Wednesday- December 29, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal
Vanilla yogurt with apple and banana
Melon

Lunch
Pizza- tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, ham and Parmesan cheese
Melon
Oatmeal raisin cookie



Dinner
Yakisoba- cabbage, carrots, zucchini, fish cake
Pear and melon

Tuesday- December 28, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana and apple
Melon

Lunch
Pasta with sweet potato puree
Sweet peas
Scrambled eggs
Melon
Oatmeal raisin cookie

Dinner
Fried rice with ham, sweet peas, zucchini, carrots and eggs
Vanilla yogurt and banana
Pears

Monday- December 27, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal- Rice chex, cheerio and raisins
Hard boiled eggs
Vanilla yogurt
Banana

Lunch
Pizza with tomatoes, spinach, chicken and Parmesan cheese
Pears

Dinner
Baked sweet potato fries
Black beans
Fish cake
Sweet peas with cheddar cheese
Melon

Sunday- December 26, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apples and banana
Banana and pears

Lunch
Crustless quiche with sweet peas, zucchini and ham
Pears

Dinner
"Ham and egg" sandwich- with avocado, spinach, tomato ham and eggs
Rice chex
Kiwi



Note: Since I have a big hunk of honey baked ham leftover from Christmas dinner, I am trying to figure out how I can use it up. There are several problems with giving ham to the babies. First, they don't really care for meat. They also don't like things that require real chewing. Serving ham in a sandwich posts another level of complexity. My less than two year old girls have little mouths and cannot hold a multilayer sandwich in their little hands. Here's my solution. Spinach and ham were chopped up in tiny pieces and were cooked with an egg so everything stayed together. The avocado was mashed and smeared on the bread and tomato was very thinly sliced. I used little dinner rolls and sliced them in half for each sandwich. It was actually quite tasty! I couldn't bring myself to serve them chips, but thought they should know that people do eat sandwiches with chips, so I gave them rice chex.

Saturday- December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas!Feliz Navidad! Mele Kalikimaka!

Breakfast
Cereal
Peanut butter jelly sandwich
Vanilla yogurt
Pears

Note: It's a morning filled with excitement! Toys, wrapping papers and auntie and uncle visiting! I thought it might be good to give the girls cereal in a snack cup so they could wonder around playing toys while nibbling some breakfast. It's hard to track how much they actually ate and what else they ate since the adults eating brunch were giving them food as well. It's pretty much the same for the rest of the day... Lots going on, babies distracted, parents distracted... I will try my best to remember what the girls ate yesterday!

Lunch
Pasta with sweet peas, zucchini, tomato and shallot
Banana

Dinner
Roasted potatoes
Honey baked ham
Baked chicken- made by my cousin
Roasted asparagus
Cauliflowers (steamed and cooked with bacon and scallion)
Pears
Peanut butter blossom cookies, without the chocolate kisses

Note: The girls really didn't like meat. Not even when they are coated with sugar. I will have to find a way to sneak protein into their diet. They tried and spit out both the asparagus and the cauliflowers. I ended up putting the asparagus and cauliflower in the blender and fed them the puree. It went a little better.

Friday- December 24, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apples and banana
Banana

Lunch
Whole wheat bread
Scrambled egg with tomato
Sweet peas
Colby Jack cheese
Kiwi

Dinner
We had Christmas Eve dinner at cousin's house. This time we didn't feed the girls ahead of time, so they ate pretty much whatever we ate. They were very excited about the variety of choices and were pointing out food in our plates to try. They loved the sweet potato and marshmallow dish and the Chinese sticky rice. Green bean was still one of their favorites too. They had Asian pears as fruit and didn't eat any cakes. Good little healthy eaters they are!

Thursday-December 23, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich
Vanilla yogurt
Banana

Lunch
Crustless quiche- zucchini, spinach, mushroom and sausage
Vanilla yogurt with pineapple

Dinner
"Mac and cheese" with sweet potato and sweet peas
Tomatoes
Fish stick- with ling cod
Persimmons



Note: My friend Jen sent me a recipe for fish stick from the Petit Appetit Blog so I tried it out with ling cod fillet today. The recipe contains simple ingredients and is very easy to made. Even a fish hater like me enjoyed it. Unfortunately, my girls mainly used it to pick up ketchup (organic from Trader Joe's) to suck on. I will try again though.

