FOODIE WEEKEND - Butterless Banana Muffin

Happy weekend everyone!  Hope you all are having some nice time.  

Yesterday we received a couple of guests from Italy that will be staying with us for the next 3 weeks. I can foresee this weekend is going to be a fun one as tomorrow, Sunday the 1st of July, Italy will meet the defending champion, Spain in the final of UEFA 2012 or European Cup 2012.

So, some snack while watching the game is essential and I thought I would try out this recipe that was given to me by my neighbour (the one that bakes so well).  I love this recipe because it does not use even a bit of butter.  Instead it calls for a small amount of vegetable oil of your choice.  Intrigued as I was? Allow me to share this recipe with you, then :)

Butterless Banana Muffin

Ingredients (makes 12 - 14 muffins)

1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

A pinch of salt

1 cup of sugar

1/2 a cup of vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

2 eggs

1 cup of mashed banana (about 2-3 bananas)

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Muffin paper cups for baking

Method

Mix flour, baking soda and salt together, set aside

Using the electric mixer, whisk sugar, oil and eggs until smooth and fluffy.

Once fluffy, add banana and vanilla essence and beat some more

Then gradually add flour mixture to the bowl and beat until well combine

Pour the mixture into the paper cups lined muffin tray.  Be careful to 

fill only 3/4 full of the cups.

Bake in the pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for about 25 - 30 minutes.

This muffins are fairly easy to make (trust me, if I can bake this without any 'tragedy', anyone can!) and they are soft, light and tasty too! 

Maxi!

Good day, everyone! Good week so far? I hope so :)


Summer 2011BB (Before Blog) was my maxi season.  I was going around in maxis all summer.  Last weekend when I did a bit of closet cleaning, I found a few of my maxis that survived last winter's yard sale and decided to bring them forward.  This green Bamboo Beach maxi is one of them.  I bought a few maxis from this label in one of the boutiques here in Dubai where they sell beach wear, cover-ups and a lot of beautiful maxis. The back is quite revealing therefore I had to pair it with this cardigan for going around town but to the beach without is absolutely perfect.


On another note, I am looking forward to meeting some of my lady friends here this Thursday for a bit of brunch and karaoke session before we bid one another farewell temporarily as most of them will be leaving town for the summer. Watch out people, the Adele, Britney and Kermit will be on the loose! Mind your ears ;D

By the way many of you asked about my sales purchases from last weekend.  Well, I bought a few accessories, dresses and a pair of shoes.  I will feature these pieces from post to post along the way.  Have a good day and week!

:: Outfit ::

Maxi : Bamboo Beach (not available online) (similar on sale, cute one here)

Cardigan with suede elbow patches : Zara (here)

Clutch : H&M (here)

Strapy heels : Nine West (similar)

Necklace : Aldo (loving this one)

Bracelets : Parfois and from local goldsmith

To the sales, To the sales!

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you all had a relaxing weekend and ready for another week. We had a pleasant weekend here plus this week is the last week of school! Last Thursday the twins brought back the year end school report home and made me one happy mom. They did quite well, better than I thought they would.  For that I am thankful and hope they will keep doing and trying their best.


Also, last weekend I took the opportunity to hit the sales! Yes, Dubai is having the annual Dubai Summer Surprise until the 14th of next month. Armed with my belt bag, comfortable shoes and simple outfit, I hit the crowded mall. I am actually not a big fan of the sales, reason being is because one, I hate queuing (due to big crowd) outside the fitting room, at the cashier, in the parking lot.. and two, it is very frustrating for me to find something I like but not in my size! Most of the time I would end up not bringing back anything but aching feet and a slight 'broken heart'. For this reason, I prefer online shopping ;) no queue, no cashier, no parking, no hassle. 


So, did I get lucky with this sales? Yes, I did! :)

Peak-a-boo, I can see you! ;) 

:: Outfit ::

Top : Bershka (on sale)

Jeans : Juicy Couture (very old)

Fedora : New Yorker (similar) (love this with feather trim)

Wedges : Express (now 40% off!) (love this one)

Belt bag : Gucci (in another color)

Necklace : From Mauritius

Snakeskin bangles : From Senegal

FOODIE WEEKEND - Mama's Succulent Lasagna - Step by step picture recipe

Hi, everyone!  How's the weekend so far? Hope you all are having some nice time with family and friends.

