Baking and Cooking

I am quite concern with what my son or the family takes.

There are just too many processed food out there which might kill you if you eat them often enough.

Take baking for example. I don't understand why recipes have to include baking soda, baking powder, shortening, bread softener, etc. etc.? Think of our forefathers when all these things don't exist yet, they could still bake. So, we gotta go back to basic and find a better solution to baking rather than taking the easy way out.

My friend, Hooi Thiam, really goes a distance for whatever she bakes or cooks. She has many books on baking yet she still experiment till she got the right ingredients for her cakes and cookies.

Why?

For the sake of her whole family's health.

That's what I learned from her and am doing too...

What Hooi Thiam noticed was that, breads and cookies selling in the market used 'vegetable oil' or in another word, marjerine. If one really goes into this, marjerine contains trans fat which harms the body.

But why people use marjerine to bake? Firstly, it is cheaper than butter. Secondly, society has the misconception that vegetable oil has lesser fat and thus, a smaller chance to get plump. Google the difference between marjerine and butter and you'll gonna be surprised!

Next, let's talk about eggs. Eggs have to be kept in the fridge. Otherwise they will not stay fresh. You will know it when you break the egg into a bowl. If the yolk stay put, very beautifully in a round shape, then that egg is extremely fresh.

I don't really use sauces much. Come check my kitchen and you'll find that I don't even have osyter sauce! Wow! Man do I like osyter sauce...But for the sake of health, I denied my own desire to buy one. Frankly, if food can taste good without that, why bother to have it?

I'm quite paranoid with all these processed food. Whenever I buy something, I always look at the ingredients. When I find that there are so many artificial ingredients, I gulped and think of how much of work I've been putting my liver to. Liver is one of our main organs which washes out our toxins and should be taken care of. So, why burden your liver when you can let it rest?

The next time you wanted something 'complicated', imagine yourself putting lots and lots of rubbish into your stomach. You will eventually walk away without them...

I don't suggest that you can't pamper yourself at times for processed food. A single piece of potato chips and a few pieces of cookies would not harm much right?

Anyway, if our forefathers can cook delicious meals just with simple ingredients: salt and sugar, so do we. Let's eat healthily and happily.