We chanced upon Jusco having an American Food Fair recently. It doesn’t happen very often so the kids just went berserk!

They grabbed two flavors of pop tarts and Reeses peanut butter cups and candy before I could stop them. Kids !

Then the cute little Pillsbury guy caught their eye and they just had to have the pancake syrup as well. Oh well, okay, since it’s been years since my last bottle of maple syrup.

Of course, with pancake syrup in the fridge, it was only a matter of time before I had to make the obligatory waffles. I found my waffle maker tucked way back out of sight and dusted it out.

Unfortunately age has caught up with my old faithful waffle maker and it no longer produces beautiful golden heart-shaped waffles. Instead it now makes two-toned waffles due to the uneven heat distribution.

Well, looks ain’t everything, like they say, it’s the taste that counts. My waffles are still the best, according to my kids, bless them . Gotta start looking for a new waffle maker.

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I had two cans of mushroom carbonara sauce sitting around. They came free when I bought two bottles of Prego pasta sauce.

The last time I used sauce from a can, my kids didn’t care for the taste. So what was I supposed to do with these two cans? Cook ‘em, of course .

I used:

• 2 cans of Prego mushroom carbonara sauce
• 1 large onion, diced
• 6 slices of back bacon, sliced long
• spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• dried parsley

Boil the spaghetti till al dente. In a non-stick pan, lightly fry the bacon in olive oil for about two minutes. Then add the onions and saute till they become translucent.

Pour in the carbonara sauce. Use a little water to rinse out the cans and pour that in as well. Bring to a simmer and add the spaghetti to the sauce. Mix well. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley.

I prefer mixing the spaghetti in the sauce while it’s still in the pan to spooning the sauce over the spaghetti because I find the sauce is more evenly distributed and sticks better.

Linguine or fettucine would’ve gone better with this sauce but I was fresh out of those so I used spaghetti instead. You can be really flexi with this and use any pasta you like or happen to have sitting around. Enjoy!

It’s the weekend and the kids don’t want the same old breakfast they eat during the school week. Frankly it’s only on the weekend that I have time to make French toast, and even then, it’s very plain.

To make 6 slices of French toast, I just beat up 3 eggs with a pinch of salt. Heat up the pan with a blob of butter. Then dip 6 slices of bread into the egg mixture, one by one, and let them soak up the egg for a bit.

Lift each slice into the pan and fry lightly first on one side, then the other, till cooked through or browned. Basically, that’s all there is to it.

On a whim, I decided to spruce things up a little, add a little variety to the same old, plain old. I spread some honey on each slice of French toast, and lay a few pieces of bananas, cut slantwise, across the toast. Mmmm, it’s the best! Nothing like it. So yummy and healthy.

On super-busy days, the baked potato is a real time saver. My kids love it and I don’t hear a single complaint. A mom’s dream come true, huh!

There’s very little work involved and it only needs 3 ingredients:

• 7-8 medium Russet potatoes
• 6 slices of back bacon, cut into little square bits
• butter

I scrub the potatoes clean, wipe them dry and give them a quick coat of oil on the outside. Pierce each potato a few times with a fork and place them on a microwaveable dish or on a sheet of aluminium foil inside the microwave oven.

Microwave on high for 15-16 minutes. The rule of thumb that I use is about 2 minutes per potato so it’s 8×2=16 minutes. The more potatoes, the less total time you’ll need.

The burning question you probably have by now is how do I produce a baked potato from microwaving ? Well, I could bake the potato at 350 degrees but it’ll take me an hour or more. Time I don’t have. So excuse the shortcut but it’s faster this way .

I fry the bacon in my non-stick pan till it sizzles and gets crispy. You don’t need to add any oil to the pan before frying because the little bit of fat on the bacon is sufficiently oil the pan. I prefer to use back bacon because it’s less fatty.

Once done, the potatoes can be removed. I make a slice lengthwise on each potato. Watch the steam, be very careful and be sure to warn the kids that the potato is very hot.

Top the potato with a generous blob of butter and bacon bits. Sometimes I sprinkle with chives or spring/green onions if I happen to have some around.

There’s endless ways to top your potato, of course. With tuna, sour cream and chives, broccoli and cheese, corned beef and onions, cream cheese and herbs… go ahead, be creative.

So there you go, another meal with any number of variations that won’t take you more than a few minutes to throw together. If you eat this outside at the deli, each baked potato easily costs you rm5-7. If you ask me, that’s crazy for something so simple that you can make at home.

My cousin’s kids practically grew up on macaroni and cheese. She swears it’s so easy it’s not even considered cooking. She throws a handful of cheese over some macaroni and sticks it into the microwave oven.

My kids have always refused to eat anything that even looks like mac and cheese so I’ve never had the occasion to make any. Never mind, I guess it’s not too late.

This week, Steev, my eldest, has suddenly decided he’s got a thing for mac and cheese after tasting it at Friday’s twice last month. I do agree it does taste pretty good but my girls still wouldn’t touch it.

My recipe is actually pretty simple. Here’s what I use:

• 5 handfuls of macaroni
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• butter
• salt and black pepper to taste

I get a pot of water boiling. Salt it a little and add the macaroni. Meantime, I grease a deep baking tin with butter. When the macaroni is soft, I pour it into the tin.

I make a roue with cornflour and water, and pour it in. I would use milk but because of the recent melamine scare in China, I decide not to. So in goes the roue over the macaroni in the tin.

Then I pour the breadcrumbs in. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well with the mac. Top off with the cheese and bake at 180 degrees F for 25 minutes.

