Recipe: Healthy Fudgy Chocolate Milo Blueberry Cake

Hey lovelies,


whoa...is the name of this cake too much of a mouthful? hahaha..it is, right? But I think this cake deserve to be named as it is because IT IS  a fudgy chocolate Milo  blueberry cake with a healthy twist! 

Fadhli's birthday and my little brother's birthday were last week!!! Happy birthday to both of you, Fadhli and Ayel!!! I bake this cake for you guys...tengok dari jauh je la yer...

cepatnye masa berlaluuu.. Ayel, why do you have to grow up so fast??...and semakin gemok lagi!!  I miss you soo much Ayel!! i hope you grow up to be a great and successful person someday!! Aameen! 


I miss you jugak, Fadhli ;)) soo..sooo..soo..very much laa.hahah!tak sabar nk balik Malaysia dah nii =_=

So, if you guys interested to bake this super fudgy cake...let me take you through the process.. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup slightly sweetened apple sauce 
2 Tbsp sunflower oil (optional to get better texture.)
1/4 cup brown sugar ( you might want to add more :9) 
3/4 cup quark (or cream cheese)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup self rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 sachets 3-in-1 Milo (add another 1/4 cup of sugar if you use normal Milo)
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup choc chips (optional)

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 175°
• Beat apple sauce, oil, brown sugar and quark about 4 minutes.
• Add egg and vanilla extract to the mixture and mix well.
• In separate bowl, add flour, baking powder, milo, salt and cocoa powder.
• Add wet mixture into the flour mixture and mix at low speed until well blended. Dont over mix!
• Stir in blueberries and choc chips into the batter and pour the batter into greased 18.5cm springform pan and bake for 60 minutes..seriously..not more than 60-65 minutes..you dont want to end up with burning cake!!
• Let it cool for one hour 
• Pour the ganache over the cake. Everyone knows how to make chocolate ganache, right? You can check the easy chocolate ganache recipe here. But i skipped the ganache part thou (save those calories, you guys!!) 

Serving size : 1 from 8 slices. 
Calories per serving (without choc chips&choc ganache) : around 180 kcal
Calories per serving (with choc chips&choc ganache) : around 280 kcal

The texture of this cake is  different from a normal cake because i substitute butter/oil with the apple sauce. It is more of gooey and fudgy inside i would say but with a crusty outside..Nevertheless, i love it! 

Eventhough it is a low fat cake, i dont think, i sacrifice the taste of this cake. Try and give it to your friend who does not give a damn about their calorie intake...im sure they will love it too!! ;p whatever it is, nothing can go wrong with MILO, right?

I can not gurantee that you will stop after one serving, thou..hahah......i've ate 1/4 of the whole cake in one sitting..healthy, much?!! super duper dangerous!! =_='

Lots of Love,
Juitanis

Recipe: Moist Apple Cinnamon Cake

Hello lovelies,

Last 22 February was my birthday...i cant believe how fast time flies.. peaple say another year older and another year wiser.. yeah,right! another year closer to being 30 adelaaa.... oh gosh!!

Anyhoo, since no one is gonna bake me one...i baked myself a super easy, delish and not-so pretty cinnamon apple cake! Since it was quite a depressing day, I'm not gonna let my birthday without any cake to indulge...hahahah!!

So, i'm gonna take you through the process...

Ingredients for 18.5 cm springform pan:

1/2 cup brown sugar + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup sunflower oil (or 1/4 cup apple sauce + 1/4 cup oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup quark - secret ingredient! hahaha!
1 large egg
1 1/2 cup self raising flour (or white flour + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large sliced/chopped apples 

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 175°
• Beat 1/2 cup brown sugar, sunflower oil, quark and vanilla extract for 4 minutes.
• Add egg to the mixture  until well blended.
• In separate bowl, mix flour and salt. Pour wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix it at low speed.
• Combine 2 Tbsp brown sugar and ground cinnamon 
• Add 1 Tbsp of cinnamon-sugar mixture and 1 Tbsp flour to the apples and mix well.
• Stir apples mixture into the batter.
• Pour the batter into greased 18.5.cm springform pan and  sprinkle 1 Tbsp cinammon-sugar mixture on top of the batter.
• Bake for about 75 minutes or less. 

Easy peasy right?? super moist apple cake ever!! You can top it with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or even frozen yogurt. i ate the whole cake in 3 days! i didnt even dare to count those evil calories of this beauty!! 

