Category Archives: Cooking Adventures
Holidays 2014
I’m a little behind on my blogging lately, but better late than never! Here’s what we did during the holidays 2014!
This year for Thanksgiving I decided to take on the challenge of cooking my very first turkey! I brined it the night before with broth and seasoning and gave that bird a salt rub down massage too haha. It was pretty simple after that, just wash the turkey the next day when I’m ready to cook it and then put some season on it, stuff it with veggies , bay leaf and thyme, and surround the pan with veggies as well. Then just let the oven do the rest of the work with the occasional basting every hour or so. The turkey came out delicious and was a big success and I’m very glad I got to share it with some wonderful people!! I’m definitely thankful for many things in my life, but most of all, I’m thankful to be going through this crazy journey of life with the people I love.
In December, we took lily to the Queen Mary’s Chill for the first time to see the cool ice sculptures and walk around the Queen Mary as well. There were 2 million pounds of ice sculptures, even a 10 foot ice slide, and a bunch of fun activities that Lily was unfortunately too young and small for, but we will definitely come back for her to enjoy them. They had tubing, a carousel, swings, ice skating, and games too! The Ice Kingdom was 9 degrees inside and so they gave us all parkas to wear over our normal clothes, but be sure to bring gloves or else taking pictures in there will turn your hands into popsicles! It was a very “cool” experience though =P. We then took her to see some fun Christmas lights at IlluminOcean at Dana Point. She loved going through the tunnel of lights where they had bubble stations and blew bubbles everywhere. She also really liked looking at the light sculptures and pointing out all the sea creatures too! It’s amazing how lights can bring so much joy to a toddle, it’s very nice to see her eyes light up from wonder and happiness =).
Then all the Christmas festivities began and it was nice to be with all our family during this time of year. You can view more pictures from all our Christmas celebrations from this year HERE!
For New Years, we took Lily to her second trip to the snow and had a fun little getaway at Lake Arrowhead with some friends! We all stayed in a cozy little cabin and got to enjoy each other’s cooking and spend quality time with one another. It was fun to see the kids play with each other and create wonderful new memories. This is also the first time Lily was old enough to actually play in the snow, instead of just sit there and not know what to do. She LOVED sledding, thanks Emmy for letting her play with it, and it was so cute to see her pull the sled back up the hill be herself and climb on, hold on tight and ready to sled down with the biggest smile and silliest giggle down the hill. It melts me heart to see her have so much fun! You can view more pictures from our trip HERE!
Vietnamese Cooking!
One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is Bánh Bột Chiên, a common street snack in certain parts of Vietnam, that consisted of this rice cake that’s fried with green onions and eggs. I wanted to make it for Khoa since it’s Lent season and he doesn’t eat seafood and we can’t eat meat on Fridays. I wanted to buy the premade rice cake and just cut it up and fry it, but they didn’t have it at the asian market I was at, so I had to make it from scratch! The recipe says to steam it but I didn’t have one that was big enough, so I made my own contraption with a large shallow pot, a wire rack and lots of foil and stuck it in the oven at 200 degrees F haha! It worked so I’m happy with that! It came out super yummy, and I’m feeling more in touched with my Vietnamese roots! I found the recipe here on Helen’s Recipes (Vietnamese Food) Youtube channel. Her Youtube Channel is amazing for authentic Vietnamese food recipes! She has a website for all her recipes too here. Click here for the recipe! The only thing I changed was instead of using Black Soy Sauce, I used Thick Soy Sauce (not sure what the difference is but my Mom told me to use Thick Soy Sauce so I did, mother know’s best!). I also used red vinegar instead of white/black vinegar for the dipping sauce. Khoa loved it, and Lily does too!!
