Steamed Sweet Potatoes with Pear Puree

Due to the recent contamination of apples from US, some mummies have expressed their concerns & refrained from buying apples for now eventhough the AVA has commented that Singapore did not import the affected batches. Since I had just ran out of apples and there were some nice juicy pears sitting in my fridge, I decided to substitute the apples with pears for BB's fave puree.

Ingredients (serve 1 toddler & 1 adult)

2 sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed

1 Asian pear, cubed

Directions:

1. Steam the sweet potatoes (I'm using my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender) for 10 minutes.

2. Add the pear & steam for another 5 minutes.

3. Blend & serve warm.

This combination is just as good as the apple version, if not, better! As pears tend to be juicier than apples, this purée has more moisture in it & is very sweet-tasting too.

BB's Feeding Tools On-the-Go

One of the things mummies have to prepare for their precious little one's food journey is a good thermal food jar. After reading rave reviews for the brand Thermos, we went down to their counter at Takashimaya to take a look at their selection. I was greeted with superb service from one of their sales assistants who was friendly, knowledgeable but yet not too pushy. 

I settled for the JBG-2000 Lunch Tote as I knew then that I would be doing BLW & had wanted one with separate layers. There are 3 tubs for vegetables (0.4L), rice (0.75L) & soup (0.3L) & it is supposed to keep food warm for up to 6 hours. I usually use this when I prepare pastas with sauces on the go, as I do not want to mix and store them in the same tub, as it would cause the pasta to become soggy.

Tip: Run the cooked pastas under cool water to prevent it from cooking further before putting them in the topmost tub (meant for vegetables). Pour the piping hot sauce into the bottom most tub (meant for soup). Mix them together before serving & your LO will get to enjoy a warm & delicious pasta meal =)

A couple of days later, I went shopping again, this time with my PILs, as the Takashimaya Baby Fair was on. I decided to buy the Stainless King Food Jar (0.7L) too as I believe it would come in handy if I needed only to bring out a single food item. And boy was I right! Seeing how messy BB gets when he self-feeds, we decided against letting him do that when we're out. Thus, purees & porridges are his typical meals on-the-go. This food jar is supposed to keep food hot for 9 hours & cold for 12 hours. The hotness claim was put to test many a times (I've not used it to store cold food as yet and so can't attest to that) & it has never failed me. The best example was at a recent relative's wedding that we attended. His food was prepared & transferred into the food jar at 9.30am. When Daddy-O was emptying the leftovers before washing it that night, he noticed that the porridge was still slightly warm. This was almost unbelievable since more than 12 hours had already passed! Another bonus is that its insulated cover actually doubles up as a serving bowl too.

By now, you may have noticed that the sizes of my food jars are not typically the small & cute ones meant for babies. Yes, you can call me a typical Kiasu Singaporean..lolz! I didn't want to be caught in a situation where BB's food intake increased & I would have to buy bigger ones again. I'm proud to say that I have made the right choice. His appetite is not exactly that small & on days when we need to be out from morning / early afternoon till night, the King Food Jar is big enough for me to put 2 portions for his lunch & dinner. In conclusion, at a fraction of the other more costly brands, I've found that both have served me well & I'm confident that they'll continue to do so for many more foreseeable months or even years!

The only thing I feel was lacking in both jars was a spoon. The tote comes with a pair of chopsticks which I haven't used till now. On the other hand, you may be happy to know that the improvised King Food Jar comes with a metal spoon now. Unfortunately for me, I had to buy a spoon myself. I decided on the OXO On-the-Go Feeding Spoon. I like it as it is made from a soft silicon which is gentle on BB's gums & comes in a compact case. Another deciding factor is that it is in a matching blue colour (other colours are available too) to the King Food Jar I bought..hee ^.< The shallow spoon head helps to prevent feeding too much food but I find it a bit too shallow especially when it takes like forever to feed him soup.

In addition, I bought BB the Tommee Tippee's Roll n Go Bib. Its special crumb-catcher, wipe-clean finish & roll-up design for storage are key reasons as to why I chose it.

Last but not least, I also purchased the Fisher Price Booster seat but I shalll share more on it in a separate post with my high-chair. Okie, it seems like he's finally all 'geared-up' for meals on-the-go!

