I am a working mother of two lovely boys,
Timothy and Karson. Cooking is not only a daily task, it is also a real challenge for me. Planning, organizing & marketing are things need to be done before any cooking begins. With tight working schedules, I try very hard not to jeopardize my children's health, while having good quality and tasty food. Enjoy reading and may the cooking methods and recipes used help in your healthy cooking!
I love this simple recipe simply because, cabbage when cooked in soup, tastes sweeter and children love it when it is softer compared to eaten raw. I used purple cabbage as it has been proven to show more promising health. Click here for more information on purple veggies. I use ginger in all my veggie soup to 'calm' our stomach besides providing a great aroma to soups.
Quick recipe:
Serves 2 adults and 2 children
Preparation time : 5 min
Cooking time : 30 min
1) Cut 1/4 purple cabbage into super thin slices.
2) Bring a pot of water (approx. 2 litres) to boil
3) Pound a piece of ginger the size of a pebble into boiling water
4) Add 1 teaspoon of cooking oil, then throw in the purple cabbage.
5) Boil until cabbage is soft (around 20 mins)
6) Turn off heat
7) Stir in a tablespoon of Miso Paste, to replace salt. Important Note : Avoid boiling soup after miso has been added.
The ingredients used to produce miso may include any mix ofsoybeans,barley,rice,buckwheat,millet,rye,wheat,hempseed, andcycad, among others. Lately, producers in other countries have also begun selling miso made fromchickpeas,corn,azuki beans,amaranth, andquinoa. Fermentation time ranges from as little as five days to several years. The wide variety ofJapanesemiso is difficult to classify, but is commonly done by grain type, color, taste, and background.
Many regions have their own specific variation on the miso standard. For example, the soybeans used inSendaimiso are much more coarsely mashed than in normal soy miso.
Miso made with rice such asshinshuandshiroare calledkomemiso.
Source : Wikipedia
Try this amazing ingredient which can be used to replace salt in your cooking, esp. soups, noodles and best of all it is not a cancer-eating agent, good news for cancer patients. It can be used to marinate fish or meat too. The only caution we should take is never boil soup that has been added with Miso.
Something different from the norm, I cooked something that my children love...! I used fish fillet packed and sold frozen at hypermarkets. You can also buy fresh from wet markets, or best if you can catch some of your own. Since, I hardly do any deep-frying in my kitchen and would not encourage you to do the same, I put it into the oven and baked it. It turned out great (though some look a little damaged from the couple of turnings I did to them).
I would replace any fried food with more healthy method of cooking. In this meal, I replaced chips/fries with potato salad. I also added half a piece of kiwi as starter. It looked very appetizing to the children. Enjoy my recipe below!
Quick recipe:
Serves 2 adults and 2 children
Preparation time : 20 min
Cooking time : 30 min
Fish fillet
1) You'll need 4 pieces of fish fillet. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Line oven tray with aluminium foil. Grease tray with a little butter to prevent fish from sticking to tray.
2) Put fish fillets into the oven straight from the freezer.
3) Bake for about 30 mins/until brown on both sides.
4) When serving, squeeze some lemon juice onto fish to neutralize the fishy smell. Tartar sauce is needed as well.
Potato salad
1) Boil 2 big potatoes and peel when cooked. View video below on how to peel a cooked potato with ease.
2) Boil 2 eggs to become poached eggs.
3) Add cooked potatoes and eggs into a salad bowl.
4) Mash both ingredients.
5) Add 1 big chopped yellow onion.
6) Add a pinch of fine sea-salt, a dash of black pepper, 2 tablespoons of mayonaise and 1/2 cup of fresh milk (optional).
I love capsicums, from being stir-fried, to salads, to become part of -yong tau foo (stuffed with fish paste), it just makes a great colourful dish, not boring, makes my children happy to see it. Comes in green, red, orange and yellow, I normal buy 1 in each colour, mix it all up!! Interesting!! Children normally do not like the taste of it, so before serving to them, I cut them up in chopped size, with a clean pair of scissors, that'll do it!