Wednesday- December 22, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana and apple
Hard boiled eggs
Apples and banana

Lunch
Baked sweet potato fries
Chickpeas and pasta
Broccoli
Vanilla yogurt with pineapple and apple

Dinner
Rice
Mapo tofu
Celery with fish cake
Baby bok choy
Tomatoes
Pears

Tuesday- December 21, 2010

Breakfast
Banana bread
Wheat chex
Vanilla yogurt
Grapes
Prunes

Lunch
Corn bread
Omelet with spinach and cheddar cheese
Saute carrots
Pineapple

Dinner
Pasta with chickpea soup- has tomatoes and bacon
Sweet peas
Corn bread
Vanilla yogurt with pineapple
Pears

Monday- December 20, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal mix- Cheerio, rice chex, honey bunnies, raisins
Vanilla yogurt
Pears

Lunch
Corn muffin
Teriyaki chicken
Sweet peas with cheddar cheese
Cuties



Snack
Banana bread

Dinner
Chicken fried rice with carrots, zucchini, sweet peas and eggs
Tomatoes
Apples

Sunday- December 19, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apples
Hard boiled eggs- but the babies didn't eat it
Grapes

Lunch- made by Daddy
Pancake with apples
Sweet peas
Tomatoes

Snack
White chocolate covered pretzels
Cuties

Dinner
Fried rice with carrots, zucchini, sweet peas and pork
Vanilla yogurt
Pear

Saturday- December 18, 2010

We had a busy week leading to this day: A holiday party with Daddy's coworkers. During this week, I planned the menu, made 3 kinds of cookies, a hummus/veggie tray, port glazed walnuts and a yule log!! It was a lot of time in the kitchen, although I feel that the quality of the girls meals had compromised a bit... there's nothing very fun this week besides the cookies. >_< We will have to try better things next week even though we didn't get to go to the farmers market this morning.

Here's my first attempt on Yule Log:



Breakfast
Cereal- Rice and Wheat chex and cheerios
Vanilla yogurt and banana

Lunch
Crustless quiche- spinach, mushrooms, zucchini and sausage
Tortilla chips
Pears

Note: It wasn't my intention to feed the girls tortilla chips. Unfortunately, they saw our party display and requested them over and over. They also ended up eating lots of pears because they saw a ton of them on the table.

Dinner
Pasta with tomatoes, peas and scrambled eggs
Pears and apples

Friday-December 17, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apple, banana and pecan
Vanilla yogurt
Apple and banana

Lunch
French toast
Tomato
Pears

Note: Since I spent the girls' morning nap time making peanut blossom cookies, they got a first taste of these goodies, along with coconut meringue cookies I made the night before. To my surprise, they didn't seem to care much for the cookies and even spit out the chocolate. I must have trained them right! They do prefer sweet taste over savory taste, but they are not drawn to heavily sweetened foods. Lucky me!




Dinner
Red rice (Tomato sauce, green pepper and sausage)
Sweet peas
Cuties

Thursday- December 16, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich on homemade brioche
Vanilla yogurt with homemade granola
Banana

Lunch
Pasta with pumpkin puree
Sweet peas
Pork patty
Cuties

Dinner
Baked sweet potato fries
Steamed carrots
Scrambled eggs
Broccoli
Apple and strawberries

Wednesday- December 15, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal- cheerio, rice chex and wheat chex
Yogurt with pear
Banana

Lunch
Crustless quiche with spinach, mushrooms, zucchini and sausage
Cuties

Dinner
Pork patty
Steamed broccoli with cheddar cheese
Tomato
Fries
Pears

Note: Today is the 20th anniversary of my family moving to the United States and we eat hamburgers to commemorate this day. My original plan was to make mini burgers for the girls as their first time participating in our tradition; however, given that the girls don't care much for meat, and their mouths are too little to handle layers, I decided to make a "de-constructed" burger instead. The patty was made with pork, bread crumbs, onions, carrots and flavored with a bit of teriyaki sauce. Tomato was served on the side, and cheese was on top of the broccoli. They were also allowed to have a few pieces of our fries from a burger place. I know it's still missing the buttered buns, a milk shake, and perhaps an ice cream sundae, but I couldn't bring myself to put cholesterol deposits on their arteries at this young age. Maybe next year they will have a better appreciation of real American food.

Tuesday- December 14, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana, apple and pecan
Banana, apple and grapes

Lunch
Pizza with mushrooms, spinach, tomato, sausage and Parmesan cheese
Cuties

Snack
Homemade granola bar
Rice chex
Wheat bunny cracker

Dinner
Pumpkin puree
Sweet peas with cheddar cheese
Scrambled eggs with spinach
Pears

Monday- December 13, 2010

Breakfast
Homemade Brioche
Hard boiled quail eggs
Pears

Lunch
Homemade brioche
Scrambled egg with tomato and scallion
Sweet pea with cheddar cheese
Okara with carrots and green beans
Mandarin oranges (Cuties)

Snack
Homemade granola bar

Note: My first attempt to make granola bar I started with a recipe from The Smitten Kitchen. "Thick, chewy" just sounded very appealing to me. A few modifications were made due to the availability of ingredients and to decrease the amount of sugar. I used honey and sugar and eliminated the corn syrup. For fruits and nuts, I used pecan, almond, dried pear, dried cranberry and raisins. More dried fruits than nuts because I am not a nut lover. I also used almond butter instead of peanut butter. The granola bar turned out pretty tasty for a first attempt; however, the recipe needs to be tweaked so that the ingredients stay together enough for the babies to walk around holding it. It is still a bit too sweet to me and this might have something to do with the huge amount of dried fruits I added. Next time I might try something more like a rice crispy treat. Maybe granola blended in rice crispy treats?

