Tag: recipe

Fussy little eaters: Slow Cooked Sweet Soy Pork

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I cooked this recently and gave a dear friend some to try. It is a dish that I grew up with, though we would have it with sausages and intestines instead 😉 Mr E would never eat that so I used pork shoulder instead. My friend liked it so much that she asked for the recipe. Since I had to write it down for her, I thought I’d post it as well, in case you would like to try it out too 🙂 My little one liked this dish as the meat is very tender.

Slow cooked Sweet Soy Pork

Ingredients:

  • 4 stalks of shallots, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
  • 6cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
  • 600g pork shoulder, trim most fat
  • 4tbs kecap manis (Indo sweet soy sauce, you can get this at any supermarket now)
  • 2tbs soy sauce
  • 200ml boiling water
  • 1 long green chilli, chopped (optional)
  • Any vegetables you like, I added about 4 potatoes (halved)

Method:

  1. Pan fry garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add shallots and chilli until tender.
  2. Quickly brown the pork then add all the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Once all of the sauces are combined, put everything into a slow cooker for 6-8 hours.
  4. Serve with rice, stir fried vegies and a dollop of sambal (Indo chilli paste)

You can use chicken or even tofu for this dish. When I’m feeling ultra extravagant, I also add in peeled boiled eggs into the slow cooker. The eggs will end up soaking the juices, making them sweet and spicy and eggy. It is definitely one of my comfort food dishes, I normally make this when only food can make me happy 😉

Happy cooking (and eating)!

Ps. Let me know if you would like me to post the recipe on my Indo chilli paste. That one is definitely not child friendly! 🙂

Fussy little eaters: Wasabi Chicken and Greens

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I miss the food in Japan. How I wish we have good authentic reasonably-priced Japanese food here in Canberra. It was great timing that I saw this recipe in a cookbook that was given to me for my birthday this year by Mr E’s uncle!

I didn’t follow the recipe completely as I didn’t have some things and I didn’t want to use too many pots 😉

Wasabi Chicken and Greens

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Ingredients:
1 chicken breast, chop into strips
1 bowl of chopped vegies (I had broccoli, potatoes, carrots, green beans and snowpeas)
Oil for cooking

For sauce:
1 tbs wasabi paste
2 tbs plain yogurt
1 tsp lime juice
Pepper

Method:

  1. Steam vegies until cooked (you can boil too if you prefer)
  2. In a frying pan, cook the chicken until just cooked
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients then stir
  4. When vegies are cooked, carefully mix well with the chicken until coated with sauce (vegies are a tad fragile when cooked so make sure you don’t mix them too roughly)
  5. Serve with salad or over rice (though if you’re having it with rice, I would triple the sauce)

My loves liked this meal, with the little one having thirds! Mr E liked his wasabi so he said he would double the wasabi if it was just for him (it’ll be too strong for babies). You could also steam the chicken with the vegies if you want to be extra healthy 🙂

Please let me know if you tried this recipe and if you like it 🙂

Fussy little eaters: Vegetarian noodle cups

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A recent recipe inside an Aldi brochure got me inspired to make noodle cups. They’re freezable, they’re compact (ie. Not messy) and can be made in advance/bulk. Unfortunately, the recipe calls for instant noodle packets,  so I had to change it a bit.

Vegetables noodle cups

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A picture of the picture on the actual recipe – mine look significantly uglier than these but still tasty! 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 150g noodles/pasta
  • 3 eggs, lightly whisked
  • 1/2 finely chopped (or grated) vegies – I had cauliflower, carrots and capsicum
  • 1/2tsp chicken stock powder
  • 1/4tsp each of cumin, tumeric, sugar, paprika
  • Pepper

Method:

  1. Cook noodles, drain then stir through the spices, pepper and chicken stock
  2. Line a muffin tray, divide noodles into portions
  3. Top with vegies
  4. Then pour in the egg mixture evenly (you will need to put it in slowly else it’ll overflow)
  5. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 180C (preheated)

Little E had one of these for lunch today and he liked it. It was one of the least messy lunch ever, that’s a plus for me 🙂 Mr E had yet to have one but they’re in the freezer for him to take to work for lunch-emergencies.

