Butternut Squash Puree for Lil Ivan ....

I have been working very hard in goggling for types of baby puree that I can prepare for lil Ivan. The reason I am doing this is I would like to train him not to be a picky eater as he grows. That's why instead of following the traditional way where baby's first food would be porridge, I introduced fruits / vegetables as his first food.

Lil Ivan loves Butternut squash, or it is also known as butternut pumpkin in Australia and New Zealand. Butternut squash is a type of winter squash. How does it tastes ? Well, pretty similar to pumpkin, but it has a sweeter, nutty and creamier taste. Butternut squash has yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp.

What about the health benefits of Butternut squash ? Hmm I read from an online article that it contains many vital anti-oxidants and also vitamins. It has rich source of dietary fiber. So, for adults, it is also recommended for cholesterol controls and weight reduction. And, the interesting fact is, it has more Vitamin A as compared to pumpkin. Vitamin A is a good natural anti-oxidant and also an essential vitamin for good eye-sight. Besides that, it is also rich in B-complex and basically it has pretty similar mineral as pumpkin. By the way, I also noticed that it can helps in overcome constipation. My lil Ivan poop extra more after consuming this :)

One thing I found that it is not easy to find Butternut squash, but I managed to get it in Cold Storage. Besides that, I also noticed that it can be easily get from places such as Mercato, Isetan, Jaya Grocers etc (basically slightly higher end supermarkets) :p

It is pretty simple to make this puree :-

• Peel the Butternut squash, remove the seeds and chop into cubes.
• Steam for about 15 minutes or till it is tender.
• Transfer to the blender and blend to a suitable consistency for your baby

Note : You may reserve some water from the steaming for thinning purposes.

Also, one reminder, I would suggest to buy the Butternut squash which has been cut into half. This is because it is quite hard for us to slice into half back at home, unless you have a strong man to help you with it. 

Some interesting combo that I have mixed it for my lil Ivan :-

1) Butternut squash puree + Oat

2) Butternut squash + Apple with Brown rice 

Some other recommended combo will be with peaches, pears, carrots, parsnip, lentils, chicken, beef and pork :)

Happy trying out mommies :)

My new hobby ... :)

Since lil Ivan started with solids, I have been ‘aggressively’ hunting for different types of fruits / veg for him. Every week, I will try to introduce new type of food to him.  I will usually shop during the weekdays around in Isetan or Cold Storage for organic fruits / veg. As far as I could get it in organic, I will get it, except for certain fruits such as avocado, pear, banana etc.

So, my new hobby now is making different types of puree for my lil boy. And, I am so proud that at least at this moment, he is not a fussy / picky eater.

Sharing some baby recipe here :-

1) Edamame puree ( Peas puree)

I have tried getting fresh sweet pea to make puree, but what I noticed that after scraping out the peas from the pods, those peas' sizes are very inconsistent and very little in quantity. Hence, I am not able to achieve a smooth texture puree. Therefore, I decided to buy frozen Edamame and make edamame puree for lil Ivan.

Please note that when you get the frozen Edamame, ensure that you get those without salted. I found that there are quite a few now which is salted Edamame. Reason being, we shouldn't add any salt / sugar into baby's food.

Ok, let's move on the steps to make Edamame puree.

• Remove the peas from the pods.
• Rinse it with water for a few times before steaming it.
• Steam for about 15-20 minutes. Reserve sufficient water from the steaming for thinning purposes.
• Blend the peas till your preferred texture.

Note : If you found some skins around, you may try to sieve it to obtain best smooth texture.

2) Prune puree

Some months ago, I think I gave some culprit food, probably banana, causing lil Ivan to have constipation. He didn't poo for almost 7 days !! I was so worried and he was having hard stool thereafter. So, I decided to make some prune puree for him. Prune is one of baby's best food for constipation. Besides that, it also has a great source of beta-carotene and iron. 

I chose the organic dried prune because I read in some article that the commercial ones are preserved with sulphur. So, the key word when selecting this is 'unsulphured' :)

Steps to make Prune puree :-

• Soak the organic prune in water overnight.
• Steam-cook / Double boiled the prunes with the water used for soaking for about 45 minutes. Check it by using folk to squish it.
• Transfer the cooked prunes and some water used for steaming to the blender and blend till it is smooth. 
• You may add more water to thin the puree.

Note : The prune puree might be slightly think, so you need to add more water to thin it.

