Cooking for Mrs. C...

For the past almost three months, I have been very busy in my kitchen. I am cooking for another family.

When my husband and I decided that I stay home with our girls, I (as a financial manager of our household) was a bit nervous. A few months into my staying home, I also started to get the itch. I NEED TO MAKE SOME MONEY. I had been working full time for 13 years before I went on maternity leave with my little peanut (and did not go back to work), and I was not completely comfortable with the fact that I am not making any Mula. Then an email came from my old supervisor asking if I would be interested in short term part time position. I was tempted, of course, and looked at every possible way for this to work, but in the end it just was not worth it, with the cost of daycare, gas price, being away from our girls, pumping breast milk, etc. It was just about then when Mrs. C. asked me if I would be interested in cooking for her family. At first, I did not take her request too seriously, or rather I thought "this is too good to be true". As I talked to Mrs. C. about what she wants and how she wants this to work, however, I started to think that this might actually work. The first weeks was a trial, and yes, it was definitely a trial. Since then, Mrs. C. and I have been tweaking our arrangement. The best part of this arrangement is that I LOVE this job. There is not one job until now that I wake up in the morning, excited to "be at work". Mrs.C. and her family are semi-vegetarian, so many dishes I make are vegetarian dishes, which works for me because my family is Pescatarian. This week, I made something new that was requested from Mrs.C. When I saw the recipe, I was a little skeptical because the only spice it calls for is 2 tablespoons of Curry powder. But it turned out very tasty. I think the vegetable broth gave it a very good flavor, and it is full of vegetables.






Vegetable Curry (Adopted from Rainbow Vegetable Curry from The Vegan Chef)


1 large red onion, cut into half and slice it
2 Tbl Sp olive oil
2 Tbl Sp unbleached flour
2 cups vegetable stock (I used Rapunzel Vegetable Cubes)
2 Tbl Sp curry powder
1/2 Kabocha squash, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups broccoli, cut into small florets
2 cups cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 cups carrot, sliced 1 cup red pepper, destemmed, deseeded, and diced
1 cup orange or yellow pepper, destemmed, deseeded, and diced
1 - 14 oz. can coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

In a large pot, saute the red onion in olive oil until soft (5-7 minutes). Add the flour, stir well to coat the onions, and cook for a few minutes while stirring constantly to slightly cook the flour. Add the vegetable stock and curry powder, stir well, and cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add Kabocha, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, red pepper, and orange pepper, and stir well to thoroughly coat the vegetables with the broth mixture. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well, and simmer an additional 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. 

Serve it with steamed Basmati Rice.

Serves 6-8

Blueberry Muffins

IBack in June when blueberries were in peak season, I went a little crazy, and bought a flat crate of blueberries a few times. 

This picture only shows 9 baskets but in a flat crate, there are 12 baskets of blueberries. I paid $40. Yes, it was a lot of money to spend for blueberries, but its season is so short and they are so delicious, I could not resist. At home, I washed, dried, and froze them in bags. I probably froze 8-10 one-gallon plastic bags full of blueberries. They are of course the best fresh, but we enjoy eating them frozen as is, in pancakes, quick jam, smoothies, and of course in blueberry muffins. I like to bake them in small muffin cups. My family loves them so much that when I make these, they are gone in a few minutes. 

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used coconut oil* here. You can also use melted butter) 

1 egg

1/3 cup milk

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries 

Pre-heat oven for 400F

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, white sugar, salt and baking powder) 

In a 1 cup measuring cup, combine vegetable oil and egg. Add milk until the combined liquid measures 1 cup (may need a little more than 1/3 cup milk) and whisk together.

Add egg/milk/oil mixture to the combined dry ingredients. 

Add blueberries and fold. 

Line your choice of muffin tins with liners and pour muffin mix in each cup. 

Bake them in the pre-heated oven for 18-25 minutes depending on the size of your muffin tin. 

To check if muffins are done, insert a chopsticks or a skewer stick into the muffin. If it comes out dry and clean, muffins are done. If you see wet muffin mix on the stick, bake them for a few more minutes. 

* notes on coconut oil: coconut oil solidifies at 76 degree. During the summer, my coconut oil is in clear liquid form, but in winter it is white and solid. If your coconut oil is solid, simply warm it up in a microwave. You also need to have other ingredients (milk, egg, and blueberries) at room temperature before combining them with coconut oil. Otherwise, your mixture will become very very thick. If using frozen blueberries, I would thaw them before adding them to the mixture or add the, frozen and fold them quickly. 

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They depend on me...

Every night at 1am and 3am, I have one wish which will never come true: I wish men could breastfeed... (Translate: i wish my husband could breastfeed...) Whenever Sophia starts crying Ely would call me, "mama! I think baby needs to breastfeed!" Yes. Yes. I know she does...all the time... As I nurse Sophia, I cannot stop thinking about the fact that we, women, feed our offsprings. The survival of our species heavily depends on us. I look at Sophia, who almost doubled her birth weight in two months, and I am amazed by this very primitive (yet important) function of my body: feeding our babies. For us humans, feeding our offspring does not stop when our children stop nursing. The end of nursing is just one milestone. Parents are responsible for feeding our children for a very long time. In my family, the primary person to feed the family is, of course, mama (= me). I was looking at Ely's baby pictures, and came across a lot of pictures of homemade baby food and toddler food. Although I highly recommend to make your own baby food, I know it is not for everyone. It takes time and effort. Ely is now old enough to eat the same meals as ours, and her health continues to depend on me. The other day, a terrible thought came to my mind...what if something happens to me... Who is going to feed them? At the dinner table, I told my husband, "I have one wish. Can you promise me that the girls will continue to eat good home cooked meals if something ever happens to me?", "please do not feed them frozen and boxed food." Of course, my husband did not take me seriously, and said, "nothing will happen to you." I am not expecting  anything to happen to me. I was talking about the "what if" situation, and yes, I am serious. My husband knows how to cook. He makes good pasta with tomato sauce, and super juice, and some sandwiches, but he cannot raise our girls feeding on only those foods day after day. I told him that it would be nice if he can expand his cooking repertoire, and he agreed. He hasn't quite entered the kitchen to do so yet, but I am hoping in the near future we will have a cooking date in our kitchen.

