Current Loves: Cheerios and Soy Milk?

Cherios and So Good Soy Milk

As you probably all know, I am Asian. Just like a lot of Asians, my food has to have taste. A lot of taste. During my 10 years of being in this western country of Australia, I have slightly adapted to the much more muted tastes of the food here – though I still prefer my tasty Asian food.

I had the hardest time trying to find a good cereal and milk that I like (other than those really sweet unhealthy cereals like coco pops, fruit loops, etc). I hated milk back home (since it’s very hard for us to get fresh milk and we are stuck with long life, sweetened milk or powdered milk) and I am definitely a very picky milk consumer even today. Australia’s fresh milk is a lot better than the milk we get in Indonesia – by far. But I still don’t “reach” for milk when I open the fridge.

The Milk

Recently, people hyping different types of milk. Soy milk and almond milk just to name a few. Some prefers these types of milk compared to the normal dairy milk because of the health benefits but I drink it literally because I like them better. I only managed to take pictures of the long life soy milks but I have since switched to the ones they sell at the chilled section next to all the dairy milks (I think these are more fresh and less preservatives?).

I also ventured to try the regular soy milk vs 99.9% fat free. As many would have guessed, the regular taste a lot better. The fat free version to me tasted like water when I tried it with cereal. But hey, I finished the carton nonetheless. But I think I will stick to the regular version better.

And then I compared regular soy milk to their almond milk and that just tasted like sugar water but not in a sickening way, if that makes sense. Plus, the almond milk is not available in what I perceive to be a more fresh version (the chilled version) so I am sticking to the soy milk.

I also recently finished another kind of soy milk which my mum found at the chilled section – the Vitasoy Calci Plus. Strangely, this one tastes like cereal – like oats – similar in taste to the regular soy milk mixed with cereal.

The Cereal

Cheerios. Hm… This thing is seriously UNDERRATED and definitely something is missing from their marketing. The packaging and the colour of the cereal itself doesn’t look very “fun” nor is it appealing to its main target audience, whom from what I gather from their advertisements on TV, are little kids. To me the packaging appeals more to people in their 20s or 30s. My perceptions when I saw these at the supermarket were that I thought they were going to taste really plain – like cornflakes or plain rice bubbles. And then the ads got me thinking, if these are marketed for young kids, they SHOULD taste good… So the next time they were on discount, I tried one.

It was the BEST cereal I’d ever had! It’s slightly sweet – but not overly sweet. I’m pretty sure it’s healthier than those cereals I previously eat – at least this one’s got a large wholegrain percentage. And combined with soy milk – heavenly.

I also tried the honey version and that just has less wholegrain percentage and tastes all just the same.

So, what will I continue to buy?

I am definitely sticking to the regular Cheerios for cereal since they are healthier and the taste is no different to the honey version. As for milk, I will buy whatever is cheapest out of the soy milks (not the fat free one) at the chilled section. I love them all! And when they do get almond milk in the chilled section, I will put them into consideration too (I will still buy whatever is the cheapest)!

Lots of smiles,

Sita

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated, sponsored or compensated in any way from any of the brands mentioned, showed, or linked.

My Easter Bunny Buns

Honey Bunny Buns pinned on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/282812051572476079

First of all, I would like to wish you all a HAPPY EASTER!

It was Good Friday and I decided to make these bunnies from a Honey Bunny Bun recipe I saw on Pinterest. With a little help from both mum and little sis, this is what I achieved.

I like to bake because I feel like my efforts are being rewarded greater than cooking normal meals. For example, you might spend an hour on a main meal and then it gets eaten in 15 mins. However, if I bake, the produce will last for at least a few days. Somehow this makes me feel better. Am I weird?

I don’t bake that often nor am I awesome at it. I have never baked bread before other than a few pizza bases. I didn’t do a lot of things differently to the recipe though I did find a few things weird. First, I didn’t expect the amount of yeast required – 2 table spoons. In the end, I decided to put in the whole 2 table spoons. My mum also thought that it was weird to mix in the oil, sugar, water AND yeast in one go. Though I already did that before she saw and it turned out okay.

I found out only after all the ingredients were mixed that we don’t have a bread dough mixer (the spiral kind, not the cupcake kind). Luckily, mum owns a Thermomix – a neat little kitchen gadget, practically good for anything from making juices, mixing stuff, making soup to even cooking rice, pretty cool huh. So that’s one thing I did differently.

Second thing, mum couldn’t remember where she’d put the honey so we ended up glazing it with golden syrup instead.

Thirdly, I am not very artistic – I tried poking it with chopsticks to create eyes but they ended up looking a little creepy and thought that it would look better without the eyes. So in the end we ended up with 24 faceless bunny buns.

Fourth, I used a fan forced oven so I lowered the heat by 20 degrees Celsius from the recommended temperature and the bread were cooked in less than 10 minutes (a few minutes less than the recommended 11-13 minutes). The recipe is American so it uses Fahrenheit instead. I simply used the Google converter to convert to Celsius- easy peasy.

A Tip: You know bread is ready when it sounds hollow as you tap the bottom of the bread with your nail. Be careful though! It’s HOT!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

Sita’s Easter Bunny Buns

FRESH – fresh out of the oven, they taste like heaven. Slightly crunchy on the outside, but still very fluffy on the inside. The taste is similar to that white table bread at fancy restaurants. I was worried that the golden syrup might taste a little weird and yeah honey would have tasted better but this was fine too. A light brush at the top of the bunnies gave them a slight sweet taste but nothing overpowering. Needless to say, I was quite proud of it (being my first bread and all).

NEXT DAY – I was a little disappointed when I picked a bunny up. All the golden syrup have been absorbed and the outside was not crunchy anymore. The inside was less fluffy too. But I guess this was to be expected from a day-old bread. I wonder if I put it in the oven again for a few minutes it would be a little crispy again on the outside? Maybe I should try.

VERDICT – So I like to categorise recipes into 2 piles – worth doing again and not doing again. I also like to put some notes on them so I remember what went wrong last time or what could be improved. This recipe is definitely going into the worth doing again. Not only is it cute, but it’s also very Though next time I’d probably bake this in the morning and maybe just make half the recipe or something (my family doesn’t eat a lot of bread). Also maybe I will get mum to make some soup to go with it. Hmmmm….

So that was my experience with this recipe. Do let me know if you like these kinds of posts where I try out recipes. Of course the taste comments will only be based on my opinion and whoever is around me at the time. Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read this post!

Lots of Smiles,

Sita