Monthly Archives: March 2009

Fruity Sponge Cake

Posted by Toni on March 22, 2009 None comments

This recipe is so simple that you don’t need to be an experienced cook or baker.

 

When I made this the first time, I served it with sliced strawberries in the middle.  It looked like a sandwich with fresh fruits and whipped cream as filling.  One good thing I like about this recipe is that it is not too sweet.  You can still lessen the amount of sugar in the mixture because the fruit filling and the cream will give enough sweetness and taste to it.  My kids love this as much as I do.  My husband is on diet but he just can’t resist this.  I reckon though that this won’t hurt one’s diet as long as it is not served everyday; well, this is not even that sweet really (always remember and put into practice the moderation rule when it comes to sweet).

 

Ingredients:

100g butter

100g caster sugar

100g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

pinch of salt

2 medium eggs

 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven at 190c

2. Place butter & sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth

3. Beat eggs in a separate bowl & add to the butter-sugar mix little by little alternately with the flour stirring the mix continuously; makes sure to keep the same smooth consistency

4. Add the vanilla essence and a pinch of salt, mix for few minutes

5. Pour the mixture into a non-stick cake pan and put in a moderately hot oven, middle shelf

6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the inside of the cake is already cooked (you can check this by dipping in a fork to the center of the cake, if the fork gets out without any sticky cake mixture then it is already cooked)

7. When cooked, put to cool on a tray

8. when already cool, cut the cake crosswise creating two layers

9. Put whipped cream in the middle and slices of fresh fruits like strawberries, bananas or mangoes

10.  Put back the top layer and slice the cake

 

This makes 8 servings

Do You Want To Be A Mystery Shopper?

Posted by Toni on March 21, 2009 None comments

Mystery shopping has become a new way for stay-at-home or fulltime moms to earn a little bit and make spare time (if any) productive.

 

Let me give you some basic ideas about mystery shopping and how to become a member.  There are several mystery shopping websites and survey and research companies that offer mystery shopping assignments.  One can simply register for membership and apply to become a shopper.  Instructions on what to do and observe while doing your mystery shopping task will be provided online before the assigned date.  After accomplishing the assignment all you need to do is complete the online survey about the said mystery shopping and send it back to the company.  They will pay you certain amount and reimbursement for performing the task.

 

HOED MYSTERY SHOPPING is an international site that offers mystery shopping jobs to those in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  They require some documents from applicants.  Under the terms and policy of HOED, the relationship between mystery shoppers and HOED is definitely an employer-employee relationship.  Tax Identification Numbers of their employees are required before the first assignment.

 

Retail Mystery Shopping Australia is a very good site that regularly provides members with a list of available shops or assignments.  They also communicate very well with their shoppers and the instructions are easy to understand and follow. 

 

Bestmark also gives opportunities for mystery shopping.  Visit their website if you are interested.  This company is based in the USA.     

 

Shop Angels is also an Australian company where mystery shopping assignments continuously flow in their list.  This is a very interesting site.  

 

Rewards Central is an Australian website where you can earn points convertible to cash through advertisement clicks, surveys, online shopping and mystery shopping assignment as well.   

 

For other websites on mystery shopping you can check Volition.com.  This is the website that really helped me discovered several research companies that are also involved in mystery shopping. 

 

I love being a mystery shopper. I am happy that I qualified as a mystery shopper for several online survey companies here in Australia. Aside from the thrill of it, the company will also reimburse my expenses and pay me few dollars more for participation, plus I get few hundreds of additional points in my account with them.

 

Beware though of post mails where advance payment for a mystery shopping is sent to you and ask you to do some assignments and cash or bank the check.  There are stories I have read about this especially from my friends in the US as this is a spam.

 

I will definitely update this article as there are still few companies and websites which I did not include here until I get paid by them or receive credible information on their authenticity.  Have you tried this kind of online survey or way to earn extra cash?  I hope this post will be of help to you all lovely moms out there. 

Child Care Centre: Advantages of Enrolling Your Child

Posted by Toni on March 16, 2009 1 comments

Here in Australia, bringing kids to child care centres (they call it ‘kindie’) have become a normal errand for parents, whether working parents or full time moms.  Working parents have no other option but to leave their kids to kindie if there are no other family members or relatives to look after them.  Most child care centres accept kids from age 2 to age 4.  The good thing about Child Care System here in Australia is that it is supported by the government.  The government shares a percentage of the amount paid to the child care centre.  That makes it less burdensome for parents financially to send their little kids to kindie. 