We were eating out on beautiful Saturday morning, and we let Lily eat some noodles for the first time! She LOVED it and had so much fun playing and eating all the noodles. So, I was feeling adventurous, and I decided to attempt to make Phở Bò for the first time, and from scratch! I always wanted to be one of those moms who make amazing homemade phở from scratch, but I always thought it was way out of my skill zone. However, I have to remind myself now and then that I must try otherwise I’ll never know what I’m capable of! So once again, I used the recipe from Helen’s Recipes found here. I don’t eat phở since I don’t like the noodles, but I do like the broth and beef. I figured I can make this anyways for Khoa and Lily to enjoy since I love making them happy in anyway I can! TIPS (that I found useful when searching for all the ingredients): Cardamon (an indian spice plant) is also labelled as amomum in the asian supermarket. I spent so much time in the spice aisle looking for cardamon, it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t find it! So when you search for cardamon and can’t find it, try looking for amomum! Also, you need a large empty tea bag to put the small spices in, but you can also use the little mesh tea balls as well! Those are more secure and your spices won’t risk falling out. Lastly, if you don’t have easy access to a grill like Helen does in her video, my alternative was to lay my ingredients on a cookie sheet or tray, and put it on the top rack in my oven and broil it will it’s a little charred! My house smelled amazing really quickly after I did that! =P Traditional phở bò is cooked overnight to bring out the rich flavors from the beef bones (or chicken bones, whichever flavor you’re making), but I was a little worried about leaving the stove on overnight. (After I’ve seen the broth simmer for hours…I can now see why it’s not TOO big of a deal). So instead, I let it simmer for as long as I could before Khoa got hungry =P (about 4 hours total instead of the basic 2 hours if you don’t do it overnight). It was finally time for Khoa to taste test, and to my surprise, Khoa loved it and said it was REALLY REALLY good and flavorful! I’m so happy, I feel like I’ve achieved something grand!! Lily had difficulty eating the noodles for this one since it was so slippery but she LOVED the broth!! She liked to drink it up straight from the bowl! The most important part of phở is the broth too, and it was very clear and flavorful, big success!! YAY!
Upgraded Juicing!
Hello beautiful new juicer! After 4.5 years with our Jack Lalanne juicer, (even though we only used it for a few months), it’s time we upgraded to a new and improved Omega VRT350HD Low Speed Juicer! It’s definitely a lot more expensive but it’s well worth the purchase! Plus we got this on super sale on QVC with free shipping and it came with a free Juice Boost recipe book! Our old juicer worked ok, but cleanup was such a pain (for Khoa, since he did the cleaning). It was also very loud and would vibrate and it didn’t come with a container for the juice to fall into. So finally, we decided to upgrade and boy this makes juicing so much easier! Our new machine is whisper quiet, compact so it doesn’t take up much space, and has a convenient container with handle for the juice to pour into! The Omega VRT350 is a low speed juicer so it juicers the fruits and veggies slowly to preserve more of the nutrients! One of the best parts is you just plop the fruit/veggie into the juicer and you don’t have to push it down! It’s amazing!! We initially started juicing after we saw the documentary “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead” featuring Joe Cross, and boy did he have an inspiring story! Here’s a LINK to Joe Cross’s 3 day weekend cleanse, with recipes of 5 juices you can do during this cleanse! Juicing is awesome because of how much vitamins and nutrients you’re gaining, and how easy it is to do so. Normally we can eat maybe 1 apple a day and a few veggies here and there, but with juicing, you can consume multiple apples along with several carrots, celery, kale, asparagus, etc., all in 1 drink! The idea of juicing is so inviting but when you actually do it, it takes a lot of work, but not if you have the right machine! It’s also a great bonding activity to do with your spouse/loved ones. Khoa and I have developed a pretty efficient way to juice to make it not so tedious, and it’s fun in my opinion! I’m glad we’re able to get back to our healthy juicing habits! Just after a few days of juicing again, we already feel like we have more energy, our body feels cleansed and lighter, and with all that, we are happier! Best part about this too is we can give Lily some of these healthy juices and have her consume way more fruits and veggies than she normally would, without even know it! If you haven’t tried juicing, you should definitely give it a shot, it’s worth the time and investment! Here’s some images of some juices that we like and tried this week!
