Chrissy Teigen's Lemon Garlic Bacon Chicken

I will be the first to admit that I am lacking skills in the kitchen.  Fortunately for me, I am blessed with an amazing cook, my mother, who fulfills all of my tummy's desires.  However, as I near my 25th birthday (EEK!) it's hit me that I really need to get my butt in the kitchen and start COOKING!  And I when I say "cooking" I mean: going to the store and buying the meat, vegetables, and other ingredients...NOT emptying the contents of a box or prepackaged frozen meal into a pot and calling it a day.

So for my Mom's birthday late last month, I decided to surprise her with a full, home-cooked meal when she came home from work.  For weeks prior, I searched high and low for easy, no-brainer recipes that a newbie, such as myself, could not mess up.

I've been an avid follower of SI swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen's food blog So Delushious, so naturally, her food blog was my first stop.  I came across this super easy, delicious recipe for Lemon Garlic Bacon Chicken and I knew that it was something that my whole family would thoroughly enjoy.  The only modification that I made to Chrissy's recipe was that I added more bacon...who doesn't love bacon?!

I also prepared chicken gravy to serve with the chicken, and for side dishes, I whipped up some delicious green beans suggested by Chrissy, as well as Alton Brown's creamy garlic mashed potatoes.

Ready for the oven!

The end result =]

Green beans

Creamy garlic mashed potatoes

Dinner is served!  Happy birthday, Mommy =]

If I can do it, you can do it too =] my whole family was full, happy, and impressed!  Thank you Chrissy for helping me make my Mom's birthday truly memorable!

Super Bowl XLV: Homecooked Food & USHER!

To be honest with you, I could really care less about the Super Bowl.

Photo Credit: usher-raymond.net

However, early last week I was searching Google for my daily Usher news (yes, I do this every single day) and I saw an article by the Associated Press that stated USHER would be performing during BEP's half-time show!  I was a little bit worried because the announcement wasn't confirmed by Usher's camp, so I was definitely holding my breath before he came out.

Photo Credit: usher-raymond.net

If you know me personally, I have been an Usher lunatic for almost 15 years...so you can imagine how excited I was when I heard the news =].  I recently saw him in concert for his OMG Tour and he was nothing short of amazing...sooooo amazing!!!  And he's coming back to Chicago this spring!  If you've never seen Usher live, I would highly suggest that you save your pennies for a ticket to his show.  Even if you're not an Usher fanatic like me, I promise that you'll enjoy every second of it!

This isn't an Usher blog (although I could certainly make it one), so...moving on...

My last three posts have focused on beauty products, so I think it's only appropriate for me to switch gears to the other major topic of my blog: FOOD.

And what better way to jumpstart my food blogging entries than with my Mom's kitchen?

My Mom's Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings with Green Onions

Anyone that comes to my house knows that they will never leave hungry...my Mom's kitchen could be a restaurant!  Our 5 freezers, 3 refrigerators, and 2 pantries are filled to capacity with food and ingredients. If you're craving something in particular, we definitely have the means to satisfy your cravings.

My Mom's Ribs (served with Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Chipotle Sauce)

Since it was just our family, my Mom made a small meal for the Super Bowl which consisted of wings, ribs, lechon, and my favorite - potatoes!

My Mom's Lechon (later mixed to make Lechon Sisig)

I've always been dumbfounded by my Mom's talent for cooking.  When my brother and I were younger, she catered many parties, events, and Filipino stores with her delicious & flaky empanadas, palabok, pancit, etc. etc.

Every single day, despite working long hours at her office and visiting patients, she will spend hours in the kitchen when she comes home from work.  Even if we tell her that she doesn't need to cook and she should just lay down and rest, she will insist on cooking us a good meal "in case she doesn't have time to cook the next day" (this rarely happens).

As I get older, I can only pray that I will be blessed my Mom's cooking skills.  Since I've graduated college, I've tried to pick up a few dishes...right now I only know how to cook salmon sinigang and her homemade mac & cheese LOL =[ slowly, but surely, I will get there...