Weekend Menu

All these years since I came out living on my own, I hardly ever do any cooking or baking (instant noodles does not count).

Funny though, because I seem so interested in it. I've always enjoyed watching cooking channels, and I have collected (and lost) so many recipes over the years, always with the intention to try them. Obviously, they never happened.

Perhaps it was the lack of proper cooking equipments, or the lack of time.

Perhaps it was just much easier to eat out rather than cooking for one or two. 

Or perhaps I was just lazy and have been procrastinating.

All it took was a baby to kick me in the butt (figuratively speaking) and get me started. It was then that I joined all these parenting networks on Facebook and got inspired by all the cooking mamas (and papas) who were sharing photographs after photographs and recipes after recipes of their work of art.

One category in particular itched me the most-  home made breads. So, E bought me a breadmaker while he was in China (as requested). Then, if the timing could not be any better, my mom told me that my aunt from Kajang wants to get rid of an old oven she had and asked if I wanted it. YES! Old as it may be, I have an oven FINALLY!

Since getting the breadmaker, I have been making bread loafs every weekend (though successful only recently)! So far, I've only used the breadmaker to bake the loaves as it was easier and quicker. I usually only start baking Sunday nights so I don't really have a lot of time. Plus with Baby A usually being fussy with who he is around at night (refuses the father most of the time), I've had to alternate between preparing the breadmaker and Baby A.

And with Baby A now on solids, I am constantly trying to prepare new food for him to try over the weekends. At the moment his meals require very minimal cooking and more on single food type- steamed and blended. But since my MIL started making porridge for him, I've made vegetable stock last weekend for her to use in the porridge.

Ever since, I have been making cooking plans every week, e.g. what to make and what I need to get from the supermarket or the neighbourhood baking goods shop.

So what's cooking this weekend?

(I decided to make use of what I have in the refrigerator, as much as I can, especially the fresh goods that cannot be kept any longer.)

For Baby A

Morning

Rolled oats + milk + any fruit puree

Snack

Fresh Apricot + Apple + Pear puree 

A couple slices of pear or apple as finger food

Evening

Hi-Fibre porridge in vegetable stock

For the grown-ups

Mini shepherds pie (because I have some leftover minced bacon)

White loaf/black sesame loaf (or oven-baked buns, if time permits)

What I will need to get from the supermarket this time around

For the pie

Potatos 

Additional minced lean meat

Onions

Garlic

Margarine for the pie crust (since MIL does not take butter)

***

And oh, we will be bringing Baby A for some water play-time this Saturday at this new baby spa at Setia Walk! I am actually very excited over this. I am sure Baby A will love it! :D

Breadmaking Noob: (Not So) Sweet Potato Loaf

Due to the lack of working space in my kitchen, I decided to move out all my baking stuff into our unutilised dining area. P/S: We have our meals at in-laws' place everyday, cos you know, they live just right across the road. :p 

I used the extra Ikea metal rack that we had sitting in our studies to store all the baking goodies. May not look like much, but at least it's space! We were seriously running out of storage space in the kitchen.

I wouldn't say we have a lot of junks in the kitchen, though I am pretty sure there are SOME things we can discard. Plus, our already limited kitchen counter top has been monopolised by Baby A's stuff e.g. steriliser, blender, bottle racks, etc. There are practically no more space for anything else, what more for baking or cooking.   

So, out goes the breadmaker and the toaster for now- onto a table that sits 8. And with a ceiling fan! 

Come to think of it, perhaps the kitchen renovation was done previously with a hindsight that E would remain single and will not be utilising the kitchen much. There are too much dead space and very little storage space. Now that Baby A and I have invaded his home, and that I have started to pick up on cooking (or baking), we may need to remodel our kitchen and certain other areas of our home. Haha.  :p

Anyway, with this new arrangement for my baking experiments, I did my Sunday baking (so that we have breads for Monday mornings) with far more comfort and space; and less sweat.  

Using the same basic recipe from the Nutella loaf, I substituted the Nutella with some sweet potato puree. I had one whole piece of sweet potato left and they were beginning to sprout! I didn't dare give it to Baby A, so I decided to just add it into the loaf instead.

This time, I stuck to the original recipe of using milk instead of water. I've finally gotten a bottle of olive oil, so I used that in replacement of the grapeseed oil called for in the recipe. Since olive oil has a lower resistance to cooking heat compared to grapeseed oil, I am not sure how this would affect the result of the bread. But I suppose it should be okay for baking. As usual, I am all for the trials and errors.

Again, I had the machine knead the dough twice. Once using the "Dough" function and another using the full "White loaf" cycle. And again, I found the dough slightly dry at the beginning, though not as dry as the Nutella loaf. So I added just a tiny splash of water and let it continue kneading.

  

First and second knead. It seems to have passed the "finger-poke" test, so figured it was good to go and left it to the machine to proof and bake.

 

Done in slightly over 3 hours! Soft and remained so until the next day. ^^

The sweet potato puree perhaps contributed to the sweetness of the bread, but there weren't much of the actual sweet potato taste. And do forgive the uneven slices. Both E and I had difficulties slicing the breads.  :p

But the uneven slices shouldn't be an issue anymore, cos the bread slicing guide thingamagic that I purchased from www.zenzendream.com has arrived (right the next day)! No more out of shape/too-thick/too-thin bread slices!

There was once a time when I couldn't be bothered with accessories like these. Now, I get excited over cooking equipments, utensils and accessories. How things have changed. Hehe.

Breadmaking Noob: Nutella Bread Loaf

 



Unforutnately, I did not manage to take photos of the making of the bread because it was late Sunday night and had a handful alternating between baking and tending to Baby A. Then the next morning, E had the loaf all sliced and buttered, ready for work. So, I only managed to get a picture of what's left in the container.

Finally, after several not-so-successful tries of breadmaking, I have made a loaf that is soft and fluffy, and remained so until the next day! I used a recipe from nutritionist mom Jennifer Lee's blog as reference. By the way, she has a lot of good recipes to try, and they all look yummy!

Few tweaks to the original recipe though, since I typically use whatever ingredients I can find at home and I don't have some of the items called for in the recipe:

1. For the scalded dough, I used plain flour as I was running out of bread flour.
2. Instead of using red bean and black rice (did not have those), I replaced it with some watered-down Nutella spread.
3. I also replaced the milk with water. 
4. And since I did not have Grapeseed oil, I used the only oil I had...canola oil (Note to self: Go get some Olive Oil!).

This time, instead of just dumping everything into the bread machine and walking away, I checked the dough every now and then. I also had the machine knead it twice- the first time using the "Dough" function on the machine (30 minutes kneading), and once done I switched to the normal "White Loaf" function for a full cycle of knead-proof-bake.  

During the first knead, I realised that the mixture seems a tad dry and was not mixing well. So, I added a little water. But I think I may have added a little too much because the dough ended up really sticky. Then, I sprinkled flour over the mixture, bits at a time, until I THOUGHT the dough was okay to go. It was still a little sticky (could that be due to the scalded dough?), but any more flour the dough will probably end up too dry!

I had no idea whether this was going to be successful, because once again I did not follow the recipe to the exact point. :p



But in the end, the loaf came out at a nice height (not too short like previous attempts), and more importantly they were soft and fluffy (not springy like previous attempts).

It did not have a strong chocolate flavor, but I suppose cocoa powder would work better for that. The Nutella merely gave the loaf a hint of brown.

Overall, I cannot be happier with the results. I mean, come on. My FIRST successful loaf! Haha. And I am having fun. I hope everyone at home won't suffer from bread overload!