Apple pancake and beet root pancake

apple pancake

beet root pancake 

Phin Zhe loves pancake. So I have tried to make all sort of pancakes, banana pancake, pandan pancake, avacado pancake, sweet potatoes pancake, pumpkin pancake....everything you can think of and you can't think of, I put them in pancake. I have posted easy pancake recipes that does not require flour and baking powder. But this time I am going to share my normal pancake recipe that uses flour and baking powder.

Ingredients:
130g or 1 cup flour
1tsp aluminium free baking powder
1-2 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
puree of your choice(1 apple blended into juice or 1 beet root blended into juice)
extra water

Method:
1. Mix flour and baking powder together. Sift twice.
2. Beat egg and brown sugar until sugar dissolved.
3. Add in puree and mix well.
4. Add in flour and mix well. Add more water if require. Do not overmix.
The batter should not be too thick or too diluted. Try to scoop a spoon and let it flow back to the bowl. It should be slow but smooth.
5. Let the batter sit for 15 minutes.
6. Heat pan with a little bit of oil.
6. Scoop 2 tbsp of batter into the pan, use the back of the spoon to spread it out. 7. Fry both sides and continue with second piece of pancake.
8. Continue until the batter finish. In between, add some oil to the pan if needed.
9. I like to serve my pancake with manuka honey. :)

Notes:
1. I added 1tsp cinammon to my apple pancake. But it is optional.
2. After I pan fry Phin Zhe's beet root pancake, I added 1tsp cocoa powder and turned our's to red velvet pancake.

Molasses Oatmeal Cookies

The idea of this recipe comes from Barbara's Smackimals cookies. I bought one pack and found that it is too sweet so I decided to make my own. I like this recipe because oats and molasses are good. All my cookies recipes use minimum sugar, so if you find that store bought cookies are too sweet to your liking, you should try making your own cookies. Making cookies is fast and easy!

Ingredients:
120g oats(I used rolled oats, instant oats is fine too)
120g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
70g molasses sugar
1 cup/220g oil(I used grapeseed oil)

Method:
1. Put all ingredients in food processor and pulse until well mix. If you do not have a food processor, then just knead with hands.
2. Take out the mixture, knead into a dough. If too dry add a bit of oil, if too sticky add a bit of flour.
3. Keep in refrigerator for 20 minutes.
4. Roll out and shape with cookies cutters.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 150'c for about 10minutes.

Purple Sweet Potatoes Mantou(Bread machine version)

To save time, I am trying to pass all the kneading and proofing job to my bread machine. My bread machine proofs bread in a temperature control environment, so the timing is more consistent. Since it is easier to make mantou with bread machine, now I have more time to shape the mantou. :) This post is just to record the measurement needed for bread machine.

Ingredients:
300g unbleached flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp yeast
70g purple sweet potatoes
140ml water

Taiwanese green onion savoury bun

Life is busy with a toddler around. But whenever I can squeeze out an hour or two, I like to try out new recipe. Today I tried to make taiwanese green onion savoury bun. I used the dinner roll recipe, form ball doughs and add green onion topping to it. I have made the bun recipe many times, so I know it will be soft and fluffy. But the green onion topping gave the plain bun a new and attractive look, wonderful smell and taste. Each of us took 2 buns and Phin Zhe took one for tea break. Daddy said he will finish the remaining two at night. :)


Green onion topping:
green onion
butter
half egg
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper

Banana Steamed Cake(rice cooker version)

Thank you to Phin Zhe's daddy who helped to take care Phin Zhe last night so that I can try out the rice cooker version of banana steamed cake recipe. He read books to Phin Zhe and made him a paper boat with a man and his paddle(drinking straw). I heard them singing"Row row row your boat....." :)

This recipe is definitely a keeper. I had a few pieces even though it is meant for the next day. So the recipe is enough to feed 2 adults+1kid for one tea break and you can still quietly eat some when you cut and pack them. ;) I forgot to take the picture of the whole cake. Will definitely take one when I make this cake again.

Recipe adopted from everybodyeatswell and 亲子厨.乐.

