Highlight of Yesterday's Luncheon: Steamed Tofu with Minced Pork &Wolfberries

Corn onion soup with xiao bai cai: Cut 1 organic corn into thirds & halve 1 yellow onion. Add them to 750ml of water & bring to boil. Then, simmer in low fire for 2 hours. 5 minutes before time is up, add in the organic xiao bai cai.

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

Organic brown rice: 4 tbsps of organic short grain brown rice + 1 tbsp of organic brown rice soaked overnight in water to remove the phytic acid. Pour away the soaked water & rinse a couple of times before adding 80ml of water.Steam for 35 minutes.

Steamed pomfret with organic extra virgin coconut oil: Top 1 pomfret with some ginger strips then pour 1 tbsp of EVCO over it. Steam for 15 minutes.

Steamed organic tofu with Australian corn fed minced pork & wolfberries (yields 3 portions of what is shown in the picture below): 100g of pork marinated with 1 tbsp of Bob's Red Mill All Natural Cornstarch & 2 tbsps of EVCO for at least 30 minutes. Mince 1 pack of tofu & mix well with the pork. Divide equally into 3 small bowls (alternatively, can use just 1 big bowl) & top with 1 tsp of wolfberries (or 3 tsps) for each. Steam for 20 minutes.

The tofu dish turned out to be pleasantly light & we both love it! Although this is a very simple dish, one can actually distinctly taste the individual flavours from all the different ingredients. The light sweetness from the pork, the clean tofu taste, aroma from the EVCO & not forgetting the natural sweetness from the wolfberries. I could barely believe it when BB, an avid soup lover, actually chose the tofu over the soup. As usual, he finished his normal portion of rice, 1/2 the fish, 2/3 of a corn, 1 1/3 bowl of tofu then down a bowl of soup ~.^

Beneficial Combinations:

Corn + Onion = Promote the production of body fluid & saliva to relieve thirst as well as lower lipids (fats in blood)

Tofu + Xiao Bai Cai = Promote the production of body fluid & saliva as well as moistening & remove heat from the lung to relieve cough

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

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!!!

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.