Lunch Box under 30 minutes, Busy Mom's Survival Guide..

As E entered primary school, he spends long hour in school everyday from 7am to after 3pm (that's a good 8 hours!). After observing and trying out at what the school's cafeteria offers (not the healthiest kind of food choice, unfortunately), I decided to make him healthy lunchboxes so he will be fueled with good food and better nutrition to meet the daily challenges.

Here are the lunchboxes I've been packing for the little siblings for the past weeks. Updated: You may check out lunchbox idea here!

Sandwiches..

Noodles, Pasta & Rices

Being a working mom who reaches home after 8pm daily, making fresh food daily is really quite a challenge (I've no helper at home neither). So I have constantly explored methods or tricks that work for me and make this sustainable in the long run. 

I'm sharing the tricks and tips that allowed me to have those meals prepared within 15-30 minutes. As much as possible I use real food over processed food (one reason why I hardly used sausages or luncheon meat in my cooking), less salt, less sugar and no MSG used.

Note: the lunchbox I prepared are nothing fancy and pretty like most Japanese bento, don't set high expectation :) My priority is to be practical, delicious, nutrition, and must take no more than 30 min! After all E has all grown up now that he doesn't need his "happy meal" to lure him into eating anymore. Lol.

Here's my survival guide.

1. Pre-prepare the meat in single serving size. 

I clean and cut the chicken / meat to cube or slices or minced (when they are fresh from market), keep them into individual pack of 1 serving size each & freeze them in the chiller. The night before cooking, I'll move one packet to refrigerator section, by the next morning I just have to marinate them and use them for cooking right away. They are ideal to be used for making nuggets, making meatball, stir fry or making soup.

2. Multitask. Maximize usage of your utensil. 

When I boil the meatballs / fish balls and vegetables in the wok, I use the heat to steam the white rice that was cooked the previous night. This makes it super fast, and I will just close the lid and get myself changed, the food is ready when I'm done. ;) 

3. Prepare all ingredients the night before. 

After the kids had gone to bed, I'll then wash and cut the veggies, soak to soften the noodles / spaghetti the night before then store them in air tight containers in the fridge. This drastically shorten the cooking time the next morning - generally only takes me 15 min.

These were the BPA container I used to store baby food when they were little, how convenient. :)

4. Sandwich is the fastest when you have absolutely no time.

I have prepared a variety of sandwiches for the duo - Eggs, ham, tuna, cucumber, cheese, grilled chicken breast (leftover), all these can be ready in like 5 minutes. Coupled them with some healthy sides and you have quite a complete and awesome meal!

Some of the sandwiches I've made for the kiddos...

5. Prepare healthy snacks that can be added to lunchbox. 

Cereal bars, mixed nuts, crackers, cookies & fruits that can be served whole (grapes, blueberries, strawberries, banana, cherry tomatoes). All these add some variety of colors & nutrition to the lunchbox.

Somehow my duo have pretty good appetite so having extra snacks allow them to fill the tummies instantly, conveniently instead of eating junks. ;-)

6. Use an Insulated Bag to store all food in one bag, nothing goes missing!

The food container, drink packets, foldable fork & spoon are all kept in the same bag, and the insulated functions allow the food to keep warm and stay spill proof at the same time. You can easily find them from Daiso for RM5.30, or just get one from the departmental stores.

This also takes the weight away from E's already heavy school bag...

Some of the insulated bags I used. Fuel  is one of my favorite brands, especially the foldable forks and spoons, been using them for 5 years and counting. 

7. Use a good flask to keep the food fresh & warm

I have tried putting fried noodles directly into the container and it turned sour by afternoon (effort wasted!), tried some plastic flask too and only keep warm for about an hour or so. Finally I dug out the Thermos  food flask which I used to store baby porridge when they were little. Still good as new!

I rinse the Thermos with hot water before using, then keep the soup / rice / fried noodle/porridge in there, it can keep warm up to noon time (6-8hours) without problem.

