Here’s an interesting way of serving a Filipino favorite, salted red eggs or itlog na maalat. Youngest Sister prepared it for lunch one time and it was so amazingly fresh tasting and different that I just had to make it for lunch today. The colors in the photo didn’t come out right for some reason but believe me, it made a very appetizing dish in looks and smell. (more…)
NOTE: This is just another of my pending posts that never got posted for one reason or another.
This is pretty much like Eggs Diablo without the heat. This is one of the dishes I made to use up odds and ends in my refriegrator in preparation for the Big Move. It was actually pretty good and made a substantial breakfast for Spouse and myself.
I’ve been meaning to do this omelette which I first tasted at the Village Smithy in Carbondale, Colorado last July when Spouse and I went to Redstone for our anniversary. I thought it was a perfect recipe since I’ve always been gaga over smoked salmon (anything smoked for that matter) and cream cheese. I didn’t have any bagels this morning but a couple slices of toasted French bread smeared with more cream cheese was fine. Serving it with orange slices was a perfect way to cleanse the palate. (more…)
Sunday Brunch is getting to be a nice habit for Spouse and I. It’s just a nice way to start what will turn out to be the most leisurely day of the week.
This week, I tried a recipe I’d never tasted or cooked before: Eggs Florentine. Spouse has never had it himself so he was looking forward to trying it. There are so many ways to do this dish, I was stumped for a minute deciding how I was going to make it. I could’ve done the eggs poached but thought it was too early to successfully manage that. So I decided on baking it in ramekins instead. (more…)
A summer squash is something I only got to try when I moved to the US. It’s always found next to the zucchini at supermarkets. These two vegetables actually go very well together. But I like the summer squash more, mainly for its sweetness. I just found out that this vegetable is also very beneficial for your health. Fantastic, another vegetable I actually like and is healthy too.
I made my last purchase of summer squash into a quiche last week. The sweetness would go well with the eggs and cheese I thought…which it did. And if you can make a quiche with the watery spinach, you can probably use any vegetable in your quiche.
Here it is, straight from the oven, all puffy and browned. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take a photo of a slice because we ate all of it too soon…this was a small quiche. Maybe next time…. (more…)
This ground pork omelette was a regular packed lunch item when my siblings and I were in elementary school. I can still remember that scent when you first opened your plastic lunch box at the school canteen. It was a mixture of the pork, the bell peppers and the plastic. This always came with steamed rice and a good serving of catsup. I still cook this today and Spouse usually takes it with salsa and steamed rice or as a sandwich. (more…)
I first tried this dish at a small Chinese restaurant somewhere around the Timog/Circle area of Quezon City. For some strange reason…like a failing memory…I cannot recall the name of the place! It was a favorite lunch choice of my officemates and I, quite affordable and consistently serving good, simple Chinese cuisine. I heard they closed some years ago, quite a surprise since they were always full.
Some 4 years ago, Spouse and I went to visit my sister in New England and had a chance to visit New York and New Jersey. I made it a point to go to NYC’s Chinatown and specifically requested this dish at a non-descript Chinese eatery. They didn’t have it on their menu. But with a little explanation from this non-Chinese speaking Asian, they came up with exactly the same thing I had in Quezon City. I was so excited to have it again! (more…)
Each time Spouse and I stop at a Chinese restaurant, there’s an 80% chance I’ll be ordering this dish called Mapo Tofu. I never bothered to cook it before since it’s so convenient to pick up the phone and order it for delivery. When I scouted for a recipe online, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was.
As the Kitchen God would have it, today I had all the ingredients in my pantry and decided to give it a shot. And the taste was not bad at all I must say…even Spouse. who is NOT tofu-friendly, enjoyed it. The Kitchen God’s Wife must have been watching over me too…
After cooking a dish a couple of times, and introducing some of your own innovations, it becomes yours. Like this Fish with Blackbeans and Tofu which has become one of mine and Spouse’s favorites. This recipe is based on a couple of recipes I used in the past.
It’s evolved to be a quick and easy dish, preparation-wise, much simpler than the original versions. I’ve also eliminated the use of cornstarch since I prefer my sauce lighter.
The only difficult step here is the frying of the fish and tofu. I dislike frying anything because of the cleanup that’s required after. But for this, it’s a necessary evil - both the cleaning and the frying… (more…)
There was a time when I didn’t even know what a perfect boiled egg was. I love boiled eggs, unlike majority of the world population I’m sure. If you handed me a hard-boiled egg, I wouldn’t look at it with a discerning eye. I’d just pop it into my mouth.
When I needed hard-boiled eggs, I took my chances and guessed how long it needed boiling. Always. For years, this is what I did.
What a big surprise it was to find out your eggs don’t need to boil for 7, 10 or 11 minutes as I’ve read in magazines, cookbooks and who-knows-where-else I got my “boiling an egg” information. (more…)
I’ve made this low-fat Spinach Quiche one of my regular stand-by lunch recipes for some time now.
Spinach is one of those Super Foods packed with vitamins and minerals, best when boiled and not raw. I read this trivia in our local paper and was pretty relieved cause raw spinach is not my favorite thing in the world. It’s convenient to make with frozen spinach that lasts forever in any freezer. It’s a relatively healthy meal and tastes great. Even a carnivore like me doesn t miss the lack of any meats in this dish. Another thing I love about this are the leftovers. They are great even after a day or two in the fridge. Just reheat in the microwave and it comes out still good. Here’s the recipe I use: (more…)
