Doing what I can to improve my chances of making LIQUID GOLD (aka Breast Milk) Ever since I found out I was expecting, I started reading a lot of pregnancy books. "What to Expect when You're Expecting", "Baby Wise" etc. And all of them are in the consensus that feeding your little one breast milk is one of the best parenting decisions you can ever make. Breast Milk is a good way to bond with your newborn and to boost his or her immune system. It is no wonder the lactation market has seen a resurgence by offering things like "hospital grade" breast pumps, nipple creams (yes apparently I will need it!), nursing bras and most especially LACTATION AIDS. All of these are in support of the mantra "BreastMilk is best for babies" -- anything that can boost and help you with milk supply is offered. Unfortunately I live in the province where these things arent mainstream yet. I have had to rely on online stores to get the things that I need. (Thank you Internet!) Or on my own resourcefulness. Thus, I decided to make my own lactation cookies. I found this recipe on pinterest-- and as most lactation recipes-- its a simple equation: regular recipe + galactagogues = lactation aids. So what does galactagogues mean? (Deep Word!!) The milk promoting ingredients that most mommas recomment is Malunggay or Moringa. Unfortunately due to a blood condition I cant take iron-rich foods/supplements. So I had to look for alternatives. Luckily I found them : brewer's yeast and flaxseed powder. Again, they arent available locally where I am from but my sister was able to find them in HEALTHY OPTIONS. She bought a couple and sent them over by local courrier. Initially I was skeptical because upon opening the packaging of Brewer's Yeast I didnt like the smell and felt quite nauseated. But I followed through and the cookies turned out quite well! Hubby consumed 4 in one night! Dont worry I dont think eh will be producing any milk soon. (But that would make things immensely easier for us if we could both produce milk to feed the little one dont you think?) I've posted the recipe below in hopes that it helps other lactating moms (or moms-to-be) like myself. Enjoy! This recipe produced 38 cookies for me because I used a small cookie scooper. Even if you use just regular spoons I think it will net at least 2dozen pieced. Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 1 3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 4 tbsp Brewer's Yeast (increase if you want, I actually used 5 tbsp) 3 tbsp flax seed powder (again, increase if you want. ) 2 cups choco chips
Enjoy!! :)
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The one thing I've been craving lately is Carbonara-- I have no idea why-- so decided to make something like it at home with very little ingredients. Luckily, I found this old recipe online and on a last minute whim whipped myself up some Garlic Creme Spaghetti.
I posted previously about joining the Mille-Crepe bandwagon and trying out a recipe on my own. And the photo above is proof that IT IS POSSIBLE to recreate online video recipes with some success! To start off, I'd like to confess that I didnt use mascarpone cheese because it isnt available here. So as a substitute I used a mix of cream cheese, milk and sour cream. My mistake was not evenly mixing the three so I ended up with some cream cheese lumps in the filling. With patience perhaps, I'd have beaten those lumps out. You also need a good non-stick pan. Making crepes on a stainless cooking pan will be horrible. Do yourself a favor and get a non-stick pan. I was able purchase one for Php 700 (about USD15) in the local department store. If you may notice this recipe isnt a "baking" recipe at all. The hard part is preparing the necessary items for the "assembly process". So most of your time will be in making the cream and the crepes. But it is extremely satisfying when you are actually making the mille cake by overlapping crepe-cream-crepe-cream-crepe and so on. The cake is very simple but the finished product looks as if it's a lot of work -- BUT IT ISNT-- so don't be intimidated. Another tip is to make the crepes thin. As you can see in my photos my crepes werent that thin at all, learning curve. The next time i make this I'll just use the 1/4c as my measuring tool to scoop the batter into the pan. The first time around I used the 1/3cup. Also make sure that the pan isnt too hot so you can swirl the batter around more efficiently. Keep the fire on low. And when it does get too hot have a wet towel on hand where you can lay the pan for a few seconds to cool. But most of all have fun! This recipe is easy and simple but has got WOW factor. So if you do make it I'm sure you'd impress a lot of people in the process. The internet and the food industry has gone crazy over these decadent mille cakes! You see people filling up their food-porn feeds with photos of these layered cakes that are essentially crepes sandwiching a cream filling. So, I have decided to make one too! Where I live, these mille cakes are hard to find so necessity is the mother of invention in this case. If you cant buy it, MAKE IT! Luckily, facebook has also been posting a crazy amount of how-to food videos and I stumbled across one by Tasty teaching people how to make a TIRAMISU MILLE CAKE. Isn't that just gorgeous?? I was just drooling watching the video and it looks quite simple. The only thing that will take a lot of your time is the preparation and after that assembly is a breeze!
