Baked Egg in Avocado 焗牛油果雞蛋

Ingredients: (yield 2 portions)

1 Avocado

2 Eggs

Paprika

Ground Black Pepper

Sea Salt

材料：(2人份)

1 牛油果

2 雞蛋

紅甜椒粉

黑椒碎

海鹽

Instruction:

Candied Orange Peels 黑朱古力橙條

I once heard of a saying, "the fewer ingredients a recipe calls for, the more the time and effort it requires".  It shows in this recipe.  After Ethan and I enjoyed those big two oranges, I played with the peels with some sugar and syrup for two days straight (Ethan may have thought I was playing some new orange sticks game),  It was totally worth it though.  While boiling the orange peels, the whole house was filled with the refreshing citrus scent.  The orange peels also tasted great with dark chocolate or without.  They became my best snacks for this start of spring.

Ingredients:

2 Oranges

2 cups Sugar

1 cup Water

60 gram Dark Chocolate

材料：

2 個   橙

2 杯   糖

1 杯   水

60 克   黑朱古力

Instruction:

Basic Vegan Pesto Sauce 基本九層塔青醬

This is the most basic pesto sauce that you can prepare in minutes without failing.  All you need to do is blend all the ingredients until smooth.  If you can't find pine nuts, try to use walnuts instead.  It also tastes great in it's simplicity. 

Ingredients: (1-2 servings)

1 cup Fresh Basil Leaves

1/3 cup Pine Nuts

3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1.5 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Black Pepper (reduce it to adjust the heat)

1.5 cups Rotini

1/2 cup Cherry Tomatoes, halved

材料：(1-2人份)

1 杯   九層塔葉

1/3 杯   松籽

3/4 杯   初榨橄欖油

1.5 茶匙   海鹽

1 茶匙   黑胡椒 (酌減份量以調節辛辣度)

1.5 杯   扭紋意粉

1/2 杯   車厘茄

Instruction:

Mango Orange Popsicle 芒果鮮橙雪條

This style of popsicle can have endless variations, and this time I chose to use mango and orange.  Because the fruits weren't in season, I added a tablespoon of agave syrup to balance the taste.  If you have some good quality fruits in hand, you can probably omit the syrup.

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Mango Orange Popsicle 芒果鮮橙雪條

Ingredients: (2 servings)

1/2 cup Fresh Mango

1/3 cup Orange Pulp

1 tablespoon Agave Syrup

材料：(2人份)

1/2 杯   芒果

1/3 杯   橙肉

1 湯匙   龍舌蘭蜜

Instruction:

Carrot Sugar Cookies (without using cookie cutter) 蘿蔔牛油曲奇

Making them is really fun and easy.  Since carrots are known to have irregular shapes and bumpy, I didn't need to care much about cutting an identical outline for each cookie or worry the edges weren't smooth enough.  A pin and a small knife are all you need to make these adorable carrots.  Let's build a carrot cookie garden this Easter.

Ingredients: (yield about 2 dozens)

1.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour

60 gram Grated carrot

1/2 cup Butter, room temperature

1/2 cup Sugar

1 tablespoon Flaxseed Meal

1 Egg

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Food Colorant (Green and Orange)

材料：(約24曲奇)

1.5 杯   全麥麵粉

60 克   蘿蔔絲

1/2 杯   牛油，室溫

1/2 杯   砂糖

1 湯匙   亞麻籽粉

1 隻   雞蛋

1/2 茶匙   泡打粉

1/4 茶匙   海鹽

1 茶匙   雲呢拿油

食用色素 (綠色，橙色)

Instruction:

Kelp and Green Bean Sweet Soup 海帶綠豆沙

Another popular summer dessert that everyone knows in Hong Kong.  We like to eat it warm or cold, and even make popsicle out of this.  If you want to try this dessert but think you may not be very familiar with any of those ingredients, don't worry!  They should be available in many Asian markets.  I hope you will give it a try this summer.

