New Kitchen Triumphs

I'm still on a roll trying out new recipes (or tweaking) new found recipes to be exact. I saw this chicken marinade from yahoo (can't seem to find it anymore though) and did it with drumsticks. The marinade was basically ketchup, brown sugar, chopped onions (I honestly forgot the rest) anyway, it wasn't that good (or I would've saved the recipe somewhere) but it wasn't bad either and the kids ate it.

baked chicken

fried chicken wings and pickled veggies

Obviously, we couldn't get enough of chicken so hubby and I cooked fried chicken wings. The kids LOVE chicken wings and it just amazes me to see them eat a whole lot without being forced to do so :P

 

This blog may contain 80% about food but there are days I don't feel like cooking at all. It's not hard to give me the boost I need though, all I gotta do is tune in to Food Network and it's more than enough of a jump start. I would have loved to try this street beef salad recipe but I didn't have the complete ingredients so I looked for another recipe to try and ended up with orange ginger beef and oven roasted broccoli. I loved the broccoli so much I almost ate everything. The orange ginger beef was good but it's not something I would cook on a regular basis. I love beef but sauce isn't something I enjoy unless it's dipping sauce.

Yup, I don't like sauce and sometimes gravy too but hubby insisted on trying out pot roast. I may not be a fan but knowing it doesn't need much cooking skills and that I only need to dump the veggies, beef and sauce in the slow cooker then who am I to disagree? But since it won't be cooked until after several hours in the meantime, hubby grilled a steak with garlic and herb potatoes on the side. Both dishes were big hits with the family. I need another beef sale (ASAP!

garlic and herb potatoes

steak and potatoes

Cheap this week and dominating my grocery list were ribs, potatoes and spinach. I made my usual fall off the bone ribs and made cream corn soup to go with it. It was my first time to make a successful creamy soup from scratch!

cream of corn soup

And before I forget, my little girl and I made apple cinnamon bread as well. I found the recipe on Facebook. It is one of those recipes being shared on friends' timelines anyway, I gave it a try and it turned out delicious (Yay!)

apple cinnamon bread

Last but not the least, hubby's successful attempt at latte art.

What's with the design? I have no idea but you have to admit it's cute :D

Mahalo!

Finally made it to Lethbridge's first official food truck the Flyin` Hawaiian this morning! I was there at exactly 10am, no lines yet which was a relief. It was a pretty cold morning but I would've probably ignored the negative temperature. I've been dying to try their food for a week now but had to wait for hubby's off which is today so that was our first stop of the day.

I ordered everything on the menu. The service was amazing and the owners were very nice and polite. Oh and the food? Amazing of course! My top favorites were the donuts and pina colada. They are to die for (no exaggeration) especially the donuts (OMG!)

I honestly can`t wait to try the other food they serve (BBQ pulled pork and ribs).

The customer next to me was just as excited to order like me. I didn't know a food truck can do that to a person but apparently it does.

Try the Flyin` Hawaiian and feel the excitement too :D

Follow them on Twitter or like them on Facebook for their schedule, location and menu!

Inspired

Watching food network shows late at night is probably a bad thing. It either makes me hungry or it literally makes the wheels in my head turn. I badly want to make something gourmet or at least something close to it but of course it has to be easy plus I gotta have the ingredients in my fridge. So after watching, I browsed recipes after recipes and found a few that looked promising. I fell asleep inspired.

Morning came and I went on to prepare parmesan crusted pork loin for lunch (easy peasy!) This is a keeper and even the kids loved it. I knew I had to serve it with some vegetables and soup. I was torn between asparagus and zucchini but chose asparagus instead. I used canned mushroom soup (nothing gourmet about it I know) but added bacon bits on top (haha!)

panko, parmesan, oregano, rosemary, garlic salt, pepper

used mayo instead of greek yogurt

ready to throw in the oven

grilled asparagus

I was so excited to plate it even though I had no idea how. I couldn't wait to taste it and it felt like a post Valentine celebration.

tadaaa!

post Valentine's lunch date

I knew the kids would love it as well but theirs didn't include the asparagus and I used the soup as gravy.

kiddie version

He loved it!

Lunch was a success! While the pork loin was in the oven I marinated beef chunks which I was planning for dinner. I found this awesome cumin lime beef kabobs recipe and decided to give it a try. We love beef and I was definitely intrigued about the cumin, I just knew this would be a very flavorful dish. I didn`t have any wooden skewers though but still decided to go through with it and serve lemony grilled zucchini ribbons with it. I also made soup out of canned tomatoes, celery and mixed veggies.

