train her to stop whining because I can't stand it! I would tell her, mommy doesn't like whining and you stop whining! I would ignore her whining and crying when I'm doing stuff and it would ease. She has all her 20 teeth already and eating excellent by herself. I didn't have to feed her since she turned one, I gave her a bowl and a spoon/fork and asked her to dig in. She does that in a restaurant too, give her her share and a spoon and she help herself. She is well developed on her motor skill, understood us and does what she is told. But very slow in her speech development. No new word since she turned one. Whereas, her sister could say 40 words already and kept adding new word every week at this age. This girl uses action to let us know what she wants instead. I'm not worry about it now but I expect her speech level to increase after she turns two later this year. If not, then I will start to worry. Finally she is almost sleeping through the night. Sometimes she will still wake up once a night and that's it, down from 4 times a night. One thing though I really need to wean her before she turns two. She is not into cow milk and Milo which makes it harder to wean. Still come to me and pull up my shirt every time she is thirsty or wants to nap. Aiyo! But since she is not taking any full milk, I had to give her the best milk a mother can give to a child right? *sigh* Oh yeah believe it or not, this little one knows how to set a table too. Like helping to bring her sister's rice to her sister and her own rice. She is still too short to get the spoon yet but she sures try. One way she letting me know she wants some cookies is she would open the drawer, bring a bowl and give it to me and when I ask her what is this bowl for, she would walk towards the kitchen. Smart right? If my pantry door is open, she would help herself with cookie bag/ cookie jar that she could reach at the bottom and bring it to me to open. Same thing, she would open the drawer and bring me the sippy cup when she wants water. You see, action speaks louder than words, probably that's why she doesn't see a reason to speak yet! Adoi!

Good thing is now they play together. Evy will talk to her, hug her and carry her around. Sometimes it's really cute to see them together, either playing, watching t.v. or reacting to each other. As expected, playing together also brings on fighting together.

Citrusy Tuna Shell Pasta

I haven't made this dish for almost nine years. This is one of my oldest recipes that doesn't look quite appealing but will leave you wanting for more. That was the reason I wanted to make it again because I couldn't stop thinking about it! Why wait until now was because I don't normally buy can tuna, like hardly ever, thus didn't get a chance to make it. But when craving strikes, I just have to make an effort to get those can tuna. I will share my recipe with you and hope you will like it too.


Top with Mozzarella Cheese before serving. You can add some crumbs and bake in the oven to melt the cheese too.



Ingredients:

Shell Pasta, about 5-6 cups
2 cans of Light Tuna in water
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice from 1/2 lemon
5 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 small box of frozen cream corns/corns/mixed veggies/peas & carrots
Dried Basil
Dried Parsley
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp. chicken granules (optional)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Kick it up a notch: crushed red peppers

Method:

1. Boil the shell pasta until cooked, drain and set aside.

2. Heat a saucepan with olive oil in medium heat and add garlic. Saute until slightly brown, add lemon zest and fry a little. Add tuna, corns and lemon juice, fry well. Add pasta and stir to mix well. Season with chicken granules, dried parsley and basil. Lastly, add salt & pepper to taste.

3. Before serving, top with mozzarella cheese (or cheese of your desired) and sprinkle of crushed red peppers. The above picture was without the crushed red peppers reserved for Evy.

Cream Cheese Bread Take 3

Finally I did it. This is the texture that I was seeking, soft and fluffy! Thanks Cocoa for her pointer. At first, I was thinking of using the dough cycle and shape and proof the dough myself. But the weather was just not cooperating today. It was snowing and cold and I had no patient to wait and play with the dough. So this method was applied, way easier too. :P


Looking good right?


Soft and fluffy! Yipee!



Original recipe is by Yani posted at myrecipe.org. Below is my modified version:

Ingredients:

160ml water
1 1/2 Tbsp. fat free milk powder
2 oz. cream cheese (1/4 block)
1 Tbsp. butter
3 tsp. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup bread flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. instant yeast

Method:

Put in according to your bread machine, the ingredients above is according to my bread machine. Set the bread machine to 1.5lb, light crust and basic cycle. The bread will be ready in 3 hours.

