Asparagus with Bacon and Mushrooms

This quick and easy Asparagus dish is loaded with flavor from bacon and mushrooms! Done in 15 minutes or less. Totally gluten-free and low-carb, too.

My family, including my kids, love Asparagus so when we see it on sale we definitely buy a bunch or 2 for cooking. We have our favorite asparagus dishes like the cheesy Asparagus with Parmesan or the  Asparagus Tart but I thought of doing another quick and easy stir-fry type asparagus dish so we don't get bored with the same old, same old.

Instant Pot Chicken Adobo

The classic Filipino dish - Chicken Adobo - marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, peppercorns and garlic then cooked in the pressure cooker (instant pot).

I have lost count with regard to the number of adobo recipes I have! This is the latest and probably the 5th! Well, we love chicken adobo so much that I want to try all the different versions. I have my own classic adobo, our helper's awesome adobo, Chinese-style adobo, slow cooker adobo and then this --- a pressure cooker version. And this time, I am talking mainly about chicken adobo -- pork adobo is equally as popular and for me, equally delicious!

Sautéed Green Beans with Lemon and Almonds

Just 5 minutes to make this tasty side dish full of buttery, lemony goodness and extra crunch from Almonds! 

I am grateful that my kids love to eat vegetables or at least are willing to try new vegetable dishes which is why I try to look for new recipes so they don't get tired of the same old fare. The other day I got some haricots verts instead of the usual green beans. Haricots verts are also called French green beans - they look like the regular green beans but with thinner edible pods and smaller seeds. Nonetheless, despite seeming smaller than their bigger green bean cousins - they are more intense in flavor and taste. Well, at least according to my taste buds!! :)

With only 1 ingredient and just a few minutes to make these Parmesan Crisps are the perfect low-carb snacks or as crunchy topping for soups and salads!

Ever since I have tried these delicious Parmesan crisps I have been addicted to them! I have eaten these years ago but have never attempted making them thinking that perhaps it's complicated. Ha! I was totally wrong!! A few days ago when we bought some parmesan cheese from the grocery I finally decided to make it at home. It was so easy!! Crazy easy!! How could I have not done this before?

So for the benefit of everyone else who loves parmesan crisps but never dared to make them, this is for you.

I love that not only is it great as a low-carb and gluten-free snack (perfect for hubby's diet!!) it is quite versatile and may be used as topping. It's great to add flavor to soup and when crumbled over salad! However you wish to use these crisps - they are guaranteed to be delicious!

Best of all - it only requires one ingredient --- just Parmesan, that's all. Make it soon!

How to make Parmesan Crisps

By: Manila Spoon
Published: 03/11/2017

With only 1 ingredient and just a few minutes to make these Parmesan Crisps are the perfect low-carb snacks or crunchy topping for soups and salads! Gluten-free!

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Measure a heaping tablespoon of the grated parmesan. Place in a parchment lined baking sheet or silicone baking sheet like a Silpat. Repeat until all the grated Parmesan is gone. Leave a space of at least 1/2 an inch between the parmesan mounds. Gently pat down or flatten the cheese - this is to ensure they are spread out a bit and not clumpy - the thinner - the crispier the result. 
2. Bake in the preheated oven for about 4-6 minutes or until nicely golden and crisp. Cool and enjoy!

Yield: 8-10 pieces
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 05 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 05 mins.
Total time: 10 mins.
Tags: Gluten-free, low-carb, snack, Parmesan Cheese, Salad Topping, Easy, Recipe

Italian Sausage Casserole

This Italian Sausage Casserole is delicious and loaded with flavors from meat, herbs and vegetables! A healthy and yummy option for those in a gluten-free and low-carb diet, too!

