Online videos - the less educational ones :P

The videos which are purely for entertainment:

(1) the Cadbury eyebrow advert

She will twitch her eyebrows too!!!

(2) Hippo and dog

who let the dogs out

She'd shout 'who, who, who!'

we will rock you

She will shout 'OW!' at the correct parts... :P

the lion sleeps tonite

She will dance along, and try to imitate the actions of the dog....

(3) Gummibear

theme song:

She will dance along with the bear...

Cho Ka Kao:

She adds commentaries like, 'crabs', 'Oh no!', 'drop' (into) 'CUP!'

whahahaha...

Itsy Bitsy Bikini:

More dancing from my little one to this catchy tune....

(4) Uh huh:

She'd shake and nod her head, almost violently, along with the person in the video in her attempt to imitate him... LOL

Interesting educational online videos

It's official.

Alicia has fallen in love with Youtube.

Hence, watching Youtube videos has become one of the most important sources of mealtime entertainment. Rather than frowning upon the whim of the modern day toddler, I choose to make the most out of it.

Here are the educational videos she's sooo in love with (I've provided the links too in case the embedded videos don't appear). Do be patient as the embedded videos take some time to appear.

(1) alphabets

alphabets (supersimplesongs)

Elmo and alphabets

(2) alphabet sounds

supersimplesongs alphabet sounds

A-I

J-R

(3) Songs featuring body parts:

Head shoulders knees and toes

The skeleton dance (teaches body parts, concept of left/right)

(4) The evergreen nursery rhymes

Row row row your boat:

Incy Wincey spider:

version (i)

version (ii)

Mr Sun:

Sing a rainbow:

Twinkle twinkle little star:

The Wheels on the Bus:

Do you like the videos too? :)

My article for myplayschool (Part II)

As promised, I completed part II of my instalment for Teaching the letter A for myplayschool and it's available for viewing here.

I hope you'd find part II of my sharing useful. Feel free to comment and if you have any queries, do drop me an email at simplymommie@gmail.com or a line in my Chatterbox.

Thanks! :)

Luving the yummy spaghetti sauce!

Remember the spaghetti sauce I made recently? Well, since there was leftover sauce, I saved it so that we can have instant yummy spaghetti sauce whenever needed. Here's Alicia taking her dinner today - spaghetti topped with the yummy sauce!

In addition to her spaghetti, she had 3 mini cottage pies! :) happie mummy... well, that's only because I didn't cook a lot of spaghetti... lol.

Steamed Herbal Prawns

At some point in our lives, we must have eaten some form of herbal/ (drunken) prawns. While this may not be the authentic drunken prawn dish, it is definitely herbal (I cut down on the hua diao jiu so the alcohol content is quite minimal). :) Had this for dinner today alongside romaine lettuce and chicken chop topped with barbeque sauce...

Steamed Herbal Prawns

Ingredients:

• 12 prawns
• 3-4 slices dang gui (當 歸)
• 2 pieces huai niu qi (淮牛膝)
• 1 tablespoon wolfberries (枸杞子)
• dash of ground white pepper
• 10-15ml hua diao jiu 
• enough water to cover the prawns
• fish sauce to taste

Method:

1. Rinse the herbs.
2. Clean the prawns. Remove the head, trim the legs and devein.
3. Place the prawns into a bowl for steaming.
4. Add the water, hua diao jiu and white pepper. Mix.
5. Top the prawns with the herbs.
6. Steam (covered) for 8-10min.
7. Add fish sauce to taste.
8. Serve hot.

Double-boiled American Ginseng roots soup

I'd cooked this soup using the method of boiling on the stove earlier and essentially the herbs used are the same. However, this time I chose to use the method of double-boiling and I used pork instead of chicken.

The method of double-boiling cooks food slowly at a lower temperature. It is believed that the soup ingredients will slowly release the nutrients into the soup and the flavour and nutrients are 'locked' in the soup.

Double-boiled American Ginseng roots soup

Ingredients:

• 140g lean pork
• 1 bunch of solomon's seal
• 1 tablespoon wolfberries
• 6 red dates (pitted)
• a bunch of American ginseng roots
• 2 pieces huai shan
• 2 rice bowls water
• salt to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Blanch the meat.
2. Rinse the herbs.
3. Add all the ingredients (except wolfberries) into the double-boiler.
4. Double-boil for 2-3 hours.
5. Add wolfberries in in the last 15min.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Sieve the soup, serving only the wolfberries and pork in the soup.

