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Sukiyaki Egg Cups

Sukiyaki Egg Cups

This is an extremely easy dish to cook. You can google bacon egg cups and everyone on pininterest is pinning it.

I tweaked it a little and substituted the bacon for sukiyaki pork strips. I’ve cut down a lot on processed meats such as bacon, sausages which are high in sodium and preservatives. I’m sure it’d taste a lot yummier with bacon but I didn’t like the idea of hastening myself and the family to the grave.

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You just need the following :
A muffin tray
Sukiyaki pork strips (or bacon strips)
Egg
Cheese (optional)
Salt and pepper and herbs (to taste)

Line the muffin tray cavities with the pork strips. Crack an egg into each cavity. Add salt, pepper or herbs to taste.

Pop the tray into the oven. 15 mins at 200°C. Or when the egg sets. Sprinkle cheese bits over the eggs.

宝贝 gave it a thumbs up and declared that the “jellied” eggs tasted fantastic!!

Cooking with 宝贝 – Butter Cookies

Cooking with 宝贝 – Butter Cookies

I’ve been keeping this simple recipe so that I can bake this with 宝贝. I can’t remember where I copied it from though. I usually copy and paste interesting recipes into my phone notes.

She’s been clamoring to bake cookies ever since she did it at school and at Totts. She even went shopping for baking stuff with me. We bought a couple of cool gingerbread boy and girl cookie cutters which have been idling in the drawer for months.

We needed to bring food for her school’s pattern party and the same day was also Teacher’s Day so I thought, why not?? We made one for everyone in class, including her 3 teachers. We even made 2 more for her “bus” friends. We even had a lot of dough leftover for our own consumption.

The butter cookies were of the right texture – not moist and with the right crumbly taste. Pretty yummy actually and neither were they overly sweet. Definitely a recipe for keeps.

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I set her to the task of measuring out the ingredients. It trained her motor skills and it helped her with recognizing numbers in the hundreds. She diligently measured out the ingredients and set them aside. I only measured out the butter which was too difficult for her to cut up.

I kneaded all the ingredients into a big chunk of dough. Then it’s over to her again. She took the dough out bit by bit, flattened them and cut the shapes out with cookie cutters. I helped her lay them neatly on the paper lined baking trays as they were too soft to be handled by her. See all the misshapen ones out there!

We were mighty proud of the end results. :)

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Check out the little gingerbread boys and girls, pigs, rabbits and birds.

320g Butter (I used unsalted butter)
600g Self Raising Flour
150g Icing Sugar (I used normal sugar as I didn’t have icing sugar at home)
1 egg (lightly whisked)

Simple right? Just 4 ingredients. You can add crushed nuts and dried fruits to it. Or you can decorate the cookies with frosting after they are baked.

1. Mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl. My largest bowl was too small. I resorted to using my steel soup pot. :p

2. Add softener butter into the flour sugar mixture. Add the egg in.

3. Knead until the dough is formed.

4. Roll the dough. Flatten it. Cut out the dough with cookie cutters.

5. Bake them for 13-15 mins in a preheated oven for 180°C. If you are using an air fryer, bake the dough for 10 mins at 180°C in the baking tray. I used both because I was trying to finish the baking as soon as I could.

6. Once they are baked, leave them on the cooling rack. Store them in an air tight container when they are cooled. Or eat them all up! Very addictive. :)

Easy peasy. If 宝贝 and I can bake them, anyone can!

Food Diary Day 88 – white cabbage purée

Food Diary Day 88 – white cabbage purée

I’ve been slacking in updating my food diary BUT I’m still diligently introducing low allergenic food to 小小宝贝 every 3 days. I’ll try to update it as often as I can.

Today is white cabbage day!

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I love to eat white cabbage! You just need to lightly stir fry it to bring the sweetness out of it. It’s vastly versatile and can be paired off with most food. Best of all, it’s one of the low allergenic foods. Not only that, cabbage is a good source of beta-carotene, vitamin C and fiber.

Wash the leaves thoroughly. Cut them up into strips and steam them for 10 minutes.

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All my cabbages stuffed into the steamer blender up to it’s brim.

Then blend!

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I hope he will love it tomorrow.

Food diary summary…

Food Diary Day 19 – Sweet Pea Purée

Food Diary Day 19 – Sweet Pea Purée

This is the first store bought purée (well, minus the Heinz apple one which was unintentional) for 小小宝贝.

We had prepared sweet pea purée for 宝贝 a few years back. After our first attempt, we vowed not to do it again. It simply wasn’t worth the hassle.

In case, you are interested in the preparation procedure…
Buy a bag of frozen green peas from any supermarket.
Steam them for 10 mins.
Blend them.
Press the purée against a sieve to get rid of the hard skin.

It was the last step that “killed” us.

After sieving one big serving of green pea (the sieving took at least 15 minutes), we ended up with just 1/3 of it. Pathetic. After all that hard work….

So, while I shun off the shelf purée, the Healthy Times sweet pea purée is good enough for me.

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Food Diary Summary…

Food Diary Day 13 – Sweet Potato Purée

Food Diary Day 13 – Sweet Potato Purée

小小宝贝’s purée repertoire has expanded. I’ve introduced him his first root – sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta-carotene (a provitamin A carotenoid), vitamin C, vitamin B6, manganese and potassium.

I’m slowly adding on food from every category and colours. I love colourful food!

