I don't think there has ever been a baby who smiles and laughs more than Seth .
Just two months prior , Sir Button Eyes and his " I'm So Cute" smile!
The Silent Closed Mouth Smile:)
Niki
Thursday, 20 November 2014
Miles of Seth Smiles
I haven't written in about a week! Been super busy with my son. He is teething so I have a very grumpy one year old in the house. He does smile of course if I scrunch up my face and make funny sounds.
I don't think there has ever been a baby who smiles and laughs more than Seth .
Seth's First Birthday cake... it has a monkey and two Minions! How cute is that! and yummy too! Pandan layer cake yummy!
Love Always
Niki
I don't think there has ever been a baby who smiles and laughs more than Seth .
Niki
Thursday, 6 November 2014
One Minute Microwave Mug-O-Quiche
I guess this could be considered an interesting Single meal day because for lunch I decided to whip up two of my favourite quickie meals
ONE MINUTE MICROWAVE QUICHE
I felt like eating a quiche but too lazy to go make one in the oven. So a Mug-O-Quiche with the Microwave would just have to do!
What you need:
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon milk
1 egg
1/4 cup of toasted bread crusts torn into small pieces
pinch of salt/pepper and some dried herbs like oregano
4 cherry/grape tomatoes
1/4 cup of shredded cheese
What you need to do:
1. Put the butter in a large tall mug ( the taller the better because the mixture is going to expand in the mug and if your mug is too shallow you will get egg mix all over your microwave. A clever way to avoid that would be to cover the mug with glad wrap and poke holes in the top with a fork before nuking it in the microwave) Melt the butter on HIGH for 20 seconds.
2. Layer the bread ,tomatoes and shredded cheese layer by layer making sure the bread soaks up all that melted butter.
3. In a small bowl BEAT the egg until well mixed, POUR in the milk and herbs and MIX again before pouring it into the mug.
4. Place mug in the middle of the microwave. Cook on HIGH for 1-1 1/2 minutes.
Voila ! Enjoy your One Minute Mug-a-Quiche
For other variations you can add almost ANYTHING pre-cooked to the mix like leftover meatloaf or canned tuna! Experiment , but make sure you PRE-COOK all ingredients. One minute doesn't cook anything but the eggs in this recipe!
And to cool it off I made my
FROZEN APPLE GRANITA
You will need:
1-2 Apples ( I used sweet red apples which my mom keeps in the fridge so they are always cold. You can use just about any kind of chilled fruit) REMOVE the core and stem but keep the skin.
Handful of ice cubes
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar (or any type of sweetener or none if you are on a diet. Fruit can be sweet enough sometimes)
1. In a blender , place 1/4 cup of hot water, the ice cubes and the sugar and fruit and a pinch of salt if you wish.
2. Blend it up nice and smooth!
3. Enjoy with your Mug-o-Quiche
Well that was a lovely lunch ! Why don't you give it a try now!
Love Alwiz
Niki
ONE MINUTE MICROWAVE QUICHE
I felt like eating a quiche but too lazy to go make one in the oven. So a Mug-O-Quiche with the Microwave would just have to do!
What you need:
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon milk
1 egg
1/4 cup of toasted bread crusts torn into small pieces
pinch of salt/pepper and some dried herbs like oregano
4 cherry/grape tomatoes
1/4 cup of shredded cheese
What you need to do:
1. Put the butter in a large tall mug ( the taller the better because the mixture is going to expand in the mug and if your mug is too shallow you will get egg mix all over your microwave. A clever way to avoid that would be to cover the mug with glad wrap and poke holes in the top with a fork before nuking it in the microwave) Melt the butter on HIGH for 20 seconds.
2. Layer the bread ,tomatoes and shredded cheese layer by layer making sure the bread soaks up all that melted butter.
3. In a small bowl BEAT the egg until well mixed, POUR in the milk and herbs and MIX again before pouring it into the mug.
4. Place mug in the middle of the microwave. Cook on HIGH for 1-1 1/2 minutes.
Voila ! Enjoy your One Minute Mug-a-Quiche
For other variations you can add almost ANYTHING pre-cooked to the mix like leftover meatloaf or canned tuna! Experiment , but make sure you PRE-COOK all ingredients. One minute doesn't cook anything but the eggs in this recipe!
And to cool it off I made my
FROZEN APPLE GRANITA
You will need:
1-2 Apples ( I used sweet red apples which my mom keeps in the fridge so they are always cold. You can use just about any kind of chilled fruit) REMOVE the core and stem but keep the skin.
