I LOVE Coffee Creamer!

I love coffee creamer! Probably even more than the coffee itself. My husband jokingly asks me if I want coffee with my cream.

For the first year and a half we lived in Singapore I tried various ways to enjoy my beloved morning coffee without having to buy my favorite liquid at the store. Black is just not an option. I’ve tried. It’s gross. At $11sgd for a small bottle of Coffee Mate liquid creamer, it puts a hurtin’ on our grocery budget. I used up all of my flavored powders that we had brought over with us, or threw them out because the humidity took it’s toll. I bought flavored syrups, also expensive, and added milk. I bought flavored powder from a local coffee shop. Nothing was as satisfying as my $11/bottle Coffee Mate Vanilla or Hazelnut liquid creamer. I actually requested a bottle of it for my birthday the first year we were here. It was a luxury!

After all of that time of not really enjoying my coffee, I broke down and just decided it was worth it. So, when I could find the creamer, I’d buy as much as I could carry. The expiration dates are unusually months out so it lasts for a while. Which probably is perfect example of how packed with preservatives it is. Vanilla is my favorite and it seems to be the one that always hides from me. I’m sure someone else in Singapore shares my love for it and buys them all before I can get to them.

Well, they can have it because I FINALLY, after 2.5 years of searching have found a homemade creamer I can live with and one that won’t break our budget. It’ll be like we’re getting a raise!!

Play around with the recipe. I had to use regular sweetened condensed milk because I had it but I will be on the lookout for non fat. Hey, every little bit helps. But add more SCM or less depending on how sweet you like it. Add more or less vanilla or another flavor. When vanilla and hazelnut or that awful amaretto are the only pricey options we have here in Singapore, with this recipe, the options are endless!

I love that it’s SO easy!! I love that all of the THREE ingredients are readily available pretty much anywhere in the world. I also love that it’s real dairy because I know I don’t drink enough milk. But you could make it with soy milk or almond milk or whatever milk substitute you like and have access to.

$11 sgd

$3 or $4 sgd

So here’s the recipe (taken from Food.com)

Homemade Coffee Creamer 
(submitted by Andrea)

1 (300 ml) can low fat or regular sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups nonfat milk or whatever milk or milk substitute you like

1 tablespoon vanilla (I added more of my yummy Mexican vanilla!)

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in  jar or whatever you will use to store it in. Then put lid on it and shake like crazy! Store in the fridge. Shake before use. Will keep for approximately two weeks or as long as your milk is good for. (You can see from my photo that I used my tupperware shaker. Works great!!)

Variations:

a) Add 1 Tbsp cocoa and 1 tsp almond extract for a chocolate almond flavor.

b) Add 1 tsp almond extract and 1/2 tsp orange extract for cappuccino.

c) Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp almond extract for amaretto.

d) Add specialty flavor syrups (from specialty coffee shops and the like) as needed for additional flavors.

Please note that so far I’ve only tried the vanilla – and it’s wonderful!

Enjoy!

Lamb Shanks

Lamb Shanks

submitted by Andrea

The lady who does my nails in Singapore gave me this recipe while she was doing my nails one day. I typed in the ingredients into my phone and may have forgotten a thing or two. This recipe is adapted from what she told me. I got pretty close and it was delicious!

Part 1
4 lamb shanks  (Size of a big turkey leg for you County Fair goin’ Texans) – purchased from QB Foods

6 finely chopped garlic cloves

1 finely chopped onion

McCormick Italian Seasoning (or combination of seasonings that are similar)

salt

Part 2
Chicken Stock

Red Wine

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

4-6 fresh tomatoes (in large chunks)

Bay Leaf

Part 3

2 cups diced celery

4 medium peeled, chunked sweet potatoes

1 can garbanzo beans (chic peas)

Part 1 – Sear the shanks in a large frying pan with the chopped garlic, onion and olive oil. Sprinkle salt to taste and Italian Seasoning on the shank. Sear on each side until browned to seal in the juices. About 15 minutes total time.

