Meatless Recipes (not only for Lent)

It's Fri-Yay!  It means the weekend is here and it means no meat for me today!  As a Catholic, it has been our practice to abstain from eating meat on Fridays during the Lenten Season (which starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday), something that my Mom inculcated in us when we were growing up.  I remember that our default food during this season was. . . ginisang munggo (sauteed mung beans) and fried galunggong (round scad).  And I remember getting hungry easily too, haha! And when I started working, I started to give up something else too besides meat on Fridays as a sacrifice.  There was a year I gave up coffee, another year it was chips.  This Lenten season, I gave up. . . Diet Coke!  You might say this is easy but sacrifice means giving up something which is precious to you. . . and I love my Diet Coke!  (And yes I know, it's bad for the health!)  Actually, I find giving it up harder than giving up meat!  Haha!  

Now that I'm older and learned my way around the kitchen, I know that there is more to fried fish and mung beans, haha!  Here are some meatless dishes I've prepared during this Lenten season.

PASTA

I bought a few bottled pasta sauces and just sauteed them with garlic, onion and a can of tuna flakes (my favorite is Century's Hot and Spicy!).   You may add vegetables too like mushrooms, bell pepper, capers or olives . . .or even green peas!

Pasta with Creamy Alfredo Sauce and Pesto

Spaghetti Marinara with Tuna

While I love pasta, there are days that I still look for my rice.  Besides fish, another seafood I love (love, love, love!) is shrimps!  My go to recipe is usually the Butter Garlic Shrimps but for a change, I've cooked it with Ampalaya (Bitter Gourd).

For a Ginisang Ampalaya recipe, please click on this link to go to Panlasang Pinoy.  The only changes I did was I used fish sauce instead of salt and I added shrimp in the recipe.

Another Shrimp recipe I tried for the first time (also from Panlasang Pinoy) was Ginataang Hipon, Sitaw at Kalabasa (Shrimps, String Beans and Squash in Coconut Cream).  I like this dish because it has two of my favorite things. . . shrimps and coconut cream! =)  It is a winner in my book. . . and it's hubby-approved too!

Please click here for the recipe.

Another dish which I tried for the first time was Baked Salmon with Teriyaki sauce.  

I just marinated the fish (prepared it in the morning and had it for dinner) with the following:

Bottled Teriyaki sauce 

*(it's healthier to prepare a Teriyaki sauce from scratch which I plan to do next!)

Honey

Garlic Powder

Grated Ginger 

Lemon

Pepper

I don't really have measurements because I taste the marinade as I go.  But for a pound of fish, you can start with 3/4 of a cup of teriyaki sauce and 1/4 cup of honey or less and you can just work your way from there.  Just whisk everything in a bowl and put the fish and the marinade in a ziploc bag, put it in the fridge and let the marinade do its wonders on the fish the whole day!

How to cook it?

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Put the fish in a baking dish (skin down).  As for the marinade, put a little bit of water to thin it out (just a bit), and olive oil (just because I think it would be nice to add some, haha!) and whisk these together. Then pour the liquid mixture over the fish and put it in the oven.   

The fish cooks really quickly that I suggest you stay near the oven, haha!  I've read that for every half of inch thickness of your fish, give it 4-6 mins. cooking time.

You know your fish is ready when the meat turns flaky.

I am soooo happy how this turned out!  

Hubby and I loved it soooo much that we did this again (using a different fish) the week after, haha!

The second time I did this, I seared the fish in a skillet pan before baking it in the oven which I think is better. =)

Which reminds me, I have to get some more fish fillets the next time I go to the grocery!

Another favorite fish recipe of mine is Tuna Sisig which I blogged about here.

So there you go, these are some of the recipes I've tried in the kitchen that are worth keeping and sharing.

Do you have a favorite meatless recipe too?  Please share! =)

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead!

L.A. Eats: Quality Seafood Restaurant (Redondo Beach)

Have you heard about the "Seafood Diet"?  It is probably the best diet you can get on!  You see (sea) food, you eat it!  Haha!

