"All music comes from God."

I recently found a new love for cooking! :p So I’ve decided to add a new section to my blog: “Recipes even Jenny can make!” :p

haha I like recipes that I can just read the ingredient list and mix them all in a bowl and it’s done… :p so I’ve tried to simplify/rephrase these recipes that I found online with minimal words in the instructions. I’ve also added some tips based on my personal failures, so that you won’t fail the same way I did! :p

Custard Fruit Tart with AVOCADO!

(Note: My food tasters have kindly suggested substituting avocado with strawberries or pineapple chunks. I might try that in the next iteration… 😉 )

Ingredients for 6 servings:

– 3/4 cups milk
– 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 2 large egg yolks
– 1/8 cup white sugar
– 1/16 cup all-purpose flour
– 1 tablespoon cornstarch
– 6 ready-to-go pre-made individual-sized graham tarts
– 1/2 avocado
– 1/2 mango
– 1 box blackberries
– 1 box blueberries
– other soft fruits as you desire, such as strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, banana, raspberries, etc.

1. Mix in a bowl all of the following ingredients: milk, vanilla extract, egg yolks, sugar, flour, and cornstarch.
2. Heat the mixture until boiling and stir at the same time until custard solidify.
3. Brush some egg white on the 6 graham crusts and put them in 350-degree oven to bake for 5 minutes.
4. Chop avocado and mango into little chunks.
5. Scoop some custard on each baked crust.
6. Put chopped avocado chunks, mango chunks, blackberries, blueberries, and other fruits over the custard.

Tips:

1. Constantly stir the custard when heating to prevent curdling and to keep the paste smooth.
2. If you get lazy like I did and put the metal mixture bowl on the stove directly instead of using a pan to heat the custard mixture, you may burn the bowl like I did. Don’t heat the metal bowl and stir often!

Reference: http://www.joyofbaking.com/FruitTart.html

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Homemade Healthy Pita Chips (3 flavors: cheese & garlic, cinnamon sugar, salt & vinegar)

I feel that these homemade baked pita chips are probably much healthier than fried potato chips! I tasted them at one of my colleagues’ home a year ago, and she taught me how to make them. I finally tried last week!

Ingredients for 6 servings:

– 4 pita bread pockets
– 1 garlic clove
– shredded cheese
– cinnamon powder
– brown sugar or white sugar
– salt
– the clear-color vinegar

1. Cut pita bread into small triangles.
2. For the cheese & garlic flavor, cut the garlic clove into tiny pieces and put some on each pita bread triangle along with some shredded cheese. For the cinnamon sugar flavor, put some cinnamon powder and some brown or white sugar on each pita bread triangle. For the salt & vinegar flavor, put a tiny amount of salt (just a couple grains with your finger) and about 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar on each pita triangle.
3. Bake for 13 minutes in 350 degrees.

Tips:

1. For the cinnamon sugar flavor, the more sugar the merrier.
2. For the salt & vinegar flavor, salt is usually very salty… and the vinegar’s taste is usually not strong enough. (I had to throw a whole patch away because they were too salty!) So I suggest put very little salt and put too much vinegar in proportion, so that the vinegar’s taste won’t be covered by the salt.
3. Stacy’s “Simply Naked” Flavor: For an even simpler recipe and still tastes good, don’t put anything on the pita bread triangle and just bake them (maybe with a little bit of olive oil). This is similar to Stacy’s “Simply Naked” flavor, I suppose! :p

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Vitasoy Crepe with Banana and Honey

(AKA Crepe a la banane et miel)

(I promise I will take a more appealing picture the next time I make this! It actually tastes better than what it looks like here!)

When I was in Africa, I almost ate crepe every day, and out of all the combinations, my favorite crepe was with banana and honey. I have found a simple crepe batter recipe online and added honey and crepe to it. I also replaced regular milk with soy milk (vitasoy), which I think is a kicker! XP So this is a French crepe tasted in Africa with a Chinese vitasoy spin! :p

Ingredients for 4 servings:

– 1 cup all-purpose flour
– 2 eggs
– 1/2 cup soy milk
– 1/2 cup water
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 2 tablespoons melted butter
– 3 or 4 bananas
– honey
– powdered sugar (optional)

1. Batter: Mix all ingredients in a bowl, except for banana and honey. Beat until smooth.
2. Pour a thin layer of batter onto heated and oiled pan. Tilt pan to make batter spread evenly and make round shape.
3. Cook in medium heat for 2 minutes (until brown) then flip the crepe and cook the other side for another 2 minutes.
4. Slice the bananas and put some on the crepe, then pour some honey and spread evenly, then wrap crepe around bananas and honey.
5. Probably sprinkle some powdered sugar on top would be great if I had any.

Tips:

1. I personally used the Chinese vitasoy milk, but I think you may use any kind of soy milk and it’ll taste similar.
2. Thinner crepes taste better than thick ones.

Reference: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/basic-crepes/Detail.aspx

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Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients for 8 servings:

– 1 can pumpkin mix
– 1 can evaporated milk
– 9-inch pre-made pie crust
– 2 large eggs
– 3/4 white sugar
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon ginger
– 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
– 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Mix everything and put into the pie crust! :p
2. Bake in preheated 425 degrees for 15 minutes then reduce to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes.
3. Stick toothpick into pie to see if it’s cooked!

Tip/Reference: Recipe is on the pumpkin mix can! :p

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Two-Cheese Turkey Giant Sandwich with Special 5-Ingredient Green Sauce

Ingredients for 2 servings (to make 2 giant sandwiches):

– 2 slices American cheese
– 1 ball of Mozzarella cheese
– 8 slices deli turkey (4 slices for 1 sandwich)
– 4 slices French bread (the kind wide enough to make a sandwich)
– 1 tomato
– 1 apple
– 1 avocado
– 1 egg
– honey
– mayo

1. To make the green sauce, peel the apple and chop into tiny chunks, smash an avocado, smash a hard-boiled egg, put in some honey, mayo, mix all of them in a bowl.
2. Slice everything and put everything in the sandwich along with two thick layers of green sauce, one above and one below all the ingredients.