Zucchini Bread

Talking about kids not eating their vegetables. How come it was not even an issue back in my days when I was growing up? I L-O-V-E eating vegetables always. I only learned to eat so much meat after I got married, because my husband loves eating meat, and without it, he would feel like he hadn't eaten a real meal. Sigh. No amens, please. 

I never knew that getting kids to eat greens is such a common problem nowadays. However, as a mommy, I refuse to let my kids defeat me in this subject matter. 

"Kids, let's make zucchini bread!"

"Okay! Can I do it, Mommy?" shouted, with excitement! 

After that exchange, I knew I've already won. Grin*

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2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cups of wheat flour and wheat brand mix

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup organic sugar

3/4 cup non-GMO canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

one medium organic zucchini about 2-2 1/2 cups

I leave the spices, like cinnamon and nutmegs, out, so it's more plain for the kids.

1. mix all the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, then add sugar and vanilla extract. 

2. in a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

 3. chop the zucchini into cubs and trim the ends away.

4. put the cubs into food processor and lightly pulse it,

or you could grate it by hand too, until it looks like this.

5. mix the dry and wet ingredients together and then fold in the zucchini.

 6. coat the baking pan and pour the batter in.

7. preheat the oven to 350F before hand, and bake it for 1 hour.

After the hour, when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean, then it's done!
I like eating it when it's hot. The outside is so crispy and the inside is moist and soft and warm. A true delight not only for the kids, but for mommy, too. ^_^

Yes, even our youngest and pickiest food critic gave it a green light!

Cheers to a happy weekend, everyone!

Crispy Skinned Roast Duck

I followed this recipe http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/02/11/the-best-way-to-roast-a-duck-hello-crispy-skin/ I found online to roast my duck this time: 

Score the skin, cut off excess fat, and poke it all over

Salt and truss

Roast at 300 degrees for 1 hour, breast-side up

Poke, flip, roast for 1 hour, breast-side down

Poke, flip, roast for 1 hour, breast-side up

Poke, flip, roast for 1 hour, breast side down

Poke, flip, blast at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, breast-side up
Brush with glaze (honey, molasses, orange juice, soy sauce, and hot sauce)
Finish at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes

Rest, carve & serve

The best part was the smell that filled the whole house when the duck was being roasted in the oven. To me, smelling the aroma was better than eating the duck itself, though my husband did most of the eating part. After the meat was eaten, I used the bones to make a duck broth.The broth was so rich and full of calcium, the kids loved the duck noodle soup I served them the next day.

Happy weekend!

Whole Wheat Mango Cake

I had a little bit of frozen mango chunks left in the bag, so I thought the kids could do something with them. 

I stumbled upon this recipe  and made a few modifications. The kids really enjoyed making this cake with me as well as eating it after it had came out of the oven. 

Mix 1/4 cup butter with 3/4 cup sugar

Puree about the amount of an actual mango

Add the mango puree into the butter and sugar mixture along with 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract and 2 tbsp lemon juice

Next, mix 1 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda in a separate bowl, then fold it into the wet ingredients.

Chop up about another real mango worth of mango pieces,

and fold them in with everything else.

Grease the baking pan and transfer the batter into it

In about 39 minutes (yes, it was 39 minutes for me and not 40 =P), it was completely done, it smelled heavenly and tasted... well, let's just say the taste was definitely approved by Sophie and Brandon! ^_^

Kangovou

I recently came across Kangovou. It's an American company started by two mothers. They designed a set of stainless steel kid's dish-ware that are BPA, PVC, lead, melamine, phthalate free. The products are made in South Korea. When I ordered them on the internet, I had to wait at least 5 weeks to get the products due to backordering. 

Here are the two sweet boxes when they arrived at my door. I ordered the Ice Mint colored set for Brandon, and the Peaches and Cream colored set for Sophie.

The dish-ware set was packaged very artistically and securely.

After opening the lid of the box, the compartment plate with lid is neatly tucked under. 

The second layer is consist of the sippy cup, cereal bowl and the snack bowl. 

 The bottom layer is the flat plate.

 Here is the whole family together =)

So far,  the kids and I have been enjoying the dish-ware set quite well.

On the other note, poor Brandon has been having fever for the past 3 days. I am thankful for all the people who cared and prayed for him. He's doing a lot better this morning. Hopefully he'll be fully recovered in no time.

Easter Eggs

Today we dyed Easter eggs!
This was when I asked them to smile at the camera and got a grin from Sophie, but a squished face from Brandon. ^0^ Nevertheless, they were happy to be dyeing eggs, at least I could be sure of that.

I put some glitters, which came with the dyeing kit, in the coloring bowls, which I kind of regretted after. Because after the eggs were dried and they wanted to peel the shells and eat the hard-boiled eggs inside, the glitters got everywhere. I ended up having to wash every peeled egg under the tap to get rid of majority of the glitters.

I also marked the shells with a wax crayon before hand as a surprise for the kids when they were actually dyeing the eggs and the patterns from the wax marks revealed.

After the eggs was dried, we did a special delivery to A-Gong and A-Ma (grandpa and grandma) and shared our irresistibly beautiful eggs with them. (irresistible mostly to the kids as they gobbled up at least 3, 4 eggs each, whereas before, I'd have to beg them to eat their eggs) ^^

We do plenty of crafts and baking all over the house, but the dining table is one of favorite places to gather. Ronald Reagan once said, "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." I only hope to create good memories for my children at the dining table. ^0^

Next time, I might share about the drawing and crafts we do at the coffee table.