BLW Archives - Happy Pinay Mommy

Meal Ideas for your Toddler and BLW Baby

happypinaymommy — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 08:49:07 +0000

Here are some meal ideas for your toddler or BLW Baby

Hello everyone, with your indulgence, I will try to restart another weekly series, this time for toddler and BLW Baby meals. One of the most challenging things to do for most moms is meal planning. Well, meal planning does not only apply to the everyday meals or “ulam” of the household. It also applies to the food of the littlest member thereof.

While BLW or Baby-led weaning is meant to help families eat the same food as everyone (oldest to youngest child have almost the same meals), we all know that is sometimes not feasible. Hence, we may need to plan out weekly meals for our toddler, some of which could be taken from the main meal plan of the house for the week.

Toddler Meal and Baby-Led Weaning BLW Meal resources

Before I give you my toddler meal suggestions for the week, allow me to help you find meal planning resources and toddler meal ideas from our blog. Pre-pandemic, I have been religiously posting weekly meal plans, and you can find some here. A host of BLW or toddler meal ideas can meantime be found here.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the five meal suggestions for your little one this week. As you can see, the meals are designed to encourage your little one to eat on his own. The fruits served are safe enough to chomp on, and so are the bread pieces and the pasta. I strongly encourage you though to never leave your child unattended while eating to prevent accidents.

Toddler BLW meal suggestions for the week:

Let your child explore the different sizes, tastes, and textures of the food that you serve so that they get to have a more adventurous palate. Based on my experience raising my three kids from toddlerhood, I have discovered that when they are served only what they like or are accustomed to, they tend to become more picky. I have read once that we should at least try to serve a new food 3-4 times until the child can at least give it a try.

You may want to take a screenshot of the table below for your convenience in planning and shopping for your baby’s meals:

MONDAY	Chicken Tinola and Rice
TUESDAY	Malunggay Scrambled Eggs, Papaya Sticks, and Toasted Bread
WEDNESDAY	Pesto Pasta and Breaded Fish Nuggets
THURSDAY	Thick Chicken Congee and Banana
FRIDAY	Cream Cheese Toast, Scrambled Eggs and Watermelon Shake

SCREENSHOT THIS: Toddler and BLW Baby Meal Plan for the week

The Chicken Tinola is an obvious favorite in our household. Who doesn’t love the super yummy and soothing soup right? The sayote tastes neutral and is soft enough for the baby to chew on. The same goes with the shredded chicken breast. And since the rice has soup on it, it will surely help make it tastier for the little ones.

The Malunggay Scrambled Eggs is also easy to do. Just make your usual scrambled eggs – with or without milk – and add in some malunggay leaves. Then slice some ripe papaya into sticks, perfect for those little fists. Lastly, serve your choice of toasted bread, again sliced into sticks for that perfect toddler grip!

The pesto pasta is the easiest recipe in the pile. Choose a pasta that is easy to hold on to like penne or fusilli. Follow package instructions. Set Aside. Saute olive oil and green pesto, and then toss in the pasta. Serve with fried breaded fish fillet bites. I just used pollock here, dredged in flour, egg, and then flour again. You can use any fish of your choice, and any breading recipe you are accustomed to. Like panko!

The thick chicken congee is basically a thick “lugaw” made of glutinous rice or “malagkit.” Just saute onion, garlic, ginger, shredded chicken, and then the “malagkit” na bigas. Add a cup of water for every cup of rice. Let it boil and add more water as necessary.

Lastly, is the cream cheese toast, scrambled eggs and watermelon shake. You can actually use whatever local fruit in season, and just shake it in your blender. Your little one will surely enjoy the cold flavor on a hot day! The cream cheese toast is of course self-explanatory. You can use any brand of cream cheese that you like, but I suggest you use the plain ones, without the strong herbs and flavorings.

God will provide for both our big needs, and small needs

So, there you have it. Thank you for stopping by this week. I hope I was able to help you out with your toddler meal plan, and here’s hoping that you spend time in the website exploring more toddler and family food ideas!

