Well....I was having a little metabolic issue after traveling from Taiwan to the states. On top of time changes, sleeping schedule, weather, etc, the most suspicious cause lies on the diet. My diet consists of a minimum of 5 types of vegetables daily plus a glass of freshly made juice from my dad (Thank you!). However, that amount of fiber intake was reduced drastically during the first few days of my arrival.
I've got to do something to save my ever bloating tummy. So here is it, I took whatever that was available in the kitchen combined with my dad's healthy juice idea, and the tummy savior was born.
Energy boost juice with mixed berries, banana, apple, carrot, walnut, milk, and a splash of honey -
Ingredients (for 2 to 3 full cups)?
1 handful of strawberries
2 tablespoons of blueberries
1 apple
1 ripe banana
1/2 stick of carrot
3 to 4 walnuts
Some 2% reduced fat milk
Some honey
How?
Peel the apple and carrot. Chop the banana, peeled apple, peeled carrot into bite sizes and toss into the blender. Remove the stems from strawberries, cut in half and add to the blender. Add in the blueberries too.
Toss in 2 to 3 walnuts along with some honey to sweeten and smooth out the acidity -
Pour in the milk till all the ingredients are submerge underneath. You can substitute the milk with soy milk or even water. The amount of liquid used depending on how thick you would like the juice to be. I prefer mine condensed and unstrained, that's how I got all the nutrients in one glass. Blend till smooth, should take less than one minute.
My metabolism and ...well..."bathroom" schedule turned normal again only one day after having this juice. And yes, hello my happy tummy, good to see you couple sizes down again!
Who says I have to use baking soda or baking powder to make cookies!?
I was planning to bake some sweet treats the other day. However, there aren't too many things left in the pantry. No chocolate (ouch! my favorite), no baking powder, and no baking soda. Frustrated and lazy as I was to drive down to the grocery store, which happens to be only 5 minutes away...There it was! A pack of self rising flour sitting quietly on the rack with halo glowing above. Well, at least that's how I remembered.
Peanut butter cookies made with self rising flour -
Ingredients (for 2 dozen small cookies)?
1 1/4 cup of self rising flour
1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup of unrefined raw sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons of honey
1 stick/8 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Some almond flakes for decoration
*Only use 1 tablespoon of honey if you would like to tone down the sweetness a bit.
How?
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take a big bowl and mix in all the ingredients except the almond flakes. If possible, make sure to use unrefined raw sugar because it's slightly larger size gives more texture when you bite into the cookies. Use a mixer and blend till fully incorporated, till the ingredients form smaller bits. Next, form the mixture into one big mass by hand.
Take a spoon as measurement, scoop one portion at a time and shape into a small ball with your hands. Slightly press it down and the put the dough onto the parchment paper. Gently press down two almond flakes as garnish. Repeat the steps till all the dough has been used.
Remember to evenly lay out the cookie dough with some gaps in between. It's ok if the cookies are not shaped as a perfect circle. In fact, I actually prefer it with cracks on the edges, feels more homemade that way.
Into the oven for about 12 to 14 minutes. Once done, remove from heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes then the cookies will be ready to eat.
You get those mini crunchy bites from the raw sugar, that's something you can't find if regular brown sugar was used. Creamy peanut butter also works very well with this recipe. Perhaps next time I'll switch to almond butter and see how it goes.
- Other recipe using self rising flour -
*Very moist chocolate chip cupcakes
*Chocolate cupcakes with coconut sauce
