OMG finally a recipe post! Sorry for the lack of cooking-related posts. I function nowadays on a 3-hour block directly dependent on how long Chua Bee Bee sleeps, and generally, she’s been waking up pretty consistently every 3 hours. She’s also quite a sweet baby who can lie down next to me and do her own thing as I pump. She also loves to coo at my soft toys and go ‘Aber Aber’ like she’s calling her own name. LOL. I’m damn exhausted but my day is now manageable, I think. And they say things really do get better. I hope I don’t jinx myself!

But on days when she has her growth spurts (which is like NOW, week 6!) and/or can’t poop, then my life gets turned upside down.. sometimes when she wanna latch she jumps on my boob, other times she scrunches her face and xian qi my nipple.. what does she want? I’ve never played a bigger guessing game in my life. Oh and she is SUCH A light sleeper, every one in the household is like treading on thin ice all the time. She can be woken up by the crinkling of potato chip wrappers (yes I eat them). How to deal with this? Suck it up?

So forgive me when cooking is the last thing I wanna do right now. I did cook this soup at 4am today but that’s because I got up earlier to pump and I figured there’s no way I would have to cook this otherwise. I pestered my mum for her recipe and she texted me the works in Chinese. But you know ‘old people’, they don’t do specifics. Like her instructions called for ‘a bag of fish bones’ (Me: ‘How big your bag? Can agar how many grams? What kind of fish bones?’) and ‘one onion and garlic each’ (Me: ‘What you mean by one garlic? One whole bulb? One clove?’) and ‘add how many pax water’ (Me: ‘Uh-huh and that means….’)

This recipe is reproduced after my yong xin liang ku back-and-forth messages with my mum to get the instructions cleared up. Use garoupa fish bones cos they’re not fishy. The soup’s really yummy. Although I hope that this will help boost my milk supply, you don’t actually need a reason to cook it!

The post My Mum’s Recipe: Green Papaya Milky Fish Soup appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.

Have you seen the prices of lactation cookies? I don’t know about you, but $78.90 for 30 cookies (usual price $107.70) seems out of this world to me. And the number of people snapping these up? Absolutely mind blowing. So in all budgetpantry fashion, I decided to bake my own!

According to the package, these are the ingredients in the cookies: Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour (niacin, reduced iron, thiamin, mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Organic Unsalted Butter (cream), Organic Brown Sugar, Organic Evaporated Cane Syrup, Chocolate Chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), Eggs, Water, Brewer’s Yeast, Organic Flaxseed Meal, Salt, Baking Soda, Vanilla Extract.

Nothing really special except Brewer’s Yeast and probably flaxseed meal. I googled for places selling Brewer’s Yeast in Singapore and didn’t get a return result. I didn’t go around stores looking for it though – there’s always iHerb! I placed my order for Brewer’s Yeast (there’re a few brands – I’ve read better reviews for Solgar), along with flaxseed meal, rolled oats and steel cut oats. Within 4 days, my order arrived! And the best part? Shipping is FREE for orders over SG$55 or just SG$5 thereabouts for orders below that. OMG can’t believe I’ve been shopping on iHerb since I was a teenager. That’s about 15 years ago! (p/s- I’ve heard that you can also get Brewer’s Yeast and flaxseed meal at Fairprice Finest at the organic section.)

New to iHerb? Punch in my coupon code “IWE203” at check-out for up to $5.00 off your first order.

Ok back to the cookies. At 38 weeks, I’d better bake these cookies fast! I referred to the recipe from bellybelly but made quite a number of adjustments. If you love chia seeds like me, add them. Chia seeds are also said to be milk boosters! As I’m adding chocolate chunks, I reduced the sugar. For oats, I used a combination of rolled oats and steel cut oats for a crunchier texture. The important thing is to ensure the main ingredients: oatmeal (not instant oats), flaxseed meal and brewer’s yeast are there.

Some people say that Brewer’s Yeast taste bitter, but I thought they tasted fine. Of course, you could always add more chocolate into your cookies! Other combinations include: dried cranberries & chocolate, macadamia white chocolate, raisins, desiccated coconut, banana, walnuts.. basically anything that goes into your favourite cookie!

This recipe below is in grams to make it easier for most people in SG. I doubled the recipe and was able to make about 90 one-inch sized cookies. You can shape them bigger if you like. I stole one to test. It’s actually really yummy :) I hope this recipe helps you!

Have you tried lactation cookies before? Do they work for you? What are your other milk boosters? Tell me!

Catch up on my other pregnancy posts:

Pregnancy: The big reveal!
Pregnancy: The first trimester scans… I saw an empty womb on my first scan
Pregnancy: The second trimester – harmony test and gender reveal!
Pregnancy: The second trimester – 20-week anomaly scan + gestational diabetes scare
Pregnancy: The third trimester 4D scan – I saw Chua Bee Bee’s cute little face!
Pregnancy: Mount Alvernia Hospital – Maternity Tour & Estimated Bill Size 2016
Pregnancy: Bellybuds! Playing music for your baby in the womb
FY2016 Budget: Is the government giving us an extra $3K into the Child Development Account?
Pregnancy: Why I’m choosing GAIA Natural Baby Organic Skincare for #ChuaBeeBee
Pregnancy: Tips for changing your gynae at Week 35
Pregnancy: When you wrist hurts like nobody’s business (All about De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis)
Pregnancy: Week 39 – Low amniotic fluid and an eviction notice!

Plus, 10% off all GAIA Natural Baby products + free gift still ongoing. Click here for details. Use my code at checkout:

The post How to bake your own chunky chocolate lactation cookies appeared first on Budgetpantry | Singapore Mummy Blog on Food, Recipe & Baby.