Cheesy Baked Potato Recipe

 Easy Cheesy Baked Potato Recipe

Happy morning everyone! It's weekend once again wohoo!, time goes so fast that, I can't hardly remember  anything about the weekdays. Do you have any plan this weekend? Perhaps, a cook out with friends? Just hanging out, talk and sharing delicious food? Sounds like a good plan and If you scratching your head  on what to make or bring to the party. I got some super easy recipe idea that you can whip in no time. Its perfect side dish in any special occasion or even just simple dinner with friends that surely impress everyone's taste bud, even the picky eater is sold. Sounds so yummy? Yup! it is really good, If you like potatoes combine with cheese and sour cream.. Oh My! I think I'm drooling just by talking about it. Not to mention its super easy to make. You can totally mix everything, throw it on the oven and by time your done fixing your hair the Cheesy Baked Potato is ready! Are you excited? Me too! It's like a perfect side dish for a perfect instant party get together.. 

Anyways, this Cheesy Baked Potato Recipe is inspired from my mother in-law. She made this in every special occasion and its always a HIT, everyone love it. This is also, one of the side dish I prepared when my husband's friend come over last Tuesday for dinner. I also made sauteed green beans for some greens on the plate, grilled/ baked pork loin which I'm going to share the recipe on my next post and for dessert we have chocolate chip cookies. Isn't it sound like a wonderful dinner meals ideas? I think it is.. Come one join me in my kitchen and ask your friends to come over and have a dinner get together kinda night...:)

Notes:

- Try to spice the recipe up by adding maybe some chopped ham or bacon and top it off with more cheese on top.

- Adjust the taste according to your preference ..:)

Ingredients:
1 pack (30oz) Frozen Shredded Potato
1 pack ( 8 oz ) mild cheddar cheese
1 tub (16oz) sour cream
2 can of potato condensed soup- I used Campbells brand
Salt and Pepper- to taste

 Directions:
- Preheat the oven onto 375 degrees
1.) COMBINE all the ingredients into a big bowl. Stir them thoroughly until everything is combine.
2.) Put the mixture into prepared dish and BAKE for 45-50 minutes until its cooked.
3.) DONE! Enjoy your Cheesy Baked Potato. Yum!:)

Super easy indeed right? So, try it when you get a chance and let me know what you think. Share me your twist on the recipe and some topping you decide to add. Have great weekend ahead everyone.. and Cheers! to nice weather outside.
Keep coming back on my blog and I'll see you in few days for more recipes I come up with. Have great day:)

xoxox- Melgie

Pinakbet / Pakbet Recipe

Pinakbet/ Pakbet Recipe
( Mj's Recipe )

Pinakbet or pakbet is an indigenous Filipino dish from the northern regions of the Philippines. Pinakbet is made from mixed vegetables steamed in fish or shrimp sauce.^[1] The word is the contracted form of the Ilokano word pinakebbet, meaning "shrunk" or "shriveled".

( source:wikipedia )

 Hello Everyone! Another awesome recipe that I'm sharing this weekend and also one of my favorite. Pinakbet or Pakbet prepared by my friend MJ. She always make me Pinakbet everytime I asked for it. Lucky Me! Mj is like 10 minutes away from my house and we always hang out together. She also have a garden on the back on her house filled with all the vegetables staple for making Pinakbet. When its summertime, we have a lot of vegetables to choose from her garden.

There's a lot of variations of making this dish and they all taste delicious. I love Mj's recipe because of its own delicious characteristics and I'm happy to get her recipe and share it here on my blog. This is very popular dish in the Philippines and also this dish is so forgiving that you can adjust every ingredients according to your liking. C'mon let's start making Pinakbet/ Pakbet. YUM!

Note:

-the quantity of the ingredients depends on how many guest eating the dish.

-Adjust the taste according to your preference

Ingredients:

Squash

bitter-melon

eggplant

long beans/ Chinese beans

okra

chopped onion

garlic

shrimp paste

chopped pork belly

salt and pepper 

Oil

Directions:

1.) Prepare all the ingredients by cutting all the vegetables into desired pieces. Set aside.

2.) Put cooking oil into a large skillet, Let it stand for couple minutes. Add the chopped garlic and onion and sauteed until translucent.

3.) Add the chopped pork and let it brown. Add the vegetables in order squash first then add the rest after 5 minutes. ( - other vegetables have different cooking time like eggplant, beans and okra to avoid over cooked)

4.) Add little water if you need to, put the shrimp paste and let it stand for couple minutes. Once the vegetables are cooked. Give it a taste, add salt and pepper if you need to. 