Part 2 – Place the shanks in a large crock pot or stock pot. Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Pour in chicken stock and about 1 cup of red wine to cover. Cook on high in a crock pot or on medium flame in stock pot for about 2 hours.

Part 3 – Add in the sweet potatoes, celery and garbanzo beans. Cook until the meat is tender and sweet potatoes are cooked. Another 2 hours or so.

It sounds like a process but it’s really easy, just takes a while to cook. Lamb has to cook long and slow for it to be tender. Don’t rush it or it won’t be as good.

It’s good all by itself but you could serve with rice and of course some yummy, warm rolls. Enjoy!

Candied Yams (Sweet Potatoes)

Candied Yams (Sweet Potatoes)

Submitted by Andrea Stunz, recipe from Anita Stunz

This is definitely the easiest thing I make for our Thanksgiving dinner. It’s one of those dishes where you either like it or you dislike it but I happen to like it. A lot! Only you can’t eat a lot and you’ll see why when you read the ingredients, so I don’t make too much of it.

Ingredients:

About 8 medium sized sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 sticks (1 cup) or 250grams of butter/margarine, cut up in chunks

A ton of brown sugar J – about 2-3 cups

3 or so cups of miniature marshmallows

*Place peeled/cubed sweet potatoes in a saucepan, large enough to leave a little room for the butter and sugar.

*Cube up the butter and put on top of the sweet potatoes.

*Pile in the brown sugar and stir as best you can just to get a little bit of it down to the bottom.

*Put the lid on the pan and simmer on low to medium, stirring occasionally, for about 30-45 minutes or until potatoes are cooked soft.

*Mash with either a fork or a potato masher.

*At this point you can either leave in the saucepan or put into a baking dish.

*Place miniature marshmallows on top to generously cover.

If you put into a baking dish put it in the oven until the marshmallows brown. If you’re leaving it in the saucepan, the marshmallows will just melt.

This is a typical part of our meal but it’s sweet enough to be a dessert.

Now eat and enjoy!

I think it’s funny that the categories for this are both vegetable and dessert.

Spice Cookies and Pumpkin Dip

These are definitely one our of family’s holiday favorites! One batch of the dough makes like a billion bite sized cookies so you will have plenty for your holiday cookie jar and plenty to share.

Spice Cookies and Pumpkin Dip
submitted by Andrea Stunz (recipe from a friend, Teresa W., in my hometown)

All ingredients can easily be found at Cold Storage, Fair Price and/or Mustafa.

1 1/2 cups butter or margarine (softened) - conversion chart if you need it for grams

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

4 cups all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp each ground ginger and cloves

1 tsp salt

additional sugar

PUMPKIN DIP (not advised to double this. even though it’s delicious, the cookies always disappear quicker than the dip)

1 pkg 8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)

1 can pumpkin pie mix (18 oz)

2 cups conf. sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add molasses and other ingredients; mix well.Chill overnight. Shape into 1/4 inch balls; roll in sugar or cinnamon sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 Celsius) for about 6 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire rack.

For dip, beat softened cream cheese till smooth. Add pumpkin pie mix; beat well with electric mixer. Add sugar, cinnamon and ginger; beat till smooth. Serve with cookies. Store leftover dip in the refrigerator.

Makes about 20 dozen cookies and 3 cups dip.

ENJOY!!!!!

 

Note: These amazing little dough balls can be made ahead and frozen or kept in the fridge for a while until you need them for a party or gathering.

Thai Cashew Chicken

This recipe is a combo of several different recipes I found so I guess I don’t really have to give credit to any one person. But I did take the original recipe from my friend Jennifer and then changed and added ingredients in it to make it like one that I like to eat out in Singapore. Often, when you order cashew chicken, the chicken is breaded. This one is not and I like it that way. Makes it easier too!

(The picture above was my first attempt. I used raw cashews and even with the wok roasting, they turned out too soft. I also would have added bell peppers and sauce so I included them in the recipe below. Just imagine they’re in there.)

