Happy Friday

Three more weeks to go!



I spotted black mission figs on sale at Whole Foods this week so I grabbed a couple of pints and decided to make one of Hillsy's favorite pasta dishes - Black Fig & Chili Pasta!

I also wanted to share this awesome tutorial for baby tights on made by RAE (a new to me blog that I just recently discovered thanks to Nancy of sewnancy.) I can't wait to give this tutorial a try, how cute are those red & white tights?!??!?



I really hope I have the energy to sew once the baby arrives!! I've been dying over the cutest baby clothes that are waaaay beyond our budget so it would be so nice to be able to sew some cute things for her.

Summer Pasta

A pasta dish fit for a hot Summer night!

I love roasting vegetables, it seems to bring out the sweetness even more! I recommend using whatever you have on hand. Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower... I'm sure almost anything would work for this dish. I happen to loooove roasted zucchini so that's what I used last night. I didn't want to fire up the oven since it would've made the house even hotter, so I roasted my zucchini circles (drizzled in olive oil, salt, pepper) in the convection oven for about 25 minutes (turning them over at the 12 minute mark) at 360F. Set aside.

Cook some penne or fussili.

In the meantime sauté one chopped shallot + one chopped garlic clove + shrimps (deveined, shelled) + grape tomatoes + salt/pepper + half a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes for a couple of minutes then add a dash of white wine. I'm sure you can skip the wine if you don't have any on hand. Butter or even a dash of chicken stock would work too, just to add some more flavor. Make sure you season well with salt/pepper. Cook for a couple more minutes just until the alcohol evaporates then set aside.

Quickly whip up a lemon zest + lemon juice + ext. virgin olive oil + salt/pepper dressing.

Drain the pasta and mix everything together - pasta + roasted zucchini + shallot/garlic/shrimp + and douse it with as much dressing as you'd like! Top with fresh basil or parsley or even thyme! It's light, simple and a perfect meal for the hot humid nights we've been having!



Alright, hope you give this one a shot! I'm off to do a handful of errands today - the temperature has FINALLY dipped below 90F and I'm going to take full advantage of it. I've been stuck indoors all week and it's time to get out and decrank!

Smells like pork chops up in here...

I woke up this morning and I could still smell the chops from last night - not in a gross way, but not exactly the greeting I would want first thing in the morning (fresh coffee brewing, toast, pancakes or even sizzling bacon would be more like it!)

Oh hells no moment...
I also just noticed six or so teeny weenie clear bubbles (size of a pin) inside my bottom lip after eating breakfast. Fun times. They don't hurt or itch, I wonder if they're pregnancy related?? Thank goodness I have an appointment with my OB this afternoon so I'll definitely run it by her. Oh and has anyone ever used a doula before? If so, I'd love to hear about your experience!! You can either email me lifeflix@gmail.com or leave a comment.

BTW the pork chops were very easy to make, so in case you want to give them a try... I marinated six center cut pork loin chops (bone in and less than 1" thick) in a little bit of soy sauce (they weren't swimming in it, I pbly used 1/2 cup total), juice of 1/4 lemon, teaspoon of black pepper and two grated garlic cloves for two hours. Then I dredged them in flour, dipped them in egg and coated them with breadcrumbs. Pan fried each side for about 5 minutes each (very low flame) and served it with a simple salad.

Easy Dinner: Taco Night

I'm all about EASY EASY EASY food lately and here's another quick and tasty meal to add to your week (original recipe calls for shrimp but you can easily replace it with whatever you have available). I also added fresh mango and grilled corn to the mix!



Do you GOOP? Ez put me onto this Gwyneth P. project and I love it. It has introduced me to new recipes (like this Mexican Dinner, Family Style), workouts and the 411 on other interesting topics.

Perfect Pasta for Spring

I'm lovin' this Roasted Zucchini Pasta recipe I snagged from Everyday Foods Mag. I'm still trying to find the recipe online but until then, it's basically roasted thinly sliced zucchini (salt/pepper) + garlic + olive oil + lemon zest + linguini or spaghetti + topped with ricotta cheese. YUMMERS and perfect for this lovely Spring/Summer weather we've been having this week!

Spinach & Bacon Frittata

Spinach & Bacon Frittata

Things I would change the next time around....
- cut the spinach leaves a little smaller and maybe use less (one bag was waaay too much)
- add 1 or 2 more strips of bacon :)

Marinated Chicken with Cucumber-Mint Salad

We loved this sooooo much even if our entire house still smells of onions 24 hours later. I used Nan bread, I love how it's a little bit more doughy & chewy than pita bread.




I got this recipe from last month's Everyday Foods Mag and I'm so glad it's up on their website (Marinated Chicken with Cucumber Mint Salad). I'm not sure whether or not you were supposed to do it this way, but I removed the onions from the pan once they caramelized and added a little bit more oil to the pan. I then cooked the chicken and a minute before they were done, I added the onions back into the pan. I wanted to get the little bits off of the bottom of the pan, so I finished it off by adding a tablespoon of water and carefully scrubbed the bottom of the pan to get the extra "flavor".

Easy Meal: Couscous Stuffed Peppers

Hillsy was away on biz all week, thank goodness my mom is visiting from Cali!! Apparently he's loving Seattle, I have a feeling I'll be hearing all about why we should move over there! Honestly, if it wasn't for the notorious rain & clouds I really wouldn't have a problem with that. Warmer winters, cooler summers, lakes, Tom Hanks' SIS boat house? What's not to love??

