Tag: Quick&Easy

Toddler Eats : Sugarless Carrot Banana Mini Loaves

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I’ve always wanted to bake something that Lochlan can enjoy for morning tea and I came across this recipe that was perfect. No sugar, and just the natural sweetness from the wholesome ingredients of the loaves!

Enjoying the loaf

I have to admit, I was a little nervous before giving the loaf to the little munchkin, cause I wasn’t sure if he would like it. But thankfully he quite enjoyed it and ate half go the loaf! (:

Cross section

I was really happy with the texture of the loaves too! It was fluffy and light but still moist! Just the way a good loaf should be. Perfect with a cup of hot tea, or a cup of warm milk (for the bub!) Of course if you had extra time and some cream cheese sitting in your fridge, you could always whip some cream cheese frosting for yourself and indulge! hehe

So here’s the recipe for these deliciousness! Hope you and your kiddos would enjoy it as much as we did!

Sugarless Carrot Banana Mini Loaves (Closely adapted to Easy Toddler Meals)

Ingredients :

1 large carrot, finely grated

2 large bananas (or 3 medium bananas), mashed

1 egg

3 tbs coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/4 cup greek yogurt

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Steps :

1) Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius. Spray some coconut oil/ olive oil into the mini loaf tin, to make sure it’s well coated. Set aside.

2) In a large bowl, mix the grated carrot, mashed banana, greek yogurt, coconut oil, egg and vanilla bean paste till well combined.

3) In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients.

4) Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir till well combined. Scoop the mixture into the prepared mini loaf tin and bake for 13-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the loaf.

Loaves all baked and ready!

5) Allow it to cool for 10 mins in the tin, then remove.

Lochlan analysing the loaf

Enjoy it with your kiddos!

Remember to always cook and bake with love! xx

Toddler Eats : Cheesy Chicken & Veggies Meatballs

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Now that Lochlan has turned one (where did time go??), I’m trying to wean him from purees and introduce chunkier food, to encourage him to chew. Don’t get me wrong, he knows how to chew. But just prefers the purees cause he could finish it much quicker. haha So this marks the start to my new series of Toddler Eats! Hopefully it will be helpful to mummies out there who also want to try different foods and make them from their kitchen when time permits!

I decided to try making something I thought he might like! I mean, who doesn’t enjoy a good meatball? Especially with the addition of cheeeeese! These are quick and easy and you could have it on its own or mix it with pasta and some homemade tomato sauce and viola! Meatball pasta!

Meatball pasta

Lochlan’s Verdict : 2 1/2 meatballs (together with other food for dinner and strawberries for dessert hehe). I think thats a not too bad start!

 With the addition of cheese, you don’t even need to add salt to it. So it’s perfect even for babies from 10 months! Especially if you wanna do Baby-Led-Weaning. hehe Perfect finger food! These are not just for your little ones at home, the mr and I enjoyed it too!

So here’s the recipe, do give it a shot and let me know what u or your kiddos think!

Cheesy Chicken & Veggies Meatballs (A Food Made With Love Original Recipe)

Ingredients : Makes 24-26 meatballs

250g mince chicken (or meat of your choice)

2 stalks of spring onions, finely sliced

1 small carrot, grated

1/4 apple, grated

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 zucchini, grated

2-3 florets of broccoli, finely chopped

50g cheddar cheese, grated

1 egg

Ground black pepper, to season

Ingredients

(I’ve got a double yolk! Lucky me! hehe)

Steps :

1) Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celcius. Spray/Oil a baking tray/ casserole dish and set it one side.

2) Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl until well combined.

Mixed till well combined

3) Using a tablespoon, roll the mixture into balls. Do note that the mixture will be a bit wet and sticky. Wetting your hands might help in the rolling process.

Rolled out

4) Place the meatballs onto the baking dish, and bake for 12-15 mins, until the meatballs are cooked through and/or slightly browned.

All baked

5) Serve as is or you could cook it in a homemade tomato sauce and toss it through some cooked pasta for a variety!

Enjoy!

P.S : You don’t have to grate the vegetables if you’re cooking for yourself or older kids and want more texture. Just finely diced them and it would be as delicious! Also you could always change the types of vegetables in the meatballs, find a combination that wins the most votes in your house! (:

Have a lovely weekend everyone! Remember to always cook and bake with love!