Last 1st of June, Captain celebrated his 44th birthday and when I asked him what was it that he  wish for his birthday, he just said "One of those awesome lasagnas of yours!" Aww.. wasn't he sweet?  Well, I don't normally like to blow my own trumpet but lasagna is one thing I can cook well!  Well, they might not look super elegant but they surely taste good :)

If you asked me what is the secret to a good lasagna, I would say it is the 'ragu' or the meat sauce filling.  If you are interested you can get my version of recipe here. Another secret is in the bechamel sauce or cheese sauce used to ensure the moist texture and creamy taste of the lasagna.  Of course being generous with your ingredients helps too.

In this post I will lead you step by step in preparing this lasagna beginning with the bechamel sauce!

Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients

80 grams of butter

1 1/2 tablespoon of flour

3 cups of milk

1 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

1/3 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

1 piece of bay leaf

Salt, pepper to taste

Method

In a sauce pan melt the butter

Add the flour and stir for 1 -2 minutes until the flour is fully incorporated

Take the pan off the heat and gradually add in the milk, stirring constantly until smooth

Return the pan to the heat add the bay leaf and cook over medium heat 

until boiling and thicken. 

Be sure to stir frequently.

Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for a while.

Finally add in the cheeses, salt, pepper and cook until smooth.

Set aside.

Once you have your ragu and bechamel sauce ready, you are set to start the layering process.  Here I use the fresh lasagna sheets I bought when I was in Venice recently.  Fresh sheets make  softer lasagna but you can always use the instant or semi instant sheets that you can get from the local supermarket. Lets start, shall we?!

You will need :

Lasagna sheets

Ragu

Bechamel sauce

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Shredded parmesan cheese

1)  Line a well greased lasagna dish with a few sheets of lasagna 

 2)  Cover the sheets with a layer of ragu. 

3)  Spread some bechamel sauce on top of the ragu

 4)  Sprinkle generous portion of shredded mozzarella cheese

5)  Cover with another layer of lasagna sheet.  Repeat the process twice more.

 6)  After the last layer of lasagna sheet been placed, spread some bechamel sauce on top

 7)  Sprinkle some shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese.  Cover with aluminium foil and

make some tiny holes using the fork

 8)  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

My children and Captain love the top part a bit brown with the parmesan and mozzarella cheese crusty.  To achive this I use the top griller in the oven only for the final 3 minutes of cooking.  Let it rest for 10 minutes before serving and Buon appetito!  Enjoy!

Psychedelic

I have been in love with electric blue for a while.. I kept on seeing them in the store, on the blogs and when I walked into Forever 21 store last week, I went crazy as there were so many nice pieces in electric blue! I finally settled on this beautiful midi (which turned into maxi for me) with slits on both sides! I can't believe how well made (considering the price I paid, at basically nothing) it is. Even the quality of the lining is amazing!


So when I came down yesterday in this dress, Captain looked up and said jokingly "WOW, you look like a Greek Goddess!" I must say, yeah, it did make me feel something like that for a while :) before I was snatched back to reality of grocery shopping and errand running. 

So do you have any particular color/colors that you are totally crazy about this season? I'd love to hear about your obsession! C'mon, share!

:: Outfit ::

Dress : Forever 21 (here)

Shawl : Splash (last seen here)

Shoes : Enzo Angiolini (nude, similar in taupe, similar color on sale)

Accessories : Forever 21 (here and here)

Clutch : Gift from X'mas (can't remember from who, sorry!)

Nude!

Hello, friends! How are we doing so far this week?  For us it has been quite a week. For one I had to watch the dentist pulled 2 very healthy teeth from AD's mouth (part of his orthodontic program) and the experience was not pretty. He had to go through this again in 10 days in order to pull another 2 teeth before finally having the braces fix. But he is in good spirit and looking forward to get this over and done with!


On a lighter note, I finally found the perfect pair of nude heels at a part sale in Harvey Nichols Dubai, after a long hunt.  This pair by Coach is comfortable and I was able to walk in them perfectly for longer than I expected! I checked the price in the US and they cost a lot cheaper there.  I paid twice the price here at AED 820.00 (about US$224.00) and that is AFTER 25% sales cut! I envy you girls in the States.. wanna trade place? ;D

:: Outfit ::

Crystal embellished top : Rawyalty (last styled here)

Blazer : Stradivarius (similar)

Jeans : American Eagle Outfitter (here)

Heels : Coach (black version on sale) (similar for less)

Bag : Chanel GST in Beige Claire

Bangles : Vintage