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!