The Best Banana Bread

I am always in search for ideas for snacks and breakfasts for my two favourite boys. One of my favourite blogs Whole Food Simply always inspire me to make better baking goods for my family.

I did quite a few adaptations to suit us as usual. I have experimented a few times and I think this version came out the best. It's simple, and more importantly, full of protein, and nourishing. I used two dates- which is plenty of sweetness for us as bananas are full of natural sugars as well. I stayed with tahini as I like the slight bitterness to counteract the sweetness. I used crushed walnuts for that extra hit of antioxidants and texture. If you like, try adding a handful of cacao nibs- we love that chocolate-like crunch.

The other reason why I like this recipe is that it uses coconut flour. Coconut flour, I believe, is under rated. It's basically coconut dried into a flour format. It is very low in sugar but very high in fibre. I think the texture is quite different from normal flour and that's why many people shy away from using it. It is also very absorbent. I would say I would use 3 times the amount of liquid to the amount of flour I use (e.g 1/3 cup of coconut flour to 1 cup of coconut milk or almond milk). I would usual also use more eggs than normal.

This recipe though- the ratio works in harmony with each other. The texture is like what a banana bread should be. I gave it out a few times and the only negative I had was that I cut my slices too thin!

How do you like your banana bread? Thick cafe style slices or thin and crispy toasted?

Asher doesn't care of course. He gobbled it up!

The Best Banana Bread (12-14 slices Or 10)
4 medium size bananas
2 dates soaked in hot water
3 tablespoons of tahini or sunflower butter or nut butter
4 eggs
1/2 cup of coconut flour
1 heaped tsp of vanilla paste
1.5 tsp of bicarb soda
2 tsp of cinnamon
juice of 1 lemon
pinch of salt

optional: handful of crushed walnuts, cacao nibs

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a bread loaf with baking paper. Put all ingredients in a food processor and bliz it. Pour into pan and bake it for around 35-40 minutes. (yup! It's that easy!!!)

Raw Almond Chocolate Fudge

There are times where chocolate just hits a good spot. There are some pantry staples that I always stock up. The are almond butter, coconut oil, nuts and definitely chocolate.

An offer came up recently with Mayver's super spread nut butter. It's a mix of peanut, chia and almond. There were going for half price! What a treat. So I grabbed 2 bottles to give treats a go.

Mixing them up with some coconut oil and more nuts plus cacao powder, I placed it in the fridge and tadah, a protein enriched chocolate treat that is refined sugar free and good for us. They are freezer friendly as well which gives it a gorgeous crunch when you are ready to bite into them.

Raw Almond Chocolate Fudge (24 small pieces)
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/2 cup of nut butter
1/3 cup of cacao powder
1 tsp of vanilla paste
1 tablespoon of honey
1/3 cup of silvered almonds

Beat or mix oil and butter together. Mix through vanilla, honey and cacao powder till smooth. Lastly add nuts. Pour into a lined brownie tray and freeze it for 2 hours. Slice and eat!

Salmon and Goats Cheese Muffins

I know sweet muffins are popular. Blueberries, or a white chocolate with raspberries always tend to hit the spot. There are times though, that I do prefer savoury muffins.

You may recall that my husband wakes up early for work. He sacrifices sleep so that he can spend time with us. Well, actually more with Asher as I usually pop to the gym for an hour (including travel time). This was one of my freezer/fridge friendly recipes as he could warm it up in the microwave as he prepares to go to work.

I do like the combination of Salmon and goats cheese. That many amount of eggs means I know my husband is getting enough protein. Goats cheese lifts this muffins up for sure. I like adding some goats cheese to freshly roasted vegetables and in salads. They are pretty expensive though and lucky for us, a little goes a long way.

For me, knowing that my husband is nourished and have a good start to the day makes me happy.

Salmon and Goats Cheese Muffins (mades around 10)
1/2 cup of almond flour
1/3 cup of coconut flour
1 carrot shredded
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of baking powder

6 eggs
1 tablespoon of maple syrup

60 grams of smoked salmon
30 grams of goats cheese crumbed

Prepare muffin cups and tray. Preheat oven to 180C.

In a bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. In a jug, mix wet ingredients. Pour wet to dry and fold through. Fold salmon and goats cheese through. Spoon into muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

OMGPaleo's Berries and Lemon Cake with Coconut Frosting

I'm so excited! I'm hosting a baby shower for a dear friend and I'm in charge of... FOOD! The best thing is, she loves clean eating and wants me to create a menu of paleo/clean eating food for herself and guests.

