Stuffed Zucchini Pizza

We had some not-so-fresh zucchini in the 'fridge so I decided to try make some stuffed zucchini using ingredients that we had on hand. 

I kinda burnt the cheese, but still was ono.  Landon asked if I intended for it to taste like zucchini pizza, and I said yes even though I actually didn't know what I had intended. 

Ingredients

• 4 medium zucchini
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Dried oregano
• 10 ounce Portuguese sausage, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tomato, diced
•         14 oz. bottle of pizza sauce (I used 2/3 of the bottle)
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (+ more for topping)
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese (for topping)
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Cut off the stem ends of the zucchini. Cut them each in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides with a spoon. Place on a baking sheet and brush each with a bit of olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried oregano.
3. Fry the sausage and drain any excess fat. Add the garlic and cook for a bit.  Add the diced tomato, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pizza sauce, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. Heat until reduced and not runny. 
4. Scoop the sausage filling into the zucchini boats. Top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.  
5. Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden brown.  I went for an additional 5 minutes and that's when the cheese got burnt.

Humongous Peanuts

My sister Geri made boiled peanuts and gave some to Wendell because he loves them.  They were huge and so ono.  I don't have her recipe, but Wendell makes good boiled peanuts too and you can find his recipe here. 

Geri bought the raw peanuts from Palama Market.

Humongous Strawberry

One of Landon's friends brought strawberries and grapes to Lan's gathering.  Good idea yah!

He said he got them from Sam's.  My small hand might make the strawberry look deceptively huge, but they really were big.

And sweet!

Sawsawan Dipping Sauce

Landon invited a few friends over this past weekend, and since I'm the Lumpia Queen nowadays, he asked me to make some.

Everybody liked the lumpia, but what surprised me was that the most asked-for recipe was the sawsawan sauce.  The recipe is from The Foodie Takes Flight site.  I used calamansi juice (because I had) and regular onion, not red (because I didn't have).

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tbsp calamansi juice or 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Ground pepper
• 1-2 tsp sugar adjust to desired sweetness
• 2-3 siling labuyo, bird’s eye chiles, or other chiles of choice
• 1 medium tomato diced
• 1 medium red onion diced

Quick and Easy Pouch

 This was very easy and fast to make.  I think it's cute to give away stuff in.

The tutorial is at the beginning of this video.

Origami Bag

This is a great way to use up all that fabric that you have stored away in your closet.

There are several YouTube tutorials on how to make the origami bag.  Here's one.

Geri's Baked Pastele

My sister Geri made some Baked Pastele the other day and we lucked out because she delivered a sampling to each of the siblings.  So nice!!  Thank you, Geri!!

I ate mine with some gandule rice which I just so happened to have bought earlier.  So ono!  Hoo hoo!!

Here's the recipe that she followed.  Looks kinda humbug to me, but when I asked her if she would make it again, she said that she would.

And here are some process photos that she took (when she remembered).

Cute Watercolor Birds

Happy Valentine's Day!  Hope you have a good one.  Happy Birthday, Zsa's!

This was my fourth or fifth attempt at trying to record this video.  Something always went wrong.  Mostly I kept forgetting to press the record button.  But it was so fun painting the birds that I kept doing them, and I knew that sooner or later I'd be successful in capturing the process.

I learned how to paint the birds by watching a Diane Antone Studio YouTube video tutorial. 

Baby Mangoes

This is a branch from the neighbor's mango tree that has extended over into our yard.  And they're Pirie!

BTW, this neighbor is really nice.  They always share their extra mangoes with us. 

More from Monarch Seafoods

Here's more from Monarchs that I was too lazy to include in yesterday's post.  We actually got this back in December so I honestly don't really remember, but I'm pretty sure that everything was ono.

Pan-Fried Butterfish ($14.50)

Side Order Large Crabcake ($4.95)

Ahi Poke ($13.41)

Roast Pork ($12.95)

Monarch Seafoods' Stuffed Ahi

Here's a photo of the only thing I'll order when Wendell calls to say, "I'm going to Monarch's!"

This is their menu if you want to try other things too.

Lumpia

Can you believe I made this?  And it wasn't too hard.  But da oil splattah.  I don't like da splattah.  

It was a hit!  Landon ended up taking the leftovers to work to share.  I was so proud.  The recipe is from the Allrecipes site.

I used this wrapper.  It's found in the freezer section.

I used this instead of the called-for cabbage.  I only noticed the "wash before use" now in this photo.  Oops!

