Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Cheesy Pork Burger with Thick Onion Sauce 乳酪猪扒汉堡


There seems to be many things happening at the same time; work, family, inevitable duties. However Life goes on and tummies still need to be filled. So despite the many thoughts entangling inside, I still have to ensure the well being of my little ones. Good thing is that after becoming mom of 2 and countless practices, cooking has become quite an easy chore that I can cook up something decent without prior planning.

Anyway, totally non related with the recipe I'm about to share. Let's get back to the topic here.

I made this Cheesy Pork Burger tonight and it was well received by my little boy as well as big guy, they all finished their portion and asked for more. Even my 15 months old refused to eat her usual porridge and insisted to have a portion of our burger. So I mashed up one of the vegetable pork patty for her and she happily ate up all without any left over bits. I'm blessed to have a baby girl who truly enjoy her food :)

My little boy's burger, I always serve his burger in a pocket so it's easier for him to hold without the fillings dropping out. He enjoyed his pocket especially when I told him I made "special sweet sauce" for him. On normal day he would reject the onion, but not tonight, he loved his special sauce :)



The Double Decker Cheese Pork burger for man of the house. He had 3 of these since they are just medium size burger, not the large hamburger serves in Burger King.


The skinny burger for myself. No cheesy and single patty.


Ready to make some burgers now? Let's get ready the ingredient.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serving for: 3-4 persons

Ingredient:

4 Burger Buns of your choice
4 slices of cheddar cheese
Some cucumber or tomato slices

For the Patty:
10 meat balls / 250gm of minced lean pork meat
1/2 cup of chopped celery (1 stalk)
1/2 cup of chopped onions
1/4 cup of chopped carrots
4 glove of garlics, chopped
2 tablespoon of bread crumb
1 medium size egg





For the Patty Marinate:
2 table spoon of premium soy sauce
Few dash of Xiu Heng wine 花雕绍兴酒
Few dash of salt and pepper

For the Thick Onion Sauce:
1/2 yellow onion, cut into long thin slices
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
2 table spoon of premium soy sauce
A dash of black pepper
4 table spoon of water

The Steps:

The Patty
1. Mix the minced meat with the marinate (except the egg and bread crumb), set aside.



2. Blend all the vegetables into chunky bits and add into the minced meat. Add the bread crumb follow by the egg a bit at a time and mix well until you get the right texture, the patty should not be too soft or it may break apart when you cook them.

3. Heat up 3 table spoon of olive oil in a non stick pan, use a spoon to scoop the patty mixture into the pan and form a round shape of about 1.5cm thick. Cook about 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. You may cook a few in one go but do keep an eye on each patty to avoid over cooked.



For the Sauce

4. Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil, toss in the onion slices. Stir fry until it turns soft.

5. Add the soy sauce, black pepper and water, add the brown sugar and let the sauce shimmer until its thickened to desired texture, turn off the heat and pour into a sauce dish for later usage.

Now you have got all ingredient ready, just assemble your burgers and serve right away, or later. Taste nice either way.


When serving for little ones, do consider getting round bun and cut a pocket instead of cut into half. My boy loved his burger this way.




Make some Variety!
I made some variance in the patty, where:

A) Meaty version - only minced pork with chopped garlic and onion. This patty is firmer and most suitable for elder kids and adults.

B) Balanced version - mixed all vegetables with the minced pork. This patty is softer and more suitable for young toddler with milk teeth.

C) Not a meaty person? Refer to my previous posting on Vegetarian Patty Sandwich instead.


Useful Tips!
  • I always use a dash of Xiu Heng wine when working with pork or chicken as it brings out the taste in the meat.

  • I reserve one extra patty to include into my little boy's snack box, just poke it over a short stick and its a ready fast food. :)

  • Saturday, March 9, 2013

    Homemade Noodles, again 手工面条做法加食谱


    The handmade noodles I made 2 weeks ago had ran out, so I thought its time to make a new batch, but using a pasta maker this time as I would prefer the noodle to be thinner.

