Recipe: Breakfast Burrito

photo posted in Instagram

A few weeks ago, my college bff who is now based in the US was here from a month long vacation. We got together over dinner with our respective families and other college buddies. We started reminiscing about my brief stay with her when I visited the US in 2007.

The day after our dinner meet up, I remembered the first meal I had in CA was a fat tasty burrito. I took an early flight out of Phoenix then to spend a weekend with her in Orange County. She picked me up from the airport and we drove through a burrito place. That memory had me craving for burritos. Luckily, I saved a packed of tortilla bread in our freezer. I quickly searched the web for a simple breakfast burrito recipe and realized that well, I can easily make my own recipe up...with whatever is available in our fridge.

So I thawed the tortilla out. Heated the pan. And started chopping. I didn't think my family would like it, but they surprisingly did. It was a hit, especially to my little girl.

Shared a photo in instagram and a few friends asked for a recipe. So here goes, my very easy quick breakfast burrito recipe.

Cooking time: really quick, like 5 mins
Prep time: depends on how fast you chop and how many you would be chopping but roughly 10mins in my case

What you will need:

- tortilla bread, I used herbed tomato tortilla from French Baker
- shredded lettuce, I used iceberg for this one
- plum tomatoes, chopped
- white onion, chopped
- bell peppers (red, green, yellow, whatever you have), chopped
- grated cheese
- scrambled eggs
- Japanese mayo
- optional -- diced leftover chicken, longganisa, tocino

tortilla

How to assemble:

- reheat your tortilla bread, takes about 1-2 mins per side or when the bread is already soft enough to roll
- squeeze about a teaspoon of japanese mayo and spread thinly unto one side of the tortilla.
- dump in the veggies. I took a spoonful of each since the tortilla is small (just about 6 inches in diameter)
- top with scrambled eggs and grated cheese
- roll firmly to form a log.
- enjoy!!!

My-Take/Recipe: Thai Basil Chicken

When I was still working in the city, there's this on the go Thai resto that we used to frequent. We worked mid-shifts then and would get food delivered from this place. Very filling. And comforting at the same time. That Thai resto unfortunately already closed down some years back.

Just this weekend, in preparation for our we made an inventory of the frozen meats that are still in our freezer and we discovered about half a kilo of uncooked chicken fillet. I initially planned to cook this recipe again for dinner - Joey's (of 80Breakfasts) Mongolian Chicken Recipe. But after watering the plants in our garden and discovering that my basil plant is abundantly growing again, I remembered TIB's Thai Basil Chicken and thought maybe I can try making my own.

I searched the web for an easy recipe and came across this recipe. I had to tweak it a bit since I don't have all of the listed ingredients on hand.

Turned out to be another attempt that is worthy of sharing so I'm posting it here. Enjoy!


Thai Basil Chicken 
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 10-15mins

What You Will Need:

1 lb skinless chicken thighs, cut into half inch strips
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp fish sauce (locally called patis)
1 tbsp fine muscovado sugar
1/4 cup vegetable broth or chicken broth (or water if broth is not available)
1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1 big bunch of Thai basil leaves or any local basil, remove stems
1 piece green finger chilies, cut into thin strips
ground white pepper (about one or two pinches)
2 tsps vegetable oil
2 tsps lime juice or calamansi juice

How I did it:

1. Heat oil in a wok or skillet over high heat till nearly smoking hot. Add chopped garlic and immediately stir  till golden (you really do not want it smoking because you will burn your garlic).
2. Add chicken strips. Stir constantly until chicken changes color (probably will take you about 3-5 minutes).
3. Add chilies, broth, seasonings (fish sauce, muscovado sugar, soy sauce). Adjust according to taste. Continue stir frying until all the meat is coated.
4. Drop the basil and stir fry again just until leaves are wilted but still retaining its color.
5. Stir in calamansi or lime juice and season with pepper.
6. Serve on top of a steaming cup of brown rice.

This can feed 3 hungry stomachs. (or 5 if NOT that hungry hehe)

Recipe: Quinoa With Avocado Salsa Salad

Prep time: 5 mins (mostly chopping)
Cooking time: 10-15 mins

This is a very easy recipe (as most salads are). The only cooking involved here is for the quinoa and if you're always in a hurry you can always cook your quinoa ahead (they're usually last for 2-3 days in the fridge). Just make sure you store them using a tightly sealed container. I'm no Quinoa expert but the way I cook it is 2 parts water for 1 part Quinoa (2:1). And I usually just let it boil till the water evaporates (just like how you would cook rice). This is the guide I used when I cooked my first batch and I stuck to it because it yielded just the right way I'd like my Quinoa to be. To be honest, I'm still in the process of discovering and trying out everything I read to be a healthier and better for my body. I'm lucky to always stumble on tasty recipes though and I don't think I'm giving up anytime soon on this experimentation. 

This was the lunch I packed for work yesterday and I shared it with my co-workers who loved it!

I have yet to really incorporate this pseudo grain into my daily meal plan but I usually try to prepare something 2 to 3 times a week. The past few weeks, I did my recipes during the weekends because that's when we buy our groceries and that's also when my ingredients are the freshest. But this week, I got a little lazy and went to eat mostly what was prepared by our helper. Come mid-week however, I rushed to prepare some Quinoa because I was looking for other ways to use the fruits and greens that have been sitting in the fridge for a few days already. So this recipe I'm sharing is sort of a throw-in-everything-in-there kind of thing (hehehe) because I pretty much used what's in our fridge. 