Tequila Cilantro Pasta

This recipe was adopted from a recipe I received from my friend Lisa. The original recipe is called "Tequila Chicken Fettuccine". I make this without chicken and replace chicken broth with vegetable base broth.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound dry spinach fettuccine

OR

2 pounds fresh spinach fettuccine

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro reserved for garnish

2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic

2 tablespoons minced jalapeno pepper (seeds and veins may be removed) - I usually omit this because it becomes quite spicy for my daughter.

3 tablespoons unsalted butter (reserve 1 tablespoon for saute )

1/2 cup chicken stock (preferably homemade) - I replaced this with veggie base broth using Rapunzel vegetable broth cube. 

2 tablespoons gold tequila

2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lime juice or lemon juice if you don't have lime 

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 medium yellow bell pepper thinly sliced

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Cook 1/3 cup cilantro, garlic and jalapeno in 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes. Add stock, tequila and lime juice. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until reduced to a paste like consistency. This will take a while. Do not rush this step. You need to be patient. You also need to be attentive to the pot so that it will not burn. 

This is how it should look. 

Meanwhile cook onion and peppers, stirring occasionally, with remaining butter over medium heat. When the vegetables have wilted (become limp), add soy sauce and quickly toss and add reserved tequila/lime paste and cream. Bring the sauce to boil and reduce the heat to simmer, stirring occasionally. You don't want to continue boiling it as the cream starts to separate. Taste it and add salt and pepper if you like. Turn off the heat. 

Prepare rapidly boiling, salted water to cook pasta; cook pasta accoding to the direction. When sauce is done, toss with well-drained spinach fettuccine and reserved cilantro and parmigiana cheese. I this picture, I used spinach spaghetti. 

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Feeling grateful...

Where did the time go? It has been more than two months since I visited this space. What has been happening at our Makery? Not much in the kitchen or sewing department, but super busy welcoming and loving our new addition to our lives... Baby Sophia!! There has been a lot of challenges with her birth, my post partum, and everyone's adjustment, but I am happy to report that we are finally settling down. And "making" is slowly coming back to our lives...MY life. 

Today's post is not about making or cooking. It is dedicated to the amazing women I recently met, and the importance of a support system and community. 

6 years ago, I left Chicago where I consider it my second hometown to start a new life with my husband in Orange County. For the longest time, I had blamed him for uprooting me from my friends and family. Although I met a few very good friends in Orange County, I never felt that I had a community or good support system outside of my workplace. I often felt lonely and sad. All I had was my husband and later my daughter. But had it not be those few good friends I met though work, I would have been depressed or worse, and I am grateful for the friendship. When we decided to move to the Bakersfield area, I again had to make new friends and community. I am a friendly person, but I am more of an introvert and not the one to go up to someone and introduce myself. In fact, I met my very first friend because my husband took our three years old to a story time, and he started talking to her. Now, we became very good friends and our daughters became good friends.

She introduced me to a group of mamas in Bakersfield who regularly meet with their children to play and chitchat. But this group has become much more than a play date group for me. When Sophia was born two months ago, I had such a hard time trying to recover from giving birth, nursing, taking care of our three years old, and taking care of the household. My own family not being here, I had little support. My husband helped as much as he could but taking care of a three year old can be difficult. I was exhausted, depressed, cried a lot, and felt guilty that I was not doing enough for my girls. I became short with my three years old, raised my voice at her quite often, and cried later on because she did not deserve for me to be like that with her. Then, these mamas did something amazing for me. They got together and delivered meals for one full week! Each of them took turn, prepared the meal for me and my family, and delivered to our door. By the time they started the meal delivery, I was so exhausted, i was serving my family cans of soup for dinner. That is a warning sign for my physical and mental well being. One of my supervisors once asked me how I would know if I am deteriorating mentally. I couldn't think of anything because I often do not realize When I am tired or overworked until I explode (often toward my husband). Now I know. If I stop cooking and a can of soup is becoming my family dinner, watch out! So, these deliveries were a gift from the universe. Most of these amazing women did not even know me well yet. All they knew was that there was an overwhelmed mama (me) who did not have much support and needed help. All of the women are mamas of small children, which means their hands are already full. Yet, they did this for me and my family. 

Since then, I came to know these women better, and learned that many of them moved away from their family and community. Trying to build their own support system, they found each other. We meet a few times every week, let our children play together, and we talk about different things. I feel comfortable and supported. I am truly grateful for their friendship. I am still physically tired from nursing and running after My three years old, but I am emotionally more stable and mentally clearer. Thank you, ladies. Now it is time to cook!

