Give, And It Will Be Given To You

Have you tried any recipes from Jamie Oliver's new cookbook, Save With Jamie? Well, this is my first recipe from the book. It was no surprise I chose this tray bake as the first recipe because I have always love Jamie Oliver's tray bakes. They are so effortless to prepare, and when cook with everyday common ingredients you can get superb flavours too. Besides that, tray bakes are great to feed a large crowd.

What I like about this book is that it is categorised into vegetarian, chicken,beef, lamb, pork and seafood, making it easier for one to find a recipe with a single main ingredient.  It also contains lots of money saving tips. The meat section has each a "Mothership" recipe of a large roast from an affordable cut of meat meant to cook to give you leftovers, and there are recipes using these leftovers. The recipes range are also wide. There are stir fries, curries, pastas, pizzas and burgers.

This tray bake may be Italian influenced but you don't have to eat it with bread, polenta or potatoes. It goes very well with rice too.  When you have balsamic vinegar with garlic,peppers and red onions combined, you get this incredibly sweet roasted flavour which I love very much. The recipe calls for skinless and boneless thighs but I find it a tad dry after roasting for an hour without skin. Next time, I shall roast it whole. I also used balsamic glaze which I prefer,  for a sharper and  more intense flavour. I have done an estimated cost of this meal and it was slightly above my daily budget family meal..


Hit 'N' Run Chicken
Save With Jamie, Page 100
serves 4(5)
Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes

4 large ripe tomatoes
2 red onions
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, chop into 2s
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 a bunch of fresh thyme, 15g
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
I fresh red chilli sliced

Method

• P{reheat the oven to 180C. Quarter the tomatoes and place them in a large baking dish or roasting tray. Peel the onions and cut into large wedges, then deseed and chop the peppers. Add all these to the tray along with the chicken thighs.
• Squashed the unpeeled garlic cloves with the back of your knife and add to the tray, then pick over the thyme leaves and sprinkle over the paprika. Add the oil,balsamic and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Toss everything together really well to coat, then spread across the tray, making sure the chicken isn't covered by the vegetables. Roast for around 1 hour, or until chicken is golden and cooked through, turning and basting it a couple of times during cooking with the juices from the tray.
• Serve the tray bakes with a lovely green salad on the side. You could also buddy it up with a little rice, polenta or a loaf of crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Estimated cost: 6 thighs $10, red pepper $2.10, yellow pepper $1.70, Thyme $1.90, onions and garlic 50cents, tomatoes $1.
Total Cost: $17.20(Singapore dollars). 

Linking this post to Cook-Your-Books hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

I have just started volunteering to bring the home residents out on outings and I really enjoyed doing it. It gives me a good feeling and changes my perspective on what is important in life.
Last Wednesday, the residents visited the Singapore Flyer. Many of these residents are wheelchair bound and have been staying in the home for many years. The elderly and disabled love to go out and savour the sights and sounds beyond the four walls of their nursing home. Outings give them the chance to experience a change of scenery and to exercise. The outing has to be fairly short too and always ends with a local lunch which they always look forward to. Most of them miss the food from outside and they get to choose to eat their favourite food. This  is something which we always take for granted.
Although I am not the one who organised this outing, I know many special considerations and detailed planning are needed.  The elderly and disabled persons have specific needs and requirements, and one needs to make sure there are facilities catered to them, like wheelchair ramps and sheltered walkways.

"There is no better exercise for your heart, than reaching down and helping to lift someone up." Bernard Miltzer.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38

The Virgin Will Conceive

Love, love this recipe. I was tempted to use my recently bought bread machine to knead the dough but decided to go with the recipe and used the mixer instead.

I baked this into two loaves with one 8" x 3.5" x 3" loaf tin and another in a smaller 7" x 3" x 2.5" using half of the recipe.

