Chicken for Dinner!
I was on my way out to lunch earlier when my aunt, who happened to just arrive from Manila, asked me to cook something for dinner. My feet came to a screeching halt. Plan something for dinner? But, but … ! Luckily, the Pioneer Woman is around with her truly great recipes. I remembered she had a recipe which was similar to the one I tried before, Chicken with Olives, but used garlic and lots of tomatoes instead. I <3 tomatoes!
So I quickly printed out the recipe and off we were to lunch! Vix and I went shopping for the ingredients after we had satisfied the clamoring for food inside our stomachs. Apparently, the people working in the grocery at Gaisano cannot tell the difference between spaghetti sauce and canned tomatoes. >.< Every attendant we asked for the canned tomatoes aisle directed us to the same place … and no canned tomatoes to be had. Fortunately, Vix has eyes … she has four in fact.
Now on for some fresh herbs! We get to the herb rack and nothing, there are no herbs to be bought. At this point, I decide to just go with the dried herbs that we have in our cupboards back at home. Why is it so hard to get fresh herbs here? I’ve already whined about this before, but the world hasn’t listened. Oh, woe is me. Read more >>
Strawberry and Cream Cheese Sandwich
Strawberries! Cream Cheese! :) This is my entry to the February 2011 Cooking Challenge of Pinoy Foodista. This easy to make open faced sandwich packs a great punch to the taste buds and with the use of light cream cheese, great for those who watch their weight.
The ingredients for 4 servings are:
4-5 Strawberries, sliced
1 1/2 tbsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Orange Zest
2 tsp. Fresh Orange Juice
4 tbsp. Cream Cheese
2 tsp. Honey
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
4 Slices of bread
Mix the orange zest, sugar and strawberries in a bowl until sugar dissolves. In a separate bowl, combine honey, vanilla extract and cream cheese together. Pop your bread slices into the toaster. Once done, spread cream cheese over your toasts and top with the strawberry mixture. Serve immediately.
What’s for Dinner?
About a week ago, Sheila requested that I cook Chicken Parmigiana for dinner. I immediately said yes and started browsing through The Pioneer Woman‘s cooking blog. I love, love, love her cooking and I was thrilled she had the recipe.
The Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Parmigiana Recipe – it’s full of yummy-ness!
I did the grocery a day before since I actually meant to cook Tuesday night; WoW maintenance and nothing to do for the night and all that. I also do my grocery shopping during my lunch break. ;) So right after lunch, I dragged Vix inside the supermarket and had her push the small cart. One of the good things about cooking is that you’re bound to have left-over ingredients — so I didn’t need to buy all of them. I just got the chicken breasts, the crushed tomatoes and the Parmesan cheese.
I have no idea why it’s so effing hard to find fresh herbs in Bacolod. We roll up into the vegetable/herb section and no fresh herbs to be seen except some “organic herb” packaging which looks nothing like parsley. Next, we go to the cheese section and my heart screams “Why do you have to be so expensive cheese?” The cheese selection was quite good actually, they were just a bit too expensive. I had to settle for one of those pre-grated Parmesan cheeses in a plastic bottle. I know, I chickened out by doing that.
I basically followed what the recipe asked, substituting in other ingredients for the ones I couldn’t find. I decided to use Italian Seasoning in place of the parsley and tweaked the flavor a bit since my aunt doesn’t like too much tomato-y taste on her pasta. John said he didn’t like tomato sauce all that much — which makes me wonder why his plate overflowed with it. The good news is, when we all finished dinner, the entire thing was gone.