Comforting Breakfast: Nutella Strawberries Crepe

Finally! I am on maternity leave, 36 weeks now and at home. I had a busy week with Ely and doctor's appointment etc. And I have been riding an emotinal rollercoaster. On Wednesday, I found out that baby Sophia is breech. I cried, blamed my husband (for him not being more supportive or stressing me out or whatever the reason I could find... heck for his hairy chest if that works!) Today is Sunday and I am calmer and more grounded. Of course I called my mother and she did the magic again. She is such Buddhist with her attitude of whatever happens, happens, you just have to face and accept it. She helped me ground myself and remind myself what is most important. My mother is so powerful. And I wonder if I will ever be so powerful and grounding to my daughters as my mother is to me. I look at my daughter and feeling the baby inside of me, I wonder how they will see me in 20 years. Will I be their comfort? Will they call me when they face life's difficulty? Will I be able to comfort them as my mother does me? I hope I will.

So this week, what I needed was a very comforting breakfast. Flour, eggs, chocolate spread and strawberries do it for me.

Nutella strawberry crepe:

1 cup of flour
1 & 1/4 cup of milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
Oil for the pan

Nutella
Strawberries



Mix all the ingredients except oil with a whisk or in a blender until smooth.

Heat nonstick pan, skillet or crepe pan (if you have one).

When the pan is heated, brush oil all over.

The pan needs to be pretty hot.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter and tilt the pan so that the batter covers the bottom of the pan (evenly if you can),

Cook on one side for 30 seconds or so on low to medium heat, and turn over and cook the other side for another 10 seconds or so.

Put the crepe on a plate, spread Nutella and add cut up strawberries, and fold. You can certainly use different filling, bananas, blueberries, whipped cream, etc.

It's spring time!

One of the great things about living in California is we get to feel the spring a bit earlier than many of the states in this country. That comes with abundance of fresh produce available. This weekend, Ely and I (and my big belly), went to a farmers market that we have not been for a long time. We are indeed lucky to have three (!) year-around farmers market in town. Two of them are managed and cared by the same manager and farmers/venders. And the other one is run by different farmers. I honestly love both of them, and we have friend at both markets. We have been going to the one closer to our house during the winter, but I received an e-newsletter about what is happening at the other market early last week, so we had to go check it out. Wow! What an abundance of fresh produce!! We caught up with farmer friends and bought a lot of greens, strawberries, eggs, and potatoes. There was also a new vender, a dairy farm/creamery! I have been looking for a local dairy for a while since we moved here, and I was very excited to see them at the farmers market. They are still about 90 miles away from our house, but they sell their milk in glass bottles, and has variety; whole milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, and root beer milk. They also sell ice cream. We bought one 1/2 gallon whole milk, and 1/4 gallon chocolate milk.

The reason why I was looking for a local dairy was because I want to make homemade yogurt, cheese, and ice cream. For cheese, I needed to find pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) or raw milk. Many of the milk at a store are ultra-pasteurized in order to prolong their shelf life. But this one I bought today, is pasteurized. I am a bit nervous and has not had the courage to make cheese at home, yet. But I did make ice cream. I am lucky enough to have an ice cream maker, which makes ice cream making so much easier. I just followed the recipe came with the instruction booklet. But there is no comparison in taste and quality. Homemade ice cream not only allows you to know exactly what goes on into your ice cream, but also tastes much much better and creamy. The recipe does call for heavy whipping cream, which I had to buy at a store. But I am going to make frozen yogurt next time with homemade yogurt. I also made Lavender Lemon Sorbet adopted from the recipe for Lemon Basil Sorbet from the same booklet.

Simple vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream adopted from Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker instruction booklet.

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chip

In a mixing bowl combine whole milk and sugar. Whisk it until sugar is dissolved into milk. Add heavy cream and vanilla. You can cover it and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to over night. I did not do this because I could not wait!

Turn on the ice cream maker, pour the mixture into the frozen bowl and let it mix until thickened. After about 15-20 minutes, add chocolate chips and run it for a few minutes. If it is too soft, put it in the freezer for a few hours before serving.

Business of giving birth...

Yesterday, I went to my 32 week check-up at my OB/GYN office. The Nurse Practitioner did all the measurements and checked the baby’s heartbeat. Everything is good. Then, she told me that it would be a good idea to go ahead and register at the hospital. I gave her a confusing expression because my OB/GYN office is in the hospital and I have been here for the past 7 months, but since my doctor/nurse is telling me to do so, it must be important, right? So, I walked to the main building and told the admission that I have to register to give birth. The person gave me several documents to go over, and an application to fill out. The documents explained when and which number to call, where to enter the hospital when I am ready to give birth, who is allowed to accompany me.. etc. The last document caught my attention. It was about “financial policy”. The paper first congratulates us for the baby, and thanks us for choosing their hospital. They hope that the time we will spend at the hospital is pleasurable and enjoyable. Then it says, “enormity of cost” for health care, and the hospital hopes to work with us and make it manageable. First of all, they will not charge extra for BILLING SERVICES. Second, all deductibles and co-payments are due one month prior to the birth date. Third, if you do not have insurance, you are expected to pay everything prior to the birth date, and that they will provide payment plans. And lastly, here is the cost of giving birth at this hospital if you do not have any insurance.

