Birthday Photo Session || Austin

Austin is Three!!!!

Excalibur Food Dehydrator Review

I have gotten the Excalibur Food Dehydrator a while back because I wanted to make fruit roll ups for my kids! It turned out to be one of the best investment to healthy eating I've ever made! yep!! Not only I can make fruit roll ups, dry fruits, and veggies, I can make my own yogurt and dry my own Almond flour (After making almond milk, I used the leftover nuts and dry it to make almond meal!)

So! I am very happy with the dehydrator! I got the 5 tray dehydrator as picture below.

Photo source www.excaliburdehydrator.com

Guess what? they have new colors coming in! I just went to their website and there was red, blue, pink (OH MY!), orange and white! I wish I can buy another one in PINK!!!! but, I can't hehe! 

Anyways, I have done many drying with my excalibur. I've dried fruit, veggies, made fruit leather/roll ups, pork jerky, yogurt, and the last one I just did well it is in the dehydrator as I am writing right now is the almond flour. (I made almond pancake sometime last week and it was HEAVEN!)

so, if one star being the worst and five star being the best, I give SIX star to the excalibur dehydrator!

The pros:

• It makes square fruit roll ups, so it is easy for me to cut and roll long pieces (many dehydrator comes in round shape, well making fruit roll up can be bit tricky then)
• Timer and automatic turn off! I love it! I can just go to sleep at night and find my fruit roll up, yogurt or whatever it is I am drying is done! I can just leave the house if I have to grab something and not worry about it over drying.
• I actually love it's black color, it matches everything in my kitchen (even though the pink on is sooo cute!)
• Adjustable Temperature (I love this feature because I can dry meat in a higher temp than I would fruit roll ups)

The Cons:

• I don't like it's cover, it is easy to come off but maybe that's what they needed (I find my 2 year old very curious, so sometimes he opens it up! and I don't like disturbing my yogurt in the making, changing the temperature when it is opened)
• I had to buy the sheet to make fruit roll ups, it doesn't come with the product. I would love to not spend extra $60 just for the sheets.

So there is my pros and cons about Excalibur Food Dehydrator! I love it and I think he price is worth it! Happy Drying!

Homemade Goldfish Crackers -- Recipe

My daughter loves goldfish crackers! A few nights ago I said, "why not make them?". So I decided, well I should make them with my Cheese Cookies Recipe (Cheese Kaastengels) and modify it. I tried making it once two nights ago but I messed up by making the goldfish too thick =(. Yes, the kids loved it and finished them all but it wasn't goldfish, it is more like cheese cookies. So, last night I did it one more time...and as I was getting them out of the oven and putting them in the box, my kids ate them so instead of getting two boxes of goldfish I ended up with only one but here it is...

Oh! I love how it turned out! The secret though, the thinner your goldfish are, the crispier they are.
I made mine with half wheat flour and half regular all purpose flour, so it's not 100% the healthiest goldfish but! at least it is half wheat haha! Are you ready? Drum rolls please.....

What you need:
1 Cup Flour
1 Egg White
12 Oz Cheddar Cheese / Parmesan Cheese whichever you like better
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Tbs Butter

How to make:
1. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until they are all well mixed
2. Get all the dough out of the food processor and knead it until you can form a ball
3. Place dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
4. Roll your dough as thin as possible and cut them up with little goldfish cookie cutter
5. Bake your goldfish at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes depending how thin your goldfish are

I used my pasta roller to roll my dough because I want them to be really thin. You can use rolling pin for yours.

Oh, if you're interested, here is a link to my daughter's video tutorial of making cheese cookies
Cheese Cookies

Where do I get the cookie cutter? I got them from Kracie a Japanese DIY candy kit. You can search it on amazon "Kracie Gummy" you should be able to find it. I am not quite sure which one has the fish cutter in it but the one I liked is the one I got last time, I think the animal cutter is given randomly but good luck!!!

