Crispy Rosemary Chicken

As I've done before with the butter chicken, this one was a bit too dry too. I wonder if there's any way to marinate or "prepare" the chicken pieces before baking to make it juicy and tender in the end. However, the dried rosemary did make the chicken more flavourful.

As for the mashed potato at the side, I just improvised a bit. Besides adding butter as we usually do, I added in a bit of milk and a sprinkle of dried oregano and black pepper.

Oh, and thanks to the piglet and husband for their support in this Saturday night dinner. :)

Crispy Rosemary Chicken (from : Kraft Foods)

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 3/4 cup POST GRAPE-NUTS Cereal
- 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
- 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary leaves, crushed
- 1/8 tsp. pepper
- 4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)
- 1 Tbsp. oil

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.

2. Place cereal in blender; blend on low speed until cereal is finely crushed. Mix with garlic salt, dried rosemary leaves and pepper in shallow dish.

3. Brush chicken lightly with oil, then dip in cereal mixture, turning to evenly coat both sides. Place in greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan or on greased baking sheet.

4. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

Strawberry Cheesecake Squares (modified)

Yes, two cheesecakes over two weekends. I need to test out my gelatin theory, remember? So, I decided not to make the same lemon cheesecake again.

I stumbled upon this recipe and thought it didn't look that difficult. So, why not give it a try?

Ok, I admit the photo looks a little horrible (coz the jam just oozes out when we tried to cut it). I also admit that once again, something went wrong along the way. It's the strawberry jam this time. Mama said it's too sweet. And I think maybe I chose the wrong type, or most likely it's better to use fresh strawberries, which is quite a feat to find them sweet and fresh over here.

But whatever it is, what's done is already done, just take it as a lesson learnt. You people just have to bear with this one, gain a few more pounds for me to help me finish it. Heh.

Strawberry Cheesecake Squares (modified)

Ingredients:

- 10 pieces of digestive biscuits, crushed

- 125g butter

- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

- 3/4 can sweetened condensed milk

- 2 teaspoons of lemon juice

- strawberry jam

- 5 teaspoons of gelatin, mixed with hot water

Directions:

1. For the crust, melt the butter in a pan over the stove and add in the crushed digestive biscuits. Stir till butter and biscuit crumbs are properly mixed, pour into tin and refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours.

2. Put a layer of strawberry jam over the refrigerated crust and refrigerate for another hour.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add condensed milk, gelatin and lemon juice. Mix until smooth. Pour mixture into crust. Refrigerate for 3 - 4 hours.

After this, I've concluded that gelatin really does help to set the cheesecake faster and give it a firmer texture.

Lemon Cheesecake

Here is the modified version of my lemon cheesecake (without the gelatin) :

Ingredients:
- 10 pieces of digestive biscuits, crushed
- 125g butter
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- zest from 4 lemons

Directions:
1. For the crust, melt the butter in a pan over the stove and add in the crushed digestive biscuits. Stir till butter and biscuit crumbs are properly mixed, pour into tin and refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add condensed milk, and lemon zest. Mix until smooth. Pour mixture into crust. Refrigerate overnight.

The one that didn't work out

It's been some time since I was so "hardworking" over the weekend. But it was really quite fun to cook or try my hand at something new once in a while. Whether the final product is edible or not is another matter altogether. Haha.


Well, for this lemon pie or cheesecake or whatever you like to call it, I didn't really follow that closely to the original recipe I got from the website. Instead, I tweaked a little here and there, and followed some advice from one of the reviewers of this recipe, and took some instructions from another previous cheesecake recipe.

But the bad news was, something went wrong somewhere. The cheese didn't set as nicely as my previous cheesecake. It was then that I realised maybe it was the lack of gelatin, which I'm also not sure. But I'll definitely be trying that again, with gelatin. So I wonder how it actually turned out for those who follow the original recipe.

Anyhow, it's still edible, though a bit too soft to be a cheesecake. The husband said it was actually quite nice, and I'm really surprised how just the zest of the lemons could make the whole cake taste so lemony. Now I understand why one of the reviews for the recipe states clearly to use the zest instead of the lemon juice, which I guess, might make the cheese too sour.

And, yes... my dear boys at work are going to be horrified excited that I have something new for them to try again. :) I'm so glad that they are always so supportive of my cooking. :)

As for the recipe, I'll post it again after I give it a second try, with gelatin this time over this weekend. Hopefully it'll turn out right. *fingers crossed*

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

My slow cooker finally made itself useful after resting in the kitchen cupboard for months.


I apologise if the picture of the chicken did not look too appetising. I couldn't find any way to present this dish without making it look like a mess. But it didn't taste too bad, except maybe a little too sour for my liking coz of the pasta sauce, and I did also add a bit of tomato paste to make it thicker.

If you are planning to make this dish, do make sure your pasta supply at home is sufficient. I didn't have enough pasta for 3 (yes, BT is forced to be the guinea pig again), so we had plain white rice to go with it, which made it kind of weird.

