My Sister's Signature Lasagne!

Can you imagine how much we've been craving for this signature dish of my sister's since we last had it more than 1.5 years ago? She last did it while I was having my confinement so I didn't manage to savour it then T.T She finally relented & promised to cook it for us after CNY. Upon witnessing the entire process, I finally realised why she has been putting it off for so long. It is indeed a long & tedious one. From the preparation of the meat & cream sauces, to the 'construction' & finally the baking, it takes almost 3 hours. Here's the recipe if u're up for the challenge ^.*

Ingredients for meat sauce:

100g of minced pork collar

1 tsp of minced garlic

3 medium tomatoes, mashed (I only used one but it turned out a tad too dry as no tomato purée was used for BB's portion)

1 tbsp of diced capsicum

2 tbsps of diced celery

2 tbsps of diced yellow onion

4 tbsps of shredded carrot

10 to 12 basil leaves

1 sprig of rosemary

1 piece of bay leaf

1/8 tsp of McCormick Italian seasoning (optional or you can add a dash in if you've any of the following dried herbs: marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savoury, sage, oregano & basil)

2 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

100ml of water (can substitute with 1 can of tomato purée if it's for adults as shown in the bottom picture below)

Directions:

1. Stir fry garlic, onion & celery in EVOO for 5 minutes. Add in remaining ingredients & simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes (1 hour for adults' version) till all are softened.

Ingredients for white cream sauce:

3/4 cup of milk

1 small piece of bay leaf

3/4 cinnamon stick

1 clove

3 black peppers

15g unsalted butter

2 tbsps of plain flour

1/4 cup of cheddar cheese

A dash of freshly grounded pepper

Directions:

1. Bring milk to boil then remove from fire. Put bay leaf, cinnamon stick, clove & black pepper in a coffee bag then add into the milk to infuse (optional if you're cooking just a single BB portion).

2. Melt butter over a small fire then sieve in the flour & whisk well.

3. Next, remove the pan from fire. Add in 1/4 cup of milk each time & whisk till smooth. 

4. Put pan over fire again & bring to boil.

5. Lastly, turn off the fire, add in the cheddar cheese & pepper then mix well.

Additional ingredients for construction:

5 lasagne sheets

1 tsp of EVOO

1 tbsp of Parmesan cheese

2 tbsps of cheddar

2 tbsps of mozzarella

2 tbsps of thickened cream

Directions:

1. Oil the bottom & sides of the aluminium tray then line it with half the lasagne sheets, ensuring some space between them as they'll expand during baking.

2. Top with half the meat sauce & some dollops of white cream sauce sparingly.

3. Add another layer of lasagne sheets & meat sauce.

4. Drizzle evenly with thickened cream followed by topping generously with cheddar, mozzarella & Parmesan cheeses.

5. Cover tightly with a piece of aluminium foil then bake for about 35 minutes.

6. Remove the aluminium foil to check that the lasagne sheets have softened & are cooked. Put it back into the oven for another 5 minutes or till the cheese has browned nicely.

This is heavenly <3 I'll definitely do it again but it's especially worth the effort if you are serving up a bigger portion. For a portion that would serve 2 adults & 1 toddler, please multiply all the ingredients by four. Bon appetit!

Beneficial Combinations:

Celery + Tomato = Strengthen stomach & helps digestion as well as lower blood pressure & lipids

Garlic + Onion = Detoxification & anti-cancer effects

Garlic + Pork = Eliminate fatigue, improve attention & help enhance immunity

Pepper + Pork = Favourable for digestion & absorption of nutrients

Pork + Tomato = For healthier stomach & digestion as well as invigorate spleen & replenish qi

Harmful Combinations:

Carrot + Onion = Easily lead to goiter (enlargement of thyroid)

Hearty ABC Soup for Luncheon!

Nothing new to most people & loved by most, it comes as no surprise that this is a soup commonly served in my kitchen. Hence, I'd like to share this recipe for the benefit of either first-time mummies or mummies who are new to the entire cooking experience.

Ingredients (serve 1 toddler + 1 adult):

2 pieces of probiotics fed chicken drumsticks

2 small carrots, sliced thinly

3 small organic potatoes, sliced thinly

1 handful of frozen peas

750ml of water

Directions:

1. Bring the water to a boil then add in carrots & potatoes. Simmer for 1 hour.

2. Add in the chicken & cook for another 1 hour.

3. 2 minutes before time is up, add in the peas. Serve warm.

