Cheap But Excellent Getaway at the La Mesa Eco Park!

Are you looking for a nice pre-back-to-school gimmick with your family? Why not try the La Mesa Eco Park at Quezon City. We have been there a few months back and it was really worth a visit or two if you're looking for a getaway in the city. Not only are you amusing yourselves with a piece of nature, but you are also contributing to the welfare of the La Mesa Watershed!

Posing at the Shell Flower Terraces

The entrance path to La Mesa Eco Park

Resting under the shade of a tree a good picnic

Ella, enjoying a close encounter at the butterfly sanctuary

There are other things to do aside from site seeing like fishing, boating, horse back riding and swimming! Unfortunately, we weren't able to maximize our trip because we were just invited by hubby's parents right after a good night's work. Haha! But Ella had a good time so everything was all worth it!

Visit the website of La Mesa Eco Park for more details and schedule a trip for a cause today!

your every woman,

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Recipe of the Day: Menudo

Ingredients:

1 tsp minced garlic
1 small onion chopped
1/4 kg pork
1/4 kg pork liver
1 medium pack Del Monte Tomato Sauce
1 cup water
4 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 bay leaves
2 big potatoes cut into cubes
1 medium carrot cut into cubes
1 red bell pepper cut into big strips
1/8 kg green peas

1. Saute pork in garlic and onion. Wait until pork is tender, then add pork liver. Stir fry until liver is cooked
2. Add tomato sauce and stir for a while before adding water.
3. Add sugar, soy sauce, salt, pepper and bay leaves and stir before adding potatoes, carrots, bell pepper and green peas
4. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes
5. You may add raisins if you like or add more sugar and/or salt depending on taste. May serve 6.

your every woman,

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Rainy Day Recipe: Tinolang Manok

Hubby requested for something warm for the rainy day. Good thing I actually had tinola in my budget! And although he didn't really appreciate tinola before, he likes it now that we added a twist to it....

Ingredients:

1 whole garlic, minced

1 cup cooking oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1 whole onion, chopped

2 tbsp cooking oil

1/4 cup ginger sliced into big pieces (or again, if you don't appreciate ginger bits, go for 1 tbsp ginger powder)

1 whole chicken cut into serving pieces

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp sugar 

2 tbsp salt

1 whole papaya cut into serving pieces

2 bunches of chili leaves

1 whole garlic, minced

soy sauce and calamansi mix

1. Fry minced garlic in cooking oil until golden brown. Drain and set aside.

2. Saute chicken pieces in onion, garlic and ginger. Add enough water to cover chicken, soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Add chili leaves and papaya. Cook for another 10 minutes or until papaya is cooked.

4. Serve with fried garlic and or toyomansi.

Filipino style chicken soup for the soul indeed!

your every woman,

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Child Immunization Schedule 2008

It's not like the schedule changes every year! It's just that there could be certain illnesses that just got a vaccine for a certain year that medical professionals arrange data annually. Here's a compiled guide on what, when and how vaccines should be taken:

1. HEPA B VACCINE

-hepatitis B vaccine, developed for the prevention of hepatitis B infection which contains one of the viral envelope proteins, hepatitis B surface antigen

-1st dose given at birth or within 6 months after birth

-2nd dose given at around 1-2 months old, or at least 4 weeks after the first dose

-3rd dose given 6 to 18 months old

-intramuscular use

2. BCG

-Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine, a vaccine against tuberculosis that is prepared from a strain of the attenuated (weakened) live bovine uberculosis bacillus, Mycobacterium bovis, that has lost its virulence in humans by being specially cultured in an artificial medium for years.

-given at birth or within the 1st 2 months

-intradermal use

3. PCV-7

-pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, vaccine used to protect infants and young children against disease caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus)

-1st dose given around 6 weeks to 2 months old

-2nd dose given at 4 months old

-3rd dose given at 6 months old

-4th dose given at 12-15 months old

-booster shot given at around 15-18 months old

-intramuscular use

4. DTWP/DTaP/DPT

-vaccine to protects child from diphtheria, tetanus, and whole-cell/acellular pertussis (whooping cough)

-1st dose given at 2 months old

-2nd dose given at 4 months old

-3rd dose given at 6 months old

-booster shot given at 15-18 months old

-another booster given at 4-6 years if age

-intramuscular use

5. OPV/IPV

-oral polio vaccine, consists of an injected dose of inactivated (dead) poliovirus used to combat poliomyelitis (or polio)

-1st dose given at 2 months old

-2nd dose given at 4 months old

-3rd dose given at 6 months old

-booster shot given at 15-18 months old

-another booster given at 4-6 years if age

-oral use

6. ROTAVIRUS VACCINE

-protects children from rotaviruses, which are the leading cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children

-live attenuated rotavirus vaccine containing a rotavirus strain

-monovalent human rotavirus vaccine: 2 dose series, 1st dose given at around 6 weeks and next dose should be given at least 4 weeks, but not later than 24 weeks

-pentavalent human-bovine reassortant rotavirus vaccine: 3 dose series, 1st dose given between 6-12 weeks, subsequent doses should be administered at 4-10 week intervals, final dose should not be administered later than 32 weeks of age

