Funnel Cakes (& Fried Banana)

Oh my. I know you must be thinking that since this blog is titled "Realistically Healthy Home Cooking", I should only talk about/cook healthy foods. But I believe in rewards once in a while. Why not indulge and venture in life, right? ^^

And this cooking adventure was both delicious and exhausting. Why: because the recipe makes about 20 delicious funnel cakes!

Lesson learned: divide the recipe into 5 if you're making only for 2 people.. ^^;

Obviously, I did not change this beautiful recipe:
Funnel Cakes I

Here are some pictures of my current quest:
    (Fried)

                              (Flipped)

                             SERVED! ^^~

However, I have another suggestion if you have extra :
If you have a banana that has just ripen, slice it horizontally into about 6 pieces.
Dip each slice into the batter.

Deep fry until golden brown on both sides (flip if you have to.. I have so little oil left after frying millions of funnel cakes..)

    And you've got yourself fried banana ^0^~

Remember that the recipe is not made for party of two. So, 1/5 of the ingredients should be just enough so satisfy the craving ^^;

Otherwise, you'll end up with these:

I rate this recipe YUMS! x 5 

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

Tilapia was on sale last week at Loblaws! ^^ So, I freeze it, like I usually do, otherwise the fish would get bad in a couple of days. I defrost overnight in the fridge the day before I'm cooking them.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com. It looked kinda nice, and different. I usually do the simple stir-fry and crushed black pepper.

Recipe: Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

The only thing I added was:
- Flax seed grind (1tbspn) into the parmesan mix to give it a little fiber.

                             (Seasoned)

                             (Broiled)

                             (Topped with parmesan cheese mixture)

    Served! with whole wheat pasta and stir-fried vege ^^

I rate this recipe 3xYUM! out of 5 YUMS! ^^~

Weekend Blueberry Pancake

It's weekend! Let's start the wonderfully cold day with delicious pancakes, shall we? :D

Ingredients (for 1 person):
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tbspns large rolled oats
2 tbspns 12 grains cereal
1 tspn baking powder

<Mix dry ingredients evenly & add the ingredients below>


1 egg
2/3 cup 1% milk
1 tbspn vanilla extract

<Heat a non-stick pan & add 1 tspn of margerine. Scoop the pancake mixture with a ladle into the hot pan. The mix should allow for 3 ladle-full.>

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

<Scatter 1/3 of the blueberries into the cooking pancake>

Serve with 1 large banana (sliced), a handful of fresh blackberries and Nutella ^0^~

 I rate this breakfast YUM! x 5 ^^~

Turkey Drumstick

Joey loves eating his Thanksgiving turkey. So, when we went to the local butcher, I grabbed 2 hugemonguous turkey drumsticks. I've never cooked just the drumsticks of the turkey before, but I'll give it a shot ^^

I saw this recipe online, and it looked pretty okay:
http://www.divinedinnerparty.com/cooking-turkey-drumsticks.html

This recipe actually turned out great.. *I'm so full right now*

Tweaks:
- I followed most of the ingredients, and cut it by half just because I only have 2 drumsticks instead of 4.

- Instead of using olive oil, I used canola oil instead. The reason why is: olive oil is not a cooking oil. If it's used to cook, it will turn into an ordinary oil, losing its omega-3 property. Canola oil (also having the omega-3 property), on the other hand, has a higher smoking point, so it's omega-3 goodness is retained when used to cook. So, use your precious & expensive olive oil should only be used to dress your salad/foods at room temperature ^^

- I've also flipped the drums halfway through the cook time to have each side cook more thoroughly - and immersing the other side with yummy sauce :D


Here are some of the pictures of this cooking quest:

(browning)

(sauce)

(before baking)

Voila!

Gravy:

And dinner is served with a side of baked potato and vegetables (asparagus, zucchini and tomato). And why waste a good wine? Cheers! ^0^~

I rate this dinner YUM! x 5

Granola Bar

Last weekend, I attempted to make a toffee bar from a recipe book I have. What a nightmare! the parchment paper was stuck to the whole thing and it took me forever to shove cut bars back into a toaster oven a peeling off the parchment bit by bit. I thought, that's it, I'm not going to ever do this again.

But yesterday I found a recipe with a solution: brush the parchment paper with veg oil! Should've thought of that, eh? :P

Anyhoo, this is the recipe I used, and found from Allrecipes.com :

Granola Bar III

Substitutions:

Honey -> Corn syrup
I don't have any honey left, so I used corn syrup instead. Same difference to me as all I need is the gluing effect they both have.


