Running out of ideas in the kitchen? Make meals with milk! It’s a useful ingredient to use when cooking and serves as a convenient and healthy alternative without watering down the taste. For example, milk can be used as a marinade for meats and as a lower-calorie replacement for fattening coconut milk when making curries.^[1]

Making meals with milk, especially high-calcium and low-fat milk, is also a good way to get more calcium into your family’s diet, as calcium is crucial to bone strength and health.^[2] So turn a glass of milk into a wonderful and nutritious meal and surprise your family at the dinner table with these two milk-rich recipes:

Slow-cooked Herbed Chicken and Potatoes in Milk^[3]^,^[4]^,^[5]^,^[6]^,^[7]

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, about 1.5 kg
Salt and pepper to taste
30 g or 2 tbsp of butter
2 tbsp of olive oil
4 fingerling potatoes, sliced into chunks
500 ml or 2 glasses of high-calcium low-fat milk
Zest of 2 lemons
10 cloves of garlic
1 stick of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 twig of thyme or 1 tsp of ground thyme
1 twig of rosemary or 1 tsp of dried rosemary

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 190° C
Season the chicken with salt and pepper and rub the skin with butter
Heat olive oil in an ovenproof pot or Dutch oven on the hob and sear the chicken for 5 minutes until each side is golden brown. Drain and discard the remaining oil
Place chicken with potato chunks, milk, lemon zest, garlic cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary in the pot. Cover the pot and cook in the oven for 1.5 hours, with the lid off in the last 30 minutes of cooking

Roasted Creamy Cauliflower Surprise^[8]^,^[9]^,^[10]^,^[11]^,^[12]

Ingredients:

1 large head of cauliflower, broken into florets
1 white onion, sliced thinly
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ tsp of black pepper
60 g or 4 tbsp of unsalted butter
50 g of flour
½ tsp of salt
500 ml or 2 glasses of high-calcium low-fat milk
200 g of grated cheddar cheese or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tsp of chopped fresh thyme or parsley

Method:

Preheat oven to 180° C
Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook cauliflower florets for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside.
In a separate pan, sauté the onion and bell peppers in 1 tbsp of butter for 3 minutes
Sprinkle black pepper over the onions and peppers and lay them across the base of baking dish with the cauliflower florets on top. Set aside.
In a pan, melt remaining butter until it foams
Reduce heat, add flour and salt and whisk for 1 minute
Whisk in the milk slowly. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 2 minutes, whisking all the time until the mixture is smooth and creamy with no lumps
Add 100 grams of grated cheese and whisk for 1 minute until it melts
Pour the creamy mixture evenly over the cauliflower florets and sprinkle the remaining cheese and chopped herbs on top
Bake for 40 minutes or longer until the mixture bubbles and the cauliflower is golden brown

Sources

[1]http://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/173/weight_loss_basics_part1http://www.healthhub.sg/live-healthy/173/weight_loss_basics_part1

[2]http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/2834http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/2834

[3]http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/chicken-in-milk/http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/chicken-in-milk/

[4]http://www.thekitchn.com/jamie-oliver-chicken-in-milk-best-chicken-recipe-all-time-80388http://www.thekitchn.com/jamie-oliver-chicken-in-milk-best-chicken-recipe-all-time-80388

[5]https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyhorng/this-chicken-tho?utm_term=.erMnKvDgj#.npKNyYen4https://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyhorng/this-chicken-tho?utm_term=.erMnKvDgj#.npKNyYen4

[6]http://notwithoutsalt.com/chicken-braised-in-milk/http://notwithoutsalt.com/chicken-braised-in-milk/

[7]http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/milk-chicken-thighs/http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/milk-chicken-thighs/

[8]http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/roasted-cauliflower-with-cheddar-cheese-sauce-363911http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/roasted-cauliflower-with-cheddar-cheese-sauce-363911

[9]http://food.ndtv.com/recipe-cauliflower-bake-162850http://food.ndtv.com/recipe-cauliflower-bake-162850

[10]http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamed-cauliflower-with-herbed-crumb-toppinghttp://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/creamed-cauliflower-with-herbed-crumb-topping

[11]http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1272637/broccoli-and-cauliflower-cheesehttp://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1272637/broccoli-and-cauliflower-cheese

[12]http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/the-best-cauliflower-broccoli-cheese/http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/the-best-cauliflower-broccoli-cheese/