Tag: cooking/baking

Midnight Kitchen

Easy 3 ingredient banana chocolate oatmeal cookies

Jessica ChiangLeave a comment

The countdown to saying goodbye to Kuwait has begun. The original school year was supposed to go until June 11, but now with the COVID-19 school closures, we will finish on May 7. It is hard to believe that I will be wrapping up 2 years of life in Kuwait in about a month!

That being said, I’m now trying to clear all the cupboards and finding ways to use up ingredients that have been stashed away for rainy days or “what if” occasions. Truth be told, it is a delicate balance between “I must use up all the ingredients and eat everything before I move” and “I should really ration out my food in case there I run out of food” apocalypse hoarding mentality. The hoarder mentality is especially strong these days, as our neighborhood Mahboula is now “the new Wuhan” and blocked off from other areas, which is where we typically go grocery shopping. There are also renewed talks of having a 24 hour curfew for all areas now.

Long story short, I stumbled across an almost empty box of oatmeal, had some overripe bananas, and wanted to make something with these ingredients, so I made super easy 3 ingredient banana oatmeal cookies!

Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups oatmeal
  • 2 medium bananas
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chips (I didn’t have chocolate chips so I chopped up a chocolate bar that was lying around. I did say I was trying to use everything I had, right?)

Recipe (from Clean and Delicious on Youtube):

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mash bananas in a medium bowl. Add in oats and chocolate chips
  3. Place onto cookie sheet. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until set through and lightly golden. Cool and enjoy!

Really, it doesn’t get any easier than this! When I first tried it, I was a little surprised because they aren’t fluffy like you expect a cookie to be. But since no baking soda or leavening agent was added, it totally makes sense. The texture is more like a chewy banana bread, and it grows on you. The best part is all the ingredients are super healthy and you have no guilt eating them =)

In fact, they were so tasty that I went out and bought more oatmeal to make more cookies, which completely defeated the purpose of trying to use up all the ingredients. But now, I will have more delicious banana oatmeal cookies to indulge on.

Life in Kuwait

Comfortable in your own skin

Jessica ChiangLeave a comment

Social distancing or self-quarantining at home provides a lot of time to self reflect. A lot of time. I’m actually quite content to be quarantined here in Kuwait, because honestly, my life pre and post-quarantine has not changed too much. There isn’t too much to do here to begin with, so I have to self-entertain a lot. I think it would be a lot more difficult to be forced to stay at home in a more exciting city, such as Shanghai or Chicago.

I’m actually quite enjoying myself these days and am slowly trying to make better use of my time. First of all, I started this blog! I’ve been thinking about and saying I’d start a blog for years, but I never get around to it, not because I don’t have the time, but out of sheer laziness. Oops. 

I’ve also started working out again. I’ve worked out about 3 times in the last week, which is more than I’ve worked out in a long long time so I feel pretty good about myself. I’ve been doing Barre exercises at home by watching Youtube videos. I recently found Barre Centric and am really enjoying their videos! I like Barre because it is so fast-paced, and I hate working out so I lose interest very quickly and count down the minutes until the end of class. Having a class that switches up moves every 8-16 counts makes time pass by so much faster. 

I’ve also started to cook again! I always make my own food, but I realize that I haven’t actually COOKED in a long time. I’ve just been heating things up or boiling things and adding ready-made sauces to dishes, not actually making my own sauces or combining different ingredients.

I also tried to bake my own bread, which kind of failed again. I’ve tried baking bread in Kuwait about 4 times, but for some reason, it is not rising as it should and the bread comes out a lot more dense than I’d like it. And I know it’s not the recipe because my mom tried it and got great results. Sigh. I blame the oven. My apartment here is equipped with a gas oven that you actually have to light with a flame, and it just doesn’t have the same effect. First of all, I can’t control the temperature, really, and the bread doesn’t actually brown. Even if it is fully cooked, it comes out looking very pale and unappetizing. I did buy more flour and will probably give it another go at some point. 

One recipe. Two very different outcomes.

What are you all doing to pass time in self-quarantine? Will take hobby recommendations!