Weaning from 6MO

The list of foods you can consider giving your 6MO baby is as follow:

Cereals - barley, oats, rice

Fruits - apple, apricot, avocado, banana, mango, nectarine, peach, pear, plum, prune & pumpkin

Vegetables- acorn / butternut squash, carrot, green beans, parsnip, peas, sweet potato & yellow squash / zucchini 

Dairy - plain whole milk yogurt

There's a new school of thought when it comes to weaning known as Baby Led Weaning or in short, BLW. I first saw it in practice when a girlfriend of mine gave her then 6MO gal a slice of apple to gnaw on. As the date drew nearer to the recommended weaning of 6MO for BB, I started doing more research online & I stumbled upon it again. Upon reading more about it, I decided to give it a try but decided to adopt a two-pronged approach. I would let BB explore & 'play' with his food but would feed him some purees if he still wanted more subsequently.

2 weeks before he turned 6MO, I started spoon-feeding him some breastmilk to test if he had lost his tongue-thrust reflex as well as to let him get used to drinking from a spoon. He showed more & more signs of readiness & with advices from some experienced mummies, I decided to start him off a few days short of him reaching 6MO.

His first encounter with solid food was actually avocado mixed with breastmilk. Avocado is one of the best food for babies as it has a high nutrient content & good fats too. I'm actually blessed as my boy turned out to be a food lover just like his parents & he accepted it readily. 

Ingredients:

1/2 of a ripe (brown & slightly soft when pressed) avocado, mashed

Breastmilk (or formula milk)

Directions:

1. Mix some milk bit by bit into the avocado till you get the desired consistency (mine was quite watery for the first try & I gradually thicken it for the next 3 days).

I also followed the 4 days rule when introducing every new food to check for any allergies & it always seemed like an eternity >.< For his first month on solids, I only managed to introduce 5 foods, namely avocado, butternut pumpkin, sweet potato, peas & oats, to him (partly he was unwell during the CNY period so I stopped his food intake temporarily & instead directly latched him throughout).

Ingredient & Direction:

A small piece of organic butternut pumpkin, diced & steamed by my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender.

(Note: easily squashed)

Ingredient & Direction:

A small Japanese sweet potato, cut into long strips, steamed & half blended by my Avent.

(Note: may be a bit dry so get ready some water to feed in between)

Ingredient & Direction:

A small handful of Watties frozen peas steamed & half blended by my Avent.

(Note: add a bit of room temperature water for it to be blended more smoothly)

Ingredients:

1 tbsp of blended organic rolled oats

1/4 cup of breast / formula milk or water

1/2 avocado, 1/4 sliced & 1/4 mashed

Directions:

1. Oats cooked as per normal. 

2. Add in mashed avocado, mix & serve warm.

Natural Remedies for Runny Nose & Cough: Cut Raw Onions & Double-Boiled Asian Pear

Recently, I keep hearing of my friends' little ones falling sick and so I thought I'd share a natural remedy which I'd learnt from one of the mummies from the "Healthy Food for my Baby" Facebook group. During CNY, my boy was down with a very strong virus attack. His stuffy & runny nose couldn't stop dripping & he was coughing quite badly too. After 2 visits to his paediatrician & almost completing his course of medication, he didn't show any signs of recovering. 

I then decided to try out some natural remedies & to my relief, they worked! After he had fallen asleep, I cut some raw purple onions & placed them near to him. Believe it or not, he could breathe much better that very night! I continued the treatment the next day during his nap again. Word of caution though: the strong pungent onion fumes will difuse throughout the entire room : / My hubby hated it but tolerated for the sake of our boy. Thank you, my dearie ;*

With the positive results from the onions, I was also encouraged to try a new food therapy for him - double-boiled Asian pear, which actually helps to nourish the lungs.

Ingredients:

1 Asian pear, sliced (was advised by my mum subsequently to peel off the skin).

Directions:

1. Place the sliced pear into a ceramic pot. Put the ceramic pot into a bigger pot of water to double-boil for 2 hours.

2. Feed some pear as well as some of the pear essence that is secreted during the double-boiling.

BB really started getting better & recovered in no time. It even helped to ease the process of feeding medicine to him. He can accept the taste of paracetamol but not for the others & will struggle & keep his mouth shut whenever we try to feed them to him. As a last resort, I added some of the pear essence into his medicine & he drank them up without any resistance. The sweetness probably made it more palatable ~.^

I've since shared this with many of my mummy friends & some of them have remarked to me that it's truly indeed effective. In fact, it has become one of our favourite homemade dessert. Given Singapore's hot weather all year round, I think it helps to cool our bodies down too. Now, I'll prepare it for supper almost fortnightly, with an added Chinese almonds for our "adult" version.

Avocados, Brain Food for BB!

In my "Weaning from 6MO" post, I've shared that avocado was the 1st food which I introduced to BB. Like many 1st time mummies, I was at a total lost when it came to choosing a ripe avocado. I remembered buying 1 for myself when I was pregnant, and not knowing for certain if it was as yet ripe, I ate it. It was hard & tasted kinda funky. Never did I buy it again during the rest of my pregnancy. I actually had to do some homework before I went to buy them for BB subsequently.

