Mia Bakes: 44 Calories Chocolate Cake

Oh yeah, a 44 calories chocolate cake. 

Wait, WHAT? FORTY-FOUR calories, CHOCOLATE cake? 

Yes, you read that right. And that wasn't a clickbait title, nor some portion size reduction trick. I'm going to share with you a recipe I've found on Oat Fiber's youtube channel, for a friggin 44 calories chocolate cake of a decent portion size that WILL fill you up. 

And here's what's 40 calories of chocolate cake look like. 

And the trick here, as I've said is NOT portion sizes, but oat fibre (I got mine from NuNaturals off iherb.sg)! 

Oat fibre comes from the fibrous husk of the oats, which is pure insoluble fibre and hence, virtually indigestible and therefore contains zero calories, carbs and nutrients. It helps to pack a load of insoluble fibre into our diet, which helps to reduce constipation (provided you're drinking enough water), promotes a full feeling for long periods of time and may even help to reduce over LDL cholesterol. 

Okay, the "health benefits" of oat fibre aside, the bigger benefit of oat fibre (for fellow ladies watching your calories), is that it is ZERO calories and helps to add bulk to your food. For example, you can get your usual 4-pancake stack into a 6-pancake stack without any additional calories just by adding oat fibre! This is literally a godsend for me right now, being unable to do any form of legit exercise for the next 2 months due to a tailbone fracture.

Anyway, let's get over with the ingredients, so we can get started.

For 1 serving (I made mine in 2 silicon cupcake moulds): 

1 tbsp plain flour (27.5 kcals)

2 tbsp oat fibre (0 kcals)

1 tbsp unsweeten cocoa powder (10 kcals, I used Hershey's)

0.5 tbsp 0 calorie sweetener of your choice (0 kcals)

1 tbsp 0 calorie maple flavour syrup (0 kcals) 

1/8 tsp baking powder (0 kcals)

half of 1/8 tsp baking soda (0 kcals)

1 tbsp low fat milk (6 kcals, I used FairPrice housebrand)

1.5 - 2 tbsp water (0 kcals)

adapted from Oat Fiber

Making this can't be any easier, just dump all the dry ingredients into a small clean bowl (you can sift your cocoa powder if they're too lumpy), give it a quick stir with a fork to get them well combined before adding in the wet ingredients (except the water) and stirring until well combined. Then, add in enough water to get the batter to a pourable, cake batter consistency.

Then, transfer the batter into a mould of your choice and STEAM it, either in your steamer if you have one or in a large pot of boiling water, covered, for about 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The thing about oat fibre, is that it gives a very dry and crumbly, yet also wet and mushy texture to baked goods, if you've replaced too much of the flour with it. So steaming this cake is the way to get your cake coming out tender, moist and fudgy, just like a fudgy brownie. 

If you're not hard up on saving the calories, I'll strongly suggest that you pop in a tablespoon of chocolate chips as well to add in more flavour to the cake. Otherwise, this will be an extremely healthy tasting cake. But hey, it's only 44 calories and it's of a decent serving size that will fill you up. What more can you ask for, right?

Till then,
Mia Foo

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BestInSingapore's PizzaDelivery [Sponsored]

Pizzas, anyone?

Been craving for pizza during cheatday for a while; and it seems like Best In Singapore has heard my cheatday wish! Thanks to them, I was able to try out Pizza Delivery Singapore, which was rated the 13 Best Pizza Deliveries in Singapore. 

True to its name, Pizza Delivery focuses primarily on online delivery of the pizza experience, striving to provide us an authentic Italian experience with just a click away at our fingertips. An upscale fast-casual concept that serves up artisan-style Neapolitan pizzas and pasta made-on-demand, ready in minutes and delivered to our doorstep all under 1 hour! Neapolitan pizza, also known as pizza Napoletana, is a type of pizza that originated in Naples, Italy. This style of pizza is prepared with simple and fresh ingredients, with a very thin and airy crust at the base

Using air-flown Italian ingredients, coupled with their signature pizza sauce that's simmered for 8 hours and pizza dough that's fermented for 72 hours, the pizzas at Pizza Delivery are made on demand - right on the spot with each incoming order, unlike the usual mass-produced pizzerias, and fired up in their custom-made Italian stone oven replica. The ceramic material of a pizza stone is able to hold heat evenly, which absorbs moisture of the dough as it bakes, hence giving a crispier crust and a unique smoky flavour that a normal kitchen oven will not be able to replicate. 