* reminder: must train little ones to handle hot liquid with flask with care.

8. Keep small containers for titbits

I used normal BPA free lunchboxes that comes with standard 1 or 2 compartment, so having some small containers allow the flexibility of having the cut fruits, veggie or snacks arranged neatly instead of having everything mixed up. Best of all, these are things I can prepare the night before.

Most of these items are available from Daiso, except the Fuel foldable fork & spoon which we bought during our trip in Australia. You can find this brand in most major departmental stores nowadays. Those silicon cupcake holders are meant for baking but well, find them ideal for storage too.

  

9. Last but not least, plan the weekend grocery list.

I do my grocery shopping once a week, this ensure I have supplies for cooking variety for the kiddos throughout the week and any leftovers are used up for weekends cooking. What I usually have on the list...

Note: I have free supply of fresh herbs from my garden, so I can just toss in some fresh herbs when cooking for natural flavoring.

That's all folks...

Hope this helps all the busy moms or dads or grannies or caretakers out there. There's no secret really, but just need pre-planning and determination to provide the kiddos good food. 

However, on days I'm busy or tired I would take a day off from cooking and inform E to purchase food at the school cafeteria. I think it's important to stay flexible and don't be so hard on ourselves. :-)

Thanks for reading. Do feel free to send your questions or suggestions, I shall attempt my best to respond. If you like this post and think it would be useful for your friends, colleagues, family or simply anyone you know, feel free to share it, like my Facebook page   and shout about it ok? ;-)

Note..

Many have concerns if the food can stay warm for such long hours without turning bad, I too had the same concern. So what I've practiced is that for all the new recipe I attempted, I'll cook extra and bring to office in a separate flask, so I know if the food taste and smell alright or not. 

Xoxo,

PH

Double Style Sesame Chicken Nuggets

This is a fast and easy dish that is crunchlicious and suitable for any occasion, be it family dinner, friends gathering or even picnic. The white sesame coating over the nuggets adds a subtle aroma and adds to the crunchiness. 

Why double style? I made a non spicy version (sesame) and a spicy version (sesame + paprika), everyone can just pick their favorites, or have both. ;)

Served the Sesame Chicken Nuggets with 3 different sauces, so there's at least a flavor that suits everyone :- hot Sambal, Sesame sauce and mayonnaise.

I had it served as part of our family's CNY luncheon. The whole big plate was emptied before the lunch was over.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serving for: approximate 40-50 nuggets

Ingredients:

• 800gm chicken fillets, cut into cubes

For Seasoning:

• salt and pepper  

• few drops of sesame oil

• 1 tablespoon of Shao Xin wine (skip if serving for young kids)

For Coating:

• 4 tablespoon of flour + 1 tablespoon of cornflour

• 2 egg whites

• 1/2 cup of white sesame seeds

For Hot version:

• few dash of paprika powder 

 

The Making:

1. Marinate the chicken nuggets with the salt, sesame oil and Shao Xin wine. Set aside for about 30minutes.

2. Coat the chicken nuggets with the following in sequence: 1) mixed flour 2) egg white 3) white sesame seeds. 

For the hot version, add few dash of Paprika powder into the flour and mix well.

3. Heat up few spoonful of cooking oil in a frying pan. Once the oil in heated, using a pair of long chopsticks or thong, slowly place the chicken nuggets into the pan; you may cook few nuggets at the same time, just make sure they do not overlap.

4. Cook each nuggets for about 1 minute on each side or until golden brown. Dish out and put over a piece of kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.

Serve alongside your favorite sauce (tomato ketchup, chili sauce, Sambal chili, mayonnaise, peanut sauce, sesame sauce). Enjoy!

{CNY Special} Prosperous Abalone dish with Mushrooms 鲍螺万象迎新年

It's the 7th day of Chinese New Year, which also coincide with the Valentine's Day. We had a simple family gathering where my siblings and dad came over for a family luncheon. It's potluck style and as the hostess, I decided to make an auspicious dish to celebrate the Lunar new year.   