I put a little too much ginseng roots so it was a tad too bitter. Cut down on the amount of ginseng and it should work just fine. :)

Chayote barley dessert (佛手瓜薏米甜汤)

I bought chayote the other day from the market as it was recommended by the vegetable seller. I had asked her for recommendations for any remedies for ridding phelgm and she suggested this (though it wasn't the first option - she had something else in mind but apparently it was already sold out so chayote was the next best choice).

FYI, I saw this in NTUC and it was labelled as Chokos.

I got some information about chayote from this site:

"Chayote (pronounced chai-yo-tay) is a member of the cucumber and squash family. Though it is eaten both in raw or cooked forms, it is actually a fruit. In both forms it is a good source of amino acids and Vitamin C. It is also low in calories, sodium, contains no cholestrol and is a good source of fibre. You can peel it or prepare it with the skin on. The seed is tender and edible as well."

Here's the pic of the chayote from that site:

And here's the cut version of the chayote:

After a bit of reading up about the chayote in Mandarin, this is what I've gathered:

Chayote's health benefits:

• Boosts immunity against diseases
• Lowers blood pressure
• A good choice of food for heart patients as it's a low sodium food
• Has 2-3 times the protein and calcium in cucumbers
• Has a significantly higher amount of minerals and vitamins compared to other melons
• Alleviates indigestion, wet cough, chest tightness, flatulence, vomiting, liver and stomach gas pains and bronchitis.
• It is high in selenium (selenium has a strong antioxidant effect that protects cell membranes from structural and functional damage).
• Aids patients with fertility problems.
• High in zinc which stimulates intelligence in children.

How could you not give this vegetable/fruit a try? :P

It is a versatile veg/fruit and can be eaten raw as in salads, cooked in savoury soups or desserts.

This time, I've decided to make a dessert out of it:

Double-boiling in progress...

Here's the link to the stir-fried version I made.

Chayote barley dessert (佛手瓜薏米甜汤)

Ingredients:

• 1 chayote (skin and seed removed, chop into chunks)
• 2 candied dates
• 1 handful Chinese barley
• less than 1 teaspoon sweet and bitter almonds (combined)
• 2-3 rice bowls water
• rock sugar (optional)

Method:

1. Rinse the herbs.
2. Add all the ingredients (except the rock sugar) into the double-boiler.
3. Double-boil for about 2 hours.
4. Add rock sugar to taste (it's already quite sweet so this is entirely optional).
5. Sieve out the candied dates and barley. Consume only the soup and the chayote.

Alicia had some of this though she wasn't particularly fond of it... in fact, she didn't quite like the chayote but was quite ok with the taste of the soup.

For toddler's consumption:

• Cut the chayote into smaller pieces before serving or allow the tot to bite off from the adult's portion.

Julia Gabriel PlayClub (Term 2 Week 9 & Graduation)

Last week Alicia went for class with her daddy while I stayed home to clean the blinds, windows and do the routine vacuuming and mopping. The theme of that week was pink so lotsa things were in pink that day, including Alicia's dress, and of course her artwork:

Cute little pig eh?

The kids had strawberry milkshake and Alicia had some too... I can't really remember what else happened that day but apparently she made a mess in the car after class because she insisted on having her milkshake in the car and in the carseat all alone, while hubby was at the wheel. lol.

Week 10's party week as usual and the kids will collect their 'graduation certificates'. :) The theme of the week was 'fizz' and so there were lotsa bubble-related activities, including art!

For this piece of art (below), the teacher blew bubbles into the paint (with soap solution added of course) and used the piece of paper to scoop up all the bubbles for each kid. The kids could then burst the bubbles with their hands/fingers or just wash them pop. Then they used cotton buds to draw 'bubbles' near the fish... well, they're supposed to be bubbles but of course Alicia had other interpretations.

This abstract art piece was done by sprinkling coloured powder with baking soda added then spraying vinegar at it using a spraycan. Due to the chemical reaction, there will be little bubbles! Of course that amused the kids. The only drawback of this activity was the excess vinegar which gets onto the paper so in order for the painting to dry properly, I had to tilt the paper so that the excess vinegar could be removed (which explains why the artwork looks like this) :)

Here's Alicia receiving her graduation cert (she wasn't as excited as she was compared to Term 1, in fact she was rather apprehensive):

This is Alicia before the party began... she went to survey the food first! haha.

