I ran across a delicious sounding recipe for turkey chili, which I have never tried before, so I ran to the market and got the stuff together. I really liked the turkey chili recipe because it was much lower in fat than the one made with beef. I didn't even have to add any oil and there was hardly any rendered from the turkey. The original recipe was super spicy though so I had to cut it down a bit for the girls. The result was delicious and just perfect for a cold night. The chili was still spicier than what I usually make, but surprisingly, the girls loved it spice and all!

The cornbread with cheese and jalapeno was a perfect pair to the spicy chili. It was slightly sweet but scented with the aroma of jalapeno. It didn't get spicy at all.



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These long beans were harvested right from our garden and we decided to cook them up spicy as part of this vegetarian plate I had last week. This veggie plate consisted of fried okra, baked squash and spicy long beans. Of course, you know they just have to be paired up with rice. :)

I had gotten tired of eating meat and even though I had fried some delicious southern fried chicken when I made this dish, I decided to forego the meat and just stick to the sides. It made for a very satisfying dinner and still carried with it variation in taste, color and texture.

Click here if you'd like the recipe for these spicy beans.


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Even if you've never tasted it before or don't even know what Ratatouille is, I'm sure you've heard of it especially after the animated movie of the same name came out. When you are served up ratatouille the first time, you either love it or are 'ehh, what's the big deal about it other than the fancy name?' Well, I've had ratatouille before the movie, and I had the later reaction. I wasn't really too crazy about it. It was nothing special and the eggplants were usually not cooked well and had that bitter, itchy aftertaste. Maybe it was the way it was prepared that I didn't like. Because when I made this dish this time, I loved it. WE all loved it!

This first dish was polished off in one sitting, believe it or not. I've never had a dish of zucchini without needing a left over container go in the fridge. These were the best zucchini ever. I cooked this last week and just cooked some more last night. That's how good it is.

Click here to get the recipe...



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This is one delicious rice! While the title says spicy, it is not the burn your mouth kind of spicy, but rather the aromatic, take you to heaven kind of spices. We paired up this golden rice with a Lamb Curry and it was to die for!

Click here to get the recipe for Spicy Marigold Rice.



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This is an Indian condiment of cucumber, tomatoes, cilantro and yogurt. It is the perfect cool down to a very spicy lamb curry dinner we just cooked up in our kitchen. This condiment is not just for curry though, I can see this as a perfect side dish for grilled meats. Hey, barbecue season is almost upon us again!



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I can't ever prepare a meal without vegetables. These are two of our vegetables separately. One night, feeling lazy to pull out too many dishes, I decided to combine these two, and not only did it turn out to be more colorful together, they also tasted wonderful together!

The recipe is really simple. Click here to cook Cauliflower and Mushrooms together.


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I think I can finally start posting the backlog of recipes that I tried out this summer. I finally got all the little bugs out of the new website, or so I hope. Anyway, this zucchini and basil muffin was a pleasant surprise, using two ingredients from our garden in a new way.

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This is an old appetizer standby, and a favorite at parties. For parties, you probably should use smaller, bite sized mushrooms. This time though, I had some large mushrooms that were just waiting to be stuffed so I fixed this for dinner for me and the husband and still had plenty leftovers for lunch the next day. We had a nice big salad with plenty of tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden with these and they were delicious! It was a perfect, light summer dinner.

INGREDIENTS:
12 fresh mushrooms, large
3 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup onions, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup spring onions, chopped
1 cup (a little over) lump crab meat
2 Tablespoons mirin
1/4 cup mayonaise
2 Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
Salt/pepper to taste
Olive oil

Remove the mushroom stems and chop, set the mushroom caps aside. In a skillet, melt the butter and add the onions, garlic and chopped mushroom stemps. Saute' for a few minutes until they are fragrant, the onions are translucent and almost all liquids have evaporated. Stir in the spring onions, mirin, mayonnaise, parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. Remove skillet from the heat and add the crab meat. Mix well and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Spoon the crab mixture into the mushroom caps and place them on a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.

