Buckwheat banana bread (with walnuts)

Hello!!

I bought a great amount of stuff from Iherbs.com again and was excited to try the recipes! Among my loots includes buckwheat flour and it was my first time making pure buckwheat banana bread. The recipe was adapted from Spoon University. It was easy and fast to make. It turned out great and yummy, sweetness was perfect but my bread had a sandy feel. Did not like it but otherwise, it would be a perfect bread for breakfast! It went well with greek yogurt or peanut butter! Love the walnuts crunch too! Note to self: buckwheat flour produces a sandy effect in baked goods. 

Love,

Cheryl Miyo

"Skinny" Cheesecake brownies

Hello!

July is a month full of celebrations, be it birthdays or graduations so I decided to bake cheesecake brownies for all my loved ones for birthdays especially and congratulate those who graduate alongside with me! I have searched high and low for a skinnier version of cheesecake brownies but yet, not too raw and acceptable for others to accept! Finally, I found this perfect recipe and I decided to try! Please refer to Annie's Noms's skinny cheesecake brownies. I doubled the recipe and made 9 muffin sized brownies. Should have split them into more cups as they all overflowed at 7/8 batter full before baking. I baked them for more than 45 minutes. The original recipe's mini cheesecake brownies must had been really small then for them to only require a maximum of 15 minutes. Anyway, it is a lovely skinnier version of cheesecake brownies but yet, not that healthy. It is butter-less though!

My guests were happy with these! :)

Ignore the ugly swirls!

Anyway, July is my birthday month! If you live in Singapore, I would recommend you to go Night Safari, Zoo, River Safari or Jurong Bird Park on your birthday as it will be free for you, citizens and PR! I had an awesome time at the Night Safari, I find it more interesting than Zoo. These days, as I grow older, I find it very superficial for people to wish others a Happy Birthday on FaceBook. We don't talk to each other yet we know each others' lives, not entirely but in snapshots. We act as though we are on close and happy terms on FB but we might not even say hi when we walk pass each other in real life. Hmm...some food for thought there so I decided to remove my birthday on FaceBook and have a great awesome peaceful day without all the superficial unnecessary replies. Well, even if close friends do not remember your birthdays, it does not mean that they do not love you anymore. Your friendships shouldn't be judged or based on remembering one's birthday nor gifts. Again, that is how I chose to spend my birthday by being at home to rest and enjoying my me time before I start work and hope for a relaxing birthday like this again in future. Anyway, shan't bore you anymore. :)

Cheers,
Cheryl Miyo

Strawberry Banana ice cream cake

Hello!!

Today is a special day for me. :) 

I am in love with frozen banana ice cream and so here goes flavoured banana ice cream cake.

I was trying to immitate Thisrawsomeveganlife's awesome, beautiful 2 layered cake but I failed. Nevertheless, it is absolutely delicious and refreshing especially in a all year round sunny Singapore. I swear my cake melts within 1 minute from being out of the freezer, hence I did not picture my melted slice. As you can see from the photos, the cross section melted and oozed out! 

Unfortunately, the original and strawberry banana layer blended together and I was not pleased with it! Hahaa and no joke, I finished the entire cake by myself throughout a week. I was a little bored by it! Shall just have the usual jar of frozen banana cream next time! Do share with others ok!! The first slice was always the most awesome of the lot!

Simplified Recipe: (Modified as I did not have cashews)

Original banana layer

3 frozen bananas

1 tbsp soy milk

Strawberry banana layer

2 frozen bananas

3 frozen strawberries

1 tbsp soy milk

Blueberry banana layer  (Would change this layer mixture as I am not pleased with the colour and double or triple this layer as you can see, it is a mere thin pathetic layer.)

1 frozen bananas

1 frozen strawberry

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 tbsp soy milk

I blended each layer's ingredients in a food processor and press it into my springform pan.

How would you like this in your tummy?

Supposed to have 3 layers but it seemed like there was only 1 layer left. Oops. Regardless, delicious!

Aww the middle portions have melted and oozed out due to the extremely hot weather.

Love,
Cheryl Miyo

Failed matcha fudge cake

Hi dears,

This post is for personal reference only! My matcha cake failed miserably. It is totally different from Desserts with benefits's matcha almond cake. I altered the cake based on what I had and I failed so badly! Gosh, I have to finish the whole cake by myself again.

My failed recipe (so that I know what to change the next time) 

Please refer to the original! Hahaa, don't think you want to fail badly like me. Link above. :)

1 and 3/4 whole wheat flour

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp coconut flour (I believe this makes my cake denser and drier than it should be)

1/4 cup potato starch (Should stick to cornstarch)

1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 baking soda

1/2 cup greek yogurt

180g silken tofu

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tbsp honey (Add more! My cake is totally bitter with no hint of sweetness.)

