Seriously very fed up liao. I can understand and accept it if the boys have certain preferences and only want to eat a few selected dishes. BUT they can wolf down one dish the previous week and totally reject it this week..!! What the...??!! And yes, this applies to pan-fried foods as well..! I think the only food they will eat happily everyday is perhaps... urmm.. I can't think of anything! I am SURE they will get sick of 'favorite' foods such as crispy chicken or french fries if I serve it to them everyday.. because the appeal of these foods must be largely due to them being forbidden and thus 'luxury' items!
I have thought of two more methods to try. If they still do not work, I shall just give up lah. Anyway my tests and experimentation will have to take a backseat once Meimei is out, cos it will be the confinement auntie doing all the cooking. I considered still cooking for the boys while the auntie cooks for hubby and me, but seriously, who am I kidding? As if the boys will eat... Once I tell them 'no, these dishes are not for you', they will definitely decide they cannot eat anything else but auntie's dishes!
[Anyway, who am I kidding? How to give up? Once the confinement period is over, if I don't cook for them, who cook??]
First method to try: Western recipes. So far I have been using bento-style i.e. Jap style, and Chinese style. But the boys usually do not eat much rice.. though sometimes Jiale finishes his rice and not touch his meat/fish/vegs.. don't ask me why.. I think he does it just to make me happy.. >.< So maybe I will replace the rice with potato or other starchy foods.
Second method to try: Continue Chinese style cooking, but instead of serving individual portions on their plates, I shall serve the boys only their rice on their plates, and they take the meat/fish/vegs they want from communal plates. Like the way we eat when I cook for all four of us or when we eat at my in-laws. Not very hopeful for this, cos Jiale doesn't eat much either when we are at my in-laws... And I think Didi tends to copy his behaviour.... Haii...
Just try, see how : /
Showing posts with label meals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meals. Show all posts
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
4th Week Food Diary
It's the end of 5th week and I'm just writing for 4th week :p Oh well, with Jiale no longer taking afternoon nap, I don't have as much time to blog nowadays : /
As it was the CNY week, I didn't cook on Monday (Chu 2). And cos we didn't do grocery shopping the previous Saturday (CNY eve), I had nothing to cook for Tuesday lunch and we ate at Sakae instead.
I was very unwell on Thursday, so all meal plans for that day also went to pieces.. On Saturday, it was Didi's turn to be very sick, so I only cooked porridge with steamed fish or steamed egg for the boys' meals that weekend.
Just decided I am gonna stop posting food diaries. It's getting boring and I really don't have time. Having the idea to do a weekly activity diary instead. Hmm. See how.
As it was the CNY week, I didn't cook on Monday (Chu 2). And cos we didn't do grocery shopping the previous Saturday (CNY eve), I had nothing to cook for Tuesday lunch and we ate at Sakae instead.
I was very unwell on Thursday, so all meal plans for that day also went to pieces.. On Saturday, it was Didi's turn to be very sick, so I only cooked porridge with steamed fish or steamed egg for the boys' meals that weekend.
Just decided I am gonna stop posting food diaries. It's getting boring and I really don't have time. Having the idea to do a weekly activity diary instead. Hmm. See how.
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| Tuesday dinner: Stir-fried pork with kailan, Cooling winter melon soup |
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| Wednesday breakfast: Cheese toast, banana, avocado dip, yogurt |
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| Wednesday lunch: Steamed chicken thigh, Chinese cabbage with dried shrimps |
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| Wednesday dinner: Stir-fried asparagus with prawns, Old cucumber in pork broth |
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| Friday breakfast: Kokokrunch in milk, banana, hard boiled egg |
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| Friday lunch: Noodles with fish & button mushrooms |
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| Friday dinner: Steamed eggs with fish, Stir-fried pork, Pork bones with lotus root soup |
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| Saturday breakfast: Cheese sandwich, yogurt, grapes |
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| Sunday breakfast: Strawberry cake, banana, yogurt |
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
3rd Week Food Diary
Didn't take notes after each meal this week :P Lazy, plus since I am not gonna stop cooking a dish just bcos of lukewarm responses anyway. But it's pretty obvious that the boys like panfried chicken or fish and steamed fish. Didi is a confirmed soup lover, while Jiale will usually finish his bowl of soup too.
From no veg dish for the first week, to some sort of veg for the second week like edamame or steamed broccoli, this week I have started cooking a veg dish for lunch. So it's one veg dish and one meat/fish dish for lunch, and one meat/fish dish and a soup for dinner. Usually there is some veg in the soup, and sometimes some veg as part of the meat dish too. Still not good enough la, cos often I realised there's no greens for dinner......... But it's very difficult to cook so much for two young kids! And I don't wanna eat my own cooking everyday! I wanna eat carrot cake and fishball noodles and satay!!
