Kiddies Menu

2009-01-16T01:40:00.003+08:00

I have decided to close this blog as John is eating mostly table food now, which can be found at My Kitchen.

Food

2008-11-27T01:52:00.005+08:00

Been feeding John lots of porridge lately, especially fish porridge with vegetables. Occasionally, I cooked something different such as shou-mian (寿面 aka mee-shua), tofu and kuey tiaw in chicken soup and bread pudding with papaya. He is eating quite a lot of table food now, he eats whatever we eat as long as it is soft enough for him. The other day we had dinner with T's colleagues, I mixed and mashed together steamed fish, braised tofu and steamed pumpkin (南瓜盅), he loved it.

shou-mian: boil a few slices of chicken breast meat together with chopped vegetables, then add in shou-mian (break into small pieces), cook until the noodle is soft then add few drops of soy sauce and sesame oil if desired. Certain brands of shou-mian are quite salty, so taste it first before adding soy sauce. Sometimes I add chunky carrot for John to feed himself with hands.

Tofu and Kuey Tiaw in Soup: same methods as shou-mian, I added celery and some shredded konbu.

Bread Pudding: lightly beat an egg with some milk (formula + water), add some sugar and pinch of cinnamon powder. Place a slice of white bread in a gratin dish, fill in egg mixture and let it soak for about 5 minutes. Arrange papaya on the top and bake (may be steamed) for 10-15 minutes. John prefer banana version, sweeter I think... or he loves banana?

Tips: These few days I tried out an easy method in cooking porridge for single serving. The porridge turned out nicely, soft but not runny. This is how I cook it: When cooking rice for the whole family using rice cooker, place a small rice bowl in the middle of rice cooker and fill it with small amount of rice and double amount of water. Close the rice cooker's cover and cook it together with rice. When it is done, rest for 10 minutes then serve. By the way, I always soak rice for 10 minutes before cooking it.

Chicken and Vegetables Porridge

2008-11-03T16:21:00.003+08:00

Cooked this for John today. He made noises after he finised it, I guess he liked it. When I was editing this photo, he counter checked bowl of porrige on the screen and the empty bowl on the floor. I add carrot in almost all of his porridge, so they look almost the same in term of colour... mama started to feel boring. :D

To cook this, boil chicken pieces (I used breast meat) with bit of water for a few minutes then add in grated carrot, chopped chinese cabbage and chopped lettuce. Bring to boil and let it simmer until vegetables are soften. Add in cooked porridge and let it simmer for another one minute or so. I added few drops of sesame oil, not only for its taste but also the lettuce will retain its greenish colour after cooked. Remove chicken pieces before serving.

What I fed John lately?

- Shou mian (aka mee sua) with chicken stock

- Soup Kuey Tiao

- Soup Noodles

- Chicken and Celery Porridge

- Bread dipped with curry gravy

Fish and Celery Porridge

2008-10-26T01:25:00.005+08:00

I am not suppose to stay up late... a quick post, cooked this porridge for John today. Celery is the new ingredient, wanna to let him taste some veggies with aroma. Cook porridge as usual, then add in a small cut of fish and about half-cup of chopped celery. Cook fish for about five minutes, take it out and flake it with a spoon. Return flaked fish into pot, add in some grated carrot for extra fiber and vitamin. Cook for further ten minutes, add few drops of sesame oil and soy sauce. Ready to serve.

I added some seaweed strips just befofre feeding, for its colour as well as its taste. John loved his porridge. By the way, I find it easier to grate the carrot before cooking than mashing it after it is cooked. Also, the texture is finer and easier for digestion.

John has tasted these vegetables and fruits recently:

- Loofah

- Lettuce

- Chinese Cabbage

- Long Bean (good for snack!)

- Tomato

- Mango

Salmon and Tofu Porridge

2008-10-16T00:25:00.003+08:00

Salmon - new ingredient for John. Actually was not planned to cook this porridge but bought a cut of salmon and we were invited to a dinner, so cooked it for John instead. As usual, I cooked the fish separately then mix together with porridge and other ingredients. This time I cooked fish in Japanese fish stew style, but ingredients were similar steamed fish. John loved tofu in this porridge very much. I thought that the veggies should be cut into smaller size, was bit worry John might have problem eating it but he was alright.

I have observed that John has gained chewing ability, I let him bite the banana instead of scraping and feeding with a spoon.

Chawanmushi

2008-10-12T23:39:00.003+08:00

Planned to cook chawanmushi for John few days ago and finally cooked it today. John had chawanmushi before at a Japanese restaurant, I didn't had choice then. He kept making noises when he saw us eating. I ordered bentou which was served with chawanmushi, the only thing that was soft enough for him. Hesitated at first as I read lots of articles online about egg allergies, my little evil said "Hey, it is cooked!" and he won at the end. So, it is up to you if you are going to let your baby taste the egg now or later.

This chawanmushi was cooked with mashed pumpkin and tofu, full recipe is available at My Kitchen. John loved it, he ate one and a half cup. He is becoming a picky eater, yes... he is only 8-month old. Whenever he does not like the taste, he will keep his mouth shut after first bite.

