Make ahead meals

One Last Second Grade Baon Week

March 20, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 1 Comment

Home stretch is finally here!!! We’ve officially got only one week left for this school year, and I am so proud of Little MrC and I for surviving our first year of school lunches. I never thought we could do it, but we did. I feel so happy.

I originally thought that because this would be the last baon week for the year, it would be more special. I’m sorry, I was wrong. I honestly just want to be done, I want summer to be here already, and so my final baon week is simply ordinary. Also, after giving it a lot of though, I have decided to put a pause on the baon planning over summer, first so that I can build some excitement for the coming year, and second, because I don’t always pack lunch for MrC. I will still be sharing a featured recipe on each Thursday of the week, though, so there still is something that you can look forward to each week.

If you’ll notice, my grocery list and menu plan has specific brands of food, particularly in the snack portion. That’s because I’m finishing up whatever I still have on hand here at home. Also, I’ve decided to make use of some kitchen friendly friends to make life simpler. For the breaded pork chops, I’m using McCormick Season’n Fry. For the chicken teriyaki, I bought bottled Kikkoman roasted garlic marinade and used that instead of making my own from scratch. Twice I’ve placed ready to fry options into the menu – Bounty Fresh Top Torikatsu and Century Smoked bangus belly.

My recipe for this week is a typical Filipino dish, pork steak, that our old helper used to make with a twist. The twist is that the dish is a little sweeter than your normal pork steak, and the soy sauce is watered down, resulting in really pale meat. Honestly, not everyone likes it. My dad thinks it tastes like soap. My brother and I love it though, and we would have this for our packed lunch many times when we were little. So, I figured it would be a great packed meal to use for my little boy’s last lunch in school as a second grader.

Manang's Lomo

2014-03-20 03:24:05

Not your ordinary pork steam

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Ingredients

1/4 kilo pork tenderloin (lomo) cut into medallions
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
The juice of 1 calamansi
1/4 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil or butter for frying

Instructions

Combine all ingredients and marinade the pork overnight in the refrigerator. Yes, even the water.
Fry the pork medallions in butter or olive oil.
Pour the marinade over the meat and let it simmer. Reduce the sauce to your desired thickness, and you're done.
Serve with hot rice.

Notes

You can totally adjust the amount of sugar in this if you find the dish too sweet.

By MrsC

At Home With MrsC https://blissbysam.com/

I think that this is a pretty kid-friendly dish, but still, let me know if you get to try it and if it works for you. Here are this week’s downloads:

Baon Plan for March 21-27

Grocery List for March 21-27

So excited to be taking a break from my 5AM kitchen routine! Hooray for summer vacation!!!

New Babies Are On Their Way + Our Lunch Box Menu for March 7-13

March 6, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 7 Comments

Two very good friends announced this week that they are expecting! I am so, so very excited for them. These are moms who were pregnant around the same time I was carrying Little MrC. Our older kids are batch 1 of our barkada babies. Now, with the recent delivery of another good friend to her first baby boy, plus those two new ones on the way, batch 2 is officially here!

Part of me is starting to wonder if it’s time for us to have another kid. Believe me when I tell you that a lot of people have been telling us to go for it already, with my grandfather being the most persistent of all. I’m honestly not sure I’m ready for another baby just yet. I can barely make it through the day, drama-free, with my one little boy. Oh my gosh, the thought of having to get up at 5am to cook breakfast and baon while pregnant sounds a little wacko to me. But anyway, I am setting these baby thoughts aside for now to focus on baon, which is what this post is about, anyway.

Do you like this featured image? I’m not too sure about it just yet.

First, a few adjustments.

I never realized that I could use a WordPress plugin for my recipes until a couple of hours ago. Oh my gosh it makes life so much simpler! So instead of the downloadable PDF recipe, I will now have recipe cards in these cooking at home posts. Super bonus, there is a template that matches my blog look perfectly. It is so meant to be.

Also, last week I said I’d share more seafood recipes, with it being Lent and all. But alas, I realized yesterday that I rarely cook seafood, and already I shared the one fish dish I am confident about last week. So, sorry but this week’s featured recipe is a beef dish. And I promise to prepare more dishes that don’t contain any meat with feet in the coming days so that I will have something to share next week. Anyway for Lent, I am abstaining from meat with feet, so I really do have to figure out what I can cook anyway.

