Why does 17chipmunks have so much energy to do things?

From being asked how I manage to do many things with an active toddler, now what?

Over two days, two persons asked me “why do you have so much energy to do so many things?”

My answer was: when I get to do things that are in my lists (i.e. tick them off the list of things), I will be happy and thus not tired! I am just implementing how I used to work in the school/ office at home.

One of them says: “You are goal oriented!”

Yes, it is true. LOL!

I was waiting for my girl to take her nap today so that I could bake my first chiffon cupcakes – since one of the mummies shared the easy way to do so! And, yes, I succeeded.

Happiness overload!

My first ever chiffon cupcakes for my girl!

Now I have another option for her 2nd birthday!

Recipe, as per below; except I reduced castor sugar to 15g. It yielded me 12 mini cupcakes!

My girl enjoyed the cupcakes!

Meal times battle – Solution 1

Mealtimes have been a “battle” this week for my 20m1d. It is not that she doesn’t want to eat, but she just can’t stop walking or running around and climbing among the dining chairs (messing around the table – to the extent I have removed 95% of items from the dining table). She could self feed herself quietly maybe for few spoons and then starts her “drama”. (Where’s my good little girl who sits down quietly to eat until she had enough?) I can imagine the headache if she does this if we are dining out!

Think… Think… Think… I then decided to display my anime Ichigo Mashimaro in front of her. It works! For dinner, she sat down quietly to eat (staring, occasionally taking them to feed/kiss them) – though not totally self fed – from main meal to her dessert. *cross fingers*. But I shall remind myself that what works today may not work tomorrow; but what does not work today, does not mean it won’t work tomorrow.

If she gets bored, I have few more different figurines in the cupboard. But my dear friend suggested that I look for her favourite minion figurines, which is not a bad idea.

Today we had leftovers for dinner except for the apple & old cucumber soup that I boiled this morning.

We had the remainders of rice cooker fried rice ( https://17chipmunks.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/rice-cooker-fried-rice/) topped with bolognese sauce ( https://17chipmunks.wordpress.com/2014/08/30/richer-colour-bolognese-sauce/). I added some red cabbage into the soup.

Dessert: Watermelon

She was feeding Doraemon this morning.

Red cabbage pan mee with apple & old cucumber soup

Lunch today for 20m1d: Red cabbage pan mee with apple & old cucumber soup

Soup recipe: https://17chipmunks.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/tuna-rice-pancake-and-apple-old-cucumber-soup/

For the red cabbage pan mee dough:
Few red cabbage leaves blended with water
All purpose flour
Corn flour
Olive oil

*no exact measurements; I didn’t add tapioca starch this time
* I could taste some of the cabbage taste

My girl is undergoing a stage of standing around the dining table for meals and wanting to be fed. *headache* Hope she will be back to her usual self soon!

Easy snack today: Fresh banana

The 20m1d walks into the kitchen; points to the banana and nods that she wants it! And so the easy snack today!

Sugar less banana oaty pancake topped with yogurt for my 20m1d

Hmmm… Seems the answer to a “nice looking” pancake lies in ‘hand mixer’. I just needed 3 ingredients for these pancakes.

1 egg
1 banana
1 tbsp grind oats (or dried oats that are blended) – I used the normal Quakers oat

Steps: Beat the egg with hand mixer. Add in banana that is already sliced and the oats. Mix well (I continue to use my hand mixer). Pan fry. (I didn’t use any oil).

I served her with 2 tsp of Farmers Union Greek Style Natural Yogurt. She had closed to five mini pieces of the pancakes.

Munching on nectarine as morning snack!

Richer colour bolognese sauce

The natural ingredients bolognese sauce that I cooked has always looked kind of pale. So, today I decided to try adding some dragon fruit to provide a richer natural colouring! Wow, it works!

The sauce, which is also my hubby’s lunch uses:
1. Blend one big onion and 2 tomatoes. Set aside.
2. Blend quarter of dragon fruit and 1 tomato. Set aside.

