Cafe Munchkin

Posted By munchkinmommy on February 8, 2010

Last Saturday, my daughter wanted something new and different for breakfast.  She must have gotten tired of cereals.  Hee hee.  I made a quick survey of the fridge and fruit basket and thought I’d make her just that…something new and different, yet hearty and healthy. I came up with a Banana-Strawberry Yogurt Parfait, which I served in a wine glass no less!

My little girl was thrilled when she saw what I prepared for her.  She thought it was fancy.  It’s not every day she gets to use a wine glass for breakfast…or any meal for that matter!   I was done layering the fresh bananas and low-fat strawberry yogurt when I found the fresh strawberries in the fridge, so I decided to just use one for garnish.  After the princess of the household was served her breakfast, I proceeded to make a Strawberry-Banana Yogurt Parfait for myself, this time, I included some strawberry slices…

When my daughter saw what I made for myself, her earlier smiles turned into a frown.  Why?  Because, in her very words, “Yours is prettier.”  *sigh*  Well, she may be right that the second one is a tad prettier.  It must be the strawberry slices or the size of the glass which was a lot smaller, or both.  Believe you me that the strawberry slices were just a mere after thought. What’s a mom like me to do?  I offered that we switch, but she didn’t want to. Oh well, lesson learned.

There are endless possibilities for fresh fruit yogurt parfaits.  You will only be limited by the fruits in season and the yogurt flavors available.  Other than breakfast, this make for a healthy and hearty dessert or snack.

Speaking of “hearty”, February is American Heart  Month.  And this parfait is definitely good for the heart.  Take care of your hearts, y’all!  Eat healthy, exercise and live smart (no huffin’ and puffin’ on even electronic cigarettes!).

Have a great week, y’all!

*This is also an entry for Lasang Pinoy, Sundays (La.Pi.S.) for the theme “Hearty”.*

Category: Breakfast, Desserts/Goodies, Fruits & Vegetables, Healthy Eating | No Comments »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on February 5, 2010

I am happy to report that I am no longer as harassed in the morning as I no longer prepare my daughter’s lunch in time for school drop-off.  I  just bring my daughter’s lunch to school in time for her lunch break.   Am I smart or what?  Hee hee.   It’s been a while since I posted photos of what I’ve been making for my kindergartener’s school lunches.  I may have three decent photos to share.

Baked 2-Cheese Angel Hair Pasta

My daughter loved this a lot!  She ate all the strawberries, too!  The pretzels, however, she didn’t lay a finger on.   To be honest, I placed them in the lunch container because I can’t find anything else to put in that slot.  Hee hee.  Abby’s been a very hearty eater the past couple of weeks and I am ever so glad.

(Blushing) Bourbon Chicken Onigiri

This was Abby’s lunch the very Monday after my Mom’s surprise birthday party.  Why?  Because we had a ton of Bourbon Chicken courtesy of Asian Too (Thanks so much again, Bet!).  I ought to make something like this again next week in time for Valentine’s Day.

Fried Zesty Chicken Sushi

I posted the recipe for Deep-Fried Zesty Chicken a few weeks ago.  Leftovers usually are given a make-over and end up in Abby’s lunch bag. Hee hee.  My daughter loves friend chicken (who doesn’t?!) but she won’t eat it with rolls or rice (at least not in school!).  The only way my daughter would eat rice in school is if it were in sushi form, thus, fried chicken sushi.  A mother’s got to do what a mother’s got to do.

As much as I possibly can, my little girl eats home-cooked lunches in school.  What can I say?  I have fun making my daughter’s lunch in the same way some people have fun playing with their ps3. But on rare occasions when I’m feeling overly lazy, I let her have “tray”, that’s Kindergarten lingo for cafeteria food.

Category: Packed Lunch | 2 Comments »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on February 4, 2010

We were at Costco on the right day and at the right time again!  That was last Sunday, January 31st.  We got ourselves some Fresh Wild (Atlantic?) Salmon and Fresh Ahi Tuna that were packed the same day.  You know what that means…Sushi Night!  And for the first time, I tried my hand at making Nigiri Sushi.

Sake (Salmon) Nigiri…

Maguro (Tuna) Nigiri…

I’ll make sure the rice under the salmon and tuna slices will be flatter next time and not bulging at the bottom like you see in the photos.  Still, I think I did pretty good for my first brush with nigiri, but not good enough to have me going on a job search for a sushi chef position. Hee hee. Want to make your own nigiri sushi?  Check out this how-to video.

The rest of the tuna and salmon, we enjoyed sans rice…

The salmon was just so unbelievably good.  It did say “fresh” on the label. Then again, we can’t really trust those labels a hundred percent, can we?  The salmon did taste very fresh and we were very very pleased. *happy sigh*

This wasn’t the first time we bought salmon at Costco but it was the first time we ate it raw.  Hee hee.  We had the courage to do so after our success with the Tuna Sashimi some 3 months ago.  And by “success” I mean we enjoyed the raw fish and didn’t suffer any stomach bug or anything like it.

