Foodarrific

The baked potato is a favorite in our household. It’s one of those things I can throw into the oven and leave to pick the kids and it’ll be done by the time I get home. Potatoes are a healthy carb and for those of us who just can’t live without carbs, potatoes are great.

You can eat this as a main dish which we often do unless the kids are particularly hungry, then we might throw in a protein which then makes this a side dish. Anyhow, eating potatoes is like celebrating Earth Day every day because that’s where potatoes come from, the earth.

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Who doesn’t love chocolate chip cookies? Well, I know they’re big in this household only this time, we’re going to bake them ourselves.

The very simple recipe we used:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Cream butter and sugars together.

2. Add in egg.

3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Add slowly into butter mixture and mix well after each addition.

4. Finally, add chocolate chips.

5. Use a spoon or ice-cream scoop to heap spoonfuls of the dough onto a greased baking tin.

6. Bake in preheated oven of 375 degrees F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

These chocolate chip cookies are so good your kids will stop their nintendo ds games to grab their fill, I guarantee. You must give these a try!

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This is one of the dishes that I prepared for my son and stored in the fridge to be eaten later. It’s so easy and so healthy you’ve just got to try it.

I used:

• 2 heads of broccoli, cut into large florets
• 0.5 bag of baby carrots
• 1 clove garlic, finely diced
• 1 small slice of salmon
• mushroom/oyster sauce
• cooking oil
• salt and pepper to taste

First, I heated up some oil in a non-stick pan on medium to low heat.

Place the slice of salmon, lightly salted and peppered, in the pan and let it fry slowly first on one side, then flip over and allow to fry until cooked through and both sides are lightly brown. This should take roughly 10-12 minutes.

Remove the salmon to a plate. Using a fork, break up the salmon into flakes and remove the bones. Leave aside.

Add a bit more oil in the pan on medium heat and lightly fry the garlic for a 2-3 minutes till fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic or it will taste bitter.

Throw in the carrots and add a splash of water and leave it for about 5 minutes to soften up.

Add the broccoli, a dash of mushroom/oyster sauce and a sprinkle of pepper. Stir-fry for approximately 5-7 minutes till the broccoli is cooked. Watch closely to ensure broccoli is not overcooked or it will turn yellow.

Serve on a plate (or in my case, I placed in a Rubbermaid container for refrigerating) and top with the salmon flakes.

And that’s all there really is to it. It’s really tasty and goes well with pasta, noodles or rice.

My son had some fruits left over from the fresh fruit baskets we got for Christmas and he ate those for dessert.

Filed under: AsianFoodlish TalkFor College KidsHealthy EatingKid-friendlyQuick & Easy CookingRecipesSeafoodVegetables by Chili Queen - No Comments →

Chicken Fingers are a perennial favorite in our household. When all else fails, chicken fingers to the rescue! I’m really not much of a stickler for recipes. I generally just make up the recipes as I go along depending on what I can find in my pantry or my fridge.

I created this version here when my oven refused to work.

It’s really simple and crunchy. You just need some chicken breasts cut into long strips and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for an hour or so. Heat up a good amount of cooking oil in a wok or deep skillet.

Beat up an egg (or two, depending on amount of chicken breasts you’re using). In a plate, combine 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of bread crumbs. Dip the chicken strips in the beaten egg. Dredge them through the flour and breadcrumb mixture to coat evenly. Deep fry till golden brown. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce.

You may also like to check out another recipe I posted earlier for Finger-Lickin’ Good Chicken Fingers. These are oven-baked and probably won’t have you running out to look for the most effective fat burners because they’re less fattening.

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Guess what I had for lunch (and dinner) last weekend? I can’t believe it myself because it’s been ages since I’ve even thought to cook my favorite loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodles.

The name sounds horrifying, I know. I’m not only a Chili Queen, I’m also a Drama Queen ! I translated and spiced up this name for special effects and if all goes well, I might even copyright the name and make a movie about it, heh!

Loh shee fun is not really rat’s tails, of course, they just look like rat’s tails . You can either eat it in a soup, just like any other kind of noodle. But I prefer it dry as in sans soup. Very simple to whip this up at home. You ready?

I cooked 1kg of loh shee fun and 1kg of kuay teow, or flat rice noodles to feed my troops, but you can use any amount depending on the number of people you’re feeding. Place the noodles in a colander and run it through your Grohe faucet to rinse if you like. Then bring a pot of water to boil and use it for blanching the rat’s tail noodle and choy sum, or mustard green.

I’m not going to list actual measurements for the sauce since that depends on how much noodle you’re cooking. Just adjust the sauce ingredients to your own taste. For the sauce, you need:

• dark, thick soy sauce
• oil
• sesame oil
• oyster sauce
• soy sauce (in place of salt) and white pepper to taste

Have all of these ingredients in a large bowl. I also stir-fried some minced pork with some oil and chopped garlic which I added into the bowl. Lastly, add the blanched loh shee fun, or rat’s tail noodle, to this and mix well.

Garnish with chopped spring onions and cilantro (I didn’t have any handy). Serve piping hot with shredded fresh chillies. I prefer bird’s eye chillies for that added oomph! Simple, ya, just a one-dish meal and so so delish. And less of a choking hazard for younger kids than the regular mile-long noodles.

Filed under: AsianKid-friendlyMeatOne-dish MealsQuick & Easy CookingRecipesRice & NoodlesVegetables by chili queen - 1 Comment →