Salmon & Beetroot Oat Patties

I have always wanted to introduce beetroot to LO but the strong earthy scent makes it really challenging for her to accept so I decide to musk it with salmon and other veg in a pan fried patty. Who can resist yummy patties and I LOVE the colour !

Salmon & Beetroot Oat Patties

Ingredient (makes 8 small patties)

1 slice salmon 

1/2 potato 

1/2 cup baby oats/ blended rolled oats 

1/3 cup spinach (chopped)

1/3 cup beetroot (chopped)

1 egg

1/2 small onion 

1 small garlic

Parsley (optional)

Method 

Steam potato, beeteet, salmon till they are cooked.

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend it till your desired consistency.

I decided to blend the rolled oats as I wanted a smooth texture .

Form into patties and pan fry till it turns brown.

For the adults, I added salt and black pepper and it was pretty nice.

Creamy Cauliflower & Peas Soup

Today is a real busy day with a new fridge coming (woohoo !!) So it is another round of quick meal for us both.  Hubs needs his rice meal so that's another story altogether Hahahha

Creamy Cauliflower & Peas Soup

Ingredients (makes 2)

1/2 potato

Handful of peas

3-4 cauliflower florets

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup greek yoghurt

1 tbsp cheddar cheese 

Basil (optional)

Method

Boil the potato and once it is almost cooked, add in cauliflower and peas and boil for another 5 min till all vegetables are cooked.

Transfer into food processor , add in yoghurt, cheese and basil. Blend the mixture to your desired consistency and serve warm.

I decided to serve it with some baby pasta for LO while I had my soup with Tabasco and crackers. Yummy!

Millet in Yoghurt with Pan Fried Cod

I happened to chance upon a recipe of millet in Yoghurt and thought what a great idea to introduce to LO since she has tried millet pilaf and porridge. Was contemplating if I should  bake the cod with veggies or pan frying when LO woke from her nap so pan fry it shall be! Much faster :)

Millet  in Yoghurt with Pan Fried Cod

Ingredients (Serves 1)

1 piece cod

3 tbsp millet (soaked for a few hours) 

1/2 cup water/ stock 

1 tbsp Greek yoghurt 

1-2 tsp grated cheddar 

Some lemon juice

Pepper (optional)

Basil (optional)

Olive oil

Method 

Cook the millet in water/stock until desired consistency. Remove from heat and mix in Greek yoghurt to form creamy mixture. You can choose to add in more of less yoghurt based on your baby's preference. Add in cheddar to taste. 

Pan fry cod in olive oil at medium heat till it is cook. Flake the cod and add some lemon juice and pepper to taste. Garnish with a pinch of basil for flavour.

Assemble the millet and cod and serve with steam vegetables for a healthy balanced meal.

My veggie loving baby went straight for the carrots and cauliflower before even touching the millet and cod. I can't complain as long as she eats her food.

Flourless Banana Pancake

Both lil sunshine and myself woke up late today so I scurried into the kitchen to fix ourselves a no fuss brekkie of Flourless Banana Pancakes! I love pancakes so I hoped LO will too. 

I served it with strawberries and guess what, she prefers them to the pancakes and kept asking for more! She managed to patronize mummy by eating 1 pancake. 

Oh well, I will have the rest of the sweet yummy pancakes then. Tastes like goreng pisang but healthier. 

Flourless Banana Pancakes 

Ingredients (makes 2-3)

1 ripe banana 

1 egg

Pinch of baking powder

Method

Mash banana,  mix in egg and stir well. 

Pan fry on medium low heat.

Serve warm.

Sugar high from way too many strawberries!

Cheddar & Spring Onion Stars

Lil sunshine seems to be teething again and loves to gnaw on everything in sight so while she takes her afternoon nap,  I made some cheesy bites for her tea! Only 4 ingredients needed,  how easy!

I improvised from the original recipe here.

Cheddar & Spring Onion Rock Stars! 

(Ok, I'm being corny here But they do look like they're wearing shades right?.. hahaha)

Ingredients (make 5 stars)

1/2 cup grated cheddar ( I used mild cheddar)

1/3 cup plain flour=

10g unsalted butter (cold)

1 tsp cold water 

Some spring onion (chopped)

Method 

Mix flour and butter using the rub in method till it resembles bread crumbs. You can use a food processor if you wish but I wanted it to be more fuss free. Less stuff to wash :P

Mix in the cheddar and chopped spring onions. Add in water and knead into a dough.