Alicia playing the keyboard with her teacher during the graduation ceremony (she'd received her cert already so she was bored and checking out more interesting stuff):

Yeah! I got to play the keyboard while nobody else did! kekeke...

More about Julia Gabriel next term! For now, a well-deserved break for both Alicia and us!

Homemade pasta sauce (version II)

I slow-cooked the pasta sauce this time and it was really marvellous! So convenient to make and so delish! For the previous recipe, click here.

Even Alicia loved the sauce... you can be sure that if Alicia likes something, it's gotta be good though the converse isn't true... LOL.

Homemade pasta sauce (Version II)

Makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Hunt's stewed tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion
• 6 cloves garlic
• about 200g minced beef
• 4 white button mushrooms
• 4 Swiss brown mushrooms
• unsalted butter

Marinate minced beef with:

• worcestershire sauce
• oyster sauce
• hua diao jiu
• dashes of ground black pepper

Method:

1. Blend the stewed tomatoes with the onion and garlic.
2. Pour mixture into the crockpot.
3. Remove stalk of mushrooms and chop mushrooms into small pieces.
4. Heat wok and melt butter.
5. Brown the minced beef.
6. Add the mushrooms and beef to the crockpot.
7. Cook on HI for 3-4hours or LOW for 6-8hours.
8. Pour over cooked pasta of choice and serve hot.

Optional: Transfer to stovetop after cooking with the crockpot if the sauce is too watery. Simmer till sauce has thickened to desired consistency.

Freeze in batches for instant hearty meals! :)

Ginger Honey Drink

A drink that is often used as a home remedy for colds and ridding phelgm! It can't get simpler than this!

Ginger Honey drink

Ingredients:

• 4 slices ginger (bruised)
• honey to taste
• 1 cup water

Method:

1. Place ginger in a glass and pour boiling water over it. Let it steep for awhile.
2. When the water is cool, add honey to taste.
3. Sieve out the ginger.
4. For a stronger ginger taste, you may want to extract the juice from the ginger after sieving out the slices.

Mini Cottage Pies for the tot!

How would you like some of these?

They aren't baked yet though... but don't they look nice?

I decided to bake mini cottage pies for Alicia the other day, but using minced chicken in place of minced beef since I didn't have beef on hand. And just in case you're wondering, the potato I used was a purple one hence the violet hue instead of the usual yellow. :) Hubby actually thought it was yam... lol.

Check out Alicia's response:

Hot!

Help me with it daddy!

Waiting...

Still waiting for it to cool...

hmmm... what does it taste like...

mmmm... not bad...

Fresh out from the oven!

Mini Cottage Pies for the tot

Waiting to be baked...

Makes 10 mini pies

Ingredients:

• 1 red potato
• 1 purple potato
• 3 tablespoons minced chicken fillet
• 1/3 yellow onion (minced)
• 1/2 small carrot (minced)
• 2 tablespoons frozen green peas
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• unsalted butter

Marinate chicken with:

• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1-2tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• dash of black pepper

Method:

1. Marinate minced chicken.
2. Peel potatoes and cube them. Boil them till they are soft.
3. Mash the potatoes with about 1 tablespoon butter and a pinch of salt.
4. Heat wok and melt butter.
5. Fry the minced onion and carrot till onion is soft.
6. Add the minced chicken. Continue frying so that the chicken doesn't clump together.
7. Add the peas when chicken is almost cooked.
8. Dish up the filling.
9. Fill the silicon mini muffin cups with the filling to about the half-way mark.
10. Add the mashed potato on top.
11. Preheat oven to 200degC.
12. Bake mini pies for 20-25min at 200degC.

These mini pies can be frozen and defrosted in the fridge.

Because of the mini size, these can serve well as snacks or even breakfast. Just give more for lunch or dinner! :)

Alicia's response in the beginning was lukewarm and almost disheartening but after serving these little pies to her a few times, she started to warm up to them and eats well now! :)

Grilled white button mushrooms

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I love white button mushrooms... even the vegetable-seller at the market knows and she never fails to offer them to me when she has them on hand! :P

I love to eat the mushrooms when cooked this way - it's simple yet tasty.

Anyway, I've got lots of backdated posts and this is the first of many to come! sigh. I do hope I can get them up on my blog soon!

