Chicken-Filled Italian Bread

I saw a video on Facebook where an Italian loaf of bread was stuffed with taco filling and baked it.  I wasn't craving for some taco that day so I thought of replacing the  filling with  chicken cooked in sisig flavor.  Sisig is a Filipino mix that you can buy in an Asian store.  It has lemon powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper,  and chili powder.  

I cooked the chicken first then I carved  out  a rectangle shape  on Italian bread.  I then  filled it with  the chicken and added some cheese.

I put the  carved out  bread back, brushed it with  melted butter, and  baked it for  15 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

 When it was ready to serve, I remove the  sliced  bread on top and added some   romaine lettuce.  
The fresh lettuce added a fresh  element to the bread.  It was really good.

I then sliced the chicken-filled Italian bread into one inch thick and  it was a filling dinner for all of us.

My daughter  love taco so she  told me to use ground beef next time.  The taco filling would be nice too.  

Pork Roast

This is what we  are having for dinner, a pork roast.  I started  cooking the pork last night before I went to bed so that the meat will be so tender today.  Then I added some veggies this morning.  I loaded it up with carrots since I have lots of carrots from my garden.  Celery is also a great addition.  I chose not to add  potatoes this time for a chance.  I added  lemon grass and it just makes the taste and the smell so good!

The price of beef is  so  expensive nowadays that we started just buying pork , chicken and even incorporated  ground turkey as replacement for ground beef.  

Pan with Ceramic Coating Derived from Nature.

Cooking is something that I learned to love.   I hated cooking when I was   single but when I got married, I started to explore the kitchen and now I love it.  Having  the right kitchen utensils also adds excitement when you cook.  That's why I love  working with Ozeri because they have a hige  selection of kitchen tools, gadgets, and utensils that you can buy for easy cooking.  I got this  12" Green Earth Pan from them  and I couldn't be happier.  I have their  8" and 10" and I also love using them  when I cook.  

This pan is one of their textured series  featuring the  ultra safe PTFE and PFOA free ceramic non stick coating, a coating that is derived from nature.  Greblon  ceramic coating is from Germany, it has no harmful heavy metals or chemicals.  It has a comfortable silicon handle and it is very easy top clean.  The elevated texture  creates  an air pocket which distribute heat underneath the food  which enhances  the cooking.

I love that they included  this  Pan Protector which  protects the pan from being scratched when  being put in the storage together with the other pans.  I just love how my pans color looks, they make you want to cook all the time.

Here's what I cooked last weekend  when my new pan arrived.   Green Beans adobo with  beef, it was yummy!

 The next morning, I used it to make  my husband's favorite pancake, the buckwheat with  blueberry.  The  12" pan  was perfect to use in making my children's sand dollar pancakes.

New stuff in the kitchen  really inspires me to cook.  Now I am getting ready to make some dumplings for dinner.  I am using  ground turkey  because the price of  ground beef is getting ridiculously high, lol.  Anyway, thank you once again Ozeri!.  If you want an eco-friendly kind of pan  like just like what I am using now, head on to Amazon and get you one. I love Ozeri's pans so I highly recommend them!

Disclaimer: The author of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review. Opinions expressed is not in anyway influenced by other factors. The product/s mentioned above was provided for FREE for evaluation purposes.

General Tso's Chicken

I found and bought  some General Tso's chicken seasoning mix at Giant Eagle's Farmer's Market the last time we went there.  Yesterday, I tried  to make   the  menu  through following the recipe at the back of the seasoning mix with a little twist (yep, that is me, I always change recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup flour (I used tempura flour)
• 1 lb. chicken, cut into chunks (I only used two medium sized chicken breasts)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used  honey, instead)
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 pck of General Tso's Chicken seasoning mix

Preparations:

• Add flour to resealable  plastic food bag (I used  mixing bowl).  Add chicken  chunks and seal.  Shake bag to coat chicken evenly (I did this  step using my hands to coat the chicken). 
  
