Home-cooking | Quick and Healthy does Exist

Here's a couple of meals for aspiring Chefs but always on-the-go types of people (aren't we all?;)).

Chik n' Beans. My dad concoted this one. Throw on some French beans and onions over roast chicken leftovers and ... poof! A healthy, refreshing, instant meal for this fast-paced city.

Easy Peasy Pasta. This is a no-brainer, really. We've all heard it before, pasta is one of the easiest things to prepare. As a kid all I did was put cheese on these swirlies and that was a treat! This version is slightly more elaborate: fresh basil, chopped green olives and chunky tomato sauce (or real tomatoes) makes it feel oh-so-Italian. It was so yummy (and fragrant!) we didn't notice we forgot to pile-on some Parmesan! 

Got some fast, simple recipes up your own fabulous tabletops? Share them, too!

One Quick One

I usually go to Mcdonald's after my morning runs out of habit. Since that would be in the early morning i couldn't have my usual pig-out meal of Quarter- pounder burger so I'd try out different breakfast things. Recenly I've been getting the Big Breakfast meal (lots of protein) with orange juice. One cold morning I traded in my juice for hot choco and had a brilliant idea...

So there was my jam, just sitting there because I didn't think it matched the taste of the muffins. Then i decided to dump it into the hot chocolate. Tada! Instant Strawberry Chocolate drink. Next time I'll try this with a helping of Ice cream.

Brocolli Bacon with Almonds

Broccoli and bacon are probably the next two food items I like after potatoes and tea. So when I saw this recipe, I decided I had to do it...well, not quite. I saw this recipe for Broccoli-bacon salad but wanted to do a dish that could go with rice. So what I did was skipped the mayo(and a lot of other things) and put in a bit of water. I then threw in some almonds and prepared to serve. A really simple meal, it almost feels like cheating for this cooking challenge. Haha.

Ingredients:
Broccoli, chopped into bite sizes
Bacon, fried, cut into small pieces or crumbled
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
Roasted Almonds, chopped


Instructions:
First sautee the garlic in oil until golden brown and fragrant. Add in the Broccoli and a half cup of water. Stir occasionally until tender. It get's fragrant, too!( a broccoli sort of fragrance) Throw in the bacon and keep stirring for a few more minutes. Add salt if you like but the taste of the bacon should flavor the dish just fine. Remove from heat, sprinkle some almonds and serve.


Whew! Didn't know I had it in me to write down a recipe like this!


10/30 cooking challenge

Stir-fry Mung Bean Noodles

left :shrimps &onions. right: longganisa, tofu, onions & cabbage.

My mom has been trying to get me to eat (and cook) different versions of this ever since I was a kid. I've had season's of craving for it and long periods of not wanting to see a plate at all. I would say, this is such a fitting candidate for dish number one. 


It's amazingly simple to prepare (that coming from a nitpicker such as myself) and it's very versatile, too. It's like pasta, you can put anything on hand that you care to eat. The usual version for seasoning this is without using vinegar. I chose the vinegar recipe as it is quite new to me. 


For my first attempt I used shrimps and onions as those are the only ones I found in the kitchen. I made a mistake in not testing the cane vinegar I used. It was more sour than the usual and I had put too much. Version 2 had tofu and longganisa and this time some greens (cabbages). I put in less of the vinegar but it was till to sour for my taste although my mom did eat it without major complains. :) Anyways, I still have 7 more attempts to improve this.


ingredients: Mung bean noodles or sotanghon, Soy sauce, cane vinegar, meat or meat substitutes to give taste, vegetables (optional), onions, garlic, pepper & salt to taste.


How + some notes: The secret is in cooking the noodles, after which you can stir in the ingredients on a shallow pan. The white mung bean noodles need to be soaked in warm water for a few minutes to make them pliable. Boiling for a very short period (25 seconds, as suggested) is also an option. The garlic and onions are stir-fried first until slightly brown. Their smell should begin to come out at this time. At that time, the meat and other ingredients are put in, then the noodles followed shortly by the soy sauce and vinegar, all the while stirring so that the ingredients are seasoned evenly. A step-by-step recipe can be found here.


10/30 Cooking Challenge


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13 reason's I love potatoes

I'm getting hungry just looking at this picture. Seriously.

I am a simple person; potatoes are my comfort food. They're basic, easy to find and can be cooked whichever way you like. (mostly they're also tastless on their own and full of carbs but that doesn't seem to make people love them less, right?) I used to live in a place where these are cheap, fresh and come in different sizes. One would think I would have sworn them off (like I did sayote) but no, just the opposite in fact. Here are my favorite potato treats, in random order:

1. Hash browns- whoever thought of frying semi-mashed potatoes is a genius.
2. FRIES! Mcdonald's is still my fastfood winner!
3. Mashed- as a kid we had this manual masher which I loved to drive into boiled potatoes. There's satisfaction in squishing them, really.
4. Cold potato salad- one of the simplest things to make (mixed boiled, diced potatoes with some stock in onions, mayo, a little butter plus salt and pepper to taste. chill then eat!).
5. Boiled marble potatoes- just add cheese! or you can eat it straight of the pan since these minis have a distinct flavoring right off themselves. Great with gravy too, like the Flying Gecko's.
6. Chicken stew (aka Adobo)- yes, the beloved Filipino dish that everybody loves.
7.Mixed with corned beef- I love corned beef, though it never seems complete without potatoes on.
8. Baked- I love Yellow Cab's Baked Potato Wedges with garlic ranch dip.
9. Potato Chips- munch, munch!
10. different versions of Potato soup.
11. Shepherd's Pie- a lady I know cooks a delightful version of this dish and I miss her already. :)
12. Grilled potatoes- skewered in a kebab or wrapped in aluminum foil. Dip in barbecue sauce.
13. In my omelet- when cooking omelet I put in whatever I can find in the kitchen-- onions, mushroom, cabbage, cheese, shrimp, tomatoes, olives, basil, bacon, ham. But what really makes an omelet an omelet for me is that it has potatoes in it.

photo from about.com