Dah lama betul simpan segala recipes yang I've promised I'm going to put up. Finally, ter rajin pulak malam ni nak type the recipes, hehehe. So hopefully people yang requested for the recipes lepas ni boleh lah cuba ye :-).

1. Easy- peasy crustless quiche

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup plain flour
  
• 3/4 cup grated cheese
• 1 teaspoon butter, softened
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten ( I guna 50g nya eggs)
  
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp oil
  
• 1 cup of mixed vegetables, diced (any mix will do, I used mushrooms, carrots, peas, campsicum)
  
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• any type of cooked meat, chopped up a bit (sausages ke, cooked BBQ chicken,cooked beef, whatever you have leftover in the firdge :-))
  
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

Method

1. Panaskan oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a round pyrex dish dish (or a quiche dish kalau u ada).
2. Combine plain flour, cheese, butter, eggs and milk in a bowl. Stir well.
3. Heat a frying pan and add the oil, saute the dices onion until layu. Then masukkan all the diced mixed vegetables and saute until just masak. Tuangkan the cooked vegetables and the cooked meat into the bowl with the milk mixture. Kacau until well combined.
4. Then, pour the mixture into the pyrex dish.
   
5. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden and firm to the touch. Serve.

2. Pan-baked Scones (to be eaten with savoury stuff)

Ingredients

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 30g butter, melted
• 3/4 cups milk
• a pinch of salt
  

Methods

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
   
2. sift the flour into a bowl. Add the pinch of salt to the flour.
3. Add the milk to the warm melted butter and mix well.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and mix the batter with a butter knife until a soft dough forms.
5. Then roll dough out onto a floured board and knead lightly. Cut into rectangles. Then transfer to a baking tin.
   
6. Bake for about 12- 15 minutes until lightly browned.
   

3. Toad in the hole ( gourmet version :-))

Ingredients

• 500g beef sausage, cut into smaller pieces
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
  
• 1 large brown onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 tomato, sliced thinly
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon grain mustard
• fresh basil leaves, shredded
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C.
2. Heat a frying pan and add the olive oil. Add the brown onions, sliced potatoes and sausages into the pan and saute until cooked.
   
3. Then add the carrots and saute for 2 minutes. Transfer all into an ovenproof dish.
   
4. Sift flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Combine egg and milk and stir into flour. Add mustard and season with salt and pepper.Mix the batter well.
   
5. Pour batter over sausage mixture. Shake dish to distribute evenly. Arrange the slice tomato and scatter the basil leaves on the batter. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until batter is golden and well-risen. Serve with salad.
   

Finally, jeng...jeng..., presenting Maya, our 'beloved' virtual personal trainer. We are so glad that Maya is not stick-thin macam models tak cukup makan tu. Tak lah we all terasa gemuk sangat2 bila buat program ni sbb Maya pun kiranya on the normal healthy looking side like me, except tang chest and 6-pack tummy, wahahahaha..... (by the way, the Other Half said Maya's got a fat bottom, hehehe....). But she's very pleasing to the eyes as well so tu yg the Other Half seronok aje bila exercise dengan Maya ni :-). Suara dia pun lemak merdu aje di dengar :-).

Cantik lah kan our trainer ni, hehehe....


Ini pulak cupcakes that I made last nite for the Little Misses' school's cake stall. The parents of Year 1 and 2 students were asked to donate a plate of either savoury or sweet cakes/muffins/finger food to be sold at the cake stall after the assembly today. Selalu nya every couple of months the Parents assoc. akan buat cake stalls ni untuk fundraiser and every time different classes yang kena rota. Hari ni kena turn Miss 5 so malam tadi sempat lah buat cupcakes and sempat lah siap hias pagi tadi before school. Nasib baik dia suruh bawak 1 plate aje, kalau 1 tray, memang tak kuasa I! And biasanya, cupcakes yang colourful and chocolatey memang lah yang akan cepat sold out dulu. Tu yg I made chocolate-choc chips cupcake pastu hias dgn pink icing, lagi lah nampak menawan kan, hehehehe. Miss 9 kata, my cupcakes dah habis di jual even before recess lagi :-) sebab dia pergi tengok masa recess, dah takde langsung Mummy's cupcakes on the table. Alhamdulillah lah, tak payah susah payah kena bawak balik....

