New Recipes

It's been ages since I posted about recipes although I haven't stopped in my quest to collect a cookbook full of easy, yummy, kid-friendly recipes. I decided to do a little research at the end of my working day and I came upon two promising dishes. Here they are.

FABULOUS FRIED RICE

Ingredients

* 2 tbsp. (30 mL) vegetable oil
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 cloves garlic, crushed
* 2 cups (500 mL) diced raw or cooked vegetables (see suggestions, below)
* 2 cups (500 mL) diced cooked meat or fish (or vegetarian meat substitute)
* 3 cups (750 mL) cold leftover cooked rice
* 2 tbsp. (30 mL) soy sauce
* 1 tsp. (5 mL) sesame oil
* 4 green onions, sliced
* Fried rice veggie ideas:
* Sliced, diced or shredded, raw or cooked celery, green or red pepper, mushrooms, carrots, bean sprouts, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, peas or snow peas, cabbage (regular or Chinese)

Cooking Instructions

1. In a wok or a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp. (15 mL) of the oil over high heat. Add egg and cook, stirring, until egg is scrambled. Remove scrambled egg to a plate.
2. Pour the remaining oil into the wok. When it is very hot, add chopped onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 or 3 minutes or just until onion is softened. Add raw vegetables first, followed by cooked vegetables (the first ones into the pan should be the veggies that take longest to cook, like raw carrots). Already-cooked veggies should be added last. Now add cooked meat, stirring to mix well and heat through.
3. Finally, add rice, stirring constantly to break up the lumps of rice, mix it with the other ingredients and heat thoroughly. Add soy sauce and sesame oil and cook, stirring and tossing, for 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in scrambled eggs and green onions and stir-fry for one more minute. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

BAKED BREADED TILAPIA FILLETS

Ingredients

* 1 cup (250 mL) bread crumbs
* 1 tbsp. (15 mL) grated Parmesan cheese
* 1 tsp. (5 mL) oregano or Italian seasoning
* 1/2 tsp. (2 mL) salt
* 1/4 tsp. (1 mL) black pepper
* 2-3 tbsp. (30-45 mL) vegetable oil
* 1-1/2 lbs. (750 g) tilapia fillets (or other white fish fillets, such as sole, cod or haddock)

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C). Lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. In a plastic or paper bag combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, oregano (or Italian seasoning), salt and pepper. Hold the top of the bag shut and shake to mix everything together.
3. Pour vegetable oil into a small bowl. Working with one fillet at a time, brush both sides with a little of the oil, then drop into the bag with the bread crumb mixture and shake to coat well. Remove from bag and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining fillets.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, turn fillets over and continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until the fish flakes when you poke into it with a fork.

The reasons I picked these two dishes is because they require the least amount of canned ingredients but are still easy to prepare, they are filling, and my hubby and kids love both rice and tilapia. It was really easy to decide to try these out. I am looking forward to making them over the weekend. I hope the family likes them!

I love Chicken!

I've been feeling anxious, restless, and uneasy about a lot of things lately and I don't want to post about it again because I'm beginning to hate reading what I've written. So for this post I am going to focus on one thing I love, love, love--- FOOD!

I love chicken. This is the easiest thing in the world to cook, it's very versatile, my kids and hubby love it, and it isn't too expensive. Perfect.

But since I am not a true-blue cook, with a bajillion recipes, and the experience and knowledge to create something from scratch (Mai? hehe), I had to search for possible new recipes. And here are some I found that look promising:

Chicken Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

6 Tablespoons butter
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (3 cups)
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups half and half or whole milk
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
3 cups cooked rice
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 baking pan.

2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

3. Stir in the mushrooms and rosemary, cook until softened (about 5 min.). Stir in the flour until well blended.

4. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth and the half and half or milk.

5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until sauce is thickened and smooth (about 5 min.).

6. Mix in the chicken and the cooked rice, combine well.

7. Pour into prepared pan.

8. Mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and 1 Tbsp. melted butter, stir well. Sprinkle on top of the chicken and rice mixture.

9. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Chicken Kiev

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
½ tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. butter, softened
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. minced fresh chives
½ tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup flour
1 large egg
1 ½ cups dry bread crumbs
½ cup oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Pound chicken between wax paper until it is the same thickness through out the breast, about 1/4 inch. Season with salt and pepper.

3. In a small bowl, combine butter, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of the parsley, chives, garlic, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Cream together until well mixed.

4. Divide the mixture evenly between the four chicken breasts, spread in center of each one. Roll the chicken up tightly and secure with a toothpick.

5. Place the flour in a shallow bowl. In a second shallow bowl, beat the egg with a fork.

6. In a third bowl, mix the bread crumbs with the other tablespoon of parsley, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

7. Dredge each chicken breast in the flour, then dip into the egg, and roll in the bread crumbs.

8. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use tongs to place the chicken in the hot oil and fry until the bottom sides are brown (about 3-4 minutes). Turn and brown the other side of each chicken breast for 2-3 minutes.