Sharing with you ladies, one of my favorite bible verses that assure us that our Sovereign and Loving God will take care of all our needs:

“For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land. ‘”
1 Kings 17:14

Again, thank you everyone and till next post!

A Happy Homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

Weekly Snack Baon Ideas 2023 Week 1

The post Meal Ideas for your Toddler and BLW Baby appeared first on Happy Pinay Mommy.

Our Baby led weaning journey in the Philippines

happypinaymommy — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 12:21:02 +0000

Our baby led weaning journey in the Philippines

Giving you a peek on our daily life as we continue to pursue our baby led weaning journey in the Philippines with our two younger children.

We originally shared this post in our Instagram account but decided to publish it in our website as well since we publish here recipes and meal ideas for Pinoy babies and toddlers.

Baby led weaning journey in the Philippines

Be informed and closely supervise your baby or toddler as you inteoduce solid food to them the BLW-style.

Magandang tanghalian po from the little guy! Breaded porkchop, apple slices and rice for our little familia’s Tuesday lunch.

My bunso is trying his best to be so independent so kahit feling ko dapat counted na as squats ang pagpupulot ko ng kanin at ulam na nahuhulog sa ilalim ng lamesa, go parin tayo sa pag BLW.

I know it is really bad to compare kids pero Shobe and little guy are more independent and not much of a picky eater compared to Achie who was weaned the traditional way (pureed food and spoon fed), and nasanay na iba food nya at hinahabol ko ng subo. Grabe ang stress ko talaga sa pagpapakain kay achie that time and as a first time mom, i tried my best to find ways to make food introduction to my second child Shobe better so she would have healthier eating habits.

Until i stumbled upon the concept of baby led weaning. If you have long been a reader of the website, you would see the food adventures of my younger two, and im just so happy I pursued BLW for both of them.

Shobe and little guy both know that when it is eating time, it is eating time and that they should try the food that is on their plate. Napakakalat man nila kumain, super fulfilling to see that they try their best to feed themselves, and actually eat what is on the table. Chamba man o hindi that BLW worked for these younger two, im just happy that I stuck with it amid the kalat and other kakulitan and kapagudan that come with it.

So there goes our BLW story. If you are interested to learn more about BLW plus samples and BLW meal ideas that are feasible in the Pinoy setting, doable on a daily basis (kahit ng yayaless mom of three na gaya ko), affordable and nutritious, please check out our pinoy BLW album over at Facebook with close to 200 baby and toddler food recipes and ideas.

This is the album cover of our FB album for baby and toddler Pinoy BLW meal ideas.

Regular streams of BLW ideas

Hope you can also follow our Pinterest Board for more Pinoy baby food recipes and our website’s baby and toddler food ideas section. We have written also several BLW-related articles here at the website so hope you can check those out too.

We also post regularly, meals and recipes for babies and toddlers in our Instagram account so please do drop by. Thank you and till next post!

A Happy Homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

The post Our Baby led weaning journey in the Philippines appeared first on Happy Pinay Mommy.

Kid-friendly easy tuna nuggets recipe

happypinaymommy — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 07:00:35 +0000

Here is a kid-friendly easy tuna nuggets recipe

Been meaning to write this post for the longest time. You see i have mentioned this easy tuna nuggets recipe a lot of times in my meal plans, toddler meal suggestions and in our P100 Budget Meal series but the blogpost has always been pushed back.

Anyway, i made some last week for the kids — both for meryenda and baon (but this can pass off as ulam as well) so i thought of documenting the process and make a blogpost out of it.

This is an easy tuna nuggets recipe to make especially if you are fine with just an ordinary round or bite size shaped nuggets. It is just like a super thick torta or patties. It is unlike the usual nuggets that is made of breaded piece of chicken, fish fillet or pork.

