For the last month and a half, I have been feeling a little uninspired to test out new recipes. I ordered a lot of take-out and have only made simple dishes just so that I could quickly put something healthy in my belly. I wasn’t really excited about food. I know when I’ve hit a cooking rut because I stop staying up late in bed researching recipes, making lists of dishes I want to try, and drooling over food pics on Instagram.
Read MoreWhen it comes to pasta, I love tomato sauce and l love my pasta smothered in it. I often make bolognese but it’s definitely very time consuming and can take up to 3 hours to make including prep time. I also like to make a shrimp or clam tomato sauce with my pasta because it’s lighter and doesn’t take as long to cook. But sometimes I don’t have seafood readily available on hand. A great option for a simple pasta sauce is arrabbiata sauce, which is basically a spicy marinara.
Read MoreI love tortilla soup. Even though I always look for it in the ready-made food section of the grocery store, I’ve never tried making it myself. One of the reasons I have never tried making it before is that I didn’t know how much of it I would actually eat and I only know how to cook for 6-8 people, never for one. I wasn’t sure it was the type of soup that I could eat lots of and freeze for later. As it turns out, I can eat a whole pot of it on my own without any leftovers to freeze!
Read MoreStir-fry is a great way to use leftover vegetables. You can throw in whatever protein or veggies you have in your fridge and then there ya go—instant meal. I don’t make stir-fry very often because I feel like I can never get the flavor just right. But this time, I really liked it!
Read MoreI love soup. Especially, a good chicken soup. I mean, who doesn’t? Chicken soup is the best comfort food and a cure-all for all illnesses. There are 2 types of chicken soup that I particularly love: Colombian Ajiaco soup and Indonesian Soto Ayam soup. Both are delicious and have ingredients that I enjoy so I created a recipe that combines the distinct flavors from both of these soups.
Read MoreKitchen gadgets sometimes scare me. I own a slower cooker, which for me is fancy, but it doesn’t have all of the functions that the newer gadgets have, like the Instant Pot. I keep hearing a lot about the Instant Pot. I’ve only used my sister’s Instant Pot once but I used the slower cooker function because I was so overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar buttons. Recently, I was gifted my own Ninja Foodi Deluxe and got more of a chance to really test out the pressure cooker.
Read MoreHi friends! It has been awhile since I shared some info about myself so I thought I would divulge some fun facts:
• My parents survived the genocide in Cambodia
• I was born in a refugee camp in the Philippines before coming to the USA when I was a month old
• Raised by a single mother
• I am an immigrant and an American and proud of it
Read MoreLove being back home in my own kitchen after almost a 2 month hiatus. Now I can get back to my cookbook and also get back to trying some new recipes. Prior to leaving for the east coast, I was on a jackfruit kick. I made Jackfruit “Carnitas” Tacos and Taco Bowl. I had been wanting to do something else with it that would require BBQ sauce because who doesn’t love BBQ sauce? After researching some ideas, I was inspired by The Veg Life blog to create a Hawaiian Jackfruit & Pineapple Kabob.
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