Handful of ice cubes
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar (or any type of sweetener or none if you are on a diet. Fruit can be sweet enough sometimes)
1. In a blender , place 1/4 cup of hot water, the ice cubes and the sugar and fruit and a pinch of salt if you wish.
2. Blend it up nice and smooth!
3. Enjoy with your Mug-o-Quiche
Well that was a lovely lunch ! Why don't you give it a try now!
Love Alwiz
Niki
Toaster Oven Baked Peanut Butter Cookie for ONE
You know the feeling... the sudden CRAVING for something SWEET!
Just an hour ago I had this intense craving for a PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE. I have a collection of recipes for single serving foods which includes a great Toaster Oven Peanut Butter Cookie for ONE.
Here's what you need:
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour (or cake flour if you want a finer texture)
2 Tablespoons chunky peanut butter ( put on high for 20 seconds in the microwave if you had your PB in the fridge)
a pinch of baking powder
a pinch of salt ( add more if you like that sweet and salty taste )
1 Tablespoon Maple syrup
1/2 Tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/2 Tablespoon light brown sugar
3 drops vanilla essence
optional - add some chocolate or butterscotch chips/morsels or raisins if you feel like it
How to make it:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a mug or small bowl until you get a nice cookie dough ball going.
2. Line the toaster oven with a piece of greaseproof baking paper.
3. Place the dough ball in the centre and flatten it until you get a nice big shape going. Round , square , triangular... the cookie will taste just as fantastic.
4. Bake in the toaster oven until it's a golden brown. I left mine in for a bit too long so it got a bit too dark in the middle! ( refer to picture of half eaten cookie above)
5. Take it out of the toaster oven and let it cool on a cooling rack ( the metal type with vents to let air circulate all around. Don't let it cool on a plate because that will give you a soggy cookie!)
6. Grab a good book and curl up with your huge soft PB cookie fresh from the oven. YUM!
Love Alwiz
Niki
Clean Inside Toys
I don't know why but I decided to unscrew the activity table usually stuck to the front of my son's LITTLE BEAN walker.
Wow was I shocked!
So dirty! It was scary! I sprayed Baby Organix 100% natural non toxic nursery cleaner all over it and then doused it with my handheld shower and lukewarm water.
Yes I had to dismantle the whole thing first by removing ten little screws from the inside, but it was worth the trouble because bacteria can collect and contaminate the whole toy. I was really disturbed because Seth likes to explore EVERYTHING by licking and using his mouth which again really really disturbed me.
I am going to go dismantle and sterilize all his other toys now.
Daily wiping of surfaces is good but I will remember to wash them inside out at least once a week now.
Love Alwiz
Niki
Wow was I shocked!
So dirty! It was scary! I sprayed Baby Organix 100% natural non toxic nursery cleaner all over it and then doused it with my handheld shower and lukewarm water.
Yes I had to dismantle the whole thing first by removing ten little screws from the inside, but it was worth the trouble because bacteria can collect and contaminate the whole toy. I was really disturbed because Seth likes to explore EVERYTHING by licking and using his mouth which again really really disturbed me.
I am going to go dismantle and sterilize all his other toys now.
Daily wiping of surfaces is good but I will remember to wash them inside out at least once a week now.
Love Alwiz
Niki
Whipping Egg Whites by Hand
It's not that weird ... is it? That I wish to dedicate an entire post to the whipping of egg whites?
Well I personally wanted to know how for a couple of reasons ( all of which are quite valid!)
1. My electric mixer is missing the whisk/beater attachments! ( I have NO IDEA where they are!)
2. Old School whipping... thought it might be an interesting google search.
3. I want to bake Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes which require egg whites and granulated sugar beaten ( with an electric mixer) until you get soft peaks. Anybody with good hokkaido recipes, kindly send the recipes to me at nikispaonline@gmail.com
Well an hour of googling and You Tube-ing later I discovered several videos and articles with loads of cool tips and techniques to achieve required firm soft peaks using elbow grease and a good balloon whisk.
Here are the tips I experimented with :
1. Use a CLEAN copper or metal bowl.
2. DO NOT use a Plastic bowl ( plastic has chemicals in it which mimic fat or grease which is a BIG NO NO if you want your egg whites to stand up in peaks)
3. I didn't have any lemons handy so I used some bottled cooking LIME JUICE my mom had in the fridge. Soak a paper towel in the lime juice and wipe down the inside of the bowl and the metal whisk. ( If you don't have lime or lemon juice you can try a pinch of cream of tartar in the egg white. It has properties which help stabilize the egg without adding water to the mix)
Okay just 3 very simple rules above... cool right?