Last November we went to England because of a family emergency. While we were there we met up with some of our friends. We only get to see them when we come to the UK for a visit so when we are over we make sure we meet at least once. One of the Sundays we were in London we attended worship service at St. Helen's, part of the Church of England denomination. Our friend attends this church regularly and we all decided to have dinner together after the evening service. After our souls were fed, we wondered where to get some physical nourishment. Thankfully, we didn't have to go too far to find a restaurant as St. Helen's, on Sunday nights, offers a dining service in one of its buildings for a very reasonable price. And the food was really good!!!

Sautéed Zucchini with Lemon and Parmesan

A quick, delicious and healthy way to use up all these summer squash is to make Sautéed Zucchini with Lemon and Parmesan!

We are at the peak of Zucchini season and it would certainly be hard to miss these tasty summer squash. They are everywhere from the Farmer's market to your favorite grocery and yes, of course, in your neighbor's vegetable garden! In our house when I have already baked 3 Zucchini breads in a row in less than a week, then you can be sure it truly is zucchini season!

Homemade Cashew Nut Butter

Just 2 ingredients to make your own all-natural, very tasty and super creamy Cashew Butter.  Gluten-free, vegan, low-carb, paleo-friendly and so easy to make! 

Several months ago, Mark, my husband, went to India. When he came back, not only did he bring back my favorite spices, he also surprisingly came with about a kilo (2.2 lbs) of whole cashews!! If you know me and my family, we are such nut lovers and cashews are one of our favorites. You can imagine how happy I was when he handed me a huge bag of cashews! I have already imagined the many dishes I would make with it! :)

Easy Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan

Simple, delicious and healthy, this easy grilled asparagus takes less than 5 minutes to make!

This is such a crazy week for us! We recently bought a home, just last week actually. We've been renting an apartment the past 2 years since we moved to New Haven, Connecticut. We knew it would be a temporary arrangement and the right time has arrived to move to a new place. Are we excited? We certainly are!!!

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic Butter and Lemon

Garlicky, buttery, lemony and so tasty are these roasted broccoli florets! Quick and easy to make, low-carb and naturally gluten-free!

Back when we were still living in Michigan, a good friend of ours invited us for dinner at their place. I have always enjoyed the food she served as they were simple, totally uncomplicated, yet very tasty. She had to adjust her cooking style and choice of food early on because her kids suffer some allergies and couldn't tolerate certain foods. Since she had to often use very basic ingredients - just pure whole foods - I truly loved the simplicity of her cooking and how she made them quite tasty, too. I especially loved the way she cooked her vegetables.

Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps

Very tasty, quick and simple to make is this Thai inspired Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps. Perfect as appetizer or as main dish served with Jasmine rice.  Gluten-free and paleo-friendly, too.

Naturally, I love cooking Asian food as that's what I grew up with. I love that any typical Asian dish whether from the Philippines, China, Thailand or any other parts of Asia is not only loaded with tasty seasonings but offers delicious complexity - it can at once be sweet, spicy, tangy and salty. My taste buds are tickled indeed with all these nuanced yet harmonious flavors.

Lemon Cilantro (or Coriander) Chicken

Fresh lemon juice, aromatic spices and herbs add so much flavor to this succulent chicken dish. Easy and delicious option for a weeknight family meal!

What a disaster! No, not this recipe, thankfully, but the fact that I lost the video for this recipe. It is frustrating as I really worked hard to make a video for this and even missed an appointment to finish it on time and then in the twinkle of an eye, it was gone....all gone.

Baked Salmon with Pesto and Pecans

Just 3 ingredients to make this easy, quick and very tasty Baked Salmon with Pesto and Pecans. Even non-Salmon fans will love this! 

As any parent would know, it is always difficult or at least a challenge to make kids eat vegetables. Now, think about making them eat seafood, particularly fish NOT in nuggets form NOR coated in bread crumbs to disguise what it really is. Yeah, it can be tricky.

Roasted (Baked) Tomatoes with Pesto and Feta Cheese

Deliciously good, easy and healthy breakfast or brunch solution - Baked Tomatoes with Pesto and Feta Cheese. Completely gluten-free and low-carb, too!