    It was a right decision, the noodles turned out way better this time.

    I made different flavors this time:
    Green noodles - Baby Kai Lan with egg
    Orange noodles - Carrots
    Yellow noodles - Pumpkin
    Purple noodles - Red cabbages



    This time, I let my little chef helped up since he was so interested with the pasta maker. In fact, he self invited himself when he saw me working on the dough. Pulled out the apron and washed the hands, then told me he's ready to help. He has certainly made significant progress! It requires quite some strength to turn the handle but he did a pretty good job.

    Sunday, March 3, 2013

    Organic Alphabet Pasta with Goji Berries


    Today's meal for Baby Claire - Organic alphabet pasta with celery, carrots, onions and goji berries cooked in anchovies soup.



    Goji berries, 枸杞, also known as wolfberries, are high in antioxidant and is believe to be good for eye sights and brain development. I soaked them in water for about 5 minutes before cooking, just in case there is any coloring used in the making of the dried goji berries, this shall wash any residues away (I know some may think its totally unnecessary but I rather be safe than sorry...)



    The berries have a soft texture after cooking and tasted tangy and sweet, so no resistant faced although this was the first time I introduced this to my 15 months old.


    The preparation is simple, takes only about 20 minutes including all the washing and chopping.

    Ingredients:
    2 palmful of organic alphabet pasta
    10 goji berries
    1 stalk celery
    1/4 medium carrots
    1/2 medium onions
    1 tea spoon of homemade anchovies powder

    Serving size: 2 feeding

    1. Soak the goji berries in warm water for 5 minutes, set a side.

    2. Cut the remaining vegetables into small cubes.

    3. Cook the berries and vegetables in a pot of boiled water for 10 minutes. First 3 minutes of high heat and change to medium heat subsequently. Add a teaspoon of homemade anchovies powder and mix well.

    4. Add 2 palmful of organic alphabet pasta, cook according to the time indicated on the packet (I cooked mine for 10 minutes).

    Just that simple. Baby Claire loves her pasta and ate up most by herself. Now that she has good eye hands coordination, I started training her to self feed and she is making good progress thus far. Just need to make sure I have many bibs to standby and a wet hanky on stand by :) Needless to mention, I have to supervise her closely to avoid the possibility of chocking.


    Note:
    Personally I will not give the goji berries to my kiddos on regular basis, as it is a type of herbs so it is always safer to give in moderation to avoid long term side effect.

    Saturday, March 2, 2013

    Cheesy Raspberries Toast 覆盆子奶酪烤土司


    This is a really quick snack that is perfect for a lazy afternoon. I had been busy the whole morning, woke up early before everyone else, after caring for the duo I had been running between doctor visit (such a long wait!), car workshop and a brief meet up with my brother. By the time we reached home I was feeling really exhausted that all I wanted to do was to lie flat and sleep like a log. Unfortunately being a mom of 2 one just may not have full control of her time...

    As my little boy usually has his snack in the afternoon, I knew his tummy will be rumbling if I don't gather myself up to prepare something for him. So I made this simple yet not less in nutrition snack for him.



    These cheesy raspberry toasts, with cute little animal food picks that I bought from the Daiso chain store, were much liked by him.

    This is so easy to prepare that no recipe is required. Just follow the pictures and you'll know how :)












    We had our toasts served with coffee and warm milk for our little handsome, simple but satisfying snack that keep us kicking and happy :)


    Tips:

  • I invited my little boy to join me "to prepare something yummy" and he gladly accepted my invitation despite he was playing his PS3 games. Preparing food together is a good bonding time and little ones get to learn something useful and feel proud for being able to help. So, do consider to train your little man / little princes be your helper.



