OREO Funbox

Talking about OREO, I am sure most of us will think of that 2 pieces of black chocolate flavor sandwich cookies and white cream filling. Usually some kids or adults will enjoy the twisting, licking and dunking of this all time favourite cookies like what it is shown on their TV commercial Ad.

Yesterday while doing our weekend groceries shopping I was caught by some bright blue colour tools box items at one of the corner near the cashier. So out of curiosity I went to check it out and saw these cute OREO Funbox which is at S$3.95 per box.

Each Fun Box consists of 1 packet of Marigold Full Cream Milk and 3 packets of 68.5g each Oreo Sandwich Cookies. These funbox sure come in handy as you can even use it as a lunchbox for your kid to pack Bread together with packet drink for school tea-break or excursion. As for the cookies if you can even use some of it to make "Oreo Cheesecake(recipe here)", "Banana and Oreo Muffin(recipe here)", "Oreo Durian Butter Cake(recipe here)" and etc.

You can purchase these Oreo Funbox from any leading Supermarkets in Singapore such as NTUC Fairprice and Cold Storage from S$3.95 each.

[May $20 Budget Meal] Specific Key Ingredient - "Tofu/Beancurd"

Here is the polling result voted by some of the readers over at Cuisine Paradise facebook page (HERE). From the photo you can see that Tofu has "14 votes" which is the highest among the rest of the mentioned ingredients. In the case, for May [$20 Budget Meal], we will use "Tofu" as the specific ingredient for one of the dish in the budget menu (eg: steam tofu, fried tofu, braised tofu and etc).

HOW TO JOIN:

~ Prepare either "2 Dishes plus 1 Soup" or "1 Pot Dish" using a budget which is not more than $20.00 for 2 - 4 servings. If you are from overseas, you can also participate by converting to the appropriate currency value, (ie. US$15.00, RM$50.00, Rp $138,000 and etc)

~ If you do not have a blog, just send in the photos and at least one recipe from your dishes and I will publish on your behalf in my blog, credited to you. (photos can be taken in any form using digital camera or hand phone)

~ All submission entries must be published in your blog or prepared during the month of May from 01 May  - 25th May 2011.

~ Please do mention in your blog that you are sharing this post to “May $20 Budget Meal - Specific Ingredient is "Tofu/Beancurd"” and link it to this page HERE (use this link: http://ellenaguan.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-20-budget-meal-specific-key.html) to encourage more readers to contribute into the event.

Since this month theme is on "Tofu/Beancurd" you can use your own imaginations or recipe(s) from cookbook to come up with all kind of related recipes using any type of tofu such as Egg, Silken, Traditional, Firm or etc that you prefer.

SUBMISSION:

~ E-mail your "blog link plus Photos of the dishes" or "photos with recipe" to ellenaguan@hotmail.com with a subject "May $20 Budget Meal" in the following format:

Your Name:
URL of your post:
Name of your dishes + soup:
Estimate amount spent for each dish:
Attachment of your photos in your email (each photo, preferably 500kb or less).

To enlighten you with a better ideas on the Tofu dish, here are four different types of preparation methods that you can take into reference. And if you are not sure about the post requirements or how to breakdown the price-list of each dishes/soup, you can refer to one of the example post HERE.

Lastly I would like to thanks everyone who has participated in the last two [$20 Budget Meal] events., all your dishes and ideas are Awesome!!! And till date we have in total, 35 sets of "$20 Budget Meal' which are quick and easy to prepare. If you are interested you can take a look at March Round-up(Here) and April Round-up(Here).

CLOSING DATE:

~ Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 2359 hours  and all entries will be compiled and posted on 31st May 2011.

[Breakfast Ideas] Poached And Soft-Boiled Eggs with Toast

What do you usually have for your breakfast. In Singapore most of us love to have Coffee with toast and soft boiled egg either at home, coffee shop or etc. And the most common hang out will be either at Ya Kun or Toast Box where they serve pretty good toast with soft boiled egg.

Here I will be sharing two quick and easy recipes on how to prepare Toast with Eggs like those western style breakfast serving in most cafe where you can impress your family members during weekend breakfast.

Most of us know that Eggs have excellent nutritional value. They contain protein which is needed for building and repairing the cells in muscles and other body tissues as well as supply valuable minerals and vitamins. Since my boy loves egg(he eats at least 1 egg per day) we usually have at least a tray at home every week. Recently I got a box of this new CP Chilled Fresh Eggs which are known to be sanitised, oiled and chilled within one hour of being laid to ensure that the supreme freshness from the farms is sealed and kept within the eggs.

These eggs are packed in a transparent tray with size range from 65 - 70g per egg that cost S$2.50 per box of 6 Large Eggs. And on the packaging it is also stated that these eggs contain lesser cholesterol than ordinary eggs, and have a lifespan of up to 90 days! As you can see from the photos below, the egg yolk of these CP Chilled Fresh Eggs is rather more firm and orange in colour compared to the normal yellow yolks that we used to see. And we also find that it taste more fragrant while eating poached or soft-boiled too. If you are interested to give it a try, these eggs are available at all Cold Storage, NTUC Finest, Meidiya and Carrefour currently.

You can achieve different texture of soft-boiled egg according to your preference by timing the simmering time such as 5 minutes for medium-boiled and 7 minutes for hard-boiled (mine was about 3 1/2  to 4 minutes as I prefer it to be a bit runny for dipping my toast). The reason for stirring egg occasionally also helps the yolk to stay centered in the egg for even distribution.

SOFT-BOILED EGGS

Ingredients: (serve 2)
2 Fresh Egg, at room temperature
Multi-grain toast fingers, to serve

Method:-

1. Place eggs in a medium saucepan. Cover with cold water and bring to boil over high heat, stirring occasionally.

2. Reduce heat to medium(once the water boil) and simmer for 3 minutes.

3. Remove pan from heat, using slotted spoon transfer eggs to egg cups.

4. Using a teaspoon, carefully remove tops from eggs and serve with toast fingers and extra sides(optional).

In Poaching method, the egg is cracked into a bowl then gently slid into a pan of simmering water and cooked until the egg white has almost solidified but the yolk still remains soft. And this is a healthy way of consuming fresh egg without using at oil or fat in it's preparation.

POACHED EGGS

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Teaspoons White Vinegar
2 Fresh Eggs, at room temperature
Butter Toast, to serve

Method:-

1. Pour cold water into a large saucepan at least 8 - 10cm deep. Add in white vinegar and bring to boil over medium heat.

2. Reduce heat to low(water should still be simmering around the edge with tiny bubbles).

3. Crack 1 egg at a time into a shallow bowl, using a spoon stirring water to create a whirlpool. (stir about 5 - 6 rounds)

4. Slowly tip egg into water while with the whirlpool spinning and for 2 minutes for soft yolk or 3 minutes for firm.

5. Using a slotted spoon, remove egg from water, drained well and serve it on toast.

6. Skim foam from water and poach remaining egg.

For this recipe, try to use fresh egg for poaching as the egg white will be at its thickest and it will produce a good shape. Whereas stirring the water with spoon also keeps the egg rounded while adding vinegar to the water helps to set the egg white quickly too.