Form into balls or any desired shapes. Bake for 10-15 min at 160 degrees or until brown. Remove from oven and let it cool for 10 min.

Yummy cheesy bites are ready!

Nom nom nom ........

We had so much fun playing with rock stars bites and singing silly songs while we gnaw on them!

Cheddar Potato Patties

A fast and easy dinner that is mushy and tasty . The parsley gives a refreshing lift to this simple meal.

Cheddar Potato Patties

Ingredient (makes 4)

1 Potato 

1-1.5 tbsp cheddar (I used mild cheddar)

1 tbsp breastmilk

2 tsp baby oat

Some parsley (chopped)

Olive oil

Method

Boil potato and mash it.  Add in cheddar, chopped parsley , baby oat and milk and mix well.

Form into patties and pan fry till brown. If the patties are too soft, you can add some flour to it.

Wanna share with me ?

All mine hehehe

Roasted Sweet Potato & Broccoli Soup

I chanced a packet of Honey Sweet Potato from Indonesia and wanted to try it out for a nice bowl of hearty soup. My LO loves soup with a slight sweetness so this was a hit with her.

 I did not use any aromatics (onion , garlic etc) this time round as i wanted to see how sweet it was and it sure was good !

Roasted Sweet Potato & Broccoli Soup

Ingredients (serves baby & mummy)

1 sweet potato (diced)

5~6 broccoli florets (as desired)

1 cup stock (I used chicken stock)

Olive oil

Method 

Chopped the sweet potato into smaller pieces. Drizzle some olive oil over it and bake for 20 min at 200 degrees or until soften.

Pour stock, chopped broccoli and sweet potato into saucepan and cook at medium heat till broccoli softens.

Use a handheld blender to blend the mixture to your desired consistency.

Serve with some greek yoghurt for a little tangy taste to this sweet and hearty soup.

I had mine with cream crackers and chopped pasley and it was yummy! Should have made some garlic toast to go along .... : )

1st Birthday Smash Cake!

For my lil sunshine's first birthday, i wanted to make her a baby friendly cake that i am confortable with her eating (and smashing) it. It is her birthday so she should have the most fun ! Ok, mummy had loads of fun getting all messy and dirty too . Pics below.

So here is her first birthday smash cake . Improvised from Previous Posting

Banana Yoghurt & Strawberry Oat Cake

Ingredients

1 cup baby oats/ rolled oats

2 ripe bananas

1 tbsp applesauce

1 egg

1/2 cup Greek yoghurt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 strawberries (sliced )

Frosting

8 oz of cream cheese (depending on how big is the cake)

2 tbsp appleasauce

2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)

Method

Mix all the ingredients and blend it in a food processor. I used my favorite handheld blender. Pour the mixture into 2 small cake pan.

Bake at 180 degrees for 35 min or until brown. Remove and cool .

This cake is moist and heavy in case you are wondering about the texture.

To assemble, you can refer to this simple you tube video which uses bread as the cake base . Simple Birthday Cake

Since this is her SMASH Cake , let the smashing begin !!

Potato & Oat Patties

Today is another busy day making last minute preparation for lil sunshine's birthday so i made a simple lunch of potato & oat patties.

Potato & Oat Patties

Ingredient (makes 3)

1 tbsp baby oats

1/2 potato

1/2 carrot (shredded)

3~4 broccoli florets 

1 chunk pumpkin 

1 garlic clove (chopped)

1/2 onion shallot (chopped)

1/2 egg (light beaten)

Olive oil

Parsley to garnish

Method

Steam Potato, pumpkin and broccoli. Once cooked, mashed and set aside.

Mix in onion, garlic, Baby oats, mashed mixture, carrot and egg and stir well.

Pan fry mixture and garnish with parsley.

This is great for a quick snack or side dish too.

Spinach & Tomato Moong Dal Khichdi

In my continued quest to introduce a varied diet to lil sunshine , i decided to make her something simple which many Indian families feed their babies with .

Moong dal (split beans) is a great source of protein and is easily digested by babies .

I was more cautious in adding the spices so the amount used were slightly adjusted .

