This week there weren’t too many new things being made. Ben and I are busy de-cluttering our respective spaces, him the garage and me various parts of the house, so new meals have been last on our list. 

Monday we did have more Dumplings, since we had tons leftover from our dinner party…

Tuesday we made Shrimp and Oven Baked Sopes…

This recipe for the sopes was so delicious. The masa came out so good and we had the whole family involved in the process. It was Soul’s first time in the kitchen and I am sure it won’t be her last. The only thing we might change from the sopes recipe next time is to use less oil. Other than, easy and delicious, which make good combos in this house. We topped ours with queso fresco, shrimp sauteed in chili oil, avocado and cilantro. I want more just thinking about it!

Wednesday, Ben and I went on a date and Thursday we had Trader Joe’s frozen pizza because Ben and I were in the zone cleaning that we just needed something quick to throw in.

We had some friends (BFF and her husband, and Taylor, but we call him Sexytay, and his wife) over Sunday night and I decided to turn our dinner into a dumpling party. I used these recipes: Gyoza, Shrimp & Chive Dumplings, and Steamed Dumplings. The BFF and her other half were here to help with the wrapping and let me boss them around a bit in the kitchen, while we let Sexytay and his wife entertain the kids (thanks guys!).

After our first attempt at making dumplings, I am convinced it is much better to make them than buy. Ours didn’t come out as pretty and we didn’t get too fancy with the wrapping style, but the flavors in all the recipes came out fantastic and it really is quite simple to make. Of course, I didn’t make the wrap from scratch, which did help a bit, but maybe I will be adventurous next time to try those too. We already ate another bunch on Monday night for dinner and I froze a bunch more and those are ready for when we get that next dumpling itch.

We have an Asian Market not too far from us that we go to often for groceries, though looking at the recipes you should be able to find most of them at your regular market. Also, if you want to figure out a good substitute for an ingredient you are missing, go to Food Subs. I love that site. For example, I didn’t want to buy shaoxing wine (don’t know what that is either), but Food Subs told me that dry sherry was a substitute and I already had that. That site becomes your best friend in the kitchen! Seriously.

We had three April birthdays in the house, so we celebrated with a little song and Strawberry & Blackberry Shortcake for each celebrant. I use this recipe, but just added blackberries.

It was a good night with good food and best of all, good company. Not only were our guests our friends, but also part of our church family, and while we don’t get to hang out with them often, it was good to be able to share life together Sunday evening. We don’t have people over for meals often enough, but when we do, we always have so much fun! Having more people over for a meal is a goal of ours that we are slowly working on

p.s. kimchi fried rice made by the bff and pretty disposable plates were from wasara.

There is lots of cooking going on in this house these days. It’s nice to have fresh, well thought out meals for my family. I like to serve them with yummy food.

One night, I made Pancit Bihon…

We had left over rice noodles from when I made Spring Rolls last week, so I attempted to make my girls some Filipino food. I am a Filipina (never been to the Philippines though), but sadly I don’t know how to make any authentic dishes and when I try, I make it healthy, so it kind of loses all the filipino-ness from the food.

I know my girls like pancit when my mom makes it, so I attempted to make it too. I used tofu instead of meat and it came out eh. Something was missing and I couldn’t figure it out. I pretty much followed the recipe, but me thinks that it wasn’t made by a Filipino because something was just off. Anyone familiar with pancit have any suggestions? I would not recommend this recipe, but I would like to find a good one and master a healthy version of it!

Ben actually got in chef mode again and made us some Spicy Grilled Salmon…

The rub we put on the salmon is just so good and super spicy. The girls just have their filets salt and peppered. This is one of our go-to faves and it hits the right spot every time.

Crunchy Pork Kimchi Burgers?!! Yes, please!

It stood out to me when I was going through my latest Food & Wine and it sure was tasty. Plus, we had some fresh homemade kimchi from my BFF’s mom, so I knew it was going to come out fabulous. It was fast, easy, and tasty! We had ours with spinach and some brown rice. Actually, my parents were over for dinner, so I also made Scallion Meatballs and they were all so yummy together.

