Irresistible fried food, not necessarily is bad for you (Philips)

I loved watching I Dream of Jeannie when I was a kid and would play make belief that I had her powers.

I was amazed watching her clean up her house and set the table with a gourmet meal fit for kings, in a blink of an eye.

A mother of 3 energetic children, would truly benefit from a genie. Imagine waking up every day to a clean house and buffet breakfast. What more could one wish for?

Reality bites

But my life is far from the scenario above and involves a lot laborious hours (labour of love). All that I can achieve in a blink of an eye, is some shut eye. My house may not be spic and span and the food served is most certainly limited in variety, but we make do with whatever it is that I can manage.

Food served may be simple and sometimes just consist of a dish or two, but I try my best to ensure it's nutritious and packed with wholesome goodness. I am always searching for kids' approved, easy to prepare and healthy meals. The choices weren't many because my kids are very hard to please and they tend to stick to the tried and tested food. Unfortunately for me, this meant they liked everything fried while I hate frying because it's  messy and dangerous too-chances of getting hot oil splatters on my hands and face.

Furthermore, fried food (like the infamous french fries) is widely regarded as among the most notorious of nutritional villains. But, does that mean you must shun away from it? I don't, because I have found a good way to enjoy these fried food.

Behold, the Philips Viva Collection Airfryer that can fry, bake, grill, reheat and roast. My solution to serving food that is crispy on the outside and tender inside.

Now I can fry so many types of food with minimal mess and oil. Which, is not only good for my family but the river too. Deep frying, apart from being 'dangerous' for me was also wasteful because I don't like to reuse oil which was used to fry my food and discarding the used oil was always a big issue (flushing it down your sink hole or drains is not recommended).

I received this demo Airfryer from Philip in a bid to change my opinions on fried food (which it has) and how it could help me prepare easy, fuss-free, mess-free and quick food. What intrigued me the most was its promise to cook food with very little oil/fat. Some recipes featured in their recipe booklet, asked for as little as 1 tablespoon of oil! This is made possible thanks to its Patented Rapid Air technology which combines hot air with grill component to 'fry' food. Using less oil also means that the Airfryer offers a healthier alternative to deep frying, up to 80% less fat to cook food. 

Crash test dummy-my journey to airfried food

Like a mad scientist I began doing my research, googling everything there is to know about this little gadget that was sitting boxed up in my living room.

I wanted to make full use of this opportunity presented to me and cook as many dishes as possible before it was boxed up and sent back to Philips.

With a toddler in the house, it's hard to predict how the day will fan out, so I always cooked whenever she was napping. This meant cooking very early in the morning and always reheating the food before serving it (fried food losses its crispness when reheated). But with the Airfryer, I am able to serve freshly fried food to my family in matter of minutes.

The food result may be similar to baking in an oven but with less energy consumption, quick and lesser utensils to wash afterwards.

With the Airfryer, I would do all the necessary prepping while she naps, store it into the fridge and chuck it into the Airfryer just minutes before it's serving time. It's so pleasing to watch my kids enjoy hot cooked homemade meal after school. Cleaning up is also breezier because lesser oil used means, lesser scrubbing required to remove grease of my tableware. Even cleaning the Airfryer is fairly easy as it has only two components which needs to be washed each time - the basket and the pan.

I will be sharing 3 recipes (one each issue). All these recipes will have one thing in common, they were made with a toddler in mind and I will be using the Airfryer to cook these.

Today's recipe: Fried Garoupa (fish)

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes 

The ingredients:

2 Fillet, de-boned (using a tweezer) and cut into squares

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

The method

Preheat the Airfryer to 185'c (which takes about 5 mins)

Rub oil and salt on the fish

Once preheated, carefully place a baking sheet on the airfryer's basket and fill it up with the fish. Cook for about 20-25 minutes. You know the fish is ready when it flakes easily.

This is the best feature, i.e the Airfryer quietly does its work without any supervision and announces with a "DING!" once your food is ready. Which gives me the opportunity to spend some quality time with my baby while the food is cooking, at the same time!

Serving suggestion:

For my toddler

I served the fish with some steamed broccoli and garlic infused butter.

To make the butter you'll need:

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 clove garlic, minced

Heat the garlic for 15 seconds and mash it with a spoon. Add butter and heat for another 10 seconds in the microwave. Drizzle this butter onto the fish and steamed broccoli, and serve immediately.

For the whole family

I turned the rest of the fish into spicy sambal curry fish to be served with hot roti (chapatti) for dinner. Since the fish was already fried, this dish took just minutes to prepare and if your airfryer comes with the additional cake pan, you could cook it in the airfryer itself. That is a real time saver.