Dinner
Oyako don
Steamed carrots and broccoli
Braised tofu
Strawberries and Cuties

Sunday- December 12, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apple and banana
Hard boiled egg
Apple and banana

Lunch
Pizza with tomato, spinach, sausage and Parmesan cheese
Pear

Dinner
Pasta with tomato, sweet peas, spinach and ikara
Strawberries and orange

Saturday- December 11, 2010

Farmers market day!

Breakfast
Cereal: cheerio and wheat chex
Strawberry yogurt
Banana
Rice cracker and bread as snack

Lunch
Pasta with tomato, peas, spinach and okara
Pears

Snack
Rice chex
Whole wheat bunny crackers
Raisins
Gerber's baby puff

Dinner
Baked sweet potato fries
Steamed broccoli with cheddar cheese
Tomatoes
Hard boiled eggs
Strawberries and pear

Friday- December 10, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal- cheerio and wheat chex
Vanilla yogurt
Banana and grapes

Lunch
French toast with homemade brioche
Tomato
Pear

Dinner
Pizza with sausage, mushroom, tomatoes, spinach and Parmesan cheese
Grapes, apples and persimmons

Thursday- December 9, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana and apple
Banana, apple and grapes
Rice crispy treats

Lunch
Scrambled egg with sweet peas
Steamed carrots
Steamed broccoli
Papaya

Note: Since the afternoon play date is likely to be a carb fest, I thought it might be good to cut down on carbs for the girls for lunch. The girls liked the eggs today, but didn't care much for the carrots. They didn't get to the fruit dish because they started throwing food on the floor.

Dinner
Red rice- with sausage, green pepper and tomato sauce
Tomato
Papaya

Rice Crispy Treats

We are having our first play date today, so I prepared apple cupcakes and rice crispy treats last night for the kids. Normally I don't consider rice crispy treat a good snack for babies, but since one of the kids is allergic to wheat and eggs, there are not a whole lot out there he can eat. It turns out that "Rice Krispies" cereal is fortified with various vitamins, so it is not pure sugary junk.

I found that the recipe on the bag of the Target brand marshmallow is slightly different from the recipe on the box of the Rice Krispies. It calls for one additional tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. I omitted the vanilla and included the additional butter hoping that the treats will come out softer for the babies.

Like always, the treats came out tasty and irresistible, and I asked Daddy to cut it into small pieces since my wrists are pretty weak these days. To make it easier for babies to hold, Daddy cut it into 1x1x2 inch3 pieces. Both girls liked it when they tested out the treats this morning.

Now my head is filled with ideas for baby granola bars. I would like to test out ways to cut down sugar and add more nutritious and fibrous ingredients. Check back later!

Wednesday- December 8, 2010

Breakfast
Brioche bread
Vanilla yogurt with pears
Grapes and apple

Lunch
Baked sweet potato fries
Scrambled eggs with sweet peas
Tomatoes
Papaya

Dinner
Fried rice with teriyaki chicken, sweet peas and carrots
Steamed broccoli
Pear and grapes

Tuesday- December 7, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal
Hard boiled quail egg
Grapes and pear

Lunch
Homemade hummus with
Celery
Carrots
Zucchini
Broccoli
Whole wheat bread



Note: The girls weren't too crazy about the hummus... maybe it was too salty for them? They did end up eating a bunch of veggies. I am so lucky that my girls like broccoli!

Dinner
Crustless quiche with mushroom, spinach, sausage and parsley
Persimmons

Note: The girls really liked the quiche tonight. They ate all four of the little quiches I made in ramekins and in a very short time!

Monday- December 6, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich
Vanilla yogurt
Pear

Lunch
Sweet potato fries
Tomatoes
Scrambled eggs with peas
Strawberries and grapes

Dinner
Whole wheat bread
Steamed carrots and broccoli
Garbanzo beans
Oranges
Apple Crisp



Note: The original dinner plan was to make a "Roesti". A Swiss hybrid of hash brown/ potato pancakes, kind of. Unfortunately, I got drawn to a "beet and potato Roesti" recipe and the beet I used was a little bitter. :( It would have been a good dish had I only used potato.

Sunday- December 5, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apple and banana
Apple, banana and grapes

Lunch
"Mac and cheese" with sweet potato, carrots and peas
Quail eggs
Tomatoes
Pears

Snack
Apple crisp

Dinner
Rice
Mapo tofu with pork
Celery and fish cake
Baby bok choy
Tomatoes
Persimmons

Saturday- December 4, 2010

Farmers Market Day!!

