Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Tarts

 I felt like eating tarts, so I made this. The yellow ones are egg tarts, they are so easy to make, while the other pecan tarts have blueberry sour cream filling in it. I wanted to use up my blueberry pie filling so I tried this new invention, it's actually not bad, but I still prefers the egg tart better.

 I used the tenderflake pie shells, when it's on sale you can get it as cheap as $1.99 a box of 12 tarts shell, so I don't bother making pie shells because they are inexpensive and taste good. I will make some real pecan tart, someday when I have the time. I am just lazy, this is fast and convenient. Didn't take me much time.

For the egg tart, I just cracked an egg, and beat gently, add almost the same amount of milk with the egg, with a tablespoon of sugar ( you can add more or less, depending if you prefer it sweeter or not as sweet), and then I pour it into the shells, mine made 6 tarts (with one egg). I used to follow this recipe from Little Corner of Mine's blog, now I just got lazier, skipped everything, yet it still taste good, so I don't bother following the measurements anymore. It will look better without the bubbles if you strain the eggs, but it's just for me to eat..so I didn't bother all those steps.

I baked my tarts in the oven at 350 for 25-30 minutes. For those blueberry tarts, I used 3 tablespoon of blueberry fillings, 1 tablespoon of sour cream, 2 teaspoon of sugar, and I topped it with pecan. It's actually pretty good. The blueberry pecan tart takes a longer time to bake compared to the egg tart, and I still prefer the egg tart, it's my all time favourite.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Sour Cream Pork Tenderloin


This recipe is also from Happy Heart Recipes, by Heather Williams, a registered dietitian. There's a lot of good recipes from this recipe book,  it has been passed down from my in law's family. It's one of our mostly used recipes book as it has a lot of healthy recipes in the book, one that I can truly recommend.

1lbs lean pork tenderloin, cut into 12 pieces
1 can beef broth low fat, low sodium 284 ml campbell's
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs finely chopped onion
2 tbs ketchup
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbs flour
1/2 cup 1% light sour cream

1. Pound pork pieces into thin medallions
2. Cook pork in a pan, until brown.
3. Add 1/2 can beef bouillon, brown sugar, onion, ketchup and garlic. Cover. Simmer 30-40 mins or until tender.
4. In a small bowl, combine flour and 1/2 can buillon. Stir well until combined and smooth. Add to cooking liquid, stirring constantly. Cook until thickened, approx 1 min. Stir in sour cream. Heat thoroughly, do not boil. Serve sauce over pork tenderloin. Serve with pasta or rice.

Happy eating!


Monday, January 28, 2013

Mexican Salsa Chicken


This is one of our favourite meal, from the Happy Heart Recipes, it's simple yet delicious. Healthy, and taste good too.
Ingredients;
4 chicken breasts
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cumin
2 tsp melted margarine
1/4 cup mild tomato salsa or 1/2 cup low fat spaghetti sauce
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Dip chicken in water, place crumbs and seasoning in plastic bag, add chicken, shake bag to coat well.
3. Place chicken on greased cookie sheet. Drizzle with melted margarine. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Place 1 tbs salsa on each chicken/ 2 tbs spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake for another 5-7 minutes more until cheese melts, serve.

For my lazy method, I did not measure everything. I used 4 chicken breasts, sprinkle bread crumbs and seasoning on top, bake for 30 minutes, get it out, put the salsa and grated cheese, without measuring, just put enough on top of each pieces. It worked for me. I am just lazy, doing all the short cuts. You can even make your own salsa.

For my salsa recipe, I cut up cherry tomatoes (or any other tomatoes) add 1 chopped jalapeno pepper, a little bit of garlic and onion, some lime juice, cilantro(chopped) and salt and pepper to taste, as simple as that. Just need to let it sit for an hour or so to let the flavour develop.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Leftover Ham Casserole


What to do when you have too much ham after Christmas or Thanksgiving? We had the same problem so I searched for a recipe to use up the ham, after eating baked ham for the past 3 days. I found this recipe, it has a lot of veges, at least a little healthier, and we do have most of the ingredients. It turn out pretty good, it's more like a comfort food, reminds me of sheperd pie for some reason.

This is another recipe from Allrecipe, my favourite wesite for recipes, they do have good stuff, and I always read all the reviews before making them, because it really helps. I'm saving this in my blog, in case if I need to make this again someday, good thing we don't buy ham very often, they are so salty, not healthy at all, so we have to make the best out of it. The other way of using up the ham is to make Hawaiian pizza. Pizza is always good with ham and pineapple.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

1 Minute of Happiness

Laughter is the best medicine. Nothing beats the laughter of a cute little baby. It's the best gift of all.

Saving money?

My friend commented about my couponing habit and buying things on special the other day. You might have wondered why do I always buy things on special in bulk, I was never like that before, becoming more of a couponist after I watched the show Extreme Couponing on TLC. I still buy things that is better quality, as hubby is very picky about what we eat and use. He reads the label for everything everytime, and taught me how to become a person that read labels too. 

I think I spent less by couponing, not to the extreme, that only happens in the USA, not in Canada. Here's a couple websites that you can go to if you are looking for coupons.

http://save.ca/
https://www.brandsaver.ca/en_ca/coupons/
http://www.mcdonalds.ca/ca/en/promotions/coupons.html
http://www.bulkbarn.ca/en-ca/coupons.html

Actually, you can just Google the place you want to go get stuff, and add coupon, and search. Usually it works for me, unless they do not have the coupons. A lot of people do not know that you can use coupons, or do price match at groceries stores such as Walmart, No Frills and FreshCo. I save a lot of money by doing all this. I believe that, why would I pay more if I can get it for less, for the same items? People thinks that it's inconvenient, and they have their own judgement about it, well it's your money after all. People like to complain how expensive everything is, and how they can't afford anymore, well this is a way to live, another alternative. Live better, cheaper. 