Cooking for a party of 20+ people means I have to cater to different dietary requirements. But I think the most nerve wrecking thing is whether or not people will keep an open mind when they see the food. Savoury- I'm not too concerned.  Sweets however, the texture and taste is different from normal bakes. Especially because my tastebuds has changed and I'm used to very little sugar if not none now.

I tried these blueberry lemon mini cakes and YUP! They are going on the menu. I did a few changes but I really believe they are out of these world. The frosting especially is so easy to make and just provide a richness to the cakes.

Also, don't you think they look pretty?

OMGPaleo's Berries and Lemon Cake with Coconut Frosting (I made 14)
1/2 cup coconut flour
5 eggs
1/3 cup of almond milk
2 tablespoon of raw honey
2 tsp vanilla paste
2 lemons- juice and zest
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup of frozen berries
pinch of salt

Frosting
1/2 cup of coconut butter
2 tablespoon of water
juice of another lemon
1 tablespoon of honey

Line muffin tins with paper or if you are like me, just use little cupcake wrappers on a cookie baking tray.

Preheat Oven at 180C. Whisk dry ingredients together. Then in a jug, combine eggs, milk, honey vanilla, baking soda and salt. Pour wet to dry folding in berries last. Spoon into baking cups and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool.

To make the frosting- melt the coconut butter. Whisk it with water, lemon juice and honey. Dollop it on cool cakes.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Slab Cake

If you come to my house any given day, open my fridge and you will find that I have been baking and experimenting with slices and muffins. I whipped this slice quickly the other day as we were going to a friend's house for lunch. I thought, better to give it away than to store it in our fridge! Hubby never mind though as that means he can just grab and go with whatever he fancies to work. He also said he could eat without the guilt that it is not nourishing his body.

Friends asked me how do I control myself given that I have baked goods in my fridge frequently? I was puzzled by that question. I never see that as a self control thing. Rather, it's a "what does my body feel like having". Most of the time, it's water or yogurt with some of my granola. When I bake, I bake to share and to make sure my husband, family and friends eat well. I do tastes my bakes, but I rarely finished everything by myself. I guess I taste and I'm satisfied by it.

This recipe comes from Elana Pantry. I think I didn't do it justice because I changed the ingredients amounts. Hence it became more cake and slice like rather than the chewy texture that Elana posted on her blog. Nevertheless, we enjoyed this little cake and it's good for a weekend afternoon treat with coffee.

Chocolate Almond Coconut Slab Cake 
4 eggs
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup of almond meal
1/2 cup of coconut flour
3 tablespoon of honey
pinch of salt
1 tsp of bicarb soda
1/2 cup of shredded coconut + extra
1/2 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking slice tray with baking paper.
In a jug, whisk coconut milk, honey and eggs together. Then put almond meal, flour, salt, bicarb, coconut and some chocolate chips in a bowl. Pour wet to dry and fold. Spoon into tray and top it with the remaining choc chips and shredded coconut. Bake for 30 minutes.

Mocha Coconut Slab Cake

It only took me a few years, but I'm really excited when friends and family finally understands why I eat the way we believe in. It's not a fad, it's not a diet. I'm no longer wanting to lose weight. All I want is to be strong and healthy. Man, I'm not even looking at being an athlete or look like I have muscles bulging out. Being slim, toned and moving functionally is good for me.

As I persists on, people do not try to talk me out of eating the way I do anymore. In fact, I often think it's strange that we have grown to rely on sugar and processed food over the years and think of that as normal. Why is it not ok to eat food that comes from farms and not factories?

How do I know? We get invited to lunches over at friends and they cook clean for us! We receive invites from our lovely friends and families saying that they want us to eat clean and healthy in their kitchen too. In some ways, I felt a little bad that people are bending over backwards to serve us food that we love. But in other ways, I realised... hey, that's healthy food for them too! It's fuelling their bodies better. We had a lovely salad with green goddness dressing and the hosts tried their hands in making spelt pizza (still not completely clean BUT better than dominos), and then we were invited to another place where I had grilled chicken tenderloins with a pumpkin and feta salad. Oh, how about another lunch where we had grilled chicken winglets, meat balls, kebabs, and beetroot salad to boot. Seriously. They all tastes fantastic and we had a great time.

