What you don't know about milk?

I read an article from a local newspaper about the Chinese traditional use of milk. I thought that I would share with all of you.

1) Canker Sore/ Month Ulcer

     -> Damp cotton ball in cold milk. Gently cover the sore/ ulcer area for 15 minutes.
          ( Cold milk can help reducing swelling; Protein in milk can aid in sore recovering)

2) Psoriasis
   
      -> Warm milk under low heat for 3 minutes. Carefully pour milk into a container. Gently tear down the layer of milk film created on the wall of the pot. Apply the milk film on the infected area, improvement may seen after multiple use.


3) Sunburn

  -> Combine milk and water in the ratio of 50:5. Gently apply on infected area for 15 to 20 minutes. 2 to 3 times a day.



Isn't it interesting to learn about other use of milk? I personally have not tried using milk to treat any above health condition; I do not know if actually these methods will work. Considering that milk is a natural food that human consume in a daily basis, I would assume that these methods won't cause harm to human body.

I didn't find any scientific articles supporting these methods, you guys can take it as a reference.

Crumble Banana Loaf

It is the best banana loaf that I ever made. No kidding. I enjoy the crumble so much too.  If you have a sweet tooth, this is your recipe ;)

Ingredients

Loaf:

Egg                                     1

Brown sugar, packed             2/3 C

Overripe Banana mashed,      1C

Buttermilk / Sour milk            1/3C

Vegetable oil                        3Tbsp

Vanilla Extract                      1tsp

All-purpose flour                  1 2/3C

Baking soda                         1tsp

Salt                                    1/4tsp

Crumble (Streusel)  topping:

Brown sugar, packed                  1/4C

Flour                                         2Tbsp

Margarine / butter                      1Tbsp

Oat flakes                                 2Tbsp

Nuts/ cinnamon                       Optional 

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350F.

2) In a bowl, mix in egg, sugar, banana, buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract.

3) In another bowl, stir flour, baking soda and salt.

4) Add the flour mixture into the banana mixture. Blend to combine.

5) Spray a thin layer of oil on a loaf pan. ( You can use any size of pan you want, however the baking time may be vary.)

6) For crumble topping, combine brown sugar, flour, oat flakes, butter and other ingredients that you want to add in a bowl, mix gently. Sprinkle over the batter. 

7) Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer/ toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Don’t have sour milk? Don’t worry

To substitute, add 1tsp vinegar into1/3 C of milk, and let it stands for 5 minutes. It works the same! 

Home-made Waffle

Hmm.. Waffle ;)

Ingredients:

eggs (separated set aside)    3

all purposed flour                1 1/3C

baking powder                   2 tsp

salt                                     1/4 tsp

milk                                    1 C

vegetable oil                        1/3 C


Optional:

icing sugar, fruits


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Method:

1) Separate egg white and egg yolk in bowls
2) Combine flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Mix well.
3) Using beater beat egg yolk until thick, mix in milk and oil.
4) Heat waffle iron until it indicated the iron is ready.
5) Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar. ( ! important! mix in sugar in small portions and stir consistently)
6)Flod using spatula, flour mixture into yolks. Gentle stiring. Do not over stir.
7) Fold in beaten egg whites.
8) Pour batter into heated grill, filling about 2/3 full. Applied butter on iron if needed to help remove waffle when stream stops emerging from iron.

9) Serve with whipped cream, fruit or icing sugar. Enjoy!

Home-made Caramel Popcorn

Yummy Snack!

Makes 4 Cups popcorn

Ingredients:
Popcorn Kernel        1 C
Brown sugar             1C
Corn syrup/ Honey   2 Tbsp (30 mL)
Butter / margarine     3 Tbsp  (45 mL)
Water                      1 Tbsp  (15 mL)
Salt                          Dash
Vanilla Extract          1/2 Tbsp  (7.5mL)
Baking Soda            Dash ( about 1 mL) Be careful not to put too much!

Special Equipment:

Candy thermometer  ( can be purchased at Walmart, Zellar or some grocery stores)

Instruction:

1) Turned on stove to high heat. Heated up a frying pan or a high/ tall pot will give enough space for the kernel to pop.

2) Kernel will only pop under high heat. make sure you turn your pot is hot enough. You can put couple kernel to test. If they pop, then  you are good to go. Keep stirring kernel using a specular to speed up the process.

3) You don't have to pop your own popcorn, you can use the microwave popcorn, it will save you those two steps, but make sure it is unflavoured.

4) Set popcorn on a baking sheet that can hold some volume of liquid ( do use cookie sheet).

Caramel mixture:

5)Preheated oven 400F. Put all ingredients but vanilla extract and baking soda in a pot under medium heat, until butter melted.

