Startin' A New Life Too

Pinoy Spaghetti

2011-05-30T13:28:00.004+08:00

I woke up from a nap yesterday thinking I want Jollibee spaghetti but I was too lazy to go out and delivery needs to have a minimum order and its only spag that I want. Since there is a grocery near our place (it will only take 2 minutes to get there). I decided to buy the ingridients for my simple pinoy spaghetti.

So what I did, I grab 400 grams of spaghetti pasta. Boiled it al dente (around 8minutes), drained and set aside.

Then I chopped 1 white onion. Thrown it in a preheated pan with olive oil. Then add the chopped garlic. When the garlic is a bit brown (not burn) I add the 560grams of del monte pinoy style spag sauce and add UFC banana catsup (about half a cup). Season with salt, pepper and sugar. When it simmer thrown in the sliced hotdogs (about 5 pieces), bits of ham and shredded cheese ( I used queso de bola). Wait until the sauce thickens. Then thats it.

Pour over cooked pasta an topped with cheese. sarap!!.

I enjoyed my pinoy spaghetti.

Bicol Express

2011-05-08T18:26:00.001+08:00

You will need;

1 kilo of pork meat sliced

1/2 cup of Philippine bird's eye pepper (siling labuyo)

3 cups coconut milk

1/2 cup sauted shrimp paste

4 cloves garlic; crushed

1 small onion; chopped

Then What you have to do;

In a cooking pan, place a cup of water and add the pork. simmer until the water disappers Continue cooking until pork starts to render fat and edges turn to brown.

In another pan, sauté minced onion and garlic. Add the sauté the browned pork. Throw in the chili peppers.

Add sauted shrimp paste and stir, then pour the coconut milk (.you may pour gradually in preference to the amount of sauce you want)
Cook in low fire until pork becomes tender and until a saucy consistency is achieved. Serve hot

Note: I did not use any cooking oil since the pork will render it's own fat will fying and the coconut milk will give natural oils too while cooking.

Adobong Pork and Sitao

2011-04-05T22:25:00.000+08:00

Use you favorite adobo recipe then once its cook, lower the heat and thrown - in the string beans (or kangkong) simmer for a minutes. Turn off the heat and slightly cover the pan.

I so love this recipe. Theres the yummy taste of pork and the healthy goodness of the vegetable. tara kain na!

Bistek Tagalog 2

2011-03-21T20:46:00.001+08:00

I already posted a bistek tagalog recipe here but I am sharing another recipe which simplier in prepareation but equally good in taste.

To make this recipe, you will need;

1 kg beef sirloin

Canola oil

5 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp calamnsi get the juice

2 pieces white onions (cut in rings)

1 tablespoon fresh ground black peppercorn

then;

1. Take a large bowl and add beef, soy sauce, calamansi juice and black pepper to it. Mix it well. Marinate for 30 minutes or more.

2. Take a frying pan, put it on heat and fry the onion rings until soft and brown. Set aside

3. Fry the pieces of beef until brown and cook them in another pan.

4. Fry garlic paste in the remaining oil and saute it well.

5. Add the remaining oil to the cooking pan and let it cook for 1 minute.

6. After the recipe is ready, place the beef pieces on the serving plates and garnish with onion slices.

7. Serve hot. Share and Enjoy!

Tuna Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce

2011-03-20T17:37:00.005+08:00

It's been a long time since I last posted what I been cooking in my kitchen. Now let me share a very simple pasta recipe that I love to cook when I was staying in Melboune.

You will need;

400 grams pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pcs white onion chopped

1 clove Garlic

1 cup mushroom sliced

5 large Sun-dried tomatoes; chopped

1 can hot and spict tuna; drained

1/4 nestle cream

1 1/2 cup tomato sauce

sweet basil

salt and pepper to taste

Then what you'll do:
Cook pasta according to package instructions for al dente.
Heat oil over medium heat and onion, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and mushroom. Cook until garlic is golden. Throw in the drained tuna, then the chopped basil then add the tomato sauce, mix to blend well and heat through. Cook for about one minute more. Keep sauce warm.

When pasta is just about done, add cream to sauce and stir until it is well absorbed. Don't allow the sauce to boil at this point. Drain penne and add to sauce mixing well. Sprinkle with chopped fresh basil before serving, if desired.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with garlic bread. Yumm!

Miso ramen and Gyoza

2011-01-05T23:19:00.001+08:00

You will need;

2 cups fresh noodles

200 grams pork sliced

1 to 2 tbsp of oyster sauce

2 tsp minced garlic

½ medium sized onion, chopped

For the soup;

2 cups water

1 packed miso paste ( I used Asian home gourmet)

4 nappa cabbage leaves, sliced thinly

dashed of brown sugar

For garnish;

6 pcs gyoza, pan fried

2 tbsp finely sliced green onions

toasted sesame seeds

What you'll do;

In a wok, saute onion then garlic. add the pork slices. Cook until the pork are medium cooked. Add the fresh noodles. Season with little oyster sauce. Cook for 2 minutes set aside.