I'm in awe of people like OMGPaleo, or TheSpunkyCoconut. They make real food tastes even better. I adapted these little babies from Spunky Coconut to bring to my friends of course. They are more like mocha cakes- I wouldn't call them brownies at all. But still a good little treat.

Mocha Coconut Slab Cake 
1 cup of Almond Butter
1/2 cup of nepresso coffee
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut flour
3 tablespoon of cacao powder
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tsp of vanilla paste
1 tsp of baking powder
pinch of salt
Handful of shredded coconut

Pre heat oven to 180C

Put everything in the mixer. Whisk it. Then spoon into lined 8by8 baking pan! Sprinkle coconut on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Done!

Banana Yogurt Chocolate Slice

As usual, I'm late in preparing for Chinese New Year!! This year though, I have a good reason :) I'm drooling with all the lovely bakes in blogs in preparation for CNY.

I did however spring clean the house and kitchen. I'm so proud of myself! I cleared the kitchen of old plates and bowls that we never use anymore. I even wiped down all the cupboards! Yes! time for more pretty plates and bowls no? (I can see hubby shake his head).

Over summer though, we did clear the house of things we realised we have never used for some time. We have shifted in our home for 1.5 years now and there were items given to us by friends who moved overseas in our garage. Upon sorting those out, we realised that those items plus others were things we do not need to use or will use. Yes, they were donated to good causes.

I have also cleared my wardrobe of pregnancy/maternity clothes. Wow. I'm glad I could fit into some of my pre-pregnancy clothes although I'm supplementing it with nursing items as well. It felt like yesterday when Asher was in me and I was walking waddling to work. Again, a clean wardrobe means newer clothes right? After all it is CNY! (this time, I can really see hubby shaking his head).

I was experimenting with slices and made this one up. A pregnant friend of mine who eat cleans is struggling with her cravings with sugar. I know how that feels because I went carb-o-lic in my pregnancy with Asher. I thought this might cheer her up. It was so good, we ended up eating half of the batch ourselves! oops. This is certainly a good snack box item for hubby for work as well.

Banana Yogurt Chocolate Slices (25 bite slices)
2 bananas
1/2 cup Almond Butter
1/2 cup of Coconut Flour
1/4 cup of greek yogurt
1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips
1 tsp of vanilla paste
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of baking powder
1 generous tablespoon of cinnamon.

Line brownie tray with baking paper. Preheat Oven 180C. Blitz everything but chocolate chips in a food processor. Fold most of the chocolate chips into the batter and spoon it into the tray. Sprinkle rest of the choc chips on top. Bake for 35 minutes.

Wishing you a healthy and prosperous  Lunar Chinese New Year! 

Contentment and Mocha Chia Seed Pudding

Contentment. I think that pretty much describes my life at the moment. From my university days to work, I have not felt this sense of contentment before. It's difficult to describe but I want to document this so I can reflect back on these early days of being a parent.

It's not as if my life is very exciting at the moment. It's 24/7 and tiring. Sometimes, dare I say, even mundane. Feed, play, sleep. Add in changing diapers, playing with Asher, cooking, cleaning, groceries..etc, it's routine at best. There are bad days and good days but mostly good.

The definition of exciting perhaps changed for me. Asher's ability to grasp items, laugh, stretch, flip...etc these normal developmental milestones of most children amazes me. Even though I work with children pretty much most of my life, I am still in awe by how the brain develops and pretty much how we develop from a tiny newborn to an infant and so forth. It's like watching everything I know comes to life.

I never thought I will be "that" mother. The kind of mother who secretly gushes about her own child and totally in love with him. The sort of mum who eagerly play and could spend hours gazing into the eyes of her child.

I love my husband but loving Asher is a different kind of ballpark sort of love altogether.

Gone were the days of rushing from one appointment to another. My working days were crammed of work, gym, cooking and social events. Yet now, I'm lucky if I have a 10 minute decent shower, have dinner at 7:30pm or drink my coffee/tea hot.

Although I have my new identity as a mum, I realised that I have to take time out for myself too. Just some quiet few minutes to say a prayer, and good decent exercise. Daily brisks walks with my hubby every evening, with Asher in the pram or carrier; gym 3x a week with a mix of metcon, konga and boxing plus mums and bubs swim class. It's a far stretch from my 6-7 hrs workout each week pre pregnancy.