2 tbs vanilla extract

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

For the frosting:

1 tbsp greek yogurt

1/4 tsp matcha powder

1 tsp honey

I baked my cake in only one layer for 35 minutes at 160 degrees when the recipe calls for 2 layers in 2 separate pans. I believe I should have bake it for shorter period of time and my cake did not brown at the top. How horrible...

It is okay. :) I learn from mistakes! I researched a little on coconut flour and found that it makes cakes denser and drier than using wheat. However, it is 100% gluten free and and contains 58% fiber than other flours. It is supposed to contain more proteins and lower fat too. Coconut flour sounds amazing already but I guess I should stick to lesser amounts of coconut flour in recipes and not using it entirely. Perhaps I can find recipes that is purely for coconut flour. Nonetheless, experimenting with my newly bought coconut flour is fun! 

I find this guide on using coconut flour useful! Shall keep it for own reference too. :)

I call it the bitter matcha fudge cake hahaa. 

Photos are so deceiving! Haha don't it look gorgeous from the top?

Love,

Cheryl Miyo

Skinny Fat

Hi lovelies,

Have you all heard of skinny fat? I am at healthy weight but borderline underweight according to the BMI calculation but I have a flabby tummy that I am quite conscious of. I despise it especially since I had been exercising and trying my best to eat healthy. I kickbox once a week, completed Insanity 30 days workout (Did not continue the second month as I hurt my knee) and am currently attempting Jillian Michaels 30 days shred. No, I do not want weight loss. Definitely not. I have learnt that weight loss does not equate to fat loss and it took me quite some time to understand that in my entire life.

Would be aiming to get rid of total fat loss. I have not seen much progress in my tummy but I felt my toner thighs and I know that I am doing it right for my thighs. Any advice on reducing my tummy?

I could understand why I had a tummy when I did not exercise and lost weight but when I exercise 5-6 times a week combined with healthy food with occasional unhealthy food, I could not understand why at all that my stubborn tummy fat just would not disappear. Anyone else is like that and has any tips for me?

I have researched a little on skinny fat and here goes my discoveries. Of all the points mentioned, I believe the only solutions I did not attempt are gluten free diet and daily supplements. I would try my best to avoid gluten as it acts as sugar in my body. Another note would be that even though whole wheat is supposedly healthier, the white version that we always see in the markets are bleached as whole wheat is supposed to be brown! Even if it is whole wheat or whole grain or whole meal or anything in whole, acts as sugar as well! Gluten (and diary) would cause bloating in stomach area as well, according to my research. Gluten free and diary free diet, am I up for it? Perhaps I should just do it one at a time. Gluten free first then since I love cheese too much.

Please refer to the following link that I thought it was useful and I would keep it for future reference.
Skinny fat possible solutions

Love,
Cheryl Miyo

Honey whole wheat banana bread

Hi lovelies!

How have you all been? Sorry, I hope you are not disappointed. I don't update recipes often. Sometimes, I just upload my meal's photos to my instagram if the recipes are not worth mentioning or keeping.

Best healthy banana bread recipe adapted from Cookie and Kate.

Love it so much! Followed it closely and it turned out perfect except that I should use a bigger pan as my banana bread rose higher than my pan could contain. My poor banana bread was forced to shit out loads of gold (I heard a loud POP sound, scared me!) but no worries, I ate all the yummylicious fabulous uber awesome tasty gold. After trying so many banana bread recipes, this is the best. I am totally glad I found this recipe! <3 <3 <3 Thank you! So simple, so healthy, so easy and so delicious! I am full of praises for this. Note to self: I used mashed frozen bananas.

Hahaa my banana bread shitted a whole loads of gold! 

Love,

Cheryl Miyo

"Pomegranate" steamed cake

Hello lovelies!

It is a brand new start of the week, hope you guys don't have monday blues! I made pomegranate steamed cakes without the pomegranate taste. How sad but I really love the fluffiness of this steamed cake! I have tried making steamed cakes before but none turned out as fluffy as this. I will improve on it! 

Recipe:

Ingredients

20g brown sugar (Would suggest reducing this as it was a little on the sweet side, I like my steamed cake to have VERY mild sweetness)

100ml soy milk

100ml pomegranate juice (Unfortunately, I could hardly taste this.)

110g whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil and extra to grease

1 egg white

1 egg yolk

Yields 2 cups as pictured.

1. Put steamer to steam and heat up.

2. Beat egg white with brown sugar till all dissolved and thickened. (Make sure you do not beat egg yolk in here.)

3. Add in the pomegranate juice, soymilk, egg yolk, extra virgin olive oil. (wet ingredients)

4. Sieve in the whole wheat flour and baking powder. (dry ingredients)

5. Grease the cups and let it set for a while.

6. Make sure there is space for the cake to rise.

7. Steam these cakes for 15 to 20 minutes with the cover.

8. Check the doneness by inserting a skewer and make sure it comes out clean with no batter sticking on it. It is okay to have crumbs on skewer, but do not mistake liquidy batter as crumbs.

"Pomegranate" steamed cake

Look at the fluffiness!

Love,
Cheryl Miyo