Nutella Breakfast Roll-ups

Inspired by My Shabu Shabu's post here, Troy and I did the Nutella Breakfast Roll-ups last weekend. It was very simple but oh-so-yummy! How can you go wrong with Nutella?

Ingredients:

Nutella

Banana

Sprinkles

Tortilla wrappers

Spread the nutella over the tortilla wrap and put sprinkles 

Roll the wrapper around the banana.

And viola! Instant dessert. Best served chilled.

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My Own Version of Baked Eggs & Cheese

Just like most readers of Samatha Sotto’s book, Before Ever After, I wondered how Max's Baked Eggs and Cheese tastes like each time i came across it in the story.

Several weeks ago, i stumbled upon My Mom-Friday's recipe post here and did a mental note to try that one of these days.

One Saturday, i woke up thinking what i can cook for breakfast. I thought of the usual french toast, sunny side up eggs and toasted spam...then i had an idea. I'll use the same ingredients and make my own version of the Baked Eggs and Cheese. I still had some mozzarella cheese leftover from our pizza cooking spree (see post about it here) and i almost always have parmesan and cheddar at home anyway. So i'm all set for this experiment.


Here are the ingredients i had on hand

Spam, Thyme, Eggs, Bacon, Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Cheddar cheese

Start by toasting the spam until you achieve a nice golden color.

Toast the spam on a frying pan

Place the spam evenly on the cornelle baking dish and add 3 eggs on top.  I later on realized that you can add more eggs so that your entire tray is fully covered.

Add grated parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese on top. Then cover the entire dish with sliced cheddar cheese.

Put the dish inside the oven and bake in medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the cheese melts and the egg forms.

And there you have it, a very simple Baked Eggs & Cheese recipe.

Best served with toasted bread and garnished with Basil and Thyme.

This version is very easy and serves around 6. Although the 3 of us (Dens, my sister Tammy and myself) were extra hungry that morning and finished everything at one go. The good thing with this recipe was that it was easy enough for me to instantly make another one for the rest of the family. Probably only took about 15 minutes or so to prepare everything.


Try it and create your own version. For my next attempt, i will add tomato and basil. I will also add more eggs and mozzarella cheese. YUM!


Note: Did you wonder what happened to the bacon which kind of got lost along the way? Well, i wanted to mix it with the spam but i burnt it to a crisp.  Not the golden crispy kind but more like black charcoal crisp.  Oh well, my cooking skills are improving but it's not perfect. Bacons are not so healthy anyway ;P  

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Happy United Nations Day!

Last friday was United Nations (UN) day in Troy's school. All the kids were asked to go to school in a costume that would represent a nation. The memo was given just 4 days before the celebration. Being the competitive/OC mom that i am, i panicked!

I started asking around for costumes or costume ideas. I received a few suggestions but none (for me) were 'winner material' :) So i searched the net and found this:

taken from http://cdn.babble.com

So i thought, what would be a better way to represent the United Kingdom than to dress up as the prince?  I started this little project by printing some photos of the prince and borrowing a red long sleeves polo from a friend (i didn't have time to go out and purchase anymore). Next step was to buy blue and black felt paper and some gold foil. Then we're all set.

I got home and discussed the idea with our resident 'designer' a.k.a. Yaya Jovy. And I said both of us can work on it the next day. But lo and behold, Jovy was more competitive than I am. She practically finished Troy's costume while everyone was sleeping that same night!

I was so amazed at the details of the outfit. Check out the hat she made out of white cartolina that she got from previous project scraps.

Troy was so excited with his costume. He even had a golden sword but i was not able to take a picture of him wearing it. He came home that day with a sash that says Little Mister UN :) He won first place! You're the best, Yaya Jovy!

HAPPY UNITED NATIONS DAY, EVERYONE!

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Miracles Abound...

Yetserday i received an email from my sister-in-law of a video showing the life of a little baby girl that was born with a lot of congenital problems. I watched the video and my heart ached as i was reminded of what we went through with Tyler. But more than anything, what struck me most in the video was that the little baby in the NICU had an older brother.

You can watch the story of baby Kelsey Nicole Dinger here.

I remember after we lost Tyler, one of my very good friends asked me to join an online forum for moms who have lost their babies. I read a lot of similar stories but most of them had older children other than the one that was lost. I remember thinking it was surely more painful for us since Tyler was our first. Not only did we lose our son but we also lost the dream of becoming parents that year.

As i watched the video, i saw how the little boy looked so excited at the birth of his new sibling. I watched pictures of him watching the baby, probably wondering why there were so many tubes on his little sister's body.  I watched how he held her in his arms and how he smiled proudly that he is now a big brother. All i could think about was Troy and how excited he is with his new baby sister now.  My heart broke into a  million pieces as i was hoping (and maybe subconsciously praying) that the video would show a happy ending. It did. The little baby girl miraculously survived. Thank you, Lord!

Now i'm not so sure anymore if losing your first-born is indeed more painful. I thought about those moms in the forum who shared similar experiences.  I thought of how they will have to sit down and explain to their children that their baby brother/sister won't be coming home after all.  The idea of breaking your little child's heart is another difficult experience all  by itself.

This was an eye opener for me. It made me realize that each of us has our own story to tell.  We live our lives thinking other people have it better than us only to realize later on that the grass is indeed not always greener on the other side.