                Normal Vaginal Birth (discharged within 24 hours) $12,000 – $15,000

                Normal Vaginal Birth (discharged between 24 hours and 48 hours) $15,000 – $18,000

                C-Section (3 days of hospital stay)

                Infant Screening ($8,000 - $10,000)

WHAT?

I have been paying a little over $300 every month for the last 6 months at the OB/GYN office, so I asked the admission person if this cost is included in the payment plan I set up at the OB/GYN office. She said, “Oh, no. That is different. This is for the hospital”. But, my OB/GYN is in the north wing of this hospital… She said that this is solely for the time I will stay giving birth, and not for the cost of “medical care” provided by the doctor. She smiled and said to me, “but this is what it would cost if you don’t have insurance. We will run your insurance and let you know how much it will cost you, if any”.

I left the admission office dumb founded. When I arrived home, the first thing I told my husband was, “I am so disgusted by this whole thing”, and started explaining the “business of giving birth”.

So basically, in order for a woman or a family to have a baby at the hospital with prenatal care, which the government and medical professionals recommend, would cost at least $25,000, if you do not have any insurance. It would be more because I have a PPO insurance and still I have to pay $300 monthly for my deductible. This is to have normal and natural birth. Women have been giving birth all over the world, and we have been doing so for hundreds of years. Pregnancy is not an illness or disease, it is a natural thing. It is what we, human beings, do for procreation and survival of our specie. In any religion or cultural belief, procreation is one of the most important things we do. Still, in this country, it would cost almost or more than our annual earning.

When I had my first baby, I had different insurance where the monthly premium was much higher, but I did not have to pay anything when I gave birth at their hospital. No hospital cost, no infant care cost, nothing. I am sure the cost was as high as the one this time, but I just did not see it because it was set it up like that, and of course if I do not see it, I did not think it existed. I had a natural birth. Meaning that I did not have any “medical procedure”. I had a Nurse Practitioner midwife, a nurse, a doula and my husband attending the birth. No Pitocin or Epidural. And my birth was perfect and my baby was/is healthy.

Now that I am at 8 months pregnant, I am faced by this disgusting reality of the “business of giving birth” and feeling dumb founded. I remember when I went to my first prenatal appointment in October, before even seeing anyone, they sent me to their financial department. The financial advisor ran my insurance and printed out the cost of prenatal care. It was even before they told me “congratulations!”. I had to sign the payment contract to be seen by the doctor. I should have known… I should have talked to other people. I am beating myself up now because I wanted a homebirth, which would cost us about $3000, approximately the same amount of money we would pay at the hospital. But at that time, we did not know the cost of “hospital care” that just emerged (to us, anyways) yesterday, we thought it would be $1900, which is much less than $3000. So partly, for financial reasons, we decided to give birth at the hospital, but it is too late. We do not have another $3000 for homebirth and I am already 8 months pregnant.

Birthing is something we, women, naturally do. Of course, I am aware of the possible complications that requires medical attention. I am grateful for it to be available. I know a few close friends who needed that medical attention, and their children are perfect, but aside from that, I strongly believe that women KNOW HOW TO GIVE BIRTH. Birthing should not be medicalized and not be treated as business.

I just hope that our experience at the hospital in two months will be “pleasurable” and “enjoyable”.

Dilemma of a step-parent

I have a confession to make. Even though I am a big advocate for local fresh food and homemade family meals, if you look into my freezer, you will see... (Gasp!) hot pockets and burritos you can pop them in a microwave, and in the pantry, you will see a box of Honey Bunches of Oats, and canned ravioli. No, they are not our "emergency food". They are for my step-daughter when she come over on weekends. Yes, I am guilty of feeding my 13 year old step daughter something that I would not give to my 3 year old. But you see, you need to understand that I came into her life when she was already 7, and she comes over only every other weekend. She has her home with their own rules and culture and who am I to change or even question them? But I do feel guilty and feel as if I am neglecting my step-daughter when I allow her to pop one of the frozen foods in the microwave for her lunch while I am making black bean quesadilla with mango salsa for my daughter. I do like to assure you that she does not mind, actually, she would rather eat those than what I normally cook. In the beginning, I tried to cook "kids friendly meals" such as spaghetti with meatballs, Mac and cheese (with mixed vegetables), chicken noodle soup, etc. and green smoothies my husband asks her to try...but she would not eat it. All she would eat was beans and rice with chips, pizza, french toast, waffle, or plain hamburgers (no ketchup, no veggies). We did not have another child then, so that was all we fed her with. I would cook "adult meals" for us, and she would eat pizza. When we had Ely, I was nervous how our family meals would be. Over the years my step- daughter started to eat some meals we prepare, including pasta with homemade tomato sauce, salmon with rice, fried fish, spinach ravioli from Costco (without sauce for her, with sauce for us). But still no veggies of much kind. We do take her to farmers market every weekend that she is with us, and I ask her to help me cook sometimes. We always ask her if she wants to eat salad, or broccoli, or creamed spinach, or whatever I am cooking. The answer is 99% of time, "no, thank you". And I also have to point out that she is not doing this out of defiance at all. If I may say as her step-mother, she is one of the most respectful and caring teenagers I have ever seen. And I work with adolescents and so does my husband.

We do, however, have family dinner when she comes over. I just have to make sure I prepare things that she would eat. Or, I would make sure that if she eats cheese or pepperoni pizza, I make veggie pizza for us and our three years old, or if she eats frozen burrito, I make black beans burrito for our three years old. If we have spaghetti, I have a big bowl of salad for whoever wants it.