Tips in choosing the right avocado:

- If you want to use soon, it must be entirely brown in colour. When squeezed lightly, it should feel slightly soft but yet firm. If it's too soft, it'd most likely mean that it's already over-ripe. It's best to keep it refrigerated & consumed ASAP.

- If you'd like to store more for later consumption (especially when there's a promotion on heehee), choose firm greenish-brown ones & leave them on a table or counter-top at room temperature until they are almost brown before transferring them into your fridge.

- Do not remove the stalk until you are ready to eat it. I've learnt this the hard way once when after the stalk dropped out during handling, I discovered mould growing from the exposed part when I checked on it subsequently as I was preparing to eat it.

BB used to love avocados but as he grew older & was exposed to an expanding variety of foods and flavours, he became more picky & started rejecting it. I guess he probably found it too tasteless compared to his new discoveries. Given the fact that avocados contain a lot of good fats for his lil' brain's development, I tried to prepare different variations of it for him. Here are some of them..enjoy!

(Note: all of the combinations are for BBs 8MO & above other than the pure bananacado & provided they've passed the 3 or 4 days rule for the respective foods)

Bananacado: blend (I used my Avent Combined Steamer & Blender) / mash the flesh of 1 ripe avocado with 1 ripe banana & serve immediately.

This is omzg GOOOOOOOD!!! The very 1st time BB cried for more food was for this..lolz! If you haven't tried this before, please go & buy the ingredients & try it yourself today. I guarantee you won't regret it! ~.^

Bananacado with raw wheat germ: similar to the method above except with the addition of some wheat germ to further enhance the nutritional values. To give you a heads up, the natural taste of wheat germ is one that is not readily acquired. Think along the lines of having a mouthful of raw flour. Luckily, BB finds it palatable *phew*

Bananacado with a kampong egg yolk: similar to the method above, with the addition of a steamed egg yolk.

I was trying out the recipe of avocado with egg yolk purée but to my dismay, it was too bland for him so I improvised & mashed in a banana for him.

Baked avocado with a kampong egg yolk: 

1. Pre-heat oven at 220°C.

2. Halve an avocado, remove its pit & put them on some aluminium foil to balance it and prevent it from toppling over (this means no washing up afterwards too).

3. Separate 1 egg yolk from its white & pour it into the hollow of one half of the avocado. Repeat for the other half. 

4. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes till egg yolk is fully cooked. Scoop out, mix & feed warm.

Personally, I don't quite fancy the taste of this but both Daddy-O & BB find it acceptable. And as long as he takes to it, I'm not complaining.

Avocado, cream cheese with wheat germ balls (adapted from original recipe): blend / mash the flesh of an avocado with some cream cheese (I use Philadelphia block cream cheese). Once you achieve a semi-smooth mixture, add some wheat germ & roll into small balls.

Anything with wheat germ is just not my cup of tea but BB ate quite a few of them. I think I'll try spreading it on toast next time but without the wheat germ..heehee ; P

Avocado with cottage cheese: scoop out the flesh of an avocado & mix with some cottage cheese (I'm using Mundella's which is preservative free).

Oats: Nutritious, Fast to Cook & Good to Eat

During my confinement, I was blessed with a superb nanny. Other than taking good care of BB & me, she even imparted some of her recipes to me. One of them was savoury cooked oats. Such a simple but yet nutritious food. It even turned out to be a saviour for me during the month after she left as BB was going through his growth spurts & I could barely find time to cook myself a decent meal.

Upon doing more research, I realised that oats are in fact packed with more nutrients than the usual brown rice cereals. This chart was shared by one of the mummies in one of the FB groups which I'm following & oats is actually ranked as the third highest in nutrient points.

The only preparation you'll need is to blend 2 weeks' worth of organic rolled oats which is to be kept in the fridge, ready to be used anytime. Sweet or savoury, the sky is the limit for any creative variation that you can conjure up. 

Ingredients:

Ratio of blended rolled oats : amount of liquid 

= 1 tbsp of oats : 1/4 cup of bm / water / milk 

Directions:

1. Bring liquid to boil then add oats in.

2. Whisk away to get a smooth texture & simmer in a low fire till the oats look expanded & have achieved your desired consistency.

3. You may then add on fresh fruits as toppings or vegetable purees before serving.

As your baby grows, you can add on other ingredients like fish or meats (Beefy pumpkin oats with broccoli) to serve it as porridge.