Super Easy Banana "Crepe" Recipe

The idea for this was inspired from a pancake recipe by one of my current favorite bloggers. Alonzo loves bananas (banana bread, banana oatmeal, you name it) so it's a no-brainer that this appealed to him jut as much and is now his "top-seller" breakfast dish.

 

There are only 2-3 ingredients for this recipe: 

1 banana

1 egg

non-stick cooking spray or butter

(not necessary when using a Teflon pan)

 

 

Step 1: Beat egg

Step 2: Add in sliced banana and mash

Step 3: Heat pan and coat lightly with cooking spray

 

 

Step 4: Pour banana-egg mixture.

Add sliced bananas if you like

 

 

Step 5: Flip "crepe" over to cook the other side

Step 6: Remove from pan, fold or roll "crepe" and serve

 

 

You can make about 3 "crepes" with this recipe.

Enjoy!

 

Alonzo's Birthday Balloon Surprise!

I wish I could claim credit for thinking of this brilliant idea.
The plan is to surprise the birthday guy with an avalanche or cascade of balloons on the morning of his birthday. This has been at the back of my mind since the day I discovered about it at Pinterest.  

Materials needed:
2 extra large garbage bags
painter's or masking tape
scissors
balloons (lots of it!)

Procedure:
Step 1: Cut garbage bags at the bottom and on one side to allow you to spread it all out into a huge sheet

Step 2: Tape it on the outside to cover the bedroom door

Note: Hubby and I co-sleep with our son so we had to do this step in 2 stages, only partially covering the bedroom door. Otherwise, it would be difficult to fill the door with balloons and we would have been "trapped" inside until our little guy's waking time! We woke up at 4 A.M. to complete the set up.

Step 3: Fill the space between the garbage bags and the closed bedroom door with balloons

This is how it goes on the other side, behind the door:

Groggy birthday boy wakes up...

 

instruct him to open the door..

 

He is likely to get confused and wonder why...

 

but will open the door, nonetheless...

 

Surprise!

 

 Success! The birthday boy is happy!

DIY No-Sew Bow Tie

The idea for this bow project is reminiscent of the kind we used to make in grade school. My classmates and I used to make these and attached them on to hair clips or headbands. This time though I used them as a bow tie for Alonzo.   

 

 Don't you think that the little guy is looking pretty dapper?  I was really loving how it has turned out and also came up with the idea of attaching it to a slim belt.

 

 

 You'll be amazed how this no-sew project will only take a few minutes of your time. Best of all, you probably already have all the materials needed for it -- it won't cost you a thing!

 

For materials and instructions please check out Yahoo! She.

 

Thanks for agreeing to model the belt for me, Miss Richel!

 

Top 5 Kilig Movies of All Time

I am reminded of a flickr friend's picture post of a DVD cover of her favorite romantic movie years ago, hence this blog post...and yes, also because it is Valentine's day. 

Well, sappy, melodramatic, tear jerkers aren't exactly my kind of thing (sorry, The Notebook fans out there!) but feel-good, kilig-to-the-bones romantic movies are a different story. Here's a list of my top 5 favorites. I literally can watch them over and over! 

 

5. Mirror Has Two Faces  

Gregory Larkin's (Jeff Bridge) awkward and dorky character is simply adorable. In real life though, I don't think WE would ever make it as a couple... 

4: You've Got Mail

No one can deny the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. And who wouldn't fall in love with Kathleen Kelly's quirky, good natured  and witty character?      



 

3: Sleepless in Seattle

Again, great chemistry, great plot...sigh 



2: Sabrina
It's a close tie between the original 1954 film and the 1995 remake. Audrey Hepburn, however, slightly wins over Harrison Ford.



 

1. Bed of Roses
Alright, you may not agree with me on this one but hey, it's my blog! I really don't know why but I get mushy over the scene where Lewis (Christian Slater) makes breakfast...and who also wouldn't love having an apartment filled with roses? 







Simple Joys

A few weeks ago, my little one and I spent a few hours at Bonifacio High Street.

 

It was our first date together. Is it odd that we have never been out on our own -- ever? Somehow the thought of only the two of us going out never crossed my mind...Consciously (or subconsciously) I never even considered the idea...