Here, I'm sharing some of the benefits from eating capsicum..
:) Beneficial to the mucous membranes, eyes and skin
:) Helps wards off infection (Children's immune system is the most important!)
:) Has antioxidant properties that neutralize the free radicals responsible for damaging tissue and cells
:) Good for treating colds and fevers (children need this!)
:) Stimulates stomach secretions and improves digestion
:) Has a laxative effect
Look out for some recipes using capsicum under My quick recipes label.
This has been my favourite dish ever since I was small! My mommy used to cook this dish with steamy hot rice being served...yummy! Now, as a mother myself, I cook it for my children who also enjoy it very much. Preparation time : 10 mins. Cooking time : 15 mins. Here's how!
Quick recipe: 1) Open a can of baked beans in tomato sauce 2) Chop some garlic 3) Heat wok 4) Add 1 tbsp of cooking oil (I use grapeseed oil) Click here to view cooking oil 5) Throw in garlic and fry until fragrant 6) Pour baked beans into wok 7) Slowly simmer with med fire for approx. 5 mins. You may match this dish with any kind of vegetables you like. In this picture, I stir-fried some 'bok choy'.
This is my younger son's rice portion...He loved it!
She's one of my favourite talk show hosts with great cooking talent, she can cook really quickly, cut this, throw in that, toss, stew...I really enjoyed her cooking show cum interviews with celebrities. She moves around smoothly in her staged kitchen, talk at the same time....I have learnt some essential cooking tricks from her as well. I found this book on Amazon.com and it looks interesting..365 different dinner everyday! Get one today!
Ikea Charm Apple Slicer (Price : RM 9.90) Stainless steel with sturdy handle. Can also be used to slice potatoes or onions into wedges. My husband's favourite kitchen tool. When you have children, time management is very very important. Here's a great tool that I strongly recommend that can help to cut not only apples, but unnecessary time used. Try it!.
Becareful...sharp knifes...keep away from children. Align apple in the centre of slicer.
Giant Oyster Mushroom Fried with Mixed Vegetables I bought some giant oyster mushrooms from the wet market one day and decided to replace meat with the mushrooms in the mixed vegetables. Once cooked, the mushroom looked like scallop, and had a similar texture too....enjoy the recipe!
Giant Oyster MushroomsIt has a thick, meaty white stem and a small tan cap (in young specimens). It has little flavor or aroma when raw. When cooked, it develops typical mushroomumami flavors with a texture similar to that of abalone. Also called xìng bào gū (杏鮑菇, lit. "almond abalone mushroom"), cì qín gū (刺芹菇, lit. "stab celery mushroom"), or cì qín cè ěr (刺芹側耳, lit. "stab celery side ear"). InJapanese, it is called eringi (katakana: エリンギ). Source : Wikipedia
Quick recipe: 1) Chop some garlic. 2) Get some brocolli/pea pods/Capsicum/any other vegetables you like and cut into triangles. For brocolli/cauliflowers, cut into florets. For pea pods, peel off the hard stems. 3) Cut mushrooms into pieces. 4) Heat water in pot and bring to boil. 5) Add vegetables into pot and boil for 2 mins, then strain vegetables. 6) Heat wok, add approx. 2 tbsp of grapeseed oil. 7) Add garlic, fry until fragrant. 8) Throw in half-cooked vegetables, followed by mushrooms. 9) Add 2 tbsp thick soy sauce/oyster sauce and 1 tsp brown sugar into vegetables. 10) Stir Fry for 3 mins or until vegetables are well-cooked.
Organic Thick Black Soy Sauce This is my life saver when it comes to cooking fried noodle/mee hoon, no normal soy suace is needed anymore. Perfect for steamed fish and in fried vegetables too. Replaces oyster sauce which could be high in cholesterol according to some people. From Organic Forest.
