Easy-Peasy…Japanese-y!

Everytime we want to have something light and relatively healthy, we always go for Japanese food.

However, since Japanese restos are only beginning to be introduced to this kingdom (and with only a handful – the expensive ones – serving really good and authentic Jap dishes), we have to resort to home-cooked Japanese food most of the time.  And since I’m the designated cook at home, I make sure that I prepare mostly simple yet yummy dishes inspired by the Land of the Rising Sun.

Here’s what I came up with during our recent “Japanese Night”…

Maki Variants: Crabstick and cucumber with faux caviar and Spicy Tuna

BTW, I found this link especially helpful when prepping my sushi rice while this one made actually putting the makis together a tad easier.

And I also tried something new… well, not exactly… since I’ve had this years ago when my mom made this for us when they were still based in Nagoya…

Though the chicken dish was not a big hit with the tweens, I’m glad that both hubby and diva-lette liked it. And the maki? Well, they were  ”mercilessly devoured” – as usual – hahaha!

Here’s another shot of the chicken (with its Japanese name this time) up-close…

And finally, for those who may be interested, here’s the easy recipe for the chicken that my mom passed on to me (I think she got it from one of those “authentic” Nihongo cookbooks):

WHAT YOU NEED: 400 grams skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I used 450 g in mine with the same results), 2 tablespoons sake/Japanese rice wine, 1 tablespoon lemon juice

FOR THE SAUCE: 2 tablespoons sake, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon sesame oil

HOW TO: Prick chicken breasts with a fork and season with salt (I used approximately half a tablespoon to season mine).  Put chicken in small bowl and add sake and lemon juice.  Let marinate for 20 minutes (I did mine overnight). Place chicken and marinade in a steamer and steam for 20 minutes. Mix together ingredients for the sauce and boil until sauce thickens somewhat.  Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and serve with the sauce.

Easy-peasy, isn’t it?

Shrimp Scampi Pasta

I’ve been meaning to give this dish a go ever since my sister posted her own version of it  on her site a couple of weeks ago…

However, for one reason or another, I never seem to have all the ingredients on hand!  What to do?

After bloghopping like crazy, I finally found  a similar (and most worthy, if  I may add!) recipe  and combined the “best of both worlds” to make a shrimp scampi dish that is distinctly my own – yipee!

Curious?

Here’s how my long-overdue Shrimp Scampi Pasta looked like…

Paired off with the usual garlic bread – or, in my case, mini cheese mozarella pizzas made from leftover bran bread – it was simply scrumptious!

Many thanks to the Happy Tummy Kitchen for providing the inspiration for this delish dish.

This will definitely have an encore in my kitchen soon!

 

Cheesy Mushroom Chicken

Here’s another one of  ‘em “quickie but yummy” meals that I usually prepare when pressed for time…

What I like about this dish is that it always “hits the spot” for my three hungry gremlins!

 

WHAT YOU NEED: 1/2 kilo skinless, boneless chicken breasts (cubed), 1 large can Cream of Mushroom soup, 1/4 cup (you can use more if you like) sliced button mushrooms, 4 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 head chopped white onion, grated cheddar cheese for garnish, salt and pepper to taste

HOW TO: Saute garlic and onion in oil until onions are transluscent.  Add sliced button mushrooms.  Add cubed chicken breasts.  When chicken is cooked, pour in mushroom soup (prepared per package instructions) to sauteed mixture – I usually add 1/2 (mushroom soup) can water and 1/2 (mushroom soup) can milk to the soup to make it even creamier.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer under low fire until bubbly.  Garnish with grated cheddar cheese on top before serving.

Although we normally eat this with steamed white rice, I discovered that this could also be served on top of your favorite cooked pasta “stroganoff style” – which suits our little girl (aka “resident pasta monster”) very well!  ;)

Easy Creamy Tomato Soup

What could be more welcome on a crisp, chilly day than this?

Warm, chunky and tasty… truly comfy… not to mention, loaded with cancer-busting lycopene too!  And I love mine topped with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and dried basil – yum!

What else could one ask for, right?

For a more generous helping of this, click here.

A relaxing and rejuvenating Sunday to all!

No-Brainer Fried Rice

On days when I find myself nowhere near the zone of inspired and creative cooking, I am glad that the simplest ingredients (mostly leftovers, mind you!) can surprisingly still work wonders.

Case in point – my “no-brainer” fried rice!

Having some leftover rice and chicken luncheon meat on hand as well as some sweet peas in the crisper, I proceeded to “strut my stuff” in my tiny kitchen.

First off, I beat some eggs and scrambled them then cut them into strips.  I then set these aside.  Afterwards, I cubed the remaining luncheon meat and fried them a bit – I again set these aside. 

On to the main event… I sauteed the rice in four cloves of crushed garlic and oil and seasoned to taste.  Finally, I dumped the rest of the ingredients in (peas and luncheon meat) and finished off with a topping of the scrambled egg strips.

This is what I then served to my three hungry “gremlins” for a late lunch when they got home from school.

The verdict? They absolutely loved it!

Just goes to show that simple (and easy!) can still be delicious.

Lunch Time…Crunch Time!

Just when I thought my life would be a tad easier while the kids were at school and hubby was at work…

Alas, I realized that truth could really be stranger (and more hectic!) than fiction – especially the “temporary-freedom-enjoyed-by-mom-while-the-brood’s-away”  kind  – hahaha!

