Sea-food

The preschool's beach theme one cold winter morning was refreshing!

It was also Kait's turn to bring snacks.

We brought: blue jello (sea), graham crackers (kids crushed them to look like sand), and the teacher had suggested gummy fish also that I substituted with good ol' goldfish crackers.

The little ones were happy with them :D.

At home, my sons asked me for oven-fried fish for dinner.

They eat it, this mom is happy!



Another day, another sea-food idea...

Using a knife, I halved the sausages and made slits before boiling them to get these cool "octodogs" at my youngest's request for lunch, after she'd enjoyed some at first in her preschool!

Ours in the picture are missing some eyes though. Mini choc chips, or sprinkles, or black sesame seeds as a friend suggested, can be used.

I went on and chose yet another super simple way, by just piercing two tiny holes in each sausage with a fork.

Very easily done. It worked for us, and also helped perk up quite an upside down day it'd been!


Oven-fried fish

If not with flour-egg-breadcrumbs, I use storebought fish fry to cut short the process on our busier schooldays.  

It's the same faux deepfried method that works wonderfully for chicken, and I like to use it with pork, too.

For fish, it's nice with swai (basa, below) and works well for tilapia (right), cod, and halibut also.

Baked at 425F for 20min or longer till crisp.

What's really nice about this method is, whatever oil splattering takes place inside the oven, not on the stovetop. So cleaning is a cinch, especially if you have a self-cleaning oven! I also do not need to give the kitchen floor a mopdown, yes!