Hotdog Casserole

When we moved into our new home and I am the one who does all the cooking, I realized that planning a week's menu takes a lot of creativity and management skills. Even though I'm thankful that my son likes to eat Sinigang (Pork in Sour Broth), Tinola (Chicken Ginger Stew) and Nilaga (Boiled Beef and Vegetabales), I make it a point to add variety in our menu. I was browsing the Del Monte Kitchenomics website when I stumbled upon this dish and tried it. It's a very good way to spruce up hotdogs and make it a healthy dish, plus preparation is a cinch.

Here's how to cook it:

Saute about 1/4 kg of hotdogs cut into 1/2-inch diagonal slices and 1 large sliced onion. Add 1 pouch (200-g) Del Monte original style tomato sauce (or Sweet Style spaghetti sauce like what I did) and 1/2 teaspoon iodized salt. Let it simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup canned whole corn kernels and 100 grams diagonally sliced Baguio beans.

Recipe: Grilled Cheese Sandwich

This is one of my favorite snacks and now Joaqui too. It's very easy and simple to prepare. You can also do this on a skillet, but I prefer the stove top grill because I like the grill marks it makes on the bread.

Ingredients:

4 slices square bread

4 tbsp butter

2 slices precut cheese (should be the same size as the bread) or enough cheese slices cut to fit the bread

Directions:

1. With serrated knife, trim crusts from the bread. If you wish, you may leave the crust on.
   
2. Spread butter on one side of each of the bread slices. Top each with another slice of bread, buttered side facing outward.
   
3. Heat skillet over medium heat for one minute. Put a sandwich on skillet, buttered side down. With a heatproof spatula or pancake turner, press the sandwich down so it flattens a little. This also helps melt the cheese. Let sandwich heat one to two minutes or until bottom side becomes a golden brown.
   
4. Turn bread over so that the top side becomes the bottom. Heat another one to two minutes. Remove from the skillet and transfer to a clean plate. Slice into two triangles. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches. 
   

Recipe: Chicken Mushroom Pasta

This is a simple pasta dish with two of my favorite ingredients - chicken and mushroom. I got this from "From the Best of Good Housekeeping Volume 6" and even though it was just the first time that I cooked it, my family really liked it. It only takes about 20 minutes to prepare and this recipe is good for six servings.

Ingredients:

500 grams fusilli noodles

3 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, cubed

4 chicken breast fillet, cubed

1 tps dried oregano

1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

1 can mushroom soup

1-1/2 cups milk

1 cup quickmelt cheese, grated

1. Cook fusilli noodles in a pot of boiling water with 3 tbsp of rock salt. Toss in olive oil. Set aside.

2. In a large, deep frying pain, saute onions in olive oil for 3 minutes. Add cubed chicken breasts, oregano, salt and pepper.

3. When chicken is cooked, add mushroom soup and milk; simmer for 5 minutes. Mix in cheese and noodles.