I was talking to my sister on Skype the other day while she whipped up and ate a quick bowl of pasta before heading back to work (what a multi-tasker!) I mentioned that many of my lunches are made and eaten at this speed when trying to do a hundred things while at least one small boy is sleeping - clean the house, express the milk, sterilise the bottles, watch the Fashion Police etc etc. I realised there are probably a lot of people who try to do these 10-minute healthy meals for a variety of reasons (not just making time to watch Joan Rivers bitch about celebrities' lack of taste) and are probably as sick as I am of toasted sandwiches and tuna salads.
One of my recent discoveries has been how fast you can knock up a Japanese miso udon soup using only cupboard ingredients and this is one of my favourite ever lunches. As with some other recent recipes, I'm not sure that this one is a winner with kids as it's pretty messy eating but potentially worth a try as udon noodles seem to be pretty popular in our household in other recipes. This recipe is for one but can easily be increased to serve more noting that this makes a seriously large bowlful of noodle soup.
Eleanor's Miso Udon Soup
Ingredients*
1 small packet vacuum packed udon noodles (approx 200 grams)
1 tablespoon white miso paste
500 mls water
1/2 teaspoon of dashi granules (optional)
1 tablespoon dried wakame or arame seaweed
Recipe
Put seaweed in some warm water for a few minutes until hydrated then drain. Put 500mls water, miso paste and dashi granules in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir until the miso paste has dissolved. Add udon noodles and boil for around three minutes. Add seaweed and serve.
If you want to make a heartier and lunch add some silken tofu and vegetables at the end. I often throw in a few snow peas and some spring onions but any greens would work.
Serves one
* All of these ingredients are available at our local supermarket but you may need to try an Asian grocer. The miso paste and dashi granules can seem a bit expensive but they last forever and mean that you can make this soup whenever you like.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Is that a zucchini in your muffin?
...or are you just happy to eat me? Please ignore the very wrong connotations in this heading but I just discovered an excellent zucchini and choc chip muffin recipe. I made a few tweaks just due to what I've got in the house but they taste fabulous and include vegetables - what more could you ask?
Eleanor's zucchini and choc chip muffins (based on a recipe by Poh)
Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup of dark muscavado (or brown) sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
85gms melted butter
1 egg lightly beaten
1 medium zucchini grated (to make around 1.5 cups)
Zest of one orange
1 cup semisweet or dark choc chips
Recipe
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and choc chips in a large mixing bowl. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl before adding to the dry ingredients and mixing until just combined.
Spoon mixture into a greased 12-hole muffin tray or paper cupcake holders (patty pans). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through. Cool on a wire tray and serve.
Eleanor's zucchini and choc chip muffins (based on a recipe by Poh)
Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup of dark muscavado (or brown) sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
85gms melted butter
1 egg lightly beaten
1 medium zucchini grated (to make around 1.5 cups)
Zest of one orange
1 cup semisweet or dark choc chips
Recipe
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and choc chips in a large mixing bowl. Mix all other ingredients in a separate bowl before adding to the dry ingredients and mixing until just combined.
Spoon mixture into a greased 12-hole muffin tray or paper cupcake holders (patty pans). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until cooked through. Cool on a wire tray and serve.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Booze and boobs - can I have a glass of wine now?
Drinking when pregnant and breastfeeding is one of the most confusing issues to get straight and partly this is because there aren't controlled experiments in this space (i.e. you can't ask a randomised group of women to chug beers while pregnant/nursing and see what happens). I should say up front that I have no strong views on this one - I really feel like this is every woman's choice about what they are going to do - especially considering that the science behind it is not clear cut. My interest really just stems from me trying to work out what I should do while I am continuing to express all the milk for baby number two.
After some recent reading, I realised that the periods of pregnancy and nursing are pretty different in terms of what gets passed on to the baby and finally got some answers on what you should consider when working out whether or not to have a drink when breastfeeding. So, thought I should share what I found.
It may seem obvious to some but I only just learnt that alcohol doesn't stay in breastmilk so if you wait long enough the booze won't even reach the baby. This is clearly different than pregnancy where whatever is in your blood stream is getting channeled straight through. Basically breast milk holds about the same amount of alcohol as your blood stream so if you think you could blow a 0.0 on a breathaliser, you probably don't have any alcohol in your milk either. This means, you're best to do your drinking well before feeding, i.e. directly after a feed/express is probably going to be the best time. The general rule seems to be that women clear 1 standard drink in about 2 hours.
