Rice Bubbles - Fruit & Nuts Muesli Bars

I have a box of Rice Bubbles cereal rejected by my kids as they are going back to the good old Weetbix for breakfast.  The kids like the store bought snack bars and I find two recipes making them using Rice Bubbles.  One is this muesli bars and the other is a nut crunch bars.  The good thing making your own snack bars is that you can control the sweetness and putting in your favourite ingredients.  Stay in tune for the nut crunch bars.

I find it a bit oily and still too sweet so I have reduced the amount of butter and sugar.
  
Fruit & Nuts Muesli Bars


Ingredients:
1 cup toasted muesli
3 cups Rice Bubbles
1/2 cups coconut
125g 100g butter
 1/4 cup 2 heap tablespoons honey
1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup  2 heap tablespoons raw sugar
2 teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds (I use a mix of black & white)
extra almond kernels

Method:

1. Line a 19cmx29cm lamington tin with baking paper.
2. Combine muesli, Rice Bubbles, coconut, extra almonds in bowl.
3. Combine butter, peanut butter, honey and sugar in a saucepan, stir constantly over heat without boiling until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered for 1-2 minute, stir occasionally to prevent burn.  
4. Stir the peanut butter caramel into the dry ingredients.  Press into prepared pan, sprinkle sesame seeds over the surface.  Leave it cool and cover it with gladwrap.  Press again until it is firm enough and refrigerate it before cutting.  

Note: The toasted muesli I use is combined with oats, dried fruit, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds.

This recipe is adopted and modified from the cookbook of "Cake & Slices" published by the Australian Women's Weekly. 

Blueberry and Maple Syrup Tart

I often like to use puff pastry to make a quick dessert.  There is a punnet of blueberry in the fridge and I want to make something different besides of making muffins and pancake.  We actually had the tart as an afternoon snack instead of a dessert.  It's just nice to have a treat on a Sunday afternoon.  You can substitute blueberry for other bottled jam to make the tart.  The blueberry syrup is also nice to pour over pancake, you just omit the thickening procedure.


Blueberry and Maple Syrup Tart
(serve 4)

Ingredients:
125g blueberry
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon corn flour mixed with 1 tablespoon water
1 sheet of puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
lemon rind

Method:

1. Combine blueberry and maple syrup in a small saucepan.  Cook with medium heat until it boils, let it boils for a few minutes until the juice turn purple. 
2. Add the lemon juice and the cornflour mix to make a thick berry jam. Cut the pastry into 4 squares.  Lay one of the square in a diamond shape facing you, then fold up the 4 corners to form a new square shape. 
3. Spoon in 1/4 of the berry jam and fold up the corners edges of the pastry to making a round shaped tart.  Or you can seal the edges to form a pretty scallop pattern. 
4. Brush the sides of the tarts with egg and place the tarts on a line-greased baking tray.  Bake it in a preheat oven at 230c for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Garnish it with lemon rind and serve with ice-cream.

Chicken & Mushroom Filo Parcels with Green Salad in Vinegar Dressing

This is one of my favourite lunch special at our local French restaurant.  The place has set lunch offering a choice of main and dessert.  At dinner time, it is the choice of a three course meal.  I like the set dinner idea as I don't have to worry over ordering and know how to pay for before my booking.  Quiche and Cream Brulee are the popular dish on the menu.  Their seafood quiche is my favourite that it is so rich and buttery.  I have great difficulty in choosing French dessert, I wish I could have every one of them listed on the menu.  Bon Appetite!    

24 pieces of 23cmx23cm filo pastry
2 pieces of chicken thighs, cut into fine pieces
1/2 cup mushroom, finely chopped
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 glove of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons low-fat cream
1/2 tablespoon cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon of water
salt & pepper
paprika
oil
extra oil for brushing

Green Salad:
Coral lettuce, red coral lettuce, red onion, avocado and tomato

Vinegar Dressing:
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of garlic, chopped
pinch of salt

Method:

1. Heat the pan with oil, add in onion, garlic, chicken and finally add in the mushroom.  Stir through the ingredients until they are nearly cooked.  Add in water, milk and cream and let it steams for a minute or two.  
2. Season the chicken and mushroom with salt and pepper. Thicken the sauce with the cornflour mix.  The sauce should be quite thick, thicken it with more cornflour mix if needed.
3. You'll need 6 sheets of filo pastry for each parcel.  Lay out the first 2 sheets of pastry, brush it throughly with oil.  Then add 2 more sheets of pastry over the 1st layer and brush it with oil again.  Finally add the last 2 sheets of pastry over the 2nd layer.  Put 1/4 of the chicken and mushroom mix onto the pastry and gently fold over the two sides and top sides as in a parcel shape.  Brush over the top with extra oil and sprinkle it with paprika.
4. Preheat the oven at 180c.  Place the filo parcels onto the grease lined baking tray and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges turn golden.  Serve with green salad.  

Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup

For being a carnivore, red lentil sounds like the food from Mars to me.  One day at soccer training, we have been chatting about dinner and one of the soccer mum says she is having red lentil bolognese.  I don't have much cooking ideas for red lentil besides making patties or soup.  Later, I look at my dusty vegetarian cookbook trying to find a recipe of it.  This sweet potato and red lentil soup is similar to pumpkin soup but filled with the goodness of protein due to the lentil.  It is nice to have a warm thick soup to fill up the tummy on a cold day or if you are like me, love soup for all seasons, this soup should warm your soul.

Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup
(serve 4)


Ingredients:
2 teaspoons oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, chopped
1 cup red lentils
6 cups water
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

Methods:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onion and spices stir for a few minutes until it is soft.  Add the potato, lentils and water last and bring it to boil.  Then reduce heat and simmer for 40 minutes or until the potato is soft and the lentil is dissolved.
2. Blend the soup mixture with a handhold soup mixer until smooth or blend it in the food processor in several batches.  Add more water if needed and season it with salt and pepper.  Reheat it before serving.

This recipe is adopted and modified from the cookbook Vegetarian Cooking published by The Australian Women's Weekly.

Little Fruit - Sugar Plum and Paradise Pear

Every time when I take my kids to the supermarket, our trolley usually end up more than I would have expected.  They would put in stuffs that their friends have for lunch at school and the temptation from the isle full of chips and lollies are just too much.  But this time they have put in some quite interesting things into my trolley, little fruit.  They are amazed with the shape and size of the little fruit and could not wait to pack it for lunch for school.  The taste of the Sugar Plum is sweet but the skin is not too tough or sour, and the taste of Paradise Pear is like apple which is crispy and fresh.  There is no better snack than fruit and I am happy that they choose to have it.  There is no need to cook, simply wash it and enjoy the natural taste.    

Apple Turnover

On one weeknight, my daughter told me that she wanted to have an apple pie.  Then my son heard the conversation and he was so excited about having dessert for the night.  I don't usually make dessert on weekdays as we are too busy to think of something so indulgent.  I had some green apples and puff pastry and I had this calzone looking thing in my mind, perhaps I could make an easy dessert to make the kids happy.  It turned out very good and everyone had been spoiled by this simple dessert.

Apple Turnover
(make 4)

1 sheet of pastry
2 green apple
cinnamon
raw sugar
egg, beaten

Method:

1. Peel and diced the apple into 1cm x 1cm cube.  Cook the apple in boiling water just covering the surface of the apple until the apple is tender. 
2. Drain the excess juice and sweeten the apple with sugar, add in some cinnamon and leave cool.
3. Cut the pastry into 4 little equal sized square.  Cut off the 4 little corners of each square.
4. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg.  Spoon 1/4 of the stewed apple diagonally onto the square then fold it up and seal tightly.  Brush extra egg over the turnover and sprinkle extra sugar over.  Repeat the process for the remaining pastry.
5. Preheat the oven at 230c, lined the baking tray with baking paper and bake the turnovers until they are puff and golden brown.  Serve warm with ice-cream.    

Rich Chocolate and Walnut Cake (黑朱古力合桃蛋糕)

I have a collection of miniature food that I adore them so much.  When I'm on a diet or feeling blue, it can satisfy my craving for food or make me happy after a good look at them.  It would be nice if they are all real so I can take a sample of each.  Maybe I should imitate them and cook a collection of real food, and that would be a challenge to improve my cooking skill.  Let's start with the chocolate cake as a practice as it is the easiest one to make and it will not last in my household as everyone loves chocolate.

Rich Chocolate and Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

185g butter

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

3 eggs

2 cups self-raising flour

80g milk chocolate buttons, melted

2/3 cup cocoa

3/4 cup water

Chocolate Icing:

90g dark chocolate, chopped

30g butter

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoons hot water

1/3 cup chopped walnuts for garnish

Method:

1. Combine butter and sugar and beat until fluffy in a large bowl.  Add in eggs on at a time then add in sifted flour, cocoa, melted chocolate and water.  Beat on low speed with an electric mixer until the ingredients are combined.  Increased speed to medium and beat until mixture is smooth and changed colour.
2. Spread the batter into a lined 23cm round cake pan.  Bake in moderate oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the skewer comes clean when test in the cake.
3. Melt chocolate and butter at medium heat in a microwave.  Only press to cook for few seconds each time in the microwave for several times until the chocolate and butter melted so you won't burn the chocolate.  Sift in icing sugar and enough water to mix to a spreadable consistency.  Icing the cake with chocolate when it is completely cool and garnish it with walnuts around the edge.   

The recipe is adopted and modified from Cakes & Slices Cookbook published by the Australian Women's Weekly.

黑朱古力合桃蛋糕

材料：
牛油 150g
雲尼那香精 2 茶匙
幼砂糖 1 1/2 杯
雞蛋 3 隻
自發粉 2 杯
牛奶朱古力粒 80g, 溶化
可可粉 2/3 杯
清水 3/4 杯

朱古力糖霜：
黑朱古力 90g, 切碎
牛油 30g
糖花 1/4 杯
熱水 1 茶匙
合桃粒 1/3 杯，裝飾用

做法：

1.  用電攪拌机打發牛油和糖直至淡色和鬆起，逐次加入 1 隻蛋混和。然後加入篩過的自發粉，可可粉, 清水和朱古力粒。再用攪拌机低速攬拌至混和，最後加快速度到中速攪拌至蛋糕糊淡色為止。
2. 把蛋糊倒入一個 23cm 的預先鋪好蛋糕紙的圓盤，放進預熱 180c 的焗爐烘 45 分鐘。
3. 用微波爐的中溫溶化朱古力和牛油，每次只用 20-30 秒直至完全溶解。然後加入篩過的糖花和熱水直至攬拌好便用刀鋪上涼了的蛋糕上，最後灑上合桃粒便成。