5.) ENJOY! the Pinakbet with rice and friends company.

Beef and Mixed Vegetables Stir Fry

Beef and Mixed Vegetables Stir Fry

After Halloween everything went fast forward! So, this week I decided to make super fast dinner for the whole family, nothing beats stir fry right? By the time the rice cooked, the stir fry is DONE!. I'm sure most of you have its own favorite stir fry recipes. I do too! the concept of Stir Fry for me is just basically throwing everything in a skillet with your favorite sauce and that's it. If your planning to clean out your fridge, this is the best way to make a meal out of left over vegetables. Sometimes, I do used store bought sauce like the Kikkoman brand, but this time I'm just gonna make something available on my hand which is the cornstarch, below is the substitution if you don't have any cornstarch at home.
 According to the source "cornstarch"- A dense, powdery thickening agent made from part of the corn kernel finely ground

How to prepare: Mix with a small amount of liquid into a slurry or paste before adding to a hot dish, or it will lump. Continued cooking or stirring will cause the thickening to thin.

Substitutions: 2 T all-purpose flour = 1 tbsp cornstarch
2 T granular tapioca = 1 tbsp cornstarch
1 T Arrowroot flour = 1 tbsp cornstarch
(source: food.com )
Thinking about dessert that goes along with this meal check out the link below.
Apple Crisp, Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Crinkles and much more!:) Let's start cooking! See you in few days for more recipes:) Haven fun in the kitchen..:)

Notes:
- This recipe is so forgiving, adjust the ingredients and taste according to your preference.
- Add your favorite vegetable selections and your favorite stir fry sauce.

Ingredients:
1/2 lbs. thinly sliced beef sirloin
1 medium carrots
Green Beans
Sugar Snap Peas
2 clove garlic- thinly chopped
1/2 medium size onion, thinly sliced
Soy sauce
cornstarch
1 teaspoon of sugar
Salt and Pepper- to taste

Directions:

1.) In a small bowl, marinate the beef with little soy sauce. Set aside;

2.) Bring water to boil in large pot. Add the sliced vegetables and let it simmer for 3 minutes or until cook crisp. Drain

3.) Heat oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and onion sauteed until translucent. Add the marinated beef and let it cooked for bout 5-6 minutes in high heat.

4.)Meanwhile, in small bowl combine the cornstarch, sugar and 1/4 water. Depending on how much sauce you like.

5.) Add the cooked crisp vegetables and the sauce. Let it thicken, add salt and pepper to taste.. Serve and Enjoy!..:)

( Grab some plate and get some stir fry )

My dinner plate..wink:)

Sauteed Kale with Sausage

Sauteed Kale with Sausage

 We are officially move in to our new place called- HOME! nothing feel sweeter than this..It does take a lot of work to moved luckily for us we got some help from family and friend that makes work easier and faster for us. It took me 3 days to settled down into our new place, putting all the stuff away and cleaning. We still have a lot of stuff to do but we have forever to do it, little bit a time.

Moving forward! what you gonna say about KALE this week for dinner? Honestly, I haven't tried kale before, I just little intrigue about it when my co-worker talked about how she loved kale, the next thing I know, I found myself buying kale the next day...(hahah) that just typical me, I'd like to explore the flavor behind food. Thinking about adding some green onto our diet... So, here I am preparing Sauteed Kale with Sausage for dinner. It just happened that we have left over sausage from breakfast the other day but you can totally replaced the sausage with the meat of your choice or just leave it as simple as it is. I wasn't sure if my kids gonna liked it, So, I was smiling looking at at their faces when they took the first bite.. I surprised myself, they liked them..:) I also loved them too, I think it taste good..:) Try this Kale recipe on your next meal or vegetable stir fry.

Below is the recipe for Sauteed Kale with Sausage proven and tested on my own kitchen. Cmon lets start for your next family dinner favorite..(wink)

-

How to find fresh Kale and keep it fresh?
 -To find the freshest kale, look for firm, deeply colored leaves with hardy stems. Smaller leaves will be more tender and milder in flavor. Leaves range from dark green to purple to deep red in color.

-Store kale, unwashed, in an air-tight zipped plastic bag for up to five days in the refrigerator. 