Ingredients:
160g organic unbleached flour and 1tsp aluminium free baking powder(mix well)
3 free range eggs
110g unsalted butter
60g brown sugar(original recipe is 110g sugar, you make your own judgement)
200g banana(over-riped and mashed)

1. Melt the butter and sugar in a big bowl. Mix well with a manual or electric whisk.
2. Add in eggs, beat lightly with manual or electric whisk.
3. Add in mashed banana, mix well.
4. Shift 1/3 of the flour mixture to the bowl and mix well. Repeat until all flour mixture has been added to the bowl.
5. Grease the inner pot of the rice cooker with some butter.
6. Pour the cake batter into the inner pot, press CAKE function.
**I am using Buffalo smart cooker, the cake function takes 45 minutes. If your rice cooker does not have CAKE function, you need to press the COOK again and again. The total cook time will vary from one rice cooker to another. It should be +/- 1hour.
7. Once it is done, remove the inner pot from the rice cooker. After a few minutes, flip the cake on a rack and allow it to cool down before cutting it.

Italian Cookies

savoury cookies with tomato and mixed herbs

I bought one pack of organic tomato powder. It can be used in the recipes that require very rich tomato flavour but do not allow too much liquid. I created my own version of tomato cookies. While baking the first tray, I was thinking of discarding the second tray if the taste is horrible. Luckily it turned out nice. So I moved on to bake the second tray.

Ingredients:
70g low protein flour
60g rice flour
30g potato starch
1/2tsp baking powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp tomato powder
1/4tsp sea salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
italian mixed herbs
black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Steps:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients.
2. Add in lemon juice.
3. Add in some olive oil and knead into dough. Just add olive oil until it can bearly stick together to form a dough.
4. Roll out into thin layer of about 0.5cm thickness.
5. Cut into desire shape with cookies cutter.
6. Bake 10-15 minutes in preheated oven at 180c.

Hot Cross Bun(Healthy version)

Hot cross bun, hot cross bun. One a penny, two a penny, hot cross bun.

This is one of Phin Zhe's favourite nursery rhyme. When I made him the dinner rolls, he told me,"not hot cross bun." Then he requested me to make hot cross bun. I modified the original recipe so that it is more simple and healthy. My recipe does not use the normal custard batter for cross decoration.

Ingredients:
280g flour
2.5tbsp sugar
0.5tsp salt
0.5tsp yeast
130ml water
1 medium egg
30g unsalted butter
0.5tsp cinnamon powder
raisins

Steps:
1. Knead all ingredients except cinnamon and raisins into dough.
2. Add in cinnamon powder and raisins.
3. Let the dough sit for 20minutes.(I used bread maker for above steps, bread dough mode).
4. Divide the dough into 9 equal portions, roll into ball shapes and place on parcement paper, slightly apart from each others.
5. Let the balls sit for 10minutes.
6. Brush a layer of egg(not in ingredient listed above) on top.
7. Mix some flour with water until thick batter is formed. Use this batter to draw the cross.(You can use a piping bag, but I just used a chopstick).
8. Bake 15minutes in preheated oven at 180c to 200c.

Rosemary Focaccia

After Phin Zhe had the first bite, he pointed at the focaccia and commented,"This bread is nice!" :D

When I baked, the whole house was filled with olive oil and rosemary smells, it made me felt like I was in a bakery. :)

Ingredients:
280g high protein flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
150ml water
0.5tsp active dried yeast

Steps:
1. Knead all the ingredients into dough.(I used bread maker, pizza mode).
2. Let the dough sit and rest for 20 minutes.
3. Divide into 3 equal portions and sit for 10 minutes.
4. Place the dough on parchment paper and roll out to 7 inches diameter flat dough.
5. Let it sit and rest for 40 minutes.
6. Use finger to poke on the dough to create wells.
7. Brush a layer of olive oil on the surface.
8. Sprinkle generous amount of chopped fresh rosemary, sea salt(I skipped) and cheese(I skipped) on top of the dough
9. Bake 15 minutes in preheated oven at 180c to 200c.

