Quiche

Ingredients

- 110gm of butter or olive oil

- 3 cloves garlic, chopped

- 1 small onion, chopped

- 150gm of chopped spinach leaves

- 200gm of sliced mushrooms

- 100gm of shaved ham

- 1 (75gm) package herb and garlic feta, crumbled

- 1 (250) package shredded Cheddar cheese^%

- 1 (9 inch) unbaked crusty dough

- 4 eggs, beaten

- 1 (200ml) cup milk ^#

- salt and pepper to taste

^% A portion of the Cheddar cheese may be replaced by Mozzarella cheese or tofu weight for weight.

^# Milk powder milk will be richer and taste better than fresh milk.

Directions

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.

In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion in butter until lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in spinach, mushrooms, feta and 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into pie crust.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and milk. Thoroughly combine egg mixture with spinach mixture. Pour into the pastry shell.*

Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minute until set in center. Allow to stand 10 minutes before serving.

*You may pre bake the pastry shell so that the bottom of the pastry is fluffy.

Shirataki Noodles

Shirataki (shee-rah-TAH-kee) noodles are thin, low carb, chewy, and translucent traditional Japanese noodles. They are also sometimes called konnyaku noodles. Shirataki noodles are thinner than wheat noodles, do not break as easily, and have a different texture. They are mostly composed of a dietary fiber called glucomannan and contain very few calories and carbohydrates (sometimes even zero). They do not have much flavor by themselves, but absorb flavors well from other ingredients. Shirataki noodles are made from Konjac flour, which comes from the roots of the yam-like Konjac plant grown in Japan and China.

Shirataki noodles are packaged "wet", that is, you purchase them pre-packaged in liquid, and they are ready-to-eat out of the package. You can prepare them by rinsing the noodles first, then boiling them briefly or running them under hot water, then combining them with other dishes, or adding things like tofu, garlic, spinach, or soy sauce to enhance the flavor.

To sum up, it tastes like Tung Hoon and can be added into soups. It is a remedy for weight watchers who cannot stop eating!

* Can be found in Sakuraya Fish Market and NTUC Finest.

Prawn noodle soup (Serves 3)

Pork ribs 250gm

1 small crab ~ 400gm

Prawns 250gm

1 handful of ikan bilis

1 handful of soy beans

2 cloves of garlic

1 slice of ginger

1 litre of water

1 teaspoon of pepper

1 star aniseed

salt and soy sauce to taste

Scald pork ribs and prawns with hot water and add to boiling water with all the ingredients. Once the prawns are cooked, remove and peel. Fry the shells with some garlic and scallions until crispy and golden. Add the fried shells back to the soup and brew for 1hr. Add noodles and vegetables and serve with fried scallions and prawns.

Hokkien Seafood soup (Serves 3)

2 chicken bone

Clams 1kg

1 small crab ~ 400gm

1 small sweet potatoes

1 dozen meatballs

1 handful of ikan bilis

1 handful of soy beans

1 tablespoon of Hua Tiao Wine

2 cloves of garlic

1 slice of ginger

1 teaspoon of pepper

Salt and soy sauce to taste

Boil the chicken bone, crab, ikan bilis, soy beans, garlic, ginger and clams. Remove clams when cooked. Brew for 1hr and add meatballs, sweet potatoes, vegetables and all seasoning. Once cooked, add noodles and serve with clams and fried scallions.

Carrot cake

Ingredients

A:

Radish 500gm

1 carrot

1 chinese sausage

5 dried shiitake mushroom

4 tablespoons of dried shrimps

4 scallions

2 cloves of garlic

Salt, pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil to taste

B:

Rice flour 300gm

Tapioca flour 30gm (2 tablespoon)

Water 500ml (more water = softer cake)

3 tablespoon of sugar

Salt to taste

Soak mushroom and slice. Thinly slice the chinese sausage and scallions. Pound the dried shrimps lightly and julienne the carrot and radish. Fry the minced garlic with the scallions and dried shrimps until golden and add the sausages and mushrooms to fry until fragrant. Add the radish and carrot with seasoning to fry with high heat until soft and dry. Mix ingredient B and pour the flour mixture to mix with ingredient A without heat. Pour everything into a 4x4 inch tray and steam for 30 - 35 mins. Let the cake cool before cutting into serving size to fry.

My Baby is now a Toddler!

Tsk tsk tsk! It has been such a long time since I updated my blog. So much has happened and I do not think that I can write everything here!

Since I started work in June, time just flies past in a blinking of an eye. Anais has put on some weight finally as she no longer throws up. Despite taking slightly more solids, her milk intake has cut down drastically. She does not like to drink milk and i takes her forever to finish like a 100ml each time. Now the only way to make sure that she is taking enough nutrients, we put in a lot of stuff in her porridge. Tofu and yoghurt is her next best replacement for milk. To complicate things, Anais do not like sweet tasting food, so feeding her cereal in the morning is a torture.

Currently, I am making carrot cakes to fry with eggs for her breakfast and I will be attempting to make quiche next week. After which, I will need to think very hard for the next recipe to try... until her molars grow out to chew the tougher food.

Other than her eating adventure, we have also enrolled her to Shichida Method. It is a way of learning that encourages the stimulation of the right brain so that they can have faster and higher memory and think more creatively. Moreover, they also believe in extrasensory perception (ESP) which allows children to predict and guess an unknown. Sounds pretty spooky! Nevertheless, I've attended a few sessions with her and have the following conclusion.

