Creamy Organic Beefy Pumpkin Baked Pasta with Asparagus

I remember one of the fave dishes which I liked to cook when we first moved in to our place was baked rice & pasta. However, it has never reappeared from my kitchen since then. Oh ya! The reason being that I had a bad encounter which kind of discouraged me from preparing it again. Due to wear & tear, my oven glove 'gave way'. As I was removing a casserole from my oven, I felt a sudden sharp stinging pain. The 'thinned' glove wasn't protecting me from the scalding hot casserole. Instanteously, my fingers succuumbed to the heat & I dropped it, only missing the oven door by inches. There it was, our dinner & my fave casserole shattered, on the floor. Somehow, from then on, I stopped making them. Today's the day to conquer my phobia & I am glad I did.

Ingredients (serve 1 toddler + 1 adult):

100g of organic beef

100g of organic pumpkin, diced into big chunks

3 small purple onions

1 clove of garlic

3 stalks of thick asparagus, sliced

100g of organic pasta

1 tbsp of shredded organic cheddar cheese (exclude toppings for the pasta)

1 tbsp of shredded Parmesan cheese (exclude toppings for the pasta)

Directions:

1. Cook pasta in a pot of simmering water till just tender. Drain & leave aside.

2. Steam all the remaining ingredients, excluding the asparagus & cheeses, for 15 minutes (I'm using my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender).

3. Preheat oven to 200°C.

4. Once the 15 minutes is up, add the cheeses & blend to desired consistency. 

5. Pour over cooked pasta, add in the asparagus & mix well.

6. Transfer to ramekins then top generously with more of both cheeses (ratio of cheddar to parmesan is 1:4 as cheddar tends to be saltier).

7. Bake for 15 minutes or until top is golden. Scoop out & serve warm.

There's always a fail-proof way of knowing if my boy likes a particular dish - he'll ask for it the moment he has swallowed the previous mouthful. &, this beyond any doubt was one that he certainly enjoys..lolz! The sweet pumpkin sauce & the roasty fragrance from both the dual salty cheeses complemented each other well. Given a choice, I would have used mozzarella instead of cheddar but since it was an impromptu decision & I only had these 2 cheeses in my freezer, I just had to make do with them. Mmmm, imagine the cheese oozing in every mouthful...oooooh, NICE! Well, the mission during my next trip to the supermarket will definitely be to search for a healthy mozzarella ~.^

Beneficial Combinations:

Beef + Pumpkin = Tonifying spleen & replenishing qi as well as detoxify & alleviate pain

Garlic + Onion = Detoxification & anti-cancer effects

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!

B-L-D for my 15M5DO BB

B-reakfast: 

Bananacado milkshake with toasted wheat germ topped with Cheerios

My closest family & friends all know that I'm a very strict mummy when it comes to food. I didn't even give any commercial puffs (not even the organic ones) to BB during his 1st year. However, since he has already turned one, I'm gradually loosening the reins. Other than giving him the freeze-dried fruits, I decided that it's time to introduce breakfast cereals to him but definitely not the sugar loaded unhealthy ones. I've been following one of the mummies' posts on the Healthy Food for my Baby Facebook group & she shared that she's giving Organ Multigrain O's with Quinoa. It actually contains 80% wholegrains, 15% protein rich legumes & no added cane sugar. With all the healthy ingredients, there is not a single doubt that it fits all my criterias so I bought a box for BB. Oh boy, did he like it! It has since become one of his favourite breakfasts & a good snack to keep him occupied while we dine outside too. 

This particular morning, instead of giving him his usual Farmhouse Fresh Milk to go with it, I gave it a lil' twist. As I've some nicely ripen avocados & bananas, I blended an avocado, 2 medium-sized bananas with half a cup of milk. To further up the nutritional value, I added some toasted wheat germ to the milkshake. Last but not least, I topped with some Cheerios. BB, being the usual anti-fan of avocado, only opened his mouth after much scrutinising to ensure that there's a 'Ball, ball' (what he calls them for now) in each & every spoonful -_-lll His dear mummy here, on the other hand, prefers the plain bananacado milkshake..so good even on its own..slurp slurp!!

L-uncheon: 

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

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

5 tbsps soaked overnight in 100ml of water. Steam for 20 minutes then sprinkle some wolfberries on top of the rice & continue to steam for another 15 minutes.

Steamed corn-fed chicken thigh fillet with organic grapes

I marinated half a chicken thigh with 10 small grapes overnight. Steam for 20 minutes.

Steamed pomfret with organic cherry tomatoes

Drrizle some sesame oil over the pomfret & top with 10 cherry tomatoes cut into quarters or eighths depending on their sizes. Steamed for 15 minutes (10 minutes is usually enough but due to the recent massive deaths of fishes at the local kelongs, it was advised to cook fish thoroughly so I increased the steaming duration).

