Luncheon for my 16M2DO BB

Red cabbage with onion soup: Cut 1 yellow onion into halves & 1/4 red cabbage into small 1cm squares. Add all the ingredients to 1.5 litres of water & bring to boil. Then, simmer in low fire for 1 hour.

The following were cooked simultaneously in my Tecno 3-Tiers Electric Steamer.

Organic multi-grains rice (1 tbsp of barley, buckwheat, millet, red lentils, quinoa & short grain brown rice): Soak overnight in 120ml of water. Steam for 35 minutes.

Steamed probiotics fed chicken thigh meat with coconut water: Marinate chicken with 5 tbsps of fresh coconut water & steam for 20 minutes. 

Steamed grouper tail with broccoli & organic cherry tomatoes: Marinate grouper with some sesame oil. Cut cherry tomatoes into quarters & broccoli into small chunks. Steam for 15 minutes.

The steamed chicken with coconut water doesn't look that appetising but looks can be deceiving. The aroma of the coconut is actually infused into the meat & there's a light sweetness too. However, BB's favourites for the day were the tomatoes & cabbage. He would only open his mouth provided he sees a piece of tomato in each spoonful (~.~)lll He ate everything I gave him, inclduing half the fish. Unlike the 'Soup King' he usually is, he actually shook his head for soup & pointed to the cabbage instead. Thus, I topped up more cabbage & he finished them as well as the soup.

Another 35 Minutes Meal

Probiotics fed chicken, corn, red dates with onion soup: Cut 1 corn into thirds & 1 yellow onion into halves. Cut to the centre of each of the 8 red dates (I use 'ji xin zao') to allow more flavours to be infused into the soup. Add all the ingredients, including a piece of chicken thigh, to 2 litres of water & bring to boil. Then, simmer in low fire for 2 hours. Remove the chicken thigh after 30 minutes if you don't want it to be overly cooked & use scissors to cut down to the desired size.

The following were cooked simultaneously in my Tecno 3-Tiers Electric Steamer.

Organic ten multi-grains (Simple Natural brand found at most Cold Storage outlets): 5 tbsps soaked overnight in 100ml of water. Steam for 35 minutes.

Steamed organic 'xiao bai cai': 3 stalks of xiao bai cai cut into smaller pieces. Add some soup & steam for 5 minutes. 

Steamed pomfret with wolfberries: 1 small pomfret & a small handful of wolfberries. Steam for 15 minutes (10 minutes is usually enough but due to the recent incident of the enmasse deaths of fishes at the local kelongs, I was advised to cook the fish more thoroughly).

Nice sweet soup from the addition of chicken meat & red dates. BB finished up everything in the second picture above plus half the fish! He has always been a corn lover but given the fact that corns don't contain much nutrients, I'll usually give it to him only after he has more or less finished his meal. This was the second time I gave the entire piece of corn to him & he managed to eat more compared to the first time before dropping it on the floor. He even figured out by himself that he could suck on the core to get more sweetness out of it. It was quite a hilarious moment hearing him do that..hahaha!!!

My 15M20DO BB Self-Feeding Sweet Potato & Organic Apple Purée with a Spoon

I prepared one of BB's favourite purees for breakfast - steamed sweet potato with apple! Sweet potatoes are packed full of nutrients but can be a tad too dry though. Apples seem to be a perfect complement to them as they introduce more moisture to the purée. This purée can also be added into oats porridge, used as a dip or even as a jam to be spread onto bread.

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato, peeled & cubed

1 organic apple, cubed

Some toasted wheat germ

Directions:

1. Steam the sweet potato cubes for 10 minutes.

2. Add the cubed apples & steam for another 5 minutes.

3. Blend (I'm using my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender), top up with wheat germ & serve warm.

After feeding BB a couple of mouthfuls, I noticed that the mixture sticks on to the spoon which made it an excellent choice for him to learn how to spoon feed himself. I hesitated no further to let him give a go at it. He did manage to scoop some to feed himself but still tends to fall back using his hands many a times. It was a wonderful sensory exploration experience for him but I couldn't say the same for myself. Yes, you probably guessed it. The cleaning up of the aftermath was certainly no joke. As the purée dried up, it actually stuck to whatever surface it was on, which happened to be almost everywhere..lolz! Straight to the showers he went, of course. Well, it could have been worse, right? At least it wasn't oily..hee ~.<

Organic Cheddar Cheesy Scrambled Eggs with Oven Baked Shiitake Mushrooms for BB

The packet of preservative-free pork chipolatas which I have in my freezer had been put to use at last! I simply grilled them in the oven for 20 minutes, turning them halfway through. Verdict? They tasted as good as their preservatives loaded counterparts, well marinated & juicy! &, the best part is that I don't have to feel guilty indulging in one of our favourite foods as I sunk my teeth into each bite d(~.<) I contemplated to let BB try some of it but decided against it after discussing with my hubby as we felt that it may still be a tad too salty for him now. One day, but not today . . . sorry, son!

I also attempted cheddar cheesy scrambled egg for the first time using my WMF long-forsaken pan. Having used non-stick pans for seemingly forever, I was quite apprehensive that it might turned out disastrous. Fortunately, all ended well.

