Category Dinner

Pappardelle noodles are flat and wide noodles similar to fettuccine. I decided to use them for a Ricotta & Meat Sauce Lasagna dish. Please don’t get technical and start lecturing me on pasta shapes or whatever. I wanted to use the Pappardelle attachment for my pasta maker and figured they’re wide enough to pass along as lasagna.

On the many times I’ve made shepherd’s pie in my life, I’ve never thought of adding shredded cheese on top of the mashed potatoes until a couple of days ago. Just for a twist, I figured, why not? And it turned out really good. Then again, how can you mess up sprinkled cheese on any kind of casserole dish, right? Try this next time too.

When I’m finishing up the last groceries in the fridge I usually make tacos out of meat or leftover veggies. Like these Beef Green Pepper Corn & Eggs Tacos. I had 2 pieces of thin steaks, 1 green pepper, and a little bit of leftover corn from a side dish some other night. I didn’t have any shredded cheese left though so I figured I’d make scrambled eggs instead to serve as topping for the tacos.

I am calling this RED Chunky Pork & Potatoes Curry because compared to all the curry dishes I have made before, either pork or chicken, this one is well, red. Maybe I should name it tomato-based pork and potatoes curry instead but RED sounds cooler, HAH!

In any case, this was really good if I say so myself. The smell of curry permeating the house while it’s simmering is definitely something to get used to. You must really love or at least like curry dishes a bit to appreciate the aroma while it’s cooking. But once you take a bite, and a then few more bites, I’m telling you, IT IS GOOD!

When I decided to take pictures of the process of making Bistek, I thought I was just going to upgrade an old post here at Feistycook with much “better” pictures. Well, it turns out, I actually don’t have one in the archives. I do however have the catfish and pork variations. I could’ve sworn I’ve written about Bistek in the past though. It might have been in the previous foodblogs I’ve written for years ago and didn’t bother importing it here. In any case, here’s one now so I’m gonna stop babbling now and just get to it.

I’ve breaded tilapia fillets with Panko bread crumbs before but that had honey-mustard too which I thought made the breading kinda soggy. But then again, the original recipe that I copied from Rachael Ray actually used pork cutlets so that’s probably a factor too. Anyhooo, here’s my better version of panko breaded pan-fried tilapia fillets which I served over a bed of salad spring mix. It’s quite easy to make and very healthy too.

I like to use salad dressings as marinades for meat. Search the archives here and you’ll find meat dishes with Italian dressing, raspberry vinaigrette, spicy ranch, ranch, and French dressing. I guess it’s the convenience of all the tangy ingredients in one bottle that you could just easily pour over the meat to marinate for a few hours. The result is always fast and delicious protein dish to serve the family for dinner. Like this Broiled Pork Chops Marinated In Balsamic Vinaigrette.

We’ve been boiling up California Blend a lot as a side dish for our dinners. I prefer fresh veggies but I admit the frozen mixed veggies are very convenient since they’ve already been cut and steams really fast. Still though, I make sure we eat more fresh veggies than frozen ones so I buy ‘em fresh then cut what I need each time. The fresh vegetables are also much better in stir-fry dishes. Like this Beef & Cauliflower stir-fry with some carrots and napa cabbage too.

When trying to stay away from rice as a side dish to any delicious dishes that would really go nice with rice, a couple of healthy options that I will recommend are the tacos and lettuce wraps route. Like the pork bulgogi tacos or the pork sisig lettuce wraps. Here’s a seafood version using shrimp cooked in coconut milk. I even made mango salsa for an added crunch on top.

This Shrimp & Penne W/ Lemon-Butter & Sour Cream Sauce is a variation of the Seafood Spaghetti except I’ve used just shrimp and penne for pasta, and added sour cream instead of grated Parmesan cheese. This variation could easily be added to the list of meatless dishes any day of the week.