awwesomepossum is listed!

Yes I am listed! No not on the NY stock exchange haha! But here: http://www.dinnertool.com/page/friends. It's a cool website called Dinner Tool, where you can find lots of recipes as well as a tool to help you plan your weekly meals. Go check it out http://www.dinnertool.com/ :)

Croque monsieur

What's fast to cook and good to eat? Nope not maggi mee haha! Homemade Croque monsieur!! Ok not exactly the way the French do it but hey whatever taste good will do rite!

What you need (feed 1)
- 2 types of cheese (can be sliced or grated)
- 2 slices of bread (any kind you like but best with soft kind)
- some shaved ham, the more the merrier
- mustard
- butter (salted)
- pepper

Let's cook
1. Place 2 slices of bread on plate and spread mustard on 1 side for both.
2. Put first type of cheese on 1 slice of bread, then the ham and finally the other cheese.
3. Crack some pepper (optional). Then place other slice of bread on top to sandwich.
4. Heat up a pan or griller but don't add oil.
5. Spread generous amount of butter on the top bread. Then place butter side down on pan. Use spatular to press sandwich down on pan.
6. Spread butter on other side of bread. Then flip sandwich over carefully and press down again.
7. Fry till golden brown. Cut into halves and serve hot with chips!

Chicken soup for the soul

Another fast and easy, yet hearty recipe for weekday dinners. All it takes is chicken breast, carrots and corn to put a smile on your face :)

Creamy chicken & mushroom/corn soup

What you need (feeds 3)
- 2 chicken breasts
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 packet brown mushroom, sliced
- 1 packet cream corn
- 1 tsp cream
- salt & pepper to taste

Let's cook!
1. Put first 3 ingredients in a deep pot, add water to cover the ingredients by double.
2. Cover and bring to boil. Then simmer at low fire about an hour.
3. When carrots are soft, remove chicken set aside.
4. Put carrots, mushroom and some of the broth into blender and lightly blend. Taking care not to over blend as you want some chunks of carrots and mushroom.
5. Pour back blended mix into pot. Add cream corn or cream but not both.
6. Shred chicken and add into soup. Serve hot with love.

Breaded baked fish with homemade tartar sauce

Here's a recipe for quick and easy weekday dinners, by request of a girlfriend who's venturing into the kitchen. Good luck Annie and have fun cooking :)

Breaded Baked Fish/Pork/Chicken

What you need (feeds 2)
- 4 strips if frozen or fresh fish fillets
- 1 egg White
- 1 tsp plain flour
- some panko flakes (jap breadcrumbs)
- black pepper n salt

Let's cook!
1. Preheat oven to highest temp. Mine is 220 degrees.
2. Line in separate plates - flour, egg White, panko (seasoned with salt and pepper).
3. Pat dry fish fillets. Coat in flour dusting off excess flour. Then dip into egg White and finally panko.
4. Placed on grill lined with pan below. Drizzle some oil and place in oven for about 20mins or till golden brown.
5. Serve with homemade tartar sauce.

Homemade tartar sauce
- 2 tsp Mayo
- 1 big clove garlic, crushed
- lots of dill chips (pickle), diced
Mix all together and serve!

Same recipe can be used with chicken strips or thin pork fillets. Can either oven bake, shallow fry or deep fry. Here's a photo I shallow-fried with pork (katsu), served on a piece of toast with a sunny-side up yummy!

crabcakes, fishcakes, not that kinda cakes

This is by request of my friend San who tried my crabcakes and wants the recipe. These are probably the easiest things to make and freeze for weekday dinners. You can also do mini versions to impress your guests at dinner parties!

What you need
1 large potato
250gm frozen crabmeat, soaked in hot water for while OR
1 can tuna or salmon or any fish
seasoning: pepper, salt, mixed dried herbs
optional: some chopped parsley
1 egg
oil
panko flakes (japanese breadcrumbs) or any kinda breadcrums

Let's cook!
1. Skin and cut potato into quarters. Place in bowl, cover with water then microwave for about 11mins till soft.
2. Drain water from potato and mash it up.
3. Add crabmeat/fish, plus seasoning and chopped parsley. Mix it all together.
4. Crack the egg in a separate bowl, beat it then add half the egg into the crab/fish mix and mix well together.
5. Heat enough oil to shallow fry (about halfway up the cakes is fine).
6. Pour the panko onto a plate, roll crab/fish mix into balls (big or small) then lightly flatten them.
7. Dip the balls into the remaining egg lightly then coat with panko. Fry till golden brown, then flip over and fry the over side.
8. Drain and serve with homemade garlic aioli :) or make giant cakes and serve with side salad as a main.



