(tough) oven roast BBQ Beef Chunks

Remember my dinner with owh-so-fancy name? Oven Roast BBQ Beef Chunk + Potatoes?

Well, it was an epic failure. Beef chunks were hard to slice, let alone to chew and gobble up. Two important lessons: -

 

1. Sear first, then roast. To seal the juice. My beef chunks were swimming in their juice barely ½ hour in the oven, hence so keras. Coz I skipped the sear-ing process. The juice came out.

 

After half hour, macam kolam I tell you..

 

2.     Let the marketing expert do the marketing. I humbly admit Tebby does a better job in marketing tho I graduated with a major in Marketing, and he, Engineering. The beef that I bought was keras to begin with. I had hoped the chunks would go tender after the marinating process but obviously they were adamant to stay they the way they were.

 

Anyway, there’s always hikmah behind a tragedy...

1.       I muscled up my biceps from slicing exercise.

2.       My anak-anak bulu (cats laa), had two generous servings of marinated beef BBQ slices. They like it so much (I think) now they make donno only when we serve them their previously-preferred cat food.

 

After the un-eventful dinner, Tebby announced he likes dry-rub style better and that I do not have re-do and re-try this BBQ style again. Fine. Let’s just leave that to Wadihana (yums!), Tony Roma (yums!) and Chili’s (yums!).

Anyway, not to dampen your spirit. The mess was totally on me. Though I have scars on my arm from kuali panas and letupan-letupan minyak, I am still a lousy cook when it comes to certain dishes. I am sharing the recipe here with you, nonetheless. 

In red. Kuantiti - main agak-agak only.

twin lo(ve)afs

I am so in the mood of cooking these days. I made a weekly meal plan. Er, actually it’s just a one week plan. And I kinda like it. It made my weekly groceries shopping easier (and saves loads of time surveying from aisle to aisle) and my task in kitchen department a lot more efficient.

 

Last three night’s dinner was Wonton Noodle with Dumpling Soup. Last two nights was Oven Roast BBQ Beef Chunk + Potatoes and Roast Vege. (amboi nama macam menu kat kedai.. )

 

Once in a while I made bread and buns. Normally on weekends coz you have to have loads of patience when dealing with yeast. The shortest time I experience to proof my dough is 30 minutes. And there’s two sessions of proofing.

 

Last weekend I made two loafs – one is Pepperoni (kids are in love with this one) and another one Margarine Sugar (lesser hit but Tebby prefers this one).

 

Ingredients

1. 4 cups – bread flour

2. 2 tsb – dried yeast

3. 1 tsb - salt

4. 2 tbsp – sugar

5. 2 tbsp – margarine

6. 330 ml - warm milk

 

- Mix item 1-5 in a bowl. Add warm milk bit by bit. Dough should not stick to bowl. I kneaded (using mixer) for 10 minutes).

- Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with cloth.

- Leave to proof until the size doubled (normally 30-45 minutes, sometimes an hour, depending on cuaca).

- Punch the air out and knead some more.

- Divide into two.

- Roll each into ½ cam thickness.

 

For Pepperoni Loaf

You’ll need pepperoni, grated cheese and mayo. Arrange pepperoni, layer with cheese and mayo. Roll into a loaf with seam face down.

For Margarine Sugar

You’ll need melted margarine and granulated sugar. Brush melted margarine then sprinkle with sugar. Roll into a loaf with seam face down.

 

Leave to proof once again until they double the size. Bake at 160d, api atas bawah, for 15 minutes. Leave to cool a bit before cutting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy 40-th Birthday

Suamiku,

Selamat menyambut Hari Lahir ke 40.

I planned to present you with a flat stomach but obviously I have failed miserably. That left me with nothing much except love, love, love and much more love from me.


Much love, 
your wife

of doing under 9

Yesterday Tebby and me drove separately to work. That means I’d clock out on time and if the traffic and weather permits, I’d have the opportunity to sweat out some fat and calories before fetching them kids from taska. Both traffic and weather were kind to me (Thank You Allah!). I have changed into my running gear before clocking out but had to wear those with pair of black court-shoes coz I left my sneakers in the car.

Under 9 minutes? You meant my 8.59 minutes?

My dinner later last night :P .. I don’t normally do rice for dinner. But sadin is always an exception. Too good to refuse.

On a more serious note, I notice every time I sweat myself out running or doing physical exercise activities, I’d more refreshed. This morning I woke up at 4:30am and had trouble going back to sleep coz I felt good and refresh.

But why don’t I feel the same after scrubbing toilets, mopping the floor or did a bakul worth of ironing?? 

'fast'a pasta - baked bowties

As much as I want to be organized and systematic, there are days when I am totally unsorted, disorganized and a little chaotic. And as much as I want to eat home, there are days when we came back late and are too tired to even heat up the wok and had to rely on eating out. Bila ada peluang untuk masak di rumah, I'd jump with joy.

Last week was few of those days that I jumped with joy. I made Easy Peasy Grilled Chicken the other day and I did Baked Bowtie next day. (We rarely have rice meal with 2 or 3 accompaniments for dinner). I planned to do Cheesy Bowtie for the children. Dah alang-alang merebus pasta, baik rebus sepeket terus kan :D

Cheesy Bowtie. They can't wait too long for dinner so I fed them this simple dinner :D For the sauce, heat up some milk on low heat. Add cheese. I used mozzarella and cheddar. No need to add salt. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and sliced grilled breakfast sausages.

