At Home With MrsC

Raising a family, making a home.

Meal Plan

Chickenpox, House Arrest, and a New Meal Plan

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I didn’t get to make a meal plan for last week. Life, basically, got in the way. Then, just when things were starting to ease up, my son came home from school with chicken pox.

Ah, the life of a mom in all its crazy glory.

So now, we are on house arrest, for fear of spreading germs. Today is day five, and MrC and I have agreed to only go out whenever absolutely necessary. So far, it’s been for quick runs to the market, grocery store and drug store.

We’ve each watched a good amount of TV and done some reading. The kiddo has spent more than his usual allowable time on his phone and playing games online. The truth is,  we are now officially bored. Lol. 

On the upside, it has also been a productive 5 days so far. We finally took down the Christmas tree. I did some baking so that we have yummy snacks to munch on. MrC cleaned out our living room and the storage area.

 

Plus, of course, we’ve gotten to spend time with our speckled child, who has been in need of distractions to keep him from scratching. We’ve seen a few movies, played board games and video games, talked, and hung out. Truth is, it feels like Christmas break all over again, minus the quezo de bola.

The last few days of January has been a time for recovering, resting and recharging for this family. That, and restocking the fridge. So without further ado, here’s what came out of my (messy) kitchen last week. Notice how things got significantly better mid-week, post-chicken pox discovery.

And, in case you missed it, I’m also sharing the previous week’s meal plan, which I posted on IG. Add me there @mrspcuyugan!

mrspcuyugan
Here’s Meal Plan #4

 

I also made some changes to my blog design today. It’s nothing major, since this is all that I can manage on my own. I tried to super tweak before, which ended up killing my blog, and I promised never to do that again.

I love this new layout because it’s so clean and the post photos are larger than the ones in my previous one. I plan on having the whole site redone towards the end of this year, though, to make it look more “me.” Do you guys have any amazing designers to recommend for this? I have a few in mind, but I always like to make sure that I have options.

mrspcuyugan
Could you guys do me a favor and say a little prayer for this guy’s healing?

 

Tomorrow, just like today, the kid and I will be together at home, figuring out what to do with ourselves. MrC is going back to work, so at least he gets a change of pace. Then again, I’m glad I get to be on chickenpox watch. I’m happy I get to take care of the kiddo myself. This is precisely why I quit my day job.

Recipe: Baked Fish in White Wine Butter Sauce

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Another week, another meal plan!

This week is going to be a busy one for me, and so I’ve chosen meals that are easier to prepare (as in, can be made or marinated ahead,) especially where baon is concerned.

I also have a lot of leftovers sitting in the refrigerator and freezer, and I really have to make sure to use these up before my next grocery trip. At the moment, I have no room to put in anything new. Time to get creative with recycling, and mixing and matching. Sigh. Small fridge woes.

mrspcuyugan
2016 Meal Plan #2

 

If you’ll notice, Saturday is “assorted leftovers for lunch day” again, just like last week. I often find myself with small containers of random things, like a piece of fried chicken, 3 slices of tapa, tiny portions of corned beef, etc. and this is my way of making sure none of them go to waste. We sometimes call this our weekly Tupperware buffet.

Speaking of last week, I made a really nice, super easy baked fish dish for a potluck dinner party with the family over the weekend. Here’s the recipe for that, in case you guys wanna try making it at home, too. 

Baked Fish in White Wine Butter Sauce
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Ingredients
  1. One pack of fish fillets (You may use sole, dory, pangasius or tilapia)
  2. Salt
  3. Pepper
  4. Parsley or thyme
  5. Paprika
  6. Olive oil
  7. 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
  8. Half a head of garlic, minced
  9. 1/4 cup White wine
  10. The juice of half a lemon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Season fish fillets with salt, pepper, parsley or thyme, and paprika. Arrange in a baking dish and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.
  3. In a small sauce pan, melt butter. Once melted, add the minced garlic and cook until it is as toasted as you desire. Add white wine and lemon juice. Allow to simmer then remove sauce from the heat.
  4. Spoon sauce over the fish fillets. Bake, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until flakey. Serve hot.
Notes
  1. The sauce may be made in the microwave by simply placing all the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and nuking it on high for a minute or two.
  2. If you don't have an oven, this dish may be prepared on the stove. Make the sauce in a deep-ish pan, then once cooked, arrange the seasoned fish fillets over the sauce. Cook, covered, over very low heat.
Adapted from from a Pinterest pin that I can no longer find
Adapted from from a Pinterest pin that I can no longer find
At Home With MrsC https://blissbysam.com/

 

So, on to this crazy week, then. Wish me luck! And while you’re at it, maybe you could share what meals you prepare for your families on hectic days and weeks. I’d love to have more ideas for my future meal plans.