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich
Strawberry yogurt

Note: Daddy made breakfast this morning and the sandwich was twice the usual size. As a result, the girls were too full to eat any yogurt. They did eat some rice crackers before nap time though.

Lunch
Pizza with tomato, mushrooms and spinach
Banana and papaya

Snack
Cereal and dried pears

Dinner
Chicken soup Provencals
Sweet peas with Cheddar cheese
Steamed Asian pear
Grapes

Friday, December 3, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apple and banana
Hard boiled quail egg
Apple and banana

Note: The girls really liked the oatmeal today for some reason, and they asked for more, twice. Since my blender needed to be washed after the first batch, I made a simplified version of mixing cooked oatmeal with apple juice, maple syrup and a few drops of heavy cream. They loved it!!

Lunch
French toast
Tomatoes
Grapes and strawberries

Dinner
Pasta with salmon, sweet peas, parsley and cream
Tomatoes
Papaya

Thursday- December 2, 2010

Breakfast
Apple muffin
Vanilla yogurt
Banana and grapes

Lunch
Pizza- with sausage, spinach, zucchini, mushroom, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese
Oranges

Snack
It was another cold afternoon and the girls decided to stay in. They are really into "playing tea" these days, so I incorporated their snack into "tea time'. There's nothing fancy, but I wanted things to look a bit cuter and the girls be more "lady like" with their food.



Dinner
"Mac and cheese" made with sweet potato and carrots
Sweet peas
Scrambled eggs
Pear

Wednesday- December 1, 2010

Breakfast
Apple muffin
Peach yogurt
Grapes

Lunch
Crustless quiche
1) Salmon with zucchini sweet peas and parsley
2) Sausage with mushroom, spinach, zucchini and parsley
Grapes and strawberries



Snack
Papaya

Note: Normally the girls have their snack on the stroller when we go out for the afternoon walk. For convenience, I usually give them cereal, baby snack crackers or yogurt. Since it has been cold out and the girls refused to go outside today, I decided to give them papaya. To make it more fun, I let them play with the papaya first before I cut it open in front of them. They also got to play with the seeds that I scooped out and spoon the papaya themselves. One of the girls totally loved the papaya while the other one refused to swallow any.

Dinner
Baked sweet potato fries
Grape tomatoes
Sweet peas with cheddar cheese
Stir-fried tofu
Persimmons

Tuesday- November 30, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal
Vanilla yogurt
Grapes and strawberries



Lunch
Yakisoba- with tofu, green bean, carrots and napa cabbage
Pear

Dinner
Pasta with homemade spaghetti sauce and meatball
Peas with cheddar cheese
Apples and grapes

Monday- November 29, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apples
Hard boiled egg
Apple and grapes
Monkey Bread

Note: The leftover monkey bread was not intended for the girls, but they saw me eating it and insisted on having some. Gotta come up with another special occasion to make it again!

Lunch
Pizza with tomato, mushroom, spinach, sausage and Parmesan cheese
Strawberries

Dinner
Whole wheat bread
Scrambled egg with peas
Saute carrots
Pear
Vanilla yogurt and pear

Sunday- November 28, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich
Hard boiled quail eggs
Vanilla yogurt with pear
Pear

Lunch
Dim sum
Whole wheat crackers
Grapes and strawberries

Note: One perk about living in the Bay Area is that we have very easy access to good dim sum! The girls love the cha shu pork bun, turnip cake and sticky rice with chicken wrapped in leaves. We were very proud that the girls did so well in the restaurant today.

Dinner
Baked sweet potato fries
Saute green beans
scrambled eggs
Grapes and strawberries

Saturday- November 27, 2010

Yay, Farmers market day!!

Breakfast
Cereal
Banana
Strawberry yogurt

Lunch
Strawberry pancakes
Sweet peas and cheddar
Quail eggs
Strawberries

Dinner
Pasta with tomato, salmon, spinach and peas
Apples, strawberries and grapes

Friday- November 26, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Vanilla yogurt with strawberry and banana
Banana, grapes and strawberries

Lunch
Quiche with bacon and spinach
Monkey bread
Pear

Here are some pictures of the Monkey bread that I made for the first time today. It was fun to make and definitely tasty. Not recommended for babies on a regular basis though.


The Monkey bread didn't make it out in one piece.


Dinner
Pizza with tomato, green bell pepper and sausage (made by Daddy)
Persimmons

Thursday- November 25, 2010

Gobble gobble! Happy Thanksgiving!