So, you see, my friends, I do understand your frustration when your child or you partner would not eat healthy as yo would like to. I do understand how you want to say, "forget it, I am not gonna try to change them" and also feeling, "I am worried about their health in the future..." I am reminding myself that even for her to eat our pasta with homemade tomato sauce (I am taking about using 10-15 tomatoes) is a big progress. In fact, we kind of make sure that we have it for one dinner while she is with us.

We are truly hoping that as she grows older, going to college, to the world, and be exposed to different cultures, she would not feel so eerie about food that she will encounter. And somehow with maturity she will one day try new things...

Just hoping we are planting a little seed of curiosity...

Monday mornings...

I love my (our) Mondays. There is no story time at the library or farmers market to go to on Mondays. I do not have to get us ready to leave for daycare or work. When I first reduced my work days to 4 days per week, I used to take my daughter to her day care so that I could have my own time, mostly doing housework, running errands and bit of watching TV. But then I started to keep her with me at home a few months ago. While I still have to do house work and run errands, we also go to parks, play in backyard, and visit friends. Maybe I am preparing for ourselves to stay home when the new baby arrives in 2 months. The more I stay at home, the more I want to stay home after my maternity leave. I know this is a very luxurious idea/decision for many of us. Certainly for me, who went back to work only after 7 weeks of giving birth to my daughter. I needed to. We needed to because my husband was in school. This time around things are a little different and there is an opportunity to stay home with our children. Besides, in order for me to go back to work, it will cost nearly $1500 for daycare for two and gas money to go to work. But financial issue put aside, I really enjoy doing things with my daughter, including cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. She is at the age where she wants to do everything I do. And I let her most of the time, closely supervising for her safety of course. And she always surprises me for what she can do. She is into cracking eggs and folding towels now. If anyone asks her how she learnt to fold the towels so well, she would tell you, "at a folding factory"...

Monday morning breakfast... Dutch Baby Pancake

Ingredients:

For 2 servings

2 table spoon unsealed butter
4 large eggs or 3 jumbo eggs
1/2 cup in bleached all-purpose flour
1/2 whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
For topping: maple syrup, powdered sugar, honey etc.

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 F
Melt butter in cast-iron skillet on low heat. You can use oven safe cake on or pie plate put in the preheated oven for a few minutes to melt the butter. Do not use microwave to do this. As butter melts, make sure all the bottom and sides are coated with butter.
While butter melts, mix together eggs, flour, milk and salt until well blended. I just used a whisk but you can use electric mixer or blender. Just make sure there is no lump in the mix.
Pour the egg mixture into the warmed and buttered skillet or oven safe dish. Place it in the oven and bake for 15-20 mins. Don't get alarms when the mixture "blows up". It is ready when the center is set and the edges are golden brown.
Dress it with topping of your choice.
Happy eating!
CopiedImage.png topping: maple syrup, powdered sugar, honey etc.

I am not afraid any more... Of bread making...

Bread making scares me. I have tried several times, using a bread machine, kneading it by hands and using food processor. None has come out great. A few were okay, but never so great that made me want to try the same recipe again. Bread making is one of my mother's hobbies. She started taking classes when I was in junior high school, and kept going to classes for at least 7-8 more years. Every time she came back from her classes, she would bring back new tools and bags of specialty flour, chocolate paste, cinnamon paste, etc. and her bread is the best kind I have ever tasted. She makes regular sandwich bread, dinner rolls, French bread, German bread... You name it. Whatever you see in the specialty bakery, she can make. I asked her for recipes, and I tried it myself. But for some reason, the result is always disappointing. My mother told me it is because of the kind of flour I am using, and I do not have a good kneading machine. I gave up bread making all together a while ago and decided to just purchase them at markets.

Recently, I came across recipes of NO-KNEAD BREAD. I have heard about this NO-KNEAD BREAD in the past, but never paid any attention because bread without kneading... Come on, it cannot be good. I was so skeptical, I did not even read the recipes. But I saw it mentioned in one of my favorite blogs, and in a book I was reading. So I went to the original source of 2007 New York Time Magazine, and read a few more articles related to this bread. I also checked a few YouTube posts. And it sounded and looked promising. So I gave it a try.

It is always exciting and anxiety provoking to try a new recipe. But cooking is 90% confidence. It was helpful to see YouTube posts, because when I was mixing ingredients and saw how wet it was, I was a bit scared. I did not take any pictures because I started this in the evening on my working day in-between making dinner, doing laundry, and giving bath to Ely. The good thing about this bread making is that it is so labor conservative. My hands-on time with this bread was about 30 minutes all together. But it takes a long time to make it. From the time I mixed the ingredients to putting a piece in my mouth took 26 hours. It needs slow-rising for 12-18 hours, preferably more. And then another 2 hours right before you put it in the oven. So I started it at 8pm on Tuesday, and finished at 10 pm on Wednesday.

The result?

Unbelievable. It is unbelievably amazing because how little effort it took from me to make this rustic bread. This is indeed an artisan bread where the more you chew it, the tastier it gets. This is not a fluffy white bread. This is the bread to savor each chewing, and if you eat a lot, your jaw gets tired but you would still want more.