Hearty Festa Sharing Bundle (3 - 4 pax) - $57.80

At just $57.80, you'll get 2 large 12" pizza (8 slices) of your choice, along with 6 pieces of Crispy Chicken Wings & Mozzarella Sticks. 

And here's the two pizza flavours I've chosen for my bundle.

Le Amatriciana Pizza - $9.90 - $35.00

The all-time Italian favourite with tangy tomato sauce, streaky bacon, sliced yellow onions, red chilli, mozzarella cheese, and garnished with fresh parsley.

You definitely cannot go wrong with a thin crust, stone oven pizza topped with streaky bacon. The bacon bits gave so much savoury flavour to the pizza, while the chopped red chilli added a nice amount of heat to complement the tangy flavour of the tomato sauce and cuts through the creamy heaviness of the mozzarella cheese. 

This is the kind of pizza that do not require any added grated Parmesan cheese or chilli flakes; and you'll just reach for the 2nd, 3rd and possibly 4th piece until you're stuffed. 

The list of toppings definitely sounded very basic, but sometimes it's the most basic ingredients, when executed perfectly in a dish, which blows you away. 

Chicken Alfredo Pizza - $12.90 - $39.00

Take a bite into the ultimate chunky yet tender pieces of chicken breast with fresh cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, capsicum peppers, briny olives and mozzarella cheese in Alfredo cream sauce. 

Well, I'm always pro-tomato (over cream based sauces), so perhaps my rating here will be a little biased. I decided to go with this pizza instead of the safest choice of Hawaiian (pineapples belong on pizza, don't argue with me about that!) because an Alfredo pizza sounds pretty new and unique to me. But unfortunately, it turns out that this pizza only wow-ed me with its novelty. 

I'll definitely prefer the Le Amatriciana over this. Probably due to the choice of using chicken breast, the meat was a tad dry and tough. The combination of mozzarella cheese with Alfredo cream sauce also lacks the dimension that would have been easily accomplished with a tangy tomato sauce. Overall the taste profile of this pizza is rather flat, but I can totally see a cream-based sauce fan loving this pizza instead. 

Mozzarella Cheese Stick (6 pcs) - $11.90 

100% Mozzarella sticks battered with golden breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese. 

As the food were merely lukewarm when delivered, you can no longer create a cheese-pull with the cheese sticks. But if you really desire to have one, I suppose a few minutes of reheating in the airfryer should do the trick? 

I totally appreciate that they've added Parmesan cheese to the breadcrumbs coating, which added tons of cheesy flavour to the cheese sticks. Well, we all know Parmesan is the MSG among cheeses, right? The grated Parmesan added so much flavour to the cheese sticks, that I could eat them without the marinara dipping sauce. And although lukewarm and lacking in the cheese-pull effect, the cheese was still chewy and had a great bite, similar to a QQ (bouncy) fishcake. 

Crispy Chicken Wings (6 pcs) - $10.90 (was $14.90)

Our house specialty - Juicy, tender and crispy wings fried to perfection!

Love how these battered wings are still crispy despite being lukewarm! While the outside remains crisp and crunchy, the flesh was still tender and juicy. Although the chicken wings themselves weren't exceptionally flavourful, the mayo dipping sauce complemented the subtle flavour of the marinate seasoning really well. 

Carbonara Spaghetti - $16.90

Silky white cream sauce accompanied with streaky bacon slices, white wine, garlic, freshly ground pepper and grated Parmesan. 

*also available in Linguine 

For just $16.90, you'll get A LOT of pasta and bacon bits. Both the HB and I are BIG EATERS, and as we both place our focus on finishing the pasta first, we ended up only finishing 6 of the total 16 slices of pizza, and left half of the chicken wings and cheese sticks untouched. 