Ingredients: (yield about 6 servings)

1 cup Green Bean

7 cups Water

10 gram Dried Tangerine Peel

25 gram Dried Kelp

100 gram Rock Sugar

材料：(約6人份)

1 杯   綠豆

7 杯   水

10 克   陳皮

25 克   乾海帶

100 克   冰糖

Instruction:

Almond Cuddled Bear Cookies 抱抱熊杏仁曲奇

People who have tried these almond cookies love them, just as they love buttery or chocolate chip cookies.  When I was little, my dad usually bought these cookies on his payday.  Whenever  I received one, I would nibble it as slowly as I could to enjoy every bit of sweet and nutty flavour.  These cookies lived through my childhood.

I made these cookies into some cute bears today for Ethan and his friends.  They each held a piece of cookie, and thought about where they should set their teeth in first before munching the bears from head to toe.  Although they were still too little to tell me how much they enjoyed the cookies, their smiles and the crumbs on their faces already told me.

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Almond Cuddled Bear Cookies 抱抱熊杏仁曲奇

Ingredients: (yield about 9-12 cookies)

1/3 cup Almond

1 cup All Purpose Flour

90 gram Brown Sugar

100 ml Soy Oil (or any type of vegetable oil)

2 Eggs

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

9-12 Almonds (for decoration)

材料： (做約9-12塊曲奇)

1/3 杯   杏仁

1 杯   麵粉

90 克   黑糖

100 毫升   大豆油 (或其他菜油)

2 隻   雞蛋

2 茶匙   泡打粉

9-12 粒   杏仁 (裝飾用)

Instruction:

Beet Pickled Eggs 紅菜頭糖醋蛋

Lately I like to experiment on using different natural food or herbs to tint eggs.  Last week, I cooked the unshelled boiled egg in a cup of water plus two teaspoons of paprika for 5 minutes.  The strong smell of the boiling paprika wasn't very pleasant to me, but the eggs successfully turned florescent orange and they tasted fine.  My son ate the whole egg.

This week, Ethan wanted me to make some purple eggs (the new colour he just learned at preschool).  Purple eggs?  The only purple vegetables came to mind were eggplant and purple cabbage, but eggplant doesn't tint and purple cabbage will only make blue eggs.  

The beetroot pickled eggs I saw on TV suddenly popped in my head.  Yes, they are purple.  So, I made them as you can see.  The story behind the scene was that Ethan was amazed by the beautiful purple red colour, but he thought these cold and slightly tangy flavour eggs were not his taste.  After he finished all the raisins, he returned the whole plate of eggs to me.  Funny was that my husband and I fell in love with these new pickled treats, and decided immediately they have to be the must bring food for a picnic this summer.

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Beet Pickled Eggs 紅菜頭糖醋蛋

Ingredients:

5 Eggs

1 cup Beet Root, peeled and sliced

100 ml White Vinegar / Rice Vinegar
1 cup Water

2 tablespoons Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

材料：

5 隻   雞蛋

1 杯   紅菜頭，切厚片

100 毫升   白醋 / 米醋
1 杯   水

2 湯匙   糖

1/4 茶匙   鹽

Instruction:

Avocado Yogurt Dip 牛油果乳酪醬

It is an easy and healthy dip I love to serve when some little guess come over for a play day.  I guess no one will complain greek yogurt and avocado (unless they're allergic to them).  Also, the refreshing green colour and the lemony flavour gives a perfect snack for spring.

Ingredients:

1 Ripe Avocado

1/4 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

2 tablespoons Fresh Lemon Juice

1/4 teaspoon Black Ground Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

Corn Chips (to serve) 

材料：

1 個   熟牛油果

1/4 杯   原味希臘乳酪

2 湯匙   鮮檸檬汁

1/4 茶匙   海鹽

1/4 茶匙   黑胡椒碎

粟米片 (伴食)

Instruction:

Vegan Apple Muffins 素食蘋果小蛋糕

Telling our son "we are going to buy apples" is the compromise to get him to a grocery store on a fussy day of his, so there are always one or two apples sitting around on our kitchen table.   Since my son started going to a preschool and people there offer him apple for snack almost everyday, he doesn't really ask for the apples at home.  Those two apples on the ingredients list below were obviously the "orphans", and I am glad they turned into some uplifting sweet to highlight our vegan diet in this cold week.  These muffins taste better after stored overnight.