 

But what would a stay-at-home mom make decide to send her little kids to kindie?  There are lots of advantages in sending your kids to kindie.  I first decided to send my 2 year old daughter more than two years ago to the nearby kindie for her to socialize with other kids.  That was the main reason I sent her to kindie.  Socialization is very important for kids where they learn how to mingle with other kids, get involved in physical activities, and nurture their mental and emotional intelligence.

 

My daughter Ivana used to be a ‘cry-baby’ when she was two.  I was a little bit worried that she might not get along with other kids and just cry at kindie the whole day.  But ignoring my over-sensitivity and worries I still enrolled her to kindie with the main objective of bringing out the best in her.  Now, at age 4, she is a confident, smart little girl who is just too excited to start big school next year.  She is also good now in alphabets, numbers, singing, dancing, drawing, painting, and the like.

 

I was amazed by how the teachers and carers at the centre look after the kids, discipline them and teach them in various activities.  They are well-loved and taken care of.  Usually, during the first week at kindie, kids would cry non-stop for their parents.  After that, no more crying and all are just having fun that at the end of the day they would not want to go home anymore.

 

For full time moms or stay-at-home moms, spending more time for themselves while the kids are at the centre also helps them make their day more productive and enjoyable.

 

I just had a wonderful day today after I dropped the kids at the centre.  I went for my weekly grocery shopping first.  Then, I did an exciting ‘mystery shopping assignment’ (which I will share to you in my upcoming article).  After that, I went for a nice walk near the beach for 30 minutes.  At 11:30am I had my lunch in front of the television watching my favourite television program.  The rest of the day will just be the usual busy day doing house chores and doing errands.

 

Now, tell me, who wouldn’t love the idea of bringing kids to a day care centre when you reap all these benefits?

Good Eating Habits For Kids

Posted by Toni on March 14, 2009 None comments

Several hours before your child comes home and asks, “What’s for dinner?”  you’ve already asked yourself that question. You might have had an idea or two, but then, you started to think the food that she doesn’t like and ask yourself again what would you prepare for dinner.

Food preparation becomes so complicated for us mothers.  As a result of the plethora of nutritional information available, we are more careful than ever to prepare a properly balanced meal. Somehow, we try to match nutritional standards with children’s preferences.

Aside from the issue of nutritional value of the food that we cook and serve to our children, we are also confronted with other issues like feeding time, children’s lack of appetite, table manners, proper hygiene before and after mealtime, and the like.

The Food and Nutritional Research Institute (FNRI) suggests the following guidelines for parents to consider in dealing with the aforesaid issues.

Lead by example.  Be a role model in practicing good eating habits.  Our kids will learn how to appreciate the taste of vegetables if they see their parents eating and enjoying vegetables. If the parents prefer to buy fast food and junk food then the children will get the idea that it is just fine for them to eat the same food and indulge in junk food.

Let a child be a child.  Expect and be patient with child-like table manners.  We cannot expect our children to be adults when it comes to table manners and behaviour.  Parents need to exercise more patience and tolerance as to their kids’ child-like manners during the meal. 

Be consistent with meal schedules.  Serve meals on a regular time, preferably before the children get overly hungry, tired and/or irritable.  Being consistent as to the time to serve meals to kids help them come up with routine, not only as to mealtime but to other things that need to be done before and after the meal.

Make mealtimes safe and comfortable.  Select chairs, tables and eating utensils suitable in structure and size for children.  Younger kids must be provided with chairs that will keep them safe from falling or slipping out of the seat. Toddlers must be provided with high chairs which are equipped with front detachable tray for safety and convenience.  Ceramic or glass wares are just not suitable for kids.  They may start using breakable plates and glasses if they are already careful and capable of taking care of and feeding themselves.

Serve enticing dishes/foods.  Whenever appropriate, arrange dishes attractively on plates to stimulate children’s appetite.  For kids, mealtime must be made interesting.  Notice how kids eat more when they are served with food that are colourful, looks interesting, and served attractively in beautiful trays, or plates.