The cinnamon sugar is just nice, not too sweet and I like the texture too. It is not overly dense and not too cottony soft. Surprisingly, the bread remains fresh and soft the next day. I gave away the bigger loaf to a filipino friend and was glad to know her family enjoyed it. This is her text message to me

If you like the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, you will like this bread too.  This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks to the host who chose this recipe.

Brown Sugar Raisin Bread

Williams -Sonoma

Adapted from shopmaria

makes 1 loaf

Ingredients

1/2 tbsp active dry yeast

1 1/2 tbs granulated sugar

1/2 cup warm water + 2 tbsp

1/2 cup warm milk

25g salted butter, melted

1 tsp salt

1 egg

3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup raisins

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

• In a small bowl, combine the yeast, a little bit of sugar and a 1/4 cup of warm water. Cover and let stand for five minutes, until the mixture gets frothy. Set aside.
• In your electric mixer bowl, combine the rest of the water, the warm milk, the rest of the sugar, salt, and egg and a cup of flour. Mix for a couple of minutes, then add in the raisins and continue mixing.
• Add the rest of the flour and beat on medium speed until a soft dough forms (if the dough is tooo sticky add a little more flour) 
• Using the dough hook attachment, knead for five minutes. Then, form the dough into a ball, place it in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place for an hour.
• Line a standard size loaf pan with parchment paper.(greased pan) Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and roll it into an 8 x 12 rectangle. In a little bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, then evenly sprinkle it over the rectangle.
• Tightly roll up the dough jelly-roll style beginning at the narrow end until you get a log. Pinch the ends and transfer the log into your prepared pan (make sure you place it in the pan seam side down). Cover it loosely and let rise for another hour and a half.
• Preheat your oven to 350F. Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until the top is beautifully golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing and eating.

Linking this post to Bake-Along hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce for Kitchen Flavours and

Lena of Her Frozen Wings.

I love this belated birthday gift from an old friend H. She did the engraving herself and I am very touched by her warm and sincere friendship. I believe in Miracles because I believe in Jesus! Do you believe in miracles?

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means "God with us"). Matthew 1:23

Impress Them On Your Children

Here's a barbecue tofu pizza I created with leftovers. Made from Pioneer Woman pizza dough, homemade barbecue sauce( recipe coming up), mozzarella, firm tofu and arugula.  This is a meatless pizza with tofu as a substitute for chicken.

This pizza not only looks so awesome but hearty and tasty as well.  I had two pieces of these for my dinner and younger son finished the rest within seconds while I was cooking his pasta.  I love the tangy taste of this pizza and it was delicious with the melting mozzarella. The tofu do taste a little like chunky chicken breast to any unsuspecting carnivores.  It could have been nicer if I had left the pizza longer in the oven to brown the crust longer but I was too hungry and impatient.

 Tofu Pizza

Ingredients

I pizza dough
3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 cup mozzarella or more
1 firm tofu
1 tsp cajun seasoning
salt to taste
ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoon flour
olive oil
half a bag of arugula



Method

• Cut tofu into small cubes and season with cajun seasoning, salt and ground pepper. Dredge tofu in flour and pan fried in hot oil. Set aside.

• Preheat oven to 200C. Roll and pull  pizza dough thinly, Brush olive oil on a pan and lay pizza dough. Spread the barbecue sauce and toss tofu with the remaining sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella and add tofu pieces. Sprinkle more mozzarella and bake in lower rack of hot oven. Bake till crust is golden brown and cheese is completely melted, about 10-15 minutes. Serve with arugula leaves.

Linking this post to Little Thumbs Up 'Tofu' hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake, organized by Zoe of
Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My little favourite DIY.

Sunday School

Sunday School celebrated Children's Day last week with the theme Let's Go Japan. The speaker was the church missionary to Japan. She spoke to the children about the geographical background and climate of Japan.
 She also shared about the culture and custom of the Japanese children and their spiritual beliefs. The children later learnt to sing in Japanese and played games at various games stations. They were also given goody bag with Japanese snacks. The children enjoyed the day and there was even a request to "go" China next year. Praise God!