(We have those recipes so click here if you want to check it out)

Anyway, i came across the base of this recipe over the internet (check out the original recipe here), and made a few tweaks to suit our family’s taste. I am sharing this tuna nuggets recipe with you and hope youll give it a try.

So without further ado, here’s our —

Easy Tuna Nuggets Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 can of tuna flakes in oil

2 tablespoons of flour

2 individual packs of soda or wheat crackers (skyflakes was originally used by this recipe’s author, but I think Fita can also work well in this recipe)

1 egg

Pinch of pepper

Pinch of salt (omit salt when serving to babies and toddlers)

Pinch of onion powder

Pinch of garlic powder

Oil for frying

OPTIONAL — parsley and diced onions

How to cook tuna nuggets:

Whip up a double batch of this easy tuna nuggets recipe so that you can just heat it up during busy days.

1. Lightly drain the tuna from its oil. Flake it further and set aside.

2. Pound the crackers until they turn into small crumbs. Set aside.

3. In a bowl beat the egg and add the salt, pepper, onion powder and the garlic powder.

4. Add in the flour and mix well until the lumps disappear. Add in the cracker crumbs and mix till somewhat smooth.

5. Add in the tuna and mix thoroughly until you can come up with a thick batter.

6. You can either spoon a portion of the batter in a pan with hot oil or try to make nice shapes out of it by flattening the batter and using cookie cutters.

7. Fry the nuggets and then drain on paper towels.

I had so much fun whipping up this recipe, i hope youll have fun too.

8. You may also whip up a double batch of this recipe for freezing. After frying the nuggets, just cool them until room temperature and store in a sealed freezer-friendly container. If you will be putting it in ziploc freezer bags, i suggest that you double bag it to avoid frezer burns. When serving your frozen nuggets you can either toast and heat from your oven toaster or fry one minute on each side. No need to thaw before cooking.

Here is how i packed it for my child’s baon:

My eldest is a fan of any fish dish, and she so liked this nuggets recipe.

Here meanwhile was how I served it to my toddler:

I served the Tuna Nuggets with eggy fried rice balls for my toddler’s breakfast.

So there you have it, i hope you’d give this recipe a try. For more budget ulam ideas, meal plans and freezer meal recipes please check out the meal plans and recipes section or our website. Baby and toddler meal recipes are also available in the website as well as in our Facebook album of almost 150 baby and toddler BLW meal ideas. Baon serye meanwhile is published in our Instagram account, Facebook and Pinterest board so hope you can follow us there too!

A Happy Homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sW25XRjzNM

Happypinaymommy raves: Lovin the Katinko Spray!

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Simple French toast recipe for busy mornings

happypinaymommy — Wed, 04 Jul 2018 07:36:17 +0000

Here’s a simple French toast recipe for breakfast, school snack or home meryenda.

This easy French Toast recipe is one of our go-to breakfasts during weekends. It is easy to make, and at the same time the ingredients are pantry staples. In fact I am thinking this could even be prepared during the week as it also makes for a perfect baon for kids like my eldest, Achie. It can also be a perfect after school meryenda as well.

So what do you need? Any type of bread you like that can be sliced flat — loaf bread or any rustic bread if that is your cup of tea. Any type of milk you have in the ref or pantry — fresh milk, soy milk, almond milk or even evap if that is what you have.

The ingredients are already in your ref or pantry, and the cooking procedure is not complicated at all.

Eggs — about two pieces for a family of four. A couple of drops of vanilla, and then whatever oil you choose for frying but i suggest that you just use this oil to brush your non-stick pan and add a bit of butter. Optional ingredients are powdered sugar for drizzling and honey or maple syrup. (Related Post: Quick Breakfast Ideas for children)

Easy French Toast Recipe

As for the sides, it is fully up to you. Since we eat this only once in a while we usually have either Hungarian or vienna sausages and scrambled eggs. Some families like it with bacon or ham. But if you are skipping these processed breakfast goodies, a homemade breakfast sausage or jam or jelly and fresh fruits in season will be great as well. (Related Post: Easy Homemade Beef Tapa Recipe)

