Octopus Spaghetti in Homemade Tomato Sauce 自制番茄酱“墨鱼”意大利面

This year, my little boy's birthday party is all about being a captain, as in the captain who sailed the sea. So I have made him a captain hat, a sailor shirt, setup all the party decorations according to the pirate theme and of course, the food arrangement shall follow suit, right?

So, instead of the conventional spaghetti bolognese or standard presentation, I made these Little Octopus Pasta, to complement the party theme. These little pastas were a big hit in the party due to its amusing presentation,  everyone from little ones to adult were keen to give it a try. With the homemade tomato sauce, this is definitely a child friendly dish. I gave some pasta to my 1 year old baby too, just minus the sausages.

Little Octopus Pasta

If you have a picky eater at home or planning to host a children party, do give this a try. :)

Thin Crust Sausage Pizza 创意脆皮披萨

*Updated*

Pizza, I think of it as an open-platform. It provides a simple base so versatile that it can easily "integrate" with nearly all ingredient, from meat to veggie to seafood. (pardon if I sound geeky :))

My personal favorite is thin crust pizza, with loads of toppings and melted mozzarella cheese... The thought of it already makes my tummy grumbling. Ethan loves helping me to spread the pizza toppings & the cheese, he does mess up a little (with bits of cheese or olives on the floor) but we certainly have fun! :)

Preparation Time: 45 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Serving for: 2 Large Pizzas

Hotdog in a Blanket (Cheesy Sausage Wrap)

This is an ideal choice for a yummy quickie for little one and adult alike. We reached home late in the afternoon and was rushing off to the next visit, so I prepared these within 5 minutes, tossed them into the oven, took baby for a quick bath, came down and the hotdogs were warmly wrapped in their yellow cheesy blankets waiting to be bitten. :)

I added some sweet potato purée into the wrap for natural sweetness (I made those for baby snack earlier), taste even better!

My boy was totally hooked when I told him I've prepared him a hotdog wrapped in warm blanket, well, after all this will not go wrong for anyone who likes sausages. :)

Hotdog in A Blanket

On top: sausage wraps in cheddar cheese
On bottom: sausage wraps in cream cheese and sweet potato purée

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serving for: 2 tortillas


Ingredients:
2 pieces of wholemeal tortilla wraps
2 sausages, completely defrost
4-6 spoonfuls of cream cheese
Or 2 slices of cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven at 180C.
2. Lay out the wrap on baking tray, spread with a layer of cream cheese (2-3 spoonful, depends how much cheese you like) or a slice of cheddar cheese, follow by a sausage on the edge of the wrap
3. Roll the sausage with the wrap from the edge towards the other end. Put a tiny bit of cheese near the end of the wrap so the wrap will stick together after baked.
4. Bake in oven (medium rack) for 10 minutes until the tortilla turns crispy and the cheese melts.

Cut half and serve as is. Taste best when served warm.

By the way...
If you do not fancy wholemeal tortilla wraps, look for traditional or other flavors such as potato or garlic. Make sure you store the remaining unused wraps in the fridge with the sealed wrapper, can keep for 3-4 days.

While my boy likes to eat sausages, where possible I will avoid buying ready made sausage buns for him as I do not know what sort of sausages they used. According to a US-based documentary program I watched sometimes back, a lot of sausages in hypermarket contain less than 50% meat, main part of the ingredients are fats, intestines and starch. So whenever possible, I would choose to pay extra for gourmet sausages which has higher ratio of meat to fat ratio.

Pocket of Gold (Cheese Baked Rice) 金宝袋

Ethan likes helping me in the kitchen and I encourage him to assist in handling simple tasks like rolling the dough, beating the eggs, whisking the batter etc. He even has his own miniature rolling pin and apron :) I believe this is first step towards teaching him to understand instructions, better motor control & ultimately, take responsibility in house chores. Besides, it's a good bonding time too.

This is actually a simple fried rice recipe, in order to make it more interesting I thought of using spring roll skin to make a pocket instead, so Ethan can be involved and the presentation shall be pretty nice, like a blossom flower.

The "pockets" turned out well as I imagined them to be and little Ethan loved them, he ate 2 of the pockets all by himself and gave me a star sticker after meal for being a good mommy, followed by a kiss. Haha, now that's instant recognition! :)

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did. If you do not have an oven or missing spring roll skins, just serve the fried rice as is.