Chia Seeds Pudding Recipes

1. Chocolate Chia Seed Superfood Pudding by tasty-yummies.com

Chocolate Chia Seed Superfood Pudding -- Gluten-free and Vegan 

by tasty-yummies.com

I made mine with 2% cow milk and less chia seeds in my pudding but it turned out nice! 

here's mine....

2. Mango Chia Seeds Pudding by Ashleyneese.com

Mango Chia Seeds Pudding

by Ashleyneese.com

Gosh, I will try this recipe really soon! I love mango!! and look at it! it looks so heavenly!

3. Coconut Chia Seeds Pudding by popsugar.com

Coconut Chia Seeds Pudding by popsugar.com

Steamed Cupcake Recipe

No school today! yep! no school!!! Last night was scary though, we had so many tree limbs falling hitting cars, houses, etc. We didn't have power last night! Cold night! Anyway, because of my paranoid personality, I couldn't sleep last night so I did not feel too well but! I managed to make these easy steamed cupcakes! it is the healthier alternative of cupcakes.

Yummy! Growing up, I remember my mom always bought these from the small bakery in our neighborhood or she would buy it from those mobile bakery (yep, they were in bikes, cars, push cart, anything mobile you name it). I think making steamed cake is much easier than the traditional cake. Less ingredients too! so, here is what you need...

What you need:

2 Large Eggs

225 gr. Granulated Sugar

250 gr. All Purpose Flour

200 ml soda water (I used sprite, it gives the cupcake the sprite flavor)

Cocoa Powder or Food Coloring (I used food coloring this time)

How to make:

1. Using a mixer (high), mix ingredients together about 10 minutes. The batter should be white when it is done. 

2. Heat up your steamer. I recommend using the traditional steamer on your stove. The electric steamer is not as hot as regular old steamer. 

3. Steam for at least 15 minutes. Do not try to check on your cake until the 15 minutes is up. If you do, you will not get the nice flower kind of shape on top =D. 

good luck! I hope you love my recipe!!!

Yogurt Loaf Recipe

 

Who knew you can make bread with only 3 ingredients? I think yogurt loaf is healthier than regular loafs out there because of its ingredients. It doesn't have butter, sugar, nor does it have preservatives. Okay so here is the loaf I made, I made mine pink because it is Valentine's week!! hehe.

What you need:

3 Cups Self-Rising Flour

1 Cup Plain Yogurt

1 Large Egg (If you do not want to use eggs, you can just substitute it for another cup of plain yogurt)

How to make:

Pre-heat your oven at 350 Fahrenheit. 

Mix all your ingredients together until it forms a dough.

Place your dough in your choice of pan.

Bake for 45 minutes. 

Voila! Easy right? It took me 10 minutes to prep it all together. You can serve it with nutella, sugar, butter, sausage, anything really!!

My daughter LOVES it! My Son Oz, he loves it so much! You can see his face there when I took his picture.

okay, so here are some example of what I did with the loaf for Tasha's school lunch.

Yogurt nutella sandwich, xoxo cheese, carrot hearts, conversation hearts, strawberry heart, strawberry banana yogurt smoothie.

Mama Delish's Valentine's Day Giveaway!!!!!!!

I am so excited over my FIRST GIVEAWAY EVER!!! There will be two winners, you and your friend! The winner(s) will be chosen randomly on February 16th, 2015 on my Facebook page! "Mama Delish". Okay, head on my Facebook page to enter now!

Homemade Spinach Egg Noodles

I finally got this recipe perfect after a hundred trials and errors! yes!! It's my own recipe!!! I went online ask around...nothing seems to work for me. So, after gathering all the recipe, I decided to take a secret from one...another secret from another, then.....voila!!!! My very own noodles!

This one I served it with chicken and mushroom and boiled spinach

My kids LOVE them! I mean Oz, my 2 year old, talks about it everyday. So, I make them quite often in the house. So, here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

500 g. All Purpose Flour

100 g. Corn Starch

2 Eggs

100 ml. Water

Handful of Spinach (if you want more spinach you can add a lot) 

Simple!!! and EASY!