So without further ado here’s the —

Simple but yummy French toast recipe

Ingredients:

Sliced Bread (you may slice further to make it more manageable to fry and eat)

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk of choice

Dash of vanilla extract

Cooking oil for pan brushing + butter

Optional: honey or maple syrup, sides — fruits or sausages

How to cook this quick french toast recipe:

1. Beat the eggs and milk and add in the vanillla.

2. Heat the pan and brush oil and melt some butter on it.

3. Dip each of the slices of bread into the egg mixture coating both sides. Do not soak the bread too long though as it will become too soggy.

We personally do not like soggy toasts so I do not soak them in the egg-milk mixture for too long. I just let each slice absorb enough coating and then I fry it right away.

4. Fry until each side is light brown and then set aside.

5. Serve with your choice side, and top with powdered sugar and honey or maple syrup if desired.

For me, Vienna sausage will always be the perfect pair for this dish, but you can always use a healthier substitute.

Here is another way of serving it, this time with Hungarian sausage on the side:

Please excuse my middle child’s hand, ang kulit.

So there you have it. I hope you can give this easy and simple french toast recipe a try. It is a great baon and a good way to break the usual breakfast meals in a home if yours is the rice and ulam type. (Related Post: Weekly baon ideas series)

Toddlers and babies will also like this. Just make sure to slice it in stick form or manageable and safe portions, and omit any processed sides. Here are some ways I serve up this breakfast dish for my BLW Baby and BLW Toddler. (Related Post: Pinoy Baby and Toddler Food Ideas)

He was about 10 months when I served this and so the toast have been sliced into strips, and the scrambled eggs are in bits as he can safely eat them that way. He also had a pre-loaded spoon of Greek yogurt to go with his Toast plus some banana strips.

Here is another one, now that he is a toddler:

As a toddler (about 1.3 yo), he can already safely eat the toast sliced on a triangular fashion. He again eats it with his favorite scrambled eggs.

For more breakfast ideas, please check out our meal plan and recipes section. You may also browse our facebook album of recipes or our Pinterest recipe board. hope you can also follow us over at Instagram, where we regularly post family meal ideas.

See you there!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

Leaving you with a video on health benefits of eating a full breakfast meal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL0JoacWRRk

https://happypinaymommy.com/2018/07/01/school-baon-ideas-for-kids-baon-week-2/

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Quick and easy Arroz Caldo recipe

happypinaymommy — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 07:37:30 +0000

Quick and easy arroz caldo recipe can be whipped up without having to rush to the grocery. It is a dish that makes use of pantry staples.

Arroz Caldo has always been a comfort food for my family. My children love it since they were babies. We like it for brunch especially when paired with crispy tofu and soy sauce or tokwa’t baboy. Sharing with you newbie cooking mamas this easy arroz caldo recipe that you can serve to your family anytime.

The ingredients are pantry staples so you do not have to worry at all. This can even be made for less than P100 for a family of four (or five like us), making it another P100 budget ulam idea.

You do not need to use malagkit or glutinous rice for this recipe. The ordinary rice or bigas that you cook at home is fine. Just soak the rice in water for about 2-3 hours prior to cooking to shorten cooking time.

You can use chicken breast fillet or any part of chicken you like but i usually choose breast fillets so that ill just cook and serve without worries about those small sharp chicken bones getting swallowed by my kids. I sometimes even flake the breast part if im in a hurry to feed the kids. I usually use boiled regardless of the chicken part. P.S. if you are on a budget, tinola cut is the cheapest chicken pieces you can get for the recipe.

The cooking procedure is uncomplicated so newbie cooking mamas do not get intimidated with this. This can be served to your babies too!

Of course I added casubha (in english, safflower — check out this explanation on what casubha is if you are not familiar with it) to give the porridge a yellowish shade. I just season my own bowl with a dash of patis (fish sauce), a bit of calamansi, and a pinch of pepper prior to eating. Otherwise, the onion, luya, and garlic is enough seasoning for the children.

