Exotic Imported Fruit And Vegetable

I saw these imported exotic fruit and vegetable at De Market Supermarket, which got me thinking if anyone would spend RM30 on an ear of  sweet corn imported from Japan and RM40 on a  medium sized yellow Pitahaya (dragon fruit) from Ecuador?



Sweet corns are loaded with Vitamin B Complex and Vitamin A, lutein and zeaxanthin (which help fight eye diseases), help fight anemia, improve one's cholesterol level and some studies have shown that sweet corns help to fight cancer.

Corn is  rich in ferulic acid, an anticarcinogenic agent that has been shown to be effective in fighting the tumors, which lead to breast and liver cancer. Anthocyanins, found in purple corn, also act eliminates cancer-causing free radicals.




Yellow pitahayas are the sweetest and finest of all pitahayas.  They are jam-packed with nutrients, vitamins and have a wide range of health benefits ranging from preventing constipation, diabetes prevention, heart-healthy, immune booster, keeps you looking youthful and even  has the potential to prevent cancer.

Though chockful of vitamins and disease fighting nutrients, would you spend so much on sweet corns and dragon fruits?

Capsicum Slices With Herbs & Spices Cheese Dip

Today Cass and I shared a portion of takeout bitter gourd vermicelli with minced meat. Alycia and Sherilyn had to stay back in school.

On most days, I will wait for Cass and Sherilyn to be back from school to have a late lunch with them at around 2:15pm. At around noon, I will have something light to stave off hunger. Most of the time,  I will snack on  salad, nuts, sugar-free yoghurt or some fruits.

Today, my salad of the day is sliced sweet capsicum with Arla herbs and spices fresh cheese.  I used green and purple capsicums.





Tomorrow I am going to the supermarket to stock up my supply of capsicums. I am currently hooked on capsicums! :)

Did you know that capsicums also come in purple, brown and white color?  I'll bet you didn't know that eh?  I saw the white variety at the supermarket for the first time in my life today.

Below - white capsicum





Below - chocolate brown capsicum




Below - purple capsicum





Check out the amazing health benefits of capsicum in my other blog.

Awesome Coral-Like Cauliflower-Brocolli!

My mil did our CNY marketing at the S17 wet market yesterday. When she came home with a cart full of fresh produce, the first thing that caught my eyes was this whatcha call cross-farmed brocolli-cauliflower with a coating that looks like sea corals!

Love the unique flouroscent green but this coral-like flower sure is too dodgy looking to swallow down my throat. I wonder if it was genetically modified. It is the first time I have seen such an awesome looking cauliflower-brocolli. For those of you living in the West, this may be quite a common veggie, eh?

Have you seen this before?

 

Healthy Roasted Vegetables

The girls have a grand aunt whom they adore, who lives a few floors beneath ours. We often cook and share our food together for dinner. The other day, she made something that's healthy and packed with anti-oxidants. She roasted beet roots, pumpkin, baby sweet corns, carrots and zucchini.

Jamie Oliver's recipe - roast beet roots with a drizzle of Balsimic vinegar, olive oil and salt.



Roast pumpkin, carrots, baby sweet corn and zucchini, with a drizzle of olive oil and salt.


Since the portion was so huge, we kept the roasted vegetables in the fridge and ate them chilled the next day, yums! Here's another way of getting your kids to eat colorful vegetables, to pump in anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals into their little bodies. My kids love them and so do I!

Purple Cauliflower

When I was shopping for groceries at Jaya Grocer the other day, I saw a lovely head of purple cauliflower. I am one who is easily attracted to veggie that are brightly colored. And since it's quite rare to see purple cauliflower around, I told the lady manning the veggie section that I'd like to buy half the purple cauliflower and asked her to cut the cauliflower into half. I wanted to use the cauliflower to cook Baby C's porridge.

When I came home and unwrapped the plastic cling wrap on the purple cauliflower, I saw black dots all over the head of the cauliflower like this:


The black dots looked like mould and was found on the entire head of the cauliflower.



I Iwanted to throw it away as there's no way I was going to feed my baby with it but my mil said that the black dots can be cut off from the cauliflower.



And so my mil stir-fried the purple cauliflower with some chicken breast.... which tasted good, though the purple cauliflower has a tinge of bitterness in it. We also had red spinach for dinner, which made our dinner quite a colorful one.

The Goodness Of Broccoli

We had stir-fried broccoli for dinner last night. Check out my health blog to read the goodness of broccoli.

Chinese Cabbage

I have always wanted to ask someone this - why are there always black dots on chinese cabbage, especially on the whiter part of the leaves. Though the chinese cabbage look fresh and crisp, there are still black dots on the leaves. Does anyone know if the black dots, if eaten will cause any harm? Are they fungus or are the dots a part of the composition of the leaves? My gals and I love chinese cabbage but each time I cook them, I throw almost a quarter to half of the leaves with black dots on them, which is really a waste.

Purple Cabbage

I was caught by surprise that not many people have seen a purple cabbage. Each time I have visitors at home and they see me cooking a purple cabbage dish, they would ask what that is. I love cabbages and also vegetables with dark colors. The darker the color of the vege, the more nutrients they contain. There's also the purple long beans and the purple cauliflower but I've not bought the purple cauliflower yet. Will try to get it one day.

Cabbages are rich in Vitamin K and Vitamin C, fibre, manganese, vitamin B6 and folate, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, vitamin A, tryptophan, protein and magnesium. I normally shred the cabbage into thin strips and stir-fry them with dried shrimps or miso paste. Also goes well if fried together with noodles.


This is fried mee hoon with purple cabbage. When cooked with noodles, everything turns purple from the noodles to the eggs, garlic, puffed tofu and fish cakes. Alycia and Sherilyn find the purple dish very amusing and they enjoy eating them too.