At the moment, I am loving quick and healthy snacks. My bliss balls, yogurt, nuts are all handy to have in the pantry and fridge. I'm also finding chia seeds pudding irresistible when I have the sweet tooth. If only I can have Asher sleeping until I have a chance to finish my hot tea and a quick snack... it NEVER happened.

Mocha Chia Seed Pudding 
1 cup of chia seeds
1 cup of almond milk
1/4 cup of espresso coffee
2 tsp of cacao powder
1 tsp of honey

Combine everything, fridge overnight. Serve with yogurt and fruit for a sweet treat or just eat it by itself by the spoonful when you have 2 seconds.

Indian Spiced Nuts

In 2012, I found a new love with munching on nuts. I have always been a fan, but eating clean also means I avoid eating processed snacks. Nuts is such a good source of protein and fat- one that keeps me full and happy.

This post is probably a little late as I made this for some friends and colleagues for Christmas. It turned out to be pretty popular with my FIL and guests at our Christmas party. That's not to say this little snack can't be done through the year too- I think it's pretty handy to have some in the pantry from time to time!

Indian Spiced Nuts
1 cup of cashews
1/4 cup of brazil nuts
1 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of macadamias
1 tablespoon of curry powder
1 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of turmeric
1 tablespoon of cumin
2 tablespoon of coconut oil
tsp of salt

Pre heat oven to 190C. Toss nuts with all the spices and coconut oil. Toast in oven for 15-20 mins! Cool and eat!

Date and Sesame Nut Slice- Take 2 and 3!!

Are you a snacker? I find that I can get by not having snacks in the morning, especially if I have a nice hearty breakfast. However, I seem to want a snack in the afternoon around 4pm or just before dinner time.

So I confess. I have been making no bake slices every week! They are a great protein hit and a quick snack fix. Hubs bring them to work nearly everyday. Here are some of my variations.

This version has no chocolate in it. Purely dates, and a mix of almond and brazil nut butter.

This is my favourite. I added heaps of roasted sesame seeds and also roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds. There was 2 cup of almond butter, 1/4 cup of sesame seeds, 4 dates pitted and chopped, 2 tablespoon of coconut oil with headings of roasted pumpkin and sunflower seeds. mixed, spread on brownie tin and I chunk it into our freezer for 30 minutes or so.

Ants' Nest Cake/Kuih Sarang Semut

A childhood delight, this cake was seen frequently at bakeries when I was growing up. However, as the years go by, Ants Nest cake/Honeycomb Cake is not easily found on streets.

The name itself is intriguing. I'm guessing, it's called Ants Nest as the little bubbles/holes resembles one. While the other name of this is "honeycomb" it is more like a rich caramel cake. Oh, backed by the ever favourite used of condensed milk!

This recipe is the reason why I bought Adam Liew's Two Asian Kitchens recipe book. I was so excited that I found a recipe AND it looks easy for me to follow.

The result is a soft and moist cake. The caramel hits me at every bite. It's seriously addictive.

Ants' Nest Cake

220 grams castor sugar
85 butter softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs at room temperature
125 ml condensed milk
150 grams plain flour
1/2 tsp of bicarb soda


Put the sugar in a saucepan over gentle heat. Swirl it ocassionally till it melts into a dark sexy looking caramel. Then lower heat further and add 250 ml of water. Stand back when you do this as it will split. Stir till no lumps remain. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 170C. Line and grease a 18cm round cake pan.

Cream butter and vanilla.

In another bowl, whisk eggs well. Then add eggs, condensed milk and caramel to the creamed butter. Whisk to combine.

Add flour and bicarb. Whisk it to combine.

Pour batter into cake tin. Bake for 50 mins or so till cake becomes springy in the centre when you touch it. Leave it to cool in tin, then run knife around the edge before turning it out.

Pork Apple and Fennel Sausage Rolls

 I always have abit of fear in mixing fruit in savory dishes. I thought my Asian palate might not like it. It's not the first time that I heard wonderful things about apple and pork being together and of course fennel, a spice and pork.

So I gathered my courage and thought I could experiment and make a sausage roll using all three ingredients. I was surprised by the result. The apple just gave it a tinge of juice and sweetness but not too much that it is overpowering. The fennel provided it abit of a hit in taste on your taste buds.