Grilled white button mushrooms

Before they enter the oven!

Look at the yummy mushrooms!

Ingredients:

• 10 white button mushrooms
• 2 slices black pepper ham (cut into 2cm pieces)
• marinade or stock of any kind (choose your fav)
• unsalted all-purpose herbs
• unsalted butter
• shredded mozarella/ parmesan cheese

Method:

1. Remove the stalks of the mushrooms.
2. Place some butter into the mushrooms.
3. Add a bit of marinade or stock of your choice into the mushroom (mushrooms absorb flavours well so this will give the flavour you want).
4. Add the ham.
5. Top with mozarella/ parmesan cheese.
6. Grill on HI in the oven for 10min.
7. Remove and add dashes of herbs on the mushrooms.

Sorting beans

Dinner time Montessori Practical Life skills activity: sorting beans!

She's picking out the beans rather than sorting them though and it took awhile for her to grasp what I wanted her to do... haha... even then, she doesn't always do it correctly (as shown in the video below).

Sorting in progress

The cheeky one

Scooping rice grains

Yesterday I let Alicia try scooping rice grains during her lunch to let her try something new. First she dug her hands into the container of rice grains and had a great time with the new texture. Subsequently when I offered her a scoop, she began to scoop the rice grains into the other container.

She was very absorbed in the activity when she first started and I was very busy feeding her then as she was eating properly and not keeping food in the mouth... feeding her's the priority so video-ing her had to wait. By the time I got the camera out, she wasn't so into the activity already and she was getting distracted by her daddy who had just come home early from work.

Perfect chicken wings for the toddler!

I think it was last Monday that I gave Alicia this meal... a very simple meal consisting of rice, baked chicken wings and steamed peas with a cup of water chestnut drink should she get thirsty during the meal. Well, it's nothing to rave about but it's a balanced meal to say the least. :) For variety, I usually change the veggie and mabbe throw in a bowl of soup in place of the drink.

She didn't finish up all her food ... as usual... what's new? :(

She found it amusing to pick up the peas though and she had her usual fun tearing apart the chicken wings... hehe.

Anyway, if baking only 2 midwings for the toddler, here's the recipe:

Baked midwings for the tot

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken midwings

Seasoning:

• 0.5-1 teaspoon Lee Kum Kee chicken marinade
• 0.5-1 teaspoon oyster sauce
• 0.5-1 teaspoon sugar
• dash of black pepper (optional)

Method:

1. Marinate the wings with the seasoning for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 200degC.
3. Place the wings on the baking tray. drizzle some seasoning left in the bowl on the wings and bake for 10min at 200degC.
4. Turn the wings over. drizzle the leftover seasoning and bake the other side for another 5min at 200degC.
5. Serve with fluffy rice and veggies.

Sambal Kangkong

I cooked sambal kangkong last Thursday but didn't have time to blog about it... anyway, I think I'll cook it again this week, if I manage to get them at the market! :P Hopefully I can get better photos this time round because I only realised that all the photos were a tad blurry when I downloaded the photos to my laptop yesterday!

Kangkong is rich in iron and its high level of S-methyl methionine are used in the treatment of gastric and intestinal problems. It has also been reported to have insulin-like properties which alleviates hyperglycemia. (Source: http://203.64.245.173/iv_sea/publications/kangkong.pdf)

Ok, I'm sure frying it with sambal won't aid the person having stomach or intestinal problems :P But you do know that frying it with sambal really is the way to enjoy kangkong, don't you? *wink*

Sambal kangkong

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kangkong (lightly bruise the stems and chop kangkong into segments)
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 shallots (chopped)
• 1/2 handful dried shrimps (rinse then pound some and chop some coarsely for different texture)
• 1 heaping tablespoon sambal (homemade or commercial)
• sugar (optional if your sambal already has added sugar)
• 1 chilli (sliced, de-seed if sambal used is already very spicy) - optional
• water

Method:

1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. Fry the dried shrimp till fragrant.
3. Add the garlic, shallots and chilli (optional) and fry till fragrant.
4. Add the sambal.
5. Fry till everything becomes a nice paste then add the kangkong.
6. Add a little water if too dry.
7. Dish and serve.

Hairy cucumber soup (毛瓜汤)

I think the name of this vegetable is hairy cucumber or green marrow or something... but I'm really not too sure. :P

It's usually cooked in soups and it contains carbohydrates, protein, vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin C, riboflavin, fructose, carotene, phosphorus, calcium, iron and other minerals. It's considered 'neutral' compared to wintermelon which has 'cooling' properties.