Spinach & Tomato Moong Dal Khichdi

Ingredients ( makes 2 portions)

4 tbsp rice

 4 tbsp yellow moong dal 

1 clove garlic

1 onion shallot

1/3 cup baby spinach (chopped)

6-8 cherry tomatoes (chopped)

1/4 tsp cumin powder/seeds 

1/4 tsp turmeric Powder 

1 1/2 cup -2 cups water (depending on your rice type and consistency you desire)

Olive oil (original recipe uses ghee)

Method

Wash and soak rice and dal in a bowl for 30 min until water is almost clear.

In a sauce pan, add some olive oil followed by garlic, onion,  spinach and cherry tomatoes and fry for 1~2min.

Add in rice, moong dal, cumin, turmeric and water and mix well.

Cook on medium low heat for 30-45min until the consistency you desire.  Serve warm.

Note: Most of the Indian recipes uses a pressure cooker to make this dish which is much faster. However, I wanted to observe how it cooks so that I can adjust the water hence the longer cooking time with a sauce pan.

Veggie Prata

Thanks to mummy Nisha who gave me this recipe, I was really excited to make it for lil sunshine so I have adapted it with the ingredients I have in my fridge.

Veggie Prata

Ingredients (makes 4 patties)

1 garlic (chopped)

1/2 small onion (chopped)          

4 cherry tomato   (chopped)    

1/3 cup spinach  (chopped finely)   

1/2 potato 

1/2 sweet potato

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 chunk of pumpkin     

1 chunk of zucchini (diced)    

Basil and pepper for seasoning

Method

Steam pumpkin,  sweet potato and potato. Mash and set aside.

Stir fry the garlic, onion, tomato and spinach in olive oil. Add in potato, pumpkin and sweet potatoes mash and mix well.

Remove mixture from heat and add in whole wheat flour to make dough and make into small prata. Pan fry veggie prata till nice and brown. Enjoy!

Little one enjoyed playing and eating this sweet, fragrant and soft meal. 

Simple Kway Teow in Chicken & Pear Soup

Coughing really badly and was asked to work from home so in my madness to reply email and prepare lunch, I did another 15 min meal for lil Sunshine.

Kway Teow in Chicken & Pear soup

Ingredients

1 drumstick (remove skin)

2 slices of ginger 

1/4 of a packham pear 

1/2 cup of water (or more depending on size of drumstick and amount of soup desired)

1 cup kway teow

Chunk of carrot (shredded)

Handful of xiao bai chye (chopped)

Handful of shimeiji mushroom (chopped)

Method

Rinse kway teow in hot water to remove the oil and set aside. 

Place chicken drumstick, pear and ginger into pot and bring to boil. Add carrot, mushroom, xiao bai chye and cook for 1~2min before adding in the kway teow. Add water if desire. Let it cook for another 3~4min and it is done!

Shred the chicken if baby cannot handle the drumstick

My little girl loves slurping up the slippery kway teow and picking up the chicken shreds ! Cheeky girl =P

Creamy Cod with Spinach in Greek Yoghurt

Had a real busy Sunday and needed to make a quick dinner for the hungry baby so here it is .

Creamy Cod with Spinach

Ingredients

1 slice of fresh cod

Some ginger for steaming the cod

1/3 cup of baby spinach (roughly chopped)

1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (I use mild cheddar)

1/2 cup of water/homemade stock

Handful of cherry tomatoes (chopped)

1 clove of garlic 

1/2 shallot of onion

1/4 cup greek yoghurt

Method

Steam the cod with a few slices of ginger.

Stir fry onion and garlic with olive oil/vco/butter and add in the spinach followed by the water. Once the spinach starts to wilt, add in the tomatoes and cheddar and give it a good mix. Lower the heat and stir in the greek yoghurt and the sauce is done!

Remove the cooked cod,  assemble on a plate and pour the creamy spinach sauce over the cod and serve.

Lil sunshine enjoyed it so much and wanted more that I had to add some rice into the remaining sauce (after all the cod is gone) as a top up. 

Cod Fish Nuggets (with Pumpkin)

Another simple and quick snack for the LO who is still recovering from a bad cold.

Cod Fish Nuggets 

Ingredients (makes 5 pieces)
 100g cod (I used frozen cod)
70g mashed pumpkin (as desire)
A few pinches of cumin powder (optional)
 2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp baby oat

Method
Slice fish into nuggets or fingers . Do ensure that there is no bones. Mix the plain flour & baby oats in a bowl and set aside. Mix the pumpkin & cumin powder in a separate bowl.I wanted to introduce cumin to my LO and pumpkin (which is her all time favourite) seems like a good choice.

