Lactation cookies recipe

Heyya readers! How's it going? My days aren't so bad, in fact every day is a fun day.. be it with my kids or my fellow housewives here..

When I got Fahim, I really wished that I could breastfeed him fully, as long as I want. Alhamdulillah until now he is on breast milk like 95% of the time (100% from birth to 10 months). Right now he is showing keen interest in finger food. So yeah, I give him occasionally baby biscuits and fruits that he doesn't really have to chew.

Okay, I wanna share something that I took for months when breastfeeding Fahim. This is a good kind of snack. Very healthy for the mom and the baby. It's called lactation cookies. This helped me a lot in getting enough milk for Fahim. I'm proud to say that I managed to donate my milk to 3 different babies too. Alhamdulillah this time around Allah made it easier for me.

Yeah, exactly we can always purchase. But 500 g of lactation cookies costs about RM50 RM60 in Kuala Lumpur, so it definitely burnt holes in my purse as I eat my cookies like munching peanuts, lol. I got this recipe after a lot of browsing and watching Youtube videos. I love this recipe as it is easy and crunchy for me :)

The main ingredients for lactation cookies are rolled oats, flaxseed meal and brewer’s yeast.. I bought the items online at:

www.littlegreenplanet.com.my

www.organic4u.com.my 

Group A 

• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons of butter (can substitute with low fat Vitalite margarine)
• 2.5 cups of brown sugar (the sweet toothed ones can add more if they like)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract 

Group B (mix all these ingredients together in a bowl)

• 2 cups of whole meal flour
• 4 tablespoons of flaxseed meal (increasing this will not affect the taste of the cookie)
• 3 tablespoons of brewer’s yeast
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of soda bicarbonate

Group C

• 3 cups of rolled oats, grounded
• Other GOOD ingredients of baker’s choice (pick any 2 or 3, or even better, all!)

a. 1 cup of Raisins

b. 1 cup of Almonds (Coarsely grounded)

c. 1 cup of Walnuts (dubbed as the brain food) (Coarsely grounded)

d. 1 cup of  Dates (chopped)

e. 1 cup of  Hazelnuts (Coarsely grounded)

• 2 cups of Chocolate chips (so far Hershey’s chocolate chips are the best)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven for 155 deg C (oven with fan) or 170 deg C (oven without fan)
2. Beat Group A together in a cake mixer, until all are mixed well 
3. Add in Group B bit by bit until the batter is even.
4. Pour in bit by bit the grounded rolled oats and your chosen good ingredients. Stir well with a large spoon.
5. Lastly, add in the chocolate chips. Mix well.
6. Scoop the mixture bit by bit onto the baking tray to form like a biscuit (size is up to you). 
7. Press the individual scoop with a fork to flatten it (if you like it to be flat)
8. Put the baking tray in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes (the smaller the cookie size the faster it will bake)

I so love these cookies.. only nowadays I don't really make them cuz I haven't found flaxseed meal and brewer's yeast here yet..

Do give it a try.. you won't be disappointed!

Happy baking, and happy breastfeeding!

Throwback: Mini holiday in Muscat

I guess 2014 can be aptly called the year of traveling for our little family. Fahim has broken Zara's record, in which he started to travel since he was 3 months old, compared to Zara who started at 6 months old. Fahim's first destination was London, definitely unbeatable for Zara whose first trip was to Miri.

I know this post is a little late, but I just like to share our recent trip to Muscat, Oman celebrating Eidul Adha.

The trip was for 4 days 3 nights. I have never been to Oman before. So I did some homework by of course googling and asking a friend of mine Wan Harizah who is currently residing in Muscat. We didn't know what to expect beyond the info that we got, but overall it was a good trip. Not the best though since the best human planner (read: my husband) wasn't the one who led the way (haha!) but yeah, it was enjoyable. Check out our journey.