Best serve with a cup of espresso or cappucino. Of course my boy had it without coffee. :-)

Solid food feeding set and drinking bottles

I have started using this think baby feeding set since a year ago and I could not stop recommending it. I use it to serve almost every meal for my boy at home and also to pack my son's meal when we are on the go. I had been searching for a completely safe feeding set high and low, and finally settle with thinkbaby feeding set. Thinkbaby containers are made of food grade stainless steel and the covers are made of 100% PBA free PP material.

Thinkbaby feeding set comes with a 250ml bento box, a 300ml cereal bowl, another 300ml soup bowl and a 200ml cup. Each containers and cup can be separated from the casing and have a cover(only the cup has no cover. i wish they have). You can serve the meals with the casing on so it is not hot to touch, put on the cover if have remaining food or if you want to go out, remove the casing and reheat the food directly. I even steam fish or egg in the containers directly.

The bento box can fit in a pair of tea spoon and dessert fork nicely. Normally when I pack my boy's meal, I will keep the food in bowls, soup in thermos, so I put spoon and fork in the bento box. When serve, this bento box can be used as 'plate' and later to keep the used spoon and fork.

Here are the drinking bottles my son has used so far. From left: Mams sippy cup, Leak proof frog straw bottles from Taiwan, 300ml eplas straw bottles and 450ml bros straw bottles. Now he is using the last two straw bottles.

Dinner Rolls

There is a lot of recipes that I have bookmarked and wanted to try. But I am still waiting, waiting for Phin Zhe to grow bigger. So at 22mo, I finally tried making bun with the help of bread maker. Main reason is I am lazy. Second reason is it uses slightly more butter and sugar as compare to loaf. Well, it is still relatively low compare to store bought bun. And since Phin Zhe likes it, maybe I can make it more often. But I still can not decide if I should make new buns or make this dinner rolls again this weekend. ;)

Ingredients:
1. 280g high protein flour
2. 1/2tsp active dried yeast
3. 50g unsalted butter
4. 150ml water
5. 3tbsp sugar(of course I didn't put 3, I put 2.5tbsp)
6. 1tsp salt

Steps:
1. Knead to unsticky dough, cover and let it sit for 30 to 40mins.(i used bread maker to do the job).
2. Divide equally to 12 portion, roll to ball shapes, cover and sit for 10mins.
3. Shape to oval shapes, cover and sit for another 10mins.
4. Use a roller to form a thin and long sheet. Roll the dough sheet from one end to another.
5. Place on parchment paper, sit for an hour and bake in preheated 170c oven for 15 to 20 mins

The bread texture is very fluffy. I think it is due to the second, third and fourth rising time given to the bun. My son loves it very much. He had one bun fresh from the oven right after his dinner. When the father wanted to take a bite, he pushed his father's hand and turned his head away. The next day, he ate one for breakfast. Then brought two to school, finished one during morning break and finished another during tea break. So he had 3 buns in a day! I am a happy mama. But the next day I told nanny to give him more fruits during tea break. Haha.

Wild mushroom soup and Pumpkin soup

I have cooked these 2 soups almost every week since Phin Zhe is one year old. I started with basic ingredients which are safe for Phin Zhe. As he grow bigger, I have fine tuned the recipes many times and I am quite happy with them now.

Wild mushroom soup:
1. Stir fry 1tbsp of minced garlic in 1tbsp of ghee until fragrant.
2. Add in 1 pack of fresh white or brown button mushroom slice.
3. Cook over medium heat until water release from mushroom and start to dry up
4. Add in 1 medium potato cubes and water to cover.
5. Bring to boil and simmer for 15mins or until the food is soft.
6. Use a handheld blender to blend it until smooth. Add water if needed.
7. Season with sea salt, black pepper and herbs(i like fresh thyme. if not, i will sprinkle some dried italian mixed herbs.

Pumpkin soup:
This is even simpler.
1. Put pumpkin cubes, sweet potato cubes and carrot cubes in a pot with just enough water to cover them.
Pumpkin:Sweet Potatoe:Carrot=4:1:1. Just a guideline, dun have to be exact.
2. Bring the water to boil and add in a medium onion, peeled and cut four.
3. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes or until the food is soft.
4. Use a hand blender to blend until smooth.Add water if needed.
5. Season with some black pepper.