There is some suggestion that you shouldn't drink at all until your baby is either one month or three months (I was admittedly a little surprised when one of the ladies in the hospital was encouraging me to have some wine two days after giving birth). This seems to be based on when the babies' liver has developed enough to process alcohol but surely this is less relevant if you generally aim to clear your milk of alcohol before feeding.
I've also read that alcohol both encourages and inhibits milk production so I think you can probably deduce that neither of these is based on strong science.
Basically everyone seems to agree that it is possible to have a drink or two while breastfeeding as long as you plan it right - I'm off to get a glass of red to celebrate!
If you want to read some more yourself - here are the articles I looked at:
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/safe-when-breastfeeding/alcohol-and-breastfeeding
http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/family-health-healthy-living-how-much-can-i-drink-when-breastfeeding+2780+190+article.htm
http://newbornbaby.com.au/newborn/baby-feeding/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-and-alcohol/
http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/practical-parenting/article/-/7412792/breastfeeding-alcohol-the-facts/
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/guide-breastbr
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/alcohol
After some recent reading, I realised that the periods of pregnancy and nursing are pretty different in terms of what gets passed on to the baby and finally got some answers on what you should consider when working out whether or not to have a drink when breastfeeding. So, thought I should share what I found.
It may seem obvious to some but I only just learnt that alcohol doesn't stay in breastmilk so if you wait long enough the booze won't even reach the baby. This is clearly different than pregnancy where whatever is in your blood stream is getting channeled straight through. Basically breast milk holds about the same amount of alcohol as your blood stream so if you think you could blow a 0.0 on a breathaliser, you probably don't have any alcohol in your milk either. This means, you're best to do your drinking well before feeding, i.e. directly after a feed/express is probably going to be the best time. The general rule seems to be that women clear 1 standard drink in about 2 hours.
There is some suggestion that you shouldn't drink at all until your baby is either one month or three months (I was admittedly a little surprised when one of the ladies in the hospital was encouraging me to have some wine two days after giving birth). This seems to be based on when the babies' liver has developed enough to process alcohol but surely this is less relevant if you generally aim to clear your milk of alcohol before feeding.
I've also read that alcohol both encourages and inhibits milk production so I think you can probably deduce that neither of these is based on strong science.
Basically everyone seems to agree that it is possible to have a drink or two while breastfeeding as long as you plan it right - I'm off to get a glass of red to celebrate!
If you want to read some more yourself - here are the articles I looked at:
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/safe-when-breastfeeding/alcohol-and-breastfeeding
http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/family-health-healthy-living-how-much-can-i-drink-when-breastfeeding+2780+190+article.htm
http://newbornbaby.com.au/newborn/baby-feeding/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-and-alcohol/
http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/practical-parenting/article/-/7412792/breastfeeding-alcohol-the-facts/
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/alcohol/publishing.nsf/Content/guide-breastbr
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/alcohol
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
What child wouldn't eat saag paneer?
...and the answer is probably every child! As I've mentioned before, I was hell bent on having kids who ate what we ate all the time but I now realise that is probably an insane pipe dream.
I still try to make the same dinner for the whole family most nights but the fact of the matter is, there are very few kids who love a seriously spicy Indian curry (although I'd love to be proven wrong). I was at a cooking class on the weekend with Di Holuigue who cooks her four-year-old grandson big bowls of prawns, mussels and pippies so there is some hope.
So on the nights when I want to have a grown up dinner, Leo has leftovers or a classic kids' tea like baked beans on toast and I throw an extra chilli in our dinner to celebrate! Here is the recipe for a not very authentic, but very quick, saag paneer (spinach and cheese curry).
Eleanor's Saag Paneer
Ingredients
2 tablespoons korma curry paste
1 onion chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 cup frozen baby peas
200gms paneer or haloumi cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
Steamed basmati rice to serve
Fry onions in some vegetable oil until soft. Add the curry paste and cook until fragrant then pour in the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the spinach, stir through and cover with a lid until wilted.
Quickly blitz the mixture with a stick blender until the sauce is relatively smooth. Bring back to the boil and add the baby peas. Cook for around 5 minutes until peas are tender. If using paneer, add and cook until heated. If using haloumi, fry pieces of cheese until lightly brown and then stir into the mix.
Turn off the heat, stir through the yoghurt and serve on rice. Enjoy!
