food

LUNCHBOX IDEA – SAUSAGE ROLLS HACK

Hey!! Who’s feeling organised with lunch box preparation? I am leaning more towards overwhelmed these days. I never thought that this process will take so much of my attention and energy until the 4th week of school.

We live in a busy, fast paced schedules often mean there are just not enough hours in a day. This is why preparing lunch boxes can be so challenging for parents. Kids can be fussy and coming up with new and interesting foods that aren’t full of sugar that won’t get thrown in the bin can be tricky. But the importance of packing a healthy lunchbox is immeasurable. Kids are more alert and focused when they’re fuelled with healthy food.

And, you all know that I am very intrigued to always find new things which may make life a lot simpler and efficient. So, here we go again!! I create a very simple hack to nail a healthy lunch packs for your little ones.

What you need is 2 main ingredients and 20 minutes of your time

SAUSAGE ROLLS HACK

puff pastry (room temperature)
poppy seed (optional)

filling:

gourmet sausages (your own choice at room temperature)

how to:

pre-heat the oven at 200’C
remove the sausages’ skin
cut half the pastry – rectangle shape
roll the sausages inside the pastry
cut into small pieces/ finger size (3cm)
place them on the layered baking tray
sprinkle them with poppy seed (optional)
In the oven for 20 minutes or until golden

I can’t believe that I just made a homemade sausage rolls. AARRGGHHH!! I am a cool mum. I had Jared back home bringing his empty lunch box and said, “that was the best mum!” – the best feeling ever. TT

This very simple idea can be done quickly after dinner or early in the morning. It is a great finger food option for your busy little champions packed with nutrients and tasteful. It’s worth to try!

Yup!! IT IS TIME TO TAKE YOUR KIDS’ LUNCH BOX TO THE NEXT LEVEL. BECAUSE YOU CAN.

Share your reviews on the comments below and if you like my hack, please like this article and subscribe for more hacks coming to your inbox. x

Love,

Kenny

EASY RECIPE // LEFT OVER FAVOURITE

Hey SMONDAY!

SMONDAY – “The moment when Sunday stops feeling like a Sunday and the anxiety of Monday kicks in.”

I am currently on my last lap of my pregnancy and I feel like the day’s long and the night’s short. I fell asleep at 3PM, wide awake at 3AM. Dear anyone…. help me.

I have been caving inside the house and do a lot of chores and cleaning for the pre-arrival of the baby. The other thing I enjoy doing these days is baking. I and Jared spent most of our day time in the kitchen together to bake some goodies. Using some left overs on the fridge. Because, really….around these times, I have little energy to do big groceries and cook big meal. SO….WHY NOT occupied those left overs aye. Today I’ll be sharing 2 of our favourites left over recipes in the house. It is full packed of goodness and nutrients. Even though, it’s majorly made out of left over. Ha.

Most importantly, it is SO easy to cook. Throw them into the oven and voila. You have it!!

LEFT OVER ROASTED CHICKEN VEGGIES FRITTATA

Served: 4 – 6 pax // Cooking time: 35-40 minutes

1 cup of leftover roasted chicken (shredded)

1 tbsp frozen carrot

1 tbsp frozen peas

1 tbsp frozen corn

1 small onion, peeled and finely diced

4 cups of grated cheese

4 eggs

olive oil

salt & pepper

How to:

Preheat oven to 160C.
Heat up a pan with olive oil, mix onion, left-over shredded roasted chicken, and frozen veggies on to the pan. Stir fry them for further 5-7 minutes or until veggies soften, Salt & pepper to taste.
Transfer them to an oven proof muffin tray.
Sprinkle grated cheese over the mixture.
Whisk eggs in a separate bowl and poor them evenly over the mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through.

MOMMY’S BANANA BREAD

Served: 4 – 6 pax // Cooking time: 50 – 60 minutes

150 gr softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

2 cup self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup milk

½ icing sugar

honey

How to:

Preheat oven tp 180C.
Grease and line 11x21cm loaf tin.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale.
Add egg in 2 batches, beating well after each batch.
Stir in banana. Sift flour and baking powder over banana mixture.
Add milk, stir with a wooden spoon until combined.
Spoon mixture into loaf tin and smooth the surface.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan before serving.
Serve with icing sugar and honey drizzles.

Well, here’s the thing that I do enjoy doing during my last trisemester with my son. And looking at both of my boys were taking each bite with a big smile really made my heart burst. These simple things are the things that are matter the most to me. I count twice for this kind of view and moment. I am grateful for my humble little family.