Steamed Australia asparagus

Shave off the fiberous exterior layer & dice 3 thick stalks of asparagus. Drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil & steam for 10 minutes.

The chicken marinated in the grapes had a light sweet taste to it. Another great tip learned from the same mummy mentioned above. BB finished almost all the rice, asparagus as well as 1 pomfret & 3/4 of the chicken. Not forgetting the bowl of grapes in chicken 'broth' (essence from the steamed chicken as I accidentally poured the water droplets formed on the lid during the steaming process into the bowl when I opened it) which he finished all ;)

D-inner: 

Organic rolled oats porridge with broccoli, free-range pork, organic capsicum & kampong egg (no picture as Mummy forgot to take..heehee)

Ever since BB prefers food with more texture, I've stopped blending his oats. Therefore, it takes a slightly longer time, about 15 minutes, to cook them nowadays. I brought to boil 3/4 cups of water & then added 3 tbsp of oats. Let it cook for about 5 minutes under low fire before adding 40g of minced pork, 1/6 diced capsicum & diced stalks of 3 florets of broccoli. Cook for another 5 minutes. Pour in the rest of the broccoli as well as the kampong egg. Stir in the egg & cook till its fully cooked. Serve warm.

Baked Frittatas

As a continuation to the post on Cheeses, I'd like to share one of my favourite snacks to bring out for BB on days when we're gonna be out for many hours - Frittatas! There're so many different flavours you can create from one basic recipe. Here u go!

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks or 1 egg (if your LO has passed the 3 or 4 days rule for egg white)

Any combinations of vegetables or meat you desired, finely diced or shredded

Shredded cheddar cheese

Virgin coconut oil (VCO)

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together, leaving some cheese for later.

2. Apply a thin layer of VCO on the muffin tray & pour the mixture into each individual hole, ensuring that there's sufficient egg to cover the ingredients. Top with more cheese.

3. Bake at 180°C for about 15 minutes till golden brown.

Tips: 

- the smaller they're, the nicer they'll taste.

- do not use muffin liners as they'll cause the frittatas to become soggy (refer to the last picture).

These are some of the varieties that I've created so far ;)

Organic potato, asparagus, carrot & onion

Carrot with organic spinach

Organic pea sprouts & parsnip

Salmon & peas

Organic cherry tomatoes & onion

Meals for my 1Y 24DO BB who has been feeling under the weather

Another gloomy day yesterday. The only thing that cheered me up was that BB was on the road to recovering from his intermittent fever & running nose which started since Monday. Thus, I cooked one of my favourite staples for him. Oats, fast to cook & very nutritious! I'll definitely be dedicating an entire blog on oats separately so do stay tuned (Oats) >_^

Ingredients (8MO & above):

3 tbsp of blended organic rolled oats

50g of organic minced beef

1 small chunk of cubed organic pumpkin

1 large floret of chopped broccoli 

3/4 cup of water (can vary the amount according to your desired consistency)

Directions:

1. Boil water then add in pumpkin & let it cook for about 10 minutes.

2. Add in the blended oats & the secret to achieve a smooth texture is to whisk it as it cooks.

3. Pour in the beef & use the whisk to separate it into smaller bits before adding the broccoli last. Simmer about 5 minutes for the beef & broccoli to be cooked. Serve warm.

As for dinner, drawing inspiration from almost out of nowhere, I whipped up a simple macaroni in egg flower soup for him. A perfect meal to warm up his lil' tummy on the chilly Friday evening. My new favourite pasta is the Bellamy's Organic Vegie Macaroni above. Love it's trio flavours! Best for days when I'm running out of vegetables in my fridge.

Ingredients (12MO & above but if changed to an age-appropriate pasta, can be used for 10MO & above BBs):

2 tbsp of macaroni

1 piece of cod fish (I bought a 1kg frozen pack of cod fish from NTUC which is already portioned out)

1 beaten kampong egg

1 stalk of white asparagus (a chance find at Nex's NTUC)

1.5 cups of water

Directions:

1. Boil water & cook cod fish for about 10 minutes. Remove cooked cod fish to cool.

2. Add macaroni & asparagus into the cod fish soup & cook for approximately 8 minutes. Meanwhile, flake the cod fish to check for any residual bones.

3. Pour egg in a slow & steady stream. Let it cook a while before stirring slowly to create the ribbon-like egg flower.

4. Mix in the cod fish & serve warm.

Let me share a little secret with you. It was actually my first attempt on creating egg flower & I'm glad I nailed it. Hee ^.~ For both meals, BB finished almost everything I gave him. I was thrilled to see that his appetite had more or less returned to normal.