Cupcake Making: A Fun Activity for Kids

Reunited with my eldest brother and his family after 3 months to celebrate his birthday at our parents house. So happy and was excited to see my 2 beautiful nieces. When they arrived I have already prepared an activity for the two girls...

Since it was their father's birthday I asked them to help me prepare their dad's cupcakes; The easiest one is my 'Carrot Walnut'. It was so fun and I did enjoy making cupcakes with them. So happy to see them got excited over pouring in oil, cracking eggs, sifting flour mixing them all together and so on. I even let them drop a batter on each liners. They were so happy and giggly over their cupcakes.

The super fun part was (and they were patiently waiting for this while the cupcakes were baking) the frosting... I prepared all the toppings and the icings; the icings were supposed to be white, green and orange for the carrot but my niece wanted it pink.

 

Only the eldest of my niece were able to frost some of the cupcakes because the other one got afraid of our golden retriever dog named Winnie when she passed by the dirty kitchen, so my niece went up to her grandma sobbing. Huhu =(

So these photos above are the finished products that my niece made for her dad. Two letter "F" for her dad's first letter name and two smileys represents her and her sister. It was a really fun day for me and I guess a fun day for my two nieces too. ^^

No Salt for The Litlle Man

I don't usually provide salt in my son's diet, but sometimes I just couldn't prevent it especially if we're on a party or in a restaurant. It's ok naman, but if I prepare his food I always make sure it's a salt-free meal or snacks.

Salt, if not controlled, can damage my kiddo's immature kidney and may lead to urinary tract infection or UTI. It also may add risk to his blood pressure as he grow up as his palate will get used to salty foods. To prevent this, National Health Service in England provided the maximum recommended amount of salt for babies and children...

• up to 12 months – less than 1g salt a day (less than 0.4g sodium)
• 1 to 3 years – 2g salt a day (0.8g sodium) 
• 4 to 6 years – 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium) 
• 7 to 10 years – 5g salt a day (2g sodium)
• 11 years and over – 6g salt a day (2.4g sodium) 

With this guide, it will help us determine the amount of salt or sodium we give to our babies or children.  Below, is one of my salt-free recipes that I prepare to my little man. As we all know fish products and all seafoods are already high in sodium, therefore we may want to ommit salt in this type of food when we prepare for our little ones. 

Salt-Free Herbed Fish Fillet

Ingredients:

• 1/2 fillet, Sole Fish
• 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp lemon or calamansi juice
• 1/2 tsp extra light olive oil 

Direction:
Season fillet with italian seasoning and black pepper. Add in lemon or calamansi juice and let it stand for a minute or two to marinade;
Cook in extra light olive oil until both sides are golden brown.. Serve with fresh sliced cucumber and steamed carrots or guacamole.


A very delicious and healthy meal for the little man that I even added to my diet. My son finished this recipe which was prepared only for him. I also added rice in his meal to compliment the natural saltiness of the fish. I was so happy and proud seeing him finished everything in his plate... I mean not everything, there were few pieces of carrots and cucumber left because he was already full, his tummy was already big.

For more info about salt in babies you can check what the Dietitian for infants had to say in #18 at www.dietitian.com/infants.html. Mommy Made Goodness brand has also a good review on this matter. Check Salt for babies beyond at www.mommymadegoodness.com/

Healthy Cookie

Gluten-free and Sugar-free Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup xylitol or splenda (I use xylitol (xyla), it's better and safer than splenda)
  1/4 vegetable oil (this serves as an egg substitute for toddlers allergic to eggs. I actually did mine with flaxseed + 3 tbsp water though my son has no problem with eggs, it just happened that I didn't have eggs left in the pantry.) 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free pancake mix
• Add-ons: (optionall) chocolate chips, walnuts or almonds, about 1/2 cup each for the whole batter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and xylitol.
3. Add oil and vanilla, then beat together.
   Add pancake mix and mix thoroughly.
4. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts (I actually cut 1/4 of batter to add chocolate chips and nuts for me, but for my son I made it plain for him)
5. Scoop 1/2 tbsp of dough for the little ones or 1 tbsp of dough for the bigger ones on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
   Flatten with a spatula.
   Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.
   Let cookies cool slightly and eat or you can transfer it in a sealed container once cooled.

Hope you like this recipe and please do let me know if you ever tried this one. Thanks and enjoy!

Gluten-free Applesauce/Apple Pancake

http://instagram.com/p/byTxCsy2IM/#

I love everything organic especially for my little man, so I bought an organic whole wheat pancake mix last month in which I also used for baking cupcakes/muffins for him. I'm so happy about it seeing my boy happy eating I prepared out of the mix. However, one mid afternoon, as I went along with my studies in baking I focused on studying about the flour; All kinds of flour and what they're made of and everything I need to know about it. I've learned that most of the flour we know are made out of wheat. Flours that made out of wheat, barley and rye are flours that are rich in gluten or has gluten in it. Gluten is essential in baking as it is the protein of the flour that would keep the dough or the cake to rise. Gluten though isn't good for babies and children below 2 yrs of age and this worries me knowing the pancake mix (even all the breads) I bought for the little man is not as good as i thought it is for him.

 
Gluten can cause some behavioral or physical problems to children below 2 years of age. It could be a Leaky Gut Syndrome that is linked to inflammation, allergies and autism, or Celiac Disease the scarring of small intestines, or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder). As a mother I would want to avoid these problems since I'm not sure if my child has sensitivity to gluten.

So I came up with a Gluten-Free Pancake, a safe to eat pancake for my little man. It tastes good it can also be eaten by adults. My sweetened mascarpone cheese is a substitute for my whipped cream topping because I didn't have any whipping cream available at this time on my pantry. It is also a sugar-free recipe which is good for those who has diabetes; Instead of sugar I used xylitol as a substitute. I don't want to add sugar on my son's diet because I don't want his body to get used to sugar, as well as I don't want to add more reasons for his hyperactivity in his toddler stage.

Enjoy being a mother (if you are one) and enjoy cooking!

Gluten-Free Applesauce Pancake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pancake Mix
• 3/4 cup Soy Milk (or any milk you like)
• 1/2 cup Applesauce
• 1 egg (can be omitted if you're a vegan, the applesauce can do its purpose)
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 Apple, sliced or chunked (for filling and/or garnish; optional)

Directions:

1. Lightly beat the egg (if using) and stir in the oil and milk until combined..
2. Sift pancake mix in a medium bowl and make a hole in the center and pour in the egg mixture (or just the milk). Mix the ingredients but be careful not to over-mix it.
3. Fold in the applesauce.
4. Preheat any size of non-stick griddle on medium heat.
5. Using oil or butter, lightly coat the griddle before pouring the batter on it. Once the griddle is hot, pour a little bit of the batter onto the griddle. (You can always pour more depending on how large you like your pancakes; I used 1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons of batter to uniform the size of my pancakes.)  
6. Press in a little of sliced or chunked apples lightly in each pancake and cook until you see bubbles at the top. Flip and cook until the pancake turns golden brown. 

Sweetened Mascarpone Cheese or Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Mascarpone Cheese or Whipped/WhippingCream
• 1/8 Xylitol (for toddlers and diabetics) or Powdered/Confectioners Sugar

Direction:

1. Whisk the ingredients together until combined. It's ok if you see grains of xylitol just make sure they are distributed well. We don't want to over mix them together because it would turn to liquid.
2. If using whipping cream, it's ok to whip the cream with xylitol until stiff peaks form but if with powdered sugar whipping cream must be whipped first then you can add in the powdered sugar.