Yummy Healthy Breakfast!

It has been two months and we are still not bored with soaked oats! It is easy to prepare, very tasty and healthy. I don't like oats in any form. Too mushy for me. When I read about soaked oats.... I was very skeptical but for the sick of good health I gave it a try. 

I made a small portion for Reese and myself. First spoonful tasted good and then I watched Reese took his first bite.... he said yummy...... :) Then the next time I added a teaspoon of peanut butter and it tasted heavenly!! 

Here is a simple recipe I used for the soaked oats. You can top it with any kind of fruits and nuts and don't forget to add a dollop of peanut butter and some honey to taste.

Soaked oats:

3 tablespoon of rolled oats

1 tablespoon of chia seeds (optional)

2 tablespoon of greek yogurt or regular yogurt

Some milk to soak the oats and chia seeds

A pinch of salt/cinnamon (optional)

Mix everything and keep it in the fridge overnight. Add a dollop of peanut butter or honey (I use Manuka honey) or both with a some cut fruits before serving. 

Our favourite combination is grapes, jackfruit, apple, banana and a sprinkle of walnut pieces. 

I did a rough estimation.... it should be between 250-300 calories for each serving. 

Soaked oats has a lot of benefits.... lazy to write.. just go google k?

Chia seed is a super food. It is a great source of healthy omega-3 fats and fibre and has lots of other minerals. 

Peanut butter is actually a form of good fat! 

This bowl of goodness is just too good not to have! Try it..... :)

Reese: Mum you are crazy! But it's ok. I like.......

Me: Yeah right! You wanted to lick all the peanut butter from the jar right? 

Reese: Ahuh.... *sheepish grin*

Eating Healthy

Reese was fully on breast milk for 6 months. I introduced organic cereal and foods after that. I have always ensured that Reese's food is healthy and nutritious. After his 1st birthday, he started to consume some table food. Reese was a fussy eater and only took western food until the age of 2+ was he willing to eat Chinese food! 

Then I started to slack.... between age 4 and 5, Reese took a lot of fast food and outside food like McDonalds and noodles from hawker stalls. I felt bad and started to reduce outside food. Reese has learned to take more vegetables. I am happy. Thank God he loves fruits. From young he would take a lot of fruits daily. Since last year, I started making juices for the whole family and try to get them to take nuts, seeds and even green juice. Hopefully we will continue to do so! Reese has been healthy and has not fallen sick for the past year.... we do not take supplements and prefer getting them from our food. :)

Here are some of the regular juices and food Reese takes:

1 Dragon fruit, 1big banana, 6 strawberries, 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt, 1 cup of milk, 1 teaspoon of chia seed per glass. Blend everything together and yields 3 glasses of smoothie. 

 2 Pomegranate, 3 oranges, 1 grapefruit, 2 tangerines, 3 carrots. Juice them.

This is a great combination and it taste quite good. Beetroot, strawberries, oranges and carrots. :)

 

Breakfast - Dragon fruit, grapes, walnuts, flax seed and strawberry yogurt

This is also a great combination, grapes, strawberries, banana and blueberry yogurt. Do add chia seeds and some nuts.

Reese do not snack on biscuits or junk food, I always pack fruits for snacks. Grapes and banana are great when you are outside.

Stews are great because it has lots of vegetables! :) This is lamb stew with brown rice. Very easy to make. You need lamb cubes, vegetables of your choice, beef/chicken stock, onions and garlic, bacon, thyme and bay leaves and salt and pepper to taste. Coat lamb cubes in with flour and lightly brown them, fry bacon until crisp, fry onions and garlic. Put meat, onion and garlic into stock and cook for an hour then add vegetables and herbs and cook for another 40 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Brown rice porridge. Chicken stock, carrots, potatoes, onions, leeks and mince pork/chicken (sometimes I will use roasted pork. It taste even better!). So simple and healthy. Reese doesn't like to take soup and this is one way to get him to take some!

Healthy muffins, I used unbleached flour, less brown sugar and butter. My recipe for banana muffins: 3 ripe bananas, 1 egg, two 1inch cube butter (melted), 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, 1.5 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 cup milk, a little less than half cup brown sugar. Mix mashed bananas, egg, butter, vanilla essence and milk together. Mix all dried ingredients together and gradually mixed it with the wet ingredients. Then put the mixture into the baking tray and bake it for 15 to 20 minutes at 190 degrees. You can add some nuts and chia/flax seeds.... 