Had planned a proper dinner for after the zoo trip on Wednesday, but I felt too tired, so I let them eat macaroni cheese instead. A junk food, no doubt, but I managed to sneak in avocado, hee hee!
There was also no proper lunch on Friday cos we went to Scoop of Art cafe before the library that morning, and the food was so yummy that all of us ate a lot at 11am+. Urmm, also no proper dinner on Friday cos I forgot to buy tofu and I was lazy so just gave up and gave the boys pizza :p
In the past, I used to give one processed food with the other proper foods to entice Jiale to eat. It worked quite well, probably because he was still young and i was feeding him. So as long as he was willing to open his mouth, i could feed him veg and meat together with the fishball etc. But now I realised whenever he saw fishballs or hot dogs, he would refuse to eat anything else. So I no longer serve any processed food when I cook for them. Unfortunately they ate a lot of fishballs for the two reunion meals! : /
[The food I cook for them probably seems very basic and easy... I see so many nicer photos of nicer food on FB.. but I am really not good at cooking... So my poor boys have to make do... : /]
From no veg dish for the first week, to some sort of veg for the second week like edamame or steamed broccoli, this week I have started cooking a veg dish for lunch. So it's one veg dish and one meat/fish dish for lunch, and one meat/fish dish and a soup for dinner. Usually there is some veg in the soup, and sometimes some veg as part of the meat dish too. Still not good enough la, cos often I realised there's no greens for dinner......... But it's very difficult to cook so much for two young kids! And I don't wanna eat my own cooking everyday! I wanna eat carrot cake and fishball noodles and satay!!
Had planned a proper dinner for after the zoo trip on Wednesday, but I felt too tired, so I let them eat macaroni cheese instead. A junk food, no doubt, but I managed to sneak in avocado, hee hee!
There was also no proper lunch on Friday cos we went to Scoop of Art cafe before the library that morning, and the food was so yummy that all of us ate a lot at 11am+. Urmm, also no proper dinner on Friday cos I forgot to buy tofu and I was lazy so just gave up and gave the boys pizza :p
In the past, I used to give one processed food with the other proper foods to entice Jiale to eat. It worked quite well, probably because he was still young and i was feeding him. So as long as he was willing to open his mouth, i could feed him veg and meat together with the fishball etc. But now I realised whenever he saw fishballs or hot dogs, he would refuse to eat anything else. So I no longer serve any processed food when I cook for them. Unfortunately they ate a lot of fishballs for the two reunion meals! : /
[The food I cook for them probably seems very basic and easy... I see so many nicer photos of nicer food on FB.. but I am really not good at cooking... So my poor boys have to make do... : /]
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| Monday breakfast: Spinach bread, avocado dip, hardboiled egg, blueberries |
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| Monday lunch: Stir-fried sweet peas & broccoli, pan-fried chicken |
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| Monday dinner: Steamed fish, papaya corn yam broth |
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| Tuesday morning: Carrot bread, fried egg, avocado dip, banana |
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| Tuesday lunch: Kebocha shitake pork, chinese cabbage with dried shrimps |
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| Tuesday dinner: Mochiko chicken, papaya fish soup |
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| Wednesday breakfast: McDonald! |
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| Wednesday dinner: Macoroni cheese with avocado |
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| Thursday breakfast for school: Salmon mayo sandwiches, cheese stick |
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| Thursday dinner: Pan-fried crispy fish, Liu Wei Tang |
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| Saturday breakfast: Peanut butter sandwich, fried egg, yogurt, grapes |
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| Sunday breakfast: Cheese sandwich, gingerbread man cookie, yogurt |
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Book: French Kids Eat Everything
I really wish my boys would eat everything too! But I think I have to wait long long... especially since they are actually not as picky an eater as their mummy...... :P I don't like to eat vegs, absolutely hate beansprouts, garlic, onion etc, have never tried common slimey stuff like sashimi or offal or oysters, and will never ever try exotic slimey stuff like escargots, and the list goes on and on..
OK, back to the book - it's about a Canadian mummy who moved to France for one year with her French hubby and two kids aged five and two. Her kids were picky eaters as in the elder girl refused to try new foods and only liked food like french fries and pizza, while the younger one used to eat everything but started imitating her sister when she got older (sounds just like my Jiale and Jiahe!!). On top of this, the full-time working mum often just cooked pizza or pasta for their meals as she was tired after a day's work, and it was common practice in North America to eat these foods regularly.