 The journey to Muscat took us 12 long hours! About 4 hours of the time were spent at the immigration offices, and about 2 hours of lunching + praying + nature's call. Alhamdulillah the kids were alright (read: tak meragam!) and mama tak show tantrums. Lol :D

 Kudos to Mr. Hubs for the high stamina throughout the day. He couldn't really last the journey from Bangi to Muar (his grandma's house)  so 12 hours for him was a great achievement. Well, my record of longest driving was only 6 hours straight.

 

 Okay. So we were too tired to take a few shots on the night of our arrival in Muscat. Here's a glimpse of Muscat scenery from our room. The big building is the Opera House. Very beautiful indeed. But because the weather was still scorching hot at that time, we didn't stop to take photos around the area. But Muscat was beautiful and clean. No skyscraper to boast the uniqueness of the city. I love it. Not being a contributor to the signs of the End of Days is actually very cool. And the people were friendly.

 

Did I say we celebrated Eid here? Haha, so here we were, donning our 'ulang tayang' Eid attire. Picture taken at the lobby of Intercontinental Muscat. Very pricey during peak season. We paid AED1k per night hokeh!

 

The kids and I. The girl in black is my neighbor's daughter. Her name is Alya. Her family was on the trip as well.

 

 Went for a visit to a Malaysian friend who resides in Muscat. Seen in this picture are my travel companions and the 'tuan rumah', Kak Suria

We were on a long journey to see the Bimmah Sinkhole  (I forgot the name of the area) Just look at the view. Excited to see the clouds because clouds are like impossible to see in Dubai. Sigh. I was so dumbfounded by the view of the rocky mountains. It was just spectacular.

 This was the Bimmah Sinkhole. It was really really deep. Not just the water but the staircase leading to it also caused shivers to my spine. I am no fan of swimming though, but this creation by Mother Nature was definitely mind blowing. All praises to Allah.

Fahim and I. Although it was like unbearably hot, but Fahim was a champ. Bila tengok views like this, selalu terfikir how was it back then during Rasulullah SAW's time.. Must have been totally difficult for our Prophet to travel to convey his message.. just how big his Iman was.. incomparable at all.. SubhanAllah..

 

Zara enjoying herself in the hotel compounds.. As usual she always enjoyed her outings at hotels..

 Fahim got introduced to playing with sand.. haha. Bangun pagi terus kena angkut to the beach. Sand castle time! The beach behind Intercontinental Muscat is clean, not as many people as the other end of Qurm beach. Most importantly, it was kinda shaded, thanks to the trees. Haha.  Sorry la mama memang puteri lilin. Papa pun sama jer putera lilin. Lol.

Wefie sket berdua. Macam gambar masa honeymoon kat Bali pulak, lol

Ok, we stopped here at Sultan Al Qaboos Mosque on our final day in Muscat before we head home. The architecture was superb, but the same thing with giant mosques, it was not women and children friendly. Ablution room is located far from the praying hall, in which if we farted then you know what I mean.. either terkentut-jelah-malas-nak-repeat-wuduk-solat-ajelah (sila gauge tahap keimanan sendiri la kan..) or guna-air-mineral-amik-je-wuduk-sambil-siram-air-kat-pokok-tepi-tu (dapat jugak pahala siram pokok kan..) Furthermore, there was no shaded area to connect the ablution area and the praying hall. In short, memang tak human-friendly la.. kalau hujan.. confirm basah.

Kekadang pelik dengan the way buildings are designed.. design la ikut cara manusia function.. bukan nak cantik aje.. duhh

And the worst part is, kids of Zara's age were not allowed to enter. Confirm la mama Zara taknak masuk kalau Zara tak boleh masuk kan.. The condition was Zara had to wear a scarf to enter. I was like nak terkeluar ayat 'wtf!!???' dah tapi memandangkan ni masjid and demi menjaga nama baik Malaysia di mata dunia, ai batalkan sahaja niat itewww. So, sudahnya..

