#MakingMumEatsWell: The second week

The kids fell sick just one week into my challenge to eat better. And the tough thing about having four is that the whole recovery process is extended, since they all take turns to be ill. J2 ended up with croup, and was pretty sick for awhile. Even the hubby and FIL were not spared, and I was the last one standing. The baby is still recovering, but I am thankful that the fever finally broke after three days. 

Because I was up at night carrying a febrile baby, I couldn't find much energy to try new recipes. But I did try to make various drinks for the family: barley water (because one very sick child refused to drink anything but this) and chrysanthemum tea. I found that warm soupy Chinese desserts go down a whole lot easier than rich Western desserts, so I tried making snow fungus dessert. We also tried this concoction of pearl barley, China barley, green beans and lily bulb that was supposed to help with the lungs and the kids' cough. 

I had to deviate a lot from my original menu and we had a fair bit of porridge and soups. I must say, it was really satisfying seeing a sick child slurp up his udon, with the knowledge that what you've prepared might be helping to speed up his recovery a wee bit!

I learnt one thing about freezing food: always have a stash of good char siew in the freezer. Because everyone loves char siew (at least those in my family do). Edamame (green soya beans) is another handy freezer staple, and the kids know how to peel these on their own to eat.

I'm still doing my yoghurt with granola and fruit thing for breakfast, but recently discovered this granola that I quite like. It's nut-free and the seeds have been sprouted, and it tastes quite different from the usual granolas. Since we don't have any nut allergies, I'm also adding nuts to my breakfast. 

It's been quite a week, and I must say I'm exhausted. I'm glad baby is much better now though, and this week of barley drinks has got me thinking about making tang yuan and cheng tng. Hopefully soon! 

[This is part of my self-initiated challenge to eat better for 21 days. You can read about our first week of the challenge here, and follow all the posts over on IG (tagged #makingmumeatswell). I've had queries about others wanting to join in, so if you want to hop on too, just tag your food posts with the tag #eatingwelltog so that we can encourage each other on!]