• Combine seasoning, sugar (honey),  soy sauce, water.  Blend and set aside. 
  
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until hot.  Add flour coated chicken and cook until evenly brown.
• Stir sauce mixture and add to skillet with chicken. 
  
• Bring sauce to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until desired consistency

I garnished it with chopped scallions

The Verdict:  My husband loved it, he said it's like eating at a Chinese  restaurant.

The only problem he said is that "It made him  ate two plates and it ruined his diet portioning" lol.    Over all, I am satisfied with the authentic Asian taste that I found in cooking this meal through the help of the seasoning mix that I bought.

Baked Confetti Salmon Cake

So I was curled up in our couch  in agony  due to  cramps and thinking what to cook for dinner. Suddenly a sound "ding" came into my brain and had this  idea to make a salmon cake. I bought salmon the other day from the store thinking of grilling it but since I have a dysmenorrhea, I thought of making my job a little easier.

So here's what I came up with. Pardon if my recipe are not  that precise, I cook whatever I feel would make a good tasting dish and whatever  ingredients I have in the fridge and in my garden. So here it goes:

Ingredients: You can ad whatever ingredients you want, this is just what I use with mine.

• 2 salmon fillets
• 2 frozen lemon grass (optional)
• 1/2 cup  miracle whip (you can use mayo)
• 1 medium size onion (chopped)
• 1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley (fresh from the pot)
• scallion, chopped
• 1 tbsp, chopped red bell pepper
• 1 small carrots, shredded
• 1 tbsp, tartar sauce
• 1/2 cup  Italian bread crumbs
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. shredded ginger

Procedure:

• Boil one cup of water, put the lemon, and and salt.  Add the salmon when the water is boiling.  Or you can just  cook the salmon in water and salt. I just ad lemon grass because I love the earthiness aroma of it and it somehow eliminates the fishy smell of the salmon.
• While the salmon is cooking,  mix all the ingredients up in a bowl.
• When the salmon is cooked, remove the skin and shred it into desired  chunks/pieces.
• Add it to the mixture.

You can fry  them or bake them. I pan-fried some for the kids and baked the rest in 350 degrees heat for 40 minutes.   Make sure to spray the foil or baking sheet with  oil spray so the salmon cake won't stick.

I would say, I love the  baked ones more, it got crispier and it does not have oil in it, a lot healthier. Hubby and I ate ours with my kohlrabi achara, rice, and some blanched beans while the kids ate theirs with vegetable and fruit salsa (cucumbers, tomatoes, and  strawberries with  soy sauce).

We had a pretty good diner tonight.  Another success menu in my kitchen. There are different kinds of recipe for confetti  salmon cake but this is my take based on the ingredients I have gathered in my  fridge.

Semi-Vegetarian Treat

Our neighbor gave me a summer squash.  I don't really know how to cook the kind of squash that's available here so I  tried  this for the first time.  I sliced them  with the skin still on, I just washed it good.  Then I stacked them as shown in the picture at my pie pan.

Here are my other ingredients: 

• 2 sliced mushrooms,
• 1 sliced pepper 
• 5 cherry tomatoes, sliced 
• scallions
• basil
• I used the Gourmet Nut salt, steak seasoning, Nacho Cheddar seasoning, and ground pepper.
• I also  chopped up one  slice of fried bacon for some added flavoring.  Everything taste good  with bacon right?

Procedure:

• Add the other veggies in between the squash.  The reason I arranged the squash the way it is on the photos is because you can easily insert the other  cut up veggies in between those squash to infuse the other vegetable's  flavor.
• Add the greens and cheese on top and drizzle a little bit of olive oil. 
• When all the ingredients are incorporated, bake it for 30 minutes in a 350 degrees heat.

I know when   the food I cook turned out good when  my husband likes it especially that he doesn't like squash.  He said he love it that way I prepared it.

We ate the semi-vegetarian treat with rice and small piece of grilled  chicken breast.  