I used:

1 cup cooked Quinoa

1 bunch Leaf lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
1 tsp black beans (the salted kind in can but i plan to make this using the real ones next time)

Avocado salsa:
1 medium size tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped finely
1 tsp calamansi juice
1 small avocado, diced
1/2 cup ripe mangoes, diced
spring onions, for garnish
a pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Dressing (I just put everything in a small bottle and just shook the bottle till they're evenly mixed):
2 tsps EVOO
1 tsp coco vinegar
1 tsp honey

How I did it:


Toss everything in a salad bowl and drizzle with dressing. If you have some cashew nuts on hand, chop them up and garnish as well. The nutty flavor would definitely compliment all the sweet and tangy flavors in this salad.

Enjoy!!!!

**Quinoa is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Manganese.

Read More http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/10352/2#ixzz1vyU80rOW

Greens For Breakfast

Really?! Greens for breakfast you ask? Very unconventional, don't you think? My co-workers winced when I mentioned this to them. Well what greens are those exactly?

I'm referring to green smoothies and yes, I'm leveling up with this BETTER ME by the end of 2012 thing. I'm now on my fourth day today. I'm been planning to do this for so long but I always manage to come up with valid (who says so? I DO so!) excuses but because of my BETTER ME project this year every excuse I came up with has since seem very trivial. What sparked and moved me even more to finally do it were several photo posts in Facebook by a childhood friend sharing her new adventures with raw food diet. She had been constantly posting her smoothies recipes and it urged me to finally try making my own. Budget was once a major constraint that hindered me from embarking on this 'smoothie' adventure because the smoothie recipes that I came across earlier called for ingredients that were a bit expensive for me and I couldn't honestly squeeze them into my weekly budget. But when I saw my friend's recipes, I was surprised she only utilized locally and easily available veggies and fruits. Super yey! So last Thursday, while I was on a holiday break from work I finally bought some pechay, ripe mangoes, fresh buko (juice and meat), parsley and bananas. My friend uses buko juice instead of water and I guess that's another thing that encouraged me. Fresh buko on its own it already sweet so I took comfort on that. I trusted that the buko juice alone would save me from feeling queasy about the drink.

before the adding the buko juice

I planned to start last Thursday but by the time I had the ingredients on hand I already ate breakfast so I decided to start on Friday instead. I read somewhere that green smoothies are most effective/best taken as your first 'meal' of the day. That way your body can easily absorb the nutrients in the drink. So Friday morning, I finally drew the courage but kept asking Tibs to wish me luck (yes I know medyo OA) because looking at the veggies and fruits (before blending) I can't seem to imagine how they would taste altogether. But when I finally took a sip, it was amazingly sweet with a slight bitter aftertaste (which to me was quite the good kind of after-taste) probably due to the parsley. I've been having the smoothie since Friday and I can't tell yet if it's making any difference on me. For one I guess, I have to really give up coffee so I can maximize the effectivity of this diet to its fullest. Well, I do not have the drive to that just yet. I've cut down on my daily consumption (from 3 I'm now down to 2 yehey, right?) and I'm hoping by the end of this week I can finally manage with just one cup (goodluck, goodluck!)

My friend also referred me to this wonderful site: Incredible Smoothies and I'm so excited to try the other recipes in here. If you're planning to start on green smoothie diet, this FAQ sheet might help you. 

Cheers to a healthy week ahead for all of us!

p.s.

To make 1 tall glass of green smoothie, this is my recipe:

1 handful of native pechay leaves
1 handful of parsley
about half a cup of buko juice
about half a cup of crushed iced buko juice (i freeze them using ice bags)
1/2 cup of ripe mangoes
1 piece medium sized banana

wanna share a glass with me? :)

Tomorrow, I'm going to try using native kangkong instead of pechay. Wish me luck! ^_^

Recipe: Kalabasa and Spinach Soup

My aunt shared this recipe to me a few weeks ago and I was dying to try it but couldn't find cheap spinach then so when the prices went down last week I immediately grabbed a pack and set out to make my version of this soup.

Sad to say, the little girl didn't like it very well. I will have to figure out how to make it interesting but it was a hit among the adults. Maybe I can add cream or milk next time to add in some richness to the flavor.

Here's what I needed to make this soup:

1 piece (about 50g) breast fillet, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups kalabasa (squash)
1 cup spinach leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small white onion, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

How I did it:

1. Saute garlic and onion.
2. Add chicken breast and saute until it changes color.
3. Add in the chicken broth. Bring to a boil.
4. Add the kalabasa (squash) cubes and simmer till tender. 5. Turn off the heat and add the spinach leaves.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste then set aside to cool while uncovered.
7. When soup has cooled down, pour unto blender and blend till desired texture is achieved. I wanted mine with still some bits of kalabasa on it.
8. Reheat once you're ready to serve.
9. Enjoy!

This is good for 3-4 servings. Best served during a cold, rainy day.

I wonder if what herb/spice I should add to perk up the taste of this soup. Any suggestions?