milky green-peas

category: babyfood

assalamualaikum.

phew!

it's been quite sometimes since i last post anything here. i've been busy and when i was a bit free, i spent my time modifying and touching up my other blog.

For those who follow my other blog, surely by now you know my resolution to reduce our eating-out. firstly and mainly due to cost-saving measure. it happened when our spending pattern changed dramatically when the kids were started to being sent to nursery. from a fixed RM500.00, the cost skyrocketed (over sikit di sini, huh?) to RM700. the figures keep changing, depending on our workload at the office. the equation: more workload = late going back = more overtime. at times, we have to fork out even a four-figures! mainly to cover kakak's playschool fee. now that the petrol price has increased, i can go on membebel for days.

anyway, from cost-saving measure, it has become a habit. but it takes a lot. not monetarily but effort and time. we used to 'ceremoniuously' savor our meal when we had home-cooked meals (sbb once in a blue moon makan kat rumah :-O ). now the table is turned and we treated eating-out as an occasion.

We do, at times having hard time to decide what to cook. Like last weekend, we were wandering aimlessly at tesco, trying to decide what raw to buy. fish? chicken? beef? last2 we resorted to tripe a.k.a perut lembu. like always, the more adventureous cook is mdh so he prepared juicy yummy kerabu perut (translate - tripe salad in lime sauce??) while i tended the ever running kids.

and voila!

drool yet?

other than that, i'm gonna share a baby recipe - milky green pea

Ingredients:
Frozen green peas
Fresh milk/formula

Step-by-step
- Soak frozen green peas in water until soft.
- Put in a pan, add water and simmer over medium heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Drain. Let to cool.
- Transfer into a blender. Add milk/formula.
- Blend until smooth.
- Transfer to bekas ais and freeze right away.

This, can be added into your baby's porridge.



in the making - reading for blending

By the way, last 2 nights, I prepared the 'gebu'est and sexiest pancake in the history of my pancake making. Even when it turned cold, kegebuannya masih ketara. I used self-raising flour cap MFM instead of my normal routine of 'tepung cap sauh biru'. i was too busy gobbling down to snap gambar. sori... no bahan bukti.

creamy mashed potato

Category: babyfood

WOW… lama jugak tak letak apa-apa resepi yek. I’ve been busy and it’s kinda normal at this time of the month. Having finished initial compilation and analysis, I’m back to blogging. Sungguh ketagihhhh!!!

Nope, it’s not recipe to GOODY-GOODY NASI AYAM (yet). It’s a teaser, kind of.

drrooollll yet?

Okay, anyone fancy CREAMY MASHED POTATO?
Here goes…

Ingredients
- Potato
- Butter
- Milk
- Salt

Step-by-step
- Peel potato and cut into small wedges/cubes
- Put in a pot. Add water enough to submerge.
- Bring to a boil over high heat for 10 minutes.
- Lower down flame, cover pot and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Let to cool.
- Once cool, mash potato into desired consistency. DO NOT BLEND or it will all get starchy (imagine eating gam yang kita beli dalam tiub masa kecik2 dulu, well, the time masa I WAS KECIK to be exact – I am now 32 so, count back okies – I may not be KECIK anymore the time YOU WERE KECIK J)
- Transfer into a pot, add milk and butter (and salt if your baby is over 1yr already tp sikit saja tau)
- Bring to a boil over low heat.
- Cook until it thickens and to your desired consistency.
- Let to cool.
- Ready to eat/freeze

macam ni lah rupanya sebelum ditenggekkan atas dapur untuk kali ke-2

taraaa... dah siap masuk bekas.

Back to GOODY GOODY NASI AYAM, it is, again, my husband’s expertise. Selain mengemas and cleaning up later, I am usually entrusted with blending the sambal (after he carefully put all the ingredients in the blender). Other than that, I am usually incharge of keeping my kids away from the kitchen J. I’m not saying this because he’s my husband but his nasi ayam is SUPERB!!

Coming up - SOUPY MASHED POTATO

applesauce with apricot

Category - baby/toddlerfood

From my reading, one of the ways to feed your kids successfully or to develop healthy eating habits is by introducing varieties of food from the very beginning. Do watch out for the do’s and don’ts such as timing and the type of food.

