Homemade Hummus - easy recipe

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",)

I was quite excited when I saw that naan has been introduced to the Mission range of bread, pita and wrap products.  I bought it and decided to prepare a hummas dip for dinner to go along with the naan.

I would usually use dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas) but I did not have the time to soak the beans overnight since I wanted to prepare hummus for dinner.  So, I grabbed a can of garbanzo beans and made my way home.

There are many varieties of hummus recipes online, but this is how I prepare mine.  I usually make use of what I have instead of going out to get every single ingredient for one recipe. 

Most recipes call for lemon juice but I hardly use lemons at home, so I replaced it with just water since the chickpeas form a really thick paste when blended in a food processor.  Tahini which is a paste made from sesame seeds is usually needed, but I do not have that in my kitchen, so I added the next best thing, sesame seeds.  In place of fresh garlic, I made use of garlic salt... hehee... seems like I am replacing most of the usual ingredients used to make hummus - but I assure you, it still taste pretty good, imo (",) 

So, I blended everything together and when a smooth paste is formed, I transferred everything into a bowl and added olive oil.

Here's dinner for Kiddo and I (",)

Although Kiddo loves the naan, I thought it was too 'bready'... I prefer the frozen ones that I usually buy.  I think I will start storing some hummus in the fridge and bringing it to work for lunch along with some carrot and celery sticks.

Talk to you ladies soon (",)

Gatecrashing ideas for Chinese wedding

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

Last year when a friend of mine got married, she invited me to be her one of her bridesmaids and my daughter as the flower girl.  Click here, if you wanna take a look at Kiddo's flower girl makeover.   

So, one of my duty as the bridesmaid was to design a menu of exciting dishes for the groom as well as the groomsmen.  The bridesmaids scour the internet for ideas and we finally came up with these four pretty original dishes.  

In the Chinese culture, the groom and his buddies have to eat their way through four (sometimes more) dishes before the groom gets to meet the bride.  

The bridesmaids have to create the dishes with these four elements in mind - sour, sweet, bitter and spicy. 

For the sour dish, we filled plastic champange flutes with apple cider which is truly and awfully sour when you drink it neat.  For the toppers, we made a skewers using rolled up sour candies and lemon slices. 

The sweet dish was simply Lotte Choco Pie  dunked in condensed milk and double dunked in colourful sprinklers. 

For the bitter dish, we coated a marshmellow with 99% Lindt cacao (available in major supermarkets).  The chocolate bar was first melted slowly in a microwave.  To amp up the bitterness of the dish, we tossed in some fresh cranberries that are bitter and tart.   

Lastly, for the spicy dish, we served the men with fried bean curd filled with chilli padi laced with a generous amount of wasabi.  

   

Thank you for reading, hope this entry comes in handy when you're planning a gate crashing menu for someone's wedding.

(",)

Quick and easy boxed lunch - veggie pasta

Hihi friends of Hazelnutt House (",) 

It's Sunday night!!!  

Tis the night that I prepare my lunches for the next couple of days - usually three days worth of lunch.  I do not enjoy eating out while at work but I don't mind eating the exact same home cooked lunches few days in a row.  So, my lunches are prepared, usually on a Sunday night and on Wednesdays nights.  I used to prepare sandwiches or wraps in the morning before heading to work, but I prefer to sleep in a bit more instead (",) ... so it's preprepared refrigerated lunch boxes for now.  

Tonight, I've celery, bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms and broccoli. 

Here's what I do to put everything together...

Coat the pan with olive oil and in goes the ingredients... and swish them around a little before I added the seasoning.

For this veggie pasta, I added some wholegrain mustard and pesto. 

When the veggies are well coated with the seasoning, in goes the pasta that I've boiled earlier.  Stir it all up and let it cook for a bit.  I try not to cook my veggies all the way since I heat them up before eating which in turn cooks the veggies further.  

Just FYI, here's the other bottles of seasoning that I alternate with.  I try not to use tomato or cream based sauces for my packed lunches coz the idea is to eat healthy and sauces are higher in calories as well as salt content.

Here's my little tubs of veggie pasta ready to be refrigerated (",) 

I usually go with 30% carbo and 70% veggies for my veggie pasta. Coz having a full lunch makes me wanna go to sleep while at work.. hehehe...

Talk to you ladies soon!

Easy 3 ingredient breakfast - Oatmeal Flats

U know how it is when you get back from a vacation?  There's hardly any food at home and the fridge requires some stocking up before you can start cooking anything proper?

Well, we just got home from a 3 weeks vacation in the US and I am so sick of eating out all the time.  In Singapore, I eat home cooked food 80% of the time.  So you can imagine how eating out daily upset my system.  

So when I woke up today, I was scouring the kitchen and refrigerator for something to prepare for breakfast and I was so lost coz there was no bread and eggs in the house for me to whip up something simple.  

I thought hard and long and decided to try making some oatmeal flats (yeah, I decided to call them that) for brekkie.

Here's the ingredients I use: 

• 3 tbsp oatmeal
• 1 tsp peanut butter
• raisins 

I added hot water to the oatmeal before adding the rest of the ingredients.   The consistency of the oatmeal has to be thick and not runny.

Then I cooked them on a non-stick pan for about 10 mins, flipping them often to prevent browning.  

Added some strawberries that my mum bought the night before and viola! 

EASY PEASY HOMEMADE BREAKFAST!!!!

I am a happy trooper!

The outer layer of the oatmeal flat was nice and crisp while the inside was still slightly soft and warm.  No extra sugar since the raisins are sweet enough.

Talk to you ladies soon!!!