Till the next post, xx !

Chicken Tagine – MealDish

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Good evening dear readers! So sorry for the hiatus! It’s been a busy few months with Baby Ho’s grandparents (both paternal and maternal) and uncle & aunty coming to visit him consecutively! So I haven’t had the chance to sit down and churn posts out! But I will be doing it whenever I can, I promise!

So a few months back, I was introduced to MealDish. A website that aims to help people eat healthier, eat fresh, whilst minimising food waste and saving them time and money. This was absolutely perfect for me, especially since I can only get down to cooking with Baby Ho is asleep!

So off I went to the website and it’s so simple to use and follow!

MealDish 1

You just have to choose what you like, the number of recipes you want and then click the number of people you’re cooking for and get a meal plan! As easy as that!

MealDish 3

If you have any particular cuisine you would like to try, or specific ingredients to exclude or you have intolerances, there are options for you to tick too! So it’s really for everyone. I did different options and there are heaps of recipes to choose from. They even suggests side dishes that would go perfectly with the recipe you decide to cook that day. Sounds good, no?

MealDish 2

So I decided to just go with the quick option and choose the type of protein I wanted to cook with – Chicken! These were the 5 options I was given, and straight away I was drawn to the chicken tagine recipe, especially cause my beautiful tagine has been sitting on the shelf ever since I made my Moroccan meatballs one and half year ago! haha So it was time to get it on the stove again.

MealDish 4

If you’re a person who loves order and likes to get everything ready before you cook, Mealdish is definitely for you. The recipe comes with ‘Preparation Steps’ so that you have everything ready to go when you start cooking, missing nothing out! This cuts your cooking time and dinner will be on the table, pipping hot, in no time!

MealDish 5

Of course, there’s ‘Cooking Steps’ which are clear and easy to follow. What’s best about this website is that they have a ‘Shopping List’ tailored to the number of people you are cooking for. So there’s no waste and you just buy what is needed!

MealDish 6

Chicken Tagine

The results were as good as I thought it would be! The Mr loved it and even though I made enough for 4 people, we only had a serve left! What’s best is, this recipe had both protein and vegetables rolled into one! So we only needed that one dish for dinner. Paired with toasted Turkish bread – Dinner was ready within an hour!

So if you are looking for inspirations to cook your family or even just yourself something delicious, and want something quick and easy, hop onto the MealDish website and you will definitely find something you fancy!

Here’s the ingredients used for this dish. The steps are as described in the ‘Cooking Steps’ above! Or you could always just head to the website and search for the recipe to get the ingredient amounts tailored to the number of people you are cooking for!

Ingredients :

(For 4 people)

3/4 Onion whole

4 Garlic cloves

1 1/4 Celery stick

3/4 can tinned tomato

200g Pumpkin

2 tsp Coriander

3/4 tsp Ground Ginger

3/4 Cinnamon Stick

1/4 Lemon

1/4 cup apricot (I used raisins)

3/4 cup Chicken stock

8 Chicken drumstick

3/4 cup couscous

2 tbs fresh coriander

Chicken Tagine

Have a great rest of the day and hope you all will have an awesome hot dinner tonight since it’s freezing here in Melbourne!

Till the next post, remember to always cook and bake with love! xx

BBQ Made Easy with Heat Beads® Chimney Booster

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Heat Beads(r)

I love BBQs. It’s just something that could bring everyone together, around the fire, and enjoy the love for food. To me, BBQs are perfect all year round. In the Summer, with a beer or cider in one hand, and a pair of tongs on the other. In Winter, it will act as a heater or a camp fire, keeping us warm and toasty! hehe

Setting up a BBQ can be tricky and time consuming, depending on the weather conditions. So when KeepLeft PR contacted me and asked if I would like to try the the Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney & Chimney Booster for a quick and easy BBQ experience, I couldn’t say no! I couldn’t be more thankful for the generosity of Heat Beads® as they didn’t only give me the Heat Beads® briquettes, firelighters, the Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney & Chimney Booster, they gave me my dream BBQ as well – The Weber! I was over the moon when the packages arrived!