But when the family was in France, she realised that French kids had very different (and much healthier) dietary habits. One of the main points that's relevant to my situation is that instead of grazing (or frequent small meals that's recommended in many parenting books), the French culture was to give the children (actually, even the adults too) three main meals plus a big snack. So, the schedule would be like this: 7.30am for breakfast; 12.30pm for lunch; about 4.30pm for a big snack; 7.30pm for dinner. Though it means that the children sometimes have to go hungry between meals, it also means that they eat more and eat better at the proper mealtimes. The rationale is that it is ok for children to feel hungry at times, and it becomes a cycle - habit to eat more at mealtimes--> won't be that hungry between mealtimes. And because high-satiety foods are served at mealtimes, they feel satisfied for a long time (as opposed to snacks-type of foods).
[The no-snacking between meals was feasible because everybody, including childcare centres, grandparents, other parents, was doing it. It would not work if you were against snacking but the childcare teachers were feeding them!]
As for being willing to try new foods, according to the author, it's very much a cultural thing, i.e. everybody (all parents inclusive) serves their children very varied foods since young. And because everybody is doing it, the children sorta expect to be trying new foods.. they are used to it and all their peers are doing it too. The relevant point here is that researchers have found that children need to see the new food many times (can't remember but I think the book mentioned it's at least 7 times) and to taste the food at least 10 times before they might grow to like the food. If the child says he doesn't like the food the first couple of times it's served to him, we aren't supposed to believe him :p So, I have decided to be thick-skinned and just keep serving him all the stuff which he has indicated he does not like, haha! Given that I cook each dish at most once a week, it's gonna take us a looooooong time to cover each dish 10 times! (actually will be more than 10, cos he might not even taste it the first few times)
The last point which I shall include here, is about parents' priorities. The author compared North American and French mothers, and concluded that while both cultures loved their children very much (of course), the mothers' priorities were different. While the North Amercian mothers had no time to cook proper meals because they were busy ferrying the children around to their enrichment classes etc, the French mothers made it their priority to cook. Being less concerned about 'enriching' their children's brains, either by sending them to classes or engaging in learning activities or even playdates with them, they used the time to cook instead.
Gosh, that sounds familiar! I felt that I had no time to cook as I wanted to bring the boys for outdoor play etc, or to let them make a mess playing which meant I had to spend time cleaning up, or to sit with the boys for 'homelearning'.. But if instead I prioritize their meals, I do have a lot of time! This is my 3rd week of earnest attempts to cook properly (very tough because it's not just about time you know. It's that I am a lousy cook and it's killing many brain cells to cook properly!), and I do find that it's getting easier and taking less time. (In fact, I am contemplating making nice nice bento-decor lunches for the boys, hee hee.) The boys have also adjusted to seeing mummyslog spend a long time at the kitchen counter washing, cutting, cooking. While they used to go crazy everytime I started cooking, suddenly feeling and proclaming they were starving to death (regardless of what time I cooked or how recent their snack was), they have become accustomed to waiting for their food (especially their lovely breakfasts! So happy to see the boys looking forward to my daily creations!).
I am considering following the French meal schedule, but I wonder how feasible that is. The good thing is I have almost 100% control over what time and what they eat since they are not in school yet. (The once-a-week playgroup does not include meals and though the teachers do give them simple snacks like crackers/fruits, I have been preparing snacks for the boys to bring to school since a couple of weeks ago.)
The boys' current eating schedule:
180ml of milk when they wake up around 7am --> Breakfast is served around 7.30am, latest by 8am --> After I finish washing up the breakfast mess and preparing the ingredients for lunch, I offer them food again, around 9.30am. This is usually a selection of foods like fruits, cheese sticks, biscuits, raisins, Happy Munchies --> Depending on how much they eat, I will usually offer fruits around 11am. At this time I remind them that they will not be given any more food till lunchtime --> Lunch is served at 1pm --> If the boys fall asleep fast, they usually wake up around 4.30pm and I offer them a snack, usually fruits. If not, they have to wait for dinner, which is usually served one hour after they wake up from a late nap --> Milk after dinner, no more food allowed after dinner. (Sometimes exception is made for fruits)
So, they are having at least two snacks between breakfast and lunch, within 5 hours! Hmm, after I write it down, I think I should combine these two snacks into one mid-morning snack around 10am. But my main worry is Jiale not getting enough fruits (since he gets constipated and he doesn't eat vegs).. so I feel the need to keep offering fruits to him.. Actually, so far this has worked quite well for his constipation : ) If I don't serve fruits (i.e. a snack) between meals, how to get fruits into him? Since he and Jiahe both like fruits, they might eat even less for their main course if they know they will definitely get fruits right after the main course.. (even less??? omg omg) I shall ponder more on this.
It's not very hard to shift their lunchtime forward by half an hour to the French lunchtime of 12.30pm.. but... can they tahan not eating from 8am to 12.30pm?? And we don't have time for a mid-afternoon snack since the boys usually take quite long to settle down to nap and then they nap about two hours.. But then they also don't have dinner so late.... Hmm.. if I serve dinner at 7.30pm, can I still get them to bed by 9pm? (both for my mental health and for them to get enough sleep since their biological alarm clocks ring loudly by 7am every morning.. even when it's wet and gloomy and so dark I have no idea how they know it's 7am..!!)