Sweet & Spicy Carrot Juice
Mean Green
Blueberry Cucumber Juice
Strawberry Mango Juice
SunnyG (ginger) Juice
Asparagus Detox Juice
Resources – here’s a LINK to a website that has 5 juicing recipes that uses 5 ingredients or less for each juice! Also, HERE’s a very informative website that has lots of juicing recipes to help with weight loss and health, and it even has a 30 day juicing challenge! Also here’s a useful tip, if you use ginger in your recipes, you can easily and safely peel them but using a spoon and carve/scrape the skin off! My juicing book that came with our new juicer is also super awesome with lots of education on what you’re getting out of certain fruits and veggies, you can get the book Juice Boost by Chris Fung HERE on Amazon! Enjoy and happy juicing!
Bunches of Grapes
As I stand there for about 25 minutes, hunched over my kitchen island, with my neck straining from concentration, I meticulously peeled a bunch (literally) of grapes for my precious Lily pad for her snacks for the school week. I thought back to when my mom would peel grapes for us, and boy do I have a new found appreciation for that! Thank you mommy for all the little things you do just to keep me safe and happy! Now as I do the same for Lily, I know one day she will appreciate all the little things I do for her. Some fun facts about grapes are that they are very high in vitamins A and K and have lots of potassium and some calcium as well. They are small but delicious healthy snacks for kids, and reduce risks of heart attacks, and reduces blood clots. Grapes also can prevent muscular degeneration and cataract, associated with aging as well. Also, 2.5 pounds of grapes make about 1 bottle of wine! I guess that’s why they say 1 glass of wine a day is good for the heart (adult hearts at least)! Anyways, I will do anything to make sure my precious Lily pad is healthy and happy, even if that means peeling grapes and cutting them in half for who knows how long!
More fruit snacks that Lily likes to eat are Kiwis and Tangerines and Cuties. I won’t get into the science of it, but here are the benefits to kiwis! They helps and improves your digestion with enzymes, helps manages blood pressure, boosts the immune system, helps clean out toxins, helps fight heart disease, creates alkaline balance (supplies a lot of minerals to balance out excess in acidic foods), which results in great skin! Kiwis are easy to just peel and chop into little finger food bits that can be done ahead of time and packed ready to go for the next day! Also, it adds a nice green to their colors of food! Tangerines and Cuties talk a little more time. I usually take out all the seeds in each piece of tangerine, and I tend to peel out most of the skin so that it’s not so chewy for Lily. Cuties are a little easier since there’s no seeds and she doesn’t mind the skin compared to the tangerines. Benefits of tangerines and cuties are that they’re loaded with flavonoids, which boast certain anticancer properties and can even prevent growth of cancerous cells and stop the growth of tumors! They are loaded with Vitamin C and A, which helps the body heal wouds, and hold together tendons, ligaments, bones and blood vessels, and units of vitamin A also helps with the immune system, vision and much more. Tangerines also have a lot of potassium that are important for the proper functioning of kidneys, muscles, nerves, heart and digestive system. Although it takes some time to cut, chop, and peel these snacks for Lily, it’s important we take the time to make sure Lily gets the nutrients she needs. It’s all about the little things!
