Easy Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

| San

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Mashed potato recipes are turning up everywhere again, now that Thanksgiving is near.  This crock pot recipe comes in handy during the school holiday, when I would try every possible ways to take away those watching-by-the-stove kind of cooking, so that I can just join the kids for some fun.  Or the kids can also help out with the making of this dish, since it is so easy.

CROCKPOT MASHED POTATOES
SOURCE
INGREDIENTS
5 medium size russet potatoes
4 large cloves garlic
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water or vegetable broth
1/4 cup half and half*
Seasoning : black pepper and salt
INSTRUCTIONS

01. Peel garlic cloves. Place in crock pot.

02. Wash potatoes, peel and cube them. Add them to the garlic cloves.

03. Add 1/4 cup of very hot water or vegetable broth. **

04. Top with butter.

05. Cook the potatoes on high for 3  hours or till potatoes and garlic are very tender.

06. After the potatoes are cooked, mash the potatoes and then add half and half slowly till desired consistency.

07. Serve with more butter, black pepper and salt for seasoning.

NOTES TO SELF

* DIY “Half and Half” with 4 parts whole milk and 1 part heavy cream
** Or you can add enough stock or water to cover the potatoes, after they are cooked, remove the excess water before mashing them up
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Picking the right type of potatoes for different dish
How not to make perfect mashed potatoes
The secret in making mashed pototaotes
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Whole Tomato Rice

| San

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As a home cook, I am always on the watch out for fast and simple recipes on the net to make my meal planning and preparation job easier.

There are some really quick recipes that rely on so much processed food as short-cuts,  I will find it ridiculous if they take up longer time to cook in the first place.

What I welcome more are wholesome and convenient recipes that use none of those ingredients born out of a science lab, like this Whole Tomato Rice.

It’s a really convenient way to prepare a one-pot rice meal, basically involves cooking a whole tomato and rice together in the cooker, with olive oil, black pepper and salt as seasoning.  But remember to remove about 1/5 of the water you would normally use to cook your rice, otherwise you’ll end up with soggy rice due to the high water content in the tomato.

I have long kept away the bulky electric rice cooker since I started cooking my rice the stove top way.  But that did not stop me from trying out this latest online sensation.  The concept is to cook the tomato and rice together, the stove top can do that as well.

I added some grated cheddar cheese and a dash of dried sweet basil for additional seasoning.  I have also seen others getting all creative with butter, prawns, and sausages.  It is a great recipe keep, took me only 20 minutes in all to prepare and cook the basic version, but the potential for variation looks limitless.

WHOLE TOMATO RICE
SOURCE
INGREDIENTS :
- 2 cups rice
- 1 and 3/4 cups of water
- 1 big tomato
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons grated cheddar cheese
- 1 teaspoon dried sweet basil
INSTRUCTIONS :

01. Wash and drain rice.

02. In a cooking pot, add rice, water, pepper, salt and olive oil. Stir to mix well.

03. Remove the tomato stem (see photo 2), and cut a cross slit on its base (see photo 3).  Place it in the center of the pot.

04. Cover the pot and let the rice cook over a small-medium fire for about 8 minutes.

05. Turn off the heat when all the water has been absorbed by the rice.  Let the pot of rice sit undisturbed in the covered pot for another 10 minutes.

06. With a spatula, toss and mix the tomato and rice well.  Serve immediately.

 

NOTES TO SELF :

If using rice cooker, the cooking process in step 3 and 4 will be automatically completed by the cooker.  Let the rice sit in the cooker undisturbed for about 10 minutes before mixing the rice with the tomato.  Rice will be less soggy.

Turning Old Perfume Into Air Freshener

| San

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I have gone through 2 bottles of perfumes since June, but not as fragrances on myself.  I managed to use them up in the toilet as room sprays.  They were purchased at least 6 to 8 years back, and more than half have been used up.  I purposely chose the ones with the least leftover first as they would be used up faster.  With 2 bottles down, I have another 4 to 5 bottles to to go, before I will allow myself to get a brand new one.  And this time I will be sticking to just one bottle.