So newbie cooking mamas, check out the recipe below.

Quick and easy arroz caldo recipe

Ingredients:

300 grams chicken pieces (you can use breast, breast fillet, or tinola cut)

1 medium onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

2 tbsp of thinly sliced ginger (more if one of your family members have colds)

1 cup uncooked rice or bigas (soaked in water for 2-3 hours prior to cooking)

3 cups chicken broth or water (you may have to add more depending on the consistency of your rice)

2 tbsp of coconut or vegetable oil

Casubha for color

Pinch of pepper

ADULT SEASONING: 1-2 tbsp of Patis or more depending on your taste

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS: spring onions, fried minced garlic, boiled egg, and calamansi.

Cooking procedure for Arroz Caldo:

1. Saute ginger, garlic and onions

2. Add in the chicken pieces (i usually pre boil my chicken) and cook until it is slightly browned. If this will not be served to babies or toddlers, add the Patis at this point. If it will be served to babies and toddlers then skip on the seasoning for the meantime.

3. Add in the uncooked rice and let it absorb the oils and juices of the sauteed chicken and aromatics.

4. Add in the pepper

5. Add in the water and bring to a boil.

6. Simmer and stir every three minutes until the rice is tender, and you have achieved your desired porridge consistency. Make sure to stir every now and then to prevent the arroz caldo from sticking in the bottom of the pot.

7. Add in the casubha and mix until the arroz caldo has a tinge of yellow color.

8. Once cooked separate a portion to be served to your toddler/ baby. Season for adult consumption accordingly.

9. Serve with desired optional toppings.

My BLW toddler, Shoti is squeezing calamansi is his bowl of Arroz Caldo. It was a happy, rainy morning for him.

So there you have it, i hope you get to enjoy this easy Arroz Caldo recipe. Some use broth cubes to make this recipe richer in taste, but since this will be served to kids I decided not to put this ingredient in this dish.

For more recipes, mealplans, budget ulam ideas etc please check out the recipes section of our website or browse our Facebook album of recipes. Hope you can also follow our Instagram account and Pinterest board where we regularly post family meals, toddler BLW recipes, and other parenting information on breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby led weaning, party resources and more. See you there!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

Leaving you with a video on why breakfast is the most important meal of the day:

Quick and easy Arroz Caldo recipe

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Baby and toddler food recipe: Ginataang tinadtad na sitaw at kalabasa

happypinaymommy — Thu, 24 May 2018 12:14:43 +0000

Ginataang tinadtad na sitaw at kalabasa will be perfect for your toddler or kid who may not like eating sitaw.

First of all i would like to thank my social media sister @super.momma for inspiring me to chop sitaw in this fashion to make it all the more appealing to kids. Thank you sis! Im telling you fellow moms, it makes for a yummy ginataang sitaw at kalabasa that most kids will like (mine liked it a lot!).

Surprisingly, sitaw served this way is more appealing to all my three children.

So why not give it a try? After all it is another P100 Budget ulam idea that is both nutritious and delicious.

Im sure most veteran moms are familiar with the drill of cooking ginatan but for newbie cooking mamas, here’s your guide:

GINATAANG TINADTAD NA SITAW AT KALABASA RECIPE

The ingredients are simple and can be easily prepared. In fact this dish can be prepared for less than P100!

Ingredients:

Small wedge of kalabasa (squash), chopped

250 grams cubed pork (i use menudo cut for my panggisa meat)

1 cup coconut milk (doesnt matter if it is cream or milk, fresh, canned or powdered — use what you have and do not stress yourself, mothering is hard enough!)

Pinch of ground pepper

For adults you may use salt, patis or bagoong to season this dish. Your choice.

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

Procedure in cooking ginataang sitaw at kalabasa:

The cooking procedure for the ginataang tinadtad na sitaw at kalabasa is not complicated as well. It is a quick dish to prepare especially for those days when you have a lot of chores to do.

