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Serenity Gems: Here’s where to get pretty crystal bracelets in Singapore

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Crystal bracelets and accessories are really popular nowadays and I can see why: they’re pretty, exquisite and customisable, and are said to come with metaphysical benefits that create positive energy for the wearer. I’ve never really been into these beautiful trinkets before, but I’ve been curious about them. So when Serenity Gems offered me a chance to customise a crystal bracelet of my choice, I jumped at it. And all I can say is, better late than never!

Since I’m taking the ‘healing benefits’ with a pinch of salt (some really swear by it, though), I started the customising process by deciding on the colours! I knew I wanted something with a pink base with gold accents, plus a mix of shapes for the crystal gems. The coordinating colour was going to be either tiffany or pastel yellow because I have a thing for these two colours matched with pink. I browsed their website (they do have a nice selection of ready-made bracelets available) and was instantly attracted to Posh Pink:

According to the website, it’s made up of these crystals: Rutilated Gold Quartz, Rose Quartz, Moonstone and Pink Tridacna. Here are their benefits if you’re curious!

Rutilated Gold Quartz

  • Has the ability to manifest what you desire in your life, through the power of intention.
  • Enhances your creativity and bring a joyful vibration through.
  • Cleanses the aura as it dispels negative energy.
  • Supports to relieve anxiety, fear and phobias

Rose Quartz 

  • The most beneficial stones for healing and flooding the body with positive energy
  • Believe to raise selfesteem and balance emotion
  • Attracting love, intimacy, and to create closer bonds with family & friends
  • Dissolves emotional wounds, fears and resentment, stress and anger

Moonstone

  • Is a stone of inner growth and strength
  • Soothes emotional instability and stress
  • Boosts intuition, promotes inspiration, success and good fortune in love and business matters.
  • Enhances fertility and promoting ease in pregnancy and childbirth, alleviates menstrual problems and balances the hormonal cycles

Pink Tridacna 

  • Helps to stabilize mood, eliminate worry, balance mental and physical states
  • Possesses anti aging properties
  • Enhances the magnetic field of human body
  • Also known as a protection stone

Serene from Serenity Gems immediately got to work and after understanding my needs and asking for my wrist measurements, she came up with a first look of my very own customised crystal bracelet (and matching earrings!):

Aren’t they pretty? I was blown away at the workmanship and affordable prices. They have a great range and Serene is able to customise your bracelet for you according to the properties you’re looking for along with your preferred colours. What I like about the service is that I was updated regularly on the progress through whatsapp and Serene suggested various options while keeping to the colour scheme I chose. Once completed, she sent me some photos for my feedback to ensure that the end product was exactly what I wanted. Here are some other designs that I love that are listed on their website:

These beautiful trinkets are perfect as a gift for yourself and your loved ones (they even have a Men’s Collection!). If you’re into crystal bracelets (or if you’re new like me), give them a try – I hope you will like their creations as much as I do!

Website: https://www.serenitygems.biz/
Instagram: @serenitygems_sg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SerenityGemsSingapore

The post Serenity Gems: Here’s where to get pretty crystal bracelets in Singapore appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.


[Review] Nature One Dairy milk formula + three no-mixer-needed kids recipes

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Many of my mummy readers ask me if I’m still breastfeeding Cdd. Hmm, breastfeeding no, but latching yes, at night! Does that count? Since Cbb days, I’ve always needed to top up breast milk with formula, until I stopped breastfeeding her completely at 6 months. It’s almost the same story with Cdd. The only difference is I managed to mix feed him till he was 10 months, and it’s quite an achievement for me! Being super low supply (don’t come questioning why I assume I’m low supply. I don’t assume. I am. Read my story), I’ve never frozen a pack of breastmilk in my life and apart from the initial 2-3 weeks, I’ve always had to mix breast milk and formula for both my kids.

Breastmilk is best for babies but since I had insufficient supply and am not inclined towards donor milk, I did the next best thing and topped up with formula. And to me, that’s perfectly fine!

Now that Cdd is 15 months and Cbb almost 5 years old, I have switched them completely to formula milk. Both of them have tried a few brands of formula milk and now Nature One Dairy is our staple. To be honest, when Nature One Dairy approached me for this review, I was concerned that being VERY PICKY, Cdd would reject this. Cbb don’t say la, she drinks everything but even so, her FIRST reaction to trying out the Premium Junior Step 4 milk was, ‘MmmMMM! This milk tastes really good. Is it new, mama?”