What is Airfryer

Key Features

• Patented Rapid Air Technology - combines hot air with grill component to 'fry' food
• In-built time - lets you set cooking times of up to 30 mins
• Adjustable temperature control - cooks food at steady rate up to 200'C
• Food separator accessory - lets you cook multiple food items at th same time without mixing the flovours
• Integrated air filter - reduces vapours and odours

Specifications

• 30 minutes timer with auto shut-off
• Product dimension (W x H x D) 287 x 315 x 384 mm
• Capacity 800gm
• Weight appliance 7kg
• Cord length 0.8 m
• Voltage 230v
• Ready signal and temperature light
• Cool-touch handgrips

Retail Price

• RM1,190

Other wonders this little gadget can do

Grilled Salmon

The basket could only hold two medium sized salmon and takes about 15-20 minutes to grill these at 180'C (preheated). Overlapping salmon is not recommended as you won't get the crispness and will end up with unevenly cooked salmon. Trust me, I've tried.

Life Simplified note: Thanks to Philip's Airfryer, I am able to serve freshly fried food every time with a little advance planning and prepping. Life is so much simplified with these wonderful small kitchen appliances.

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Disclosure: I was not paid in cash to write up this recipe but received an airfryer from Philips

How to beat my unnecessary snacking?

(updated from my previous post because I found my photographs which mysteriously appeared in my handphone back-up storage)

Motherhood does weird and wonderful things. I would have never thought of leading a group-buy for fruits but here I am doing it. Getting decent fruits at decent price was becoming tough and my kids were getting bored of apples, oranges, pineapples and bananas. Thanks to a group of mamas who have been doing this sort of group-buy, I managed to convince them to rope me in and show me the magic.

Each time I have a group-buy, a sweet natural and fresh scent envelopes my whole kitchen. I wished this scent would stay forever because it's very uplifting and invigorating.

"It smells like a fruit store!" my daughter said as she walked into the kitchen.

As I was busy sorting these many boxes of fruits, my youngest child grabbed herself a bag and began picking some fruits and putting them into the bag. While at it, she picked up a couple of avocados and bit into its hard skin. I think it must have been bitter because she went "Yuk!" and threw down the bag filled with avocados. Hopefully it didn't put her off avocado because I planned to repeat my no-cook, cold avocado cream soup.

 Image: Avocado Soup

It's amazing how much a humble fruit like avocado can do. I made avocado and tomato salad which was easy, quick and tasty. Had my morning toast with strawberry, avocado and balsamic vinegar topping (a friend's recipe) and although it looked good but I wasn't ready for the explosive taste in my mouth.

There were also some red dragon fruit and mangoes which I used to make my no-recipe pink juice. My kids call it Pink Panther. I used equal amounts of dragon fruit and mango to make this smoothie with a splash of lemon juice and some mint leaves which you could crush or just leave them whole. I like to leave them whole in my tall glass because of the refreshing taste it leaves in your mouth when you bite into it.

Strawberries are my favourite. I was never fond of them not until recently when I discovered they taste awesome in my overnight oats or served with chilled yogurt. Usually I have it with some plump and juicy cherries but since these were out of season, strawberries alone did the job.

With a fridge well stocked with fresh fruits, I decided to spice up my morning ice blended my mixing equal amounts of avocado, banana and strawberry. The result was not as sweet as my usual fruit blend (banana + milk) but palatable.

I tried juicing grapes but it was too thick and the flavor was not to my liking. It was left in my fridge (forgotten) for a couple days and when I found it, it tasted terrible. Let's just say it was like wine gone bad and never intended to make wine in the first place.

I am glad I had a chance to do this because these fruits are far better than what I usually snack on.

It's a horrible ritual I have picked up and no matter how full I would be after dinner, I must open my cupboards and refrigerator and peek inside, searching for some late night snacks.

I hope I can maintain this (buying fresh fruits, not late night snacking) for months to come.

What's your snack and how do you beat the craving for it?

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Linking up with Greta

The power of words

Stick and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

I used to sing this nursery rhyme each time my children returned from school angry and sad because some kid in school had taunted them with name-calling.

No matter what I said or how I tried to persuade them to ignore these name-calling taunts, it never quite worked.

Despite their best efforts to put on a smile (maybe because they wanted me to stop singing and persuading), they couldn't really mask their anger. Instead, a sense of sinister aura was prevalent.

