FMBM: Easy Teriyaki Chicken Rice

My son has been suffering from toothache and sore throat for days now, because of that I have to prepare lunch for him that's soft and quick to eat. So no chance for nuggets and fried chicken this time. As a result, I discovered a delicious recipe that I can also serve to the whole family for dinner -- the Teriyaki Chicken Rice that I put in his food jar which he can easily eat with only a spork. I added minced Asparagus so that he won't have to eat his veggie separately.

Chicken Teriyaki Rice with Asparagus,
 topped with the crunchy fried chicken skin to
complement the sweetness of the teriyaki.
Mandarin Orange Slices are good soother for sore throat

Preparation:
For fresh chicken, rub it with salt and grated ginger or ginger powder and marinate for 30 minutes. Fry the chicken until fully cooked.

For leftover chicken, slice it to small pieces.

If you have leftover Asparagus, just slice it in small pieces or if you don't, boil or steam about 6 stalks and slice it in small pieces.

In a bowl, mix 1 tablespoon each of Mirin, Sake, Honey and Soy Sauce

fry the minced chicken and asparagus in a pan
with a bit of olive oil

 pour the sauce mix over the chicken and asparagus.
Boil in HIGH heat until the sauce caramelize

Mix the teriyaki chicken with freshly cooked or
leftover rice before putting it in the insulated food jar.

FMBM: Sprinkles Bread Roll

I woke up on a cold morning and for the first time I wished Derek can just buy his lunch from the cafeteria today so that I could curl back to bed. Good thing there's the phenomenal Aldub video to keep me awake while making lunch. It may be "jologs" or shallow but a laugh or two first thing in the morning is the best way to start the day. 

watching from Eat Bulaga's FB page

I wasn't able to prepare anything for this week because of our extra busy schedule, I actually woke up without any idea what to put in his lunch box. All I had was ground chicken meat and green beans, which I sauteed with onions and garlic, and a tablespoon of soy sauce and oyster sauce. 

sauteed ground chicken and green beans with cherry tomatoes as side dish

Derek liked the special sprinkles sandwich I made for his birthday yesterday so I decided to make it again for his snacks today. You just need cream cheese, honey, sprinkles and whole wheat or white bread. It looks better on white bread so the color of the sprinkles will pop up but since we only have whole wheat bread, that's what I used.

1. Cut the sides of the bread and flatten the bread with a baking pin.
Mix a drop of honey with cream cheese.

2. Spread the cream cheese and honey mix on the bread and cover it with sprinkles.

3. Roll the bread and cut it in small pieces.

I didn't have time to wash and slice fruits so I just packed this Sprinkles Bread Roll with some Cheddar Goldfish Crackers which I think its salty taste will balance the sweetness of the Sprinkles Bread Roll.

You have to start cooking the ground chicken before starting on the sandwich so that by the time you're finished with the snack box, the chicken is also done and ready to be packed in the food container. I started preparing at 7:10 am and by 7:35 am, I was done with everything including preparing for his breakfast.

Good enough time for a lazy morning like this. 

FMBM: Leftover Breaded Fish and Green Beans

Feel asleep on the couch last night so I didn't get to prepare anything for today's bento, make it two! because my youngest son is going to the daycare too today. Good thing we have a leftover breaded cod fish from dinner last night, I woke up at 7 am, reheated the fish in the oven while I prepared the steamed string beans and sandwiches for morning recess. Made pancakes too for their breakfast, by 7:30 am their lunch and snack boxes were packed and ready and their breakfast of pancakes, apples slices and milk were done! 