Cdd has been taking the Organic Toddler Step 3 formula for more than two months and I’m only sharing this article now because I wanted to make sure this is a fair review. And I’m happy to report that he’s taking well to it! As his mummy, I like Nature One Dairy too and here are the main reasons:

  • My kids love the taste

I mean, this is a real consideration! I can buy the most expensive and supposedly best formula (not really though, as the nutritional values of milk formulas are actually similar!) but it doesn’t matter if my kids won’t drink it.  Cbb took to the Premium Junior Step 4 immediately and even said her pancakes taste better (yes I make pancakes and snacks with it!). Cdd guzzles his Organic Toddler Step 3 without complaints and welcomes his bottle every time.

  • Does not contain sucrose, maltodextrin and sweeteners

If you read the ingredient labels of formula milk, you may notice some ingredients that surprise you, like sucrose. Although sucrose in this case isn’t quite the same as the added sugar you find in cakes (it serves more like a source of carbohydrates), it’s the sweetest simple carb and I avoid it when choosing formula milk for my babies. Lactose is the only source of carbs in Nature One Dairy’s milk products.

  • Australian made

All Nature One Dairy formula milk are held to strict quality and safety standards, and are manufactured in their wholly owned pharmaceutical grade facility in Australia. Australia is always known for its clean and green environment, and being a facility specialising in manufacturing infant products, Nature One Dairy is bound by frequent strict inspection and testing which put my mind at ease for the products they produce. The Organic Toddler Nutritious Milk Drink Step 3 is certified by ACO (Australian Certified Organic), one of the most respected and rigorous standards in the world for organic production. Certified Organic products are grown and processed without the use of synthetic chemicals, fertilisers or GMOs. You can read more about the criteria here.

  • It’s friendly on my pocket

With Cdd going through one tin of formula milk per week, cost is a concern for me! The Step 3 milk drinks start from $25.50 to $37.50 (the organic version) for a 900g tin, and the price is more than reasonable compared to some brands that cost double. Contrary to popular belief, the nutritional levels of the expensive milk are similar to the cheaper brands – just compare the info across various brands at supermarkets! Plus, if an organic formula costs about the same or even lower than a non-organic formula, then I will choose organic for sure.

And now for the recipes!

Since both my kids like the taste of the milk powder so much, I was motivated to come up with some kids recipes using Nature One Dairy milk! I made some Little Milk Bites, One-Bowl Brazilian Cheese Puffs and a Creamy Salmon, Corn and Spinach Rice in the rice cooker. The milk bites and cheese puffs can both be prepared manually in a large mixing bowl – no cake mixer needed. Cbb had a fun time helping me in the kitchen. I hope you try them!

Little Milk Bites (budgetpantry.com)
Makes about 120 bites

Note: These are commonly shared as Baby Balls, aka Xiao Man Tou. But this recipe (and many other homemade ones) don’t melt in the mouth *immediately* like commercially sold ones. For safety reasons, I recommend giving this to kids 4yo and up if shaping into little balls. I shaped this flat for my 15-month-old (see second pic).

What you need:
1 medium egg
20g icing sugar
20g oil (you can use any cooking oil)
20g cake flour
25g milk powder (I used 3 scoops of Nature One Dairy Organic Toddler milk powder)
120g corn flour
2g baking powder (you can omit this for kids but it gives a fluffier texture)

Steps:
Preheat your oven to 170C. Line your pan with baking paper (no need to oil).

In a large bowl, sift the cake flour, milk powder, corn starch and baking powder (if using) together.

In a separate mixing bowl, crack the egg add the icing sugar and oil. Whisk well with a handheld whisk.

Add in the powder mix in step 2. Using a pair of chopsticks (it’s difficult to do this with a spatula), combine all the ingredients together until a dough starts to form.

Using your hands, knead the dough together till everything is combined.

Now we start shaping. Pinch a small portion and roll it into a small ball. Flatten this ball with your thumb if baking for babies or toddlers below 4yo. Continue with the rest of the dough and shape it as consistently as possible. Leave appropriate spacing between each bite on the baking pan.

Bake for 15 minutes. The colour will still be white but it is done. Do not increase the baking time if not it will be too hard! Leave to cool, then store in an airtight container.