The Weber BBQ

Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney & Chimney Booster

Instead of the usual hour or more taken to get the briquettes ready for some action, with the Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney & Chimney Booster, you can get your briquettes hot enough for the BBQ in 12 minutes (with a few minutes more if it’s cold and windy)! How amazing is that?? And it’s so easy to use as well! I was a little worried at first, as the Mr is in the USA doing a seminar tour. So I had no help, plus he’s always usually the one setting it up!

Setting up the BBQ Chimney & Chimney Booster

But trust me, it could all be done in a few quick steps!

Put the Heat Beads® briquettes in the Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney, place the Heat Beads® firelighters on the firelighter plate of the Heat Beads® Chimney Booster, light the firelighters using a match or gas lighter, place your Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney on top of the Chimney Booster and turn on the switch!

Lighting the firelighters on the firelighter plate

Now all you gotta do is wait for 12 minutes! I decided to put the Booster to the test, and BBQed on a super windy and cold night. It took 14 minutes for the briquettes to be hot enough to be placed in the BBQ. 14 minutes! AMAZING!

Using the BBQ Chimney & Chimney Booster

By the 12th minute, the briquettes were close to being ready. And how do you know when their ready? The briquettes become ash over, turning a light grey colour. That’s when it’s ready to be popped into your BBQ!

14 minutes, Briquettes were ashed over and ready to go!

With the setting up time reduced to a mere 12-14 minutes, I’ve got more time to cook my meats now! I decided to do a comparison of cooking methods: low & slow vs quick & fast. Heat Beads® is perfect for both! The low & slow would be perfect for days when you have a little more time to spare. The quick & fast would be perfect for busy bees who are working, or have little time to get food time on the table. Trust me, cause now with bubba, all I have is under an hour to get our meals prepared and cooked! So what did I decide to cook? Smoked BBQ baby back ribs (low & slow) and Jamaican Jerk Smoked chicken wings (quick & fast)! Salivating yet? hehe I definitely was, smelling the aromas coming out of the Weber!

Ribs & Wings

All done within 1 1/2 hours, inclusive of prep time! I thought it was pretty impressive, don’t you? You must be thinking, how can it be? Well, I used the 14 minutes taken for the briquettes to be ready to season my meats! A win-win situation if you asked me!

Smoked Bbq Baby Back Ribs

Smoked BBQ Baby Back Ribs (Recipe from Weber’s Time to Grill™ by Jamie Purviance)

Dry Rub :

1 tbs sea salt

2 tsp granulated garlic

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 racks of baby back ribs, about 1kg

1/2 cup BBQ sauce

Handful of Hickory Wood Chips

Steps : 

1) Soak your wood chips in water for at least 30 mins and drain. Set aside.

2) In a small bowl, mix the ingredients for the dry rub together. Remove the membrane of the ribs and cut them into half to create two smaller racks.

Dry rub - Ribs

3) Season each rack evenly with the dry rub and place the ribs on a piece of foil, wrapping them up well. Double wrap them, making sure there are no holes.

Seasoned and ready to go

4) Place the packet of ribs on the clean grill and cook for 1 hour, with the lid closed, and turning the packets occasionally, making sure not to pierce the foil. At this point, you could go do other things! Go hang the laundry and just put your feet up and have a cuppa (:

Ribs on the bbq

5) Remove the packets from the grill and let rest for about 10 mins. Carefully open the packets, remove the ribs and discard the rendered fat and oil.

6) Place the wood chips onto the charcoal and a a tray of water under the grill. Close the lid and when the wood chips start to smoke, return the ribs onto the grill (above the water) bone side down. Grill and smoke, the the lid closed, for about 10-12 minutes, basting with the bbq sauce, until they are sizzling and lightly charred. Remove from grill and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving with the remaining bbq sauce.

Jamaican Jerk Smoked Chicken Wings

2 tsp Jamaican Jerk Rub (For a quick marinade, I used the one from The Spice Mill)

2 tsp sea salt flakes

10-12 chicken wings

Steps : 

1) Marinade the chicken wings with the Jamaican Jerk spice rub and sea salt and allow it to marinade while the ribs are cooking on the grill.

Seasoning the chicken wings

2) When the ribs are 10 minutes from getting done, I put the chicken wings on the grill and turned it occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn.

