Back in the Saddle

Life's been pretty hectic but I am not complaining this time around. I guess not that hectic because here I am posting some of our recent food adventures :D

balsamic glazed steak rolls

Before our schedules have gotten crazy, I was able to prepare this Balsamic Glazed Steak Rolls for hubby's birthday lunch. I immediately pinned it to family favorites on Pinterest because it was soooo good! Again, I don't follow recipes diligently, I like to tweak the recipes depending on what ingredients I have. I normally forget to buy what I need, hence the tweaking (haha!) For this one I think I didn't have carrots and green onions so I just used bell pepper and zucchini. What I'm saying is, it's not the end of the world when you don't have all the ingredients of a particular recipe you want to try, just substitute.

Since my kids love bread, we try to buy different kinds every once in awhile because they get tired of just the plain loaves. Most recently was a huge bag of ciabatta buns which we used for various sandwiches.

leftover pork chips turned into sandwiches

homemade cheese burger

chicken sandwich

I mentioned about having crazy schedules that's because I am now working (yay!) which meant I have to have meals prepared in advance (ideally) but I normally don't. We are making it work though, even the kids are on board with this huge change in our lives. Leila's probably the one having the hardest time but she does help quite a lot in feeding the boys and maintaining some order in the house (haha!)

beef broccoli

pork stir fry

canned tuna with cherry tomatoes and bell pepper

vegetable salad topped with shrimp popcorn

vegetable salad with spicy chicken breast

Stir fry dishes, salads and canned goods are my best friends lately. I was up 'til 3am last night googling slow cooker recipes and other easy recipes trying to come up with a menu for this week.

slow cooker ribs

grilled veggies for the pasta salad

garden pasta salad

So I guess life is really hectic these days especially when I think about chores (laundry, cooking and cleaning), preparing the kids' lunches and their clothes the night before and mentally preparing myself for work. Days off have become something to look forward to even if I have to spend the whole day doing laundry. I miss my kids so much that I sometimes surprise them by picking them up in school. I did get to prepare a special late night dinner for hubby the other night too.

Lance's yogurt parfait

fried chicken wings with honey soy dip and creamy cucumber salad

24 hours may not seem enough but it's all good. I'm lucky to have found something that I love doing and yet have enough energy left when I get home for my usual chores :D

Our Food-elicious Week

I could spend the whole day glued to the laptop, browsing and couponing, only if I could but I got a family to take care of, a house to clean and tons of other chores. So this week, it's mostly easy meals and nothing fancy.

I cooked Chicken Adobo and used the leftover sauce on a canned tuna. The end result? Oily but yummy. Next time I'll take out the oil from the adobo sauce but I guess that's where the flavor's coming from. From now on, I'll save the sauces and use them to transform a can of plain tuna into something delicious!

Our week will never be complete without the ever present chicken stir fry with (whatever is in the ref) vegetables. Our sauce for the week: orange ginger sauce by VH. Hubby fillets the chicken, I marinate them in soy sauce and ground black pepper minutes before stir frying. Again, I ♥ cooking this, which is probably obvious by now.

Much as I love to cook, I am just too lazy in preparing breakfast. I will only start moving around the house when I'm done with my daily dose of Facebook and coupon sites except for days when hubby is around requesting for a proper breakfast. So today I served him egg salad, toasted bread and instant Tom Yum noodles. Breakfast anyone? :D

Good Food in a Can

precious canned goods

After a long break I am now ready for some food talk again. During our summer vacation in Brampton, I was introduced by my hubby's sister in law, Ate Agatha to Palm Caldereta Corned Beef. I am not a big fan of corned beef unless it's from the Philippines, I don't have any idea on how flavored corned beef tastes like so I bought one. A huge mistake which I only realized once we were back here. I should have filled the whole car with this corned beef. It's the best tasting food in a can!

Caldereta (Filipino Beef Stew) isn't a usual favorite of mine since I'm not a fan of dishes with tomato sauce but I find it challenging to cook this dish because of its many variations. Liver spread and tomato sauce are used regularly but adding worcestershire sauce (Ate Agatha's version) can also bring the Caldereta into a whole new level even without the liver spread. The meat can be boiled until tender or can be pan fried then boiled. I did both the last time I cooked. I didn't have any liver spread so I relied on the worcestershire sauce and tabasco to spice up the tomato sauce. I also added olives, green peas and sun dried tomatoes and omitted the carrots and potatoes.

I was actually trying to copy the taste of the Palm Caldereta Corned Beef but I guess that can is unbeatable. It really is the best corned beef and caldereta all in one can, what more can you ask for? Boxes and boxes of those please! I need a trip to T&T Supermarket ASAP :D

Good Morning Routines

Pinakbet

I haven't fully gone back to my usual energy when it comes to cooking and experimenting since we got back from our vacation except to cook my mother in law's Pinakbet. Having been sick and cleaning up the whole house and taking care of a sick child plus the early mornings have really drained my energy. It might be any of those reasons or the sad fact that our vacation's over.

Purefoods corned beef from Brampton

I have been waking up early lately and my body is getting used to it and I love preparing breakfast for hubby before he goes to work. He doesn't normally eat breakfast but he feels the need to especially lately and I don't mind preparing a warm breakfast really. We haven't had breakfast in a long time and now that the kids both go to school in the morning, breakfast is now essential in our daily routine.

garlic bread for Lance

I feel that I am slowly becoming a morning person, well at least I'm trying to be and I'm rubbing it off to my kids. These days, they go to bed at 9pm which is good, really good! I looove routines :D

Summer Cooking

hubby's stir fry with quail eggs

It's hard to think these days what to cook, if only we could survive on fruits, ice cream, cold refreshments and feel as full after a regular meal, I wouldn't budge and exert effort into preparing something. The usual soups are a no-no since it's too hot to eat a hot or even warm soup. Salads are great but we love rice and it has to be rice period.

quail eggs with mushroom soup

Aside from the weather, we also decided to become cheap and at present in the process of being budget conscious, so that's another factor I have to consider lately. And there's this desire to always try something different with limited ingredients and challenge ourselves into coming up with something delicious.

chicken adobo with quail eggs

Luckily, the canned quail eggs are now available again in the supermarket. I could finish a can in one sitting but I'm not that selfish so I share it with my hubby, both kids don't like them and they just look at us with weird reactions on their faces. It's delicious as is but it's more delicious when cooked with something else. Hubby stir fried it with chicken and mixed vegetables. I tried it with young corn, mixed vegetables and canned mushroom soup and I cooked it again with chicken adobo. This canned quail eggs is definitely a #1 on my grocery list these days.

canned sardines with spinach

Another canned favorite is sardines. YUMMY with my favorite fish sauce and a few drops of lemon. I sauteed it with lots of onions and added lots of spinach. Ready in a snap!

We also had a few plantain bananas here that took so long to ripen, when they finally did, I made sweet bananas and put lots of cold milk minus the crushed ice but it was still good.

sweet bananas

Last stop, as I was frying my last batch of crispy spinach, I decided to slice some carrots and attempted to make vegetable tempura using my batter for the crispy spinach. It was delicious, the carrot was sweet inside and crispy outside. I can't wait to try it on other vegetables as well :D

vegetable tempura