 

Perhaps I also never felt the need to. When I'm not at work I am most of the time at home with my son and whenever we do go out (which is not that often) we go as a family, all three of us.
 

 

That day though I simply felt the urge to spend a few hours away home with my son. High Street was the obvious place to go to because the little guy looooves Jumba Juice (can't you tell from the photo?) and also run around the open space.


Alonzo had so much fun and didn't want to leave just yet and asked if we could make a "quick" stop at Fully Booked. Don't ask me why but he enjoys to stop by bookstores and "browse" through some of the books. He is not yet at the stage when kids would usually ask for things to be bought for them so he is usually content by simply being allowed to touch and open the books. Oh, he also asks me to read the books for him but I never get to finish reading a story for him -- he keeps asking for a new and different book before I get to the end of the story.  

Needless to say, we both had fun. Quite honestly, I was also surprised at how well behaved and "manageble" he was on our day out! Tsk, tsk... I realize that I sometimes tend to underestimate the little guy. He held up really well and I am really proud.
I really should plan more dates such as this.
 

DIY Pretend Food: Spam

I've been meaning to update my son's pretend pantry for so some time but I always seem to be distracted by other things (aren't we always?).

 

Although the drums are still Alonzo's favorite thing to play with he divides his play time among his other toys such as his Lego, puzzles, plastic dinosaurs, dominoes, airplanes, plush animals (I'm so pleased that he rekindled the interest for these!)and also his pretend food (pancakes, eggs, waffles and sandwiches).

 

He likes to play "restaurant" and pretends to whip us something to eat. Its so cute when you see him almost in a rush to prepare spaghetti (strands of yarn) for his dad and lumpia (small pieces of wood from his puzzle)for me.

 I made for him a "sari-sari" store months ago (will blog about this soon) and  he also likes to make an inventory of his wares and carefully stacks them one by one.      

 

In an attempt to add more items to his pantry/ store I came up with the idea of making a pretend Spam can. This is actually a modification of the pretend canned food that I made made before.

 

Materials needed:

Spam can

a small box

gray colored dict tape

tape

scissors

glue

 

Step 1:

Cut box to desired size

 

Step 2: Close the tabs of the box and glue 

 

 

Step 3: Unpeel label off Spam can

Step 4: Cut label so that the height is equall to the height of the box

 

Step 5: Cover top and bottom of the box with duct tape

 

 

Step 6: Wrap label around the box and secure with tape

 

 

The little guy loves it!



Leftover Makeover: Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Soup

I might have already mentioned before that whenever we get asked by close family members from the U.S. what we want them to bring home for us when they visit we would shamelessly ask for Costco chicken (and yes, their apple pie too sometimes!). There are only three of us and the chicken is relatively larger than what we can consume per meal leftovers are, therefore, inevitable. Most of the time we save the leftovers for tacos, but here's another recipe that I love to make out of the leftover chicken.

Ingredients:
Leftover chicken
Carrots, roughly cut into large chunks
Potatoes, quartered
Squash, roughly cut into large cuts
Garlic head, halved
Onion, minced
Olive oil
Milk or cream
Salt and pepper

Procedure:
Combine vegetables and garlic. Drizzle olive oil over.
Roast in an oven heated at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until they caramelize.
Shread chicken meat off the bone. Keep the bones to make chicken stock.

In a stock pan, heat olive oil, add onions and cook until transparent.
Add shreaded chicken and roasted vegetables (make sure to remove the skins of the garlic).
Add chicken stock or water. 
Add milk or cream. Lower heat and  bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
With a handheld mixer (if unavailable you may use a blender) puree mixture until you get the desired consistency (smooth to slightly chunky).   
Season with salt and pepper. 

Refashioning a Mumu

Around summer time last year, I found this oversized, navy printed mumu at a local thrift shop (read: ukay ukay) and bought it for only P10.00. I don't wear mumus but I thought I could sew it into throw pillows for the living room. I kept the mumu in a basket (where my other pending projects are stored) and totally forgot about it until early this year when we did some spring cleaning!  

 

 

 However, instead  of sewing it into throw pillows I decided to turn them into  a pair of pants.