How to make:

1. Puree spinach with water in a blender, then, mix everything together! yep!! just mix them all until they are all mixed together and form a dough!

2. Divide dough to 4 same sized round dough.

3. Use rolling pins to make them flat

4. Use pasta machine to make the noodles! 

How the finished product look like (make sure you sprinkle flours so that the noodles don't stick to each other). I also attempted to dehydrate it so it dries for storage, it's a complete FAIL hehe..so do not try to dry these noodles,

There are different kinds of pasta machine out there. I personally used kitchen aid, but it can get very pricey but! since it is electric, it makes the job way easier than manual ones.

here are some different brands you can get:

Cucina Pro Pasta Machine

Kitchen Aid

or you can just search at your local store like

Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrel, etc.

Good luck on your pasta making! here is my daughter's lunch...

Trix, Celery, Carrot, Oranges, Grapes, Flintstone Gummy, Green Spinach Noodles (This is with  Sautéed Chicken and Mushroom)

Green Spinach Noodles (This is with Sautéed Ground Pork), Mango Strawberry Apple Fruit Roll Ups with M&Ms hidden in it, Oranges, String Bean and Scramble Eggs

Coconut Fish Cake (Otak2) with Peanut Sauce Recipe

Coconut Fish Cake is one of my favorite Indonesian food! In Indonesia, they called it Otak-Otak, which translates to Brain-Brain. I'm not quite sure why they called it BRAIN, maybe because of FISH being one of the ingredient and fishes are brain food. Anyways, this recipe I got from my mom. Pssssttt...don't tell her I'm sharing this to the world!

What you need:

Fish Cake:

• 1 Pack of Cha Cha Fish Paste (1 lb fish paste/ground mackerel)
• 100 ml of Thick Coconut Milk
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Minced Garlic
• 2 Tbs Thin Sliced Green Onion
• 50 ml Cold Water
• 1/2 Cup Tapioca Stach (Tapioca Flour)
• Banana Leaves

Peanut Sauce:

• Thai Chilli Pepper (Depending on how spicy you want, you can put none to however many you like)
• 1/2 Cup of Ground Peanut or Peanut Butter
• 1/2 Cup of Warm Water
• 1 tsp Minced Garlic
• Salt

How to make:

Fish Cake:

1. To make the fish cake, combine fish paste, water, and coconut milk in a medium bowl. Mix them until they are well mixed.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients (salt, garlic, green onion, and tapioca flour)
3. Clean banana leaves, cut them to squares and dry them with paper towel.
4. Place about 2 Tbs of fish paste on one side of banana leaves and roll it.
5. Close the ends with tooth pick, or some people use staples (be careful don't eat the staples)
6. Bake for 10 minutes at 375F, flip and bake for another 10 minutes.

Peanut Sauce:

1. Chop thai chilli pepper finely, then combine the rest of the ingredients together.
2. Mix until well mix and serve with the fish cake.

I hope you love the Otak-Otak! 

Here is an example of Cha Cha Fish Paste sold in the US, there are a lot of different brands so what brand doesn't really matter. Good luck!

Yumbox Original and Panino -- Review

Yumbox my new favorite lunch box! (well, all of my lunch box are my favorite) I am so glad I got these, I think it was worth the investment. I ordered these boxes as a present for my mom and my kids on Christmas.

Their prices range from $13.00 - $33.00 and I think that is a good deal for a such awesome box! I got lucky that I got them discounted at 30% off! I didn't know that there was a sale going on at the website, they just suddenly discounted my order, so I went back and ordered 4 boxes! Yeah!!! 4 BOXES!!!! hehe.

