Foodarrific

The kids made it through Day 1 of our vegetarian diet… except Steev couldn’t resist chomping down two sausage rolls for lunch and two chicken nuggets for dinner, and the girls had fishballs for dinner.

They did surprisingly well and ate the veggie dishes I’d cooked for myself us all which were rather plain – fried long beans and fried iceberg lettuce – as I was a bit tired after coming back from downtown.

I didn’t even get around to sorting out my vegetarian recipes as I intended. I wish I’d stacked them up nicely like I used to do with my piano sheet music so I wouldn’t have such a hard time getting them organized now, duh! Oh, never mind, I’ll get around to them… eventually .

I haven’t decided yet what I’ll be cooking today but it’ll definitely be more exciting than yesterday’s.

Filed under: Foodlish TalkVegetarian by chili queen - No Comments →

Right, so here we are in the month of Wesak. Wesak Day falls on May 9 and in celebration, I decided to do something different this year. I’m going vegetarian for a month beginning today. Strangely enough, it started out with just me going on this vegetarian diet. Last weekend, I was telling my kids about it. They’re all carnivorous and vegetable haters .

But guess what, all 3 of them volunteered (I swear I didn’t threaten them) to go vegetarian for a month with me. And I’m going, wow, this is a miracle. Even now, when we go vegetarian every two weeks, they’re quietly complaining about the food. I can hear their muffled sighs when they see what’s on the table. So this is great!

When I get back from downtown later this afternoon, I’m going to sort out my chaotic recipe collection and see if I have any interesting vegetarian recipes to try. Trouble is my so-called recipe collection is all over the place.

I’ve got recipes scribbled on scraps of paper, sometimes with no titles even (duh!), some in my computer, some on memory sticks. I’m not sure which is going to be harder – sorting through my vegetarian recipes or remembering not to order/eat meat when we’re eating out .

Filed under: Foodlish TalkVegetarian by chili queen - No Comments →

DH bought these fruit preserves from Japan. I guess the picture says a thousand words. Taste and texture-wise, these fruit preserves closely resemble the apricot preserves that are sold loose at the grocery stores.

They’re quite chewy and what I really like is that they’re not too sweet and you definitely won’t need a dose of atro phex after you eat this because these snacks are not fattening. This is one snack I can crunch on my vegetarian days too. You can check around your local Japanese grocery sections to see if they sell this.

Filed under: AsianSnacks & DessertsVegetarian by chili queen - No Comments →

The first day of Chinese New Year is always vegetarian day for us. It’s a tradition initiated by my grandmother that’s all about respecting life and not killing which is also one of the Five Precepts in the Buddha’s teachings.

So we have a one-dish meal that we eat with rice for both lunch and dinner. One big pot of this cooked early the first morning saves us the trouble of cooking two meals.

It’s a simple stirfry of black Chinese mushrooms, foo chook (or beancurd sheets), cabbage, choy sum (or mustard greens), fun see (or transparent glass noodles), gingko nuts and chopped chillies. This is what we ate two days ago.

Filed under: AsianHealthy EatingOne-dish MealsSpecial OccasionsVegetarian by chili queen - No Comments →

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.

Filed under: Kid-friendlyOne-dish MealsPastaQuick & Easy CookingRecipesVegetarianWestern by chili queen - 6 Comments →