Category: Homemade Recipes

Almost healthy baked or jacket potatoes :)

This is crazy simple to do. I feel like a fraud for posting this but whatever, it’s DELICIOUS and tasted like a million bucks. I wish I had made more!

It’s also healthy because instead of using sour cream, I used strained yogurt which is equally as tasty, if not…even tastier :D

Also, instead of bacon bits, I used fried dried shrimps, which gave the fluffy baked potatoes the saltiness and crispiness it needed. They went surprisingly AWESOME together!

The ingredients:

  • 7 medium sized potatoes
  • 450 grams of yogurt, strained
  • 3 pickled cucumbers/gherkins, finely chopped
  • 15 black olives, finely chopped
  • 1 sprig of spring onion, finely chopped
  • A good handful of dried shrimps, fried with a bit of oil till crispy

# – Firstly, measure 450 grams of yogurt and put them on a teatowel or muslin cloth to drain.

# – Check out my makeshift yogurt draining system :D This process makes the yogurt very creamy….almost like sour cream!

# – Now, clean and dry the potatoes, put them in a baking tray, then stick them in the preheated oven at 230 degrees celcius for 45 minutes. Remember to turn them half way through so they’re all evenly baked.

# – Now, to do the toppings…chop up the rest of the ingredients and place them in individual ramekins: [L-R] Crispy dried shrimps, gherkins, olives, spring onion and a bowl of strained yogurt.

# – To serve, split each potato in half and whack on the toppings :) Yummy baked potatoes, DONE!

The best thing about baked potatoes is that there are no set toppings. You can even use ingredients like baked beans, grated cheeses….even deep fried Spam cubes, teeheeheee.

All you need to do is exercise some brain cells, take some time to browse through your pantry and lastly, use your creativity! Just roll it your way.

Lastly, I implore you to try the drained yogurt as a sour cream replacement…it is absolutely wonderful. Creamy, tart, decadent and believe it or not, healthy!!!!

Apple omelette souffle dessert, peculiar but GOOD.

It was close to 10pm and we suddenly developed a crazy hankering for pudding. I really wasn’t in the mood to make anything too labour intensive or time consuming.

As I flipped through my favourite recipe book, “A Year of Desserts – 365 Delicious Set-by-step Recipes”, I came across this curious looking pudding called “apple omelette souffle”. Hmmmm…

# – Apple omelette souffle dessert.

All that were needed to make this dessert were 5 ingredients and I’d got all of them. You probably do too :)

For the omelette souffle:

  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 2 tablespoons of whipping cream
  • 1 tablespoon of caster sugar
  • 15 grams of butter

For the apple filling:

  • 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
  • 25 grams of butter
  • 3 tablespoons of whipping cream
  • 2 tablespoons of caster sugar

# – First of all, dump all the ingredients for the apple filling (except whipping cream) into a saucepan on medium heat.

# – Gently stir in the 3 tablespoons of whipping cream and let it simmer on low heat while you get on with other tasks. Remember to stir occasionally.

# – In the meantime, beat the egg whites until stiff.

# – By stiff, I mean when you turn the bowl upside down, the whites would not fall out :)

# – Next, beat the yolks, sugar and cream until properly combined.

# – Gently fold in the stiff egg whites into the yolk mixture. Stir gently to combine.

# – Then, pour the mixture into a heated non-stick pan that’s been greased with the 15 grams of butter. Keep the flame low. Leave it to cook for around 2 minutes.

# – Give the non-stick pan a gentle shake. When the omelette moves and no longer sticks to the pan, turn it out onto an oven-proof plate, with the uncooked side facing upwards.

# – Stick it under the grill for 3 1/2 minutes.

# – By now, the apples should be soft and a caramel-ish sauce should have developed.

# – Pour the apple filling over one half of the omelette souffle. Fold the other side of the omellete over to cover the filling.