These soups are good with everything on the breakfast table. Last weekend, I served it with wholemeal sourdough toast that has home made garlic spread on it. This is what I called good breakfast. ;)

Homemade fish balls

We were supposed to go to Hard Rock Penang with family friends today. The mummy is my ex colleague, the daddy is working in our ex company and their son Darren is Phin Zhe's classmate. But unfortunately Darren is down with fever and Phin Zhe is having runny nose too. So, no Hard Rock for everyone and I made fish balls for lunch.

I used threadfin, cantonese called ma-yao(马友), hokkien called ngo-wa. Scrape off as much meat as possible from the fish. I used a knife and a fork to do the job. Then, use a food processor or even BREAD MAKER to beat the meat with 1/2 tsp salt, 1tsp sesame oil, 2tbsp iced water and some pepper.I used a bread maker today and it did a pretty good job.

While waiting for the fish paste, pan fry the fish head and bone with a little bit of oil. Then, add water and boil for at least one hour. Filter the soup, season with sea salt and pepper. Now you have your fish broth ready.

So, this is how the fish paste looks like. This is the very basic fish ball recipe, you can add mushroom, green onion, carrot etc if you want. Today I just made plain fish balls.

Use yr thumb to squeeze into ball size. You don't have to place into a plate, just squeeze into the broth directly. Save a plate. ;)

Fish balls in fish broth.

I added some blanched brocolli to make it a balance meal.

So, home made fish balls and brocolli in fish broth, serve with dry version organic thin noodles. Isn't it simple? :)

Breakfast plate #3

This morning, I cooked breakfast for the family instead of serving bread again. But Phin Zhe woke up late so I packed his breakfast for him to eat in daycare. Breakfast menu is cheesy scrambled egg, olive oil rosemary potatoes and bell pepper, fresh tomato slice.

Cheddar cheese cookies

Since 19mo, I have started to serve home made cookies to my boy. Every two weeks, I will make a new batch. Then I will put them in two tupperware one touch airtight containers, one to place at nanny's place and one to keep at home. My boy loves this little treat. All the cookies that I made are of low sodium and low sugar, so I feel no guilty giving him few pieces at tea break or any other time when he asked for it.

 Ingredients:
 120g organic unbleached flour
 100g low sodium organic cheddar cheese(cut into small cubes, about 1inch3)
 50g organic unsalted butter(cut into small cubes, about 1inch3)
 2 to 3tbsp cold water

Method:
 1. Pulse all ingredients except cold water in food processor until they are mixed well.
 2. Add 1 tbsp cold water at a time, pulse until a slightly sticky dough is form.
 3. Keep in airtight container in fridge for about 15mins.
 4. Roll out to the thickness that you desire. Bear in mind that after bake it will increase 50% in thickness.
 5. Cut to desire shape with cookies cutter.

6. Bake in preheat oven, 160c for about 15 to 20 minutes.

If you don't have a food processor, you can mix them with hands. But you might need slightly more cold water. My first batch was done with hands, they turned out as tasty.

Recipe fills two 500ml container. My boy loves it so much that sometimes I have to hide the container. ^_^

Solid Food 12mo-18mo

View Solid Food 6mo-12mo here.

Time flies. My boy is now 20mo. Since he started his solid, I have tried my best to have family meals, except weekday lunches when we are out to work and Phin Zhe is in daycare. When it is meal time, daddy will bring Phin Zhe to wash hands while I set up the dining table. Then one of us will put Phin Zhe in his IKEA high chair. He will definitely ask for his spoon and fork and we start eating. Basically at 20mo, he eats almost everything we eat and that includes bitter gourd. When having family meals frequently, there is a lot of positive impacts on kids, in both physical and mental development. This is a food post so I do not intend to talk on parenting. Do google for it if you are interested.

4 day rules?

After my boy turned one year old, I started to introduce him with more varieties. For certain food, it is very difficult to serve the same food for consecutive 4 days. But I still keep an eye on what he eat and introduce one new food at a time. This is very important. In the case of food allergy(touch wood!), you would be able to trace down to the source.

