Pork Rib Soup with a twist

After loads and loads of chicken soup, it is time to balance it out with some pork based soup. Dearest #3 is not a fan of vegetable stock. *boys...* 

Anyway, I decided to do a twist for the pork based soup - what is available in the fridge and what was missing from the fridge (yeah ran out of carrots!). Out of "bo-bian-ness", I put the best of ingredients I had... 

Ingredients 

Pork bones with some meat (it was the cheapest bones that I could get that was not that BIG bone) 

Scallions (sliced thinly- 1 stalk) 

Tomatoes (2) 

Potatoes (2)

Yellow onion (1 medium sized) 

A small bunch of ikan billis (stomachs removed - abt 15pcs) 

Red dates (1-2 without pits)

As with soups, dumped all of them together and then add water till all ingredients and covered (+a bit more). I slow cooked in my rice cooker for abt 7 hrs and let it soaking in the ingredients "warmed" overnight. The next day the soup really smell and taste more flavorful. 

Forgot to take photo of ingredients. But here is the final product... ;)

Chicken soybean stock

The yummy smelling chicken stock meant for didi... The scallop makes the stock even sweeter and more flavourful. ;) In the pot, there is 

Chicken bones ($2 worth the spine area + neck - abt 6 strips) 

1 carrots

1 scallop

1 handfull of soy bean (washed and soaked)

What's left of the stock ingredients. Even the carrots are tasteless... Haha.

The yield which is suited to be kept in the freezer for up to 2 wks. 

Weaning Recipe - Vegetable Stock

This is a very versatile stock which I love making for weaning babies - its oil free and vegetarian (for parents who don't want to intro animal proteins so early). I make batches of this (enough to last for at least a week) and freeze them using the Avent VIA cups after making them on the weekends. The stocks can be kept frozen up to 2 weeks. Idiot proof - trust me. 

The good thing about stock is you can add them to porridge or even use it as a soup base for steaming veg/meats and even that chawamushi! 

Ingredients 

1. 1/4 to 1/2 of the whole Chinese Cabbage (also known as Wong Bok) ~ the elderly says that its "liang" so you can replace this with Beijing Cabbage 

2. 3-4 stalks of celery

3. 2 large sticks of carrots 

4. 1 stick of corn 

5. 1-2 large yellow onions (depending on size of the onion) - cut into 8 quarters 

6. Tomato (optional, I only add this when baby is older)

7. Chicken/pork/beef bones (if u wan to enhance the flavor/sweetness)

Method

1. Wash and chop up the ingredients. 

2. Throw into pot and add even water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to boil. 

3. Allow to simmer for 1.5 to 2 hrs over stove or until the vegetables are "mushy". 

I don't really like to keep tabs on the stove so I will usually my trusty slow cooker. Which I will set to 4 hours. The stock comes out really nicely and I do not need to worry about the soups boiling over or "drying" up. ;) 

Have fun!

Longan Red Date Tea with a twist

This was an online recipe shared by Jinny when I was preggy and she just finished her confinement. She tells me that she is keeping the recipe in case she needs to boost her BM supply.

Being an active participant of an online forum, a few mummies shared about low BM supply. Having remembered the recipe shared by Jinny, I too shared the recipe with the mummies.

A handful of mummies actually tried out the tea and reported that their BM supply did increase. I guess it is due to 通草, (supposedly) commonly used in cooling teas (凉茶) - mainly to help 排小便。

I have not tried it myself but am keeping this recipe for future reference. ;)

Taken from: http://wendyinkk.blogspot.sg/2011/05/lactating-red-date-tea.html?m=1


Red Dates 红枣 : 90gm
Black Dates 黑枣 : 60gm
Dangshen 党参 : 30gm
Dried Longan flesh 龙眼肉 : 30gm
Wolfberry 枸杞子 : 20gm
Astragalus 北耆 : 10gm
Rice Paper Pith 通草 ：6gm

1. Remove seeds from red and black dates. Rinse dates.
2. Rinse dangshen in water to remove dirt.
3. Give wolfberry, rice paper pith and astragalus a quick rinse.
4. Put everything into a pot together with 4L of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least 2 hours.
5. Consume this throughout the day.

And yes, there is another version of longan red date tea which i was told to make and drink which will help BF babies who are gassy. The ingredients to be boiled together are: red date, longan, black sugar and ginger (a few slices. If u love teh halia, you can afford more slices). I was also told that eating longan or having it in the tea is good in improving the baby's 胃(digestive system)... Time to get moving to drink the above and hopefully my little spitter will spit less.

Apple Pear Drink

The little girl is down with phelgmy cough and cold. With "bad breath", I was quite sure she was getting "heaty".

Researched online and found a drink suitable for coughing toddlers, so decided to give it a shot. My mum cooks this regularly (minus the pear and almond).

The drink is pretty sweet and the little girl didn't mind drinking it. I used a slow cooker so I don't need to watch over the fire.

Ingredients were adapted from http://food-4tots.com/2009/07/25/apple-soup. Hubby and I agree that it would be wierd to have it as a savory soup, so I omitted the meat and the bitter almond (since pregnant n tods should avoid due to toxicity). Instead of soup, we have a drink.

Ingredients
2 apples (small sized)
1 pear (brown skin, big one)
3 figs (无花果)
3 honey dates (蜜枣）
10grams sweet almonds (南杏）
Enough water to cover the ingredients

I shaved away the skin of the pear and apples (removing the core and slicing them in quarters and halves). Rinse remaining ingeedients. Put all together n slow cook on high (for about 3-4hrs).

The result is a clear yellow sweet liquid... ;)