Baby friendly Ngau Nam Mein (Beef Brisket Noodles)

Are there times when you don't know what to cook for the family? I was feeling that with the baby today.

Since we are serving organic beef in school today and I thought I will give the same protein to the baby.

I have been missing life in Hong Kong and then inspiration hits me.

I whipped up this dish for the little boss - Baby Ngau Nam Mein.

Ingredients:
Radiant organic millet noodles
Organic beef
Steamed cauliflower
Puree of apple, blueberry and guava

Instructions:
1. Boil organic millet noodles which tasted like kuey teow. Cut to desired size.
2. Boil beef till well done, dice fine
3. Steam cauliflower, apple, blueberry, guava. Blend the latter three so they make a nice sweet gravy.
4. Serve all together.

The baby approved and ate about 5 oz easily. And I am a happy mommy. :)

15 mins Immune Boosting soup

The husband came home from work feeling under the weather. It appears to be viral, considering the symptoms came on quickly. His head feels woozy, congestion builds up quickly and I know just the thing to whip up for tonight's dinner.

Soupy stuff is great when you are under the weather and your digestive system starts slowing. Plus it hydrates the body when your body has to work harder to get you better. Loaded with crucial vitamins and anti oxidants, think of this soup as your imported soldiers to help your immune fight whatever it is fighting.

Ingredients:
Cauliflower (decongestant, thins mucus)
Red capsicum (decongestant, thins mucus)
Purple carrot (high in beta carotene, anti oxidants)
Celery (decongestant, thins mucus)
English parsley
Garlic
Onion

Instructions:
1. As with most phytonutrients, I like to use as little heat as possible. In this case, I chop up the ingredients, fill with just enough water and chicken stock to cover and blend using a hand blender. You can easily blitz up in a food processor beforing transfering to a pot.
2. Bring to boil. I boiled for 10 mins. You can probably get away with less if your chicken stock is flavourful enough. The longer you boil, the sweeter the soup is from all the vegetable. But the heat kills the nutrition.

That's it. Easy peasy dish which takes them 15 mins to make. I will be serving with brown rice as a soupy rice main course, and grilled salmon as a protein.

I keep aside some portions for the baby. I don't fill up the jars (meant for freezing) so I can add carbohydrates and protein in later. This allows me to vary the menu for the baby easily.

Food that gets rid of phlegm

My 9 months old baby started the sniffles and I could hear the phlegm building up.

Congestion in a young baby is a mother's nightmare because he only knows how to breathe via the nose. If the nose is blocked, everything comes to an abrupt halt. Can't breastfeed. Can't eat. Can't sleep. What's worse is the phlegm tickling the throat, and triggering the body's natural response to cough it out.

To get rid of phelgm, there are 3 things to keep in mind. 
1) Mucus and phlegm creation needs to be reduced. Dairy products and sugar are the two biggest culprits in phlegm creation. You need to limit or eliminate such food to slow down the creation.

2) Dissolving or thinning the phlegm. Drinking plenty of fluids thin the mucus. Food such as cauliflower, red capsicum, celery, asparagus, onion, garlic, ginger help to dissolve mucus too.These are natural mucalators. There are synthetic ones you can get from pharmacy but not that I will feed that to my children.

3) Dispelling the phlegm. I said earlier the body coughs to get rid of the phlegm. But our children do not how to spit the phlegm out. Instead, they frequently trigger the gag reflex and end up vomiting when coughing.

What I find work best is focus on 1) and 2), then the phlegm is controlled enough for the child to swallow and poop out. I get a lot of satisfaction when my baby poops out mucusy slimy poop. Haha, the avenues a mother derives satisfaction from!

An additional tip for sleeping at night with a phlegm cough is to let the child sleep on an inclined angle. When we sleep at night in a horizontal direction, the backflow of the phlegm and the accumulation of the mucus at the head worsens congestion. Sleeping elevated helps mitigate this. Using a diffuser with a decongestant essential oil such as eucalyptus and lavender help too.


Here's a meal that reduces phlegm and helps combat flu. Cauliflower (50%) rice porridge (15%) in chicken broth (15%) and poached chunky salmon (20%). Salmon contains anti-inflammatory properties and protein, which are essential in the recovery process.

Ingredients:
- Salmon fillet, choose the tail end which is the part of the body which contains least mercury
- Organic cauliflower
- White rice porridge (white rice is easier for digestion when one's body is under the weather. By all means, use other grains)
- Home made chicken broth. Baby friendly with only antibiotics free chicken, no salt

Instructions:
1. Poach salmon fillet. Mine is loosely flaked because my baby likes textured food.
2. Steam cauliflower. Steaming helps retain heat sensitive vitamins. Mash with fork or with a food processor.
3. Heat rice porridge, add in home made chicken stock. Please see separate recipe for my porridge.

Poached Salmon, Cauliflower mash

I fed this for dinner and didn't hear a single throat-tickling cough all night. Thank God.