This week’s recipe.

On we go, here is my featured recipe for the week. It’s a beef tapa recipe that was sorta kinda based on my grandmother’s tapa. We can never get it exactly right though, because she buys a certain portion from a certain cut of meat from her one and only supplier, and that’s what makes all the difference. Me, though, I’m happy with any cut of good beef. Just make sure it’s sliced real thin, and there’s a little bit of fat in there.

This is a dry, sweet-salty tapa. I have yet to try making one that’s a little saucy, kinda like Tapa King. If you have a recipe for that kind of tapa, please share! I chose this recipe for the week coz my friend, Jane, requested for it. So yes, I do accept requests! Though it might be a wee bit ambitious right now, but I will definitely try to make whatever it is that you ask for.

Beef Tapa ala Mama

2014-03-05 18:18:32

A dry, salty beef tapa with a tiny hint of sweetness.

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Ingredients

1/2 kilo Top round beef, sliced super thin
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 tablespoon iodized salt
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
Cooking oil for frying

Instructions

Wash the beef slices well to remove majority of the blood.
Combine the sugar and the salt and massage the mixture into the beef.
Add soy sauce for colour.
Marinade for at least an hour, but best if you could do this overnight
Fry each strip of beef until it is dark brown. Be careful not to burn this!

Notes

When choosing your beef, try to find a portion that has a strip of fat on one side.
Since the marinade used for this tapa is very basic, you will really need to find good beef, otherwise it won’t taste as good.
If you can’t find top round, tenderloin will do. Just make sure that it’s sliced thinly.

By MrsC

At Home With MrsC https://blissbysam.com/

Oh my gosh, isn’t that recipe card just PERFECT?!

Download time!

I don’t know if there’s a plugin for a downloadable menu plan or grocery list, but I don’t think I’ll go that far. So this week, you still get my boring old PDFs, but that’s okay, right?

Lunch Box Meal Plan for March 7-13

Grocery List for March 7-13

So, I just want to know if you’ve been able to try any of the recipes I’ve posted so far. I’d love feedback. My boys seem to think that everything I cook is delicious. A second opinion is definitely in order!

Lunch Box Menu for February 28 – March 6

February 27, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 12 Comments

I can’t believe that we are officially entering the last month of the school year! I just realized though that my baon packing days are continuing on til the summer because MrC will be needing sustenance at work. It’s easier with him, though, because I can pack him frozen meals that he can microwave at the office when lunch time rolls around. Anyway, I think I’m getting ahead of myself. Time to deal with the upcoming week first.

Lent is fast approaching and that means I am going to do my annual “no walking meat” panata (promise/commitment). So expect to see more Lent-friendly seafood recipes over the next few weeks. I’ll still be plotting meaty dishes into the meal plan for the boys, though, so those of you with carnivorous taste buds need not worry.

This week’s recipes

This week, I am featuring an easy Baked Fish in Garlic Butter with Dill recipe, which I’ve never posted before, and my super winner Chicken Adobo in it’s new downloadable PDF format. I’m also adding my ever-so reliable Banana Bread recipe, which isn’t exactly mine because I found it in a library book, but I can’t remember what book it was. Yes, I decided to share 3 recipes again this week. And I made sure to make them downloadable. Oh, I also added “branding” on my downloadable content heehee! I forgot to do that last week.

I also am doing a repeat performance of the Beef Salpicao I made last week. Like I said in my previous baon post, each batch of marinade and freeze meals that I do are good for two separate meals. If I don’t get to use them up, I’ll have a rerun week where I clean out the freezer and cook whatever’s there. So I’d rather mix one or two of last week’s dishes in with new stuff for the coming week. I think it’s more fun that way.

Since the baked fish isn’t something you can prepare ahead and freeze, I’m using an old photo of a batch I prepared for a Christmas gathering with friends last December. Sorry it’s kinda blurry. I’ve already put “A phone with a better camera for Instagramming” on my wishlist.

Here’s a tip. If you’re packing this for someone who has no access to a microwave, don’t the butter sauce into the lunchbox. The butter tends to solidify when cold, and unless your kid or spouse (or you) like chewing on butter chunks, it won’t be good. Trust me. The cooked fish will be flavorful even without the additional butter.