While I do all the cooking, the daddy was preparing our school kid by bathing and dressing him up. By the time they were done, school kid has a 15-minute window to eat his breakfast. I usually do all the food and kid preps every morning but since I had a handful today, Daddy had to help too.

for baby brother, minced and mixed the fish with the rice for easy eating

for big brother

Remember the Velveeta cheese that I cut into heart and star shapes in my previous bento boxes? I've kept the unused part back in the fridge and decided to use it today for the morning recess snack box. Nothing should go to waste!

cut the cheese in small pieces

prepare the snack box while steaming the Green Beans and
 reheating the leftover fish in the oven

place the cheese on top of a thin spread of Strawberry Jam for a salty and sweet taste.

press the sandwich and cut in shapes using
cookie cutters

Strawberry n Cheese sandwich with a side of Carrots Sticks

FMBM: Tapsilog Bento

My version of Japanese Tapsilog, well it's actually TapLog because I used plain steamed rice. Marinated the beef tapa two nights ago so I just needed to fry it this morning. It only took 2 minutes to fry this thinly sliced Tapa and a minute or two to make the rice sandwich with a nori smiley on it.

steamed broccoli, quail eggs(prepared the night before)

Used this hamburger rice maker I bought from Daiso.

place the hamburger maker on top of a nori sheet or a cling wrap (derek doesn't like nori)
then press to compact the rice, add the tapa on top

fold the sheet to place the other rice on top of the tapa

rice hamburger or sandwich! wrapped with a cling wrap

Limiting Toys to Encourage Creativity

A mommy friend asked me to answer a survey form for one of the children's museum here in the Bay Area and the theme is: as a parent how important creativity is for your kid. As much as I put importance to education and skills, I believe that creativity plays an important role on a kid's future because their creativity is the glue that puts their skills together to produce something that's their own. More than skills, Creativity is the key to thrive; to solve a problem, to create a tangible solution and to workaround whatever limitations and resources at hand. 

My boys love to buy play sets, those toys with all materials come in a box with instructions on how to put them together. Most of the time these sets work exclusively, meaning if one new character or version comes along it means we have to buy a new set. We keep buying until we didn't have space for them anymore in our tiny house. Husband and I didn't have a choice but to purge their old toys and stop buying play sets. I replaced them with wooden, and soft blocks, bought Legos and a big box of Duplos from a garage sale. I also made scotch tapes, markers, colors, papers, scissors accessible for them. Unlimited use and unlimited permission to mess the house. 

When they ask me to buy them a new play set that they've watched in Youtube, I just encourage them to make use of their blocks to build their own play set and they can make it as big as they want it to be. Until lately I noticed that they are becoming good in creating their own world for their robots and cars. They've made a race track, a science lab for their Rescue Bots, and many more. Husband and I just discovered a way to stimulate their creativity while keeping our pockets safe.

Kids nowadays don't get to play outside as much as we did before, but they can still use their imagination inside the home. 

Five Minute Bento Mama: TJ's Fish Sticks

I'm still reeling from a long, busy weekend and coming up with colds that's why I had to drag myself to the kitchen to prepare my son's lunch. Fortunately, I have prepared and kept steamed broccoli from two nights ago and added his favorite green grapes for healthy sides.

In the morning I just baked Trader Joe's frozen fish sticks in  375 F for 20 minutes. TIP: always keep frozen, instant food for days like this, when you are not feeling well but have to get up to prepare food for your school kid. The baking time exceeds 5 minutes, but within the 20 minutes it's in the oven you can still do other things like bathe him, prepare breakfast, make him eat breakfast, etc.. so technically, the preparation of putting the baked fish sticks to his lunch box takes less than a minute! This is not for mornings when you are running late, but it's for days when your body could only take a 'toss and go' prep.

Trader Joe's Fish Sticks

And because I still had a little time between waiting for my son to finish breakfast and for the fish sticks to bake, I was able to make something creative with carrots and nori. 

made a smiley using a nori sheet and a puncher

I just tossed crackers, cheese and his favorite Maple cookies for his morning snack because again, I was not feeling well the night before so I wasn't able to prepare anything, not even a sandwich. I can't stress enough that it's really helpful if you prepare steamed/boiled veggies days ahead so your kid can still enjoy something healthy even if you're feeling under the weather.

for morning recess

Five Minute Bento Mama: Green Mung Beans Stew

This must be the quickest lunch box I've prepared in the morning. I learned that the key really is to prepare the night before, particularly while you're preparing dinner. Just one swoop and you have dinner and lunch box for tomorrow.