This is mind-boggling and brain-cracking and very chim. I doubt a rocket scientist can solve this >.<
OK, back to the book - it's about a Canadian mummy who moved to France for one year with her French hubby and two kids aged five and two. Her kids were picky eaters as in the elder girl refused to try new foods and only liked food like french fries and pizza, while the younger one used to eat everything but started imitating her sister when she got older (sounds just like my Jiale and Jiahe!!). On top of this, the full-time working mum often just cooked pizza or pasta for their meals as she was tired after a day's work, and it was common practice in North America to eat these foods regularly.
But when the family was in France, she realised that French kids had very different (and much healthier) dietary habits. One of the main points that's relevant to my situation is that instead of grazing (or frequent small meals that's recommended in many parenting books), the French culture was to give the children (actually, even the adults too) three main meals plus a big snack. So, the schedule would be like this: 7.30am for breakfast; 12.30pm for lunch; about 4.30pm for a big snack; 7.30pm for dinner. Though it means that the children sometimes have to go hungry between meals, it also means that they eat more and eat better at the proper mealtimes. The rationale is that it is ok for children to feel hungry at times, and it becomes a cycle - habit to eat more at mealtimes--> won't be that hungry between mealtimes. And because high-satiety foods are served at mealtimes, they feel satisfied for a long time (as opposed to snacks-type of foods).
[The no-snacking between meals was feasible because everybody, including childcare centres, grandparents, other parents, was doing it. It would not work if you were against snacking but the childcare teachers were feeding them!]
As for being willing to try new foods, according to the author, it's very much a cultural thing, i.e. everybody (all parents inclusive) serves their children very varied foods since young. And because everybody is doing it, the children sorta expect to be trying new foods.. they are used to it and all their peers are doing it too. The relevant point here is that researchers have found that children need to see the new food many times (can't remember but I think the book mentioned it's at least 7 times) and to taste the food at least 10 times before they might grow to like the food. If the child says he doesn't like the food the first couple of times it's served to him, we aren't supposed to believe him :p So, I have decided to be thick-skinned and just keep serving him all the stuff which he has indicated he does not like, haha! Given that I cook each dish at most once a week, it's gonna take us a looooooong time to cover each dish 10 times! (actually will be more than 10, cos he might not even taste it the first few times)
The last point which I shall include here, is about parents' priorities. The author compared North American and French mothers, and concluded that while both cultures loved their children very much (of course), the mothers' priorities were different. While the North Amercian mothers had no time to cook proper meals because they were busy ferrying the children around to their enrichment classes etc, the French mothers made it their priority to cook. Being less concerned about 'enriching' their children's brains, either by sending them to classes or engaging in learning activities or even playdates with them, they used the time to cook instead.
Gosh, that sounds familiar! I felt that I had no time to cook as I wanted to bring the boys for outdoor play etc, or to let them make a mess playing which meant I had to spend time cleaning up, or to sit with the boys for 'homelearning'.. But if instead I prioritize their meals, I do have a lot of time! This is my 3rd week of earnest attempts to cook properly (very tough because it's not just about time you know. It's that I am a lousy cook and it's killing many brain cells to cook properly!), and I do find that it's getting easier and taking less time. (In fact, I am contemplating making nice nice bento-decor lunches for the boys, hee hee.) The boys have also adjusted to seeing mummy
I am considering following the French meal schedule, but I wonder how feasible that is. The good thing is I have almost 100% control over what time and what they eat since they are not in school yet. (The once-a-week playgroup does not include meals and though the teachers do give them simple snacks like crackers/fruits, I have been preparing snacks for the boys to bring to school since a couple of weeks ago.)
The boys' current eating schedule:
180ml of milk when they wake up around 7am --> Breakfast is served around 7.30am, latest by 8am --> After I finish washing up the breakfast mess and preparing the ingredients for lunch, I offer them food again, around 9.30am. This is usually a selection of foods like fruits, cheese sticks, biscuits, raisins, Happy Munchies --> Depending on how much they eat, I will usually offer fruits around 11am. At this time I remind them that they will not be given any more food till lunchtime --> Lunch is served at 1pm --> If the boys fall asleep fast, they usually wake up around 4.30pm and I offer them a snack, usually fruits. If not, they have to wait for dinner, which is usually served one hour after they wake up from a late nap --> Milk after dinner, no more food allowed after dinner. (Sometimes exception is made for fruits)
So, they are having at least two snacks between breakfast and lunch, within 5 hours! Hmm, after I write it down, I think I should combine these two snacks into one mid-morning snack around 10am. But my main worry is Jiale not getting enough fruits (since he gets constipated and he doesn't eat vegs).. so I feel the need to keep offering fruits to him.. Actually, so far this has worked quite well for his constipation : ) If I don't serve fruits (i.e. a snack) between meals, how to get fruits into him? Since he and Jiahe both like fruits, they might eat even less for their main course if they know they will definitely get fruits right after the main course.. (even less??? omg omg) I shall ponder more on this.
