Comfort Food

Saturday morning turned out to be busier than usual... Hubby wasn't able to go to work due to fever and severe headache so before doing my usual Saturday chore, which happens to be tackling the laundry, I cooked breakfast for him first. It's a variation of a recipe I found from Miss Connie's website. This time, I just did the usual omelet instead of "cupcakes".

Then for lunch, I brought hubby to a recent discovery... Sen Lek Thai Noodles. We feasted on steaming hot bowls of Thai noodles before he took his medicines.

And then in the afternoon, as we are about to go shopping for Adam's diapers and stuff, the little boy asked to eat burger amd spaghetti from his favorite fastfood... McDonald's. Of course he had to order spaghetti and burger and also a hot fudge sundae... oh, and fries too! 

All in all, this day has proved to be a day of comfort food for the whole family.

Special Fried Rice

I was inspired with Ms. Connie's post and has always been a sucker for fried rice that I made this last night:

It is not actually Yang Chow because of the absence of roast pork but I added diced ham, green peas, cabbage, eggs, diced hotdogs and leftover longganisa.  My family loved it!

Refrigerated Cake (Peaches)

Since I was able to go home early yesterday, I had time to look at our pantry and see what I can "tinker" with... I found an unopened bottle of peaches which I bought a week ago (thinking I was going to have peach melba) a couple of packs of Graham Crackers and All purpose cream.  All I needed was milk and I was ready to begin preparing my refrigerated cake.

It only took 30 minutes to prepare the cake so after placing in the fridge, I still had time to play with a Adam for a while.  I guess I must have played with my son a little longer than I was planning to or maybe my cake was just that irrisistible that before I knew it...

...my brother has already sliced his share of it! nyahahaha!  Anyway, I was planning to put it in a nice serving plate and garnish it with the peaches I set aside specifically for that purpose and then take a picture of it, but this was the only picture I was able to take because as soon as my sisters and mom got wind that the cake was already sliced, they also took their share and ate it! :)

Tofu

A lot of people have been asking me what food I am craving for these days (that's eversince they found out I was pregnant) and I always say "it's varies quickly". That's because it does, one minute I like pizza and the next I like strawberries dipped in whipped cream... But one thing is constant for the past 4 or 5 days... Tofu! It's my favorite "veg out" food these days. I watch TV and I eat tofu, I watch a DVD and there it is... tofu again! I particularly like it deep fried into a golden brown so it's crispy outside yet still a little white inside and dipped in soy sauce mixed with vinegar, a little sugar, chopped onions and a dash of pepper.

Chicken Casserole

This is what we had for dinner... I didn't go to the market or the grocery store last weekend so I had to make do with ingredients that were available at home to make dinner for me and hubby. (Mental Note: Go to the grocery tomorrow after church, to buy fresh supplies!!!)



I don't know what this dish is called since, like I said, I had to make do with what was left in our refrigerator and pantry. Maybe there is a already a dish like this called something else but for now, I'm calling it Chicken Casserole. Oh, and although I am stating the amount I used when I cooked, I guess everyone is free to alter everything according to their taste...

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Kilo Chicken Wings
2 Bell Peppers, cut into strips
1 small pack tomato sauce
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
2 small potatoes, quartered
1 tablespoon fish sauce (patis)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup water
salt and pepper, to taste

PROCEDURE:
In a pan, saute garlic and onions in canola oil then add the chicken wings, salt, pepper and fish sauce then stir fry until the wings are half cooked. Add the bell peppers and 1 cup of water and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and let it simmer again until the potatoes get half cooked.

Then add the tomato sauce and simmer to completely cooke the potatoes and to reduce the sauce into a thick consistency.

There, it's simple so you can make it in about 15 to 20 minutes. Very ideal for working housewives like me! Plus it can serve 2 to 4 people depending on how many helpings they get, hehehe! But since there was only me and hubby, there was enough leftover for hubby to bring to work tomorrow for his lunch.