One really great tip to remember though is that you basically need to ADD AIR to your egg whites and make sure you have NO grease in the mix or egg yolk because that would RUIN your mix and you might be whipping those egg whites for way longer than you planned!
Okay so start whipping the egg white and by WHIPPING I do mean you need to BEAT that egg white like you MEAN to HURT it!
I am so not kidding here. HURT IT!
Make sure your beating action is accomplished only with repetitive and FIRM flicks using only your wrist and not your whole arm.
Don't whip it so hard that you get egg all over yourself!
Just remember, you need to almost slice through the egg white with the metal balloon whisk DOWNWARD and then follow through with an UPWARD action. Imagine you are drawing some angry abstract art with a down and UP stroke ! or drying a face cloth by flicking it ... well yeah I hope you get the picture!
With this technique, I managed to turn the bowl upside down and not have anything fall out with just under one minute of furious whipping!
Follow my tips and you should get the same result! If not write me and I might be able to help give you some pointers!
Good Luck and Happy Whipping!
Love Always
Niki
Well I personally wanted to know how for a couple of reasons ( all of which are quite valid!)
1. My electric mixer is missing the whisk/beater attachments! ( I have NO IDEA where they are!)
2. Old School whipping... thought it might be an interesting google search.
3. I want to bake Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes which require egg whites and granulated sugar beaten ( with an electric mixer) until you get soft peaks. Anybody with good hokkaido recipes, kindly send the recipes to me at nikispaonline@gmail.com
Well an hour of googling and You Tube-ing later I discovered several videos and articles with loads of cool tips and techniques to achieve required firm soft peaks using elbow grease and a good balloon whisk.
Here are the tips I experimented with :
1. Use a CLEAN copper or metal bowl.
2. DO NOT use a Plastic bowl ( plastic has chemicals in it which mimic fat or grease which is a BIG NO NO if you want your egg whites to stand up in peaks)
3. I didn't have any lemons handy so I used some bottled cooking LIME JUICE my mom had in the fridge. Soak a paper towel in the lime juice and wipe down the inside of the bowl and the metal whisk. ( If you don't have lime or lemon juice you can try a pinch of cream of tartar in the egg white. It has properties which help stabilize the egg without adding water to the mix)
Okay just 3 very simple rules above... cool right?
One really great tip to remember though is that you basically need to ADD AIR to your egg whites and make sure you have NO grease in the mix or egg yolk because that would RUIN your mix and you might be whipping those egg whites for way longer than you planned!
Okay so start whipping the egg white and by WHIPPING I do mean you need to BEAT that egg white like you MEAN to HURT it!
I am so not kidding here. HURT IT!
Make sure your beating action is accomplished only with repetitive and FIRM flicks using only your wrist and not your whole arm.
Don't whip it so hard that you get egg all over yourself!
Just remember, you need to almost slice through the egg white with the metal balloon whisk DOWNWARD and then follow through with an UPWARD action. Imagine you are drawing some angry abstract art with a down and UP stroke ! or drying a face cloth by flicking it ... well yeah I hope you get the picture!
With this technique, I managed to turn the bowl upside down and not have anything fall out with just under one minute of furious whipping!
Follow my tips and you should get the same result! If not write me and I might be able to help give you some pointers!
Good Luck and Happy Whipping!
Love Always
Niki
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Seth's First Year
The 12th of November is JUST AROUND THE CORNER and my baby boy is turning ONE!
I am so happy I'm about to explode! ONE WHOLE YEAR and coming from me, the girl/woman whose pet cactus couldn't make it past one month! This may be one of my life's biggest achievements!
That's pretty pathetic... oh well ! I am still ecstatic!
I should have posted more videos and taken more photos, but trust me, being a single mother is not as easy as my mom made it out to be. I think that the only single mother who can make all that mothering look easy is my own lovely Mother who is now of course Super Granny! ( why am I not surprised?)
Well I'm really not too sure what's going to go on this blog but I hope it will be full of my little projects and recipes I discover as I embark on this journey with my beautiful son Seth!
Welcome one and all to my blog, THE SETH FILES!
A TO Z ON my own personal experiences daily as a single Mom!
Love Alwiz,
Niki
BABY SETH TURNS 1 !
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