Luving the yummy spaghetti sauce!

Remember the spaghetti sauce I made recently? Well, since there was leftover sauce, I saved it so that we can have instant yummy spaghetti sauce whenever needed. Here's Alicia taking her dinner today - spaghetti topped with the yummy sauce!

In addition to her spaghetti, she had 3 mini cottage pies! :) happie mummy... well, that's only because I didn't cook a lot of spaghetti... lol.

Steamed Herbal Prawns

At some point in our lives, we must have eaten some form of herbal/ (drunken) prawns. While this may not be the authentic drunken prawn dish, it is definitely herbal (I cut down on the hua diao jiu so the alcohol content is quite minimal). :) Had this for dinner today alongside romaine lettuce and chicken chop topped with barbeque sauce...

Steamed Herbal Prawns

Ingredients:

• 12 prawns
• 3-4 slices dang gui (當 歸)
• 2 pieces huai niu qi (淮牛膝)
• 1 tablespoon wolfberries (枸杞子)
• dash of ground white pepper
• 10-15ml hua diao jiu 
• enough water to cover the prawns
• fish sauce to taste

Method:

1. Rinse the herbs.
2. Clean the prawns. Remove the head, trim the legs and devein.
3. Place the prawns into a bowl for steaming.
4. Add the water, hua diao jiu and white pepper. Mix.
5. Top the prawns with the herbs.
6. Steam (covered) for 8-10min.
7. Add fish sauce to taste.
8. Serve hot.

Double-boiled American Ginseng roots soup

I'd cooked this soup using the method of boiling on the stove earlier and essentially the herbs used are the same. However, this time I chose to use the method of double-boiling and I used pork instead of chicken.

The method of double-boiling cooks food slowly at a lower temperature. It is believed that the soup ingredients will slowly release the nutrients into the soup and the flavour and nutrients are 'locked' in the soup.

Double-boiled American Ginseng roots soup

Ingredients:

• 140g lean pork
• 1 bunch of solomon's seal
• 1 tablespoon wolfberries
• 6 red dates (pitted)
• a bunch of American ginseng roots
• 2 pieces huai shan
• 2 rice bowls water
• salt to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Blanch the meat.
2. Rinse the herbs.
3. Add all the ingredients (except wolfberries) into the double-boiler.
4. Double-boil for 2-3 hours.
5. Add wolfberries in in the last 15min.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Sieve the soup, serving only the wolfberries and pork in the soup.

I put a little too much ginseng roots so it was a tad too bitter. Cut down on the amount of ginseng and it should work just fine. :)

Chayote barley dessert (佛手瓜薏米甜汤)

I bought chayote the other day from the market as it was recommended by the vegetable seller. I had asked her for recommendations for any remedies for ridding phelgm and she suggested this (though it wasn't the first option - she had something else in mind but apparently it was already sold out so chayote was the next best choice).

FYI, I saw this in NTUC and it was labelled as Chokos.

I got some information about chayote from this site:

"Chayote (pronounced chai-yo-tay) is a member of the cucumber and squash family. Though it is eaten both in raw or cooked forms, it is actually a fruit. In both forms it is a good source of amino acids and Vitamin C. It is also low in calories, sodium, contains no cholestrol and is a good source of fibre. You can peel it or prepare it with the skin on. The seed is tender and edible as well."

Here's the pic of the chayote from that site:

And here's the cut version of the chayote:

After a bit of reading up about the chayote in Mandarin, this is what I've gathered:

Chayote's health benefits:

• Boosts immunity against diseases
• Lowers blood pressure
• A good choice of food for heart patients as it's a low sodium food
• Has 2-3 times the protein and calcium in cucumbers
• Has a significantly higher amount of minerals and vitamins compared to other melons
• Alleviates indigestion, wet cough, chest tightness, flatulence, vomiting, liver and stomach gas pains and bronchitis.
• It is high in selenium (selenium has a strong antioxidant effect that protects cell membranes from structural and functional damage).
• Aids patients with fertility problems.
• High in zinc which stimulates intelligence in children.

How could you not give this vegetable/fruit a try? :P

It is a versatile veg/fruit and can be eaten raw as in salads, cooked in savoury soups or desserts.

This time, I've decided to make a dessert out of it:

Double-boiling in progress...

Here's the link to the stir-fried version I made.

Chayote barley dessert (佛手瓜薏米甜汤)

Ingredients:

• 1 chayote (skin and seed removed, chop into chunks)
• 2 candied dates
• 1 handful Chinese barley
• less than 1 teaspoon sweet and bitter almonds (combined)
• 2-3 rice bowls water
• rock sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Rinse the herbs.
2. Add all the ingredients (except the rock sugar) into the double-boiler.
3. Double-boil for about 2 hours.
4. Add rock sugar to taste (it's already quite sweet so this is entirely optional).
5. Sieve out the candied dates and barley. Consume only the soup and the chayote.

Alicia had some of this though she wasn't particularly fond of it... in fact, she didn't quite like the chayote but was quite ok with the taste of the soup.

For toddler's consumption:

• Cut the chayote into smaller pieces before serving or allow the tot to bite off from the adult's portion.

Julia Gabriel PlayClub (Term 2 Week 9 & Graduation)

Last week Alicia went for class with her daddy while I stayed home to clean the blinds, windows and do the routine vacuuming and mopping. The theme of that week was pink so lotsa things were in pink that day, including Alicia's dress, and of course her artwork:

Cute little pig eh?