Organic cheddar cheesy scrambled eggs: Beat 6 eggs with some shredded cheddar cheese. Heat up some extra virgin coconut oil till hot. Pour in the eggs & lower the fire to lowest heat. Use a wooden spatula to push inwards to the centre from around the edges. Switch off the fire when the eggs are softly set yet slightly runny (that's how we like ours done) & scoop out the adults' portions. Continue to stir fry the remaining eggs till fully cooked for BB. Serve immediately.

Oven baked shiitake mushrooms: Clean & cut the mushrooms. Drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil & sprinkle some freshly grounded black pepper. Mix well & bake for 20 minutes.

Tadah! BB's healthier version of all-day breakfast ;)

Another Source of Good Quality Meats in SG

It had been a pretty eventful & tiring week.

Last Saturday: BB's 1st visit to Singapore Zoological Gardens & BBQ birthday party for our niece

Last Sunday: Shopping with PoPo for her birthday present at Poh Heng followed by Ikea & dinner at Chin Lee Restaurant

Wednesday: Morning 'workout' at Vivocity's Polliwogs, luncheon gathering with some July 2013 babies & their Mummies & then shopping & buffet dinner at Furama City View with parents-in-laws

Thursday: Hi-tea at Shangri-La's Rose Veranda with my BFFs cum a play date for BB

Friday: Wedding dinner at M Hotel

Saturday: Brunch at Backstage Cafe & shopping with Daddy-O at Pasar Bella, Marina Square & Suntec City

Hmmm..so many things to blog about but my eyes can barely open (@.@) I'll just share my loots from Pasar Bella for tonight. Running out of meats for BB, I told my hubby that I'd like to make a trip to Pasar Bella to see what I can find there & I was totally blown away. James' Butchery & Co has a wide selection of good quality meats to choose from & the picture below only shows about half of what they carry which excludes their range of steaks as well as sausages!

I expected to find them more expensive than other places but was pleasantly surprise. Other than the organic minced beef which is $0.29 more per 100g, the rest of the meat I bought was actually cheaper here.

Organic minced beef - $3.59 / 100g

Probiotic fed bone in chicken leg - $2.09 / 100g (cheaper by $0.21)

Probiotic fed boneless chicken leg - $2.29 / 100g (cheaper by $0.51)

Probiotic fed minced chicken - $2.79 / 100g (cheaper by $0.01)

Australian corn fed minced pork - $2.79 / 100g (cheaper by $1.84)

I like the fact that I can get everything I need in one location (including pork which is harder to find). The only problem is that I stay all the way in the east :/ I guess I'll only be able to come meat shopping here again when I'm in the vicinity. 

B-L-D on 30th October 2014

B-reakfast: 

Cottage cheese topped with Cheerios & organic raisins

L-uncheon: 

The following were cooked simultaneously in my Tecno 3-Tiers Electric Steamer & shared between the 2 of us.

Organic ten multi-grains (Simple Natural brand found at most Cold Storage outlets) with red dates

5 tbsps soaked overnight in 100ml of water. Add some chopped red dates on top of the rice & steam for 35 minutes.

Steamed organic tofu with minced free-range pork, broccoli, organic zucchini & wolfberries

Marinate pork with some sesame oil, mix in the chopped zucchini & spread evenly on top of the tofu. Top with some wolfberries & steam for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli & steam for another 5 minutes.

A simple dish with lots of nutritional value! A pity the pork's texture is a bit on the tough side. I'm probably too used to my mum's smoother pork marinated with corn starch. With so many genetically-modified corn products in the market, I guess I'll have to start my search for the organic version. Hopefully, I can lay my hands on one soon.

Steamed 'mo pei yu' (pronounced in Cantonese) with shiitake mushrooms

Drrizle some extra virgin olive oil over the fish & top with sliced mushrooms. Steam for 15 minutes (10 minutes is usually enough but due to the recent incident of the enmasse deaths of fishes at the local kelongs, I was advised to cook the fish more thoroughly and so I increased the duration of the steaming).

D-inner: 

Organic pasta in yellow onion, organic pumpkin & baby spinach sauce with salmon

Cook pasta till al dente. Steam salmon, cubed pumpkins & halved onion for 10 minutes then add spinach & steam for another 5 minutes. Remove salmon before blending (I'm using my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender) the remaining ingredients. Pour sauce over the cooked pasta, top with salmon & serve immediately.

Chicky in Creamy Potatoes with Asparagus Soup

I recently bought some organic Dutch Cream potatoes. &, as the name suggests, they've a creamy yellow flesh. Thus, it struck me that I could try cooking a creamy potato soup. 

Ingredients:

1/2 of a corn-fed chicken thigh fillet

2 small organic Dutch Cream potatoes, skinned & cut into 2cm chunks

1 medium-sized yellow onion, cut into quarters

3 stalks of thick asparagus, 'skinned' & cut into 2cm long sticks

1/4 cup of Farmhouse Fresh Milk

Organic cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Steam the chicken, potatoes & onions (I'm using my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender) for 10 minutes.

2. Add in the asparagus & steam for another 10 minutes.

3. Remove chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces. 

4. Pour in the milk & blend with the cooked ingredients. Stir in cheddar cheese, top with chicken & serve warm.

It turned out pretty successful for a first attempt \(^_^)/ The cheddar cheese actually added a different dimension to the overall taste. This recipe is definitely a keeper & by reducing or omitting the quantity of milk, it can probably even double-up as a pasta sauce too. As usual, my lil' connoisseur drank up every last drop of it!