Preparation Time: 30 min
Cooking Time: 25 min
Serving for: 10 Pockets

Ingredients:
For the Fried Rice (A):
1 cup cooked rice
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup sweet potatoes, diced
1/2 cup pumpkin, diced
1/2 cup french beans, diced
1/2 cup red capsicum/bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/2 cup raisins
Some fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 6" sausage, sliced
Dash of salt & black pepper
3 table spoons of soya sauce
1 tea spoon of sesame oil

For Wrap:
4 pieces of spring roll skin(薄饼皮), cut according to your cupcake holder size
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (my cheese had turned bad so I used cheddar cheese instead)

Step-by-Step Guides:
1. Preheat oven at 180C/200C (gas/fan).
2. In a frying pan, heat up 2 big spoons of olive oil, fries the garlic till it's lightly brown and fragrance. Add in the carrots, pumpkins, beans, capsicums and sweet potatoes. Stir fry for about 3 minutes.
3. Add sliced sausages into the pan, follow by basil leaves. Season with salt and black pepper. Add a dash of ground pepper if you like.
4. Toss in the white rice, add the soya sauce, sesame oil and mix all ingredient and rice evenly. Cook for another 5 minutes then add the raisins. Turn off the heat and set aside.
5. Cut spring roll skin according to the size of your cupcake tray, form the shape of a pocket. Scoop in the fried rice until 3/4 full, add mozzarella cheese and sprinkles cashew nuts on top.
6. Bake the "pocket" or wraps in the preheat oven for 10-15 minutes until crispy.

The wraps taste best when serve hot. You may scope the rice with a spoon or just bite into it directly. Ethan loved the crispy spring roll skin, he scooped all the rice then ate the crispy skin with some ketchup. Nothing is left after lunch :)

Useful Tips!
1. You can replace any veggies above with your preferred choice, however as seen here I used veggies of different colors for balanced nutrients (same veggies I used for making baby's puree food, I just cut extra :)
2. When cooking fried rice, best to use refrigerated rice instead of freshly cook rice so the rice will not be soggy and all stick together.
3. For vegetarian version, just skip the sausages. It tastes nice nonetheless.
4. For prettier result, brush some egg yolks onto the spring roll skin before putting them into oven, I skipped this step, pure laziness.
5. If using wanton skin (云吞皮) or smaller cupcake holder size, this can be perfect bite-size food for party, just serve along side some ketchup or hot sauce.

I love the vibrant colors. Smelled great too.

The ready fried rice

Scooping in the rice is the easy part, let your little one helps.

Nothing gone to waste, the remaining spring roll skins were used for making rice rolls :)

Egg Sausage Breakfast Roll with Fruits

Both my big guy and Ethan love eating sausages, not being a meat lover myself, I always try to add greens and fruits into the meals for a more healthy serving.

As ready packed sausages selling at the supermarket often contain more fats and intestine, I would prefer to buy gourmet sausage from the specialized store, the ratio of meat to fats / intestine are generally lower. (they are generally available in meat section in most super market, otherwise my favorite is Sanbantou in SS2, it's non-halal store).

Interesting fact: the word sausage is derived fromOld French word saussiche and Latin word solsus, where both means, salted. :)

Preparation Time: 30 min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Serving for: 2 Person
Suitable for: 2 Years+

Ingredients:
4 Gourmet Sausages, room temperature
4 Breakfast Roll (available from any bakery store)
8 salad leaves (lettuce, butterhead)
2 Eggs
2 table spoon of fresh milk (optional)
1 Red Apple, cut to 8 slices
8 Strawberries, cut half

Equipment Required:
1. Frying Pan

Step-by-Step Guides:
1. Slits 3 cuts on both sides of the sausages (about 2" long, this is to prevent the sausage from ballooning up while cooking then shrinks suddenly once it's removed from the pan).
2. Pan fry the sausage until well cook - approximate 3 minutes on each side. Cut the sausage into half.
3. Beat the eggs in a bowl, add the milk, then salt and pepper to taste.
4. Heat up olive oil on the frying pan, pour few spoonful of egg liquid on the frying pan, fold the egg into a rectangular shape using the spatula. Make 4 fried eggs. Set aside.
5. Slits the breakfast roll from the center (do not cut completely), spread with some butter on each side. Spread the salad leaves, follow by sausage and egg.

To serve, squeeze some mayonnaise or ketchup on top. Arrange the apples and strawberries on the side of the plate as deco. With 1 apple slice & 2 strawberries slice you can get a fruity butterfly pattern :)