Two Weeks of Nothing But the Best and Yes, I am talking about FOOD!

I haven't been around lately because I got preoccupied with my daughter's 5th birthday which I will be blogging later. Halloween, birthday and all these changes in the weather (Hello Winter!) made me pretty busy for the past few weeks. I have so much food posts maybe two weeks worth of food which I can't wait to share and maybe include a few recipes.

WARNING: This is going to be one LOOOONG post!

It's Sunday and I always feel like making special dishes on this day so I made our all time favorite sizzling steak. Nothing special about it really since it is so easy to make. Serving it on a sizzling plate made it more special hehe! It's just regular beef rubbed with montreal steak spice, grilled, transferred onto the sizzling plate, gravy on top and served with buttered veggies (I used the roasted gourmet ones) and white rice.

Monday is a busy day for me so I'd like to keep it simple. I made omelette using leftover sugared ham. Slices of ham splashed with some sugar while frying, chopped and mixed with beaten eggs.

Tuesday, when hubby is on evening shift, I like easy to prepare meals. He likes to eat the moment we come home after bringing the kids to school so most of the time, we end up having brunch in front of the TV while watching a movie. That means I only have less than 30 minutes to come up with something delicious. This stir fry beef sauteed in ginger and vinegar is one of my favorites. Saute garlic, onions and ginger, add beef and cook until they're not pink anymore, season with salt and ground pepper, chili flakes, add vinegar and boil for 3-5 minutes, adjust taste. This dish is done in less than 10 minutes!

Midnight snack is this sweet macaroni salad. It's ordinary chicken macaroni salad with mayo except we add condensed milk to sweeten it up. We are addicted to this and as I write this piece, I have a batch which I just made last night. Boil macaroni and drain, add mayo, condensed milk, boiled chicken, sweet relish, pineapple tidbits, cheese chunks and salt. 

Wednesday. Hubby requested for soft boiled eggs. Good thing I have this egg thermometer, I have no idea how to make soft boiled eggs hehehe. All I remember is how my mom used to feed my brother and I soft boiled eggs in the morning which I despise so much. I can only eat scrambled or the white part, not much an egg fan but hubby is, so there you go, soft boiled eggs. YUCK :P

This is eggplant omelette. Another one of our favorites since I rarely make it. It's just too much work especially if I grill indoors but it's delicious so depending on my mood I might make it again soon. Poke eggplant using a fork prior to grilling, take off skin, flatten and submerge into beaten egg mixture. Egg mixture is seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry in a non stick pan. Serve with rice, soy sauce and lemon or ketchup.

My kids freaked when I surprised them with nachos and cheese. They were all over it. These are actually hard tacos which I broke into pieces. The cheese sauce I made out of grated cheese, Cheezwhiz and milk.

Lance had to have the largest serving!

my taco monster! she made her own filled with sour cream

Thursday. I had some more leftover ham so I slow cooked it with hickory barbeque sauce the night before.

Enough of meat talk for a bit and since we don't have any neighbors downstairs, it was my chance to cook dried fish woohooo! It smells but it's yummy paired with scrambled eggs cooked in so much tomatoes. Yummiest dinner ever! Febreze was my bestfriend for a couple of days :P

Friday (woot!) I love beef because they are easy to cook and so flavorful. I prepared beef steak topped with fried onions. Marinate slices of beef in soy sauce and lemon juice, pan fry until their juices come out. I usually slice them into bite sized bits, throw them back into the pan along with the rest of the marinade and boil for 5-7 minutes more, fried onions on top and serve with rice.

Yayy for Saturday! We were going to a birthday party that night meaning, no need to cook for the whole day just whatever leftovers we could scrape and save the appetite for later haha. I did some baking though. I made Butter Mochi to bring to the party. I love making this, the smell is sooo good and it tastes just as good.

There goes a week of nothing but delicious food for my family. Wait, there's more!

kids' fave Perogies

sweet spaghetti

garlic bread

To kick off Leila's birthday week, I made spaghetti and garlic bread. I used the ends of loaves which I save specifically for homemade garlic bread or pizza bread. Melt butter in microwave, add garlic chips or chopped garlic, parsley and salt to taste. Spread over toasted bread or bake for 7-9 mins 400 F. Kids gotta have perogies at least once a week and I bought a ton when it was on sale.

Costco roast chicken

We now buy our meat in Costco and we couldn't resist buying their roast chicken. It's the most delicious chicken compared to other supermarkets around, and cheap too. I refused to finish it in one sitting haha, put the leftovers in the fridge and reserved it for hubby to eat on the days I volunteered in school.

Beef Mechado

Again, my love affair with beef. This is one of my favorites (as you know by now, I have a lot of favorites haha!) Slices of beef, two canned tomatoes, bay leaves, lemon juice, soy sauce boil until tender, season depending on your taste. Add a tablespoon of butter five minutes before you turn off the heat. You can add potatoes, carrots and bell pepper as well.

These are two different batches of Boiled Beef Soup. I have learned from my mother in law to include pork and chicken as well and to use a secret ingredient which I'm about to spill. In a large pot, boil chunks of beef (with fats or bones preferably), pork, chicken and ham bone (I saved this from last Easter's ham) or smoked pork hocks (available in groceries or meat shops). The ham bone or smoked pork hocks are optional but they do add so much flavor. Add whole black peppercorn, salt and boil for one hour, add beef stock/water and salt as needed. After an hour, transfer to a slow cooker, set on low for 2-3 more hours. Green beans, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and chick peas can be added. This is an all time favorite and so far we're having this week after week. Perfect for winter!

egg plant with meat sauce

I learned this dish from my mom. We would have leftover taco or spaghetti meat sauce and she would pour it over fried eggplants. I love recycling leftovers, creating something unexpected and yet delicious in the end. Fry eggplants until brownish in color. Saute garlic, onions and ground beef, add tomato sauce or any tomato based sauce or use any leftover sauce you might have. Pour sauce over the eggplants.

chicken macaroni soup

We are obviously into soups these days. Temperature went down to -27 and it ain't funny. I have a feeling I'll be cooking soups all winter long. Saute garlic and onions in butter, add pre-boiled chicken, hotdogs (optional) and the macaroni. Add chicken stock, boil until pasta is cooked, season with salt and ground pepper. Add carrots, cabbage and evaporated milk few minutes before you turn off the heat.

stir fry beef

I was exchanging recipes with a former dormmate over at Facebook the other day and she taught me this beef stir fry dish. Beef, oyster sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper were the only ingredients according to her. And since I am a sucker for easy recipes, I tried it right away. Stir fry beef in hot oil, season with salt and pepper, add oyster sauce and a little amount of vinegar. I didn't quite get the taste but maybe I put too much vinegar and not much oyster sauce. This dish however has a potential if only I'd get the right proportion of the ingredients.

canned spicy sardines

I was at my laziest over the weekend. It was snowing nonstop and all I wanted to do was curl up in bed. I napped every chance I got and we only went out that day to go to church. Lazy me just opened a can of spicy sardines and sauteed it in a lot of onions. This is the kind of dish we enjoy back home during rainy days. Served with rice, fish sauce and lemon, what more can you ask for? It tastes as good as any other dish out there, at least in my opinion and especially if you don't get to eat it everyday.

I cooked sauteed green mung beans the other day and I saved two cups of boiled mung beans for myself. I remember eating this as a kid. Boiled mung beans served with evaporated milk and sugar. It's yummy for me, I felt like a kid and didn't share it with anyone :P

Don't say I didn't warn you, it is indeed a very long post. I hope you had fun reading and feel free to drool :D