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.