Tangy Bacon Spinach Salad

Found this superb bacon spinach salad recipe with a tangy, sweet and sour dressing that's just perfect for those who love theirs savoury and light. Great thing is that it's easy to make as well. The only thing that's a little sinful about this salad is bacon, so you might want to substitute it with ham or chicken if you like. But we all know NOTHING in the world makes something taste good as well as bacon! Here it goes:
Ingredients
6 slices of bacon, fried crisp and crumbled (use a baggie to smash them to pieces! Or buy the precrumbled type)
About four-five handfuls of spinach leaves
Half a big onion, chopped
About 10 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or if you're using grapes, just wash and leave them as is
For the sauce
1/2 tsp low sodium Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sugar or sugar substitute
1/2 tsp salt, optional
1/4 tsp dry mustard (I used Coleman's)
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp ketchup
3 tbsp olive oil
Method for sauce Just mix all the sauce ingredients in a skillet and stir until bubbly. Toss it on your veggies hot, throw in bacon and mix.

One of the never-fail-quickie-scrumptuous meals...
Here's the how-to:
Ingredients (for 4-6 people)
Spaghetti (or you can sub with linguine, as recommended by the original recipe). I used the whole pack.
1 pound medium shrimp/prawns, deveined, shelled and chopped coarsely. Use a meat cleaver. Easier!
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley. Not sure how to get this back home but I'm sure BSC's Cold Storage will carry it!
1 tsp of chilli flakes
1-2 cups of white wine. Be sure to use a good one. We used a cheap one 'coz we don't really drink wine and had no way to finish it. Had NO taste at all!
2 tbsp butter
5 cloves of garlic
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
A nice BIG skillet/wok
Method
Put pasta to boil. Remember to toss in 1/4 cup of salt into boiling water with pasta. 10-12 mins is best.
In the meantime, in a pan/skillet/wok, brown the garlic
Toss in prawns and chilli flakes. As soon as the prawns turn pink, remove.
Using same skillet, toss in butter and wine. Cook until half of the mixture remains (half will dissipate into thin air!). By now, the pasta should be cooked. Remove, strain and leave one side.
Return chilli/prawns into the butter/wine mixture in the skillet and cook thoroughly
Toss in parsley and mix nicely
Toss in pasta and mix until everything is distributed nicely
Serve piping hot!
Addendum on fresh parsley: You might've bought a big bunch of parsley you don't really need, so here's a tip I found Googling: Chop it up, put it in a bag and freeze it, so you can keep it for weeks.

If you've watched the recently released V for Vendetta, you would've found out about this delightfully simple to make breakfast of egg and bread.
Simply tear a hole out from the middle of a slice of bread, break an egg into the hole and fry it on a pan (or as the Americans call it, a skillet) using delicious butter over medium heat.
I would suggest heating up the pan nicely, throw in the butter and when the pan is sufficiently greased with sizzling butter, place the bread in and QUICKLY break in the egg. If you leave the bread on its own too long before putting the egg in, you'll get burnt bread by the time the egg is cooked.
Wait for the egg to cook as long as you can before flipping over. Try to use a wide spatula so you can scoop up the WHOLE bread/egg combo and flip it over in one quick movement. A light pan you can lift up while flipping will also help.
And if you want, use the piece of bread you tore out, fry it a bit, and then place it on top of the finished product, thus creating the 'lid' of the 'basket'!
Scrumptious!

One thing I hate about frying bacon is that it splatters everywhere, so I found this tip at http://www.kitchenhintsandtips.com/baking_bacon.shtml that taught me how to bake bacon in my oven instead! It's quick, clean and just as yummy!
Ps. Check it regularly to make sure they don't burn. Even though I used the settings recommended, my bacon didn't cook to crisp, so I added another about 12 mins at 400F and it fried nicely.

But here's a dish so simple to cook and needs only a few ingredients that you would most likely have in your home. My mom used to make this for us when she ran out of time. Simple, quick yet delish!
Ingredients (feeds two)
Chicken thighs, cut into drumsticks and thighs, about two sets
Oyster sauce
Potatoes, two, cubed
White Pepper
Garlic, chopped finely
Cooking oil
Instructions
Brown about a tbsp of garlic in one tbsp of oil, and then throw in the chicken pieces
When they are half cooked, throw in the potatoes, and then pour in 3 to 4 tbsps of oyster sauce and a dash of white pepper. I love the Lee Kum Kee brand OS.
Mix and cook for about 4 minutes.
Pour in two cups of water for gravy, and simmer for 20 minutes until chicken and potatoes are well-cooked
This is a great dish to eat on its own or over white rice, for kids. My wobbler (have to mash the 'taters and chicken up a bit for her) and preschooler love it, so it makes for one simple, quick dish for the whole family on days you just want to take it easy!

best snack in the world

My friend Sharon made these one day and brought to our house for a tiny house party we had which was really to do our hair but the hairdresser never came, but you know what? It was a productive day 'coz we got to taste her delicious bacon stuffed eggs.
Here's a recipe I also found on the Net and adapted it with a spot of honey. Very guilty pleasure, absurdly easy to make. Best of all, kids love it (it's still nutritious for them I suppose, but maybe a little TOO nutritious for us grownups!).
Remember you can also sub the mayo and mustard with the 'lite' versions to make it less sinful!
Ingredients
Hard boiled eggs, six. After they are boiled hard, cut them into half, length-wise, separating the hardened yolks into a separate bowl
Bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
Dijon mustard, 1 tsbp
Mayonaisse, 2 tbsps
Honey, 1 tbsp (optional - I find it enhances the taste)
Pepper to taste
Instructions
Mix bacon, egg yolks, mustard, honey and mayo, mashing everything together into a paste. Stuff back into the egg halves and there you have it! Goes well with bread

rice fast fast...

My mom taught me this trick, for times when you don't want to use the whole pot in the rice cooker to cook rice for just one or two persons.
Back home, the usual type of rice we buy is firmer(vs the convenient kind you get here), which you can also totally cook using the microwave provided you get the timer and the water/rice portioning just right.
Using a microwaveable bowl, you put in water that's about a-third (1/3) of your third finger above the grains, and then nuke it for 10-11 minutes, and voila, you get perfect rice that's just enough for one person!

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