Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Tips from a friend I met online

I thank bingbing very much for the following tips. I learned a lot from her (and still learning). She has been living the same life I have for 10 years now. I thought other Filipinas with the same lifestyle might benefit from it too so I am posting it here.

SPINACH- have you tried it with mungo or soup bone? finely chopped them then add to ramen noodles with diced carrots pero cook it as dry as pancit as a side dish. we add that also to rice-a-roni. (my kids love spinach. they don't love vegetables but they have no choice but eat them or else no dessert).

PLANTING KAMOTE TOPS and KANGKONG- put stem in water to root then plant them in your garden or plant them in a pot, take them out during summer and bring in the house before winter. (when bringing plants from outside, make sure the temp. outside is as close as the temp. inside the house so the plant will not experience shock).

AMPALAYA -i tried planting this one summer and i have no luck. but i think you can put them straight in your garden. (my husband suggest that you soak them in water then when it begin to sprout then plant them. then you will know if seeds are good or not).

right now i have tomato in a pot (inside the house)and i will dig my eggplant and plant it in a pot so i can bring it inside.

i used to have malunggay in the house planted in the pot then every summer i plant that outside but died just this winter coz of the burrow worm (?).

CANNING- i canned salsa and apple sauce. canning tips i learn is after you are done processing or pressure cooking your can jars (with goodies in it) tip it upside down and leave it 24 hours to seal it really good. ( OUR GOVERNMENT CENTER HAVE EXTENSION OFFICE WHO GIVE OUT INFORMATION REGARDING PROPER CANNING, FREEZING AND COOKING OF FOODS. YOU MIGHT HAVE ONE ALSO. SOME UNIVERSITY DO HAVE THIS ALSO, PARANG U.P.).
i learned also that you can cut your vegetables, put them in your canning jars, add water and a teaspoon of salt on top (sugar if sweetcorn) then process it. i will try to do this on my corn and greenbeans this year.

FREEZING- i tried freezing sweetcorn and greenbeans but the taste deteriorates. i only freeze tomatoes, i dice, drip, then lay them in cookie sheet, let it freeze then store in ice cream pail or put them directly in ziploc bags, put enough to make it lie flat in the freezer. (i do freeze a lot of cookies, pies,cakes, muffins, breads. either whole or in slices).

DEHYDRATOR, VACUUM PACKING- you can buy a dehydrator or use your oven (200 degrees) for tomatoes (slice thinly then drip dry), leaves of onions, dill, chives and the likes. it has longer storage life if you store them in the freezer after dehydrating.
i don't have a vacuum packing gadget but you probably see them in ads, they say it prolong storage life.

MAKING KIDS EAT FRUITS AND VEGETABLES- i make zucchini bread, pumpkin bread (i use squash sometimes)or bars, carrot cake, apple muffin or cake, blueberry coffee cake, muffin or pancake. (i don't tell them what's in it just let them taste them first).

in our garden, we have peanuts (kids love boiled peanuts) and okra. tried munggo but all dead due to weather.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Manang,

you can try having spinach salad.

Spinach leaves, pine nuts, boiled egg, sliced
use Vidalia Onion dressing, I forgot the brand name, but it's really good. You can try searching for the recipe of the dressing on recipesource.

The good thing with salad is you can add whatever is available, like tomatoes, slices of ham, or smoked salmon, parmesan cheese, it's really up to you.

with regards to making kids eat veggies,
I have tried making sushi. My kids love it! Just put in any veggie like carrots, cucumber,or even fruits in season, like mango, etc together with something that they love to eat, like shrimp, or ham, etc! If Nori (seaweed wrapper) is not available, try using plastic wrap! I actually tried this when I didn't realize that we'd ran out of Nori until the last minute, it was not as hard as I thought it would be.

Another way would be to make veggie tempura! I don't have a recipe for tempura batter to share though since I use a mix for mine. But my kids love those crispy fried veggie tempura, although ma-cholesterol nga lang.

I also remember tasting Kalabasa na leche flan, which was quite tasty, but I don't have a recipe for this. Kids love sweet stuff so why not give them their veggies in the guise of dessert! Instead of giving a reward (dessert ) for eating their veggies, the veggies end up as the reward! Ain't that sweet?!!!

;p

Bernice

Manang said...

Bernice,
Thanks for the additional tips on salad. I have been using raw spinach instead of blanched with the usual patis-lemon dip, which the kids like so much more. Now with your tips I can actually make exciting variations for serving raw spinach! :)
Can you email to me how you actually go about making sushi? As for the tempura, yeah probably I can look up the recipe on the net. My children love crispy foods!
There was once a recipe that I made using butternut squash, a baked dessert, but I ended up the only one eating it. :( There was a certain aftertaste that did not appeal even to me, that I did not repeat making it. I once baked apples and it turned out like a cake it was so good. When the apple season comes I will make it again and share it here.
Thanks for all the tips!

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