3) When the ribs are smoking, leave the chicken wings on the grill to be smoked as well (for the same 10-12 minutes). It brings the chicken wings to a whole new level of deliciousness! Golden brown and lightly charred. PERFECT!

Grilling the chicken wings

Jamaican Jerk Smoked chicken wings

Have them with some baked sweet potatoes (you can throw them on the grill when you start cooking your ribs) and a side of salad! Dinner is served! (:

Smoked BBQ Baby back ribs

My parents and I were really impressed by how delicious the ribs and wings were! I had so much fun trying out the Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney & Chimney booster and couldn’t be happier with how the meats turned out. I’m sure by now you’re wondering where to get the Heat Beads® BBQ Chimney & Chimney Booster from? Or you want to read more about the Heat Beads® products? Do pop over to Heat Beads® to find out more!

Have a great weekend ahead and always remember to cook and bake with love!

Disclaimer : Lianne@Food Made With Love received the Weber BBQ & Heat Beads® products as a gift from Heat Beads® & KeepLeft PR. Thank you so much for this fantastic opportunity! 

{Quick & Easy} Fig Jam

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Fig Jam

As promise, I decided to share the recipe for fig jam I used to have with my scones! You will realise it’s so easy and something you can do in less than 30 minutes! Be warned though, cause this is VERY ADDICTIVE! haha Once you’ve tried a spoonful, you would want to have another, and another, and another!

chopped dried figs

Another plus point is that this recipe uses dried figs, so you can make this all year round! Trust me, you would definitely want a bottle of this in your fridge all the time. hehe I’ve had it on my scones, croissants, with cookies and of course, on it’s own! YUMMO! Just can’t get enough! (:

Fig jam bottled

So quickly get a packet of dried figs and make some jam now! (:

Dried Fig Jam (adapted from Tastespotting)

250g dried figs, chopped into quarters

1 cup of water

1 tsp lemon juice

Ingredients

Steps :

1) In a small heavy base pot, place the dried figs and water and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and allow it to simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the figs are plumped up.

2) Turn off the heat and pour the mixture into a blender. Add the lemon juice and blend till smooth with a spreadable consistency. Be careful when blending as the mixture is very hot! If it’s too thick, just add more water, 1 tsp at a time.

Blending it into a spreadable paste

3) Allow the mixture to cool, and then place it in an air tight bottle, and keep it refrigerated. It can last up to 2 weeks.

Fig jam

Enjoy! (: If you’re like me, take a spoon and dig in immediately! hehe Simple, quick, delicious and addictive! Cannot get any better!

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Remember to always cook and bake with love!

{Quick & Easy} Salmon, Shiitake and Edamame Soba Noodles

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Part two of our jap themed dinner features a bowl of salmon, shiitake & edamame soba noodles! Remember my post on okonomiyaki? This goes really well with it! I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been a soba person, not so much udon. Maybe cause it makes me feel like I’m eating something healthier. hehe I do usually like the cold version, especially cause I get to dip it in the cold soba sauce and slurp it!

But I decided to try a hot version of it. And I was really glad with how it turned out! I could seriously have a bowl of it every night! hehe The addition of the edamame not only added freshness, but also added a vibrant colour to the dish!

And what’s more? I topped the soba noodles with supper yummy korean rice seasoning! If you haven’t had this before, I urge you to head to an asian supermarket to get one ASAP!! You could even top the okonomiyaki with it! So so good (: So here’s the recipe which I used for this delicious and healthy (in my opinion) soba noodles! And you can definitely get it cooked in less than 30 minutes! That’s a win-win in my books!

Salmon, Shiitake & Edamame Soba Noodles (adapted from Flying Fourchette)

300g skinless salmon fillet, cut into cubes

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/2 cup edamame, shelled

180g soba (buckwheat noodles)

2 tbs vegetable oil

 For sauce :

1 /3 cup water

1/3 cup light soy sauce

3 tsp korean hot pepper paste (gochujang)

1 tbs brown sugar

Steps :

1) For the sauce : Stir all the ingredients together until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside.

2) In a non-stick frying pan, add 1 tbs of vegetable oil and fry the cubes of salmon until all sides of the salmon is slightly brown. Set it aside. Add the rest of the vegetable oil, and fry the garlic till fragrant then add the shiitake. Fry for about 5 minutes, or until the shiitake is tender.

