Simple & healthy Kang Kung recipe

Good morning!

It's such a beautiful day today, and why not make it better by trying out this dish?
Kang kung (also known as water spinach) is my all-time, hands down favourite vegetable. It originates from South-East Asia and is so easy to whip up in just 10 minutes. My mom actually grows them in our garden because it's not sold in many places here so I get to make this dish any time I please ♥

Ingredients:

• 4 shallots
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 chilli
• 1/2 cup water
• A generous handful of fresh kang kung

Directions:

1. Place a pan on high heat with 1/2 cup water (my mom usually laughs at the fact I refuse to use oil instead, but while you're using all natural ingredients.. why not?). While you wait for it to heat up, wash your kang kung.

2. Chop the garlic, shallot and chilli up in slices then place it in the boiling water. Stir for about a minute.


3. Add your kang kung in and keep stirring until most of the water has evaporated. (Should only take 5 minutes)


4. Enjoy the kang kung! I personally enjoy my kang kung just like this but when my mom makes it she usually adds in a tablespoon on fish sauce or soy sauce and it tastes really yummy that way too. 



♥ Jess

Purple Blueberry Cheesecake (no-bake)

For my dear Aunt's birthday I decided to make her a cheesecake, a purple one since it is her favourite colour. I wanted to use blackberries and blueberries to make a sort of ombre layer effect but since there were no blackberries in my local supermarket I used purple food coloring and blueberries instead. I used a 24" cake tin for this recipe.

Ingredients:

For colouring:
50g blueberries
Purple food colouring

For crust:
300g digestive biscuit
170g unsalted butter (melted)

For Filling:
600g cream cheese (room temperature)
2 tablespoon gelatin powder
350ml hot water
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
110g icing sugar

Directions:

1. Blend all the digestive biscuits into crumbs. If you don't have one, put them all in a large zip lock bag and hit it with a rolling pin.


2. Mix in the melted butter with the biscuits.

3. Flatten the mixture onto the cake tin and poke holes with a fork. Cling wrap it and leave it in the fridge while making the cheesecake filling.

4. Add gelatin powder with the hot water and set it aside to cool.

5. In a big bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar. Whisk it until it is soft and fluffy.

6. While whisking, add in the gelatin a bit at a time.

7. Split the cheesecake filling into two bowls and add the blueberries (I blended to make it a puree) in one and some food colouring in the other.


8. Pour in the bowl with the food colouring first, followed by the blueberries bowl. In the middle, I laid some fresh blueberries.


9. Leave in the fridge overnight.


* I accidentally erased the overall photo shots ( sorry! ) but I have one with my beautiful Aunt cutting it*




♥ Jess

Breakfast smoothie recipe

I love smoothies because they're so easy to make, very filling and a great start to your day. J

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 cup almond milk
• Honey (to taste)
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 cup of green grapes
• A handful of spinach
• 1 1/2 frozen banana
• Toppings

Directions:

1. Mix 1/2 cup of almond milk with the chia seeds and honey. Refrigerate while doing the next few steps.
2. Blend 1 frozen banana with 1/2 cup almond milk and cocoa. Set aside.
3. Blend the grapes then add 1/2 frozen banana and spinach.
4. Assemble however you want. (I did Step 2 à Step 1 à Step 3)

I decorated mine with strawberries and pomegranates.

 ♥ Jess

Chocolate Chia Seeds pudding

I know I'm a tad bit late on the chia pudding wagon but here is my recipe on my version! 
This serves 8 shot cups, I enjoy having small amounts but if you would like to make it in cups just double the recipe, it should make 2 cups. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chia seed
• 1 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoon cocoa
• 50g dark chocolate (optional)
• Hazelnuts (optional)
• Toppings

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together

2. Put 1 tablespoon of the mixture in, then add pomegranate (This step is optional).

3. Fill the rest of the cup with the remaining chia seed mixture then put any toppings you wish. 

4. Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. 

I like to leave it overnight and have some for brekkie, but only if you can help not grabbing it in the middle of the night!

 ♥ Jess

How to make a watermelon cake

Hey lovelies!