Taste wise, once again you cannot go wrong with streaky bacon in.... anything. It's amazing how these small pieces of meat can add so much savoury goodness to any dish. However, I'm not sure if it's due to the time taken for delivery, but this was the driest carbonara pasta I've ever eaten. No wait, scratch that. This was the driest pasta (vongole, aglio olio included) I've ever eaten. It taste perfectly fine though, just way too dry. 

Another aspect of Pizza Delivery that I really appreciate, is how they not only tag a "best consumed by" time on every packaged order, but also clear stated the time the dish was ready to eat. 

Pizza Delivery offers free islandwide delivery with purchases over $60. For a limited time only, enjoy a 1 for 1 promotion deal for all medium and large pizzas. 

For more information, check out their website HERE

Meanwhile, also drop by bestinsingapore.com to check out more reviews on the best things Singapore has to offer! 

Disclamer: All food styling photographs credit to Owariphotography 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Cooks: Healthy Oyako Don

Yes, as if oyako don itself isn't healthy enough (as compared to katsu don). But hey, it wasn't a cheatday and I just wanted to eat cleaner. 

So here's my #eatclean recipe for a healthy oyako don, using chicken breast and brown rice! 

For (relatively normal) 2 servings, you'll need: 

1 skinless & boneless chicken breast (about 200g raw weight) 

1 small/medium white onion (about 100 - 120g)

3 medium/large eggs (about 50-55g each, without shells)

1 tbsp milk

120ml chicken broth (I used Swanson)

30ml light soy sauce

30ml rice wine vinegar (or mirin)

1/2 tsp sugar (if you're using rice wine vinegar instead of mirin)

1 serving of cooked brown rice, or any other type of cooked rice preferred. 

(or even half portion of rice, if you're watching your diet)

Firstly, to get the sauce mix out of the way, it should always be in the 4:1:1 ratio, 4 parts broth to 1 part soy sauce and mirin/rice wine vinegar+sugar. So if you're halving or doubling the recipe, you can do your own maths. But do note that the ratio should be following the number of eggs you're using and not the amount of chicken you're adding. 

To prepare the chicken breast (especially if you're using frozen ones like I did), immerse it in a bowl of salt water and leave to chill in the fridge for 2 to 3 hours. Brining your chicken is very important, especially if you're using frozen chicken, or chicken breast. It not only make the breast meat more tender, but also help to eliminate the "icy frozen meat taste" that tends to be quite distinct in frozen chicken meat. Rinse the brined chicken under running tap for a few seconds and pound the meat slightly using a tenderiser or the back of your knife. Then, cut the meat into bite size chunks.

Wash the white onion and slice it into thin slices (or however thick you prefer). Spread the onions out evenly onto your lightly greased non-stick pan and turn on the heat. Allow the onions to cook until they're slightly translucent (I prefer to "roast" mine over medium to high until they're slightly charred) before adding in the chicken. Then, pour in the sauce mix and cover the pan with a lid and allow the meat to fully cook through on medium heat. 

In a clean bowl, first crack in 2 eggs and beat it with a tablespoon of milk. Add the mixture into the pan evenly and allow to cook until the egg is set. Then, crack in the last egg and just lightly stir it to break the yolk; do not beat the egg into a homogenous mixture. Pour the egg mixture over the set eggs and cook it until the eggs are set to your liking. 

If you're making just 1 serving (with just 2 eggs) in a smaller pan, you can just slide the whole "cake" off the pan and directly onto your bowl of rice and serve with a sprinkle of chopped spring onions. 

But since I was making 2 servings together in the same pan, I had to scoop them out bit by bit. Hence my final product wasn't that IG-worthy. HEH!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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BestInSingapore's Pillow: Origin Mattress [Sponsored]

Getting an adequate amount of good sleep is definitely an important factor for living a healthy life, and one of the key factors in getting a good night's sleep is having a pillow that fits our needs. Resting our heads on the right pillows is not only comforting, but they also play an important role in supporting the intricate structures of our head, neck, shoulders, hips and spine. Pillows serve to keep our upper body in alignment during sleep, and when used well, will help in alleviating or preventing any common forms of back and neck pains, as well as shoulders, hips and other forms of joint pain. 