- Flashing of any flash cards fast enough will capture the attention of a child and such practice may help to improve the photographic memory. It is only a hypothesis that needs to be confirmed through more literature review.

- ESP has always been coined as pseudo science but my observation is that the activity may not be training ESP per se but teaching the child to read very fine body language and understand the little body signs from an individual to predict the correct answer. Such skills may develop the EQ of a child as they become sensitive and aware of the people they interact with.

- As long as the learning environment is fun and the child feels loved, she will always enjoy learning.

Thus far, Anais has been enjoying herself in class and I have been learning form the class the different games to play with her and the activities that we can do at home to stimulate her senses. The Shichida Method is a fun class to attend and it helps the child to bond very well with her parent. However, the 'Parent Education Course' hosted by Khoo is a waste of time in my opinion as she have no scientific evidence about 80% of the things she says. The miracle stories shared by her is one in a million with so many students that she has, the probability is pretty high. End of the day, do not harbor too high an expectation for your child. Just have fun and enjoy growing up with them!

Garage Sale!

Everything needs to go! Selling at a very reasonable price!

Anti Nausea band

During the 1st trimester of my pregnancy, I had the usual bout of morning sickness and in our effort to be an 'organic' mum, my hubby got me these anti nausea bands. These bands has a little button protruding out to press on a point about 3 fingers below the wrist line, between the radius and the ulna bone. This acupuncture point was believed to relieve nausea and giddiness. 

Being a skeptic, I tried and was convinced that it worked. Being prone to motion sickness, I had it with me for every plane and boat ride. I did not need any medication. The amazing thing was, it took me 8 months after giving birth to Anais to realize that it will work for her. Miraculously, it did. The result was almost instant. Was it coincident? I am not sure but her vomiting was limited to once a day probably once a week. Compared to twice a day everyday.

I sewed the band to fit her little arm and wore it on times she is prone to throw up. We diligently wore it until around 10 to 11 months old when we find her condition very stable and was feeding well on solid. The moment she stopped vomiting frequently, her body weight went up steadily.

It is a relatively safe and affordable thing to try and I highly recommend it!

Korea Trip

What a cold period to go to Korea than during its winter? Being a kiasu mum, I packed so much winter cloths for Anais only to realize that she is not afraid of the cold and instead prefers not to wear much when we are out in the cold. This has invited several criticism from the local Koreans who strongly believes in keeping the body very warm, especially a child. This is evident in their high Ginseng content diet and long sleeves fashion. It is a challenge to find anything sleeveless during my shopping there. Even their dresses for children are all in long sleeves!

It was a challenge to get her suit up and I even ended up catching her skin on her chin while zipping up. Boy, that was really painful! 

Look how happy she was! It was really cold and she just snuggle up and sleep most of the time. We also find that she drinks much faster and more in the cold!

It was a slight challenge to bring her with us as we wanted to see more snow which will require us to go up a mountain for a few days. We skipped that and went to trek another mountain, Doobongsan. It was really beautiful and serene up there but we did not climb all the way up as carrying a baby with all the heavy clothing is quite tiring for me as I have not exercised for about a year.

Food in Korea is typically korean BBQ, or steamboat. The best I remembered was the poached egg in miso served by Shila Hotel. The taste was so smooth and miso just enhances the taste and fragrance of the egg. I never knew a plain egg could taste so good!

And of course, the most important thing is that our little rascal had fun!

2009!

2009 has been a good year thus far. Baby Anais got a dog from Uncle Collin and Aunty Michelle and she is having lots of fun with it. Maybe this is why she has no fear for big dogs... cannot say the same for my neighbour's golden retreiver as she is terrified of my baby!

Daddy got her a Care Bear to match her new dress and hairband!

Now everybody knows where she got her naughty genes from... :)


Look at Anais's Godma! Ain't she pretty? Now who dares to bully her when she's got a Feary, I mean Fairy Godma!

Goat's milk

Recently we have been trying goat's milk and were wondering if it was working or it is our Baby outgrowing her condition. Since we started, we have not experience projectile vomiting or multiple vomiting in a day (crossing our fingers). The most we got is a mouthful of regurgitation that happens after a very full feed. 

We usually try to squeeze as much feed as possible as she is already drinking much lesser than required. Notwithstanding that her weight has been hovering at 7.2kg for the last 1 month, which is not a good sign. Nevertheless, Goat's milk could be our saving grace though it may not have much nutrients like DHA compared to other fortified milk. (Goats probably do not need too much brain function...). So her only source of  nutrients comes from my breast milk which is dwindling with time.

Other than lacking in these trace nutrients, Goat's milk will have a typical mutton stench should the Baby spill or regurgitate. The stench will get really bad with time to a point that the baby smells like a stable. I can only hope that my baby do not get BO when she grows up.

Other than GERD, our girl was also showing signs of food aversion and the only way that she allow food through her mouth was to be distracted. Currently, educational VCDs is my saviour and I'm still trying to cut down her need to watch TV while eating. At this point of time, as long as food gets into her, we are willing to lick the floor she walks on. That's how desperate we are... Hopefully she will eat my Salmon carrot tomato tomorrow to get the nutrients she needs!