Being a working mom, I love fast and easy meals. I love them even more when they are also delicious and healthy to boot. This is one of them. It is tried and tested, and this is really a 30-minute meal. It's true. I timed it. Several shortcuts were used, but that is ok. That is why they are called short cuts, they cut short the time spent in the kitchen so you can get on with the many other duties in life.

The tilapia parmesan recipe has been posted before, and I am not too sure about the asparagus. The asparagus is simply sauteed in olive oil and garlic for exactly three minutes to retain their crispness. The pasta is simply sauced with store-bought, alfredo sauce in a jar.

When you have a dinner like this in your repertoir, last minute PTA meetings, band concerts, swim class, and the like are all doable.

Click on the photo for the whole story. Also read all the comments at the end of the article. Interesting read.

While visiting the Sassy Lawyer, I read her post regarding the article above. It disturbed me so much I just had to post it here too. But as I am on my way to lunch, I will leave this as it is for now. I'll go and contemplate while I eat my lunch with a spoon and a fork. I gotta keep up my disgusting habits, ya know. Pwe!!

OK, I just went and ate my rice with eggs and aligue, eaten with gusto with a spoon and fork. Here's my two cents on this matter.

Pabulum is this month's host of Lasang Pinoy and for this round she chose to explore the inner realm of, Laman Loob loosely translated as that what is contained inside. In other words, offal. This round, we feature the different ways that the innards, commonly designated as undesirable parts, are prepared and enjoyed not only all over the world but specifically the Pinoy spin on this delicacy.


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CeliaK, the English Patis has tagged me for this meme on foodbloggers. Since I haven’t been bloghopping much due to work and kid duties, here is my lopsided attempt at world-hopping through food blogs.

1. Please list three recipes you have recently bookmarked from foodblogs to try.

For this, all I have to do is pull out the top stack of printed recipes from my bag. Here are my recent print outs of dishes to attempt one of these days: (oh crap, I cleaned out my work bag so I’ll have to review my print outs when I get home tonight…promise I’ll add to this later)
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2. A foodblog in your vicinity

The nearest one to me is the Ilocana Chef who is also a Southern transplant. One of these days maybe we’ll get to meet, right dexie? ;-)

3. A foodblog located far from you

Farthest from me would be all the Filipino food bloggers in the Philippines who I try to visit often to get ideas, especially the first food blog I discovered, The Sassy Pinoy Cook.

4. A foodblog (or several) you have discovered recently (where did you find it?)

It seems that everyday, I discover a new food blog. But since I haven’t been bloghopping as much, it’s been a while since I added a link to my blogroll. The latest additions though are:

● Pabulum who is hosting the latest round of Lasang Pinoy.
● Potlikker who is filling the void in southern food blogging
● Zita who I stumbled to by accident


5. Any people or bloggers you want to tag with this meme?

I will tag my fellow Ilokana blogger in the south, Dexie, Tin who has been suffering from allergies but maybe be well enough to do this meme one of these days, and Iska who blogs from far away Beijing.

Toni at wifely steps asked, what does your refrigerator door look like? This is our two refrigerators, otherwise known as command central. It just so happened that we were going to do some spring cleaning today as things have gotten quite out of hand with our junk all over the place. As you can see, what's on our ref is what is going on in our life. We put up upcoming events so we don't forget, we put up pizza coupons so we don't forget to use them next time we have one delivered, and of course, art work. We thought we would take a photo of this mess for posterity before we clean it up. Don't worry though, it won't stay pristine for long. In a few weeks it will be back to this much utilized look once again. So we ask you, what's on your fridge? Post your photo and make sure you let Toni know about it.

I had taken out a whole chicken to defrost one day but had no idea what to make with it. I just figured I will get inspired by the time the chicken thawed out. And indeed, I was; thanks in part to Jade's recent obsession with Persian Food. She has taken a particular liking to koobideh, I think because she likes how the word rolls off her tongue but she also just likes the flavor of grilled lamb. I didn't have lamb on hand though, all I had was this chicken staring at be begging to be cooked in any other way other than adobo and fried. So we decided to grill it and also try thi Joojeh Kabab recipe. We made a few modifications though since as usual, we were pressed for time and didn't have time to marinade the full 24-hours. Here is our method for joojeh kabab, which turned out wonderfully, by the way.

INGREDIENTS:
1 whole chicken cut into pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large onions, grated (we processed ours in the automatic chopper to save our eyes)
1/2 teaspoon safron
Salt & Pepper

After washing and cutting the chicken, I placed them in a large pot and added the rest of the ingredients. Since I was again doing my last to the minute cooking and didn't have time for the 24 marinade or slow roasting on the grill, I decided to try the quick grill method. Pre-cook the chicken in the marinade. Bring the chicken and marinade to a boil while preparing the grill and lighting the charcoals. This grilling part is one we prefer not to take short cuts on. We always use charcoals instead of the electric grill. It also helps that we don't have an electric grill so we really don't have a choice but cook everything over coals ;-). By the time the grill is cleaned and the charcoals are ready for cooking, the chicken should be cooked through. Grill the chicken just until they are browned, marinating with some of the cooking juices. I reserved about a cup of the cooking liquid which served as gravy over the chicken during the meal.