Speaking of little, I wanted to share my most recent finds! Check out these cute little drinking glasses that I got for Lily! Her school at Le Port has them and when I saw it, I just had to find out where they got it from, and it’s from Ikea!! I know what you’re thinking, it looks like a shot glass, but the glasses are beveled on the sides and that makes it easy for the tiny fingers to have a firm grasp around the glass! I just had to get some for Lily and they were only $3 for a pack of 6! Each glass holds a little less than 2 ounces of fluid! It’s perfect for training Lily how to drink from a glass, and so far she’s able to hold it and even tried to drink from it a few times! Half the time she tosses the water out of the glass but luckily it’s just water! Also the nice part about it being glass is that she learns to hold something with real weight, and IF she drops it and it breaks, then she’ll learn about consequences (that’s the Montessori way). So far, no broken glass yet, phew! Also, her teacher put clear silicone caulking on the bottom to create a rubbery bottom to make it grip to the table surface and not be so slippery, brilliant! So we did the same! I also got these Duralex Gigogne glasses on Amazon that holds about 5.75 ounces of liquid for when she’s older, maybe next year! =) These glasses are under $16 and come in a set of 16 as well. They also have a slight ridge on it for little hands to easily grip as well!! Isn’t just so cute! It’s a perfect size for our little Lily to master drinking from a glass! Here’s a video of her using her baby size glass!
Also, my friend Luce gave me the recipe to make porridge, I mean it’s rather simple and I could have tried looking it up myself, but word of mouth is always the best kinds of recipes! I recently made lily porridge with tofu, chicken and mixed veggies (corn, green beans, peas, and carrots) and added some chicken broth for flavoring, and boy does she love it!! She was starting to want “REAL” food and so when I try to give her steamed veggies in it’s normal form, she would just spit it out. So now I blend up the veggies and chicken, and mix it into her porridge and she eats it all up and gets a good amount of protein and vitamins all in one meal! The best thing about porridge is you can put whatever you want in it, so this second batch I made has tofu, ground beef, and veggies! I’m using ground beef cause her pediatrician says she needs more fats, so bring on the red meats!! She’s getting so much better at feeding herself too, check out this super cute video of her eating yogurt all by herself!
Healthy Eating Happy Baby!
Chicken Soup
One of our goals in parenting is to have a happy healthy baby, and so our goal is to make our own healthy foods for Lily! We’ve started Lily on solids when she was just about 6 months old. We made her some pureed butternut squash! At first she was surprised by the foreign taste in her mouth, and kept pushing the spoon away and refused to eat. So we tried again the next day, and it was a complete 180 and she was loving every bite! She even opened her mouth for more, and leaned her head towards the spoon! It’s so amazing the things she picks up on and so fast too! We then gave her veggies like peas, carrots, leaks, etc, and fruits like pears and peaches and blueberries. We use our super wonderful Ninja Blender to puree her foods to a nice smooth consistency, then we freeze them in ice cube trays, then put them in labelled zip lock bags (thanks Chi Hai for this amazing tip!)
Mini Minestrone
So far the only foods she hasn’t been too fond of is avocados. We will keep trying though! Some of her favorite meals have been the more fancy ones like her chicken soup that had organic chicken breast, sweet potatoes, carrots, leaks, and chicken broth! It does take some time to prepare her food, but you just prepare a bunch at once and the food will last a couple weeks! Last night I made a few more batches of food for Lily, mini minestrone, and a fruit puree of blueberries, peaches, and pears, and it took a bit of time, and I would have loved to just relax on the couch and watch tv, especially after a long day’s work, but Lily’s health is more important to me. I feel accomplished after I prepared all her food, and I feel great that I’m pushing myself to keep this up for Lily’s sake! Also, it’s good practice to make sure Khoa and I eat healthy as well, to set an example for Lily, and to make sure we’re around for a long time to see Lily blossom! Most of all, every time I feed Lily, I know I’m giving her the proper nutrients she needs to grow into a happy strong healthy person. We are also starting Lily on finger foods as well, so she can practice her pincer grasps! She was actually trying really hard to pick up the cut up pieces of banana with her thumb and pointer fingers and she was even able to put a piece in her mouth! We are so proud of our little baby! It’s exciting to see her develop these new milestones, but it’s so sad to see her grow up so fast! *sigh… however, it’s a happy sadness, if that makes sense. Seeing her eat is also super cute as well!!! There’s just something about babies eating that is just so darn cute! Check it out for yourself!
