Recipe: Carrot Cake Cookies

Apart from bananas, another thing that I nearly always have in the fridge are carrots. I like carrot cake but I wanted cookies so I thought why not make carrot cake cookies! 

These cookies are so soft and cake-like, and the addition of the spices make them extra moreish. They are also loaded with heaps of grated carrots which is a rich source of beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a vitamin A precursor which means it gets turned into vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A is needed to maintain the health of your eyes, skin, and immunity. 

A 19-30 year old male is recommended to have 900 µg/day and females 700 µg/day of vitamin A. One carrot provides roughly that amount, so have a carrot a day and you'll be A-okay. 

  

If I were to make these cookies again I would add some chopped walnuts to it to increase the protein content and I think it would add a really nice nutty flavour to the cookies and not to mention the nutrients in those brain shaped nuts either! (But I'll save that for anuther time)

Carrot Cake Cookies (20 cookies)

Ingredients 

• 2 cups rolled oats 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 2 tsp cinnamon 
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground ginger 
• 1/8 tsp salt 
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp vanila extract 
• 1/3 cup honey 
• 2 carrots, grated  

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper. 

In a food processor, process 1 cup of oats into oat flour and 1 cup of oats into smaller pieces of oats (similar to instant oat size). 

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. 

Puree the banana in the food processor and combine with the dry ingredients along with the other wet ingredients. MIx until combined. 

Spoon onto the cookie mixture onto the line baking tray and flatten slightly. 

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the centre is a little under. Take out of the oven and leave the cookies on the tray for 15 minutes. The remaining heat from the baking tray will allow the cookies to cook through. 

Recipe: Raspberry Cashew Oat Brownies

It’s rainy and drizzly today, totally not what an Australian Summer’s day should be. Since the weather is so terrible I thought I might whip up a batch of brownies to cheer the mood up.

These brownies are so moist, delicious and easy to make. You know what’s even better? They’re oil and refined sugar free! Pretty neat huh? And if you know me, you may have guessed what flour I used. Yep, oat flour. I suppose that makes them broawnies/oatnies/broatnies? Yeah... maybe I'll just call them oat brownies. 

I made raspberry cashew oat brownies today but you can add other berries, nuts, dried fruit or chocolate to your liking. What I love about the raspberries is it adds a tartness that cuts through the sweetness of the maple syrup and richness of the cocoa powder. The cashews also add a textural element to these brownies. They taste so amazing you should definitely try them out.

I’m a fan of frozen berries. They are more economical than fresh berries and can be kept for a lot longer. In terms of nutritional value, it’s practically the same if not higher for some nutrients. Raspberries are an excellent source of vitamin C, manganese and fibre. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is needed for the body to make collagen. Apart from keeping your skin looking youthful, collagen also helps to maintain healthy bones, teeth, blood vessels, cartilage, ligaments and tendons. A 19-30 year old adult is recommended to have 45 mg of vitamin C a day and one cup of frozen raspberries has about 37 mg. Vitamin C is heat sensitive so its levels will decrease by 30-40% after baking.

Raspberry Cashew Oat Brownies

• 1 ¼ cup rolled oats
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 3 medium bananas
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 2/3 cup cashews

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a 20 x 20 cm cake tin with baking paper.

Blend the oats in a food processor until it becomes a fine flour. Combine the oat flour with the cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.

Blend the bananas, maple syrup and vanilla extract in the food processor until the bananas are puréed. Add the wet ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix until well combined.

Blitz the cashews in the food processor so it is roughly chopped. Fold the raspberries and cashews into the brownie mixture then pour into the prepared cake tin.

Bake for 15 min or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin before cutting.  

Recipe: Mango Goji Oat Slices (aka Sunshine Slices)

Mango season has started in Australia! Yay! 

I really liked the blueberry banana porridge squares that I made before using a recipe from Livia's Kitchen. They're such a great breakfast and snack that I decided to make them again with other fruits. Mango banana goji berry this time. 

These were a really big hit with my family. They coined them Sunshine Slices because mango banana goji berry slices was too much of a mouthful to say. Quite an appropriate name because they came out of the oven with a really vibrant golden colour like slices of sunshine. 

These porridge squares or oat slices (whatever you prefer to call them) are a great way of getting some extra fruit in your diet. Mangoes are an extremely popular fruit in Australia with it's sweet, juicy, nectary taste and like all fruits, they come with a plethora of health benefits. 

In 100g (about one cheek) of fresh mango, you are getting more than half the recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin C and vitamin A. Mangoes are also low GI so it helps to control your blood sugar levels and keeps you fuller for longer. 

Vitamin C is needed for collagen formation, a protein that gives your skin the nice youthful spring and keeps your blood vessels stretchy. Vitamin C also helps with iron absorption which is needed in the formation of red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body. 

