Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings & Asparagus
Those Lawry’s marinades are not just good for marinating meats, yah know. They’re nice sauces to toss into sauteed dishes like this chicken wings with asparagus. This is especially quite easy to whip up on busy days or when you’re only cooking something for yourself for lunch or dinner.
| Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings & Asparagus |
- 10-12 pcs of chicken wings
- 1 cup of Lawry’s Lemon Pepper marinade
- 1 cup of water
- 8 pieces of asparagus, cut in half
- sprinkle of salt and pepper
- 2 medium red potatoes, quartered
- 4 tbsp of oil
- Heat up oil in a sautee pan. Add the chicken wings to cook for 8-10 minutes, or at least until browned.
- Add the lemon pepper marinade, water and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper, stir then cover to cook for 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add the asparagus at the last minute to cook 5 minutes or so.
- Serve with rice.
Tofu & Zucchini Fritters
To go along with the dumplings I made for dinner a couple of nights ago, I decided to make fritters out of a block of tofu and 2 zucchinis. I used the batter from the sesame chicken to continue the Asian theme I was going for. You could serve these as either appetizers, snacks, or lunch. Or dinner with dumplings as well.
| Tofu & Zucchini Fritters |
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup of cornstarch
- 3/4 cup of water
- 2 tbsp of baking powder
- salt and pepper
- 2 zucchini. cut lengthwise
- 1 block of firm tofu, cut lengthwise
- Combine the egg, cornstarch, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Whisk everything together to form the batter. Dip the tofu and zucchini slices in batches.
- Heat oil in a pot. Deep fry the battered tofu and zucchini slices, in batches as well.
- Drain the oil in a paper-lined platter.
- Serve the tofu and zucchini fritters with a soy sauce, scallions, and lemon juice dip, alongside dumplings.
Buffalo Chicken Tacos W/ Blue Cheese Aioli
If you have leftover buffalo wings from a pizza & wings night or just regular hot wings night, you can easily turn the meat into Buffalo Chicken Tacos. But, if you don’t have leftovers and craving for these tacos, here’s an easy way to make some. Boneless chicken breasts not necessary. I used chicken leg quarters which worked out perfectly so let me show you how.
| Buffalo Chicken Tacos W/ Blue Cheese Aioli |
- 3 leg quarters
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 stick of butter
- 1/2 cup buffalo sauce
- 1 avocado, cubed
- a bowl of chopped up salad mix
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- a little bit of oil
- 12-15 corn tacos
- 1/2 cup blue cheese dressing
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- sprinkle of slat and pepper
- sprinkle of Italian seasoning
BLUE CHEESE AIOLI
- Preheat oven to 365 degrees.
- Combine flour, with salt and pepper. Drench the chicken quarters with the flour mixture. Place the chicken pieces in a foil lined pan. Stick the pan in the oven to bake for 35-40 minutes.
- Once the chicken quarters have baked, let them cool on top of a cutting board for a few minutes. Pick off the meat from the bone. Roughly chopped ‘em up to get medium chunks. I reserved one leg quarter for my children who couldn’t eat the hot stuff.
- Melt butter in a pot then stir in the buffalo sauce. Add the chicken meat into the sauce. Stir gently to coat the chicken with the sauce. Taste and adjust according to your hot sauce preference.
- Blend together blue cheese dressing, sour cream, salt and pepper, and Italian seasoning. Transfer in a bottle dispenser or in a bowl(cover), then store in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Assemble the buffalo chicken tacos: corn tortilla, chicken, salad mix, avocado, aioli, and shredded cheddar cheese.
CORN TORTILLAS:Brush a little bit of oil into a heated pan, lightly toast eash side of the corn tortilla, about 6 seconds each. Do this in batches.
AIOLI:
Turkey Egg & Cheese Salad Sandwich
This is just a simple turkey sandwich recipe I threw together to use up the leftover cajun roast turkey from Thanksgiving. It’s great for lunch or filling snacks for kids.
| Turkey Egg & Cheese Salad Sandwich |
- 2 cups of chopped up leftover turkey meat
- 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tbsp of spicy brown mustard
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
- 3 boiled eggs, chopped
- 2 sprigs of scallions, chopped
- sprinkles of salt & pepper
- slices of bread
- Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl.
- Gently mix together, cover the bowl and store in the fridge for 10 minutes or so.
- Spread in between two slices of bread to make a sandwich.
