Buttery cornflake cookies

It's my son's second day at preschool today. Tell me if you're like me. I have a feeling I'm the one more excited than him. I wake up early to prepare two special treats for him to bring to preschool. Well, not that he's not excited. He loves being in school. Everytime asked, he told me, school is fun! (oh well, I shall keep track and we'll see how long he'll think school is actually fun!). After he got home from his preschool, he has been singing all day long! I asked him, do you wanna go to school tomorrow? He said YES! So I guess it's only fair to say we are both equally excited about him going to school. 

Yesterday, I prepared him pasta with minced chicken in creamy pumpkin sauce, and a pot of yogurt. Food like that may be messy, and I do wonder what the other parents prep for their kids. Anyways, I shall make something that's easier and less messy to eat today, ie buttery cornflake cookies (a recipe shared by a mommy from Healthy Food for My Baby facebook group) and banana muffin with chocolate chips and cinnamon streusel, recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction's blog. Both are delicious and very moorish!! When the cookies were just done, I have been munching on them, and I shouldn't cos they would give me sore throat but they are too delicious!! (Note: They are a little soft and chewy when fresh out of the oven, after about 15 to 20min when cooled down, they will turn crispy). For the muffin's recipe, please refer here. 

Here's the recipe for the buttery cornflake cookies, recipe shared by Yvonne Woi from Healthy Food for My Baby facebook group. 

This recipe yielded about 30 cookies

• 125g unsalted butter, chopped and softened to room temperature
• 60g brown sugar 
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla essence 
• 1 1/4 cup self raising flour (or replaced with all purpose flour plus 2tsp baking powder) 
• 1tbsp milk
• 1 1/2 cup cornflakes, lightly crushed 
• 1/2 cup craisins/ raisins/ chocolate chips (I omitted these)

1. Preheat oven to 175deg C. 
2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Sift in flour. Add in milk and combine the dough. 
3. Add in crushed cornflakes. 
4. Line baking tray with parchment paper. Scoop the dough using a teaspoon, roll into balls, flatten very lightly with folk or finger (just very lightly, in face, if you want your cookies to be thick-ish, you wont even need to flatten it). 
5. Bake for about 15min or until cookies turn golden brown. 
6. Leave to cool. 

Banana muffin with choco chips and cinnamon streusel

It's my son's second day at preschool today. Tell me if you're like me. I have a feeling I'm the one more excited than him. I wake up early to prepare two special treats for him to bring to preschool. Well, not that he's not excited. He loves being in school. Everytime asked, he told me, school is fun! (oh well, I shall keep track and we'll see how long he'll think school is actually fun!). After he got home from his preschool, he has been singing all day long! I asked him, do you wanna go to school tomorrow? He said YES! So I guess it's only fair to say we are both equally excited about him going to school. 

Yesterday, I prepared him pasta with minced chicken in creamy pumpkin sauce, and a pot of yogurt. Food like that may be messy, and I do wonder what the other parents prep for their kids. Anyways, I shall make something that's easier and less messy to eat today, ie buttery cornflake cookies (a recipe shared by a mommy from Healthy Food for My Baby facebook group) and banana muffin with chocolate chips and cinnamon streusel, recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction's blog. Both are delicious and very moorish!! When the cookies were just done, I have been munching on them, and I shouldn't cos they would give me sore throat but they are too delicious!! (Note: They are a little soft and chewy when fresh out of the oven, after about 15 to 20min when cooled down, they will turn crispy). For the cookies' recipe, please refer here. 

Here's the recipe for the banana muffin with chocolate chips and cinnamon streusel

This recipe yielded about 8-9 muffins 

Muffin

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour 
• 1.5 tsp baking powder (I omitted the baking soda from the original recipe) 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 50g butter, softened to room temperature, chopped
• 40g grapeseed oil 
• 1 large egg
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed 
• 3tbsp plain yogurt / milk

Streusel topping (You may opt out the topping, but I felt that the topping makes it extra yummy!) 

• 1tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 cup dark muscovado sugar
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 185deg C. 
2. Make the streusel first by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Set aside. 
3. In another bowl, sift in flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 
4. In another bowl, beat together sugar, chopped butter, oil and egg until fluffy. Beat in mashed banana and yogurt. Sift in dry ingredients until everything is just combined. Do not overmix. 
5. Fill muffin liner with about 3/4 full batter. Top with streusel topping.
6. Bake muffins for 10min at 185deg C. Lower temperature to 175deg and bake for another 10min. 