It's super easy, and come to think of it, will be a winner for a cocktail party. Hubby took them to work and toasted them in his grill. He said most people commented the beautiful fragrant and how "real" it smelt.

I didn't even know store bought sausage rolls smelt "fake"?

I feel like I'm tooting my own horn here, but seriously love this and will be doing experimenting with more ways of making sausage rolls again!

Pork Apple and Fennel Sausage Rolls (Makes 24 mini rolls)
2 puff pastry defrosted

500 grams pork mince
1 apple finely chopped or grated
2 tsp of fennel seeds
1 egg
1 cup of bread crumbs (Package or fresh)
salt and pepper

Sesame seeds

Preheat oven 200 C. Line baking trays with baking paper.

Combine mixture together. Cut each puff pastry into half. Place filling in the middle and roll up. You might want to use egg wash to seal the edges. Cut into 6 mini rolls. Place on baking tray. Repeat. Egg wash all the sausage rolls and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes till golden brown!

Tom Yum Sausage Rolls

I love the versatility of Tom Yum paste. My granny loves it more as she brought TWO big jars over from Singapore. One and a half jar still remains in our pantry. This means creative ways of cooking up Tom Yum!

While preparing for morning tea for my colleagues, I thought of a different twist to the usual sausage rolls. Adding tom yum to the mince mix! The result was a moist and tasty sausage rolls. Thankfully, my colleagues loved it as well as there were NONE left by the next day. It's abit of a change as well, from bring sweets to savory to morning tea.

The roasted sesame seeds added an aroma and texture. Certainly goes well with tom yum!

Speaking of which, I would certainly appreciate more ideas for Tom Yum paste. Anything other than noodles, fried rice or sausage rolls! ;)

Tom Yum Sausage Rolls (makes around 20 mini rolls)

2 pieces of puff pastry defrosted
300 grams of chicken mince
2 tablespoon of Tom Yum paste
2-3 pieces of kaffir lime leaves chopped
1 cup of bead crumbs- I used dried but if you have stale bread to make into breadcrumbs, even better!
1 egg
2 tablespoon of corn flour
1 tsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
 2 tsp of toasted sesame seeds
Egg wash 

Marinate chicken with all seasoning for around 20 mins.
Preheat Oven 200C. 
Meanwhile, preheat oven and line baking tray with baking paper.Cut puff pastry into halves (lengthwise). Place sausage mixture in the middle. Egg wash all sides. Roll to seal. Cut into bite sizes. repeat for 3 other halves of puff pastries. Egg wash the top of the mini pastries and sprinkle sesame seeds. Bake for 25 minutes till golden brown.

Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Feta Dip

I have been experimenting with a few dips recently. A light bulb moment occurred when I was standing at the aisle of the supermarkets trying to find a dip with the least fat and preservatives. I realised then, that most of these dips are vege based and could be easily blended at home.

This was actually inspired by a chickpea/pumpkin dip that I bought a few months ago. Having a chat with my colleagues one day about myself trying to experiment with pumpkin as a dip, one colleague mentioned roasting the pumpkin while the other suggested using some roast garlic as well. For seasoning, I decided to use feta and abit of paprika.

The result was a sweet and tasty dip. Healthy too since I used only 2 tsp of the grapeseed oil from the feta cheese. The rest was lemon juice. I love how the feta and garlic added the flavour without over-powering it. I love this feta especially as it was bought from at one of my favorite market place Kalamanda Markets.

A bonus is the vibrant colour that this dip has. The roasted pumpkin and garlic releases it sweet flavours and showed of its bright shiny orange! Garlic is said to have its antioxidant properties whereas pumpkin is full of vitamin C. Hopefully this is a far healthier dip than we can buy from the markets.

Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic Feta Dip 

500 grams of Butternut pumpkin
2 big knobs of garlic seperated and scattered on the oven tray

Roast these on a baking tray 30 minutes on 180 heat.

Roasted garlic and pumpkin
20 grams of feta cheese
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp of grapeseed oil
3 tsp of paprika
cracked pepper

Peel skin of garlic. Whiz all ingredients in blender for 30 seconds. Taste test and then adjust pepper accordingly. You may not need salt as feta is salty.

I'm sharing this with Weekend Herb Blogging this week. I have been waiting to participate in this event more regularly and this is my chance! This week it is hosted by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina.