Ham carbonara recipe

Ham Carbonara

Ingredients

• 1 packet of fettucine

• 3/4 cup chopped ham

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 2 shallots, thinly sliced

• 2 garlic cloves, pressed

• 2 egg yolks

• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

• 3 tbsp fresh chives, chopped

• 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

• 1/2 tsp cracked pepper

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to packet instructions. Drain and put aside 1 1/2 cups pasta water.

2. Cook ham in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove ham, reserving drippings in skillet. Drain on paper towels.

3. Saute shallots in hot drippings until tender. Stir in garlic, saute 1 minute. Add reserved pasta water to shallots and garlic and bring to boil. Stir in hot cooked pasta, and remove from heat. Stir in egg yolks, 1 at a time.

4. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, 2-3 minutes or until creamy. Remove from heat, add cooked ham, parmesan cheese, and remaining ingredients. Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese, if desired. 

Ready to serve!

MyRecipes.com

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Bake for charity

Took a day off work work to do marathon baking for charity. Because i love baking and it feels good to give back to the community. Made new friends and learned new tricks. Thanks to Leza and her team at The Baking Studio. 

Thanks to Haryani, Nina, Azilah and all new found friends for teaching me baking tricks that I can't learn from the internet. That's on top of all the Kuih recipes they shared. I'm now equipped to bake goodies this coming Chinese new year! 

We will be selling our pastries or "kuih" this Sat at the studio itself. Address at their website below.  Proceeds will be used to help the less fortunate and the remaining unsold goodies will be given to families at Circuit Rd. 

I am physically exhausted but all worth it.

In the studio's cover photo.

My baking profile. 

 

Studio is well equipped. 

Our arsenal

Some of our finished product. French macarons done by yours truly.

Baked 10 containers of these and non a single one cracked! I prayed and hoped for my macaroons success. Answered prayer!

With Leza Parker. Founder and owner of the baking studio.

With the Thursday team.

More of this at the studio's website:

http://www.thebakingstudio.sg/bake_for_charity

I made my first Ice cream and it's Avocado of course!

And it's sooo yummy I cannot just not eat it all!!

Im a great fan of avos and seldom you can find avos ice cream here in SG ao when a friend posted a pic of herself enjoying Avocado ice cream, i said to myself in all cases I will eat that! 

So goes my first ice cream creation. Thanks to food network for the recipe. I modified it a little bit by adding more avos  coz I want it to taste more of Avos and not of milk.

This is the whipped cream in stiff peaks

That's the avo/milk and whipped cream side by side.

Folding both mixture. Try to fold slowly ao as not to remove as much air bubbles as possible.

Totally folded and mixed!

Sitting pretty in containers

And here's my model Blanj enjoying it! She love it too! 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/avocado-ice-cream.html

Best Carrot Cake Ever Recipe from TipHero

Saw this recipe from TipHero and pinning for experimentation later when I have the time. Quite busy with mommy and work duties at the moment. Ugh. 

Brb.

BEST CARROT CAKE EVER

INGREDIENTS

Carrot Cake:
2 Cups(400g/14oz) caster sugar
4 eggs
2 Cups (400ml/14oz) sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 ¾ Cups (400g/14oz) flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice
400g/14oz carrots (finely grated)
Raisins
Cream Cheese Frosting:
2½ cups (1 lb 4 oz/574g) powdered sugar, sifted lightly to remove any lumps
1 lb (16oz/454g) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
½ cup (4oz/120g )unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk together sugar, eggs and oil until thick.
2. Then add in flour and cinnamon and mix gently
3. Lastly, add in the grated carrots and raisins and mix in until well combined.
4. Grease and line a 9” tin. You can also use this recipe to make 2 x 900g/2lb loat tins
5. Pour mixture into tins and place in the oven at 340oF (170oC) for 70- 80 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean).
6. Leave to cool in tins for 10mins then turn onto a cooling rack.
7. To prepare the frosting: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed cream cheese and butter until smooth. Then slowly add in the powdered sugar and vanilla until it is smooth and creamy (do not overbeat). Chill until needed.
8. Decorate as desired, maybe with some little frosted carrots!

http://tiphero.com/best-carrot-cake/

Crispy chicken recipe

Found on facebook. Saving to try later

Being mom for a child with language delay

This post is not about baking this time. It's more of like sharing you what it's like being a mom to my precious little one.

While I'm writing this post, my son is beside me. We just had a long day of activities and interaction-oriented playing. The picture above was taken yesterday when we went to east coast and play. 

My son now at 2.5yrs and still not talking. He's also not as social as other kids his age like his supposed to. I noticed that when he's still 18 months and I went to have him checked by a specialist. Though they can't diagnose yet if he has autism, but they said he is showing signs.

We are doing early intervention to help him develop his social and language skills as advised by the doctors to avoid those fearful meltdowns. Meltdowns are usually caused when kids can't express their needs/wants. So we have to work on that. Lots of playtime that requires engagements to develop eye contact are required. Meaning you have to do a lot of floor time activities and talk to him often face to face and very close. And you know how it feels when you do all the talking and you don't get any responses? very very despairing at times. And I have to do that every night after I get home from the office battlefield. It's very tiring I know but I can't back down and give up. Doing so means giving up on my son. 

Whoever is reading my post, I hope you include us in your prayers. Not really wishing for a miracle but at least to make things bearable for all of us in the family. I know God won't give us anything we can't handle so I guess this is something he thinks I can manage. 

Recipe: Microwave Chocolate Moist Cake

So I as looking for some microwave cake recipe for a fast craving fix. Found one from tablefortwo.com. Credits to her for experimenting to get the perfect moist chocolate for us to enjoy! :)

Prep time:  1 min

Cook time:  1 min

Total time:  2 mins

Serves: 1

 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp. baking powder
• 2 tbsp. granulated sugar (you can add 1 tbsp. more if you like it a bit sweeter)
• ⅛ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. milk
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp. hazelnut chocolate spread

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
2. Whisk in the milk and vegetable oil until all ingredients are combined and batter has no clumps.
3. Pour batter into a microwave-safe mug. Mine was a 14-ounce mug. You want enough head space for the cake to rise without pouring over.
4. Add 1 tbsp. of hazelnut chocolate spread in the middle of the batter. Just drop it in the middle, no need to push it down and sink it in the batter.
5. Place a paper towel into the microwave and set the mug on top (this is to catch any batter if your mug cake overflows).
6. Microwave mug cake for 70 seconds on high (PLEASE READ NOTES CAREFULLY BELOW)
7. Carefully remove from microwave and enjoy!

Notes:

Please note that ALLmicrowaves are different therefore can yield different results and can overcook this mug cake if you aren't careful. My microwave is 950 watts and I cooked mine on 100% power for 70 seconds. Knowing this information, it may help you better judge how long to cook yours for and at what power.

You can totally omit the tablespoon of chocolate hazelnut spread if you want or use a different spread of your choice (peanut butter, biscoff, etc.). I just thought it made the cake even more moist but the cake itself is moist enough without it!