Home Cooked Food

When you have to cooked home cooked food two meals a day every day (and that does not include breakfast and tea), then  you have to improvise and cook easy meals to stay sane. Here is what I do, when I am lazy to cook.

This is what we're having for dinner. Egg Tofu, Chinese Cabbage, Chicken, Baked Beans and Grapes For Dessert

First I mince the chicken meat, cut up the tofu, put the beans in a bowl and wash the fruits and vegetables. Now they're almost ready for cooking.

Next, I put the mince meat over the tofu (they don't look that pretty like in restaurants but who cares) and I put the grapes into little dessert bowls and keep them in the refrigerator for later.

Then the beans go into the rice pot for steaming

The tofu and chicken goes into the wok for steaming

The vegetable goes into the wok for stir frying

That's it. I've got a simple home cooked meal for a family of four. You only see 3 here because the man's portion has been kept in the cooker for warming till he gets home from work.

Even this simple home cooked meal which is rather bland and boring takes 1 hour to prepare and that does not include washing up. (Plus I cheated. I used canned beans!)

Home cooked food may be simple and nutritious but it takes effort to prepare. Don't let its simplicity fool you into thinking that it is easy and quick to prepare. Cooking is time consumming and this is as simple as it gets. Some foods require deep frying and stir frying again with sauces. Some require the ingredients to be grounded or is that grinded into a paste first and many other ways of preparation.

So, if you're reading this and you're not the one doing the preparation, go thank your mum, sis, or wife who has prepared it! If you are the one doing the preparation, then give yourself a pat on the back.

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Microwaved Chicken Stew

Here's another easy peasy recipe for lazy busy mums. Its Chicken Stew you can cook in 30 minutes (including preparation time) using the microwave oven.

I was done by the time I finished cleaning up the mess I left behind from cutting the vegetables so after eating there was very little cleaning up to do, only our plates. :) I hate cleaning up the dishes all at one time. Spacing it out like this makes it seem like less work.

Here's the recipe for my Microwaved Chicken Stew:

Incredients for Chicken Stew:

Chicken Thigh
Potatoes
Carrots
Bombay Onions
Brocolli
Cinammon Stick
Star Anise

Tip: You can add any vegetable you like eg baby corn, or those frozen carrot, peas and corn if you have no time to cut vegetables.

Seasoning and Sauce for the Chicken Stew:

Salt
Sugar
Pepper
Oyster Sauce
Light Soya Sauce
Dark Soya Sauce
Sesame Oil
Corn Flour
Water

How to Cook the Chicken Stew:

1. Cut everything into bite sized pieces
2. Place everything in a dish suitable for microwave
3. Pour sauce incredients over it
4. Microwave for 20 minutes
5. You're done!

Tip: Stop halfway through to stir and add cornflour to thicken stew as desired.

Go to my Mumsgather blog to view pictures of the Chicken Stew.

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Chicken Rice Recipe for the busy mom

Its been forever since I posted or shared any recipes. Well, here's a simple chicken rice recipe thats too good not to be shared with other busy moms. Its really easy and tastes nice too.

Since I had a seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy, it would not be safe for me to cook on my own using open fire over the stove so I had to find other ways to cook. My sister taught me to cook this all-in-a pot chicken rice that requires only the rice cooker to cook. Here's how to make the chicken rice.

Ingredients:

• Ginger
• Shallots or Small Onions
• Garlic
• Boneless Chicken Thigh
• Uncooked Rice

Seasoning for the Chiken:

• Salt
• Sugar
• Pepper
• Sesame Oil
• Oyster Sauce

Here's how you cook your chicken rice:

• Peel and smack the Ginger, Onions and Garlic to bring out the aroma
• Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and season
• Wash the rice and dump everything into the rice cooker, add water as you normally would when cooking plain rice and press cook
• Voila! You've got lovely smelling chicken rice in about 20 minutes.

Tip: You can leave a little bit of skin on the chicken if you're not super health concious. It makes the rice a little bit more oily and fragrant. If you like the smell of sesame oil, you can sprinkle some into the cooker just before dishing out and serving.

Sorry no photos. I'm a busy mom, remember. You can cook this simple chicken rice dish when you're really pressed for time. Frying some green leavy vegetable and a quick egg dish to go along with it will give you a complete meal for your family.

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