6) Maintained on medium heat, insert thermometer ( do not touch the bottom of the pot). Keep stirring mixture under it reached between 250 and 270C

7) As soon as the mixture reached the appropriate temperature, immediately stir in baking soda. ( You may notice the increased volume of the mixture, be careful not to add more, or it will give a very bitter taste.)

8) Keep on stirring, meanwhile, stir in vanilla extract.

9)Quickly pour mixture on popcorn, and mix it well.

10) Put in oven for ten minutes, stir well. Repeat this step after another ten minutes.

11) Let it cools, then enjoy!


BE CAREFUL of the high temperature, Don't get yourself burned. Wear oven mitt before touching pots and pans.

Black & White (Double) Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate is one of my fav treats!

I wanted to make something for my friends as a "very last exam day" gift!

This recipe only took me 2 hours to finish, as I was supposed to study for the exam, something that was quick and easy would be perfect activite for a study break.

Serving Size: 20 (3 inches long) cookies

Ingredients:

Butter/ margarine , softened        1/2 Cups
White sugar                                 3/4 Cups
Egg                                              1
Vanilla extract                             1 teaspoon
All purpose flour                         1 Cups
Cocoa powder (unsweetened)     1/4 Cups           
Baking soda                                1/2 teaspoon
Salt                                               1/4 teaspoon
White chocolate chip                   1/2 ~ 3/4 Cups


Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Spray a thin layer of oil on cookie sheets for later use.
2. In a bowl, mix soften butter and sugar with a spoon until smooth. Beat in egg, and vanilla extract.
3. Sift in flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in to creamed mixture. Add in salt.
4. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Drop a spoonful dough/ mixture on the cookie sheets. * Cookies will spread during baking, make sure leave enough space between, so that they won't stick together.
6.Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until they are set.

Tips:
~Always allow cookies to set and cool down before removing cookies from cookie sheets.
~ Measure all ingredients before mixing/ cooking/ baking, and measure dry ingredients then wet ingredients, it helps saving time from cleaning extra utensils!   

Oat flake Custard Bun

Another nice afternoon.

My sister had brought home my favourite dimsum- custard bun.

Custard bun doesn't only taste awesome, but it is also slightly healthier as oat flake was added in the dough, which makes it different from the normal /original custard bun.

This is one of the recipes that I will definitely try in this summer.

While there isn't a lot studies done on the nutritional values of dimsum, dimsum is general considered high in calories.  Although I love these bun, I could only take two of them most at a time.

The custard filling is somewhat high in fat and sugar, as the custard filling is made of custard power, butter, sweetened condensed milk, sugar and egg yolk; and to some people, they sometime have a greasy taste in the month after.

So, I would always have a cup of green tea with dimsum. The health benefit of green tea has known to have many positive effects on health. It helps in digestion and personally think that green tea helps clear the greasy aftertaste in my month.

High calories foods like custard bun may be not good to your health, but it is alright and nice  to have once a while.



Source:
For more information on green tea: visit http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/960.html

Afternoon Snack- Garlic Mushroom

Mushroom has always been my favourite vegetable.  I just can't resist to the fresh, cute and large looking mushrooms. Especially, when it comes to the season of white mushroom, why not make a cheap and delicious afternoon snack :)

White mushrooms are not a popular vegetable in where I am from, Hong Kong. I will definitely miss this wonderful dish if I ever have to leave Canada <3.

Here are what you need to perpare this dish:

Fresh ,white mushroom                                         227g / 1 pack
Garlic, minced                                                       2 cloves
Olive oil ( or other types of cooking oils)             1 Tbsp (15 mL)
Slat and pepper                                                      pinch to taste

Feel free to add anything for garnish.
Here I used a leaf of lettuce, and lemon zest.

Almond and other nuts are also a good choice adding more variety colour to the dish!

Cooking Methods:

1) Pre-heat oven at 350F.
2) Wash and rinse mushrooms, eat into quarters or leave it a whole if you would like.
3) Mix oil and minced garlic, and mix with mushroom.
4) Put in oven for about 8 mins or until it is tender!

Tips: There is no need to spray the tray with oil.


Health Benefit:

 -It is recommended to use olive oil, or use sliced olive as garnish.  Numerous stidies have been proven the benefits of consuming olive oils or olived on health. As little as 2 tablespoons or 30 mL of olive oils may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, and may have a positive effect on healt, which include decreae the risk of cardiovascular dieases, type 2 diabetes, storke and cancer, and others.

-Mushroom is a source of dietary fiber, and is low in sodium. It is sure a healthy altnerative snack!

If you are a oliver hater, like me, you can consume olive oil instead of olive. I found that olive oil doesn't has the nature olive smells and taste. Try to add or replace cooking oil with olive oil today!

Sources: http://blog.mushrooms.ca/
               http://www.addsomelife.org   Add some life with olives & olive oil. Spring 2012, issue 01