These are wonderfully light and yummy! Somewhat like croquettes!

week of tanks, planes, fireworks and flags

It's our nation's birthday this week. But the only thing I appreciated outta the whole celebrations was the long weekend break hehe! Anyhow, since it's national day week, I decided to go Asian this week for dinner. Except for Tuesday, the rest of this week's dinners are Asian-inspired.



Monday - Red, White & Wow Fried Rice (in theme with this year's NDP)



Wednesday - Thai Grilled Chicken

spice up your weak-days — part 2

A trick to preparing fast weekday dinners is pre-preparation. You can either prepare all the ingredients or pre-cook some stuff, so that day itself, all you have to do is simply put it into the oven or over the stove and dinner will be ready in a matter of minutes! Planning ahead is equally important as you can save money by buying ingredients that stretches your dollar, meaning to use the same ingredients for various dishes throughout the week. That way no food is wasted. Here's what we had last week.



Monday - Grilled Beef Sandwich with Carmelised Onions and Cheddar



Tuesday - Crispy Salmon with Potato Gratin



Wednesday - Baked Fish Pie

P/S: Drop me a note if you are keen to try out any of these dishes yeah.

spice up your weak-days — part 1

Weekday dinners can be a chore if you have to eat out everyday. So why not prepare simple, easy to cook, yet yummy dinners to look forward to at the end of a hectic work day. As you all know I'm a sucker for food mags, especially Donna Hay. I can't believe I have so many mags and there are so many quick-fix dinner recipes in there waiting for me to try. So as of 2 weeks ago, I planned the week's menu in advance, went grocery shopping and whipped up exciting new dishes for our weekday dinners. Here's what we had 2 weeks ago.



Monday - Chicken Caesar Sandwich



Tuesday - Baked Pork Chops with Cheddar and Onions



Wednesday - Bacon and Crab Quiche

Forgot to mention no cooking on Thursdays cos' the hubs eats out with his soccer pals after his game, as well as Fridays as it's my day out with my pals :)

easy peasy weekday dinners

Chasing-the-blues Beef Stew

I've been sooo busy with the big move that it's not fun at all. With the amount of stress that came along with it, cooking was hardly on my schedule. So what do we eat for dinner everyday you ask...here's a series of easy peasy dinners for busy folks like me :) Sorry too tired to jot down the recipes today but enjoy the pics yeah. On those days when you are really busy and craving for some fried stuff, my fav is frozen Tay's Chicken Karage and my trusty Heineken! Best part about Tay's is I heat it up in the oven and it's still super crispy hehe! Had this last Thursday at the height of my stressed week. Then there is some dishes you can prepare in advance, freeze it and reheat when wana eat. I call this "Chasing-the-blues Beef Stew". It is topped with thinly sliced potatoes instead of pastry and contains diced carrots, mushrooms, peas, canned tomatoes and thicken with Jap stew cube. Yummers and sure to get rid of all Monday blues!

things to stew about

Sorry I have MIA from blogging for a week. Partly was recovering from bad stomach flu and another part is due to busy packing for my office move happening next week. With so much on my plate, I needed to find some time to cook. Well of course we still need to eat but there's always takeaway as most busy folks will opt for. But for me cooking is my way to de-stress, even it is a quick and simple dish. So I finally hit the kitchen yesterday to prepare dinner for tonite, after about a week away. Whipped up our all-time fav one-pot comfort meal - Spicy Sausage Stew or Soup as it is rather watered. This dish is great for all of us working wives. Cook it the day before, pop it into the fridge and re-heat when ready to devour! Ingredients (feeds 2 very hungry folks)

• 2 herb sausages
• 2 Italian sausages
• 2 medium potatoes, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• half onion, diced
• 1 can of Hunt's stewed tomato
• half a glass of water
• dash of mixed Italian herbs
• 1 teaspoon dry chilli flakes (I get mine from BKK, the best and most spicy)
• salt & pepper

