Pondering Food

We were expecting a storm one night and my husband said I should start dinner prep early in case the power went out. I started pretty much straightaway after we got home from school. First I made the chili and as it was simmering, I got started on the cornbread. I always have at least one box of Jiffy in my pantry because it reminds me to make cornbread when there's a dish on tap that I know will go well with it. I never prepare it as the basic cornbread that's written on the box though. At the very least, I toss in some corn kernels and a little shredded cheese like in the picture above. Last night I thought I'd kick it up a notch and make something that I felt would complement the chili very well. I diced one red pepper from a jar of fancy pimiento and added that to the mixture. To make the cornbread moist, I also tossed in a dollop of the plain Greek yogurt that I was using to top the chili and I added about 2T of this low fat fat butter that I had in the frid...

This is my new go-to recipe for chili. It's a little different from how I'd been making chili for years as I now tend to use ground turkey and I skip the chorizo. I think it's still great as it remains full of flavor but isn't as greasy. I start by prepping all the ingredients while I heat up some olive oil in the pot. Best to get all the chopping and dicing out of the way now. Garlic, onion and red bell pepper. Drain some mild green chiles and diced tomatoes. Meantime, I brown some ground turkey, add some salt and pepper and set that aside in a colander to drain. I add more olive oil into the pot and cook the onions until translucent, add garlic and then the diced red bell pepper. You can also use green bell pepper or pimiento out of a jar. After a couple of tosses, I add the green chiles and diced tomatoes. I just use canned because it's easier but I try to drain them as well as I can. I sometimes save the liquid and add that later on if I need it. ...

Pancit is a common Filipino dish that I feel like I have to know how to make even if it's not something I absolutely love to eat. I was able to find some noodles that I think are pretty good quality and make for a decent sort of pancit. Not being a fan of rice noodles/bihon or glass noodles, I prefer the heftier lo mein for this application. I buy Wel-Pac Chow Mein Stir-Fry Noodles and toss in a variety of vegetables, 2 trays of shiitake mushrooms from Trader Joe's and some large shrimp. We are ready to go! This is my version of pancit that I serve my family. Since noone is truly Filipino here, I don't get any complaints :) To make life easier (to minimize all the food prep), I get shredded green cabbage and matchstick carrots when possible. I also use bagged microwaveable sugar snap peas or frozen cut green beans. I prefer the green beans (as does my daughter) because I don't like dealing with the tough ends of the bagged snap peas. If I bought them loose, we...

This is a recipe that I got out of People Magazine awhile back. It's my go-to cheesecake recipe now. It's airier and less dense than the old cheesecake recipe I used to use. I'm sure it has something to do with using just one bar of cream cheese and some condensed milk. In theory, it's almost like a flan meets souffle meets cheesecake. If you want toppings but don't want to have to make it, you can always get a can of Comstock toppings. Personally, I like to top this with fresh fruit like the sliced kiwi in the first picture and serve it alongside some Reddi wip. In the other picture, I made a sauce using a blend of preserves/jam that's thinned out a little and I poured that over the strawberries. It's not part of the original recipe though and I'm still working out the proportions so I may add that in the future. print recipe Ricotta Cheesecake by Marcella Valladolid Ingredients: 18 cinnamon-sugar graham c rackers 1/...

My favorite dish from Cheesecake Factory is their Crusted Chicken Romano. I'd say 4 out of 5 times, this is the dish that I will order if we're eating there at lunch. I've never been able to copy the recipe exactly, which is fine so that I can still order it when we eat out. The version that I like to serve at home is super easy. I don't fuss with the kind of cheese that I use. Sometimes I go with just plain Kraft Parmesan which you can find anywhere. The kids have no problem with it so I'm not complaining. I make some pasta, usually spaghetti. Thin spaghetti cooks the fastest. I can make my own sauce but I keep jars of Prego in my pantry for when I'm just not feeling like making my own sauce. Sometimes I bake the spaghetti for a few minutes in a hot oven with a mild, easy to melt kind of cheese on top but as close as it may feel to Chicken Parm, I find that I'm beginning to like this preparation better. Now if only I could do the frying outside the h...