I adapted the recipe from here , btw.

Picture taken from my instagram. Oh, hi mak and abah!

Those crust on top of the cake was da bomb bomb bomb!! My mouth is watering, everytime i remember those cinnamon sugar crustilisious crust!! you just have to try it to believe it, lols! seriously!! 

Lots of Love,

Juitanis

Recipe: Quinoa Sushi..this is how i roll!

Hello lovelies,

two post in a day?? i must be really really bored..hahahah!!

did i mentioned before that i love foooood?! Since i started a clean and healthy eating lifestyle, i came across a lot of blogs that mentioned and raved only good stuffs about quinoa..i just cant help myself and research more about quinoa (keen-wah). There are lots of health benefits if we add quinoa in our diet.

• Quinoa is one of the most protein-rich foods we can eat

• Quinoa contains almost twice as much fiber as most other grains.

• Quinoa contains Iron, lysine,magnesium,Riboflavin (B2) and manganese.

• it’s gluten free

..and lots more...you can read more about quinoa here

Last week i bought myself a packet of 500g Alnatura organic white quinoa. But now here comes the problem..i dont even know how to cook it and dont even want to think how the taste would be like...hahah... 

The first time i cooked it, i chopped up some onion, garlic, bell pepper, zuchinni and sauteed them with shrimp in a pan with crushhed dried chilli and tomato ketchup and mix them with quinoa...Thank God, it was tasty! unlike couscous, quinoa taste a little nutty and it has a sticky texture to it..just like sushi rice....so, as a foodie, i just cant stop thinking how will it taste like if i make a sushi maki using quinoa...and then wallaaa....

i adapted the recipe from here. So, lets get started....

Quinoa sushi recipe:

Ingredients for two serving: 

Quinoa preparation:

1/2 cup quinoa

1 cup water

1 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar(ACV)

1/2 tbsp stevia or sugar

salt

Filling preparation:

1/4 medium size sliced carrot 

1/4 medium size sliced avocado 

1/4 medium size sliced zuchinni

sliced smoked salmon

sesame seed

1 sheet of nori (dried seaweed)

soy sauce of course!!

wasabi (optional)

Preparation:

• Rinse 1/2 cup of quinoa as clean as they can be and add them in 1 cup of water with a pinch of salt. Then bring water to a boil and reduce the heat to low, and simmer (covered) for 12-15 minutes until the water has absorbed.
• In another bowl, mix 1 tbsp ACV ,a pinch of salt and 1/2 tbsp sugar until dissolve
• Add ACV mixture into drained quinoa and mix it slowly. We dont want the quinoa to be mushy. Set aside quinoa mixture to cool it down COMPLETELY in the fridge.
• To assemble the roll, place one nori sheet on a bamboo mat. I dont have bamboo mat and dont even bother to buy one. So i used a soft cardboard and wrapped it with plastic wrap.
• Spread a rectangle layer of cooked quinoa over nori sheet,shiny side down. Scoop about 1/4 cup of the quinoa onto the nori and with wet hands, spread it out into a thin layer over the nori. Leave about one inch along the edge farthest from you. Wet the one inch band nori with water.
• Arrange filling ingredients in the middle of the rectangle. Lay smoked salmon first and follow by the other ingredients. Dont put to much. Less is more, ladies...
• Fold the edge of the nori closest to you with your thumbs and at the same time press gently filling ingredients with your other middle fingers and then roll the mat OVER the filling. 
• Roll firmly to ensure that the filling is secured inside the nori and continue to roll until you reach the end of the nori. 
• Important: Cut with a very sharp knife! seriously.. i kid you not!
• Sprinkle a pinch of sesame seeds on top and serve them with soy sauce!

There you go...quinoa sushi..sorted! hahaha... this protien-rich  recipe is only around 307 kcal! Try it...im sure ull never ever ever regret it ;)  

filling ingredients

press quinoa as flat as possible

lay all the filling ingredients in the middle of the rectangle

roll it, baby ;)

well, it doesnt look so pretty..but whatever..there is no one to impress but my tummy..hihi

my side salad : iceberg lettuce,corn salad, cherry tomatoes, avocado with sesame oil dressing..yumms

but it totally looks like this is my main dish..hahahah

Do we have quinoa in Malaysia? i wonder....

