Author: immrseio

Baking, Food, Kids/Children, Little Kitchen Helper, Recipe

Walnut chocolate chip muffins

immrseio

Little kitchen helpers are in action again. This time round, they are helping Mrs Eio bake walnut chocolate chips muffins. Mrs Eio needs to use up the left over nuts from a gathering.  

 
Ingredients: 

1) Mixture A

  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 cups self raising flour 
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 teaspoon salt

2) Mixture B

  • 2/3 cup nutrisoy milk (reduced sugar) 
  • 1/2 cup canola oil 
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  •  1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

3) 1/2 cup chocolate chips

4) 3/4 cup crushed walnut 

5) Some almond & cranberries for toppings 

  
El’s a good helper! 

First, add & mix all ingredients together for mixture A.  Add & mix all ingredients together for mixture B. Add mixture B to mixture A. Put walnuts & chocolate chip into mixture A& B. Mix them together. 

 
Em helped to crush the walnuts.    

This recipe can yield 12 muffins. Scoop the mixture into the muffin cups. 

El added the cranberries & almond toppings to the muffins. 

 
Preheat oven at 180 degree C. Bake the muffins for 20 mins. 

   
Done. Let them cool down before serving. 

    
Eio kids love the muffins. 🙂

   
Good way to get the kids to eat walnuts (brain food). Try baking it! 

Cafe Hopping, Food, Marriage

Antoinette

immrseio

A place Mr & Mrs Eio decided that they must go during their 3d2n Staycation is Antoinette!    

 Why? Mrs Eio wanna try their salted egg croissant! 😝

 
Look at how the salted egg flows out from the croissant. The croissant is crispy & fluffy. Simply Yums! Worth the trip. 
 
Latte is good. 

   
Love the ambience…❤️❤️

    
 
Only thing that’s kind of disappointing is the pasta. Too oily. The food items are pricey but if it’s of good standard, it’s ok. Mr Eio says Mrs Eio can cook better pasta. So… 😓

   
 
There’s a great variety of desserts but Mrs Eio think they taste average. 

  
Conclusion: Be there if you wanna try their salted egg croissant & for the nice ambience. 

Education, Family, Kids/Children, Little Kitchen Helper

Little kitchen helper: Eio Kids make egg burgers

immrseio

Mrs Eio is starting a new category in her blog- Little kitchen helper. 

Practical Reason: some of her SAHM or mommies friends are asking what she does with her kids at home? How she get them to help to prepare their lunch or dinner? What exactly Eio kids do when they help to prepare meals? 

Here’s some photos & descriptions for easier references. Just sharing some ideas. She’s sure many mommies are doing similar stuff or even better job out there!👍

Please note that most of the photos are back dated as Mrs Eio didn’t really take photos recently when the kids help out. Will try to make an effort to take photos if possible. 😁

  

Why does Mrs Eio need helpers in her kitchen? Very practical reasons again! 

  1. It’s a life skill they need to learn. Just like some parents think learning how to swim is important. 😊
  2. It’s educational. Eggs are not scrambled, poached, fried or sunny side up. There’s egg white & yolk too. Lol. 
  3. Instead of them playing & starting to get bored… bickering around evening time… Come on! Do something constructive with/for mommy & the family! 
  4. Kids to learn the process & be appreciative. If Eio kids ever question their mommy why cook this dish today or gets bored with certain dish. OK! DIY!!! After the kids started helping in the kitchen, they can better understand it really takes effort for mommy to prepare a meal for them!
  5. Eio kids like to help in the kitchen. They like to stand around to see how Mrs Eio prepare a meal. Aiyoh! Don’t stand around. Help out lah! 

  
There’s couple of “things to note” before getting the little helpers to help in the kitchen.

