Rice and chicken stew with tomato and the very nutritious malunggay/moringa. Cooked by Yui’s grandfather (Mom side) no less. Tasted it. Even sans salt, it was delicious!
Category Archives: health is wealth
out with white bread
Finally, an access to my WordPress app! Couldn’t access the app for a almost a couple of weeks in that I had to reinstall the app. Thing is, I had to try several times to get the right password. But finally, thankfully, I now got an access!
So. Last post was about eating healthy goodness and here is yet another one!
As much as possible, whenever I feed Yui bread, I try to give her the healthier option. Thankfully, she loves it as well!
Hijiki (seaweed) rice bread (the one with white powder on the top) and rye wheat bread.
I also have these two for lunch at least once a week.
When I was pregnant, I love Muji Café’s wheat bread. Now, both Mom and baby love the bread.
Let’s opt for the healthier choice Moms and Dads!
eating right, early on
Whenever I prepare the ingredients for Yui’s food, there’s only one phrase I have in mind – only the choicest of ingredients. So I was really thrilled when I saw this “baby leaf” package in the store. Only the choicest of leaves for our baby. With ten different salad greens.
Each leaf is already quite small actually but I still cut them off in halves before steaming to avoid Yui’s choking on them. I steam a batch, store and get a portion to match with a serving of another batch of dish that I made. One example, this minced pork-tomato-potato-onion-natto dish.
Yep, there’s natto on it – that sticky, stinky but very healthy fermented beans. The first time I served natto to Yui, she had it with tofu and rice cereal.
Did she like it? Just look at that smile.
Now, I really wasn’t a healthy eater. But buying all this healthy stuff for Yui makes me think of making healthy dishes for Hubs and me as well. So even if we’re not babies, I also had the baby leaf for us adults.
I added in tomatoes, bacon, cottage cheese topped with onion dressing.
I sometimes vary our salad and put in boiled eggs and yellow bell pepper instead. Still with cottage cheese and onion dressing.
Last weekend, I decided to let Yui taste ampalaya/goya/bitter melon. As I wasn’t sure how Yui would like it, I added the ampalaya/goya/bitter melon in this asparagus-minced beef-tomato-string beans-cottage cheese-bean sprouts dish, all of which Yui had before in different mixes.
When Yui tasted it, her eyebrows were at first furrowed. But as she chewed on, a smile slowly crept on her face until it became this.
And since of course I only use up a portion of the vegetables I buy for Yui’s food, Dad and Mom had the remaining vegetables. I decided to have a goya champloo.
We had a superstition on the Philippines – that if you cook ampalaya/goya/bitter melon and it doesn’t taste bitter at all, you will have kind in-laws. Now, I’m really blessed with the kindest in-laws. Suffice it to say that my goya champloo absolutely didn’t taste bitter. 🙂
I’m not a medical professional so what I know about health and nutrition I only got from our doctor, books and Internet. But having had read extensively thus far, I am quite sad and surprised that some doctors in the Philippines still advise that milk is still enough to provide nutrition for toddlers. Toddlers and preschoolers definitely need more than milk for optimum growth. Let’s do our best Moms and Dads!
what’s in the steamer this Thursday
For Yui. Carrots, okra, tomato with cottage cheese.
On another note, since last week, the colourful meal and baby yogurt I’ve been giving Yui doesn’t seem to be enough for her. Even when the volume of her colourful meal is just a bit more than enough for babies. She ends up crying for more. Finally confirmed this evening what she’s been looking for. She wants her soup with her meal. She probably got used to having soup with her meal since on her two meals at the daycare, it’s always with soup.
And so from this evening as well, I might have to start preparing batches of soup. First in the list – miso soup! Bought these earlier.
Ok, now back to the kitchen.
Colourful meal
Made a new batch of puréed red kidney beans. Some I’ve put on expressed milk plastic storage for long duration storage in the fridge (one week at the most) and two servings on the storage box which Yui will be eating within a day or two.
Spinach green. Tomato red. Kidney beans (金時豆) brown.
For Yui’s dinner earlier this evening, I scooped out a portion of the olive oil-sautéed minced meat and onions (no salt and before I turned it into chili con carne) the Mom and Dad are having and put it on Yui’s rice together with a serving each of the spinach and tomato.
Ah, so thankful for our little happy eater. When I was a kid, I was such a picky eater that I probably haven’t eaten three quarters of the types of food Yui has been eating. Keep it up anak!
baby diaries: more hugs and kisses
Mommy yet again have fever and colds anak. Yet even when the dawn and morning had been pretty “eventful” from having had to change the sheets and your clothes twice, Mommy still have the energy to go on. And Mommy owes it to you. Because despite your very bad cough and your stye, you’re still your cheery self, giving Mommy and everyone else that beautiful big smile of yours. And when Mommy coughs (or even hiccup!) you would look at Mommy inquiringly while murmuring something, with an expression that’s quite akin to concern – yet another proof how empathetic you are.
Your body must be working double time now, adjusting from your new environment, new food whilst learning new motor skills (you try to stand up on your own now!). And you’re teething besides! Yet you didn’t make it all the more harder for Mommy by behaving, by not being fussy – main reasons why your paediatrician is not worried even when you have lost some weight already.
So I thank you.
Mommy sits here in the office during lunch break and all I could think of is how Mommy should have given you two extra hugs and kisses this morning, more than the usual. Albeit your teachers already always say “ii na” (wow that feels good), whenever I kiss and hug you goodbye.
I miss you anak even when we’re just apart for 8 hours. Let’s do our best shall we? 🙂