Sunday, January 23, 2011

Hungry Children

To get my children (and husband!) to eat vegetables, I put lots of veges into a meat dish. And I can serve up this one dish without any other accompainments. My mother taught me this trick. For dinner last night, I dished out this wonderful chick-vege dish. My son was still hungry after that and to my pleasant suprise, he took upon himself to make a simple plate of noodles.

Ingridients
Chopped onions, garlic and ginger
Meat
Vegetables - patotoes, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage
The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without
How to prepare
Stir fry the onions, garlic and ginger till brown
Add in the chicken (you can use any meat that you prefer)
Give it a few minutes (till the meat is about half cooked)
Add in the vegetables (hard veges)
Salt to taste
Some chilly powder for a bit of flavour and taste


Teaching Tip
Get your kids to stir in the ingridients and give them all the credit for a meal well done
Make sure your other half complements the cooking
Get your kids to taste the food before it is served. Make them feel important.

As my boys are growing up, I find that there needs to be food around all the time. My next project would be how best to how food they like and healthy and to balance all that with going to work!

Any ideas?

Happy Teaching and Cooking

Friday, January 7, 2011

How to Teach Children About Carrots

My son turned orange to yellowish when he was about one or little after. His doctor asked me one question; “do you give him carrots?” And I answered, yes, everyday, in his porridge, at least twice a day!

Florene Food And Beverage - Cute As A Carrot - Light Switch Covers - double toggle switch
Carrots

Lets teach our children about carrots today and here is a simple 2 minute recipe that can be prepared for lunch or dinner and with rice, bread or potatoes.

Stir Fried Carrots

One carrot thinly sliced (it cooks faster and remains fresh)

Chopped onion, garlic and little ginger

Salt to taste

Cooking oil or butter or olive oil

You can add some sliced chicken if you like.



How to Prepare

Heat Cooking Oil

Fry the onion, ginger and garlic

Add chicken

Add in the carrots

Cook for about 3 to 4 minutes

Add in the salt to taste

And that’s it!
Stir Fried Carrots
Tasty dish because it keeps the freshness of the carrots, the sweetness and there is tad of saltiness giving it the extra zest.

Carrots are beautiful vegetables. They get their bright orange colour from β-carotene, which is metabolised into vitamin A in humans. I learnt that the overconsumption of carrots can cause carotenosis, a harmless condition in which the skin turns orange.

Carrots are rich in dietary fibre, antioxidants, and minerals. Carrots can be eaten in a variety of ways. Did you know that only 3% of the β-carotene in raw carrots is released during digestion, which can be improved to 39% by pulping, cooking and adding cooking oil. (Wikipedia) The above recipe is just perfect for this.

The best way to store carrots are with refrigerating them covered. Young carrots have a shelf life of about 2 weeks, while mature carrots have a shelf life of 3–4 weeks. Removing tops before storing increases shelf life.

Carrots are said to be extremely beneficial for “

lowering the risk of cancer - One carrot (half a cup) once a day can cut the risk of lung cancer in half. Cooking releases carotenes which are believed to be the active ingredients shielding carcinogenic attacks.

lowering blood cholesterol - Two and a half medium-sized raw carrots eaten daily lower blood cholesterol by about 11%.

preventing constipation

helpful for general nervousness, asthma, skin disorders,


• Improves vision - Carrots are rich in beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A - a crucial nutrient for maintaining proper eyesight

A great weight loss product - Grated carrot makes a great snack. You'll find that a grated carrot is much more filling than a whole carrot - strange but true.

• Carrots are also rich in dietary fibre, antioxidants, and minerals. It is recommended that we eat one carrot a day as part of our fruit and vegetable intake.

Those are the teaching notes. Teach our kids the nutritional benefits of carrots. At the same time, if you noteiced, you have given your child a science lesson. Don’t you think he will remember that carrots are orange because of its carotene and the nutrients?

Please share your carrot recipes. Click here for some ready made carrot dishes and recipes for carrots.

Mother Nature Carrot Cake Recipe Treats 4lbPacific Natural Foods Soup, Cashew Carrot Ginger, 32-Ounce Cartons (Pack of 12)The Ya-Hoo! Baking Co Blue Ribbon Carrot Cake , 44-Ounce BoxMoroccan Carrots - "Thirty Recipes Suitable for Framing" (1970)

Happy Teaching and Cooking


Monday, January 3, 2011

Italian Cookies - Dolce Romias

Butter cookies. This is a lovely butter cookie recipe. I found out it on Star Online. It's a gorgeous recipe. Simple and kids can make it so easily without a cry.




Ingredients

250g butter, 40g egg white, 300g all-purpose flour, 2g salt, 100g icing sugar, 4g baking powder

Cream butter, add icing sugar and salt. Whisking thoroughly.

Add egg white and incorporate the sifted flour with baking powder.

Pipe the mixture onto a tray lined with parchment paper in shape of a small crown using daisy shaped nozzle or large fluted nozzle.

Crown filling

140g cream (35% fat), 140g glucose syrup, 140g brown sugar, 140g almond flake (crushed)

Put all ingredients in a pan and bring it to a boil. Then cool it.

Using a small spoon, fill the centre of the crown without going over the edge.

Bake filled cookies for 10-12mins in a 160 degrees Celcius oven.

The filling should have caramel appearance and the crown should be golden colour. Leave it to cool on the parchment paper.

Have your kids involved. There is a lot your kids can learn from this simple yet tasty recipe.

Pick a theme. Some suggestions;
1. temperature - celcious and farenheit - to measure how hot or cold something is
2. measurements
3. motor skills for the younger ones - this recipe uses a lot of manual labour!
4. arranging and organising
5. time

Happy Cooking and Teaching

For more cookie recipes, click on the picture below
1001 Cookie Recipes: The Ultimate A-To-Z Collection of Bars, Drops, Crescents, Snaps, Squares, Biscuits, and Everything That Crumbles