Thursday, October 30, 2008

Treasure the love n some halloween recipes from food tv

Few months or so i've blog a post about what is love and recently this word appear again in my mind. however this time i want to focus on the topic: love in a friend.
When i'm still young in primary school, i've have a best friend and many good friends. however when i go to secondary school the situation changes and slowly i has lost contact with my best friend but got a new best friend. however we don't go to the same sch after secondary school but we still contact each other. she n i treasure our times tgt with each other despite our busy schedule. sometimes jus drop some love sms showing our love n regard to each other. even though maybe i'm nt her best frien or so but still i'm happy that we r still contactin and she's living good. even though we have some different belief system but who cares? she also have bf n so more busy but still the care n concern is there. i noe she cares for me n i cares for her. i give her my blessing of she with her bf, n somemore i've "predict" she'll have bf first. so if she's happy, i'll be happy. when she's sad, i'll sad. recently one of my very close frien also get attached n i'm very happy for her. as they r very compatible and happy. happy people r beautiful people. so i'll tease her but i noe she's happy, even though she gt one more thing to focus on but when she happy i will be happy. less time but the heart is still there. i rmb that virtue is innoncent being tested, so if my friend gt bf then jus treat this as friendship being tested. if we still love each other, who cares if i gt to spend time with her? love is also mean willing to let go at the right time. who knows maybe ur friendship will be more stronger? my principle is that when my friends is happy, i'll be happy. when they are not, i'll not. so sometime ppl dun wan to tell me their troubles as they dun wan me to be sad, but if i noe the truth then i'll be more sad...i love to c my friends get attached, so i want to c huimin, elaine, patrick n claris soon get attached. as ppl who are goin to get attached will become pretty..becoz i saw this in my best friend n very close frien. hehe pretty n handsome!!! i'll keep them in prayer!!!

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Roasting Guide: Chicken

By Chef Claire Tansey
Is there anything more comforting and appetizing as the smell of a chicken roasting in the oven? It’s the perfect Sunday supper!

Choose a chicken that looks clean and unmarked, and free of tears in its skin. Free-range, naturally-raised, organic or kosher chickens have superior flavour (it’s even worth the higher price point).

Raw chicken juices contaminate food handling surfaces, so be fastidious in cleaning all cutting boards and utensils (including your hands!) with hot, soapy water after preparing a raw chicken for roasting.

A 5-lb chicken serves 4 to 5 people. If frozen, thaw in the fridge for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours. Check the chicken cavity for a little bag of giblets; remove it. Boiled giblets make a great base for gravy. Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels and place on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.

A roasted chicken needs nothing more than salt and pepper, but it does take particularly well to lemon and almost all herbs. To add flavour without much work, take a lemon and poke small holes all over with a toothpick and add to the cavity of the chicken along with several sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary before roasting. Trussing, or tying up a whole chicken is not necessary, but tying together the tips of both legs with butcher’s twine helps to keep the bird looking pretty. Next, rub olive oil or softened unsalted butter all over the bird’s exterior and season generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast at 350 F for about 20 minutes a pound, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the breast reads 180 F. A 5-lb chicken will take about 2 hours to roast, but if the skin starts to become too brown, cover loosely with foil and reduce oven temperature to 325 F.


An instant-read thermometer (digital is best) takes all the guesswork out of cooking a roast to the perfect doneness. It’s one of the most valuable kitchen gadgets you can buy (and not too expensive).


Take the roast out of the oven, place it on a carving board and let it rest (uncovered) for 15 minutes before carving. Refrigerate leftovers quickly; even the carcass can be reserved, and then simmered in water to make a flavourful broth.


While the bird is resting, make a simple pan gravy—it’s a cinch to do! Just spoon out all but a few tablespoons of the fat from the roasting pan and place the pan over medium-high heat on the stove. Once bubbling, pour in up to 1 cup of dry white wine and simmer, scraping up the browned bits on the pan, until liquid is reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the carved chicken. Serve with mashed or roasted potatoes, roasted sweet peppers and sautéed green beans.

Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf
Yield: 1
Ingredients:
Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf

* 2 cups flour
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp cloves
* 1/2 tsp ginger
* 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 egg
* 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
* zest of one orange
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1 cup orange, juice
* 1 1/2 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen


Directions:
Pumpkin Cranberry Loaf

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda and powder, salt and spices and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and stir in pumpkin purée, orange zest and vanilla. Stir in orange juice. Add dry ingredients in additions and blend just until incorporated. Fold in cranberries.
4. Spoon batter into loaf pan and bake in center of oven for 60 to 75 minutes until a tester inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Allow to cool before slicing.

Pumpkin Cake
Yield: 16
Ingredients:
Pumpkin Cake

* 1 cup butter, softened
* 3 cups packed brown sugar
* 4 egg
* 1 tbsp vanilla
* 3 cups all purpose flour
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp each salt, ground, nutmeg, and, cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp each ground ginger, and, cardamom
* 1/4 tsp ground cloves
* 1/4 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
* 1 can (14 oz) pumpkin puree

Streusel

* 1/3 cup all purpose flour
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/4 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
* 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted


Directions:
Pumpkin Cake

1. Grease bottom and side of 10-inch tube pan with removable bottom and tube; line bottom with parchment paper. Set aside. In bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
2. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves and baking soda. Stir in walnuts.
3. Alternately stir flour mixture and pumpkin purée into butter mixture, making 3 additions of flour mixture and 2 of pumpkin purée. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
4. STREUSEL: In small bowl, stir together flour, sugar and cinnamon. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture clumps together. Stir in walnuts. Sprinkle over batter in pan.
5. Bake in centre of 325oF oven until streusel is golden brown and cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 1¾ hours.
6. Let cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Loosen side of cake with knife; holding onto centre tube, lift cake from pan. Let cool completely on rack. Run knife around tube. Using wide spatulas, gently lift out cake and peel off paper.

Pumpkin Oat Muffins
Yield: 12

Bring the taste of pumpkin pie into delicious whole-grain, reduced fat muffins that are also wheat-free! Recipe by Dreena Burton.
Ingredients:
Pumpkin Oat Muffins

* 1 cup spelt flour
* 1 cup oat flour
* 1/2 cup quick oats
* 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp sea salt
* 1/2 tsp cinnamon
* 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
* 1/8 tsp allspice (optional)
* 3 tbsp unrefined sugar
* 3 tbsp pure maple syrup
* 1 tbsp flax meal
* 3/4 cup plain non-dairy milk
* 1 can (397ml) pumpkin pie mix
* 2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
* 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
* 3 tbsp organic canola oil

Topping

* 2 tbsp unrefined sugar
* 1 tsp organic canola oil
* pinch sea salt


Directions:
Pumpkin Oat Muffins

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, sifting in the baking powder and baking soda. Stir through until well combined.
3. In another bowl, first combine the maple syrup with the flax meal, and then add the remaining wet ingredients, and stir through until well combined.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and gently fold and mix through, until just combined (do not over mix).
5. Spoon the mixture into a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners.
6. In a small bowl, quickly mix the sugar, oil, and salt together with your fingers, and then sprinkle on top of each muffin.
7. Bake for 27-29 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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