It's not very hard to shift their lunchtime forward by half an hour to the French lunchtime of 12.30pm.. but... can they tahan not eating from 8am to 12.30pm?? And we don't have time for a mid-afternoon snack since the boys usually take quite long to settle down to nap and then they nap about two hours.. But then they also don't have dinner so late.... Hmm.. if I serve dinner at 7.30pm, can I still get them to bed by 9pm? (both for my mental health and for them to get enough sleep since their biological alarm clocks ring loudly by 7am every morning.. even when it's wet and gloomy and so dark I have no idea how they know it's 7am..!!)
This is mind-boggling and brain-cracking and very chim. I doubt a rocket scientist can solve this >.<
Monday, February 4, 2013
2nd Week Food Diary
Repeated some of the previous week's recipes which the boys liked. But their preferences seemed to have changed in the space of just a few days! Sigh, when will I ever be able to figure it out? : /
(We had lunch at the zoo on Wednesday, and Thursday breakfast was sandwiches which they brought to school, but they were ugly looking sandwiches cos we only had 3 slices of bread left, so I didn't take any photo :p Thursday lunch is always takeaway chicken rice cos I am not at home to cook while they are in school (and no, no way am I gonna give up my morning off to rush home to cook. Chicken rice is good, thank you very much). Saturday lunch was yummy sushi at Sakae after grocery shopping. The boys had their Sunday lunch & dinner at the grandparents' - i.e. I didn't have to cook!)
Jiale: Finished the toast & banana. Didn't eat the egg at all.
Jiahe: Finished almost everything plus kor kor's egg.
JL: Said the fish was nice and finished all! Didn't touch the broccoli.
JH: Finished almost everything.
JL: Ate a lot of the chicken and this time he tried the tofu! : ) Finished his soup.
JH: Finished almost all his food.
JL: Finished the sandwich. Didn't want to try the banana. Ate a bit of the egg.
JH: Finished almost everything plus some of kor kor's egg and banana.
JL: Ate two portions of rice with some gravy from the pork dish. But didn't eat any meat/veg at all >.<
JH: Finished two portions of pumpkin. Spat out the spinach (???). Ate some minced pork. Spat out the mushroom (which he ate a lot last week!).
[I used fresh shitake mushrooms last week but dried chinese mushrooms this week cos I ran out of the shitake. Perhaps the chinese mushrooms were harder and not so nice? Shall buy shitake mushrooms again soon.]
The boys loved the fish! Lackluster reaction to the soup.. again.. Shall give up this soup for the time being.
His Royal Highness Jiale finally ate the blueberries! He used to love them when he was younger.. then he stopped eating blueberries.. But never mind, Didi happily gobbles up any leftover blueberries!
I made a mistake with the chicken - I think I used too much egg & flour.. shall try again soon. It was edible la, but I think it would be a more accurate experiment if at least the recipe were adhered to haha.
Hmm, dunno why, Jiale didn't want to eat dinner at all.. Even before he saw the food he was saying he didn't want to eat..... He did come to the dining table eventually but... He usually loves prawns but he was sian sian towards tonight's dinner.. boo hoo.. Dear son, prawns are not cheap ok.....
(The lotus root soup was very bland! I don't add any salt to the soups as the recipes do not include salt. But I think that wasn't the problem.. the problem was probably the lotus root.. I bought a packet of pre-cut, pre-boiled lotus root cos it's not always possible to find lotus root at the supermarket, and I thought if it worked, it would be very convenient! But unfortunately, the flavour suffered and I would not use this again.)
Jiale requested for this when he saw the picture in one of my cookbooks the previous day. Hubby managed to help me buy french beans from the provision shop downstairs.. But I didn't have tung hoon and didn't realise it till I was about to prepare lunch, so I used bee hoon instead. Anyway Jiale bluffed me lor.. he said he would eat the beans but he refused to try them at all! : ( But I shall try this again with tung hoon.
I also let the boys try Campbell cream of asparagus after they had enough of the bee hoon. As part of my attempts to get more greens into Jiale, I wanted to try cream soups. Because Jiale simply refuses to touch the vegetables when I serve them as a separate dish or when they come as part of his soup! I thought cream soups might work since they are sorta 'pureed' into the soup.. and yes, he liked the cream of asparagus and even ate the asparagus pieces! Next, I shall make the soup myself! Didn't wanna waste food and money cooking the soup myself before getting some assurance that he would eat it.. :p
Jiale had the same reaction as the previous day's dinner.. Said he didn't want to eat even before laying eyes on the food.. SIGH : ( I suspect he has realised mummy is up to no good.. no more of his usual favorites of chicken nuggets etc.... I guess he's moody..
