Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts

Saturday, June 14, 2014

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


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Something's Fishy

I'm trying to post regularly hence the shorter posts. We craved for fish and breaded pork and when we crave for something it's gotta be on the table ASAP!

The recipe for the breaded pork came from a friend of ours. I used pork loin instead of pork belly (next time I will use pork belly). Marinade consisted of fish sauce, lemon juice and garlic. Breading used was a mixture of cornstarch, flour and crushed potato chips. I tried two versions, the first one I used both cornstarch, flour and BBQ potato chips. The next one I only used flour and plain potato chips. I prefer the first batch I made, using BBQ potato chips adds more flavor and using both cornstarch and flour makes it crispier.

cornstarch, flour, bbq potato chips
breaded pork
The fish sauce is probably the surprise ingredient there. I wouldn't have used it for marinades but flavor wise it's awesome (just ignore the smell!)

pinaputok na tilapia
Speaking of fish...I made broiled stuffed tilapia  for a change and chanced upon butterflied milk fish so I marinated them in vinegar, salt, garlic and ground pepper paired with boiled spinach, chopped tomatoes and onions seasoned with fish sauce and lemon juice.

daing na bangus w/ boiled spinach salad
Now, if only I can open some windows and get rid of the fishy smell :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 :-*

Sunday, March 17, 2013

New Endeavors

 buttered arctic garden veggies
I have a ton to post, hopefully I get to find the links for the recipes. We moved a few weeks ago and have been at my busiest. Why am I sitting here and doing this instead of cleaning up? I need a break. Every bone in my body hurts. I just told a friend I feel like I am 50 years old!

Anyway, I'm gonna lighten up the mood and avoid talking about aging and muscle aches as much as I can. LET"S TALK ABOUT FOOD! Yay!

Prior to moving, we originally planned to have tea every single night. We probably had it for two nights and that's it haha. When things calm down I'll start doing this again. Maybe tonight? ;-)

tea time!
My kids bug me non stop for homemade cookies. They have this crazy notion that their mom is a great baker which of course isn't true but thank goodness for Pinterest I found a couple of easy recipes. I love cake mixes!


my cookie monsters!
I also found a frozen cookie dough in the freezer. I baked it as a whole and it worked a lot better, way better! Kids said it was good :)

choco chip cookie
I tried this two ingredient cake recipe because I was curious and was dying to eat something sweet that day. Who would've thought that a box of cake mix and soda will result in a delicious fluffy cake? Whoever did was a genius. I used yellow cake mix and Sprite.

2 ingredient cake
My kids,specially Lance can be picky so their meals have to be a combination of their favorites and something new all the time.

store bought fish balls
turkey bacon
bologna cups
turkey bacon sandwich
This soup recipe has given me another reason why I need to stock up on coconut milk. It is definitely delicious and easy to make. I followed this recipe.

Thai Coconut Soup
Just when I thought spring's here, I was wrong of course. It's been cold for weeks now and when I mean cold, cold as in winter just came. More reason to cook sou. Below are two different beef soups, they might look the same but they aren`t, both taste awesome though :)

Ooops! I think I put way too much beef fats :)
Bulalo (beef shank soup)
Here comes some of my Pinterest inspired recipes. I will tell you which ones have been elevated to family favorites!

I tried this korean bbq beef short ribs recipe but used pork belly instead. I love this site, the recipes are easy to follow and I bet all her recipes are good!

korean bbq pork belly
I found this stir fry pork belly recipe on Pinterest as well but tweaked it a little in terms of some ingredients, used bok choy instead of spinach, hoisin instead of oyster sauce. I prefer not to stir fry pork belly and would rather go with my usual route of boiling and then frying.

pork belly stir fry
It dawned on me that this will go well with chili oil. I made my first ever chili oil and my life has never been the same again. I added brown sugar to the usual sesame oil, olive oil and chili flakes mix for added flavor and crunch. We now put this on almost everything.

chili oil
Next is this mongolian beef recipe, such a keeper and I`ve put it along with the family favorites. Again, the chili oil made this dish more awesome!

mongolian beef
And here are some more food, the good, the bad, highlights of what we had the past few weeks before and after the move.

chinese sweet and sour
baked lemon chicken
steak
fried basa with cucumber/tomato salad
the perfect chicken
And here goes the perfect chicken. It was actually a spice rub for a whole chicken to be cooked in a slow cooker but decided to try it on chicken breasts then baked instead. Still working on it to make it more kid friendly. But believe me when I say it is the perfect chicken, so perfect I don't even want to share the secret recipe :D