Chinese Fried Rice & Beanshoots Fried Noodles

As its the holiday seasons, visitors do pop by now and then and the fastest way to whip up some tummy filling food is to fry some noodles or rice (that's if you are lucky enough to have overnight rice in your fridge).  I am also pretty happy when these 1-dish meal turns out to be yummylicious and my guests ask for seconds. Here's two photos which we took before we gobbled up these 1-dish meals.  I am trying to improve my photo taking and one of my friends suggested for me to have a red background....it looks pretty good, ya?!  *wink*

Simple Chinese Fried Rice

Beanshoots Fried Bee Hoon

****

New Project - S E W I N G

Yup, you heard right. Besides cooking, I am going to start sewing. My other half bought me a Toyata Sewing Machine. He said that its time for both of us to start sewing....ha!ha! Well, I have sew a few simple clothes before...a recon of my other half's Polo Shirts to toddler's pants, onesies to dresses, etc. That really saved lots of money for me as kids' clothing is as and even more expensive than adult clothing.  So, what's on my sewing list so far:

a) Ben10 printed pants for my prince
b) Dora printed dress for my princess
c) Jeans pants for my prince and princess
d) Summer dress for little old me

Wish me luck!!!

Strawberries

I am not a person who has a green thumb in the family...my other half has that. He said that its true relaxation when he does the gardening. For me, baking is my true relaxation. He has been trying to create his own magical garden at the back of our house which he can show his kiddos.  Too much of Better Homes and Gardens...ha!ha!

One of the first plants he wanted to grow were strawberries.  He did his research and ta-daa....here's the outcome of his hardwork. Our own strawberries... Verdict - Very Sweet!!!

Gingerbread House made from Sugar Cookies Dough

My little prince of 4 years heard so much about gingerbread houses from TV, school, friends, etc and he wanted to decorate one this year.  He was very insistent and since no one in the house likes gingerbread cookies, I decided to build a gingerbread house with sugar cookies dough.  It was quite sturdy and it really made my prince and princess's day.  My little prince commented that it looks like the witch house he watched at Super Why - Hansel and Gretel!!!  As my 2 precious are still young, I did not want to spend the rest of the day cleaning up my carpets. So, I decided to use a tray....ha!ha!....lazy mummy, ain't I.

Here's a photo where my 2 precious started decorating the house.  As you can see, I did not buy much decorations.  I only used what's in the house ~ M&Ms, Candy Canes and Wafer Rolls.

Here's another photo where my 2 precious started eating the M&Ms and wafer rolls and left the house unattended...ha!ha!

Here's another photo where my 2 precious decided that they have finished decorating the house and enough is enough...ha!ha!

I must say that I am really happy that the sugar cookies dough turned out quite sturdy and seeing my 2 kiddos happy faces really worth it (spending so much time in the kitchen baking the walls, roof, assembling the house, icing the house, etc). One of my buddies commented that its so plain looking, nothing to shout about, etc...well, I really don't care coz this is just something for my 2 precious to play with and experience the whole process of decorating the gingerbread house.  Its pretty magical watching my 2 kiddos at work.. :)

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Cinnamon Rolls and Mixed Fruits Ring Bread

I wanted to try something more creative with my bread dough and I decided to add in more sugar to make it a sweet bread dough. This enables me to create cinnamon rolls and mixed fruits ring bread.  My other half and my 2 kiddos really wallop these babies in a day. Hmm...I guess they got tired of my plain old breads....ha!ha!

Talking about cinnamon rolls, a buddy of mine calls it honey buns. It sounds delicious and she made some for me recently. It really taste and looks like cinnamon rolls. So, when I baked some cinnamon rolls and gave some to her, she thought it was honey buns...ha!ha! Oh well...cinnamon rolls, honey buns, cinnamon buns, cinnamon snails...whatever...it just taste delicious.  Here's a photo of my cinnamon buns...

Here's a photo of my mixed fruits ring bread.  I cut it into 2 as my kids wanted to look at the fruits inside of the ring bread....curiosity kills the cat as they say...ha!ha!

Chow Mein (Stir-Fried Noodles)

Noodles like rice is a staple food in my family. So, its very common to see us eating rice and noodles every single day. In Chinese, chow means stir-fried and mein means noodles. One can really get creative when you want to whip up this 1-dish meal. You can go from plain vegetarian to assorted meat and seafood combo. Today my kiddos requested for a wetter version of the chow mein. I saw this chow mein at safeway and decided to buy a packet to try...just to see if my kiddos will like it as much as the fresh noodles.

Here's the photo of the dried chow mein which I bought.

As I was rushing for time, I made the simplest version. Fried some garlic, ginger and onion and add in chicken meat and fishballs and stir-fry till its fragrant. Next, I add in the sauces, carrot and cabbage and lastly the noodles.  When its boiling, I add in the beaten eggs and sauce cornstarch water to thicken the sauce. Here's a photo of the final product.  Verdict - my 2 kiddos loved it...ha!ha!  That's what every mother will want to see and hear... :)

Bread...Plaited & Focaccia

I love making my own bread as I will not use any preservatives....not too good for my 2 kiddos. My princess was asking for plaited bread as she loves the pattern. When one of my buddies came to visit us, she commented that I made a nice looking challah but how come I made only 1. Silly me did not know much about challah and I googled to feed my curiosity. I found out that its a traditional shabbat meal on a Friday night meal begins with blessing over 2 challahs.  This is indeed very interesting.

I also made focaccia bread and from what I know, its a flatbread from Italy.  It might be similar to a pizza but it actually is not.  Most of the time, focaccia is baked flatbread with toppings of olive oil, herbs and salt.  Of course, you can be creative and you can make your own creation.

Here's a photo of my plaited bread and focaccia.....

Pita Bread

Pita bread is also known as a flat bread and I believe that its eaten everywhere. No matter which country we have visited, we have found this little baby.  When we were in Greece, we found out from the waiter that pita means "flat".  I was very excited to try this in my little oven...just wanted to test and see if it will separate to form an internal pocket and thus creating pocket pitas.  Well, well, well...amazingly, my little oven did a good job with it....here's some photos!!!

Pita bread baking in the oven...

Here's a photo of the end result....