1 cup all purpose flour -> 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 1/4 9-grains whole wheat flour
A little bit of whole wheat doesn't hurt ^^ In fact it's a healthier option, due to the higher fiber content. I always keep in mind that a good balance of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour would result in a tasty baked good :D

1/2 cup chopped walnuts -> 1/3 chopped walnuts + 1/3 crushed soy beans
more is better! I was running out of walnuts.. so I substituted it with soy beans.

Added 1/4 cup of 12 grains cereal (from Bulk Barn! ^0^~) 
More fiber, more!

I've also cut them into bite sizes, so they make great little snacks ^^

A cup of warm coffee makes an awesome companion to this wonderful snack.

This snack deserved YUM! x 5 ^^


Btw, guess who was wondering what I was doing the whole time?

Oh no, he looks so scruffy here. Time to brush the little pup pup ^^;

Meat & Veg Lasagna

While doing groceries, we also stopped at the local butcher. Their med-lean ground beef is always so wonderfully cheap! $1.69/lb ^0^~

Listed is the ingredients for the meat sauce:

2 tbs canola oil

1.1kg ground meat, med-lean beef

1 whole onion

2 minced garlic

1 tspn black ground pepper

1/2 tspn salt

1 tbs italian herbs

1 tbs parmesan cheese

1 can of tomato paste

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can of diced tomato

Add oil into a large pot on medium-heat, followed by the ground meat:

Stir the ground meat around for 3 minutes, and add the onion. Stir until brown.

Let it cook on low for another 5 minutes. Meanwhile, do you notice that there is plenty of liquid produced in the mixture? Most of it wold be oil. So, pick up that ladle and start scooping out lots and lots of oil. (lol)

Then, add the rest of the ingredients listed. Put the heat on max until the sauce mixture boils - then put on low and cook for 2 hours - stirring occasionally. Why 2 hours - during this time, I evaporated most of the water in the sauce, making it nice and thick. Meanwhile, I also try to get a lot of the oil out using the ladle. I think in the end, I accumulated at least 1.5 cup of oil. (ew)

Next list of ingredients:

12 pieces of dry lasagna

1 zucchini, sliced

1/3 eggplant(1.5lb) thinly sliced

2 cups of spinach, chopped

200g mozzarella cheese, grated

1/2 lb fresh mushroom, sliced

Let the pictures tell the story, shall we?

Bake it for 45 mins at 350F (180C). 

When you're all done with the above, you'll realize you have meat sauce leftover for another (delicious spaghetti) dinner, another time! I froze mine for one of those days that I don't have the time at all ^^

After waiting hungrily, this is what you should get for all your hard work (5 more minutes in the oven should make it more golden-brown, but we were too hungry ^^;) :

We usually cut it into 6, and have 1 piece (or a little bit more) each per meal.

Enjoy it with a fresh bowl of salad (romaine leaves, spinach, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper + ranch dressing)! ^^~

I rate this meal YUM! x 5

Homemade Hummus

So, we went to do some groceries, and we dropped by at Bulk Barn (my fav fav place). I grabbed this wonderful tahini from there. Costed me just under $2 (it was $1.08/100g).

I have a little more than half a can of chickpeas left from chickpeas salad I made a couple of days ago. So, I decided to follow this recipe from Allrecipes.com (which you'll find out soon enough that it's my fav online go-to place), and only applied 1/3 of ingredients listed:

Hummus III

I actually made quite a bit of hummus.. so that would be a few days worth of snacking :P

We ate it with sliced whole wheat tortilla.

I rate it YUM! x 4 (out of 5 YUMS!)

The story behind the creation of the blog

Hi, my name is Dora. I have a great passion for cooking. I love trying new recipes, and make my boyfriend eat them all ^^

So, why this blog. Why now.

I have just finished my second bachelor degree in Dietetics, which semi-qualify me to counsel people on what is healthy to eat with the medical condition they have, e.g. diabetes, high cholesterol / with what they want to achieve, be it weight loss or weight gain.

However, since I am presently in Montreal, QC, and I am not able to speak/write/read French, I cannot practice within my area of knowledge.

So in short, I have plenty of time around the house. Currently, I am still the co-owner of a t-shirt company, Akumu Ink, and I am still keeping busy with it.

But cooking is my escape.

So, I want to share with you some recipes (that I tweak) found online or from recipe books. I want to always create delicious foods that are somewhat healthy.

Any comments or suggestions are always welcomed ^^

Here goes!