Happy that the boys were ok to eat salmon mayo! Salmon is a brain food! Yippee!
Dinner with daddy. The fish is a tried and tested dish. First time cooking the hairy gourd dish, which was stuffed with minced pork + carrot + mushroom + spring onions + dried shrimps... a lot of work!! *perspire* Luckily I only tried to do this when hubby was around.. it's too much work to cook this dish just for the two boys! At least I had an appreciative customer who would finish the food.
(Dunno why I am unable to scroll below the picture below to write.. gosh.. Never mind I shall not kill my brain cells.)
Happy that I managed to get the boys to eat avocado! Spread the avocado on the bread and added some cheese in between before grilling the bread. Yumz! : )
(We had lunch at the zoo on Wednesday, and Thursday breakfast was sandwiches which they brought to school, but they were ugly looking sandwiches cos we only had 3 slices of bread left, so I didn't take any photo :p Thursday lunch is always takeaway chicken rice cos I am not at home to cook while they are in school (and no, no way am I gonna give up my morning off to rush home to cook. Chicken rice is good, thank you very much). Saturday lunch was yummy sushi at Sakae after grocery shopping. The boys had their Sunday lunch & dinner at the grandparents' - i.e. I didn't have to cook!)
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| Monday breakfast: Cheese toast, hard boiled egg, banana |
Jiahe: Finished almost everything plus kor kor's egg.
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| Monday lunch: Steamed seabass, steamed broccoli |
JH: Finished almost everything.
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| Monday dinner: Chicken tofu, chayotes corn mushroom soup |
JH: Finished almost all his food.
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| Tuesday breakfast: Peanut butter sandwich, fried egg, caramelised banana |
JH: Finished almost everything plus some of kor kor's egg and banana.
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| Tuesday lunch: Kabocha mushroom pork, spinach with wolfberries |
JL: Ate two portions of rice with some gravy from the pork dish. But didn't eat any meat/veg at all >.<
JH: Finished two portions of pumpkin. Spat out the spinach (???). Ate some minced pork. Spat out the mushroom (which he ate a lot last week!).
[I used fresh shitake mushrooms last week but dried chinese mushrooms this week cos I ran out of the shitake. Perhaps the chinese mushrooms were harder and not so nice? Shall buy shitake mushrooms again soon.]
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| Tuesday dinner: Crispy panfried fish, apple corn chicken soup |
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| Wednesday breakfast: Peanut butter sandwiches and tuna sandwiches |
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| Wednesday dinner: Mochiko chicken, black bean cuttlefish soup |
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| Thursday dinner: Sauteed shrimps with mushrooms, pork bones lotus root soup |
(The lotus root soup was very bland! I don't add any salt to the soups as the recipes do not include salt. But I think that wasn't the problem.. the problem was probably the lotus root.. I bought a packet of pre-cut, pre-boiled lotus root cos it's not always possible to find lotus root at the supermarket, and I thought if it worked, it would be very convenient! But unfortunately, the flavour suffered and I would not use this again.)
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| Friday lunch: Braised french beans with bee hoon |
I also let the boys try Campbell cream of asparagus after they had enough of the bee hoon. As part of my attempts to get more greens into Jiale, I wanted to try cream soups. Because Jiale simply refuses to touch the vegetables when I serve them as a separate dish or when they come as part of his soup! I thought cream soups might work since they are sorta 'pureed' into the soup.. and yes, he liked the cream of asparagus and even ate the asparagus pieces! Next, I shall make the soup myself! Didn't wanna waste food and money cooking the soup myself before getting some assurance that he would eat it.. :p
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| Friday dinner: Claypot rice, chicken vegetable soup |
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| Saturday breakfast: Salmon mayo sandwich & scrambled egg |
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| Saturday dinner: Stuffed hairy gourd, crispy panfried fish, spinach & prawn balls soup |
(Dunno why I am unable to scroll below the picture below to write.. gosh.. Never mind I shall not kill my brain cells.)
Happy that I managed to get the boys to eat avocado! Spread the avocado on the bread and added some cheese in between before grilling the bread. Yumz! : )
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| Sunday breakfast: Avocado cheese toast |
Monday, January 28, 2013
One-Week Food Diary
Been trying to entice Jiale to eat more and to eat more healthily, so I am trying out new recipes. To be honest, I had been very lazy in cooking for the boys because Jiale hardly ate anything anyway and Jiahe ate almost everything :p But I realised we couldn't continue like that forever.. I have to risk wasting food in order to find out WHAT on earth Jiale will eat! Hopefully I will be able to find more things which suit his appetite AND are healthy.