Before I started Bento boxes, it was very hard deciding which box I should get! So, I got the planet box first but I can't shake the feeling of wanting to get Yumbox because of their leakproof feature and their colorful boxes. My daughter loves it so much that sometimes, she asks for her dinner in her Yumbox! There are many things we love about Yumbox! I can only think of a few things we would like Yumbox to improve. okay, let's get to the business =D

Yumbox Tray $13.00
Yumbox Exterior Box $15.00 - $16.00
Yumbox Set $28.00 - $33.00 (Comes with 1 tray and 1 exterior box)

What we love:

1. Color Choice! I love their bright and pretty color choices. There are 7 color choices, I think they are going to release more colors in the future. 
2. Easy to open. Even my 2 year old knows how to open the lunch box.
3. Dishwasher Safe 
4. Eco-Friendly
5. Sturdy
6. BPA and Phthalates Free
7. 4 and 6 compartments, makes it fun to pack food!
8. Leakproof. The website said only food with consistency like yogurt, ranch, ketchup, etc. I tried putting water inside one of the compartment the first day I got my daughter's box and shake it up and down real hard. I only see one to two drops going in another compartment. I will update it again and try to put water and sit it down sideways for a few hours to see if it does leak or not. 
9. Removable tray, makes it FUN for lunch or dinner at home. It can be a plate or it can be a lunch box! I love it so much

What you should consider:

1. The cute food illustration. I love the illustration but I do not love the fact after 2 washes it's starts to wear off. I can see some parts of it's image missing.
2. Very small compartments, only for Yumbox Original. 
3. Drying Issues, I'm crazy about having my Yumbox dry before storing. I do not use them everyday because I take turn between three different kinds of boxes, so, sometimes I have to leave it out for two days to make sure it is dry before assembling them back together.

See, there are only 3 consideration before buying Yumbox! It is so worth it!

Here are some example of lunch I've packed my daughter to school and my son for fun or when he has to go somewhere:

 

Turkey and Cheese Wraps, Tic Tac (Indonesian snack, you can find at an Indonesian grocery store), Banana, Hardboiled Egg, Carrots with Thousand Island, Cashew Nuts

Biofeel (You can find at any Asian grocery store), Chocolate Bread Sushi, Cut Up String Cheese, Cheese Quesadilla, Pomegranate

Fried Noodles, Tic Tac (Indonesian snack, you can find at an Indonesian grocery store), Blood Oranges, Mandarin Orange, Roasted Garlic Parmesan Pee Wee Potatoes

Peanut Butter Chocolate and Cheese Bread Sushi, Fuji Apples, Ying Yang Babble, Edamame, Crab Rolls

Strawberry with Strawberry yogurt, Car Shaped Hardboiled Egg, Black Sweet Rice Porridge with Coconut Milk, Corn, Celery, Mangoes, Cashew Nuts

Homemade Hot Pockets, Carrots, Sticky Candy, Ninja Babybel, Oranges

Steamed Broccoli, Roasted Garlic Parmesan Pee Wee Potatoes, Oranges, Strawberry Yogurt, Homemade Chicken Nuggets, Mango Fruit Leather, Bear Shaped Hardboiled Egg (The shape isn't so good this time lol!)

Wheat Thins, Sunflower Seeds, Snow Man String Cheese, Kiwi, Ranch Dressing, Snow Flake Cheese with Ham and Cheese Quesadillas, Carrots, Triple Berry Fruit Leather

Strawberry Yogurt, Kiwi, Ranch Dressing, Corn, Celery, Quail Eggs, Hello Kitty Ham and Cheese Sandwich

I hope the reviews and the sample lunches help you decide to buy which lunch box you would like!

Yumbox did not pay me to review their box nor they give me any type of compensation. This is a very honest review from the boxes that I bought. Thanks so much for reading! ^^

To purchase your Yumbox, go to www.yumboxlunch.com 

Don't forget to comment and follow me! 

