Baked Chicken Fingers

It's been more than half a year since I last baked chicken fingers.   Since I wanted to dish up something that's fast (I've been really busy with work lately), yummy and resembles chicken nuggets (the girls' favorite!), baked chicken fingers is the perfect healthy alternative.





I pulsed 3 slices of wholewheat bread on my Shimono blender to get the bread crumbs.




Drama Queen helped to beat the eggs...





She also helped to coat the boneless chicken breast meat  with the egg mixture and bread crumbs...





I baked at 150C for 15 minutes on each side. The outcome was great. The chicken fingers were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

I had earlier marinated the chicken breast meat with soy sauce, pepper and coriander powder.





I also made a quick soup using chicken bones, carrots, tomatoes, sweet corns and added Ikan Tenggiri fish paste and organic Chinese cabbage.








Cheat chicken nuggets with sweet corn and carrots from the soup as healthy sides.
Did you know that sweet corns contain zeaxanthin and lutein which are your eyes' best friends? Yep, along with carrots, sweet corns are great for your eyes too.




I wanted to see if the chicken fingers would taste better with bread crumbs or without, thus I baked two varieties.

Verdict - the ones coated with bread crumbs were way better (not as dry) and crispy.

Izumio for Sports

Recently I started adding crunches back into my daily exercise regimen. Age is catching up on me. As we age, our basal metabolic rate drops too. Before I develop a sagging jiggly pouch in front of me with sagging grandma arms too, I better do something to tone up my muscles!

According to the American Council on Exercise, your basal metabolic rate drops roughly one to two percent per decade. By the late twenties, many women notice that they can’t eat the same things they used to without gaining weight and that the weight doesn’t fall off as easily as it once did.  Since this drop starts right about the time people settle into the (largely sedentary) workforce—and start losing muscle—your office job might actually be to blame too.

To add insult to injury, during your thirties, you aren’t producing as much human growth hormone as before (no more growth spurts for you!), which also leads to a dip in your metabolic rate.  However, strength training can help you build muscle and produce more human growth hormone, both of which keep your metabolism running as fast as (or faster than) it did when you were 20.

Thus, no matter how tired or busy I may be, I make it a point to exercise first thing in the morning, after sending the girls off to their transporters. Pre-dawn exercising gives me back my sanity and I just love the serenity, quietness and peace of the outdoors during that time of the day. I have been doing this for the past 16 years and I will never stop performing my daily pre-dawn exercise. It is a must in my life.

Back home after a 30-minute swim in the pool (26 - 28 laps) or 40-minute brisk walk outdoors, I continue with crunches on my fitball.  On busy days, I skip the Swiss ball crunches but compensate with bicycle crunches on the bed - about 60 of them. You will feel the aches and pains on your body for a start, especially on your belly but as time goes, you will be able to increase the number of crunches with no more aches. And you'll begin to see the toned muscles on your abdomen.

On top of exercising, I cook 5x a week, sometimes twice a day. I chauffeur the kids around. I do the groceries. I have some businesses that I do online. I manage 3 blogs.  And I only get 5 hours of sleep each day. How do I find the energy to fuel me for all these?

The answer lies in hydrogen water and antioxidants, which I religiously consume everyday.









Why are more and more sportsmen turning to Izumio as their power booster? Because it has the highest quantities of safe hydrogen in the world and it works! How? Google up and do your own research. When our muscles are fatigued, lactic acid is released and our body produces hydrogen to compensate. What happens when you introduce even more hydrogen into the body? Try it!!!



To read more about Izumio, you can click on Izumio And Super Lutein on the 'Labels' section of the right side bar of this blog.  Or simply click  here.

If you are active in sports or are on the go a lot everyday, do away with whatever you're drinking now and try Izumio. Call 012-266 4290 or email me at shireenyong@gmail.com for more information.



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Pork Bolognese From Scratch

This is the healthiest and yummiest bolognese sauce that you can whip up for your entire family. I wouldn't say it is easy to whip up though, as it is very time consuming. It involves a lot of chopping, blending and cooking. But you can cook a big batch of sauce and freeze for use later, which ultimately saves time.






For the sauce, I used:
4 large plump tomatoes (organic)
1 carrot
Half head of cauliflower
Water
Blend all the above ingredients together.




I think this gave me about 1 liter of pure vegetable puree for the bolognese sauce.





I used 3 large big onions and 1 bulb of garlic. I have to thank my dear part-time helper, Maria for helping to chop these up.




After browning the garlic and onions, put in the minced meat.  Stir-fry the meat until it turns dry and brown. Add in the blended vegetable puree and a handful of bay leave, some dried Italian herbs and cracked black pepper and let simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add salt and sugar to taste.

I used antibiotic and growth hormone free pork purchased from De Market supermarket. I bought pork belly and got the pork section guys to mince the meat for me.





The portion in the glassware is for deep-freezing.




For dinner, next day breakfast at home, recess in school and lunch at home the next day.




I asked Cass and Drama Queen if they were sure about eating pork bolognese pasta for 4 meals in a row and they gave me a resounding YES!

Honestly, I can't eat the same food for 4 meals straight. Can you?

This pork bolognese is 100% wholesome, yummy and satisfying. It is 100% free from preservatives and unhealthy food additives.  With this recipe, you can say goodbye to bottled pasta sauces.  Do give this a try!

My Saturday - 20 August 2016

Sorry for the long silence here!

I spent the last 3 days fixing my blogs as the photos in my blogs since November 2015 through May 2016 failed to load in all my blogs.  I am pretty sure it's caused by Facebook changing their setting some time in November 2015.  Consequently, the photos were not compatible with my blogs, thus they couldn't load. I upload my photos in an anonymous account on Facebook and then import the photos to my blogs.  Since Friday, I have been putting the photos back into each post, one by one.  So much precious time had been wasted doing this!

Last night, my right hand had a nagging pain in the muscles and I could not pinpoint the cause. I just realized that the pain was caused by over-usage of my right hand on the mouse. Not surprising as I had  a bad bout of  Carpal Tunnel Syndrome a few months after Alycia's birth.  I  had spent 3 full days sitting at the computer fixing my blogs and I still have 1 more blog to fix,  BLEH!

Cass enjoying her bowl of bitter gourd vermicelli for breakfast and totally soaked up in her Enid Blyton stories.




In the evening, we had a quick dinner at Red Kettle, our favorite cafe to tuck into our favorite food.

Lip-smacking roasted pork ribs with roasted whole garlic for the hubs and I...




Kettle salad and mushroom soup. The picture of the mushroom soup here does not do its justice. The soup tastes really rich and every spoonful is filled with texture of blended shiitake mushrooms.




House-made apple cinnamon loaf to go with the mushroom soup.  We ordered coconut bread the previous Saturday.  The mushroom soup was sold out last Saturday and Cass was really disappointed. It was her suggestion to have dinner at Red Kettle again so that she could satiate her craving for a luscious hot bowl of mushroom soup.




Kettl's Old School chicken chop. Cass loved it.





Aglio Olio for Drama Queen.  Pan-fried seabass for the big princess.




Kettle's house-made sausages are my absolute favorite. I don't eat commercially sold sausages and deli meat for all the bad rap they have on our health. When I dine at Red Kettle and Nutmeg, their textured house-made sausages are a must-have item for me.





Kettle's Lemon Polenta cake is TO DIE FOR!  It is made from almond meal and corn meal and free from wheat flour and low in sugar. Perfect for low-carbers and health freak. It is another must-order item for me each time we dine at Red Kettle.








After dinner, we hurried back home to watched Lee Chong Wei battle against Chen Long of China. It was such an intense, nerve wracking and heart thumping 1 hour watching two very powerful shuttlers clash. Alas our beloved DLCW had to settle for the silver.  Nonetheless, he's still our country's HERO and we all think he played very, very well. It's disappointing to know that DLCW has decided to hang up his racquet after next year's World Badminton Championship in Glasgow. I still wish that he will give it another try at clinching Malaysia's first gold in the 2020 Olympic. Would he??




Check out Cass holding our Jalur Gemilang lol!  She was cheering on for DLCW.

Big Hearted Cass

Cass - mummy, can I have money from you for donation?

Me - what donation?

Cass - it's for the less fortunate people. You know those who have no hands and legs and blind. Today I gave 10 sen to my teacher.

Me - WHAT? Aiyoh, 10 sen is so little, you might as well not give and wait for me to give you money!

Cass - but that's all I had in my wallet today. You see, my wallet is totally empty!!  (then shows me
her empty wallet).

Cass - it's the thought that counts right?   At least I gave all that I had! And I will give more money tomorrow.






Never the type who can sit and eat and do nothing else, Cass always has a book or newspapers in hand during meal times.In this picture, she was working on a word search.   Her daddy and grandma wouldn't like it though.  But I'm perfectly fine with it coz I am like that too! ;)

Angel Hair Aglio Olio With Grilled Chicken

For my girls, I can never go wrong with pasta and grilled chicken.  As a WFHM of 3 with no full-time helper, I have no time to cook glamour food.  Simplicity and FAST are my mantra, even if it means preparing food befitting toddlers like porridge or sandwiches for my tween girls.  Fortunately, my girls hardly complain if I cook the same dishes again within a 2-week period. I try not to repeat the same dish in a span of 2 weeks but sometimes when ideas run out, I will repeat a dish that I had cooked just a few days ago.  My girls also don't mind having simple no-frills sandwiches or toasties as a meal for lunch or dinner.

I cooked Angel Hair Aglio Olio with grilled lemon, herbs and turmeric chicken thighs on one of the week days last week.





I didn't have to ask my girls if they enjoyed the pasta and chicken and I knew that they loved it coz Drama Queen and Cass ate the same thing for dinner, breakfast, recess and lunch the next day!!  I kept asking them if they were really sure about bringing the pasta and chicken to school for recess coz they were going to eat the same thing for lunch when they returned from school... and I had a resounding YES! I can't eat the same food for 4 meals in a row.  Same goes for our tai siew che Alycia. This will make us grow averse to the dish. But Drama Queen and Cass have no issues eating the same dish for several meals straight in a row.

Great!

No more headaches planning what to cook. When I am at a lost on what to dish up, pasta and grilled chicken will be placed on the dining table!  Pasta is also a very versatile dish, which my girls hardly say NO to. I can use penne, angel hair, ribbon, spaghetti, linguine, farfalle ribbon, rotini twists, et al cooked in different styles from bolognese to aglio olio to creamy mushroom.

A Flexitarian's Lunch

My laziest yet healthiest lunch ever - steamed Japanese sweet potatoes, thinly sliced cool and crunchy green bell peppers and cool kyuri.






While Drama Queen and Cass had pork bolognese penne pasta that I cooked for dinner the previous night, I had an almost fat-free, low calorie, zero oil all natural lunch.

Satisfied to the max as it was guilt-free, food additives-free, process-free and meat-free, just my kind of meal, for a flexitarian.

Later in the afternoon, the hubs surprised me with my favorite fruit - Musang King and Red Prawn durian!!

Sei lor, fei sei lor!!  And my cholesterol!!

But since the durian season only comes 2-3 times in a year, what the heck!  Just wallop and suffer later.  The next morning, I swam an extra 2 laps in the pool, making it to 28 laps.  After a shower, I had durian for breakfast! That night, I did 50 bicycle crunches on the bed before I dare hit the sack.




For my readers living abroad and craving for some durians, nah, my treat to you -- close up pix of my Musang King and Red Prawn durian ;)  They are totally to die for.

Noodles With Cuttlefish Balls, Octopus Balls And Fish Paste

Dinner on one of the busy weekdays last week was vermicelli with homemade fish paste and cuttlefish balls and octopus balls from Nikudo Seafood.





This pack of Nikudo Seafood cuttlefish balls cost RM18 and came with a small pack of premium octopus ball as free gift, while stock lasts. A pack has about 40+ cuttlefish balls.






Nikudo seafood balls boast of being free from preservative and coloring.




Check out the list of ingredients on the packet of the cuttlefish balls.  I don't see the word MSG printed on the packet but I did feel thirsty after this meal.  But I ain't sure where the culprit was - the balls, the anchovies or the soy sauce and dark sauce that I used to make my kon loh noodles.  I used organic soy sauce and regular dark sauce.




Yummy and springy seafood balls... yup they are really addictive.





Soup base was sauteed anchovies with garlic, with lots of green veggies, tomatoes and carrots for the natural sweetness.





Kon lo maifun and ching thong maifun with fish paste, sotong balls and octopus balls.  Everyone loved it!    Since there was a portion of vermicelli and seafood balls left, I made a new batch of soup with pork, carrots, onions and tomatoes the next day for Drama Queen and Cass' lunch.

Health Freak Mommy's Breakfast

My mid-morning breakfast for today composed of a wedge of avocado, toasted coconut bread (from my favorite cafe, Red Kettle) with light cream cheese and chia seeds, toasted sunflower seeds and toasted pecans.






Yesterday's breakkie was overnight oats (I use organic old fashion rolled oats) with organic dried cranberries, almonds, chia seeds, a spoonful of Pic's sugar-free peanut butter and a drizzle of maple syrup.  The oats were soaked overnight with skimmed milk and almonds.  The other ingredients were added just before eating.





This morning I boiled a pot of garbanzo beans (chick peas) with curry powder*.  This will be my wholesome, low-carb, high-protein and nutrient-dense power snack to curb hunger pangs throughout the day. Great for salads too.  Depending on my mood later, I may even get Drama Queen to help me make avocado hummus dip from these garbanzo beans. I have in mind an avocado + garlic + garbanzo beans hummus dip.  Sounds really yummy eh?

Garbanzo beans provide you with a vegetarian-friendly source of protein and has a rich source of dietary fiber. The high fiber, potassium, vitamin C and vitamin B-6 content, coupled with the lack of cholesterol found in chickpeas, all support heart health too. Garbanzo beans also contain folate, which plays a role in DNA synthesis and repair, thus preventing the formation of cancer cells from mutation in the DNA.

Enough said on the health benefits, I love garbanzo beans coz they give me a guilt-free yummy snack treat and most importantly, they are inexpensive. This pot of garbanzo beans only costs RM3.60, the curry powder costs a few sen and with sea salt, filtered water and gas, my entire pot of goodie costs no more than RM5!





* I used Baba's fish curry powder which is very yummy and only costs 60 sen a packet! I added 2 teaspoons into the pot of beans.

Healthy Yoghurt For Breakfast - 5 August 2016

My mid morning breakfast this morning...




Sugar-free skinny yoghurt with toasted pecans, toasted silvered almonds, organic chia seeds, dried cranberries, Pic's sugar-free peanut butter and a swirl of palm sugar. So refreshing, so yummy and it filled me up until lunch.

My pre-dawn breakfast this morning before my 26 laps in the pool was a glass of apple cider vinegar with grapefruit juice and psyllium husk, half an hour later I ate an orange, a golden kiwi, a handful of almonds (eating nuts with fruits will slow down insulin spikes) and a glass of UCC coffee with skimmed milk.

Try this low-carb combo that's also high in calcium and nutrients and I'll bet you'll love it too! :)

Get the Body that You Want

Losing weight is a hard mountain to climb. No matter how many times you start working your way to the top, you can find yourself sliding down that slippery slope right back to the bottom. It can seem impossible to make any progress. Even worse, you may lose the weight only to see more pounds come back to haunt you. Body contouring los angeles could be the answer for you and it all comes down to getting professional help.

Finding a Support System to Help You Reach Your Goals 
When you try to lose weight by yourself, it's a lonely place to be. You're facing that scale every day and temptations surround you. It's all too easy to slip up. Make one mistake and you could give up before you even began. Getting help from a medical team like the one you will find at Dr. Bryan MD can give you a shoulder to lean on. You'll hae a helping hand as medical professionals evaluate you, give you an effective plan for losing weight, and monitor your progress along the way. If something isn't working, they will help you to tweak your program. As you experience success, you'll have a cheering committee that is with you every step of the way.

Have a Weight Loss Plan that is Tailored for You 
Weight loss is not one-size-fits-all. When you tried to trim off those excess pounds by yourself, you probably chose commercial products, including supplements and exercise videos to reach your ideal weight. However, these products are not customized to meet your needs nor do they take your situation into account. When you opt for medical weight loss, you'll be given all of the tools you need to make it to the finish line. You'll learn how many calories you should consume in a day, what kind of foods are best for you, and types of exercises that you can do on a daily basis. Your medical team will evaluate you to find out if there is an underlying condition that is contributing to your difficulty at losing weight. Adjustments in hormone levels and specialized hormones could make a world of difference for you.

Sculpt Your Body Along the Way 
As you lose weight with the help of medical experts, you will tone your body at the same time. You'll see the results you have always wanted when you look at your new figure in the mirror. With help from your weight loss team, you can finally get the body you ahve always wanted.

Koka Signature Instant Noodles From Singapore

Our girls go gaga over instant noodles and that's because I hardly buy them. It's their daddy who occasionally buys them. He loves to indulge in those extra spicy Korean instant noodles on home movie nights. Whenever he cooks his instant noodles, he'll chuck in 4-5 eggs into the pot. He'll then gladly distributes them to his 3 princesses. I think he is happy that he doesn't have to whack the entire bowl of crap carbs and can share his crap carbs with his princesses :D

Since instant noodles are an occasional guilty pleasure, the girls crave for them and treat them like some precious commodity that's hard to come by. Every single strand of noodle and drop of soup will be polished off clean from their bowls! Their bowls don't even need proper washing!

While grocery shopping the other day, I came across Koka Signature instant noodles.  Koka is a Singaporean brand, manufactured by Tat Hui Foods Pte. Ltd. - a company founded in Singapore in 1986.  Manufacturing and packaging are done at Tat Hui's factory in Jurong, Singapore. They are sold within Singapore, and since 1987 have been exported to markets in Europe, America and Australia.  Koka are pretty focused on making their noodles not just as a delight but as a guilt-free treat to noodles lovers to indulge in instant noodles.

Koka Signature instant noodles boast of  being free from: MSG, preservatives and additives while high in fibre content. The noodles are steam-cooked and air-dried as opposed to deep fried.  In this Signature series, you'll find other mouth-watering flavors with noodles made from purple wheat.

The Koka Signature series costs about 4 times more than the average Maggi or Mamee instant noodles. Sorry, I can't recall how much I paid for a pack.  I love the springy texture of Koka's noodles. I can even eat them on their own, like a dry snack!




The noodles taste very much like the snack, Mamee and cook pretty instantly (less than a minute in boiling water).  I think they are free from wax as they are not slimy like other brands of instant noodles and the water that I used to blanch the noodles did not look murky.




To make my less than healthy meal a little healthier, I used lots of green veggies (2 varieties), a punnet of fresh portobello mushrooms, 3 plump tomatoes, carrots and 5 eggs. Also sliced up 2 red bell peppers to be eaten raw.





I cooked 4 packets of noodles and only used 1.5 packets of seasoning. I discarded the coconut powder (dehydrated santan) as we don't like the taste of santan in our noodles.  The soup was pretty sweet and tasty, with flavors and natural sweetness imparted from the veggies and mushrooms.




Much as the girls and I love Koka noodles, they are still categorized as  processed food.  But they are a healthier alternative to other instant noodles. If you crave for instant noodles, go ahead and grab a pack of Koka to try!

Getting the Right Diagnosis When Dealing with an Illness

When you are sick, the last thing that you want to fool around with is not getting the right diagnosis. You already feel terrible, and you are likely experiencing a lot of uncomfortable symptoms. You want to go to the doctor, get diagnosed, receive treatment or medicine, and then continue on with life. You do not want to miss multiple days of work, and you do not want to lose out on time with your family.

Part of getting the right diagnosis when dealing with any illness is using the different tests that are available to doctors and other medical professionals. These tests have been designed in order to detect problems that you may be experiencing. Some individuals get frustrated when their doctor orders a bunch of tests. However, this is an essential part of diagnosing a health problem. The doctor will be able to look at the results of the tests and then come up with a treatment plan that will help you get over your illness.

There are a wide variety of tests that are available for doctors to use nowadays in order to help their patients. Some of these tests include a complete blood count and a urine test. Other tests are more invasive and some require ffpe samples. Doctors can learn a lot about you and the health issue you may be experiencing by means of these tests. When they look at your complete blood count, they will be able to determine if you have an infection, if you have anemia, or if you are dealing with a serious health problem. The results of your complete blood count can lead the doctors to use other more specific tests in order to help you get the diagnosis right.

