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.  

Eggs In a Veggie Bowl

My kitchen is my "Science Lab" at home. I do  different experiments on food that I cook.  I am horrible with  following recipes because whenever I am preparing it and I don't have the ingredient I need, I always end up using different thing and cook different menu instead of the recipe I am trying to make lol.  

To entice my kids' appetite, I do creative things especially on veggies.  My kids are two very different individuals.  The little Miss love egg whites while the little Mister likes the yolk. So What I always do is separate the whites from the yolk and  fry them inside  a cut up veggies.  You just need to removed the inside part of the veggies and they served as the bowl for the egg.  

The first  one I used are   red bell peppers.

Yesterday, I used sliced up squash and added some  cheese on top to make it more appealing to them and they loved it!

This morning, I picked a green tomato from my garden and used it too to fry the eggs and of course, the sprinkled cheese on top does the trick in making  them want to eat it.  When you have kids, coming up with different  menus everyday is hard  but with a little bit of creativity, it's okay.

I did not want to throw the  rest of the  tomatoes so I made it into a salsa.  I thought it was going to be sour but it was actually not.  I added some strawberry, soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, and scallions.  The strawberry counter balanced the sour note of the  tomatoes and it was refreshing to eat!

Green Beans Rolled in an Egg Sprinkled with Cheese

I have abundance supply of green beans from our garden so  I look for ways on how I could prepare it differently and serve it to my kids.  Here's is what I came up with this morning.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• A handful of fresh beans, blanched
• Cheese (this serve as the binding ingredients between the egg and the  beans and it is also the  like factor for the  kids.

Procedure:

• Boil 2 cups of water, put  some  butter and salt in it.  Put the beans and blanched for 3 minutes. Remove it from the pat and let it set in a place.
• Break one egg, beat it in a small bowl with a little salt and pepper.  Fry it in a small pan.
  

• When the egg is halfway done, sprinkle  some  cheese. 
  

• Put the beans in the middle and sprinkle  a little cheese on top then roll it.  Cut it in half in a slanting  position
  

My Burritos ate it with a toast but I ate mine with  rice.  This kind of menu is always a delight to my little miss who love veggies so much!

With my son, he eats the egg first then the beans lol.

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!

Birthday at Home

This is a long over due post coz yeah,  I am a  slacker.  I just have so many things on the plate when my kids are on school break.  I don't  blog as much  when they are home because they want to do a lot of things everyday.

 But anyhow,  on my birthday last month, my husband wanted us to go out but since I was in my heaviest day (as always, Lady in Red's perfect timing), I just decided to  cook   dinner at home and bond with the kids while we wait for my husband to get home.

My kids  baked this cake by themselves, I wasn't even allowed to peek in the kitchen when they were baking.  My husband did not know that the kids baked a cake so on his way home, he   also bought a cake from Gus's Goodies so I had so much of a sweet treat on my birthday!

After our dinner, we visited my FIL and  finished the day with  some quality time at the park in Marland Heights park.  All the photos were taken by a phone... 

Oh, I'd  love to thank a very thoughtful friend who always goes out of her way to  remember  our special days!  Thanks a lot sis Dhemz for the pressies!  I love everything you sent!

So that's a wrap.  I thank God for the  41 years of blessing my life with so much precious gifts that life could offer including trials that make me a stronger person  that I am today!