Black Sweet Rice Porridge Recipe (Ketan Hitam)

Oh! this recipe brings me back to my childhood. I grew up in Indonesia, the 4th populous country in the world (right next to US). My mom loves to make these when I was little. I remember trying to eat it as slowly as possible so that when my brothers are finished with their rice, they'd be watching me and begging me for some. Anyways, we usually eat this as snack and serve it with coconut milk. I want to invite everyone to try and make it. It tastes great and I bet you will want to eat more and more! here goes:

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Glutinous Black Sweet Rice (It can be found at any Asian grocery stores)
• 4 Cups of Water
• 1 1/2 Cups Sugar (2 Cups if you like sweet)
• 1 Canned Coconut Milk (Usually comes in 161ml (5.46 fl oz)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 Pandan Leaves

Instructions:

• Wash sweet rice thoroughly with cold water. Drain, and place it in a slow cooker (crock pot)
• Pour water over rice
• Turn crock pot to high, cook it for 3 hours (stir in between)
• Add sugar, stir until sugar is dissolved
• On a small pot, bring coconut milk to boil while stirring, add salt
• Let cool and serve!

Tips for Quick and Easy Lunch Box

As a mother, I firsthand know how busy and hectic life can be. I have a few tips for a quick and easy lunch packing ideas. The best part is that they are healthy. 

Turkey and Cheese Wrap, Cashew Nuts, Baby Carrots with Thousand Island, Baby Bananas, Boiled Egg, and Indonesian Snack (You can only find it in Indonesian Grocery Store) 

Bio feel (You can find this at any Asian grocery Store), Chocolate Bread "Sushi", String Cheese, Pomegranate, Cheese Quesadilla

So here we go, Tips for Quick and Easy Lunch Box for Busy Parents:

• Use left over food from last night. Many times, I cook dinner and there were still a little left over, just enough to pack in to my daughter’s lunch box. For example, pizza, I always have at least one slice left if we were eating pizza that night. I use cute cookie cutter to make her lunch look a little more FUN!
•  Prepare and/or freeze food. I like to prepare vegetables on Sundays. I buy them from the store, wash and cut them up. Then, I put them in individual boxes (I love Pyrex) and put some in the freezer (if I plan on cooking them) and the rest in the refrigerator (if I plan to serve it as raw veggies). You can also prepare and cook food and freeze them, then use them through the week. Dehydrated food also lasts long in an airtight container. I love making fruit roll ups/leather (you do not have to have food dehydrator to make these, I’ll post some recipes in the future).
• Daily plan or weekly plan your kid’s lunch. My daughter loves it when I let her help me with her weekly plan. Sometimes, if I do have unexpected leftover food, I would tell her, “Okay, Tasha, we have some change of plan!” to make it sounds fun haha!
• Last but not least tip would be to pack their lunch the night before. This method doesn’t work all the time though. When you want to pack warm food, you can’t really pack it the night before. Well, you can but you still have to re-heat it in the morning.

Click on the image to make it larger

This is just an example of a chart you can make, there are more fruit and vegetable ideas than just listed but I ran out of space hehe. 

This is a great example of quick lunch box

Fruit Leather (I prepared on Sunday and use it through the week), Celery (I've cut them up that same Sunday), Oranges, Peanut butter banana rolls, Ham and Corn Bread (Bought at a local bakery)

This is the leftover sample =)

Leftover noodles from last night's dinner, Mandarin Oranges, Blood Oranges, Tic Tac Snack (You can replace this with nuts), Roasted Pee Wee Corn (I bake it for 15-20 min. this morning but you can always bake it the night before)

Well, I hope these tips can help you with your lunch box packing in the future. Please follow my blog and check out my Facebook page! www.facebook.com/mamadelish

Bread Rolls "Sushi" Tutorial

I love making bread rolls or "sushi" bread! I think it makes the lunchbox look so much nicer because of the spiral design it makes. So...here is what you need

1. Bamboo Sushi Rollers (optional)
2. Knive
3. Rolling Pin (Or anything round, you can use your mug, glass, cup, etc.)
4. Bread of course
5. Any spreads (nutella, peanut butter, cream cheese, jelly, etc.)