**It is important to have a juicer and blender that are easy to clean. It motivates you to juice or make smoothies daily! For smoothies, it takes less than 10 minutes for me to prepare and 5 minutes to wash. Juices, 10 mins to prepare and less than 10 minutes to wash. Chia seeds has no taste when added to juices or yogurt. It is a superfood bursting with nutrients. It is crunchy like kiwi fruit seeds. Do try!

I love making 1 pot meals because I can add lots of vegetables and save a lot of time and washing up too! :)

Healthy Food

When Reese was a baby and toddler, I put in a lot of effort to make nutritious food for him; only home cooked food. The past 2 years, due to laziness and work, Reese took a lot more outside food. The only thing that did not change since he started solid food is consuming lots of fruits. He loves fruits. Everyday he will have at least 2 to 3 kinds of whole fruits. He doesn't quite like vegetables but now he will take broccoli, cauliflower, french beans, carrots and 2 to 3 types of leafy greens cooked in soup. Here are some simple nutritious snack to share with your children. Takes 5 minutes to make and clean up!

Breakfast - Dragon fruit, grapes, banana and mango flavored yogurt.  I rotate different fruits and yogurt flavor  every week. Reese will have this once or twice a week. You can also add some cereal for the extra crunch! My husband who doesn't like yogurt finds this pretty good. :)

Green smoothie. Reese loves to help prepare the drink.

We use raw baby spinach, banana and mango to cover the raw taste of spinach.  Sometimes I will add cherry tomatoes  or zucchini. We blend the ingredients and add a little bit of water and ice. It's actually yummy. :)

The green color put me off initially but it actually tasted good. All natural and very healthy. 

Sunday Roast

One of our favourite meals! It's always very satisfying to see everyone eagerly consuming this in the shortest of time! :)

Roast Chicken and potatoes with Thyme and Rosemary

Healty salad with lettuce, grapes and apple in apple cider and mayonnaise dressing

See the garlic? It goes very well with the roast

Yummy....

See Reese's hand with the fork? Can't wait to eat!

The way he eats the chicken.... it's like he hasn't eaten for days!

So hungry.... hehehe

Me.... all smiles because I feel like a successful wife and mother at that moment...hahaha

Food Marathon

What is great about Penang? Food, food and more food! :)

Thanks to parents in law, hubby and I managed to go eat, watch movie and do some shopping. It was really good. I checked my weight this morning and it was 2 kgs more! *sigh* Will have to ride the bicycle again but it's worth it. Hahaha....

Let's see, on the day of arrival, after unloading our luggage, we headed straight to our favourite 'Char koey teow' stall in Lorong Selamat. We had char koey teow, laksa, popiah and ice kacang. Mmmm...it's heavenly. Then went home for a short rest and off we go to have 'Ju char' (rice and dishes) at a seafood place at WeldQuay. Sorry, I can't remember the name of the shop but the food was not up to standard even though it is very famous. Next day, we had 'chee cheong fun' with really yummy sauce that has a hint of peanut butter in it. In the afternoon, can't remember what I ate but dinner was good. We went to Fettes Park for some really good western food hawkers' style. Believe it or not, after that we went to roam around and ended up eating Kimberly Street's Char Koey Teow and then discovered a nice 'Koay Chap' (Noodles with eggs, pig's intestines, duck meat and other stuff). Crazy huh? We were so stuff that we couldn't sleep!

Monday was another day of eating. We had our favourite Nasi Kandar at Campbell Street then we went for a movie at QueensBay Mall. In the evening, we went to have dinner at New Lane. Hawker food. We had 'Chee Cheong Juk' (Porridge with pig's intestine). Tuesday... hehe... another day of hawker food.... So as you can see... we really had a good time of eating, relaxing, shopping and some couple time. Thanks to my in laws for helping us to take care of Reese.

Lorong Selamat 'Char Koey Teow' - RM6.50

Laksa - RM4.00 (not the best but it was quite good)

Ais Kacang RM3.50 (The best is at New World Park)

Fettes Park Western Food

Oxtail Soup - RM7.00

Hubby enjoying the oxtail, it was good.

Lamp chop- RM13.00 (Quite good)

Chicken Cordan Bleu- RM9.00 (This is good with cheese and ham wrapped in the chicken)

Koay Chap stall at Kimberly Street

Check out the yummy food...