Have an amazing week, everyone! 🙂

What’s cooking this week (January 4-10, 2016)

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Fact: Meal planning helps me be more efficient when it comes to our household budget and minimizing food waste. It’s something that I enjoy doing, too.

mrspcuyugan
First meal plan of the year! I will start sticking my hand-written menu plans on our fridge for easy reference.

 

Since we moved houses six months ago, I’ve attempted to do this regularly, and this year I plan on really sharing our meal plans with you guys. I say really because I know I’ve said several times that I’d do this, but I’ve constantly failed to, so, yes, really this time.

For this first week of January, I started off with a near-empty fridge and freezer because I made sure to use up as much of our holiday leftovers as I could before the new year. My grocery shopping was done with soup on my mind because MrC hasn’t been feeling well, and any kind of soup always helps him feel better. 

mrspcuyugan
For your cooking inspiration, here’s a clearer version of my first meal plan for 2016.

 

And here are some of the recipes I’ll be using this week:

In the interest of saving less, which is also one of my goals for 2016, I really hope to stick to my set meal plans. The truth is, though, that we deviated already today. Lol. The kid and I had ice cream and fried siomai at Mini Stop for our PM snack, and then we had dinner at Sinigang by Orange Whisk!

Lol. Oh well. We’ll do better tomorrow.

mrspcuyugan
Tinola fail – I forgot to buy sili leaves, so I ended up putting cabbage in my tinola today instead. Diba mukhang brains? Haha, too much The Walking Dead!

 

What’s cooking in your homes this week? Do you plan your meals ahead, too?

September #BaonPlan

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Hello, September! I can’t believe you’re here. It’s been a full and eventful 2014 for me so far. It feels like the end of the 3rd quarter is coming around so quickly, and yet it also feels like this year is such a long one.

September, just like the months that came before it, is gonna be a full one. MrC and I are celebrating our anniversary in 10 days. This month also marks my 3rd blog anniversary, and I’m thinking of a nice give-back giveaway for my mommy blogger and WAHM friends. It’s the 4th month of school, and a start of a new term for the kiddo. The third grade has been quite challenging, but it looks like we’re doing okay. I have a bunch of blog events and activities on my calendar also, and that’s sure to be fun.

I have to admit that between mommy-ing, homemaking, MrC time, and writing for work, it’s becoming a challenge finding time to blog. I really want to continue posting often, regradless of how busy I become. Guess I just really have to make time for it and streamline my writing process. Or something. One adjustment that I’m making as of this moment is instead of 2-week baon plans, I’m going for a monthly post now. I feel that this will allow me less writing time and more cooking time, which is something I need.

Baon Sept
More baon, more fun!

 

I’ve made sure to put a hyperlink on all the recipes that I took from the internet, whether they’re from this blog or elsewhere. It’ll make recipe searching easier on all of us! And, just like before, if I get to try a recipe that I particularly like, I’ll make sure blog about it so that I can share it with you guys. Oh, and I also hope to make use of my newly acquired bento skills. Sana.

So, here we go with September’s Baon Plan. I included a pasta dish each week, and I’m extra excited about those. You know how pasta is my happy food. I also added lots of baked stuff as snacks, since my oven and I are now friends again. Hope you guys like the dishes I put together!

Class Suspensions and Lazy, Rainy Days + Baon Plan #4

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Like I said last week, I adjusted my baon plan posting by a week because we had almost a whole week without school thanks to the crazy storm that was #GlendaPH. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen that our place was a cross between Jumanji and Jurassic Park, sans the large animals.

Thankfully, apart from having no water for 2 days and no power for 4 days, we were all okay, safe and dry at home. Our only casualty was the rear windshield of my dad’s trusty old Nissan Vanette, which had an acacia tree fall on top of it, breaking the glass. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Mom’s car and my sister’s car under some branches. Thankfully, these weren’t hit hard.
The tree that squished the van.

 

This Week’s Featured Recipes and Baon Plan

After the storm, life got really busy for me with back to back projects and work galore. And of course this is great, but it also means that I’ve had less time to prepare meals. This baon plan is perfect for hectic or busy days, because it requires very little thinking and not a lot of effort either. 

I have three featured recipes this week. One is a Honey Balsamic Pork Chop recipe that’s actually my Glazed Tuna Recipe but with pork chops instead of tuna steaks. There’s also a Beef Tapa Recipe that my cousin shared with me, based on my grandmother’s tapa. This is a dry kind of tapa, sort of like a jerky. The last featured recipe is for Longganisa, which I got from Market Manila. I cook this giniling style so that I end up with crispy, garlicky bits.