I woke up around 7:00 am and before the clock struck 7:05, I'm done!

Cooked Green Mung Beans Stew or Mongos in Filipino the night before which I kept in the fridge for my two boys' lunch the next day. Cooked rice before I went to bed, and when I got up the next morning, I just reheated the Mongos, mixed it with steamed rice and put it inside the insulated food jar to keep it warm until lunch time. Green Mung Beans is a good source of protein.

rice and green mung beans in the Totoro insulated food jar from Japan

Also, the night before I made his favorite Cookie Butter sandwich and sliced watermelons for his snack. Just keep it in the fridge, Peanut Butter Jelly or Cookie Butter sandwich stay fresh in a tight container or sandwich bag for at least three days.

animal food picker makes a cute and easy food decor. put sliced fruits on a cupcake
liner so its juice won't spill to the sandwich

Five Minute Bento Mama: 5分で弁当ママ

When my son started Kindergarten, I have developed these fears before going to bed. I fear that I won't be able to wake up early to prepare his lunch box, worst wake up really late that my son will miss a class and what if the car won't start in the morning or we lose the car keys? Kindergarten is not just a whole new world for my son but for husband and me too. To lessen these fears, I start with preparing food ahead of time so that if ever we wake up late, my son will still have food in school.

This is one big adjustment for me because for the past three years in preschool, hot lunches were served in school everyday. Now when I think about it, I will be preparing his lunch from Kindergarten to High School (worst case scenario). As much as I want to be creative like Japanese bento mamas I follow in Youtube (Okaeri and Ochikeron), I know I just don't have the time and I don't want to wake up earlier than 6 am to prepare intricate lunches because I will need energy for my little toddler who stays with me for the whole day. One time in summer, I tried to follow the Lego Bento and it was a schedule disaster! I spent too much time making the carrot blocks that I was 30 minutes late in picking up my toddler from gymnastics class and by the time I brought the lunch box at my eldest son's soccer camp, all his friends were already done eating! (and he gobbled the carrots Lego blocks in less than a minute because he was starving).

So doing away with all characters and graphic pizzazz of a Japanese lunch box, I'm keeping the healthy and appeal aspect of it without the hours of preparation. Hence, the Five Minute Bento Mama that I will occasionally add here in my blog to give mommies some ideas of a quick yet healthy lunch box that even the working moms can do. Of course there are times when the time of preparation will exceed the five-minute mark but rest assured that everything can be done before your school kid finishes his/her breakfast.

Today's bento is Brocolli, Apples and Rice-Tuna Onigiri. I've prepared the Broccoli Florets and Apple Slices the other night. Rice was cooked the night before. Steam/boil the broccoli, and soak the apple slices in pineapple juice  for less than a minute (because I ran out of lemons) and keep them in the freezer/fridge. I started slicing onions and cooking the tuna in can at 7:12 am, and by 7:14 am I was already forming the rice and tuna onigiri. For that touch of creativity, I just made a nori smiley face with a puncher to go with the star and bear shaped onigiri. Don't be fooled by these tiny star and bear, it's one cup of rice compressed tightly with the help of onigiri maker.

small containers are the best to use because they are compact
which keep the food intact no matter how much your kid shakes it.

Rice-ball maker and the smiley face puncher. Let rice overflow the Onigiri Maker
before pressing it for a more compact rice ball that don't break inside the lunch box.


Here's a snack that you can prepare the night before, a mix of cream cheese and cookie butter sandwiches kept in the fridge.
A good friend in Japan gave me this idea, cut the sandwich in different shapes using cookie cutters (which I also bought from Daiso). My two boys love these!