The girls are off to summer at grandma's house so it is just me and hubby at home again. Sometimes when we are feeling particularly lazy we cook an egg dish for a quick supper and since I am still trying to clean out the fridge of odds and ends, we decided to have this for a light supper. I only had one Japanese eggplant left in the crisper, and not much other vegetables to pair it up with so eggplant fritata it is.


Since Japanese eggplants are relatively mild and thin skinned, I simply sliced them and quickly pan fried the slices in a bit of olive oil. Set them aside and scramble about 4 eggs and season with salt and pepper. Heat a couple more tablespoons of oil in the skillet and pour the egg mixture in. Let the eggs set about halfway, then place the eggplance pieces on top of the egg. I also had some left over chopped tomatoes so I just threw those in too. Carefully turn the omelet over and cook on the other side. Serve.

Tip on turning a whole omelet over: After the egg has set half way, meaning the bottom is fairly cooked but the top is still runny, slide the omelet onto a plate. Holding the plate in one hand, carefully cover it with the skillet facing down, quickly flip it over, remove the plate and return the skillet to the stove.

The first to fluorish in our backyard garden are the green beans. We have had an abundance of them and we've cooked them every which way imaginable. This is one of the simplest ways of cooking green beans, and it's an old standby in our kitchen.

INGREDIENTS:
Green Beans
Onion, chopped
Tomatoes, chopped
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

I didn't put any proportions on purpose because most of the time it depends on how much green beans I have on hand and what mood I'm in. Experiment with the proportions according to your taste. This is very basic, all you have to do is heat some oil and sautee the tomatoes and onions. After they have softened and become fragrant, add the green beans and season with salt and pepper. I don't add any water, I just wash the green beans prior to putting them in the pot and the moisture remaining on them is usually enough to cook them through. Cover and cook for five minutes. I put the timer on for this so as not to overcook the beans. We all have soggy green beans.

See the full recipe for zucchini fritters.

We got these gorgeous turnip roots from the garden the other day and I wanted to cook them right away to take advantage of their freshness. Normally, I would simply cook these roots along with the greens or just boil them and simply buttered. This time around, I wanted to try something new because the 'simply boiled' recipes just was not such a big hit with the girls.

I thought I would try pan frying them, much like you would potatoes. It was a hit! The girls loved them cooked this way and we almost finished the whole dish in one sitting!



INGREDIENTS:
Turnip roots, sliced into 1/4 inch thickness
1 large onion, chopped
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 cup Water

Melt the butter over medium heat. Place the turnips and onions and pan fry on one side for a few minutes until they start to get some color. Turn over and let it brown some more. Add 1/2 cup water, season with salt and pepper and cover. Let it cook until all the liquid has evaporated and it starts sizzling again. Adjust the seasoning and serve.

I was dreaming of summer the other day and discovered this unposted photo of last summer's tomato gazpacho. Gazpacho is a Spanish derived cold soup which is just the thing when you have perfectly ripened tomatoes that are just brimming with natural sweetness. My girls, upon seeing this dish, exclaimed, but that's just watery salsa, mom! But upon tasting it, they have become gazpacho addicts. They can drink up this stuff.

I make a very basic blend to start with. In a blender or food processor, combine ripe tomatoes, sweet onion, 1 clove of garlic, a sprig of basil, salt and pepper to taste. Blend until everything is crushed together. If the tomatoes are not juicy enough and you would like a 'soupier' mix add some broth or just plain water to loosen it.

When you serve, you can plate it as is, or you can embelish with any of the following: sour cream, chopped cilantro, chopped chili peppers, cubed avocado, crispy fried tortillas, cubed cucumbers, or anything else that suits your fancy.

How do I love adobo? Let me count the ways....there's chicken, beef, pork, liver, ribs, and vegetables too! Yes, you can adobo vegetables and yes, adobo can be a verb :)

When you're tired of the vegetable stews, soups, steamed, and stirfrys, vegetable adobo can be a very good option and quite easy too! You can cook almost anything in the soy and vinegar mixture that makes adobo. I just had some long beans okra and peppers on hand so that is what I used.