I applied that to Iman. So far alhamdulillah, he has wonderful appetite and can accept varieties of food. So far I found he’s allergic to broccoli (he got bloated with angin) and he doesn’t like chunky corn. He’s okay with the creamy type tho. I try my best to avoid repetition in his menu in one particular week.

For me, varieties means ‘mix-and-match’. You know, today you mix a and b, tomorrow a and c and so forth and so on. There’s a place in my kitchen cabinet that I reserve specially for Iman’s food. At any one time, you may find these..
1. Bran/oat
2. Cous cous
3. Rice cereal
4. Grind rice
5. Spaghetti
6. Macaroni

I am sharing another version of applesauce today – APPLESAUCE WITH APRICOT. This is, again very simple. I did say something about mix-and-match right? So here goes

INGREDIENTS
- Medium green apples. Kupas, buang biji and cut into wedges
(Having told by yati, we may now opt for red ones)
- A handful of dried apricot
- Ground cinnamon
- Water

STEP-BY-STEP
- Soak dried apricot in hot-boiled water in a bowl, for 15-20 minutes
- Put apple-wedges in a pan/pot.
- Add apricot
- Add water
- Add ground cinnamon
- Bring to a boil over high heat. Let it boil for 10 minutes
- Cover pan/pot.
- Reduce heat and let it simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes.
- Let to cool. Blend into desired consistency
(Can be eaten on its own or add with cereal)

apricot soaking in hot-boiled water

Sunmaid ada jual dried apricot. Gerai2 in shopping complex pun ada jual. You know, yang jual kismis, nougat, all kinds of nuts. I bought a pack for RM10.

This sauce can also serve as pencicah roti. When Iman was small (smaller, since he’s still small anyway!), I used to dilute applesauce by adding boiled-water. Then carik2kan roti and soak overnight in diluted applesauce. By then the roti was soggy and soft enough for him to munch with his gums.

squid fritters

category: food for all

*SMILE*
*SMILE*

Dear blog-friends
// THANKS for kind words, comments that build, supportive views and all. Actually by sharing, I am more motivated. Yes, I feel good having shared a recipe or two and my limited experience in this.
// For those who are inspired and got excited over cooking, I am glad for that.
// You all are welcome to share your own tips/recipes and whatnots so we can all benefit. I am sure others can cook better than I do or have more recipes to drool for.

From my observation (based on the comments), every recipe has been tried except for CHICKEN WINGS. With this avian-flu thing around recently, I understand the reluctance to even come close to chicken at pasar. And for babyfood, majority likes APPLESAUCE. APPLESAUCE was actually the starting point of my journey into this babyfood cooking.

Anyway, like I say, mdh and me have a simple life, meals and cooking included. For example, last Saturday, we had simple meals for breakfast – SQUID FRITTERS, FRIED DRIED_NOODLES and TELUR PUYUH REBUS (kakak’s favourite).

FRIED FRIED-NOODLES – you can buy dried noodles yang macam mee maggi tu, minus the perasa. Just celurkan until a bit soft. Then boleh goreng macam biasa. Fimiliar dengan mi goreng indomee? Mdh commented the one I prepared last weekend, rasanya sebijik cam tu.

I am sharing one more easy-peasy recipe, SQUID FRITTERS. This is based on Kylie Kwong’s recipe.

INGREDIENTS
Sotong – bersihkan, basuh, potong in anyway you like. To reduce letupan masa masak nanti, toskan properly.
Tepung jagung
Lada hitam
Garam kasar

STEP-BY-STEP
- Tumbuk garam kasar dengan lada hitam sampai hancur.
- Campurkan dengan tepung jagung. Gaul rata.
- Gaulkan sotong dengan tepung.
- Kibas-kibaskan sebelum digoreng
- Goreng sehingga keemasan
- Sedap dimakan panas!
(Kalau tengok gambar yang ummi post tu, nampak cam kuning kan. Ummi tambah kunyit skit).

