Pages: 1 2

Unlike adults, when babies and toddlers develop phlegm, it usually takes longer for them to clear it. One reason is they do not know how to split out the phlegm. Even my 5 year old son is still unable to do so even after teaching him how to do it. So far, he only managed to split out saliva, but not the phlegm. The only consolation is he knows how to clear his blocked nose. I, like most parents, have been...

Pages: 1 2

  Over the past two months, Singapore and Malaysia are hit by dry spell with no sign of abating anytime soon. Although it’s usually hot this time of the year, but it’s particularly bad this year. The weather is extremely hot and humid. I could feel the heat penetrating my skin when I went out to fetch my son from school at noon. Even walking under the shades along the pedestrian walkway,...

Pages: 1 2

Mushrooms provide a lot of nature’s hidden treasures. Amongst them are anti-oxidants, B-vitamins, copper, phosphorus, potassium and vitamin D. For further reading, please refer to this link. It is also featured as one of the new superfoods for women in the July 2009 issue of Health Magazine. Over the past one year, I am finding more and more variety of fresh mushrooms being sold at supermarkets in Singapore....

It was only in recent years that cordyceps militaris/ chong cao hua (虫草花), a Chinese medicinal herb became increasingly popular among Chinese traditional medicine practitioners, nutritionist, chef, and even homemakers. I was first introduced to it by my mother-in-law recently. Translated literally into English, it means “worm grass flower”. But it is neither flower nor grass, nor does it resemble...

Do you know that childen’s song can be used as an effective and influential tool in promoting a healthy diet to toddlers? It may sound weird to some people, but it really worked for my son. “An apple a day keeps the doctor (x4), A-P-P-L-E” - is a song my son learnt from his playgroup that had successfully changed him from one who rejected apple into one who is now an avid apple...

In our healthy promoting diet, black bean is an exceptionally great legume with its unique and solid nutritional profile. They are an excellent source of molybdenum, fat-free high quality protein, dietary fiber, flavonoid anti-oxidants (anthocyanins), vitamins (B1) and minerals (folate, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus and iron). It also contains a small amount of omega-3 fatty acids which is about 3 times...

From young, soup has been served regularly in my family’s daily diet. As far as I can recall, my mom has been boiling different types of Chinese soups almost every day. After I got married, I too enjoyed all the home-boiled soups of my mother-in-law. Now, as a “minister of home affair cum head chef”, I continued with our family’s tradition to boil soups for the family as my son is a big fan of soup....

I first learned about 粉葛/葛根(Thomson’s kudzu/fen ge - as shown in picture below) from my mother-in-law. She used it to make soup for the family. At the first glance, it looked quite similar to 沙葛 (yam bean). 粉葛 has natural sweetness and brings many health benefits to women especially for the middle-aged group as mentioned in this link. There are many types of 粉葛 soup. The most common...

Beetroot (甜菜根) is a new vegetable to me. I only started eating beetroot 2 years ago after my good friend, Alice from Bits of Taste n Life introduced it to me. I didn’t know that there are so many great benefits eating beetroot until I read about it from here and here. The benefits of beetroot are:a) it is a rich source of carbohydrates, a good source of protein, and has high levels of important vitamins,...

If you have lots of asparagus on hand and are running out-of-time, it is a perfect recipe for you to prepare a tasty asparagus soup with some simple ingredients and easy steps. It can be served hot or very well-chilled. Source: Adapted and modified from The Delia Collection: Soup Servings: 3-4 Ingredients:450g asparagus25g butter½ medium onion (finely chopped)½ slightly rounded tbsp plain flour500 ml hot...