While I shop at a fairly reputable and large supermarket, again I have to rely on what meat cuts are available. So I have to be creative in our daily meals, more so since I have two elderly people to consider, plus Alan’s craving for the day.
This week we’ve had Spaghetti with meat sauce where I used Nora Daza’s old reliable Italian Spaghetti sauce recipe, substituting two Italian sausage patties for the ground pork required. I have also switched from plain to whole wheat pasta to make the dish healthier. Tuesday we had fried wings using a yummy breading mix imported from Manila and I had my mixed greens and some salad add-ons with three choices of dressing. Last night was corned beef hash and fried chicken breasts with mixed greens to go as a salad as an alternative. Tonight, I requested Mom to work on the long squash (upo) which I found at the Chinese Grocery. I can fry some pork chop, but I won’t have the time to marinate it. I can also opt for some chicken teriyaki, but I’m not sure I have teriyaki sauce handy. I also have some frozen cleaned shrimp which I can just toss with one of the condiments I have in the pantry from Harry & David. I think I’ll do the shrimp.
I have a small library of cookbooks both from here and Manila. My favorite is “THE JOY OF COOKING” which I bought the first year I arrived, and I have found it very useful in learning about cooking, ingredients, substitution and the different properties of food so it’s all tattered and falling apart. My NORA DAZA Cookbook also fell apart on the glued side so I have converted it into a round fastened book which works very well considering it’s my most used cookbook.
I’m not even thinking of tomorrow just yet. When I am totally lost on what to cook, I go to the web for inspiration. There are many sites where you can search for recipes based on the main ingredient. My favorites are gourmet.com, food.com and foodandwine.com. I think I’ll stop by and check out recipes to spruce up baby carrots.. maybe for Thursday or Friday.