  • Trim the edges of the bread so the toast is softer to chew. I let my little boy used the plastic dough cutter to trim the edges so there's no fear of him cutting his own fingers. The trimmed edges were fed to the fish so nothing is wasted :)




  • I used almond nibs and dried raspberries for the filling, you can substitute with other dried fruits of your choice


  • You may noticed I used a rubber mat for the base. I bough it from IKEA for working with dough and fondant, but found that its really useful for sandwich cutting too. All the crumbs just fall within the big mat, no mess on the table top as I just have to fold up the mat and bring to basin for cleaning. Who likes a messy desktop after all? ;)
  • Thursday, February 28, 2013

    Happy Meals 开心营养餐


    I love happy meals that are healthy and pretty to the eyes. They are the weekend treats I made for my Captain E & Princess C, I thought it's an healthier option than bringing them to the McD happy meals. Homemade happy meals are fun to make (especially when little ones participate in the making) and needless to say, way healthier as I can be assured there is no junk used.


    Here are different series of happy meals that I have made in the past few months. Click on the title to link to the respective post. Hope you get some inspirations from here & do visit this page often for latest updates! :)

    Real Happy Meals: The Original

    Happy Meals for Happy Tots

    Real Happy Meals: Little Animals See the World

    Happy Food Face Series





    Saturday, February 16, 2013

    Colorful Handmade Flat Noodles 手工蔬菜面条


    Baby Claire is starting to get more adventurous with her food nowadays that she always want to eat our food when dining on the same table. As she has 8 teeth now and I can see another 2 more teeth coming out (and how she loves to chew my finger, ouch!), I have been introducing her to more staple food, like bread, Pao, noodles, pasta, cheese crackers, cereal etc, with principle of no or less salt, no sugar, no MSG, no artificial flavoring and no processed food where possible.

    When I saw one lady posted a picture of the homemade noodles she made for her daughter on a Facebook group, I was instantly captivated and thought I can make the same for my baby too! Since there is no detail on measurements given, I decided to give it a try by making my own homemade noodles.

    Look what I've made here.


    Beautiful mixture of spinach noodles (dark green), pumpkin noodles (yellow), tomato noodles (pink) and red cabbage noodles (purple).

    My duo absolutely loved their 4-colors noodles in anchovies soup.

    Little Ethan had his with shredded cheese. He was so fascinated by the colors that he kept asking me what veggie I used. He went grocery shopping with me and I used this chance to teach him the various type of vegetables.



    Baby Claire had hers cut into small bits. she was so fond of her noodles that she kept asking for more, so eventually I top up some from her (which was supposed to be my portion!)


    Ready to make some yummy homemade noodles for your little ones? Lets read on.

    Saturday, February 2, 2013

    Chinese New Year Cookies Special

    Since CNY is only a week away, I decided to bake some cookies to treat the guests who come to visit. As I have ordered some store made cookies I intend to bake a small volume this time. Using the easy butter cookies recipe, I managed to bake 3 different types of cookies with same dough base. Easy method for busy moms who love to bake :)

    Cookies in A Jar. I made 1.5 jars of these using the same recipe.


    The first tray of cookies waiting to enter the oven.


    Chocolate Chip Cookies
    I added 2 table spoons of cocoa powder into 1/2 of the dough and sprinkled a palmful of chocolate chips into the dough before mixing it well, freeze then cut.


    Friday, February 1, 2013

    Treasure Island Dinner


    Tonight I'm only cooking for 3, so nothing elaborate, just a really simple 1 dish dinner.

    In order to make it interesting, I made some arrangement to the presentation and named it Treasure Island. My little boy was so into it that he declared he's going to eat up all the treasure. And he surely did. :)

    He said it was "doubly nice", and gave me a thumb up. Lol.

    Honestly, it's just normal rice with stir fried vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbage) and punter fish, with some scrambled eggs, but the presentation certainly gave it some extra points. ;)

    How to prepare? You may refer to the previous post on the Rainbow Rice recipe.




    Before.


    After. A bowlful of goodness.


    Mommy had a delicious treasure island too :)



    Happy dining!