What are you thankful for this Monday? Feel free to share some on the comments below. Or if you have some yummy left-over recipes, I would like to know them as well below. I created this blog as a platform for us, moms, women, to encourage, empower, and support one another. So….looking forward for more connections in the making. X

Love,

Kenny

EASY RECIPE // COOKING WITH 5 INGREDIENTS ONLY

Quick and Easy. 2 BIG words I always love as a mother. #likeaboss

I discovered that being mothers, we tend to be always on-the-go. We rarely find time to putting any make up and we even do not care if we’re still in the same pj’s piece for 2 consecutive weeks. What we do care is “get things done without killing anyone”. Thus, we consecutively end up on inventing new hacks to our routines. For example, on Saturday night I dress my son up and let him sleep wearing good pair of tee/shirt to minimize any amount of drama before we left for church on Sunday morning.

Now, let’s move on to the real business. Let’s talk about cooking. When it comes to preparing daily meal for the family. I apply this super mama hack which has saved me a lot of times and cost. I limit myself to cook a meal with 5 ingredients only. YES! you hear me! 5 ONLY!! The goal is creating something quick and easy with minimal resources you mostly have around your kitchen the bench. And the result is deliciousoooo… TRUST ME!

SUPER 5 (FIVE) INGREDIENTS MEAL

Grandma’s Shepherd Pie

Served: 3-4 pax // Prep: 10 mins // Cooking duration: 45mins

Ingredients:

500 gr pork/beef mince

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

500 gr Dutch cream potato

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp Kikkoman reduced salt soy sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

salt to taste

pepper to taste

How to:

Boil water in a large pot and season it with salt. Peel the Dutch potatoes. Cut them up into quarter. Put them into the boiling water. Cook them until soft (use fork to check their softness)
Once its cooked, drain them. Put them aside and let it cool.
Pre-heat up the oven to 200°C (fan-forced)
Heat up a non-sticky pan in a medium hit. Put 1 tbsp of vegetable oil.
Place pork/beef mince in a heated pan for 3-4 minutes.
Add frozen mixed vegetables, cook for another 2 minutes.
Add garlic powder and Kikkoman soy sauce. Stir and cook for further 5 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste.
While waiting for the mince to be cooked. Work on your mashed potatoes. Mash / beat the cooked cool potatoes with fork till soft.
Spoon the stir fry mince to a baking dish. Layer them with mashed potato on top.
Baked for 25-30 minutes (or until golden). Serve while its hot.

Salmon Dill Pasta

Served: 3-4 pax // Prep: 5 mins // Cooking duration: 20mins

Ingredients:

240 gr spaghetti (or any preferable pasta)

250 gr salmon

1 tsp lemon juice

6 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

1 handful dill (finely chopped)

4 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

pepper to taste

How to:

Pre-heat oven 180°C (fan forced). Take off the salmon skin. Put the skin aside. Place the salmon on a aluminum foil, seasoned with salt & pepper. Add 1tsp of lemon juice and chopped dill. Wrap the salmon and bake it for 15-20 minutes, till cooked and soft.
Boil water in a large pan. Season it with salt and place the pasta in. Cooked it for 8-10 minutes.
Heat up a non-sticky pan, place 4 tbsp of olive oil.
Wait till it’s popping hot, dip in the chopped garlic. And drain them aside.
Place back the non-stick pan on the stove. Heat up some oil. Season salmon skin with grounded salt. And place them upside down till its crispy. Put it aside.
Stir cooked pasta into heated garlic olive oil on tha pan for another 2 minutes.
Served them with cooked salmon and top it off with the crispy salmon skin.

Stir Fry Butter Chicken with Bok-Choy

Served: 3-4 pax // Prep: 5 mins // Cooking duration: 12 mins

Ingredients:

500 gr chicken thighs/ chicken breast (for healthier lean option)

1 brown onion (chopped)

2 tbsp sweet soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 baby bok – choy

60 gr reduced – salt butter

salt to taste

pepper taste

jasmine rice to serve

How to:

Heat up a non-sticky pan on high heat, place butter on it, then chopped brown onion. Sautee them for 2 minutes or until golden soft.
Diced the chicken thighs. And place them in the pan for the next 5 minutes, then turn the other side for the next 3 minutes.
While waiting for the chicken to be cooked, steam the baby bok-choy, season with salt & pepper (add some garlic for more zingy taste).
Stir the sweet soy sauce and tomato ketchup into the fried chicken. Cook for another 2 minutes until all chicken equally covered by the sauce.
Place steamed baby bok-choy on a round plate, top it with rice on the side and stir fry butter chicken in the middle.