7 key pointers for mommies: 

  • The task assigned must be age appropriate! You can’t expect a 2 years old to fry an egg?!?!? Probably learn how to crack an egg is more age appropriate.
  • Starts with small & simple tasks. Please refrain from getting the little helpers to do complicated tasks when they are asked to help for the first time round. There’s a possibility of them messing things up. If mommy starts to get upset due to the mess, they get discouraged. 
  • Set rules & boundaries. Be clear with your instructions. Hello! They are kids! There’s stove, knives (dangerous items) etc in the  kitchen. You really want the kids to know this is not a playground right from the start! Especially if you have more than 1 little helper! 
  • Avoid wastage & unnecessary “volcano eruption”(getting upset). Eg. You may wanna scoop out the pasta sauce or put some ingredients into bowls to avoid the little helpers from spilling the entire can of sauce or messing up all the ingredients. 
  • Preparations needed depending on what you are getting the kids to help you in. Eg. Stools if your kids can’t reach the table top. Cutleries that’s suitable for kids’ use etc. 
  • Provide compliments & affirmation when you see job well done or good behaviors. Practice makes perfect. The more the kids do, it’ll get better. 
  • Last but not least, adult supervision is absolutely required!!! They are little helpers. Not adults. It’s important to teach them how to use a plastic knife & supervise how they do the task. 

    
Egg burgers: 

As you can see the Eio kids crack eggs & add the sesame oil, salt & pepper to the egg. Beat the eggs. But Mrs Eio did not let them fry the eggs then as they were already very hungry. As of now, both kids can crack an egg. Em can crack it beautifully without breaking the yolk most of the time. El is still trying to attain that standard. 

 Making burger… Spread butter… Add tomatoes, eggs etc. 

   
Eat lah! Yummy! 

From level of difficulty 1-5, 1 being easiest. This kind of preparation is considered level 1. Easy for both their age. For el perhaps it’s 1.5.. But still, very safe & easy to manage. 😊

 
Frankly speaking, when these little kitchen helpers prepare their meals, they tends to finish everything. Lol. 

Enjoy…😄

Animal-Milk-Protein Free, Dairy-free, Food, Recipe

Dairy-free cream of mushroom

immrseio

Em loves cream of mushroom but El can’t eat due to the presence of animal milk protein. Mrs Eio has been thinking how to make this soup tastes good & both kids can enjoy. The cream of mushroom didn’t taste as good with Soy milk. Mrs Eio finally got it when she used coconut cream to make the soup. Yummy! 

 
Ingredients: 

  • 500g of shitake mushroom (before removing stalks) 
  • 200 g of brown mushroom (before removing stalks) 
  • 1 packet of cream of coconut 
  • 3 yellow onions & 2 cloves of garlic 
  • Salt & pepper to taste. 
  • Olive oil to stir fry the ingredients. 
  • 1-2 cups of water. 
  • Pinch of oregano (optional. Some people use thyme) 

   
 
Comparing the nutrition information before deciding to use coconut cream. To obtain the creamy texture, coconut cream is the way to go! 

   
Chopped the garlic, mushrooms & onions. Just anyhow chop! 😁😁since she’s going to blend it anyway… Shall get the Eio kids to help the next time round.  

 
Add some olive oil into the pot. Stir fry the onion & garlic before adding mushrooms. Add oregano, salt & pepper to taste. 

   
Mrs Eio must make her effort worthwhile so she will stir fry more ingredients & freeze part of it for use on another day. 

 
Her handheld blender comes to good use again. Blend all the ingredients in the pot. 

After blending, Mrs Eio put part of the blended ingredients into a container. Freeze it upon cooling.

Note: Try to freeze the ingredients before adding coconut cream. You may add the coconut cream or milk to the thawed mushrooms mixture the next time round. 

   
For the other half of the ingredients in the pot, Mrs Eio added coconut cream & 1-2 cups of water (depending on your preference on the thickness of the soup). Bring to boil. 

 
Wallah!! Coconut cream of mushroom !    

Em finished that big bowl of soup! He simply loves it!!

 
Try it!!😊

Animal-Milk-Protein Free, Dairy-free, Food

Kueh bahalu

immrseio

Mrs Eio wanted to make kueh bahulu for a long time as Eio kids love to eat it. It’s dairy free! She finally tried out Guai shu shu’s recipe. 