So far I'm still impressed with our Wii personal coach, Maya. When we keyed in that we don't really feel motivated to exercise, she will give us gentle exercises so we don't feel lagi demotivated. But if we key in yang we are raring to exercise, memang she'll push us to the max, sampai peluh2 tahap mandi lencun lah, hehehe. And yang paling best nya, I can see that my weight is starting to come down as well. Yeahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! Seronok I, hehehehe. And even The Other Half said that he can see that my bum is getting smaller! WHAT????? I don't think it was ever that big before! But I know him so well, he likes his wife to have a flat bum, hehehe (oops, I have to use the word bottoms instead of bums or else kena marah dengan the Little Misses for using impolite word, hehehe). So, tak boleh lah I jadi macam J Lo kan ;-). Chest macam J Lo takpe, bottom mcm J Lo tak boleh, wahahahaha........ Tak larat......


Last night I tanya Miss 9 dia nak makan apa for dinner. She said she wants KFC style chicken so sebagai ibu mithali, I made just that for our dinner tonite. Kira healthy lah kan sebab semua nya oven baked instead of fried. And the coleslaw pulak I added chopped apple to it which made it extra nice and I used purple cabbage instead of the normal cabbage. The Other Half mula2 a bit sceptical about the apple in the coleslaw but lepas he tasted it, dia kata memang jadi kan lagi sedap cos it's crunchy and not too sweet, hehehe.... Lebih kurang macam Waldorf Salad lah but without the celery or walnuts :-). So, The Other Half renamed the coleslaw to 'walslaw' , apa2 lah pakcik tu!

Ada rupa KFC tak? :-).

I love my bread machine sebab memudahkan kerja membuat roti ni. Balik from work tadi, teringin nak buat cornmeal loaf so I put all the ingredients into the bread pan, turned on the bread machine using the 'bread- dough' cycle and let the machine buat kerja kneading and proving it. Lepas I switched it on, I pun keluar rumah pergi grocery shopping before fetching the Little Misses from school. Balik from school, the dough dah pun siap the cycle. I cuma keluarkan from the bread pan, knead it again and shape it into a loaf and a few rolls. Then let it rise again pastu bakar in the oven. Yang best nya, I can just leave it and do my own things while the bread machine does all the kneading. Tak payah lah bergelumang dengan tepung, hehehe.... Seronok kerja bila ada helper ni kan :-).


This is the polenta bread that I made this afternoon. I just guna the white bread recipe that comes with the bread machine but substituted 100g of the bread flour with cornmeal/ ground corn. Cornmeal ni will make the loaf a bit yellow and texture-wise, a bit gritty (macam berpasir sikit lah but takde lah rasa pasir, hehehe). But sebab tak banyak sangat cornmeal yg I guna, the bread was still very soft and gebu. Even the Little Misses really love the funny texture of the bread, makan dengan butter masa panas2 memang sedap sangat2 :-). Roti apa aje pun kalau makan masa panas2 memang sedap sangat2 kan, hehehehe.....

Ini pulak our dinner tonite, nasi panas with fried mackerel (apa nama dia ye in Malay, memang lah lupa sangat2, hish!), stir fried veges and mussels sambal berkari :-). Bila dah makan macam ni, memang lah malam ni kena exercise dengan Maya, hehehehe...

After only 2 days of exercising with Maya, our virtual personal trainer on Wii, the lower half of my body is aching all over. My thighs and my calves feel so sore. All the muscles kat my legs yang selama ni lie dormant sleeping sebab tak pernah di exercise kan tetiba dikejutkan dan di paksa bekerja keras so obviously lah kan, depa2 ni akan memberontak! So, bila diaorang memberontak, I lah yang akan kena padah nya kan. So, satu hari ni, nak squatting on my toes sikit nya seksa ke! Tapi bukannya lama mana pun we all exercise every nite, just a 30 minute program but still lah berpeluh2 you :-). Takpe takpe, for the sake of a fit and trim body, I rela bersakit sakit, wahkahkahkah.......


The Other Half and I are both doing the Wii program and sebelum we all mula, Maya did a fitness assessment on us. And after putting all our details and doing all the exercise she asked us to do, the verdict was, I need to increase my cardio fitness level but my weight is still within the normal range ( which I already knew but I want my weight to be the lower end of normal, not the higher end of normal!). And for The Other Half pulaknya, he really really needs to lose a lot of weight, hehehehehe, (which he also already knew :-)). Sian hubby I tu kan terang2 Maya kata dia fat, hahahahaha....


But this time around, we all tak lah berdiet sangat2 like last time. We just cut down on a few things like sweet stuff and junk food :-). Sedih I kena berhenti kejap dari makan crisps and desserts. But kalau tengah craving, I'll still eat, wehehehehe....

And since we are not really on a diet, our dinner tonite pun tak lah healthy bagai nak rak. We had oven roasted lamb chops in rosemary honey gravy, mashed potatoes and salad. Salad tu kena ada sebab nanti Maya marah kalau dinner takde veges, hahahaha...... ;-).

