Showing posts with label Pinterest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pinterest. Show all posts

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Valentine's Day Gifts 2014

Valentine's Day fell on a Friday and this time around I waited until the day before to prepare the teachers' gifts. I also bought (cringe) valentine cookies for the kids' class party instead of trying to make something at home. Considering my limited baking abilities or lack of talent in that area, buying has got to be the best option.

I did have ideas on what to give to the kids' teachers days or probably weeks before. It just took me awhile to sit down and start putting them together. Thankfully, the kids only have two teachers this year meaning, less gifts to prepare. Don't get me wrong, I love giving gifts and thank goodness for Pinterest, so much ideas in there.

jar candle
nail polish
chocolates
I could make these cute little gifts all day long plus they cost next to nothing because I already have these in my stock pile. The candles I got for free, nail polish .05 each and chocolates .50 each. The tags I printed awhile back, valentine bags I scored at 50% off last year.

Leila's teacher was surprised to get all three gifts and as she read the gift tags, her reaction was priceless. It was indeed an (awww) moment :D

Sunday, March 17, 2013

New Endeavors

 buttered arctic garden veggies
I have a ton to post, hopefully I get to find the links for the recipes. We moved a few weeks ago and have been at my busiest. Why am I sitting here and doing this instead of cleaning up? I need a break. Every bone in my body hurts. I just told a friend I feel like I am 50 years old!

Anyway, I'm gonna lighten up the mood and avoid talking about aging and muscle aches as much as I can. LET"S TALK ABOUT FOOD! Yay!

Prior to moving, we originally planned to have tea every single night. We probably had it for two nights and that's it haha. When things calm down I'll start doing this again. Maybe tonight? ;-)

tea time!
My kids bug me non stop for homemade cookies. They have this crazy notion that their mom is a great baker which of course isn't true but thank goodness for Pinterest I found a couple of easy recipes. I love cake mixes!


my cookie monsters!
I also found a frozen cookie dough in the freezer. I baked it as a whole and it worked a lot better, way better! Kids said it was good :)

choco chip cookie
I tried this two ingredient cake recipe because I was curious and was dying to eat something sweet that day. Who would've thought that a box of cake mix and soda will result in a delicious fluffy cake? Whoever did was a genius. I used yellow cake mix and Sprite.

2 ingredient cake
My kids,specially Lance can be picky so their meals have to be a combination of their favorites and something new all the time.

store bought fish balls
turkey bacon
bologna cups
turkey bacon sandwich
This soup recipe has given me another reason why I need to stock up on coconut milk. It is definitely delicious and easy to make. I followed this recipe.

Thai Coconut Soup
Just when I thought spring's here, I was wrong of course. It's been cold for weeks now and when I mean cold, cold as in winter just came. More reason to cook sou. Below are two different beef soups, they might look the same but they aren`t, both taste awesome though :)

Ooops! I think I put way too much beef fats :)
Bulalo (beef shank soup)
Here comes some of my Pinterest inspired recipes. I will tell you which ones have been elevated to family favorites!

I tried this korean bbq beef short ribs recipe but used pork belly instead. I love this site, the recipes are easy to follow and I bet all her recipes are good!

korean bbq pork belly
I found this stir fry pork belly recipe on Pinterest as well but tweaked it a little in terms of some ingredients, used bok choy instead of spinach, hoisin instead of oyster sauce. I prefer not to stir fry pork belly and would rather go with my usual route of boiling and then frying.

pork belly stir fry
It dawned on me that this will go well with chili oil. I made my first ever chili oil and my life has never been the same again. I added brown sugar to the usual sesame oil, olive oil and chili flakes mix for added flavor and crunch. We now put this on almost everything.

chili oil
Next is this mongolian beef recipe, such a keeper and I`ve put it along with the family favorites. Again, the chili oil made this dish more awesome!

mongolian beef
And here are some more food, the good, the bad, highlights of what we had the past few weeks before and after the move.

chinese sweet and sour
baked lemon chicken
steak
fried basa with cucumber/tomato salad
the perfect chicken
And here goes the perfect chicken. It was actually a spice rub for a whole chicken to be cooked in a slow cooker but decided to try it on chicken breasts then baked instead. Still working on it to make it more kid friendly. But believe me when I say it is the perfect chicken, so perfect I don't even want to share the secret recipe :D

Saturday, February 16, 2013

My Perfect Valentine's Meal

memorable Valentine's Day meal :)
Another busy week has passed. I cannot be more thankful it is the weekend though I still have tons of chores to do but to be honest, I am loving our hectic schedule these days, Friday as the busiest.

The weather was awesome this week. Leila and I had fun walking to school, we also frequented the bakery, did some last minute valentine gifts and of course, Mommy had fun in the kitchen. Attribute my eagerness in the kitchen to Pinterest. I thought I'd never say it, but yes, it is quite addicting.

I will start off with the kids' food. Lance went home from school one day with a bag of snack mix. I told him he can pretty much make his own when we get home. Conversations like this make our walk from school pretty fast. So when we got home, he made his snack mix out of Cinnamon Pops and Frosted Flakes cereal, Bugles, Crispers and chocolate chips. Such a perfect sweet and salty snack mix plus he can't believe the fact that he did his own snack.

snack mix made by Lance
Since we had boxes and boxes of Rice Krispies cereals, I made them into rice krispie treats, heart shaped of course!

heart shaped rice krispie treats
Leila is a pain to wake up in the morning so I surprised her with Ice cream waffle cone waffles for breakfast.

my baby girl's breakfast
I got some free Kellogg's crackers this week and was surprised on how good they taste, even the kids ate them. I will definitely buy this product again!

BBQ crackers with tuna salad
perfect snack!
I may love cooking but some days I just wanna lie down. Pork belly is what we always have in our freezer these days. Season with salt and pepper and they're ready to go the grill pan. No boiling needed and just straight into the pan. Delicious grilled pork belly!

grilled pork belly
one of my favorites!
Another Pinterest inspired recipe is Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Bell Peppers. We had some left over roast beef in the fridge which was perfect for this one. Instead of provolone cheese, I used some cheese slices we already have. One of these days, I'll throw a left over themed party and this is gonna be the star!

roast beef and mushrooms sauteed in butter, garlic and onions
bell peppers stuffed with mushrooms and roast beef, cheese on top
garnished with bacon bits
Today, I experimented on some mackerel. I seasoned the fish with salt, lemon juice and olive oil. Broiled them for 20 minutes, transferred into a pyrex dish where I added, carrots, whole peppercorns, bay leaves, bell peppers, pickles, pickle juice, soy sauce, more olive oil then baked for 30 minutes. Such a pretty sight and so yummy too!

broiled then baked mackerel
Lastly but not the least, hubby cooked this dish for Valentine's dinner. OMG! Best home cooked meal ever. We literally couldn't stop eating it and we felt sad when we finished it. Definitely doing this again soon. It is a combination of two dishes, grilled pork belly marinated in banana ketchup, soy sauce and brown sugar and raw fish (yes, raw!) soaked in vinegar.

fresh tilapia, chopped ginger and onion, serrano peppers, cucumber, coconut milk, lemon juice
pork belly bbq

combination of the two dishes = Sinuglaw
Hands down! Loved this dish. So much flavor from both dishes that complimented each other and made it perfect. It is like two people from different worlds that clicked :D