Curry Shrimp & Green Beans Stir-Fry
Now here’s a shrimp version of the curry pork & green beans stir-fry dish. This Curry Shrimp & Green Beans Stir-Fry is just as easy to make just the pork version. If you want to make a chicken version of the dish, why not? I’m sure it will be good too.
| Curry Shrimp & Green Beans Stir-Fry |
- 1 bag of frozen shrimp, thawed
- 1 sm onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 tomato, sliced in thin strips
- sm piece of ginger, chopped
- a bunch of fresh green beans
- less than a teaspoon of curry paste
- 1/4 cup of water
- 3 tbsp of soy sauce
- a little bit of oil
- Heat up the oil in a sauté pan or wok. Cook the onions, garlic, ginger, and tomatoes. About 2-3 minutes or so. Add the shrimp, stir, and cook until tender, about 10 minutes or so. Stir in the curry paste. Don’t go over less than a tsp coz this is very strong. A little goes a long way with curry paste.
- Add the water, and the green beans. Stir everything around, cover the pan and let that steam-cook for a few minutes. Don’t cook too long coz you want the green beans to be firm and crunchy. Stir around a few times while cooking.
- Serve with white rice.
Pork Steak W/ Onions
Here’s a pork adaptation of a much-loved Filipino dish called Bistek(beef steak). This is so easy to make you can whip it up real fast for either lunch or dinner. I’m assuming of course that you already have rice cooked in the rice cooker or leftover rice in the fridge waiting to be warmed in the microwave. The waiting part comes from the marinating process which can take about 30-35 minutes, longer if you’re not that hungry or in a hurry.
I for one marinated the pork, did my Turbo Fire workout for 45 minutes, started sauteing after workout, went to take a shower for 20 minutes, went back to cooking to add the onions in the end, then ate lunch 10 minutes after. I know, I probably shouldn’t have been taking a shower while that was cooking in the stove but hey, it worked for me. I don’t advice that for anyone, of course. Just wait after you take a shower(or whatever else you’re doing) which in turn will marinate the meat a bit longer.
| Pork Steak W/ Onions |
- 2-3 pounds of pork, sliced thinly
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 lemon
- 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce(optional)
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1/4 cup of water
- sprinkle of red pepper flakes(optional)
- 1 large onion, sliced in rounds
- 2 tbsp of oil
- In a marinating bowl, combine soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce(optional), lemon juice, crushed garlic, and sprinkle of red pepper flakes. The latter is optional. Store in the fridge to marinate for at least 35 minutes or overnight. The longer the better.
- Heat oil in a pan. Take the garlic from the marinade, cook it the pan for a 30 seconds, or less. Add the marinated pork into the pan. Add water, stir and cover the pan. Let that cook in medium heat until the pork is tender. Stir a couple of times.
- Add the sliced onions to cook until soft and translucent.
- Serve with white rice.
Ramen Noodles W/ Pork & Fried Egg
When my husband was off last Thursday, he asked for a substantial lunch that would really fill him up while he did his school homework. I suggested ramen noodles but he didn’t think it would be enough so I suggested pork chops next. He agreed, so I defrosted 4 pork chops quickly in the microwave, preheated the oven, threw the chops in a sheet pan, brushed them with bottled Caribbean Jerk marinade, then broiled them in the oven, 8 minutes on each side.
I served the pork chops with leftover mashed potatoes. I cooked 4 and we only ate 1 each so I had 2 pork chops left to eat whenever or do whatever sometime. By 4pm, I was wracking my brain what to make for dinner and I had to cook fast coz my husband had to go to school by 5:30pm. So I said, ramen noodles. And he said, “finnnnnnnne, make your ramen noodles.” Hahahaha! And I did. And I added the leftover pork chops, fried egg, and chopped cilantro in it too. So see, this ain’t your regular ramen noodles in a bowl coz when I make ramen noodles, I make it GOOD with all the fixin’.
| Ramen Noodles W/ Pork & Fried Egg |
- 4 packs of ramen noodles (pick a flavor)
- 6-7 cups of water
- chop up leftover pork chops in cubes
- 3 springs of scallions, chopped finely
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- 3 springs of cilantro, roughly chopped
- 4 eggs
- some oil
- sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese
- Boil water for the ramen noodles. Cook according to package.
- Fry the eggs individually or 2 at a time in a little bit of oil. Set them aside.
- In a pan, heat up oil. Sautee chopped scallions or chopped up leftover pork for 3 minutes. Season a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and garlic powder. Set aside.
- Assemble the ramen noodles in individual bowls. Ladle ramen noodles into a bowl, top with the sauteed leftover pork and scallions, an egg, then sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese too if you want. That was my husband’s idea for an added garnish.
Use whatever leftover meat you have. Poach the eggs instead of frying.