Grocery notes

The grocery list has everything you need for this week, but if like me, you still have things like sandwich crackers or cooking oil in stock, then you obviously don’t need to buy more. Also, I didn’t put any quantities per item coz it will really depend on how much food you need to prepare, and how many people you are cooking for. There are quantities for ingredients in the recipes, though, so you can do the necessary adjustments. I’m bad at math, so you might wanna just do the multiplying and dividing yourself.

Download away!

Here’s the menu plan for February 28 to March 6 . And here’s the matching grocery list . The recipe links are below:

Happy cooking and happy eating! Let me know which recipes you’ve tried, and which ones you like best.

Lunch Box Menu for February 20-27

February 19, 2014 by MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan 27 Comments

My car is coded on Thursdays, which means I’m stuck in the Republic of Alabang. I’ve decided, therefore, that Thursdays will be my grocery day. However, this week, I did my shopping on a Wednesday. As in today. Yes, that’s how bad I am with schedules. But anyway, the important thing is that I’m all set for another week of lunchbox preps for the boys.

What’s new after the hiatus?

I stopped posting my weekly lunchbox menus because they were starting to get boring to write, and I thought they might have become boring to read, too. After thinking about how I could change it up, I’ve decided to post what’s on my food list for the coming week instead of what I prepared for the week that passed. That way, I can share my marinate and freeze recipes, too, or whatever recipe I would like to feature for the week. I like this because it will encourage me to actually get to work in the kitchen and not allow my lazy self to buy pre-marinated or frozen packaged meals. So yes, beginning today, the weekly lunch box menu plans are back!

BONUS: I’ve also decided to include a grocery list. My, my, I’m being ambitious, aren’t I? Well, let’s just hope that I keep on keeping on with this, at least until the end of the school year. Then I can tweak things again over the summer, in time for class resumption in June.

And there’s one final new thing about this weekly series. All menu plans and grocery lists are now gonna be downloadable in PDF format. Yay!

This week’s featured recipes

Yup, recipes. Plural. I really wanted this comeback to be major. And oh my goodness, I really hope I can keep doing this each week. Anyway, all recipes for this week are marinate and freeze ones. I like to prepare ahead in case I wake up late or just won’t function so early in the morning. These should all be marinated before they are frozen, as in right after you get home from the supermarket, if possible. Then you just transfer them from the freezer to the refrigerator before you go to bed so that they are nicely (and safely) thawed in the morning.

Recipe #1 is a Beef Salpicao dish based on one that I found in one of my many Yummy magazines. You will need:

1/4 kilo Beef tenderloin, cut into cubes
1.5 tbsp Minced garlic
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Black pepper
1.5 tbsp Olive oil
2.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp Light soy sauce
1 small can Button mushrooms
Salted butter
Toasted garlic to serve

Combine the garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and light soy sauce, then pour over the beef tenderloin. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. Then saute the beef in butter, throw in some whole button mushrooms, and top the cooked salpicao with toasted garlic. Best served with steaming hot rice!

Recipe #2 is also based on a Yummy magazine find, and one that I’ve already written about before. Here’s what you need for this Rosemary Garlic Chicken:

1/2 kilo Chicken thigh or breast fillet
1 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Rosemary
1/4 tsp Black pepper

Mix everything together, pour over the chicken and marinate for at least 30 minutes. Then you simply fry the chicken in a little bit of oil, and you’re done! This is good paired with mashed potatoes. I usually add a side of corn and carrots when I pack this for my boys’ lunches.

Recipe #3 is a quick and easy Fried Liempo dish. You need:

1/2 kilo Thinly sliced liempo
1/4 cup Soy sauce
1/8 cup Calamansi juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Just like the chicken, you just mix everything together and let it marinate for at least 30 minutes. Fry the pork in oil and serve with rice, ideally garlic rice, and atchara. Yum! For lunchbox purposes, I’ve paired this dish with sauteed pechay, so that it’s a little bit healthier.

Time to download!

You can download the lunchbox plan here and the grocery list here.

I usually split each of these recipes into two separate containers before freezing, since each batch is enough for two separate lunchbox days for the boys, with a little bit left over for my lunch at home. That way, I can opt to thaw only what I need for the day. So in case you aren’t feeding that many people, you might want to do the same, too.

Oh, and if you don’t pack lunch for anyone, you can actually still use this meal plan at home.

What’s cooking in your kitchen?