So glad to have Best In Singapore sending over a fabulous latest foam support pillow from Origin Mattress, the Origin Superior Coolmax Latex Pillow from Origin Mattress, that's rated as one of the 8 best comfortable pillows to buy in 2020. 

Origin Superior Coolmax® Latex Pillow - $129 (Usual price $159)
Sink into the ultimate plush pillow that cradles your head. The Origin Superior Coolmax® Latex Pillow offers a responsive Latex foam support and is completed with a removable Tencel fabric pillow cover. 

Latex foam has a denser material as compared to memory foam or fibre. A Latex pillow moulds to the shape of your head which gives you the right level of sleep support. Latex materials are extremely durable with hypoallergenic properties that have lesser dust, bacteria or mould issues. It is highly recommended for people with allergies to provide a good relaxing sleep. Being impression-resistant, it can also hold its shape for many years while still feeling soft.

Unlike many pillows, Origin Superior Coolmax® Latex Pillow has a removable pillow cover. Luxuriously threaded with Tencel fabric, this cover can be machine washed which helps to extend the pillow’s life in the long run. Tencel fabric is known for its natural comfort, environmentally responsible production process and being softer as compared to cotton. It is hypoallergenic, lightweight, and extremely ideal for hot weather climates.

-credits to https://originmattress.com.sg/-

Well, I guess I'm a little weird here. Even though the pillow comes with an easily removable (and machine washable) Tencel pillow cover, I still had to cover the cover with another pillow cover. I guess it's because the Tencel cover just looks so white and clean, I just cannot bear to lay my head (even though I've washed my hair and it's perfectly clean) directly on it. HAHA!

As I tend to toss and turn around in my sleep and hence, both a side sleeper and back sleeper (sometimes I even sleep on my tummy), I like how the pillow is also raised at the edges (as oppose to those which tends to tapers off into literally nothing but just bare fabric) such that the pillow has sufficient height all round to give adequate support to my neck no matter which way I'm snoozing. 

Cheers to no more stiff neck in the morning! 

For more information on what Origin Mattress has to offer apart from this amazing pillow, check out their website HERE. 

Meanwhile, also drop by bestinsingapore.com to check out more reviews on the best things Singapore has to offer! 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Cooks: Chickpea Toasties

Chickpeas fans, anyone? 

-credits to medicalnewstoday-

Chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, are a type of legume that's rich in fibre and protein. It contains a range of nutrients, which is necessary for bone, muscle and skin health. Chickpeas (both canned and dried) has been one of my main choice of protein sources (alongside tofu, chicken breast and white fish fillets) for my #stayhomelunch these days. 

I've been mainly stir-frying them with zucchini and tomatoes in sriracha sauce to go alongside a serving of rice or oatmeal porridge

And then I thought, why not make a toastie sandwich out of them? 

So let's get over the ingredients, so we can get started! Do tweak the amount depending on how generously you'll like to fill up your sandwich. I obviously prepared way too much filling, so much so that I had to do a "double-decker". 

100g boiled chickpeas or canned chickpeas, drained

30 - 40g white onion, chopped

a pinch of salt

25g natural plain yogurt

1 tbsp (~10g) sriracha sauce

a dash of black pepper

a dash of chili powder

a dash of ground ginger

two slices of bread according to your choice

optional toppings:

lettuce slices

tomato slices

cheese

First up, chop the onions as finely as you fancy and sauteed them over a lightly greased pan, with a pinch of salt, until they're slightly transparent (cooked). If you prefer your onions to be sweet, you can also cook them further until they're soft and caramelised. Then, dump the cooked onions into a bowl along with the chickpeas and mash them up with a potato masher (you can try using a sturdy fork as well, or even a food processor) until the mixture is mashed up to your liking. Add in the yogurt, sriracha and seasonings and mix well. Do give the mixture a taste test and add more seasonings according to your preference. 

Then, grab two slices of your choice of bread (I used wholemeal) and pop them into the toaster or oven, and toast them until they're browned and crisp to your liking. Assemble your toastie with the prepared filling, plus whatever toppings you like. 