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On how to remove the spray nozzle from the perfume bottle
That’s how I ended up turning the latest bottle into a diy diffuser
More uses of old perfume
Another suggestion that will make vacuuming more pleasant

What else do you do with your old perfumes?

Personalizing Camping Wear

| San

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My child was given a standard set of outerwear and backpack for a camping trip.  I hand sewn these cute labels from Daiso (comes in pack of 3 labels for $2) on their gear for easy recognition.

Talking about Camping:
// Found this book “Let Them Be Eaten By Bears : A Fearless Guide To Taking Our Kids Into The Great Outdoors” last week, trying to finish it asap.
// And this post on camping in Singapore via here.  We have never done outdoor camping before!

Facebook Pages To Stalk For Some Holiday Outdoor Activities

| San

fb pages I follow for holiday actitivies // mono+co

I went through this post written back in 2013 to look out for upcoming holiday activities, and found that I need to update two broken links.  Another update that is long overdue is SSO’s 2014/15 event calendar in pdf.

For the past year, I have found myself relying more on facebook pages where event shoutouts are very quickly updated, and also swiftly become outdated when limited seats to popular events are often filled up within matter of a few hours.  It’s so convenient to browse through these event updates through FB that I have even created my own page here to save and take note of these interesting events happening around the island.

Here are first few pages that I am following with my new account.

National Museums :
I love the fact that the events happening at all the museums are updated on one website, but with the FB page, I get to see some behind the scenes stories plus sneak peak on upcoming exhibits.  It also serves as a reminder to visit exhibitions that are on its tail end period.

NParks :
I have previously written that its website is only great for trail maps and general information, but not event updates.  Little did I know that the FB page here has been buzzing with lots of activities.
I still follow Botanic Gardens’ FB page separately for the frequent updates on the park.

Pulau Ubin:
30 November is Pulau Ubin Day (I never knew that!), I am not sure if the page will still be updated after that, but in the meantime, I having fun browsing through the various activities leading up to the event.

National Library :
Strictly speaking, the library is not considered as a venue for outdoor activities, but the kids still need to read their books during the school holidays, so it is inevitable that we will end up at the library pretty often.  I might as well check out the events held at various branches since we can return our borrowed books at any branch.  Actually the branches manage their own FB pages, so it will be useful to follow the ones that you live nearby, I listed most of them here.
Otherwise follow GoArts, which I think is the FB page for GoLibrary.

Are there any other FB pages that I am missing out?

Holiday To-Do list : For The Book Lover

| San

reading list printable template // mono+co

I have another list that I want my kids to fill up, school holidays or not : book titles that they have read or plan to read.  So I did a very fast sketch of a lady reading, applying it on the same template for the movie list done yesterday, and it is ready for download below.

So what can I fill it with?  Other than the titles that the kids pick out randomly from the shelves, here are some recommending sites that I find useful :
// The NLB librarians have put up a list of titles suitable for children and teens.  I wish they have a similar list for Mandarin books too.
// This list of 2014 Notable Children’s Books from The American Library Association might be worth a look if your kids are done with the NLB’s list.
// This PDF list of 100 Children Books of All Time compiled by Scholastic in 2012 contains titles suitable for kids from age 0-11+.  I’ll love to have kids checking off the titles that are done, and then proceeds to motivate her to finish the rest of the list.
// I also found two other book recommending websites worth bookmarking : this and this.

DOWNLOAD : PRINTABLE TO DO LIST (BOOK LOVER THEME)

Holiday To-Do list : For The Movie Buff

| San

Printable :To-Do list w/ Movie Buff Themed // mono+coPrintable :To-Do list w/ Movie Buff Themed // mono+co

Like the previous school holidays, the kids and I have a few movies in mind to watch during this coming year end break.  I hand drawn a movies-to-watch list this morning.  Then made a printable one for future use, downloadable below.

The pretend tickets in the second photo is free from here. Another mom made a series of realistic looking printable movie tickets for Disney movies, think it will be awesome for  movie screening sessions at parties.

 

DOWNLOAD : PRINTABLE TO DO LIST (MOVIE BUFF THEME)