Everyday is mother's day

I was getting lunch ready when Joshua, my big boy, called my attention and showed me a note.

You shine mom. That means you're the best mom in the whole wide world - Joshua

I almost cried.  It really made my morning even though he hasn't taken a bath yet after asking him to do so for the nth time.

He did take a bath after showing me this note though.     :)

Baking spree (part 1)

The week went by so fast! The hubby and I went grocery shopping last Tuesday and the following day I cooked Cheesy eggplant layers?!

Eggplant + breadcrumbs + Cheese = yummy in our tummy! :)

I started to soak the eggplants early before I forget to do so. I was looking at a recipe online and I remembered that I had one from a recipe book. The recipe online was easier and healthier because the one in the book was telling me to deep fry the eggplant before baking. The thought of oily eggplants made me cringe. Eeeew! So I went with the one online, which I was already using in the first place! Here's the online recipe. I added lean ground pork to the dish since I didn't want to shock my family, especially my kids with a full on vegetarian meal. So after reading the online recipe again and again, it seems that there are some parts of the procedure missing since it didn't mention how to use the breadcrumbs so I improvised! I followed the cooking time but when the timer was nearing zero, it looked like the eggplants were still hard and raw, while our tummies were already starting to rumble!!! A very dangerous combination. So I investigated further. I tried poking the eggplant and it wasn't quite done. So what my hubby did was to increase the oven temp up to 10 degrees and add 10 min of cooking time. After that, the recipe said it needed to stand for 5 minutes more but we couldn't wait anymore so we started to dig in! It was a success, almost! Our son didn't like it but our little girl finished lunch peacefully and my hubby and I, of course we ate it! It was just like eating lasagna!  It was a very filling meal!

Here's a recipe of what we did..


250 g lean ground pork
4 pc (450 g) medium eggplants, each piece sliced lengthwise into 4
1 pc (50 g) egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (55 g) bread crumbs
1 pouch (250 g) tomato sauce
1 cup (115g) grated cheese, depends on how much you like to put
1 pc medium bell pepper, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Pear or slice eggplants lengthwise, into four strips. Soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before baking.
2. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F
3. Make the sauce. Heat up a sauce pan for sauteeing. Put the flame on low and put in the lean ground pork. Stand by the pan and stir occasionally so the pork won't stick to the bottom ( if you're not using a non stick pan) and to evenly cook the pork. Do this for 15 minutes or until the pork has turned brown or to the color that you will preferably eat ground pork. When this happens, wait for a few minutes more so the pork fat (or what's left of it) will come out. You will use this oil to sautee the ingredients for the sauce.When the oil has come out. Put some salt and pepper. put the onions, garlic and bell pepper in. Sautee them until done. Done is when the onions are transparent.Add the tomato sauce and boil for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper according to your taste.
4. Beat the egg in a container where you can also dip the eggplants. Put some salt and pepper to the egg. Drain the eggplants and dip them into the egg with salt and pepper.
5. Arrange the eggplants at the bottom of an 8x8 in pan, if you want 2 layers. (Use a 9 x 13 in pan if you want only one layer. Mine was only one layer.) Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of the eggplants. Pour the sauce in and finish with spreading the cheese on the sauc
6. Bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes.

Enjoy! :)

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

Wow! It's been ages since I posted on this blog. Well anyway, I would like toshare another dish that was a hit to my family. I found it online and it's called, drumroll please......

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU (THE EASY WAY) !!!!!

I have been thinking of trying to cook this dish the normal way but just thinking about the steps and the rolling of the chicken and all of that makes me so tired already. ( I know I'm so lazy sometimes!) So, while finding an easier way to cook cordon bleu, I found this recipe! 

It was so easy!

  I just had to thinly slice the chicken. Lay the pieces on the pan, lay the ham on the chicken followed by the cheeseand then top all of it off with buttered bread crumbs.

                   Put it in the oven and voila!

          Yummy in our tummy! :)

I didn't make the exact cream sauce in the recipe. I only used the first five ingredients for the sauce and it still tasted great :)

And now for the recipe..

