I made tuna noodle casserole before, but I decided to revisit it. I hadn’t made it since that last post, and after cooking it again, I will definitely include this meal on a more regular basis.  It’s easy to make, and it’s a pretty inexpensive meal to make as well!  You can probably buy all the ingredients and it’ll end up to cost less than $10.  I also added the full recipe below from Campbell’s Kitchen, and you can print it straight from the blog! 

Here are the ingredients I used:

Here’s how I did it:

Heat your oven to 400 degrees!

To me, tuna noodle casserole is a comfort food.  Its even good the next day too!  Yum yum yum.

I love everything about the Indian culture.  I really really do.  There is just something about the country and the people that is beautiful and unique.  I also love the food.  The last time my husband and I went to an Indian restaurant I decided to try kulfi ice cream and it was so good.  I loved the sweetness of it.  I never had anything like that before.  When I saw Aarti Sequeira’s rendition of kulfi ice cream pops I knew I had to try making them for myself.  They looked so easy and I liked how you didn’t have to use an ice cream maker!  This her recipe for Earl Grey Kulfi Pops, but I had to make some modifications because I couldn’t find Earl Grey tea and Cardamom (I was shopping at Walmart when I thought of making this so I had to make do with what I already had).

You will need:

Here’s how I did it:

Once the 30 minutes are up for the evaporated milk, you will need to strain the milk to separate the tea into a bowl. Unfortunately I forgot to snap a picture of that, sorry!

I added about a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon – wish I had cardamom though… I heard it smells awesome.

You’ll need to pour the following into that bowl as well:

This is what it looks like when they’re done!

They are so delicious and sweet. I tried them right before I went to bed, and I couldn’t sleep for an hour afterwards. I guess it was the tea! If you want a dessert that will keep you up and awake, these kulfi pops are the ticket!

I heart bananas, but sometimes they get neglected, and they start getting really ripe.  They get so ripe that when you try to peel it, they start falling apart.  That’s the signal to you to make banana bread or banana bread muffins as I will be showing you!  I got this recipe from AllRecipes.com but it’s for a loaf, and since my husband liked the fact muffins are easier to eat, I decided to make banana bread muffincakes (as I call ‘em).  Sure, this is a classic “everyone has made this before recipe” but whatever!  You’ll know where to go if you wanna make banana bread muffincakes (here *ahem* here)

You will need:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown suga
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas – I used 3 since that’s all I had
Cupcake wrappers
Your favorite cupcake/muffin pan(s)- makes 12 cuppycakes

Here’s how I did it:

Set  your oven to 350 degrees!

In one bowl…

Before we move on, I just wanted to show you my butter. Bought a big one at Costco and added some to the smaller container.

Ok, back to business.

The muffincakes overall tasted good, although it would have been better with walnuts. Unfortunately, the ones I had were no good.  They taste moist and not too sweet, just how I like em!  Now you can refer to this banana bread muffincakes recipe whenever!

I’ve never had a formal cooking lesson, and although I’ve looked into culinary programs, I realize that it just costs way too much for me. But I don’t let that get in the way of the fact that I want to learn, and neither should you! A lot of people are self taught, learn along the way cooks and I think that is totally ok.

By learning and doing, you will definitely learn as much as you would if you went to formal cooking classes. Just like anything in life, you should always set goals for yourself so you can see how much you’ve progressed. Maybe you have a binder or a notebook where you jot down notes as you cook. For me, it’s a bunch of random pieces of paper until I get to my blog.

So my cooking goals are pretty simple, but require a ton of practice and hard work. I want to learn the basics and truly master them. As I started going through the Martha Stewart Cooking School book, I noticed the different types of ways you can cut vegetables, which is definitely important. There are also the different types of cooking equipment like pots, pans, knives and tools! It is kind of overwhelming. But this book is pretty good with going through the basics with photos to make sure you’re on the right track, and I’m enjoying going through it so far.  Martha is my girl!!

Some tips I learned in the Basics chapter:

• Read a recipe the whole way through before cooking, which will help avoid any mistakes as you prepare each step.
• Don’t rush things, especially when starting out.
• Keep notes while you’re cooking – I totally agree with this and didn’t realize this is very important when you’re trying out a new recipe.
• Make sure you have enough space to chop and prep and there is proper storage for everything. This tip alone is making me consider redesigning the way the kitchen is set up!
• Don’t buy more kitchenware than you need – use tools that are multipurpose.
• Prepare ingredients before beginning a recipe, which is referred to the French as mise en place.
• There are a ton of different types of pots, pans and baking equipment that are used to different dishes and techniques.
• Also, a lot of tools I didn’t really know the names of and how to properly sharpen a knife.
• Knowing the different ways to cut onions, garlic and herbs are tres important.
• Toasting whole spices before grinding them releases their flavorful oils, who would have thought?

After thoughts:
I have a lot to learn! And there are a lot of different kinds of onions! Wow.

Do you refer to a book when cooking or you just dive right in?  Have you ever considered mastering the basics before diving into a recipe?  Do do tell!

Today I went on a Costco trip with my mom. I figured that buying certain items in bulk would prevent from overspending at the grocery store, and I’d never have an excuse to not cook. For starters, I ended up buying chicken breast and ground beef. I think that I have enough of each to last a while. There are so many ways to cook chicken and ground beef, and I’m looking forward to learning different recipes and sharing on the blog.

Today I experimented with a recipe I’ve never made before, and of course I wanted to test it out before I shared it. When I was first learning how to cook, I was all about following the recipe by the button. Now, that I have limited funds, it’s taught me to improvise and alter the recipe to cater to what I already have. Sure, it may take away some vital flavor, but I’ve learned there is always a different way to do things, and who knows, it may be even better! In the case of when I tried cooking this dish out, it didn’t turn out bad at all, and I definitely will share this on the blog when I cook it again. Lets just say it has broccoli in it. Yay for adding veggies to meals! (I barely do this, but slowly learning.)

Anyway, this post is about my refrigerator, or my “fridgidare,” as I always knew it as. Being Filipino and all, but born here in US, I definitely adopted the Filipino way of doing things! It’s all good though! I’m kinda proud that my freezer and fridge is all tidy and I felt that it needed to be documented.

What does your fridge look like?  Do you like to be uber organized or it doesn’t really matter to you?