Here's a quick peek into the lunchboxes for Baon Plan #4
Here’s a quick peek into the lunchboxes for Baon Plan #4

 

Click here to download this week’s baon plan. To check out my past lunchbox plans from Grade 2 and Grade 3, click here.

 

Promise to share another baon plan in a couple of weeks, and hopefully a new recipe before then. Here’s to an awesome August for all of us!

   

Steak With Cheese Sauce + Baon Plan #3

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Confession: This post is dated Thursday, July 10, but I am writing it on Tuesday, July 15.

July has been good for me so far, where my WAHM Life is concerned. That means though that time management has been a challenge. I’ve not been able to find time to write, mostly because my days have been full. When I did have a couple of hours or so to spare over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been either napping or reading because my brain has been too tired to think. Today, though, classes are suspended in the Muntinlupa mountains, and so I basically have no responsibilities – no baon to prepare, no school bus driver duties, and no homework. Yay for me! I just really hope that this typhoon (which has yet to be felt) is not as strong as they say it will be, especially since MrC is off to work today.

I thought I wouldn’t have time to write today, but it seems like the kiddo is more excited about the prospect of catching his weekday cartoons over spending extra time with mommy, so while he’s glued to the tube, I’ve decided to blog. Yay for me, and yay for lazy, pajamas-in-bed kinds of days. I’d make hot chocolate but so far it’s still too hot and humid for a hot drink.

A sneak peek into what’s on this Baon Plan

Among all of the things listed on my queue, which sadly has pending posts from February pa (I know, so irresponsible), I’ve decided to work on my baon plan first. I love that I’m actually able to help out a few moms by posting what I pack each week. I also love that my mom friends and blogger friends recommend my baon plans to other mommies. I must be doing something right, right? 🙂

Okay, moving on.

 

Last Week’s Test Recipes

I didn’t get to make Parmesan Chicken Fingers because I forgot to buy breadcrumbs. Instead, I made a quick an easy Chicken Popcorn using Del Monte Quick N Easy Breading Mix. I just cut up some filleted chicken thighs into 1″ cubes, dumped them in a plastic bag with the breading mix, shook it up and fried in a bit of oil. The kiddo really loved this. 

Chicken Popcorn in the lunch boxes
Chicken Popcorn in the lunch boxes

 

For the  Balsamic-Honey Glazed Pork , we used pork chops instead of pork loin medallions. It was actually my mom who prepared this, and we had it for dinner at home instead of baon. I liked it, but the little boy wasn’t that happy. I guess this appeals to more mature taste buds.

 

This Week’s Featured Recipes and Baon Plan

This week’s baon is based on what I actually packed for the boys over the last two weeks. You can even see some of them in the first photo in this post, and on my Instagram feed. While I still think that planning ahead helps, especially when it’s grocery shopping time, I also like to prepare food that I feel like making on that particular day. That explains why I sometimes deviate from my own baon plan. Lol. 

Featured recipes from this blog are my ever-so-reliable Breaded Pork Chops and my Chicken Menudo . I also have Bangus Belly ala Pobre on the menu. I used store-bought bangus for this, and the brand that I like is Sea King. But I really want to start marinading my own from scratch. I think I will try this recipe from Casa Veneracion because it looks so simple. I also am sharing with you the easiest steak recipe ever with cheese sauce to match. This is one of Little MrC’s favorite dishes. The cheese sauce makes it super kid-friendly.

 

Lola Terry's Steak With Cheese Sauce
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Ingredients
  1. Beef tenderloin
  2. Knorr Seasoning
  3. Salt and Pepper
  4. Oil for frying
For the Cheese Sauce
  1. 1 cup Fresh milk
  2. 1 small bar Quickmelt cheese, grated
  3. Knorr Seasoning
  4. Pepper
  5. Pan drippings from the steak
Instructions
  1. Rub salt, pepper and Knorr seasoning onto each side of the steak. The amount of seasoning you use will depend entirely on your taste. Let the meat sit for a few minutes to marinade.
  2. Heat oil in a skillet and cook the meat to your desired doneness.
  3. Transfer the meat from the pan to a serving plate, and let it rest for at least 15 minutes before slicing.
  4. Lower the heat on your stove and slowly pour in the fresh milk, stirring as you pour to prevent curdling.
  5. Add the grated cheese. Simmer until melted, stirring occasionally.
  6. Adjust seasoning with Knorr and pepper.
Adapted from Lola Terry's Homecooking
Adapted from Lola Terry's Homecooking
At Home With MrsC https://blissbysam.com/
Click here to download this week’s baon plan. To check out my past lunchbox plans from Grade 2 and Grade 3, click here.

Thanks for stopping by! I’ll have another lunchbox menu ready for you in two weeks.