These were served with grilled tomatoes, onions and jalapeno peppers and buttered rice (Recipe follows).

This is a very simple recipe but very flavorful and different way of serving rice, a good accompaniment to grilled meats like the joojeh chicken above.

2 cups jasmine or long grain rice
4 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water or chicken broth

In a pan, melt the butter and add the rice; stir until the rice gets slightly browned and smells toasted. Add the salt and liquid, stir and cover until it comes to a boil and turn it down to low. Do not lift the cover. Let it cook on low heat and covered for 20 minutes. Fluff up the rice before serving.

We love cooking and eating Mexican food, and guacamole is one of our favorites either as a dip or as an accompaniment to any Mexican dish. However, we have also gotten into the habit of making it every time we cook out on the grill. It just pairs up well with grilled meats. This is a very simple version, and I find it works best with picky kid palates.

2-3 avocadoes, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 lime, juiced
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced fine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic, finely minced and mashed
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped

Mix all ingredients together, slightly mashing the avocado in the process. We like to leave some avocado chunks in our guacamole. Great to dip tortilla chips in or just a condiment for grilled meats.

We have gone grill crazy since the weather turned nice. This week alone we grilled three of our meals and we have entertained friends two weekends in a row. Spring has definitely sprung!!

This is one salad we make when we are tired of the usual mayonnaise based potato salad. This one we learned from Uncle Danny who prepares this dish almost every time we have a cook out at their house.

It is quite simple to prepare. Red skinned potatoes are very attractive in this dish and that is what we normally use, leaving the skin on; but this time, I only had white potatoes. Boil the potatoes until they are cooked through. Cool them a bit before slicing them up (since I used white potatoes, I peeled them first). Chop some red onions (about 1/2 cup) and flat leaf (Italian) parsley (about 3 tablespooons or more if you prefer). Add these to the potatoes along with a drizzle of olive oil, and season with salt and fresh cracked black pepppers. I just eyeball the olive oil and don't measure. The trick is to just give enough to coat the potatoes but not saturate them. This can be served hot or room temperature. I wouldn't recommend chilling it. The good thing about it is, since it's not mayonnaise based you can leave it out until it's time to eat.

I can't believe while looking through my photo archives that this is the only photo of this dish I can find. Yeah, I know it's a long title, but since I didn't really follow a recipe I don't really know what to call this. It's like a cross between a regular stir fried dish and chow mein. This dish actually had noodles buried under all the veggies, and I thought I had a better photo to show that. Oh well, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that somewhere under that pile of goodies are some noodles. I think this may be closer to chopsuey, but since I haven't consciously cooked chopsuey yet, I am not really sure. I just remember ordering chopsuey frequently as a child and have always associated stir fried vegetables with it. I also had some tofu on hand, so I thought I may as well throw those in too.

I've been trying to eat more tofu lately, since it is supposed to be rich in magnesium; an element sorely needed by aging bodies like mine, according to Dr. Emer, my long-distance medical consultant and friend.

For this dish you will need just about everything in your refrigerator. Well not quite, but the ways you can vary the ingredients can be endless:

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 pound of pork loin, sliced into thin strips
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, sliced
1 medium sized bok choy, sliced
2 carrots, sliced thin
2 ribs of celery, sliced thin
1 can of baby corn
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon corn starch
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

1 pack of egg noodles (about 8 oz), pre-cooked

COOK THE NOODLES:
My girls like the pan-fried noodle dishes from the Chinese restaurant, so this was also an attempt to duplicate the crunchy noodles that slowly soften with the gravy from the stirfry. Since I can't get my stove to heat my wok enough for a good searing like in the restaurants, I used the following method gleaned from the net, but sadly can't remember exactly where. First, boil some water and cook the noodles for about 5 minutes. Drain, toss in 2 tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil, and spread on a cookie sheet. Put under the broiler for a minute or two (watch closely) just until the edges of the noodles start to brown. Turn the noodles over and do the same to the other side. Put noodles on a pretty dish and set aside.

STIRFRY:
Heat two tablespoons of oil in a wok and stir fry the pork strips until they are cooked through. Remove from the pan or just move them up the sides so you can stir fry the garlic and onions until they are fragrant. Add the celery and carrots and stir fry everything together. Add the oyster sauce, salt and pepper and stir a couple of minutes. Add the bok choy and baby corn and the corn starch dissolved into the broth. Stir together just until the corn is heated through and the bokchoy is slightly wilted then add the tofu. Cook another minute for the tofu to get heated through and the broth to thicken. Adjust for taste, and pile on top of the noodles.