Coconut Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

I love coconut using coconut in baking.It doesnt hurt that it is one of the very few things that are grown locally. ;)

These cookies are absolutely the best there is.They are chewy,the coconut gives a lovely texture,it smells heavenly so all in all,this is my favorite cookie recipe.My picky little girl agrees.So does the hubby.

It tastes way better and is cheaper to make than the store bought extremely expensive oatmeal cookies. 

I am asked for this recipe all the time,so here it is!

Coconut Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Coconut Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup white sugar (use only 1/2 cup if you don't like it too sweet.)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cup rolled oat (quick cooking oats work well too)
• 1 cup shredded coconut (1/2 cup would work too)
• 1/2 cup dark raisins (i like them better than the golden ones.)
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil (i have also made with as little as 1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

here how:

1.preheat oven to 175 degrees C.grease cookie sheets.

2.in a large bowl,stir together al the dry ingredients.

make a well in the center and add oil,eggs and vanilla.mix well with a wooden spoon or your hands.roll into balls and place on cookie sheets,2 inches apart,and flatten slightly.

3.bake for 10 to 12 minutes till light brown and chewy.cool a while and remove and let cool completely.

Store in an air tight container.

• I use fresh shredded unsweetened coconut.If you are using sweetened,you may want to lessen the amount of sugar.

Healthier banana bread

I like bananas.I especially like them when they are over ripe.so when i get a bunch of bananas,i let them sit around till they get sick of sitting on my counter and decide to join forces with the garbage bin.Almost.that's when i want to eat them,except that i can't eat all of them before they give up on me and just go bad.So to use them up,i make banana bread.See,it's totally out of necessity. ;-)

OK,I actually do that just so that i can make banana bread.

I had this perfect recipe which turns out great every time.well,it was perfect except for the part where it uses butter and i love the flavor yes,but it just does not feel right.(seeing as i have a dozen kilo's to loose.)
until today,I've been scared to tweak my recipe because my changes might not turn out well and ruin my oh so loved banana bread.I can't,not don't,can't usually follow a recipe too well without making my own playing with it.But i have a phobia of changing,tweaking or compromising when it comes to baking.you know,like breads and cakes.i follow my usual baking recipes exactly to the last letter.if you know me,you would know how strange that is for me.)But today i just went ahead and did it anyway.
And you know what,it turned out just as awesome as my old recipe,if not more.:-)

oh yes you need this recipe.

Healthier banana bread recipe

3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup mashed bananas(like 3 bananas,i had very small ones so used 7)
3/4 cups oil
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
A handful of nuts or dried fruit,i like raisins in mine(optional)


1.preheat oven to 180'C. (350'F)

2.in a large bowl,mix oil,sugar and eggs.mix in the mashed bananas.

3.in another bowl,sift flour,mix with with it the baking powder,baking soda and the salt.

4.add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix just until combined.Oh and add vanilla before you forget it.don't over do it!You should have a thick and just oh so beautiful looking batter.

5.pour into greased loaf pan and bake for an hour or until a knife put into it comes out clean.

6.enjoy it warm..or cold!

***I thought i might as well add some cocoa while i was feeling brave and playing tweakerdoo.which i did.
i did not measure,i just added cocoa until i was happy with the chocolate color of the batter.
And it turned out really,really good.it tastes heavenly with chocolate ice cream.
ehem,i'm just saying.


Now go make some banana bread.

An omelette Pizza for breakfast

What do you do when you wake up too early with a lot of time ahead of you ages before time to make breakfast for your hubby?
What if you crave pizza at this early time of the morning?
You make pizza for breakfast of course.
That's what I did.
I made a breakfast pizza for breakfast.
I made an omelette pizza.:-)

An omelette pizza

• 3 eggs
• half a small onion
• 1 chili pepper
• pizza sauce
• chili sauce
• 2 tomatoes
• Cheese of your choice.(I had cheddar in my fridge,so you can guess what i used.)
  

for the dough:

• 250 gm(approx. 2 1/2 cups)All purpose flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast(dry yeast is OK too,but you should dissolve it in lukewarm water before adding.I've had some trouble with it,so i always prefer instant yeast)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter/margarine
• a pinch of salt(you can omit this too)
• Lukewarm water

how to:

• Preheat oven to 190`C.
  
• Make the crust.Here is how to.
• Next,chop finely the chili and the onion.Beat eggs and mix the chopped onions and chili.
• Make an omelette.
• cut the omelette into little squares.Set aside.
• Slice the tomatoes.
• roll out crust.Spread sauces,sprinkle the pieces of chopped omelette.
• place tomatoes all over.Well,you know.
• Grate cheese onto the top.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes.Well actually till cheese melts should be OK with the thin crust.I think.I made it in my microwave,and I cooked it om high for seven minutes.
• Tadaaa!Your breakfast pizza is ready.

We had breakfast and have one whole pizza left yet.Anyone care for pizza?


PS/This was supposed to be posted this morning.But blogger needed all morning and afternoon to upload to images!!!