1. Saute garlic and onion

2. Add the pork, and wait until it has browned (I usually preboil ours).

3. Add in the squash and the sitaw (string beans)

4. Pour in the coconut milk. Bring to a boil then simmer in low fire until coconut milk thickens and the squash has been cooked.

5. At this point you can now set aside an unseasoned portion for your baby.

6. Season the dish for adult consumption — i use patis.

Yummy and easy: ginataang sitaw at kalabasa!

This is how i served it to my toddler:

My toddler loved this dish! Try it, it is best served over white rice.

So there you have it. Hope you and your kids will like this version of our ginataang sitaw at kalabasa recipe. For more toddler food ideas please browse our recipes section here in the website or browse our facebook album of over 100 toddler and baby food ideas that are blw-friendly, nutritious, yummy, doable on a daily basis, and pocket-friendly!

Family meal recipes, budget ulam ideas and filipino meal plans check out our mealplans are also available in out recipes section. You may also want to check out our facebook album of family meal recipes and budget ulam ideas under P100. Hope you can also follow us on IG and Pinterest where we regularly post our family meals, toddler and baby food recipes and other local parenting information. See you there!

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

Here’s a video on the nutritional benefits of eating squash:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gapCP8R0KeQ

Easy Chicken Sotanghon Soup Recipe (Vermicelli Noodles)

The post Baby and toddler food recipe: Ginataang tinadtad na sitaw at kalabasa appeared first on Happy Pinay Mommy.

Pinoy baby food recipe: Pork and Egg Lugaw (congee)

happypinaymommy — Mon, 14 May 2018 05:36:10 +0000

Pinoy baby food recipe alert: Pork and Lugaw Congee!

Pork and egg lugaw is a go to Pinoy baby food recipe that I serve to my kids when my pantry and freezer supplies are running low and I have yet to run to the grocery for our food shopping. And why not? This dish is easy to cook (as long as I have remembered to pre-soak the rice as soon as I wake up), we as a family enjoy it a lot, and it is so affordable, it can make my annual list of P100-peso budget recipes!

So let’s get started, here is the –

Pinoy baby food recipe for Pork and Egg Congee

This pinoy baby food recipe has ingredients that are already in your pantry, it is easy to cook, and will surely be a hit to youyr toddlers and babies in the Philippines

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked rice – soaked in water for at least three hours prior to cooking time
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium sized onion, chopped
250 grams ground pork pre-boiled
1 tbsp of thinly sliced ginger
1 egg
1 tbsp of cooking oil
4 cups of chicken or pork stock or plain water (Stock is made from boiling bony parts of chicken, cabbage, onion, garlic, and a bit of pepper)

Pork and Egg Lugaw Cooking procedure:

Just saute your onion, ginger and garlic.
Add the meat, then the rice, then about a liter of soup stock or plain water.
Bring to a boil then simmer, carefully stirring every now and then. Add more plain water as needed.
Once the rice is tender and the congee has thickened, add the egg and then stir the soup again.
If you will also be serving this to adults, just take off the portion for your baby or toddler before seasoning it with Patis.
Wait for about three minutes and it is ready to serve!

Pork and egg congee — an easy to cook recipe for your filipino baby

So there you have it, simple pork and egg congee that’s a comfort food for the kids and the whole family!

For more recipes, mealplans, budget ulam ideas, and baby and toddler food recipes, please feel free to browse our recipes section here in the website of check out our Facebook Album of Family Meals and Pinoy Baby Food Recipe.

Hopr you can follow us as well on Instagram and Pinterest where we regularly post meal plans, ulam ideas, and baby food recipes for Filipino kids.

A Happy Homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

Leaving you with a rice cooker congee recipe:

3 Things You Didn’t Know About Allswell Mattress

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Meal Ideas for Filipino Babies and Toddlers

happypinaymommy — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 06:22:26 +0000

Check out our meal ideas for Filipino Babies and Toddlers in our Babies section in the website, and in our Facebook Page.