Mdh tak suka kalau sotong potong kecik. Dia suka besar2 tapi letupannya juga besar! Pernah dulu masa tgh goreng tu minyak terpercik, kena kat leher Ummi. Esoknya pegi kerja, masa kat tempat sembahyang, kawan2 senyum simpul. ‘Kau ‘on’ ke semalam?’ Laaa… diorang ingatkan love bite! Ummi kata, ‘a ah, memang on, sotong yang buat love bite tu’.

Oh, someone (I think it was mama-afif) asked abt rosemary. Nak cerita susah skit, ni gambo dia.. i also used this in making mashed-potato. And on the right is ground-cinnamon which i used in APPLESAUCE

cheesy milidi/spaghetti

Category: baby(toddler)food

If you read yesterday’s entry in my other blog, you may think I had tuna-mayo sandwich for breakfast this morning. Nope, we did not. Not for breakfast. We had it last night as dinner. I was hoping we could reserve ½ loaf for breakfast but the whole loaf was eaten last night alone. My inlaws wont be surprise with this. Not at all.

I was thinking to share the recipe today. Mdh hasn’t send me the recipe yet. I, well, urghh, just helped him ferry the sandwiches from kitchen’s counter to dining table, apart from helping myself on those. So I didn’t know how he did it. Oh,.. credits for me for helping him boiled some eggs.

I am left with CHEESY MILIDI.

Usually, it is CHEESY SPAGHETTI. So you can substitute MILIDI with spaghetti.

Ingredients
- MILIDI / spaghetti – celur in boiling water(+ a bit of oil) until cooked. Then cut milidi/spag into ½ or 1inch in length (senang nak makan nanti).
- 4 tomato cubes
- 4 chicken cubes
- a slice of cheese

Step-by-step
- Put tomato and chicken cubes in a pot.
- Add a bit of water. Cover with lid.
- Heat over low heat until pipping hot.
- Add MILIDI/spaghetti
- Cook until you reach desired consistency
- Add cheese
- Let to cool
- Ready to serve

milidi

+ tomato+chicken cubes

= iman's breakfast today

tomato cereal

category: babyfood

Semalam balik agak cepat. Dah janji dengan kakak nak ke kedai hijau (ekonsave) cari dc katun. Balik rumah, dia tengok cd tu, Iman, macam biasa main botol air. Nampak suasana ‘aman’, tak ada sesi bergaduh, mdh naik mandi, ummi ke dapur.

Cadangnya nak buat milidi goreng tapi mdh insisted on soup instead. Kakak, macam abahnya, suka sup. Malam tadi, dia makan sampai bertambah. Iman pulak makan potato bread seketul.

Hari ni Iman dibekalkan dengan TOMATO CEREAL. Senang sangat. Macam tak sampai hati nak share resepi. Tapi bubuh jugaklah yek.

Ingredients
- 6 tomatoes – cut into wedges
- rosemary
- rice cereal

Step-by-step
- Put tomatoes in a pan. Add water.
- Bring to a boil over high heat. Afterwhich, lower down heat and it simmer for about 10 minutes.
- You may opt to peel off the skin OR to keep it
- Blend into desired consistency
- At this point, kalau tak nak makan lagi, bolehlah dibekukan.
- If frozen, take a few cubes (I use 4), cairkan in a pan.
- Once cair, masukkan rosemary a bit
- Let it boil for a while then turn off heat.
- Add rice cereal slowly.
- Whisk to prevent berketul-ketul
- Once cool, ready to serve

Oh, an anonymous remarked. Mungkin the way I write/pen down my thoughts membuatkan orang salah faham. Forgive me for that. Bimbang orang lain pun salah faham, I’d like to stress that frozen food mesti dicairkan, pipping hot. Bila sejuk baru hidangkan. Jangan bagi frozen food straight away.

As for TOMATO CEREAL, takde gambo. Masa tengah masak tu baru teringat kamera tertinggal dalam kereta.

TIPS: to make homemade rice cereal, basuh beras and keringkan. Then kisarkan menjadi konsistensi yang dikehendaki. Bubur nasi lebih cepat dimasak. Tapi mesti ingat, don’t treat this like on-the-shelf rice cereal yang ‘just-add-water’ sbb this one masih belum dimasak so it needs to be cooked first. simpan dalam air-tight container.