Usually they would linger on the sofa with their school uniforms' still on while I would be rushing them to shower and get ready for lunch. But not on these days because they would be eager to be out of my sight and confine themselves in the solitary of their room, where they can plot on getting even with the kids who caused them shame. On any other given day I would have relished such peace and taken advantage of it with a long and overdue uninterrupted nap but NO! My bloody mummy genes wants me to stick around in case they needed me.

It took me a while to realize that I don't follow what I preach. In all honesty, at times (more often than not) I get so worked up when I find myself in the similar situation as my children. Name-calling may not affect me but there are many other instances that do. So, who am I kidding?

I, the so called adult who is supposed to be more rational and matured as explained in Child vs. Adult, can get affected with words hurled at me, so how can I then expect my young children NOT to be affected?

It's about time I ditched this phrase and start realizing that words can truly hurt, even the younger ones, ESPECIALLY the younger ones. This phrase should be changed to; Stick and stones may break my bones but words will break my spirit.

Words, once hurled cannot be retracted

A couple of months back, I realised my eldest child who used to come to me for almost everything had suddenly stopped. Instead, she started asking for her father and became rather quiet around me. If any conversation was struck between us, it always turned into a battle of wits with sarcastic answers or responds from her which felt like nails going across a chalk board. It made me so mad that I wanted to bury my head in a tub of water and scream.

When I confided to my husband, he told me that I had been very harsh and hard on them. I was always very quick to judge and blame. That I would have blurted a mouthful of regrettable words even before assessing what had actually happened. I knew then, I had to change and be more careful with my words. I hoped that she would change too because this was not how I envisioned my relationship to be with my daughters.

It's never too late for a change.

I began paying more attention to the way I spoke. I even stopped being rigid and difficult. I told myself that it was OK if the house was untidy or for them to snack (sometimes) in front of the TV. They would still be responsible to clean up but I wouldn't blow my top off if some crumbs were still visible.

It was also fine if they wanted to get wet while watering the plants and leave a trail of muddy footprints all the way to the bathroom.

It sounds very trivial but if you are obsessed with always wanting a clean and tidy house, it can spell mayhem because my mood gets affected with the way the house is.

An untidy house means clustered thoughts and this leads to me forgetting my new mission - to stop shouting, not be harsh and be more careful with my words.

So every night, I would get the kids to help me put things where they belong and voila! This has helped tremendously. Waking up to a neat home gives me a good feeling. I function better too because there is no nagging voice at the back my head rushing me to clean up the mess (I don't function well when I get stressed and all worked up).

This new routine is a keeper because my kids have started showing a lot of initiation. They would pick up toys and put them in the right place. I used to find the dirty clothes everywhere BUT in the laundry basket. But now they would in the basket and towel hung on the rack to dry. 

It's a new beginning

Luckily for me, my change was accepted and now we are able to talk without arguing. Things are almost back to normal and she (my eldest) has started doing things and behaving the way she used too. She would put her head on my lap or cuddle up with me while watching TV. She has even started flashing her brilliant smile when she spots me standing at the school gate.

Communication has improved and it's wonderful to have my daughters back. We joke a little more and laugh a little louder.

It almost feels like falling in love, all over again.

Every year, friends and loved ones make new year's resolution but I stopped long ago because I could never stick by it.

Was it be because the resolutions I made were mostly crappy and unimportant? Perhaps.

However, this year (2014) I am making one. I am doing so because it is important and the future of my children somehow depends on it. I know I will have the will power to stick by it because I have already been doing it.

What about you? Have you made any resolutions yet?

Happy New Year

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Linking up with Greta

 

Is it a bag or a seat?

Holiday season in my house usually means many short trips visiting family members and a chance for cousins to reconnect.
Most of my siblings live close by but we hardly get a chance to meet up because of the hectic city lifestyle and not forgetting the crawling jams too.
So school holiday seasons are always eagerly anticipated with good fun and lots of sleep overs. It is the time when my kids metamorph.
During school holidays almost everything freezes and becomes laid back. Even the treacherous traffic jam does not bother us as much because there is no clock to beat.

We (my brothers and sister) would take turns chaperoning each other's children. It can get a little overwhelming (imagine 4 to 6 young children aged 5 - 14 years old, under one roof) but well worth it, watching these younglings mingling and building a stronger relationship. Even I benefit by getting some some quiet time with my husband and going for a long overdue, late night movie when the kids are away.

My kids are young and require booster seat to ride in a car. In the past they had to carry along their booster seat and a backpack each time they had a sleepover. But thanks to Trunki's Boostapak, my daughter can now pack her clothes and a little more into the Boostapak itself. No need for extra backpack and no more excuses of not strapping up in the car. She managed to fit clothes to last 2 days trip, toiletries and even a toy.

