Shredded Pork Oats Noodles with Avocado & VCO sauce

My two children are blessed with incredibly high metabolism. It's particularly apparent in my baby.

He was born as a chubby baby of 4.1 kg (96%) and 54.5 cm (100%). He shed the fat quite quickly, despite me having more than ample milk supply.

We checked in with his paed periodically and verified there was nothing really wrong. In fact, he was ahead in his milestones. I expressed once and found I could express 3 oz easily after nursing him. Milk looked normal with acceptable level of fat. He nurses direct 10-13 times daily and I think it is fair to estimate a daily milk in take of 30-39 oz, with 32 oz daily as a recommended average.

Then the only logical left is his high latent metabolism fueled by the fact he is very active.

This is where it gets contentious. Some parents would say, "my child is slim because he is active" and leaves it as that. I am of the school of thought that if a child has a higher base metabolism, then for each activitity he does, he would burn more calories. Now coupled with the fact that he is more active than the next child, doesn't this child need a higher calories count per day to survive? In order to gain weight, this child will need to consume more calories than his body daily requirement.

My objective is less of getting my children to gain weight. My objective is that I am feeding my child as much as he needs to grow optimally. I want my child to realise his potential. 

Now the usual approach to baby weaning has been the nutrition / puree approach. However, comparing like for like of an apple versus rice, the former contains less calories. The puree approach using fruits is also more likely to create sugar high and low in babies. Therefore, our mothers and grandmothers were doing something right after all with the porridge base approach to baby weaning!

The meals I designed and prepared for my own baby, babies and bigger kids in school tend to be carbohydrates and good fat based. Over 50% of a child's calories should come from carbohydrates.

Tonight's dinner for my 9 month old baby is organic oats noodles (egg free), boiled shredded pork, a chunky avocado, VCO and Singo pear puree as sauce. High in calories, fat and iron. The baby gave his stamp of approval and ate really quickly.

Dessert was Australian mango (diced) and egg free white bread (1.5 slices). Then he nursed and slept. His hearty appetite made my day in a way I guess most mommies can relate to.

Avocado, Chicken, Potato: Baby version of a club sandwich

The baby loved what I prepared for him today and so I thought, best jot it down so I can make again. Haha.

Poached and diced chicken, chunky boiled pink potato without skin, avocado, steamed pumpkin, with blended green peas and brown rice. And a dash of VCO.

High in calories, good fat, diverse range of vitamins.

He ate 10-11 tablespoons eagerly. I am a happy mommy.

High Iron Biscuits for Baby

Since I am an early waker, I thought I will bake a new batch of biscuits for the baby. House smelled so good, reminiscent of CNY, and the baby kept smacking his lips, saying mam-mam and pointing to the cooling biscuits. 

So satisfying when his face broke into a smile when the first biscuit melted in his mouth. 


Ingredients:
80g unsalted butter
80g Virgin Coconut Oil
2 teaspoon soaked chia seeds
120g corn starch
40g self raising flour
40g ground organic oatmeal
40g raw organic wheat germ
40g ground organic sesame seeds
120g ground dried organic apricots (Make sure to choose the dark brown ones. Light orange dried apricots contain sulphur)

Instructions:
1. Melt butter, add in VCO and soaked chia seeds
2. Grind oatmeal, wheat germs, sesame seeds and dehydrated apricots till fine so they will melt in the mouth and minimise choking hazard.
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. 
4. Bake at 175 degrees for 9 minutes. My biscuit is about 2.5 cm in diameter before baking.

This batch is dairy free for those who didn't want milk powder, sans the butter of course. Do note that VCO, chia seeds and sesame seeds may be highly nutritious but maybe allergenic. Best to do a separate test with babies before serving. My baby is a 9 months old fusspot, with an incredibly high metabolism and no allergies, so my main objective is to feed him as much nutrition and calories as possible within any small window of opportunity. This version of the biscuits is also favoured by Daddy and big sister.

Weight Gaining and Appetite Increasing Biscuits

Decided to direct my angst to a productive cause, and cook something for my picky eater of a son. Recently, all he wants is finger food. I feed him small pieces of fruits like sliced avocado, egg yolk, sliced beef AND his favourites are the biscuits, puff variety. He goes through so much a day.

Even though they are organic, I look at the ingredients (flour, skimmed milk powder, butter typically) and don't feel quite at ease that I am not in complete control.

At the same time, two other parents asked me for my opinion on pediasure for their picky eaters. I was advising one that pediasure's main ingredient is really cornstarch,why pay so much to feed your child corn starch. Then inspiration struck.

Here it goes - My baby friendly biscuits which has the texture of a shortbread. It offers the crunch factor that older infants like and it melts in the mouth right away. It is high calories (great for gaining weight), high in calcium and I was cheeky to use Appeton's lysine to give the biscuit an orange flavour. The more the child eats, the more he or she will eat. Heehee. My little fussy bossy eater eats one row of the biscuits at one sitting, so I am a happy mom.

Ingredients:
120g unsalted butter
2 teaspoon of Virgin Coconut Oil
240 g corn starch (this is why the biscuit will melt in the mouth)
120 g self raising flour (can substitute half with ground millet or ground oats)
120 g of Bellamy organic full fat milk powder
1.5 teaspoon of presoaked chia seeds (this is the binding agent)
Pinch of baking soda
0.5 teaspoon of orange flavour lysine (optional, debatable if lysine increases appetite anyway)

Instructions:

1. Melt butter, add VCO oil and lysine

2. Add in dry ingredients. If the dough is wet, add more flour

3. Bake at 175 degrees Celsius for 10 mins. Each of my biscuit is about 2 cm in diameter before baking.

Melt in the mouth biscuits

Wheatgrass, Parsley, Kelp: Butter & Herbs Pasta

My little girl and I love butter. Luckily for her, she is blessed with extremely high metabolism. Me, not so blessed. -wink-

Here's a recipe for a butter & herbs pasta I like to whip up for her. Extremely nutritious, amazing immune booster and guilt free. Adults friendly too.

Done in less than 10 mins and super nutritious. 50% of the calories of a young child should be derived from carbohydrates. 

Ingredients:

Organic pasta

Butter - I don't use organic but I always make sure it is from Australia

Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO)

Organic wheatgrass - finely chopped

English Parsley - finely chopped

Chia seeds - a dash

Organic white sesame - a dash

Organic Kelp - for taste (Kelp is a seaplant whose benefits are numerous and include thyroid health, increased immunity, weight loss, iron and mineral supplementation and cancer prevention)

Avocado - mashed and added for a creamy sauce

Instructions:

1. Boil organic pasta in a separate pot for slightly less than the required time. I tend to skip salting.

2. Melt butter, add VCO

3. Add the wheatgrass and English parsley. Try not to overcook these as they get bitter.

4. Add in pasta and avocado. Stir thoroughly

5. Add a dash of kelp for taste

6. Remove from heat, add chia seeds and white sesame before serving. I have been introducing glass and ceramic crockery to my three year old because I think it is time she learns to handle fragile items.

Wheatgrass, English Parsley & Kelp: Guilt-free Butter & Herbs Pasta