Caramelized Apple Pancakes!

We do need to indulge once a while (because we are human)... <3
Just don't do it often =.=... Being healthy actually makes you a happier person!

Sugar might perk you up for a short period of time but it could also lead you to be agitated due to the sudden low energy that you will get after a short period of time. Sugar is a kind of carbohydrate and will encourage obesity if you take too much. It is the same carbohydrate as bread or rice. Eating too much sugar will also cause the lack of exercise needed to burn away the excess energy and that usually leads to obesity...

Sure... I will talk about desserts here =) because they are what I call them, "A treat for your taste buds". But desserts that are high in sugar are not advised and it would be better if there are eaten once in a blue moon  (Say... once a week).


I mean it would be not so enjoyable if the diet is too strict. So for myself, I shall work towards being more aware of what I eat and occasionally treat myself just because I want to. Its all about moderation =). So to the ladies, be kind to yourselves once a while. If you restrain too much, you will feel deprived and end up losing awareness of what you eat and then regretting later. It would take a little longer to lose weight but it would be a happier and healthier diet for the body, mind and soul.

So here is my once in a blue moon dessert. (It is 200 calories for 2 =/... I will have to exercise soon!)

Serve: 2

What you need:
1 Apple
1 Instant Pan Cake Mix
Butter (to grease the pan)
Sugar

1. Preheat and grease the pan with butter. After that, you can start slicing the apple into thin slices

2. Follow the instructions on the instant pancake mix and pour the batter into the greased pan. Make sure the size of the pancake is about 10 - 12 cm.

3. While the batter is cooking,, place apple slices on top of the batter and sprinkle some sugar. Once there are lots of bubbles in the batter, flip the pancake to the other side. After that, put the pancake to one side and repeat.

Make sure that before cooking another set of batter, you grease the pan again or the pancake will burn.

4. Pour some honey or maple syrup on the pancake and serve <3

Tada~~ <3

 Sorry..... it is a little burned. I do have my errors in cooking as well. But you do not have to be professional when cooking good food. I guess the most important thing is to enjoy it. Its really quite fun and easy to make this XD!

Next up, Vegetable Soup Cook Up- My style!

Cheers~

The Summer Obento

I wanted to make riceballs but failed miserably. But anyway, the wonderful about making home made lunch boxes, is that you get to save up some money for leisure like going to the movies or shopping. Another great thing about having lunchboxes is that you get to control your diet and also play around. Some lunch boxes actually look really pretty. Especially when you google image them, there are some lunch boxes tha are out of this world.

The bad thing, you have only some time to prepare lunch before going to school and you like your sleep ( as we all know). And als the amunt of effort put in is like all the cutting and the cooking and washing.  But well, there are some lunches that takes about 15 mins to make. Of course it varies from each person, but in my experience at least, it takes me 15 mins.

So what we need:
Leftover rice
1 Canned tuna
Half  a Brocolli
Half a Carrot

1. Cut the carrots and brocolli (which are healthy and high in vitamin C.)

2. Boil the brocolli for 5 mins

3. Take the rice and stuff it to one corner of the lunchbox, and place the tuna on top of the rice and then, place the carrots and the brocolli into the lunchbox

Tada! It's Done!

And it comes in cute designs! Motivatin to do lunchboxes <3!

There will be more varieties of lunchboxes in future XD! Hopefully, I will make an Onigiri (riceball) one next time =)!

Next up,Caramelised Apple Pancakes ( Cuz we need to indulge once a while~) !

Tomato Salad Experiment

When it comes to tomato, it is highly recommended for health benefits. Tomatoes have great antioxidant properties, due to a pigment called lycopene which gives tomatoes its red, yellow or orange colour. Lycopene actually have the potential to prevent cancers such as prostrate cancer. In addition, tomatoes have a good amount of potassium and contain high amounts of vitamins C and E.  It also aids the absorption of Vitamin A.

Anyways, I find it weird to eat tomatoes raw just that way. It seems a bit sour and I guess I am not used to the tomato taste. So i decided to experiment how to actually cook it with other food. I did take a look at one recipe but I usually make do with what I have. If you want to follow the original recipe, the link is below the page ;).

So ingredients that we need:

2 Tomatoes, 1 Onion, 2 Sausages and 4 Lettuce Leaves. Please cut them into pieces.

Procedure:

1.Pour some Olive Oil into the pan and toss in the onions first. ( I have read that Olive Oil helps absorption of nutrients from the tomatoes.)

2. When the onions start to smell fragrant, toss in the sausages. Do not wait for the onions to become brown because you will still need to time to cook the sausages.

3. Toss in the tomatoes when the sausages are cooked and stir fry for 1 - 2 mins. I do not really want to cook the tomatoes, but fry it a little to bring out the sweetness.

4. Turn off the fire and add in the lettuce. I just want to toss the lettuce in the mixture. It will still cook a little but not that much.

5. Serve the salad =)!

Like I said before I am not really used to eating tomatoes, especially big tomatoes. Surprisingly, I find if you fry or grill the tomato a little, the tomato taste sweet and quite yummy =)/ By the way, tomato is actually a fruit. But I guess its amusing to see tomatoes have vegetable properties. Its like a fruit in disguise~

Tomatoes can b used as snacks too. They are one of my favorite snacks to eat ( not the big tomatoes, of course!). What I usually eat are the cherry tomatoes because they are easy to pop your mouth and they burst into flavour with just one bite. They are great for summer snack! XD

And on goes my experiment on food.....
 (Note. I am curious whether I can make a tomato dessert and if it will taste nice O.o, but that will be for another time.)

Links for more info:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=83141

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/08/but-i-do-have-t-1/

The Grapefruit Experiment

You do wonder how does one fruit actually packs a punch to your day? Grapefruit benefits those who diets providing vitamin C for daily consumption. Vitamin C is needed for the body's immune system and it also prevents free radical damage which is usually responsible for inflammation in different parts of the body. Grapefruit also helps to detoxify the body which lowers the chance of having tumours.

However, while there are many benefits, it is crucial to know that it is recommended not to take grapefruit when you are under medication because grapefruit can increase the concentration of the medicine while digesting and hence causing toxic effects from the medicine or pills to increase further.

What I really love about grapefruit is that it can sustain me for almost three quarters of the day. I guess it takes a while for grapefruit to digest. Before I started having grapefruit in my diet, I tend to feel hungry within 1 -2 hours but now it takes me a good 5 - 6 hours to feel hungry. This lowers the chances of me snacking. Of course, it does not prevent me to eat but it does give me the energy to attend classes and stay awake for most of the day. Most of the time, I will eat it for breakfast =).

What I really DON'T love about grapefruit is the taste. >.< Come to think about it, the taste is awful bitter and tardy and never Never, try to eat grapefruit with chicken salad. It just doesn't get through. But due to that awful taste, it leads me to try different ways to consume grapefruit.

My First Try was to add Half a Grapefruit, 4 Cherry Tomatoes and 1 Tablespoon of Sugar. Yes, I need sugar to go with grapefruit because of its tardiness. You can add honey into the mixture, it does compliment the grapefruit really well. But if you want to reduce the sugar and sweetness content a little, you can add another fruit. In my case, I choose apples.

The other alternative is to use Half a Grapefruit, 1 Apple, 1 Orange and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. It tastes better to me. =)

My breakfast this morning XD!

Anyway, that is pretty much it for now. This is kinda like my experimental journal. So yeah, I will be uploading with more recipes and random stuff~ =)