I am not a breakfast cereal kind of person. Perhaps because I grew up eating rice and meat for my first meal of the day that my body seems to always crave something savory and more substantial. For this reason, I am often on the look-out for new breakfast recipes to try, preferably savory and gluten-free, and low-carb, if possible.

Cauliflower Fried Rice

In 15 minutes or less you can make this delicious alternative to fried rice. A versatile recipe, you can add your favorite meat (esp. left-over ones), veggies and adjust the taste to your liking!

One of the loveliest memories we have of Michigan is shopping at Meijer's - a great grocery chain in the Midwest. You're probably asking yourself, "Grocery shopping? How can that be memorable?" You see, shopping in Meijer's was our very first introduction to American culture. The moment we stepped into that huge supermarket, hubby and I were totally astounded with the dizzying variety of what's on offer - seemingly unending aisles of cereals and other breakfast products, endless varieties of ice cream, frozen pizza galore....and what have you. It was quite a sight for us who, back in 2004, were used to smallish to medium size kind of grocery stores and not of the mega-mall variety.  

Baked Spiced Salmon

I am enjoying the perfect weather we are having this month of September. It is sunny and warm during the daytime ((without being oppressive) and cool enough to sleep at night without having to turn the air conditioner on. The lovely days of September inspire me to turn the oven on and begin baking again not just for cakes or other sweet treats but certainly for savory recipes, too.

Beef Caldereta (Kaldereta sa Gata) - Beef Chunks Stewed in Coconut Milk

Kaldereta belongs to the category of comfort food in the Philippines. It is a favorite dish that is often served in weddings, birthday parties, certainly Fiestas and other special occasions. Like many other Filipino dishes, it has some Spanish influence particularly in its name which originated from the Spanish word - caldera/caldero - which means "cauldron." It's a tomato-based stew as many other Spanish-influenced dishes in the Philippines are, but the Filipinos gave it a unique twist by adding either liver spread, coconut milk, peanut butter and sometimes cheese for extra flavor. It is traditionally made with goats meat but more often the beef version is the most popular one though depending on one's diet and preference you can also find "kaldereta" made with chicken or pork. Others like it spicy, while others prefer it creamy or just more tomatoey. 

Classic Chicken Adobo

If there is a dish that the Philippines is known for it's got to be Adobo. While the word "Adobo"  certainly has Spanish origins (the Philippines has been colonized by Spain for nearly 400 years), this particular cooking method and dish is indigenous to the Philippines.

Eggs, Spinach and Mushrooms Skillet

A delicious breakfast or brunch dish - Eggs, Spinach and Mushrooms Skillet. All done on the stove top. Naturally nutritious, low-carb and gluten-free!

If you are a follower of this blog or our Facebook page you would notice that I love to have eggs, spinach and mushrooms for breakfast. I have a few recipes that feature all these three ingredients together in one dish. I think they all work together well that's why. The texture and flavors of each of these lovely and nutritious ingredients all combine to produce a delicious breakfast dish. However, when you have the same recipe all over again you get tired of it no matter how great it is. That's why I make a rotation for these ingredients. I don't cook them together in the same recipe all the time. I try to make variations whenever possible. Here's another lovely recipe using this three ingredients which this time does not involve the oven but just a skillet on the stove top. Easy and pretty to.

Now, depending on how big your skillet and the number of people you want to serve this - you can make up to 5 eggs/5 servings in one go. Since we are only a family of 4, more often than not, we use 4 eggs for 4 servings though occasionally if it's just me and hubby eating, we cut it down to 3 eggs.

While Spinach is my favorite greens to use - feel free to use Kale or Swiss Chard if you like.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp Olive oil (for cooking the mushrooms)
1 (8 oz package) mini-bella mushrooms, chopped
1 (10 oz) package fresh spinach or about 5-6 cups firmly packed spinach
3-4 eggs

A little butter (optional)

Salt and Pepper, to taste

 Procedure

Heat the oil in a large skillet or fying pan. Saute the mushrooms until they are tender and have fully released their water about 6-8 minutes. Set Aside.

Place the spinach in the frying  pan or skillet that you cooked the mushrooms in. Add a little water, 2 tablespoons more or less. Using medium heat, cook the spinach just until wilted, about 2-4 mins. Use either your hand or a spatula to pack in the spinach.

Bring back the mushrooms to the skillet. You may season the vegetables lightly with salt and pepper at this point. Depending on the number of eggs you are using, create wells (if using 4 eggs, then 4 wells) in the middle by pushing the spinach and mushrooms to the side.

Dot each well with a little butter or spray with a little oil.

Crack an egg on each well. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Cook until the eggs are fully set or to your desired doneness roughly 5-6 minutes.





Serve with toast or if you're Pinoy, with rice of course. Enjoy!

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Ultimate Pork Adobo (Chinese Style)

If there is a dish that defines what Filipino cuisine is all about - it's adobo, the unofficial, national dish of the Philippine islands. There are as many versions of adobo as there are many islands in the Philippines. Perhaps not as many as 7,107 islands (the whole Philippine archipelago) but ask each Filipino family and each will tell you their own adobo recipe handed down from one generation to another differentiated not so much by the kind of ingredients they use but more on the style or technique in cooking the dish.

Adobo always has meat - that's the star of the dish. It can either be chicken or pork or a combination of both. While the name is of Spanish origin and is similar in some ways to the Latin/Hispanic "adobo" in the sense that meat is steeped in or immersed in a sauce and cooked in it, adobo in the Philippines refers mainly to the dish (as in Pork adobo) rather than a cooking technique. Typically, adobo is cooked in a soy and vinegar sauce with bay leaves, lots of garlic, black peppercorns (whole or crushed), and may be sweetened with a little sugar or even pineapple juice or syrup. Because of the long and slow cooking, the meat absorbs the delicious flavor of the sauce and is so good paired with rice. Normally, we cook a lot of adobo so we have left-overs which can be re-heated day after day. The longer the adobo stands (in the fridge of course, though in the olden times it's the vinegar that served as its preservative) the better the taste. When you have some left-overs (if you ever have some 'cause you may want to eat it all in one sitting - so more-ish!) serve it with fried rice and some fried eggs and you have a classic Pinoy breakfast - AD-SI-LOG - short name for Adobo (this dish) - Sinangag (Fried Rice) - and Itlog (Fried Eggs). Yummm!

For this particular version, I depart from the usual adobo (though I will be posting a recipe for the classic adobo in a future post). Here I am making an adobo without using vinegar - Chinese style. For this I am deeply indebted to my friend Rebecca who graciously shared with me the ingredients she used and the way to make it. After I tasted the adobo she brought in one of our Filipino parties, I just had to get her recipe. It's so good you won't even miss the vinegar! I have never made pork adobo any other way! For me this is the ultimate pork adobo. Even my husband (not really a big pork fan) loves this and never says no when this is on the table.

What I particularly love about this adobo is the addition of mushrooms. I have seen adobo with pineapple rings but never one with mushrooms and this gives the adobo even more depth in flavor and adds a lot in texture. I have tried many kinds of mushrooms -both dried and fresh shiitake, enoki, mini-portobellos and the common white button mushrooms. Any of them are great for this dish but the best for me are the fresh shiitake 'cause they are so meaty and fully absorb the flavor. If using dried shitake, don't forget to rehydrate them first before using and keep the liquid used in rehydrating them 'cause you can add that into the sauce for an even better flavor (if that is even possible with this already yummy sauce!).

So here goes the yummiest and easiest Adobo ever!