Thai Cashew Chicken – submitted by Andrea Stunz (and friends)

All of the ingredients are easy to find at most Singapore grocery stores but I bought most of mine at The Golden Mile Complex.

1 TBSP vegetable oil

1/2 cup roasted unsalted cashews (raw cashews tend to turn out too soft)

2 diced large chicken breasts (5-6 chicken tenders)

2 TBSP soy sauce

2 TBSP fish sauce

2 TBSP oyster sauce

4 diced dried red chili peppers (or less if you don’t want it spicy)

2 tsp sugar

1/2 bunch green onions, diced

1 Red bell pepper, chunked

1 Green bell pepper, chunked

Whole onion chopped in quarters

Add fresh diced red chilli peppers on top for more heat.

In a wok, stir-fry cashews and set aside (careful not to burn them).  Heat oil and add chicken.  When chicken is cooked, add soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and chili peppers.  Add cashews, bell peppers and green onions.  Taste.  You might want to add a bit more sugar and/or soy sauce if the fish sauce taste is too much for you.  This recipe doesn’t make it very saucy so if you want more sauce, add a little chicken broth, water and corn starch to thicken it up. Taste it again to make sure you don’t need more soy or oyster sauce.

Feeds about 4-5 people.

Serve it with steamed Thai Fragrant Rice  or Sticky Rice (not sweet) and Thai Sweet Chili Sauce.

As I was typing up this recipe, my friend, Jennifer, that I mentioned above emailed me this link. She just made it and said she didn’t change a thing. It is really alot like what I have above but in a much neater package with better pictures.

Thai Cashew Chicken – sans bell peppers

Fish Sauce – A little goes a long way!

Glutinous Rice/Sticky Rice

Thai Yellow Bean Soy Sauce and Oyster Sauce

Make a little extra sticky rice and cook up some coconut cream/sugar syrup for dessert with maybe a little roasted coconut on top. Yum!! Or just some sliced mango

Chicken Tinola

Janny’s Chicken Tinola
submitted by Andrea Stunz

From a lot of the online Tinola recipes I’ve looked at, this one doesn’t appear to be a classic Filipino Tinola soup recipe. Most of them do not call for soy sauce and vinegar or lemon grass but this is how my Filipino friend in Singapore taught me to make it so this is the one you get.  Maybe not authentic but certainly delicious and how one Filipino and one Texan family eats it for sure.

I get my chicken from The Chicken Man, the basic ingredients at the grocery store and the produce at a local wet market. This time was the Tekka Market in Little India.

I’m a horrible food photographer but this is what my husband put on his plate. I like more of the chicken and juice on mine.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
4-5 chopped garlic cloves
1 thumb sized piece of chopped ginger
1-2 stalks lemon grass cut into about 3” pieces
3 diced medium tomatoes
1 medium onion
3-4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts or small chicken pieces with bones and skin if you prefer
About ½ cup vinegar (start with a little, you can always add more but it’s hard to take away if you get too much.)
About ½ cup soy sauce
1 medium-sized green papaya (unripe)
1 chicken bouillon cube (Maggi chicken broth)
water
Salt and pepper to taste
Large bunch (like a lot!) of Malunggay leaves if you can find them. I found them at Tekka Market but you have to get them first thing in the morning or they’re all gone. Take the leaves off of the stems and only use the leaves.

Heat up olive oil with salt and pepper. Add chopped garlic, ginger and onion until light brown. Add tomatoes and lemon grass and cook down a little bit. Add chicken pieces or cubes and cook until chicken is cooked through. Then add in vinegar and soy sauce to taste. Throw in the bouillon cube and dissolve. Add a little water if you want it to be more soupy but not too much to drown out the flavour. Add the papaya and cook until tender. Add Malunggay leaves at the very end and salt and pepper if needed. Serve with rice.

