Gratitude exercise: write a letter / post about a gadget / an appliance that benefits your life

I am grateful for my blender.
Blender is a versatile small appliance that everyone who loves home made, healthy, and delicious food must have.

Herein, I write a post to describe how my blender has benefited and brought joy to our lives.

Dear blender

Thank you for being so efficient in providing my family with delicious and healthy food.

We have enjoyed so numerous healthy and delicious items.
Papaya milkshake
papaya banana milkshake
banana chocolate milkshake
strawberry banana milkshake
avocado chocolate milkshake
avocado coffee milkshake
honeydew milkshake
They taste so delicious, preservative-free, 100% natural, and healthy (I normally do not add additional sugar like commercially available juices).

Puree for baby (ideas for recipe here)

Next, I plan to try use blender to make soup (Oh! how I miss those hot / warm soup of 2007-2009).
The following recipes are designed on my mind (no testing done yet) as inspired by other recipes.

PUMPKIN SOUP
1. cook / the followings in a pan / pot / rice cooker / slow cooker:
# pumpkin
# meat / pork rib and/or dried scallop
# 1 clove garlic, minced
# 1 onion, chopped
# pepper to taste
# thyme, chopped / ginger / cinnamon / Rosemary
PS: I may also saute the garlic, onion, thyme / ginger with olive oil / sesame oil.
2. Then blend in small batches (e.g. 1 cup / time) / use hand blender.
3. To make the soup creamier, add milk.
4. Garnish with fresh parsley / coriander.

SWEET POTATO SOUP
Same as pumpkin soup, just replace the pumpkin with sweet potato

CREAMY BAYLEYS MUSHROOM SOUP
Use low heat to saute mushroom in little olive oil.
When the liquid is released from the mushroom, add Bayleys and cream / oat.
Transfer the mushroom into a pot of boiled meat / ribs.
Bring to boil. Add milk.
Add pepper to taste.

More ideas …
barley soup
pear soup
add carrot to sweeten to soup

Tips:
for your safety, use bottle brush to wash to prevent the blades from accidentally cutting any of your finger.

Recipe of Chinese soups: SiShen, LiuWei, BaZhen

I first learned how to cook these Chinese soups from a Chinese lady of TeoChew dialect.

Sometimes, I wonder what the SiShen / 四神汤 / Four Divinity Soup, LiuWei / 六味汤 / Six Flavor Soup, BaZhen are.

Contents of SiShen:
Dioscorea opposita (淮山 / 山藥) : an exception to the rule that yams must be cooked before consumption.
Lotus seed (Nelumbo nucifera)(蓮子)
Fu Ling (茯苓) : a wood decay fungus.
Euryale ferox seeds (芡实) : a fox nut of water lily family.

SiShen is almost a subset of LiuWei.

Contents of LiuWei:
Dioscorea opposita (淮山/山藥)
Lilium lancifolium bulb (百合)
Polygonatum odoratum (玉竹)
Lotus seed (Nelumbo nucifera)(蓮子)
Euryale ferox seeds (芡实)
either Dimocarpus longan fruit (龍眼) or Ziziphus zizyphus / red date / jujube.
Longan can give internal heat / 上火 & relax.
Red dates can alleviate stress, for antifungal, antibacterial, antiulcer, anti-inflammatory, sedative, antispastic, antifertility/contraception, hypotensive and antinephritic, cardiotonic, antioxidant, immunostimulant, and wound healing.

Contents of SiJunZi / 四君子湯 / Four Noble Soup:
Panax ginseng (人參)
Atractylodes macrocephala (白朮)
Fu Ling (茯苓)
Glycyrrhiza uralensis (甘草)

Contents of Siwu / 四物湯 / Four Substance soup :
Angelica sinensis (当归)
Paeonia lactiflora (芍药)
Ligusticum wallichii (川芎)
Rehmannia glutinosa (地黄)

Contents of BaZhen = SiJunZi + Siwu.
Tips:
1. LiuWei can clear heat.
2. BaZhen is heaty, good for confinement.
3. Stir the SiShen, LiuWei soups before drinking as the nutritious substances tend to sediment at the bottom.

Here is the picture of some of the ingredients:

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How to increase breast milk production? 10 recipe of Asian soup that also benefits lactating mothers

Category A

1. LiuWei 六味汤 + pork rib (排骨).

2. BaZhen 八珍汤 + pork rib / chicken bones*

3. SiShen 四神汤 + pork rib.

4. double-boiled chicken bones* / pork rib soup with wolfberries, red dates, xigui.

Category B

5. pork rib + overnight soaked peanut (add the soaked water to the soup) + carrots.

6. pork rib + beet root + carrots / corn.

7. pork rib / pre-boiled chicken bone (for 1 hour) + 2 potatoes + 1 carrot + 1 tomato.

8. meat ball + caixin (must finish per meal). To make meat ball, you can mix minced meat, tapioca flour, sesame oil, pepper, soy sauce.

9. pork rib / chicken bones* / pork tenderloin (腰部嫩肉) + red yeast rice (红曲米 / ang-kak)

10. fish bone + fish maw (must soak, squeeze out oil for 3x).

* use the bones of village chicken, not meaty chicken.

If you have no access to chicken bones, you can use pork rib / pork tenderloin.

Do not drink soups in Category A on consecutive days, because they may be too heaty, especially BaZhen soup.

The soups in the Category A are often consumed during confinement.
The soups in the Category B are also good for pregnancy.

The soups are easy to cook.
When mothers take good care of their health, they can give their best to their babies / children.

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French Onion Soup

On 18th Jan, I went to buy milk and was given a plastic of old veggies, there were 2 onion, some carrots, a parsnip, and some tomatoes inside. I kept only 1 of the 4 tomatoes, as they are damaged. Then, I got this idea why not make a French-styled onion soup on 19th Jan. We love the Winter Paris French Onion Soup very much.

My recipe is very simple.
~ Cut the onion, fry with olive oil until it softens.
~ Cut carrots.
~ Boil hot water, put 2 cubes of beef-flavor OXO
~ Put onion, carrot into the soup. Add some garlic pepper powder.
~ Heat wheat sliced bread with left-over olive oil on frying pan, put a bit of French Smiling Cow cheese on top of bread and let it melt.

It took me 1.5 hours to prepare and eat. The most time-consuming part is cutting the onion and carrots. Honestly, the taste is not as good as the one I had at Disneyland, but it’s not bad for first timer. Perhaps if I replace the water with red wine, it will taste better, and let it cook slowly to allow the aroma to get in. I also like the bread!