Breakfast Idea: Leftover Chicken Fajitas with Pita Bread

Do you want an easy breakfast idea? If you have some leftover meat, like leftover roasted chicken, pork, or beef, make it into fajitas for breakfast. Saute it with sweet onions and sweet bell peppers then season it, you will have a fast and easy breakfast! Lay it in between folds of warm tortilla or in my case I used toasted pita bread.

My version is with a Filipino twist. Instead of using fajita seasoning, I just used soy sauce and a little vinegar, and of course salt and pepper! Salty with a little acidity. We love to drizzle it with a guacamole mild spicy sauce. Yum! Breakfast is ready.

Creamy Mashed Potato and Buttered Lemon-Pepper Swai Fillet

What's for dinner tonight? I decided to make some creamy mashed potatoes, since we haven't had it for a long time, and some Swai fish fillets.

A little break from heavy meaty meals, I opted for a fish menu for tonight. And it is easy and fast to cook, too. I bought some nice, frozen Swai fish fillets instead of the usual frozen tilapia fillets. Swai is a white-flesh fish. It has such a mild taste and my family likes it because it does not have such a fishy taste, lol, if you know what I mean. I sprinkled some lemon-pepper powder on it and leave it to marinate for a few minutes. And then I pan seared it in butter and a little olive oil.

As you can see, the plating is like East meets West. A little Asian condiment/side dish of kimchi and the fish which are common food from the Eastern part of the world. And the mashed potato and pickled pepperoncini, usual fare on the Western part of the globe.

The sourness and slight spiciness from the kimchi and pepperoncini compliments very well with the creaminess of the mashed potato and the lemony, buttery fish. 

Simple meal but very yummy, appetizing, and such a fulfilling dinner!

Special Turon (Ripe Banana Wrapped in Egg Roll Wraps)

I had some very ripe plantains at home today. I didn't know what to do with it. It is such a waste if I will throw it again, since a plantain is .75 cents per piece. I had three pieces left, so that would be $2.25. In this economy, we should try our best to save in any way we can.

So that made my brain worked, hehe. I looked in the freezer and found some egg roll wrappers. It made me think of turon. "Turon" is a favorite Filipino snack in the Philippines. It looks like egg rolls but instead of the meat or veggies inside, it has sweet banana and other sweet ingredients. It is more like a dessert type of food and also good by itself for snacks. Anyway, going back to this morning, I took out the wrappers to thaw and checked in the pantry for some jackfruit in a can and found one. Seems like I'm lucky today. I had a leftover purple sweet potato that I boiled in the morning for my breakfast, so I thought why not make use of it,too. Instead if using purple yam or ube, I used my sweet purple potato. It has the same color and texture.

So I got all my ingredients ready after my egg roll wrapper thawed. I had the wrappers, julienned jackfruit, mashed sweet potato with sugar, and the sliced plantains.

I just put all the ingredients together in the middle of the egg roll wrapper and then wrapped it burrito style but sealing it at the end with water.

Preheat a deep pan and some oil on it, enough to deep fry the turon. Fry it until the turon is golden brown. My kids enjoyed it!:)

SIOMAI OR STEAMED PORK DUMPLINGS

Siomai is a steamed dumpling filled with either ground pork, ground beef, or shrimp and wrapped in wonton wrapper. In the Philippines, it usually dipped in soy sauce with calamansi or calamondin with oily garlicky or ginger flavor.

I love siomai. It is one of my favorite appetizers. I never get tired of eating it. When I came here in the US, this is one of the foods that I missed from the Philippines. So I researched on some recipes and get some ideas how it was made. I vary the ingredients according to my taste.

Most recipes use sesame oil to be mix in the filling, but since I'm not such a fan for sesame oil, I omitted it. But if you like it, you can add it to the ingredients.

Egg Sandwhich

Beef Chuck Roast Recipe

Last Wednesday, we did some grocery shopping and I found some very good chuck roast at Sam's Club. I haven't cooked some roast in a while, so I thought of making it this week. So I bought 2 pieces of beef chuck roast about three pounds each.

I cooked it yesterday and it came out really well. I slow-cooked it for about an hour an a half. The meat came out really soft and very tasty. My husband and son liked this same recipe that I cooked before. I usually cook it with sauteed potatoes on the side or with egg noodles or any pasta.

I love roast beef because I can cook a big piece of meat and then it will last until the next day. My husband can have something for lunch at work, too! And the good thing about it is that the next day it even tastes better. I guess because all the juices and seasonings are soaked by the meat already. So here's a recipe for beef chuck roast, you can vary the seasonings according to your preference.