Here’s a recipe using the fish sauce that includes a video of a guy making it. I can only understand about 10 of the words he says but it’s good to see how he puts it together. Except on his #4 step, when he writes “rice washing” I think he means “rice water”.

http://panlasangpinoy.com/2009/06/05/chicken-tinola/

And another one.

http://www.myfilipinorecipes.com/poultry/chicken-tinola-tinolang-manok-recipe.html

Malunggay Leaves – quite impressive in the nutrient department!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera

Tom Yum Soup

After My Thai Cooking Lesson, I pretty much failed at the Green Curry Chicken but I tried the Tom Yum Soup and it worked out pretty well. With the pre-made Tom Yum paste my friend Paunnee uses, it’s really pretty easy to put together. I’ll put the photos of the ingredients at the end of the post.

You can use this same basic recipe adding chicken instead of prawn for Tom Yum or you can use chicken and coconut milk and eliminate the Tom Yum paste to make Tom Khaa. I did use chicken this time that I made it because I didn’t have the time to go find fresh prawn. I liked the chicken but I think prawn or a good white meat fish would be better. Tom Yum is more of a seafood flavored soup.

Tom Yum Soup
submitted by Andrea and Paunnee

Ingredients:
10-15 Jumbo Shrimp (Prawn) peeled and de-veined
About 5-6 Kaffir Lime Leaves
1-2 stalks of lemon grass (wash and cut in 3-4″ pieces)
3 cloves of minced garlic
About 1 ” of peeled and sliced Galangal root
2-3 washed Coriander roots (root from Cilantro) Save the coriander leaves for garnish.
Generous handful of Shitake or Oyster mushrooms (washed and cut up)
2-3 TBSP of Tom Yum Paste (start with a little and add until taste and spice is like you like it)
2 tbsp Fish Sauce
1-2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp sugar
2 seedless limes (garnish)

Note: You won’t eat the lime leaves, lemongrass or galangal root.

To Cook:
In a large stock pot, add 4-5 cups of water, lime leaves, lemongrass stalks, garlic, root slices and sit (no heat) for an hour or two for flavors to combine.

About an hour before you’re ready to serve, prepare the prawn. If you’re cooking with chicken, you’ll need to start the chicken early to make sure it has time to cook. Cut the chicken in decent sized chunks. If using prawn, they will go in right at the end since they don’t take much time at all to cook.

So you’ll heat up your water with all the good smelling/tasting stuff inside and then begin adding the paste a little at a time. Get the heat and the flavor like you prefer and just before serving, add the prawn. Don’t stir it too much at this point, just sort of turn the prawn a little so they don’t fall apart.

Serve with steamed Thai Fragrant Rice and you have a wonderful meal. I also made a vegetable stir fry to go with it. I’ll get that recipe up soon.

Mango Sticky Rice

I posted recently on our family blog about how a sweet friend from Thailand had me over and taught me how to cook some of our favorite local Thai dishes. Among those dishes was Mango Sticky Rice. She didn’t really use a recipe so I’m going to give you one that I came up with after I made it on my own.

For the sauce, you really should use the head milk from freshly grated coconut (Tekka Market for $5/kilo) for the sauce but after my Green Curry Chicken first attempt fiasco I didn’t have any left so I used a coconut cream from the grocery store and it was still really delicious. I’ll post photos of the supplies and ingredients at the end of the post.

So here it is. When you try it out, let me know if it works for you or if something in the recipe should be altered or written more clearly.

Mango Sticky Rice
submitted by Andrea Stunz via Paunnee

Supplies you’ll need:
Glutinous Rice cooking set (About $8 SGD at the Golden Mile Complex)
 
Ingredients:
2-3 cups uncooked Glutinous Rice
2-3 really sweet mango’s
200ml (or 7-8 oz) Coconut milk (the head) or processed coconut cream
Caster/Granulated sugar (start with 1/4 cups and keep adding until it’s as sweet as you like it.)
1 tsp Sea Salt

Cooking the rice:
Soak the rice overnight or for at least 3 hours. Do not skip this part. When you’re ready to cook it, wash the rice 3 times. Bring the water to boil in the lower pan and place the drained rice in the cooking basket above. Put a lid from one your cooking pots over the rice and allow it to steam completely untouched for 30 minutes. While the rice is cooking you can make the sauce.

