All posts filed under: Recipe

chicken teriyaki bento lunch

Teriyaki Sauce Recipe and Bento box ideas

Any dish with teriyaki sauce is a family favorite that’s why I always have a bottle of homemade sauce to perk up grilled or pan fried dish. I once taught that preparing this sauce would take a lot of effort, I was wrong. You need few ingredients and just simmer away. Teriyaki flavor is different each time you prepare it depending on what ingredients you use. For instance when I make it for salmon more garlic on the sauce then more ginger if chicken. Teriyaki Sauce Three Ways All three lunchboxes below use teriyaki sauce in different ways. Grilled Chicken Breast with Teriyaki Sauce on the side Panda rice bento box is a chicken breast marinated with teriyaki sauce then pan fried, sauce packed on the side. Slow cooked Chicken Teriyaki This week I dumped chicken drumstick with teriyaki sauce in a pan and slow cooked it for 30 minutes. Oven baked meatballs drizzled with thick teriyaki sauce Oh I also use sauce as salad dressing, you should try it. Yummy! One chef on a cooking show …

isda lumpia recipe bento lunch

Fish Spring Rolls (Fish Lumpia)

Fried spring rolls or commonly known as lumpia shanghai in the Philippines is a favorite dish to serve on special occasions along side pancit. Besides fried rice this is one dish that my kids eat with much gusto that has hidden vegetables and it’s easy to prepare. Lumpia is a versatile dish that you can prepare vegetarian or with any meat you like. For this recipe I made use of left over fried fish and broiled fish fillet. I packed this for the kid’s bento lunch box and they once again requested it for lunch.      

Banana biscoff bread recipe

Banana Biscoff Bread

Yes, I know another banana base recipe. We love them. It’s affordable and you can use it in a lot of things – smoothies, ice cream and pastries. I have a bottle of Crunchy Biscoff that’s going to expire in two months, the kids are over the biscoff cravings so I’m finding creative ways to use them. I have a lot of zebra ripe bananas, compared to other recipes we have here this recipe make use of more bananas which makes it yummier. I ladle about two cups of batter and add biscoff then top it off with banana slices and repeat till your pan is 3/4 full. Looking at the biscoff swirls made so happy, I imagined how pretty it would look when we slice the bread. But… The swirls were not obvious when I sliced the bread. Unless you look at each slice closely will you see the biscoff swirls, it will be a different story with nutella spread. Swirls gone but bread is moist and bursting with banana goodness. Tag me when you get …

Banana Oatmeal Cupcake recipe

Banana Oatmeal Cupcake

I buy a bunch of bananas and wait for them to ripen, have that beautiful zebra spots. My LittleOnes know that ones they see spots it’s time to make smoothie, bread or cupcake. The cupcakes are great to pack for school baon or afternoon snack, bake them and store on the refrigerator. Enjoy!   Linked to: Tasty Tuesday’s | Clear Out & Eat

Fish Tempura

We like crispy crunchy food. My picky eaters tend to eat vegetables it’s cooked tempura style. Kuya V has been requesting to have tempura packed in his bento, but I always have the issue of keeping them crispy by the time he gets to school. I read somewhere that the secret to make tempura crispy for a long time is to drain the oil as much as you can and pack it the container only when it’s in room temperature. Fried and drained them in a colander then to a paper towel. Kuya V came home happy to report that the tempura was still a little bit crispy on some side.

Back To School Bento Ideas

Back to school Bento ideas

Summer vacation is almost over. We have a few days left till school starts and I have two students this year. Time fly by so fast, weren’t they just babies yesterday! We have books to cover and label, uniforms to sort, choose the right bag, plan for our kids lunch and snack in school. Here is a list of lunch & snack ideas for our kids: 1. My LittleOnes favorite for breakfast or to snack on when we are on the go is hands down chicken nuggets. You can make a batch ahead of time and it’s pack of assorted vegetables – carrots, broccoli, potato and celery – you can add whatever is available in your pantry. Definitely a much healthier option than those available in the market. 2. We never ran out of bananas in the house, the kids occasionally eat them as a fruit. They however cannot resist a slice of banana bread with streusel or banana pistachios oat chocochip cake. I usually wait for the bananas to have some spots before using them to bake. …

Chicken Arroz Caldo with Quinoa

We’ve been hit by a nasty flu this past week, thankfully all of us are now feeling great. Arroz Caldo is a simple dish that is hearty and comforting.         This dish is made during the cooler months or when someone is sick. It is usually made with a mix of glutinous and regular rice, chicken, garlic and lots of ginger. I’ve made a healthier version by adding white quinoa to rice. It’s a great way to introduce quinoa to your family, the chicken broth and ginger slightly masked the nutty flavor of quinoa.  Linked to What Kids Eat Wednesay

Fried Tikoy Nian Gao Recipe

Tikoy / Nian Gao Recipe

Philippines has a big Chinese population and we have inherited a lot of their traditions. Binondo is the capital’s China town where you can find the famous Eng Bee Tin which sells traditional Chinese sweets like hopia, ampao rice, mooncake and tikoy. Celebrating Chinese New Year is not complete if one doesn’t get to eat tikoy (Nian Gao), coated with egg and fried. Consider yourself lucky when you receive one as a gift because it means that the person wishes you luck. In Dubai we can’t find any stores selling Nian Gao, worry not because it is easy to make.