Processed food

The reason I do not like processed food because you will never know the exact ingredients in the food and the exact process to produce it. Even organic food, it could be contaminated along the production line. Another reason is I found that it is very hard not to exceed the daily salt and sugar intake limit if I were to give my boy processed food. So I want to stick with raw and real food whenever possible. But then after one year old, I started to give ghee(14mo), butter(18mo), cheese(14mo)(want to try making own cheese, but I am a busy FTWM) and organic non-gmo toufu(16mo)(when I don’t have time to make my own toufu). The only less healthy snack that I ever gave to him is Arrowhead Mills organic puffed kamut(14mo). But my son was not too keen with the puffs, he did not finish the bag I bought.

Dine out?

No, Phin Zhe has not tried outside food yet. Everytime when we have family gathering or when we are on vacation, I will prepare simple food for him. It is not troublesome at all if you do some proper planning. When will he has his first real restaurant dining experience? Emm...soon, we have an oversea trip when he is close to 2. It is impossible to cook the first meal after touch down. But I will choose a healthy restaurant and cook as much as possible during the trip.

Still organic?

His food is still mainly organic, with some exceptions like garlic, onion, ginger, kiwi, avocado, orange etc. Of course there is no organic pork(at least I could not find it in penang) and no organic fish.

Pork: Shinju Foodstuffs Enzyme Pork(Non halal)

Chicken: DQ organic clean chicken(only grass fed chicken in Malaysia)

Fish: fresh fish from Penang market(most of the time promfret, eel or threadfin) and aeon(salmon and cod fish)

Dairy products?

Ghee is one of the least likely dairy products that can cause unpleasant lactose intolerance. Therefore I introduced ghee first, then cheese at 14mo. Butter came later at 18mo. Ghee also contain all the essential fats for baby’s brain development. In India, Ayurvedic believes that ghee has healing effects and is gentle to stomach. I use it widely in bread and cooking.

Ghee – Purity Farms Organic Ghee

Cheese – Tasmania Ashgrove Cheddar, Kerrygold Cheddar, Taiwan four ways cheddar and mozzarella, cloverorganic cheddar and lye cross farm organic cheddar

Tasmania, Kerrygold and Taiwan four ways are not organic. But their cows are not treated with growth hormones and antibiotics. Besides that, grass fed cows produce dairy product that have higher omega 3 to omega 6 ratio than grain fed cows. It is very hard to find happy cows that graze on lush green fields all year long. Most of the farm will feed with hay, silage and grains in winter. Therefore different period of a year I will get cheese from different countries, for example in July I will get Clover Organic Cheddar and in January I will get Tasmania Ashgrove Cheddar.

Butter – Organic Times

I seldom use butter. But this is the only butter I can get from the organic shop in Penang. I use it when I am running out of ghee.

Yogurt – Easiyo Biolife Organic

I have made yogurt 2-3 times using this Easiyo Biolife Organic sachet from New Zealand. It is unsweetened so I mixed it with lots of fresh fruits.

Fresh milk - Not yet as Phin Zhe is still on breast milk.

Switching from porridge to rice?

I was not in a hurry to switch him to rice because porridge is easier for digestion. My son poops 2-3 times a day. I am glad that his digestion system works well. Ahem! I know this is a food blog. ;-) When he was at 17mo, he showed interest in the rice we were eating. So I gave him some rice after his porridge dinner. He enjoyed them. He took around 1 month before he had his first full serving of rice meal. Wait for baby’s cue. Some babies are ready for rice earlier but some are not.

Little one rejects food?

When your little one rejects your food, my son does that too, most of the time it has nothing to do with the food itself. It could be they are sleepy, they want to poop, they are teething, they are not well, they are not hungry, the food is too hot or too cold, it is a new food, they do not like the texture or the way the food is cooked, and many other reasons. I also read in somewhere that little one takes 6-8 times before he decides that he really do not like that food. I know how it feels when little one keeps the food untouched because it happened to us too. But clever little one can sense our emotions. Just relax and take it easy. I still remember we let him skipped his dinner because he rejected the food, not once but few times. Don’t worry, he still have his milk.

How many meals a day?

My son has 3 main meals and 2 snacks, supplemented with breast milk.