*Serves 6
INGREDIENTS:

For the Cordon Bleu:
3 large chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half length-wise (to form two thinner chicken breast cutlets)
12 slices deli ham
1 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 to 1/2 pound thinly sliced swiss cheese

For the Parmesan-Dijon Cream Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (or 1 bouillon cube, crushed)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:
Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs and melted butter. Set aside.
Lay the cut chicken breasts in a single layer in the 9X13-inch dish. Layer each chicken breast with two slices of ham and top with 2 slices of swiss cheese, shingling across the chicken breast to make sure the entire chicken breast is covered with ham and cheese. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top of the chicken.
Bake the chicken for 30-35 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through completely, the cheese is bubbling and the bread crumbs are golden.
While the chicken bakes, in a medium saucepan, melt the 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly, while cooking the flour/butter mixture for 1-2 minutes. Slowly pour in the milk while whisking quickly. Stir in the chicken bouillon granules and salt. Whisk constantly over medium heat until the mixture begins to simmer and thicken, about 3-5 minutes. Once the sauce has bubbled and thickened, remove from heat and stir in the mustard, Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted. Keep the sauce warm until the chicken is finished baking.
Serve each chicken cordon bleu portion with warm sauce.

Make Ahead Instructions: Assemble the chicken, ham and cheese according to the recipe. Store the prepared bread crumb/butter mixture in a resealable plastic bag or other container. Cover the casserole with plastic wrap and store it and the bread crumb mixture in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours. When ready to bake, sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and bake according to the recipe, adding anywhere from 5-15 extra minutes since it was refrigerated prior to baking. Make the sauce while the casserole bakes or make it ahead of time, let it cool, and store it covered in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, reheating over low heat and whisking to recombine before serving.

Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe

Enjoy!

Sundaaaaay!!!!!

Every Saturday our family has a movie night. Unfortunately, we had some company over last night so we weren't able to do our movie night. While having our breakfast, Josh, my son, said we weren't able to watch a movie. so a back up plan was emerged. Instead of movie night, we had a movie morning that extended until the afternoon! Blame it on the weather! It has been raining almost the whole day so it was perfect for a movie marathon with the fam :) Good thing all the kids' homework were done Saturday morning and we had nothing scheduled for today!

We were able to watch three movies. haha!

ONE

 

TWO

THREE!

Yes, all kiddie movies. As if we can let them watch the movies that me and my hubby like!

Happiness from Chicken Breast Bulgogi

Today's Adventure: Chicken Breast Bulgogi

     Last week, I was telling my mom about a Korean fastfood place that me and my family tried and she mentioned something about my sister's girlfriend cooking the best korean bulgogi. I didn't have any idea what the dish was. So I searched on the internet and found out what it was, in layman's term, Korean barbecue. I vowed to try cooking it. I searched for a recipe that was doabe. I didn't want to try something complicated and with too exotic ingredients. So I found one that I liked which had chicken thigh/drumstick fillet, sesame oil, soy suace, onions, onion leaves, salt and pepper and when it was time for our grocery shopping, I was looking for chicken thigh and drumstick fillet but they ran out. So I settled for breast fillets and was hoping to find a bulgogi recipe that includes chicken breast. We then looked for sesame oil and unfortunately, the store didn't have any. So I just got a pack of sesame seeds. I was hoping that they would do. When we got home, I searched for a chicken breast bulgogi recipe and I found one !!! Not too much surprise there. We can find almost everything on the internet.

     So earlier today, I was reviewing the recipe and I saw that I couldn't just scatter the sesame seeds in the dish because I was going to marinate the chicken. I really wanted to cook the dish as near to the recipe as possible to get a more authentic flavor. So I searched for a method on how to make my own sesame seed oil. I found one that didn't need too much work on this page, I chose the third option and I did it!!!! 

     That isn't even the highlight. When my son had a smell test, he loved the aroma from when I was frying the chicken, and he got excited already. When he did a taste test, he wanted to eat his lunch right away!

