Baked Turmeric Chicken

I’m sure you have one of those days when you’re so lazy and hungry at the same time? When laziness and hunger strike, I go for a dish that’s super easy to make–with an even easier clean-up. This is one of those dishes.

This savory dish is light, fresh, and vibrant. Whenever I eat this, I imagine myself strolling down a spice market in some beautiful foreign place. Turmeric, of course, is commonly used in curry dishes. It’s one of the most nutritious spices out there. For a full list of its miraculous health benefits, click here. Aside from its nutritional value, though, I love this spice because its color is just so pretty!

Try making this recipe for your next lunch or dinner. Serve it to guests, and have a mini Asian party! If you’re not on Keto, this dish is best served with rice. As for me, I’d settle for salad on the side, or probably cauliflower rice (if I’m not that lazy).

• Servings: 3-4
• Time: 1hr
• Difficulty: easy
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A fragrant and light recipe perfect for a savory lunch or dinner.

Ingredients

• 6 chicken thighs
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• cilantro, for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. In a small bowl, mix all the spices together.
3. Season chicken thighs with more salt and pepper.
4. Rub the spices on the chicken, and let it marinate while you’re waiting for your oven to get warm.
5. Drizzle coconut oil on to your chicken, and then bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, turn the chicken pieces, and bake for another 20 minutes.
7. It’ll come out dripping in oil (good stuff!), which I like to put in a separate bowl. Garnish with cilantro and serve. Enjoy!

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Super Easy Keto Breakfast: Baked Avocado With Bacon & Egg

Whether you’re on Keto or not, you will surely love this simple breakfast dish. It’s so easy to do, too! Just cut the avocado in half, put all the other ingredients, and pop it in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Frankly, I don’t understand how millennials nowadays love avocados so much. I used to hate them when I was young! I only ate them in shake form or when paired with lots and lots of condensed milk. Now that I am old(er) though, I’ve become one of this fruit’s biggest fans.

And being on Keto, I only have few kinds of fruits to include in my diet. Avocado is one of them, and it’s definitely on top of the list! Aside from its nutritional benefits, here’s why this super fruit is perfect for the Keto lifestyle: Per 68 grams of avocado (about one-half of the fruit), there’s only 0.5 grams of sugar and a little more than 1 gram of carbs!!!

I know this dish has been done countless of times before, and you’ll probably find a bunch of recipes on the net. No matter, I’ll still add my take here. ;)

Baked Avocado W/Bacon & Egg

• Servings: 1-2
• Time: 25 mins
• Difficulty: easy
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This dish is super easy to whip up every morning--a perfect way to start a busy day!

Ingredients

• 1 avocado
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 2 slices of bacon, chopped
• salt & pepper
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• parsley, for garnishing

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Cut the avocado in half, and take out the seed.
3. If the hole is too shallow, you can scoop some out of the meat. Season each half with salt, pepper, and paprika.
4. Put one egg into each hole. I tend to take out most of the white part. Season with more salt & pepper to your liking.
5. Add the grated mozzarella cheese.
6. Top with bacon bits. Some prefer their bacon to be crunchy so they fry them first. But I like mine a bit chewy so I put them in raw.
7. Place the avocado halves on a muffin tray to keep them in place while baking. Put in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

A Childless Mother’s Honest Take On Mother’s Day

“When are you having kids?” is the most irritating question people have asked me. The only thing that tops it is, “Why don’t you have kids yet?” I hate it even more if the questions are coming from people who I haven’t had a real connection with for who knows how long.

For a woman who’s had two failed pregnancies, I’d like to give a bunch of answers. Mainly, I’d want to tell them to shut up and keep their condescending thoughts to their insensitive selves. Oftentimes, some would even follow up with “Just pray. Have faith.” I know some of them actually mean well–the others just want to gossip–but it is enough to make me want to punch either them or myself.

Of course, I don’t do that. I simply pause, smile, and say, “Maybe in time.”

I am a mother. I just don’t have my children with me here. I’d like to believe they’re in heaven–because if heaven is what you want it to be, I’d want mine with my unborn children so I could hold them someday.

I’m actually fine with my situation, really. Sure, experiencing two miscarriages in a row is painful and disheartening. But I’ve dealt with those and moved on. Still, there are days when I think about the what-could-have-beens and I can’t help but shed a few tears.