Breakfast: Bread, Mantou, Oatmeal, Pancake, Steamed cupcakes, red bean soup, green bean soup, soy milk, fruits

Lunch(weekdays): 1 pot porridge(after 18mo, he still eat 1 pot porridge)

          (weekends): meesua, pasta

Dinner(weekdays): 1 pot porridge(after 18mo, he eats what we eat)

         (weekends): dishes and soup with soft grains

Snacks: Fruits, Bread, Mantou

Here is his food record

13 months old

Leek, tomato, promfret, black rice, long grain rice, pearl rice, adzuki bean, mung bean, pumpkin mantou, brown sugar, wholemeal mantou, cherries, red lentils, siew pak choy, chayote

** Brown sugar is used in mantou, then later in bread and steamed cupcakes.

** Lentils are added to porridge. It makes porridge very fragrant. But they need to be soaked overnight in fridge to speed up the cooking time.

14 months old

Burdock root, white radish, dried shiitake mushroom, orange, yellow bell pepper, asparagus, ghee, puffed kamut, aged cheddar cheese, flaxseed(ghee and flaxseed mantou)

** I cooked burdock root in 5 colors soup. Burdock root(brown), dried shiitake mushroom(black), radish(white), radish leaves(green) and carrot(red).

15 months old

White button mushroom, garlic, chia seeds, rolled oat, macaroni(mac and cheese), yellow lentils, pandan leaf(mantou), pomelo, cold pressed sesame oil

** Chia seeds are added in yogurt and later soy milk.

** Rolled oat is cooked into oat meal and pancake.

16 months old

Miso, smooth toufu, alaria(sea vege), dulse(sea vege), grape seed oil, red grape, wax apple, lady finger, threadfin(fish), virgin coconut oil, green onion, chinese coriander

** I love to serve meesua in miso soup with smooth toufu, mushroom of any type, alaria, dulse and radish. Sea vegetables are high in calcium and iron. And this dish can be kept in thermos on the go.

** Virgin coconut oil is used in banana pancake

17 months old

Brown rice, barley, buckwheat, soy milk, bitter gourd, luffa, green bell pepper, lettuce, lotus root powder(lotus root soup for cough),  molasses sugar, enoki mushroom(brown and white), brown button mushroom

** Remedy for cough: Double boil/Steam few red dates, some wolfberries, one small slice of ginger in 0.5l water for 20-30mins. Then dissolve 1tsp lotus root powder in water and add to the soup. Bring the soup to boil and consume within the same day. Whenever my son has blocked/running nose and cough, I give him this drink consecutive few days and can see good result.

18 months old

Black sesame(powder form), sweet corn, cucumber, lotus seed(lotus seed red bean soup), pea sprout, Chinese yam(powder form), red dragon fruit, unsalted butter, oyster mushroom, codonopsis pilosula(党参), polyganatum(玉竹), bak kei(北芪), eel(fish)

** I cooked mild Chinese herbal chicken soup with codonopsis pilosula(党参), polyganatum(玉竹) and bak kei(北芪) twice so far.

After 18mo

Before that, I prepared his food separately. I do not season his porridge, so his only salt and sugar intake are from bread, cheese and other food. After 18mo, he eats what we eat. I tweaked our recipes so that it is suitable for both adults and toddler. Sometimes I take out his portion of food before I add in salt, light soy sauce or sugar. And sometimes he will have lightly seasoned food. I have summarized the daily recommended salt below. Do note that 1tsp salt equal to 6g salt. And also do note that many food like cheese, bread etc has salt in it too. As for sugar, the recommended daily intake for 3-8year old is 3tsp and for bigger kids is 8tsp max. There is no guideline for smaller babies. But sugar is not needed in our diet, it does more harm than good, obesity in children and related health issues. So avoid it whenever possible.   

Salt(Sodium)
 
1 to 1.5 year – below 1g salt a day( below 0.4g sodium)
1.5 to 2 year - 1g salt a day (0.4g sodium)
2 to 3 year - 2g salt a day(0.8g sodium)
3 to 6 years – 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
6 to 10 years – 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
10 years and over – 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium)

More new food

As for new food, I have introduced prawn and honey to him at 20 months old.

Honey – The minimum age for honey is 1 year old. At younger age, there is a risk for baby to develop botulism. If not because of his daddy want to let him try some lemon honey drink, I would have dragged him even longer.