Being awake since the crack of dawn,I also managed to do some hexing.
As my mom was too busy being pregnant for the last nine months,the last three of which was spent by me in making of the quilt,she had not seen it.So yesterday,I took with me home the block that i was working on,as my tendency to miss working on my quilt the hours i spend at home with mom,and also wanting to show it to her at last.Previously i had showed pictures of it.Mom was happy with what i was doing,and hubby did me the favor of how it was done.(I explained the last four months telling him,and and everyone that i know all my quilting updates.And now,hubby is doing the honors for for me.saves me so much energy.And the way he explains it,you would think that he is an expert,LOL.He is that good at it now.I love you sweetheart!)

Now i have a whole new problem.Well actually not so new,as i knew it would become a problem.I have far too many orange and pink flowers.You see,i cannot place them far apart enough for it to not over power all the other colours.So i am thinking like maybe i need to make more flower blocks,and NOT give into my strong urges to make any pink blocks.
Well,that's it for now.

Toodles!

XOXO,
Angeliquez

spicy barbecue tuna

Here's what i conjured up for lunch.

Spicy barbecue tuna

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped tuna
• 1 big onion diced
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 tomatoes cut into wedges
• 1/3 cup barbecue sauce
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tbsp dark soya bean sauce
• a few curry leaves(i used dried,fresh would always be better of course)
• 3 tbsp heaped red chili pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp heaped chili powder
• 1 heaped tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp ajinomoto(MSG)
  
• sunflower oil(enough for sauteing the onions.)
• Salt to taste

How to:

• Heat oil and saute onion in it till semi translucent.
• Add garlic and saute till soft,then add ginger.
• Add chili flakes,chili powder and tomato paste.cook on low heat continuously stirring.add more oil if it tends to get dry.
• Add tuna.Mix in well with the spices.
• Add salt and Ajinomoto(MSG).
• Blend in barbecue sauce and soya sauce.
• Put in the tomato wedges and cook just until tender.Mix well.
• Turn off heat.
• Serve with rice or noodles.

I haven't tried yet,but i guess you can use chicken or beef instead of tuna too.

I served with it a somewhat Japanese style fruit salad.

• 1/2 cup chopped pineapple
• 1/2 cup chopped orange
• 1/2 cup chopped apples
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp juice of a lemon

How to:

• Sprinkle lemon juice over the apples in a bowl,mix to coat well.
• Add all other fruits,and mayonnaise and mix to coat.
• chill until ready to serve.

you should try this sometime.
My hubby loved this.
I did too.:-)

xoxo,
Angeliquez

A quick microwave dessert

I have been dreaming of food and doing nothing else for the past few days.Again.My sweet tooth has been going crazy lately and it was only a matter of time before i surrender to it completely.Which is why i made this sweet pudding.And the best thing was that it was super easy and with the microwave,it was super fast!

Ingredients:

• 1 can sweeeeet condensed milk
• 6 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

How to:

• Beat eggs.
• Add the can of condensed milk.And mix.
• Add vanilla.Beat well.
• Pour into a microwave proof glass pan.Round pans work best in microwaves because the corners tend to over cook.)
• Microwave it for 5 minutes.Check if its done.A toothpick inserted into the middle should come out clean.If not give it some standing time.If not done still,microwave it a minute more.
• Cool before serving.I love it chilled!
• Enjoy!

Its a very simple dessert..But it is always a winner

You can caramalize some suger in the pan you are going to use for the pudding before pouring pudding mixture into it.bake it just as above,and Viola,Its caramel pudding!

Lotsa love,

My brother has been named..

my Little brother has been named yesterday.The newest member of our family is Noor Al Salam(pronounced Noorussalaam.)
The proper rituals according to our religion was performed and it was a hectic day.We live from our parents house by a distance of um..like 20 minutes.Which is pretty long and draggy when it is a rainy day.Taxi's are not available ever here at the slightest sign of heavy clouds,let alone rain.It was very rainy and cold all day long.Hubby's motor bike caught flu and decided to stay put,so we had to walk all the way.On this very exact day which was rainy,and we were on a tight schedule.We did some delivering of bits of the happy occasion.We had to take my daddy's old scooter for that.We cycled all over Mal'e in the cold evening,delivering the packages to various relatives and friends who lived scatterd.
And little Noor was very quite yesterday.I think it was because of the weather.It is normally hot and i guess he loves it when it gets cold.
Again no sewing to show you.Managed to finish 2 skirts of the simplest pattern yesterday morning.
When i came back home later in the evening,i was exhausted and starving.We had not done grocery shopping for a while and there wasnt much to eat.There is this saying about great things being invented out of nessecity.Or something.Well,i kinda realised that last night.there were so few ingredients available to me at home.So i mixed and matched everything that i had and it turned out to delicious.(And maybe i was toooo hungry to taste well..just maybe.)
So i thought i would tell you how i whipped out this piece of work,the simple dinner that i made out of utter nessecity.;-)

The dish i havent had time to name yet.

Wat I used(Actually what i had in my fridge):

• two eggs


• 1/2 cup chopped salami


• half a carrot,sliced


• 1 small onion.diced


• butter,or vegetable oil will do too

What i did:

• saute the onions ans salami in some oil,till salami is well browned.Take care not to brown the onions too much.


• Add the carrots ant saute in it till it becomes slightly soft and just a little bit brown.


• Beat eggs and pour into pan.Scramble the eggs with the rest of the ingredients.


• You can add herbs,and or chilli of you like it hot.


• Enjoy!

I loved this recipe.Try it sometime.It would make a great breakfast.And if you ever do,let me know how it turned out!:-)