Every Mother’s Day is the worst. I open my phone and I’m flooded with “Happy Mother’s Day” greetings, but they’re not for me. I text my mom and greet her, knowing that no one will do that for me. I see my friends–old classmates and former colleagues–all posting photos of their growing family, and there’s a frightening thought that creeps in: Will I ever have that? 

A back-and-forth conversation with myself takes place inside my head:

I may never have that.

Don’t say that. “Just have faith.”

Sometimes, my optimistic side wins the debate. Sometimes, it’s my glass-half-empty self that gets the last say. It doesn’t matter, though. What matters is the now, and my now isn’t exactly what I dreamt it would be.

My first miscarriage was in 2015. I learned I was pregnant on my 5th week, and by the 6th week, I was bleeding profusely. The doctors couldn’t see a yolk sac, and they ruled it as a “chemical pregnancy.” The next year, I was ready to work on getting pregnant. I did all the works–acupuncture, fertility shots, regular ultrasounds to plot my ovulation. After around three months working with my Chinese acupuncturist and one cycle with my fertility specialist, I was ecstatic to find out I was pregnant!

Cheesy Cauliflower Rice Casserole With Shrimps & Spinach

Cauliflower, for me, is the most versatile ingredient for Keto recipes. You can make rice, pizza dough, and even desserts using this low-carb veggie hero. A cup of cauliflower florets contains only 2.9 grams of carbs, as opposed to 26 grams (gasp!) per cup of diced potatoes.

The easiest and simplest way to incorporate cauliflower in a Keto meal is by grinding and frying it to make cauliflower rice. I’ve done this so many times. I even keep ready-to-fry cauliflower rice in the freezer for when laziness strikes, which is very often! But today, I decided to slave a bit in the kitchen and make a cheesy casserole, just ‘coz I’ve been craving for Bizu’s baked rice.

I used three kinds of cheese here–parmesan, mozzarella, and gruyere–but you can skip the fancy ones and just stick to mozzarella (or any quick-melt cheese). The result is a gooey and creamy dish that’s a complete meal on its own. And did I say low-carb?

Keto-Friendly Mushroom Aglio Oglio Pasta

It’s been exactly three months since I started my Keto journey. Quite frankly, I never thought I’d be a believer. But back in February, I decided to read up about it. That was after I weighed myself and was appalled by what the scale told me–but I’ll save my weight loss story for another post.

Aside from the pounds lost, what made me stick to the diet is the fun I’ve been having in the kitchen. The Keto diet allows me to experiment and find lighter alternatives to my usually sweet and carb-heavy cravings. I’m not really a rice person, but I do enjoy other forms of carbs! Especially pasta!

I’ve been missing really good pasta since I started this whole Keto journey, so imagine how happy I was when I saw shirataki noodles being sold at Healthy Options. Keto + Pasta? Yes, we can!

Shirataki Pasta, P185.00 per pack at Healthy Options

Shirataki noodles, or “miracle noodles” as most people call them, are really that–miraculous. They look and taste (almost) like regular pasta but without the guilt! They’re made from the konjac plant, which can be found mostly in China and Japan. Shirataki noodles contain virtually zero calories and zero carbs (only 3g per serving), so they’re perfect for the Keto diet!

I assume they’re really meant to be used as an alternative for Asian dishes such as ramen or even Pad Thai, but since I was craving for a really good pasta dish I decided to make an oil-based, Italian style spaghetti.

There’s a trick to preparing these miracle noodles, though. When you open the packet, you’ll notice the funky smell right away (think stinky tofu). You definitely don’t want that smell in your pasta dish, so you have to rinse the noodles thoroughly in running water. And then you’ll have to fully drain them otherwise, they’ll be soggy and clumpy and you also don’t want that. I’ll detail the preparation process below, but don’t fret–once you get the hang of it you’ll find that it’s even easier than boiling real spaghetti noodles!

I used portabello mushrooms for this dish because I just love their earthy, smoky flavor. Was considering to make it a cream-based pasta, but I figured olive oil would make this dish taste lighter and fresher. Added some garlic, fresh basil, and crunchy bacon bits and ooooh, craving satisfied!