Keep dishes simple-flavoured.  Children like dishes that are not spicy and strong tasting.  Avoid serving chilli hot food to kids and food that are just not suitable for kids’ tastes.  Kids would love foods that taste simple. Foods that are too salty or sweet must be avoided or given to kids in moderation for health reason.

Make fruits and vegetables interesting to eat.  Cut fruits and vegetables in small fancy-shaped pieces.  Fruits and vegetables can be made into different fancy shapes by using vegetable and fruit cutters available in the market. If these cutters are not available then use your imagination and create some art piece out of fruits and vegetables that your kids would love to put in their mouth.

Make mealtimes pleasant and enjoyable.   Encourage happy talk to promote good appetite among children.  Make mealtime family time. A special time for family to get together and talk about what happened during the day. (FNRI Supplementary Feeding Calendar 2004).

Meat Roll With Chunky Chilli Tomato Salsa

Posted by Toni on March 14, 2009 None comments

This is otherwise known in Filipino cuisine as “Embotido”.  However, to make it appealing to my husband who is Italian, I served it on top of rocket lettuce (no rice) with the salsa as dressing.  He loved it!

 

Ingredients & Instructions:

 

1/2kg. Minced beef/pork;

1 medium finely chopped onions;

1 small finely diced red bell pepper/capsicums;

finely diced carrots and celery;

2 beaten eggs;

4 spoonfuls of plain flour; 

Salt and black pepper to taste.

 

Optional ingredients are liver pate’, cubed cheddar cheese and parsley.

 

Mix all ingredients.  Roll a portion of it in a foil.   I especially make them in smaller sizes like jumbo sausages (3 inches length and 1 1/2 inches in diameter) which is far different from how we make it back home (6-7 inches in length and 2 inches in diameter).

 

To add more taste to it, I put a stick of cheese in the middle of the roll which melts when cooked.  So delicious! 

 

Steam for 20-30 minutes.

 

To make the salsa, chop tomatoes and red bell peppers. 

Saute garlic in olive oil, put in the chopped tomatoes and red bell peppers, season with salt and black pepper.  Put in chillies if desired. 

Simmer until nearly dry and thick.  This will serve as sauce for the Embotido.

Guidelines to Supplementary Feeding

Posted by Toni on March 4, 2009 4 comments

I love sharing this feeding guideline my daughter’s paediatrician gave me. 

 

Ivana, my daughter, started eating solid food when she was 5months old.  As a first time mom I was so worried about how to feed her, what food to give her, and even worse when she wouldn’t swallow the food but just spit them out.

 

I have learned that feeding your baby the first time requires more observation on our part.

First, put a little bit of the food at the tip of the baby spoon and put it in the baby’s mouth.  The tendency here is that the baby will try to feel the texture of the food with his tongue and lips, so more often than not, the food will come out of the baby’s mouth.  Parents have to be patient by continuing to feed the baby this way until the baby gets used to the taste and texture of the food.  After few tries, the baby will try to keep the food in his mouth.  Eventually, he will learn and get used to chewing and swallowing the food.

 

The following will give you some ideas on feeding your babies from 5 months onwards.

* Start anytime from 4 to 6 months of age

* The order of food introduction is as follows:

 

1. Cereals – pure rice cereals; commercially available

 

2. Fruits: 5 to 6 months.  May stew if desired: apples, pears, avocado, papaya, peaches, over ripe bananas.  Mash finely and add a bit of water or milk (formula or breast milk).

 

3. Vegetables: 6 to 7 months. Squash, potatoes, sayote (chokoes), sweet peas, carrots, sweet potatoes.  Puree leafy veggies; can be added on to other types of veggies.

 

4. High protein: 7 to 8 months.  Lean ground beef, chicken breast, liver; may add on to veggies and brown rice.

 

5. Poached or boiled eggs and starchy foods should be introduced later than 6 months.  DELAY eggs and citruses past 9 months or 1 year old if the parents have high history of allergy.

 

Offer starchy foods for good calorie source like potatoes, rice, bread and noodles.

 

By 8 to 9 months, offer graham crackers or toast.

 

 

By 9 to 10 months, try less finely textured food/puree.

 

Introduce one food item/type at a time.  Give 3 to 4 days to observe for any adverse or allergic reaction.

 

Thicken food gradually by 6 to 7 months.

 

Preparation:  Blenderize or puree food and add more food items to the mixture.  Can freeze and store in ice trays and offer several cubes at a time after warming.