Check out the link for the original recipe: https://kwgls.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/if-you-dont-have-the-mould-try-this-macaroon-looked-alikekueh-bahulu-（蛋花糕）/

  
Mrs Eio made slight amendments to the amount of ingredients. 

The ingredients: 

  • 4 eggs
  • 150 grams of self raising flour
  • 120 grams of sugar
  • A tsp of vanilla essence 

 
Preheat the oven to 200 degree c. 

Grease the Kueh Bahulu mould. Mrs Eio is using the madeleine mould too.     

Mrs Eio loves her handheld mixer. Beat the eggs, vanilla essence & sugar until the volume expands to twice to three times the original volumn. 

Seive in the flour & mix well. 

  

Scoop the mixture into moulds & pop them  into the oven. Turn the kueh bahulu over after 10~15 min. Bake for another 10 min. 

  

Mrs Eio wasn’t too please with her 1st attempt. The taste is ok but the colour & texture are not as she have expected. Nevertheless, Eio kids love the kueh bahulu. 
 

Its always good to have homemade snacks! 😁

Animal-Milk-Protein Free, Baking, Dairy-free, Food, Recipe

Dairy-free chocolate chocolate cake

immrseio

Mrs Eio tried out a dairy-free chocolate cake recipe from Tip Hero (please refer to the link below for original recipe & directions) : 

http://tiphero.com/chocolate-crazy-cake/

Truly fuss-free, minimal washing & most importantly El can eat as it does not contain animal milk protein. 

These are the ingredients Mrs Eio uses.    
Mrs Eio amended the amount of  ingredients slightly. 

– 1.5 cup plain flour (sieved)

– 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

– 180ml  granulated sugar (reduced) 

– 1 teaspoon baking soda

– 1/3 teaspoon kosher salt (reduced)

– 1 teaspoon white vinegar

– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

– 4.5 tablespoons vegetable oil (reduced)

– 1 cup water

 
Preheat the oven to 170 degree c. 

Add all the dry ingredients directly to the pan and mix well. 

Make 3 depressions in the mixed dry ingredients. Add vinegar, oil & vanilla extract into the 3 depressions separately. Lastly, pour water into the mixture. Use a fork & mix till smooth. 
  
Mrs Eio used a wooden spatula to mix instead as the metal fork will scratch her pan. 

 
Put the mixture into the preheated oven for about 35 min. 

   
Test if the cake is ready using a satay stick. 

    
Nice & yummy!! 😄 El ate 2 slices & asked for more. 

 

The cake tastes even better with chocolate fudge & blueberries! 

  
Wait not. Try it out! 👍

Good deals/Lobang, Marriage

Couple Staycation @ BIG Hotel

immrseio

Mr & Mrs Eio had a 3d2n couple staycation at BIG Hotel. The room for BIG hotel is really small (smaller than the size of the Eio’s master bedroom..) but it’s fine for them as they probably won’t be staying in the room all the time. 

  
Why Eios choose BIG Hotel?

  • Good location. Near malls & good food!
  • Explore Bugis area
  • Value for $ (whatever essentials Mrs Eio needs for a getaway)
  • There’s hot & cold water dispenser outside their room.
  • Free Wifi
  • TV in room with some free movies
  • Eios drove there. There’s a carpark at the hotel $12 per day (per 24 hours). Some boutique hotels don’t have a carpark.
  • This couple just desperately need a getaway & a place to zzz!!! As simple as that! 

    
Small shower area… Anyway it serves it’s purpose. Even if there’s a bath tub in the bathroom, the Eios will never use it. This is good enough. 


Work station. 

    
The basin is really tiny but there’s really no need for gigantic ones. Lol. 

 
Not much view from their room but at least they can see MBS! 😁  

 
Frankly speaking, there’s really no need to order breakfast from the hotel as there’s many good food, malls, cafes & restaurants nearby (within 5-10 min walk). 

These are some places Eios went for their meals. One of the food that Eios craved for is Bak kut teh! 