I took the bread out of the oven at 9pm. The kitchen and living room smelled wonderful. It was time for us to go to bed, so I wrapped it loosely with a baking paper, and let it sit on a rack to cool down. It was very hard to resist my desire to cut it, but the recipe said to wait for at least one hour. When I took it out from the oven, the bread was making this tinkering noise. Ely was also excited to see this bread out of the oven, and I told her to put her ear close to it because it was singing. She was disappointed that we could not eat it and we had to go to bed. Soon after, my husband came home, and I heard him in the kitchen un-wrapping the baking paper. He came in the bedroom, and said, “that bread looks great!”. It was 9:40pm. Ely was still up. So we decided to cut it and taste it. It tasted like a French Bread from a fine bakery. Tonight, I am making a creamy potato-vegetable soup to go with it.

Here (this, this and this) are some links to the recipe I used. I will make this bread again soon (this weekend?), and will take some pictures and post them here. It is important to leave it for one hour after you take it out of the oven. The crust is very hard when it is just out of the oven but softens while it rests.

Fruit of Paradise

We had a beautiful weather this weekend here. 80 degrees and we just entered March. My daughter believes that it is summer already. With this weather, and unfortunate Influenza outbreak at our house with our nephew, we stayed out of the house most of the day. On Saturday, Ely and I went to the library for story time, and farmers market to stock up and boost up our immune system with vitamines and antioxidants with fresh veggies and fruits. Then we went to visit friends of ours who have a grapefruits tree and a lemon tree in the backyard. The trees were full of round evidence of California sunshine! Grapefruits have a botanical name so perfectly fitting, Fruit of Paradise, packed with vitamin C, and disease-preventing properties such as carotenoids, Limonoids, Pectin Fiber and other minerals.

We were going to get “some” but ended up with more than 50 grapefruits and more than 30 lemons.

We juiced them, made lemonade, lemon pound cake, and vegan fruit jello.


Vegan Fruits Jello

300 ml of water
3 teaspoons of Agar Agar powder
⅓ cups of sugar
300 ml of freshly squeezed grapefruit juiced (from 4-5 medium grapefruits)
1-2 cups of diced fruits of your choice (I used grapefruits, strawberries, and pineapple)

Mix Agar Agar powder and sugar in a pot

Add water slowly whisking rapidly, making sure there is no lump in the mixture

Put the pot on stove top whisking continuously to make sure that there is no lump

Turn the heat down to low once it reaches boiling temperature  (you will see it bubbling)

Continue whisking on low heat for about 1-2 minutes

In a different pot, warm the grapefruit juice for about 1-2 minutes

Turn off the heat of both pot, pour warmed (not hot) grapefruit juice into Agar Agar mixture whisking continuously (DO NOT DO THIS WHILE IT IS HEATED ON THE FIRE - the mixture will not get firm if you continue to boil it)

Add diced fruits into the mixture and stir lightly
Pour the mixture into the dish(es) of your choice. You can use one glassware or jello cups if you have them available.

Once it cools down, put them in the refrigerator for one hour or so until jello is firm and plump.

Enjoy!

Blog posts from the past.

I wanted to transfer some of my old posts from my old blog, but I could not find the way to do it. So here is the link to my old blog with recipes for...
Oatmeal cookies
Peachy guacamole
Carrots soup
Cucumber agua fresca
Blueberry muffins

http://onemealtime.blogspot.com

Package from Baba Chan

It is finally here! A package from Baba Chan (aka. My mother)! We have been waiting for a few weeks... maybe even a few months since my mom in Japan told us that she is making pajamas and dresses for us. She emailed me last week that she has sent it, and since then (because I told her her Baba Chan did so), Ely has been waiting and waiting patiently. I was sure that we would get it on Monday or Tuesday but we did not, and Ely cried, "is it still in the airplane?" So when I saw a slip in my mailbox on Wednesday, I was disappointed that I was not home to get it. So, yesterday, I picked it up from the post office 2 minutes before it closed. In the package, there were pajamas for me and Ely, three dresses for Ely, and some food from Japan. Ely was ecstatic!! As soon as we got home, she wanted to wear one of the dresses. She tells everyone it was from her Baba Chan. And I tell her, "she loves you so much". It is sad that my family does not get to see her in person because they live in Japan. But they sure know how to let Ely know how much they love her.

How do children develop their eating habits?

