Green Tea Cake Roll w/ Red Bean Filling

It is true that Sunday is the laziest day of the week, every member in my family were sleeping till noon today. Even though I was still quite sick, I woke up early. Actually, my head was hurting so much, there was no way I could sleep peacefully with a headache. The first thing to do when a person is awake is probably eat, yes, everyone is hungry in the morning. I searched for food in the fridge and I found nothing. I mean there were nothing I wanted. :< ummm........first thing poped up in my mind was...GREEEN TEA CAKE ..!! and i saw another food lying in the fridge..RED BEAN FILLING~~~ what a great combination! >< The rest of the day would be amazing if you have a great start :3

Green Tea Cake Roll Recipe:
3 eggs, in room temp.
65g sugar
80g cake flour
5g green tea powder
pinch of salt
20g veg. oil or melted butter

1) Preheat oven to 350F, line a cake pan with parchument paper, set aside.
2) In a bowl, measure flour, green tea powder and salt, combine and sift twice (dont be lazy and skip this step, we have to make sure the flour mixture is lump free!!)
3) In a separate bowl, beat together eggs and sugar on high for 5mins, the egg should be doubled in volume, pale in color and form ribbon like texture.
4) Gently fold in the flour mixture into the egg, add oil and quickly fold in. Make sure everything is mixed well. (be ware not to over mix, you dont want to break the air in the egg )
5) Pour batter in the prepared cake pan, bake in preheated oven for 15mins or until the top has turned golden.   

Red Bean Filling:
store bought sweetened red bean paste
one tablespoon vanilla yogurt (to loosen the red bean paste)

No pudge brownie

Sigh, this winter was not even that cold comparing to the previous years, how can i catch a cold at this moment -.- ?! Sad to admit the fact that i have really weak immune system, a small cold could take me a month to heal. Hopefully this time i can get well soon. Luckily, I haven't lost my appetite due to the stupid flu. I want to eat brownie right now, lol. However, considering my body fat, I'm going for something low fat. In terms of low fat, this no pudge brownie falls right into the category .

No Pudge Brownie (make one 9x5inch loaf pan, double amount to make one 8x8inch pan)
1/2c sugar
1/3c flour
1/4c cocoa powder
1/8tsp salt and baking soda
1/4c vanilla yogurt (use dry measuring cup)
2tbsp water (optional, add when batter is too thick)
1) combine all the ingredients, pour in a lined loaf pan.
2) bake in 350F preheated oven for 20mins. (30mins if doubled amount)

Mini peach tartlets

Chinese almond cookie

Different part of the world has their own cultural food, and the cookies in China are well known for the melt-in-your-mouth texture, which is so different than the soft and chewy type cookies in Canada. Even though you can buy these little almond cookies in china town or any local superstore, I would prefer you to make it at home. Cookies that come hot right out of the oven have the best taste that you cannot get from the store bought one. By the way, enjoy the cooking process and these cookies would sure bring happiness to both you and your family.

Peach pancake with strawberry jam

Healthy Pancake Recipe (1 serving)
Oat flour 1/4cup
Baking powder 1/2tsp
Low fat milk 1/4cup
Honey 1tsp
Vanilla 1/2tsp

1) mix together all the ingredients
2) heat a small frying pan, drop in 1/3cup batter, place 3thin slices of peach on top of the batter, flip when bubbles appear. (result in 3small pancakes) serve with maple syrup, in my case, I used homemade strawberry jam.

Tortillas

Is there anything better than 100% homemade tortillas? I guess not. Prepare your own tortilla and wrap it with your desire filling, that's your perfect lunch!

Wheat flour tortilla recipe (4pieces)
1/2 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1) mix together flour, Bp and salt. Stir in water and form mixture into a dough. Divide into 4equal pieces and form into balls, let it rest for 15mins.
2) heat up a frying pan, roll out the 4balls into thin sheets. Fry them in a dry hot pan, 1mins on each side. Done:)

Tuna Veggie Wrap (4 wraps)
4 sheets Tortillas (recipe above)
1/2 can tuna flakes in water
3 tap light mayo
Salt and pepper to taste
Laughing cow cheese spread
Ham
Lettuce
Cucumber
Tomato
1) mix together tuna, mayo, salt and pepper
2) spread cheese on tortilla, layer ham, lettuce, cucumber and tomato on top. Spread 1/4of the tuna mixture on the veggie, roll the tortilla.