I still try to make the same dinner for the whole family most nights but the fact of the matter is, there are very few kids who love a seriously spicy Indian curry (although I'd love to be proven wrong). I was at a cooking class on the weekend with Di Holuigue who cooks her four-year-old grandson big bowls of prawns, mussels and pippies so there is some hope.
So on the nights when I want to have a grown up dinner, Leo has leftovers or a classic kids' tea like baked beans on toast and I throw an extra chilli in our dinner to celebrate! Here is the recipe for a not very authentic, but very quick, saag paneer (spinach and cheese curry).
Eleanor's Saag Paneer
Ingredients
2 tablespoons korma curry paste
1 onion chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 handfuls baby spinach
1 cup frozen baby peas
200gms paneer or haloumi cheese, cubed
2 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
Steamed basmati rice to serve
Fry onions in some vegetable oil until soft. Add the curry paste and cook until fragrant then pour in the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Add the spinach, stir through and cover with a lid until wilted.
Quickly blitz the mixture with a stick blender until the sauce is relatively smooth. Bring back to the boil and add the baby peas. Cook for around 5 minutes until peas are tender. If using paneer, add and cook until heated. If using haloumi, fry pieces of cheese until lightly brown and then stir into the mix.
Turn off the heat, stir through the yoghurt and serve on rice. Enjoy!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The problem with maternity leave (and a recipe for Vietnamese coleslaw)
First up, I should say that I am actually loving maternity leave and even more, I think paid maternity leave is a wonderful thing. However, there is one thing that really lets maternity leave down and that is the fact that you imagine that you will have this huge, long period to do things for which you don't usually have time. For me, that includes cooking elaborate dishes that need more than the 30mins cooking time available at the end of the working day. For my mum it was finishing off a Masters degree (if I remember rightly she enrolled for both rounds of maternity leave and subsequently withdrew!) I also remember friends suggesting that I should start writing a book when Leo was born.
For some reason, even though you know that having a baby means extra work, you can't factor in the impact of sleep deprivation, the time needed for feeding and bonus loads of laundry, and the brainspace that gets used up wondering 'what does that cry mean?' and 'where is that smell coming from?'
So I thought i would be worth sharing another shortcut recipe that I have been using lately because I love it even though it is a serious quicky. Warning - this is really a grown up recipe unless you have fabulously adventurous children as the dressing has a reasonable hit of chilli. Maybe give any kiddies a toasted sandwich or some baked beans (that's what I do).
Vietnamese Chicken Coleslaw
Ingredients
Half a roast chicken, shredded
1 bag of ready made coleslaw or Asian salad mix
1 handful chopped mint
1 small cucumber julienned
1 handful chopped peanuts
150mls of dipping sauce for spring rolls* Fried shallots to serve*
Recipe
Mix chicken, salad mix, mint and cucumber in a large bowl. Pour over dipping sauce as a dressing and mix well. Serve scattered with chopped peanuts and fried shallots.
Serves 3-4
*from the Asian section in the supermarket
For some reason, even though you know that having a baby means extra work, you can't factor in the impact of sleep deprivation, the time needed for feeding and bonus loads of laundry, and the brainspace that gets used up wondering 'what does that cry mean?' and 'where is that smell coming from?'
So I thought i would be worth sharing another shortcut recipe that I have been using lately because I love it even though it is a serious quicky. Warning - this is really a grown up recipe unless you have fabulously adventurous children as the dressing has a reasonable hit of chilli. Maybe give any kiddies a toasted sandwich or some baked beans (that's what I do).
Vietnamese Chicken Coleslaw
Ingredients
Half a roast chicken, shredded
1 bag of ready made coleslaw or Asian salad mix
1 handful chopped mint
1 small cucumber julienned
1 handful chopped peanuts
150mls of dipping sauce for spring rolls* Fried shallots to serve*
Recipe
Mix chicken, salad mix, mint and cucumber in a large bowl. Pour over dipping sauce as a dressing and mix well. Serve scattered with chopped peanuts and fried shallots.
Serves 3-4
*from the Asian section in the supermarket
Sunday, January 29, 2012
New ideas from the good old Women's Weekly
I've been desperately trying not to cook the same old things for dinner every night since the new baby was born almost three months ago - I even bore myself when home-made pizzas roll around for the second time in a week. It's easy to fall back on old ideas even when you're not a little bit sleep deprived and trying to please a highly critical three-year-old. On this basis, I've been trying to slip in something different at least every couple of weeks when I can muster the enthusiasm.