We had a beautiful day yesterday (temperature is at mid 60s) that we thought of going to the beach to eat.  Okay not really, AT the beach but at the Boardwalk of Redondo Beach (the closest beach to our place).  The last time I went to Redondo Beach was 5 or 6 years ago where we had a seafood lunch.  I can't remember the name of the restaurant!  So I went to Yelp and just looked for the most reviewed restaurant in the place and saw Quality Seafood Restaurant.  It has good reviews so we decided to go there for lunch.

When we got there, guess what, it's the same place we've been too years ago! Haha!

Since we went on a weekday, the place isn't crowded.  There were more people that came in just after I took this photo.  This place gets crazy during weekends!

Guess who sat next to our table =)

This was our view. . . no, it wasn't an ocean view, haha!  But we had a great view after lunch (which you'll see later).

So what was for lunch?

There are so many options that Hubby and I had to walk around twice or thrice, haha!

Fried. . . everything!

Different kinds of Smoked Fish

There's a wide variety of Seafood to choose from.  You buy your seafood and they will cook it for you (fried, steamed, grilled).

There's Fish, Shrimps . . .

This is how a 5 lb Tilapia looks like

There's even Sea Urchin!  They look (and they are!) soooo fresh and plump, haha!  To my uni lover friends, I know you will enjoy this!  It's really a shame I don't eat this, haha!

There are different shellfish too. . . these are just a few of them.

My Dad loves this particular shellfish (Filipinos call it "Tahong")

For the oyster lovers, rejoice!  There is an oyster bar!  I didn't realize that there sooo many varieties of oyster!

Well hello Mr. Lobster!

One thing I was sure of was I would like to eat crabs!

Dungeness Crabs

Santa Barbara

I asked the guy behind the counter what's the difference between a Dungeness and a Santa Barbara crab and he explained it to me pretty well!  He said. . . "it's like comparing a hamburger and a steak!  The Dungeness is the Filet Mignon"   Haha!  

I did say we went around twice or thrice before ordering right?  There's just a lot to choose from, it can be overwhelming! Haha!

So this is what we came up with. . .

We got Paella. . . because Pinoys have to have rice! Haha!  

It tastes better than it looks!  I was actually surprised that it was tasty, haha!  My picky eater even liked it!  It was tasty and there are some lobster meat too.

We also ordered some shrimps. . . the name of this dish?  Just Shrimps with Vegetables! Haha!   

The shrimps have that Cajun flavor and the veggies include
potatoes, tomatoes, onions and bell pepper

We also ordered Calamari because it's something we don't cook at home, haha! (Cooking squid is tricky)

When I picked up our order, I wasn't sure if Hubby ordered Fish and Chips or Calamari!  Haha!  

This is their take on Calamari. . . it is a chunky calamari!  We are used to having calamari sliced like rings but this chunky meat is actually tender and tasty.  And it also helped that they have good tartar sauce (even if it came in packets! Haha!).

.

This is Squid not Fish!d

After eating, I saw a table which had smaller calamari.  I just noticed in the display shelf that they call those squid rings.  So if you prefer smaller ones, you should place an order for squid rings.

We got some Santa Barbara Crabs which were just steamed.  You have to buy sauce though ($1).  The crab doesn't come with any sauce or dip.  We got the Garlic Butter with White Whine.  The crab tasted so fresh and the meat was sweet.

I told hubby that I wish we had *suka and bagoong to go with these crabs!!! Haha!

*Suka is vinegar and Bagoong is shrimp paste - two of the most favorite condiments of Filipinos

After having a filling lunch, we took a stroll at the Boardwalk of the Redondo Pier.  The weather was just perfect!

The loves of my life

The kids loved the pigeons

The Redondo Pier has several restaurants and shops you can go to.

There is one shop, the Pier Bakery which sells good Churros!  You know it's good when it is approved by a picky eater, haha!  My little girl enjoyed it too.

Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days I had with the family!  And I can't wait to explore the other beaches here in LA =)  

As they say. . .Life is a . . . Beach!

For more information about Quality Seafood Restaurant, please click here.

For more details about the Redondo Pier,  please click on this link.