"Are those hot dogs in your spaghetti?"

When I was younger, I avoided eating Filipino spaghetti in front of people who weren’t Filipino… not because I was ashamed, but because I hated having to answer the question, “are those hot dogs in your spaghetti?” and then I would get laughed at. I was silly for caring about what other people thought of my food. I was too young to realize that they most likely never tried it and if they had, they’d probably love it as much as I do. Heck, now I don’t even care. In fact, I just brought some to work and posted a picture on my social networks. If they aren’t buying my food, it doesn’t matter what they think. I’m so glad I grew out of that. If they tried asking me that now, I’d probably say “yes, those are hot dogs in my spaghetti. Would you like some?” and fling a hot dog at them, aiming for their forehead. Just kidding. I wouldn’t.


This is my baby boy, Ryan, during one of his
Little League games.:)

Nowadays, when Ryan asks his daily question: “What are we having for dinner?” and I answer “Filipino spaghetti”, his reply is “Yes!” Sometimes his response includes a little fist pump. Sometimes he asks if he can bring the leftovers to school. This makes me giddy inside. He’s an athlete, so I need to keep him fed. And what better way to do so than spaghetti? It’s tasty, inexpensive and filling!

When someone mentions “spaghetti” I think of garlic bread. So when I serve up some Filipino spaghetti, I try to make some garlic pandesal to go with it. My family loves it! Just slice some pandesal in half, spread butter on both halves, lightly sprinkle garlic powder and parsley, and pop it in the oven at 400°F for 5-8 minutes.

Here’s my recipe!

Kayfletch's Filipino Spaghetti

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 hot dogs, sliced (I use the red Filipino hot dogs)

½ cup ketchup

¼ cup sugar

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp black pepper

1 jar of marinara sauce

1 lb. spaghetti noodles

Directions:

In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Prepare spaghetti noodles as directed (boil, drain, rinse). Set aside.

In a large wok over high medium heat, heat wok and add vegetable oil. When vegetable oil is hot, add garlic, onions, and hot dogs. Saute until hot dogs start to brown. When hot dogs start getting toasty, add ground beef and continue to saute until ground beef is brown and fully cooked. Remove wok from heat to drain oil and return to heat. Add garlic powder, black pepper, ketchup. Saute ingredients for 5 minutes. Add in marinara sauce and sugar. Reduce heat to low-medium and allow sauce to simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in spaghetti noodles and mix thoroughly. Toss mixture occasionally over heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and enjoy!

 ENJOY AND GOD BLESS!

XOXO, Kayfletch

Pork Chops for Mama (yes, there's a recipe!)

“Say what?! We get pork chops and Les isn’t here?!”



This is Ryan & my beautiful,
tiny Mommy

Yeah… that’s what Leonard said the other night when I cooked pork chops. I bought this pack of pork chops from the grocery store for like $10 and there were like 10 good sized, thin sliced pork chops in it. I already had rice, eggs, bread crumbs & seasoning. I bought it on Monday, not knowing my Mom & brother were coming down for dinner. If I knew they were coming, I would've prepared an all out feast! I love cooking for my Mom! When Leonard made that statement, my mom didn’t understand what he was saying, so he explained: “When Les is here, she always cooks him the good stuff.” Then he mocks me in his lame (but cute) girl voice impression, “Oh baby, what do you want to eat? I’ll cook you whatever you want.” Good thing my mom has a sense of humor and knows that Leonard is always joking around. On the bright side, I guess now I know Leonard loves my pork chops! And the best thing about it, it’s so easy to make and you can serve them in different ways!

 

Mommy liked it… I hope you will too!

 

Crispy Panko Breaded Pork Chops

Ingredients:

4 thin pork chops

3 cups Panko bread crumbs
1 large egg
Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

This stuff right here is AMAZING!
I use this ish on almost errythang!

Preparation:

Rinse off you pork chops, then pat dry with a paper towel. Set aside.

In a large bowl, scramble egg with about 3 tsp of Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning. Set aside.

In another large bowl, mix bread crumbs with about 1 tbsp of Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning.

Start heating a frying pan with oil over medium high heat.

While oil is heating up:

Dip your pork chops, one at a time, in the egg wash, then place in the bread crumb bowl. Using a meat tenderizer (If you don’t have one - the hammer looking thing you use to beat the meat to make it soft- use your fist) to pound the bread crumbs onto the pork chop.

Kayfletch's Crispy Panko Breaded
Pork Chops

Cooking Directions:

 

Once oil is heated, start frying your pork chops. Do not over crowd your pan. Cook pork chops until golden brown all around. Since I use thin pork chops, it only takes about 3 - 4 minutes on each side to cook thoroughly. Thicker pork chops take a little bit longer.

When pork chops are done frying, remove from oil and allow to drain on a paper towel lined plate. And BOOM! You got yourself some comforting, delicious pork chops! I serve these up with rice & veggies. I like eating my pork chops with ketchup mixed with sriacha or tabasco. You can use some katsu sauce, bbq sauce, etc. :)

Enjoy & God Bless!

 

XOXO, Kayfletch