Ingredients: (yield about 12-15 muffins)

(Dry Ingredients):

2 cups All Purpose Flour / Plain Flour

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt

(Wet Ingredients):

* 1.5 cups Apples (I used delicious here), peeled, cored, and cubed

* 1/2 cup Soy Milk

1/3 cup Odourless Coconut Oil

1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1/3 cup Soy Milk (it's added depends on the dryness of the dough)

*  These two ingredients should produce approximately 400 ml apple Puree.

材料：(約12-15個)

(乾材料):

2 杯   麵粉

3/4 杯   黑糖

1 湯匙   泡打粉

1 茶匙   肉桂粉

1/4 茶匙   荳蔻粉

1/4 茶匙   海鹽

(濕材料):

＊ 1.5 杯   蘋果，去皮和芯，切粒 (我這兒選用蛇果)

＊ 1/2 杯   豆奶

1/3 杯   椰油 (無味)

1 湯匙   雲呢拿香油

1/3 杯   豆奶 (視乎麵漿的乾度而加入)

＊這兩份材料應該做約400毫升蘋果蓉

Instruction:

Egg Wrap Mozzarella Cheese Sticks + Fresh Tomato Dipping Sauce 白乾酪芝士脆條 + 鮮茄沾汁

These cheese sticks are as good as the ones coated with breadcrumbs or panko, but we don't need to lay out three dishes for the flour, egg, and the seasoned crumbs.  All we need is just to lay out the sheets of egg wraps and roll out some "mozzarella mummies".  For the sauce, you can add some tabasco if you like heat.

Ingredients:

Cheese Sticks: (7 sticks)

7 (about 200 gram) Mozzarella Cheese

7 Egg Wraps

Water

2.5 tablespoons Light Cooking Olive Oil (for frying)

Tomato Sauce: (about 1/2 cup)

3 Tomatoes, diced

3 cloves Garlic Gloves, crushed

2.5 tablespoons Light Cooking Olive Oil

1/3 teaspoon Dried Rosemary

1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

1 teaspoon Paprika

1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

材料：

芝士條: (7條)

7 條 (共約200克)  白乾酪芝士

7 塊   蛋春卷皮

水

2.5 湯匙   淡味煎煮用橄欖油 (煎春卷用)

蕃茄沾汁: (約1/2 杯)

3 個   蕃茄， 切粒

3 瓣   蒜頭，壓扁

2.5 湯匙   淡味煎煮用橄欖油

1/3 茶匙   乾迷迭香

1 湯匙   紅酒醋

1 茶匙   紅甜椒粉

1 湯匙   黑糖
少許   海鹽

少許   黑胡椒碎

Instruction:

Soy Milk Pudding with Ginger Syrup (Vegan recipe) 薑汁豆香布丁

The reason I love this soy milk pudding is simply because its flavour is very similar to the traditional dessert, Tofu Fa, which I grew up with.  Tofu fa requires gypsum powder to curd the soy milk, but I can't find any access to this unusual ingredient here.  So, the use of agar agar becomes the alternative.  Agar agar gives a firmer texture to the pudding but it doesn't affect the taste of the soy.  Make it out of any cute mould you have to surprise your little one.

Ingredients:

2 cups Unsweetened Soy Milk

4 gram Agar Agar Powder

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Ginger Syrup:

4 tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 tablespoons Water

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

材料：

2 杯   無糖豆漿

4 克   燕菜粉

1 茶匙   雲呢拿油

薑汁：

4 湯匙   黑糖

2 湯匙   水

1 茶匙   薑粉

Instruction: