I was at Caring Pharmacy yesterday to get a bottle of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wet wipes and stumbled on some Del Monte cranberries. My 2 older gals who previously didn’t fancy raisins or dried cranberries have recently started to love nibbling on these dried fruits. I got them a pack of Del Monte cranberries and they tasted good, albeit a tad too sweet for my liking. Even Baby likes nibbling on them. I hope dried cranberries have the same components that can ward off UTI as those found in cranberry juice. If they have, then it would be a great idea to feed Baby with dried cranberries as a healthy snack.
The big, plump, juicy and sweet dried cranberries.
My visiting parents from Ipoh bought a few kilograms of raw peanuts from the wet market for us. I’ve not bought raw peanuts for aeons and I miss eating them. Each time I see a vendor hawking boiled peanuts on a bike or tricycle (which is pretty rare in KL these days), it reminds me of the time about 20-30 years ago. Those days, my papa would bring us to the movies occasionally. Going to the cinema was a luxury and one of the very few entertainment outlets for us back then. Before going into the cinema, papa would often buy us boiled peanuts wrapped in newspapers twirled into a cone shape. Thinking back, how dirty it was to be eating from newspapers eh? There were no pop-corns then. Only boiled sweet corns, boiled peanuts, kacang putih (also wrapped in newspapers twirled into a cone shape), Ramly burgers (I still love them!) and light snacks / junk food.
When I saw my mil boiling the whole bag of peanuts, I thought we would not be able to finish them but I was wrong. They tasted so soft, so good and so fragrant that all of us whacked the few kilograms of peanuts in 2 days! We snacked on the peanuts throughout the day! When we could not finish the peanuts on the first day, we kept them in the fridge and the following day, we ate cold boiled peanuts! Still tasted good! Even Baby had a try and liked them but after eating quite a bit, she spat them out coz she couldn’t chew them properly with only 3 tiny teeth.
Food For Thought :
Health benefits of eating peanuts :
Eating peanuts is a good preventive measure for those who frequently suffer from nose bleed.
Recently, research showed that it helps in reducing heavy menstruation for women who suffer from heavy periods.
Very good for our heart, which in turn helps to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Full of mono-unsaturated fats, which are beneficial to the health. Diets consisting of “good fats” control weight better than low-fat diets, thus making groundnuts a great source of weight management. Studies have shown that eating peanuts lower a person’s risk of weight gain and promotes good heart health.
Groundnut contains 13 different types of vitamins and is also rich in 26 essential minerals like calcium, iron, zinc, amongst others which are beneficial to building and maintaining strong bones.
Bursting with anti-oxidants and they help in reducing the risk of heart diseases and cancer risk.
Helps in anti-aging thus keeping the body fit, young and trim.
Regular consumption of peanuts actually reduces a lot of ailments. They also provide protection against cancer, obesity, diabetes and Type II diabetes.
As with other food, intake of peanuts should be taken moderately as over consumption can still lead to weight gain. Many people also believe that eating too much roasted peanuts can cause sore throat and zits because of the ‘heatiness’.
I bought some red pears some time back from the fruit stall beneath Babyland @ PJ SS2. This stall often carries a wide variety of fruits and rare fruits. I’ve never seen red pears before, thus I bought them to try but after trying just one, everyone in the family disliked the taste and texture. It was hard and tasteless. I decided to keep them in the fridge until they turn soft as I liked soft pears but even after a month, the pears were still rock hard!
The other day, I finally double boiled the red pears with some snow fungus and mat joe (dried honey dates). This concoction is supposedly nourishing to the throat and lungs as well as good for one’s skin. My kids didn’t quite like them and my mil and I finished off this pot of good stuff.
Even when Baby’s down with a bad cold with phlegm and is avoiding most solids, including fruits and biscuits, she surprisingly still likes her veggie – celery, french beans, leek flowers, you name it! She’s indeed a health freak baby, just like her mummy haha!
Here Baby is munching on some leek flowers. I am really surprised that she likes veggie with pungent tastes like celery, red and yellow bell peppers and leek flowers. I must try bitter gourd and petai (stinky beans) on her one of these days! Oh yeah, she also likes the king of fruits – durian!
These days, Baby would only eat her porridge if it tastes a tad salty. Since I don’t like the idea of her eating salt, albeit given in very tiny amounts, I got a bottle of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos to replace salt and soy sauce. I put about 1/4 teaspoon or less of this sauce to her porridge to give her a salty kick!
Bragg’s Liquid Aminos is a Certified NON-GMO liquid protein concentrate, derived from healthy soybeans, that contains the following Essential and Non-essential Amino Acids in naturally occurring amounts:
Bragg’s liquid aminos is not fermented or heated and is gluten-free. Bragg’s has a small amount of naturally occurring sodium. No table salt is added. Bragg’s also contain no chemicals, no artificial coloring, no alcohol and no preservatives. It is available in most organic shops. A 16-ounce bottle costs RM18.90.
This organic chickpea bun is one of my favorite buns. They are normally available at organic shops and in the cafeteria of some hospitals like Sime Darby Medical Center (previously SJMC). Whenever I see them, I will surely get a packet. They are made of wholemeal flour, has generous amount of chickpeas as filling and everything organic (I wonder how true that is and if anyone certifies/verifies the producer’s claim).
The buns will most likely turn mouldy the following day, so they must be refrigerated once you buy them from the shop. The buns taste really good when lightly toasted – the outer bun will be crispy and the filling warm…. hhhhmmmmm, iLike!
I recently came across a new range of bread and buns for the health conscious called Baker Brown produced by Wholewheat Choice Sdn Bhd. Most of the Baker Brown bread and buns are made from wholewheat.
I got a loaf of multi-seed wholewheat bread the other day. A loaf costs RM5.50. According to what is written on the packaging, the bread is 92% fat-free, has 38% seeds, has 0% cholesterol, is sugar-free, oil-free and salt-free. So how does it taste? A tad dry (coz no oil and no sugar) but it’s perfectly fine by me coz with all the yummy bread spreads that I slather on the bread, my sandwich always taste good! I find that this bread tastes much better than the Adventist flour-free sprouted wheat bread.
The buns on the left are filled with pandan kaya and green beans. I love them and so do my gals. Each time I buy these buns, they would be walloped immediately.
The slice of multi-seed wholewheat Baker Brown bread.
I got my Baker Brown breads and buns from Desa Herbs mini mart at Taman Desa. They are also available at Sri Kota mini mart.
Here’s another way of keeping Baby still on her high chair – by giving her a wedge of raw carrot to nibble on. My Baby sure is a health freak. The other day, I put 2 things in front of her and asked her to choose – a biscuit and a carrot stick…. and here’s what she chose:
As she nibbled happily on the carrot stick, she kept giving me the thumbs up sign… which in her case, it was a forefinger up sign….telling me that the carrot is yummy!
A relative gave us a few huge stalks of aloe vera last week. I know that aloe vera has been known for many years as an amazing plant, with amazing healing properties. Some people whom I know of eat the flesh in its raw form, by scooping out the flesh with a spoon as if they were eating jelly or ice-cream. But I just can’t stomach the bitterness of the gel/flesh. I think it’s much, much more bitter than bitter gourd.
I can only eat it if the aloe vera is slightly sweetened. I used to buy the sweetened aloe vera from Lo Hon Kar outlets but they ain’t chep. I have also boiled aloe vera with dried loh hon kor and the concoction tastes great. The other day, my mil boiled the aloe vera with some mak joa (preserved honey dates). It’s quite tasteless but the flesh is pretty nice to chew on, as if one is eating jelly. Sadly, Alycia and Sherilyn didn’t quite accept the taste and I had to add some Ribena to the aloe vera drink and force it down their throats.
Aloe vera boiled with preserved honey dates.
I did a google search on the health benefits of aloe vera and found 518,000 search results on aloe vera! Anyway, here are some interesting facts on the health benefits of aloe vera, extracted from this website:
• Halts the growth of cancer tumors.
• Lowers high cholesterol.
• Repairs “sludge blood” and reverses “sticky blood”.
• Boosts the oxygenation of your blood.
• Eases inflammation and soothes arthritis pain.
• Protects the body from oxidative stress.
• Prevents kidney stones and protects the body from oxalates in coffee and tea.
• Alkalizes the body, helping to balance overly acidic dietary habits.
• Cures ulcers, IBS, Crohn’s disease and other digestive disorders.
• Reduces high blood pressure natural, by treating the cause, not just the symptoms.
• Nourishes the body with minerals, vitamins, enzymes and glyconutrients.
• Accelerates healing from physical burns and radiation burns.
• Replaces dozens of first aid products, makes bandages and antibacterial sprays obsolete.
• Halts colon cancer, heals the intestines and lubricates the digestive tract.
• Ends constipation.
• Stabilizes blood sugar and reduces triglycerides in diabetics.
• Prevents and treats candida infections.
I was told by Baby C’s surgeon that beet roots are very nourishing and nutrients-packed and he had suggested to me several times feeding baby with beet roots, radishes, peas, spinach and fresh fish. I bought 2 beet roots the other day and grated about 1/4 of it into baby’s porridge.
Baby’s colorful and sweet porridge made up of rice, millet, grated beet root, broccoli, spinach, pumpkin, ma yau fish and pork (she doesn’t eat the pork). It tasted really good and even I liked it!
I am a WFHM with 3 beautiful girls - Alycia, Sherilyn and Cassandra. I quit the job that I love to stay home with my 3 angels as that's what I've always wanted to do. I am a health freak, fitness freak and a clean freak too. I love to eat and live the clean and healthy way; I want my kids and hubby to do the same too.
I always believe that your health is your wealth and if you have good health, that's the best gift you can ever ask for from God.
I have been writing product reviews, food reviews / restaurant reviews and product advertorials since 2007. Please email Shireen at shireenyong@gmail.com to inquire if you are interested to place an advertorial or review in this blog.
