Showing posts with label breakfast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breakfast. Show all posts

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Cooking the Obvious

Because hubby is on leave, it only means one thing (ok maybe two!) gotta have food and eat when it's time to eat.

grilled honey ham
grilled honey ham, egg, cheese, veggies, sweet mayo
grilled honey ham and egg sandwich
He wakes up late so it's either brunch or lunch already. I usually make it few minutes before he wakes up and because he wakes up at exactly the same time everyday (how creepy is that!), by the time I'm done and everything's set up, we're both ready to sit down and eat a warm meal.

waffle sandwich with bologna, egg and cheese plus lemon smoothie
I wish I have a weekly menu planned but I don't. I always go to bed thinking what's gonna go to the kids' lunch bags, what do I cook tomorrow? It works for me though because between that time when I start thinking and waking up, something just pops up. Either it's a craving, or something I saw on Pinterest but most often than not I mentally add up what's in the fridge/freezer. Like I knew the next day would be a poutine day (just because) I remembered there's a bag of fries downstairs.

poutine and strawberry smoothie
poutine for kids' lunch
It may not be the ideal thing to do but I go with what my gut's telling me to cook. Okay, I'm not sure if it's gut or what (haha!) Actually, I cook whatever makes sense. We have this so I cook it. From time to time we do entertain our cravings and make a special trip to the store to get the ingredient but most often than not it's cooking what we already have.

steamed and fried dumplings
Hubby was craving for dumplings few days ago and I knew eating out wasn't the best option. I would rather spend the money towards buying groceries which I did and the dumplings were only $3.88/bag. They all taste the same to me anyway (haha!)

hot dogs in ketchup, worcestershire, soy sauce and brown sugar
I'm not fond of hot dog in a bun, I would rather eat it with rice actually especially when cooked like that in the picture. Found this hot dog recipe but sauteed mine in garlic and onion, omitted the mustard and added soy sauce.

breaded beef and vegetable tempura
I knew I had beef in the freezer, the kids won't enjoy it if it's cooked like steak. I don't have much veggies either to turn it into (sinigang or nilaga), I don't feel like using it in a stir fry. So I decided to just slice them thinly, season with salt and pepper, roll into cornstarch then fry. I still have zucchini and carrots and decided to do vegetable tempura. Okay the tempura thing was just an excuse to use the deep fryer (again!)

love this thing!
Leila came home from school the next day requesting for the breaded beef again. Who am I to refuse her request? Now I have a valid reason to cook the same thing for the second time. I knew hubby would notice but he didn't complain, partnered it with the pickled veggies I made few weeks ago. The veggies are awesome! I am going to make some more and hopefully pick up some mason jars soon. :D



Monday, January 27, 2014

What a Week!

As promised, I started taking pictures of food again. Some, if not most have already been posted before. When they get posted again it only means one thing, they're a favorite!

Let me start with some adobo perfection! In our palate this is the perfect adobo. This is how we want it cooked. Some people prefer it with sauce while we like it fried. The good thing with adobo is that it has a lot of variations. It can be pork or chicken or both, vegetables, etc. Sometimes I add egg but most of the time it's chicken and pork.


I have been cooking adobo for more than twenty years but it's only recently that I have learned how to cook it properly. This was after I watched my mother in law how she cooked hers. She boils the eggs along with the meat and takes the eggs out when they're done. If and when I add eggs, I boil them separately because my pot isn't too big to accommodate everything. She also fries them by batches (this I didn't know) which makes a huge difference.


When cooking adobo, the most important thing to remember is to slow down on the soy sauce. I used to put a lot and always end up with very dark and salty adobo. I would remedy it by adding water, more vinegar or sugar and it doesn't always work.  So now I measure (which I rarely do) and put a cup of vinegar and a cup of soy sauce, lots of chopped garlic, generous amount of pepper and let it cook for an hour. I don't open the lid every five minutes or so, maybe mix it 2 or 3 times and that's it. I add sugar, salt or garlic salt in the last 10 minutes. Pretty simple really though I should measure the amount of sugar and salt I add in the end. Just remember don't add more soy sauce, if it needs saltiness add salt. If you like it fried then fry it in batches because they will get crispier that way. Some would put these bad boys back in the sauce (I don't) but I save the sauce just in case. I can eat this everyday!

We went to a party one weekend and brought home turkey, turned it into soup after a few days. That's what I love about Filipino parties, lotsa food to eat and don't forget the take home part (haha!)

garlic, corn, carrots, beans, celery, turkey
Turkey soup
Good thing I remembered to pick up tofu last time we shopped. I have been planning to cook pork and tofu but I always forget the tofu. I was cooking this for dinner when hubby unexpectedly went home from work, turned out he's sick.

boiled pork belly
fried tofu
rice porridge with chicken, egg and tofu
Since hubby (and I later) got sick, I just had to make rice porridge topped with fried tofu as well. Also fried the pork belly and paired it with the pickled vegetables I made.

cauliflower, carrots, bell pepper, jalapeno, celery, zucchini
I couldn't wait to buy some mason jars so I emptied a few bottles from the fridge, added whole peppercorns and garlic along with the pickled veggies.

pickled vegetables
Also cooked milk fish and shrimp in tamarind soup to battle the virus going around the house. Leila loves sinigang and would eat this every single day.