Trust God's plans. The parents of Kelsey experienced God's miracle when Kelsey lived and showed no signs of brain damage. God granted us His miracle when our sorrow was replaced with joy at the birth of our two very healthy children. God's plans are best. His timing is perfect.

Philippians 4:19 "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." (NLT)

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Disney LIVE!

This afternoon, Dens and i brought Troy to watch Disney LIVE! in Manila showing at the Araneta Coliseum.  We told Troy about the upcoming concert yesterday and he was so excited he could hardly sleep! Before he went to bed, he asked me how many sleeps he needed before he can watch the Disney concert. I said only one.  So he fell asleep around 9pm and woke up 30 minutes after. I wasn't home then but his yaya said the first thing he asked when he woke up was 'Are we watching Mickey yet?'. He tried to go back to sleep but when i got home around 11pm, he was still wide awake! He was lying in bed with the lights closed.  When i walked in his room, he jumped up and asked if we're about to watch Mickey already. He was E.X.C.I.T.E.D!

On our way to the concert, we prayed together for protection and asked God to grant us a wonderful time. And boy, did we have a fabulous time! I think i enjoyed the concert as much as Troy did! Okay, he probably enjoyed a tad more but i enjoyed looking at him enjoying the show :) (say enjoy 10 more times!)

We got there around 3pm and people were still coming in. We got a good deal with the tickets so decided to get seats near the front. Looking at how much Troy enjoyed the show, Dens and i concluded just a few minutes into the show that the extra amount we paid for was worth it.

Curtains still closed before the show

We were seated on the 4th row, middle aisle. Excellent seats!

Troy in his Mickey Mouse shirt.

The show started a little past 3pm. Just a few minutes after we arrived. It was pretty much on time.

The whole gang doing the opening number

After the opening act, they introduced Genie who told the story of Aladdin. The LCD background effect was a nice touch. 

Genie getting Aladdin ready to meet Princess Jasmine

Singing A Whole New World to Princess Jasmine

On the flying carpet

After the story of Aladdin came Sebastian from The Little Mermaid. This part of the show was the most colorful.

Mermaids singing and dancing to Single Ladies

Ariel

Ariel gets her legs and meets her prince on the beach

After The Little Mermaid, green soldiers came out to introduce the Toy Story characters.

Woody looked like Ken!

Buzz Lightyear (or as Dens would say 'Bugs Lightyear')

While watching the characters from Toy Story sing and dance, troy asked me 'Mommy, where is Tomato?' And i thought he was asking for Bob the Tomato from VeggieTales. I told him Bob is not part of Toy Story. He's from VeggieTales. Then Troy said 'no, not Bob, Mommy. I mean Mr. Tomato Head'. Oh. Close enough ;) Tomato To-ma-to, Potato Po-ta-to.

The show truly did not disappoint. Although some of our friends who have seen Disney on Ice said that it's a lot nicer than Disney LIVE! The last time i watched Disney on Ice was when i was still in gradeschool so i can't compare. 

Troy came out of the coliseum happy and contented. He enjoyed immensely and kept watching the pictures and videos i took all the way home.

They're showing Disney on Ice again this December. We're definitely going back for that. If they say it's even better, then i'm sure it will be super worth it.

For those of you who are watching Disney LIVE! too, let me know what you think. 

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A Letter to Heaven

I woke up today wondering what it will be like if you were here.

You would have been 5 years old by now. I would probably be busy preparing an Angry Birds party or maybe Transformers. Whatever 5 year olds like these days. I would bring your little brother and sister to fetch you from school and you would be so happy to see them.



Sometimes I'd see your little brother playing with older kids and my heart would break a little. I can only imagine how much fun the two of you would have playing cars and basketball. The house would probably be very chaotic with two little boys chasing each other around. That would have been nice.

I have a mllion and one what-ifs in my mind. But I know whatever it is will not compare to the joy that you're experiencing in heaven right now. No more feeding tubes, no more dextrose in your little body, no more c-pap to help you breathe, no more pain.



It would have been nice to spend your birthday with you today. But I know you're celebrating it with Jesus in heaven and that is incomparable to whatever I can prepare for you here.    

I miss you, anak. And I miss you today more than I thought I would. I miss reading books to you while you were still in my tummy, I miss how you held my hand so tightly on that early November morning in the hospital, I miss being able to carry you for the first time and feeling that I was officially a mom.

I hope you remember how much all of us loved and cared for you when you were still with us. During your memorial service, almost 300 people came. A lot of people shared stories about how they prayed for you and how they were encouraged and strengthened in the process. Others wrote you a poem and others sang a song for you.  You even had your own AVP shown during the event.  And I remember your lolo Jorge telling me how amazing it is that a baby such as you have touched the lives of so many people. Other grown-ups would not even have something close to that. You so are loved!

Your life, no matter how short, was very meaningful. Until this day, papa and mommy would still get invited to speak in churches and schools about how God used you to minister to us. You are a blessing to so many people.

We love you very much, anak.  Enjoy your birthday party in heaven. Tell me about it next time, okay? 



Happy 5th birthday, our baby Tyler. Until we meet again...

I love you,

Mommy

Read about Tyler's life here

haggardandhalloo.com

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