We Love Mushroom Soup

So thankful for this recipe - it is how Peanut and I survived his ordeals with HFMD (yes, the dreaded Hand Foot Mouth Disease) and microplasma.

Homemade Mushroom Soup (adapted from Karen Cheng's blog)

Ingredients
400g (I use 500g) of button mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

60g of butter

1 medium onion, chopped finely

1 small garlic clove, chopped finely

1 L of chicken stock (I use ½ L of Campbell’s Swanson Chicken broth, diluted with 150ml water and 100ml milk)

150ml cream (I use 1 can 170g Nestle cream)

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1) Gently cook onion and garlic in butter, until brown. About 10 minutes.

2) Add mushrooms, stir for 10-15 minutes.

3) Add chicken stock. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

4) Stir in the cream.

5) Use a hand blender (or food processor) to blend the soup into a smooth consistency.

Serve hot with bread sticks or hard rolls. Serves 8-10 (Halved all portions of ingredients for 4-5 persons)

And it's a hit this Christmas, especially with the kids (from 3 to 18 y.o). This year we celebrated Christmas with 3 families - Christmas eve's dinner with our new found friends/neighbours, the Su family, Christmas lunch with the Seah family (this has become a traditional yearly affair) and of course, our family Christmas dinner. Hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas as much!

Banana Chocolate Muffins

It's been so long ... oops... so much to update, so little time.

We had spent time with cousins who trotted across the globe, nursed sick boys (the usual fever for S.P but a really nasty experience with Microplasma for Peanut - he had a high fever which hit 40 degrees C for a few days and could not walk because this particular strain of bacteria attacks the calf muscles! Took a whole week to recover, dah), gone on a holiday in Phuket, hosted Peanut's birthday party at home, attended 2 birthday parties, enjoyed the boys' first Mandarin speaking puppet show (The Monkey King's 3 encounters with the Skeleton Spirit - pardon, my crude translation), watched a play (Pinocchio - not too bad for a local production; almost magical except for the big blue bird which looked ghoulish), celebrated Halloween, visited the zoo (in torrential rain typical of this time of the year), went for our first McDonald's organised Superhero party, performed in the school's annual concert (the boys, I mean), had numerous playdates with neighbours' kids and watched the latest instalment of The Chronicles of Narnia - the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (highly recommended, totally captivating though a little long for Sweet Potato).

There, that's a quick summary. Well, until I find time to sort out my thoughts and photos for some of the backlog, here's a recipe to keep you distracted - for those who enjoy baking.

Banana Chocolate Muffins
(Adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe - see title link for original recipe)


2 very ripe or overripe medium bananas (or 3 if you like your muffins with a strong banana taste)

125ml vegetable oil (or 120g melted butter)

2 eggs

100g soft light brown sugar (or caster sugar)

225g plain flour

3 tablespoons (Nestle) cocoa powder, sifted

60g of grated dark chocolate (optional)

2 teaspoon of baking powder


1. Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a muffin tin with paper or muffin cases.
2. Mash the bananas by hand. Still beating and mashing, add the oil (or butter) followed by the eggs and sugar.
3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, grated chocolate and baking powder together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking out of their cases. Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack.
Serves: Makes 12

Pure Chocolate Indulgence

This is the easiest recipe I have come across for baking. I adapted it from Karen Cheng's blog. Any one can bake this. Trust me, I know - my helper, Wati, who has zero experience, succeeded on 1st try under minimal supervision and with some oral instructions (all whilst I was playing mahjong during our family Christmas gathering).

Chocolate Brownies

250 gms butter
1¼ cup of caster sugar
¾ cup Nestle baking cocoa
3 lightly beaten eggs
1¼ cup plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup mini marshmallows
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preparation:
1. Sift baking cocoa and flour into a large bowl.
2. Slowly melt butter and sugar in a saucepan, on low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in cocoa, flour, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in marshmallows and walnuts.
4. Pour into well greased pan (e.g. square cake tin) and smooth the surface.
5. Put into 180C (preheated) oven for 25 – 30 minutes.
6. Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes. Cut up brownie while warm.
7. [Optional] Dust with icing sugar. Serve while warm, with whipped cream or better still, ice-cream.

Happy baking!

Editorial Note made on 5 Jan: I have corrected above recipe to read 1¼ cup of caster sugar (instead of ¼ cup)

Soup for the Soul

Here's a recipe which I adapted from Karen Cheng's blog for wholesome beef soup:

1kg of beef bones, washed
1 oxtail, about 1 - 1.2 kg, washed (or substitute with 300g of tough beef cut, e.g. brisket, plate or flank)
2 large brown onions, peeled and quartered
2 stalks of celery, peeled and cut into medium pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
2 tomatoes, quartered (optional)
chopped rosemary
2 bay leaves
½ - 1 teaspoon of peppercorn (depending on whether you like it 'pepper-hot')
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soy sauce (optional)

1) Bring a medium pot of water to boil. Add bones, bay leaves, peppercorn and salt. Boil for at least 1/2 hour.
2) Add oxtail, onions, carrots and potatoes. Simmer on low heat for 2.5 hours.
3) If using tomatoes - Score the tomato skin, blanch in hot water and remove the curled skin
4) Add celery and tomatoes. Continue to simmer on low heat for 30 - 40 minutes.

Taste, add salt and soy sauce for seasoning, if required.

Yummy Biscuits

Here's a recipe I adapted from the back of a box of Nestle Corn Flakes:

200 g plain flour, 1 tbsp cocoa/Milo powder (A)

2 cups Nestle Honey Gold cereal finely ground (I used Nestle Corn Flakes)
100g white cooking chocolate, chopped or Van Houten choc chips
100g raisins (I cut this to 40g. Alternatively, drop the choc - otherwise you may risk having hyper kids)
100g chopped walnuts (Optional - I didn't use any)

250g butter
100g caster sugar
1 cup Nestle Corn Flakes, coarsely crushed (Again, optional)
2 teaspoons Nescafe coffee mix with 2 teaspoons water (Optional - I didn't use any)

Preparation
1. Sift together ingredients A. Stir in Nestle Honey Gold cereal, chopped choc, raisins and chopped walnuts. Set aside. (B)

2. Cream butter, sugar and Nescafe coffee mixture until fluffy (This step is important. The lighter the mixture, the crispier the biscuit. I used a manual whisk and got help from husband, Sweet Potato and domestic helper. The hard work is well worth it). Fold in flour mixture B and mix well until soft dough forms.

3. Drop teaspoonful of mixture into crushed Nestle Corn Flakes and roll until well coated. (Skip this step unless you are baking for someone who is crazy about cereals! I suspect Nestle is trying to push sales ...)

4. Place teaspoonful of mixture on lightly greased baking trays, allow room for spreading.

5. Bake in preheated 180 deg C oven for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and let it stand for 20 minutes or so.

It's real easy. I have done it 2x and got amazing feedback - "As good as Marks & Spencer", "Better than Mrs Fields", "Like Famous Amos" and to my surprise, even satisfied my most picky 'customers' - my husband and Peanut.