So-niele

“soul food”

I’ve been having “pangs” for “soul food” and I’m not talking the southern stuff but the stuff that I grew up on, like Mama’s cooking. I had a small filling of it on Sunday at a party. And then I’ve been wanting some of my mom’s “cancanen” but I don’t really care for the coconut aspect of it, so I looked through some of my various cookbooks that I have lying around the house.

I used a recipe from the cookbook on the right left, which coincidentally is the same that I found here. Easy peasy… so easy that I even found a video made by people from none other than, Hawai’i ! Cool ‘eh?!

The recipe is really watery/ liquidy which I’m not used to when baking things. But I hoped for the best… and then even questioned the bake time of 1 hour and 20 minutes

And now here it is after the allotted 1 hour and 20 minutes…

The house smells absolutely divine! Buttery, sugary goodness. YES! I can’t wait to cut into it, unfortunately I need to let it cool down before I cut it, otherwise it will be a puddle of a mess.

Posted in babbles, cooking, eating | 5 Comments »

Halloween Festivities

4 costume parties this year. Trick or treating. 2 different school events. Pixi.eland’s 1st ever pumpkin patch. Our usual pumpkin patch. A kid friendly event in the city tonight. DAAAAAAAAANG!

Lilman, who didn’t seem very enthusiastic about dressing up this year, is going to be a zombie. An easy peasy costume. We found these shirt/ bandana combos at Wa.lmart the other week and it was either the zombie or the vampire. He was leaning towards the vampire but I didn’t think it looked as cool as the zombie… and well the zombie is easier to outfit than the vampire anyhow. I had him dig up an old pair of his jeans and I took some scissors to them and shredded them. $6 costume. Woot!

Lilmiss is where the money was spent. Of course right? When we were in Hawai’i for the SUMMER Cost.co busted out their costumes and automatically she wanted to be sTinkerbell. I opted NOT to buy it there tho and waited til we got home to pick up the costume. But I didn’t wait long either. We’ve had her costume since late August and since then she’s been trying to get OUT of being sTinkerbell. Good thing we got it when we did tho, b/c by September they were already out. I think it was around $21, way cheaper than the D-store and the party/costume stores. Buuuuuuuuut we also picked up some sparkly shoes $12 @ Target and some glittery tights $2, Target.

babyM has 3 choices for costumes. I dug up N’s old mermaid dress up thing that we picked up a long time ago for like $2. My cousin also “loaned” us their daughter’s old lady bug costume. And I also happened to be looking in the girls’ closet and found a Chinese outfit that N never wore. I picked up M some sparkly shoes when I got N’s, M’s are red and can go with either the lady bug or Chinese ‘fit.

I don’t dress up for Halloween and I’m not quite sure what S is going to be. He has to “work” that night and he needs a costume.

Posted in babbles, keiki, lil man, lil miss, shopping, ohana, big mister, out&about, baby M | No Comments »

Kitchen sink fried rice

This meal is a common occurrence in our house maybe every other week and sometimes every week. The kids really like it and it’s so easy to make. I like repurposing leftovers too which is always nice. Good for any time of the day even, especially if you come from an Asian household and rice is always available.

Sorry no exact measurements:
leftover cold rice
chopped garlic
chopped onion
eggs
meat of your choice (Spam, bacon, chicken, steak, hot dogs- whatever you have on hand)
frozen mixed veggies
salt
oyster sauce (optional)
soy sauce

If the rice is a little hard and clumped together I sprinkle a little water on it and mash it up so it separates a little bit, and then set aside. This is a one pot/pan method so… I normally cook and scramble the egg first and then set it aside. Depending on which meat you choose I throw that in the pan next. Of course bacon is going to take the longest to cook, unless you already have some cooked up. I normally cut up the meat into small pieces so you get a little in every bite. If using bacon, there will be some fat/oil rendered from that. KEEP THAT IN THE PAN, it gives you good flavor. Once your meat has been cooked or heated through, remove it from the pan. Add a little oil (unless you’re using bacon then you don’t need any). And throw in your chopped garlic and onion. Let that brown up a bit and then throw in your rice. Mix and stir, mix and stir. Then add your veggies. FROZEN. Straight from your freezer. It’s up to you how much you put in. And then again mix and stir, mix and stir. Season with salt and cook through until veggies are no longer frozen. Add your meat and eggs and mix and stir, mix and stir. At this point you’ll want to season with your choosing. Sometimes I use soy sauce and sometimes oyster sauce. The oyster sauce goes a long way tho in flavoring so be wary. Depending on how “crispy” you like your fried rice is up to you, so leave it on the heat for however long you like.

In this household it’s normally a one dish meal. The kids love the stuff and I can count on clean bowls/ plates EVERYTIME. And the veggies are in there too. YAY! Lately the baby has been hard to please when it comes to food. She only ever really asks for rice and it’s really hard to get her to eat any meat. Veggies are hit or miss these days and even eggs can even be a chore. She refuses to eat pasta. So it’s nice that she’ll eat EVERYTHING when it comes to this fried rice.

“Throw everything in there but the kitchen sink” Have you ever heard that phrase. It’s kind of the concept with this dish and that’s why it’s called “Kitchen Sink Fried Rice”!

Posted in babbles, keiki, cooking, eating, baby M | 2 Comments »

babyM is speaking in sentences

She has actually been speaking in “sentences” for 2 weeks now. Her first put together was “More milk please, mommy.” Everytime the garage opens or closes, “Daddy’s home”, regardless of he’s coming or going

She’s such a puppet sometimes it’s hilarious. Lilman is constantly telling her to say stuff and for the most part it comes out sounding right with a lil splash of babeinese. One thing which boggles me tho is that she won’t say “Thank you” after given something where she has said “please” over and over and over again for. So instead I’m teaching her to say “mahalo” and it comes out more like “ma-lo-lo” but better than nothing I say.

Posted in babbles, keiki, lil man, baby M | 2 Comments »

Bake, bake, bake

I’ve been in a baking mode, and strangely in cooking mode as well.

Bananas seem to go bad faster than the kids can eat them sometimes so I’m forced to make my mom’s banana bread. I haven’t been making them into breads tho, and instead kid friendly versions= muffins and mini muffins. I tried a zucchini bread recipe last week and it came out okay. The first loaf was undercooked despite baking for over an hour. I thought it looked okay but after it sat for awhile the top wasn’t looking cooked so much. This weekend I made more banana muffins and made some oatmeal, pineapple, mac nut cookies. Once these are done… I’m hoping to try out a rolled sugar cookie recipe. I had some yummy sugar cookie favors recently, but the maker won’t share the recipe.

What else have we been eating? Roast chicken and root veggies, turkey tacos w homemade salsa, buttermilk fried chicken, bistek tagalog, and short ribs. I’ve also been doing a bit of freezer diving which means that the kids have also been eating a bit of chicken nuggets, frozen pizzas, and the like

Tomorrow I have to bake cuppies for school’s bakesale Wednesday and for dinner we eat oven fried buttermilk chicken. I would like to make some smashed potatoes to go along with that, but I don’t really want to venture out in the rain that’s supposed to hit tomorrow.

Posted in babbles, cooking, eating | 1 Comment »