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Deuteronomy 6:7

See What Great Love The Father Has Lavished On Us

When my late mum was bedridden from illness, my dad cooked for the family. Although I was often away from home, I remember well some of the dishes he cooked for us, and this Steamed Tofu with Century Eggs is one of my favourite. I like this dish simply because I love any food that is made from soy beans.

This tofu dish is incredibly economical, easy and fast to prepare. Every ingredients in this dish can be estimated and you do not need to follow accordingly.

 To prepare for 2-3 persons serving, You need about 70gm of fish paste and 70gm of minced pork.

Mix the pork and fish paste. Add in tofu and mash together with the pork and fish paste. Season with ground white pepper.

Add in 1 chopped century eggs and 1 finely sliced fresh chilli (deseeded). Steam for 5-8 minutes.

Garnish with roughly chopped coriander and fried shallots.

Linking this post to Little Thumbs Up 'Tofu' hosted by Mich of Piece of Cake, organized by Zoe of
Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little favourite DIY.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
1 John 3:1

I am the Bread of Life

Recently I purchased a basic bread machine just for kneading purpose.  I have always used the mixer with hook attachment for kneading but think I might have overworked the poor mixer. One of the base rubber stopper is missing and the machine becomes noisy and shakes vigorously when I increase the speed.
Since the purchase, I have used the bread machine several times and I am very pleased with it.  This Hokkaido Milk Toast which I have baked a few times before have never tasted so good!  Soft and fluffy the way Hokkaido Milk Toast should be.

Like many others who have baked this, I refer to Christine's recipe using the tangzhong method.


Hokkaido Milk Toast
makes 2 loaves
each loaf tin size:20.5cm x 10.5cm x 9.5cm

Ingredients

540gm bread flour
86gm caster sugar
8gm salt
9gm full cream milk powder
11gm instant dried yeast
86gm whisked egg
59gm whipping cream
54gm milk
184gm tangzhong method
49gm unsalted butter, melted

Method (to make one loaf)

• Add all ingredients (except butter) into a breadmaker,first the wet ingredients (milk,cream,egg,tangzhong), then followed by the dry ingredients (salt,sugar,milk powder,bread flour,yeast). select the "dough" mode).When all ingredients come together, pour in the melted butter, continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. The time of kneading in the breadmaker is about 30 minutes. then let the dough complete the 1st round of proofing, about 40 minutes, best temperature for proofing is 28C humidity 75%, until double in size.
• Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface. Deflate and divide into 3 equal portions. Cove with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.'Roll out each portion of the dough with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Fold 1/3 from top edge to the middle and press. Then fold 1/3 from bottom to the middle and press. Turn seal downward. Roll flat and stretch to about 30cm in length. With seal upward, roll into a cylinder. With seal facing down, place in the loaf tins to have the 2nd round of proofing until double in size. The best temperature for nd round proofing is 38C,humidity 85%.
• Brushed whisked egg on surface. Bake in a pre-heated 180C oven for 30-35 minutes, until turns brown. Remove from the oven and transfer onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Tangzhong

50gm bread flour

250ml water

• Mix flour in water well without any lumps. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring consistently with a wooden spoon, whisk to prevent burning and sticking while you cook along the way. The mixture becomes thicker and thicker. Once you notice some :lines: appear in the mixture for every stir you make with the spoon, it's done. You get the tangzhong. Remove from heat.
• Transfer into a clean bowl. Cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface of tangzhong to prevent from drying up Let cool. the tangzhong can be used straight away once it cools down to room temperature. The leftover tangzhong can be stored in fridge up to a few days as long as it doesn't turn grey. If so, you need to discard and cook some more.

Note: The chilled tangzhong should return to room temperature before adding into other ingredients.

This post is linked to Bake- Along organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Lena of  Frozen Wings and Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.