-oral use

7. HiB

-Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine, a conjugate vaccine developed for the prevention of invasive disease caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b bacteria

-1st dose given at 2 months old

-2nd dose given at 4 months old

-3rd dose given at 6 months old

-booster shot given at 15-18 months old

-intramuscular use

8. INFLUENZA

-injection of killed virus developed to prevent flu

-For those receiving it for the first time, two doses at four weeks apart are required. Since the flu virus changes from year to year, an annual vaccination is recommended

-intramuscular use

9. MMR

-a mixture of three live attenuated viruses, administered via injection for immunization against measles, mumps and rubella (also called German measles)

-1st dose given at around 9-12 months old

-2nd dose given at around 4-6 years old

-sub-cutaneous use

10. HEP A

-vaccine that contains inactivated Hepatitis A virus providing active immunity against a future infection

-1st dose given at around 12 months old

-2nd dose given at around 18-24 months old

-intramuscular use

11. VARICELLA VACCINE

-protects against the disease commonly known as chickenpox

-1st dose around 12-15 months old

-2nd dose around 4-6 years of age

-subcutaneous use

12. TYPHOID VACCINE

-vaccine used against typhoid

-1 dose given at 2 years of age

-oral use

13. MENINGOCOCCAL VACCINE

-vaccine used against meningococcal disease

-1 dose given at 2 years of age

-meningococcal polysaccharidde vaccine: subcutaneous or intramuscular use

-meningococcal conjugate vaccine: intramuscular use

Sources:

http://www.philvaccine.org

http://www.babycenter.com.ph

http://www.wikipedia.com

The reason I included whether it's for oral, intradermal, intramuscular or sub-cutaneous is for you to know how each of the vaccines is actually administered. I decided to become frugal and ordered all of Ella's vaccines from the health center nurse at a very low price. It's a good thing my hubby, who is a Nursing student by the way, asked how they should be administered. The nurse answered that it was intramuscular (injected 90 degrees on skin) wherein after reading the label again, he found out it is sub-cutaneous (injected 45 degrees on skin). Please check my sources or your favorite Pediatrician for more information, pros and cons, etc and schedule to complete your child's immunization today.

P.S. Vaccines that are included in the EPI (extended program on immunization) are given free at your local health centers. Other vaccines are very costly so you might want to speak with your local health center nurse to find out if they can arrange to order vaccines for you at around 50% off the regular price of Pediatricians.

your every woman,

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How to Keep Your Meats Fresh

Hi! If you've noticed, I have some recipe's here didn't include marinade in them. That's because I have a different way of shopping for food. Since I am a career woman aside from being a mom and wife, I budget and buy all the meat, fish and poultry I'm gonna need for all my recipes for 2 weeks! So how do I keep them fresh? Here's something I am very thankful to my grandma for showing me when I was young...

1. Have the sales assistants cut your meat, fish and poultry to suit all your recipes for a given period of time.

2. When you get home after your market trip, prepare all ingredients you need to marinate and seal the flavor of your recipe and add them to your meat, fish and poultry before storing in the fridge.

3. Some marinades I use for my cooking:

DAING NA BANGUS
-minced garlic, salt, pepper and vinegar

LIVER STEAK
-soy sauce and calamansi

BAKED/ROAST CHICKEN, CHICKEN OR PORK BARBECUE, CHILI WINGS
-minced garlic, salt, sugar, pepper, tomato paste, orange/calamansi juice/sprite/7-up

FRIED FISH
-minced garlic, salt, pepper

FRIED CHICKEN
-salt, pepper, calamansi

For every recipe, the staple marinading ingredients would be salt and pepper. It's up to you to decide which flavor you'd like to lock in and add them into your marinade. Preparing your meat, fish and poultry this way saves you the time of marinading on the spot.

Happy cooking!

your every woman,

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Recipe of the Day: Home Made Beef Burritos

Hubby just loves this homemade burrito I prepare for him. We formulated this recipe in the attempt to imitate the taste of shawarma and it sort of tasted like one with it's own authentic flavor.

Ingredients:

1 box of Nestle all purpose cream

1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup cold water

1/2 cup vinegar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced1/2 kg beef cut into very small strips

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 cucumbers cut into small pieces

5 tomatoes cut into small pieces

1/2 cabbage cut into strips

3 large white onions chopped

1 packs soft tortillas (pack of 12)

1. Mix all purpose cream, cornstarch solution, vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic in a saucepan. Cook mixture for 5 minutes. Set aside. You can also use plain yoghurt to replace the cream and vinegar but it's a bit pricey.

2. Place beef in pressure cooker with enough water to cover all meat. Add soy sauce, salt and pepper and cook for around 20 minutes. 

*If you don't have pressure cooker like me, boil the beef and cook it on low fire for 2 hours. Drain beef and keep broth for future purposes.

3. Saute beef in garlic. Add soy sauce.

4. Place about 1/2 cup of beef in the middle of a tortilla chip. Add a helping of each kind of vegetable then pour cream sauce over the mixture. Roll tortilla and serve.

