Easy Veggie Soup

It is never cold in Manila. Never. But when it rains I start getting that cozy soup feeling. I came across this recipe on my favorite food blog and it reminded me of all the times my best friend and I ate way too much unlimited soup and salad at Olive Garden. This can be made vegan with veggie stock, or chicken stock. It was simple to make and Toto loved it. Great way to get some veggies and protein (beans!) in her tummy. 

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart...

Keeping Up With the Playgroup Moms

For Toto's most recent nanny/toddler playgroup that we hosted at our place, we served the kids mangoes, bananas and goldfish crackers. Pretty standard toddler fare, right? Well, one day after work, when Yaya was giving me the rundown on Toto's day: what she did (played at the park, went to playgroup); how long she slept (2 hours, which she rarely does on the weekends); and what she ate (everything), she told me that Toto LOVED the quinoa blueberry muffins she had at her fiend J's playgroup. Uh, what?! Homemade organic muffins, packed full of protein and antioxidants? While I was filling up those innocent kids with salty leftovers from Toto's first birthday party (they weren't stale, I tried them). Clearly that needed to be remedied. I found this great recipe and Healthy Options carried Bob's Red Mill quinoa flour. They were awesome. Toto ate 3 (mini-muffins) and I had to put them away before The Shark devoured the whole plate. I tweaked this recipe from Lemons and Anchovies by halving the brown sugar, using canola oil, and only baking 10 minutes for mini-muffins. Happy baking.

Toto's seal of approval.

Sunday Cooking

Good yogurt is hard to come by in Manila, but please correct me if I am wrong because I would love to send Toto to college, but can't because she loves yogurt and eats it everyday. We end up buying the 1kg Total Fage greek yogurt from S&R that costs $25. Yes, you read that right. I looked online and found it for about $7. As we try and budget in order to save for a down payment on a house in DC (more on that later), we are looking for ways to save money. And no, weekend Starbucks lattes are not on the table. 

On Friday, a colleague received a yogurt maker she had ordered and when she saw me staring longingly at it, let me borrow it during her 2-week vacation. All you need is a liter of boxed UHT milk (in Manila, but in America I would use fresh) and some yogurt or yogurt starter. After boiling and then cooling the milk, I mixed in some yogurt, then poured it in the 7 jars. The machine is currently plugged in and after 8 hours we should have delicious yogurt - for about $10.

Cheap-er yogurt.

New Year, new recipes. I am getting sick of all the old recipes we used last year, so The Shark suggested this one - warm quinoa salad with tarragon and edamame. Had to make some substitutions because you can never find everything you need for a recipe in Manila, even if you go to 10 different stores. So, in stead of roasted red peppers, I used sweet pickled bell peppers. And there was no edamame to be found (I thought we were in Asia?!), so I used green garbanzos. That I didn't even know existed. In the end it was delicious.

My sister whipped up a quick and easy veggie lasagna in San Diego, so we threw together our own version. Layer one was brocoli, garlic and Japanese spinach (there are so many green leafy vegetables at the market that I had no idea which one to pick. A friendly Japanese woman told me the Japanese spinach was the best. She's probably biased, but I went with it anyway), and layer 2 was yellow zucchini and roasted tomatoes. Instead of pricey ricotta and parmesan, I went with less pricey mozzarella and cottage cheese. Perfect for a Sunday night.

Guess I gave away that the sauce wasn't homemade.

A day's worth of veggies in one meal.

Starting Fresh

In March 2012 when Toto was only 6 months old, I still felt foggy and out of it--I still didn't feel "like myself." I was in that new mom phase, trying to find a balance between working, being with Toto, being a good wife to The Shark, and finding time for myself. Of course, I am still working on that everyday, but now that Toto is 16 months, I feel a little more balanced and a little more like my old type-A self. 

However, having a baby has forced me to take it down a notch or two on the old intensity scale--I did say only a notch or two, I still love planning, checking things off my list, getting more things done than I should. But if Toto dumps her toys everywhere, smears my clothes with avocado, or interrupts my list making, I can let it go. Moments with her are just too precious. And with amazing Yaya, I can find time to take care of myself and spend quality time with The Shark. 

Last year I decided to make a list of ongoing goals instead of one resolution. Tried to choose things that would help myself, my family, and others. I think I did pretty good.

1. Bake cupcakes and frosting from scratch each month. I managed to make cupcakes several times, but not every month. My two biggest undertakings were for  a friend's 2-year old's party and Toto's 1-year bash. My favorite and easiest cupcake to make is the vegan chocolate cupcake.

2. Run a marathon. While I had originally considered The Cam Sur or Singapore Marathon, I ended up running the Bangkok Marathon in November. Our trip to Bangkok turned out to be one of our best mini-vacations ever, and it didn't hurt that I checked off a major life goal while there. My time was 5hr 18 mins, not what I had hoped for, but not bad considering the training conditions in Manila, working full time, and having a 14-month old. You can read the details here.