That said, a couple of the new recipes that I've tried recently have been pretty expensive just because of one or two ingredients (salmon, lamb cutlets) so I decided to check out the Women's Weekly "$ Smart Cook" during a recent trip to the library even though it looks pretty lame and mumsy. The good thing about Women's Weekly books is that all the recipes are triple tested and they almost never use ingredients that are hard to find. The bad thing about Women's Weekly books is that they are pretty repetitive (this one has two recipes for fish pies and chilli con carne and three for rissoles) and include some things that you've been served up at school camps and may subsequently choose never to eat again (tuna mornay, sausage casserole).
I haven't actually made any of the recipes from the book but it did at least give me some inspiration. They had a felafel recipe which I thought wouldn't fly with the toddler but it inspired me to invent some new hidden vegie meatballs that turned out to be awesome and were very well received when marketed as "mini burgers". I'd serve them with tzatziki but it seems toddlers may prefer them with tomato sauce (ew).
Lamb and felafel kofte (meatballs)
Ingredients
500gms minced lamb
1 packet felafel mix*
Olive or vegetable oil to shallow fry
Tzatziki and cous cous to serve
Recipe
Make felafel mixture according to packet instructions (the packet I bought just needed water added and to stand/soak for 15 minutes). Mix lamb mince into prepared felafel mixture and shape into small balls around the size of a golfball - it should make about 16.
Heat the oil over a medium-high heat and fry meatballs until golden brown on the outside and cooked through.
Serve with cous cous (add some sultanas, dried apricot and pinenuts if desired), tzatziki and greens.
Serves 3-4
*Felafel mix can be found in the health food aisle of supermarkets but is often very difficult to find! It's made up of ground yellow split peas, garlic and herbs.
That said, a couple of the new recipes that I've tried recently have been pretty expensive just because of one or two ingredients (salmon, lamb cutlets) so I decided to check out the Women's Weekly "$ Smart Cook" during a recent trip to the library even though it looks pretty lame and mumsy. The good thing about Women's Weekly books is that all the recipes are triple tested and they almost never use ingredients that are hard to find. The bad thing about Women's Weekly books is that they are pretty repetitive (this one has two recipes for fish pies and chilli con carne and three for rissoles) and include some things that you've been served up at school camps and may subsequently choose never to eat again (tuna mornay, sausage casserole).
I haven't actually made any of the recipes from the book but it did at least give me some inspiration. They had a felafel recipe which I thought wouldn't fly with the toddler but it inspired me to invent some new hidden vegie meatballs that turned out to be awesome and were very well received when marketed as "mini burgers". I'd serve them with tzatziki but it seems toddlers may prefer them with tomato sauce (ew).
Lamb and felafel kofte (meatballs)
Ingredients
500gms minced lamb
1 packet felafel mix*
Olive or vegetable oil to shallow fry
Tzatziki and cous cous to serve
Recipe
Make felafel mixture according to packet instructions (the packet I bought just needed water added and to stand/soak for 15 minutes). Mix lamb mince into prepared felafel mixture and shape into small balls around the size of a golfball - it should make about 16.
Heat the oil over a medium-high heat and fry meatballs until golden brown on the outside and cooked through.
Serve with cous cous (add some sultanas, dried apricot and pinenuts if desired), tzatziki and greens.
Serves 3-4
*Felafel mix can be found in the health food aisle of supermarkets but is often very difficult to find! It's made up of ground yellow split peas, garlic and herbs.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Tips on expressing breast milk
*Please note this is a very niche post for those interested in how to use an electric breast pump and is not necessarily recommended to anyone not interested in my boobs*
I thought it might be handy to share some tips on how to successfully use an electric breast pump as I think most people who have had a go would agree that it is pretty hard work! Although I was originally quite doom and gloom about how much breast milk I could make just expressing with a machine (as my baby just cannot attach successfully) I have been producing about five times more than I did with my first bub and am now feeling pretty proud that I can produce most of what my new baby needs (about 500 mls per day).
I've learnt quite a lot about what works for me and it seems very much at odds at some other advice that I found in books and on the net so here are my five key points about what has worked for me in the hope that it might be handy for others:
1. Don't express too often and wear yourself out - most advice that I've read suggests that you should express as many times as is physically possible to keep your supply up. What I have found is that I get about the same amount of milk whether I express 8 times a day or 4 times a day. The only difference is that I have spent twice as much time at the pump if I go eight times and I feel super grumpy about how little I can get done. My boobs also tend to get pretty sore if I am expressing too often.