Sunshine Slice
Ingredients (30 small slices)

• 300 g oats 
• 1 medium banana
• 1 large mango (~ 240g) 
• 30 g goji berries (~2 tbsp)
• 225ml milk 
• 20 g honey (~1 tbsp)
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut 

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 
2. Place oats in a food processor and process until it is a fine flour and transfer to a large mixing bowl. 
3. Puree the banana, flesh of the mango and 1 tbsp of goji berries in the food processor. Add the pureed fruit to the mixing bowl. (Depending on how big your food processor is you may have to puree the fruits individually). 
4. Add the milk, the remaining tbsp of goji berries (left whole), and honey to the bowl and mix everything until well combined.  
5. Pour the batter into a lined/greased baking tray and sprinkle coconut on top
6. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until firm to the touch. Allow to cool before slicing. 

Recipe: Blueberry and Banana Porridge Slice

If you couldn't tell already from my previous recipes, I love my oats. So when I came across this recipe by Livia's Kitchen, I just had to make it. The recipe I made is slightly modified using ingredients I had. I also had some shredded coconut on hand so I sprinkled some on top to give some contrast in colour and texture. 

Compared to wheat flour, oat flour is lower in carbs and higher in protein and fibre. Oats contain the type of fibre called beta-glucan which can help to naturally lower cholesterol. The original recipe by Livia's Kitchen used oat milk which will give this recipe an extra beta-glucan boost. I used LIddells lactose free skim milk instead since I didn't have any oat milk, and thanks to the banana, my modified recipe has a similar amount of fibre. 

This is such a great recipe for breakfast or a healthy snack and it's so easy to make as well. 

Blueberry Banana Porridge Slice
Ingredients (makes 12 slices)

• 300 g oat flour 
• 225 g blueberries (pureed) + 60 g whole 
• 110 g (1 medium) banana
• 225 ml skim milk 
• 2.5 tbsp (55 g) honey 
• 1/4 cup (~20g) shredded coconut 

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. 

Place the first 5 ingredients in a food processor and blend until well combined. Pour into a bowl and stir through the 60 g of blueberries then pour mixture into a lined brownie tin. Sprinkle shredded coconut onto the mixture. 

Bake for 15-18 min or until firm. Cool on a cooling rack and cut into slices. 

Using the FSANZ NIP Calculator, this is the nutrition information for this recipe. It's a pretty interesting tool to play around with. 

Cafe Cre Asion, Sydney CBD

It's uni mid-sem break and as usual, the list of assignments to do is seemingly endless. BUT BUT BUT... one of them requires me to go out and eat at a restaurant or cafe of my choice. I seriously could not contain my excitement when the lecturer told us this. I've been having matcha cravings for a while so it didn't take long for me to choose my place to visit. Cre Asion, a tiny tucked away gem of a place. 

It took quite a while for my friend and I to find the cafe (even with our GPS). We were at the corner of Clarke and Alberta St, looking down, we couldn't see any obvious signs or queues to hint the location of the cafe. Still we followed the the directions on our phones wondering down the seemingly empty Alberta St and surely, we arrived at our destination. 

There was no line when we got there at around 1pm there were still a couple of spare tables so we took our time looking at the menu. Not the wisest of choice as a queue started for form shortly after. The tables that were empty quickly got taken, but luckily for us, a table was leaving just as we were ordering. 

 

 



Judging from the photos on Instagram, the sandwich servings at Cre Asion are quite large to have one each for two little Asian girls. Well it would be a good size if you were to just have the sandwich, but I wanted to save space for the matcha latte and matcha fondant that's all over Instagram.  

First to arrive was the chocolate matcha fondant. It was hard resisting not to dive in immediately, but I wanted the overhead shot of all the food (hehe a foodie's gotta do what a foodie's gotta do). I think the kitchen staff made the takeaway orders before our's, we had to wait a little longer for the latte and sandwich. It took around 20 minutes for all our food to come out but it was well worth the wait. 

Tuna, boiled egg, caper, cornichons, chive,
radicchio and mayo sandwich ($12)

We ordered the tuna boiled egg, caper, cornichons, chive, radicchio and mayo sandwich. Assembled and toasted to order, the bread was crunchy and warm. The creamy kewpie mayo works really well with the salty sour cornichons (pickled cucumber). 

Now to the much-loved matcha fondant. Displayed in a cake cabinet, these babies are warmed up in the oven before plating. It is served with a little pot of matcha pouring cream which makes for another photogenic pouring shot. The matcha cream adds to the pool of oozy goodness that flows from the fondant as you cut it open.

