Fried Rice In No Time!

I am not a big cook, never have been, but I have found it enjoyable and am getting better at it (maybe).  Cooking has to be easy or else I won't bother with it, so simple recipes are ideal (though cooking can be fun, I juggle too many things everyday to sacrifice two or three hours messing around in the kitchen).  Although my husband is Spanish and I am Asian, American food gets prepared the most in our home.  After a while, we start craving foods that we grew up eating, for me that would be fried rice with Chinese sausages!!!  Here is a fried rice recipe that's very easy to follow that tastes even better than the fried rice you buy at those Chinese fast food places!  

Ingredients:

*yellow onions (chopped) *green leaf onions (chopped) *mixed vegetables *eggs (beaten)

*white rice (cooked) *Chinese sausages (chopped) *seasoning sauce/soy sauce 

~~**I did not measure anything, I just use more or less to my liking and preference.  **~~ 

1.  Heat up some cooking oil in a deep frying pan or large wok.

2.  Meanwhile, follow the directions on the bag to steam the mixed vegetables.
I like using this particular kind that I can pop in the microwave
for just a few minutes.

3.  When the oil is heated, toss in both types of onions along with the Chinese sausages. 
 I like to stir-fry the ingredients until the sausages are a little crispy but not burnt.

4.  Dump in the rice and mix it in well until the rice is coated
evenly with oil.  If the rice looks too dry, I sometimes
drizzle in a little more oil.

5.  Now give a few good splashes of seasoning sauce, this really
 adds flavor to the white rice.  Continue to mix everything together.

6.  Pour the beaten eggs over the rice mixture and stir-fry until eggs are completely cooked, no gooey spots.  At this point, you may add more seasoning sauce if it tastes too bland.

7.  Lastly, mix in the steamed vegetables.

ENJOY!!!

Lego Party

My son's birthday was on August the 10th and we had a small party for him since he was turning the big FIVE.  I didn't go all out on a theme but he does loooooove legos so I decided to incorporate that into the party a little bit for his enjoyment.  I came across marshmallow Lego head pops online and thought those would be cool to pass out to the kids at the party.  I had my daughter and nephew help me make about 20 of these.  Here are the items we worked with and how we did it:

*cake pop sticks, big marshmallows, small marshmallows, yellow candy melts, black candy melts, 
piping bags, clear treat bags

1.  First we used a little bit of yellow candy melts (melted, follow directions on bag) to work as a glue, gluing the small marshmallows to the big marshmallows and laying them out on a cookie sheet to dry.  
(I cut the small marshmallows in halves)

2.  Next we stuck the sticks into the marshmallows and coated them in the yellow candy melts (melted the rest of them in a bowl).  We found that if you roll the marshmallow heads lightly in the
candy melts it gives a better smooth coat verses dunking it in.

3.  We then stuck the coated marshmallows strategically into a cooling rack to dry.  (We also tried using mugs to stand them in to dry and found that was an easier and sturdier way to do it)

4.  Once the marshmallow heads have completely dried, I melted the black candy melts in a piping bag, cut a medium hole at the tip to draw on the smiley faces.

They were a little bit time consuming considering all the waiting time for the candy melts to dry, but this was easy to do and the kids had so much fun with them.  Also, everyone loved how they taste!

Main ingredients and supplies

Upper Left:  Small marshmallow halves stuck together with big marshmallows,
 drying on cookie sheet.
Upper Right:  Marshmallow head on stick, rolling for even coat in yellow candy melts.
Bottom:  Marshmallow heads drying on a cooling rack.

FINAL LOOK!!!
I wrapped them in clear treat bags and tied them with clear rubber bands.

Another LEGO related item I did for the party were cupcakes.  I didn't want to serve cake to avoid the cutting mess and extra plates I would have to clean up, so cupcakes are always my solution.  I bought 2lbs. of lego candy blocks on Amazon.  After baking the cupcakes and frosting them, all I did was top it off with a lego candy.  I split the rest of the candy blocks evenly into treat bags for the kids to take home and attached a thank you note to it (sorry no picture of that).  Super super easy, cute and appealing!!!  The cool thing about these candy blocks is that they actually stack together, making them so creative to use for so many things...they don't taste bad either, my kids actually love eating them.

Left:  How the lego candy blocks look like.
Right:  Strawberry cupcakes, vanilla icing, topped with colorful candy blocks.

Packing Lunches For My Family

My Children just started school this week, my son's birthday was on the first day of school and he's having a party this Sunday.  It may seem that's not so bad to deal with, but when you're a full time hairstylist that run her own salon business it can get chaotic trying to fulfill the MOM role.  Thanks to Pinterest, this mom right here has meal plans covered!!!  I have a daughter that entered the 8th grade this year and my son started kindergarten.  These two pack their lunches for school and so does my husband for work, all three of them do it Monday through Friday (I don't pack a lunch because I get to close up shop to come home for lunch, one of the perks of being the boss).  So, I went on Pinterest and searched things like 'meal plan ideas' 'lunch ideas for kids' 'meal plan organizer' and 'packing school lunches'.  I came across a weekly lunch planner and a list of school lunch ideas that I really like and am currently using.  Since I have two kids at home in two different age groups, I plan separate meals for each of them, then from that weekly lunch planner I compose my grocery list.  Doing this weekly makes it so much less overwhelming.  I use to buy as much as I can in one trip to the store thinking it saves me time and the groceries will last longer if I buy a lot of it at one time.  Well...I discovered that doesn't work well in my family.  Not only I feel like I'm spending more money, I don't really know what to buy, I randomly grab stuff to fill up the cart, it still seems like we have nothing to eat, and eventually my family gets tired of eating the same stuff over and over again.  After eating turkey sandwiches four to five days in a row they turn nauseous if I just say the word 'turkey', then any left over of it just sits there and goes bad which results in wasting money.  I only plan lunch meals for the two kids, there's plenty left from what I buy for both that my husband can take for his lunch so it works out great!     

Ideas and Free Printables From
www.livinglocurto.com