Managed to cook this dish in under 30 minutes and it's emptied almost immediately when we started dining. 

The topshell was arranged into a rose shape, it was spontaneous but I though their appearance was rather beautiful. *smile* My late mom would approved this if she's around.

The platter of food.. Recipe for the sesame chicken cubes (the center piece) will be shared separately.

Note: I did not serve the abalone nor top shells to my little ones (I prefer serving them unprocessed food), however they enjoyed the broccoli and other dishes to the max.

 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 1 can of abalone in brine 高汤炖鲍鱼一罐*

• 1 can of sliced topshell 鲍鱼汁螺片一罐*

• 300gm of broccoli, cut into florets 西兰花一颗约三百克

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed 蒜头三颗，切细

• 8 King Eryngii Mushroom, roughly shredded 杏鲍菇八颗，捌段

• 100g Enoki mushroom, washed, 金针菇一百克，洗净

*Note: I used the Soon Thye Hang (顺泰行海味） canned abalone and topshell, you can choose other brand or flavor too but their brine sauce is my favorite.

The Making 做法:

1. Blanch the broccoli florets with hot water, drain the excess water and place aside. 用热水把西兰花烫熟，让多余的水流掉，西兰花放一旁待用。

2. Heat up 2 tablespoon of cooking oil in the wok, toss in the garlic and sautée for a minute till turns golden color. 在热锅烧热两汤匙油，加入蒜头炒至金黄色。

3. Add the mushrooms and broccoli, quick fry on high heat for about 2 minutes, add a tablespoon of the abalone sauce to flavor. Scope out and put into the serving dish. 

* you may add some sliced ham too for richer flavor

把杏鲍菇，金针菇加入锅中混入两汤匙的红烧鲍鱼菇汁快炒，再加入烫熟的西兰花大火炒约两分钟即可离锅，放在一个空碟上。

* 也可加入切片火腿添味

4. In the same wok, heat up the abalone with sauce, once the sauce starts to boil (should be around a min) turn off the heat. Arrange the abalone nicely over the broccoli and pour the sauce all over them. Repeat the same for the topshell but only add few spoonful of sauce over the topshell will do. 把罐头鲍鱼连汁倒入锅中，滚后即可熄火（约一分钟左右）把鲍鱼排在西兰花上方，然后把剩余的汁倒入碟中。罐头螺片也如法炮制，但只需要加几汤匙的螺汁在螺片上，不用太多。

That's it, your CNY dish is ready to serve. it's really just that simple! *wink* 

一道”鲍螺万象”轻轻松松上桌啦，趁热吃吧！

祝各位，新年快乐，心想事成！

Easy Japanese Tamago Sushi (Sweetened Egg Rolls)

It's been a while since we last had any Japanese meal at home, I decided to surprise the little ones by making some of their favorite sushi - sweet beancurds, Tamago and teriyaki salmon, serve with a pot of home brewed mint tea - mix of spearmint, peppermint, Indian borage and lemon.

I bought the sweet beancurd from Aeon mall @ RM7.90 for 6 pieces, but for the Tamago, a kind of sweetened Japanese egg rolls, I decided to make it myself as I often find the store made too sweet.

My grill pan is my best companion now. Cook all these with just 1 pan (and rice cooker for the sushi rice), washing is minimal and save me so much time!

Simple Jappy lunch, for the 3 of us.

While I was preparing the tea, E decided to surprise me with his food art. Lol, what a cute old man!

Making of the Tamago sushi is easy...

Preparation: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serving for: approximate 10-12 Tamago sushi 

Ingredients:

Tamago

• 4 eggs

• 1 teaspoon mirin (Japanese vinegar)

• 1 teaspoon soyu (sushi sauce)

• 1 teaspoon sugar (can add more up to 1 tablespoon)

Sushi Rice

• 1 cup Pearl rice (short grain rice)

• 2 cups water

• 1 tablespoon mirin 

The Making:

1. Wash the rice and cook as usual (1 cup rice to 2 cups water). Once done, let the rice rest for about 10 min in the pot then scope out to let cold down.