Cover the fish nuggets with pumpkin mash and roll it in the flour & baby oat mixture. Pan fry in olive oil/vco/butter until brown and crispy on both sides.

* For a stronger flavour, you can choose to add some grated parmesan cheese into the flour mixture.

Sweet Potato Zucchini Frittata Fingers

Both lil sunshine and myself have been a little under the weather lately so I wanted to make something soft and mushy yet packed with loads of vegetables and a frittata came to mind.  Did a quick search in my fridge and settled on a yellow zucchini, carrot, spinach, sweet potato combination. Absolutely LOVE the colours! 

Adapted from the original recipe found here

Sweet Potato Zucchini Frittata Fingers

Ingredient (makes 6)

1/2 cup yellow zucchini (grated)

1/2 cup carrot (grated)

1/2 cup sweet potato (diced/grated) 

1/3 cup baby spinach (rough chopped)

2 eggs, lightly whisked

1/4 cup mild cheddar (as desire)

1 tablespoon plain flour, sifted

Some garlic and onion

Method

Stir fry onion, garlic, zucchini, sweet potato, carrot and spinach in olive oil until the vegetables soften. Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes to cool.

Combine vegetable mixture, egg, cheese, and flour and mix well.

Scoop vegetable mixture into muffin tray and bake at 170 degrees for 15 min or until brown. Cool and serve. 

Taste great with yoghurt. 

Oaty Veggie Scrambled Egg

Lil Sunshine was down with the sniffles so I wanted to make something fun and colourful for her to "play" while she eats.

Oaty Veggie Scrambled Egg

Ingredient

1 whole egg

1 tbsp breast milk/ any milk

1 tbsp carrot (grated)

2 tsp baby oats/Rolled oats

1/2 tbsp spinach (chopped finely)

1 tsp cheddar cheese (as desire)

Method

Whisk egg and milk and add in carrot, spinacha, oat and cheese. Mix well and pan fry with olive oil.

Since I wanted to let her practise her pincher grasp, I made it slightly chunky and dry instead of the usual runny scrambled eggs we are used to. :)

Spinach & Cheese Muffin

I have been reading up on several Spinach & Cheese recipes as I love the idea of having a simple and savoury muffin for a change.

This bake turned out to be soft and slightly salted (I love mild cheddar!) with a nice basil aroma. It was kind of spongey within which I was able break into small bites for my toothless LO to enjoy. Her pics below says it all! Hehehe

Spinach & Cheese Muffins

Ingredients (makes 6)
1 egg

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup milk (I used full cream milk)

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp basil (optional)

1 spring onion/small onion (chopped finely)

2 cups spinach (chopped finelye)

2/3 cup cheddar (I used mild cheddar)

Method

Sift flour & baking powder into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Whisk egg and milk together and then add to flour mixture. Add cheese, spring onion and spinach and fold in gently. Spoon into muffin tray and bake at 160 degrees for 15-20mins or until brown.

Cool & serve.

Lil Sunshine enjoying her lunch of broccoli, carrots and freshly baked Spinach & Cheese muffin. Mummy was munching along too ! 

Chicken Rice Balls

Today being National Day, we will be going to my grandma's place for dinner and chicken rice is a must at all family gathering.  True blue Hainanese family Hahahaha!

So not wanting lil sunshine to miss out, I prepared her baby version of Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls.  Yup, like a good Hainanese, it must be eaten in a ball. =P

Chicken Rice Balls

Ingredients 

1/4 cup rice (I use japonica rice)

1 cup homemade stock (see notes below)

1 chicken drumstick 

1 small piece of panda leaf (approx 5~6cm)

1 small piece of ginger

Method 

Add pandan leaf, ginger and drumstick to the chicken stock and cook drumstick well. Discard ginger and pandan leaf. Tear chicken into shreds or diced it and set aside.

Rinse the rice well and add to the remaining stock (approximately 1/2 cup) and steam for 20 min or till desired consistency.  I like the rice to be slightly mushy as that is more suitable for my baby.

Mix chopped chicken and rice and form into balls using cling wrap.

Serve with any vegetable LO likes.