I actually added some shredded mozzarella cheese onto my bread while they toast, but the chickpea filling will be quite flavourful and you won't be able to taste the mozzarella at all. If you'll like to have some cheese in your toastie, I'll suggest that you use a cheese with a sharper flavour. 

And tadaa~
My double-decker chickpea toastie, served with some pan roasted vegetables.

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Chowon Garden: Eatigo 50% Scam?

If you're following me on my IG, you should have seen me raving about Eatigo for a while (before circuitbreaker, of course) now. Some of my really satisfying meals at a range of 20 to 50% off includes Iron Supper Club, Harry's (HERE & HERE), Meats N Malts, Princess Terrace Cafe, Yummo Chow & many more. 

And so recently, my #koreanfoodkaki with S and her HB has finally formed, and we decided to kickstart our Korean Food outing with a 50% off at Chowon Garden via Eatigo. 

S was craving kimchi pancake so we ordered a Haemul Kimchijeon ($27) and a large Budae Jeongol ($58) to share among the 3 of us. And we did double check with their staff on their serving size, and confirmed that the large one is meant to serve 3 to 4 pax (while the small one is for 2 to 3 pax). 

And, before we get to the actual food, we were already kind of disappointed by their banchan (so disappointed that I didn't even wanna take a picture). They only had 4 different banchan served (kimchi, braised brinjal, beancurd skin and shredded cabbage in coleslaw dressing) and only allowed a 1x refill. 

Anyway, here's our very disappointing food....

Budae Jeongol (L) - $58

Yes, your eyes aren't pulling a trick on you. This is not some visual magic that's worthy of an exhibit in the Trickeye Museum. 

THERE WAS REALLY JUST HALF A CAKE OF RAMYUN IN OUR LARGE JEONGGOL, MEANT FOR 4 PAX.

And this picture was taken before we've scooped anything (not even a teaspoon worth of broth) out of the pot, and see just how shallow the pot itself is (the ladle at the side was dipped all the way in) and how low the content of the pot came up to the edge. Not sure how 4 pax is supposed to get satiated just on this miserable pot of jjigae, but I could have easily finished the entire pot on my own, no joke, and then perhaps go elsewhere for something more filling. 

To add salt to (our) injury, it was just a very normal pot of budaejjigae, the very standard kind of taste that you may even find in some better Korean food stalls at foodcourts. 

Haemul Kimchijeon - $27

The awkwardness of us staring at the jeon in silence when it was served; followed by S's disappointed whisper of "it's so small" when the server left our table would have been quite a funny story to retell, as long as you're not (one of) the protagonist. 

Portion size aside, this has definitely done better in the taste aspect as compared to the budae jeonggol. Crispy with a bit of charred bits at the edges and still moist and chewy in the middle. 

But have I tasted better kimchijeon elsewhere? Yes, definitely. 

And are they cheaper? Yes, definitely.

And because the jeonggol and kimchijeon could hardly fill us (only three of us!) up, we decided to add in another order for their Dolsot Bibimbap ($17, not pictured). 

And tell you what, there must be a reason why when you google "chowon garden dolsot bibimbap" you won't be able to find any pictures or reviews. Their Dol-Bi is definitely the worst bibimbap I've ever eaten, even with consideration of random $6 bibimbap served in a metal bowl at random foodcourt/kopitiam korean food stalls. 

OMG, this is.... jjinja cannot, Chowon Garden. 

Not sure if they're doing this because it's tough times for them now with the Covid-19 situation, or it's their SOP to cut portion sizes for all Eatigo reservations, but the serving size for the jeongol shown HERE is definitely way more than what we were served, and a lot more deserving of being $58. While I fully understand that it's some very tough times now, and many business are tanking. But if they're unwilling to truly fulfill their part of the agreement (of offering 50% discount) with Eatigo, then they should have taken themselves off the app first, instead of outright shortchanging paying customers? There's many restaurants/eateries on Eatigo currently with reservations blocked out and tagged as "coming back soon", I don't see why Chowon Garden can't do likewise. 