2. Massage, massage, massage - it doesn't take long to work out where all the milk ducts are and it is really worth giving them a good massage throughout the time you are expressing as it seems to make a huge difference to what you get out. It also helps to avoid getting close to mastitis - you certainly know when you get a hot, sore patch in your boobs and it is really important to get the milk flowing.
3. Make sure you are all set up - I find that I am much more willing to spend a full 20 minutes or so expressing if I have something to read/watch and some water and the baby is all set up either sleeping or keeping busy. Getting the milk out takes time so it is worth finding ways not to make the time tolerable!
4. Make sure you are not racing - a trap that I sometimes fall into is trying to express some milk before someone comes around or before I need to leave the house. When I do this I tend to only make a little bit and then feel really uncomfortable until I can pump again. It is better to try and allow more time than you need and not have to panic about how long it takes for the milk to get flowing.
5. Don't worry about it - while the advice you get given as a new mum is the very blunt "breast is best", sometimes it is just not going to happen. This time round I decided from the start that I would just express as much as I could and whatever would be would be. This has worked much better for me than last time around when I saw all the lactaction consultants and took all the supplements that are meant to increase your milk supply. I will always wonder whether all that worrying played a part in my supply not coming in but either way, it was not good for my state of mind and just got in the way of me enjoying the new baby.
I am totally aware that this advice just relates to my experience of expressing full time and may not work if you are just trying to express a bottle or two around breast-feeding. If you need more info about expressing and storing breast milk a couple of useful and far more comprehensive sites are:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Bottle_feeding_with_expressed_breast_milk
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/expressing-and-storing-breastmilk
Good luck!
I thought it might be handy to share some tips on how to successfully use an electric breast pump as I think most people who have had a go would agree that it is pretty hard work! Although I was originally quite doom and gloom about how much breast milk I could make just expressing with a machine (as my baby just cannot attach successfully) I have been producing about five times more than I did with my first bub and am now feeling pretty proud that I can produce most of what my new baby needs (about 500 mls per day).
I've learnt quite a lot about what works for me and it seems very much at odds at some other advice that I found in books and on the net so here are my five key points about what has worked for me in the hope that it might be handy for others:
1. Don't express too often and wear yourself out - most advice that I've read suggests that you should express as many times as is physically possible to keep your supply up. What I have found is that I get about the same amount of milk whether I express 8 times a day or 4 times a day. The only difference is that I have spent twice as much time at the pump if I go eight times and I feel super grumpy about how little I can get done. My boobs also tend to get pretty sore if I am expressing too often.
2. Massage, massage, massage - it doesn't take long to work out where all the milk ducts are and it is really worth giving them a good massage throughout the time you are expressing as it seems to make a huge difference to what you get out. It also helps to avoid getting close to mastitis - you certainly know when you get a hot, sore patch in your boobs and it is really important to get the milk flowing.
3. Make sure you are all set up - I find that I am much more willing to spend a full 20 minutes or so expressing if I have something to read/watch and some water and the baby is all set up either sleeping or keeping busy. Getting the milk out takes time so it is worth finding ways not to make the time tolerable!
4. Make sure you are not racing - a trap that I sometimes fall into is trying to express some milk before someone comes around or before I need to leave the house. When I do this I tend to only make a little bit and then feel really uncomfortable until I can pump again. It is better to try and allow more time than you need and not have to panic about how long it takes for the milk to get flowing.
5. Don't worry about it - while the advice you get given as a new mum is the very blunt "breast is best", sometimes it is just not going to happen. This time round I decided from the start that I would just express as much as I could and whatever would be would be. This has worked much better for me than last time around when I saw all the lactaction consultants and took all the supplements that are meant to increase your milk supply. I will always wonder whether all that worrying played a part in my supply not coming in but either way, it was not good for my state of mind and just got in the way of me enjoying the new baby.
I am totally aware that this advice just relates to my experience of expressing full time and may not work if you are just trying to express a bottle or two around breast-feeding. If you need more info about expressing and storing breast milk a couple of useful and far more comprehensive sites are:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Bottle_feeding_with_expressed_breast_milk
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/expressing-and-storing-breastmilk
Good luck!
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