Does it resemble the authentic Hainanese Chicken Rice?  Not really though the rice ball was equally flavourful and a big hit with baby. The use of chicken fats and lots of ginger and pandan leaves are essential in Hainanee Chicken Rice but a big no no for now. But it was nice letting her join in the family gathering eating something closely resembling what we were having.  : )

Note:  The success of the recipe lies in the  flavorful stock.

For my chicken stock,  I added carrot, corn, celery, onion, apple , red dates and bok choy and slow cook for 3~4hours.

Banana, Applesauce & Strawberry Oat Fingers

Another late night in the office resulting in me having to prepare something really quick for lil sunshine so I did my all time favourite, oat fingers! This time round, i decided to make a different flavour , combining the sweet banana and applesauce with slightly sourish strawberries.

Banana, Applesauce & Strawberry Oat Fingers

Ingredients 

1/2 banana 

2 tbsp applesauce 

1 big strawberry (chopped)

5 tbsp baby oats/rolled oats (may adjust based on texture)

Method

Mash banana and mix in applesauce, strawberry and oats. The amount of oats should be adjusted based on the consistency of the mixture. If it appears too soft and watery, add in more oats.  Form into fingers and bake at 170 degrees for 15 min. Cool and serve.

This is a very versatile snack and my usual quick Fix.

You can make all sorts of fruity combination but keep banana as the base. Or make pumpkin base with spinach, cheese, corn, herbs etc for other variation. Just need to adjust oats accordingly as some combination can be more liquid.

My Other variations - Pumpkin & Cinnamon & Banana Blueberry

Have fun!

Salmon Fish Pie in Greek Yoghurt

I have been wanting to try Annabel Karmel's fish pie for some time and finally got down to doing it.  As usual, I adapted it to my preference of Greek Yoghurt and no bake.  :)

Salmon Fish Pie in Greek Yoghurt

Ingredients

1 small sweet potato

1/2 potato 

Salmon (cut into chunks) 

2 tbsp grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup Greek yoghurt

1/2 cup homemade chicken stock 

1/4 cup garden peas 

1/2 tbsp Corn flour for thickening (optional)

1 bay leave 

Half clove of garlic 

Some onion

Unsalted butter/olive oil

Method 

Steam/boil the sweet potato & potato, cool and mash it together. Set aside.

Heat up the sauce pan, add in the unsalted butter, onion, garlic and bay leaf and stir fry till fragrant. Add in salmon chunks and stir fry till slightly cooked. Add in chicken stock and peas and bring to a boil. Once salmon is cooked,  reduce heat and stir in cheese and Greek yoghurt. Add in corn flour to thicken soup if desire. Pour mixture into dish and topped with sweet potato & potato mash.

My only regret, made only enough for lil sunshine and nothing left for me! So yummy......

Easy Peasy Bread Roll

I was surfing (as usual) and chanced upon this incredibly simple and fast teething biscuit (original recipe here) so I had to give it a try! The original recipe cooks for 1 min in a  microwave oven which i adapted using my trusty turbo broiler. 

Easy Peasy Bread Roll 

Ingredients

3 pieces of wholemeal bread (any bread will do) 

2 tbsp Applesauce (as desire)

Method 

Remove the crust off the bread. (You can keep crust in a Ziploc bag for future breadcrumbs) . Flatten the bread (I just use my palm) and  spread a thin layer of Apple sauce. Roll and bake at 150 degrees for 10 min.

Depending on the texture you want, I did baking for 5 min and 10 min and my LO likes both. The outer covering was hard but it was soft within which is great teething "biscuit" for her sore gums.

Strawberry Applesauce Bites

Strawberry Applesauce Bites

Ingredients (makes 5 balls)

1/4 cup Applesauce

1/4 cup wheat flour

1/4 cup baby oats

1 Strawberry (diced(

Pinch of cinnamon

Method 

Mix all the ingredients well and form into whatever shapes you desire. Bake at 170 degrees for 15 min.  Cool and serve

Since there is wheat flour in this recipe, the texture is chewy and will be more suitable for babies who can chew well. :)

Thick Corn Soup with Water Chestnut

For dinner tonight, i decided to make corn soup using the vegetables from the stock I was cooking so I removed the corn, carrot and sweet potato, add in some stock and gave it a few pulses to blend it into thick consistency.

To make it slightly crunchy,  I chopped some water chestnut and scattered it over the thick soup.Lil sunshine loved it so much!

Glimpse into her future meals, maybe ? :P