Simple Meal Made With Love...


As I've mentioned in my brief post yesterday, I shall be wearing a fake "Chef" hat for the enquiry that I am featuring in this week's Toughcookie Thursdays. I am not very sure if the question is a test to what I can feature in this column or that this person sincerely thought I could help her. So here goes...

"Dear TC,
Every morning I kena bangun awal to prepare bekal for my husband to bring to office. He's always busy working and asked that I prepare something simple for him. I suka he likes me to prepare home cooked meal but I am starting to feel that I should prepare something healthy for him. You rasa boleh tolong suggest something good and tak susah nak prepare tak?"

I like this question because I always love a healthy meal, simply because I hardly exercise and that as a wife and mom, it is my duty to encourage a healthy diet in the family. Plus, since being at home forces me to be creative with the food that I prepare, I have come up with something simple, healthy, yet tasty and very quick to prepare. As you didn't specify what your husband likes to eat, I am going to answer your question based on my understanding on what you're looking for - a healthy fix that's easy to make.

Firstly, the ingredients... it is good to have these items in check as they totally would make preparing easier and the end product, tasty too...

clockwise from most left: triple washed salad, loaf of bread, sweet relish, mayonnaise, aluminium foil, turkey/chicken toast and cheese :)

I would suggest using the triple washed salad (there is a 7-leaf type and a 12-leaf type) because you do not need to wash them. Just cut off the packet, pull out them leaves and they're ready to eat. And if you're an environmental-friendly person, you may want to just use a food container instead of the aluminium foil. I like aluminium foil as it makes things easier for your husband so that he does not need to clean up the food container and then forget to bring it home...

As for the chicken/turkey toast, you can find them around the meat/chicken section of the supermarket. They come sliced in a frozen pack and they are ready to eat cold.

Spread the aluminium foil and place bread at the center.

Take out some leaves from the packet of salad and squeeze out some mayo. If you want a healthier choice, you may want to get the light version of mayo or you can even skip this step entirely because I can assure you, it tastes just as good without mayo.

Place chicken toast (or you can choose turkey for a healthier choice) and put some sweet relish on top of it for a sweet mild sour-y taste. I love how it complements the salty taste of mayo and cheese. Just a little will do.

I would skip this too if you think cheese is fattening. But then again, you can choose a low-fat version because I still think the calcium content outweighs everything else.

Andd... you're done! Wrap it up nicely...

Now, for some useful tips to keep it quick and easy, and also paying attention to details to keep the romance going ;P

What I'd do with the chicken/turkey toast after bringing them home from my grocery shopping is to layer them one-by-one with baking paper (you can get them in rolls packed just like the aluminium foil and microwave plastic sheets). Baking paper will prevent the slices from sticking to each other. Therefore, just in case you had forgotten to take them out from the freezer the night before and don't have time to defrost them, you can just separate them nicely from each other, hassle-free! Furthermore, the frozen slice would help maintain a low temperature for the salad and by lunch time, the sandwich would be just perfect...

This is something I'd like to do for my loved ones... you can pack the sandwich inside these cute plastic bags and seal them with lovely stickers. It may look childish to you but you would be surprised how your hubby would secretly appreciate this cute gesture.... oh, don't forget some paper napkins for him too.

Here, is a sticker that says, "Made with love". You could even get your hands on some white rectangular sticker for labels that you can just imprint your lips with your sexiest lipstick colour and walah... your husband shall smile and think of you while he has this healthy and tasty meal made especially for him.

If you have more time to prepare, you could even add onions and slices of tomatoes into the sandwich but it could be a little messy for him to eat when he wants a quick bite.

So, there you go... simple, quick, healthy and easy. Some may say it's a lazy way of doing things but hey... if there's a simpler way to create something healthy and tasty, and your loved ones are not picky about what they want to eat, I say, this is a meal made with love...

P/S: The 'recipe' and tips are as original as can be, as they are concocted from simple common sense on love, family, health, etc. If you've seen someone else do exactly like the methods above, it may either be a strange coincidence or the person is as smart, loving and considerate like Madame Toughcookie ;P

13 comments:

Khalid Raffali said...

and trust me tuan-tuan dan puan-puan... best tau.. hehe

Azmir Ismail said...

cookie ... that looks delicious :D ... and ye Acat, we believe you ;-)

aliyaz said...

i mesti try ini resepi..:-)

isabelle said...

cepat la balik dari kursus tu, mrhubby oiii...
dah lama x buatkan bekal ni.
tapi kan TC, he likes heavy bfast. hoh..jenuh la i nak buat segala mi goreng etc.:P

Unknown said...

Boleh try juga la untuk en hubby :)
Untuk anak pun ok kan ?

Sarclover said...

waah waaahhh!!!

mine's made with wholemeal foccacia and sometimes rye bread bought from BSC's organic store. I used vinegar and oil (Like subway's) instead of mayo as I am a fitness freak and all and because I am into the environment, I never use any disposable wrappers.

but then again, I remember to bring the tupperwares home... hihihihi

and of course, I made it myself... :P

Rasanya if I actually land a guy, dia akan buat tak bende2 ni untuk I the wakaholik Girlfriend? Hehehehe...

diamond baby said...

aww babe, of all your wonderful posts, I like this the best. I especially like that sticker idea! Thanks for sharing :D

Hidayah Ismawi said...

Am new to blogging and am visiting all the MBP ambassadors..u gotta learn from the best :) I'm following you and added ur link .. hope u dont mind :)

toughcookie said...

en khalid acat baby,
hehe mekacih...

ome,
it is, it is... *yumms*

toughcookie said...

adzlin,
musti musti... senang je. tak sampai 5 minit dah siap :)

belle,
hehe... susah tu... tapi pengorbanan seorang isteri is priceless. goreng pun sodappp...

toughcookie said...

tifa,
untuk anak2 lagi sedap... boleh potong kecik2 kalau nak buat macam layered candies :)

sarc,
wahhh yours is even better. organics lagi.

beb, jangan mimpi la ada man nak buat untuk you unless you're not married yet to him haha....

toughcookie said...

diamond baby,
heyyy lama tak dengar khabar... how's the baby?

hehe it's great to know this simple recipe is a hit and glad you found something useful to you ;)

hidayah,
oh it's my pleasure... silakan, ya... thanks for dropping by and happy blogging!

cpj said...

nice one babe! boleh tolong mengkecut kan lemak as well!