Tag Archives: #foodietuesdays

eating healthy

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Ever since I got discharged last Wednesday, I have had to watch my diet. Doctor’s instructions.

Top of it was: cut the oily food.

See, removing the gallbladder would solve all future possible pain associated with the gallstones. But it also meant that I wouldn’t have anything to hold bile to help with the digestion of food, which meant that my stomach would not like it if I ate too much oily food and it would result in loose stools, ie. lao sai. Well, at least for a few weeks (duration unknown), whilst my liver worked things out.

Yeah, our bodies are cool that way. Missing one organ? Pffpt, another organ will make up for it. Heh.

So, cut the oily food, amp up on the water, fruits and vegetables. Gotcha. 

I decided to meal plan for the weeks ahead, seeing how I might be out of action for a bit post surgery and I also cannot trust the husband’s grocery shopping skills. Why so? Lemme digress a bit and recount a little incident that occurred back in 2008/2009.

Then boyfriend had offered to do grocery shopping on behalf. His instruction to me was to be as precise as possible, as in 100g of mince beef, a can of diced tomatoes, a bunch of 3 bananas. That kinda thing. I was going to make a watermelon granita so I asked for half a watermelon.

He came back with NO watermelon. How could it be?? Surely the supermarkets could not be out of watermelons!

But ohhhh, they had watermelons alright. They had watermelons cut in quarters. They had whole watermelons. But because my instructions were half a watermelon, and they did not have half a watermelon, so he came back with none. You would have thought 2 quarters make half right?? but noooooooo, Urgh. Men.

Anyhoos. So yes, meal planning again, and I came across this recipe for a really healthy looking cake/bread. And surprisingly, it tasted really yummy! There was no butter involved at all and the recipe used bananas and apples to sweeten and moisten the bread!

banana-bread

Yum! It smelt heavenly and even the kids loved it. Waah..happiness. The bread also freezes well, which means we can bake in bulk and slowly enjoy it. To be honest, it was a breeze to bake it, cos there was minimal preparation and also minimal washing. So really really simple to bake it.

So here’s the recipe to try out!

One-bowl Banana Bread – BBC Australian GoodFood, November 2011

2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup (75g) brown sugar
3/4 cup (105g) pecans, chopped
3/4 cup (185ml) low-fat milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (2 large) mashed bananas
1 large apple, peeled, grated
1 tbsp natural seed mix (I used pine nuts & sunflower seeds

– Preheat oven to 190C or 170C fan. Grease and line a 14cm x 24cm loaf pan.

– Sift flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & cinnamon into a bowl. Stir in sugar & pecans. Make a well in centre. Add milk, egg, banana & apple. Stir gently until combined.

– Pour batter into pan & smooth surface. Sprinkle over seed mix, if you like. Bake for 50-60 mins or until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean. Stand for 10 mins in pan, then lift out onto a wire rack to cool.

– Slice & enjoy!

Note: To freeze: slice & wrap pieces in plastic wrap. Place into an airtight container or resealable plastic bag and freeze for up to six months.

Category: Daily, Food | Tags: ,

food of the week: snacks

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Following my meal planning, err if I do remember to take some photos of the food. This is more for me to remember what I actually ate and the recipes so I don’t have to keep digging them out months later!

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We had ripe avocados..so of course, we had to make guacamole. I love chunky guacamole, with some red onions. Nyums. Err, at your own risk hor, cos it will stink up your breath a little! =P

3 ripe avocados
juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or coriander
1/2 red onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & freshly ground black paper

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Then the kids had this! I roasted some chicken thighs that were marinated in Morrocan seasoning (unfortunately unavailable in Singapore, but if you have friends going to Australia, get the MasterFoods version!). Made our own fries..that were soaked in chicken fat. So unhealthy but sooooooooooooo tasty. =P But please do a healthier version with olive oil! haha We used Russet potatoes for our fries, and baked them on aluminium foil. They got stuck on it. FML. So next time, I’m gonna try it on baking paper.

Whilst the kids had that…the adults had this version, with boiled baby potatoes in a maple-mustard dressing and guacamole!

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maple-mustard dressing (just mix well!)

2 tbsp maple syrup
6 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp heaped wholegrain mustard

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I also spotted a very very simple recipe for a homemade strawberry ice cream, using creme fraiche. 3 ingredients! Surely cannot go wrong right. And you don’t need an ice cream machine to do it too (says the recipe, though we definitely used our ice cream machine to save time!). You can find the recipe here.

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after freezing overnight

 

yummmms.

yummmms.