9. Transfer chicken to a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless chicken breasts
4 Tablespoons oil
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3/4 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound fettuccine

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 10 inch skillet.

2. Cut chicken breast into small strips, add salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until cooked through.

3. In a saucepan, melt the butter, then add the cream and Parmesan cheese.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Do not boil.

5. Mix chicken and Alfredo sauce together.

6. Cook fettuccine in 3 quarts boiling water. Drain, pour sauce and chicken over noodles.



OK, you all must have noticed a trend. Yes, I love creamy stuff. I am not a big fan of very tomato-ey dishes. I do like herbs, spices, butter, and olive oil though so I am not stuck on just cream. Now if only someone would tell me how to cut the proportions of these recipes in half.

Recipes courtesy of momswhothink.com.

Baby Food Update

As planned, I have begun my homemade baby food process. I said I would do it after next payday, next payday has come and gone, and now....I am on my way.

Over the weekend I made my first batch of homemade baby food. Since my daughter has been eating chicken, mixed veggies, and mixed fruits already, I tried not to stray from the familiar for my first try. So I made her chicken with squash and apples, carrots, squash. I combined them to make chicken-squash and apple-carrot-squash batches. They were very easy to make! I just needed to boil a whole lot of things and then puree away. It was actually a lot of fun. I liked the taste of the chicken-squash mixture more than the apple-carrot-squash mix but this is probably because I don't like apples or carrots. It did have a sweetish taste though which I though was perfect to sweeten the chicken mix. I bought these rubber ice trays, 2 big ones, which I used to freeze her food. Perfect!

The best part is, she likes the food! I am so pleased. I get to feed her stuff I am sure of because, well, I make them. Plus, savings!

Next project would be beef and fish. I am thinking of incorporating yogurt and cheese but I am not sure how yet. She should be able to take them already since she's 9.5 months. Any suggestions?

A Thick Silver Lining

Ok, so I've been hobbling around on this sprain for 2 weeks now and I can say I abhor the fact that I cannot do the things I normally do- mundane things like doing the grocery or fixing the meal. I can't even visit my son's room as often as I would like because it's a whole extra flight of stairs up, and this is bloody difficult on crutches. But there have been some surprisingly pleasant things that have happened over the weekend that made me forget (ok, just for a few hours anyway) just how handicapped I am at the moment.

Saturday evening my sister-in-law celebrated her 39th birthday with a big party. My son, having just recovered from a cough and fever, was excited to be able to join the festivities for the night. He was bouncy and lively and chirpy. The funniest moment was when we were called to start getting food. He came up to me and said (complete with zealous arm gestures) "Come on Mommy. Let's go Mommy." I answered and said "Ok, can you please help mommy? Can you give Mommy her crutches?" These were leaning against the sofa. He nodded and said "ok mommy". Then he marched his 2.11 year old self to where my crutches were standing, held them by the sides and gave them to me with a big grin. Then, he waited for me to position myself before he started walking to the buffet table beside me. Isn't that just too cute and sweet? Really.

Next pleasant event. I usually do the groceries twice a month and I have a very strict budget. If I go over the budget, I have to make instant decisions about which item(s) to remove from my shopping cart. Usually, I think about what I currently have, if this is enough to last through to the next period, or if I no longer have, it can I do without it for the meantime, etc. Obviously this entails knowing more or less what you have and don't have. This has always been my arena. Not that my husband never showed interest. It just seemed easier and more natural for me to take control of it since I'm more detail-oriented and the one who does the shopping in general. Since I am currently on crutches, my hubby had to do the groceries this weekend. To prepare him, I told him that there was a strict budget and that if he should go over this he would have to make instant decisions as to what to leave out. I also gave him a detailed grocery list. He brought his 13 year old niece with him, spent roughly 2 hours in the grocery, called me about 10 times to verify certain items, but came home p450 under the budget!! I was so proud. And, despite his comments about how lost he would have been without his niece and how long it took to park and how long the cashier lines were, I think he enjoyed the experience.
The cherry on my Sunday happened in the evening of the same day. I had to put my daughter to sleep as her yaya was watching my son, whose yaya had to leave for a few hours to attend to family issues. Unfortunately, this happened at the same time as dinner- and I had not prepped anything. Imagine my surprise when my hubby says "You want me to cook?". Of course I acted as nonchalantly as I could (he's not very big on making big deals out of things) and told him to go ahead. He prepared fried rosemary chicken and Nido soup. His niece helped again but the effort of defrosting, marinating, frying, setting, everything that goes into creating a meal, which he hardly ever has a hand in, was a very big deal. Snaps for my hubby!!

The positivity was plentiful over the weekend.