Lots of Love,

Juitanis

Tag: 25 Random Facts About Me (Part 1)

hello lovelies,

i saw this tag going around recently...so, i decided to jump on the bandwagon and try to come up with 25 most interesting random facts about me..haha.. i just thought it would be fun to spice up my blog a little..not that anybody care, right?  ;p

so...im gonna jump right in..

1. I'm a second child from six siblings (5 girls & 1 boy)
2. I was born in KL on 22 February...and i alway thought 22 February is a cool date to be born ")
3. Most of my family member either call me cha or nisa
4. When i was five, i begged my parent to sent me to HILTOP Kindergarden, JB (one of the most expensive kindergarden at that time). I dont even remembered how i knew about that specific kindergarden.My parent had to sent my sister, Yana, who is one year apart from me to a different/cheaper kindergarden. kesian yana...lols... I'm sorry and thank you abah for patiently raising such a high maintainence child like me. What was i thinking back then?
5. I used to hate being tall because i always had to stand at the back of the line every freaking time!! I remembered how bad i want to be a prefect at school just to stand in front of the line...so childish, i know!
6. But now, i have what they called "Tall syndrome". I feel inferior to any girl/woman i meet who is taller than me. Is that wierd? it is, right? =_='
7. I won a first place in a speech competion MRSM Se-Malaysia during my high school year!!
8. I won a third place in a tennis competition and managed to represent Kulim,Kedah in 2001. Unfortunately, kalah teruk gile babas during the first game...hahaha...bertapalah Kulim xde player lain ;)
9. Most of my friends will agree with me on this. I always want to clean my house whenever someone come over. I dont know why? and it become more cronic now as even when im skyping with someone (as it felt like someone is in my house), i have the urge to clean. #cray
10. My classmates in MRSM PDRM will know this..haha...i used to had a HUGE crush on Alex Yoong.. i even made a private notebook dedicated only for him..The notebook was full with newspaper cut, pictures and all that jazz! i stopped this obsession completely right after he got married. I was devastated as my first love was taken away! #dramatic much?
11. I ALWAYS, i mean ALWAYS obsess with my weight...who doesnt? haha...It not that im overweight or underweight. Its more like mental thingy..my obsession with my weight started since when i was 19 years old..but, as i said..i only obsess with my weight on the scale.but really...i didnt really do anything about it..i eat like a cow ;)
12. I love FOOD!! always have and always will!! If i can eat all the food in the world.. i would!!
13. I tend to say that im not a picky eater. But reality is, i'm a picky eater! i hate spicy, salty and bitter food/drink.. im not a fan of spices at all! i hate petai, curry, kurmak or whatever they called it, masak lemak cili api and all that jazz....
14. I have a major sweet tooth problem!! I love everything with sugar in it...and thats why i love baking more than cooking.
15. After all nonsence about food, another fact is that i have been obsessing over myfitnesspall apps since January 2013. So, healthy and clean eating ftw!!! 
16. I love shopping by myself...but i hate to eat alone ;(
17. I can NOT read map. Ask me to read map and i shoot you!
18. I have the shorthest attention span ever!! i cant sit through the whole movie ( most movies) without falling asleep. 
19. I always have cats in my parent house since i was little.. but honestly, im scared of them. The closest that i have ever been was patting thier head. thats it!
20. I hate horror/ thriller genre! i had to stop watching vampire diaries and pretty little liars just because i was too scared to watch them alone..ouh..i miss damon and elena! im gonna try to watch vampire diaries again this weekend!
21. I am obsess with flats/ ballerina shoes... i just cant get enuf of them!
22. I like trying skincare products more than make-up! Who needs makeup when you have a clear skin right? hahaha..#cliche
23. I love the idea of dining at the sushi restaurant.....but actuallly, i dont really a major fan of sushi..i like unagi thou!
24. I hate programming more than anything!! I keep on bitching about programming throughout my studies...but i keep getting programming task during my thesis every freaking time(bachelor and master thesis)??  karma is a bitch!
25. i'll be coming home in two months time!! i cant believe ill be leaving Germany for good this time!! ull be missed!!

it suppose to be 50 random facts about me..but i cut it to 25.....ill continue another 25 when i feel like it ok.. 

i tag +Yanie Sabri ,  +cy.aurelia and all of you lovelies to do this tag!! hahahah...

have a lovely monday!! pic was taken during my weekend outing..single lady style! hahaha :)

Lots of love,

Juitanis