Matcha Rice Krispies Squares

It's March 17th - St Patrick's Day.  In celebration of that day, hubby wanted something green to eat so thanks to MT for giving me this idea (since she made it a couple times before for Christmas baking and dessert).

INGREDIENTS:

about 3 tbsp butter

1 bag of marshmallow

about 4 - 5 cups of rice krispies

matcha powder (couple tsp...more if you want the strong matcha taste)

In a pot, melt butter in low heat.  Add matcha powder - once mixed in thoroughly, add marshmallow.  Stir and let it melt.  Once melted, add rice krispies - when fully integrated with marshmallow, scoop out of pot and place into pan/glass pan. Flatten out the rice krispies and let it cool.  Cut into squares when cooled.

Apple Cranberry Phyllo Turnover

I forgot I had a pack of phyllo pastry in my freezer until hubby mentioned it a few days ago.  It was quite peeved with me that I often buy things on sale and then forget to use them.  Not wanting to make him too mad, I promised him that I would use it this weekend - hence phyllo turnover.

I took my recipe idea from here

INGREDIENTS:
4-5 apples, peeled and diced (I used granny smith and mcintosh)
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 tbsp butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 - 1 tsp nutmeg
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cornstarch
phyllo dough
melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a pot, heat apples and cranberries over medium heat.  Add butter, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon.  Stir and let apple soften for about 10 min.  Add cornstarch and stir - turn off stove and set pot aside.

Take a sheet of phyllo - brush melted butter on half of it and fold phyllo in half.  Repeat that again brushing butter and fold in half.  Fold phyllo once more in half and use a knife to cut in half on the folded line.  Brush phyllo with butter and add apple filling. Take top left corner and fold down to middle and take top right corner and fold down to the middle, forming a triangle.

Repeat the above steps until all the topping has been used up.  Please note that each time you use a phyllo sheet, place a wet cloth over the non-used ones to prevent them from drying out.

Place turnovers on baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 min or until brown and flaky.

THOUGHTS:
I love it! It was nice and tart with a twinge of sweetness.  If you prefer to have it sweeter, then add more sugar.  The phyllo dough makes the turnover a lot lighter than your usual pastry puff.

 

Eggplant Soup

What to do with eggplant and 2% milk?  I never drink milk except for skim milk, however, this week we had a 4L of 2% milk. Not wanting to actually drink the milk on its own and it was going to expire soon, I decided to make a soup with whatever veggies I had at home.

Ingredients:
1 eggplant
5 cloves of garlic
olive oil
1/2 - 1 cup of tomato puree
1 cup chicken broth
dried thyme
cayenne pepper
2 cup milk

Slice the eggplant, lay the slices on a pan and spread olive oil over it. On the same pan, add garlic and bake them in an oven for about 30 min at 375F.

In a pot, add chicken broth, roasted garlic and eggplant.  Let it simmer for about 10 min.  Add thyme, cayenne and tomato puree. Simmer for another 10 min. Use a hand blender and puree the soup.  Lastly, add milk (can add more if you prefer a thinner soup).

THOUGHTS:
Turned out pretty good! Definitely didn't know what to expect but I quite like it.  Only thing would be the seeds from tomato and eggplant that can get a bit annoying.

Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread

We scored a huge bag of bananas for $1.49 from T&T - mind you it was pretty ripe but not rotten yet. Hence perfect for making a batch of banana bread. That bag of banana had enough to make two batches plus almost a week's worth of breakfast :) I ended up cutting up and freezing some banana for my next batch of banana bread.

I saw this recipe and adapted it a bit - turned out quite yummy :)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup sugar
• 1/4 Cup Apple Sauce
• 1/4 Cup butter
• 2 eggs - oops, I forgot the eggs but it still turned out ok
• 1 1/2 Cup mashed ripe bananas - about 3-4 bananas
• 1/2 Cup buttermilk (or 1 tsp vinegar with milk)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 Cup flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 Cup mini chocolate chips
• 3/4 Cup shredded coconut

- Heat oven to 350, grease bottom only of  loaf pan.
- Mix sugar with margarine/butter. Stir in eggs (which I forgot). Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla.
- Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda until just moistened – do not over stir!
- Fold in coconut flakes and chocolate chips.
- Bake 45 minutes, until top and edges are browned and the center looks cooked. Cool 5 minutes in pan and then on wire rack. (can also be baked in muffin pans - timing for that is about 20-30 min)