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.

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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.

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!

I just haven’t been able to resist buying baguettes lately. My kids love the different toppings I’ve been putting on them. And obviously what better time to stuff yourself silly with baguette than when they’re on sale. Two for the price of one is so worth it.

I made this for breakfast last Sunday and again for lunch this week on my kids’ request. Simply lay strips of cheddar cheese slices along the length of the baguette and top off with a strip of streaky bacon. Pop them into the oven toaster for about 8-10 minutes.

I tell ya, the smell of bacon crackling in my oven toaster first thing in the morning is heavenly. I rarely buy streaky bacon but the bits of fat in it really do add a great sizzle of flavor.

If you’re making these as hor d’oeuvres for a party, you can cut the baguette into shorter lengths and stick a fancy toothpick in the center.

When I was pregnant with my two older kids, I used to run across the road from where I worked and order my favorite sandwich from Oliver’s Super Sandwiches during lunchtime.

I tell you, I’m such a sucker for their very substantial sandwiches crammed with fresh veggies and meat that I’ve always wanted to replicate them at home. But of course, not quite to the extent that they pile up theirs sky high.

Cramming a club sandwich into one mouthful to be quite a challenge, even more so for the kids. So I have my homemade club sandwiches less bulky, hence less likely to unhinge anyone’s jaw .

I just toast 3 slices of bread (white for now, till I can somehow convince my kids to like wholemeal). Butter the bread lightly.

Then I start layering one slice of ham, then sliced cucumbers, the second slice of bread, one slice of cheese, then sliced tomatoes, and finish off with the last slice of bread.

Stick a toothpick right through the center to hold all the layers together. Slice the club sandwich diagonally with a sharp, serrated knife and it’s all ready to go into a lunchbox or a growling tummy. Sweet !

We haven’t had pizza in a while. At one stage, the kids were eating too much cheese and they were starting to turn pudgy, so we really had to lay off. Cheese isn’t all bad and the kids do love pizza. So I decided to do a pizza on as a baguette topping for Skye’s lunchbox.

What you need are just a few simple ingredients.

• a baguette, cut into foot-long lengths, then split down the middle
• pasta sauce
• frankfurters, sliced
• grated mozzarella cheese
• grated cheddar cheese

I first ‘butter’ the pasta sauce on the baguette slice spreading it rather thick. I use Prego as it’s already flavored with herbs and mushrooms and whatever else. I don’t have to add anything to it.

Next I roughly distribute the round slices of franks all over the open-faced baguette and top off with a generous sprinkle of mozzarella and cheddar.

Because we were going to have to bake these in batches anyways, I decided to use my toaster oven. Shove in about 4 slices for about 8-10 minutes till the cheese is melted.

My kids say this tastes like ‘the real thing’. I say it beats the thin crust pizza because it’s slightly thicker (so it’s more filling for someone like me with a skyhigh metabolic rate) and oh so crispy on the outside.

On occasion, I also like to have a variety of other toppings on my baguette. You can get more interesting ideas for baguette toppings here.

Skye stays back after school a few days a week, and I have to bring her a lunch box on those days. I know it’s a drag staying back on stifling hot afternoons so I try to cheer her up by bringing her surprise lunches that I know she loves.

This means I have to pretty much cook up something different each time. That’s why I started a new category for lunchbox ideas for the lunches I’ve been packing for her.

The other day, I was making chicken nuggets and needed french fries to go with them. I don’t normally do fries at home. I figure they’ll never taste as good as the ones at McD so I might as well buy from there.

But this time, I had a bag of frozen french fries in the freezer, the first bag I ever bought to try.

It doesn’t take long to deep-fry them, just about 5-6 minutes max.

See, they turned out very nice and crisp, not greasy even though I drained them in a strainer and didn’t use kitchen rolls to absorb the remaining oil afterwards. Skye loved it. Trouble is I can’t remember what brand french fries these are.

At wedding dinners, the second or third to the last course is usually fried rice or hor yip fan, fried glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves. But at the wedding we went to recently, they served spicy fried rice. What a twist!

I was going to give this course a miss like I usually do. I’m not much of a rice person though most people assume that being Chinese, I should love rice by default .

At any rate, my kids convinced me to try this. They say it’s different and it’s tasty. In fact, they liked it so much (my kids? rice?) they made me conjure my own recipe for it. The verdict: “it’s the same as the one we ate that night, Mom”. So I guess I didn’t do too badly, eh .

A simple twist to the same old fried rice. You need:

• a large bowl of cooked rice (leftovers would be great)
• a handful of medium-sized shrimp, deveined and cut into 2 or 3 smaller pieces
• French beans, diced
• carrot, diced
• fresh red chillies, finely chopped
• a tablespoon of chilli powder
• garlic, finely chopped

I’m using the ’simply grab and go’ method of measurement here, just like my grandma used to do it. Proportions depend entirely on your own preference and those you’re cooking for.

I like it hot with lots of veggies but my kids can’t take too much heat and “we hate veggies!”. So I try to strike a happy medium.

First of all, I heat up some cooking oil in my wok and flavor it with the garlic. Then I add the carrot, French beans, chillies and chilli powder and saute till fragrant.

The shrimps go in next. Stir that around for a bit so it absorbs the flavors before you add the rice. Season to taste and you’ve got yourself a one-dish meal with carb, veggies and seafood. Goes great with a hot cup of Chinese tea afterwards.

Skye, my 12-year-old daughter, stays back after school on certain days of the week and I’ve been packing lunch boxes for her. Chicken pie is a favorite and easy enough to make, especially with ready-made pastry. The weather is so hot and humid these days I try to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible.

This pre-packed Kawan brand pastry I found at Tesco comes in packets of 10 squares but you can use any brand from your regular grocery store. It’s very inexpensive and works like a charm, just be sure they’re at room temperature before you use them.

For the pie filling, you’ll need:

• 1 chicken breast, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/4 carrot, chopped
• 1/2 cup chicken stock + dash of salt, pepper and black pepper

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil till soft and fragrant. Add carrot and chicken stock. Cook on medium heat till carrots are softened. Add chicken and let it simmer down till there’s very little sauce left.

Grease your baking tray with butter or margarine. Lay one pastry square on the tray. Scoop chicken filling into the center of the square. Remember you need to cover the top of that with another pastry square, so put in too much filling. Otherwise the sides of the pastry might split open during baking.

To seal the edges of the pie, press down with a fork to create a serrated effect. Pierce the top a few times with the fork to let the air escape when baking. Lastly, brush the top of the pie with egg yolk to give it that beautiful golden finish.

Bake at 180C (350F) for about 20 minutes. See how beautiful it turns out. The pastry is really soft and flaky. The filling is entirely made with fresh ingredients so it’s pretty healthy.

You can make this the night before and pack a lunch box to the office. Heat it up at the office and everyone will soon smell it and head to your desk! A great way to save on gas and lunch money too, don’t you think ?