Not cool, Chowon Garden, really not cool. 

All menu pictures credit to Chowon Garden

If you're still not on Eatigo, do sign up via this link or with referral code 'simi15ipv' to enjoy a $10 reward after completing your first Eatigo reservation!

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Bakes: Easy Daifuku / Mochi Wrapped Cake

-credit to A RINGO A DAY-

There's always something about a daifuku that lures you into eating it. It doesn't matter if you're not a big fan of sweets in general, doesn't really enjoy biting into the chewy texture of mochi, or perhaps already feeling quite full. 

You just cannot let this adorable ball of pillowy fluff go. It needs to get in your belly!

(I made mine really big, btw)

So let's get over with the ingredients to get started!

For the mochi:

100g glutinous rice flour

25g corn starch

40g sugar

150ml milk

10g unsalted butter

(or you can use any kind of oil you fancy)

Kinako Powder (Roasted Soy Bean Powder) or for coating, or you can roast some glutinous rice flour over the pan (to cook them) instead. 

For the filling:

any choice of your favourite sponge cake, cut into bite size

you can also add in some chopped fruits, or even crushed oreos

whipped cream or your choice of milk spread

I used Gardenia Chocolate Twiggies (I cut each log into 3, but on hindsight I should have done 4 instead) and some homemade coffee milk spread as I personally hate whipped cream. But to get pretty looking daifuku (大福), also called 雪媚娘 in Chinese, it's best to use whipped cream such that you'll get a snowy white ball. 

adapted from Amanda Tastes

First up, let's prepare the mochi dough! In a heat proof bowl, add in all the dry ingredients and milk, stir well until everything is well combined and there's no lumps at all. Then, steam the batter in the steamer (or over a pot of simmering water) for 15 to 20 minutes until the batter is fully cooked through into a dough. You can also do this step in a microwave.
While the cooked dough is still hot from the steamer, add in the butter and let it melt from the mochi dough's heat. Using a pestle or some other sturdy rod, pound the mochi dough to allow the melted butter to get incorporated into the dough, and also to allow the burning hot dough to cool down slightly. When the dough is cooled to a temperature that's manageable with your hands, knead for at least a few more minutes until the mochi gets a smoother and stretchy texture. The longer you knead the mochi dough, the better the texture will be. Do wear a pair of gloves, or oil your hands, as the mochi dough will be very sticky.
Then, pop the dough into a plastic/ziplock bag and roll it out as flat as possible. Set the mochi dough sheet in the fridge to cool off for at least an hour or two.

After an hour, the mochi dough sheet should have "toughen" up slightly and a little easier to work with, but will still be extremely sticky. Dust your work surface generously either with kinako powder or with the glutinous rice flour that you've roasted over the pan previously. Roll out the mochi dough sheet further to your desired thickness. A quarter of a centimetre should be quite alright, unless you like your mochi skin exceptionally thick, or thin. But do note that if you roll your mochi dough out too thin, it may end up tearing when you're wrapping & shaping up the daifuku.

Okay, so to wrap and form your daifuku, you can choose to challenge yourself and do it freehand, or find a small bowl or spherical mould to help make your life easier. According to the size of your cut-out sponge cake, cut out an appropriate size of the mochi dough sheet and lay it over the mould. Add in as much (or as little) of the whipped cream (or milk spread) according to your personal preference and put a piece of the sponge cake over it. If you're also adding in other toppings like chopped fruits, nuts or crushed oreos, add them in after the whipped cream before placing in the cake. Then, gather the ends of the mochi dough and pinch them together tightly to form a spherical ball. You can twist off any extra portion of the mochi dough and re-roll them out to get a brand new sheet of mochi dough, or do it like me (if you don't mind your daifuku having a ridiculously fat "butt") and tuck then excess mochi in on the bottom of the daifuku.

Then, it's best to keep the daifuku in your bowls/moulds and let them rest in the fridge for another hour or two for them to firm up and hold their round shape.

And Tadaa~

That's the "fat butt" I was talking about at the bottom of my daifuku. Haha! But it really shouldn't matter if you are a mochi lover.

