No-Frills Recipes ... cooking, baking & excerpts on travel

I was doing a stock take of my pantry when a round pack of 'something' caught my eye.  Goodness, I had completely forgotten all about the pack of Vietnamese rice paper that I brought back from my previous trip to Perth in December.   A quick check on the date ..... Best before 30 th September 2013, saved!

These muffins are made with raw pumpkin, grated and with some raisins thrown in for good measure.  They do look cute baked in the mini loaf pan, just what I would like for breakfast or tea!

I made this black pepper salted baked chicken over the weekend and it's a bit similar to our famous Ipoh Salted baked chicken but this is with added black pepper.  It's very simple to prepare as the ingredients are all pre-mixed and all you need to do is to marinate the chicken and then either bake or steam it.  The pre-mix spices come with a piece of foil and with instructions on the back of the packet as well.

On my recent trip to the Cameron Highlands we stopped by at the Cameron Highlands Resort and adjourned for tea @ the Jim Thompson Tea room.  The Cameron Highlands Resort was formerly Merlin Hotel but had changed hands and had undergone extensive reburfishment and makeover.  We had stayed there before many, many years ago so we just had to stop by and take a look at this hotel again.

More often than not, palm sugar is normally used to make sweet desserts and seldom is it used in a dish.  Always willing to experiment and try out new recipes, I used palm sugar in this braised pork dish and it wasn't a disappointment.

M arble Matcha Castella has been on my to-do list for quite a while and I only managed to get down to it recently.  I've made some minor changes to this recipe which was adapted from my previous post on Matcha Castella  but for ease of reference I'll type out the recipe again for record.

These mouth-watering cookies are chewy in the middle and crunchy at the edges and they're just too nice to stop at one.  Not only are they delicious but with rolled oats and almonds add-ons, they're nutritious as well. Chewy, crunchy and nutty cookies which will have you reaching out for more!............. Recipe for Chewy Choc-chip cookies ( adapted from chunky chewy choc-chip cookies with modifications ) Ingredients 4 oz brown sugar 2 oz caster sugar 6 oz self-raising flour 2 oz plain flour 1.1/2 oz rolled oats 2.1/2 oz nibbed almonds, lightly toasted 7.1/2  oz butter, melted 1 egg lightly beaten 1 egg yolk  2 tsp vanilla 7 oz choc-chips Pinch of salt Method Sift the the 2 types of flour in a large bowl.  Add in sugar, oats, nuts and mix well with a handwhisk. Add melted butter, egg, egg yolk and vanilla essence, mix to a soft dough. Stir in choc-chips.  Cover and let dough rest in fridge for 20

Credit must be given to my daughter for preparing this savoury and delicious Pumpkin soup from scratch.  Although it was quite a tedious job which required long hours to make the chicken stock, I must admit that it was well worth the effort.  A delectable, nutritious soup all made with love......

B itten by the scone bug, I set off to surf the net and look for more tips and recipes on scone making.  I chance upon this recipe from   Do what I like .  In her post, Florence has generously shared some valuable tips re the fine points of scone making and I find that the scones made with buttermilk are light with a tender crumb and a wee bit buttery.