There was a period of time my kids loved to eat jelly from those tiny jelly cups. And since we managed to find a very tasty and fruity jelly (a Japanese brand) from the supermarket, we had quite a few of those for sweet treats back then.
Then one day, I thought, hey, those jelly cups look like they could be recycled and used for something. But of course, I didn’t know what at that point in time. I was sure something would come to my mind.
And so I kept them. *hoarder alert*
Apart from my little boy trying to use them as tiny cups to drink water and my girl using them as ice-cream cups for pretend play, eventually I thought up of two activities which we could do with these recycled jelly cups!
(1) Sight word tic-tac-toe
I wrote sights words on little pieces of paper and stuffed them into the jelly cups (write a sight word on each side so you save paper and you can rotate words better) and provided coloured beads. You can use any sort of counters for this, as long as you have two sets to distinguish between the two players for the tic-tac-toe. To place her bead in that jelly cup, she’d have to read the sight word first – and that’s basically how the game is played. Simple and straightforward.
(2) Sudoku (3×3 or 4×4)
I introduced and got my girl addicted to Sudoku with this.
I provided her with coloured beads and added a few beads in to start the game and she had to figure out where to place the rest of the beads to solve the puzzle.
So if you happen to eat any jelly from jelly cups, you know what to do with them! 🙂
Note: These would only work with jelly cups with a flat base.
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Being greedy is one of my trademarks. In fact I was so greedy that when I was thirteen, a male classmate remarked that the man who marries me will forever be a pauper because he has to feed my appetite. About twenty years down the road, I’d say, luckily I married a man as greedy as myself as he enjoys food as much as I do. We are however as foretold, not very rich because we have to feed two huge appetites, and now with two more little ones, that makes four greedy ones. So how do I try to cut down on spending lots on food? Here’s my secret. I cook, I experiment, I try to make my versions of food that we like.
Recently, we were blessed to have a new addition to the kitchen – a Philips Jamie Oliver blender.
As the weather recently has been sweltering hot, I decided that I will embark on making desserts with my new blender first and introduce you to other dishes you can make with the blender in a later post. Anyway, desserts have a separate compartment in my body and there’s always room for one so it’s only right that I start with desserts!
If you’re following me on instagram or my Facebook page, you’d have had a preview of what I’ve made with my blender. So far, we’ve made
(i) tofu ice-cream parfait,
Need a healthy dessert to satisfy the craving? Give this a try! (Recipe below)
(ii) green bean ice lollies,
Green bean soup is my daughter’s favourite dessert soup so I gave it a twist by making it into an ice-lolly by blending green bean soup and swirling in some coconut milk!
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(iii) mango sorbet
Caution. You will need to continue stock up on mangoes after you have tasted this and you will never ever spend money buying sorbet again.
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and (iv) honeydew sago
My all-time favourite Chinese dessert!
Did you know that you can make ice-cream without any heavy or whipping cream or an ice-cream machine? Now with just a blender and the right ingredients we can have a healthy ice-cream alternative without the fats and the guilt! Here’s the recipe that you’ve been waiting for – the tofu ice-cream parfait (the other recipes will be posted separately in subsequent posts):
An easy tofu ice-cream parfait - no need for an ice-cream maker or heavy cream!
Ingredients
Tofu ice-cream:
1 block of silken tofu
½-1 tsp vanilla extract
½ ripe banana (or less banana if you don't like the banana taste to be overwhelming)
2-3 tablespoons golden syrup (depending on preferred sweetness)
3 tablespoons almond powder (optional)
Assembling the parfait:
1-2 golden kiwis (or other preferred fruit like strawberries or peaches), sliced thinly
2 cherries (for garnishing)
sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
Place all the ingredients for making the tofu ice-cream into the blender, adding only one tablespoon of the syrup first. Blend.
Add the next tablespoon of the syrup and blend again. Do a taste test. If it's sweet enough, omit the next step.
Add the last tablespoon of syrup if needed and blend again, making sure that the mixture is very smooth.
Transfer to a shallow pan or mould (doesn't really matter, as long as it's freezer-safe).
Cover with cling wrap and freeze overnight or at least 8 hours.
Remove the frozen tofu mix from the mould and cut into smaller blocks.
Place the frozen pieces into the blender and whiz till it's of ice-cream consistency. You may want to split the amount into two and blend twice instead to make it easier to blend.
Transfer into a serving cup, level one layer, add the sliced fruit then top with another layer of tofu ice-cream, add another layer of fruit and scoop one scoop of ice-cream on top of the fruit, top with sprinkles (optional) and cherry.
Notes
1. Preparation time excludes time needed to freeze the tofu ice-cream. 2. Cooking time refers to time taken to blend the mixture.
3.2.1753
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With the high-quality glass jar, its especially convenient if you need to blend ice or frozen items. I found that extremely convenient especially when I was overly-anxious to taste the honeydew sago and so instead of waiting for it to chill for a few hours in the fridge, I added in ice to chill it immediately (add more sugar syrup to taste of course). For blending the frozen tofu ice-cream, I used the higher speed (there are two speeds and a pulse setting) as it was really rock hard but in no time at all, the rock hard pieces became a creamy ice-cream consistency. Now, I’ve had a blender previously and even though it came with a glass jar as well, I’ve found the Philips Jamie Oliver blender to be much faster and more efficient in getting the job done.
Just the other day when I made mango sorbet, hubby asked if I was going to take long. I had just put in the mango into the blender and before he finished his sentence, the mango went from this:
to this:
In just a matter of seconds (I mean, how long does it take to say, ‘Will you take long dear?’, right?), it was all done! You’d have to agree with me that its speed is unparalleled, thanks to its long-lasting ultra-sharp titanium-coated 5-star blades and its powerful motor. And seriously, if I were to use my previous blender to make the tofu ice-cream parfait, it would have taken much longer. The blades and the motor do make a great difference – you’d have to try it to experience the difference!
Keep life simple with the PHILIPS | Jamie Oliver range which includes a food processor (S$268), handblender (S$128) and blender (S$108). Available at leading electronics and departmental stores.
Disclosure: This is an advertorial and is part of my ongoing conversations with Philips. All opinions expressed are 100% mine.
Hi! I'm Angie and I'm thrilled to have you here! More than just a place where I share my parenting thoughts, recipes and home-learning activities, my blog has enabled me to embark on a remarkable journey of self-discovery and of the world I thought I knew. Read more about me and happy browsing!
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