"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

Buffalo Chicken Strips

This weekend we had our 16 year old son, who lives with his Grandma about 45 minutes away from our house.  He’s heavily involved with his school band so we have him over like every other weekend. When we do have him, Leonard always makes comments to the other kids, like “Les is here… you know what that means! We get to eat the good stuff this weekend!” Hater. Just kidding. He’s probably right, but I don’t notice. It’s that motherly thing in me. I don’t really get to cook for him all the time, so when I can cook for him, I guess I like to make sure I’m cooking good food that he loves to leave him with a good, lasting impression. So, yesterday I made his favorite. Buffalo Chicken Strips! I thought I’d try to add content to my blog and share my recipe.

(TIMEOUT! Ok, I wouldn’t be a good mom if I didn’t get my brag on and give a little shout out in my blog for just a sec! Les is a junior in High School, and is enrolled in AP classes, and is pretty darn great playing the clarinet! He’s so smart! Sometimes he speaks to us and we’re just confused because he’s so smart and uses huge words. HAHAHA! We are so proud of him!)

I posted a picture of my Buffalo Chicken Strips on Facebook and there was some interest. I make everything myself, except for the sauce. I don’t doubt that I could make it, but I don’t know if I want to make more work for myself. HAHA! Besides, I heart Tony Roma’s Wing Sauce. It’s around $4-$5 a bottle and it’s just flippin’ amazing! It’s not that watery, flavorless, burns your mouth and leaves your nose & forehead sweaty type of sauce. It’s oh-so-yummy and has a powerful kick, but you can still taste the amazing flavors! I recommend you get some if you haven’t tried it yet. If you aren’t into spicy food, um, don’t try it. You can still use my recipe though! The sauce is just a bonus at the end… you can toss up the chicken strips with some BBQ sauce, or you could just dip them in ranch or sweet chili sauce. This recipe is to make 20 strips. You can adjust the ingredients to make less.

I spent around $16 to make 20 strips!

 

BUFFALO CHICKEN STRIPS

Ingredients:

5 large chicken breasts

4 eggs

4 cups of flour

2 tsp garlic salt

3 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp salt
 

Directions:

Wash all the chicken, pat dry and slice into 4 strips each. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, make the egg wash with eggs, 2 tsp of garlic salt & 1 tsp ground black pepper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix flour with remaining seasoning. Set aside.

Preheat a large pan over medium-high heat with oil to deep fry chicken strips.

Take each strip and dip in egg wash, then into the flour mix, then dip again in egg wash and back into the flour mix. This will get the strips well breaded so they come out crispy.

 

Deep fry breaded chicken strips until golden brown.

When chicken strips are cooked, allow strips to drain the oil on a plate lined with paper towels.

 

Once all strips are done,  remove paper towel and toss with your favorite sauce or serve with sauce on the side.

ENJOY! and God Bless!

XOXO, KayFletch