Octopus Sushi (Cooked Sushi Recipe)

We've been setting up my little sis-in-law’s school lunch menu as she's about to enter 1^st grade tomorrow. She participated in the entire process. The little munchkin mentioned that she loves sushi and wanted to have some for lunch this school year. It's a fast and easy way for her to have a quick lunch, so I was happy to oblige. She also mentioned she loves baby octopus but she doesn't want to scare her friends away with weird food so I coarsely chopped them and used them as the filling along with other vegetables. I cooked each ingredient separately, let them cool completely and then combined then into sushi rolls. The sushi got an “A” from my sis-in-law, so I'll definitely be packing them for her this school year.

Involving children in preparing their own food encourages them to eat with more enthusiasm. Cooking in a fun environment is also a way to learn. If your kids aren’t adventurous enough for octopus, you can try some of my other school lunch recipe ideas.

Breaded Tilapia (Nori Crusted Fish Recipe)

Tilapia is an easy fish to prepare but can be pretty bland on its own. To enhance the flavor, I breaded the fish with a blend of shortbread cookies, white miso paste, wasabi and nori sheets. I covered the fish fillets with nori-flavored breading, pan-fried it and finish the cooking in the oven.

If you're trying to introduce seafood to your children, I think tilapia is a good fish to start with. It's mild in flavor and the other plus is it's inexpensive.

Seafood Crab Salad Recipe

I bought 2 fresh crabs from the seafood market and was planning on making my favorite dish: tamarind crab. But as I was prepping the ingredients, we had surprise guests for lunch. So I improvised a crab salad with what we had available in the kitchen. All the extra ingredients and flavors in the salad help stretch the number of servings you can get out of 2 crabs, which is perfect when you’re entertaining.

To begin with, I boiled the crabs, removed the crab meat and drizzled it with lime juice. I added roasted green bell pepper, tomatoes, avocado and grilled eggplant. I served the crab salad with a flavorful wasabi-coconut salad dressing and toasted bread on the side.

Crispy Honey Walnut Shrimp Recipe

Crispy honeyed shrimp with walnuts is a classic in Americanized Chinese cuisine. I only make this dish when we have guests at home because I find it too rich for regular consumption. It's definitely one of my favorites though!

Making honeyed shrimp is very similar to making dessert. The shrimp are coated with corn starch, then deep-fried until golden and crunchy. Then they're tossed in a sauce made of sweetened condensed milk, honey and mayonnaise. Walnuts are added for a little texture. The walnuts are sweetened in a homemade caramel which alos gives the dish a dessert-like quality. It may sound strange, but the honey and caramel really help bring out the natural sweetness of the dish.

Shrimp Spring Rolls (Vietnamese Roll Recipe)

Shrimp spring rolls (gỏi cuốn in Vietnamese) are the perfect finger food when we have a party. Not only are they healthy, but they're very tasty as well. I usually serve them sliced in half with a peanut and hoisin sauce on the side.

For this dish, I prefer to wrap the rolls with tapioca sheets, called bánh tráng mỏng in Vietnamese, which literally translates to "thin paper disks". They are thinner than rice paper, and as a result the shrimp are still visible once wrapped. The other plus of using tapioca sheets is that they look fresh longer, once they're made, versus the ones with rice paper. Tapioca rounds are stickier than rice paper when wet though, so it's a little more difficult to wrap them.

In these particular fresh rolls, I added the basic ingredients such as shrimp, rice noodles, bean sprouts, cucumber, lettuce and Vietnamese herbs. Meat could be added but I like them very simple. It's a fairly fast dish; the only long step is wrapping the rolls, but with our large family, the work was quite easy.

And for the vegetarians in the house, we wrapped bì cuốn chay, so everyone could share the same meal for dinner.