[About bento recipe books: I have quite a few such recipe books. But I realised that though the bentos really look very nice, they are often very complicated to make as they comprise of many different ingredients &/or side dishes in order to complete the 'picture'. In addition, the food is not exactly healthy most of the time... e.g. it is very common to use processed foods like ham and hot dogs and even food colourings. I have tried making nice-looking bento-meals for Jiale before, and it is difficult to compromise what he does eat and the aesthetic effect of the bento. And the worst is that while he might admire the product, he might still not eat it! So this time round, I am focusing on the food itself, and going for only simple decorations such as using cookie cutters to cut cheese etc into animal/letter shapes to put on the sandwich.]
Jiale: Didn't eat the bread at all.... Ate some of the egg... Finished his half of a kiwi.
Jiahe: Finished almost everything on his plate.
JL: didn't eat any of the fish and asparagus.. boo hoo... Ate a little rice...
JH: Tried everything but didn't eat a lot in total (wanted to go and play too when Kor Kor said he was full)
(It's supposed to be apple corn chicken soup but I made a mistake and thawed pork instead. Both boys were coughing and the soup is supposed to be good for coughs.)
JL: Didn't eat the beef. Finished his soup and asked to eat the corn.
JH: Finished his beef plus half of kor kor's portion. Drank half his soup then wanted to join kor kor to play.
JL: Only ate the hot dogs.
JH: Finished the hot dogs. Ate some egg and waffle.
JL: Said the pork was nice and ate quite a lot! : ) Didn't try the spinach (said he didn't want veg).
JH: Loved the pumpkin (he seems to love all orangey vegs & fruits). Didn't try the spinach (repeated what kor kor said. Sigh.)
(The luohanguo soup is also supposed to be good for treating coughs)
JL: Liked the chicken! But didn't want to eat the tofu. Tried the soup but didn't like it.
JH: Liked the chicken tofu. Drank quite a lot of the soup.
JL: Ate almost all his sandwich (2 slices of bread)! Didn't eat the egg and cherries at all.
JH: Ate some bread and took out the rest of the ham & cheese to eat. Finished his and kor kor's cherries. Ate a little egg.
Also gave them a Laughing Cow cheese wedge each but both boys didn't like it.
(Didn't realise both dishes were garlic till it was almost lunchtime.. As an amateur cook, I didn't have the expertise to modify the menu at the last minute. Shall be more cautious while planning meals in future.)
JL: Ate some salmon. Didn't try the asparagus.
JH: Finished his portion.
JL: Finished his chicken and soup.
JH: Finished his portion including the carrot and pumpkin in the soup.
Both boys finished all (2 slices of bread each) in school.
JL: He loves prawns so he enjoyed this as expected. But didn't eat the mushrooms at all. Finished his soup.
JH: Finished his portion.
(Had swimming lesson in the morning so I only cooked a simple lunch.)
JL: Ate about half his portion of pasta. Didn't want to try the beef : (
JH: Ate about half his portion.
JL: Finished his pork chop and said it was nice! Finished his soup and ate a lot of the fish!
JH: Finished his portion.
(but I think the pork chop was too tough. Shall use chicken next time.)
My thoughts after one week:
Many of the recipes came from bento books, and they use a lot of shoyu (Jap soy sauce) and sugar! That means the food was salty and sweet.. and often looked dark brown.. not a very appealing colour.. I shall endeavour search for more recipes.
The boys often eat steamed fish, so after Jiale rejected the steamed threadfin, I googled and learnt that I probably steamed the fish for too long and it became too tough. Shall keep it to about 10 minutes since I don't use a whole fish or very big piece of fish (only for the boys to eat).
The pasta dish was not very balanced as it did not include any vegetables. Shall improve on that. (Though it probably won't make a difference to Jiale, I guess it's still my responsibility to provide. Will also give them a 'angmo' soup to go along with the pasta. Try try.
Since Jiale seems to be adamant about not eating vegs, I shall let them try salads and coleslaw. I am not very optimistic about it, but just give it a go anyway.
