afternoon coffee..

made a visit to my hubby's office last week for a change, the kids paid a visit to their grandparents' house thus had the afternoon off from them..while hubby was clicking away at work, i was trying to finish off a paperwork that needed to be given elsewhere. Then 'twas coffee break, nice time for a hot cup of coffee..hmmm..so where might there be a good one? then he remembered of a coffee brand that was inside the university marketing center. So we walked over and lo and behold! it was the Rocky Mountain Cafe that i was reading all about in the news! for a coffee lover like me, it was a happy moment! so there i was all eager to have a cup of their brew, and another cup of latte, wouldn't want to miss the flavor! funny thing he never mentioned that they had set up shop inside the university. When i asked the crew since when they started, they said January of this year.. oh my here i am so excited about a coffee find when it was right under my nose all these days..oh well, i say better be late than never to have tasted such a good and fresh brew!

penne from scratch..yummy!!

dinner was a pasta dish i made from ingredients found in the ref...

pasta dishes are a family favorite, my kids love pasta so much they can just eat it without the sauce! well anyway, here is a simple sauce to make for penne pasta, 

for the sauce i used two varieties which are the sweet style and pesto-cheese combi. For most times, we add a lot of vegetables like carrots, zucchini and bell peppers. But since me had no time to go to the market, i just grated in a piece of carrot..there goes the veggies, disguise them in the sauce so kids will eat them.

Tricks a mom would really love!

first i finely chopped 5 cloves of garlic, then in a pot placed about 1/4k. of ground pork, put a bit of water to boil the meat up. when the water has gone, put some oil, move pork to one side of the pan then saute garlic. when it has turned brown mix it with the pork then grate the carrot into it..stir it all up, add salt, pepper and basil with a bit of water to boil..then add the two sauces and about 1tbsp. of cream..let it boil, then lower heat to simmer..season to taste..cook the pasta according to directions, when done drain off water. grate the cheese on top of cooked pasta before mixing in the sauce...mix well...

dinner is served!!

homemade chicken sandwich...

 

simply delicious!! had a guilt-free lunch today, made my own chicken sandwich spread from ingredients found in our refrigerator...half a bottle of mayonnaise, a teaspoon of mustard, canned chicken breast, salt n pepper...this can go a long way..mix it all up then store it back into the mayonnaise jar..heat up some whole wheat bread and enjoy!!

my son's favorite food...(.foods for picky eaters..)

lately my son Troy has been choosy about foods he eat, and always mouths "yuck!" for every food that comes near his lips..thus it's always a dilemma for us to think of something he might want aside of course from his formula, pasta dishes and cream soups. One thing i love about him is he so loves potatoes, either fried or mashed, he will always open up to eat..

so today i decide to make mashed potatoes with a twist, i added camote or sweet potato. For us here in the highlands, we also call it the musical fruit, why? because if you eat too much it makes your butt sing a lot....=)

so for the recipe, i used 1 kilo of potatoes together with 3 large pieces of camote, peeled and cut them equally in order to be cooked uniformly. then washed and placed in a pot with enough water to cover, oh and do put a pinch of salt too..boil them for maybe 30 minutes or when you insert a fork and no resistance can be felt.

when it's cooked, drain the water and mash it up one by one in a round bowl, slowly adding butter and i also used condensed milk with it, so much for diets, its for the kids anyway. i set aside a few potatoes which i also made into chicken potato salad. but that would be for another post. so while mashing up the camote and potatoes, the butter and milk will melt into it to form one yummy healthy treat for my kids. mix it thoroughly to have a smooth texture, but sometimes i make this chunky, it is also one favorite comfort food for us...

right away Troy ate spoonfuls of this, and i am sure he will love it for dinner again. so instead of spending bucks buying baby food, why not make it at your own home, this way you will know what goes into it and to steer clear of artificial stuff. this food is a great source of energy for kids who play all day long, and best of all, its all- natural.

his brown teeth..(what not to give your baby when teething..)

My son EJ always has a smile for everyone he meets, we raised him to be friendly and to "mano" or bless elderlies in the family. One thing that people notice right away is his teeth, and ask why the brown tint? Nope we didn't spoil him with sweets, though I admit to being a sweet tooth myself. The brown thing was an effect of the iron- supplement when he was a toddler. It was in 2006 when he just turned a year old when we thought of bringing him for a routine under-five clinic check-up. It included a random CBC where the nurse revealed that my son was anemic, meaning he had low red blood cell counts, suddenly my world crumbled. Why? I thought that Iwas giving the best for my son by breastfeeding him, but then the nurse implied that it was an occurrence for big babies, my son fell in that category since he weighed 3.84 kgs at birth which when compared to Filipino standards would be big, almost weighing like American babies. At least some comforting over there. And so we were prescribed with an iron-supplement to correct this deficiency which should be administered for four months. This we did, but unfortunately it also coincided with the time that his baby teeth were growing out. The vitamins were too dark that it really stained his teeth to the point of making them look rotten.

People would often be taken aback when they see him smile but when asked, we tell them about it. We had brought him to various dentists and they had one thing to say, just wait for it to grow out..and so we did..lesson learned: iron supplements can only be given at a certain age of babies, so as not to interfere with the quality of their teeth when it grows.

And as i write this his second permanent tooth is growing out, it was a proud moment for us to see his first baby tooth fall out and see a new pearl peeking. Then me and hubby vowed to really take good care of our kids' pearly whites.

Luckily, our second son didn't encounter this dilemma, one of the reasons am really thankful we switched pediatricians. She was so hands on in offering advices for the kids that she even reminded us that she is prescribing the iron supplement at a time when our second son's teeth will not be out yet.Why? So that it will not ruin his tooth growth, omg! why didn't i hear this from my previous pediatrician? Oh makes me boil!! I was so mad at the incompetency or maybe just plain indifference of our previous doctor! And to think that he was oh so friendly and accommodating. Or maybe he has a growing number of clientele that he tends to skip the essentials and just go about with the routine check ups never minding the details.

As a mom I wanted to give the best for my kids and so we wanted out as his patients. And it truly makes a difference if your pediatrician has kids of her own, you know they talk about their profession well, as it is accompanied by experience. Then you know you are in the same boat. So for moms out there, be not afraid to seek out second opinions especially if it concerns your children. It won't hurt to ask, than paying the price later and blaming oneself......

my 6th year as a mom..

tomorrow is a special day for women who chose to take a noble path in life..to become bulky and enlarged for nine months, give birth after, breastfeed, have sleepless days, missed meals, big-appetite (due to BF), routine check-ups and everything that comes with it..overall, it adds up to MOTHERHOOD..i take my hats off to fellow mommies..most especially to Igorota mommies out there!! cheers to us!

i recall the days of my first pregnancy when i was almost clueless on what to expect when your expecting..then thanks to the power of the internet, it was a helpful tool for me to keep track of my baby's development... it was babycenter.com that opened my eyes into the whole world of motherhood, i learned and appreciated a lot of facts. they have a monthly update on the developments of the fetus as it grows inside you, yup literally from day one up until now that my boys are growing, they still send helpful information on how to rear our kids. not only do they help with kids but also have articles about marriage and fatherhood. such a helpful site i may say, so for newbie mommies out there whilst surfing do take time to check this site out and surely you will come to know a lot of stuff that even your pediatrician won't tell you...

have a beautiful Mother's Day!!!