Cheese and mushroom muffin

My nanny is off for a whole week. So I'm a full time 'working' mom, taking care of my son in the shop, while looking after my shop, dealing with the clients with the little cheeky fella roaming around the shop. Phew! It's not easy, but surely fun to spend so much time with him daily. He's with me in the shop till about 3pm, then I bring him home for a bath and his dose of sedative - his MILK! and off he goes for his nap. I then return to the shop for a final hour before I call it a day. So what does he do in the shop? Everything! He reads, he draws, he plays with his playdough, he plays with his toys literally everything, other than napping in the shop. All in all, I'm still appreciative of this week. I got to get up close with him on a few issues, his temper, his basic manners and some other stuffs. Now that he's a 2 year old, he communicates and understands instructions pretty well. So I better start these early than later. 

Anyways, enough about my story. Here's the breakfast I made for us this morning, a savory breakfast muffin - cheese and mushroom muffin and a creamy pumpkin soup. I'll be sharing more about the easy 5-ingredients creamy pumpkin soup later on this month during my class in PJ (see this link for info), so do pardon me as I won't be revealing the recipe here in this blog, yet. 

Back to the muffin. I wanted to make cheese and mushroom scones. But I realized I didn't have any butter nor cream in the fridge. So instead, I searched for a recipe on savory muffin and adapted it to make it my own. It's a great recipe for a savory soft muffin if you don't like too much of sweet stuffs for breakfast. 

 Ingredients:

• 250g all purpose flour, sifted 
• 1tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 50g cheese 
• 1 medium size egg 
• 50g oil, I used grapeseed oil 
• 150g milk 

• 4 brown button mushrooms, cleaned and slice (about 120g) 
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 onion, finely minced 
• pinch of salt 

Instructions: 

1. In a frying pan, heat up a tablespoon of oil. Stir in minced garlic and onion, followed by sliced mushrooms. Seasons accordingly. When mushrooms are soft and juices are drained off the mushrooms, they are ready. Keep the mushrooms, not the juice. Chop the mushrooms into small cubes. This step can be prepared in advanced. 
2. Combine dry ingredients, ie flour, baking powder, salt in a bowl. 
3. Beat together egg with oil and milk. Sift in dry ingredients. Add in the grated cheese and chopped stir-fried mushrooms.
4. Fill the batter into muffin cup to about 2/3 full (this recipe makes about 5 muffins). Option: top with an onion ring and more grated Cheddar. 
5. Preheat an oven to 175deg C. Bake for about 20-25min.  

Ten healthy kids lunch box recipes

My little 2 year old will be going to preschool soon. So if you are like many others, stuck for easy and healthy lunch box ideas, here's a compilation of my recipes for some kids' healthy lunch box that are easy to make and practical to eat. These will surely get your little one's face light up.  

Super moist and healthy carrot cupcakes

Mini Mulberry Scones

Chia seeds bun

Spaghetti stir fry

Easy fried rice

Oat milk mantou

Chicken Sheperd’s Pie

Pasta with creamy mushroom and oat sauce

Orange and mango chiffon cake

Steamed moist chocolate cake 

If you're keen to know more about food and nutrition for your baby or toddler, join me at the following classes in Petaling Jaya end of this month (November 2014). For registration, please kindly email justhealthsandakan@gmail.com. Advanced registration is required.  

Super moist and healthy carrot cupcakes

I haven't made carrot cake for the longest time ever. Maybe I just dreaded the process of grating carrots, or perhaps the process of cleaning the grater. In actual fact, neither the process are cumbersome at all. Okay, I dunno why. I should bake more of this, cos this is so healthy, with such little amount of oil (and I used virgin coconut oil), yet they turned out super moist and yummy. The taste or texture of carrot are seriously not noticeable. I prepared them for the lil' fella's take out breakfast box, fingers crossed the nanny will tell me he loves the cupcakes. Oh ya, the nanny is bringing him out for breakfast with her friends, so I made a take-out-breakfast-box for him, consisting of his favorite food, ie plain yogurt with freshly chopped mango, some cheese crackers and this carrot cupcake. He held the container tightly with him when we were on our way to our nanny's place. Bless him! Oh, I forgot to mention, with the amount of sugar I have used in this recipe, it wasn't too sweet, just right for my liking. Try it! You'll be in love with them! 

