Lazy Chili

I made this for dinner some time ago in March and had to make do with whatever we had in the pantry, hence the lack of beans and other traditional ingredients. I recommend this for lazy people who don't have the time to make the perfect blend of cumin and other spices and buy ingredients not sold in the local mini-grocery or market.

Lazy Chili
Ingredients:
Ground beef or pork
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Onions
Garlic
Red pepper
Spicy red or green pepper
McCormick Chili con Carne seasoning dissolved in about 1 cup water
Cheese
Salt and pepper

First, saute onions, garlic in oil. Add the peppers next, then the mushrooms and then the tomatoes. When you can start to smell the flavor, put in the ground meat and cook it. Season it with salt and pepper while cooking. When it is cooked, add the dissolved McCorming Chili Con Carne seasoning. Mix it well and then cover the pot with a lid. Keep the fire going until it starts to thicken. Serve with cheese on top and Tortillas or plain white rice. Really also great as a dip for chips on movie nights with friends. :)

Banananutter

Perfect for a midnight snack or those days when one is in need of sweet comfort food.

Banananutter
Ingredients
1 Banana
1 Bar of favorite chocolate (not too sweet)
1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter

Put banana in the freezer and leave it there for about 20 minutes to an hour. Right before you take it out, microwave the peanut butter and chocolate until they melt. Take out cold banana, slice into small circles and mix with the hot peanut butter and chocolate. Sprinkle some nuts on it (cashew or peanuts will do) and you're done! Best served with a scoop of vanilla or coffee ice cream.

Parmesan Tempura w/ Lemon Butter Garlic sauce

Something I cooked up for dinner on the 30th of November. My mom had bought some shrimp to eat for dinner, but sick of having to eat it simply steamed and with garlic and vinegar like it's usually prepared around here, I decided to take the challenge.

I didn't have enough time to go shopping for gambas ingredients so I decided to just modify tempura. I'm still thinking of an interesting name for it (feel free to post your suggestions!), but until then I'll just call it what it is:

Parmesan Tempura with Lemon Butter Garlic sauce
Ingredients:
Shrimp, de-shelled and de-veined
Flour/cornstarch/panko breadcrumbs for the coating
Parmesan cheese
1 egg
Salt and pepper
Butter
Finely chopped GARLIC (a lot.. maybe 4-5 cloves depends on how strong you like the taste of garlic; i like it really garlicky)
Lemon/Calamansi juice to taste

Let's begin with making the sauce. Heat a pan and put in about 2-3 sticks of butter until it starts to melt. Sautee your garlic in the butter and then when the garlic starts to brown, add in the lemon/calamansi juice to taste. Leave it on low heat for about a minute or so just to let the tastes combine. When that's done, pour 3/4 of the sauce (including the garlic) into a small bowl.

Now marinade the shrimp in salt and pepper for about 15 minutes or more, just so the taste sets in (you can of course do the salt and pepper step before making the sauce to save time). Crack the egg into a bowl and the mix the coating with parmesan cheese in another bowl. Dip the shrimp into the egg and then into the coating mixture and set aside.*If you want to do this in an easier, faster way, just dip all the shrimp in the egg and then put it in zip lock bag containing the coating and then just shake it, much like the Mcdonald's shakeyerfries thingamajig. Heat up the same pan used for making the sauce and use the 1/4 left of the sauce in it as your oil. When it is hot, fry the shrimps until the tail turns pinkish red and the coating is crispy. By then the remaining garlic from the pan would turn crispy as well, so take that and put on top of the shrimp when serving. Oh and for the sauce, either just mix it all together with the shrimp, or serve it on the side as a dip like in the photo (above).

Tada!

Crunchy Tuna Melt

When I wake up more than 1 hour after lunch, I usually end up cooking up my own lunch or... "snunch" (snack that serves as my lunch). Today was one of those days, and my snunch was a Crispy Tuna Melt sandwich. I just thought of this today, but the inspiration for the crunch I got from a bar/resto near my school where my friends and I hang out a lot. Here's the recipe:

Crispy Tuna Melt
*Makes for 2-3 sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 small can hot and spicy century tuna
1 red onion chopped up
1 tomato chopped up
1 egg
1 pack skyflakes, or whole wheat crackers (depends on how crunchy you want your tuna melt to be)
mayonaise
quickmelt cheese
Bread slices

First, heat the pan with 1/4 of the oil from the can of tuna. Sautee the onions until they begin to caramelize, then add the tomatoes and the contents of the can of tuna. Keep sautee-ing until the oil begins to evaporate and then add the egg. When they all begin to cook together, break the crackers into small pieces and mix in the pan. Turn off heat after about a minute or two.

While waiting for the contents of the pan to cool a bit, spread some mayo on the bread slices. Then add some cheese onto it, and then finally, the contents of the pan. Put on some more cheese slices, and then finally complete the sandwich with the other bread slice. Grill or toast the sandwich until brown and serve!