French Toast with Grilled Bananas

Ingredients (serves 2)

6 slices of stale bread (I used Tuscany soft grain country bread from Trader Joe’s)

1 cup of soy milk (you can use regular milk if you want)

2 eggs

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon

butter

Method:

1. Beat the eggs with the milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt

2. Heat up a frying pan with some butter.

3. Place bread into egg mixture (do not soak for too long or the bread will fall apart) and place on frying pan, fry each side till golden brown.

4. Grill some bananas ( I used a blow torch).

5. Serve french toast with grilled banans, strawberries and drizzle with good quality maple syrup.

I love french toast breakfast. This is my favourite breakfast to make when I want to be fancy on weekends. And I always prefer the home-made versions because I can regulate the amount of sugar/butter I use. I think this is a healthier version of french toast than what we get outside. And way more affordable too.

Easy Homemade Granola

 

Easy Homemade Granola

adapted from “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I used grapeseed)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup whole almonds (I used chopped almonds)
1/3 cup of chopped dates
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (I ran out of parchment and used aluminium foil instead, that might explain why my granola got a little burnt)

In a large bowl, toss the oats with the cinnamon and salt.

In a medium bowl, stir together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until completely combined.

Pour the honey mixture over the oats mixture and use your hands to combine them: Gather up some of the mixture in each hand and make a fist. Repeat until all of the oats are coated with the honey mixture. ( I did not do that…hehe)

Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Spread it out evenly, but leave a few clumps here and there for texture.

Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and use a metal spatula to lift and flip the granola. Sprinkle the almonds over the granola and return the baking sheet to the oven.

Bake for 5 minutes, then remove from the oven. Let cool completely. Sprinkle the dates and cranberries over the granola.

Let it cool completely before transferring into an air-tight container. Or before the husbands starts eating it.

J has been raving about Cafe Fixe’s homemade granola for ages and has suggested buying boring supermarket granola to quell his craving. However, being rather the expert on granola, I know that the supermarket brands will never satiate his craving. One visit to Cafe Fixe revealed that a pound of that granola costs $18 and we were not about to spend that money. I reasoned that if it’s homemade, I can do it. So I did it.

Granola making took about 30 minutes. With the base of oats and cinnamon, salt and honey mixture, one can basically add any kind of nuts, grains and dried fruits as one liked. I bought the rolled oats (because we eat steel-cut oats at home) and basically threw together the granola with whatever I had at home. Now we have a really pleased husband who, for the first time, gave my cooking a 10/10. And this is slightly burnt granola.

Cantaloupe Sago with coconut milk

Rock Melon (or cantaloupe) Sago with Coconut Milk

Cantaloupe (Rockmelon) Sago  Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 whole cantaloupe
• 1/4 cup of sago (tapioca pearls)
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• Water

Method

Cut cantaloupe into half, cut 1 half of the fruit into small cubes and chill in fridge.

Blend the other half into a puree and chill in fridge.

To prepare sugar syrup, bring to boil 1 bowls of water in a pot with the sugar. Stir until water has reduced to half Allow to cool to room temperature. Chill sugar syrup in the fridge.

To prepare sago, soak sago in cold water for 30 minutes before straining and boiling till sago turns translucent. Strain the sago and leave sago in strainer soaked in cold water and chill.

To serve, combine about cantaloupe cubes and cantaloupe puree and sago in a bowl. Stir in coconut milk and sugar syrup to your liking. Drizzle coconut milk on top of bowl before serving. I had a little jar of coconut milk on the side for my guests to add more if they like, and some do like more coconut milk than others.

Before I discovered (good) cakes and chocolate, this was my all-time favourite dessert. You can find it in Cantonese restaurants as a dessert course and I remember my mom making it when I was a child. It never dawned upon me to make it myself, or eat it even after I got older and fancy European desserts took over my tastebuds. But I thought it would be fun to make a healthy Chinese desserts at my dinner party last night and boy, was it a hit. I love it that it is healthy, vegan and so easy to make.

Oh, usually people use honeydew, but I never liked the sickly green colour and always preferred the sweeter cantaloupe.

Brown sugar plums with soured cream

From Waitrose
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 English plums, halved and stoned
2 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
300ml soured cream
2 tbsp demerara sugar

Heat the oven to 220 degrees. Arrange the plums in the base of a gratin dish to make a tight fitting single layer. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the plums. Bake for 20-25 minutes until tender and golden.

Spoon the soured cream over the top and sprinkle with demerara sugar. For a crunchier sugar stopping, you could place the dish under a hot grill until the sugar melts.

Too sweet for my taste; I think if I make it again, I will reduce the amount of sugar by half.