I'm a full-time mummy

I first saw a picture of this cute doggy cookies on my SAHM group network on FB and decided to give this a try after getting the recipe. It was such a coincidence as well because I asked my almost 4 years old boy what animals he like and he said 'Dog!' There's a slight variation to the original recipe as I added blended Cornflakes to my dough to give it a crunchy feel. So here it goes:

PREPARATION TIME: ABOUT AN HOUR

Ingredients / Tool Required:

What to Do?

* Sift flour and sugar. Add Cornflakes and chopped soft butter. Rub in with fingers until they resemble bread crumbs.
* Add 1/2 tablespoon of very cold water and vanilla essence and knead lightly. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
* Take a tablespoon of the dough, put in about 2-3 pieces of chocolate chips in the dough and wrap them into a ball. Decorate the dough with 2 pieces of Koko Krunch cereal as the doggy's ears and put 1 chocolate chip as the doggy's nose. I also put some chocolate rice as the doggy's eyes.

BAKING PROCESS

So there you go.... my DOGGIES COOKIES recipe!

To view my other recipes, feel free to hop over to my Recipe Library page for more info!

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You know what's nice to belong in an awesome mummy group that helps each other and share their recipes? I am so happy to learn this recipe from the mummies in this SAHM group I joined in and decided to give this a try.

Now what you do is:

- Buy ikan bilis (aka anchovy) preferably those that are already cleaned and without heads and tail.

- Wash the ikan bilis to remove the excess salt and domoic acid (this is what I read from other website)

- Drain the ikan bilis and arrange them as a flat layer on a baking tray.

- Bake at 170C for about 10 – 15 minutes.

- Blend them into powder form.

- Store in airtight container and it's ready to use when you cook!

Btw, just to share my initial reactions when I tried the ikan bilis powder (I made noodle soup) - it had some burnt after taste and upon finishing my bowl of noodle, I found the remnants of the ikan bilis powder at the bottom of my bowl. After checking with the mummies in my SAHM group, I was informed these observations are normal.

Burnt after taste might be due to over baking - so I need to either reduce the temperature or cut down the baking time. As for the remnants (also known as 'jah' in Cantonese) this are perfectly normal as the ikan bilis powder is not water soluble so it is alright to have remnants left. And now I ponder why the ikan bilis stock powder that we bought from the supermarket is easily dissolve in water... hmmmm...

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you give this a try too!

I am very excited to be sharing this book with you guys! I mean, how often do you come across a book that helps you build your child's self-esteem through activities like reading, crafts and cooking? I particularly like that this book is recommended for the age 2 to 5 range and I immediately poured over the book looking for activities I can do with my 3.5 years old boy! Anyway, read on for my review below:

Title: Show Me How! Build Your Child's Self-Esteem Through Reading, Crafting and Cooking (Positive Parental Participation)
Author: Vivian Kirkfield
Publisher: MoneyPenny Press, Ltd.; 1ST edition (2010)
ISBN-13/-10:  978-0967014753 / 0967014751
Paperback:  256 pages
Dimension: 9.9 x 8 x 0.8 inches

Description from the product page:
"A must-have resource for busy parents and teachers, Show Me How! pinpoints 100 picture books every young child should hear and provides a story summary, gentle parenting tip, easy eco-friendly craft project and simple child-friendly healthful recipe for each recommended title. The fun-filled educational activities help parents gain confidence in their own parenting skills while building self-esteem, developing pre-literacy skills and strengthening the parent-child connection. Lined spaces on every other page allow parents to utilize this guide as a memory book to record their children's highlights. Library Journal loved the tri-level format of reading, crafting and cooking and so will every parent and teacher who uses this award-winning book. "

This book comes packed with stories you can use or refer to with your child and there are points and notes given on how the stories can be used to nurture your child's self-esteem, moral values and build up their confidence. On the opposite side of the page there are accompanying crafts and recipes you can try out with your child as well.

The following day after I started reading this book, I came across a recipe for German butter cookies shared by a fellow SAHM friend in a SAHM Facebook group I joined in and decided to try this out with my boy. I got him to help me out with the mixing sugar and butter part and then gently coached him to make soft indent on the cookie dough so that there are stripes on each cookies surface. He was so excited to be able to take part in the cookie making session!

Ever since we did the German butter cookie session, I have been looking for more child-friendly recipes that I can try out with my boy so that I can get him to help (boost his confidence as well that he is big boy enough to help mummy out in the kitchen!) so I'm very happy to share that there are tons of child-friendly recipes that you can try in this book!

I do however would like to recommend that future revision or updates on this book to include pictures or illustrations of the end results of the crafts and recipes so that we can have a better idea on how they look like.

Overall, this is a wonderful book packed with stories, crafts and recipes that will definitely help you and your child as you journey along in building their confidence, self-esteem and at the same time guiding us as the parents on how to nurture our child to be an independent individual.

Highly recommended, do get a copy of this book for yourself too!!

You can get this book from Amazon.

Yes! I'll be giving away 2 copies of this book on my blog!

Now, 1 copy which I have been given along with my review copy will go to a lucky winner in Peninsular Malaysia while another copy which the author will send personally will go to a lucky US winner!

OK then, just read below for the giveaway terms and entry form, OK?

To enter the giveaway, kindly read and follow the instructions as stated in the Rafflecopter form below.

• You can enter either via login through your Facebook account or just key in your name and your valid email address.
  
• Please also leave your valid email address in the post comment so that I can contact you if you win this giveaway.
• You have 1 month time from now to join in the fun and try your luck!

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I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a copy of the book in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"