Cooking For Joel: An Update

Little boy's IgE had shot up to 500+. Mr. Immunologist said that he felt very strongly that parasites could be the cause.

Thus, little boy was placed on a 3-day anti-parasites medication.

One month after that course of medication, little boy went for a blood test again.

His IgE had dropped to 100+!

He WAS infested with worms. Eeeeeewwwww!

Obviously he got that from school. Everyone in the house took the anti-parasites medication too.

As of now, we are still very careful with his diet. But he seems to be back to normal. (*keeping fingers crossed!)

But the guys have been following my diet.

I'll blog on that later.

Cooking For Joel: The Perfect Milk

Ingredients:

1. 3 tablespoons of brown rice
2. 1/2 tablespoon of quinoa
3. 1.4 litres of water
4. *Optional: Brown sugar

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1. Wash the rice and quinoa and soak it for an hour in the fridge.

2. Pour the water away and give it a rinse.

3. I used my Philips soya maker for the next step. If you do not own one, you can blend the mixture with the water and then strain the liquid out. You can also blend the mixture, boil it and then strain it. Or you can boil the rice with water until everything becomes mashy and then strain the liquid out.

4. The soya maker pulverized the rice and boiled it for approximately 25 minutes.

5. I did not sieve the milk out this time. We drank everything. It was as good.

Bon appétit!

Cooking For Joel: Polenta Banana Muffins!

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups of gluten-free flour (you can buy this or make your very own gluten-free combo)
2. 1 cup of polenta
3. 1/2 cup of white rice flour
4. 4 medium sized bananas (mashed)
5. 2 teaspoons of baking powder
6. 1 teaspoon of baking soda
7. 1/4 teaspoon of salt
8. 1/2 cup of sunflower oil
9. 1 teaspoon of soft brown sugar
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1. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

2. In another mixing bowl, pour the sunflower oil and sugar. Stir them together for a few minutes.

3. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix thoroughly.

4. Add the mashed bananas and mix until well combined.

5. Preheat oven at 180C.

6. Line muffin trays with baking muffin paper cups.

7. Fill the paper cups with the mixture.

8. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

9. Allow to cool.

10. You can keep them in the freezer if you're unable to consume everything.

Bon appétit!

Cooking For Joel: Rice & Millet Milk

I went out the other day to get some 'wheat-free' flour a.k.a 'gluten-free' flour and decided to look at the rice milk that was sold. 1L of organic rice milk was selling for RM15.90! It was like buying gold. I did take a look at the ingredients and rice was only 15%! The bulk of the drink was water. The rest was sugar, and some added vitamins and non-coagulant ingredient which I can't remember what it's called.

This is my second version of home-made rice milk. Even I drank it. And it worked very well for the stomach. It soothed it.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of white organic fragrant rice
2. 1/4 cup of organic millet
3. Brown sugar

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1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Pour 1 cup of rice and millet onto baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. (This makes the milk to be more fragrant).

3. Once it is done, allow to cool.

4. Wash the rice/millet and soak it overnight in the fridge.

5. Pour the water away and give it a rinse.

6. I used my Philips soya maker for the next step. If you do not own one, you can blend the mixture with the water and then strain the liquid out. You can also blend the mixture, boil it and then strain it. Or you can boil the rice with water until everything becomes mashy and then strain the liquid out.

7. The soya maker pulverized the rice/millet and boiled it for approximately 25 minutes.

8. Once it was done, the milk was sieved.

9. I added some brown sugar to the drink.

I found that the white rice milk becomes even thicker than the brown rice once it cools down. It became one big blob of goo. I poured water into a mug, added the milk and stirred it whenever we wanted to have a drink. I kept the remainder in the fridge in an airtight container. I am experimenting with all sorts of wheat-free (gluten free) food now. But I won't be making white rice milk anymore. Brown rice tastes better and it's healthier too.

Bon appétit!

Cooking For Joel: Brown Rice Milk

Since Joel is unable to take soy, cow's milk or even almond, that leaves him with very little choice where milk is concerned. He needs a drink before he sleeps. I dare not try oats as it is very frequently cross contaminated with wheat. So rice milk is the safest.

As this is my first time in making rice milk, I scoured the internet with the intensity of looking for a lost kin. There were many recipes and methods. I combined a few of them. So here's my own way of making Brown Rice Milk.

1. 1 cup of brown rice
2. 1 litre water
3. Brown sugar

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1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Pour 1 cup of rice onto baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. (This makes the milk to be more fragrant).

3. Once it is done, allow to cool.

4. Wash the rice and soak it overnight in the fridge.

5. Pour the water away and give it a rinse.

6. I used my Philips soya maker for the next step. If you do not own one, you can blend the mixture with the water and then strain the liquid out. You can also blend the mixture, boil it and then strain it. Or you can boil the rice with water until everything becomes mashy and then strain the liquid out.

7. The soya maker pulverized the rice and boiled it for approximately 25 minutes.

8. Once it was done, the milk was sieved.

9. I added some brown sugar to the drink.

Honestly, it tastes very bland. But we will get used to it. It also thickens when it cools down. If it gets too thick, you can add water to it. I kept the remainder in the fridge in an airtight container.

Bon appétit!