 ( source:http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/the-truth-about-kale)

Ingredients:
8 ounces sausage
1 bunch Kale
1/2 cup beans- optional
Salt n Pepper- to taste
onion
garlic
2tsp. cooking oil
1 tsp. butter

Directions:
1.) Put water in large pot, around 4-5 cups. Let it boil; Meantime, Remove the tough center stalk of the kale then roughly chopped. Throw the chopped Kale onto the boiling water and let it boil for like 2 minute. Remove from the pot and drained.
2.) Meanwhile, put the oil and butter together in the skillet. Add the sausage let it cooked until golden brown. Add the onion and garlic sauteed until translucent.
3.) Add the Kale and beans; salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add little water if it dry out.
4.) Remove from the heat. Best served when its hot. Enjoy!

Notes:
- taste according to your preference.
- Add your choice of meat and your favorite seasonings.
- Beans is optional so you can totally replaced it with something you like.

(my dinner plate)

Sauteed Green Bean Recipe

Sauteed Green Bean with Bacon

I was with my family at Outer Banks vacation 2 weeks ago. The vacation is AWESOME!! being with my family, make things together and hang out on the beach is priceless. We had so much fun..:)

One thing we do as family was to have dinner together every night. The idea is, one family member choose to cooked for everybody on certain day, then other family member do the cooking the next day and so on and so fort.. until everybody got their turn. I got too excited that  I want to cooked first, hahah:)

I made some Rice, Beef Caldereta minus peas, and Sauteed Green Bean, and chocolate peanut butter brownies for dessert. The food are good and more fun especially when it shared with family. My mother in-law brought some wine and yeah... it was delicious!!. I love how the green beans add some special taste to the whole meal. I'm a big green bean fan and so my family. So, here I am, more excited to share this recipe here on my blog. C'mon let's hang out in my kitchen and start cooking..:)

Below is the recipe and hopefully you would love to try for your next family gathering. Enjoy cooking..:)

Blanching is a cooking process wherein the food substance, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval, and finally plunged into iced water or placed under cold running water (shocked) to halt the cooking process.( source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanching_%28cooking%29)

Ingredients:

1 lbs. Green Beans- (Trim both end)

3 pieces bacon- slice into small pieces

1 small onion- thinly slice

Salt and Pepper - to taste

1.)   In large pan, bring water to boil, add the green beans. Let it boil for 5 minutes or until half way cooked and crisp in texture.

2.) Placed the green beans into ice water to stop the cooking process and to retain the color and texture.

3.) Meanwhile, In large pan, cooked the bacon until golden brown and crisp, add the onion and sauteed for couple minutes.

4.) Drain the water from the green beans. Then, add the green beans into the pan and sauteed for 4-5 minutes until everything cooked but still have that texture from the beans.

5.)  Salt and Pepper if needed. Share and Enjoy!

Note:

- Taste according to your preference

- Bacon is optional

- blanching method is important to obtained great texture of the green beans.

(beans are on the right side of the plate)

Shortcut Chili Recipe

Chili Recipe 

( The Shortcut Way )

It's been a busy week for me, both home and work. My schedule have been so hectic that I wasn't able to open my blog for couple days, but now I'm back on track again:) I been waiting for spring and yet we have little snow yesterday, It's cold! So, I made some chili for the whole family to enjoy. This is my version of chili, the shortcut way! Its because the ingredients are really simple, just throw everything in one pot and whola!,A taste of traditional Chili in in one bite!1.. YUM! Its one of my comfort food!
 My in-laws made the best chili I've tasted so far, It just so good! It have some sausage, chunk of beef , ground beef and all kinds of stuff you want for your chili, It just takes longer to cook and a lot of ingredients.So,when I stumble upon this recipe on internet long time ago, I can't even remember what site it is, I was so happy! I made this chili recipe many times ( countless!) hhehe and I'm telling you! Its good! Isn't it nice to make Chili less than 30 minutes, just let it simmer until dinner is ready. This is just the perfect recipe for you, if you love chili as I do..:)

My kids loved it and of course the Daddy too, along with this scrumptious meal, We had chocolate chip cookies for dessert! 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs.Ground beef

 2 cans  Kidney Chili beans

1 can Tomato with green chilies

Chili powder

1/4 cup Tomato sauce

Salt n Pepper- to taste

Directions:

1.) Brown the ground beef in large pan for couple minutes. Drain the excess oil and put it back on the pan.

2.) Add the tomato with chilies, chili beans and tomato sauce. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes

3.) Put some chili powder, salt n pepper and let it stand for 5 minutes. Taste according to your preference. ENJOY!

I prefer rice instead of crackers on my chili bowl :) Happy Weekend Everyone!
 P.S.- I just realized that I spelled the Chili wrong after reading some of your comments.. (hahaha) Thanks!