Keto Almond Flour Bread

Dear readers, have you heard the term 'keto'?  Well, I had seen the term floated about for a while now but I hadn't understood what it meant til lately.  It turns out that keto is a type of diet that utilises the process of 'ketosis' which is what occurs when your body burns stored fat instead of glucose broken down from consumed food.  Burning stored fat can help weight loss and increase energy.  Which is great if you want to lose weight, amiright?

So how does one go about this keto diet?  There is a ton of info on the internet if you want to go in-depth but basically it means eating normally but severely limiting carbohydrate intake.  Carbs breaks down to glucose, you see.

We've been trying to lower our carb intake, sorta tip toeing into a keto diet, and one of the first things that we made specifically for this reason was this gorgeous carb free, gluten free Keto Almond Flour Bread.  Perfect for a keto diet and we couldn't believe how easy and yummy this bread is!

Chinese Soy & Spice Braised Peanuts 水煮五香花生

This totally yummilicious little nutty snack was inspired by an appetizer that appeared briefly on the menu of a fav Sichuan restaurant of ours.  I think the most excellent chef there likes to try out different things which is great, except when you discover a new favorite dish only to have it disappear a month later. 😩

But, as even in that short time we became obsessed with these peanuts, we decided to make our own version of Chinese Soy & Spice Braised Peanuts 水煮五香花生.  Easy to make but oh man so yummy to nom, nom on, these cooked til soft and savory peanuts are soaked through and through with the most delicious Chinese spice flavored soy braising sauce.  Nom, nom, indeed...

Mala Spicy Chilled King Oyster Mushroom Salad 麻辣涼拌杏鮑菇

Hey hobbits out there, doncha just love, love, love mushrooms?  Then this is the dish for you!  Meaty mushrooms marinated in spicy mala sauce and a splash of numbing sichuan pepper oil, sprinkled with aromatics and then chilled to perfection.  This Mala Spicy Chilled King Oyster Mushroom Salad 麻辣涼拌杏鮑菇 is super easy to make and absolutely shroomy-licious!

Sugar Cane Imperatae Water Chestnut Tonic 竹蔗茅根紅蘿蔔馬蹄水

Here's a favorite Chinese tonic, perfect for soothing dryness, quenching the thirsties and expelling dampness from your body.  Sugar Cane Imperatae Water Chestnut Tonic 竹蔗茅根紅蘿蔔馬蹄水 is a tonic with a longish name but it's super simple to make and delicious and healthy to drink!

Strawberry Dusted White Chocolate Truffle

Here's a sweetie just in the nick of time for Valentines Day!  Recently my little girl and I have been just loving us some white chocolate, that luscious creamy deliciousness is just so sexy!  

So that's what led us to make some white chocolate truffles.  Seriously, truffles are sooo easy to make and sooo super yummilicious.  Easy and delicious, my favorite food combo of all time!  And what could be better paired with white chocolate than strawberries, amirite?!  So here it is, our Strawberry Dusted White Chocolate Truffle is totally something to fall in love with!

Coloured Macarons Filled with White Chocolate Ganache

I'm super excited to share this particular post with everyone!  Homemade macarons!  We love macarons so much but then who doesn't, amirite?   These dainty meringue based sandwich cookies have stolen the world's sugar encrusted heart.  So what could be better than to be able to make these at home, right?  We've previously successfully made scrumptious chocolate flavored macarons at THKC however, every time we tried to make other coloured macarons we have failed.  :(

Onwards in time...and this Christmas my little girl and I decided to participate in her school Xmas bazaar and thus needed to bake up a seeming truckload of cookies to sell.  And one of the cookies that my little girl really wanted for the bake sale was macarons coloured  in red and green, all the Christmas colors.  Yiks!  Could I do it?  Not sure but like a good and hopeful mama, I said yes to coloured macarons.

Ahhh...a challenge laid down.  Dear readers, the cookie game was afoot!

Buffalo Wings Baked in the Oven

This post is kinda serendipitious.  You know, happily accidental.  In my food wanderings online recently, I stumbled on this baked method of making buffalo wings by the famous Kenji Lopez at Serious Eats and got really excited by it.  Ironically, I totally didn't realize that Super Sunday, the holy grail of buffalo winging, was coming right up!  It's hard to remember that date here in HK, lol.

My hubby loves buffalo wings.  Not really sure why but it's okay cuz we love them too, just not as much, haha.  We've made them many times before, baking the chicken wings before dunking into that gorgeous buffalo sauce.  But they never seemed quite right, the baked skins lacking the crispness of the deep fried buffalo wings that you can get at restaurants.  Without that crispiness the sauce just doesn't cling convincingly enough, does it?

So Kenji's method is supposed to make the baked chicken wing's skin as crisp as if you deep fried the wings!  Does it work?  Oh yeah, it sure does!  Super crispy skinned juicy baked buffalo wings coming right up!

Gift Bearing Huggy Bear Cookies

Just in time for this merry season, we present our latest Christmas cookie, our Gift Bearing Huggy Bear Cookies!  This is one of the slew of Christmas cookies we've made this year and my little girl and I think it's the cutiest of the lot!  Little animal cookies bearing wee gifts in their arms are too cool for school, doncha think dear readers?

Homemade Turkish Delight Candy

I first discovered the mysterious name 'Turkish Delight' when immersed in magical world of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, reading of poor Edmund lost in wickedly wintry Narnia and captivated by the evil White Witch, the Queen of Narnia, after one deliriously delicious bite of Turkish Delight candy.

"Is it dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen presently.  "What would you like best to eat?"

Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight.  Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.  He was quite warm now, and comfortable." -The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Baked Sweet Potato 烤番薯

Dear readers...winter draws ever nearer.  And as the chill winds of the season sweep over us what should appear on street corners all over Asia but the wonderful street hawkers that sell roasted sweet potato.  OMgosh, the aroma of that roasting sweet potato!  So good!  That hot plump sweet potato is exactly the thing to hold in your chilly hands.  Not to mention that first luscious bite of the creamy, sweet hot potato flesh.  Just the thing to warm you up and put you to rights inside and out!

And if, poor darlings, you don't have a friendly neighborhood sweet potato hawker, don't worry a bit, we're here to save the day!  Cuz, guess what, you can easily make superb baked sweet potato at home that tastes just as good as any you can get from a street vendor. 

Baked sweet potato 烤番薯 is so super simple to make.  And oh so yummy to eat: hot, sweet and creamy.  It just warms the ol' heart, it does.