Here's the recipe, which I have modified, adapted from Little Miss Kimberly Ann.
It made about 7-8 medium size cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup of all purpose flour, sifted (or 1 cup of all purpose flour; half cup of wheat flour) 
• 2tsp baking powder (I have ommitted the baking soda from the ori recipe, and replaced with baking powder) 
• 1tsp cinnamon powder 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten 
• 2tbsp oil (I used virgin coconut oil) 
• 1tbsp apple puree (I used a tablespoon of blueberry jam) 
• 1/2 cup fresh milk
• 1 banana, ripe, mashed 
• 1.5cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup grated Cheddar 
• 2tbsp sunflower seeds, as topping (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 175degC. 
2. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. 
3. Add the wet ingredients and stir until combined thoroughly, but do not over mix. 
4. Pour batter into cupcake liner, filling about 3/4 full. 
5. Bake for about 20min, or until an inserted skewer or toothpick comes out clean. 

Easy chicken bolognese for toddler

Bolognese sauce, other than creamy mushroom sauce, is a staple recipe in my kitchen. I usually whip up bigger portion of it and serve it over a few days, or sometimes, I even freeze portions of it, and use them when I am out of food for the little fella. It's so versatile. It is perfect with pasta, also goes well with rice as pasta bake or just simply rice and sauce, I have also used them as the filling for sheperd's pie under mashed potato. This round, I served it with cous cous. This is also the first time the lil' fella is having cous cous as his main meal. 

To prepare the chicken bolognese sauce: 

• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced 
• 1/2 onion, finely minced 
• 1/3 medium sized carrot, finely chopped 
• 4 tomato, lightly scored at the bottom, and boiled in a pan of boiling water for 2min to remove the skin, then finely chopped
• 1/4 chicken breast, minced and marinated with dash of orange juice, pinch of salt and liquid amino 
• 1 cup of chicken stock, homemade 
• Seasoning eg balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper etc (optional) 

Instructions: 

1. Heat up a pan with 1-2 tbsp of cooking oil, I use a choice of rice bran oil or grapeseed oil. 
2. Stir in minced garlic and onion, fry till aromatic, about 1-2min. 
3. Stir in minced chicken and chopped carrot. Stir fry for about 1-2min. 
4. Stir in skinned and chopped tomato. 
5. Pour in chicken stock. Gently simmer for about 15 to 20min for flavor to develop. 
6. Season with choice of seasoning.  

To prepare the cous cous:

• Place 1 cup of cous cous in a flat container. 
• Pour in 1 cup of  hot boiling water or hot boiling stock into the container with cous cous in it. 
• Cover with lid for 1-2min. Open up. Fluffy with fork. Ready to serve!  

Easy fried rice for toddler

When he saw this, he was so excited about it, he said 'so cute!' (in canto)

Fried rice is my boy's favorite lunch. Actually, not right, it's MY favorite meal to prep as his lunch. It's easy, incorporating whatever I've got left in the pantry or in the fridge and it is still nice even if not served warm.

Here's a very simple and easy recipe for fried rice for my toddler boy:
This recipe makes two little portion

• 2-3 cloves garlic, roughly minced 
• 1/2 small onion, roughly minced 
• 1/3 medium sized carrot, chopped into tiny cubes 
• Some greens eg beans, kailan, peas etc 
• 1/2 chicken breast, cut into small cubes, marinated with pinch of salt, pepper and liquid amino 
• 2 bowls of cooked rice (cooled down) 
• Seasoning eg salt, pepper powder, liquid amino etc 

Instructions: 

1. Preheat wok with 1-2 tbsp cooking oil, I use a choice of rice bran oil or grapeseed oil. 
2. Stir in garlic and onion, and fry until aromatic and onion turns translucent. 
3. Stir in carrot and chicken. 
4. When chicken is cooked through, stir in cooked rice. Season with your choice of seasoning. 
5. Ready to serve! 

*Sometimes, if there aren't much ingredients or there aren't any meat in the fried rice, I would also add in egg.