Happy Well - My journey continues

I was just having a WhatsApp convo with my doc ( Doc Sue from Klinik Genesis in SS19 Subang is such a darling. She's a great listener, she's got great intuition, she's caring and she's so funny.. I call her my angel and she cheekily said that she can be secretly devilish - how not to love a cheeky funny doctor like that!!), oh yeah, I have now been diagnosed with Costochondritis, Hypothyroid and low progesterone. Yup yup, new conditions, meh. Even my 7 year old asked me why I have so many conditions 😳😳

I have started taking natural thyroid (you can also Google Armour Thyroid), and Natural Progesterone for my newly diagnosed conditions. As for the Costo, I now know my own physical limits, and not push it, especially when I am having a flare up. Gentle yoga and stretches during those times for me.

Anyways, back to our WhatsApp convo.. she said something that hit me with twanging and resounding clarity. She said she hopes that I will be my old self soon, and that I will embrace my new journey. Embrace. I do look forward to being my old self, more carefree, less anxious, and happier. And I am excited to embrace my journey to a better self as well.

Kitchen Trails - Bananas, peanut butter pancakes

Who doesn't like pancakes? err.... actually, me. I don't don't like pancakes, but just prefer waffles much more. But this one? I lurrrrrve....

The kids love it too, especially when I add in some chocolate chips.

This is a much more healthier pancake as it uses oat flour instead of flour.

2 bananas, mashed up

Peanut butter,  if you eyeball it like me: about 4 heaped tablespoons

2 eggs

1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk of choice. Add to get the consistency needed. For me, it's the the consistency of thick cream.

About 2 tbsp of honey

a pinch of salt

2 cups Oat flour - I just blitz some organic rolled oats to make oat flour. You can use oats as well instead of oat flour

Mix everything together until it's thoroughly combined. Dollop a couple of tablespoonfuls into a pan or skillet on low heat and cook on one side for about 2 mins and then turn over and cook the other side. I used a small 10cm non stick pan to cook the pancakes one by one. I normally do not use non stick pans for cooking, I prefer stainless steel ones. But because I don't use any oil or butter to coat the pan for the pancakes, cooking this on my stainless steel pan would be a pain in the butt. 

You can top it with fruits, jam/preserves, nuts, honey or maple syrup, etc, etc. Pretty much whatever tickles your fancy. Here I only used pure maple syrup

Enjoy!!

Kitchen Trails - Hummus

Hummus. Mmmmyumyum. I eat it as a dip, with pita or wraps, part of a salad dressing, as a spread. There's so many ways to enjoy the delicious and healthy Hummus

Hummus is super easy to prepare. I did mine with dried chickpeas instead of canned ones. Just 2 extra steps, soaking overnight and boiling them.

I prefer dried chickpeas to canned because I would rather not have any preservatives of any kind, and I can adjust the salt content. Canned chickpeas can always be used to save of these 2 extra steps, or if you want to eat it NOW, as soaking takes at least 8 hours for me.

For Hummus, you'll need:

250g dried chickpeas, rinsed and soaked for 8 hours or overnight in salted (about 1 tsp) water that covers and at least 2 inches above the level of the chick peas. You'll need enough water as the chickpeas expand A LOT. After soaking, rinse the chickpeas well and put in a pot and add 2 tsp of salt and enough water to cover at least 2 inches above the chick peas. Bring to a boil and turn down the flame to a simmer and let cook for about 40 minutes. Once done, drain the chickpeas and keep about 1 cup of the liquid. If you are using canned chickpeas, keep the liquid from the can

2 - 4 cloves of garlic, depending on preference

Olive oil, about 1/3 cup, depending on preference

Juice of 1 lemon

Paprika powder for a bit of heat. I used about 1 tsp. Can be omitted

Cumin powder, about 1 tsp, depending of preference. Cumin is pretty aromatic and pungent, so use according to your own taste

Liquid from the chickpes, add to loosen the consistency of the Hummus, add a little by a little during blitzing until it comes to a consistency that you prefer. Some like it very thick, and some like it to be more runnier

Salt to taste. Add at the end as the liquid from the chickpeas will be salty as well.

Blitz everything together. Done :) Keep chilled in the fridge.

Notes:
- you can add different things to the Hummus to make variations of the basic recipe. Bell peppers, celery, chillies instead of paprika powder, different spices or herbs. Or even veggies like spinach and kale, to make it a Hummus-Pesto

Kitchen Trails - Energy Bites

We were at our kids' cousins' house the other day for some swimming practice and my brother-in-law Dazza brought out some delicious nuggets for the kids after their swim. Energy balls, filled with delicious goodness!!