In a separate wok, dissolve the miso paste in two cups of water. Add the mirin. Then bring to boil.

Whille waiting for the miso to boil, prepare the noodles in a bowl. Add cabbage slices, place the gyoza on top. Pour the miso soup over the noodles and garnish with spring onion and toasted sesame seed.

Serve hot. :)

The gyoza by the way was left over from last New Year :)

Tinolang Manok

2011-01-04T23:38:00.003+08:00

Im back!!!! It's been a months since I last posted here. Now I am back with a recipe which is very easy. Perfect for cold nights.

Tinolang Manok (Chicken Ginger Stew with Vegetables) recipe is a Filipino food dish that is relatively easy to cook. This dish is light and refreshing. A simple broth with chicken, chili leaves and chayote or green papaya, it is a favorite dish in our home.

Now to do this, you will need;

1 kilo whole chicken, cut into pieces.

1 small young papaya or chayote, cut into small pieces.

1 thumbsize ginger, slliced into strips

1/2 cup dahon ng sili (chili leaves) or mallunggay leaves

1 liter of water

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 red onion, diced

4 tablespoons oil

2 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)

Then what you'll do;

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.

sauté garlic, onion and ginger until fragrant

Add chicken cuts. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes until chicken turns white.

Season with fish sauce. Cook for another 3 minutes.

Pour in water (or rice water). Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer until chicken is half-done.

Add in sayote (or papaya). Continue simmering until chicken and vegetable are tender.

Season with pepper and salt according to your taste (you can use chicken bullion cubes).

Then add sili leaves or malunggay.

Cover and let simmer for about 3 minutes or until the sili/malunggay leaves are cooked.

Remove from heat. Serve with rice. :)

Tara let's eat!

Grilled Pork Chops

2010-11-16T14:24:00.000+08:00

Another easy recipe which you can enjoy with the family.

6 pork chops,
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 teaspoon (or more) hot sauce (Tabasco, etc.)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Sprinkle pork chops with a little salt and pepper. Grill pork chops over medium coals for 35 minutes, turning once.
Meanwhile, make barbecue sauce. In small saucepan, combine tomato sauce, water, onion, ketchup, hot sauce, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and salt. Bring sauce to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Brush pork chops with sauce; grill 5 minutes. Turn, brush the other side, and gill 5 minutes longer.
If you want, you can slice the porkchops in bite size pieces before serving,

Kimchi

2010-11-12T00:17:00.002+08:00

Hubz went home with this pasalubong this evening....

Freshly made Kimchi,

He bought it from a korean store at Paseo at Sta. Rosa Laguna. I love kimchi. I could eat it alone like a salad. Yum yum

Few months ago, I posted here the recipe for kimchi fried rice. The husband loves it and I think, I will be making this again this weekend. :)

If you want the recipe for Kimchi Fried Rice, you can have it here.

Happy weekend everyone and Happy Food Friday everyone!

Gising gising

2010-11-04T23:05:00.004+08:00

I love spicy food and this is one of my favorite vegetable dish next to laing. Here is my recipe for gising gising.

You will need;

2 Tbsp. Cooking Oil

3 cloves of Garlic, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cups chopped Baguio beans

1/4 kilo lean ground pork

1 Tbsp. Fish Sauce

1 pack of Knorr gata mix

2 fresh chili peppers, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Then you have to;

Heat pan then saute onion and garlic using as little cooking oil as possible. Add ground pork and saute some more. Once the ground pork is already cooked, remove excess cooking oil . Throw in the baguio beans and add little water bring to a simmer.

In a bowl, add the coconut mix, salt, and pepper. Mix well before adding to the pan.

Add the chili pepper . Season with fish sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes. Until sauce thickens.

Serve with plain rice.

Easy lang di ba. :)

Happy food Friday everyone!

Easy Sweet and Sour Pork

2010-10-19T22:08:00.005+08:00

For this you need:

half kilo pork. cut in serving pieces

1 pack breading mix bought at the supermarket (this save my time)

For the sauce you need:

2 tsp brown sugar

half cup pineapple chunks, set aside the syrup

half cup pineapple crushed, set aside the syrup

1-2 tsp of thai chili sauce

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 bell pepper cut in squares

1 onion quartered

Now what you'll do;

Put the breading mix on a bowl and dredge in the pork pieces.making sure that the pork is well coated.

In a pan, heat enough oil. Then throw in the pork pieces in the hot oil. Cook until both sides are brown. Place on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

In a separate saucepan, dissolve sugar in pineapple syrup. Simmer for a minute or two. Add in the onions, bell pepper, chunk and crushed pineapples, tomato sauce and the Thai chili sauce. Simmer again for a minute. Turn off the heat. Add the fried breaded pork pieces and mix until the pork is well coated with the sauce.
Serve and enjoy.

