Profiteroles with Coffee Flavored Crème Patisserie and Chocolate Sauce

Profiteroles (cream puffs) have never been a favorite dessert of mine. I blame it on my experiences with choux pastry when I was younger – the slightly salty flavor and texture made me wanted to vomit. Since then, I’ve grown up believing that I disliked choux pastry, and anything that was made with it. That was until I decided to make profiteroles for dessert one Christmas.

I wasn’t going to fill them with vanilla-laced sweetened cream (chantilly), nor was I going to fill it with ordinary crème patisserie (pastry cream) - I was going to use coffee flavored crème patisserie. Of course, they’d have to be served with dark chocolate sauce!

Scallops with Soba Noodles in Black Bean Sauce

This is a real cheats’ way of making noodles in a garlic and black bean sauce.

The dish is jam-packed full of vegetables and is generally a lot healthier than the stir-fried noodles that you can get from a Chinese (Asian) restaurant.

Thin Crust Pizza Dough

You will never believe how long I spent on perfecting my pizza dough. Four years! It took me over four years to perfect it. I played around the amounts of yeast, flour, water, oil, types of flour, temperatures of the oven, length of cooking times, cooking with/without a pizza stone… argghh…

I don't like pizzas that are heavy, with tons of topping and a thick dense crust. I like the Italian-style, light, airy, thin crusted pizza that you don't eat by the slice, but you serve on a plate. Ones that are delicate, yet tasty, without the fear of future stomach upsets. So, if you’d like to make a thin crust pizza at home, look no further, this pizza dough is the one for you!

Lor Mai Fan - Savory Chinese Sticky Rice

Sticky rice is also known as glutinous rice. And although it may confuse quite a few people, glutinous rice does not contain gluten. It is simply called glutinous because of its sticky nature when cooked. When served plain, it is completely safe for a gluten-free diet.

Quick and Easy Vegan Banana & Walnut Cake

Cake for breakfast sounds a little over-indulgent. But if you call this a bread instead – maybe it will take away some of its indulgence.

It’s not the prettiest of cakes, but it’s absolutely delicious. It has a crispy crust, which encases a slightly sweet, fluffy and light interior, which carries a hint of banana and the crunch of walnuts. It’s just perfect for breakfast/brunch.

Egg Fried Rice

Fried rice is such a quick, simple, but highly versatile dish. It’s great for a week-day dinner, and you can put anything you want in it.

This version is a lot healthier than the fried rice from a Chinese (Asian) restaurant. It is made from brown rice, scrambled egg and is loaded with vegetables. It also is made using only 1 teaspoon of oil, and not a ladleful.

Tandoori Chicken Skewers

This is a delicious recipe that you can use to make roasted tandoori chicken or grilled (broiled) chicken skewers. The skewers are particularly delicious with rice and salad, or in pita/naan bread.

Baked Chicken Spring Rolls

You should see the pancake/spring rolls my Dad makes for the family business, they are HUGE. They are close to 15 x 5 cm (6 x 2 inches) and are a meal in themselves. My parents have been running their business since the late 60’s and their pancake rolls haven’t changed over the years. My Dad makes every single one of them from scratch, including their skins. The mini spring rolls found in Oriental (Asian) eateries now are no comparison.

Cornbread Muffins

Wow, finally a cornbread recipe that we like!

This recipe has no added oil and will give you light, yet moist cornbread, without the cloying sweetness that haunts many cornbread recipes. If you like your cornbread a little sweeter, add some sugar, according to your taste.

Spinach & Tofu Curry

I try to cook at least one dinner a week that has no meat in it. To ensure that we have enough protein for the day, I usually substitute the meat for beans or tofu.

The ingredients of this curry are nothing special. However, it is well balanced with fruit, vegetables and protein, and when served with rice, it will give you a good square meal. It’s a truly robust curry, full of flavor and easily digestible.

Fasolia Gigantes - Greek Giant Butter Beans

Here is a Mediterranean dish that is regularly served at a meze. The dish consists of giant beans cooked in tomato sauce. They bear some resemblance to the British baked beans, only they’re tastier!

