Super Brain and Immune Booster Pasta

It has been incredibly busy recently, hence for the lack of updates. Obviously, busy or not, duties as a mother continue. The dishes I have been preparing had to be more efficient.

Here is a super quick and nutritious meal I whipped up for the family last night.

Prep time: 10 mins, 5 mins before cooking and 5 mins there after.
Cook time: 12 mins

Ingredients:
-fresh cod fillet
-garlic
-spinach
-pasta
-kelp
-extra virgin olive oil
-fresh rosemary
-fresh English parsley
-fresh lemon thyme
-Broccoli Sprout powder
-Chia seeds
-sea salt

1. Dice up a head of garlic, pinch of sea salt, rosemary, English parsley and lemon thyme. Add these to olive oil to infuse and coat the cod.
2. Steam the cod, with spinach with the infused oil and its herbs.
3. Boil pasta simultaneously for 10 mins.
4. When pasta is cooked, drain the water. Add in a dollop of butter. My daughter and I love love love butter, hence why we go through copious amount of butter in the house. Stir in steamed spinach and the gravy from the cod (2).
5. Sprinkle on Chia seeds and Broccoli Sprout powder from the Super Sprout series. I prefer to serve cod on the side.

The beauty of this quick dish is that I was busy with the kids half the time it was cooking on his own. This was served to the entire family, including my almost 4 year old and 10 month old baby (salt was omitted for the baby).

Super Immune Pesto Chicken Pasta

My 3 year old and husband ate tonight's dinner so quickly I knew I have a winner on hand.

Ingredients:
Free range chicken breast, diced
Spinach
Garlic, one whole head
White sesame seeds (I happen to have this at home, would have loved pine nuts)
Lemon Balm (home grown, great for sore throat and cognitive development)
Lemon Thyme (home grown)
English parsley (home grown, super food, best known for its healing property)
Sage (home grown, immune booster)
Teddy bear pasta
Olive oil
Kelp powder
Sea salt
Cottage cheese (optional)

Instructions:
1. Boil pasta. Probably takes 8-10 mins.
2. Blend spinach (90%), herbs (10%), handful of sesame seeds, head of peeled garlic and olive oil.
3. Heat some olive oil in pan. Fry diced chicken breast.
4. When chicken is almost fully cooked, add in blended vegetables puree. Stir for 10 mins or till chicken is thoroughly cooked.
5. Stir in pasta. Season with organic kelp and sea salt.
6. Add cottage cheese if desired. Gives the extra calcium. My girl is a cheese monster and expects cheese with her pasta.

Total time: 20 mins

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. :)

Cannellini and Sunflower seeds Pie

Just baked this pie in school and it was satisfying to hear the children chorus 'I want more I want more'.

Today's snack is low gluten (mainly because I didnt use GF oatmeal), egg free, dairy free and highly nutritious.

Cannellini beans is high in protein and iron, boosts memory and is great for a growing young child. It is buttery in taste and great for adding a nutty creamy texture to the dish.

Sunflower seeds is rich in vitamin Bs, E, calcium and calories. So it is great for sustaining the energy of our active little ones.

Ingredients:
1 cup Tapioca flour
1 cup Potato flour
1 cup Oatmeal
1 cup Cannellini beans (partially mashed to retain texture)
1/3 cup Sunflower seeds
Baking powder
1/3 cup soaked chia seeds (to replace eggs)
2/3 cup Olive oil

Instructions:
Bake at 160 degrees celsius for 25 mins.

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.

High Iron Pasta for the family, including the baby

I try to cook every meal for the family. Cooking nutritious meals for my child is probably one of the reasons I set up a school, ha. I am often asked how do I find time to cook when I am working? I don't know, I find eating out takes up more time. Slow cooker is my best helper for soups, stews, braised meals etc. But sometimes I prefer to cook certain ingredients only briefly to preserve as much nutrition as possible.

Anyway, here's a quick pasta I whipped up last night. My version of Beef Bolognaise with English parsley, lentils, millet, red capsicum, spinach, tomato and pasta of course. 

Do you know
- Spinach, lentils and beef are high in iron, but iron is best absorbed if taken with Vitamin C? Tomato and red capsicum contain Vitamin C and pairing these food together help the body utilise iron better.
- Red capsicum is a decongestant, thins mucus and phlegm and has anti-cancer properties.
- Lentils are legumes, packed with fiber and protein. My favourite thing about this is that it stabilises blood sugar and is awesome for young children. It evens their sugar level and prevents mood swings from sugar high sugar low effect.
- English Parsley has wonderful healing properties, and I love it so much I have it growing t home. It purportedly neutralises carcinogen, is packed with anti-oxidants nutrients and vitamins B, C.

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil and add in chopped garlic and onions. Boil pasta separately.

2. Add lentils, millets and ground beef. Season with salt if you wish. I don't add any salt.

3. Add canned tomato pomodoro, red capsicum and finely chopped English parsley. Add two cups of water.

4. When beef is cooked, add in chopped spinach. I turn off the flames as soon as the spinach wilt because I don't want the high heat to kill the nutrients. Actually the whole cooking process probably took me 20 mins or less.

5. Serve with pasta. 

Yes, this portion is for my 3 year old girl. She has a hearty appetite and is blessed with a high metabolism.

When I am prepping ingredients, I like to put aside those that is suitable for my baby. Food high in iron is added bonus for breastfed babies. In this case, I set aside the pasta (boiled a little longer so they are softer), spinach, red capsicum, onion, garlic and millet. I dropped them into the boiling water after I scooped out the cooked pasta, did a quick hand blend when cooked. My 9 month old baby has moved on to chunky food and loves this. He ate 8 tablespoon (4 ozs) easily and I am a happy mother. :)

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.