Porridge with lots of ingredient - RM5.00

Famous Chee Cheong Chok from New Lane

Our favourite Nasi Kandar Stall at Campbell Street

Their Mutabak is really good

Lots of dishes to choose

Our favourite is the Parsembor (not sure how you spell it) , fish curry and kurma chicken.. Sorry... forgot to take picture only remembered after we finish the food... hehehe... It's alot cheaper to eat nasi kandar in Penang

Cheese cake from my in laws. It was for our 5th Wedding Anniversary

A family photo with my in laws and brother in law and his wife

Food that fills the tummy and nourishes the body and mind!

I am happy to say that Reese is eating more variety of food these days. He is still picky with food but definitely knows how to go for the best! :)

It's alot easier for me to plan his weekly meals as he is more open to try new food. I try to give him home cooked food as much as I can and outside food is limited to weekends only. His food is still cooked exclusively every day or for some food like his favourite mushroom soup will be done weekly and store in the freezer.

My son is now 17kgs and he is almost two and half years old. He has a very solid body and a nice round tummy. :)

Food he takes on a week day:

Breakfast

1. Cereal (Honey stars/Honey coated corn flakes/ Honey oats corn flakes) with banana and milk.

2. Cream crackers (4 to 5 pieces) dipped in Milo followed by fruits

3. Two pieces of toast with butter and Milo/fresh milk followed by fruits

4. A cheese stick and digestive biscuits (2 pieces) with fresh milk followed by fruits

5. Yogurt (Imported children yogurt only) and fruits

Main Meals for Lunch and Dinner

1. Peanut butter and banana sandwich and fresh milk

2. Mee suah/mee hun soup(ikan bilis/chicken stock) with an egg, chicken pieces, shredded carrot and cabbage

3. Fried Dorry fish finger (lightly marinated with salt) and then dipped into egg and flour mixture and fruit

4. Chicken and potato in oyster sauce dish with rice

5. Cream sauce pasta with tomatoes and ham/bacon

6. Turkey ham sandwich and fruit

7. Creamy mushroom soup (with blended broccoli, carrot, potato and fish) with a piece of toast

8. Roast chicken and potatoes with herbs and lemon

9. Fish porridge (Once is a while only because he doesn't really like it now)

10. Fried chicken drumstick and thigh and fruits.

11. Some Chinese soup that he takes with his main meal includes lotus soup, old melon soup, 'sai yong choi' soup, white carrot soup and abc soup.

12. Macaroni and Cheese (with broccoli and ham)

Snack Time

1. Fruits

2. Yakult/Vitagen/Chocolate milk/Fruit juice

3. Cheese sticks

4. Once in a while some biscuits

Fruits that Reese takes - Papayas, bananas, fragrant pears, oranges, mangoes, grapes, water melons, apples and tangerines.

Meals for the weekend (usually eat out at least for 1 meal a day)

1. Fish ball noodles

2. Pork noodles

3. Fish and Chips (Fish and Co or Manhattan Fish Market) / Chicken fingers (Fridays or Chilis)

4. Mushroom soup or any other cream base soup

5. Bah Kut Teh :)

6. Creamy Pasta

7. Mash potatoes from KFC

8. Fried Chicken from KFC

9. French fries from McD

10. If we go for steamboat, Reese will take noodles with fish fillet and soup

Reese doesn't take any dessert like ice-cream or cakes. He doesn't really like them and we do not give him any junk food like Twisties or chips. So far everyday he will take at least 2 to 3 different types of fruits with his meals which are filled with protein, carbo, fiber and lots of minerals and vitamins.

Reese loves his food with taste and herbs. Dislike bland stuff.

As a mother and wife, I will cook anything for my boy and hubby. It's always a joy to watch them eat healthily and happily.

Food update

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

So happy... why? because Reese finally takes porridge! After the HK trip, I tried to make mince pork with carrots porridge last week Saturday and he actually took half a bowl. I was so encouraged. My boy has adult taste bud. He likes his porridge with spring onion, a little pepper and a little sesame oil. Oh...also a little ginger. Those baby porridge he didn't like. Weird huh?

Anyway, yesterday I tried again. This time, I use slices of fish. Wallah..... He eagerly open his mouth and kept asking for porridge and finish a big bowl of it! Phew..... so happy.... :)

I always wonder how you can make just enough porridge for a little one without having to waste....usually... you will end up with more than enough for a little one to finish in one day. So this is what I did and it works really well. Try it.

First - cook porridge in normal plain water. Just put enough for 1 person and make sure it's not watery.