Sometimes the beans are baked, but I’m far too lazy for that, so I simply cook them on my hob (stove top). You can also save time, and use canned butter (white lima) beans instead of rehydrating dry beans.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone soup is one of those mish-mash foods, like fried rice - it could include anything. The usual minestrone usually has a bunch of veggies in a tomato-based soup; sometimes it has meat, beans and pasta too!

This version has mild-spiced Italian-style chicken sausage, pasta and loads of veggies. Because this soup contained pasta, there was no need for any bread for this meal.

Pain Allemand aux Fruits – German Fruit Bread

I’ve worked with Kaspar's a few times and on one occasion, he had these delicious fruit & nut crostini. They were similar to the fruit and nut crostini/crackers that you can get in grocery stores. The only difference is, Kaspar being Kaspar, the crostini were homemade. They were so damn good - I couldn’t stop snacking on them whilst working.

I really NEEDED to recreate them at home. They’re basically bread studded with fruit and nut, sliced really thin and toasted until crisp. How hard can it be?

Cajun Spice

I can’t believe that I used to buy Cajun spice. It was not only expensive, but it was always so salty. I did a bit of looking around and created the following Cajun spice recipe.

Use it to make blackened meat/fish, chili con carne, in soup or pop some into your fajitas.

Vegan Dark Chocolate Truffles

Mmmm....there’s nothing quite like homemade chocolate truffles. Once you’ve made these, you'll never look at the store-bought ones in quite the same way.

These truffles are made with a coconut milk base, that’s no cream or butter! How cool is that?

Tuna Paste

Tuna paste really doesn’t have a romantic ring to it, does it? I guess I could call it tuna spread, but it’ll always be tuna paste to me.

I have fond memories of when this tuna spread and I were first introduced. J and I were enjoying a wonderful vacation in Southern Portugal, when we decided to pop into a Brazilian restaurant for dinner. Don’t ask me why we wanted to eat at a Brazilian restaurant when we’re in the Algarve, but I blame it to the fact we had been there 2+ weeks and had gotten a little bored of the local fare.

Chocolate Lava Cakes

This recipe for chocolate lava cakes is not for the faint hearted – they’re pretty deadly! I made them one Christmas for dessert, and even for chocolate lovers, like us, one small ramekin would have been plenty.

The dessert has a light chocolate-sponge encasing a pool of liquid chocolate. Depending on how long you cook the cakes, you either get a huge pool of liquid chocolate or a very moist cake.

Leek & Goat Cheese Quiche

Spinach & pine-nut, Lorraine, ham & broccoli, roasted red pepper and goat cheese are all flavors of quiche that I love.

Quiche is more often than not, loaded with saturated fat. Take the rich-buttery crust, which is then filled with a custard base with far too much cream, full-fat milk and to top it off tons of cheese.

I tone down the fat in my quiche by using a mixture of unsweetened soy milk and water; I also use very strong mature (sharp) cheese, if required – that way, you only need a tiny bit. There's a natural rich creaminess to the egg custard from the duck eggs I use. You can slim down the recipe further by using layers of unbuttered filo- (phyllo-) pastry for the crust. {I will be posting the slimmed down version of this quiche later.}

Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a dish typically found in the east of the Mediterranean and throughout the Middle East. It’s a wonderful dish that is light, refreshing and goes well with any grilled meats or fish.

Although traditionally made with bulgur wheat, I have seen variations in the US with quinoa!

Oil-Free Plantain Chips

I was first introduced to the plantain in the mid-90s, when I lived with a good friend, and fellow chemist from Saint Lucia. Not being typical students, we cooked every night, alternating between us. She used to always make something really special when it was her turn, but then later realized I enjoyed the more rustic, everyday traditional Caribbean food. Man, I miss her rustic food!

When I first made these chips, I had an obsession with Trader Joe’s roasted plantain chips. I often scoffed a bag when I got home from work – I was tired and needed some energy, but with 900 calories per bag, that’s almost 2/3 of my daily calorie intake! They were damn addictive! Once the bag was open, I had to finish them all - they were slightly salty, very crunchy and they have this indescribable floury/starchy texture.

Chocolate Syrup

Last summer, I had this thing for Caffé Ladro’s dark chocolate mocha, made with soy milk. Don’t ask me why, I’m usually a double espresso girl.

As most people know, any blended espresso drinks aren’t cheap and it can soon turn out to be an expensive habit.

