One of the things we always plant in the garden is long beans or snake beans (sitaw). This year, we have been enjoying a steady harvest. Here's one recipe that I used them in. I cooked this on a weekday when time to get dinner on the table is short. I called this the lazy stirfry because I did away with various steps usually involved in stirfrying. This way, I got dinner on the table in less than an hour and still served up something healthy and delicious.

Click here for the recipe for my version of Pork and Sitaw (long beans) Stirfry - the lazy way



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With the weather getting warmer and there are more things to do outdoors, cooking just hasn't been a priority. I've been wanting to get in and out of the kitchen as fast as I can. Here are a few recipes that has allowed me to get in and out of the kitchen in about an hour. You're welcome to try any of them and get out of the kitchen quickly.

Easy Carbonara, Easy Wonton Soup & Chicken with Basil & String Beans

Baked Tilapia with Teriyaki Sauce & Onions, Fried Tilapia with Pasta and Asparagus & Pork Loin and Fried Rice

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This is one of my daughter's specialty dishes. They can now prepare this dish and change it up to suit their taste, all by themselves.

This is a perfect dish to cook with kids because one, which child doesn't like quesadillas? If they like it, and it's easy enough to make, then they will like making it and eating it even more. I've always said that the kitchen is one of the best classrooms in the home. Teach kids to cook early, supervise them, and they will come away with much more than just a full stomach.

Here'e how to make these Spinach Quesadillas...


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We love Mexican food at our house. We especially love making tacos and burritos because everyone gets to help preparing the meal, then they can customize their tacos or burritos to fit their exact taste.

We ran across this box of Ortega Grande Pizza Kit that was on sale at the market. It was such a huge mark down that even though we don't normally buy kits and prefer to make our own pizzas from scratch, we decided to try this one out.

It came with all these flavor packets and a small box of tortilla disks. We soon realized why the kits were on sale. They were probably close to expiring as the tortillas were a bit hard and stale. No worries though, we had lots of tortillas in the fridge and all we did was fry up a new batch and we were good to go. The flavor packets were of spices for the ground beef which I ended up amending and some salsa in the other packets, which you bet we also added to. In essence, we pretty much ended up making our own fixin's. We just got the idea to make it from the kit. :)


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This is a very easy weekday meal, easily done in under an hour. Thirty minutes even if you plan ahead. This is certainly a better solution than fast food on those days when time is short.

Click here for the recipe for Baked Tilapia with Teriyaki Sauce & Onions.




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Here's another simple and fast weekday meal which is a step better than the usual pork chop. This recipe uses pork loin cut into cutlets. This cut has less fat and cooks much faster than the bone-in chop variety. This whole meal can be prepared in less than an hour. What I do to save time is to wash and cut up the pork loin prior to freezing so that it's ready to just batter and fry up when dinner time comes. Paired with garlic fried rice made from left over rice and steamed broccoli and you have another quick, easy and nutritious meal.

To make the fried pork loin, simply moisten the cutlets in beaten egg, dredge in bread crumbs seasoned with garlic powder, salt, pepper and dried basil; and pan-fry until they are golden brown. Very simple!

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.