The kids had strawberry milkshake and Alicia had some too... I can't really remember what else happened that day but apparently she made a mess in the car after class because she insisted on having her milkshake in the car and in the carseat all alone, while hubby was at the wheel. lol.

Week 10's party week as usual and the kids will collect their 'graduation certificates'. :) The theme of the week was 'fizz' and so there were lotsa bubble-related activities, including art!

For this piece of art (below), the teacher blew bubbles into the paint (with soap solution added of course) and used the piece of paper to scoop up all the bubbles for each kid. The kids could then burst the bubbles with their hands/fingers or just wash them pop. Then they used cotton buds to draw 'bubbles' near the fish... well, they're supposed to be bubbles but of course Alicia had other interpretations.

This abstract art piece was done by sprinkling coloured powder with baking soda added then spraying vinegar at it using a spraycan. Due to the chemical reaction, there will be little bubbles! Of course that amused the kids. The only drawback of this activity was the excess vinegar which gets onto the paper so in order for the painting to dry properly, I had to tilt the paper so that the excess vinegar could be removed (which explains why the artwork looks like this) :)

Here's Alicia receiving her graduation cert (she wasn't as excited as she was compared to Term 1, in fact she was rather apprehensive):

This is Alicia before the party began... she went to survey the food first! haha.

Alicia playing the keyboard with her teacher during the graduation ceremony (she'd received her cert already so she was bored and checking out more interesting stuff):

Yeah! I got to play the keyboard while nobody else did! kekeke...

More about Julia Gabriel next term! For now, a well-deserved break for both Alicia and us!

Homemade pasta sauce (version II)

I slow-cooked the pasta sauce this time and it was really marvellous! So convenient to make and so delish! For the previous recipe, click here.

Even Alicia loved the sauce... you can be sure that if Alicia likes something, it's gotta be good though the converse isn't true... LOL.

Homemade pasta sauce (Version II)

Makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Hunt's stewed tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion
• 6 cloves garlic
• about 200g minced beef
• 4 white button mushrooms
• 4 Swiss brown mushrooms
• unsalted butter

Marinate minced beef with:

• worcestershire sauce
• oyster sauce
• hua diao jiu
• dashes of ground black pepper

Method:

1. Blend the stewed tomatoes with the onion and garlic.
2. Pour mixture into the crockpot.
3. Remove stalk of mushrooms and chop mushrooms into small pieces.
4. Heat wok and melt butter.
5. Brown the minced beef.
6. Add the mushrooms and beef to the crockpot.
7. Cook on HI for 3-4hours or LOW for 6-8hours.
8. Pour over cooked pasta of choice and serve hot.

Optional: Transfer to stovetop after cooking with the crockpot if the sauce is too watery. Simmer till sauce has thickened to desired consistency.

Freeze in batches for instant hearty meals! :)

Ginger Honey Drink

A drink that is often used as a home remedy for colds and ridding phelgm! It can't get simpler than this!

Ginger Honey drink

Ingredients:

• 4 slices ginger (bruised)
• honey to taste
• 1 cup water

Method:

1. Place ginger in a glass and pour boiling water over it. Let it steep for awhile.
2. When the water is cool, add honey to taste.
3. Sieve out the ginger.
4. For a stronger ginger taste, you may want to extract the juice from the ginger after sieving out the slices.

Mini Cottage Pies for the tot!

How would you like some of these?

They aren't baked yet though... but don't they look nice?

I decided to bake mini cottage pies for Alicia the other day, but using minced chicken in place of minced beef since I didn't have beef on hand. And just in case you're wondering, the potato I used was a purple one hence the violet hue instead of the usual yellow. :) Hubby actually thought it was yam... lol.

Check out Alicia's response:

Hot!

Help me with it daddy!

Waiting...

Still waiting for it to cool...

hmmm... what does it taste like...

mmmm... not bad...

Fresh out from the oven!

Mini Cottage Pies for the tot

Waiting to be baked...

Makes 10 mini pies

Ingredients:

• 1 red potato
• 1 purple potato
• 3 tablespoons minced chicken fillet
• 1/3 yellow onion (minced)
• 1/2 small carrot (minced)
• 2 tablespoons frozen green peas
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• unsalted butter

Marinate chicken with:

• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1-2tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• dash of black pepper

Method:

1. Marinate minced chicken.
2. Peel potatoes and cube them. Boil them till they are soft.
3. Mash the potatoes with about 1 tablespoon butter and a pinch of salt.
4. Heat wok and melt butter.
5. Fry the minced onion and carrot till onion is soft.
6. Add the minced chicken. Continue frying so that the chicken doesn't clump together.
7. Add the peas when chicken is almost cooked.
8. Dish up the filling.
9. Fill the silicon mini muffin cups with the filling to about the half-way mark.
10. Add the mashed potato on top.
11. Preheat oven to 200degC.
12. Bake mini pies for 20-25min at 200degC.

These mini pies can be frozen and defrosted in the fridge.

Because of the mini size, these can serve well as snacks or even breakfast. Just give more for lunch or dinner! :)

Alicia's response in the beginning was lukewarm and almost disheartening but after serving these little pies to her a few times, she started to warm up to them and eats well now! :)