Disaster Steamed Eggs?

What do you think? Disaster? Or just plain ugly? LOL!

I got tempted by Singarishgirl's Steamed Triple Eggs and decided to steam minced meat eggs for dinner. This will be my 2nd time making the steamed eggs as my first time was unsuccessful and I was never tempted to make it again. This time I'm using Soy & Pepper Chawanmushi recipe and pray for the best. Oh well, not exactly the same, but I used the 3 eggs and 500ml water/stock measurement.

It turned out way better than my first attempt. The outer ring of the steamed eggs was actually very smooth. Actually it was smooth but got lots of liquid came out from the ground turkey (Note: Ground pork would be more fragrant). I marinated the ground turkey with soy sauce, white pepper and sesame oil and mixed in some "chai po" (Chinese preserved veggie). See, the oil also came out from the ground meat and made the surface looking like that. And my whole piece of ground meat floated to the top instead of stayed down nicely. Anyone knows why? Is it because the liquid amount is very high in this steamed eggs recipe and made the meat float? I ended out steaming mine for 40 minutes. I guess it's because mine was a big bowl as compared to her individual smaller bowls. But I like how smooth the steamed eggs tasted and will certainly make this again (my girls loved it too, but not the hubby though) without the ground meat and try the oven version. :o)

Finally Donuts Donuts!

Finally I made my own donuts/doughnuts. With a breadmaker, this donut is really easy to make and that's why I'm making it. I saw the donuts that Jadepearl made and requested her for the recipe. She got the recipe from recipezaar. I haven't had a donut for a long long time so when I saw that she used breadmaker to make the dough, I just had to ask her for the recipe. And I finally got my donut craving satisfied. *Big Grin* Thanks JP!



Just the way I like it, the traditional donuts we get from the Malaysian night market. I couldn't resist buying them whenever I spotted the seller frying them at the night market (pasar malam) ages ago. So soft and yummilicious! Not sure whether this kind of donuts still selling at the pasar malam or not?


This is how Evy likes her. Donuts covered with white chocolate and colorful sprinkles. Definitely not my style but kids seem to love it.

Note: I used butter instead of shortening in the original recipe. I only made half of the dough and freeze half for some other day. I shaped the donuts by hands and made them into smaller size, so half of the dough yields about 16 small donuts for me. This donut is best eaten when it's still warm from the frying wok, soft and fluffy. Turned hard the next day.

Baked Sea Scallops

I saw this recipe at Big Boys Kitchen and decided to give it a try since I just bought some sea scallops. I have not try steaming scallops before so this easy method really interest me. However instead of steaming, I just baked it in the oven because this is easiest as I don't have to wash the steamer. :P I was contemplating of whether to steam it in the oven or bake it and ended out baking this little babies.


Ready to bake in the oven.


All ready to be eaten!

I baked mine in preheated 450'F oven for 8-10 minutes. Do not overcook the scallop as it would get tough.

Thanks to chef. Steven as now I found a new and healthier way to enjoy the sea scallops. :o)

What Do You Think About Me Tag!

I got a tag from SueSue and she wanted to know what I think about her. :o)

A) LIST OUT THE TOP 5 PRESENTS YOU WISH FOR :-

1. A happy and healthy life.
2. Love from hubby and daughters til the end.
3. Travel around the world.
4. Spending more time with girlfriends.
5. Get to see my parents and siblings more often.

B) THE PERSON WHO TAGGED ME IS: SueSue

C) YOUR 5 IMPRESSIONS OF HIM/HER:

1. Tired of her current job.
2. Mom who loves her kids very much.
3. She value her time spent with her girlfriends.
4. She is a great cook.
5. She loves to bake when she has time.

D) MOST MEMORABLE THINGS HE/SHE HAS GIVE/DONE FOR YOU
-Put me in her blog roll. :o)

E) THE MOST MEMORABLE WORDS HE/SHE SAID TO YOU
-Not yet I guess.... :P

F) IF HE/SHE BECOMES YOUR LOVER, YOU WILL
- No thank you, not into lesbian. LOL!