The tuna was good, too, but to say that it was upstaged by the salmon is an understatement.

I hope to catch some fish at Costco again this weekend.  I’ll enjoy the Superbowl with sushi for my game day chow instead of chips and salsa.

Category: Seafood, Sushi | 4 Comments »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on February 1, 2010

Are you ready for Superbowl Sunday?  You know game day won’t be complete without some good game day chow.  The most basic of all would be chips and salsa.  Our favorite tortilla chips is the Mission brand.  We buy a huge bag at Costco.  For a while, our favorite dip was a creamy spinach dip.  But because we’re trying to be “good”, we were immediately able to find a new favorite…Homemade Fresh Salsa.

I don’t know why I waited this long to make my own salsa.  It’s so easy to make!  The chopped mangoes I added to the original recipe made it even more yummy.   These days, if I could sneak in some fruits to a dish, I would!  Here’s the recipe…

INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbsp finely chopped onion
2 small cloves garlic, minced
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeds removed, chopped
1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped  mangoes
2 hot chili peppers, Serrano or Jalapeno, finely chopped
2 to 3 Tbsp minced cilantro
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons lime juice
salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Put chopped onion and garlic in a strainer; pour 2 cups boiling water over them then let drain throughly. Discard water. Cool.

2. Combine onions and garlic with chopped tomatoes, mangoes, peppers, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours to blend flavors.

Makes about 2 cups of salsa.

I’ll be sure to double, maybe even triple this recipe next time.  You can add the chilis last, if you like.  That’s what I did because not everyone in our household appreciates spicy food as much Hubby and I do, at least not yet.  So I divided the salsa in two and added chilis only to one of  ‘em.

And to answer my own question at the very beginning of this entry, yes, I am very much ready for Superbowl Sunday.  Although, I would have very much liked to have the Dallas Cowboys playing in it.  Oh well.  Just the same, I’m hoping for a fun and exciting game. May the players be safe.  I’m sure nobody wants them making online life insurance claims.

Have a great week ahead, y’all!  Cheers!

Category: Appetizers | 1 Comment »
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Posted By munchkinmommy on January 28, 2010

It was October 7th of last year when I last decorated a cake with fondant.  I’ve baked and decorated many cakes thereafter but I always find myself taking the easier route when decorating.   That is, I use either buttercream or creme chantilly.  I’m too lazy to knead fondant, not to mention fearful of the body aches that come several hours later.

Saturday last week, I thought I should “re-connect” with fondant.  I made a cake for a sweet little girl’s 4th birthday.  The birthday girl loves Ariel, the Little Mermaid.  So I made  her a Little Mermaid-themed cake.

This a 9″(diameter) x 4″ (height) chocolate cake  with milk chocolate and white chocolate chips. It has a perfectly chocolate chocolate filling.  This is a 360-degree cake.  There’s something to see all around the cake.   Here, allow me to give you a short 360-degree tour.

A slight turn of the cake and you’ll see a school of fish and seaweeds and one of Ariel’s sisters.

Another slight turn and you’ll see the back of the cake.  There are starfish and corals and more seaweeds and more sisters of Ariel.  On top of the cake there’s a happy octopus.

Turn the cake just a tad and you’ll find some yellow starfish and you guessed it, another mermaid sister.

And we’re back in front, where you’ll find the birthday girl’s name on a gigantic starfish on either side of which is a sister of Ariel.  Hee hee.

Now, let me give you a closer look of the top of the cake…

That’s Ariel, of course.  I got Ariel and her mermaid sisters at the Disney Store.  So I cheated and didn’t sculpt them out of fondant.  That allowed me time to play with the details.   All other decorations – the rocks, seaweeds, corals, flowers, school of fish and starfish were fondant and gumpaste.  I used some spiced gum drops as well.

At the back of the cake, behind the rocks is a yellow, purple-eyed octopus. Didn’t I tell you this was a fun cake to make?!  I thought I needed to put something behind the grey rocks and an octopus was an easy sea animal to make.

For the sand, I used crushed graham crackers.

Hubby, my little girl and my mom were constantly hovering as I decorated this cake.  They were very excited to see how the cake would come together.  They also had a suggestion or two.  My daughter loved the cake and was already thinking of a birthday cake design for herself!  Hubby loved that I veered away from my usual pastels and used bright colors.  My Mom, on the other hand, couldn’t help saying that this cake looked better than her birthday cakes (THIS and THIS)!  Hee hee.  What can I say, there might be some truth to what she said.

As for me, I love that I had sooo much fun decorating this cake.  At no point did I feel stressed-out during the decorating process.  I was even humming to myself almost all throughout…”Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun…”  I wasn’t scrambling for time or anything.  For once, I wasn’t late for the party! No achy arms, too!

Perhaps in God’s time and God willing, I can turn my hobby into a business (and secure a business insurance in the process).  Hmmm, maybe.  Why not, right? Like my Mom always says,”It’s free to dream.” *wink*

Cheers, y’all!

Category: Cake Decorating | 2 Comments »
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