I make ugly food & it TASTES SO GOOD

The food I make is partly inspired by my Mom’s cooking, partly inspired by the contents of my refrigerator and sometimes inspired by THE INTERNET. Here’s a rundown of some dishes I’ve cooked from recipes found on some of my favorite food blogs and websites. I’ve also included the pictures and links to the originals JUST so you can see how desperately I need a new camera. Mine are first. Obviously.

Nutty Cranberry Granola – Shutterbean

This actually turned out really well except that the oats got a bit too overdone. But honestly, they taste kickass with any kind of milk and are super filling and good for breakfast.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pancakes (Vegan) – Top With Cinnamon

This recipe make super heavy pancakes but they’re quite good and you feel weirdly healthy when you eat them. What the recipe doesn’t tell you is that it sticks to the pan like crazy if you use normal vegetable oil. So you know that’s cool if you don’t mind destroyed pancakes. Or you could use coconut oil which is recommended.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake – Nigella

This cake is a classic. It is easy and always turns out good. Mine looks a little different because I don’t do maraschino cherries and it also tasted different because I used pineapple slices in syrup. Don’t do it. Get pineapple juice and use that instead.

Green Chili Chicken – Singapore Shiok

Okay this was ugly and it didn’t taste so good. Was it something I did? Personally I think it wasn’t a very good recipe.

The Reset Button Salad – Shutterbean

I HAD to make this salad when I saw it. Unfortunately my version didn’t have spring onions because Fairprice decided to run out. Wow the contrast of how bad my salad looks next to the original is shocking. But it tasted awesome!

So get cooking this weekend and make some ugly, tasty food!

Overnight Oats

Happy Monday! Feel like stabbing yourself in the eye? Don’t!

INSTEAD – make Overnight Oats. It’s easy to do, apparently it’s good for your heart/health and it’s especially good for people (me) who don’t want to be late to work because they’re trying to eat breakfast at home.

1/3 cup oats
2/3 cup milk (almond, soy, etc. works)
1 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 tsp honey
pinch of cinnamon
dash of vanilla extract
walnuts

Mix oats, milk, dried cranberries, honey, cinnamon and vanilla extract the night before. Put in a container (small plastic Tupperware should work) in the fridge.

The next morning, stir and garnish with walnuts.

Eat.

Pat yourself on the back for being smart and healthy and winning at life.

*One thing they don’t tell you about overnight oats is that if you put the dried fruit in the night before (you don’t have to) it becomes plump and juicy and quite awesome.

**Another thing they don’t tell you is that it’s consistency is slightly slimy.

Chocolate Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

So this happened. This morning. I was proud. It tasted like chocolate and was kinda chunky (but in a totally good way). Yaay for effort!

1 frozen banana
1 cup of unsweetened soy milk (the white people kind – mine was Waitrose Organic, I got it from Cold Storage, its SGD5.40 for 1L)
1/4 cup cold oats (I made it the night before and put it in the frige – 1 part rolled oat and 2 parts water, stir over low heat until done)
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp Marvella (It’s like fake, Turkish Nutella)
2 tsps honey

Put all the ingredients into a food processor. Pulse until done.

Pour into a glass. Put a McDonalds straw that your awesome apt mates thought to save in the cutlery drawer in the glass. Drink while watching The White Queen.

Smile.

*Don’t forget to clean the mess created by the food processor when the frozen banana attempted to escape.
*Adapted from the inspiring Food Doodles.