1st stop for the Eios: Ah Seng bak Kut teh @ 492 North Bridge Road, Singapore 188737. (10 min walk from hotel). There are many yummy food in that area.   

The couple had an enriching time at the National Design Centre. (Just 5 min walk from the hotel)

 

  
Besides viewing the exhibits, the Eios had a great time chatting & discussing about their future. 

   
One of the afternoons, the Eios drove to Antoinette to try out their salted egg croissant. A must-do for Mrs Eio! 

Website: http://www.antoinette.com.sg

Bugis junction & Bugis+ are just 5-10 min walk away. The Eios tried out the Ramen Champion & New Manlee bak kut teh @ Bugis+.   If you wanna take MRT, Bugis Mrt station is nearby. 
  

The Eios were spoilt for choices. There’s really not enough meals in their staycation for them to try out all the eateries nearby BIG hotel.   😅
Mrs Eio had to go to the hotel’s Gym to burn off the calories accumulated. As you can see, it’s a really small gym. 

 Some requests Eios made when they booked BIG hotel room are:

  1. High floor
  2. Quite room (need to clear their sleep debts) 
  3. Corner room if possible. 

Well… If you are looking for a value-for-money boutique hotel stay around bugis area, this could be a hotel you wanna consider. 🙂 

Check out their website: 
http://m.bighotel.com/#!home

Animal-Milk-Protein Free, Baking, Dairy-free, Food, Little Kitchen Helper, Recipe

Mrs Eio’s little helper & mommy’s birthday cake

immrseio

Mrs Eio’s little helper was helping to make mommy’s birthday cake.   
This time round, Mrs Eio decided to make 2 cakes. 

 
She altered the previous recipe (her lemon chiffon cake) so the cake was more moist this time round. 

   
 Ingredients for making 2 cakes: 

(A) Flour mixture:

-3 cups of cake flour

-9 egg Yorks (from fridge because that’s where I store my eggs.) 

-4 tsp of baking powder

-100 ml of caster sugar

-3/4 tsp of salt

– 100 ml of water 

-140 ml of canola oil 

-lemon zest of 1 lemon

– juice of 1 lemon -seive before use. (please don’t throw away the lemon after juicing. Add them into water for drinking or use them to make enzymes for cleaning) 

Mrs Eio seived the cake flour, baking powder & salt and set them aside. Beat the egg York & sugar using a whisk till she feel the sugar has mixed well with the york. Add oil & mix well. Add water & mix well again. Add the lemon juice & zest, mix well. Last but not least, she added the mixture into the cake flour mixture. Whisk till everything mix well together. Set aside (mixture A). 

  
(B) Egg-white Sugar mixture: 

– 9 egg white 

-100 ml caster sugar. 

Mrs Eio used a electric handheld blender & beat the egg white & sugar mixture till it becomes a white light foam (mixture b). Slowly fold in mixture b into mixture A. A ladle of mixture b at a time. Must not over mix both mixtures (mixture c). 

Set aside 1cup of mixture C. Pour the rest of mixture c into 2 baking containers. She tapped the containers on the table a few times to “set” the mixture.( Extra air bubbles can escape.)

Piping for the cake: Add a teaspoon of chocolate powder into the 1cup of mixture C that’s set aside. Mix well. Put it into a piping bag. Time to design something or write words on the cake. Somehow the mixture is runny so the words are not well written. 🙂

Preheated oven at 160 degree celcius. Baked for 35 minutes. 

 
Blessed birthday Mrs Eio! 🎉

Food, Organic, Quinoa

Cooking Tri-Colour Quinoa

immrseio

   
Mrs Eio cooked the Tri-colour Quinoa that she purchased from the Bento People (the Quinoa People). 

 
How to cook quinoa? 

Rinse the quinoa with water. Mrs Eio cooked the quinoa in a rice cooker. The water to quinoa ratio is 2:1. 

  
One of Mrs Eio’s faithful comrades in the kitchen is this rice cooker. Just select “expert” mode, everything will be done perfectly. 