# – Heat a metal skewer over the stove.

# – Brand the omelette. This is purely for aesthetics…and fun :)

# – Apple omelette souffle, DONE!

It’s the first time I’ve ever tasted such a dessert but I was pleasantly surprised. The fluffy sweet omellete souffle was a wonderful vehicle for the soft caramelised apples. And the sauce….it was to die for!

This dessert was easy to make, quick and absolutely satisfying. The boyfriend gave two thumbs up.

# – YUMMY!

I literally licked the plate clean. Guess which recipe’s going into my regular dessert list? :)

Recipe for baked cheesecake with yogurt topping.

The last time I made a cheesecake was for my own 15th birthday party. Wow, that’s like 12 years ago but I still remember the party so vividly. I wore blue jeans, blue denim vest and a white top underneath the vest which I painstakingly selected for maximum presence. I was so fashionable. 1999 was a great year. I also weighed only 48 kilograms then.

Anyway, back to the cheesecake. It was not my best work, but I remember it being really tasty. It had like lemon glaze and all with sliced canned peaches on the base. I remember my Dad totally digging it.

Unfortunately, I’ve never baked any cheesecake since. Till last weekend that is. I was supposed to make a cheesecake for Father’s Day but I didn’t have enough cream cheese, so I promised my dad I’d bake him a cheesecake the next time I pop by, of which I did.

# -Baked cheesecake with yogurt topping.

Here’s the recipe of the baked cheesecake I made..

For the crust:

  • 250 grams of digestive biscuits, crushed
  • 100 grams of butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon of all spice

For the filling:

  • 500 grams of creamcheese, softened
  • 4 eggs
  • 160 grams of caster sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

For the topping:

  • 250 grams of yogurt, strained
  • 3 teaspoons of lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon of caster sugar
  • ground nutmeg, for sprinkling

# – The first thing you have to do before making this cake is to strain the yogurt. This is to remove the liquid to get a thicker, creamier yogurt to work with. Wrap the yogurt with a teatowel or muslin and let it drain for at least 30 minutes. I hung mine over a bowl. Set aside while you continue with other tasks.

# – Now, blitz the digestive biscuits in a food processor until fine. Or if you’re a vagrant like myself, stick them in a bag and pound the eff out of it.

# – Pour the finely crushed biscuit crumbs into a mixing bowl and add a teaspoon of allspice.

# – Throw in the softened butter. With your fingers, knead until butter is full incorporated into the crumbs and they feel moist.

# – Press the crumbs into an 8″ springform cake tin or cake tin with detachable bottom (greased and covered with parchment paper) to form the crust. Slowly build a wall around the base. Have some patience as this is the most time-consuming part.

# – Stick the tin into the fridge for 30 minutes to set.

# – In the meantime, beat the cream cheese in a mixing bowl until smooth.

# – Add the lemon juice, vanilla essence and sugar and beat till smooth.

# – Next, add the eggs one by one while slowly beating mixture until combined.

# – Take out the crust and pour the mixture in.

# – Stick it into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees celcius and bake for 45 minutes.

# – 10 minutes before the cheesecake finishes baking, beat the strained yogurt, lemon juice and caster sugar until smooth and combined.

# – When the cake has finished baking, take it out and immediately spread the yogurt mixture over the top.

# – Sprinkle ground nutmeg all over the top.

# – Then stick it back in the oven for 7 minutes.

# – After that, leave the oven door slightly ajar and allow the cheesecake to cool down completely. And then, you stick it in the fridge for at least 2 hours to chill.

# – Baked cheesecake with yogurt topping, DONE!

# – Yummy.

The cake was surprisingly light and far from cloying. It’s delicious! I managed to make the crust reasonably thin so every mouthful was a nice balance of crunchy crust, yummy cream cheese filling and tangy yogurt topping.

Most importantly, my Dad loved it! :)

Now, to recreate that cheesecake with canned peaches base I made 12 years ago…