A Hint of Italian

To those who know me, they know that I love to categorize (thematize) everything. Making meals is not an exception. Even though it is not the path I usually thread (making meals), I want to do it in themes and put some fun spin into preparing them.

I decided to go with the Italian this time. Inspired by my friend, Joy's post on easy recipe on Homemade Chicken Caesar Pizza, I did Caesar Salad and Ready to Bake CPK BBQ Pizza which I have been craving for some time now. I will probably do the recipe next time when my ready-bake runs out ;). Stone and Twinny did some grocery shopping for our shared Baked Mac with Bechamel Sauce. For our dessert, I just drizzled sweet milk on top of our strawberries.

* Italian Fare for the Night

As usual, it was a fun process and the conversations were really the spotlight as we enjoyed our meals together once more :).

Dinner at (Steak) Stake

I am fortunate enough to have someone (mother in law) to do the cooking for us regularly, so I was able to focus more on other home stuffs I need to attend to but when they went for a long overdue vacation, I go for a mini panic attack, thinking of meals that I can make for my family without sacrificing too much time preparing them.

I am so glad that I got friends every time I get into those situation. 

The first time that my friends were tested was when I was expecting Kenzo anytime and hubby and Kimi was the only family I had with me. My friend, Sarah, stepped up to babysit Kimi while I gave birth and send me food as soon as I came home from the hospital. My friend, Glenda, made sure that I got all baby items covered and had everything readied for me even before Kenzo came out of my womb.

This time around, Mommy Joy, took the time out of her busy schedule to make easy recipe available for me on her website (CLICK HERE) just so I would have some sort of a recipe when my trusted recipes are all used up. I am so touched with this little gesture of kindness. Mommy Jo, on the other hand, gave me some reliable websites to turn to as well for reference.

As for our dinner,

We had to check on what was left on our fridge and we got a pack of Tenderloin Filet Mignon. We decided to make a dinner based on the steak. 

Stone and Twinny came to our rescue on Friday's dinner, they went all out and came to our house to share meals with us.Stone did the cooking mainly, while I did the dessert (Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcake) and the starter (mashed potato). Doing Double Dine In Date doubles up the fun and divides the work entailed in preparing something regular and make it much more special. Eron was able to come and join us as well.

Let us see what else we can conjure for our meals as my mother in law enjoys a month (or more) of vacation in the Philippines. I am open for more suggestions ;)

* * * * *

As iron sharpens iron,

so a friend sharpens a friend.

Proverbs 27:17

Dine In Weekend: Aristocrat Theme

We miss Aristocrat in Manila, Philippines and decided to try our hand at reconstructing an Aristocrat dinner for ourselves for our Dine In Weekend...

* Preparation for the Sisig

Thanks to correspondent, Twinny for doing the pictures of the preparation. Would love to be there earlier but the babies need their power nap to be their best selves by dinner time :)

* Twinny still doing the chopping when we arrived...

for the java rice ;) woohoo!

* Little tidbits of tocinos...

* Sisig is already done and ready for reheating for dinner

What is Aristocrat with it's famous Chicken Barbeque? 

These chickens were marinated for 2 days to get the flavors in...

* Barbeque: Grill in session

* The sauce that made the chicken

* Grilled to perfection (Karl and Mel's Dish)

Aristocrat Chicken Barbeque

(Source: Epicurious Recipe)

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice, or kalamansi juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (3 1/2 to 4 lbs.) chicken
 

* Java Rice (Twinny's Dish)

Garlic

Butter

Rice

Tocino

Ketchup

Achuette Oil

Salt and Pepper

* Sisig (Stone's Dish)

Labor of love from Stone. Chopping starts in the morning. Seasoning. Boiling, Frying and more.

Thank you for this yummy dish. Made from scratch!

* Nilagang Baka

Short Rib Beef

Carrots

Potato

Corn

Lettuce

Ginger

Salt and Pepper

* Our Spread minus the chicken :)

Pumpkin for Dinner

No it was not mainly pumpkin for every dish but we had to use up the pumpkin from the patch, right?

Any reason to do another get together he he!

plus we had to scrimp on our dine outs

Pumpkin being carved, er sliced up for the Pumpkin Soup

* Chef at home... Couldn't have it any better

* PUMPKIN SOUP*

Pumpkin

Evaporated Milk

Chicken Broth

Bacon preferably(we used ham)

onion, salt and pepper

Spring Onion

Red Peppers

* Pumpkin Soup by the bowl

I had to feed the chef just so he'd be inspired so I made...

* PUTO*

Finally got acquainted with my rice cooker/ slow cooker/ steamer :)

Some Veggies to keep the balance,

* FRESH ASPARAGUS*

Asparagus

Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper

Olive Oil

...and my contribution is the Spaghetti I saw feature in KrisTV

TFC has some perks, you know... I had my reservation with this recipe and had my fingers crossed the whole time I made this. You see, this spaghetti has something that we never considered to put in a spaghetti...

LIVER SPREAD. Hubby was hovering while this was being cooked saying again and again to lessen the liver spread. I did lessen and it did not tasted like liver spread at all... Hurray! It was actually good if I had to say so myself...

*SPAGHETTI ALA JULIA*

Spaghetti noodles

½ kilo of ground pork

1 pack of spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce

½ cup spicy ketchup

1 can of liver spread

½ cup of cheese

½ cup butter

5-8 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium sized onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper

Hotdogs

Mushrooms

Sugar

Salt and pepper

Put butter on the pan.  Butter will serve as the cooking oil, add onion and garlic. Pre-mix liver spread into 1 cup of water.  Put ground pork, let it cook first then mix the spicy ketchup, tomato sauce and the liver spread mixture. Let it simmer, then add mushrooms, hotdogs and bell pepper.  Salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Then put the cheese into the sauce.

* RIBEYE in CHIMICHURRI*

(Chef Stone)

Marinate the cooked to perfection.

Yummy!

* Corn on the Foil*

(Twinny's Pick)

* FRIED EGGPLANT with GROUND BEEF*

( Mama Maria's Contribution)

* Our spread that evening

It was really fun to cook together and eat together.

The best part was we enjoyed the experience of messing up the kitchen and cleaning up after.

Not the same when we just do it for ourselves.

* * *

Thanks Stone and Twins 

for the 

Pumpkin Dinner :)