Cut down a lot of processed food this week! No seafood tofu or seaweed chicken or chicken nuggets or fishballs at all! Used to include this type of food at almost every meal to entice Jiale to eat. But I decided to get tough - eat rubbish then might as well don't eat. And it seems to have worked, comparing he refused to eat at all on the first day and was quite willing to try the meat/fish dish by the third day. As long as he is at least willing to try, I am happy, as it allows me to find out what he likes to eat. Shall repeat the dishes he likes and put aside those which he doesn't. So lucky that Jiahe is not a fussy eater! : )
Oh ya, this is where I got all the above soup recipes - http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/children-soups/
Urmm, some of the photos are in the wrong direction cos I only realised it after I uploaded and was too lazy to upload again :p
[About bento recipe books: I have quite a few such recipe books. But I realised that though the bentos really look very nice, they are often very complicated to make as they comprise of many different ingredients &/or side dishes in order to complete the 'picture'. In addition, the food is not exactly healthy most of the time... e.g. it is very common to use processed foods like ham and hot dogs and even food colourings. I have tried making nice-looking bento-meals for Jiale before, and it is difficult to compromise what he does eat and the aesthetic effect of the bento. And the worst is that while he might admire the product, he might still not eat it! So this time round, I am focusing on the food itself, and going for only simple decorations such as using cookie cutters to cut cheese etc into animal/letter shapes to put on the sandwich.]
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| Monday breakfast: Cheese toast, kiwi, fried egg |
Jiahe: Finished almost everything on his plate.
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| Monday lunch: Steamed threadfin, garlic asparagus |
JH: Tried everything but didn't eat a lot in total (wanted to go and play too when Kor Kor said he was full)
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| Monday dinner: Soboro beef, apple corn pork soup |
JL: Didn't eat the beef. Finished his soup and asked to eat the corn.
JH: Finished his beef plus half of kor kor's portion. Drank half his soup then wanted to join kor kor to play.
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| Tuesday breakfast: Blueberry waffle, hot dogs, sunny-side-up egg |
JH: Finished the hot dogs. Ate some egg and waffle.
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| Tuesday lunch: Kabocha with shitake mushrooms & pork, sesame spinach |
JH: Loved the pumpkin (he seems to love all orangey vegs & fruits). Didn't try the spinach (repeated what kor kor said. Sigh.)
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| Tuesday dinner: Chicken tofu, luohanguo pork soup |
JL: Liked the chicken! But didn't want to eat the tofu. Tried the soup but didn't like it.
JH: Liked the chicken tofu. Drank quite a lot of the soup.
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| Wednesday breakfast: Ham & cheese sandwich, scrambled eggs, cherries |
JH: Ate some bread and took out the rest of the ham & cheese to eat. Finished his and kor kor's cherries. Ate a little egg.
Also gave them a Laughing Cow cheese wedge each but both boys didn't like it.
 |
| Wednesday lunch: Panfried garlic butter salmon, garlic asparagus |
JL: Ate some salmon. Didn't try the asparagus.
JH: Finished his portion.
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| Wednesday dinner: Chicken yakitori, orange vegetable fish soup |
JH: Finished his portion including the carrot and pumpkin in the soup.
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| Thursday breakfast: Tuna sandwich, grapes, oranges |
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| Thursday dinner: Garlic butter shrimp with mushrooms, papaya corn chinese yam soup |
JH: Finished his portion.
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| Friday lunch: Cheesy alfredo pasta with minced beef |
JL: Ate about half his portion of pasta. Didn't want to try the beef : (
JH: Ate about half his portion.
 |
| Friday dinner: Panfried pork chop, papaya fish soup |
JH: Finished his portion.
(but I think the pork chop was too tough. Shall use chicken next time.)
My thoughts after one week:
Many of the recipes came from bento books, and they use a lot of shoyu (Jap soy sauce) and sugar! That means the food was salty and sweet.. and often looked dark brown.. not a very appealing colour.. I shall endeavour search for more recipes.
The boys often eat steamed fish, so after Jiale rejected the steamed threadfin, I googled and learnt that I probably steamed the fish for too long and it became too tough. Shall keep it to about 10 minutes since I don't use a whole fish or very big piece of fish (only for the boys to eat).
The pasta dish was not very balanced as it did not include any vegetables. Shall improve on that. (Though it probably won't make a difference to Jiale, I guess it's still my responsibility to provide. Will also give them a 'angmo' soup to go along with the pasta. Try try.
Since Jiale seems to be adamant about not eating vegs, I shall let them try salads and coleslaw. I am not very optimistic about it, but just give it a go anyway.
Cut down a lot of processed food this week! No seafood tofu or seaweed chicken or chicken nuggets or fishballs at all! Used to include this type of food at almost every meal to entice Jiale to eat. But I decided to get tough - eat rubbish then might as well don't eat. And it seems to have worked, comparing he refused to eat at all on the first day and was quite willing to try the meat/fish dish by the third day. As long as he is at least willing to try, I am happy, as it allows me to find out what he likes to eat. Shall repeat the dishes he likes and put aside those which he doesn't. So lucky that Jiahe is not a fussy eater! : )
Oh ya, this is where I got all the above soup recipes - http://www.thechinesesouplady.com/children-soups/
Urmm, some of the photos are in the wrong direction cos I only realised it after I uploaded and was too lazy to upload again :p
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| My Saturday lunch at Batam! Haha! |
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