Marciano's Resto

2010-10-15T00:40:00.003+08:00

Vegetable Salad

If my memory is right this dish is called Brad Shaw Pork Saltimocca with mashed potato

Last Tuesday, we had lunch at Marciano's at Greenbelt 3. The price was okay, food was okay too but nothing to rave about. According to reviews, their pizza is a must try, maybe I will try them soon. Oh well....

Happy Foodie Friday everyone.

Pancakes anyone?

2010-09-29T00:11:00.005+08:00

I know...there are lots of premix pancakes available at the supermarket but just for fun, I made my own home made pancake last weekend.

You will need;
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. melted butter
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Then you have to;
Beat the egg and add remaining ingredients until stir until smooth. Butter preheated non stick pan. Be sure it’s fully hot before putting batter down.
Pour batter onto hot pan. Flip the pancakes as as they are puffed and full of bubbles but before bubbles break to cook the other side.

Serve with butter and maple syrup or chocolate syrup.

Yehey...I did my first ever home made pancakes. :)

Hmmmm....was thinking of making home made ice cream soon...hahaha!

Maki Dream

2010-09-24T00:11:00.003+08:00

After making my own gyoza, I wish I can make my own maki too. Kaya ko kaya? Keeping my fingers crossed,

Happy Food Friday!

Gyoza

2010-09-20T22:00:00.003+08:00

Let me share you the recipe of one of my favorite japanese food. Yaki Gyoza!!!!yummm!

You will need;
1/2 pound ground pork
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
2 tsps soysauce
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp grated garlic
1 fresh egg
1/3 cup chopped cabbage
2 Tbsp chopped green onion
20 gyoza wrappers (the round ones)
1 Tbsp sesame oil for cooking
salt and pepper to taste

So you will do

In a bowl, mix in the ground pork, soy sauce, sesame oil, fresh egg. When everything is incorporated add the chopped cabbage, grated ginger and spring onions . Set aside and cover the bowl with cling wrap. I did this to make sure that the taste of pork and the vegetable blends well together.

Place a teaspoonful of filling in a gyoza wrapper and put water along the edge of the wrapper by fingers. Make a semicircle, gathering the front side of the wrapper and sealing the top.

Heat a tablespoon of sesame oil (or whatever cooking oil you have)

When the pan is hot, place the gyoza in the pan. Add a cup of water or enough just to cover the gyoza. When the water disappears, drizzle some oil (I used sesame oil) and fry for 2 minutes or until the bottom side turn brown. Use a spatula to scoop the gyoza out.

Serve with dipping sauce which is one part soy sauce,one part rice vinegar and one part chili oil. If you don't have rice vinegar and chili oil it tastes great in just soy sauce too.

Itadakimasu!!!

Boiled Eggs anyone?

2010-09-17T00:09:00.000+08:00

I love hard boiled eggs. The only thing is I do sometime experience difficulties in cooking it. Here's are some tips and tricks in cooking hard boiled eggs, that my friend thought me.

Place raw egg in saucepan.

Run cold water into the saucepan until the water is 1 inch above the egg.

Place pot on stove and cook over medium heat until it boils

Boil for 2-3 minutes for soft boiled eggs, 10-15 minutes for hard boiled.

When cook, drain the hot water and replace with cold water. Add some ice cubes to the water.

When peeling the boiled eggs..
You may want run the eggs under cool while doing that. This often helps separate it from the shell easier.

So there you go...perfect boiled eggs :)

Happy Food Friday

Beef Bulgogi

2010-09-12T14:28:00.003+08:00

As promise, here is the recipe I used for making Beef Bulgogi.

What you will need;

1 1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp Sugar
1 1/2 tbsp Mirin
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp Ginger, grated
2 tbsp Sesame seeds,toasted
1 onion sliced
Garlic, minced
1k Sirloin, sukiyaki cut
Cooking oil for frying

Then what you will do;

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly except the sliced beef.
Add the beef and marinate for about an 1 hour.
Heat some cooking oil in a large frying pan.
Fry the beef in high heat and take out as soon as there are no pink parts on the meat.
You can add the marinade slowly while cooking to that the bulgogi wont be dry.
You can add mongo sprout and diced carrots if you want.
Garnish with toasted sesame seed.

Serve and enjoy. I like eating this with Kimchi Fried Rice

Kimchi Fried Rice

2010-09-05T23:56:00.001+08:00

I wanted to make something different for breakfast last weekend so I decided to make kimchi fried rice and beef bulgogi. Let me share first the recipe for Kimchi fried rice.