Here's the filling cooling off.  Good thing Landon came by a little later while I was rolling the wrappers 'cause he said that I was making um too bambucha.  Sure enough, even though I then lessened the amount to 1 1/2 spoonfuls instead of 2, I ended up with 22 lumpia instead of the supposed-to-be amount of 30.

This recipe and others say to moisten with water to seal.  They lie.  It doesn't seal.  

Pal Cleta said to lay the rolls seam side down and fry them that way too.  That totally worked.  Thanks Cleta!

   

My portion changed ethnicity from Filipino to Vietnamese. 

 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 1 pound ground pork

• ½ cup chopped onion

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

• ½ cup minced carrots

• ½ cup chopped green onions

• ½ cup thinly sliced green cabbage

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (Optional)

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

• 30 lumpia wrappers

• 2 cups vegetable oil for frying, or as needed

  Directions

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add pork; cook and stir until crumbly and no pink is showing, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove pork from the pan and set aside. Drain grease from the pan, leaving just a thin coating.

  2. Add onion and garlic to the pan; cook and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked pork, carrots, green onions, cabbage, and cilantro. Season with pepper, salt, garlic powder, and soy sauce. Remove from the heat, and set aside until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes.

  3. Assemble lumpia: Place 3 heaping tablespoons of filling diagonally near one corner of a lumpia wrapper, leaving a 1 1/2 inch space at both ends. Fold the side along the length of the filling over the filling, tuck in both ends, and roll neatly and tightly to close. Moisten the other side of the wrapper with water to seal the edge. Transfer to a plate and cover with plastic wrap to retain moisture. Repeat to assemble remaining lumpia.

  4. Heat 1/2 inch vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes.

  5. Slide 3 to 4 lumpia into the hot oil, making sure the seams are facing down. Fry, turning occasionally, until all sides are golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat to fry remaining lumpia. Serve immediately.

Dd's Red Clam Linguine

Wow, this looks so good!  And how exotic is that black pasta!!

 

RED CLAM LINGUINE

 

1 # Manila clams, scrubbed, soaked 30 minutes, drained

2 oz. anchovy (1 TB anchovy oil, 5 anchovy fillets, finely chopped, divided)

2 TB olive oil

4 garlic cloves, chopped

½ small onion, chopped

1 TB tomato paste

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

4 oz. can chopped clams, drained; juice reserved

1/3 c. white wine

½ can (15 oz.) fire roasted tomatoes

½ # squid ink pasta, cooked according to package directions, drained

2 TB butter, cut into pieces

2 TB Italian parsley, chopped

Garnish: chopped Italian parsley

 

In a large skillet over medium warm anchovy oil. Add garlic and onion; cook until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, anchovies and red pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until warmed through, about 30 seconds. Add clam juice and wine. Bring to a boil. Add fresh clams, tossing to coat in sauce and cook, covered, until clams start to open, 6-7 minutes. Remove clams to a bowl, reserving mixture in pan. (Discard any clams that do not open.).  

Into skillet add tomatoes, canned clams, salt and pepper as desired. Bring to a boil over medium-heat. Reduce heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 10-12 minutes. Return clams, drained pasta, butter, and parsley to pasta mixture and gently toss until butter has melted and pasta is evenly coated. 

Serve immediately. Garnish with additional parsley as desired. Serves 2-3.

Wendell's Garlic Chicken Katsu

Wendell had been saving this recipe from the Crave section in the Star Advertiser since the end of December.  It's realtor George Yanai's signature dish.

I ate it with a Manabu musubi.  It was so tasty that I didn't need to add on the sauce.

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs, substitute fish or venison

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, substitute regular soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1 large egg, beaten

• 1 cup panko

• Oil to fry chicken

• 3 tablespoons ketchup

• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

The day before: Prepare chicken by removing any fat and cartilage. Break into pieces naturally by separating the chicken into about 1-inch pieces. Mix marinade of garlic, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Put chicken in the marinade and refrigerate overnight or freeze for another time.

Fill a skillet with oil about 1/2-inch high. Prepare the breading by making three bowls with flour, egg and panko. Dip chicken piece in flour, then egg, then panko and put into unheated skillet. When skillet is filled with chicken, turn heat on to medium-high heat. Turn over in about 2 1/2 minutes and continue cooking until browned. Remove cooked chicken and drain on plate covered with paper towels. Continue with next batch until completed. Serve hot or at room temperature with ketchup and Worcestershire sauce mixed together.

Serves 4-6 as a main course, or more as an appetizer.

Chili Pepper Plant

So far so good!