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apple
Vanilla yogurt
Apple and grapes

Lunch
Fried rice with peas, carrots, eggs and sausage
Cranberry salad with celery, walnuts, orange and pineapple

Dinner
The girls sat with the adults and had a real Thanksgiving dinner!! The menu included:
Roasted Turkey with gravy
Sweet potato
Rolls
Cauliflower with bacon and scallion
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry salad
Creme Brulee
Chocolate mousse

Their favorites were the desserts, probably because they had never had them before. Interestingly, one preferred creme brulee and the other preferred chocolate mousse. They were not big fans of the turkey, but asked for many more bites of the green bean, which I brought. Yay, mama! I personally liked the cauliflower dish the most. Gotta learn that dish!

Wednesday- November 24, 2010

Breakfast
Cereals (with milk)
Scrambled eggs
Strawberry and grapes

Lunch
Pasta with tomato, carrots, spinach and peas
Scrambled eggs
Oranges
Banana

Dinner
Crustless quiche with spinach, peas and sausage
Vanilla yogurt
Pear

Tuesday- November 23, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich
Vanilla yogurt
Strawberry and grapes

Lunch
Pizza- with tomato, green bell pepper and sausage
Pear

Snack
Apple crisp

Dinner
Pasta with tomato, carrots and spinach
Sweet peas
Scrambled egg
Persimmons

Monday, November 22, 2010

Breakfast
Strawberry cupcake
Hard boiled egg
Strawberry and apple

Lunch
French toast
Tomatoes
Oranges and grapes

Dinner
Red rice (with sausage, green pepper and tomato sauce)
Celery, tomato, peas with cheddar cheese
Pears

Sunday- November 21, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with strawberry and banana
Banana and grapes

Lunch
Baked sweet potato fries
Eggs and spinach
Tomatoes
Strawberries and grapes

Snack
Strawberry cupcakes

Dinner
Chicken soup Provencal
Peas with cheddar cheese
Yogurt with strawberries
Pears

Saturday- November 20, 2010

Breakfast
Cereals
Banana
Strawberry yogurt

Lunch
Pasta with salmon, tomato and peas
Tomatoes
Parano cheese
Strawberries



Note: Yay!! Our kitchen is loaded with farmers market goodness again!!

Dinner
Pizza-
1) Tomato, red pepper, onion, sausage and spinach
2) Tomato, onion and spinach seasoned with cinnamon, all spice and Parmesan cheese
Strawberries and grapes



Note: The girls really liked the pizza today and ate nearly both of the pizza! I think they really missed the nice tomatoes from the farmers market!

Friday- November 19, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich on Brioche
Vanilla yogurt
Banana
Prune

Lunch
Quiche: 1) Spinach and sausage 2) Salmon and peas
Pear

Dinner
Teriyaki chicken fried rice
Vanilla yogurt with pear and apple
Apples

Thursday- November 18, 2010

Breakfast
Banana bread
Vanilla yogurt
Pears and strawberry

Note: The girls didn't seem to like pears that were not super ripe, so I ended up pureeing it. It was amazing how quickly it turned brown. The girls liked it though!

Lunch
Baked sweet potato fries
Eggs with spinach
Grapes

Dinner
Pasta with salmon, tomato and peas
Brioche
Persimmons

Note: As I mentioned a few days ago, we are suffering from the lack of farmers market goods this week. Today I really had to be creative. I found a piece of salmon in the freezer and thought it might be fun to make a pasta dish with it.

Here's how I made it:

1) Cook diced shallot in EVOO and added peeled and diced vine tomatoes. Salt and pepper were added to season.
2) Add chicken broth and cook for a few minutes until the liquid evaporated.
3) Add diced poached salmon and cooked elbow pasta and cook for a few minutes.
4) Stir in heavy cream and add frozen peas.
5) Add some lemon juice for flavor.
6) Optional: Add grated Parmesan cheese before serving.

It turned out pretty tasty and not too heavy. Most importantly, the girls ate it!

Wednesday- November 17, 2010

We are focusing on getting the intestines moving again today. Lots of banana and prunes will be fed to the girls.

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana
Cheerio
Hard boiled quail egg
Oranges and prunes

Lunch
Banana bread- new recipe from Cooks Illustrated
Curry Egg salad
Celery
Grapes

Dinner
I am trying a new recipe, Indian curry tonight. I am not sure if the girls will eat the curry at all, so there's plan B.

Plan A-
Indian style curry with potatoes, cauliflower, peas and chickpeas
Apples

Plan B-
Banana bread
Peas with cheddar cheese
Chicken and stars (Earth's Best baby food)
Apples

Tuesday- November 16, 2010

Breakfast
Cereal
Hard boiled quail eggs
Apples

Lunch
Yakisoba with shitake mushrooms, cabbage, red pepper and eggs
Grapes



Dinner
Chicken and rice with peas
Tomatoes
Grapes and persimmons

Note: The chicken and rice with peas recipe comes from the Cooks Illustrated 30 minute meal recipe. The rice was cooked with chicken, broth and the flavorful onion and garlic. It's an easy and tasty dish. One of the girls really liked both the chicken and the rice.