Second - Once porridge ready, add in chicken stock to the thick porridge and let it simmer.
Third - Add in meat and vegetables and let it simmer and keep stirring. If your child likes watery porridge, than keep stirring and add chicken stock until desire texture.
Lastly - After a good 40 minutes, I have a yummy bowl of porridge just enough for Reese to consume for 1 meal. :) No wastage.

I always prepare a big pot of stock, usually once a week and store them in containers and freeze it. I uses them to make Reese's meals. Very convenient.

Oh, Reese also likes home made fried chicken. So for one of the menu, he will take one big drumstick minus the skin and a bowl of soup. :)

Latest Menu

Fried Chicken with a bowl of soup.
Fish porridge

The Usual Menu

Creamy mushroom/fish/vege soup with abc pasta(All time favourite)
Maccoroni and Cheese (Kraft-Premium Original Mac & Cheese) (Current favourite)
Cream sauce pasta (don't like it much these days)
Mee Suah soup
Peanut butter and banana sandwich
Breakfast cereal with milk
Digestive biscuits with milk
Yogurt
Banana(favourite), mango, papaya and grapes (used to take alot but lately...don't really like)

New Snacks

Any juice that is sweet (he never like sweet drinks except barley...how he is more willing to try new things)

Chocolate - Thanks to Kevin Cheah's yummy milk chocolate, Reese actually likes it. But we hardly give him, not good...hehe

Prunes - He likes it alot at one time.
Chocolate milk - He likes it but doesn't take alot.

I still don't give him junk food and sweets.

Outside Food

KFC - chicken and mash potato (can finish 1 to 2 drumsticks without skin and a regular mash or at times just one large mash potato)
Fish and Co - mushroom soup/fish chowder and fish (Usually Reese takes a kid's meal that comes with fish and chips, he will finish the fish and extra from my fish and also a bowl of soup. He doesn't take the fries)
MacD - Fries
Chillis - Macoroni and Cheese and chicken fingers
Italianis - Cream sauce pasta

Hawkers - Any clear soup noodles. As long as he has his mee and kueh teow. I know the yellow noodles are not good, so I am slowly adding kuew teow(flat rice noodles) and hope that he will take more of that.

So now, when we eat out, especially hawker, we have more choices, just have to make sure there is noodle soup! It's definately less expensive than going to out usual restaurant or fast food. :)

I think it's getting easier.... when it comes to food and also with the help of PSP we can have a more relax meal too.

Mushroom Soup My Way

Since Reese loves to drink mushroom soup. I had no choice but to learn how to cook it! Hope you like my recipe!

Base stock - Chicken stock with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. Cook the stock for 1 hour plus and then separate the veges for blending later. The stock can be put into little tubs and be frozen.

What you need for the soup:

Fresh mushroom - 4 button mushrooms diced.

A little bit of onion and garlic.

A little bit of butter.

A little bit of dry thyme

A piece of fried fish ( I usually use kurau) cut it up into little cubes

Some vege (from base stock) blended

Base stock

Half a cup of whipping cream

First fry the onion and garlic with butter. Then add in the mushroom and fry till fragrant. Add the fish and the blended vege, base stock and thyme. Let it boil for 10 to 15 minutes and then add in the whipping cream. Boil another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. That's it!

You can add pasta to the soup to make it a full meal else take the soup with bread. If you want the soup to be thick, you can add more blended vege or a bit of flour.

Hope you like it.

Today's menu.....

Breakfast - milk and peanut butter bread - successful

Lunch - Mash potatoes cook in chicken stock with vege and fried fish - failure

*Reese ate mostly fish but very little of the mash and it took an hour to feed him again!

tea - Mango - successful

Thank God that he still likes his fruits!

mmmm.... tonight is going to be pasta I guess....

Difficult!

Well, ever since I started cooking for my little king.... besides my tomato/fish pasta... he doesn't like the other stuff I cooked for him.

Second day I cooked chicken stew for him... didn't like it... ate abit of it with rice and rejected the rest. Then had to fry fish for him to eat with potatoes and carrots...

Another day... tried cooking cream pasta.... didn't like it either... force him to eat...ate about half...ate the salmon and some pasta..that's it.... again... failure... tried fish with chips.... ate the fish... didn't like the chips (when we are out at fast food joints... he will take abit of the chips!)

Another day... cooked spaggetti with shredded carrots and zuchinies and fish.... seems to be ok...ate most of it... I really don't know what to cook anymore... nothing seems to really work....