3) Add the salmon cubes back into the pan, and add half of the sauce and allow it to simmer for 10 minutes on low heat. Meanwhile, heat a pot of water and cook the soba noodles till just tender (about 7 minutes, depending on the instructions on the packet). Drain the noodles and run under cold water, to stop it from cooking further. Drain well and place in a large bowl.

4) Transfer the cooked salmon with the sauce into the large bowl and toss it lightly until the noodles are well coated. Add the edamame and give it another toss, careful not to mash the salmon. Put a few more teaspoons of sauce if desired.

5) Sprinkle with rice seasoning before serving. ENJOY!

Definitely something quick and satisfying after you’ve had a long day at work or school. So hopefully this would be something you’d like to give a try! (: Happy midweek!

{Quick & Easy} Shallot Oil

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Shallot oil is widely used in many chinese/asian cooking. My grandmother would always have a metal tin full of fried shallots and the fragrant shallot oil. We would have it with her mince meat noodles, wanton noodles, and everything really! Too delicious to resist adding it in the dishes! It adds an extra flavour and depth. It’s really simple to make too! Just that shallots are a little costly here. So use in moderation! hehe

Shallot Oil

1 1/2 cup of vegetable oil

200g shallots, sliced thinly

Steps :

1) In a small pot, heat 1 1/2 cup of vegetable oil on medium heat and add the shallots. Allow it to fry the shallots till they turn golden brown.

2) Strain the fried shallots, reserving the oil in a bowl. Allow the oil to cool down and transfer into a glass bottle. Place some fried shallots in the oil and keep in the fridge. (Should be able to keep for a couple of months)

3) Place the fried shallots in an air tight container. You should be able to keep the fried shallots for 2 weeks.

You could garnish many dishes with the fried shallots, and cooking with the shallot oil just makes the dish more flavourful! Trust me, this is something you should make and keep!

PS : I will be using this in my Prawn Noodle Soup dish that will be posted next! So stay tuned! (: 

{Quick & Easy} Smoked Salmon Pasta

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Aren’t there days that you just want to whip something up in the kitchen as quickly as possible? We came back way past lunch time and just needed to get some food in our system. So I looked into our fridge and found a packet of smoked salmon. Perfect! (: I got the dish plated in less than 30 minutes! Talk about quick aye?

Cream and Tomato Smoked Salmon Pasta (serves 2)

100g smoked salmon

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 onion, finely chopped

6 sundried tomatoes, finely chopped

2 tbs tomato paste

50ml dry white wine

100ml thickened cream

50g butter

salt & ground black pepper, to season

chopped parsley & chilli flakes, to garnish

100-125g dried pasta (cooked according to the packet, drained and set aside)

Steps : 

1) Place a heavy-based pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the garlic, onion and sundried tomatoes and fry till the onions soften. Careful not to burn the garlic, as it will turn bitter.

2) Add the white wine and cream and allow it to come to a boil. Add the tomato paste and mix till well combined. Pour the pasta into the pan and mix it well, making sure the pasta is coated well with the sauce.

3) Take the pan off the heat, and put in the smoked salmon. Fold the salmon into the pasta and bring it back onto the heat for a further 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4) Serve and garnish with parsley and chilli flakes. ENJOY! (:

Easy peasy, quick & easy!

{Quick & Easy} Breakfast

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Ever woke up in the morning and just feel like something quick and yummy for breakfast? Boy do I have a quick fix for you! Something naughty and nice (or good, but nice sounds better haha) (:

Baked eggs! Bacon and eggs with a touch of cheese. haha Knowing me, it’s not really a touch. It’s more like an overdose of cheese. But well, that is entirely up to you! You can change the amount of cheese you want, and also change what you want in your baked eggs. And the nice (or good) part – avocado on toast! Wish I had some feta. Would be awesome! (: Anyways. Here is the recipe, hopefully you will get your quick fix at home this weekend!

Have a great weekend ahead everyone! xo

PS : I’ve got mixed reviews on the recipe cards, especially the last one I used. I’ve change the font and made it clearer (I hope!) so let me know if this is better! I will be mixing it around, and the recipe cards will only be used for short and quick recipes! (: Enjoy!