I liked that the fondant was not too sweet and nice and gooey.Try to soak up as much of the matcha cream for the full matcha kick. 

Chocolate match fondant
($8.50 eat in or $6.50 take away)

That oozy oozy goodness

As good as the matcha fondant was, the highlight of the meal for me was the matcha latte. First sip and I was in love. Served in a thick walled matcha bowl I cupped it in my hands and lifted it to my mouth. The warmth caressed my lips and I took a sip. I let the rich, velvety smooth matcha latte sit in my mouth allowing myself to fully register the taste and experience. Whilst I've only had a few other matcha lattes, I could see why people say this is the best matcha latte in Sydney. The bitter matcha is the star complimented with back notes of sweetness.  

Soy matcha latte ($5.50)

Every sip was heaven. I couldn't stop smiling even as I was walking away from the cafe. This is definitely a must-order. 

For those who have never been and are thinking of going to Cre Asion, I recommend going before 1pm (is that the office lunch hour?) or after 2pm if you want a table. If you're there just for the food and don't care so much about taking photos, takeaway would be a much quicker option. 

Recipe: Healthy Banana Berry Muffins

Baking can be so therapeutic. Mix everything in a bowl, bake and voila, yummy baked goodies. Nice and simple. 

The weather is warming up and bananas are ripening faster. This left me with a few over ripened bananas. I don't know about you but I'm not a huge fan of eating super ripe bananas by themselves. Good thing is they're perfect for baking! 

In the midst of tackling a 50% assignment for uni, I decided to take some time to bake banana berry muffins. This recipe was adapted from Amy's Healthy Baking. 

Banana Berry Muffins 

Ingredients (makes 12 medium muffins and 8 small muffins)

• 2 cups wholemeal flour 
• 1/2 cup plain flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 2 eggs 
• 4 tsp vanilla extract 
• 3 extra ripe bananas, mashed 
• 4 tbsp plain non-fat Greek yoghurt
• 4 tbsp honey 
• 2/3 cups mixed berries (frozen or fresh)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C (325°F), and line a 12 hole muffin try with patty pans 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the mashed banana, yogurt, and honey. Add in the flour mixture, and stir just until incorporated. Gently fold the berries into the batter. 
3. Spoon the batter into the muffin tray filling each hole 2/3 of the way. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Note:

• Usually when I make recipes from the internet, I'd cut back on the sugar (or sweetener used). But I do not recommend it for this recipe. I tried using 2 tbsp of honey and it tastes really bland. So keep it at 4 tbsp :) 
• Same with the oil (keep it at 2 tbsp) - I tried using 1 tbsp of oil and the results weren't so great. The muffins were still moist, but they stuck to the patty pans. I ended up either with paper on my muffin or eating half my muffin off the patty pan I suppose if you use non-stick baking paper instead, that might solve the problem. 
• To save the use of an extra bowl (less to wash up :P) mix all the wet ingredients in a big bowl then directly add the dry ingredients to the same bowl. 

Lidcombe McDonald's - Create Your Taste

McDonald's Create Your Taste has started for quite some time now so a couple of my friends and I decided to see what it's all about and whether it really is as fancy as it's described to be. 

How it starts :) (And yes I have snapchat :P)

I'll skip the details about the touch screen ordering as I'm pretty sure quite a few blogs have talked about it by now. But I'll just mention that you could get double veggies without being charged extra! (Yes I do love my veggies). My creation consisted of a baker's bun, beef patty, Swiss cheese, grilled mushrooms ($0.60), 2x lettuce, tomato, beetroot, caramelised onions, finished off with tomato chilli jam. My burger (which I shall dub the McGourmetnita) totaled $9.55 which I wouldn't call cheap but it's not expensive either - decently priced shall I say. The baseline price for a burger is $8.95 and depending on how many items from Step 3 (Turn Up the Taste) you add, the cost increases. 

After you create your burger, you get to choose whether to pay by card at the touch screen or by cash at the registers. Then you simply wait at your table and the burger will be delivered to you on a cute little wooden board. 

My friends ordered a meal which came with chips in a mini metal basket and a drink which sadly came in the usual paper cup.

I forgoed the chips - Maccas chips can't compare to KFC chips (bet that will start a few discussions)

I was actually impressed by the presentation of the burger... that was until I picked it up to see all the oil my bun was sitting on. To be fair it may have been a mix of oil and water from the mushrooms. 

Presenting the McGourmetnita

In terms of taste it was quite good. I like how the top half of my bun was nice and crispy and that the meat patty covered the entire diameter of the bun. Mushrooms were definitely a good choice despite the extra cost - it just went so well with the caramelised onions and tomato chilli jam. 

Not bad for Maccas standards, but would I go there again? Probably not. There are better burger places out there.