3. Throw Toto a blow-out first birthday.  I initially intended to pay someone to orchestrate Toto's entire birthday, but I realized I wanted it to be personal and special, so I took care of most of the details myself. The child loves water, so I went with a beach theme.

4. Make some baby food from scratch.  Now that Toto is eating mainly solid food, it is becoming a little more challenging to keep up a varied and fresh diet for her. I mainly cook her turkey burgers (organic from Healthy Options), veggie noodles, squash, carrots, tofu, brocoli, fish, rice, quinoa, pancakes, and chicken. She also loves mango, avocado, cheese, and bananas, which are so easy. 

5. Read 1 book a month.  Crap! I only managed to read seven books. Steve Jobs, Bringing up Bebe, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Wild, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, Born to Run, and White Lilies in Autumn. Any recommendations for my reading list in 2013?

6. Spend quality time with The Shark and Toto - together and separate.  The Shark and I make it a point to go out to eat at least once a week. We keep a list of restaurants to try (recent winners: The Wine Depot, Pipino Vegetarian, and Caruso) so we don't go to Apartment 1B every time. The weekends are mainly Toto time, except for a couple hours each day to get a massage, go to yoga, or go for a run. On occasion we leave Toto for the day to try something new and exciting, but the guilt is almost too much. Because - that face!

7. Do/Say Something Nice Everyday. This continues to be a challenge for me. My job is tedious and by the end of the day my patience is worn thin (until I see Toto of course, then I can't even remember what I do for a living). In December we helped a women's group purchase several sewing machines - I am kinda hoping that made up for missing this goal on many occasions?

8. Practice Yoga at Least Once a Week.  I started doing yoga in 2002 when I moved home after college.  My dad and I did Bikram's every week and I got into awesome shape before my wedding.  Since then I have done yoga in every city I have lived--Albuquerque, Denver, DC, Kigali, and now Manila.  In March 2012 I got back into yoga after a 6 month hiatus.  I actually kept up my practice all throughout my pregnancy, but had trouble finding a studio (and time) once I arrived in Manila. Someone recommended Bliss Yoga - and it is awesome. I take a Jivamukti class every Sunday - helps calm me after a long week and get me ready for the one ahead.

Up next: 2013 goals.

Kid Recipe: Cheesy Broccoli

Adapted this one from here. I cut the pieces much smaller, and didn't add salt or garlic. Toto loves it, like she loves most food. I have trouble finding good green veggies for here, so end up supplementing with this combo of spinach/peas/brown rice/barley or mixing turkey into this spinach/pea/pear combo. Luckily, she will still eat these "baby" foods, because I have friends who toddlers have rejected anything pureed. These are so convenient for the park, airplane, hotel, etc. But she definitely prefers whole foods like pasta, bagels, rice, cheese, pancake...hmm, that's a long list of carbohydrates, but at least we stick to whole-wheat, organic options.

Any ideas for green veggies for toddlers that you can find in Manila?

Kid Recipe: Roasted Carrots

For locals, if you don't already know, Healthy Options has expanded their frozen section (turkey burgers, frozen blueberries) and also added locally-sourced, organic produce and meats.  We roasted an entire chicken and it was delicious.  I am not a big meat-eater and I certainly do not like touching raw meat, but I felt good about getting this organic source of protein into Toto's diet - and she loved it.  In the produce section they carry lettuce, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, herbs, and carrots, and other things I may be forgetting.  I checked out a bunch of recipes online, but settled for this one from one of my favorite recipe blogs.  Pretty simple, just tossed the carrots in olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary and baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Toto scarfed them down with some turkey sausage (also from the frozen section), veggie noodles and cheese.

I ate about half of these while Toto was napping.

Kid Recipe: Apple Sauce

Apple sauce is so easy to make and tastes so much better than the jarred stuff.  Not to mention it is a lot cheaper to make it yourself.  I just peeled and chopped 4 big Fuji apples, added 1 cup of water, some lemon peel, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 cinnamon stick and a little brown sugar (next time I will probably go sugar free), brought it to a boil, then simmered for 30 minutes.  Afterwards, I used a potato masher to, well, mash it.  Delicious with vanilla ice cream (for me) or on pancakes (for Toto).

The best baby food storage method I have found is to cook big batches on the weekend - chop mangoes, bake squash, roast carrots, pan fry turkey, boil noodles - then cool and freeze in these 6.5 ounce Libbey bowls I get from Amazon.  According to the Libbey website the lids are BPA-free (god knows what other chemicals are there, but the food rarely even touches the lid).

My other great food storage method is a second fridge.  I had to beg my employer a bit for this one, but it was SO worth it.  Now I can store (hoard) tortillas, bread, baby food, berries, spinach, and all the other stuff that we would have to run to the store weekly to replenish.

Kid Recipes: Tofu Fingers

I may have already mentioned that I really like Ruth Yaron's book, Super Baby Food, because of the clear tips on food preparation and storage and cool toddler recipes.  Tofu fingers were so easy, just dip tofu slices in milk, then toss in a combination of bread crumbs, wheat germ and parmesan cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Yum.