I was super excited to make this (Yes, I made my own birthday cake), I LOVE watermelons so I was extremely eager to make this cake. I topped it with fresh fruits, I did not put the quantity down since it obviously depends on your watermelon size but read below to see how I put it together! 

Ingredients:

• A big juicy watermelon (I bought a 7 kg one)
• 500 ml whipping cream 
• Almond slices
• Strawberries
• Kiwi
• Pomegranate
• Blueberries

Directions:

1. Cut the top and bottom of the watermelon(I used the leftovers to juice because I could not bear to throw away the unused watermelon).

2. I was not sure whether I wanted to make a cylindrical cake or keep the original shape so I cut the outer skin of the watermelon before I decided to make it a cylinder.

3. Lay a clean towel under the watermelon and pat it dry. I recommend to leave it under the towel while you beat the whipping cream. I did not, and it end up soaking the cake plate while I was decorating it...

4. Cover your cake with cream. Make sure you have thick whipping cream or it will slide off, I would use the liquid whipping cream that you actually whip rather than the ones in a spray can since it didn't work out for me the last time I tried to make this.

5. Have fun and decorate it however you want!

I covered it with almond seeds and put my favorite fruits on top. :)

Have a fantastic day guys~

♥ Jess

Easy Peasy banana oatmeal pancakes

These yummy pancakes are a good, economical friendly breakfast for students. The best part? Super simple to make. It contains banana so it's got a naturally sweet taste which means no need for added sugar making it a healthy option as well!

Ingredients:

• 1 chopped banana
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cup rolled oats

Directions:

1. Put the rolled oats in a food processor (or blender) and blend until it's fine.

2. Add in the chopped bananas, egg and cinnamon then blend it again until you get a smooth texture.

3. Set fire to medium heat, use butter if not using a non-stick pan. Make circles about 1 tablespoon each.

4. Flip when you see small bubbles.

5. Serve with whatever you like!

                                                                                                               

♥ Jess

Oven-baked Sweet Potato wedges recipe

So it's exam week right now and I'm feeling like a roller coaster full of emotions. During exams, I usually gain a good 2-3 kgs in two weeks because I like to snack while I stress study. This semester I'm trying to maintain my weight by opting for healthier versions of things I like to snack on.

Hope you enjoy these just as much as I did!

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potato 
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon ground paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea-salt (or more depending on your preference)

I only used 1 potato since I found this massive baby in IGA, Match stick for scale.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and cut up the sweet potato into wedge-like shapes and dump them in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the olive oil, salt, ground paprika and garlic powder.

3. Mix it up well.

4. Spread them out nicely then chuck it in the oven for 40 minutes, make sure to flip them after 20 minutes.

Taadaa~ you've got yourself a lovely snack throughout the day. I usually like to have it with garlic aioli sauce but it tastes amazing plain too. How easy was this to make? 

♥ Jess

Mediterranean Shakshuka Recipe

I lived in the middle east my whole life before moving to Perth and I can't believe I never heard of this dish! I first tried it in Rabbit in the moon in Fremantle and it was SO delicious that I had it again in Typika in Claremont. Their portions were tiny for the price I paid (about $16 a tiny plate) so Treesha and I decided to whip up our own Shakshuka!

Ingredients:

• 1 Red bell pepper
• 1 large onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 4 medium tomatoes
• 1 red chili
• 4 eggs
• Feta cheese
• 1 Chorizo sausage
• Cilantro
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Chop up the bell pepper, chorizo, onion, garlic, feta, tomatoes and cilantro.
   
    
   
   
   
2. Cook the bell pepper and onion together on low-medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until it is really soft, make sure to stir regularly so it does not burn.
   
3. Add in the garlic and the herbs and stir for another minute.
   
4. Add in the tomatoes and salt and pepper in. Simmer it for another 8-10 minutes until the sauce thickens up and then add the chorizo and chilli.
   
5. Make 4 dents in the thickened sauce to crack the 4 eggs in. After you put the eggs on sprinkle some feta cheese on top.
   
6. Cover the pan and let the egg whites cook. Once it is done, sprinkle some cilantro and you're done!
   

Hope you enjoy your shakshuka, it goes well with toast for brekkie. (:

 ♥ Jess