Method

1. Saute the onions in bit of olive oil in a medium stainless steel saucepan, add sausages and fry till semi cooked.
2. Pour in canned stewed tomato, stir awhile then add in potato and carrots and pour in water.
3. Season with Italian herbs and chilli flakes, cover and simmer on low fire for about half hour or till potato/carrots are soft...and you are done!
4. Transfer to a container, leave to cool then refrigerate. Re-heat when ready to enjoy!

my own chow chow-der

I'm very proud to say that I made this Seafood Chowder from scratch and it is more or less my own recipe as well. The hubs is down with fever today and don't really have an appetite. So I thought I'll make a tasty chowder for him. Was researching for a recipe and most of them I found either took too long or had too many ingredients. So I improvised and came up with my own and again we were both pleasantly surprised. This definitely wet the sick hubs' appetite and he slurped up every last drop of it! So I shall share the recipe of my simple Seafood Chowder recipe with you. Ingredients (serves 2)

• 50g frozen crab meat, defrosted
• 10-12pcs of medium prawns, peeled, de-veined and diced into small pieces (not too tiny tho)
• 2 slices of bacon, diced into small pieces
• 1 medium potato, diced into small cubes
• 1 carrot, diced into small cubes
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/8 bar of butter
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups prawn stock
• 2 tablespoon of pure cream
• seasoning: salt, pepper & dash of dried mixed herbs

Method

1. Make the prawn stock. Submerge prawn heads in a pot of water, bring to boil then simmer for about 30mins.
2. In a separate pot, heat butter with a dash of oil (adding a dash of oil will ensure butter will not be burnt) and sauteed the onions till translucent. Then add bacon and fry for about 2mins.
3. Add in carrots and potatoes, stir and coat in the butter, onion, bacon mix. Then pour in the wine, bring to boil and simmer to reduce till about half of the liquid remains.
4. Now add in the prawn stock and seasoning. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer for about 15mins or till carrots and potatoes are soft but not mashy.
5. Add in the seafood and simmer for about 10mins. Stir in cream, thicken with bit of cornstarch (optional), dish into bowls and serve hot with freshly cracked black pepper. Enjoy!

here fishie fishie

I'm sure all of us love our fish & chips but most of the time it's deep fried and oily, thus we avoid eating it unless and major craving hits. This week this recipe for oven-baked fish and chips kinda crossed my path twice so I just had to try it out. I went for the Parmesan-crumbled recipe and it was fantastic! Was pleasantly at how crispy the coating was despite not going anywhere near the pot of oil. Anyway, here's the recipe in case any of you have a craving and don't want the hassle of deep frying. Oh btw I didn't make the fries, it was frozen wedges which was heated in the oven too. But I made a wasabi mayo dip to go along with the fish.

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1 cup breadcrumbs (you can be creative with this, I used this nutty walnut bread)
• 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• some finely grated lemon rind
• 120g melted butter
• 4pcs of any skinless white fish fillets
• 1 beaten egg
• plain flour for dusting
• lemon wedges to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Place breadcrumbs, cheese, lemon rind and 80g of the butter in a bowl and mix well.
2. Dust the fish in the flour, dip in egg and press in breadcrumb mix.
3. Place fish on baking tray lined with non-stick paper and bake for 15mins or till golden brown. Serve with lemon wedges, ketchup and wasabi mayo. Enjoy!

follow the shepard to the pie

Ok sorry for my punny titles, I just can't help it haha! So here's last night's dinner - the every so comforting Shepard's Pie.

Here's my quick and easy recipe to whip up for weekday dinners.

Ingredients

• 300g minced beef/lamb
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 4-5 medium potatoes
• 2-3 tablespoon butter
• grated cheddar or mozzarella cheese
• dashes of worcestershire sauce
• salt, pepper & dried mixed herbs

Method

1. Preheat oven at 200 degrees celsius.
2. Submerge the potatoes in a bowl of water and put in microwave on high for 8-10mins.
3. In the meantime, heat a pan with oil and sweat the onion till translucent then add the beef/lamb. Add the seasonings and carrots, then fry for about 5-6mins till meat is cooked or dark brown in colour.
4. Pierce potatoes with a fork to ensure they are soft in the centre. Drain and peel them, then mash and mix well with butter.
5. Assemble pie in a oven-proof dish. Dish the meat mixture into the base, then top with the mashed potatoes and flatten it out to a smooth top.
6. Sprinkle top of potato layer with generous portion of cheese, grate from fresh black pepper and place into oven for 25-30mins till cheese melts and bubbles.
7. Serve and enjoy :)