2. While the rice is cooking, beat the eggs lightly. Add the rest of the ingredients, beat lightly to mix well.

3. Using a square pan (I used my grill pan), pour the egg mixture, slowly fold inward using a spatula until it forms a roll.

4. Let it cook for about a minute, move the egg roll to a clean cutting board and cut into equal slices of about 1" thick each.

5. Mix the mirin into the rice, mix well using a spatula then shape them into rolls of equal size using your palms.

Serve the egg rolls on sushi rolled rice (wrap with some cut seaweed sheet if you have any, I forgot to buy them!) or with sliced cucumbers, prepare some Japanese soya sauce for dipping. That's it, you are done!

Itadakimasu!

Need more idea for sushi? Refer to my previous post here. The kiddos love any kind of sushi as long as they are mommy made.

Psss... This is also ideal to be packed for their school lunch box ;-)

Super Easy Grilled Chicken & Veggie Platter

I bought a new grill pan during our recent visit to Langkawi, it was so much cheaper than the price in town and I could not help but ask myself... why did I not bought this earlier?? It is light, nice to hold, non stick and the food cooks evenly. I should have gotten this loooong ago.

Anyway, I made this Full Platter Grilled Chickens and Veggie for our dinner in just 30 minutes, everyone loved it and the kiddos enjoyed assembling their own burgers - I just served them the buns, grilled chicken fillet and veggie. With the ease of preparing and cleaning, this will definitely be one of our usual meals. ;)

My portion, with a glass of chilled Chardonay.... Heavenly.

The next morning, I made a big breakfast with the leftover ingredients.  

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serving for: 4 persons

Ingredients:

Ingredient A

• 600gm chicken fillet, washed

• 8-10 brown mushrooms, thinly sliced

• 2 clove garlic, roughly sliced

• 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced

• 1 carrot, cut cubes

• some broccoli, cut into bite size 

• some asparagus, use only the spears (stems are too fibrous)

• 4-6 dinner rolls, cut half 

• butter 

• Salt & black pepper 

• olive oil

Ingredient B (Chicken Marinate)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 table spoon teriyaki sauce*

• 1 tablespoon Shao Xin wine

• dash of black pepper 

• 2 pricks of fresh rosemary or dried rosemary leaves (and extra for garnishing)

Note: *you may replace teriyaki sauce with equal amount of soya sauce and a tablespoon of honey.

The Making:

 

1. Rub the chicken fillets with salt and marinate with ingredients B evenly. Set aside in fridge for about 30 minutes before cooking. 

2. Heat up the grill pan, drizzle with some olive oil. Toss in the garlic and follow by the chicken fillet and mushrooms, grill each side for about 2-3 minutes or until it turns golden brown. Drizzle some teriyaki sauce if the fillets are getting too dry. Scoop aside.

3. Toss the broccoli and carrots into the grill pan, let cook for about 2 minutes on each side then add the asparagus and bell peppers, cook for another 1-2 minutes (check to make sure carrots and broccoli are soft enough to your liking). Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and black pepper onto the veggies, shake the grill pan to mix well. Once done, scope the veggies aside.

4. Cut dinner rolls into half, melt a small lump of butter on the grill pan and lightly grill the dinner rolls for about 45 seconds to get the golden crunch.  

Arrange all grilled goodies in a plate, garnish with some Rosemary and serve hot, best to go with a glass of wine or cold juice. 

Enjoy!

Xoxo,

PH

Simplest Mango Mousse (2 Ingredients only!)

This is one of the easiest desserts I have ever made, just require 2 ingredients and it taste great. Besides, the recipe is so easy that you would never forget, just 1 part whipping cream to 1.5 part of mango purée. Almost dummy-proof huh? *laugh*

Ready to make some? Here we go..