Malam ni tak boleh nak berceloteh panjang sbb I want to try my new Wii 'game' called My Fitness Coach- Get In Shape. The Other half bought it for me! Is he trying to tell me something you think? Hmmm.... Is this his subtle way of telling me that I've put on a bit of weight and I need to lose it? Or is it because he's sick and tired of hearing his wife moaning about her weight gain but not doing anything about it? Hehehe.... Probably the latter kot :-). I did tell him that I want to go to the gym but just can't find the time except night time when he's at home to help look after the Little Misses. But bila dah malam, memang lah malas nak keluar rumah kan just semata2 nak pergi ke gym. Waktu lain memang takde masa lah unless I rush after work - home- gym- school-home again. Tak larat wei nak rush everywhere ni!


The Other Half kesian kat wife dia ni yang asik moaning about her weight aje hari2 so tu yg dia belikan the 'game' which claims to be like having your very own personal trainer albeit a virtual one. And he also wishes that his wife would stick to the exercise program this time, hehehe. Hopefully lah kan! I pun dah naik fed up asik dengar myself membebel hari2 about my weight :-). So, wish me luck with this one. I need to lose 3 kilos which only God knows how long it will take to reach that goal. 3 kilos doesn't look like much kan but percayalah, I've done it before and it took a lot of daily exercise and dieting to lose that much weight. Pastu memang kena ada strong will to avoid temptation in the form of yummy fattening food. Terus rasa nak nangis ni, hahahaha........

Our dinner tonite tak lah healthy sangat sebab ada cheese and eggs and sausages in it but vegetables-wise, memang lah cukup bagus sebab you can put whatever veges you want in it. I added capsicum, carrots, peas. Basically whatever meat yang leftovers from previous meals, you can put in it. I added sausages and chicken from a few days a go punya dinner. Pastu makan pulak dengan lettuce so I guess healthy jugak lah kan, hehehehe......


Everything-in-it quiche with pita bread and lettuce.

The Little Misses had swimming lessons today and The Other Half and I slalunya ambil kesempatan while they were having their lessons to borak2 about our day. Ye lah, sehari tak jumpa so bila dah jumpa tu, borak2 lah kan, what else to do pun, hehehe. And tadi while we were chatting, I was playing with the rings on my fingers. And baru lah terperasan yang the rings tu dah makin susah nak keluarkan which shows that my fingers dah makin gemuk!!!!!!! WAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!


Dulu when I was at my slimmest, the rings slalu sangat ter come off from my fingers dengan sendirinya sebab masa tu my fingers were so thin so senang lah nak tertanggal. Bila I masak2 or kemas2 rumah, memang slalu kena berhati2 takut terhilang my diamond ring! Wei, bukan senang nak dapat diamond ring ni, hahahaha. Kalau hilang, takde lah The Other Half nak belikan a new one! Tapi sekarang ni, walaupun still masih boleh tanggalkan, tak lah ketat mana, but tak lah sesenang dulu. I have to pull it a bit harder to get it over the bony joint. Memang itu salah satu tanda I kena kuruskan badan balik lah kan :P. I can still twirl the rings on the fingers easily, cuma part bony joint tu aje lah yg bermasaalah sikit, hehehe. But kiranya dah bagus lah kan if I can still wear my wedding ring from 13 years ago which shows that my berat badan still maintain aje mcm zaman belum kawin dulu, wehehehe....... Cuma pengagihan lemak tu aje lah yang a bit different banding dgn dulu ;-).


Masa masak dinner tadi since teringatkan lemak2 kat jari jemari I yang dah makin bertambah, I made something healthy for me. Well, I had a big lunch pun tadi, tu yang I made a light dinner for me. I made pan fried chicken and roast potatoes and salad for The Other half and The Little Misses. And for me I made chicken sandwich using the same pan fried chicken and salad with multigrain bread. Dah lama betul I tak makan sandwich ni even though I selalu buat sandwich for other people's lunches. And it tasted really good with all the healthy bits in it :-). Even Miss 5 wanted some of my sandwich, hehehehe. Biasalah kan kids, apa yang the parents makan, nampak macam sedap sangat2 :-).


This was The Other Half's dinner. Roast potatoes topped with sour cream, cheese and chilli sauce, pan- fried marinated chicken thigh fillet and salad ( sejemput aje ;-)). Dia kata dia lapar sangat2 dinner tadi sbb makan lunch sikit aje tu yg satu pinggan penuh dinner dia tu!


And this was my dinner, chicken salad sandwich.



Which one would you choose to have for your dinner? Mana yang nampak lagi menyelerakan and menggiurkan? Hahahaha.....