I didn't serve this with rice as i know that my boy loves all the various ingredients & they would be pretty filling on their own. True enough, he finished everything to the last drop!

Beneficial Combination:

Carrot + Chicken = Promote the absorption & utilisation of protein

Homemade Chicken Mushroom Balls in Carrot, Spinach & Egg Drop Soup

Being inspired by another mummy blogger who has been using her homemade mushroom powder (her recipe can be found here) as a natural seasoning, an idea struck me. Adding freshly diced mushrooms to minced chicken sounds delicious to me too ;) The initial plan was to steam minced chicken mushroom with tofu but as it was quite a chilly day & I had some spinach in the fridge, I changed to cook one of my fave childhood soup, the spinach egg flower soup!

Ingredients (serve 1 toddler & 1 adult):

50g of minced probiotic fed minced chicken

1 big emperor shiitake mushroom (bought directly from Mycofarm), diced finely

1 tsp of Bob's Red Mill All Natural Cornstarch (new addition to my fridge & it's non-GMO)

1 tsp of sesame oil

750ml of water

1 medium sized carrot, sliced thinly

60g of organic baby spinach

1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Marinate minced chicken with sesame oil & cornstarch for at least 15 minutes while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

2. Bring water to a boil in a pot, add in the carrots & cook for 15 minutes.

3. Mix the diced mushrooms evenly into the chicken, roll into 12 twenty-cents balls before putting into the pot & cook for 10 minutes.

4. Add in spinach followed by pouring egg in a slow & steady stream. Let it cook a while before stirring slowly to create the ribbon-like egg flower.

5. Once the egg is cooked, can remove from heat (to prevent overcooking the spinach which can actually be eaten raw) & serve warm.

My lil' food critic seemed to like every single ingredient in the soup, even the spinach! He has never voluntarily pointed to any vegetable other than peas & asked for more but yet he did that more than once for the spinach (which is not even new to him). The chicken balls were tasty with the fragrant mushroom bits & even the meat texture is quite smooth, likely due to the addition of the cornstarch.

I also steamed a pomfret with some sesame oil with ginger strips. To be honest, my palate is getting used to appreciating the natural taste of food without any salt added. I've heard people commenting that the food would be tasteless. On the contrary, my taste buds have in fact become more sensitive to the different natural flavours embedded in each food. Sometimes when we dine out, I seem to be the only one who find the dishes too salty. Mummies & Daddies, you'all can try eating the same food as your little one too. Gradually, you'll become healthier with them too!

Beneficial Combinations:

Carrot + Chicken = Promote the absorption & utilisation of protein

Egg + Spinach = Improve the absorption of vitamin B12 as well as help to treat insomnia & upset caused by yin asthenia

Xmas Dinner: Beef Bolognese Linguine Made from Scratch

First blog for the year 2015!

Sorry my blog has been so quiet recently. My dearest BB was down with a very bad viral infection with high fevers that always spiked at night just before Xmas :'( While he was still recovering, his Daddy-O contracted conjunctivitis. & as I'm blogging this, I'm feeling under the weather myself..haiz! Not a very good start to the year but I'm sure it'll only get better from here on. Keep fighting!!!

We missed the Xmas party at our cousin's as we didn't want BB to spread the virus to the other young kids. In the end, we decided to do a mini celebration at home ourselves. My hubby picked his choice of bolognese spaghetti so he set out to buy the necessary ingredients. He actually searched high & low at a few NTUC & Cold Storage outlets before he managed to find all of them. 