 
The tri-colour quinoa is more “husky” as compared to the light brown ones. The texture is like chewing sesame seeds among the light brown quinoa.  

   
Freezing quinoa:  Mrs Eio cooked 3 cups of quinoa & decided to freeze the leftovers. Check out this website on the way to freeze quinoa.

http://www.thekitchn.com/can-you-freeze-cooked-quinoa-221171

 Quinoa to replace rice. 

  
Quinoa as a side dish with toufu & brocolli. It definitely adds some crunch to toufu & makes it more palatable. Mrs Eio loves to add wolfberries to her dishes. This a great protein-packed dish for vegans! 

Directions:

1) Steam the brocolli & beancurd. 

2) Boil 2-3 cups of vegetable or chicken stock. (Depending on how much sauce you want). 

3) Add in cooked quinoa (half a cup) & wolfberries (one table spoon). Bring the sauce to boil. (Optional: add seasoning, salt & pepper if you prefer to). 

4) Add in some cornstarch water to thicken the quinoa sauce. You may add an beaten egg if you want to. (But make sure there’s enough sauce in the pot to cook the egg). 

5) pour the quinoa sauce onto the beancurd & brocolli. 

Enjoy!!!

Food

The Bento People @ CT hub

immrseio

Weeks ago, the Eios went to CT hub to grab some books from CRU Singapore Media ministry.  Time for lunch & they chanced upon this restaurant “The Bento People”.   

Cozy restaurant. Friendly service staff. There’s some display on Snacks & Quinoa. A “mix & match” menu where you order the carbs, proteins, vegetables you want to eat & they’ll serve the food in a bento. Interesting concept! 

    
Frankly, Mrs Eio really didn’t know what’s truly in store. Eio kids are famished so she just ordered whatever they like to eat. Brocolli, beef, white rice… 

 
After Mrs Eio ordered food for the kids, she realised there’s also quinoa & red rice etc on the menu. She decided to order red rice, curry cauliflowers, chicken with herbal sauce, toufu & mushroom for Mr Eio. 

   
The first comment Mr Eio made after eating is “this restaurant is selling healthy food but it’s tasty too.” Mrs Eio has to agree with him because they shared the red rice. Though they are eating lesser carbs, the red rice makes them feel fuller than eating white rice. She think it’s probably the power of eating whole grain. 

  

Quinoa is added to this toufu mushroom dish. It tasted really good. Mrs Eio used to cook quinoa at home but the kids are not so used to the crunch. 

Later on, the Eios met the owner of the Bento people. He kindly serves us a bowl of Yang Zhou fried Quinoa & the Eio kids simply love it! This gave Mrs Eio the motivation to revive Quinoa in the Eios lunch & dinner home menu. 😊 

  

The owner of the restaurant then shared with Mr & Mrs Eio the importance of eating whole grains & the healthier way of cooking meat. Later on, the Eios found out that he’s actually a doctor turns chef! 

Mrs Eio used to include more whole grain in their diet but ever since El wasn’t able to gain weight due to allergy, she reverts to white rice & simple carbs so that it’s easier for her to digest & gain weight. Now El is better, it’s time for the Eios to include more whole grains in their diet. 
  

What Mrs Eio read on the Straits Time recently about white rice. It coincides with what Doc (restaurant owner) shared weeks ago. 

Read this article: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/diabetes-the-rice-you-eat-is-worse-than-sugary-drinks

Time to take care of ourselves by eating more whole grains…

  

Mrs Eio bought a packet of Quinoa home. Will post on what she has done with it soon. 🙂 The tri- colour quinoa tasted better than the light brown ones. 
    

You may read up on Doc, the man behind this great work: http://www.whatscookingdoc.sg/2015/05/the-bento-people-story.html?m=1

 
Visit The Bento People & try out their whole grains & healthy food @ CT hub. 

For more details, visit their website: http://www.thebentopeople.com

Address: #02-17, CT Hub, 2 Kallang Avenue (339407) 

Tel: 64432006