What to do with all them apples- bake a chocolate cake!

I bought some applesauce from Costco ages ago. They are great little pouches of 100% apple- no sugar, so a great little snack for Pi. But lately he has gone off so many of his go to snacks (I blame me getting lazier with his meals). So, rather than inevitably throwing away so many pouches, I thought I would use them to make some chocolate cup cakes.

I found a recipe here, which doesn't call for vinegar, and have adapted it:

INGREDIENTS

SERVINGS20YIELD1 cakeUNITSUS

• 1⁄2cups sugar
• 1⁄2cup oil
• 2eggs
• 2cups applesauce- or- 6 pouches of Costco 90g applesauce.
• 2 &1/2cups flour
• 1 1⁄2teaspoons baking soda
• 1⁄2teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2teaspoon cinnamon
• 3tablespoons cocoa

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Beat sugar, oil, eggs, and applesauce.
3. Add flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa. Beat well.
4. Pour into cupcake/muffin pan.
5. Bake in 180 degree C oven for 15 minutes.

Enjoy.

Next time, I think I will substitute the oil for coconut oil. 

They turned out really great. Not the healthiest snack, but not too bad either and a great time killer for our Friday afternoon baking.

I put some spray oil to grease the pans, and it worked well. Just make sure you let your cakes cool for at least 5 minutes before trying to take them out of the pans,

Enjoy!

Healthy snacks

I am very lucky that my boy likes food, and more importantly, vegetables. I like to think that the main reason is that we keep him away from sweet food, and junk food, and never mixed his vegetables with fruit puree when he was a baby. In saying that though I realise that no matter what you do, sometimes babies just don't want to eat what you want them to. Fingers crossed Pi still likes eating veggies and that it continues.

Today's snack is due to his octopus arms at the supermarket (the kid grabs EVERYTHING). If he breaks something, then I buy it out of obligation. Today's grab was a cucumber.

I don't mind cucumbers, but don't see the thrill of them like some Japanese people seem to- I have seen 'cucumber on a stick' vendors at festivals before.



But I figure it's a vegetable. So I roughly cut it into little sticks and put a little bit of mayonnaise at the bottom of a cup (more for the fun of dipping than anything else), and viola! Snack!

He quite liked it too, was simple to make, and healthy. I think this will be a summer repeater.

 

Ice lolly recipe- Strawberry, dark chocolate and coconut 'icecream'

With the summer fast approaching, we thought we would get some new popsicle molds. I bought some from Daiso but there were no holes in the sticks (The popsicle stays on better if there are holes in the sticks).  I found some better ones at Ikea yesterday (249yen, including tax). I prefer popsicle sticks that have that little scooped bowl at the base to catch the drips, but beggars can't be choosers.



I thought I would create my own recipe this time. I was going to do banana flavored, but as I had lots of strawberries left over I changed my mind.

So, out of the ashes of my kitchen I created: strawberry, dark chocolate and coconut icecreams.

I made them toddler friendly- meaning no added sugar, and only a tiny bit of the bad stuff (chocolate). Pichan isn't usually allowed to eat chocolate (I know, Nazi Mum), but at least it is dark chocolate so it is more cocoa than sugar.

Recipe:

10 ripe large strawberries
200mls of milk (full fat)
5 heaped tablespoons of Greek Yogurt (I found it at my local supermarket- *I think Greek yogurt isn't as sour, and is creamier than regular yogurt- it has less sugar, double the protein and is much thicker)
2 tablespoons of coconut (bought from I-herb)
40 grams of dark chocolate




Mix in a blender, pour into molds, freeze for four hours and viola! Delicious, healthy, icecreams fit for a toddler.



They aren't supersweet. So, if you wanted to, add more strawberries, or chocolate, or even a teaspoon or two of sugar (gum syrup would work better).

Egg and vaccinations

Little Pichan has been getting his vaccinations like a good boy, and today it is his MR and Chickenpox. Thankfully, Yokohama gives the chickenpox vaccination for free, whereas other places (like my old town) don't.

Before Pi gets the MR vaccination though, we were told by the doctor that he has to eat raw egg.. Yuk! Not to mention I had no idea how to prepare it, so the nurses told me:

Get warm, white rice

crack an egg on top

mix through thoroughly

eat.

I would put "enjoy" as the last step, but Pichan really wasn't keen on that. He kept spitting out each mouthful until it dribbled down his chin. I don't blame him at all.

However today, I decided to try it again, but a little differently...

Crack and egg into a bowl and whisk.

Season with white pepper

toss half the egg away

add freshly cooked 'okayu' (very runny rice porridge)

stir well.

I was surprised, but Petey actually liked it. He kept opening his mouth wide for more. Maybe because of all the boiling watery okayu the egg was cooked more. Or maybe because the black pepper gave it a nice taste.

Either way, he is not allergic (I think). So off to the doctors we went. This time, they gave him the two shots at once (two different needles). It makes life much easier (instead of going every week), though poor Petey wasn't impressed with it. 

Banana goodness smoothie

Lately I have been getting into smoothies. I think they are perfect for me because they make an easy, healthy snack that I can have on the go (gosh knows Pi doesn't like letting me sitting down). Because I am still breastfeeding, I really need to get a much calcium as I can (and I am crap at that). So drinking milk kills two birds with one stone. I also pour a little bit of milk in Pichans cup with a dash of my smoothie so he thinks he is drinking the same thing (Gosh knows I can't have anything without having to share...)

Banana goodness smoothie recipe:

1 banana
150mls of milk (preferably vitamin D fortified)
5-6 ice cubes
1 tablespoon of chia/flaxseed blend.
1 tablespoon of rolled oats
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of honey

Blend until smooth.


There is goodness in just about all ingredients (except the sugar- though I need that for energy). Rolled oats and the Chia blend *may* help with milk production too.

Here are some benefits of Chia and flax seeds for nursing women.

Chia seeds have fatty oils, protein, calcium, fiber and anti-oxidants. These nutrients will help develop the brain functioning of your child. Aside from that, it will also help you to produce more milk. 
Like sesame seeds, flaxseeds contain phytoestrogens that can influence milk production.



Note: The Chia/Flax seed blend is hard to get in Japan so I buy mine off i-herb.com




http://www.iherb.com/Carrington-Farms-Ready-To-Eat-Flax-Chia-Blend-12-oz-340-g/49514