Steak Tacos

I wanted to try Tyler Florence’s recipe, Tacos Carne Asada, because I love carne asada but I didn’t have half of the ingredients.  So I searched online for a simple steak tacos recipe but I thought plain salt and pepper would not bring out the best in my beef sirloin so I just added other spices and herbs to marinade the beef.  Again, I just “eyeball” the seasonings.

Ingredients:

Beef Sirloin Steak
Salt, Pepper
Red pepper flakes,cayenne pepper,cumin powder,olive oil,cilantro,lime juice (marinade seasonings)
Flour/corn tortillas

marinated beef for 2 hours!
grilled it for 5 minutes total!
looking good

toppings! red onion,tomatos,lettuce,cheddar cheeses,avocado
Zach's tacos!

side dish!
fave juice

Sweet Potato fries with Basil salt and garlic mayo!

Growing up in the Philippines we ate a lot of sweet potatoes because my Dad liked it a lot (He prefers steamed potatoes) and it’s also popular as an afternoon snack together with “bananaque” (deep fried banana).  I only had it deep fried with lots of brown sugar or steamed/boiled, either way it’s delicious!  So when I watched my fave show on the food network, Giada at Home, and she prepared this simple dish I knew I had to try this.  So simple yet so good!  My husband loves it too coz I heard him saying, “I can have this everyday!”  The mayo garlic sauce is just perfect with these fries!  You can check the recipe here: Giada’s Recipe.

Ingredients

  • 5 sweet potatoes, cut into about 1 by 5-inch “fries”
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.Place the sweet potato “fries” on a foil-lined baking sheet and toss with the olive oil. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes.Meanwhile combine the basil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. In another small bowl combine the mayonnaise, garlic, and lemon juice, and stir to combine.When the sweet potato fries come out of the oven, sprinkle with the basil salt. Serve with the garlic mayonnaise alongside for dipping.

sweet fries:)

Riley is now a big boy!

Last Monday our puppy Riley had his neutering/castration done and he’s now recovering at home. He stayed overnight at the animal hospital and it felt weird without him at the house for a day! We call him a “puppyrazzi” because he’s like my shadow and follows me around (even in the toilet and bathroom) LOL! He looks so cute and adorable with his “cone” but I know he can’t wait for this whole week to be over, so we can play to his hearts content! He’s just the cutest and we love him so much:)

day of the surgery,outside the hospital!poor riley!
poor riley!
such a good boy!
giving him a massage,i know he's in pain:(

Thai Iced tea

The first time I had Thai Iced tea, I didn’t like it. I’m a coffee person so I didn’t really drink tea growing up in the PI.  So when I moved here to Washington and found that my hubby can drink like 3 glasses in a meal, I’m like what’s so special about this drink?! Eventually I learned to loved it to the extent that when we had dinner at our fave Thai resto we asked the waitress how they prepare this drink.  She was kind enough to go back to the kitchen and showed us the Thai tea mix they use and told us how they prepare the drink..I just “eyeball” the ingredients here, and you can adjust it to your liking!

  • 2 cups Thai tea leaves
  • 6 cups Water
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • half and half

    the tea mix

 

tea mix and water and sugar,let it boil and simmer for 3 hours(low heat)
strained,and let it cool in the ref for hours!

you can also use evap milk,condensed milk if you want!
a 4$ drink in most thai resto!! so good!!

 

 

Hot wings the healthy way!

Ha! I’m just saying the healthy way because this is baked instead of the usual fried wings with lots and lots of butter and hot sauce! This is Alton Brown’s recipe and the only recipe I’ve used since I saw him making this on his show on the Foodnetwork. I really like this because it’s very crispy but not oily unlike the regular deep fried wings. You can use more or less of any of the ingredients depending on your liking!
Buffalo wing recipe

Ingredients
12 whole chicken wings
3 ounces unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Replace the paper towels with parchment paper. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown.

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold all of the chicken and stir to combine.

Remove the wings from the oven and transfer to the bowl and toss with the sauce. Serve warm.

steamed,cooled,and baked!
blue cheese sauce,perfect with buffalo wings!
crispy..
melted butter and hot sauce

hot and crispy and garlicky!lol

Smallbites!

We love appetizers!! so tonight, I decided to just prepare “smallbites”  coz hubby is not really hungry(he had late lunch at the office)…I made Dates wrapped in priciutto ( Giada de laurentii recipe), roasted garlic,potato wedges, and the star of the night Crab legs(tasty but expensive).

not so sexy legs,but fresh!LOL
me wants pinakurat!
dates with goat cheese and mascarpone cheese,will wrap it with prosciutto later!
roasted garlic and bread
dinner!
cute and yummy!!

creme brulee

I’ve always wanted to make creme brulee but for whatever reason I didnt! So last Vday Hubby and I had dinner at Pearl bar and dining( Bellevue square) and for dessert I ordered their mocha creme brulee and it was so good that I promised myself I’m gonna make this at home! Off we went to the grocery store and home depot to get the necessary “gadget”, hello blowtorch!!!

The Inspiration
so excited to try other creme brulee recipe!
so expensive,next time i will just use vanilla extract
eggs and sugar mixture
cream and vanilla bean mixture
mixing the cream gradually to the egg mixture
getting ready for the oven!
looks so yummy already..need to be patient coz will take a while to cool them then 4-5 hours to chill in the ref!
almost there! sprinkle sugar..
so excited to do this! lol
little messy! but we are happy with the result!

We are happy with the result of our first creme brulee making adventure! I cannot wait to try other recipes like the coffee creme brulee and triple chocolate creme brulee!

z tejas lunch@bellevue!!

Hubby wanted to repair his Bose headphones(thanks to Riley!!) so were off to Bellevue Square and decided to stop at Z’Tejas for a quick lunch! We are not “lunch” people so we only got appetizers.  We like it that way:)

Corn Bread!
Street tacos with carne asada
sooooooo gooddd!
chips with 3 sauces,love the cheese dip!

After the yummy lunch, my sweet husband had to stop at my fave popcorn store! gotta get my cheddar cheese popcorn:)

my love!
so cheesy, i love it!