Chocolate microwaved cake

Just discovered a great microwaved chocolate cake recipe in the Internet, which is on "chocolate covered Katie" blog.
I tried it with oat flour/white flour/wheat flour ..and they all turned out amazingly good. I love the one with oat flour the best, since the processed oats really give a slightly crunchy texture to the cake and I'm totally in love with it. The trick behind a soft microwaved cake is to never over cooked, even 5sec will change the texture of a cake! Mine took about a minute or so, but since not all microwaves work the same way, you always have to adjust the time by yourself.

Cookies for valentine day

Wow .. First time making something for valentine day :3

Jam-Filled Bun using Tong-Zhong

Yumyumyum :3 can't get enough of these little cuties- strawberry jam filled buns!~ even the name sounds attractive to me :p

Banana Muffin

Talk about muffin, banana muffin always stands out from the crowd. It's simple, traditional and just so heart warming.

Banana Muffin Recipe (6medium sized muffins)
1/2cup flour
1/4cup whole wheat flour
1/4cup sugar
1/2tsp baking soda
1/2tsp baking powder
1/4tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp salt
1small ripe banana, mashed
3tbsp oil
1egg white
1/2tsp vanilla
Handful of raisins and chopped walnuts (optional, but recommended)

1) preheat oven to 350F, line muffin tin with paper liners. In a bowl, mix together flour, bp, bs and spices. In a separate bowl, combine banana, oil, egg white and vanilla.
2) pour wet over dry and add in raisins and nuts, stir until just combined. Bake in preheated oven for 25mins.

Carrot patty/ burger

Omg, me, myself couldn't even believe what I ate just now. Even though it was made out of grated carrot, it doesn't taste anything like carrot, instead, it was just like a normal patty :0

Carrot Patty Recipe (1patty)
40g grated carrot
20g oat flour
1/2tsp salt
1/4tsp garlic powder
1/8tsp pepper
1tbsp water
1tbsp bread crumbs
1) mix together all the ingredients except for bread crumbs. Form a patty and roll on the bread crumbs. Bake in 350F preheated oven for 15mins or until cooked through.

Baked Strawberry cheesecake

This is probably the longest post I have written so far, o by the way, sorry for the messed up pictures:$ I have no clue how to fix it >< I am actually not a big fan of cheesecake, even though I would still eat it, I don't really enjoy eating it. However, my sister is a HUGE fan of dessert, she would consume any type of dessert that appeals good to her. I don't get why she doesn't gain any weight of having all those sugary food, may be she is just born to be eat sugar stuff .. Lol, jealous :3

Baked Strawberry Cheesecake Recipe (make one 8" round cake pan)
Crust:
70g biscuit crumbs
30g melted butter

Filling:
2 packs low-fat cream cheese
2eggs
280g sweetened condensed milk
1tsp vanilla
1tbsp lemon juice

Strawberry Topping:
350g fresh strawberries
60g sugar
1tbsp lemon juice
1tsp flour
1) preheat oven to 300F, line a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the cake pan, grease the side with butter and dust with flour.
2) mix together the ingredients for crust, which will resemble a wet sand texture. Press the mixture onto the bottom of the prepared cake pan, leave it in the fridge while preparing the filling.
3) in a pot, combine strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stir in flour and cook for another 2mins. Set aside and let cool.
4) in a big bowl, beat together cream cheese, vanilla and lemon juice. Beat in eggs one by one, then stir in condensed milk.
5) pour cream cheese filling into the cake pan, top with strawberries topping , swirl around with a knife.
6) place cake pan into a water bath , bake in preheated oven for an hour. Turn off oven, let cheesecake cool in the oven. Refrigerate it over night before serve.

Notes:*
-make sure ingredients are in room temperature , especially cream cheese, softened cream cheese allows you to beat it easily and results in a smoother cheesecake.
-if you want a lump-free strawberry purée, simply blend it in a blender.
-if the cheesecake is turning brown too quickly, cover it with foil while baking.

Tips to get a NO-CRACK cheesecake:
-always grease your pan, because during cool down process, the cheesecake will sink and pull itself away from the pan. If you didn't grease the pan, the cheesecake will stick to the side and cracks will form.
-always use water bath method to bake the cheesecake.
-do not over-beat the cream cheese filling.
-if unfortunately you still get a crack, alright then, top it with fruits.

元宵節湯圓

Tong yuen filling with red bean paste, a classic Chinese dessert.

Baked Ham 焗火腿

Even though today was not Christmas or any special day that we need to celebrate, there's no way to stop us from eating this gorgeous baked ham, a dish which my mom has learnt recently and became one of our occasional meal lately.