I hope you enjoy these recipes and more in love with homemade cooking as I do. I am working on some more new easy recipes. So stay tuned for more inspiration. And feel free to share some feedbacks or recipes on the comment below. I would love to try them too. X

Love,

Kenny

EASY RECIPE // BANANA CHOCO ICED POP

Summer with kids requires many short stop at ice cream stall. Especially with my strong headed toddler, he’s tall enough to peeking on the ice cream trucks and get himself his preferred ice cream flavour. But then, I saw bold rainbow colour on his tongue and tee. hhmm…that’s not so good, I thought. This was put my attention to any extreme artificial food colouring which may cause any damage to my son’s body. (ahhh..sorry for being so overprotective to my kid, it’s just I want everything the best for him) Any other mums who are over-thinking about almost every thing related to their kids? Who almost google every thing which about to get into their tiny mouths? Then, I FEEL YOU….

Therefore, I decided to make some homemade iced pop batch for the family every week.

Why iced pop? It is so easy easy to make, you need minimal kitchen utensils, and less time consuming than ice cream. Perfect for the season.

Why homemade? It enables me to control the daily dietary intake.

And our current house favourite is a fruit sorbet with a twist. What I truly mean is adding some natural sweetener to it. Thankfully, we were introduced to Fangks sugar free chocolate powder. Fangks is made with Natvia, and is also free from gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts, GMOs and artificial colours and flavours. It is safe for Jared; who has mild nuts allergies. Great product, great flavour.

BANANA CHOCO ICED POP

2 peeled banana
2 tbsp of vanilla yogurt
2 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of Fangks sugar free chocolate powder

Steps:

slice bananas and freeze them for 30 minutes
blend frozen bananas with vanilla yogurt, honey and chocolate powder together until smooth
Pour them into the iced pop container, put them back in the freezer for another 1 hour
Ready to cure the heat

This recipe is a total winner. Jared said it’s a finger licking good. Happy kids – Happy mumma.

Fangks chocolate powder can be served in many other ways. Sprinkle them on your french toast, add them to your chia pudding recipe, or simply mix them with any kind of milk. It’s time to take your breakfast/dessert to another level.

If you have any other exciting recipes you’ve tried using Fangks or any other chocolate mix, feel free to share yours on the comment below. Because, we would love to try them! x

Shop Linked here

Love,

Kenny

EASY RECIPE // CHIA PUDDING RECIPE (WORTH TO TRY)

I am a big fan of chia seeds. Apart from its tasty taste, they are my mini dietary powerhouses. They are packing more calcium than milk, more antioxidants than blueberries and more Omega-3 than Salmon.

A tablespoon (15gr) of chia seeds equals to 3gr of omega3, 6gr of dietary fibre, 3gr of complete protein.

There are so many ways to consume chia seeds; you can mix it to your yoghurt, add them to soup, or top them on your salad. But the house favourite is chia pudding. Oh yeah! who can resist this sweet indulgence. But, take a note, that today we’re talking about a healthy pudding. So, guilts go away!!

Here is my 5 minutes legit healthy pudding recipe:

Ingredients

2 cups of coconut milk (homemade or natural)

1/2 cup of chia seeds

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup manuka honey

How To (5 minutes)

Blend coconut milk, vanilla extract and manuka honey together in a high speed
Whisk in chia seeds
Pour the mixture onto jars, and stir them well occasionally within the first hour.
Store them in the fridge for at least 4 hours until the chia seeds get gelled.

To Serve

Add some toppings: whatever you prefer, blueberries, strawberries, granola, almond flakes, biscuit crumbs, maple syrup, honey drizzle.

Kids Matter / Get Creative

Most of the kids are not impressed by the appearance of chia seeds on their bowl, so let’s make a smoothies version of chia pudding. By blending all the ingredients above in a high-speed blender. Or you might want to give more appealing colour to your pudding, by adding 1/4 cup cocoa powder and blend them all together. Pour them into baby food container or any jars. Lastly, store them in the refrigerator and let the chia seeds do its magic.

Alright, you are just finished reading through my recipe and thinking “that is so easy”. Let me answer you… “hell yeahhhhh!!” It is easier to make it than to read it.

Chia puddings can be stored in the fridge for 5 days. Batch some up on Sunday evening for the coming week, and make your life easier. AMEN…say all mums ever. 😉

Chia puddings can be served as breakfast or snack.

This is a revolutionary way of staying healthy anytime anywhere.

HEALTHY LIVING IS SIMPLE, IS DOABLE AND IS POSSIBLE to all busy moms.