3. Blend one bowl homemade stock with steamed butternut squash (about quarter size).
4. Blend one carrot and one farm fresh skinny milk. Set aside.
5. In a pan of olive oil, pour (1), (2), (3) and (4).Stir well.
6. Add in one or two bowl of homemade stock. Let it come to boil.
7. Add in chopped 50g Cool light n tasty cheese and 2 tbsp Yoplait plain yogurt. Stir well and let it come to boil for 2 minutes.

Done! One of the pictures shows the sauce.

*Note: I am using skinny milk and Coon light n tasty cheese because I wanted it to be low fat (since I am cooking also for a friend who was popping by). It is okay for toddler to take in low fat products; but full fat is the better choice.

To make the complete bolognese sauce:
1. Stir fry onions in olive oil.
2. Add in minced pork (marinated with fresh grape juice, corn flour and pepper overnight) and white button mushrooms.
3. Pour in the above sauce bit by bit.
4. Add another small bowl of homemade sauce.
5. Add in one cup of fresh sweet corn. Let it come to a boil and done.

I served my girl with spaghetti for lunch and with macaroni for dinner. She wasn’t feeding herself for lunch and my hubby handled her since my friend was her. She had only half of it. For dinner, she self fed herself only 30% while the rest I spoon fed her (at the end, she finished all). She had watermelon juice for both lunch and dinner.

Second trial on hand kneaded and oven baked cream cheese bread loaf

My fingers were extremely “itchy” for not having to bake for more than 5 days. LOL! This time I modified the ingredients (types and amount), method (following part of the fluffy pancake method) and temperature & timing setting (based on tips given by my dear friend).

Wet ingredients:
1 egg
1 tsp molasses sugar
2 ounces fresh farm skinny milk
2 tbsp cream cheese
– mix with hand mixer until fluffy

Dry ingredients
200g bread flour
30g cake flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp molasses sugar
– mix everything

Mix wet ingredients into dry and knead for 10 minutes. Leave it aside for 30 minutes. Then, knead for 2 minutes. Leave it aside for 1 hour or until it turns more than double the size.

In a preheated oven of 180 degree celcius (fan on), bake for 35 minutes. Leave it in the oven until it cool down.

End result: Lighter colour crust, a little more fluffy and less dry!

*I forgotten to add yogurt and wonder if it turns even better with yogurt.

Read more: First trial on hand kneaded and oven baked cream cheese bread loaf

20 months of breastfeeding

After 20 months of breastfeeding & attachment parenting, my favourite parts of motherhood are the snuggling I get from my girl while direct latching (even when she is sleeping); the “hai”s and “bai”s she gives my bobbies before and after latching; the kisses she gives my boobies; and the soft + long kisses she gives me on my lips (with or without motives)!

Happy 20th month old baby!

little 17chipmunks first trial on Farmers Union Greek Style Natural Yogurt

My little girl has persistently ate yogurt since she was 8 month old – and I have stick to Farm Fresh Natural Yogurt (which is around RM15 to RM16 for 1.5litre). Two reasons for this: (1) I can get them easily in most hypermarkets/ supermarkets; and (2) They are cheaper (yes, cost is a factor to me, and we consume at least 2 buckets of 1.5 litre every month). This is despite the fact that greek style yogurt has more benefits than natural yogurt. In short, greek yoghurt is strained to get rid of the whey. It has about half the sugar as those others. So realistically it is much better. (Read more here: http://www.wholesomebabyfoodguide.com/greek-yogurt-for-babies-when-can-babies-eat-greek-yogurt/) The only other yogurt that I gave her was Sunglo Greek Yogurt, when Farm Fresh Natural Yogurt ran out of stock in the nearest hypermarket near my ex-office.

 

So, as mentioned earlier, we have free samples from National Foods. This morning we have the usual fruits yogurt topped with cheerios. Since we had the last spoon of Farm Fresh Natural Yogurt yesterday, we tried on Farmers Union Greek Style Natural Yogurt. (You can read more here: http://farmersunionyogurt.com.au/)

 

Her brekkie today: Papaya and Honeydew with Farmers Union Greek Style Natural Yogurt topped with cheerios:

 

My girl’s expression would tell.