Best Blueberry Muffin 藍梅蛋糕

Is there really such a thing called the BEST blueberry muffin? Yes, and I just found one today. As usual, there are no big secret in the use of ingredients, except for the fact that sour cream is presented in the recipe. Why sour cream? Same rule for success to moist banana bread and now you know why. The muffin came out light and moist, so delicious and the sugar amount was just perfect with the extra sweetness that brought by the juicy blueberries. If you are afraid of that calories will give you some unnecessary weight, you may want to try the low fat version by substituting 2egg whites for 1egg, use applesauce instead of oil and use low fat sour cream. With all the changes, you could still taste the flavor of a normal full fat muffin but with so much lesser calories.

Best Blueberry Muffin (6 big muffins, 250calories each)
1 egg
1/4cup sugar
1/4cup brown sugar
1/2tsp vanilla
3tbsp oil
3/4cup flour
1/4cup whole wheat flour
1/4tsp salt
1/4 heaping tsp baking soda
1/2cup fresh blueberries
1/2cup sour cream

1) mix together egg and both sugar. Add in oil and vanilla.
2) in another bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda and blueberries, add to the egg mixture with sour cream. Stir until just combined (do not over mix)
3) bake in 400F preheated oven for 20mins.

Easy Brownie 布朗尼

Once in a while, you just need that sugar to please your crave for sweet. For missing brownie over half a year, today I decided to release myself a bit and allowed a piece of fatty brownie to treat my sweet tooth. Here, a simple brownie recipe that I want to share. The ingredients are relatively simple and you probably have them all in your pantry. The secret behind every chewy and fudge-y brownie is not too over-baked, instead, always under-baked.

Quick brownie Recipe (found on www.allrecipes.com ):
1/2cup melted butter
1cup sugar
2eggs
1cup flour
1/4cup cocoa powder
1/4tsp salt
1/4tsp baking powder
1/4cup chocolate chips

1) mix together melted butter, sugar and eggs. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and chocolate chips.. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture, stir until just combined.
2) pour batter into greased pan (i used an 9x5inch loaf pan) and bake in 350F oven for 25mins. The batter should be still gooey inside and the outside is just set.

Zucchini patties with English muffin

A healthy life is maintained by a healthy diet.
One of My Everyday Lunch:
-1 English muffin (better to be whole wheat) 130calories
-1 zucchini patty 60calories
-1slice cheddar cheese 60calories

Zucchini parties recipe:
1cup grated Zucchini (do not squeeze out water)
1/2cup bread crumbs
1/2cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
1) mix together all the listed ingredients, form dough into small patties.
2) heat a small pan with oil, fry patties until each side is golden brown. Finish them off in the oven.

Japanese style Salmon 日式三文魚

I am always eager to try a Japanese recipe and today I finally got a chance to make something that is related to Japanese cooking- salmon served with teriyaki sauce ! Salmon is a really common dish in a Japanese restaurant, it often comes with a bowl of steaming hot rice, in which the sauce makes a good combination with the soft white rice and lovely pan-fried salmon. I'm glad that I could actually make my own sauce that tastes as good as the restaurant ones.

Teriyaki sauce recipe (3/4cup):
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp garlic powder
1tsp corn starch
2 tbsp water
1) in a small pot, combine together soy sauce, water, sugar and garlic powder, bring them to boil.
2) mix together corn starch and water, then add to the soy sauce mixture. Cook until sauce has thickened.

The sauce is good with everything, beef/chicken/fish.etc.
I chose to serve the sauce with salmon since that was I had on hand. To prepare the salmon fillet, I cut it in half, pick the bones out and season it with salt and pepper to take away that fishy smell. Before frying it, I also pat it with flour and drizzle some olive oil on top. The frying part doesn't take long, around 5mins per side. :)

Strawberry filled Cream puffs

This was not my first time making cream puffs, but it's the first time to make such a sexy cream puff that looks just like the one in a bakery shop. To achieve such a perfect looking cream puff, all you need is patient and not tired of washing dishes. Here is the rough timeline:
1) cream puff
-15mins preparing the batter
-30mins baking per batch
-10mins cooling

2) custard (depends on how are you gonna make it, I only used instant custard powder and all I need is to microwave it)
-5mins making
-30mins chilling in the fridge

3) whipping cream
-3mins whipping with electric mixer

4) strawberries (optional)
-3mins washing and slicing

5) Washing dishes
-30mins or above

So, basically this little cream puff took me the whole afternoon and yea.. So .. Really time consuming

Baked oatmeal with cherry

Baked oatmeal with cherries Recipe: (1serving)
2tbsp oats
1tbsp flour
1/4tsp cinnamon
1 egg white
1/4cup milk
1tbsp honey
5 fresh cherries, halved and pitted

1) in a ramekin, combine oats, flour and cinnamon. Add egg white, milk and honey to the dry mixture, stir in cherries.
2) bake in 400F for 25mins. Let it sit for 10mins before serve.