Sibuyas Republic

We have been snubbing this small store for eons. Whenever I would go to this mall, I had to pass by this small alley where food kiosks were located. I would often saw students queuing up at this small ice cream corner. The kids, with their strong scent for something sweet had prodded me to try this one out.

This so-called Granitaholics with eye catching and colorful menu had sundaes, ice creams cones, and milkshakes in affordable prices. I had tried the huge sugar cone ice cream. Which was, at 15 pesos, hmmm, not bad. The little miss had this sundae smothered with the usual choco syrup topped with toblerone. Though, I wasn’t sure or, err, I doubt, if it was toblerone, after all. For 39 pesos this cup…okay, will give a three out of five:)

The niece who had the same order gamely pose for me…

Here they are, enjoying their soft ice cream inside the DINO, who lived up to its name…eating out tokens much to my dismay:)

Linking this post to Color Connection, Pink Fridays

The college daughter arrives home for the semestral school break. Yesterday, she went to see her dentist to check her braces. Today, she and her siblings plus few cousins went to the nearby swimming resort. Hubs and me were very confident she could take care of her two younger sibs.

Bought pork chops and chicken wings and have them barbecued as their “baon”. Also, I added up this pork sisig, in case the barbecue will be consumed fast. Kids are really into meats, don’t they?

I used to call this sisig variation as a “healthier sisig”. Why? Sans the pork liver I used pork liempo and added lots of tofu.

Ingredients:

• half kilo liempo

• 25 pesos worth of tofu

• calamansi juice

• minced onions

• 1 tbsp. liver spread

• 2 tbsp. mayonnaise

• salt and pepper to taste

• chili (optional)

Cooking procedure:

• Fry the liempo and the tofu. Cut into small pieces.

• Mix all the ingredients.

The kids loved the fried tofu and its crunchiness.

Have a  Yummy Sunday everyone:)

Woke up a little bit late today. The lad’s school schedule suddenly moved from 8 to 4 pm from the usual 7 to 3 pm class. One big advantage for me. Need not wake up 5:30 in the morning. My bad. I’m not really a morning person/mom. But, the lad said, he prefer going to school earlier and coming home earlier, too. He said, he could do all his school works earlier. I can share his sentiments. Coming home tired from school, he would have his snack and drinks then he would start reading in his room. He could not go to the Barangay gymnasium to play basketball longer.

School is much too tedious for the lad. Sigh! Today, he requested that fried egg be added onto his lunch box.

breaded pork, fried egg, fried rice

Just a small lunch box, the lad didn’t want a bigger box (TEENS!). Plus small servings of rice. He would get frantic if he sees the box half-filled with rice. Dieting, maybe^_^. He’s 13 now. A lot of physical changes have been manifested since his 12th birthday.

A lot have been changing for the kids lately. The little girl is having death anxiety…The lad had recently had a brawl with some teens in the community…I’m a little stressed up myself! Good thing I was reading Abraham Lincoln quotes, thought I needed few words of wisdom to keep body and mind functioning well…Isn’t it hard to be a mother?

As soon as school year begins, schedules in the house makes a 360 degree turn. No more late night television, no more computer games during school days and lights off after nine in the evening or even earlier as soon as the kids finished their studies/homeworks.

Last night, the lad was still up until ten in the evening because they have a school project which needed to be passed the following day. It was a project on their Biology class taking  photos of the development of a  mono-cot seedling. After pasting all the photos in a bond paper, he needed to put caption in each pages. When I did checked on him right after dinner, he was on his computer searching for plagiarism free paper. He said, he was running tired and would be happy to sleep early. His school start at seven in the morning the next day. Got pity for the son. He needed homework essay help.

After 30 minutes researching for other term papers similar on his project, we finalized the caption and after rechecking for errors, finally, the project was finished and the printed copy came out nicely and neatly done.

This morning over breakfast, told him to study well so that the next time they will be having another class project, he’ll be the one to do even constructing the correct grammar on the caption. It ain’t like he’ll be needing essays writers all the time.

Wished I could prepare much healthier lunch boxes for my kids. Mommy Clang of Kizuna, always makes healthy lunches for her two adorable kids. Her bentou were most pleasant as well as nutritious.

Last week, I made stir fry corn kernels, carrots and potatoes with chicken strips for the lad…the lunch box went home only “HALF EMPTY”…Not that my kids were picky eaters, in fact, they love veggies, especially the lad…but, that recipe was a reject on his tummy…Was it the way I cook? I’m such a bad mommy chef ^_^!

What I did over the next days were to conceal the veggies. But, most of the times, I am running out of ideas to cook as “baon”…

On, Sunday while the family is devouring chicken and fries, I made potato cream dip as catsup substitute…

POTATO CREAM SALSA

mashed potatoes

sour cream

cheddar cheese

salt, sugar, ground pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients together and it’s done.

Can be used as salsa dip, or as loaf spread  top with sliced ham or veggies of your choice.

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I am a mom for 19 years now. Kids’ ages were 18, 13, and the little miss below is 7. Imagine preparing each year for their birthdays!