Translation: I had to step up my “diva duties” in the kitchen to make sure that my brood was well-fed (yes, including dear hubby!) even when away from home.  This meant doubling my usual kitchen prep work and churn rate, so to speak, to ensure that packed lunches and snacks were good-to-go before 7 am every weekday.  What’s more, since it would be the first time that diva-lette would be eating away from home without me, I had to also make sure to be creative in presenting her food so she would be enticed to eat it.  

Hmmmm… quite a tall order for a certified “un-morning” person like me! What’s a girl to do?

Answer: Apart from a quick trip to the friendly neighborhood Japanese store for my supplies and  preparing the food the night before (post-dinner and dish duty) and letting it chill in the fridge overnight, I found my much-needed packed-lunch inspiration and ideas from….(drum roll please)

My proclaimed bento gurus – Kitchen Cow and Munchkin Mommy! (Oh, the joys of technology and the internet!)

And though I’m admittedly still a looooong way off  in mastering their “art”, I am nonetheless pleased with what I’ve been able to do for the past two weeks of my ”packed lunch-making” life.   

Allow me to share with you some of my favorite (wannabe) bentos…

For my “honeybunny Papa Bear” …

 

 

Thanks to Kaoko for this wonderful idea! Had to make do with nori strips though since I forgot to buy nori sheets!

For our two “ tween-agers” …

And, finally, for our pre-school princess…

 

Pretty neat, huh? I thought so too More bento lovin’ soon!

Potato Croquettes

My entry for this week’s Lasang Pinoy Sundays (LaPiS) is a childhood favorite.  I remember eating this with gusto as a young girl in my maternal grandmother’s home. 

I didn’t have a hard and fast recipe to follow so I pretty much winged this one out   Pleased to say that my kids loved it too nonetheless! Whaddyaknow? The fruits don’t really fall far from the tree…

Here’s the quick and easy recipe:

WHAT YOU NEED: 3 medium potatoes, 25 g unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cups milk, 4 eggs, salt and pepper to taste, oil for frying

HOW TO:

1. Boil potatoes until tender.  Peel, mash and set aside.
2. Mix butter and milk into mashed potatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a separate bowl, crack eggs and separate whites from yolks.  Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.  Mix in yolks.  Season to taste.
4. Blend in the mashed potato mixture until well coated.  Mold into desired shape(s) – I used a mini cookie cutter to make the mini-hearts you see on the photos.
5. Fry in oil in a skillet until slightly brown.
6. Serve hot and enjoy!

Say “Yeah!” if you love potatoes!  

How “Berry Bad” Can Be “Berry Good”

When I found out the theme for this week, I was excited since I luckily still had a bowl of strawberries in the fridge…

 

What’s more, I came across an interesting strawberry cake recipe at the back of a food label ( the excitement mounts – hahaha!) which I thought was fairly simple to make.

Long story short: I checked the recipe out, prepped all the ingredients, got to work and…

 This “thing” was what emerged – waahh!!!   What was supposed to be a three layered cake turned out flat as a pancake!!! What I thought was simple turned out to be simply disastrous!   (For photo purposes, though, I still decided to “pimp my (pan)cake” somewhat as a “firefighting measure” of sorts… *sigh* – aka : to make me feel better!).

What to do? Well, when life hands you lemons a disastrous flop of a cake, make lemonade use of the “good” ingredients and enjoy your strawberries and cream!

A berry good LaPis Sunday to all!

Kiddie Treats

Continuing on from where I left off yesterday (incidentally, this also serves as a 2-in-1 entry of sorts since apart from it being part of my “Greek holiday tales”, it is also my entry for LaPiS this week – talk about “multi-tasking” huh? )…

So there we were, completely stuffed (and happy!) yet still craving for more… After all, no meal is complete without… dessert!

We decided to explore the area around the taverna to satisfy our “sweet teeth” as we were sure we would come up with some “interesting finds”.  After all, we were in the Monastiraki area – where the popular flea market was!

Walking around, we came across these tempting choices…

Too healthy…

Too heavy…

Just right… yum! And it even comes in two flavors – vanilla and chocolate!

Inspite of some “out-of-the-box” finds that day, though, it was funny that during the remaining days of our short holiday, we still had to go back to our all-time favorite dessert…

What’s your flavor? Tell me what’s your flavor… awwww!

Truly a treat for both the kids and the “kids-at-heart”!

A sweet LaPiS Sunday to all!

Greek Food Galore!

For health reasons, I have managed to stay away from eating beef and drinking soda for the longest time…

…until our recent holiday in Greece melted all my will power and resolve (*sigh*)!

It all started with this…

Thought bubble: Still healthy eating here… after all, they’re still veggies! Never mind the generous dabble of olive oil and the humongous slab of Feta cheese…

Which was quickly followed by the “main event”…

Oohlala! If beef always were as tender and tasty as these babies, I might as well throw all caution to the wind!   BTW, souvlaki is “Greece’s signature beef, pork or chicken brochettes marinated in lemon juice and oregano, sizzled on skewers, and folded into a thick bready pita along with crisp veggies and garlicky tzatziki (yogurt dip). Think of this dish as the Hellenic answer to the hamburger.”

And washed down with these…

Been awhile since I’ve seen soda served in bottles like these – perfect complement to our souvlaki meal (*burp!*)

Yes,  I am guilty… but, dare I say, this memorable trip to the highly-recommended Greek taverna Thanassi’s was all worth it!

Now, back to my “regular (food) programming”…  Beef and soda, it was fun while it lasted… thanks for the (foodie)memories – but no thanks for the extra calories! Hahaha!

What? You’re asking what we had for dessert?  Be patient… I’ve reserved an entirely new post for that… very soon!