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Chilling time: 30-60 minutes

Serving for: 4-6 pax

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whipping / heavy cream

• 1.5 cup mango purée

• additional mango cubes for topping

Note: I used 1 1/2 mango of the above size (as in picture), you may add 1-3 teaspoon of sugar if you like, but since the mango i got is ripe and sweet, I opted to go without extra sugar.

The Making:

1. Cut mango into small cubes, blend on high speed for about 15 seconds until it turns purée.

2. Using a mixer, whisk the whipping cream on high speed until it is stiff (no longer in liquid form, takes about 1 minute of whisking if using machine, probably a lot longer if using hand). Add in the mango purée and whisk to mix well.

3. Pour into a clear container, refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

When serving, add additional mango purée and mango cubes on top the mango mousse, it's simply delicious that even my in law approved it! *wink*

Devil's Chicken Wings

During my little girl's recent birthday party, I made this roast chicken wings which was a big hit. All 24 pieces were grabbed up while the box of KFC was still more than half full. Many of the friends asked for the recipe after the party, so I thought just to make it available to all.

Be warn, you may not be able to stop eating... There's a reason why I named it the Devil's Chicken Wings. ;-)

Preparation Time: 15 minutes 

Marination Time: at least 2 hours

Roasting Time: 45 minutes

Serving: 1 dozen chicken wings

Ingredients:

• 12 pieces chicken wings, chop half

• 2 teaspoon salt

• a dash of pepper 

• 2 tablespoon soya sauce

• 2 teaspoon brown sugar  

• 1 tablespoon Shao Xin wine

• a dash of paprika powder (optional if you prefer non spicy)

• 1 teaspoon Italian spice** 

• 1 tablespoon dark soya sauce

• few drops of sesame oil

* all measurement above are in estimate (agak-agak), as I was adding them by instinct without using a measurement spoon.  

** if you do not have the Italian spices, just add mixture of basil, rosemary and oregano leaves.

The Making:

1. Wash the chicken wings and rub them all over with salt. Season the wings with all the ingredient except the dark soya sauce, sesame oil & brown sugar. Keep refrigerated for at least 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 180°c, cover the roasting tray with a piece of aluminum foil and spray / brush some cooking oil over it to avoid sticking.

3. Remove chicken wings from fridge, add the brown sugar, sesame oil and dark soya sauce, mix well.

4. Place all chicken pieces on the tray and avoid overlapping. Roast in middle tray for 30 minutes, remove from oven and turn the wings to the other side; roast for another 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Voila! Your mouth watering chicken wings are ready.. Just let cold and serve them right away. 

I reserved the drummets for the little ones so they can enjoy more meat instead of skin. My kiddos absolutely loved it! *smile*

Enjoy...

Xoxo,

PH

A Note to Parents with Young Toddlers..

As I used more spices for this recipe, I would not recommend serving this to kids under 4yo. I tried to avoid using salt, sugar and processed food / sauces when preparing food for my kiddos when they were under 2yo.

Basil & Spinach Chicken Fettucini 罗勒鸡块菠菜意面

Bilingual | 中英对照

My organic basil is growing so well that it is turning into a small bush, so I have been using them for cooking more frequently than ever. The fresh basil leaves add a very delightful scent to the meal that is somehow lacking in the dried basil.

I have tried the 3 Cups Chicken (三杯鸡) in Taiwan, one of the spices used is the sweet basil leaves, so I decided to make a basil chicken fillet to go with the Fettucini, and they tasted so good! You really ought to give this a try if you or your little ones are pasta lovers like us. :) 

Just so you know, my little ones ate up every bits from their plates, including all the greens. 

Ingredients:

Serving size: for 2-4 person

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

For the Chicken Fillets:

• 8-10 chicken fillet, cleaned 

• a pinch of salt

• a dash of pepper

• 1 tablespoon of honey teriyaki sauce*

• 4-5 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped (I used a scissors)

• 2 clove garlic, finely chopped 

• 2 tablespoon of corn flour

* can substitute with teriyaki sauce / soy sauce and add a tablespoon of honey.