G) IF HE/SHE BECOMES YOUR ENEMY, THE REASON WILL BE
- Don't foresee it in the future. :o)

H) PASS THE QUIZ TO 5 PEOPLE THAT YOU WISH TO KNOW HOW THEY FEEL ABOUT YOU :

1. V's East Meets West Kitchen
2. Lily's Wai Sek Hong
3. Daily Affairs
4. Daphne- More than Words
5. Saucing Around, Jo's Deli

Addictive Chocolate Clusters

If you want a quick and easy yummilicious little snack for your afternoon tea, this is it! So easy to prepare and yet so satisfying and scarily additive. You will gain pounds with this cookie if you don't have self-control, so beware! ;o) This chocolate clusters is chocolaty, crunchy from the cornflakes and slight chewiness from the raisins with hint of peanut butter. Mmm...Mmm...so good!





My version of this chocolate clusters cookie:

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
2 cup cornflakes cereal
1/2 cup raisins

Method:

1. Put the chocolate chips and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, stir to melt the chocolate and peanut butter.

2. Add in the cornflakes and raisins. Stir to mix well with the chocolate.

3. Scoop with a cookie scoop and drop on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate until harden, about 10-15 minutes.

4. Store in a air-tight container in refrigerator.


~Yield about 30 cookies.

Cream Cheese Bread Take 2

Tried this bread again using whole wheat flour, brown sugar and added raisin. Using my breadmaker whole wheat bread function. Total cook time was 3 hours 40 minutes. When I peep into it around 2 hours, I had a nice round doom on top of the bread. Not sure why it sank down when it's time to bake? Perhaps I forgot to reset the setting, this was baked at 2lb and medium color instead of 1.5lb and light color setting. I only realized my mistake 30 minutes into the cycle and it was too late to do anything then.




The texture of this bread was again very soft but dense. Will attempt again with dough function to see whether it will provide me with a better looking and fluffy loaf of bread. This bread remains soft up to three days.

Original recipe taken from here.

My Twist on Macaroni & Cheese

I was left with half a packet of cream cheese from making cream cheese bread. Thought of making cream cheese soup but I was out of milk. So, I put it in my macaroni & cheese! I was really happy with the result. Delicious!

Ingredients:

2 boxes of 7.25oz Kraft macaroni & cheese

4 oz Philadelphia cream cheese, cut into cubes

1 chicken breast, sliced

2 cups of mixed frozen vegetables, soften

Seasoning for chicken:

Poultry seasoning, Italian seasoning, salt and black pepper

Extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of water/milk

Dash of salt

2 Tbsp. butter, cubed

Bread crumbs

Method:

1. Cook the macaroni as directed by packet.

2. While boiling the macaroni, heat a saute pan, add in EV olive oil and chicken breast slices. Add in the seasoning and pan-fry until chicken is cooked. Add in the mixed vegetables and fry to mix well. Set aside.

3. Once the macaroni is cooked, drain and back to the pot. Then add 1/2 cup of water/milk and cream cheese, stir to melt the cream cheese. Add in the packets cheese that came in the box, stir to mix well. Add the chicken & veggies and a dash of salt/to taste, mix until incorporated.

4. Pour into a baking dish and top with bread crumbs and dollops of butter (from the 2 Tbsp.). Bake in preheated 350'F oven for 15 minutes.

Cream Cheese Bread

I first saw this cream cheese bread at Peony's blog. And according to her, this bread is really soft and fluffy just like the Hokkaido Milk Loaf. And since I have all the ingredients at home, I told her I'm going to give this a try soon. Why mine turned out looking like that? Oh well, I decided to experiment with the ExpressBake function on my bread machine. It means the bread will be ready in 58 minutes as compared to the usual 3-3.5 hours.