After 30 minutes place the rice in your serving bowl and begin to pour the sauce over it a little at a time. Cut in the sauce rather than stirring so the rice does not become too damaged. The rice will start to soak in the sauce and become really glossy. Reserve some of the sauce to pour over your rice and mango just before serving.

Cooking the sauce:
Put the coconut milk or cream in a small saucepan, add sugar and salt and bring to a low boil. Stir it occasionally until it thickens up a little, maybe about 7-10 minutes. The sauce should be very sweet. It absorbs into the unsweet rice so it needs to be very sweet. Set it aside until you’re rice is finished cooking. It does need to be hot when pouring in over the rice, though. Cut in the sauce a little at a time so it absorbs into the rice. Save a little bit of the sauce out to pour over when serving.

Keep the finished sticky rice covered until you’re ready to serve it. It will continue to get a little more of a glossy look.

You can sprinkle a few roasted sesame seeds over the top if you like.

Enjoy!! It is super delicious and really very easy. Your family and/or guests will think you slaved for hours.

This is a pretty good post that I used when I was making mine for the first time. I used more sugar than she did.

Spicey Roast Beef Sandwiches

Spicey Roast Beef Sandwiches
submitted by Andrea Stunz

This is another family favorite and super easy for parties or large groups. Not much prep therefore not much exhaustion. Thanks goes out to my friend, Lizanne, for this one!

This amount will easily feed 4-5 people so double or more for larger groups.

1 ½ – 2 lb lean beef roast (we get our roast from QB Foods)

1 pkg. Dry Italian Dressing mix (most Cold Storages carry this)

1 jar Pepperocini pepper slices (mild or regular depending on how hot you want it. We go with mild and cut out the seeds.) (Most Cold Storages carry. Doesn’t matter what brand.)

Add water to cover roast about half way.

This makes a lot but it’s also a good recipe to double for leftovers or to take to someone.

Cook on low in crock pot for 1-2 days checking occasionally (add water if too dry) and pulling apart with forks to break up roast.

Put roast on one side of hamburger bun and sliced swiss, provolone or muenster cheese (we love muenster) on the other side and toast/broil in oven until cheese is melted.  Add mustard or mayo if desired and enjoy! We enjoy eating them with baby dill pickles and Sun Chips.

Slow Cook Chalupas

Slow Cook Chalupas
submitted by Andrea Stunz

This is a family favorite of ours. It was introduced to us by our friend, Mary Margaret, on Christmas Eve. It is her family’s Christmas Eve tradition and we immediately made it one of our traditions as well. It’s a great meal to fix for a party or when you have a large group coming. Easy to prepare ahead and then you’re not too exhausted to enjoy your guests.

INGREDIENTS

• 3 to 4 pounds boneless beef roast, trimmed or 8 frozen chicken tenders or 3-4 bonesless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoon chili powder (the Mexican kind if you have it)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 can diced green chili peppers
• 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) pinto beans, rinsed and drained (Add 1 hour before done) or use 1 pound dried pinto beans (rinse well and soak overnight and cook with roast)
  Note:  It’s difficult to find canned pinto beans in Singapore but if you do, that’s easiest. We get dried pinto beans at either the organic store at Pasir Panjang Wholesale Center or at Mustafa but they are called something else there. If you buy them at Cold Storage, if you can even find them, they are at least $8/bag. So expensive, lah!

TOPPINGS:

• Grated cheese
• Chopped onions
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Sour cream
• Coarsely crushed tortilla chips or fritos

PREPARATION:

Place ingredients in slow cooker, along with 1/2 cup water. Cook 8 to 10 hours checking to make sure it’s not getting too dry – add a little water if necessary.  Can cook overnight on low while beans are soaking then add beans and cook until beans are done. Top with desired toppings and serve with warm tortillas or on a bed of tortilla chips or fritos (can’t get those in Singapore).