A Lover of All Things Food

I love food. I really always have. And I love it more now that I have more confidence in my cooking and baking skills. My husband and friends encourage me whenever they give me positive feedback about a dish or a pastry I've tried out. And I love the fact that, so far, my son likes 95% of the things I whip up for him.

Most of all, I looooooooooove pasta. They are filling, varied, delicious, and easy to make. You can create almost any kind of tasty pasta dish with just a few basic ingredients . Often, when I have some down time at home and I am hungry, I turn to pasta to fill me up. My current favorite Pasta dish has a taste of the local with a splash of Italy. I was inspired by a dish I say my friend Ren and her boyfriend Joff eating one working day while I was roaming the mall on my lunch break.

I call it Black Olives and Tuyo (not very fancy huh?)

Ingredients:
Tuyo
Olive Oil
Black Olives, sliced
Pasta (Spaghetti or Fetuccine would do fine. I've only tried this with the ribbon pastas.)

In a non-stick pan, fry your tuyo in regular oil. When it is almost cooked, add Black olives and some Olive Oil. Turn off the heat and remove fish from the pan. Only use the meat of the fish but do not flake this too much as it is yummier with some chunks. Return to the pan with the oil and fish residue, no heat.
At the same time, boil some water in a pot. When boiling, add salt. Add pasta and cook al dente. Remove pasta and place in the pan with the fish meat and olives. Add a little more Olive Oil and heat through.

Serving size depends on how much you want to eat and proportions of the ingredients are according to personal taste. This is really yummy and easy to make.

Now, in the spirit of all things yummy, let me post 2 recipes that look really really good and, my favorite adjective when it comes to cooking- EASY as well.

I got this from Cooking with Amy, a really informative and interesting food blog.

Spaghetti with Walnuts and Anchovies (adapted from Adventures of an Italian Food Lover)
Serves 2 as a main course, or 4 as a first course

2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3-4 filets of oil packed anchovies
2 Tablespoon chopped walnuts
pinch of chili flakes
3 Tablespoons minced parsley
8 ounces spaghetti

Heat the olive oil over low heat and cook the garlic until it softens and barely begins to color. Add the anchovies and mash until they dissolve into the oil. Add the walnuts, chili and parsley, stir and remove from the heat. Cook the pasta in boiling water until it is 3/4 of the way done.

Drain the pasta and reserve some cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce and cook over high heat, adding about 1/3 cup cooking water. Cook, adding more cooking liquid as needed, until the pasta is al dente.

Brie & Bacon Fettucine
serves 2 - 3 as a main dish or 4 as a starter

1/2 lb fettucine
1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
2 strips of bacon, chopped
1/4 cup brie, rind removed
1/4 cup of pasta water (water the pasta has cooked in)
black pepper
parmesan cheese

In a large skillet saute the bacon and onion slowly over medium heat until bacon begins to crisp and onion is light brown. Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted water until al dente.

Take the pasta out of the water with tongs and place in the skillet with the onion and bacon. Add the brie. Toss with the pasta water. When the brie melts, add a good grind of black pepper and serve with a scant sprinkling of parmesan cheese on each serving.


I can't wait to try them out!!

As a bonus, I've included the recipe to my cocktail of the moment, the Mojito. I was inspired by Martini Moms. This drink doesn't really go with the Pasta recipes but it's a fabulous drink you can prepare anytime you need warmth and a buzz in a moment. Enjoy!

3 fresh mint sprigs
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz light white rum
club soda
ice

In a tall thin glass, crush part of the mint with a fork to coat the inside. Add the sugar and lime juice and stir thoroughly. Top with ice. Add rum and mix. Top off with *chilled* club soda (or seltzer). Add a lime slice and the remaining mint, and serve.

Kid Friendly Dish

I only discovered the joys of cooking and baking after I got married. I guess it really does make a difference when you have to cook. Anyway, since then I've been experimenting with different recipes for meals and desserts. My son's in the picky eater stage so finding recipes for kids that are easy to cook or bake is something that excites me no end. I saw this recipe on the Oprah website.

Brownies (with Carrot and Spinach)

Created by Jessica Seinfeld

From the book Deceptively DeliciousSM
Makes 12 brownies

These brownies fool everyone! You won't believe how scrumptious they are (or how good they are for you) until you make them yourself. Just don't serve them warm—it's not until they're completely cool that the spinach flavor totally disappears.

INGREDIENTS

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup carrot puree
• 1/2 cup spinach puree
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 Tbsp. trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup oat flour or all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat an 8" x 8" baking pan with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or over a very low flame.

In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, vegetable purees, sugar, cocoa powder, margarine and vanilla and whisk until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes.

Whisk in egg whites. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt with a wooden spoon.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 bars.

It looks good and easy to make. I think I will try it. I am hoping my son will like it.