Corned Beef With Beans

She cooked from the heart. Savory, succulent and well plated, she paid intense attention to details. Ahh, I miss her food. Her homemade ham that had the best glaze, her pochero with the mashed squash and eggplant siding, her fluffy tortilla, her nilagang kenchie, her calandracas, tinumis, etc. I can go on and on..

My lola was an excellent cook. Okay, biases aside, she was. VERY!

Today, I made one of her dishes. A 2-step wonder. Definitely, the best tasting 5-minute meal.

Okay, how to do this:

1. Saute 4 cloves of minced garlic and 1 chopped red onion.

2. Add in 1 can corned beef and 1 can pork and beans. Stir-fry some more for two minutes.

3. Add 1/2 cup shredded cabbage (optional). Serve hot:)

How easy was that?

Mashed Potato Makeover (Tuna Croquettes)

Okay, all too suddenly you craved for some creamy mashed potatoes.  You decided to whip up this dish in excessive quantity. You totally forgot about the word GLUTTONY. Yeah, you wanted to binge that night, alright.

Finally, you surrendered gobbling it up. Oh, but the problem was, there were ten containers of mashed potatoes you made. Ha!

Then you decided to stack it away in the ref. One, two, three days later and you realized these mashed potatoes have turned from yummy to icky.

Why, potatoes are always best when they’re fresh from the heat. Old potatoes tend to taste starchy, stiff and overly bland.

But who says days-old potatoes can’t be rockin’ anymore?

Not me.

Today, I made some croquettes. Yeah, using mashed potatoes from last night. The filling was made up of tuna, crumbled white cheese and red bell pepper cubes. I just sauted about 3 cloves of minced garlic, 1 small-sized red bell pepper (cubed) and 1 can of drained tuna. Final ingredient was about half a cup of crumbled white cheese, mixed in the tuna ensemble shortly before turning off the heat.

I thought Tuna and melted white cheese make a great tandem. My mom uses ground beef while others even throw in some chopped raisins on their meat filling. Your choice, really.

croquette filling

I then molded my mashed potatoes into balls and flattened them to push in some filling inside. Dredged them on flour, dipped in one beaten egg and finally coated it with Japanese bread crumbs.The final shape was something like:

Then deep fried:

Crunchy outside, creamy and savory inside:

Mashed poato recipe:

3 large potatoes

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup heavy  cream

salt and pepper to taste

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Boil potatoes.

Mash with potato masher.

Throw in remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly.

Chicken Spaghetti Melt

Yes, chicken. With all our might, hubby Jake and I have been trying to look away from the pork and beef that have been calling our names since the time we succumbed to the call of healthy lifestyle. Save for the few times we bite on beef, we usually settle for the chicken viand. Healthier, as delish, but less of the fat (unless you eat the skin!).

Okay, today’s lunch was chicken spaghetti melt. Spaghetti that used ground chicken meat in the sauce.

Instead of the usual grated cheese we conventionally top on that good ‘ol hot spaghetti, I decided to melt my medium-sharp cheddar cheese that crowned my chicken spaghetti.

Cheddar, hands down, is my ‘comfort cheese’ as opposed to the other bland tasting variety. I love the saltiness that romances well with the creaminess component of the cheese. I just love, love, love cheddar cheese!

Okay here goes, you will need:

1/2 kilo ground chicken

1/2 kilo whole wheat pasta

1 can diced tomatoes

1 small pack tomato paste

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 large tomato, chopped

1 onion, minced

1 large bell pepper, cubed

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup grated medium-sharp cheddar cheese

salt and pepper to taste

3 tbsp butter

oil

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1. Saute ground chicken in garlic,onion, bell peppers, tomato sauce and paste in oil and butter. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until meat is tender. Pou heavy cream and continue stirring until bubbly. Set aside.

2. In a separate pan, cook pasta acording to package direction. Shock and drain.

3. Mix pasta and sauce. Top generously with cheddar cheese. Microwave for 3-4 minutes. Serve hot.

NOTE: You may substitute cheddar with mozzarela, parmesan or both! Enjoy!

Lime Chicken

Quite impulsively, I picked up a pack of lime that I saw when I did the grocery at Tropical Hut very recently. I thought it looked really pretty and would love to use it sometime. It hasn’t yet cooled down much in our ref when I decided to use it up in tandem with my chicken right away.  

In the culinary world, lime holds a lot of value as it is appreciated for its acidity of its juice and the aromatic properties it posseses. Quite a popular ingredient in Mexican, Southwestern United States and Thai dishes, it’s become very popular in our household too:)

And yeah, finally, my fingers are back pounding away on these keys, blogging. I missed blogging. The last two weeks kept my hands tied having had to work on certain important “missions” (a.k.a rakets, lol).

Anyway, here goes the recipe:

2 whole chicken breasts, cubed

juice of 1 lime

1/4 cup soy sauce

4 cloves of garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup oil (for marinating)

1/2 cup oil (for frying)

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1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Meantime, combine all ingredients (except frying oil) to make the marinade.

2. Marinate chicken for an hour. Pour marinade and chicken in a shallow pan. Fry until chicken is done and liquid has almost evaporated. Pour chicken in a plate including sauce from frying. Serve hot. 

Lime