 Sudahnya mama solat je in front of the door of the praying hall! Ada aku kesahh?? Haha. Sayang kan masjid patutnya terbuka jer untuk muslimin muslimat tapi dek kerana restriction yang tak masuk akal terpaksa la mama meng-kempunan-kan diri bersolat dalam dewan masjid yang gah ini demi keselamatan anak-anak.. cewah. Bukannya Zara dah hit puberty and tak reti nak tutup aurat ke apa kan.. Look at the door. Sikit punya lawa but hmmhh.. tiada erti..

Haha.. banyak pulak membebel pasal masjid ni.

Ok so after that, we headed back to home aka Dubai..

The journey back home was made beautiful by the momentary drizzles.. lama sangat tak merasa hujan di bumi Middle East ni.. kekadang terfikir bila kurang hujan adakah berkurangan rahmat dan rezeki daripada Allah.. I'll keep this question in my head..

Ada a few more places that we went to but the pics are in my hub's phone and the camera. Interesting places like The Palace, Zubayr Museum and sightseeing around Muscat. 

In short, Muscat is an interesting place to visit. We would go here again I think so.. but definitely not by car, haha. The looonnngg and weary hours of waiting at the borders is an experience not to be repeated. Naik flight lagi senang. Fly sejam je sampai la Muscat.

Dubai kitchen: Jom masak nasi lemak!

Ha, dah namanya homemaker kan.. what is the fun of being a homemaker without some noise in the kitchen, haha.

Ok today I wanna share with you nasi lemak recipe. I've been cooking several times already, but I think this one I'm sharing is my fave way of doing it.

Nasi lemak comes with a few condiments. They are really simple to make, really. Trust me :) 

Let's prepare the rice first. We will need:

• Rice (depends on how much you wanna cook.. for more people, cook more rice)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 centimeters of ginger, chopped
• 1 stalk of lemongrass, finely chopped (some just like to hit it and directly put it into the cooker. Well, lemongrass is one of the most effective herbs to prevent cancer. So, please, eat it!)
• Coconut milk; amount will be of the same level as the rice in the cooker (if you like the rice to be softer, add in coconut milk slightly more)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2-3 pandan leaves, tied together

Some may prefer diluted coconut milk, and some may prefer it to be more 'milky'. I like it to be a little diluted.

Method: Put all ingredients in the rice cooker. Give them a stir. Then turn on the cooker and just let the rice cook.

Ok. Next let's prepare the 'sambal' or chilli gravy. We will need:

• 3 red onions + 2 cloves of garlic + some anchovies + some water (grind them together in the blender)
• 4 tablespoons of chilli paste (or chilli boh as they usually call it). If you like hotter sambal, you can add in more chilli paste
• 2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup (you can replace this with tamarind extract) Tomato also has the sour taste so using it kinda meets the same purpose of using tamarind extract. Oh, my husband doesn't like it when I use tamarind extract. That's why I use tomato ketchup instead.
• Some fried anchovies
• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (use it because it's anti-cancerous and anti-inflammatory!)
• Salt and sugar to preferred taste
• You may add 'belacan' (anchovies paste) if you like. I don't because husband doesn't like it. Oh well..

Method: 

Pour the olive oil in the pan and heat up the pan

Pour in the blended ingredients and stir. Wait for the oil to surface

Add in the chilli paste. Stir well. Again, wait for the oil to surface again

Put in the fried anchovies and tomato ketchup. Stir. If you think that the mixture is kinda thick, add in some water.

Put in salt and sugar according to your liking. I like it to be a bit sweet.

The condiments:

Eggs: You can choose sunny side up or hard-boiled eggs. I like hard-boiled eggs. Less fat.

Fried groundnuts

Fried anchovies

A few slices of fresh cucumber

Easy peasy, don't you think?

 Macam nak bawa bekal pergi sekolah pulak kan.. haha