Garden Chef's Needle and Pen

I confess tokwa was not a frequent resident in my kitchen a few years ago. Let me say that again. I was not a tokwa lover before. I didn’t usually buy tokwa dishes. Is there any better way of saying that? Well, honestly I didn’t like tokwa very much. But one day, I had a chance of eating fried pork and tokwa (popularly known as tokwa’t baboy) prepared by Cafe 1475 in the hospital where I work. Oh, I hate to admit that I liked it! ;)

Saturday morning. Late breakfast... again! Not in the mood to go marketing but my hubby asks for fish for lunch. So to the market I must go! I really did. I was fortunate to buy my favorites--- tuna, salmon belly and white pampano.  Next stop, the veggie stall. But wait, my favorite veggie vendor is gone! Her stall is closed! Sad! That meant I really had no other choice but to visit the next stall. Looking at the vegetable display while thinking of a dish to prepare for lunch, a different kind of string beans caught my attention. The lady vendor said it's French beans (haricot vert or filet beans, ooopppsss, the veggie vendor didn't tell me that. I google searched for the term :)) Definitely not green ( Baguio ) beans. This type is longer, thinner and crisp. They look skinny and shorter than the regular long string beans ( sitaw ) commonly seen in the market, I was intrigued all the more when the lady said it's best for salads, though she gave me an...

Zucchini, zucchini, zucchini... I was introduced to zucchini by the famous movie, Ratatouille. I have already tried several zucchini dishes in the past which I have featured in my previous posts, Sunday's Cram , The Zucchini Magic and Go Green with Zucchini Carpaccio . Today's feature is inspired by the Zucchini Tots originally posted in Easy Recipes, Healthy Eating Ideas , which I also shared in my Garden Chef's Needle and Pen Facebook page.  See how I made these Zucchini Bread Cups for breakfast last Sunday. Instead of adding bread crumbs in the zucchini mixture, I used wheat bread slices as base. Ingredients: Olive oil 12 slices of wheat bread 1 cup grated zucchini 2 large eggs 1/4 medium onion, diced Salt & pepper to taste 1/4 cup grated quickmelt cheese Steps: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray muffin cup cake pan with olive oil.   Grate zucchini. Squeeze off the excess water out of the zucchini.  In a medium bowl, combine zu...

I don't know what's with zucchini that I've learned to like and love it the first time I tasted it! The first recipe I tried using zucchini was ratatouille… oh yes, I can still vividly remember, that was shortly after my family and I watched the movie, "Ratatouille". I was so intrigued at why Anton Ego, the critic, "was rocked to the core", that I made efforts to look for recipes so that I could try the dish myself. Well, my very first ratatouille dish was a hit in my family, especially to my husband who had a one-year stint in France, where he had his first taste of it in 2004. He and my eldest daughter, Ayana Grace, liked it.   Their reaction to my first experiment inspired me so much I had to give it another try, this time, as toppings to pasta. Another big hit! From then on, zucchini has been a mainstay in my grocery list (as it's not available in nearest wet market). Having at least one piece in my vegetable bin has made it a regular...