5. May be served with cheese and/or hot sauce. Makes 24 servings.

Love it! Try this one out soon!

your every woman,

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Some Parenting Hand Me Downs...Busted!

Sure we learned a LOT from the people who raised us. We're just so fortunate that we have the more advanced studies now than what they had before. Here are some beliefs I heard from my folks when I was a kid:

1. SWEAT THE FEVER OUT. While sweating is our bodies way of releasing heat from fever, our body will do it on it's own especially if we already drank fever meds. So there's no need to be wrapped in blankies unless child is feeling cold. However, take care not to soak child in sweat inside those cloth layers or you might run the risk for pneumonia!

2. LET WOUNDS AIR DRY FOR FASTER HEALING. Dry wounds might look like it's healed, but only on the outside. And even though it's okay, it's not advisable if you want to grow a little miss Philippines out of your daughter.Recent studies prove that scar tissue is more likely to develop under the scab of dry wounds. So if it's a big wound, you might want to smother it with balm or ointment after cleansing and dress it with bandage to prevent scab from forming.

3. WE'LL TAKE CARE OF TEETH WHEN IT'S PERMANENT. Right? Wrong! It's crucial to keep milk teeth in place for as long as they need to because they'd serve as framework for when the permanent teeth comes out. This will prevent uneccessary (...and not to mention, expensive!) orthodontic procedures in the future. Always clean baby's teeth with a soft toothbrush or clean cloth with a pea-sized amount of age appropriate toothpaste at least twice a day.

4. LET BABIES BURN THEMSELVES OUT SO THEY'D SLEEP LONGER AND BETTER. Ha! I am also a victim of this one! It seemed to make so much sense because it applies to us adults right? However, I researched that regarding baby sleep, being well rested in the morning equates to quality sleep at night! Tired babies only get cranky and restless which makes it more difficult to calm them down. By the time they've slept because of fatigue, they're system have not adjusted to the calm state yet resulting to a shallow sleep experience. My daughter has 2 naps squeezed on her daily routine which may stretch from 1-3 hours and she sleeps a whole 10-12 hours at night!

5. TRIMMING THE ENDS OF BABY's EYELASHES WOULD RESULT TO LONGER THICKER LASHES. I don't have an accurate say about this because even though researchers scientifically reject the idea, I encounter more real-life testimonies to it's accuracy. I even did it on Ella and my brother did it on his daughter and they get compliments everywhere for their lashes (...as obviously compared to mine!). I can't imagine not doing it just to find out if Ella had them naturally. But according to dermatologists, lashes grow based on one's genetic make-up. So if you cut it, it will just grow back to how long and thick it should've originally been. Well, come to think of it...I could use that study to defend the nature of my daughter's gorgeous eyelashes!

6. MANSANILLA A DAY KEEPS THE GAS PAINS AWAY. The only truth about this age-old remedy is that, like any other oil or liniment, the chamomile-citronella (more commonly known as mansanilla) oil's effect on gas pains is caused by it's ability to retain heat. Added by the nature of chamomile extract that calms the mind, this should still give relief to some extent. We have to be careful in applying them on sensitive skin though. Still, taking the effort to burp baby after meals really does the trick.

7. SEXY LADY WORE BIGKIS DURING INFANCY. Did this idea come from the same people who created the waist trimmer? Hehehe! Anyway, I'm sure we all can see why this is not true. Another myth about this is that it should also prevent gas pains. Our pedia actually rejected this idea because this might do more harm than good. If the cloth is too tight, it might impede baby's internal organs to function properly.

8. MOIST COTTON ON FOREHEAD STOPS THE HICCUPS. I wanted to give this the benefit of the doubt by thinking that it might be the sudden change baby feels when this is applied. But then again looking at how hiccups come about:

"Hiccups are bursts of inspiratory (breathing in) activity. The muscles we use when we take in a breath are the intercostal muscles situated between the ribs, and the diaphragm - a sheet of muscle below the lungs. " -www.medicalnewstoday.com

...nah! I might give in to the "surprise myth" over this one.

How about you...have you ever found out something from your parents you didn't think was useful? Share them here!(note: this is a repost from my sunmom blog)

your every woman,

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Recipe of the Day: Mung Bean Sprouts and Tofu

In Filipino, Toge and Tofu. I don't know if you share the same palate with me, but I really love the tangy taste toge leaves every dish. And for a measly additional to your meat, this adds about 2-3 servings more to your viand! Try this one out...

Ingredients:
4 blocks of tofu
1 cup cooking oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 whole onion, chopped
1 whole tomato, chopped
1/4 kg pork
1 pack mung bean sprouts or toge
4 cups water
4 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp sugar
salt (amount depends on taste)

1.Cut the tofu blocks into small squares. Fry in cooking oil until golden brown. Set aside.
2.Saute pork in garlic, onion and tomato until cooked. Add sprouts/toge and stir for 3 minutes.
3.Add water, soy sauce, white pepper, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil.
4.Add fried tofu and simmer for 5 minutes.
...a good protein source for everyone in the family!


your every woman,

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