Sweet Potato and Fish Porridge

2008-10-06T01:12:00.003+08:00

John had purple sweet potato for a few times but this is first time I prepared something savory and fishy for him. Before that, I made sweet potato porridge with instant cereal and the purple colour was much brighter and darker than this. Today, I used sweet potato for its colour. I am trying give my boy all 5 different colours in his food whenever is possible. Yesterday's lunch was porridge was greenish colour, with broccoli, cauliflower and carrot.

Back to this porridge, I cooked porridge and fish separately, reasons being I was not sure if John is ok with the fishy taste and I wanted to have different flavour of porridge for his dinner. Cook porridge with finely diced sweet potato as usual. Meanwhile steam a small fish or a cut of fish with few slices ginger and soy sauce. Then, mix together porridge and flaked fish.

I let T try some, at first he did not think it was nice judged by its colour. But once he tasted it, he said it was nice. John finished everything in the bowl, I was happy to see him licking his lips contentedly.

Sweet Corn Porridge

2008-10-04T23:53:00.002+08:00

We went to Cameron Highland during Hari Raya holiday. It was my first trip there, I ate lots of veggies and bought some back. When we were there, I let John try fresh raw sweet corn, he seemed like it. The raw sweet corn was so sweet and it did not has the rawness taste at all. I bought a few sweet corns too, but cooked in porridge for him instead of giving him just sweet corn, it could not be digested easily even for an adult. John and mama loved this sweet corn porridge very much.

Scallop Porridge with Veggies

2008-09-29T23:01:00.005+08:00

This porridge is similar to the one I cooked previously, added snap peas and seaweed. Seaweed added extra "flavour" from the sea, J loved it very much.

Scallop and Veggies Porridge

2008-09-23T17:28:00.003+08:00

Cooked this for John yesterday. I soaked the rice together with chopped scallop for about an hour or so before cooking it. When it was almost done, I added finely chopped carrot and cabbage. I also added few drops of light soy before serving. Verdict? John didn't like it that much, I guess it was a bit too runny. So I decided to cook it again.

Today, I changed my method of cooking. I boiled carrot chunks together with porridge and mashed them up just before serving. The texture was different from the one in the photo, it was stickier and thicker. John loved it! Now I learnt that my boy does not like runny porridge.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice (I used short grain - Japanese Rice)

1 pc dried scallop (干贝), about 2cm in diameter

2 cup water

5-6 pcs carrot chunks

1/2 cup chopped cabbage

Light soy sauce to taste

Methods:

Rinse rice and soak together with scallop for about an hour.
Remove scallop, chop finely then return to the pot. Add in carrot and cabbage.
Bring to boil, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes without lid. Add additional hot water if necessary. I used rice cooker to cook this.
Cover it and turn the heat off, and let it stay warm for about an hour. The texture will be smoother.
Mash the carrot and add soy sauce to taste.

Training Cup and Feeding Set

2008-09-23T16:45:00.004+08:00

Went to shop for feeding set few days ago, saw this 3-in-1 training cup and bought it too. I find this training cup is very practical as it comes with nipple, sipping tip (what does it called?) and straw. I let John tried all of them and settled on nipple. He is learning how to hold the cup. Actually I filled the cup with a bit of water and let him explore and play with it first.

This is the feeding set we bought for John. I don't really like the colour but no other better choices available. I was thinking to get a set which includes knife and plate but could not find it any where. To let John learn how to hold the spoon, I let him hold his spoon while I feed him with another spoon. He tried to eat from his spoon but made noises when could not get anything from it.

Sweet Potato Porridge

2008-09-18T19:00:00.004+08:00

Went back to my hometown for mid-autumn festival last weekend. My mom bought some nice sweet potatoes so I added a small one in the rice cooker and cooked together with rice for John's lunch. When coming back to Kampar, mom stuffed some sweet potatoes in my food item basket! So, John's lunch for this whole week will be sweet potatoes porridge.

Steam and mash sweet potatoes. Stir in baby formula, instant cereal and water, mix until well blended. For about quarter cup of mashed sweet potatoes, I added one flat spoon of baby formula and one heap spoon of instant cereal.

***For adult version, use fresh milk and instant oats (I love it!).

Mashed Potato

2008-09-08T10:24:00.005+08:00

This week's new food - potato. Well, not really new to John, he has tried mashed potato when we dined in KFC. It is simple mashed potato but without seasoning like salt and pepper. Less tastier than KFC's version but much healthier. I boiled chopped potatoes with some dried anchovies, mashed and added some baby formula and water to obtain consistency I desired.

***For adult version, add some mayo, salt and pepper to taste.

Carrot Porridge

2008-09-03T13:06:00.005+08:00

This is my first post about John's menu but definitely not his first solid meal. I have tried, or perhaps I should say he has tried many things such as potato, pumpkin, apple, banana, durian and many more. John is 6 months+ and I am giving him one solid meal a day currently.

John has minor cough these few days, doctor advised not to give him any fruit for the time being. So for this week I am giving him one of the ingredients I like to keep in my fridge - carrot. This orange food is good for our skin as well as giving us strong immunity.

I am lazy to cook small amount of porridge from the sketch so Nestum instant cereal comes in handy for me. Since I was preparing small amount, I used suribachi to mash the steamed carrot before adding into porridge. I tried to maintain the texture of carrot so John would have to use his tongue a bit before swallowing it. Chewing and swallowing movements exercise mouth muscles and in turn foster speech development.