Monday- November 15, 2010

As I mentioned before, I didn't think my girls eat enough fiber and protein while we were on the road, so today's diet will be rich in fiber and protein. (Also, we didn't get to go to the farmers market last weekend, so we are a bit low on options today)

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana
Pear
Cheerio
Vanilla yogurt with strawberries and banana

Note: Lets get the intestines moving!!

Lunch
Crustless quiche with mushrooms, zucchini and spinach
Persimmons

Dinner
"Mac and Cheese" with sweet potatoes and carrots
Sweet peas
Orange

Traveling and Eating in a Restaurant

Last weekend we took a road trip to L.A. meeting up with friends from Texas. Every time we were away from home, I worried about the girls' diet. Eating in a restaurant with two little kids is not fun. Besides the issue of cleanliness in food preparation and appropriate selection for kids, we adults are so caught up with keeping the kids calm that we often just give them whatever keeps them happy. In my experience, this means starch: noodles, rice cake, bread, or pancakes. Occasionally they get eggs or fish if things are prepared in bite size. On a bad day, the girls might not be interested in adult food at all.

The past few times when we had to stay in a hotel, I decided to bring some items that did not require strict refrigeration. Washed whole fruits (apples, banana, grapes), hard boiled eggs, homemade bread or muffins are pretty convenient. For this specific trip, I made a loaf brioche and a dozen pumpkin muffins. Pasta is also convenient for the first meal on the road and it can be easily fed to babies in the car without too much mess. For their snack, I packed cereals, puffs, Gerber's non-refrigerated yogurt and rice cracker. Most baby cereals today are heavily fortified and high in fiber, so they are great for traveling. Although my girls don't eat canned baby food anymore, I like to bring those along in case we don't get good nutritious meals on the road. The girls found it fun to be a baby again.

In terms of utensils, we brought along small paper plates, small plastic forks, spoons, knives and a peeler. Oh, and don't forget the sanitizing wipes for wiping the high chairs and tables at the restaurants. Because my girls are still drinking lots of milk in their straw cups, I also travel with dish detergent, sponge and a small straw brush.

It is quite a hassle to drag so much food for a short trip, but I do feel good when my girls are eating healthy clean food that I make.

Thursday- November 11, 2010

Breakfast
Strawberry cupcakes
Vanilla yogurt
Asian pear and banana

Lunch
"Fried rice" with peas, carrots, zucchini
Scrambled eggs
Tomatoes
Plum and strawberries



Note: The fried rice today was experimental, since it is Thursday and I am running out of my usual ingredients! I first cooked minced onion and garlic in heated oil then added finely diced carrots and zucchini. Cold cooked rice was added and stirred until separated. Here I added a bit of chicken stock for additional nutrient and flavor, then I added frozen peas. Normally I add eggs to my fried rice, but today I made scrambled eggs on the side. The flavor was different from my usual fried rice made with Taiwanese sausage, and the girls ate quite a bit of it!

dinner
Sweet potato fries
Egg with spinach
Tomatoes
Grapes and persimmons

Wednesday- November 10, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana
Cheerio
Banana and grapes

Lunch
Quiche with spinach, mushrooms, zucchini and smoked sausage
Pears
Yogurt with strawberries

Snack
Strawberry cupcakes

Dinner
Yakisoba
Tomatoes
Oranges

Tuesday- November 9, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with strawberries, milk and maple syrup
Cheerio
Pear

Lunch
Buttermilk pancakes with apple and almond
Tomatoes
Oranges

Dinner
Oyako-don
Sweet peas
Tomatoes
Brussels Sprouts with Shitake mushrooms
Apples and persimmons

Monday- November 8, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich with homemade brioche
Vanilla yogurt with strawberries
Pears

Lunch
Scrambled eggs
Elbow pasta with puree tomatoes, carrots, spinach, milk and Parmesan cheese

Dinner
Butternut squash soup
Southern spoon bread
Grapes and Oranges

Note: The butternut squash soup was pretty tasty. Girls enjoyed dipping things in it, including bread, grapes and oranges. Spoon bread was ok, but I don't think I will bother with it again.

Sunday- November 7, 2010

It's cold and rainy out... I just want to stay in and bake all day. But of course, we have to go out and look at houses. One bonus of a cold rainy day was that girls slept late! They didn't make a peep until after 8 and it's the day light saving time!

Breakfast
Strawberry and cream oatmeal
scrambled eggs
Grapes and plums
Oranges

Lunch
Quiche with zucchini, spinach, mushrooms and smoked sausage
Tomatoes
Persimmons

Dinner
Chicken Provencal
Sweet peas
Tomatoes
Grapes and plums

Note: I have been thinking about a soup, and I can't place where I had it before or where I have seen the recipe. Very frustrating!! The soup has grilled chicken, spinach and rigatoni cut up in small segments... ARGH! WHAT IS IT?