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One-Bowl Brazilian Cheese Puffs (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 36-48 puffs
What you need:
250g tapioca starch
25g milk powder (I used 3 scoops of Nature One Dairy Organic Toddler milk powder)
60g shredded cheddar cheese
60g shredded mozzarella cheese
1 large egg
180ml water
25ml olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Steps:
Preheat oven to 200C and oil your mini muffin tray.

Whisk the egg and milk powder together till bubbly. Add the water and whisk to mix well.

Add tapioca starch and cheese. Whisk everything together until well incorporated Add the oil and salt. Stir to combine. Rest this mixture for 10 minutes.

Scoop batter to muffin tray and fill till about ¾ full.

Bake for 20 minutes until golden.

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Creamy Salmon, Corn and Spinach Rice (budgetpantry.com)
Serves three kidsWhat you need:
1 cup uncooked rice (use the rice cooker measuring cup)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (use the same measuring cup)
100g salmon, sliced
Handful of corn
Handful of chopped spinach
1 teaspoon minced garlic
8.5g milk powder (I used 1 scoop of Nature One Dairy Organic Toddler milk powder)
30g shredded cheddar cheese (you can use parmesan but we’re not fans!)

Steps:

Rinse the rice and add the chicken stock. Stir in the garlic.

Arrange salmon, corn and spinach on top. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

When time is up, stir in the milk powder and shredded cheese and it’s done. If you prefer a smoother consistency, you can add some more stock or hot water.

Where to find?
Nature One Dairy® products are available in all major supermarket chains and e-commerce platforms.
Click to redeem samples for trial.

This is a collaboration post with Nature One Dairy, but my kids are REALLY taking and enjoying the milk!

The post [Review] Nature One Dairy milk formula + three no-mixer-needed kids recipes appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Creamy Garlic Pesto Chicken

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Still thankful for being able to work from home because this means I can cook more “fancy” dinners like this. Made this with the cooking cream that a kind neighbour blessed us (contactless blessing ok!) cos she doesn’t have the time to cook and doesn’t want to waste food.

I served this with chunky potatoes tonight. The best part? The roasted garlic and peppers! Soooooo good!! Crazy burst of flavours with every mouthful. Hope you’ve had a nice dinner too! 💗

Creamy Garlic Pesto Chicken (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 2-3 servings

What you need:

2 pieces chicken breast, butterflied
15 cloves garlic, smashed
1 small red onion, minced
1 small red pepper, sliced lengthwise
1 small green pepper, sliced lengthwise
2-3 shitake mushrooms, sliced
200ml cooking cream (I use Bulla)
2 tablespoon green pesto
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon oil
Pinch of salt
Flour for dredging

Steps:

Clean and pat dry chicken breast. Dredge in flour and shake off excess.

Heat up 1 tablespoon butter and oil in a skillet. Brown chicken breast for 4 minutes, then turn over and cook for another 4 minutes till done. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan, add remaining butter and scrape the brown bits towards the center. On low heat, fry minced onion, smashed garlic, sliced peppers and mushrooms till wilted and soft.

Mix in the cooking cream and pesto. Stir everything together. Season with salt to taste.

Return the chicken breast to pan and simmer for a minute. Spoon cream over chicken repeatedly as you’re simmering. Serve with chunky potatoes.

ENJOY!!

Note: if you have an airfryer, you can save some time while prepping and extract more flavour out of the peppers and garlic this way: in the baking tray, toss garlic and peppers together with some olive oil. AF at 190C for 15 minutes. Add this mixture along with the oil to step 3.

The post Creamy Garlic Pesto Chicken appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Airfried Cheese Grilled Garlic Prawns

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When I get my hands on giant prawns like these, I like to airfry, grill or steam them for the best flavour! Today I decided to have some airfried prawns topped with lovely cheese for a quick and simple lunch. The best part? They’re ready in 7 minutes! (ok about 10-12 minutes if you count the cleaning but that’s not too bad at all!)

The prawns don’t need any seasoning because we’re stuffing them with garlic, mayo and cheese. This prawns recipe would work really well with halved crayfish too. Be careful not to overcook these so they remain sweet and tender. Ready for a quick seafood fix? Here you go!

For many who ask, I’m using Philips XXL Airfryer. Read my review here and don’t miss my other airfryer recipes.

Airfried Cheese Grilled Garlic Prawns (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 1-2 servings

What you need:

4 pieces large tiger prawns
2 tablespoons minced garlic
Squeeze of mayonnaise or mentaiko mayo
Shredded cheddar cheese
Spring onions and lettuce, to serve (optional)

Steps:

Preheat your airfryer or oven to 180C.

