Take your grilling FLAVOR to the next level!

It is no secret I love weekends. The ungodly hours that I spend at work are enough for me to set a personal rule - i will never spend a minute on anything related to my work during the weekends since investment banks are never open on Saturdays and Sundays; the only exception to the rule is the urgent need that is on a do-or-die basis which happened only once last year.

My weekends are mine to spend with family and friends who happen to love house gatherings and home-cooked food; all these factors combined is a no-fail formula for a time very much well-spent with people who matter the most. It is through these gatherings that I get to do my thing in the kitchen - I get to try recipes that have been running in my head for meals at home (and now sharing it here in my blog) and turn my dreams of being a home-baker into reality by whipping up desserts for most of our family gatherings that became the testing ground of the sweet treats I occasionally sell if I have the time to bake. Simple Sunday lunches are no different. Even if there's no occasion to celebrate, weekend lunches with family are in itself simple gatherings over good food and being thankful for the blessings we have in life.

Over the years, I have come to appreciate that good food doesn't necessarily mean it has to be complicated. Although there are dishes that would require me to hunt down and spend on specific ingredients for special occasions, I also love the fact that there are quick wins in cooking with the help of readily available and affordable mixes from the grocery like McCormick Grill Mates. Each pack of McCormick Grill Mates Seasoning Mixes (Pepper Steak, Hickory Smoked, Cajun, Steak a la Pobre, and Korean BBQ) gives you a wonderful blend of authentic McCormick herbs and spices. I've always been inclined to Southern dishes, so I guess it's a given that my favorite among them is the Cajun Seasoning Mix.

I love making pasta for three reasons: (1) they are easy to make, (2) they are easy to eat and (3) there's an endless list of every possible combination of ingredients to come up with a good pasta dish. For my birthday lunch last year, I made the Cajun Chicken Pasta with the help of Grill Mates Cajun Seasoning Mix by McCormick. Since the summer heat was quite unbearable to bring out the charcoal grill at that time, the chicken strips were pan-fried instead which still turned out good as everyone had second (and more) servings until there's nothing left in the pasta bowl. Thanks to great Amazon deals and balikbayan boxes, I get to test-drive my new iron-cast grill pan by Lodge I've bought online while mom was in the US last year. So, coming up is my recipe for this pasta, from our home to yours. Happy Sunday!