I have to admit that my child is an amazing eater for a 3 years old. I often wonder why as I know so many parents struggling to get their children eat vegetables and fruits. I ask my husband and he gives me this look of “don’t you know??” Yes, I breastfed my child, made all of her baby food from seasonal and organic veggies and fruits. She eats what we eat now with us for breakfast lunch and dinner. We rarely buy processed food or snacks. We take weekly trips to farmer’s market every week, sometimes two markets per week. But still, I wonder if that is all it takes for this little girl to eat pretty much everything that we feed her. Of course, she is 3 years old and she loves to eat chips and cookies and candies. She goes to daycare and she goes to birthday parties where she gets conventional snacks with a lot of sugar and colorings. But she does give up her candy for carrots at the farmer’s market. She does not want to eat any candies that makes her tongue and mouth green or blue. But i still think that I just got lucky. I am currently 7 months pregnant and if this baby turns out to be as amazing eater as my first one, yes, I am convinced that it is how we feed our children that makes the difference. And I so hope that that is the case.
I also have a great eater as my husband. When we first met, he had not have developed taste buds that he has now. I remember the first time he made lunch for me. He made marinated chicken, white rice and boiled carrots. He told me he liked eating vegetables with his meal. And next time he cooked, he again made boiled carrots. I tell this story to many people with feelings of love, because I thought it was very cute, and I now look at my husband who became somewhat of food snob/or food connoisseur with proud.
During my dating period in my 20’th, I had a few rule about dating. The guy has to speak another language other than English, and the guy has to eat what I cook, and be an adventurous eater. I went out with a guy who sniffed the meal I cooked, a guy who left all of the vegetables on the plate, and a guy who would not eat anything but meat and bread. All of them, I did not feel the vibe and did not see them after one date. My husband, although he does not speak another language, would try pretty much anything, and he always try what I make. plus he believes that I am a great cook.
Having dinner together is therefore not a problem at all in my family. Growing up, we always had dinner together. My mother cooked and still cooks every day, and my father loves my mother’s food. So we all sit at the same table and eat the same food. Only exception was that my mother always made something extra (and special) for my father because he had his sake or beer at the dinner table. So when I married and started being around with my husband’s family, I was puzzled by the concept of “kid’s food” or “kid’s table”. We did not have children for 4 years but his siblings all had children between the ages of 2 and 21. Whenever we had Thanksgiving or Christmas, children would sit at the tables that were set in the garage while adults sit inside the house. Or when we would go to a restaurant, all the kids sit together and adults sit together. I know that many families do that, and it is totally normal. But for me, I always felt unease. So I had to kindly protest when it was suggested that my 2 years old sit on her small toddler table to eat while others eat at the big table for family get together.
I strongly believe that it is important for children to see what adults, especially parents or any caregivers close to them eat. Most of the time, they would like to eat what they see us eat. Monkeys do what monkeys see. I guess. If you are a picky eater, you would have a tough luck with making your children eat anything that you do not like to eat like vegetables and fruits. We of course do not control everything my daughter eats. She goes to daycare, and does eat packaged food. I used to make lunch box for her to take until she was about 2 and a half year old. We decided to let my daughter eat what daycares feed because she was conscious enough of what her friends eat, and we did not want her to feel different. We try our best not to buy packaged food or packaged snacks. We really limit our visit to mega grocery stores, and we shop at farmer’s market and smaller healthy food stores for other groceries.
So I think from my experience, there are a few things we as parents can do to help our children develop a healthy eating habits.

1. Assess your eating habit. If it does not follow what you are teaching your children, then fix it.
2. Have family meals as much as possible.
3. Feed your children what you eat, and stay away from “kid’s friendly meals”.
4. Limit your purchase of conventional packaged food.
5. Go to farmer’s market to let your children experience variety of produce.


Happy Eating!

Pizza making at home

Lately, we are eating a lot of pizza at home. Making pizza is easy and can be a fun family activity., including small children.

I have made homemade pizza many times in the past, but have often relied on jarred pasta or pizza sauce. In the book “Homemade Pantry”, Alana Chernila, includes a super easy homemade pizza sauce that can also be stored in freezer for a weeks. I made one batch of pizza sauce which lasted us three meals (= 12 small pizzas). What I love about making pizza at home now is that you can make almost everything ahead of time on weekend or whenever you have time. All you have to do is to assemble them, and in 20-30 minutes, you have your dinner or lunch ready. As a working mother, this has been a tremendous help for the last few weeks.

There are certain things to keep in mind when it comes to making pizza at home. as conveniently as it is to order them. The key is to have all of the ingredients needed in the pantry, and doughs and pizza sauce in the freezer at all time. We are not meat eater, so here is a possible list of toppings that I would like to have in my pantry or refrigerator:

cheese (of course!)
mushrooms
olives (kalamata, black, green, jalapeno stuffed: all of them pitted)
peperonchino
pineapple (canned, fresh or frozen)
feta cheese
grilled and marinated sweet peppers
red onions
broccoli
tomatoes
basil leaves

If you are a meat eater, you can certainly add ham, pepperoni, sausages etc.

To make the dough, I use bread machine. I combined the ingredients and set it on “dough” setting. It does take 90 minutes to make the dough, which is why it is wise to make them way i advance and freeze them. I usually make 2 lbs of dough, and divide them into 4-5 balls, wrap them in plastic and freeze them right away. On the day you plan to have pizza for dinner, I take out 3 balls of dough and place them in the refrigerator in the morning. By dinner time, they will be thawed perfectly.

You can usually find how to make pizza dough in the instructional booklet that came with your bread machine or food processor. Or here is what I use:

1 ½ cups of warm water
2 tbl spoon of olive oil
2 t spoon of salt
2 ¼ cups of unbleached flour
2 cups of bread flour
2 t spoon of sugar
2 t spoon of dried yearst

combine these ingredients in the order written into the bread machine,. Set it on “dough” .


For sauce: here is what I do

Two cans of crushed/ whole tomatoes OR if it is summer, you can certainly use fresh tomatoes. I would peel the skin, though...
One tea spoon of dried oregano
One tea spoon of dried basil
Pinch of paprika or crushed red pepper if you would like the sauce to be a bit spicy
Pinch of sugar (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Run the blender until everything is smooth, 30 seconds to one minute.

That is it!!