Instructions:

1. Grab your bread and put it on top of the bamboo sushi rollers. Now, if you do not have the bamboo sushi rollers, what you can do is put it on top of your cutting board. 
2. Cut the crusts
3. Use rolling pin or anything round to flatten the bread
4. Spread your peanut butter or anything you'd like. I used peanut butter, cheese and some chocolate chips this morning.
5. Roll it up with your hand
6. Use the bamboo sushi roller to tighten the roll. *if you do not have the rollers, you can use plastic wrap and wrap the bread tightly with it to tighten it. 
7. Place your rolled bread on top of a cutting board and cut the bread starting on the middle. Then put them together, as pictured, and cut it in half again.

There you go! I hope this post help you make your beautiful "sushi" bread.

Happy Lunch Boxing!!!!

Yes! You Can Prepare Lunch Box For Your Kids! ^^

This post is to convince mothers out there who really want to prepare school lunch for their kids and think that they do not have the time to do it because they are so busy with work that they can do it. I have a part time job, a home based business (photography, face painting, and online boutique), and I am also attending college majoring in Chemistry. If you don’t call that busy, I don’t know what is busy. I have two kids, Tasha, 6 years old and Oz, 2 years old.

I never thought of myself as someone who would pack my kids lunch every day for school. Since the first day of Kindergarten, my daughter wants me to pack her lunch and so this journey begins.

Making lunch does not take a lot of time. I spend only about 15 – 30 minutes in the morning getting those lunches ready. Here’s an example of my morning schedule…

6:20 a.m. – I wake up and brush my teeth

6:30 a.m. – I wake up Tasha and told her to brush her teeth. I then grabbed her clothes and told her to dress up (Sometimes I got her outfits ready the night before)

6:35 a.m. – I would get Tasha’s breakfast ready. (She usually asks for bagel with cream cheese) while I toast her bagel, I get her fruit and veggies ready for her lunch box

6:40 a.m. – Her bagel is done toasting and I put the cream cheese on top or any other topping she wants. Tasha starts eating.

6:42 a.m. – I work on the rest of her lunch.

7:00 a.m. – I am already done with her lunch box. Now, I usually stuff it in the bag and stuff the lunch bag into her book bag.

Now, Tasha is a slow eater, so it took her about 30 minutes for her to finish her breakfast sometimes. We usually leave the door by 7:15 a.m.

See! It didn’t take long! The secret is to multi task. Say, you want to make boiled egg. It takes 10 minutes for it to cook. You have 10 minutes to do something else while waiting for it to boil. I think those are not really a secret right? Us moms are used to multi tasking.

Here are some of my favorite lunch boxes that I’ve packed for her in the past.

 

Left Photo:

• Biofeel (You can find these in Asian grocery stores)
• Oranges
• Cashew
• Pizza
• Alfredo Pasta

Right Photo:

• Trix Cereal
• Corn
• Oranges
• Scramble Eggs

 

Left Photo:

• Oranges
• Celery
• Carrots
• Trix Cereal
• Grapes
• Flintstone Gummies
• Home made spinach noodles with Chicken

Right Photo:

• Veggie Sticks
• Fruit loops
• String Cheese
• Pomegranate 
• Oranges
• Turkey Wraps

 

Left Photo:

• String Cheese
• Fruit Snacks
• Horizon Cheese Sandwich Cookies
• Annie's Cookies 
• Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Grapes

Right Photo:

• Grapes
• Chocolate chip mini muffin
• Waffle chocolate sandwich
• Cocoa Puffs
• BBQ chicken wings (I took it off the bones)

 

Left Photo:

• Lady Apple
• Carrot
• Golden Banana
• Cheese Quesadillas
• Trix Cereal

Right Photo:

• Horizon Cheese Sandwich
• Annie's Cookies
• Chocolate Stuffed Strawberries
• Cashew Nuts
• Boiled Egg
• Nutella Bread Rolls

I hope I have convinced you that YES! you can make your kid's lunch boxes!