27 Tuesday Jan 2015
Posted in Fruit & Veg, Savoury
I love having colourful salads when I have my lunches at home. I often find that salads and light meals help you beat that 3pm slump.
So, here are a few more photos of quick lunches you can prepare without any fuss.
Simple, delicious and takes 10 mins to prepare.😋
What do you usually have for lunch?
19 Monday Jan 2015
Hope you all had a lovely weekend. I spent my Saturday roller blading at a place called Artxanda where there is a public outdoor skating rink and you can also get a spectacular view of the city!
On Sunday afternoon, my husband requested for Jemput Jemput Pisang, which is a traditional Malay sweet that we usually have for afternoon tea in Singapore. “Jemput” in Malay means invite or invitation and “pisang” means banana so I don’t really know how the name of this donut came about really. Anyway, all you need for these sweet fluffy bites are just 2 ingredients not including the oil for frying.
Ingredients
• 3 ripe bananas (medium sized)
• 1 cup of self raising flour
• sunflower oil for frying
Method
1. In a big bowl, mash the peeled bananas.
2. Add the flour and combine thoroughly. (You can add sugar if you wish but for me, the sweetness of the bananas were just perfect.)
3. Heat some oil in a saucepan. When it’s really hot, turn down the heat and with a spoon, drop the batter into the oil. (It takes seconds to turn golden brown so make sure you flip them over every so often and don’t put too many into the pan at the same time.)
4. Once golden brown on both sides, place on kitchen paper towels.
Dust with powdered sugar, serve hot…
Perfect sweet snack for a cold Sunday afternoon!
Here are a couple of black & white shots of Bilbao that I took from the skating rink in Artxanda.
Have a great Monday!💕
16 Friday Jan 2015
Just when I thought I was feeling better, I caught a cold a few days ago. We recently bought roller blades and we were roller blading outdoors almost all of last weekend, so I think that might have something to do with it. I had not been on roller blades since I was living in Australia in 1996, but I was surprised that I managed to pick it up again quite quickly and not fall!
Anyway despite being unwell, and after having so much soup, I decided to make this pasta dish that I often have whenever we go out for an Italian meal…
Ingredients
(I don’t have specific measurements for the ingredients, so just cook it according to your own taste & the quantity you want to cook)
• Fresh prawns (cleaned & de-veined)
• Fresh tagliatelle
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• lots of Basil (chopped)
• Dried parsley
• Single cream
• Peeled plum tomatoes
• Tomato purée
• Dried chilli flakes (optional)
• Plenty cracked black pepper & a little salt to taste
• Extra virgin olive oil
Method
1. Cook the pasta and remember to save a little pasta water for the sauce. Once done, set aside.
2. In a hot saucepan, add olive oil, garlic, dried parsley, pepper and chilli flakes.
3. Stir well for less than a minute, add the peeled plum tomatoes, salt & a little sugar and let it simmer for 2 to 3 mins. Add the cream, tomato purée and half of the chopped basil. Simmer for another 3 mins.
4. If you see that the sauce is too thick, add a little pasta water to thin it down. Now add the prawns and the rest of the basil and cook for 2 to 3 mins, making sure you don’t overcook the prawns.
5. Toss in the cooked tagliatelle into the sauce and let the sauce coat the tagliatelle thoroughly.
Garnish with dried parsley & basil, serve.
Simple, tasty and ready in minutes.
Have a great weekend to all! Happy cooking!💛
13 Tuesday Jan 2015
Posted in Soup
It was all about having hot soups in our household after the New Year as both my husband and I were down with the flu. I think the end of the year run got the best of us. We decided to walk home and I think we caught a chill.
To help beat the flu, I made a very simple bright orange soup full of goodness…
Ingredients
• 10 carrots (roughly chopped)
• 3 to 4 thick slices of Ginger
• 1 White onion (thinly sliced)
• A little olive oil & a teaspoon of butter
• Cracked black pepper & salt to taste
Method
1. Heat the olive oil & butter in a pot, sauté the onions and ginger till soft.
2. Add the chopped carrots to the pot, sauté for a minute before adding enough water to cover the carrots.
3. Simmer till the carrots are soft, blitz in a food processor, return to the pot and continue to simmer for a couple of minutes.
Serve with warm crusty bread.
A perfect soup to help beat and prevent colds & flu.💛
My Simple Delights 