Ravioli Lasagna

My  Burritos are  craving for some ravioli and my husband want some lasagna so to  compensate the two desires, I make this Ravioli Lasagna.  I found the recipe  at the  can of the ravioli.  I dunno how to make ravioli so I  use the canned one.  It's really  easy to make.  Preparation is 20-10 minutes.

Ingredients:

• No-Stick Cooking Spray
• 1 cup frozen loose spinach
• 1 can (40 oz) Chef Boyarde Beef Ravioli
• 1 can (14.5 oz) Diced Tomatoes, drained well.  (I used my homemade canned tomato.)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning (I used the Kernel Season's Nacho Cheddar Seasoning)
• 1 cup cottage cheese (I used sour cream instead)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 cup  shredded cheese

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray 8x8 inch baking dish with  the cooking spray (I used my pie pan).
• Place spinach in a microwave safe  bowl, cover  and  microwave for one minute.

• Combine the ravioli, tomatoes, and seasoning in a microwave safe bowl.  Cover and microwave for 4 minutes or until hot.
• Combine  sour cream, spinach, and black pepper.
• Place half of the ravioli mixture in a dish.  

• Top with  half of the  sour cream mixture and the shredded cheese.

• Bake for 15 minutes or until hot.

Bon Appetit!

Baked Salmon

Salmon is one of the most nutritious food there is. I love that it is  affordable too.  You can buy a pack of   salmon for under ten.  According to the article I read online, Salmon is packed with essential nutrients -- especially protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. 

It said that grilling salmon is one of the most heart-healthy ways to prepare it. However, pregnant and nursing women and young children should avoid consuming more than 12 ounces of grilled salmon weekly, due to potential contaminants present in salmon and other fish living in polluted waters. (livestrong.com)

I like salmon fried but I thought of my Dad as I was about to  cook  so I prepare this the way he would cook fish although we never baked as we did not have oven.  I made up ,this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pack of salmon fillet

1 lime or lemon

3 small tomatoes (I used frozen tomatoes)

1 thai pepper

scallions sliced thinly

a branch of rosemary, chopped

t tbsp of olive oil

sat and pepper

Procedure:

1. Marinate the salmon fillets with the ingredients above for about 15 minutes.  While it's marinating, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bake the marinated salmon for 20-30 minutes.  It smells so good when it's done, YUMMY too.

I steamed a bag of  frozen veggies and made some mac and cheese for the kids and hubby.  I ate mine with rice and the achara that I made using kohlrabi.

We finished our dinner with  very sweet  cantaloupe.

We had a very nice dinner that night so  two days after I baked this salmon, I made another salmon dish.  Post coming up  soon.

Spaghetti Noodles with Hotdogs

I saw this  technique on Facebook and though that it is something fun to do in the kitchen with my kids this summer.  My son helped me put the  hotdogs to the uncooked spaghetti noodles before we dropped it  at the boiling water with a little bit of oil.  The hotdog does add flavor to the noodles and you don't have to add salt  to the water.  This also gave the preservatives in the hotdog to get washed away during the  boiling period.

Spaghetti is one of my lovelies favorite dish at home.  I make the sauce using my home made  sauce.  It's a lot healthier to  make your own sauce from the tomato you  got from your own garden with no  pesticides and other chemicals.

This is a new favorite to my son's list of fun chores to do with me.  He is starting to explore in the kitchen  as well although he isn't brave as his sister yet but he is  showing interest in knowing how to cook.

Pot Roast

I saw a reduced pot roast at the store yesterday so I  bought one since it's been a while since I made a pot roast at home.  I started  cooking it when I woke up this morning  using the slow cooker.

I just let it cook  for  almost 6 hours and when we came back from church today, it was ready.  We love carrots, celery, and  potatoes in it.  Other ingredients are onion and salt and pepper.

I also made  some shells and cheese for the kids and rice for me.  We had a yummy dinner.