Chicken heart, liver and gizzard

This one should have been a Philippine adobo dish with a twist. Typically, when you cook adobo, you will just combine the meat (whether that's pork or chicken - in my case chicken gizzard, liver and heart), garlic, soy sauce, vinegar and pepper in a pot, put it in low fire, and wait until the meat is cooked. And Voila! It's ready to serve. However, some people cook it differently. Some will add some bay leaves, some will add tomatoes, etc. 

So I decided, why not try cooking it differently too? So I sauteed garlic, onion, heart, gizzard and liver and bell pepper. I put 3/4 cups of water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup of tomato ketchup (instead of vinegar) and some pepper.

And the result? It taste like Philippine menudo. It still taste good, hubby really likes it. I just can't help but laugh at myself for an epic fail. But what the heck? I will still try inventing dishes. You will never know what you will discover if you stop right? 

How about you? What have you been trying to invent lately? 

Pasta day!

It’s just another normal day for our family. But just to break that monotony, I cooked pasta (we really prefer rice). But to make it a little exciting for my kiddo, I used a fusilli noodle or it can be a rotini noodle – honestly, it’s really confusing, I prefer to call it “twirly noodles” – rather than the normal long ones we use (is that angel’s hair noodle?). I also dyed the noodle to make more enticing to eat.

I really like to make a rainbow colored pasta, but as soon as my daughter saw what I was trying to do, she continually asked for the spaghetti so I ended up using just the pink and blue. And just in case you want to know how to dye your pasta, its actually pretty simple.

Put water, oil ( I used 1 tbsp. for 1 kilo pasta), a pinch of salt and the food color of your choice in a pot. Bring water to a boil then add the pasta. Stir from time to time until the pasta is “al dente”.

Making a rainbow colored pasta is pretty laborious, but hey!, I’m not about to do it everyday right? And I think the look on your kid’s face (and the dad’s face too!) makes the effort worth it.

I also cooked chicken macaroni soup (one of my daughter’s favorite) using the same noodle, perfect for the cloudy weather.

mixed seafood

Thinking what to eat everyday has been a dilemma for me and I know some people can relate. But since I have mouths to feed, sometimes you just have to invent a few. Here’s one of mine.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo mussels

1/2 kilo shrimp

1/2 kilo squid

1 green bell pepper

250 ml tomato sauce

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1 medium sized red onion

salt and pepper to taste

• Boil mussels in 1 cup of water. Cook until mussels have opened and set aside.
• Saute garlic,onion and bell pepper in a pan.
• Add tomato sauce, mussels broth, salt and pepper. Simmer until flavors blend.
• Add the shrimp and squid, wait till its cooked.
• Add mussels,stir slightly and serve.
• You can also put steamed crab if you prefer.

Bon Appetit!