Baked Rotini with Meatballs

Hello Fellow Foodies!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Today, I would like to share with you a pasta dish I prepared last week. This is one of those dishes I tend to make when I have leftover pasta sauce or cooked meat like sausages or in this case, meatballs. It's super easy to make and it's tasty too. The great thing I discovered about this recipe is that my picky toddler, who would normally turn up her nose at tomatoes, actually loved it with the pasta.


Ingredients:
4 cups cooked rotini
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup pasta sauce
1 1/2 cup cooked meatballs halved
1 tbsp fresh basil or substitute with 1 tbsp dried basil
pinch of salt and pepper
1/4 cup Velveeta or any other brand quick melting cheese.


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slightly grease bottom and sides of an oven safe pan with butter or cooking oil. Drain most of the liquid from the canned tomatoes. In a large bowl, mix tomatoes, sauce, meatballs and basil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Fold in rotini. Mix well until pasta if fully coated with sauce. Pour in mixture in pan. Top with cheese and extra basil leaves if desired. Cook in oven for 15-20 minutes until cheese has completely melted. Serve hot. This yields 4 servings.

Enjoy!

Sweetened Hot Dogs with Spinach and Pineapple Slaw

Hello Fellow Foodies!

Today I'm sharing with you a hot dog recipe that my mom used to make when I was a kid. I make it from time to time when I'm not really in the mood to cook or when I get a craving to fill my sweet tooth. It's super easy to make, plus it's a hit with kids. I've made a slight change so I won't have to use any oil. As a side, I've decided to pair it with a spinach and pineapple slaw that you're sure to love. =)


Sweetened Hot Dogs

You will need:
5 hot dogs cut into 1 inch medallions
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup water.


Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, bring water to a boil. Add hot dogs and boil for 5-6 minutes until water has slightly reduced. Add sugar and stir until it dissolves. Pour in ketchup and add black pepper. Stir thoroughly until hot dogs are coated with sauce. Remove from heat and serve. Serve with steamed rice or in hot dog buns. Makes 3 servings.

** cook's note:
You may choose to add garlic or onion powder to this dish during the cooking process. Reduce pepper if you're not to keen on it. Also as a reminder, we all know that hot dogs can be a choking hazard for younger kids, so parents may want to cut the medallions into smaller bite sized pieces just to be safe.




Spinach with Pineapple Slaw

Ingredients:
5-6 cups chopped spinach
1 1/2 cups canned pineapple whether chunks or crushed
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)


Directions:
Mix all ingredients into bowl until dressing is well incorporated into spinach. Place in container, chill and serve cold. Makes 4 servings.

**cook's note:
You can add cabbage or use it as a substitute for the spinach.


Enjoy!

P.S. If the serving size in the accompanying photo seems small, that's because it's for my lil one.

Sauteed Green Beans in Butternut Squash Puree

Hello Foodies!

Today, I'd like to share with you a recipe that I threw together last month.
Apologies if the pictures do not seem to look too appealing. However the dish turned out yummy enough to merit a repeat performance sometime in the future. This dish goes well with steamed rice and fried chicken or fish.


Ingredients:
2 Cups French style green beans
1/2 cup chopped green onions /or 1 small onion
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp fish sauce / or if unavailable use a pinch or two of salt for taste
pepper
1 cup pureed cooked butternut squash
/or substitute with 1 cup butternut squash soup
*you can use kabocha or winter squash instead of butternut.


Directions:
Saute green onions and garlic in 2 tbsp cooking oil. Add green beans and cook until slightly tender. Pour in butternut squash puree. Stir in fish sauce and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. Plate and Serve. Enjoy!

Ginger Beef with Edamame

Hello Foodies!

It's been almost a month since I last posted but thankfully I've finally found the time to share another recipe.

The following recipe was inspired by my craving for beef teriyaki as well as encourage my kid to eat her veggies. This turned out to be pretty good. It also got my lil one to chow down a large helping of the edamame and zucchini. ;-)

I do apologize if the recipe is not "exact" as I've included several versions on how to prepare this dish. I would like to think of this as more of a guideline perhaps? I've never known my grandma to cook like it was an exact science and I guess I just picked up on it.

You will need:

1/2 lb of beef sliced into thin strips about 1-2 inches long
1 tbsp of sliced ginger
5 cloves crushed garlic
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp Black pepper
1 1/2 tbsp brown or white sugar
1 tbsp rice wine (optional)

1 cup cooked Edamame
1 large zucchini chopped
*you may substitute the veggies in this dish with
any of the following; chayote (sayote), bottle gourd (upo)

extra sauce:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown or white sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tsp corn starch or 1 tbsp flour to thicken mixture

To prepare:

Marinate Beef strips in ginger, garlic, soy sauce, mirin, pepper, and sugar for at least 30 min. You can marinade this overnight if you choose. In my case, I let it sit for about an hour.
There are a few different ways to cook the beef.

1) You can either stir fry it in a wok until the meat turns brown, and then add the extra sauce mixture.

2) You may choose to boil the beef and marinade in 1/4 cup water, adding the thickening sauce/mixture in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

3) If you happen to have a pressure cooker at home, (like I do). pressure cook the beef in 1/4 cup water for 5-8 minutes. When cooking time is done, reheat beef and stir in the extra sauce to thicken.
**please please remember not to open the lid while steam is still present. for those of you who are new to pressure cookers PLEASE follow the instructions!


In a separate sauce pan. Boil/ reheat edamame per package instructions. You can use any brand. I used the ones sold at Trader Joe's. Drain water when done and set aside beans.

Do the same with the zucchini. Here I boiled the zucchini for 5 minutes. Mix zucchini with edamame.

To serve, ladle beef in middle of serving plate. Place veggies around dish. Drizzle remaining sauce over veggies.

Serve with steamed rice.

Makes 4 servings =)

Enjoy!!!

Leftover Chicken & Celery Sandwich

Hello Fellow Foodies!

This is officially my first blog post. Hopefully, it won't be the last. Before I get to the recipe, I'd like to share a little information as to why I, like a whole bunch of other people have decided to join the blogosphere. So here goes:


1. I tend to prepare meals based on what my tastebuds dictate for the day, and on whatever food I have available in the fridge.
2. I've created several dishes that have either been inspired by other cooks, recipes etc. or ones that I simply concocted.
3. I "sometimes" tend to forget how I made a dish in the first place therefore leading my DH to bemoan the fate of a possible new favorite.
4. I intend for this blog to help me be vigilant in recording those dishes worthy of a repeat perfomance.
5. I hope that this page inspires others like me to find the joy in cooking, or possibly learn a tip or two on what to do with leftovers. ;-)


Chicken & Celery Sandwich

Ingredients:

1 cooked chicken breast cubed (used leftover baked chicken for this)
1 celery stalked chopped
4 tbsp Mayo
2 tsp sweet relish
1/2 tsp dried onion flakes (or substitute with 1 finely chopped small onion)
1 tsp sugar
dash of salt and pepper

Hotdog buns

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl adding salt and pepper for desired taste. I love pepper so I tend to put a lot in this recipe.
Spoon mixture into Hotdog buns. makes 3 sandwiches.
Enjoy!


** A few words...
I used hotdog buns instead just so it's easier to handle/eat since the filling is chunky.
Adjust ingredients according to your taste.