Saturday- November 6, 2010

Today is Daddy's day... Mama was out with a friend. She only prepared breakfast and gave instruction for lunch and dinner.

Breakfast
Oatmeal and apple with maple syrup
Apples
Strawberry yogurt

Lunch
Strawberry pancakes
Tomatoes
Strawberries and grapes

Dinner
Pizza both Mediterranean and Italian styles
Strawberries and grapes

Friday-November 5, 2010

At the end of the week, I often suffer the lack of ingredients, since we shop at the farmers market on Saturdays. Today is one of those days.... I have no big tomatoes, no banana, no organic yogurt and no bread. Gotta be creative here!

Breakfast
Cereal
Hard boiled egg
Plum

Note: I know the girls aren't really into hard boiled eggs lately, so I gave them the whole egg with shell. They love playing with it and a big bite usually follows the cracking and peeling of the egg.

Lunch
Baked sweet potato fries
Chickpeas
Steamed Brussel Sprouts and carrots with mayo dip
Persimmons



Note: Last time I made the sweet potato fries, the girls seemed to have a bit of trouble with the skin. Even though I know the skin contains good nutrients, I peeled them off this time to seeif the girls would like it better. As soon as they chew better, the skin is back on!!

Dinner
Brioche bread
Tomatoes
Egg with zucchini, smoked sausage and cheddar cheese
Plums

Thursday- November 4, 2010

Today was a busy day. We took a long trip to visit my aunt and uncle up in the East Bay, so the girls' lunch was simplified and served in the car.

Breakfast
Pumpkin muffin
Asian pear
Vanilla yogurt

Lunch
"Mac and Cheese"
Asian pear

Note: I personally think Mac and Cheese has no nutritional value, and I am not sure why it often appears on children's menu. Young toddlers can easily feed themselves Mac and Cheese though, and that's why I prepared it today for the girls' lunch in the car.

My version of Mac and Cheese contains puree streamed carrots and sweet potato/yam plus milk. Honestly I can't tell sweet potato and yam apart, but either one gives a sweet taste and beautiful color with carrots. If color isn't a concern, other vegetables can easily be added for better nutrition and flavor. Simply add the puree to cooked elbow pasta and cook on the stove for a few minutes with an optional addition of salt and pepper. Viola! My girls loved it!

Dinner
Chicken soup Provencal
Sweet peas with cheddar cheese
Tomatoes
Apples

Note: I didn't have much time to cook after visiting my aunt and uncle, so I decided that the girls would eat what we ate for dinner: Chicken Soup Provencal. It was very easy to make and very hearty. I took out the noodles and cut the chicken into little pieces for the girls. They had a nice hearty meal!

Wednesday- November 3, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana and milk
Grapes, strawberries and banana

Lunch
Sweet potato fries
Tomatoes
Chickpeas
Persimmons



Note: Lunch was a hit! The girls loved the sweet potatoes and they asked for more tomatoes! The sweet potato was very easy to make. Gotta love Cooks Illustrated!

Dinner
Pizza- with tomato and spinach, Mediterranean style
Pizza- with tomato, green pepper, mushrooms and smoked sausage, Italian style
Pumpkin muffin
Apples



Note: The pizza was homemade, including the crust. Based on a "Turkish meat pie" recipe, the crust simply contains flour, salt, olive oil and yeast. The Mediterranean toppings were mainly heirloom tomatoes and onions seasoned with allspice, cinnamon and black pepper. Shredded Parmesan cheese was sprinkled to hold everything together for the babies. The pizza was simple, crusty and tasty. For variation, I made an "Italian" version using the same crust and toppings commonly found on take-out pizza. Because I didn't have tomato sauce at home, I used an organic ketchup instead.

I know pumpkin muffin doesn't go with pizza, but they were freshly baked... I couldn't resist giving it to the girls!

Tuesday- November 2, 2010

Breakfast
Peanut butter jelly sandwich
Hard boiled quail egg
Strawberries

Note: Like I mentioned in earlier posts, the girls are not interested in hard boiled eggs recently. But, they still need their protein, so I decided to slice the quail egg horizontally instead of half in the middle. It worked! One of the girls ate the whole egg!

Lunch
Apple and buttermilk pancakes
Apple and Banana slices
Strawberry and banana in vanilla yogurt

Dinner
Quiche with spinach, zucchini, mushrooms and sausage.
Plums and Grapes



Note: Girls seem to be eating a lot of carbs today, so I am giving them a low carb, high protein quiche tonight! They loved it! Both were eating on their own using spoons like adults!

Cold Remedy

I am very lucky that the girls were born healthy and have been strong for the past 17+ months. There were only a few colds with one or two incidents of low fever. Because they are still under the age of two, I try to use natural remedy when they get sick.