In the mean time, prep your prawns by cutting a slit along the back and remove the dirty stuff.

Pat dry and stuff with minced garlic, squeeze some mayonnaise and stop with shredded cheese.

Fold baking paper into a boat (I would have used my baking pan if the prawns could fit), lay out your prawns, sprinkle more cheese on top and airfry for 7-8 minutes at 180C until done. If using the oven, you may need to add two more minutes to the timing.

Tip #1: If you oven has the ‘Crispy Grill’ function, cook the prawns for 8 mins and switch to ‘crispy grill’ for another 1-2 minutes and watch the cheese sizzle.

Tip #2: If you have mentaiko mayo, use it!

Enjoy your yummy oven-baked or airfried prawns!

The post Airfried Cheese Grilled Garlic Prawns appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Quick & Easy Braised Ee Fu Noodles

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If there’s one dish my family always asks for, it’s fried noodles! And braised ee fu noodles are always a top request. Of course, most of the time they ask for char bee hoon – you know how obsessed this family is with char bee hoon! There are many ways I cook char bee hoon, and this recipe from 2013 OMG is one of them. I don’t really use stock cubes anymore nowadays and instead use a bit of hao chi seasoning (haha). Yes I use chicken powder/hao chi in some of my cooking because I don’t think they/MSG are bad at all!

Anyway, I digress. This post is about ee fu mee. I cooked a gravy type using another kind of noodles, the more local style ee mian, and it’s totally different from the stir fried ‘hong kong’ version here. And yes, I know, the claypot ee mee recipe is also ancient, but still can use ok?! I’m trying to get back to blogging recipes because I STILL COOK daily, just that when I DO have spare time, I prefer to cook, surf weibo and nua rather than blog nowadays. I know, I know, wo bian le, but also never bian ok because at the end of the day, THIS BLOG IS STILL HOME (so chim sounding can).

Anyway, I digress again. If you’re a long time follower, thank you for visiting my blog again and I believe you should have gotten here via my Facebook page. If you’re a long time follower who hasn’t got here via my Facebook page or hasn’t even followed me on Facebook then you need to do some self reflection. If you’re some random mom/dude/person who has found me by googling ‘braised ee fu noodles’, welcome! But go follow me on Facebook already: https://www.facebook.com/budgetpantry (Ya my base is Facebook and not IG/TikTok because I’m old school like that)

I also confess that this pic was taken in Aug 2020 and many of you asked for recipes then and I am only doing it now. Forgive me please I will strive to do better (maybe?).

Quick & Easy Braised Ee Fu Noodles (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 4 servings

What you need:

4 servings Ee Fu noodles (I use Sun Brand Dried Hong Kong Yee Fu Mee from any supermarket)
200g lean meat, sliced into strips (you can use chicken or pork – I used shredded leftover pork ribs because well, they were leftover, but lean fillet meat is better)
100g chinese cabbage (wongbok or wawa cai, sliced into strips)
Half a can of straw mushrooms, cut into half (the mushrooms, not the can)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon light soy sauce (I use hand flower brand)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
Drizzle of chinese cooking wine
Pork bone stock, enough to just about cover the noodles (you can mix some 味霸 seasoning (I get mine from Donki) or concentrated stock with water or just use water)
Oil for frying

Steps:

Loosen noodles in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Drain and set aside. The noodles shouldn’t be completely cooked because we still need to fry them.

Heat up the oil and fry the ginger and garlic till fragrant. Add the meat and fry till it changes colour. Add the straw mushrooms and cabbage and fry for 2 minutes.

Toss in the noodles and add the soy sauce and oyster sauce. Fry for a bit then add stock or water till it just about covers the noodles. Put on the lid and braise for 4-5 minutes.

When time is up, open the lid to reduce the liquid, then finish with a drizzle of chinese cooking wine.

Tip: if you can find yellow chives, add it!

The post Quick & Easy Braised Ee Fu Noodles appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

One Pot Bacon Potato Corn Chowder Soup – No Flour!

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Everyone’s under the weather these days, if not for COVID, then the usual sore throat, cough, runny nose… it IS flu season anyway. Cbb and I are both down with sore throat (too much snacks me thinks), but we’re testing every two days just to be safe. She’s not the easiest kid when it comes to doing the ART. Tears start streaming even before we insert the swab stick! The whole family can be doing it with her and I’ve honestly memorised ALL the ‘tips to performing an ART on your kid’ already and nothing works. I really don’t geddit.