Today...I got up at 6.30am to cook 3 different things for Reese. Tomato pasta sauce, spaggetti with carrots and zuchinies and fish.. and I even fried rice ( he eats fried rice outside). And today lunch...gave him the rice.. rejected it!!! :( sadlah..... I really am not happy.... so he ate spaggetti..... That took an hour to feed him!!! I am trying to include as much vege as possible..but that seems to be harder than I thought. I am just worried that my Reese will become thin... which is not a pretty sight... now he is neither fat nor thin... just nice...very solid... I like it that way.....

Since not much vege, the only thing I can do... let him eat as much fruits as he can.... lately... he is taking yogurt again... which is good. Oh... he is also taking peanut butter with bread. He likes it very much.

His stool also not as soft as before... use to be like a very wet mash.... but now...it's like in a small rolls like most of us I guess... hehe...gross huh? but that's what is itloh....

Will have to crack my head for more recipes....actually there are many...just that... I don't have that much time to do it... I mean...I am working... and ....well...susahlah...but I will try my best...

Reese likes the pasta!

Yessss!! My boy likes my pasta...phew...was really afraid that he might reject it. He enjoys it so much that he will demand for it the moment he finished chewing and swallowing them in his mouth! He even directs my hand to his mouth when I feed him.... hehe...

It's so satisfying when you see your child enjoying his food.

Tomorrow I am going make fish fingers with tomatoes and spinach. Will write the recipe down the moment I figure out how I want to cook the dish. Hope he likes it! Can't wait!

Reese refused to eat his food!

Mmm..... finally... at 1 year 4 months and 17 days, Reese finally rejected his blended vege/fish with cereal and milk food. That means... I will have to really cook his meals for him. It also means a change in routine for me again and definately more work involved in food preparation but I am excited!! Already cracking my head what kind of meals I am going to serve my little king. Something yummy and nutritious as well. Not going to be easy...at least at the beginning... hehe..

Last night.. at about 9.40pm... I cooked pasta sauce for Reese. Today he is going to have pasta for lunch and dinner. What's in my pasta sauce?

Fish with tomato sauce pasta

1/4 onion

1/3 carrot

1 stick of celery

1 can of tomato paste/puree

a pinch of salt

a pinch of basil

a tea spoon of butter

a tea spoon of olive oil

a pinch of oregano

a piece of Kurau fish (marinate with salt/black pepper)

Dice the vegetables finely and boil till soft. Put aside.

Lightly fry the fish with olive oil and put aside.

For the sauce, lightly fry the onions.

Put in the vegetables and tomato sauce, Let it shimmer for 5 to 7 minutes then add in fish (mash it/cut it into small pieces), salt,basil and oregano.

Let it shimmer another 5 or 7 minutes.

Don't forget the pasta of your choice to go with the sauce.

Hope you like this recipe!

Finally....

My dearest son is eating the 'main course' I made. Yes!

After a few failed attempt to tempt his taste bud... I finally succeed!

So what does he take that is home made?

Organic Vegetables with Fish

1 medium carrot

1 big potato

1 small portion of pumpkin (about the size of a potato)

1 sweet corn (just the corn without the cob)

1 piece 2" x 2" fish fillet cube (Ma Yau)

Cut all the vegetables into small cubes but not too small. We want to retain as much vitamins and minerals as possible. Then place all of it into a plate and place the fish on top of the vegetables. Add a little bit of water and have it steam for about 20 to 30 minutes or when the vegetables are soft. Let it cool and then blend it. It's yummy.

The above can make about 4 full small little plastic bowls like the picture above. For my son, each bowl is sufficient for 3 meals. I will mix a portion of it with rice cereal and milk then feed it to him. He seems to like it. :)

If your child doesn't like cereal then mix it with cooked rice or even plain crackers. It's really nice. It's one way to get them to eat vegetables.

In my opinion, it's probably a healtier alternative to porridge. I don't understand why all asian babies must eat porridge (cooked over 3 hours...the longer the better). Where is all the nuitrient when it's cooked for so long?

As for dessert, I will make apple sauce or pear sauce for Reese. It's very easy to make. Just cut up two apples (any variety)/pears into cubes and have it steam for about 20 to 30 minutes or when it's soft. Then let it cool and blend it by adding a little bit of water. Two apples will give me about 4 half plastic bowls.

I will be experimenting with other new recipe and will let you know.

By the way, it's alright to freeze fresh baby food.