I have long been posting about meal ideas for Filipino babies and toddlers. After my bout with picky eating care of my eldest, I tried a different approach to introducing solids to my second child Shobz. And since it turned out great, I carried on with the same approach to my youngest.

If you have been reading my blog for sometime, you would know that I am advocating the Baby Led Weaning Method and that I regularly post my children’s meals in Instagram and in our Facebook Album. If you are new here, I invite you to browse over our kids and baby section, or check out our FB album for these meal ideas.

Meal ideas for Filipino babies and toddlers

In fact, I have posted additional meal ideas for your toddler and babies this week and we now have about 115 meal suggestions in our Facebook album. I am inviting you to revisit our Facebook Page and browse our nutritious, affordable and BLW-friendly baby and toddler meal suggestions. As i always say, these are all doable in the Filipino setting and is easy on the pocket.

For those who may be wondering why my children’s daily food are just like what I serve to the rest of the family, well this is because we subscribe to the BLW (Baby-Led Weaning) approach in introducing solids to our children.

One of the key advantages of this approach for young and busy (and yayaless) families like ours is that the baby or the toddler gets to eat what the whole family eats except that their portion does not come with added salt and sugar. Their meal portions are also sliced/prepared for their safe and easy handling — that is why the patola, patatas, and veggie portions in our ulams are all sliced in finger strip-sizes because that is the recommended size for easy gripping especially for babies younger than 10 months. No need for special food for them that are either store bought or homecooked.
.

So yes, we do not do purees as indicated in the concept developed by Gill Rapley. Our freezer baby/toddler food are usual freezer meals served to the rest of the families — frozen solid. We do not have anything against other methods of intoducing solids, it is just that it is what works best for us

BLW resource. Research is key in applying BLW concepts.

If you are interested to know more about BLW from the person who developed it I would like to share with you the resource that we rely upon in our Baby Led Weaning journey. It is important to be abreast of what the whole concept is since there could be safety concerns when shifting or going back and forth with another weaning or food introduction method. All these of course is best explained by THE Gill Rapley

BLW is not easy — it is in fact tiring because of the kalat, but the journey is rewarding. IT WAS WORTH IT. My two younger kids eat whatever I offer them and I credit their being adventurous to BLW. So here I am advocating (not shoving, haha) this weaning method to whoever cares to ask. After all we do have a lot of options and we all know what is best for our kids.

So cheers to life and mommyhood’s many choices! Hope you can follow us on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Feel free as well to share your other Pinoy baby food ideas with us!

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How to make Camote Tops Iced Tea

happypinaymommy — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 18:46:57 +0000

How to make Camote Tops Iced Tea.

Camote tops iced tea is a refreshing drink I learned to prepare about some five years ago. It is clean and yummy tasting, and has a lot of nutritional benefits.

It has always been magical to see the tea turn into pink as soon as you squeeze calamansi juice into the tea. Like me, the kids are always amazed about the color change each time!

Health Benefits of drinking Camote Tops Iced Tea

And apart from making your children’s eyes sparkle with its *magical features* Camote tops tea helps regulate blood sugar, helps lower bad cholesterol levels, raises immune function. There is also an ongoing study that links it into helping cure dengue symptoms by raising platelet count.

Camote tops tea has immense health benefits.

Anyway for those of you who may want to serve this iced tea to your kids (toddlers two years old and up), here’s a rough guide:

How to prepare Camote Tops Iced Tea:

Here are the ingredients for Camote Tops Iced Tea: Red Camote Tops, Honey, and Calamansi.

Boil one cup of washed red talbos ng kamote (red sweet potato leaves) into three to four cups of water. Simmer for two to three minutes, and let it cool.

Once the tea is already lukewarm, add the juice of 1-2 pieces of calamansi per 8 ounces of tea. Add in half a tablespoon of honey or brown sugar to sweeten it a bit.