 

As usual, she will poke at her food first before tasting it. After feeling the texture (which is not sticky – she hates sticky food!), she decided to taste it. Yes, sourish initially (as usual when she takes yogurt, her initial expression is “like that”).

 

But then, compared to her usual style (of picking fruits instead), she decided to dip the cheerios onto the yogurt and decided to place into her mouth.

 

She actually decided to picked, dipped and ate all her cheerios with the yogurt before she ran away from the dining table. She was climbing up and down; so we spoon fed her – and that’s what left:

 

I think, to her, Farmers Union Greek Style Natural Yogurt is less sourish compared to to Farm Fresh Natural Yogurt – which I could see from the extent of her initial sourish face. LOL!

 

To make a fair comparison, I would compare it with Sunglo Greek Yogurt. Personally, I took the same breakfast as my girl too (I could vaguely remember Sunglo Greek Yogurt taste); and thus would be able to tell: both of them have creamier and chunkier taste. But Farmers Union’s has a much better texture – it is less “rough”, I would say. It is also less tangy between the both. I have not followed the pricing for Sunglo’s but Farmers Union Yogurt 1kg is RM 18.90.

 

Now that I am preparing more flavourful brekkie for my girl and not just fruits yogurt, I don’t mind switching to Farmers Union Greek Style Natural Yogurt for direct consumption (if she enjoys having it more), while I stick to Farm Fresh Natural Yogurt for cooking/baking.

This is a picture of the Sunglo Greek Yogurt (the “pail” is now a toy to my girl):

 

Ok, sad point about Farmers Union’s – it cannot be a “pail” to my girl.

 

Happy 20th month old baby!

One word to describe her this week: Terror!

This week:
1. She has gone extremely “wild” at home – climbing every part of the house.
2. She is throwing tantrums for very minor things such as I ran faster than her.
3. She has a new territory at the dining table; just next to her papa’s sit where he works on his laptop while on mc.
4. She climbs and sits on mummy’s table where the desktop is to watch her videos.
5. She is testing our limits and wants us to read her mind, demanding this and that, simply walking into the kitchen and pointing to the fridge. We gave her options which she choose but ended up “not the one she wanted”.
6. Throwing pillows is her hobby now!
7. She gets away from the car seat in papa’s car by wailing and saying “nen nen”.
8. She is not really concentrating during her meal times.
9. She can imitate some sound like “boom boom”.
10. She knows that she needs to pick up one set of toys before she could play with another set.

But she has been sweet too!
11.. She has been saying out “hai” and “bai” to kids she meets in the park; “hai” to us when we return home and “bai” to papa before she goes to sleep.
12. She kisses us deeply and unexpectedly even when she needs nothing!

Losing patience is my limitation this week when I have to juggle with so many things & emotions. Hope I will be a better mum now onwards – still in the learning process!

The joke of the week this week – when I posted about “terror two” – my hubby initially thought it was the two terrors at home, who are our girl and him! LOL!

Rice cooker fried rice

I am actually tempted to make stew rice for my 19m30d but I had gut feeling that she would likely reject it as the texture is close to porridge, which she dislikes (at this point of time). I actually like the idea of adding stock to cooking the rice which adds richness to the cooked rice. So, I do something different, but taking my earlier idea of making garlic and celery rice.

Ingredients:
1 cup short grain rice, soaked for 4 hours
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 bulb of garlic, minced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 carrot, diced
1/2 fresh sweet corn, cob removed
2 white button mushrooms, diced
2 tbsp stir fried pork (marinated in apple) with onions
1 tbsp Coon extra tasty cheese, chopped
1 bunch pandan leaves
1 cup homemade stock

Method:
1. Stir fry garlic in olive oil until fragrant.
2. Add in celery, carrot, corn, cheese & mushroom. Stir for a minute.
3. Add in grains and stir for another minute. Off fire.
4. Transfer to rice cooker.
5. Add in the stock and pandan leaves. Press cook.

In 15 minutes or so, done! Super fragrant, thanks to the pandan leaves.

The girl had almost all, probably 1/5 fell on the floor. 80% self fed and wanted ice water.