HAM AND CHEESE SANDWHICH

Ingredients:

2 pcs. Sliced bread
sliced ham
American cheese singles
lettuce leaf
tbsp. of mayonnaise
tbsp. of catsup


PROCEDURE:

Mix mayonnaise and catsup in a small bowl.
Put the ham on one of the sliced bread and then the cheese on the other sliced bread.
Then put it in the toaster oven and toast it  for about a minute.
Take it out from the toaster and then add the lettuce.
Next, spread the mayonnaise and catsup mixture on the toasted bread.
Then put the sliced bread together.
Slice it diagonally in half. Serve.

MASHED POTATO

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Potatoes,peeled, and cut into big cubes
2 tbsp. Garlic powder
2-3 tbsp. Chicken Bouillon powder
Water
Milk (fresh milk)
Unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste

ATSARANG PAPAYA

INGREDIENTS:
3-4 cups grated papaya
1/4 cup salt
Vinegar
Water
Brown sugar
Red or green bell pepper, julienne
Carrots, cut into flowers or julienne
Onion, julienne
Garlic, julienne
Ginger, julienne
Salt to taste

PROCEDURE:

Put salt on the grated papaya and toss it. Let it stand for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Afterward, rinse the papaya with water and drain.
Put the washed papaya on a cheesecloth and squeeze all the liquid from it.

Meanwhile, on a big pot, put the vinegar and water.
Let it boil and then put the sugar and salt. Dissolve the sugar well. Continue boiling for at least 5 minutes.

Then put the onions, garlic, ginger, bell pepper, and carrots. Simmer for two minutes.

Lastly, add the grated papaya. Mix it well with the other ingredients. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Turn off the stove and let it cool down before putting it in a container.

TERM:

julienne- cutting the vegetables (ex: bell pepper) into thin, long strips

You can use a grater for the papaya or if you have a food processor it will be faster.

       

HAM AND CHEESE OMELETTE

Are you in a hurry to fix a breakfast but still need to fix something for your hubby and kids? Then here is a very easy and fast breakfast recipe: ham and cheese omelette. This is a dish of fried beaten eggs filled with ham and cheese. If you know how to cook or fry eggs then this will be very easy for you. You can vary the fillings according to your preference. I usually make omelettes from left over meat, bacon, some veggies like spinach, mushroom. You can put any filling you like. This recipe will be using ham and cheese.

PILLSBURY CRESCENT WITH SUGARED CREAM CHEESE

Do you like to have fresh bread but don't know how to make your own dough? Don't worry, you can buy Pillsbury dough in grocery stores and bake it at home. I don't know how to make a dough also, so what I do is to just buy those ready made doughs in stores.(But I will try to learn how to make a dough one of these days). Anyway, the crescent dough I am using in this recipe is from Pillsbury. I just added the cream cheese to make it extra special.

I got this recipe or idea from my Mother in-law, thanks to her. She made this Crescent with cream cheese one time and she let us taste it. I loved it and also my husband, so I asked her how she made it. She taught me how, so now I'm sharing it to you, too.This is just very easy and doesn't take too long to bake. So enjoy!

HOMEMADE BURRITO RECIPE

Burrito is a Mexican dish which has a filling of either meat, veggies, rice, etc and wrapped in a flour tortilla. You can actually just make different kinds of filling according to your preference. Here, I am using hash browns or shredded frozen potatoes, some bacon, scrambled eggs, and chopped roasted green chile. I usually make these in big batches and just wrap it in clear plastic wrap and then freeze it. When you need to eat it, then just pop it in the microwave for a minute or so and then you have a warm burrito! This taste better too, if you drizzle it with Green Enchilada Sauce.

SWEET BABY BACK RIBS

I always like to munch meat from a bone.It's so much fun to eat while holding the bone in your hand and just bite the meat off it,ha ha. Call me a cowgirl. Anyway,because of that ribs is one of my favorite food to eat. I tried to browse for some good recipes for ribs and was drawn to this one since I've seen this on TFC,on "Life Pinoy Style" by Ron Bilaro. So I went to there website and I saw the recipe , tried it and I loved how the ribs turned out. My hubby and son loves it because the meat just falls from the bones. My mother in-law tried it,too and she asked for the recipe for it.So thanks to Life Pinoy Style for sharing this recipe. It is now one of our favorite family recipe. You can eat it with sides, like mashed potato, macaroni salad, or for Filipinos like me, with rice. Here is the link to the Sweet Baby Back Ribs. Enjoy!