It's been another crazy week of craftin' house so as you can imagine, cooking and cleaning have fallen out of the priority ladder. It's been cheese toasties, salads, basically anything that doesn't require more than 10 seconds to think about. Ez introduced me to this yummy stuffed peppers recipe, it's become a staple around these parts. She's a vegetarian so she uses tofu instead of sausages (I usually make it with sausage or bacon when you know who is around!)

Easy Meal: Baked Potato

Baked potatoes are so underrated!!
Such an easy and satisfying meal, perfect for dinner (and lunch the next day).





Preheat oven 350F degreees. Rack in the middle.

1. Pierce cleaned/brushed potatoes (russet) with a fork (all over).
1. Apply a thin coat of olive oil - I just pour a little bit in my hands and give 'em a little rub down.
2. Roll them into a plate of coarse/kosher salt
3. Place on baking tray and bake for a total of 60 minutes, turning them over at 30 mins.
4. In the meantime, prep your toppings. Bacon for me, but if you prefer a healthier option you can steam broccoli? Grate cheese if using.
5. Remove potatoes from oven, slit the top with a knife and squeeze the ends towards the middle/top (just to make it look pretty - I never have any luck with this, so most of the time I just split it in half and call it a day). Pour cheese into the middle and allow it to naturally melt or nook the cheese first then just pour it on top.

Craftin' & Roastin' it up

Hi gang, I'm still glued to the craft table today but just wanted to share what we had for dinner last night! I did a really simple roast - I probably overcooked it, but I wanted the meat to be more braised and fall-off-the-bone tender like so I just cooked it in 300F for a LOoooong time (2-3 hours).



I probably should've added more liquid so it didn't dry out so much but it was still pretty tasty. I served it with steamed Savoy Cabbage.

Easy Dinner

One of the easiest dinners ever. I got the idea from Real Simple mag but had to adjust the recipe a bit. Basically mix shreded cabbage (red would be good too) + corn + chopped up pepper (hotter the better) + mayo (they used sour cream) + lime juice (they also added OJ but I didn't have any) + salt and pepper




Pan grill seasoned (salt + pepper + whatever else you want, I added chili powder) shrimp.






Garnish with cilantro and extra lime juice. Wrap it up in a warm flour tortilla!

Last Night's Dinner #136: Sundried Tomatoes & Sweet Sausage Penne

It was one of those nights where the stars were aligned - sundried tomatoes (check), Italian sausages (check), ricotta (check), fresh basil (nope - but dried will have to work)...



Sundried Tomatoes with Sweet Italian Sausages, one of my go-to pasta dishes. Quick, easy and very tasty.


Add a pinch of red pepper flakes and a clove of crushed garlic to your olive oil and heat all three up at the same time. *You don't want the oil to be hot when you add the pepper/garlic.


When it all starts to sizzle, add a chooped onion. Cook until translucent then add a couple of handfuls of SD tomatoes.


Almost immediately add the sausages to the pan. Meat removed from casings and chopped up into bitesize pieces.


Add spices & seasoning


Let the artichokes brown slightly


Once the artichoke start to get a nice brownish crust to them, add some broth (any kind will do, even water if you don't have any broth), about a cup or so.
Add the artichoke hearts (thawed frozen ones or drained canned ones).


Add cream until pink...


It's not really a saucy sauce, so if you want a lot of liquid just add more broth/water + cream


Top with ricotta and your favorite salt!

Related: You can also make this with jarred sundried tomatoes.

Last Night's Dinner #135: Mmm Mmm Mmm Chicken

WARNING: MJ (my sister), don't scroll down. I have pics of raw chicken pieces below and I know how squeamish you get!!

So I googled "Crispy Roasted Chicken" and found this little gem. I'll have to try Christian's recipe one of these days but here's what he inspired...


1/2 stick butter, 2 pieces of garlic & large thumbsize of ginger finely finely grated, 1/2 cup or so of sweet soysauce (Kecap Manis can be found in Whole Foods!) or maybe you can use soysauce and just add a little brown sugar? and of course 3 large pieces of chicken of your choice.

What can be worse than deep frying in a gallon of oil? Slathering 3 chicken pieces (skin on) with half a stick of butter :)

So if you're health conscious, this may not be the recipe for you OR you can give it a shot and run an extra mile or two.

Preheat oven 400F


Combine butter + ginger + garlic + soysauce

NOTE: Learn from my mistake, it's best to soften your butter before doing this! Or it will come out looking like this...


I wouldn't necessarily melt the butter - but close to it.



As if coating wasn't bad enough, I decided to put some of the butter mixture under the skin. I figured if I'm going to have 1/2 stick what's another tablespoon right?

Bake for 50 minutes at 400F. I served it with an "Oriental" inspired salad to go with the soysauce ginger flavors of the chicken. You can also sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds on top for added drama if you have them.



Yummy on the outside and SO moist on the inside!

Last Night's Dinner #135: Mongolian Beef à la PF Chang's

Yumm. Must definitely try.

I used a combination of several recipes, here are the best ones I've found:
Rasa Malaysia's (the best Asian food blog on this planet) and a simpler version with less ingredients at Recipe Zaar. I didn't "fry" the beef in too much oil, so the beef didn't have the traditionally yummy crust outside. So, if you want it to be more authentic, make sure you don't skimp on the oil :)