Apple pie

It's a Sunday, I figured I should at least do something productive and I have a lot of apples in the refrigerator, thanks to free fruits from the office. And since it's a waste to let the fruits go to waste, I thought I'd bake some apple pies. I haven't baked apple pies before so it was a bit of a challenge - you'll see why.
I used this recipe by momswhothink as a reference for my apple pies.

Ingredients:
For pie filling:
4 large apples, peeled and sliced
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 Tablespoons butter
1 egg yolk beaten + some milk (to brush over the pastry)

For the pie crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 oz butter, chilled and diced
1/2 cup ice water

Directions: 
Preparing the pie crust: 
1. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Stir in the ice water, a Tablespoon at a time, until the crust mixture forms a ball.
4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
5. Sprinkle flour onto rolling surface. Roll dough out, and place crust in pie plates, pressing evenly into bottom and sides.

Preparing the filling:
1. In a large bowl, toss the sliced apples with lemon juice.
2. Combine sugars, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg; add to apples and toss well to coat.
3. Fill pastry lined pan with apple mixture. Dot with butter.
4. Place second crust on top of pie filling, cut slits in top of crust to vent. Seal the edges of the crust with a fork or by hand.
5. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk and milk. Brush mixture over top crust.
6. Bake at 200C for 15 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to 180C and bake for a few more minutes until crust is golden and filling is bubbly.

My crust crumbled when I cut into it. Not too sure why it was so. Taste-wise, I thought it was pretty close to good old-fashioned apple pies. Definitely need more practice on making pie crusts. As usual, I'm a lazy baker and I didn't pre-prepare the dough, so maybe that was the cause.
Also I found that I over-filled the pies so some of the filling overflowed out through the slits. Ah well, for a first try, at least my pie tasted quite alright. :)

Chicken cordon bleu with mushroom gravy

Yay for holidays!
I haven't been cooking in a while but I had a good reason to because my bestie came over to spend the afternoon with me today. As usual, my side of the deal is to prepare lunch.

I decided that I wanted something hearty and sinful. But the health freak in me was keeping me in check. As a compromise, I whipped up a hearty chicken cordon bleu with mushroom gravy and boiled vegetables on the side. Vegetables are healthy, right? :) And yes, I made sure my meat was lean and skinless.
Cordon bleu is one of my guilty pleasures because of all the ham and gooey cheese. It's also one of my favourites from my regular western food shop just around the corner from where I live.
It's my first time cooking this and to my surprise, it wasn't that hard to prepare and it turned out very well indeed.

Ingredients:
2 pieces boneless skinless chicken breast meat
2 slices deli ham
2 slices cheddar cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp tarragon
2 Tbsp cooking oil
A few toothpicks

For the sauce:
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
5 brown mushroom, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp tarragon
1/2 can mushroom soup (okay I cheated a little :p)
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:
1. Wash the chicken breast meat well. Begin by slicing a pocket into the chicken breasts. Fill up with ham and cheese. I sliced up the ham and cheese. Close up the meat pocket with toothpicks.
2. Mix the breadcrumbs and tarragon in a bowl, and coat the chicken meat.
3. Heat up oil on medium heat and pop the chicken meat in, cook well on both sides. Then remove and pop into the oven heated to 180C for about 20 minutes.
4. While meat is in the oven, saute the garlic, onions, mushroom and tarragon. Once well cooked, add in the mushroom soup and some water. Make sure not to add too much water else the gravy will be too watery.
Let the sauce simmer and thicken.
5. Remove the chicken from the oven. Make sure the toothpicks are removed. Pour gravy over chicken, sprinkle fresh parsley over, and serve dish with some sides.

Oatmeal

Ask me this a year ago, I'd say that oatmeal was disgusting and there was no way I would ever voluntarily eat it.
But ask me now, I would have to say that this is one of my favourite comfort food! This is all thanks to my friend in Sydney who prepared oatmeal breakfast for me one morning and I didn't want to be ungrateful and tell her that oatmeal looked like vomit. I imagined myself having to pinch my nose and force myself to swallow spoonful after spoonful of oatmeal.

Lo and behold to my surprise, the oatmeal was delicious! How I went through three decades of trying to escape having to eat something so yummy was beyond disbelief. Appearances definitely can be deceiving. Not only is oatmeal easy to prepare (5 minutes tops!), it is also very nutritious (good for keeping cholesterol levels down), satisfying, and delicious! I like mine with brown sugar and dried cranberries.

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup fresh milk or 1 Tbsp milk powder
Brown sugar to taste
Handful of dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Add the water in a saucepan. Bring to boil and turn down to simmer.

2. Add in the rolled oats, the milk/milk powder and sugar to taste. Stir for about 20 seconds. The oatmeal will thicken fast so it depends what kind of texture is preferred. I like my oatmeal thick and chunky. Overcooking will result in creamy porridge-like texture which I don't prefer. If that happens, I add a little bit more rolled oats in.

3. Remove saucepan from stove. Add in the dried cranberries.

Mushroom and shredded chicken focaccia

I'm not big on bread, but lately the craving hit me big time. Not just for any bread, but artisan bread.
While out shopping for groceries today, I popped into the bakery and imagine my joy when I saw focaccia on display on the shelves! So focaccia for dinner it was.

I love fast meals, especially ones that can be prepared, assembled and ready to be eaten within 10 minutes. Okay I admit I cheated a little because I bought ready-baked bread from the bakery and a quarter roasted chicken from the deli. But I'd do anything for a fast preparation so that I can camp myself in front of the tv to watch the Voice!

Ingredients: 
1 serving of focaccia, toasted
Olive oil
Half cup thinly sliced brown mushroom
2 small red onions, sliced
1 small tomato, sliced
1 slice cheddar cheese
A dash of Italian herbs
Salt and pepper to taste
A quarter roasted chicken, de-boned and the meat thinly shredded
Homemade teriyaki sauce

Directions:

1. Warm the olive oil in a pan. Sautee the onions and mushroom until fragrant, add a dash of Italian herbs, salt and pepper.
2. Toast the focaccia bread. Place the cheese on top of the warm bread, layer sandwich with sauteed mixture, shredded chicken, tomatoes and onions. Drizzle with teriyaki sauce (homemade with soy sauce and honey).