Preparation :
Steam the sweet potato for 15-20 mins.
Skin it. After steaming, the flesh detaches easily from the skin. Blend it.

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Food Diary Summary…

Food Diary Day 11 – Home Made Purée Vs Off the Shelf Purée

Food Diary Day 11 – Home Made Purée Vs Off the Shelf Purée

We left home in a hurry and we forgot to bring along the apple purée that Papa had painstakingly prepared for 小小宝贝. We bought a Heinz apple purée off the shelf of cold storage.

After 2 spoonfuls, 小小宝贝 clamped his little mouth up and refused to eat more.

I’ve sampled the store bought purée before. It tasted sweeter, denser in texture and not as fresh. Maybe it’s all in the mind, but the discerning baby could tell the difference. He’s been spoiled by home cooked food.

宝贝 helped us finish up the entire bottle. “Yummy!” She declared.

小小宝贝 had the home made one for dinner. He finished the entire cube and whined for more….

Food Diary Summary…

Food Diary Day 10 – Steamed Apple Purée

Food Diary Day 10 – Steamed Apple Purée

Finally the fruit purée ic has time to get to work. It’s steamed apple purée! Think – the yummy steaming apple in apple crumble! Naturally sweet and smooth.

Cut the apples into pieces and steam them for 15 minutes. Blend them. Simple riiiggghhhttt?

And so, 小小宝贝 had a whale of a time eating his apple purée. He downed 6 teaspoons of it. I didn’t get back in time to snap his photo. :( I could only rely on the testimonial given by the proud daddy.

宝贝 got to eat apple yoghurt today. She hadn’t had it for the longest time ever. She even licked her bowl clean. =.=” yup it was THAT yummy.

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*Rows of purée. Apple, spinach then pumpkin.

Soon he will get to eat a wider variety of purée. A great start to an exciting adventure!

Meanwhile I’ve thought of loads of stuff to make with apple purée. :)

Food Diary Summary…

Food Diary Day 7 – Spinach Purée

Food Diary Day 7 – Spinach Purée

Spinach holds the highest iron content among the low allergenic food. So naturally it was the next food sample for 小小宝贝.

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*A row of yummy spinach purée in baby cubes.

I used the Chinese spinach which tasted less bitter. Blanche it in boiling water for 1 minute then blend it. I fed him 5 teaspoons freshly made and froze the rest for the next few days.

The texture was different from that of the pumpkin purée so he pushed the initial few spoonfuls around his mouth with his little a while before swallowing them.

A baby’s sense of taste is like a piece of blank paper. Every kind of food is a different experience for him. I like to think that 宝贝 eats almost everything (including vegetables) from no seasoning to seasoning was because we started her on the right foot by letting her taste all the different foods in their most natural states. And we are careful to make sure that her every meal consists of meat, vegetables and fruits. We occasionally slip up when we dine out, though….

So 小小宝贝 finished 5 teaspoons of spinach purée. Quite a fair bit for a first timer. Hopefully it’ll bring some pink to his cheeks and I won’t have to administer iron supplement. I prefer natural food than artificial vitamins. I’m old school…

I stopped his pumpkin purée after 3 days. I made the mistake of feeding 宝贝 with the “orange” foods like pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato for consecutive days that she turned orange! No kidding!

Luckily she reverted back to normal after I stopped feeding her with the orange food. Phew!

Food Diary Summary…

Food Diary Day 4 – Pumpkin Purée

Food Diary Day 4 – Pumpkin Purée

It’s the first day of a new taste. I wanted to serve some spinach to 小小宝贝 to “up” his iron intake, only to find that there’s no spinach in the refrigerator. It must have been cooked, eaten and fermenting somewhere in the sewers.

Since my Dad specially bought organic Japanese pumpkin for his precious, I might as well use that. One small little slice cost more than $2!!

I chopped it up into small chunks and steamed them for 15 minutes. I added some water and blended the chunks into smooth orange purée. I tried some myself – yummy and sweet.

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I started off with 2 teaspoons of pumpkin purée, in case he didn’t take to the taste. He threw a tantrum after he finished it…. He went on to have 6 teaspoons in all…

I froze 3 more portions in baby cubes so that he could have them for the next few days.

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宝贝 insisted that it’s her favourite (which was really strange… I made chicken chop in pumpkin sauce for her, she declared that she hated pumpkin but still finished it to the last bit.) so she ate up the rest….

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A good sleep after his pumpkin lunch.

Breakfast – 3 teaspoons of brown rice cereal
Lunch – 6 teaspoons of pumpkin purée =.=”
Dinner – 3 teaspoons of brown rice cereal

Milk feeds as usual… He sure can eat…

Food Diary Summary…

Food Diary Day 3 – Still Brown Rice Cereal?!

Food Diary Day 3 – Still Brown Rice Cereal?!

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Yums! Today 小小宝贝 has graduated from having one meal (breakfast) of solid food to 2 meals (and dinner).

The ultimate aim is to serve him solid food for all 3 meals, while cutting down on his milk, which will eventually not be able to fulfill his needs. He’s currently still taking all milk feeds on top of his meals.

Today is the 3rd day of his first food – brown rice cereal. 3 teaspoons of cereal for breakfast and lunch. He’s been eating up the cereal in record time. He’s probably a food lover just like his elder sis!

Tomorrow he will be trying another low allergenic food for the first time.

Food Diary Summary…