I forgot to take a picture while the beef was grilling but I grilled it on the same pan.

This recipe is another keeper. It was so good I made another batch the next day because we had friends over. And the marinade for the veggies? I`ll surely use it all the time, the veggies were sooo good!

Dessert is probably my most favorite part of a meal but I rarely make them. I did try this fruit salad with pudding recipe but I only used a can of fruit cocktail and a pack of vanilla pudding mix. I served it over graham crackers and cool whip. Again, easy peasy! I never knew a can of fruit cocktail would taste like this when you add vanilla pudding mix. Would definitely do this again with more fruits next time.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S! ALWAYS BE INSPIRED :D

Refreshing Reward

pina colada

I got sick around Valentine's. I had this terrible headache, I felt dizzy and nauseous at the same time. It turned out to be common colds again but worse this time around.

I had been salivating for my usual drink of pina colada which happens to be my favorite drink ever (hands down!) but my throat was acting up. I knew I was on the verge of having tonsillitis and drinking something cold and sweet would definitely exacerbate my already aching tonsils :(

Tired from sleeping and being sick, I turned all this negativity into something productive and did some early spring cleaning.

finally organized this little space

properly filed impt docs

no more overflowing mails and papers from school :)

I only did a few areas but these were the areas I have been avoiding for the longest time (storage closet, filing cabinet, kids' room, closet, mails/papers). It was so time consuming to sort through clothes, mails, paperwork it took me more than 11 hours on the first day. I was also doing laundry at the same time since I took down the curtains and changed the bed sheets. I was running around like crazy and wanted to do one hundred things all at the same time. I did manage to get things in order but since I started late (1pm) by the time I finished at 11:30pm, I was ready to die. I knew I pushed myself too much but nothing a good night's sleep won't cure. I honestly couldn't wait to wake up the next day as I made a list of things I wasn't able to finish.

The next day I started a little bit earlier and finished around 9pm. I was still feeling sick and tired but decided to reward myself with a pina colada.

With my favorite drink in hand, feet up..best day ever right? :D

My Very Own Barista

enjoying her strawberry frappe made by daddy

I mentioned on a previous post that hubby and I started making our own drinks at home. I'm happy to announce that while we aren't turning into alcoholics, we have found a new love or let's just say a new found appreciation for coffee. I am not a huge coffee drinker nor is hubby and usually I prefer my coffee cold. Hubby however, brings a travel mug to work but rarely drinks coffee at home partly because I don't like making something I don't really like to drink.

So what changed? Hubby (finally) convinced me to purchase a stove top espresso maker and frother then he started making cappuccino, frappuccino, macchiato, frappe and whatever else we desire.

To be honest I don't know the difference between a cappuccino and a frappuccino. I love the sound of it yeah but whether I'm drinking a latte or plain coffee, espresso or some other fancy coffee, making it at home and not spending a few dollars on something I can't even tell the difference actually makes much more sense.

strawberry frappe, espresso, cappuccino

caramel macchiato

iced caramel macchiato (mine!)

iced frappucino

More than the taste or the coffee itself, I think hubby loves being able to do these various drinks at home. If you ask me, he won't stop until he's able to do latte art :D

Valentine's Day Gifts 2014

Valentine's Day fell on a Friday and this time around I waited until the day before to prepare the teachers' gifts. I also bought (cringe) valentine cookies for the kids' class party instead of trying to make something at home. Considering my limited baking abilities or lack of talent in that area, buying has got to be the best option.

I did have ideas on what to give to the kids' teachers days or probably weeks before. It just took me awhile to sit down and start putting them together. Thankfully, the kids only have two teachers this year meaning, less gifts to prepare. Don't get me wrong, I love giving gifts and thank goodness for Pinterest, so much ideas in there.

jar candle

nail polish

chocolates

I could make these cute little gifts all day long plus they cost next to nothing because I already have these in my stock pile. The candles I got for free, nail polish .05 each and chocolates .50 each. The tags I printed awhile back, valentine bags I scored at 50% off last year.

Leila's teacher was surprised to get all three gifts and as she read the gift tags, her reaction was priceless. It was indeed an (awww) moment :D

A+ for Effort

I wasn't going to post this originally because we didn't like the end result but looking at the pictures, Leila did have a lot of fun making this 5 minute chocolate chip cookie so here it goes...

 

Ours looked different from the recipe no wonder it didn't taste good enough for my little critics. I'm sure it is a great recipe which I managed to mess up even though it is a simple, no bake recipe (haha). Anyway, my little helper had fun and that's the most important thing I guess :D