 

For the Pasta:

• 1/2 packet or 250gm Fettucini pasta

• 12 stalks baby spinach, washed and roughly chopped

•  2 tablespoon of olive oil

• 1 carrot, cut into thin slices

• 2 shallots, chopped finely

• few drops of Worchester sauce

• 2-3 teaspoon of salt

• 2 egg, mixed

• 2 slices cheddar cheese

• few dash of mixed spices

• extra basil leaves for gardenia hung

*Optional: you can add some broccoli too. My kiddos love broccoli so I added them.

The Making:

1. Marinate the chicken fillets with ingredient A (except garlic and basil leaves), coat wih a thin layer of flour and keep refrigerated for at least 30 minutes.

2. Heat up 2 tablespoon of cooking oil in a pan, sauté the garlic till fragrance then pan fry the chicken fillet for about 2-3 minutes on each side until cook, add the basil leaves and stir to mix well. Once cooked, Set aside.

3. In a clean wok or deep pan, add the cooking oil and sautéed the shallots, carrots for about a minute, add salt, pepper, Worchester sauce and mixed herbs to taste.

4. Toss in the pasta. Add cold water or chicken stock into the pan (just enough to cover the pasta) then close the lid to let it simmer on medium heat for 12 minutes (or according to the recommended cooking time on the pasta packaging).

5. Add the baby spinach, eggs and cheese, stir to mix and let it simmer for another 2-3 minutes to soften. Add a bit more water if the pasta is too dry now.

6. Serve your pasta right away with the chicken fillet on top. 

Another easy least yet delicious meal for the whole family... Don't forget to add some basil leaves for garnishing! *smile*

Bon appetite! 

In case you wonder, this is how the sweet basil plant looks like. Photo was taken 2 weeks ago.

中文版

供2-4人份量

准备时间：约15分钟

烹饪时间：约25分钟

鸡柳材料：

•8-10片鸡柳，清洗

•少许盐

•胡椒粉少许

•1汤匙蜂蜜日式照烧酱*

•4-5鲜罗勒叶，切碎（我用剪刀）

•2瓣大蒜，切碎

•2汤匙粟米粉

*可以普通日式照烧酱或酱油代替，并添加一汤匙蜂蜜即可。

意面材料：

•半包或250克Fettucini意面

•12颗菠菜，洗净，切大片

•2汤匙橄榄油

•1根胡萝卜，切成幼条

•2小葱头，剁碎

•几滴Worchester伍斯特酱

•2-3茶匙盐

•2个鸡蛋，搅拌

•2片切 达干酪

•混合香料少几许

•额外的罗勒叶供装饰用

*您也可以添加一些西兰花。我的小瓜喜欢西兰花，所以我加入少许。

做法：

1.用材料A腌制鸡肉（除了大蒜，罗勒叶），再裹上一层薄薄的粟粉。保持冷藏至少30分钟备用。

2，在一个平底锅里，烧热2-3汤匙橄榄油，爆香大蒜后放入鸡柳，双面煎大约二分钟或直到熟透，加入罗勒叶搅拌均匀，取出备用。

3. 用一个锅子或深的平底锅，烧热橄榄油，加入小葱头，胡萝卜，盐，胡椒，伍斯特酱和混合香草翻炒约一分钟。

4.加入意面，灌入冷水或鸡汤（刚够覆盖面条即可），然后盖上盖子用中火煨约12分钟（或根据面条包装上的建议烹调时间）。

5.加入菠菜，鸡蛋和奶酪，搅拌均匀，再煨2-3分钟直到软化。如果面太干了可加入一点水。

好好吃的罗勒菠菜意大利面煮好咯，快上桌享用吧！别忘了放上罗勒叶来装饰！