The smell is heavenly. Steev gobbled up this entire tin of mac and cheese for lunch. I admit the end result isn’t as rich and milkily cheesy as it’s supposed to be. Next time, I’ll use milk.

As you know, I’ve been searching for a few good bagels. They aren’t that easy to find around here but ever since I introduced my kids to them, we’ve practically gone on witch hunts for bagels.

Lately, we chanced upon the newly-opened Vienna Bagels on the lower ground floor of 1 Utama’s new wing at the spot previously occupied by Auntie Anne’s Pretzels.

We were just in time to catch their opening special where we buy one and get one free. My kids picked the Italiano (top right), Katsuo (bottom right), Sparkling Cheddar (center) and Dark Flakes (left).

Notice how the cheesy ones are rather burnt and messy. They look like they came out of an amateur kitchen, neither very professionally done nor pleasing to the eye.

Vienna bagels are also rather small, about two-thirds the size of what I would consider a regular bagel. I didn’t try the sweet bagels but I tasted the cheesy, savory ones and they are definitely way too salty.

Having said that, I just had to put up a picture of the box because I love the design. Lastly, I should add if you’re trying to decide between bagels and doughnuts, go for the bagel! Bagels are healthier being boiled, then baked while doughnuts are deepfried.

I have half a bag of Tesco’s spiral pasta left. I bought them to try but they’re much softer than my regular Australian brand, San Remo. My kids, the picky eaters that they are, knew right away that it was a different brand.

Today I decided to camouflage the softness of the spiral pasta by using them in my pasta bake. My kids loved it so much they didn’t notice the difference at all. Haha, gotcha !

Okay, here’s what you need for this very simple pasta bake.

• 2 cups of fusilli, or spiral pasta
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely cubed
• 100 grams of ground pork
• 2 cups Prego pasta sauce
• 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• drizzle of olive oil
• dried parsley

I first boil the spiral pasta in lightly salted water. I’m not worried about keeping it al dente because I’m going to bake it afterwards.

While waiting for the pasta to boil, I prepare the sauce. Drizzle some olive oil on my non-stick pan to saute the onions, garlic, carrots and ground pork.

I add some water to soften the carrots before adding the pasta sauce. Bring to a quick boil, give it a quick stir and remove from heat.

I grease a baking pan lightly with olive oil. Next I throw in the drained spiral pasta, pour the sauce over it and stir to mix well.

Top off with a generous amount of the two cheeses and a quick sprinkle of dried parsley.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. I turned off the oven but left the pasta bake in while I went to pick up my daughter from school. Twenty minutes gives the pasta time to absorb the sauce and for the cheese topping to brown a little more.

I had a fairly large pan (photo shows a quarter of my actual pan), enough to feed 3 hungry teens just back from school. The spiral pasta was soft and made a great base.

The dish wasn’t too meaty but had a bite to it. Although I used quite a lot of onions and garlic, the taste wasn’t overpowering. Very nice. Go ahead, give it a try .

It’s back to school next week which means it’s back to preparing school lunches. I’m usually quite calm about it because I’m the type who can stick my head into the fridge and come up with something wierd but edible .

I’ve got 3 picky eaters who also happen to be teens. And if you know teens, they’re (1) always hungry and (2) very moody. So it can be a challenge trying to please everyone.

My policy is to keep our lunches simple yet tasty. It’s much better than me slaving long and hard in the kitchen for something my kids won’t even want to look at, let alone eat.

So I go with the flow and take note of what foods get raving reviews. This round, Mom’s chicken pie, toasties and bacon and cheese baguettes have been voted their top lunch favorites !

You can find more lunch ideas and recipes here that have worked out very well for us so far.

I remember many afternoons spent in my girl friend’s kitchen in California pigging out on bagels as we chatted and gossiped and laughed. Sweet memories! That was when I fell in love with bagels.

I finally came across some bagels recently at Yamakazi, a bakery tucked away just two doors away from the Cold Storage at the new underground bridge between Midvalley Megamall and the Gardens.

Like a desperado, I quickly grabbed 3 bagels - Raisin, Blueberry (left) and Poppy (right) - as if the shop is going to run away . Turns out these bagels weren’t anything I remember bagels to taste like. The search is not over. I’m back to square one.

My kids want something to snack on while watching the Olympics. Since we don’t happen to have crunchy snacks around, I suggested making them chicken fingers and french fries. There was a huge resounding ‘yay’ from my kids!

I first made these chicken fingers a couple of weeks back. I was doing a post for Four Foods on Friday about oven bakes when the sudden inspiration for this recipe struck me like lightning.

The chicken fingers turned out to be an instant hit with my kids ! Okay, tell me, which kid doesn’t like crispy, crunchy boneless chicken pieces??

The recipe is very simple. I just use chicken breasts cut into broad strips and marinated salt, sugar, pepper and chilli powder for an hour now.

Again I’m using the ‘grandmother’s method’ of not measuring the ingredients but just using approximates. If you like spicy, add more chilli powder otherwise tone it down, it’s all up to you.

Then I drizzle a little cooking oil over the pieces to lightly coat them. Then dredge the pieces through a combination of flour and finely-grated parmesan cheese. Line up the strips on a greased tray and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or till golden brown.

Served with french fries, the kids tell me it’s just like eating McDonalds or KFC! Thing I love is these are oven-baked so they’re not greasy. They’re crisp and the parmesan cheese is what makes it taste so-oo good. Great Olympic finger food!