Another night was for Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Chickpeas and Feta…

I saw it on Stephanie’s blog last week and the combinations just sounded good and it indeed was. I cooked the eggs a bit longer since the little ones were eating it, so ours wasn’t quite poached, but it didn’t hinder the flavors at all. The recipe calls for one can of chickpeas, but I doubled it and I think I might have doubled the tomatoes too. I am trying to let go of being so precise and just going based on experience and things we like. We love tomatoes and chickpeas, so I though a bit more wouldn’t hurt. We paired it with pita bread and the girls were devoured all of it.

It really makes me smile to see my girls eating well and trying new foods. I am loving this family meal planning thing and loving the time spent at the dinner table a whole lot more.

Our newest Food & Wine issue came in and there are a ton of good stuff that I marked to be put into the family meal planning schedule within the next few weeks. There are two that really stood out and one of those might get cooked tomorrow (instead of what I originally planned from last week). I am getting hungry just thinking about it. One of them involves kimchi and I really love kimchi. If I had to be re-born into another Asian, I think I would choose to be Korean, though it is neck in neck with being Japanese. Their food is just so much better than Filipino food (to me at least).

For our meal planning, I have typically just been searching through Food Network recipes, Smitten Kitchen, and a few others online resources. I really do like looking through Food & Wine though, I think good pictures make the world of a difference. For me, the problem with using actual magazines is that I don’t like to tear out pages, and the recipe I like gets lost because the magazine gets put in with the other stacks of Food & Wine magazines we have and I never remember which issue to find it again. Does that ever happen to you?

It won’t happen this time though because blogging about it will be a good reminder and I think for sure I am making one of the above recipes tomorrow. My parents are coming over for dinner, so I want to make something extra yummy!

When looking for new recipes, what is your go-to source?

One day we had Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers…

Who knew making a vegetarian slider was so easy?! I didn’t exactly follow the recipe because I didn’t blend the quinoa and the beans together and I did without the fried french onions and used whole wheat bread crumbs and threw two eggs in the mixture too. We put it on whole wheat buns with arugula and some quick-made chipotle mayo… and bam! We all loved it!

Another day was for Spicy Tofu and Soba Noodles…

This was a wing it recipe based on what I have learned about ingredients these past few weeks of cooking. I also topped the noodles with bok choy because we had some on hand. I couldn’t try it until after Ben tried it because I was nervous about how it would taste since I didn’t follow any recipe. When he said it was good, I felt comfortable trying it. I liked it too! The girls are all about soba noodles, so that was pretty much devoured.

And we also had Shrimp and Tofu Spring Rolls…

I made this a long time ago when Ben and I were dating so I knew it was going to be liked by the girls. We also made a spicy peanut sauce to accompany the rolls. True still doesn’t like tofu, but she liked everything else inside. We’ll get there. One day I will find a recipe with tofu that will get it just right for True. Until then, we just keep exposing her to it in different ways to see what she thinks.

If you wonder if my children eat the same things we do, they do. We have a rule that they must try things at least once and are not allowed to say yuck at the table, even if they think that. So what you see pictured is what they eat too. Of course, I have to accommodate for True’s food allergies (she doesn’t get the peanut sauce), but for the most part they are served the same thing. If they don’t like all the ingredients in a dish, they just eat the parts they do, but there hasn’t been an entire dish that they didn’t like at least most of it. Like with the tofu dishes, True will pretty much eat everything except the tofu. After dinner they will also have fruit and some yogurt, but if they don’t like the main dish, I don’t make them something just for them.

We also don’t force them to eat their entire plate or their vegetables. We tell them, if they are hungry then they can eat, if not, they don’t have to, but they still have to sit at the dinner table with us.

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With the busyness of taking care of some house stuff, this week’s meals were easy and familiar to me meals. I didn’t try anything new and stuck with some favorites.

Tuesday we had Chicken Piccata…

This time I added arugula to it, but we loved it just as much as the first time.

Wednesday, we had Hand-roll Sushi…

This we learned from my BFF when she and her husband brought it over for us once. It is seriously the best stuff ever. We don’t give the girls raw sushi yet, so we had imitation crab for them to make their own rolls. I could eat this stuff all the time!