Bite On It!

Most carbo food like rice and noodles will let you pile up on weight - most of the time so these days I tried to consume less of such food though they have been my favorite all these while! Need to give a thought to our bodies mah!

Since Darrius has been a huge pasta fan, I tried to come up with more recipes that hopefully will entice him to eat more besides the pasta. I introduce a varieties of pasta both in shapes and types to him and let him enjoy his meals with fun.

This recipe I learned from an ex-nightschool mate which she prepared for one of the BBQ nite when I was in Singapore. A very easy to prepare and can be eaten cold… so perfect for Bento or lunch boxes!

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Ingredients

• 1 can Tuna (chunk) in water or brie
• 250g Elbow pasta/macaroni
• 1 Hard boiled egg (smashed into small pieces)
• Button mushrooms (sliced a few)
• 2tbsp Mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup Corn kernels
• Raisins (yellow) for garnishing
• Pepper, black pepper and salt for taste
• Lemon juice to kill the fishy taste/smell
• French beans for garnishing (optional)
• Bacon bits for garnishing (optional)
• Sunflower kernels for garnishing (optional)

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Method

1. Boil half a sauce pan of wate, add some salt and oil to cook the pasta/macaroni. When cooked, test the softness before draining the water away.
2. Boil another pot of water for cooking the French beans, corn kernels and button mushrooms slices.
3. Pour the can of tuna (drain away water/brie) into a bowl, smash them up and add in the mayonnaise and mix them well together with smashed up hard boiled egg. Add in sliced button mushrooms.
4. Sprinkle pepper, black pepper and salt to desire taste. Squeeze some lemon juice to kill the fishy smell of the tuna.
5. Toss in raisins, sunflower kernels and bacon bits to garnish. Top with some French beans for presentation. Voila!

I’ve always love noodles. In fact when I have nothing better to eat I will first think of cooking a packet of instant noodles to nurse my hunger. That means, I have a huge stock of instant noodles nestling in my kitchen. :mrgree:

Besides instant noodles, I will buy other types of noodles occasionally. One of my latest craze is Korean and Japanese noodles. I bought a packet of Soba sometimes back from Daiso during my last trip to Singapore. I have wanted to cook the cold version but my hubby is not a fan of cold noodles so I decided to make it hot instead.

During a visit to the afternoon market near my place, I found some baby octopus and bought a kilo. At home I found some frozen prawns my hubby bought and the idea hit me… why not some seafood Soba? This is definitely a healthier choice! My boy love his bowl of Soba too. Without the baby octopus of course…

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Ingredients

• 2/3 packet Buckwheat Soba
• 200g Prawns (shelled and leave tail unshelled)
• 200g Baby octopus (clean and cut into 4 sections)
• 150g Hong Kong choy sum
• 2tbsp Wakame (Japanese seaweed)
• 1.5L Water
• Fish sauce + pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Boil water in a medium large pot. Throw in the prawn shells and let it boil for 20 minutes so the soup will have a good aroma.
2. While waiting for the soup to be ready, heat up another pot of water in a medium saucepan. Add a little oil and sugar. When the water boil, blanch the Hong Kong choy sum till 90% cook and remove from pot. Using the same pot of boiling water, blanch the Soba till springy soft and set aside. Do the same to the Wakame.
3. Remove the shell from the soup.
4. While the soup continue to boil, toss in the prawns and the baby octopus till they are cook. Remove them from the soup and put aside. Add fish sauce and pepper
5. In a bowl, place some Soba and top with Hong Kong choy sum, prawns, baby octopus and Wakame. Pour enough soup to cover Soba before serving.

When one cooks with a toddler in mind, there will always be pasta dishes as these are one of the kids’ all time favorite. Like any other toddler, Darrius has also started asking for pasta or any noodles dishes. As compared to rice vermicelli or rice sticks, pasta or spaghetti are the healthier choice.

Though preparing such dishes can be time consuming sometimes, but when you see your kids gobble them down, the work are all worth it!

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Ingredients

• 100g Spaghetti (I used the wheat based)
• 120g Chicken pieces (use the thigh part as they will be more tender)
• Small section of Red and Green Capsicum (coarsely chopped)
• 1 Red onion
• 1 Chinese mushroom (soaked and cut into small cubes)
• 5tbsp Pasta Sauce (I used the one with olives)
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Some oil

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Methods

1. In a medium stock pot, boil half a pot of water with some salt (1tsp). When it boiling, put in your spaghetti and cook until desired softness.
2. Mince the chicken pieces and put in a bowl. Add in the chopped capsicums, mushroom and onions and mix with some salt and pepper and oil. Stir till they are well mixed. Then roll them into small balls.
3. In a frying pan or sauce pan, heat up with some oil and pan fried the chicken meat balls till golden brown. Lift them up when all are cooked.
4. In another sauce pan, heat up some oil and pour in the pasta sauce and stir till it is cook.
5. In a dish, put some of the cook pasta with the chicken meatballs on top. Then pour some of the pasta sauce over and garnish with some chopped capsicums.

I bought some whole chicken thighs during one of the week and have wanted to cook some curry chicken but I forgot to buy the chili mix and coconut milk! I don’t normally like to use premix curry powder as PiggyBeng said it is very heaty for him so I will avoid using unless it is absolute necessary…

The chicken thighs have been sitting in the fridge for almost a week and I forgotten about them totally until one day I was rummaging through my freezer. And since I have nothing much to cook, these chicken thighs come in real handy. The problem is, I don’t have any ideas or a particular recipe in mind. So, what I do next?

Again I rummaged through my food cabinets trying to find any spices that I can make do with. The thing is, other than my Fried Nestum Chicken, I hardly cook chicken dishes as they may need ingredients that I do not have on hand. Therefore, it can be tough to think of any chicken recipes in a flash.

As I hardly use my oven, I decided to grill these chicken thighs. The outcome: YUMMY! I find them less oily and juicier… so it’s healthier too! I even stir-fried some celery with garlic to go along with the rice too. The other good thing, it’s little hassle and the kitchen is grease free!

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Ingredients

(Serves 2)

• 2 whole Chicken thighs (cut some diagonal lines so heat can penetrate)
• Turmeric and Cheyenne pepper - Enough to marinade both thighs
• Salt to taste
• A few squeeze of lemon juice
• Some basting oil (Olive oil + light soy sauce + sugar + lemon juice) - Optional

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Method

1. Marinade the thighs with enough turmeric (fresh or powder), lemon juice and salt for at least 1-2 hours prior to baking. Best if it’s over night.
2. Line baking tray with grease proof paper or silver foil. Place the thighs on the tray and bake at 200 degree Celsius, flipping occassionally.
3. Glaze with basting oil if you want the thighs to be more fragrant.
4. Grill for at least 40 minutes or till thoroughly cooked (when no more blood oozing out).

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