Original recipe is taken from here. I replaced the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I got to say this bread is really soft but mine turned out not as fluffy, perhaps because I used the ExpressBake function? That taught me, one can't really rush the process of bread making. As with ExpressBake, it really didn't provide enough time to proof the bread, and thus my bread looking like the above. Nevertheless, I am going to make more bread using this recipe, but with the normal bread and dough functions. Just to see the difference (in texture and look). :o)

Malaysian Should Watch This!

Watch this video and this video before you go in to vote! Or go to YouTube and watch video clips from dapkl.


"Go VOTE!"

I can't vote but you can, so do your part and vote for a better Malaysia and equality to all Malaysian.

Broccolini

You can read all about Broccolini at Tigerfish's blog here. I first saw this veggie at her blog and thought this veggie looked divine. While I was doing my grocery shopping recently, I spotted this broccolini was on-sales as Manager's Pick of the week. So, I quickly grabbed this opportunity to try out this new breed of veggie.



Coincidentally, I cooked this just like how Tigerfish cooked her. Guess great mind thinks alike huh? LOL! Anyway, after trying this broccolini, I still prefer my HK kailan. Not sure whether I undercooked it or the veggie a bit old because it was quite tough on the stem (fibrous?). I paid $1.50 for what you see above but normally I think it is priced around $3.50. At that price, I can buy a big bag of kailan already.

Just for fun

I saw this while browsing through Camemberu's blog and decided to play along, just for fun, if you tried it, post it in your blog ya!

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Chocolate Pull-Apart Sticky Buns

Have you ever tried to reinvent a recipe on your own and it turned out great? I was checking my e-mail and came across an ad. from Pillsbury.com, clicked on it and got inspired by their Grands Cinnamon Pull-Apart Coffee Cake. I think I have seen this kind of coffee cake before and thought that it's really interesting but never attempted in making it. What got me into the baking mood was I did have a can of refrigerated biscuits sitting in the refrigerator.



So, I said to myself why not since my mind already racing through the ideas of how I should get it done and thus that was no stopping me. Since I was tailoring to my kids taste bud, I decided to use cocoa powder instead of cinnamon powder, made it into a mini version and pray for the best.



The finished product looked great! You just pull it apart piece by piece to savor it. Oh man, the crust was toasty and the inside was soft and it's chocolaty and sweet, I just fell in love with it.


Want a piece?

Since this is such a delectable and easy recipe, I'm going to share it with you here. I hope you will fall in love with this recipe too. My version is not as sweet as the American version but just sweet enough for our Asian taste bud. Great for breakfast coffee or an afternoon tea, even unexpected guests since it's so easy to prepare and screams Eat Me! Eat Me!



Ingredients:

1 can of 10 small homestyle biscuits (7.5oz)
1/8 cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp. cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. brown sugar


Method:

1. Open the can of biscuits and quarter each biscuit to make 40 pieces.

2. In a Ziploc bag, add in the granulated sugar and cocoa powder, mix well. Add in the pieces of dough, zipped it and shake well. Try to make sure each piece is coated well with the mixture.

3. Spray four mini bundt pans with butter spray. Preheat the oven to 375'F. Lay about 10 pieces of mixed dough into each bundt pan.

4. Melt the butter in the microwave and add in the leftover sugar/cocoa mixture from the Ziploc bag into the butter (if there is still any left). And add in the brown sugar, mix well until sugars dissolved. Then, spoon the mixture over the top of the arranged dough pieces (About 2 tsp. each).

5. Bake in preheated 375'F oven for 15 minutes.

~Makes 4 mini bundt size sticky buns. Serve two adults or four kids.

This is how American can biscuit looks like. Lots of variety and they eat it for breakfast or with meal. Just open and bake ready-made dough.

White Peppered Pork

I tried Cooking Ninja's White Peppered Pork some time back. Made one change. Instead of pork slices, I used ground pork. I made it into thin patties and pan-fried it until cooked. Looks like pork slices right? If I didn't say, would you know it's made from ground pork?

Verdict: Not bad at all. Thanks Cooking Ninja for sharing. :o)