Why am I so cautious with my money? Firstly I am not working anymore, and I do not like to ask money from hubby, or anyone else. Here's my story. I left home after high school, I got a good job, in a big city with only $600 in my bank, it's for rental, transportation, food and everything else. I did not get paid until after 2 months, so I had to survive with just $600. I lived from pay check to pay check. When I was 20 I bought my own house. I worked very hard. I survived in a real hard world, I was also very naive back then. And then my brother had family problem, I gave him all the money I had. I did not even have any money left in my bank, and I used the rest for the new house that I've just bought. 

I remembered I had to eat whatever I had in the fridge and pantry, as I do not have any money at all to spend. Every penny counted. I made good money but when there's emergency, I just had to help them out. I was that naive. I was stupid. I don't think I will do that now anymore, because I don't think I was being appreciated at all. I had to take the bus instead of the cab because I did not have money to spend for transportation. It was tough time. That's what makes me who I am today. If I haven't been through all that I would have not appreciate every single thing as much. 

I believe that I can always save, and save, to keep it for a rainy day. If I was smarter back then, I would have more money in my savings. I wouldn't need to starve and eat instant noodles almost every day. As I said, everything happened for a reason. I know how it feels to not have food and money. That's another good reason for me to save, and donate. I do not judge the poor, as one day they might be millionaire, you just need to spend smart, and have the opportunity. I'm fortunate that I now have a loving hubby and 2 beautiful babies now. Nothing else matters anymore. 


Nasi Lemak


Chicken was on special so I bought too many, 4 whole chicken! It was only $2.97 each chicken, can't blame me for buying so many. I haven't made this nasi lemak for awhile, so I thought I should make it again since I've have all the ingredients that I need...well most of it, that I can find here anyway. Here's a nasi lemak recipe from Kuali.com if you want to make it the right way, or if you want the lazy way, as I did, I just added coconut milk to my rice when I cooked them in my rice cooker. It's almost the same taste.

For the curry chicken, I used the A1 Curry Paste that my parents sent me. They made it so convenient now, that you just need to add chicken, water and coconut milk! It taste really good. If you want to make curry chicken from scratch, here's a link from Kuali's website.

Nasi means rice in Malay, and lemak is fat, I guess the coconut is fattening. We usually have nasi lemak with some spicy condiments (such as curry, or sambal) fried anchovies, fried peanuts, hard-boiled egg and cucumber. Did not have any cucumber so I substitute it with some other green vege. I had cravings for this meal before when I first came here, they charged about $15-20 in a Malaysian restaurant here, but now I can make my own, for $20 I can make a meal for the whole family!

Friday, January 25, 2013

I'm Fallin' for You

Here's a video of my cute little baby who started walking when she turned 10 months old. She is now walking so well, that I often forget she is not even 1 year old yet. Hope you enjoy the video.

Vanilla Icebox Sugar Cookies

 My best friend's birthday is coming so I've decided to make these cookies for her birthday this year. She has been a great friend, sending me gifts from time to time, wherever she is. She actually bought me this cute cookie cutter from Japan! This is now my favourite cookie cutter. I hope she likes my gift, I am too broke to buy her flowers, as I am not working anymore. Maybe in a couple years...when I started working again I will not have time to bake, and will have the money to buy. It is very fun to make these cookies, Noah and I enjoyed making them.



This is a really cool idea from Chatelaine. It's just one recipe that you can make 20 different varieties. I did not follow the exact amount to put in the cookies. I just divided the recipe into 4, mixed one with chopped walnut, another with cocoa powder and nescafe, and one with walnut and cocoa powder. I made the remaining ones plain, and added chocolate on top of it, and it was the best ever!

I bought the cooking chocolate (unsweetened) from Bulk Barn, and mixed it in with a little bit of icing sugar, butter and milk, just tasting it as I add them so it will be just perfect. Then I spread it over the cookies. Hubby is not a big fan of chocolate cookies or cakes, but he went back for a second round, so it must be good.. hehe.

This is a really simple cookies, another keeper. I hope my friend and my cousin (who asked me to send her some too for her birthday) like them. I'm not sure if it is a good idea to post them, they might be broken into pieces before they get them.. or get stale... and the postage is not cheap, but it's worth a try.

Well Happy Birthday to my dear cousin ( who probably won't be reading my blog) and my best friend, the one who cheered me up when I was down, surprised me with gifts, one that never forgets my birthday and a dear friend that I will cherish for the rest of my life. Happy Birthday.

Baked Dijon Salmon


It has been awhile since I posted anything. This is the first one for the year. It has been pretty busy so far, I was feeling a little depressed, and the kids were not well, down with stomach flu, and I caught on it too. Hubby's travelling a lot....again, hope I'll have more time to share new recipes this year.

Just made this for dinner, it was actually pretty good. Sobeys had the salmon for $2.99, we normally get the marinade wine and herb salmon, but they do not sell those anymore, so I searched on allrecipe.com and found this recipe, I have all the ingredients (except parsley) so I tried it out. Hubby really loves it. We'll definitely try it again.

The only thing i changed was the parsley because I did not have any, and I pounded the pecan myself, I did not have chopped ones, and I halved the portion, because there's only 2 of us. I did not use the correct measurement, but it turned out very well.

For the vegetables, I just stir-fried the beans, peppers, celery with shrimps and garlic, not forgetting the oyster sauce, and a little bit of corn starch to make it thick... (also add a little bit of water when you fry the veges). It's a simple meal, can be ready in 30-45 minutes, very inexpensive, but probably cost a fortune if you dine at a restaurant.