Please try this recipe and let me know if you like it! 🙂

Fussy Little Eaters: Curried Sausages

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As I’ve mentioned before, I am having a problem with Little E not eating any meat dishes I cook for him. So, as much as it is “unhealthy”, I take this recipe as a win because he ate some! Hooorah! He did eat them last, after every single mini molecule of vegies 😛 This dish is also cheap, simple, quick and it’s a winner for the whole family. There is a million of different versions of it, and it’s such a traditional old-fashion dishes, but this is my version and Little E likes it.

Curried Sausages

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Ingredients:

  • 8 BBQ Sausages
  • 1/2 tbs curry powder (please see note, it’s important)
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 1 cup of vegies (I used frozen mix vegies)
  • 3 tbs cream
  • 2 cups of chicken stock
  • Oil

Method:

  1. In a boiling water, boil the sausages until cooked, skinned them then chop into 2cm pieces.
  2. In a heated pan with oil, brown the onions, then add the curry powder.
  3. When they become fragrant, add the vegies, cream and stock.
  4. Once the vegies are almost cooked, stir through the sausages.
  5. I served this with mashed sweet potato.

Note:

This dish was hot. I didn’t realise the Kirk’s curry powder was that hot. So, when serving to Little E, I put his serve in a strainer, then run water through it – “washing” them in a sense. However, if you don’t like hot dishes, and would rather be safe, I would only use 1/4 tbs of curry powder.

 We bought the best sausages the butcher had to make it as healthy as we could. Now that I know he likes sausages, I am going to have to see if I could make my own. Is it hard?

Fussy Little Eaters: Homemade sweet potato gnocchi

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We went to an Italian deli recently and saw the array of homemade gnocchi they’re selling. Basil pesto gnocchi, capsicum cashew gnocchi, sweet potato gnocchi, etc. They just looked so yummy, I want to eat them all at once. Unfortunately, they were quite expensive. I think it was AUD15 for a 250g box. Ever since then, I have wanted to make some myself. So last weekend, I did.

Looking at the different recipes available, I chose the easiest one that isn’t plain potato gnocchi, so I made sweet potato gnocchi.

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Homemade Sweet Potato Gnocchi

Ingredients:

  • 800g Sweet Potato (kumara)
  • 2 1/2 cups plain flour
  • 1 egg, lightly whisked
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • pepper

Method:

  1. Peel and roughly chop the potato, steam for 15 minutes. Make sure that no water touches the potato as you steam as it will make it “too wet” (which will make you have to add more flour)
  2. Mash the potato until smooth, season with pepper and add the egg. Using a wooden spoon, mix the two together really well
  3. Add the cheese and 1/3 of the flour, mix
  4. Add the rest of the flour in two batches
  5. On a floured surface, knead the dough until smooth
  6. Make into little balls, then press a floured fork into each on a lined tray
  7. Boil water and cook in batches, do not overcrowd
  8. When they start to float to the top, using a slotted spoon, scoop them up
  9. Cook the rest and stir in your sauce of choice

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These were a little fiddly, as you can tell from the photo, I got a little inconsistent at the end 🙂 They were good, regardless. I served it with a cheese sauce, and was able to chop them into mini bits for Little E to eat by himself. Mr E also liked it, he was happy when I told him I have more than enough for him to have for lunch too. I think I will try to make a basil pesto one next time.

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On a totally unrelated note, look at these finger carrots from our garden! So cute!!! I think I planted the seed way too close together, which resulted some all tangled up. They were so flavoursome though! We have a few still left in the ground, I don’t actually know when they’re ready. Regardless, I cannot wait!

Fussy Little Eaters: Homemade muesli bar

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I went to Woolies the other week looking for one of those fruit strips for Little E, but couldn’t find any. I did, however, found and bought these. Little E had it for the first time this morning and liked them. I actually quite like them too but I don’t like the price. I bought a pack of 6 for AUD2.39, which isn’t too bad, however, they’re AUD3.23 full price. So today, I decided to try in making my own 🙂

There are lots of recipes online, each are quite different, but most contain a lot of sugar! Even ones that are supposedly for kids. I basically chopped and changed different recipes and come up with my own – based on what I have in the pantry and least amount of sugar possible. Here it is!

