Its a Zoo out There Bento

Sliced kiwi, Clementine orange, little bowl of carrot sticks and

cherry tomatoes with little zoo animal food picks. I found out

that these little "lunchables" fit perfectly in my sandwich container =D

Ham and Egg Wraps

1 whole egg

3 egg whites

sliced deli ham, chopped

2 large whole wheat tortillas 

1/4 cup shredded Medium Cheddar Cheese 

 beat whole egg, egg whites and ham until well blended. Heat nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Add egg mixture; cook 3 min. or until set, stirring occasionally.

Then spoon egg mixture down centres of tortillas; top with cheese. Fold in opposite sides of each tortilla, then roll up burrito-style.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls and Grilled Pork over Rice Noodles

Vietnamese Spring Rolls and

Grilled pork over Rice

Noodles

For the spring rolls I purchased all the ingredients in my

local grocery Safeway store. They can be found in the

asian section of the grocery store. So we need the rice

noodles shown to the left and the spring roll wraps shown

on the right. 

The secret to making spring rolls is to make sure all your

ingredients are prepared ahead of time and cut

up ready to go. I start marinating the pork for these spring rolls

the night before or early morning of the day of. I used

a pound of pork loin but you could also use pork shoulder or butt.

This is the marinade for the grilled pork:

1 lb pork chops, loin, butt or shoulder. Sliced thin.

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 shallots, minced

1 Tbs fish sauce

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil

In a plastic zip lock bag, combine all the 

ingredients. After marinating over night or for several

hours, grill pork (the grilled pork tastes best when

I can grill it on the outside grill in a grilling basket)

but being in the winter I just use my cast iron grill

pan.  

Making the noodles: 

These noodles, unlike regular pasta noodles only

need about two minutes cooking time and they 

are ready. In a pot boil the water and then 

add the noodles. Stir around. After about two minutes

of cooking, drain and run cold water over the noodles

to stop them from cooking further and they need

to be cold to wrap them into the rolls

Let's Wrap!

About 6-10 rice paper wrappers

a bowl of warm water that we are going to dip

one at a time the rice wrappers. 

Leaf Lettuce

Cucumber, cut into long very thin slices so

it is easier to roll into the wrap

fresh mint and cilantro

Bean sprouts

Carrots, sliced thin and then set in a small bowl

and sprinkle sugar all over the sliced shredded

carrots and let stand for about 15 minutes until 

they become limp

Rice noodles

So here we are all ready to go with the ingredients:

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of warm water, dip each rice paper wrapper 

for about 10 seconds until it is pliable...place on a plate or work 

surface  on work service. Lay the lettuce as your first layer to add

strength to your wrapper, then place the pork, herbs and the 

other vegetables. (you can also add shrimp but due to its

Cholesterol content I left it out) 

 Roll up spring roll about 1/3 way through, then fold in the sides

(just like a burrito)  

Serve with hoisin peanut dip.

Hoisin Peanut Dip Recipe:

1 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 Tbs rice vinegar
2 garlic, crushed
1 minced thai chili, or more for desired spiciness

GRILLED PORK OVER RICE NOODLES

I used the extra rice noodles and put them into a bowl

then added the rest of the grilled pork on top

then the same vegetables used for the spring rolls

and the same herbs mint and cilantro. I then chopped

up some peanuts and sprinkled on top. Then you 

make a sauce that will be poured all over on top

and you mix everything together.

Here is the sauce recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar 

3 tablespoon lime juice

Add fish sauce, water, sugar and lime juice in a small bowl and mix well. Make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.

Friday Pizza Night cooking with Kids

Pizza making night with the boys...we gave

this a try and it turned out pretty yummy! I actually

like how the crusts turned out! 

Bananas For you Bento Lunch

Bananas For you Bento Lunch

Chicken salad sandwich, carrots, broccoli,cherry

tomatoes, cheddar cheese shaped in leaves and

a banana

Chicken Fajitas and Spanish Rice

Wednesdays are usually my favorite day of the week! 
Not exactly sure when Wednesdays were noted as my 
favorite but it always seems that good things happen on 
Wednesdays and its also garbage day and don't you 
just feel like all renewed after garbage day? lol! Well tonight 
was not one of my favorites it was quite chaotic actually...after 
a day of cleaning and I pick up my 5 year old Jayden from 
school and within a half hour of being home he does this: 

100 piece puzzle everywhere! Then my 3 year old 
son Ian yells out his newly favorite "bad word da**it" really
 loud. Off to time out they went in their rooms. As I started
 to make dinner and trying to get ahold of my heart strings 
listening to the cries behind their closed doors...my 
"creation station"  aka the kitchen started to look like this:

yes... chaos. What you also don't see in this picture

is the bulk of yellow onions purchased from

Costco that went rolling all over my kitchen floor and my 

little "Princess" ran over to see what fun and grab the onion skins 

and began to rip them all over the place as I was trying to pick

 them all up

yes,,,she went on time out too. I was trying to sip on my 

cup of tea while cooking to "remain calm" and I found this in 

my spice cabinet:

the thought did go through my mind if it might go 

"with tea" =D

Ok anyhoo....let's tie the Apron strings and get started 

with the recipe on :

Spanish Rice

1 cup onion, chopped (1 large)

1 cup green bell pepper, chopped (1 Large)

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder 

4 tablespoon no salt ketchup

3 1/2 cups cooked white rice (better cold leftover rice =D)

2 cups no salt tomato sauce

2 cups no salt stewed tomatoes

1 cup of Chicken broth (I use organic from Costco)

1 cup of salsa 

First heat up some oil in your pan and fry the garlic for a minute or two and then add the onions...cook the onions for a good five minutes until they become clear. Then add the rice and other ingredients to 4 quart sauce pan. Cover and simmer on low heat 40 minutes.

The slow cooking allows the flavor to blend and green pepper and onion to become tender. 

Chicken Fajitas

The Marinade

1 bottle Zesty Italian Dressing
1 tbsp Worcestershire
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cilantro

Chicken cut into strips. Marinate for at least 4 hours. 8 hours or overnight is best.

1 Yellow Onion, cut in 1/4 inch strips

1 Green Pepper, cut in 1/4 inch strips

1 Red Pepper, cut in 1/4 inch strips

1 Yellow pepper, cut in 1/4 inch strips

The Extras

Whole wheat tortillas

Sour Cream

Avocados

Mexican-style shredded cheese
Salsa 

Directions:

Combine the chicken/marinade with the pepper and onions and mix well
Cook the mix together on the grill in a grill basket or wrapped in foil. If grilling's not an

 option (or it's cold out), you can cook it inside in a large skillet. 

Pooh Theme Bento Lunch

Sandwich is strawberry jam with sliced

bananas

carrots cut out like flowers with a little cookie cutter

slices of cucumbers, cherry tomatoes

cheddar cheese cut out in pooh cookie cutters

strawberries and grapes and a little Clementine

orange topped with a leaf food pick