Money management is a skill I seek to develop as a freelancer/WAHM and homemaker. I believe it is essential in my overall self-improvement especially since most things in life require resources to 'happen'. As a freelancer, I want to pursue plans of growing my freelance business, Happy Freelancing, and this requires money capital to happen. As a WAHM, I desire to continue to be the hands-on parent(s) that Bunch and I have always tried to be, and this requires financial support to Isha's dreams and activities. As a homemaker, I need to invest on tools and resources to help with housechores for effective time management and work-life balance. Financial freedom or the lack of it can make or break my short-term and long-term goals. I need to carefully look into our budget and improve in areas where I can.
Food takes a huge chunk on our weekly budget. I believe this is normal for most of us, however; when unplanned dine-in and take-outs get in the picture; it becomes a whole different story. Several adjustments need to be done, not just on our food budget, but on other areas, too; in order to make ends meet, and it is not pretty. For this I found an attractive solution.
We crave fastfood but it is unhealthy (both to our body and budget!) to give in to cravings. It is also not right to deprive ourselves of life's simple pleasures. Our family loves to eat; the decision to cut on fastfood costs need not be drastic. Freelancing Wahmmy's solution is to recreate fastfood favorites for us to still be able to enjoy food we love sans the dent it creates on our tightly sealed budget.
Introducing our own version of Jollibee's Choconut Pancake and McDonald's Chicken Ala King! Recipes below, as promised!
Choconut Pancakes
Magnolia Pancake Plus with Chocolate Syrup
Hany
Water
Butter (optional)
1. Mix dry ingredients (Pancake Mix and Hany)
2. Add some water (See Pancake Mix package instructions). Mix until smooth and free of lumps
3. Heat frying pan. Grease with a bit of oil or butter
4. Scoop some batter (amount depends on the size of the pancake you plan to make) and pour on the greased, heated pan.
5. Do what you have to do to keep the perfect shape of your pancakes. I always fail this part! Haha!
6. Serve with Choco Syrup included in the package and dust with crumbled Hany
*Jollibee's original Choconut Pancakes use Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but it will be quite expensive to use the same on our version; we opted to use Hany (It will also beat the purpose of recreating this fastfood favorite at home if we did)
Chicken Ala King
Chicken Breast Fillet
Crispy Fry Garlic Breading Mix
Butter
Cornstarch or Flour
Knorr Chicken Cubes (Diluted in water)
Carrots (diced)
Alaska Evaporated Milk
For the Chicken;
1. Wash Chicken Breast Fillet and flatten by pounding with back of your knife
2. Coat with Crispy Fry Breading Mix
3. Fry and set aside
For the Sauce;
1. Remove oil from the frying pan and melt butter on low heat.
2. Add 2 tbsp of flour/cornstarch on melted butter. Mix.
3. Pour chicken broth (Knorr Chicken Cubes diluted in water). Stir until smooth and without lumps.
4. Add carrots. Allow sauce to boil for a minute or two, but continue stirring.
5. Add a bit of evaporated milk to make the sauce white and creamy. Let boil, but continue to stir sauce to avoid it from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
6. Turn off stove and remove from heat.
7. Pour sauce over fried chicken. (Ask your kids how much sauce they want on their chicken. Isha doesn't want her chicken covered with too much sauce)
We enjoyed eating these two as much as we would their fastfood counterpart. It didn't make much difference in our overall food experience that they were homecooked. We even had them in bigger servings and on big savings!
Mission Accomplished!
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