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Muesli Bar (with Gluten Free alternative)

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 60g butter
  • 1/2 cups rolled oats (see note for gluten-free option)
  • 1 weetbix
  • 1/2 cup sultanas (I also mixed through some dried fruits and dried apples I have on hand)
  • 1/4 cup chopped dates (can also use dried apricots)
  • 1/4 cup gentle fibre (can also use dessicated coconut)
  • 1/8 cup nuts or seeds of your choice (I used a mixture of pistachio, peanuts and almonds)

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
  2. Melt butter and honey together in a pot
  3. Using a food processor, blend all the other ingredients together until fine
  4. Stir the melted butter and honey slowly and blend until all combined
  5. In a lined tray (I used a loaf tray), press the mixture firmly
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden
  7. Cool before cutting into sticks (makes about 12 toddler-hand-sized sticks)

Note: for a gluten free alternative, you can use crushed cornflakes and rice bubbles 🙂

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When kept in the fridge, these should be fine for a couple of weeks. I guess the good thing about store bought ones is that they last longer and so you can keep them in your nappy bag for emergencies. However, these would be a lot cheaper and if you have older kids as well (or husbands), they can get on these too 🙂

Fussy Little Eaters: Breakfast Muffins

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I hate breakfast.

Or I should say, I hate normal breakfast food, like cereal, toasts, etc. I wouldn’t hate breakfast as much if I could have a big fry up or leftovers everyday. I guess I grew up eating rice with other savoury dishes for breakfast, while the usual healthy breakfast options here are sweet. It took around 6 years for Mr E to get me to have daily healthy breakfast of sorts. Even then, I still have to make myself eat in the morning. Also, Mr E could have the same breakfast every single day and he won’t be bored. I, on the other hand, need to change it up pretty often; else, I just won’t have any.

So the other day, I made some healthy breakfast muffins, inspired by this recipe. I was looking around for something that Mr E can have while he’s still on his elimination diet, and this recipe was perfect! I had to change it up a bit as I didn’t have any strawberries and I didn’t want to add that much sugar, so here’s what I did.

Banana Oats Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cup plain Oats (not quick cooking)
  • 1 cup plain low fat greek yogurt
  • 2 Eggs
  • 3 tbs Maple Syrup
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  • 1 tbs Mixed Spice or Cinnamon
  • 2 mashed riped large Bananas

Method:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 200C.
  2. In a food processor, add all ingredients and churn until all blended in together.
  3. Into a silicon muffin tray or foil liners, spoon mixture and bake for 20 minutes.

I quite liked these muffins, it is healthy and I get to have something different. I would heat one up in the microwave for about 20 seconds and give it to Little E to feed himself with. Since it isn’t a “wet” porridge, the mess he creates isn’t all that bad 🙂 I actually divided the mixture into two, and added half the maple syrup (1 1/2 tbs) into one of the mixtures, as I didn’t want Little E to have too much sugar in his diet. Mr E can’t have pears at the moment, but when he can, I will sure to use pears or apples instead.

I hope you try this recipe and like it 🙂 Let me know!

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Fussy Little Eaters: Pumpkin Fruit Cake

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My little one today with a girly hat stolen from one of his friends

My little one today with a girly hat stolen from one of his friends

A friend recently came over with her little one (Hi, Tam!) bringing Pumpkin Fruit Cupcakes for morning tea, and they were really nice! Little E absolutely loved it that I can’t not make him more. We had a picnic with the mums, dads and bubs from my Mothers Group today, so it was a good enough reason for me to recreate. My friend did give me a copy of the recipe that she used, but she didn’t tell me how much flour, and it was just as easy to look it up than bother her, so here’s my take on the recipe (based on two different ones).

Pumpkin Fruit Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of mashed cooked pumpkin (I boiled mine)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup of caster sugar (I used closer to 1/4 cup)
  • 100g glazed cherries, halved (If I was to make this just for Little E, I probably won’t add this in)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups of wholemeal flour
  • 125g butter
  • 1 tbs of mixed spice (I didn’t add this today, but I will next time)

Method:

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C (Fan-Forced)
  2. Cream butter and sugar with a handmixer
  3. Add pumpkin, eggs and flour
  4. Stir through cherries
  5. Pour into a cake tin (I used a loaf tin today) and bake for 45 minutes

Mr E doesn’t really like pumpkin, but he likes this recipe. It could have a lot to do with the glazed cherries (he loves them!), but most importantly, my little man likes it. I gave him a slice with a small pat of butter for afternoon tea today.

More on Mothers Group, if there’s any new mums out there, who are thinking of joining one, you really should! It is amazing how much support you need from the other mothers who are going through the exact same thing at around the same time. I know it is a matter of luck, since I have heard many mums not liking their group members, but you have nothing to lose. I am lucky in that regard, as we all really get along quite well 🙂

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