Friday 29 August 2008

Cooking for Kids

Right after their term exams, my elder boy requested that I cook something 'nice' for their lunch. I was lucky when he told me he would like to have hamburgers...at least it was not a tall order for me :)


In the past, I usually make burgers with Gardenia's hamburger buns, however, my younger boy could never be able to finish his share. A couple of weeks ago, I bought this pack of smaller buns from the same manufacturer. They looked like mini hamburger buns without the sesame seeds. I turned the buns into mini burgers, and they worked really well...the size was just right for my little one, and we liked the taste and texture of the buns. It was a great disappointment when I was not able to find them on the supermarket shelves during our weekend shopping trip. In the end, I settled for this other brand of mini butter rolls.

Recently, while looking up for Ikea's Swedish meatballs recipes (yes, I am getting a little more adventurous nowadays!), I found that it is possible to use a mixture of ground beef and pork to make meat patties (pardon my ignorance). It was a perfect opportunity to experiment with it. I used equal amount of ground beef and pork to make the meat patties based on this Japanese hanbagu recipe.

I adjusted the recipe and cut it down to 3 serving size instead. The butter rolls were heated in the oven as the crusts were rather pale. To my delight, they went rather well with the meat patties...which were, well, very tender, juicy and delicious :) and the boy who has requested for this...wolfed down 3 out of 6 mini burgers.

I thought these mini burgers looked so cute that they deserved to be featured on the front cover of the latest issue of my 'Cooking for Kids' magazine ;) In case u find this interesting, you can hop over here to create your own magazine cover, have fun!



20 comments:

Family First said...

Looks absolutely inviting. Thanks for sharing. I visit your blog everyday :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow they look absolutely yummy! I can only say, your kids & ur husband are so so blessed :)

Anonymous said...

Mmmmh you take great photos at all *-*

Lim H said...

Hi HHB,
i like your burgers too. I guess my sons will like it too as it is small and cute. did u make it from scratch? bread, meat....

JY said...

Hi HHB,

Thanks for sharing..I tried making burgers (off the rack), somehow, din managed to make my elder girl to glob down the meat. However, the boy took some. Think I can forget about introducing hamburgers to them again. Though would like very much to try this recipe.

MH said...

Think the bun you're looking for is "Lite Meal Buns". Is available at Fairprice. The buns are real small! :) Your meat patties look delicious. :D

Norma said...

WAOOOOOOO PERFECT
LOVELY

Anonymous said...

Hi HHB!

Love reading your blog. And love it when you share cute websites together with your yummilious pictures! Looking forward to more great stuff. Hope your sons did well for their exams =)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Family First, thanks for being a regular visitor :)

Hi Anonymous, nah, I am the blessed one...I am so lucky that they are not picky-eaters ;)

Thanks Charmine, but there is still so much room for improvement!

Hi Lim Kitchen, I made the meat patties from scratch, but used store-bought buns. I hope I will be able to make my own hamburger buns next time.

Hi JY, my younger boy doesn't eat much meat either.

Hi MH, yes that's the one. I wasn't able to find it at the outlet I went.

Thanks Norma!

Hi Carebearstare, thanks for your encouraging words :)

Cuisine Paradise said...

Wow.. HHB,

This is indeed a great idea to lure kids into eating a good and healthy homemade burgers. You are a great mum with wonderful ideas :) thanks for sharing.... :) And Yours look even much much better than one of the local western family resturant.

Anonymous said...

These look really good! And mini burgers just sound so cute :P Your kids are so lucky to have such a talented mother :)

Anonymous said...

that is a great looking burger! my son now is able to finish a medium size burger by himself when he's really hungry. i agree that sometimes the size of the burger is so large that a kid has a hard time to eat all :)

sherlyn said...

If only I can make that mini burger. My kids now can only enjoy "mummy's mcdonald" which is farmpride chicken nuggets, store bought frozen fries made hot, and ice milo. My wish is to make them "mummy's swenson's kid's meal" hahha

Also I simply adore all your pictures. You do have alot of different display plates hor ;-)

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Ellena, thanks for your kind words :)

Hi ovenhaven, no, I am the lucky ones, they are quite easy going, especially when it comes to the kind of food I made for them ;)

Eliza, I used to cut a regular burger into two, other wise my younger boy will end up eating only the buns!

Sherlyn, these burgers are super easy to make! When I first started cooking, I used to make burgers with frozen meat patties too!
On the contrary, I only have a few 'display plates' (五只手指都数不到) I used them so many times that I am now quite tired of them ;p

sherlyn said...

HHB, my kids rejected my so called ikea meatballs .. so since then I dare not make anymore meat patties.
是啊,那么少,不过感觉不象 (其实我只有一个)。照片已经美美了,何况蝶子只是配角。:)

KWF said...

Your burgers really look like store-bought! For once I thought that was a new cookbook in town...lol...

Sarah Jane said...

I, too, have started making mini burgers for my 4 year old girl. Cute is key: Its a simple trick to get a kid to eat when it's time to eat!
Your photo DOES belong on the cover of such a magazine!

Happy Homebaker said...

Thanks Sherlyn & KWF!

Hi Sarah Jane, thanks for dropping by, yes, it's certainly a great way to get the kids to eat :)

Anonymous said...

HHB

I tried making this mini burgers for my kids. I used chicken & pork instead.
The elder one relunctanly ate one but refuse the lettuce and the younger one was more than delighted to eat his mini burger.
The most satisfied :customer was my hubby.

I am very impressed that your son caneat down 3 burgers. My hubby & mtself were so full after the 2nd one!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Fion, I am slowly training my younger one to eat raw vegetables (he's ok with cooked ones). It takes time to get them to acquire the taste. Yes, I was very surprised that he could finished 3 at a go...he must be very hungry after school ;)