Duo Of Tacos: Baked Trout & Leftover Chicken Wings W/ Wasabi Aeoli
These fish tacos are very light because the trout were baked instead of the usual drench-battered cod(or salmon) filet and deep-fried version. I only had 4 baked trout when I made this so I decided to pick the meat off of the leftover chicken wings from a hot wings night to serve a substantial dinner. This would be great for lunch too by the way. At the last minute, I decided to experiment and made wasabi-aeoli as a creamy condiment in lieu of regular sour cream to go along with the pico de gallo. The tacos were delicious.
| Duo Of Tacos: Baked Trout & Leftover Chicken Wings W/ Wasabi Aeoli |
- 4 trout fillets
- meat for 5 leftover fried chicken wings(optional)
- pico de gallo (chopped tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, salt and pepper)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- sprinkle of Italian seasoning
- sprinkle of salt and pepper
- shredded cheddar cheese
- 15-20 corn tortilla
- oil to warm up the tortillas
- WASABI-AEOLI
- 2 spoonfuls of sour cream
- 1 spoonful of mayonnaise
- 1 tsp of wasabi
- 1 strings of cilantro
- 1 tsp of red wine vinegar
- sprinkles of salt and pepper
- Make the pico de gallo in advance. Just combine chopped tomatoes(2), green scallions(2 strings), a few strings of cilantro, then season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle red pepper flakes too if you want. Mix everything in a bow, cover then store in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Preheat the oven to 355°.
- In a small bowl, combine olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Rub both sides of the trout fillets. Place in a sheet pan, then bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or so.
- For the Wasabi-Aeoli: Blend together the sour cream, mayonnaise, wasabi, cilantro and seasonings until well combined. Transfer it in a bowl or a condiment bottle, then store in the fridge until ready to serve.
- CORN TORTILLAS: Brush a little bit of oil into a heated pan, lightly toast eash side of the corn tortilla, about 6 seconds each. Do this in batches.
- If you have leftover chicken, pick the meat off of the bones, warm up in the microwave.
- Layer the tacos: corn tortilla, baked trout or chicken, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, then a drizzle of wasabi-aeoli.
Use other leftover meat like steak or pork.
A Surprise Chinese Take-Out For Lunch
The husband and the son went to Auto Zone today to get something done with the car. The daughter and I did our thing around the neighborhood by going for a walk and taking pictures of the trees and leaves. I wanted pictures of this year’s Fall foliage. I will post those in my other blog sometime tomorrow. As she and I were turning around at the end of the very long road, I saw our car driving towards the house so I told my daughter we had to hurry home coz I knew they’d be looking for us. Lo and Behold, a few minutes later Daddy was at the end of the driveway waiting for us. We had a long way to go so the husband went back to the house, I’m assuming, then went back to the end of the driveway to check on us again, Hehe. I guess we were walking too slow and enjoying the wind far too much. Once we finally reached the house, my husband asked what I was thinking of making for lunch. I didn’t really know and haven’t thought about it at all. I actually haven’t eaten anything at all at that time. The little girl had a bowl of Reese’s Puff cereal for breakfast and I made her grilled cheese sandwich before we went for our walk.
Homemade Sushi Crab Rolls
I have been craving sushi something terrible so I made some crab rolls this past Sunday. I made 2 kinds, crab with cucumber and crab with avocado. I even took out one of the sushi mats from my sushi making kit just to enjoy the experience of making sushi again. My son and I surely enjoyed the homemade sushi rolls for lunch.
| Homemade Sushi Crab Rolls |
- Sushi rice(Japanese sticky rice)
- 2 tbsp of rice vinegar
- salt and pepper
- sprinkle of powdered ginger (optional)
- Crab flakes (substitute with crab sticks if you prefer)
- cucumbers, peeled and seeded then sliced lengthwise
- omelet (2 eggs)
- 1 ripe avocado
- seaweed sushi wraps(8)
- 1/2 brick of cream cheese, sliced in strips
- sesame seeds
- water for sealing
- wasabi mayonnaise & soy sauce
- Put some cooked rice in a bowl, add the rice vinegar, salt, pepper, and powdered ginger. Mix everything together. Leave it in the counter to cool down. You don’t want to start making sushi with hot rice. .
- Once the rice has cooled down a bit, start assembling your other ingredients and tools. Rice, crab flakes, seaweed wraps, cucumber, avocado, omelet, and a cup of water.
- Spread the rice on the seaweed .Leave a small part of the seaweed with no rice. Layer the crabs, omelet, cream cheese, and cucumber. You can substitute crab flakes with crab stick. Roll the sushi nice and tight. Use your finger to gently apply water on that part of the seaweed with no rice. The water will seal the roll together.
- For the outside rice version, just flip the seaweed after putting the rice then layer the crab, cream cheese, eggs, cucumber or avocado. Sprinkle sesame seeds on the rice if you want.
- Place the rolls into a platter. Store in the fridge for an hour or so before slicing in rounds. Serve with wasabi and a bowl of soy sauce on the side.
