snacking proves to be an exceptionally challenging task now that i've started cutting down, or should i say, eliminating white sugar and wheat flour from my diet. ever since making these lifestyle changes and adopting healthier eating habits, i'm always wondering what i can snack on since i'm not someone who can eat three square meals a day. in the past, i would go for cakes, pastries, macarons and other sugary stuff because i made them often. now that i don't, i find writing down a list of healthy snacks is actually easier so i get lots of snacking ideas and this also prevents me from going back to my "old ways". a few of my current favorites are apple/banana + peanut butter, curried carrot salad, hummus dip & crackers and homemade popcorn.

nothing beats having waffles in the morning or better yet, gingerbread waffles! i recently bought a waffle maker (brand is waring pro) and have been putting it into really good use. i tried out different recipes as well as some interesting flavors like matcha and chocolate and since i missed out making gingerbread cookies during x'mas, gingerbread waffles it shall be!

i'm not sure if anyone heard things like martha stewart's recipes don't work? i learned it from one of my baking buddies as well as some food bloggers, one of which you can read her story here. despite having been baking for several years now, i haven't tried martha stewart's recipes at all so i couldn't comment. then it was after i got an ipad 2 recently that i started downloading her mags, ebooks & apps and seriously thought about trying her recipes. deciding to venture out of my comfort zone to incorporate some spices into my bakes apart from the usual "safe" choices like cinnamon, nutmeg & ginger, this recipe caught my eye.

if there's anything thing good about the annoyingly hot & humid weather in singapore, its that the weather is perfect for making bread. i'm not exactly a fan of sweet buns and sandwich loaves (i'm really more of a ciabatta/baguette person) but when they're made with my favorite cinnamon sugar its a different story entirely. so while browsing foodgawker the other day, i came across this recipe and immediately set out to make it. looking at the title makes me wonder about the difference between gourmet and non-gourmet cinnamon rolls, and since its said to be a replica of cinnabon's, the famous bakery chain specializing in cinnamon rolls, i just didn't wanna miss it.

as i was browsing through my chinese cookbook collection, i came across this cake recipe which i found very enticing. a weekend cake, or gateau de voyage is a traditional french pound cake thats rich and buttery. i don't fancy butter/pound cakes much coz i find they use wayyyyy too much butter and take wayyyyy to long to bake. plus they're just too rustic for my liking. but perhaps its the lovely combination of spices, rum, nuts and candied peel in this one that makes me wanna go ahead... and there's just something really christmassy about it too.

lately i've been seeing lotsa honey belle pears at the supermarket and for sometime i actually mistook them for forelle pears coz both varieties hv got this blush of red. these are sweet & crunchy and while i totally appreciate the sweetness, i just don't like them crunchy. i really like my pears soft so i decided to poach them. it took me sometime to find the right recipe coz lotsa poached pears recipes use either red wine or dessert wine, something which i do not feel like splurging on at the moment.

it must hv been more than two years since i last baked bread. even after i got my kitchenaid more than a year ago, i haven't started on using the dough hook yet. i wished i had used it sooner to knead dough coz it was such a breeze to do so. kitchenaid has been my best kitchen investment so far, followed by the immersion hand blender :p those two really made my life alot easier. and so, i came across this from donna hay magazine and the recipe looked real enticing. the thought of dipping the flatbread in olive oil & balsamic vinegar got me drooling. moreover, the recipe looked simple enough to follow (not that i'm intimidated by complicated recipes heh), just that i don't wanna spend time proofing the dough for 2 hours. this one only requires 30 mins of proofing.