When assembling the pizza, I suggest making it a personal size. it is easy to handle, and when i transfer the pizza from baking sheet onto the rack, it does not collapse as it previously did when I used to make big pizzas. I like to bake my pizza for 8-10 minute on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and transfer it to the oven rack for the last 3-5 minutes or so to get the bottom crust crispy. If you are using a big oven, you can certainly bake 2-3 personal sized pizza all together. Or if you are using smaller oven, you can assemble the next one while the first one is baking, and put the second one in the oven while you enjoy the first one.

The homemade pizzas are so good, my husband and I are thinking about swearing off ordering pizza for the whole year...

Making snacks for the family

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. We were all at home, but after we went to a grocery store and a park, I got to spend four hors in the kitchen. Within the four hours (plus a few minute extra in the early morning before my child and husband got up), I was able to make granola, granola bars, pizza dough, pie crust, black beans, pizza sauce, and chai tea base. the book I used to make all these is called Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila. I borrowed it from the library last week, but I am convinced that I need to own one, and it will be my bible in the kitchen for the years to come.

One of the greatest things is that when I take my time to make these things at home from scratch, I know exactly what we are eating. Processed and boxed granola bars and regular pop tarts (I made these at home with the pie crust on Tuesday), kids may love... But if you take a look at their nutritional values and ingredients, you would think twice about giving it to your growing children. And all of the things I made, maybe except pie crust, are not difficult at all. It takes gathering of ingredients, mixing them, putting in the oven or putting it on the stove, and watching not to burn it.

You do not have to make everything at home, but maybe you can choose one or two things that you can replace with the homemade ones...

Taking charge of our health...

I fell this morning in front of our house. It has been really cold and the pavement was icy. Despite the fact that my husband warned me when he left to work, I slipped and fell. I landed on my left side and the impact, I don't think, was too bad. But, I am 5 months pregnant. Immediately, I thought, "oh, my gosh. My baby!" I called the doctor, and went in to make sure she was okay. She IS okay with good heartbeat and she has been moving actively. The doctor told me to take it easy for a few days, so I sat on the rocking chair and decided to watch a movie, which I rarely do. I watched a documentary about culture of diet and healthy eating. We (my family and I) have been a pretty healthy family, and we eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. But this morning's fall and watching this documentary made me think: I am carrying a baby and I am responsible for not only my health but also her health. What I do and what I eat affect my baby in my tummy. Thank goodness the fall was not bad and it did not affect the baby. I know there are accidents that cannot be prevented. But there are a lot of things we can do to have healthy pregnancy and to have a healthy child. Eating Healthy food is definitively one thing that I can do for myself and for my child. I knew this before, but this morning's fall really made me think about everything I could choose to do for my health and hers.

So I made myself a super juice. My husband makes this every morning, and without any bias (really!!) he is one of the best looking 38 years old I have ever met in my life. He is actually really good looking (handsome) but he looks very young and vibrant. When he discloses his age, people would not believe it because he looks like in his 20th. And his juicing every day (sometimes twice per day) and his healthy regular diet are the keys for his looks and energy. But I must admit, I have not liked this super juice and I usually says "no" when he offered to me. My 3 year old daughter is better than me, drinking this juice happily and asking for more. But this particular one with persimmon and almond butter was very good. I let the blende run quite long for it to be smooth, and I did not feel any pulp of vegetables or even bitterness. I think I can drink this everyday.

Fruity green smoothie

One banana
One persimmon
Three to four leaves of kale
One carrot
One stalk of celery
One table spoon of almond butter
One table spoon of honey
Half a cup of filtered water

Put these in a high speed blender (vitamix is the best kind) for a few minutes.

Starting again...

So this is yet another blog I started as I go through 6^th month of second (and last) pregnancy. This pregnancy has brought up the surge of creativity in me and I have been making a lot of things for holidays and winter. And Ely, my 3-year-old daughter is of course part of “making”. She love to “make” and she loves to “recipe” (she uses this word as a verb…). As I embroidered her winter solstice gift, she sat next to me “poking” through the clothe I set in a embroidery loom. She would get a two point knitting needles and pretend to knit as I knitted her first mittens. And she would bounce as I sewed her pajama with my new sewing machine. Of course, when we made mint chocolate bark and chocolate covered pretzel as holiday gifts for friends and family, she was right there with me to make them. I am enjoying every second of her participation in my “makery” as she calls it. There is a “bakery” near her childcare where we occasionally stops by to buy some cookies and other goodies. Ely, for some reason, calls is “makery” instead of “bakery” no matter how many times I remind her that it is a “bakery”.

As I made all these things for family and friends, I remember my mother in kitchen and living room, making homemade bread, miso, pickles, cakes, and how she sewed my dresses and other clothes when I was growing up in Japan. I did not really pay attention to it, and I did not realize how lucky I was to have a mother like her. But through that experience, I came to acquire love for handmade and I want to pass that to my own children. I am realizing, living in the United States away from my mother, it is up to me to do that. I have heard other people saying “isn’t it easier to buy it?” or “isn’t it cheaper to buy it?”. They may be right. It is definitely easier to buy things than making them, and many times it is cheaper to buy them, thanks to the globalization and abusive labor conditions in developing countries. But with the ease and cheap comes lack of appreciation, lack of originality, lack of creativity and lack of compassion toward the material and other world. I look at my daughter proudly when she tells everyone that her dress and pajama were made by her “baba chan” (grandma). When she asks me why “baba chan” sent her those, I tell her “because she loves her”. And it is so true. I am hoping that by making things for them and with them, my children will learn all that I have learned from my mother; love, caring, compassion, creativity, and imagination.