Prawn – Since there is no family food allergy history, I decided to try out prawn at 20mo too. Prawn is low in mercury and it is a good source of protein. Furthermore it is easy to get fresh prawn in Penang. The first time I stir fry some greens with prawn and let him eat the veggies only. Then the second time I let him try the prawn.

Beef – The reason I did not introduced beef yet because it is hard to find a good source. But not long ago, I saw Cold Storage in Gurney Penang selling grass fed beef from Australia. I am thinking to let him try some before our Australia trip few months later. Emm…how about minced beef in spaghetti Bolognese?

Seeds – I have introduced flax seeds(14mo), chia seeds(15mo) and black sesame seeds(18mo). However I did not give him those seeds regularly. Next in the list will be pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Oh yes, except chia seeds, all seeds I give in powder form.

Nuts – Nuts are top in the allergy list too. So I will save it for later.

Other seafood – Not yet

Last but not least

Parenting is an on going learning process. It is not for us to compare or judge each others as there is no absolute right or wrong. This post is just to share what I have read and experimented with my only boy. Follow your senses and do what you feel right and comfortable. Happy parenting! :)

Black Sesame Flaxseed Soft Loaf

I make this loaf quite frequent, simply because it is healthy and nice.

230g organic unbleached high protein flour
30g organic black sesame powder
10g organic flaxseed powder
10g organic grass fed ghee
2 tbsp organic brown sugar
1 tsp sea salt
180ml cold water
1/2 tsp active dried yeast


bms105-t programme 3

Toddler menu #4(at 17mo)

It could be as simple as this, and yet my boy could finish everything in the picture. :)

5 grain porridge - I have changed to another type of 5 grain recently. Previously was 5 grain for babies which have pearl white rice, long grain rice, millet and black rice.  Now it has brown rice, sweet brown rice, millet, barley and buckwheat.

Steamed egg with chicken stock - Whenever I buy and debone DQ clean chicken, I will make chicken stock with the bones or carcass. Chicken stock to egg ratio is 2 to 1, sieve and steam over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Steamed pumpkin cubes - This australia pumpkin is nice even on its own.

Chicken cake - pan fried minced chicken and black fungus with a bit of grape seed oil. The meat portion looks a bit small in the picture as I usually try to cut down meat and fish during weekends, as nanny likes to rotate between fish and meat on weekdays.

Toddler menu #3(at 17mo)

 

Here is an example how I used the same ingredients to cook for both adults and toddler.

Old cucumber chinese red dates soup - no extra seasoning at all

Stir fry carrot and siew pak choy with garlic - toddler version is sliced thinner and cooked longer. Both uses extra virgin olive oil, simmer over low heat. Adult version is lightly salted.

Stir fry shimeji mushroom with minced pork - No seasoning required  for toddler version because ghee is used. For adult, I added some pepper, organic light soy sauce, organic thick soy sauce and simmer with some water. It is also lightly thickened with corn flour before served.

Toddler menu #2(at 16mo)

Just realise that I have only blogged one toddler meal menu so far. It is not easy to take picture with an active toddler around. Even I have decided not to use better camera, but just snap with tab and then make a simple post, it just don't work most of the time. For example today, my boy saw the meesua and he couldn't wait at all. He wanted to grab the plate while I was trying to take picture. :)

So here is a healthy one dish meal for toddlers, and also adults.  The two main ingredients: Alaria and Dulse. These are sea vegetables which have high calcium and iron. I bought Maine Coast which have been tested for chemical, heavy metal and bacteriological pollution. To reduce the cooking time, they need to be soaked. I soaked them for about an hour.

Other ingredients are radish, tofu and shimeji mushroom. Simmer radish, sea vegetables in a bowl of water for 20 minutes. Add in mushroom, simmer for another 5 minutes. Add 1 tbsp of miso paste and tofu. I used Eden organic aged miso. Miso is fermented soy, which is good. But then most non organic soy is gmo. So it is better to get organic miso. Simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with cooked meesua.

I always feel good when I am serving healthy food to my boy. My boy loves meesua and soup. So it is not surprised when he kept asking for more.