sinigang na hipon ang bangus topped with spinach
I just can't get enough of leafy greens and had to cook spinach adobo. This time around, I added pork stock instead of plain vinegar and soy sauce. For some reason it works better this way when using vegetables.

spinach adobo
Mid week I was the one feeling a lot worse and delegated hubby to cook dinner. He cooked bok choy with oyster sauce using this recipe. We tweaked the recipe by adding ground pork.

bok choy with oyster sauce
Everyday I find myself awake before 6am. Finally have a reason to cook a proper breakfast turned brunch since the kids and hubby wake up a little close to lunch time most of the time. I promised myself we will eat more oatmeal at breakfast.

honey raisin bread, cheesy omelet, tater puffs and oatmeal
All throughout the week, while recovering from colds hubby and I were mostly on bed rest while the kids are in school. Over the weekend and a dozen or so daytime naps made us awake at night. We used to eat rice for midnight snack, usually leftovers from dinner but always rice (hello calories!) We have improved though since December, it rarely happens anymore. Fine, we ate the sausage with rice but last night we had sandwich (haha!)

grilled sausages
So we ate these with rice but hey, we had celery sticks on the side :D

celery sticks with ranch dip
For me to enjoy a sandwich, it has to be loaded with veggies then fried in butter or margarine or else I'd rather eat rice and some leftovers :D


Started off by grilling bologna with grated mozzarella cheese on top. Spread sweet mayo (mayo, mustard and pinch of sugar) on the bread. Piled up with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, then fry or grill on butter/margarine. Trust me, it's really good!


And while the rest of us were enjoying these yummy food, Lance settled on his all time favorite---cheesy hotdog! Basically hotdog on a bun with a generous amount of grated cheese on top baked until the cheese melts. He can eat three in one sitting :D

cheesy hotdog
What a week it has been! Thank God the kids were spared from the virus. One cranky hubby is enough (haha!) Just kidding!

Happy 10th Wedding Anniversary B :-*

Monday, January 7, 2013

Hello 2013!

We had a simple New Year celebration, I only cooked three different viands and yet, they lasted for several days. I cooked three of our favorites (boiled beef/pork/chicken soup, fall off the bone ribs and shrimps) while doing the laundry. We were out of town during Christmas and my chores have piled up before the New Year's. Good thing hubby was working that day and so I had 8 hours to prepare the food while doing a little of this and that. We also did some last minute grocery shopping hours before hubby went to work. No matter how much I prepare for an occasion, my organizational skills tend to back fire or maybe I'm not organized at all (ouch!)

shrimps in pineapple juice
boiled beef/pork/chicken soup
fall off the bone ribs
Come to think of it, we didn't have any plans except go to Calgary and spend Christmas with family. It saved me from stressing too much about menus, etc. We also attended  a party the day before New Year's eve and it escaped my mind that I have to at least put something on the table as per tradition. All year long, I obsess about food and not knowing what to serve on a special day? UGH! Unforgivable!

Kids are back in school and I'm slowly getting back to the swing of things. I think I had too much late nights during the holidays, too much laziness to be honest. Here are some food we had while the kids were on vacation.

meatballs cooked in bbq sauce
leftover lechon transformed into sisig
chicharon bituka
Caldereta with olives and mushrooms
The following posts are mostly the kids' food and when hubby and I are in the mood to eat bread instead of rice.

bologna and cheesy egg
hubby made this :-*
hubby's bfast: Kellogg's morning sandwich and Kashi cereal

Lance's bfast: cheesy egg sandwich
Lance's supper: soup, grillems and graham crackers
Leila's school snack: cheese, ham, graham crackers
kids' all time fave snack: CHEESE
bread cup with scrambled egg and ham
It would probably take me several weeks before I can post again. FYI JANUARY is my favorite month. Two birthdays plus our 9th wedding anniversary. So excited to stress yet again. I can't wait to celebrate :D


Saturday, October 20, 2012

My Busy, Yummy Week

heart shaped pancake for my little girl

I had a busy but fruitful week. I finally brought back some order in the house, made a list of the things I have to do but still have yet to accomplish those things on my list. I just want the house to be super clean in time for Leila's 5th birthday.



Revamping our menu gave me more time for other things rather than spending so many hours laboring in the kitchen. It wasn't intentional but in our quest to budget, I have steered away from meals with so many ingredients. I just want our meals to be simple and appealing to the kids as well.

So here goes our food all week long.

Saturday breakfast
sausages and eggs
cheese omelet
hotdogs and omelet
roasted gourmet veggies
slow cooked leg quarters then deep fried
cheap frozen veggies cooked in butter
Leila's after school lunch consists of mini pizza and bananas dipped in strawberry yogurt
grilled marinated porkloin
marinated in two sauces (honey garlic and hickory)
roasted peppers
with pho soup and Lance's cheese omelet
porkloin with arctic gardens frozen veggies cooked in mushroom soup
Lance's snack bag
chicken pork adobo
chopsuey
cheese spring roll
I love these simple, easy to prepare meals. They're as good, probably even better than those meals I prepare for hours. I can't wait to do grocery shopping this weekend. Since I don't plan my menus, I literally wait for that light bulb moment in my head, so far it's working to our tummies' advantage :D