I decided to think of better things by thinking what to cook for dinner. Step one was to picture what I already have in the fridge/freezer/cupboard/storeroom so I don’t have to spend money to order more ingredients while I havent used what I have. And so I remembered I have a pack of no-nitrates no chemicals/preservatives bacon from Jill’s Sausages in my freezer. But since I was going to blog, I couldn’t possibly cook bacon and pasta and call it a day. So since everyone’s not feeling too good, a bowl of comforting bacon potato corn chowder sounds really nice, I think!

And here’s how to make it – no flour needed! Best part? It cooks in one pot for incredibly easy washing up. Check out my other soup recipes.

Homemade Bacon Potato Corn Chowder Soup – no flour! (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 1-2 servings

What you need:

800g potatoes (about 4 medium sized, cubed)
2 large yellow onions, chopped
8-10 tbsps corn kernals (I used frozen)
12 slices no-nitrates bacon, sliced into 1-cm pieces
1 can evaporated milk (320-330ml doesn’t matter)
1 litre water
3 tbsps concentrated chicken stock (I used Woh Hup)
1 tbsp garlic powder (or use 3 cloves minced garlic)
1 tsp salt
4-5 sprigs spring onions, divide white and green parts and slice thinly
Black pepper

Steps:

In a large pot on medium heat, cook bacon for 6-8 mins until crisped. No need to add any oil.

Once crispy remove bacon pieces and leave the grease in the pot.

Add chopped onions and white part of spring onion. Fry for 5 mins until translucent. Add minced garlic (if using this. If using garlic powder, see next step). Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add the corn, potatoes, garlic powder, salt, water and concentrated chicken stock.

Bring to boil and lower heat. Simmer until potatoes are fork tender (but not super mushy), about 20 minutes. Turn off the flame.

Using a hand-held blender, blend soup until your preferred consistency. I like to leave a few pieces of potato chunks for some bite. Add the evaporated milk, bacon and green part of spring onions and stir through.

Finish with a dash of black pepper if you like. Serve with warm crusty bread!

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Tip: Can you do this without a hand held blender? Yes, if you can transfer the soup to a stand blender, it works too. Can you do this without ANY type of blender? Well yes, but you need to cook the potatoes till they’re mashed and even so, the consistently won’t be as creamy because you’ll get small onion and corn pieces. Not a problem if you don’t mind it though. Let me know how it goes!

The post One Pot Bacon Potato Corn Chowder Soup – No Flour! appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Activity with Kids: No Mixer Chocolate Lava Cookies

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When rain rain doesn’t go away, how can you keep yourself (yes, yourself) sane at home?

KEEP THOSE KIDS OCCUPIED, THAT’S HOW.

Yesterday we did so many things. I entertained them with a buffet breakfast, changed them into their swimsuits and let them play with water at the balcony (one bath tub of water = 2 hours of fun. Quite worth it if you ask me) and ended the day BAKING these easy-to-make chocolate lava cookies which CBB absolutely adored.

The best part is NO mixer is needed – nobody got time to wash up! Look at these kids. Ask them to decorate with chocolate chips and see what they doing. They had fun in the process!

The cookies turned out pretty well – these are chunky, crumbly cookies, not crispy. Just the way they should be. The kids had fun decorating them:

Here’s how to make them.

Chocolate Lava Cookies – No Mixer Needed (budgetpantry.com)
Makes 10 pieces

What you need:

135g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 medium egg
70g butter, melted (salted or unsalted)
120g brown sugar (you can use castor sugar)
Half teaspoon vanilla essence (optional)
Chocolate chips
10 pcs milk chocolate squares (I used cadbury)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 180C. Line pan with baking paper.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together. Set aside.

Crack egg into mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, sugar and vanilla essence and briefly whisk manually. Fold in the sifted flour etc. to combine into a cookie dough. It should have a consistency that you can handle (not wet).

Using your hands, take some cookie dough and place a chocolate square in the middle. Gather the cookie dough sides and wrap the chocolate square in the centre. This will be your lava filing.

Place each cookie on the baking tray and decorate with chocolate chips.

Bake for 15 mins at 180C in your preheated oven. Cool the cookies for 15 mins before eating. Be careful! The filling will be super hot.

I hope you enjoy this activity with the kids!

The post Activity with Kids: No Mixer Chocolate Lava Cookies appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

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