There was also this other problem about the bottom of the chicken and the slow cooker getting burnt. I'm actually not too sure why it happened, but luckily there was no burnt taste of food in the sauce.

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore(from : allrecipes)

4 servings

Ingredients :
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 1 (28 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
- 2 green bell pepper, seeded and cubed
- 5 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon minced garlic

Directions :
1. Put the chicken in the slow cooker. Top with the spaghetti sauce, green bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, and garlic.

2. Cover, and cook on Low for 7 to 9 hours.

Note : There is no need to cook the chicken for 7 hours. I cooked mine for 6 hours, and it was already a little too tough.

To the cinema : The Forbidden Kingdom

When I saw the write-up of The Forbidden Kingdom in the papers, saying that after so many years and so many movies, Jackie Chan and Jet Li are finally starring in one together, I told the husband we are going to watch it when it's released.

So the husband suggested that we go after work and we quickly decided on the cinema and the next thing I know, we had already bought the tickets. It was then that I realised that I didn't even know what the movie was all about. And this was the first time that I had bought tickets to a movie without reading sypnosis and reviews. But then again, any movie with Jackie Chan shouldn't be that bad.
Anyway, for the storyline, it was nothing special or had much Wow factor as it was quite predictable. Ok, maybe there was this tiny little twist at the end. But other than that, the audience should be able to know what goes on next, so I shouldn't reveal too much here. And also, as expected, Jackie Chan is the funny man, while Jet Li is the "act-cool" guy.
One thing that made me a little uncomfortable was their dialogues. Imagine people wearing those Kungfu kind of old-times China speaking English... it was strange, and takes some getting used to, especially there are times when the actors alternate between the two languages.
But hey, it's Hollywood, baby. So, anything goes. As long as the show reaps in high box office sales.
Overall, it was an enjoyable movie, and one that is suitable for the whole family. Oh, and be prepared to see bad guys with pretty eye makeup. :)

Me at G2000 looking for a plain white Tee...

Saleswoman (auntie) : Can I help you, Miss?
Me : Ya. I'm looking for this type of T-shirt, but in white.
Saleswoman : Ok. What size?
Me : Er... I'm not sure what the numbers stand for which size.
(the sizing is in 34, 36, 38... blah blah, and I was honestly thinking of small size)
Saleswoman : (gave me a look from head to toes) Ok, medium size for you.
Me : ... ... ok ... ...

-.-"

Auntie tips (13)

Tip 1:
To remove deposits from your kettle, fill it with equal parts of vinegar and water, bring to a boil and let it stand overnight

Tip 2:
To get rid of shreds of cheese stuck in the grater, try grating a raw potato after. It will clear the gummy cheese bits out of the tiny holes.

Tip 3:
If your chopping board smells of onion, garlic, fish or anything with a strong odour, rub it with a sliced lemon or lime and the board will smell fresh again.

From : Simply Her - Apr 2007

Funnies

Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over the years they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards.

One day they were playing cards when one looked at the other and said, "Now don't get mad at me.... I know we've been friends for a long time..... but I just can't think of your name! I've thought and thought, but I can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is."

Her friend glared at her. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her.

Finally she said, "How soon do you need to know?"

--------------

An old man was sitting on a bench at the mall.

A teenager sat down next to him. He had spiked hair that was red, orange, yellow, green, blue & violet.

The old man stared. Whenever the teen looked, the old man was staring.

Finally, the teenager said sarcastically: "What's the matter, old boy, never done anything wild in your life?"

Without missing a beat the old man replied :" Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. Just wondering if you were my son."

--------------

A man feared his wife wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid.

Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family Doctor to discuss the problem. The Doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the Doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

"Here's what you do," said the Doctor, "stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone, see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens."

Then in a normal tone he asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

No response.

So the husband moves to closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Still no response.

Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again he gets no response.

He walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again there is no response.

So he walks right up behind her. "Honey, what's for dinner?"

"James, for the FIFTH time I've said, CHICKEN!"

--------------

A woman stopped by unannounced at her son's house. She knocked on the door then immediately walked in. She was shocked to see her daughter-in-law laying on the couch, totally naked. Soft music was playing, and the aroma of perfume filled the room.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for John to come home from work," the daughter-in-law answered.

"But you're naked!" The mother-in-law exclaimed.

"This is my love dress." The daughter-in-law explained.

"Love dress? But you're naked!"

"John loves me to wear this dress." She explained. "It excites him to no end. Every time he sees me in this dress, he instantly becomes romantic and ravages me for hours. He can't get enough of me".

The mother-in-law left.

When she got home she undressed, showered, put on her best perfume, dimmed the lights, put on a romantic CD, and laid on the couch waiting for her husband to arrive.

Finally, her husband came home. He walked in and saw her laying there so provocatively.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"This is my love dress," she whispered, sensually.

"Needs ironing, " he said. "What's for dinner?"