So this is my baking challenge this week. I dont even know if I should call it that considering this doesnt need any baking. I'll post photos soon of the finished product. hahaha Last week I turned a year older, and decided to spend it in Manila for a change. Weeks in advanced we had most of it planned out, we were going to see friends we havent seen in a while, celebrate with family and of course go on a date night. We havent been to the capital in a while because of work and extra curricular here in Legazpi. Additionally people have been telling us that the heat in the city has been unbearable due to El Nino experienced all over the country. (We've been lucky here in Legazpi that there are occasional showers, plus being by the sea cools down the concrete jungle a few degrees.) Which is why we havent been to Manila since February. But 2 months away makes you miss the lights, the food and the glamour that you cant quite find in provincial living. Arrival in Manila was delayed due to air traffic congestion in NAIA. What's new right? But that didnt wane the excitement. We were finally in the capital and excited to get the festivities started! First stop was an overnight stay in Batangas with Hubby's childhood friends-- some of which were here on vacation from Australia. This meant good company and good food! REALLY GOOD FOOD. We left the traffic behind and it only took us 3 hours drive time to reach Batangas -- with a food stop in Sta. Rosa of course. Upon arrival, we unloaded the cars and headed straight for the beach! Additionally, got a surprise for dinner when they brought out the most delicious moist chocolate cake for me to blow!! The kiddies had to participate of course. :) Too bad we could only stay one night, but we needed to head back right a way to catch the 8PM showing of Les Miserables. I have been really excited to watch this musical for a very long time because of song favorites like ON MY OWN which I've practically memorized. Also, Les Mis holds a special place in my heart ever since I played Marius Pontmercy in a Grade 6 reproduction. The predominantly Australian cast brought the story to life and left me at the edge of my seat! Rachelle Ann Go (a Filipina) was extraordinary as Fantine!! If you havent yet, please do catch the production in Solaire-- I think they even extended the run because of public clamor. You cant forget family when talking about Birthdays. Being married has only doubled the people I call family, which also means double the food, partying and cake eating! During the actual day, April 17, I rose up early to attend Sunday mass and was even lucky to be able to have confession and a special blessing from the priest. After which we headed directly to Lola's house for lunch with the hubby's side of the family. We didnt go there empty handed-- I brought one container of my family's special Bacalao Recipe using fish that Hubby salted himself. It was quite a hit with people going not just for one serving but for 2 sometimes 3 servings!! I had to call my lolo, from whom I got the recipe, to tell him the good news-- everyone LOVED it! Dinner was spent with my family-- which also meant more eating!! We trooped on over to D'Marks a local Itallian restaurant which we grew up on. As kids, it was a special occasion if we could eat in D'Marks, we would have pasta, pizza and their chicken croquettas! The menu wasnt any different this time around: we had 2 pizzas, 3 pastas and 2 orders of the chicken croquettas. Quite a lot to feed 8 hungry tummies. hihi Cake was super delicious too, the cake blowing was shared between us April celebrants namely my bro, his girlfriend and me. hahaha Before heading back, my last "party" was a reunion with college friends: Lunch with Jocel and Dinner with Mgt Eco blockmates. We had a lot of catching up to do because two of my friends are newly engaged, one is in a new relationship, etc. Haha Too bad I didnt get to take photos of my lunch date so you'll just have to make do with the dinner photos. For dinner our cravings lead us to CYMA for good Med food where we ordered Hummus, seafood platter and their humongous MEAT PLATTER. These catch ups must be repeated soon. hahaha So yes, turning a year older is awesome. Being blessed with a great family and good friends is all a girl could ask for really. :)
Thank you to all those who greeted me, made me feel really really special! :) |
Who is sab_adventures?I have always wanted to write. This will now be a creative outlet-- home to all my arts and crafts. So feel free to browse around my everyday adventures. Interests
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November 2016
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