The boys have also been bugging me for food multiple times a day. And I don’t want to keep giving them biscuits and crackers. Oliver has also been on a cereal streak, and requesting for Post’s Banana Nut Crunch. $$$$ my pocket! I do make granola for the kids..and I add some dried fruit in, but they only want to eat the oats. FML. Then I am left with little granola with LOTS of dried fruit for myself. Wah piangs.

Oh just in case you would like to try making your own granola (which is so super easy, I promise!!), this is the recipe I use:

maple almond granola 

2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup slivered almonds
4 tbsp unsalted butter (about 56g)
4 tbsp maple syrup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Combine oats, sugar, cinnamon, raisins & almonds and toss to mix. In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter, add maple syrup & stir to blend. Pour over the oat mixture and stir to blend.
3. Spread the granola out on a baking sheet to make until golden & crunchy, 25 to 30 mins.
4. Cool to room temperature before serving, breaking it up slightly. Store in an airtight container, the granola will keep up to 10 days. 

but I digress. I decided to make little granola clusters so that they are bite sized and easier for the kids to binge on. And I suddenly found my first granola bar recipe, which was in the BBC GoodFood Australia magazine. The recipe can be found here. I put the mix into mini cupcake holders.

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Viola. Perfect mouthfuls for the hungry kids. And healthy too! You can cut down on the sugar, but will need the honey to help stick everything together.

Hope these recipes give you some ideas for some really simple recipes! This momma ain’t got so much time to cook too elaborate meals!

Category: Food | Tags: , , , ,

meal planning

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After almost a year of procrastination, actually maybe more, I finally got down on my ass one Saturday night and randomly picked out 4 magazines to select some recipes. Turns out I had picked out one of my favourite magazines and found some favourite recipes which I had totally forgot about!

And also those favourite recipes turned out to be snacks that I had been wanting to make for the kids. Hahaha. So much for meal planning. It should be called snack planning.

Anyhoos, when it was just the hubby and I, it was really a lot easier to meal plan. Now I have to factor in what the kids would eat. Bah. I mean, there are some basic recipes that I know the boys would eat (pizzas, pasta, roast chicken, EGGS..omg, eggs are lifesavers). But hey, this momma would like to try some different food leh. So, #challengeaccepted.

It wasn’t easy. *sigh* But….today is Day 2 and Oliver (excuse me, no more Ollie. More about that in another entry) has devoured each dish! Hellooo,,what is happening huh? Oliver has to be just about the pickiest eater and I am surprised he finished his dinner! Quentin instead…is another story. Hrm. Never mind, we’ll try to expand his palate a little more.

Day 1: Creamy ham & mushroom pasta bake

ham & mushroom pasta bake

ham & mushroom pasta bake

I used the recipe from the print edition of BBC GoodFood Asia Edition and it can also be found here! What I added to the recipe was frozen veggies so that the boys would still have some intake of veggies. For the ham, I bought offcuts of Virginia ham cos it’s cheaper #auntiemodeon I mean..gonna chop everything up mah, no need buy until sliced ham so nice =P

Day 2: Baked Honey-Miso Cod with Vermicelli Soup

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The boys are picky about their noodles *sigh* Well, Quentin pretty much eats any types of noodles but Oliver is the picky one. Vermicelli or bee hoon  is a hit and miss with the boys so I decided to use the Heinz Farley’s Carrot Baby Noodles. What I love about it is that it comes in portions for kids. I don’t have to worry about cooking too much. And it cooks really fast too! (unlike pasta…al dente and all pfffpt.)

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Recipe | Xin Flavours, Issue 29
500ml
3.5 tbsp of miso paste (I got mine from Daiso)
1 brown onion, sliced
50g enoki mushrooms
80g shimeji mushrooms
4 shiitake mushrooms (soaked)
200g cod fillet (I had waay more than I needed cos we love cod)
150g dried vermicelli (soaked)
40g silken tofu (cubed)
1/2 tbsp honey

  1. Bring water to a boil. Add onion and boil over medium heat for 15 mins
  2. Add 3 tbsp miso paste and stir well. Turn to low heat. Remove onion.
  3. Preheat oven to 190 degrees
  4. Add all mushrooms into miso soup, followed by cod.Gently spoon miso soup over cod continuously until cooked. Remove cod and set aside.
  5. Add vermicelli and tofu into miso soup. Cook until soft.
  6. Mix remaining 1/2 tbsp miso paste with honey. Brush the mixture on one side of cod. Bake for about 5 mins until golden brown
  7. Pour soup into bowl. Arrange cod on top. Serve

Hope these two recipes will help to sort out some meals of the week! They are pretty much one pot meals and easy to prep.

 

Category: Food | Tags: ,