Birthdays, even the simplest celebration entails lots of work, more expenses…more COOKING…at BUDGET RECIPES…

The pink flower cake that was “mistakenly” acknowledged to us, instead of the “true recipient” who paid for it, the celebrant’s “ate”

cake from Edna’s Cakeland Cabanatuan City

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Jessica Soho reported on her tv program at GMA News in Channel 11 about how Filipinos can be resilient in times of crisis. That we can survive hardship that comes along in everyday lives. Sometimes, basic common sense can be more valuable than an online nutrition degree or accounting certifications.

Being the queen of the household, budgeting has given me too much pressure and headaches. Wrinkles and graying hair strands were the proof. Budgeting is a way of savings. Every homemaker wants to save  without slashing the quality of the products or services offered to family members.

Probably a third of a household’s budget were allotted to food. High cost of food products necessitates everyone to tighten out food consumption. There are alternative ways to get savings out of food budget without sacrificing the nutritional value of the food served to our family.

On Monday, the little miss in the house celebrated her 7th birthday. May is the month were expenses were at its peak. Having to save for the kids tuition fees, and school needs like school supplies and uniforms. There were more. Expenses keep on coming.

Thus, to grant the little girl’s wish for a birthday celebration, I need to come up with alternate choices. Healthy alternative options, I guess.

Will there ever be a kiddie birthday without the all-time favorite chicken and spaghetti?

HERE’S THE SPEND-LESS ON THOSE FOOD DISHES:

• Instead of the usual spaghetti with ground pork, I used chicken breast (P125/kilo) which cost less than pork (P170/kilo).

• Instead of Campbell’s, I bought Knorr cream of mushroom for the Carbonara.

• Instead of the usual canned fruits to make fruit salad, I bought fresh fruits. There’s a lot of fruits in these summer months, I combine watermelon, cantaloupe, and apple and pour over a small can of pineapple juice and ice cubes on top. Sans heavy cream and condensed milk, I am sure this is healthier, esp. for the kids.

• Instead of fried chicken, whose batter is a mix of flour, egg and bread crumbs which are costlier and read, not a healthy option. Thus, we made chicken barbecue, charcoal-grilled.

• Instead of the usual white sugar, I used brown sugar for the leche flan, (of course the eggs are free from our native chickens^_^).

• For the lumpiyang shanghai, of course lots of veggies will make great pork extender. Adding tofu (tokwa) to the pork mixture will be a healthy alternative instead of the usual all-ground pork mix.

Best of all, great savings were the birthday cake and a gallon of ice cream ^_^. It was a gift from the celebrant’s “ate”. Sweet:)

Each morning, this little would-be seven miss (in a week’s time, yey!) would wake up to make her own chocolate drink.  And, at bedtime, she’ll prepare her own milk drink, too. Hmmm, I like the independence.

There she is with her yellow Dora cup, and, another cup for her “kuya” (brother), too. Isn’t she sweet?

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All’s finished as per my planned scheduled after a busy week. House chores were much easier and faster when kids would helped in the work. Yipee!

House is clean and fresh. Laundry’s finished. Did my marketing earlier in the morning. But didn’t cooked anything special for the kids. They have been screaming for “chickenjoy” since yesterday. We promised to tote them along tomorrow for our usual grocery shopping in the city. They can’t wait.

So, I made this simple lunch earlier for the kids. In a way, thanking them for their help. (once in a blue moon^_^)

Of course, granting their fried chicken (wings) meal...

Complete with potato cream gravy…

But of course, some fried potato, in case the youngest misses her French fries...

So, there. The kids’ fast food favorites. Laden with fats, as the chicken and potatoes were fried. But, knowing the products used and IT IS HOME COOKED, it’s a healthier option.

With ripe mangoes as desserts? It’s my kids favorite.

*Dining out means shelling out extra money. Homemakers (mommies) should think about ways to curb extra or unneeded expenses.

*When going out  with my family, we always make sure we go out after lunch, thus, we only need to have a snack at the city mall. Or, maybe, going out late in the afternoon. Missing out on snack time, instead, a dinner before going home.

*Harder times, plus the fact that we should consider that most food kiosks or restos does not offer healthy foods these days. Instead, most are laden with fattening ingredients. Great to lure cravings but not so good for the kids.

Ooppsss, messy. This is what happened when mommy’s not around to feed her kids. We were busy attending to visitors who came at my mother-in-law’s wake. Her untimely passing last Black Saturday sends us to her house almost everyday, and every night…for six days.

Glad that we live in the same barangay.The kids were able to go home every night. The Ate was to take charge of her two siblings. On the second night of their granny’s wake, we coached them go home and reheat the left-over chicken adobo on the fridge.

Guess, that didn’t happen as manifested by this photo. We had tacos the week before and so there’s still one box left of taco shells and salsa dip which I happen to stacked up on the fridge. The youngest, as seen in this photo, filled her shell with the dip and cheese only. She didn’t like cucumber and romaine lettuce. AW! The Ate and the Kuya, enjoyed the 2 veggies. They missed out preparing diced onions and tomatoes, they didn’t like them on their tacos, obviously ^_^

Can you imagine the mess when we came home later in the evening? Yes, the piles of dishes in the sink, the table mess in the front porch… The Ate was telling me, they couldn’t stand up the heat, thus, they went out to to eat in the porch. Aw!

Never mind the mess…at least the Ate did took charge of her two little ward. And, a simple taco dinner creates bonding moments between them.