There is still plenty of room left to fit more stuff

It's also very useful for carpooling too. When traveling in a different vehicle for her tennis lesson, she would pack a small towel, water tumbler and a story book. On days when Boostapak is in my car (for long period of time), I would like to fill it up with some spare diapers, wet towels, hand towel and spare change for my children. This comes in handy when we have to drive to a park and the kids get covered in sand or mud while playing at the playground (it's rainy season, so expect a lot of wet slides and swings) because we've got them covered thanks to the emergency pack which I had so cleverly stashed in her Boostapak seat.

Boostapak stands out from the rest of the booster seats in the market because of it's two-in-one function (a booster seat and a backpack), high visibility reflective trim (so your child carrying it can be seen in the dark) and ID tag (to make sure the seat never gets lost).

This seat would be very useful when travelling abroad to Australia (and other countries) where children below the age of 12 years are required by law to travel in a proper booster seat. You would not have to worry about renting a car seat and face the hassle of returning it.

I have yet to fly with Boostapak so I cannot ascertain whether I can hand carry it into the aircraft cabin but it's stated that it is 'hand luggage approved for flying'. The seat dimension is 40 x 36 x18 cm which seems reasonable enough to fit into the cabin but with so many air travel rule, it's best I fly with it before vouching for it.

Boostapak is recommended for age 4-12 years (12-36 kg) but for my almost 9 year old tall girl,  it's already a tight fit. Which is good because I know she is snug and secured but whether she would be able to use it till she is 12, remains a mystery.

A snug and secured fit

Boostapak comes in two colours, green and pink. It is retailed at RM299.

I received this green BoostApak from Bloom andGrow for review purpose.

No monetary compensation was given and all opinions are my own.

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Babywearing comforts

On October 17, 2013, Moira and myself met up with a reporter from The Star who wanted to run a story on babywearing (just a couple of days after International Babywearing Week- celebrated worldwide by babywearing enthusiast) . I seized this opportunity to spread babywearing and it's benefits.

The story was printed on 1st November 2013.

Here is a link (online version) to the interview which is featured in the local daily, The Star Babywearing comforts.

Photographed by The Star during the interview

Our almost 2 hours long interview was very informative and apart from babywearing, we also discussed some very interesting issues on how human body changes (bone structure) and can be conditioned by what we wear or how we treat it.

We have been bestowed with a very special and unique body because it has the ability to adapt itself to our surrounding. Having said that, it is very important that we let nature take its course and allow our precious newborn's growth, be as natural as possible.

From Moira's studies (chiropractic), the incidence of hip dysplasia in certain regions/countries where the natives practise carrying or wearing their baby in the same position as when baby was in the womb is close to zero (she cited Africa).

C shaped spine and legs apart

Picture taken from IHDI

Whereas Native American babies that are bundled up on a flat panel (Papoose) have higher number of Developmental Dysplasia of the hip (DDH) because in the Papoose, baby's legs are straightened into a nonphysiological position which may cause the baby to arch her back. (There are a lot more reasons to how one gets DDH, please read up on it)

Picture taken from IHDI 

Types of carriers and their suitability was also discussed and how a certain carrier may suit one wearer but not you. Just because a certain type didn't suit a particular person doesn't mean it should be written off as bad carrier. Pay attention to the details and if in doubt, always refer to a babywearing consultant, educator or advocator who has been equipped with proper knowledge. You are still the best judge in deciding the suitability of a carrier. Always trust your instincts, it is very powerful.

Although, it took a lot of trouble for me to show up for the interview (it's hard to juggle time during school days, especially during exam week!), I am glad I went for it. Apart from sharing, I too learned a fair bit from it.

Happy safe babywearing to those who are practising and happy trying to those who are thinking of babywearing.
I am just an email away, if you have any questions on babywearing.

Lets get connected:

Now you can follow me by email (fill email address here) to get new post notifications delivered directly into your mailbox or you could follow my Facebook page Life Simplified to get more recipes and tips in making life a little more laid back or we can connect via twitter.

I will leave you with some additional information on babywearing:

A very good read on benefits of babywearing and how each type of carrier has it's pros and cons by
Justmommies 

Pictures paint a thousand words (check out these pictures which will tell you how to wear your baby correctly and how not to be a victim to DDH, at a glance).
Pictures are not my own and were taken from International Hip Dysplasia Institute(IHDI)

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