3) Apricot puree

I managed to get some fresh apricot from the Isetan supermarket last week and I was very excited on making this apricot puree for lil Ivan.

So, since he is already 8 month old, therefore I started to introduce him with some fruits without steaming. 

Steps to make the apricot puree :-

• Peel off the skin.
• Cut into small cubes.
• Transfer into the blender and blend it till your preferred texture.

Note : One thing I noticed is the apricot becomes sour after blend. I am very sure that it was pretty sweet before that because this mommy loves to 'curi makan' as she is cutting it into slices / pieces :p

But, what I am doing now to balance the sourish taste, I mixed it with sweeter fruits such as pears and bananas. 

4) Purple carrot puree

As both hubby and myself are working during weekdays, hence, we make it a habit to bring lil Ivan out during weekend at least one of the day. So, last Saturday, we went to The Gardens for some window shopping and lunch. Before we make a move to go home, hubby wanted to go to the washroom, so lil Ivan and myself waited for him while checking out this organic shop - Justlife. I have a new habit now i.e everywhere I go, I tend to check out the organic shop .. hehehe ...

And, guess what, I found purple carrot there. Not cheap though, I bought 2 pc and it costs RM  7.50. Well, purple carrot is not commonly found in any supermarkets. But, you will be surprised with the benefits of purple carrot. Purple carrot has the vitamin A and beta-carotene that the ordinary carrot has, yet, it is also rich in anthocynins. This is the antioxidant compounds that give this superfood health benefits. I read in an article that these blue and purple pigments can improve memory, enhance vision, protect against heart attacks, act as anti-inflammatory and guess what, to help weight control :)

Steps to make Purple Carrot puree (similar with the ordinary carrot) :-

• Peel carrot and cut into small cubes.
• Steam for about 15 minutes or till it is tender.
• Transfer to the blender and begin pureeing.
• Add sufficient water for thinning purposes.

Note : Please be reminded not to reserve any left over water from the carrots for thinning, as Nitrates may seep into the cooking water.

5) Sweet Potato & Carrot porridge

And, last Sunday, I boiled Sweet Potato & Carrot porridge for lil Ivan. And, since he is 8 months old already, I would like to gradually introduce chunkier food to him. So, my first trial was this. I cut the sweet potato and carrot till very small cubes and I just added it into the brown rice powder to boil the porridge. I uses a slow cooker to prepare the porridge and boiled it for at least 2 hours. 

Well, the end result was quite good. Lil Ivan managed to finish the whole bowl of porridge and he can accept the small chunk with gagging :)

That's all for now .. Shall share more with my baby food's adventure next round :)

Grandma's 88th Birthday ...

Last weekend was Grandma’s 88^th birthday. Hence, the whole Chan family gathered back in Taiping to celebrate her birthday. It was also lil Ivan first time celebrating his ah Tai’s birthday J

Well, of course the old lady was so happy seeing all her kids, grandchildren and her only great-grandchild back at home. We had our dinner in Loong Foong Restaurant.

Mom ordered a birthday set dinner which comes with ‘birthday pau’ and also longevity noodles.

We have also bought a cake for this celebration. Everyone sang her birthday song.

Everyone had a great night and oh well, lil Ivan was very excited back in Taiping as there were so  many people surrounding him and playing with him …

And, take note at the photo below, lil Ivan was very into ah Tai’s hair .. hahahaah

Best ever department teambuilding ... :)

Every year, HR has allocated some budget for employees’ welfare. And, this includes department teambuilding. Usually, my department teambuilding will be held in some sort of resort with classroom ‘training’ and some outdoor activities.

However, we have something different this year !! All of us actually felt that this is the best ever teambuilding we ever had J No hotel’s food, no air-conditioner classroom .. and it was 100% outdoor.

Yes, for this year round, we had our teambuilding in FRIM, Kepong (Forest Research Institute Malaysia).  There are various attractions here such as silicified wood, the giant bamboo and the key attraction is the Canopy Walk.

Ok, some brief description of what had happened on the specific day i.e 13^th June 2013. We all gathered in our office’s lobby at 8am, and got into the bus. Reached FRIM at about 8.40am and we had our breakfast i.e Nasi Lemak there.

