KookyCulinary

Today’s preschooler bento consists of Spam (luncheon meat) Maki, “Blueberries Sunflower” and cheesestick.

I was very happy with the bento today because Lil’ C finally decided that she likes sushi including seaweed!! Yay!!! I have been trying to get her to eat nori for a long time but so far, she has never taken a liking for it till now. Anyway, according to a research study that I read long ago, sometimes you have to introduce a food up to 10 times before your child will eat them. So I kept trying & trying and now finally she’s eating it. One down, many more to go…. Next, hard-boiled eggs!! So that I can use my egg molds!! Hehe….

What do you think of my new flower silicone baking cups? I just love them. Got them at the local baking art & craft shop. I added some blueberries into the cup to make it look like sunflower. Isn’t it cute?

My first Daring Bakers Challenge!! I have to admit when I first saw the challenge, I was a little apprehensive because I’ve never ever made Crackers. Not only that, it had to be vegan-free and/or gluten-free. But hey, I joined the Daring Bakers to challenge myself, so I decided to give it a try.

The challenge this month was to make Lavash which is the soft Armenian flatbread and a dip. The recipe was taken from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. which happens to be sitting on my shelf collecting dust!!

Surprisingly it turned out to be really fun making the lavash crackers. The only problem I had was at the end when I got ambitious and tried to cut out the crackers with cookie cutters. The problem was that I had roll it really thin. So when I cut it, it was hard to remove without losing the shape. In the end, I ended up just cutting it into strips. Then I topped half of the dough with sesame seed and the other half with cinnamon sugar.

As for the dip, I ended up just making a simple peach salsa. The crackers turned out really crunchy and were a big hit with my 3 year old. She was just gobbling them up!

As I was baking the first batch, I realized that some of the dough were puffing up and they turned out to be the ones that were not rolled very thin. I decided to experiment and make the 2nd batch a little thicker. Then use the biscuit cutter to cut into rounds.

The dough puffed out a lot and the final product turned out just like mini pita bread! Since I didn’t have any filling, I just stuff some cheese and it was great. Another item to add my 3 year old’s lunch box. Overall, this recipe is a keeper and I am sure that I will be making it more often.

As requested, these are some of the pasta that I most commonly use to prepare macaroni & cheese for Lil’ C.

The 2 pasta in front are pre-packed type while the one at the back is the Lil’ C’s favorite flower pasta. However, even though I use the pre-packed type, I usually do not use the cheese powder that it comes with. Somehow the cheese powder is a little yellow for my liking. So I usually just use a piece of cheddar cheese with a little milk and add it to the cooked pasta to make my macaroni and cheese.

Anyway, back to the pasta, 3lilangels, your hubby should be able to find these pasta at most of the grocery stores in NYC. Hope this helps!

Lunch for my preschooler today includes little bunny macaroni & cheese, Applesauce, Whole wheat chicken nuggets & Nutella frosted cupcake

Sorry for the sporadic updates. Lil’ C started her preschool and other extra activities last week. It has been super crazy trying to adjust to the schedule. I have once again been relegated to my chauffering duties again. I seem to to driving her all the time between schools, playdates and other activities. Who knew that an almost 4 year old can have such a busy schedule!!

Anyway, here’s a backdated post on more grill stuff. I promised the hubby I would post all his hard work. I’ve got a couple more, so please bear with me, ok? Here’s another one.

Today’s grill platter consists of Aidell’s Chicken & Apple Sausage, Zucchini, Orange Bell Pepper, Brussel Sprouts and Corn.

I was shopping at Costco last week and guess what they had in the store? Christmas decorations! At first thought, it seems to be way too early to be thinking about Christmas but then again, maybe it might not be. At the rate the time seems to fly by, Christmas will be here before I realize it. So it not be a bad idea to start thinking about Christmas now.

Before I moved here, I have never cooked before. So when my family visits my food blog occasionally, they are a little suspicious that I made the food myself. I think for Christmas this year, I have a great idea for a Christmas present for my family. I am thinking of making a photo calendar filled with my own food photos to show them my creations. That way they will be able to be reminded that I can actually cook!! Haha!! I was looking at VistaPrint to see if I can start making my photo calendars. I notice that I can get 25% off if I use the coupon code o67592fklv. That sounds like a good deal to me. Looks like I better get started on this Christmas project.

What about you? How about a food photo calendar for your family too? I am sure that they will love it. Don’t forget to check out VistaPrint first for great deals.

I have a lot of kitchen gadgets that I don’t use. Mostly it’s those gadgets that I discover accidentally and thought that they are cute and might just come in handy someday, hopefully! : ) Well, this morning I found one gadget that I bought a long time ago but have never used it. It’s my crinkle-cut knife!!  I have no idea when & where I bought it. But it came in handy this morning. I used it to cut my carrot sticks to look like those crinkle-cut french fries. I think I should start going through my kitchen drawers. I might find something else useful!! hehe….

Anyway, today’s bento consists of Ham & Cheese Roll-up Sandwich, ”Carrot French-Fries”, Blueberries & Chocolate Chip Cookie. 

Since I had some puff pastry leftover from making the Portuguese Egg Tart, I decided to make palmiers. It is another super easy snack to make and very delicious.

How to make them?

• First, roll out the puff pastry into a rectangular shape.
• Sprinkle a layer of sugar on the silpat or flat board
• Lay the piece of puff pastry on the sugar
• Sprinkle more sugar on the pastry
• Then fold one side of the pastry towards the center
• Then fold the other side towards the center
• Repeat again till the pastry meets in the middle
• Then fold over just like a book
• Wrap the whole pastry in a clingwrap and chill in the fridge for about 1 hour
• Remove from fridge and slice the dough into thin pieces
• Place them on the baking tray and sprinkle a little more sugar on top
• Bake at 450 for about 5 mins or till caramelized. Turn the pastry over and bake for another 3-4 minutes.  

It has been donkey years since I last ate Portuguese egg tart. I remember I was still living in KL when the Portuguese egg tart was very popular. Everytime the bakery near my house comes out with a freshly baked tray of portuguese egg tart, it was instantly gone. I am sure that the novelty has since worn off but I still remember that I loved it.

So when I was browsing through one of recipe books and saw the recipe, I suddenly had a craving for Portuguese egg tart. It turned out to be a very easy recipe especially since I used the frozen ready-made puff pastry crust. The result . . . . .

The only problem I had was that I think the suggested oven temperature was a little too high for my oven. So I didn’t have the chance to let the top crust burn a little. I had to remove it early because the bottom crust was getting a little burnt. Next time I will probably lower the temperature a little. Tastewise, it was good. Will definitely make it again.

Recipe:
500gm puff pastry
200gm whipping cream
300gm milk
80gm sugar
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla

• Roll out the pastry to a rectangular shape. Then roll it up like a swiss roll. Chill in the fridge till firm.
• Cook the whipping cream and milk to 70C. Stir in sugar and cook till sugar dissolves.
• Add in the beaten eggs and egg yolks. Mix till well-blended. Add in vanilla. Set aside to cool.
• Divide the pastry into 25gm portions. Flatten the pastry and roll it out and press into muffin mold
• Pour the filling into the pastry and bake at 425 for 20-25 mins.

* Recipe source: Alex Goh’s Irresistible Pastry

Since it’s Lil’ C’s first day of preschool and she loves animals, I decided to make an animal bento filled with all her favorite food. Today’s bento consists of Chicken & Mozarella Ravioli in marinara sauce, broccoli, mandarin orange, colored gold fish and cheese animals.