I've made this dish countless of times & it has evolved over time. From the bottled sauces that I used to use before I was pregnant to canned tomatoes purée & whole tomatoes & to fresh tomatoes for BB's simplified version. To be honest, there's no turning back once you're gotten used to using fresh ingredients. Since it's for Xmas, it has to be even more special. Recipe was modified from Jamie Oliver's. Here it goes ;)

Ingredients (serve 2 adults):

300g of linguine

300g of fresh minced beef

7 medium tomatoes, puréed (refer to point 1 under Directions)

180g of sundried tomatoes

1 carrot, diced

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, chopped finely

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

200mg of red wine (can be replaced with water if this is to be shared with your LO)

1 tsp of MasterFoods Spaghetti Bolognese Blend

Parmesan, grated

Directions:

1. Bring to boil a pot of water. Use a knife to carve a shallow "X" on the bottom of each tomato (mine was done at the sides but think it would be better if it's carved at the bottom instead). Add them to the boiling water for about 30 seconds. Remove the blanched tomatoes & allow them to cool a few minutes till it's cool enough for you to gently pull away the skin at the X which will come off easily. Cut into quarters & purée them in a processor (I'm using my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender).

2. Add some EVOO to pan then add garlic, followed by carrot & onion. Stir occasionally till they start to soften.

3. Add the minced beef & break down any lumps with your spatula. Let it cook for a few minutes till it starts to brown then pour in the wine.

4. Let it bubble away while you drain & blitz away the sundried tomatoes in a processor. Add them to the pan with the puréed tomatoes & mix well. Cover with lid & cook for 1 hour.

5. About 10 minutes to the countdown, cook pasta in a pot of simmering water as per instructed till al dente. Drain & reserve some of the pasta water (which I forgot to do so..hee).

6. Add the cooked linguine to the sauce, add in grated Parmesan & mix well, adding a splash of the pasta water if it's too dry. Shave a little Parmesan on top & serve immediately.

This recipe is definitely a keeper! Hope you'all will enjoy it as much as we did ;)

Beneficial Combination:

Garlic + Onion = Detoxication & anti-cancer effects

Harmful Combination:

Carrot + Onion = Easily lead to goiter (enlargement of thyroid)

The Good, The Bad & The Evil

I remember I used to marvel at the soup bases that mummies shared on the 'Healthy Food for My Baby' Facebook group when I was prepping myself for BB's weaning. So many ingredients were used in preparing the soup base & they would add in even more ingredients when they use it to cook porridge for their lil' ones. 'The porridges will definitely taste delicious!' was the thought that went through my head.

As I was following the 3/4 days rule for BB, it seemed to take forever to introduce new foods to him. Gradually, I was able to add in more ingredients to his porridge after he passed the respective allergy tests. Unfortunately, my parents weren't too supportive of it eventhough I was only using no more than 3 to 4 vegetables then. They were concerned that some of the combinations may bring more harm than good. Despite me explaining to them that a lot of mummies are doing the same or even more than me, they still weren't convinced. To put their mind at ease, I told them that I'd do more research on it. I then decided to look for a book shared by one of the mummies which shows foods with a list of other foods which when consume together, will either bring about some health benefits or harmfulness. To my dismay, it wasn't carried by Popular. While continuing my search for it, I chanced upon a similar book at a small book sale in Bedok Mall's FairPrice Finest so I bought it. 

After reading through the book, I realised that my parents were indeed right. For example, ABC soup, a very common soup cooked by mummies, usually contains carrots, corns, yellow onions & potatoes. However, carrots should not be eaten together with onions / corn & corn should not go with potatoes as illustrated in the following 2 pictures. I've since formed a habit of referring to this book before cooking any meals for BB. 

For mild cases, nutritional values are reduced or indigestion may develop. For examples,

Tomato + Zucchini = Reduce nutritional values

Beef + Rice = Indigestion

For more serious cases, diarrhoea or vomitting or even adverse health effects in the long run may be experienced or in worst cases, even poisoning! 

Prawn + Pumpkin / Kiwi + Milk (especially for mummies who eat overnight oats) = Diarrhoea

Chicken + Sesame = Possibility of poisoning if consume frequently

Without a doubt, the soup or soup bases will be very sweet & flavourful by adding more ingredients. However, in this context, more doesn't always necessarily mean better. On the contrary, some foods actually complement each other so do try to pair them up. For examples,

Chicken + Mango = Increase nutritional values

Apple + Corn / Cabbage + Carrot = Boost immune system

Cod + Pumpkin = Prevent flu

Lettuce + Pork = Energise 

Moving forward, I'll indicate at the bottom of each post the nutritional benefits, if any, for the dishes I've whipped up. I'll also add them on for those recipes that I've already posted previously. Cheers to healthy eating!

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