By about 9.30am, we were all gathered and received some briefings from the instructor on what we were going to do. In total, there were 3 different trails that we had to go through. Of course, the first trail i.e Keruing trail, is the easiest to go. This trail started from the giant bamboo and the whole journey takes us about an hour. By the end of this trail, we were served tea break, ie some donuts and nyonya kuih  to let us recharged our energy before moving to the next trail.

The next trail was slightly tougher but it was getting more interesting and you really got to enjoy the beauty of nature. I simply love the wonder of nature .. the lovely crown . Besides concentrating on the trail, we were actually divided into groups where we required to work out some answers for the questions, pretty similar to like treasure hunt.

The final trail, which is the toughest, i.e the trail that will bring us all the way to the Canopy Walk :) The whole journey took about  1hr 30 mins. A great satisfaction achieved when we finally reached the peak of it.

Oh, it was not the end yet. After hiking up, in order to get down to the foot of the hill, we needed to face the challenges of getting down hill too. Well, getting down was even more exciting than hiking up. We needed to walk through narrow path, walked on the stones etc. But, I would say all these barriers that we needed to get through, really helped in strengthen the relationship of every one of us as we needed to help each other.

Lunch was served once we reached the foot of hill. And, we continued to have some other activities after lunch. All ended by 5pm and no doubt, we were all tired but we did enjoyed ourselves on that day :)

We graduated !!

Girls' Night Out ~ Men in Tutus

One morning as I was driving to work, I usually tuned in to my favourite station i.e Mix FM and guess what I heard, the Breakfast Show’s DJ, The Rod and Sarimah were interviewing Victor Trevino, the founder of  Les Ballet Eloelle. His team will be performing Men in Tutus in Malaysia (KL and Penang) from 4th June – 23^rd June 2013. The interesting part of this is men dancing ballet !!

Well, as I love seeing ballet performance since young, I was so tempted to watch this performance. It is all about men putting on their fluffy white tutus and performed in both classical and contemporary ballet, and of course, it is a comedy ballet !!

So, once I reached office, immediately I shared this with colleagues aka my girlfriends about this stage show and once confirmation made, we bought the ticket online.

The day has come on 7^th June, we rushed over to PJ Live Art at Section 17 right after work for the show. And, yes, we all enjoyed ourselves so much that we laughed non stop during the entire show. It was really worth our money and I think if they are coming again to Malaysia, I will definitely going for it again J

And, not forgetting that we had a great opportunity to take pictures with this amazing men ....

Lil Ivan's Splashing time …

Last 2 weeks, I bought my lil Ivan his first swimming trunk !! And, not forgetting a neck ring and also this kiasu mommy, even bought him the trainer seat float. I was so excited and can’t wait to bring him to the pool.

So, finally, the unforgettable moment is here. It was a sunny Sunday yesterday, so mommy and daddy decided to bring lil Ivan for his very first swim. Changed lil Ivan to his new swimming trunk and there we go!! 

Went downstairs and started putting the neck ring on him, and daddy carried him to the pool. He did not show any sign of afraid or excited, but he seemed to be more on ‘wondering’ mode .. Haha .. As there were a few other children playing there, he was so busy body looking around as well.

After playing with the neck ring for awhile, we let him try out the trainer seat float. Again, he shows no excitement, but again looking around here and there .. 

As it was his first time and afraid that he will be cold as the wind was blowing quite strong though, hence after about 20 minutes, we bring him up for shower and there goes the tired lil boy ..zzZZzzz… 

Happy Birthday to Dad (from us) & Happy Birthday to Grandpa (from lil Ivan)

Hmmm, this is another outdated post. Dad came down from Taiping as there were long weekend on 19 April, due to it was a PH for Perak for the birthday of Sultan Perak. As dad’s birthday falls on early May, hence, we decided to have an early celebration for him during that weekend.

Since on that day, lil Ivan needed to go for his final vaccine at Sunway Medical Centre before the next vaccine at the age of 1, so we decided to have our celebration in Sunway Pyramid. Hubby and I brought our lil Ivan to vaccine, while sis, bro, mom and dad went to the mall for window shopping first.

Once done, we went over to the mall and meet up with them. As it was almost lunch time, we then went to a Vietnamese restaurant there. Bro ordered a birthday cake from RT Pasty for dad. It was also 1^st time that lil Ivan will be celebrating Grandpa’s birthday … J .. And, as usual, this lil man was so excited to see the candles lit up, as though it was a celebration for him.

All of us had a great time there …. xoxo