Livin' La Vida Donya

Puff pastry goodness designed to make you think you're "eating healthy".  I had to think of ways to get some spinach (or vegetables, in general) into my husband's diet. He took the bait. Another snack item that was primarily made as an easy grab for lunch but was on the brink of getting consumed too quickly. Thankfully, I was able to stash a couple of pieces in our take-along boxes before we edged closer to finishing them.   As you may have already figured out, I love flaky pastry. Anything I can make with them - I will. If you want to see a couple other flaky pastry options, you can view the following recipes:  Puff Pastry Sausage Rolls  and  Salmon Wellington . I still have yet to make my own puff pastry dough though. As of now, I rely on the craftsmanship of others for their pastry production. And I thank them and technology for that.  You can pretty much put anything in puff pastry and you'll be sure to enjoy your snack or meal. With these pastries, I o...

The secret to a lasting marriage? Food (... fine, and love and compromise and all that other stuff). I specifically remember walking through the grocery fruit aisle and I saw the peaches bin. They were just so inviting. And all I could think about for the rest of the grocery trip was grilling up some peaches and serving it on a salad or something. So, I picked 1 peach and put it in my cart. It was only when we got to the car that I realized I had walnuts... so now you see how my thought process goes. Haha. It's easy to be inspired when you've got fresh ingredients around you so your mind starts going haywire then overdrive.  The next morning,  I was determined to make some open toast sandwiches. Et voila! I always have berries and eggs in my chiller so that was easy to think about. When I checked my freezer, behold the smoked salmon! What a great weekend brunch this was going to be! And to think I was on a video call with my friends from Manila and Singapore while making these...

Well, slap us silly because we were so darn happy. This realllllly overjoyed our bellies.  I've always wanted a multi-cooker because I didn't want to pile up the appliances in our limited cooking space here at home. Well, limited counter space. So when I started receiving alerts that Prime Day was coming, I immediately tagged the Instant Pot on my watchlist. When Prime Day finally came, "Add to Cart" wasn't the option. It was "Buy Now". I had it the next day. 😎 I specifically wanted the model with the air fryer and sous vide functions included. That way, I didn't need to buy other appliances. And so far... I've made 3 batches of fried chicken and haven't bought any take-outs yet. What a great investment! In my excitement to use all the functions, I searched for what else I could cook. Soups, stews, and rice were a given. Search the interwebs and a whole slew of recipes will pop up. I did make a beef stew and surprisingly, it only look me an ...