I made Baked Bowtie using the remaining pasta.

Ingredients
1. 500 gm bowtie pasta (I used San Remo) - cooked in boiling water with a little salt and oil. Once done, drain.
2. 3 medium sized potato - skin off. Sliced thinly. I used potato peeler to slice.
3. 1 onion - diced
4. 1 pack minced beef (I used Ramly)
5. 2 cups fresh milk
6. 3 eggs - briefly beat
7. Salt
8. 1 330gm traditional pasta sauce (I used Prego)
9. Mozzarella & cheddar cheese

- Heat up a little oil in a pot.
- Fry onion until translucent.
- Add minced beef, stir occasionally until half cooked.
- Add sliced potatoes. Cook for 5-10 minutes until potatoes soften up and beef cook through.
- Add pasta sauce and cook for another 5 minutes.

- In a separate container, mix milk, eggs and a little salt.
- Pour in the beef + potato mixture.
- Pour in bowtie pasta.
- Mix thoroughly and pour into a casserole.
- Add cheese on top.
- Bake at 160d, fan on. I used only bottom heat for the first 20 minutes then changed the setting to top and bottom heat for another 10 minutes as I didn't want the top to get too crispy.

Kids love them. If you kids love pasta, they'll love this too insyaAllah.

daily workout

I have been contemplating to buy an exercise machine. Treadmill, strider, bicycle.. and anything of sorts. I have that listed in my to-buy list and hopefully my plan will still be executable when the bonus finally cashed in. Coz I sure have a looonggggg to buy list and that exercise machine is not numero uno!

Meanwhile.

I downloaded this Daily Workout via play store. We can pick out targeted exercise (abs, arm, butt, cardio, leg) or do a combination of all, full. I did the abs once. But I have watched all don't worry. When I finally have the motivation to do all, I am allll prepared....

Example, here I picked a 5 minutes abs workout, routine no 1 (other than no 1 is payable).

Under abs workout #1, there's 10 exercises that will torture your stomach muscle :D

And before the start of each exercises, we'll be entertained by a demo so we'll know what needs to be done.

And yesterday I found my boys lying on their back, knees up doing crunch, with my fon lying between them. Apparently they found the apps and started to experiment doing it. They were doing the abs in the evening and later that night I saw Adam doing leg!

Well done boys. Now please pass on some of your motivation to me. Thank you.

easy peasy grilled chicken

My husband is being assigned new portfolios and he has long working hours. Jiwa kacau, as I put it, my kids are. Late pick-ups (from taska), take-out dinners, frequent eating-outs. We have new arrangement now, driving separately to the office (we work in the same building, previously we car-pool) so I can clock out on time to mend those little broken hearts :D ... and spread them the joy of seeing sun goes down (coz we normally pick them up after 7:30 - 8:00pm on most days) .. while their father does what a bread-winner has to do. Life sure ain't all bed of roses at all time huh?

Yesterday was the kick-off of our new arrangement. Hit the road at 6:40am (a mom has to do what she has to do to get the scarce free-parking space!) and after office, reached Cheras at 6:15pm. Had ample time to do a little shopping before picking-up kids. Kakak only gets back at 6:50pm from school and I had these images of grilled chicken for dinner. AEON Big it was then!

Rest assured, this is super easy peasy to make. And people, when I say easy peasy, it is easy peasy :D So let's..

For chicken..
Bahan-Bahan:

- 3 chicken breasts - skin off, trim fat, wash and strain but I did not pat them dry
- 4-5 tsbp olive oil
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- Salt to taste
- 2 sprigs of rosemary - we have this beautiful rosemary growing in out little potted herbs garden so I used fresh rosemary.


1. Prick chicken breasts with a fork. All over.The oil and taste will seep through easily
2. Marinade with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and rosemary.
3. Heat a griller (I used the famous 'magic-pan' areikan my mom gave me), use high heat but do use oil as we already have olive oil marinating the chicken.
4. Grilled them up about 5 minutes each side, depending on thickness. After both side done, close the lid and lower down heat. Leave to cook for another 3-5 minutes.
5. Set aside, let to cool a bit. Then slice


For vegetables..
Bahan-bahan
- Mushroom
- Carrot
- French beans
*Those were the things I could find suitable for grilling at AEON Big semalam but other vegetables can do as well.
- Worchestershire sauce (I used cap maggi)
- Salt
- Olive oil

1. Wash and cut vegetables
2. Marinade with olive oil and salt.
3. Heat 'magic-pan' with no oil.
4. Grilled the vegetables for 2-3 minutes.
5. Dash with a bit of worcestershire sauce. Just a bit, else they will get too salty.
6. Close the 'magic-pan' lid and cook for another 2 minutes.

Verdict? Sedap. (masuk bakul angkat sendiri!)
And the beauty of this.. I used the leftover for kids' bekal. Chicken Sandwich!

Note:
I don't sell 'magic-pan', merely promoting the ease it can offer you :D