Ingredients

1 kilo / 2.2 lbs pork (get the part with some fat on it like pork shoulder, boneless country style ribs or pork belly)
Oyster sauce – 1 1/2 Tbsp
Brown sugar – 2 Tbsp (adjust to taste)
Soy sauce – 1/4 cup (I use Kikkoman)
Garlic – 6-8 cloves, minced or crushed or chopped (a small head of garlic may be used)
2 Bay leaves
Freshly ground pepper (or whole black peppercorns), to taste
8 oz fresh mini-bella/portobello mushrooms, or 2 - 4 oz shiitake mushrooms (fresh or dry)
A few drops of sesame oil (Very essential!)

Procedure

Clean the pork. Cut up the pork adobo style - about 1 1/2 - 2 inch cubes or chunks. They will shrink as they cook so I make it a little bigger. 

In a deep pan or a Dutch oven, mix the soy and oyster sauces, sugar, garlic and ground or whole peppercorns. Coat the pork with the sauce. Insert the bay leaves.

Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low until pork is tender between 1 1/2 - 2 hours. 

When the pork is already tender, add in the mushrooms. Continue to simmer until the mushrooms are cooked and tender about 5-10 minutes.

Add a few drops of sesame oil. Serve hot with rice.

Cook's Notes:

If using fresh Shiitake (4oz) - clean them quickly under running water or wipe the tops clean. Cut of the stem (can't eat them too chewy!) and then chop.

If using dry Shiitake (2 oz) - reconstitute/rehydrate the mushrooms in warm water for about 20 mins or until tender. Reserve the water. You may need to strain it first to remove any impurities and add it as needed if the adobo sauce dries up. This liquid is so full of flavor so don't throw it away especially if you like a more liquidy adobo.

If you wish to print the recipe, there's a print icon at the end of the post. Click on the "remove images box" for easy and convenient printing.

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Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
(Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV)

Baked Chicken Nuggets (Chicken Scampi)

A few years ago our church published a cook book entitled "Among Friends". They contain recipes shared by the lovely and talented ladies from our church. I have used this cook book often (the wear-and-tear shows!) and have discovered so many delicious recipes. Some of them I return to time and again 'cause my family simply love them. One of the recipes which we've cooked many many times (years, in fact) is the Chicken Scampi by Rebecca Braam. This is such a wonderful chicken dish, beloved by kids and adult alike. It's quite easy to do as well, which I always like in a recipe!

I would normally prepare this with bread crumbs as stated in the original recipe but for this version I  made it low-carb and gluten-free because Mark is trying a gluten-free diet and I am doing a low-carb diet. Works well for us! Instead of bread crumbs, I used ground almonds as substitute. Honestly, I was surprised that it turned out so good! Am glad that whenever we need to go wheat-free, there is this lovely alternative. We don't need to miss out on our favorite chicken dish! Of course, for those who don't need to be wheat-free, feel free to use the bread crumbs. They are both great, either way!

The original recipe called for about 2-3 lbs of chicken breasts but my small family can only manage one so the recipe has been measured to serve a small family of 4 (mine!). Feel free to adjust the amount if you wish to serve it to more people. Enjoy!


Ingredients

1 lb chicken breasts (about 2), cut into cubes (bite-size nuggets)
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs or 1/2 cup ground almonds  (for gluten-free version)*
3 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp powdered garlic
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

*If you don't fancy the wheat-free version, use seasoned dry bread crumbs (like Italian)  for the same amount.

Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix. 

Add the chicken and coat with the mix. Alternatively, you may place the chicken with the dry ingredients in a large clear plastic bag. Shake until the chicken parts are fully coated.

For the Garlic Sauce:

3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed


Procedure


Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C). In a large baking dish melt the sauce ingredients in the oven as it heats up.

Add chicken and coat with the garlic sauce.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until chicken is tender and fully cooked. Enjoy with, what else? Rice, of course! Serve it with a home-made and very simple thousand island dressing (just ketchup and mayo). Have a lovely meal!

Adapted from Chicken Scampi by Rebecca Braam (Among Friends Cook Book)