With a dark chocolate mocha, I know that it consists of milk, chocolate syrup and coffee – sounds easy enough to replicate at home, right? I also know that MOST store-bought chocolate syrups are packed full of nasties, such as corn syrup. Thus, I was in the hunt for a good chocolate syrup recipe. My hunt came to an end when I found this recipe. It sounded easy and I had all the organic ingredients at hand.

Viennese Fingers

This is one of my recipes that I usually dig out when we need a host/hostess gift. I love to package them in a cellophane bag, tie it with a red bow and pop an ingredients tag onto it.

The trick to a good Viennese finger is the butter. Use the best European butter you can find/afford for this recipe.

These Viennese fingers are slightly crisp, buttery and melt in the mouth. They are quick to make, taste delicious, and the recipient will certainly thank you for them.

Olive Tapenade

Olives are like Marmite - you either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. In my earlier years, I was a little tentative in trying new foods. Growing up in a family that had sit-down traditional Chinese meals every dinner, olives were one of those “new” foods. It was only when I met J, did I start being more adventurous.

I absolutely adore the well-ripened black olives, but don’t really care for the unripe green ones. I particularly like the ones that aren’t salted. It’s something about their delicious richness when you bite into their flesh, releasing all their oily goodness.

Vegan Mango Ice-Cream

I love mangoes and I love ice-cream. However, we are allergic to American dairy! Although this recipe is not technically ice-cream, it is an excellent iced-dessert. If you want to use full-fat (whole) milk, please do so.

Because the mangoes I use are ultra-sweet, there’s no added sugar/sweetener required. There’s also no cream, and if you opt to use a milk-substitute it becomes Vegan. There’s simply the goodness of fruit and a splash of milk. If you use unsweetened soy/non-fat milk, there are 65 calories per 100 g (1/2 c) in this ice cream. Who said you can’t have your cake ice-cream and eat it?

100% Whole-Wheat Sultana Bread

With the success of the 100% whole-wheat bread recipe, I wanted to create a whole-wheat sultana loaf that was tender, soft and speckled with sultanas and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the dough mix not rising much after I waited over 1 hour for the first prove, but I persevered. On the second prove, I was still unimpressed. After waiting 2 hours, I gave up, spritzed it with water, sprinkled on some sugar and bunged it in the oven. Every time I peeked at the loaf baking in the oven, I didn’t see any vertical movement. When I took the bread out of the oven I thought I had created a cannon-ball bread, rock hard with no air bubbles.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a slightly modified version of Chewy Chocolate Chip & Walnut Cookies. I substituted some peanut butter for butter, which added a new depth of flavor. What could be better than peanut butter with chocolate???

The recipe is definitely a keeper - they are slightly crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and full of choco-peanutty goodness.

Chili con Carne Soup

Chili con carne is what we used to make as students, only there was less carne, and more of the frijoles. That was because we had very little money and beans were cheaper than meat!

One of my favorite quotes from J is “the only difference between a stew or a soup, is the amount of water added”. It’s very true! To water down chili con carne would give you chili con carne soup!

Dairy-Free Tikka Masala

The exact origins of tikka masala are unknown. However, it is now labeled as the “true national dish of Britain”. Apparently, one in seven curries sold in the UK is tikka masala!

Chicken tikka masala is one of those dishes that most carnivorous Brits enjoy. That includes me! It’s a curry dish where roasted chunks of chicken (tikka) are served in a creamily rich, lightly spiced, tomato-based sauce. Although chicken is relatively popular, there are other varieties including lamb.

100% Whole-Wheat Bread

Unfortunately, most 100 % whole-wheat breads are solid-as-a-brick.I never thought it was possible to create a 100 % whole-wheat bread that was deliciously light, soft and airy. I was so dubious that I didn’t believe it until I tasted the end product!

The recipe may seem a little long winded, but it really is worth it.

Chewy Chocolate Chip & Walnut Cookies

I’m not a cookie person. I’ll eat one once in a while, but I just don’t crave those big, sugar and fat laden, chewy cookies.

When I saw this recipe for Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie, I naturally had to try a batch to see what all the fuss was about. I mean with 4 ½ stars over 4000 reviews? Surely, they must be something to write home about.