Making Camote Tops Iced Tea is simple. Just wash and boil the leaves, let cool, squeeze a calamansi or two, and then add honey or brown sugar.

Add some iced cubes and serve! This drink can keep in the fridge for 2-3 days, and is perfect for the summer season! You can also pair this with your kid’s meal or meryenda because it is perfectly healthy (honey should never be served though to children younger than two years old because of the risk of botulism).

Camote Tops Iced Tea is so great when loaded with a lot of ice!

So there you have it, i hope you can try this recipe at home and prepare some for your family.

For more healthy recipes, meal plans and baby and toddler food ideas, please feel free to browse our website, or check out our Facebook albums. Hope you can also follow us on Instagram and Pinterest where we regularly post updates on family and baby food ideas, cloth diapering, and Pinay mommyhood matters. See you!

A Happy Homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!!!

Leaving you with a video on the health benefits of consuming camote tops and other talbos na gulay:

How to make easy banana heart burger (banana blossom / puso ng saging burger)

The post How to make Camote Tops Iced Tea appeared first on Happy Pinay Mommy.

How to cook easy beef sopas

happypinaymommy — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 18:13:45 +0000

Here’s.how to cook easy beef sopas, which is perfect for the rainy days.

Actually, this easy beef sopas that i cooked is more “what is available in the pantry” sopas.

I lost track and thought we still have elbow macaroni for traditional sopas but we ran out of it apparently and we only have salad macaroni. It will still work though so I pushed through. Then we apparently ran out of carrots and only had pechay baguio for sopas so there. I also used native onions instead of white.

My kids, including our littlest enjoyed it just the same. A tip though for moms with younger babies though (ten months below), cook through this type of smaller pasta PAST AL DENTE stage but not naman soggy so that it can easily be chewed and can almost be real soft in the baby’s mouth.

Easy beef sopas recipe

For newbie cooking mamas who may want to replicate this recipe here’s a rough guide:

You.can actually use pantry vegetables for this dish – carrots, potatoes and cabbage are great for this easy beef sopas dish.

Easy beef sopas ingredients:

1 to 1 1/2 cup uncooked elbow macaroni, cooked according to package instructions
1 tbsp butter or vegetable oil
1 medium sized onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup shredded cabbage
1 medium sized carrots, chopped
1 medium sized potatoes, chopped
250g Lean ground beef
2 cups of milk (fresh, full cream, evap or soy are all fine)
3/4 to 1 cup beef or vegetable broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure in cooking beef macaroni sopas

1. Preboil pasta and set aside — it will be best if you cook it less than two minutesof the cooking time indicated in the package directions.

2. In a pan, melt the butter or add your cooking oil. Saute onion, garlic, and lean ground beef (or whatever ground meat of your choice).

3. Once the meat is cooked, add in the celery, carrots, and potatoes (please note that i ran out of potatoes and carrots at this time, so you will not see these in the photo).

4. Add in a cup of fresh or full cream or evap milk (depending on your preference), and 1/2 to 3/4 cups of beef or chicken or vegetable broth or drinking water.

5. Bring to a boil then simmer for about 10 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are quite tender.

6. Stir and add in your cooked pasta and chopped cabbage.

7. Bring to a boil and cook for another two minutes.

8. AT THIS POINT YOU MAY NOW SEPARATE A PORTION FOR YOUR BABY AND TODDLER SO THEIRS GO UNSEASONED.

9. For adult consumption, you may use patis or salt to taste, and then some ground black pepper. Serve.

My children enjoy beef sopas. I can even serve it to them during breakfast!

Hope you and your family will get to enjoy this recipe. For more doable, affordable, nutritious and Pinoy friendly BLW meal ideas for your toddler and baby please feel free to check out the meal plans and recipes section of our website, or browse through our album of more than 100 BLW meal suggestions for your little ones.

A happy homemaker is a Happy Pinay Mommy!

Sharing with you this video on yet another macaroni recipe:

How to cook easy Ginataang Manok

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