I actually cooked this soup last Thursday but had no time at all to blog about it and am finally doing so today!

Hairy cucumber soup

*Skip the dried scallop for tots below 18mths*

Ingredients:

• 1 hairy cucumber
• 250g pork ribs
• 3 chicken breast bones
• 1 dried scallop
• 1 handful red dates (pitted)
• fish sauce to taste
• 1 soup pot water

Method:

1. Blanch the pork ribs and chicken bones.
2. Rinse and place dried scallop in a small soup bag.
3. Remove the skin and seeds of the cucumber and chop into chunks.
4. Place all the ingredients (except the hairy cucumber and fish sauce) into a pot.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer for a few hours.
6. Sieve out the bones and place everything else back into the soup, including the dried scallop.
7. Add the hairy cucumber and boil for about 20min.
8. Add fish sauce to taste before serving.

For toddler's consumption:

• Skip the dried scallop for tots below 18mths
• Cut hairy cucumber into small pieces before serving or allow the tot to bite off from the adult's portion since it's so soft! :)

Review: FairPrice's Roundies (Corn pops with honey)

Brand: FairPrice

Origin: Germany

Where to buy: NTUC

Product: Roundies (corn pops with honey)

Weight: 250g

Allergen advice: Contains soya products (soya lecithin)

May contain traces of cereals containing gluten and milk products

Here's our latest breakfast food which we alternate with Cheerios to give ourselves and Alicia some variety for breakfast cereals.

Taste-wise, I find that it's really quite nice and you can serve it with or without milk. Personally I munch on them without milk as a snack (and so does Alicia)... haha... it's that tasty and addictive. :P

Though a sweetened cereal, it is not too sweet in my opinion though I wouldn't advise that children below 1 consume this product as they should not be introduced to salt or sugar at that age. :)

If you really find it too sweet to eat on its own, eating it together with milk definitely helps as the corn pops soak up the milk relatively quickly. Hence, if you are going to take some time to eat the cereal, make sure you don't pour all the cereal into the milk at one go or you'll have to eat soggy cereal (which is gross, in my opinion). :)

Besides the great taste, the cereal is a source of vitamins E, B6, B12, B1, B2 and B3! :)

Give it a try! Who says housebrand stuff aren't good? :)

My article for myplayschool

Some time in late April/ early May, I wrote an article for myplayschool to share how I teach Alicia the alphabet upon Pauline's request/ invitation. (Myplayschool is a newly set up site to share activities and ideas for teaching the toddler and preschooler at home.)

You can view my article here. Essentially, it's really one of my old posts but I have included some of my teaching philosophies and the approach I take for teaching little tots.

I think it's crucial to read this article of mine there, especially if you happen to have the misconception that I stress my little one out by trying to teach her so early. Certainly, that is not my intention. And that is definitely not what I have done. I go through learning aids only when she wants to and I never force her to learn when she doesn't want to, simply because trying to do so would be fruitless anyway. :P

Have a good read and I hope to finish part II of this instalment by the end of this week! (I've promised Pauline! haha... :P)

Fun at Go Go Bambini!

I've been really busy lately so some of these posts are really backdated...

My sister-in-law drove Alicia and I to Go Go Bambini to have fun last Wednesday... of course Alicia's playmate (my niece, Natalie) went along. It was an outing that both kids looked forward to and enjoyed thoroughly. I was so worn out after running around after Alicia at the indoor playground and I have to salute my 61-yr-old mum for being able to do so too!

Here are some photos I managed to take - without being too blur because the kids could hardly stop moving for me to get a proper photo!

Wow! So colourful!

Higher, Grandma!!! :P

Wow... look at the playground grandma!

Wow... I can make music with my feet!

Down we go!

My sil and my cute, super cheerful nephew

I'm luving this place!

Watch me cross this bridge mummy!

Dancing....

Lotsa steps for me to climb!

Wait for me, jie jie!

I love balls... but hate ball pits.

I only came in because jie jie came in...

Tunneling!

Mummy says it hurts her knees soooo much to crawl through with me!

Mummy's growing old!

More tunnels!

Time for a break! Egg-peeling exercise with grandma...

but she hardly ate... was only interested in the peeling... :(