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Persona Nutrition: My 2 Weeks' Update

Earlier this month, I've mentioned about starting my #PersonaPack from Persona Nutrition; and now here's my quick update after being on the customised supplements for about 2 weeks now. 

If you haven't read my 1st post on Persona Nutrition, do check it out HERE to know what is it all about. But in a nutshell, Persona Nutrition is a supplement subscription that does 28-days personalised vitamin packs, helping us to take the guesswork out of supplements.

And here's the list of supplements and vitamins I've chosen for my PersonaPack, based on their recommendation, after completing their online assessment. 

Really appreciate these small tips that came along in the supplement booklet. I never knew that Omega-3 doesn't go well with warm beverages!

Love how handy and convenient the packs are packaged too! Starting off with a daytime pack, you just keep on pulling and tearing off the packs (they alternate between day-time and night-time) from the "dispenser" and just eating all the pills and tablets that's pre-packed in each of those handy little packets. It's also so convenient to just tear off the packets and pop them into your bag to take them on the go if you happen to need to leave the house before having breakfast; or if you're also intermittent fasting like me. 

Anyway, other than tackling my B-vitamins deficiency (which is taken care of by that trusty Foundational Multi in my daytime pack), my top priority when choosing my supplements out of the recommended list is the sound slumber supplements. 

For my entire life, I've been having trouble falling asleep. I don't really suffer from actual insomnia (eg. disrupted sleep throughout the night) but it can take very very long for me to fall asleep while lying in bed. 

Sometimes, it can take me 2 to 3 hours just to fall asleep; so I've technically been surviving on an average of 5+ hours of sleep daily all these years. YIKES!

And here's a screenshot of my sleep tracker on Fitbit App. 

LOOK AT THAT, PEEPS! 

And yeah, on that one day, which I dropped back to 5+ hours of sleep; it was because I forgot to take the bedtime supplement pack 1 hour before my bedtime. Instead, I took them AT bedtime. 

And another important aspect for me is my runner's knees. I've been relying on glucosamine+msm for months now, but somehow Persona Nutrition doesn't carry glucosamine at all. 

Can't tell if it's a placebo effect for glucosamine or what, but somehow just taking the msm alone isn't doing wonders for my sore, cracking knees. But then again it's just been barely two weeks, so I'm still remaining hopeful. 

And of course, you can't leave the PersonaPack out when indulging in an unbalanced diet on cheatday, yes? 

For more information on what Persona Nutrition has to offer, check out their website HERE

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia Bakes: Strained Yogurt Chocolate Cake

I didn't plan to post this recipe up, since it's pretty wholesale copied from Cook Kafemaru (on youtube) but the cake ended up tasting SO GOOD, legit like a baked chocolate cheesecake when there's no cream cheese (or cottage cheese, or ricotta cheese) in it; I had to share this recipe!

So, I also apologise for the lack of decent quality photographs of the cake. 

To get a small 10-12cm round cake, you'll need:

For the crust:
6 pieces Tiger Original Biscuit
(or you can use Digestive biscuits or any other biscuits you fancy but the amount of melted butter will vary)
10g salted butter, melted

For the cake:
~190-200g plain natural yogurt
(I used a mixture of Farm Fresh and Meiji)
100g dark, semi-sweet chocolate
(if you prefer a sweeter cake, you can use milk chocolate)
a pinch of salt
2 eggs
10g plain flour (or cake flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder

adapted from Cook Kafemaru

First, you need to strain the yogurt the night before. You can use a cheesecloth (I reckon) if you have one. Otherwise, lay some coffee filter paper or heavy duty kitchen paper towel over a sieve. Pour the yogurt into the sieve and set it over a bowl. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the yogurt and leave it overnight in the fridge. I strained mine for about 12 hours and got a consistency that's just very slightly thicker than greek yogurt. So perhaps you can replace with just greek yogurt, if yours is the super thick kind, or just strain your greek yogurt for a shorter time.
Ultimately, you'll need just 100g of strained yogurt and 190 - 200g of natural yogurt should get you 100g of strained yogurt.