So, give it a shot today! and share some comments below. Or maybe share some recipes with me too. X

Love,

Kenny

EASY RECIPE // WINTER KIDS MEAL

Dinner time in the house is my favourite time. We all called it “family dinner” simply because this is the only moment where ALL of the family members are able to gather on a table to enjoy the meal after a busy day of individual routines. Perfect time to engage and interact to one another. Sounds perfect aye! (to me at least)

Until I realised, that this toddler is sitting on the same table at the same time with us. Well, that is another story, isn’t it? Often times dinner would be the most unpleasant time of the day. mayday, mayday, mayday….My body was drained out after full day of babysitting/working, cooking dinner and now grumpy toddler is refusing to open his mouth because the plate looks “greeny”. I mean….Seriously?! It is because I have no blue/red clean plate at the time little fella, so just bare with me and pick that god damn beef sausage, and put it in your mouth. Gah.

Then I got a revelation somehow one day, that I gotta prepare meal which comforts their “eyes” and their “tummy”

Comforts their eyes – basically, what they see is what they get. If the presentation itself does not satisfy their sight, the wrong information will directly send to the brain commanding them to lock their mouth. Once they’re happy with what they see, they would surely open their mouth and give it a go. Be mindful to make their favourite element stands out on the plate. In my case, noodles, soup, chicken, and meatballs are the thing that J loves the most. So, I put extra effort on that piece and make them as visual as it can be. Hiding veggies is always wise to do, add them to your homemade meatballs mixture. It’s a winner for the whole family. Yeahhh!!
Comforts their tummy – Next step is making sure that they consume enough nutritions intake to their tummy for the day. Eating together increase healthy eating habits and provides a model for children to carry with them into adulthood. Studies show family dinners increase the intake of fruits and vegetables; families who eat dinner together tend to eat fewer fried foods and drink less soda; and family meal frequency is linked to the intake of protein, calcium, and some vitamins. I am struggling to get my protein son to consume veggies, but after I implement this new family dinner rule for a while, I am glad to report you that he slowly improving his tolerance for veggies. And for this colder season, I am using a lot of in-season produce too, like carrots, orange, citrus, lemon, garlic, ginger (they are powerful to boost your immune system).
Spend less time on the kitchen – please do not spend too much energy and time on the kitchen (unless for special occasion). 30-45 minutes max would be the ideal time from preparation to presentation. Spend more time to sit down and have a nice conversation with one another. Here are some killer recipes you can do under 30minutes. They are super delicious healthy on low budget.

Ginger Beef Soup With Rice Noodles and Mixed Veggies

Meatballs

250 gr chicken or veal mince

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp grated garlic

1 cup of chopped shallots

Soup

4 cups (1 litre) chicken stock

3 cups of mixed veggies (carrots, baby bok choy, white cabbage)

90g rice noodles

½ cup of enoki mushroom

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

salt & pepper to taste

How to make:

To make meatballs, mix all the ingredients to food processor, blend it well.
Divide into 12 even portions. Squish and roll in your hands into a tight ball (grease your hands for easier process). Set aside for a minute at room temperature is fine.
Place homemade chicken stock and veggies in a large saucepan and bring into boil over high heat.
Gently pop in the meatballs. Bring back to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for further 8 minutes.
Add rice noodles to the soup and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
Turn off the heat.
Season with salt & pepper.

Honey Soy Orange Glazed Chicken with Soba Noodles And Miso Soup

250 gr of chicken thigh

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp reduced salt soy sauce

1 handful mixed herbs

1 crushed garlic

1 tsp grated ginger

good pinch of salt & pepper

1 carrot

1 navel orange

1 knob of unsalted butter

90 gr soba noodle (gluten free)

miso soup package

How to make:

Marinate chicken thighs with honey, reduced salt soy sauce, mixed herbs, crushed garlic, grated ginger, salt & pepper. Leave them aside at room temperature.
Heat up your oven at 210C
Heat a good knob of butter on the pan, fry the marinated chicken thigh, carrot and oranges on the pan for 3-5 minutes (both sides) at medium heat.
Transfer the pan to the oven for another 10-12 minutes.
Cook the soba noodles over medium heat for 3 minutes.
Put miso soup package on a small bowl and pour boiling water onto it.
Place the roasted chicken, soba noodles and miso soup next to each other.
Make a fun way to eat the soba noodles (dip it or soup it)

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Those two are our family favourites, rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals, and all could be done under 45 minutes. Have a try and comment for any feedbacks or suggestions. X

Love,

Kenny