Oxymoron Diet Pasta

Bago ang lahat, easy recipe muna, emphasis on easy. Sa sobrang busy-busy-han, easy recipes lang talaga ang kaya kong gawin. Grabe, banner year yata sa trabaho ngayon. When I resigned back in 2010 in pursuit of a lighter work load to devote more time to the family, I mistakenly thought that freelancing is the answer. Apparently, it is the opposite, especially this year. I could rarely say no to a freelance job 'cause it looks to me that I'm saying no to money. And lest some people more sanctimonious than I am say that family should always come first, I am in fact doing this for the family. Ay naku, kung saan-saan na napunta ang soliloquy ko. LOL! Anyhooooo, so there, keywords: busy, easy recipes, daming files. Here is a delicious recipe that would take around 15-20 minutes.

 

    3 tbsp olive oil

    1 small onion

    5 cloves of garlic

    1 small tomato

    10 medium-sized shrimps (or 100, whatever, you can be as shrimpy as you want. Yes, shrimpy. I deem it a word now.)

    2 tbsp feta cheese 
    1 cup pasta

    2 tbsp sliced black olives

    salt, black pepper, and chili flakes, to taste

    3 large basil leaves (sweet basil, not lemon basil)

    4 cashew nuts, chopped

1. Boil pasta. Drain. Add feta cheese. Set aside.
2. Saute onions, garlic, and tomatoes in olive oil.
3. Add shrimps and black olives.
4. Add salt, black pepper, basil leaves, chili flakes, and cashew.
5. Toss the shrimp sauce with the cheese-pasta mixture.

Makes 2 servings



You can play with this recipe, using sliced cold cuts instead of shrimps. Or adding more garlic to make it the flavor base. Or slices of that leftover roast chicken no one wants to touch.

So pa'nong naging "diet pasta" eto? Simple lang: Isang small ramekin lang ang kinain ko. Hahahahaha! Sige na nga, magsasabi na ako ng totoo: kumuha ako dun sa pinabaon kong batch for TheHusband. Sarap eh. What can a starving girl do? LOL!

You know, I have lots of kwento, but alam naman nating lahat, November has been horrible. Short recap: We went to Baguio for our annual Baguio sojourn. So bitin!!! We left Manila on Friday midnight, reached Baguio on Saturday dawn, left on Sunday night. Dahil sa puyat and sunod-sunod na byahe, humina ang immunity ko, hayun, the ubo-sipon-lagnat trifecta. Saka ang lamig sa Baguio. Nangangatog ako sa loob ng sinehan. Although, possibly, hindi ako nangangatog and I was just kinikilig sa sobrang kagwapuhan ni Thor and ni Papa Loki. Hahahahaha! Kidding lang, TheHusband! Ikaw pa rin ang pinaka-pogi (ehem, malapit na Pasko).

Anyhoo, when we returned to Dumaguete, full-blown trifecta na. Adding to the aggravation is the fact that our part-time lavandera and cleaning lady couldn't launder or clean for us anymore 'cause she's taking care of her new grandkid. At syempre, si Yolanda. Far as we were from the eye of the storm, Yolanda changed my life. Nagkaroon ako ng takot sa bagyo. Saka lalo akong nabwisit sa mga politico and the so-called government leaders who unscrupulously and unethically used the tragedy to further their agenda before lifting a finger to help. Also, I had a D&C. The prep and paperwork for that D&C proved to be more difficult than the actual procedure. Hays...I'm not complaining though. Well, except for Yolanda/Haiyan. Still, I hope December will be a happier one.