After popping one in my mouth, I asked Dazza how to make them, and Dazza told me that it was super easy to make. I couldn't stop thinking about the healthy energy boosting snacks and I came up with a batch of my own. DEE LEE CIOUS!! Though healthy, this is not a low fat, low calorie snack, given the nut fat and honey used.

I mainly agak-agak (guess or go by feel) the amounts I used, so here is a rough guideline of the ingredients I used in mine.

(Yields about 28 balls of 1 inch diameter)

1 cup organic rolled oats, blitzed until they are a little finer cos I really don't like having flakes of dry and chewy oats eating this. Can be substituted with instant oats, then there's no need to blitz

1/3 cup of chopped nuts. Here I used walnuts and peanuts which I have soaked overnight and roasted using the air fryer

4 Tablespoons of pure peanut butter, or nut butter of your choice. I used pure peanut butter that I got from a lady who sells nut butters, no fillers or extra sugars or whatnots

5 Tablespoons of raw honey

4 Tablespoons of good quality dark cocoa powder. Can be substituted with chocolate/chocolate chips of your choice, just shave or chop the chocolate into small bits if using

1 Tablespoon organic chia seeds

A tiny teensy pinch of himalayan salt

A splash of vanilla extract

Just mix the oats, nuts, cocoa powder, salt, and chia seeds together until it's thoroughly combined. Add the peanut butter and the honey, and mix well. Wash and dry your hands thoroughly, and scoop out enough to roll into 1 inch balls, or whatever size your prefer. Pack it firmly with your palms as you shape the balls

I can keep mine for about a week in the fridge.

Note: 

If it's too soft, pop it in the fridge for a while before rolling out into balls, or if it's softer than that, add a bit more oats

If it's way too hard to work with, add a bit of honey or peanut butter

Remember, it needs to be quite solid and hard to pack into firm balls

Kitchen Trails - Meatballs

Made some meatballs today. This can go with pasta, noodle soup, braised in some sauce as a dish to go with rice, anything that you can think of, really.

I made this with lean, weight watcher's minced beef, and oat flour instead of bread crumbs for a healthier option.

200g minced meat

1/4 cup oat crumbs, I blitzed some organic rolled oats 

1 egg

1/2 a small carrot, blitzed into fine bits

A handful of spinach, blitzed or finely chopped

1 Tablespoon of parmesan cheese

Garlic powder

Onion powder

A dash of black pepper

A pinch of himalayan salt

A glug of olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Shape into balls.

Heat up a pan and add the olive oil. Add the meat balls in batches so it doesn't get crowded in the pan. Cook for 4 minutes or so, and then turn the balls around, cook a bit further and remove from pan

I did one step further, I didn't want to brown the meat balls too much in case it got burnt. I covered them in baking/cooking paper and bunged them into the oven to cook for another 10-15 minutes so that the inside is thoroughly cooked as well

Kitchen trails - Salmon fish head noodle soup

Fish head noodle soup is a firm favourite here in Malaysia. It's a rich soup full of fish flavour and goodness, with soft tofu, tomatoes, salted pickled vegetable, and leafy green veggie. The noodle used for this dish is normally the thick Meehoon (vermicelli or rice noodle).

I had some salmon tail and bones and the head leftover from my filleted salmon, and there's lots of meat left on the head and the bones as well. 

I air fried the salmon head and bones, mmmm.... full of the good omega 3 fat. No need to add any oil!!

Use a big pot, and throw in a few slices of ginger and the air fried salmon, let it come to a boil and then let it simmer to bring out the yumminess into the broth. Normally many will use evaporated milk to get the milky whiteness for the soup, but the salmon full of omega 3 and this fat will cloud the soup naturally without the evaporated milk.

Add the salted veggies, tomatoes, preserved sour plum, and green veggies. Let it cook and lastly add the thick meehoon and the soft tofu.

Heaven!!

Kitchen Trails - Steamed salted chicken breast with ginger

Super simple healthy recipe.

Chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

Enough salt to flavour the chicken, I used about slightly less than 1 teaspoon himalayan salt

Grated ginger, up to you how spicy you want it

Few drops of sesame oil (optional)

Chinese cooking wine (optional)

Mix all together in a heatproof shallow flat bowl, or a plate with high sides. I used a stainless steel plate with high sides.

Steam over high flame for 20 mins

Done.