My Newfound Fave

Last night I wanted to cook something different but had a limited supply of ingredients so I looked inside our ref and found half a kilo of chicken and the feta cheese that my uncle gave me after reading my post about cravings about a week ago. I know, the post is much older than just a week but what can I do, my uncle reads my posts once in a blue moon! *eyes rolling* But back to the cooking thing, I thought I'd try and imitate a dish I tasted when I attended a friend's wedding so I browsed the net for a recipe... and here's what I found:

CHICKEN WITH FETA CHEESE SAUCE
Ingredients:
Vegetable cooking spray
6 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon margarine
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 (12-ounce) can evaporated skimmed milk
1 tablespoon freeze-dried chives
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; place over medium heat until hot. Add chicken, and cook 7 minutes on each side or until done; set aside, and keep warm.

2. Melt margarine in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Gradually add evaporated milk to flour mixture, stirring constantly. Stir in chives. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 3 minutes or until thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly. Add feta cheese, and stir until cheese melts. Spoon cheese sauce over chicken

The recipe's quite simple, I just made a few alterations with the portions of chicken and I didn't have chives so I just used scallions... It turned pretty good, actually. In fact this probably wouldn't be the last time I would be cooking it 'coz it tasted really good. But It wasn't the one I got to taste at my friend's wedding. Oh well, there's always the next time...

Crazy for Bell Peppers

I don't know what's with me lately but I have been hankering for bell peppers since Tuesday! I even cooked stuffed Bell Peppers last night thinking that maybe after that I would be satisfied and then I'll stop salivating at the mere thought of another bell pepper-enriched recipe, but I think the quest for more viands with bell peppers got worse! Hmmm... maybe I'll have to excercise extra will-power... hehehe! Anyways, as part of my self-therapy to wean myself from this craving for bell peppers I am posting here the recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers that I cooked last night:

STUFFED BELL PEPPERS WITH MEAT GRAVY

8 Bell peppers, lg. for stuffing
3 tbsp. bacon grease
½ K ham cubes, chopped in food processor
1 c. Bell pepper, chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped
2 bunches green onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed then minced
1 kilo ground beef
4 pcs. of loaf bread, soaked then torn in sm. pieces
1/2 tsp. thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. olive oil
2 cans tomato sauce
3 cans water
Angel hair pasta
Parmesan cheese

Cut tops of Bell peppers off, clean out inside and wash. In very large pot filled with water, boil the Bell peppers for 20 minutes or until just tender- crisp. Do not over cook or the peppers will split up the sides. Drain peppers and set aside. In large deep saucepan, heat bacon grease. Add ham and cook for 5 minutes. Remove 2 tablespoons of Bell pepper, onion, celery, green pepper, onion, celery, green onions and garlic to ham and saute over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft and tender. Add meat, thyme, allspice, pepper and salt and cook, stirring occasionally until meat is brown and breaks apart, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Squeeze all water out of bread and tear into tiny pieces. Add this to mixture and stir well. Cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove some the of meat mixture and set aside for gravy. Using remaining mixture, stuff Bell peppers and place in a deep baking dish.
Heat olive oil in deep saucepan and add Bell pepper, onion, celery, green onions and garlic which has been set aside. Saute until tender over medium heat. Add 4 cups meat mixture and stir well. Add tomato sauce and water. Cover, reduce heat to low-medium and cook for 30 minutes or until gravy becomes slightly thick. This gravy should not be as thick as regular red gravy. Pour gravy into baking dish with peppers. Make sure that you pour some of the gravy on top of each pepper. Cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 to 60 minutes or until Bell peppers are tender. To serve, place cooked angel hair pasta on plate. Spoon meat gravy onto pasta, place one pepper on individual plate with pasta and pass the Parmesan cheese.

I actually got the recipe from the internet (i forgot where exactly) but altered it a bit to suit my taste. I got so excited about eating it that I forgot to take a picture. Besides hubby was already hungry as well so we just dug in after it got cooked. We were even able to give our neighbors some because I cooked way too many for just the two of us.