Once we get the strained yogurt out of the way, crush up your biscuits in a food processor or just by hitting them in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin. Add in the melted butter and mix until the crumbs resemble the consistency of wet sand. Then, pour the crumbs into your cake tin that's lined with baking paper and press down the crumbs into the base of the cake tin to form the crust. If you're baking the cake in a proper oven (with top and bottom heat), you can first set the compacted crust aside. However, if you're making this in an airfryer, pre-bake the crust at 180 degrees Celsius for 5 to 10 minutes.

Then melt your chocolate either over a bain marie (a heat proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water) or in the microwave. Stir up the chocolate to let it cool down for a bit, before mixing in the 100g of strained yogurt. Whisk until everything is well combined before adding in the eggs, 1 at a time, and whisking until well combined after each addition.
Then, sift in the flour and baking powder (do sift it in for easier mixing, otherwise the flour might just disappear into a corner of the batter as a huge pocket of flour) and whisk until you get a homogenous batter. Pour the batter over the crust and bake at 160 - 170 degrees Celsius for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on your oven and also how you will prefer the texture of your cake to be.
If you prefer the cake to be slightly underbaked in the centre like Japanese rare cheesecake, bake it at 160 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes and check for doneness by touching the surface of the cake. The top should be fully set and the centre (just the centre portion, not the sides!) should be softer to the touch and slightly jiggly.
If you prefer the cake to be fully baked through with the consistency of a fudgey brownie, bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out relatively clean.



The cake tasted super rich and decadent, and seriously I didn't think I need the biscuit base at all. Will definitely bake this another time without the biscuit base to save up some calories. HEH!

Till then,
Mia Foo

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Mia Makes: 2-Ingredient Sweet Potato Pancakes

It's been months since I'm stuck in a work-from-home situation, and I'm also seriously running out of #eatclean lunch ideas. These days I've been just chopping up anything I can find in the fridge (chicken breast or white fish, chickpeas, tomatoes, zucchini, cabbage, mushroom, broccoli etc) and just stir-frying them together with a pinch of salt, some pepper and a few (generous) squirts of sriracha sauce before piling them onto a plate alongside some steamed brown rice or sweet potato.
And then I though, if I can get a stack of pancakes by simply adding egg into mashed banana (recipe HERE), can I get some pancakes by adding egg to mashed sweet potatoes too?

So, let's find out!

To get a serving of 2 (thicc) pancakes, you'll need: 

1 small/medium sweet potato (about 130g)

1 large egg (~55g out of shell)

a pinch of salt

adapted from thekitchn.com

First up, wash and clean your sweet potato thoroughly if you wish to keep the skin on for the added nutrient. Otherwise, peel the potato and cut into smaller chunks such that they'll cook quicker. Steam the sweet potato until it's fork tender and then mash it up (with a fork or in a food processor) into puree. Leave the mashed sweet potato to cool down for a little before cracking in the egg and mixing until you get a thick paste. Add in a pinch of salt to taste.

Then, drop (and spread) the batter onto a heated and well greased frying pan and cook on low to medium heat until the bottom is set (took me about 3 to 4 minutes). Check by lifting the edges to see that it'll hold up and whether the cooked surface is browned to your liking, then carefully flip the pancake over (they're rather fragile and break apart quite easily) and cook on the other side until evenly browned.

And tadaa~ your healthy, flourless pancakes are done!

I ate mine alongside some black pepper baked fish and roasted vegetables with nutritional yeast. 

You cannot go wrong with roasting broccoli and tomatoes for your choice of vegetables for any meal of the day. 

Frankly speaking, texture wise I won't even call these a pancake... at all. In fact, if you don't mind being a little bit more generous with the oil during "frying", you'll end up with something more like a begedil or hashbrown. These "pancakes" are slightly crisp on the surface, but soft and mushy on the inside and taste exactly like sweet potato, so much so that I totally questioned myself on why I wasted so much time and effort (pre-steaming, mashing, mixing, and cooking again) to come up with the exact same taste I could have gotten with just steaming the sweet potato whole and just biting into it. 

But well, I guess it's all for the #eatingfortheinsta trend too, huh?

Till then,

Mia Foo

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