Most doctors are able to diagnose your health problem after doing just a couple of tests and asking questions about your health history. If you are uncomfortable with the results they give, it may be necessary for you to get a second opinion. Individuals sometimes feel a little bit uncomfortable doing this. However, it is essential for you to take your health into your own hands and be sure that you are getting the right diagnosis. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting the opinion of more than one doctor. In addition to giving you the right diagnosis, you will also be able to get multiple opinions on different treatment options that are available.

The Advantages of Non-Traditional Braces

Having your smile looking great is a wonderful goal to have, but many don't want to suffer through the months of having metal glues to their teeth. And for some, minor corrections wouldn't even be worth the hassle, especially if they already had braces once as a child. With today's non-traditional options such as Invisalign, you can get that perfect smile without all the unnecessary hardware. Here are some of the benefits of these options.

The Look
Braces can be cumbersome to wear, but it is the look of metal in your mouth that turns many people away from correcting their teeth. With an Invisalign option, you will be able to correct your teeth without anyone even noticing what's going on. That is because the aligners are clear and fit snug against your teeth to help with alignment. And with these aligners, you don't have to worry about getting food caught in your braces--you can eat whatever you want while still wearing them. Traditional braces, however, have many food restrictions that have to be followed for the duration of the treatment.

Cleaning 
Clear plastic aligners are much easier to clean than traditional braces. With braces, you have to brush after every meal to make sure that you don't have food stuck somewhere that could cause damage to your teeth over time. With aligners you can take them off, thoroughly clean them, and put them back in without worry.

Comfort 
Traditional braces are typically made of plastic and metal pieces that can be uncomfortable for some patients. With all of the intricate work, metal pieces can potentially move, making the wire poke at certain points inside your mouth. The braces can also push out your lips, making you look like you're wearing a mouth guard all the time. Aligners will fit snug to your teeth, changing the shape and position gradually, and feels much more comfortable than any traditional type of braces.

If you are considering correcting your smile, you can find a range of Invisalign Brentwood professionals that can help you with your orthodontic needs.

Compilation Of Home-Cooked Dishes (25 - 29 July 2016)

As you already know by now, I only cook easy and fuss-free dishes, with minimal oil splatters and cleaning up to do. For a one-leg-kick at home with no live-in helper, I cannot afford to do anything more than 3 square meals a day.  I envy mummies who  bake cakes and breads with passion and whip up fanciful bento boxes and restaurant-style dishes everyday.  Perhaps they have a live-in helper at home to help them to clean up.  Or perhaps they don't have to work-from-home.  Or maybe they don't mind having  greasy kitchen tops and floor.  I am OCD when it comes to grease in my kitchen.  Moreover, my girls are pretty persnickety and not adventurous when it comes to food. They do not like fanciful dishes. There were times when I had spent the entire evening sweating and fussing to create new dishes, only to be greeted with a sulky face, especially from the big princess, who is really hard to satisfy, duh!

I hardly cook certain meat like beef, mutton, prawns and squids as they are high in cholesterol.  Plus the finicky girls do not really fancy mutton and beef.  So I am always stuck with chicken, pork and fish, cooked in a variety of styles.  Even for vegetables, the picky girls only like a handful like cabbage, broccoli, mustard green and spinach.   If I try to be adventurous and venture out to dish out  courgette/zucchini, kale, kailan or hairy gourds, just to name a few, I can be assured of a stressful dinner where I will be coercing and even forcing them to eat these 'extraordinary' veggies, SIGH!

These are the dishes that I cooked last week, which the girls enjoyed.

Below:
1. Sauteed organic cabbage with julienned carrots.
2. Steamed fish with chopped garlic, ginger, taucheong (fermented soy beans) and soy sauce.  The girls, who don't really fancy steamed fish polished off the entire plate of fish, including the ginger and scallions!  This recipe is for keeps. The next time I have a steamed fish on my menu, I'll stick to this style.








Cass wrote this note for me after dinner.  This makes me feel so much appreciated. My stinky oil-fumed stained clothes, hair and face is all worth it :D




Below :
1.  Braised chicken fillet with potatoes and tomatoes.
2.  Steamed organic tofu with sauteed minced pork
3.  Blanched yau mak veggie.






One portion of chicken for dinner and the other to the freezer, to be reheated for dinner on a busy week day.





Extra portion of minced pork to be frozen, to be used on other days - can be for noodles or rice.