     That! made me happy =D Oh the simple joys of being a mom. :)

     What was your day's highlight?  Did you try a new recipe? =)   

    

Simple pero rock

Soooooo, I sort of abandoned, neglected (is more appropriate) my blog. For the past month, my mom came for a two week visit and that was a whirlwind of packing, preparing, cooking, talking, a trip to the beach, unpacking, packing,  a fishing trip, unpacking, family trips, food trips, mall trips, baking etc., etc. It was tiring but fun! And of course I missed my mom so I/we spent every possible moment with her.  When she left I had to catch up on the chores. I also started to read the Fifty Shades of Grey (Click the link to read a review about the book!).. and I got so caught up with it that I ended up reading the whole Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy!!! (Thanks to my baby sister for the influence!)

It was Mother's day last Sunday. I do not want to make a fuss about this day and for a particular reason,I do not know what, this day was more celebrated in our home than the past years. I have been a mother for seven years now but last Sunday was the best Mother's day, so far. :)  My hubby asked me ehat I wanted to have for lunch. I told him I didn't have any cravings for today except for ice cream. So he prepared a five course meal (according to him) haha! But in reality, he cooked a special dish. I have an allergic reaction to too much consumption of seafood. So for this special day, he chose Pork Stew with eggplants and shrimp paste or more popularly known as Binagoongang baboy in our country. It's an everyday dish for some, but not for me since I cannot eat it very often. We just ordered a bucket of chicken for the kids and some fries.  They inherited my allergies so we didn't give them any of the pork. Lunch was awesomely satisfying. We were so stuffed so we weren't up for having any ice cream. My hubby treated me to a home service massage. When the masseuse got to our house, she gave me a long stemmed rose, for mother's day! How thoughtful! :) After the massage, I just enjoyed the rest of the day with my family. When we were having dinner, we had this conversation...

Me: Thanks beb, Happy father's day! Double celebration na 'to ha?* 

*(This will be our double celebration, ok?) :D

We all laughed and then..

J (my son): Do we have a kid's day? (probably assuming since there was a mother's and father's day...)

Me: There's no kid's day, anak (son)  because everyday is kid's day!

and we all  laughed some more :))

 So there. Not so much fuss but I truly enjoyed.

It was a simple celebration but it rocked!

:)

Kiddie dreams

The other day, I overheard my kids talking.

Reese: Kuya, what you going to be when you grow up?
Josh: a policeman!
Reese: Me I'm going to be a ballerina!
Then she flashed a super sweet smile.

I remember when I was in kindergarten, during our graduation ceremony, all of us had to say what we would like to be when we grew up. My teacher wrote my script on a piece of paper and asked us to memorize and practice saying it at home.  I can still remember what I said,

"When I grow up I want to be a lawyer to help and defend the poor. "

I never thought that I would become what I am today.. A housewife and mother of two with nothing to worry about but the kids (and dirty dishes and laundry). Nothing beats that, I guess?! :)

What did you want to be when you were still a kid?

Blahblahblah

It's that time of the month and I asked my hubby to buy a bag of chips to satisfy my craving. (Earlier this morning he got me a coffee cheesecake) So when he got home from the car repair shop, there it was! Weeee!!!! Two small bags!

I haven't washed the dishes yet so I told myself that the chips would be my reward. I went to the kitchen to do the dishes and when I was done I went to the living room to check if there were some spots where I could do some quick uncluttering. I was surprised to hear someone cough. It was my eldest son. He was already up from his afternoon nap. Bummer. Now I can't eat my chips. I wouldn't want to teach my kids poor eating habits.

I'm sure I can still have the chips later :)

Start the week right

It's Monday!

I have read and heard from so many different articles and people that it is a big factor to start a new diet, routine, resolution or any project you would like to start on a Monday since it will greatly affect its success. In my case, I have been waiting for this day since Friday, when one of my best friends have told be about a workout she's into right now, Hiphop Abs. I said to myself: I will start on Monday. And I feel so good that I did! Although I woke up a little late today, I still had the willpower to start the workout. yey!

Aside from that, I have already done eighty percent of the things in my to do list and it's only 6 o'clock in the evening!

Little accomplishments make me happy :)

Tomorrow is another day, I hope I can keep up with the workout and the 'Monday factor' will take effect on me.

Did you start something new today?