INGREDIENTS:
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, sliced
3 tomatoes, sliced
3 Tbsp. vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
vegetables: long beans, okra, peppers
1 Tbsp. oil

Heat the oil in a pan and saute' the garlic, onions an tomatoes until they have softened and are fragrant. Add the vegetables and stir. Pour the soy and vinegar and simmer until all the vegetables are tender.



Filipino Cookbooks

Here's another simple but delicious side dish for when the imagination is sluggish like mine has been lately.

Simply slice up zucchini (courgettes) and pan fry in olive oil until slightly browned on the edges. Then take some sweet vidalia onions, slice and saute in more olive oil until softened. Served with a sauce of lemon, low-sodium soy sauce, and red pepper flakes.

This is an Easy Friday post. I just made that one up, don't bother looking for a link. We had our first hard frost last week, and now our garden looks like it has just been hit with napalm. Everything is blackened and dead save for a few cold weather herbs. Before the frost came, we scrambled to get what we can out of the garden, not that there was much left. So, what to do with a little bit of this and a little bit of that?

I decided to just steam them all and eat them in their natural glory. These were dressed in soy & lemon dressing but I suppose any type of dressing would do. The Clone of course had to have her ranch dressing.

The weather has started to turn cooler, and so we've had to take in the remains from our garden. Not willing to let summer go quite yet, we've taken advantage of the fall sunshine to do a bit more grilling. I came across this recipe for Potato Salad with Dilled Vinaigrette and decided to use up some of the fresh herbs from the garden before they are dried for the winter.

This is my variation, and my entry for weekend herb blogging which this week is hosted by Fiber of 28 Cooks.

INGREDIENTS:
New Potatoes, cooked and halved/quartered
2 medium carrots, cooked, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
8 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 cup sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 Tablespoons fresh dill
3 Tablespoons fresh italian parsley, chopped
3 Tablespoons chives or green onions, chopped
4 Tablespoons lime or lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked balck pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar or pickle juice

Boil the potatoes and carrots, cut up, and set aside to cool. In the meantime, heat a tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet and saute' the onions and garlic until fragrant and the onions are translucent. Add the onions and garlic to the potatoes and carrots. Add the dill, parsley, green onions, and bell pepper to the bowl with the potatoes. In a small bowl or jar, mix the remaining olive oil, lemon/lime, black pepper, salt, and pickle juice. Adjust the seasonings, and pour the dressing over the potatoes. Mix well and let sit at room temperature until you are ready to eat to let the flavors blend.

Although I did plant some green beans in our garden, I have to admit that these were not from mine, but from my fave warehouse store, Costco. These are French beans or haricot verts according to the packaging. I bought a pack a few weeks ago before our plants started bearing fruit.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Lb. Green Beans
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons Butter
3 Tablespoons Water
Salt to taste
Toasted Pinenuts

Heat/melt butter, add garlic and saute' until fragrant. Add beans and roll in the butter & garlic mixture for about a minute. Add the water and sprinkle with salt. Cover and let cook until water evaporates. Take the pan off the heat as soon as it starts to dry up. Place on a serving dish and sprinkle with pinenuts.

As promised, here is another easy recipe to go with Cinco de Mayo Pork Roast or any other meat dish. It also stands well alone, if you are on a vegetarian diet like the Clone. I don't know what it is, but she has been on a self-imposed vegetarian diet lately. She doesn't eat any of the meat dishes we cook, just the starches and vegetables. However, she makes exception for chicken nuggets that come with a toy. Go figure!

INGREDIENTS:
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
2 cups of long-grain rice
1 can black beans">Black Beans
Salt & Pepper to taste
Water

Heat the olive oil and sautee the chopped garlic until it is fragrant. Add the rice, and stir until all grains are coated with oil and slightly browned in some parts. Add the drained black beans and about two cups of water. Season with salt and pepper and let it come to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover and let it cook for about 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked.

Several people I know, and I did this too before I knew better, throw the tops of the beets away and just cook the roots. The green parts of the beets are actually very delicious.

Continue to the Beet Greens with Garlic recipe.