One of my favorite cold remedy is the steamed Korean pear. There are several variations. My mother used to core the pear, stuff it with rock sugar and steam it. We ate the pear as well as the juice. My Korean friend recommended adding honey to the cored pear before steaming. This version is quite tasty. Since my girls are still too young to eat honey, I alter the recipe a bit.

First, I cut the top of the Korean pear, so it has a "lid". Then I core the pear with a melon baller to remove the seedy part. To the cored pear, I fill it with approximately 1 tablespoon of julienned fresh ginger and 4 dried jujube (or red date in Chinese). Then I put the "lid" back, place the pear in a bowl with a plate on top and steam it using 3 cups of water in my electric steamer.



For the babies, I puree only the flesh of the pear and try to keep as much juice as possible. They love it!

Monday- November 1, 2010

Breakfast
Banana bread
Hard Boiled quail egg
Grapes
Vanilla Yogurt

Note: Girls don't seem to like hard boiled eggs these days... I will have to come up with something fun to fulfill their protein intake.

Lunch
Brioche
Sautee Brussels sprouts and carrots
Egg and spinach
Strawberries



Note: Girls were very distracted by Ah-Mah (my mom) on the computer screen (online video chat) with my mom at lunch and didn't want to eat anything. After giving them a bit of organic ketchup (Trader Joe's), they ate a lot of the eggs.

Dinner
Girls are eating "adult food" tonight with us.
Rice
Saute bok choy
Saute tofu
Plums
Steamed Asian pear (cold remedy)

Sunday- October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween! We lame parents didn't get our act together for this festivity... the girls will have to go without costumes this year.

Breakfast
Oatmeal with apple, almond, maple syrup and milk
Plum and strawberries

Lunch
Grilled cheese sandwich with sliced tomatoes (in fresh homemade brioche)
Sweet peas
strawberries

Snack
Homemade banana bread

Note: We decided to take an impromptu walk to downtown Los Altos. The girls had desserts from Satura Cafe instead of the homey banana bread.

Dinner
Yakisoba with carrot, zucchini, Brussels sprouts and yellow bell pepper
Banana bread with apple and strawberry


Got a bit carried away and decorated the fruit course.

Note: Mama was possessed by some baking spirit today... so we had fresh brioche and banana bread!! We are very lucky to have babies who love vegetables including Brussels sprouts. We found some at the farmers market this week and they were still on the stalk! These are not bitter at all and we like to use them as "mini cabbages". For yakisoba, we used angel hair instead of the pre-cooked yakisoba from Asian grocery stores. To flavor without the seasoning package, I used ponzu soy sauce and hondashi. Addition of bonito flakes also added good flavor.

Saturday- October 30, 2010

We faithfullly go to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning. It's one of the perks of living in CA. It is hard to get out of the door early enough so we can come home before girls early nap. As a result, we often feed the girls breakfast in the car.

Breakfast
Cereal

Lunch
Steamed sweet potato
Egg omelette with carrots, zucchini and mushrooms
tomatoes

Note: I prepared lunch and left to go house hunting. According to a later report by the babysitter (my cousin), the girls only wanted to eat the tomatoes, so she gave them pumpkin muffins that was meant to be their afternoon snack.

Snack
Pumpkin muffins originally, but since they were eaten at lunch, girls got crakers instead.

Dinner
Elbow pasta with spaghetti sauce
Egg omelette with carrots, zucchi and mushrooms
Sautee carrots
Apple with vanilla yogurt

Note: Girls didn't seem to eat well with me being away so much today... will have to feed them better tomorrow!

Friday- October 28, 2010

Breakfast
Oatmeal with banana and milk (puree)
Banana and grapes

Note: Girls were distracted by 2 visitors and ate most of the oatmeal.

Lunch
Elbow pasta with spaghetti sauce
Stir-fried peas and carrots with cheddar cheese
Fried quail eggs
Plums



Note: Girls loved everything!!

Dinner
Potato casserole-
Red potatoes were boiled in water first and cut into little pieces
Chopped zucchini, spinach, smoked sausage, corn and shredded cheddar cheese were added. Baked in oval ramekin at 350 for ~10 minutes. Sliced grape tomatoes were added as garnish.
Persimmons

Note: Potato was not their favorite food yet... not fans of persimmons either.

Thursday October 28, 2010 (back tracked)

I can't remember all the food the girls had today, but I wanted to mention the quiche which they loved!!

Four crust less quiche were made for girls' dinner tonight. It was based on the "crust less quiche" recipe from the Joy of Cooking. Half recipe was used and divided into 4 small round ramekins. Additional fillings added were: chopped zucchini, spinach, smoked sausage and parsley. The quiche was baked at 400F for 15 minutes.


This picture was taken a few days earlier from my first try using foils instead of ramekins.

Note: One of the girls loved it and ate 3 of the 4 quiches. She even used a little teaspoon to feed herself! :)