To make this you will need;
Cooking oil
2 cups of cooked rice
1 onion chopped
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 cup kimchi, cut to bite size pieces
2 tbsp sugar
2-3 tbsp kimchi juice
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seed

The what you have to do;

Saute onion, then garlic. When the onion is translucent add the chopped kimchi. Cooked for a minute. Then throw in the sugar. Stir everything and fry for 5 minutes. Add the 2 cups of rice and mix until everything is incorporated. Add the sesame oil and mix again. Cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt depending on your liking.
Transfer in a plate and drizzle with the toasted sesame seed. Serve with sunny side up egg.

Will share the beef bulgogi recipe later on.

Happy Eating!

No to overcooked Pasta.

2010-08-30T18:52:00.003+08:00

Anyone can make perfect pasta. Here are some tips shared by my friend. You see her brother works as a chef in an Italian resto here in the Philippines.

To start off...

Fill a pot with one quart (1 liter) of water per serving of pasta (1/4 pound, 100 g) and set it to boil. Stir to ensure that all pasta is in the water and that the pieces are separated. Cook 7 - 8 minutes for long cuts like spaghetti, 8 - 10 minutes for short cuts like penne.
A minute before the pasta's cooking time is up, fish out a piece of pasta and check for doneness. You want an al dente, or chewy texture- Taste, or break open a piece of pasta to test for doneness. When it's ready, drain the pasta in a colander and serve immediately with your favorite sauce.

Now to make your sauce and pasta blend together try this strascicata technique.

To do this... Warm the sauce in a skillet while the pasta is cooking. Just before the pasta is done, transfer it, while it is still dripping, into the skillet. Turn to high heat and toss the pasta and sauce. This technique helps the pasta to absorb the sauce, imparting a more complex flavor. This is the technique that I usually do and for me it's a magical way of making my pasta dish more yummy.

Mangiamo!

Chorizo Fried Rice

2010-08-22T23:28:00.001+08:00

One reason why I love weekend is because its the only time the husband and I can eat decent breakfast together. So I always make it a point to make a real good one. Like just this weekend, we had vigan longanisa and chorizon fried rice. :)

Now let me share you the recipe for Chorizon Fried Rice.

You will need;

2-3 pcs chorizo de bilbao cut into rings

2-3 cups cooked rice

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 sili labuyo

1 eggs, lightly beaten

Olive Oil or any cooking oil will do

Then what you'll do;

First...
In a non-stick skillet heat a little oil. Add egg and cook until set. Flip the egg until the whole thing has set. Slice egg into strips then set aside.

Then lets cook the Chorizo Fried Rice...

In a wok, heat oil and saute onions then the garlic, and sili. saute until onion is soft and garlic slightly brown.

Throw in the chorizo to the pan and sauté until it's cooked.

Add rice to the pan and toss until heated through. Add half of the portion of sliced egg and toss.Take the pan off the heat and transfer in a serving place. Use the remaining sliced egg as garnishing.

Serve and enjoy!

Car Air Filters

2010-08-10T22:32:00.001+08:00

We knew that as with most things, cars will break down, will need upgrading or replacing at some point.

The same thing goes for our car’s Air Filters. We must be wise enough in choosing a good one so that the cleanliness of your machine can be maintained adequately.

Car air filter is very important, think of it as lungs for our car. If these get clogged, damaged or worn down it reduces its efficiency in your car. Without an air filter, these could eventually cause big damage, even leading to complete engine failure. Because it performs such an important function, replacing your air filter is one of those simple jobs that we should do regularly to maintain our car’s performance and extend its life.

If you want to find out more about air filters as well as where to purchase a reliable one, check the CARiD website.

CARiD by the way had been trading since 2003 and has different kinds of car and truck accessories as well as the filters that you needed.

They also have a wide array of dash kits, body kits, custom gauges, license plates, HID kits and allot more. It's worth having a look around, who know you might just to find something worth using for your cars.

Padthai

2010-08-09T23:48:00.006+08:00

Whenever we eat at Thai resto, padthai is a must to order. Since this is my favorite, I wanted to make my own PadThai so one weekend I brave myself in making this dish.
With the researching and reading (online and cooking magazines) I did about this dish, I come up with this version....

What you will need;

8 oz. Hofan noodles, available at the oriental section of the supermarket

1 to 1 1/2 cups raw chicken breast or thigh meat, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion chopped
1 cup tofu cubed
1 fresh egg
3 cups fresh bean sprouts
3 spring (green) onions, sliced
1/3 cup crushed or roughly chopped peanuts
1/8 tsp. ground white pepper
lime wedges for serving
oil for stir-frying,

PAD THAI SAUCE:
Just mix everything.

3/4 Tbsp. tamarind mix (I used sinigang mix) dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
2 Tbsp. fish sauce
1-3 tsp. chili sauce
3 Tbsp. brown sugar

Then what you have to do;

1.Bring to boil a pot of water and dunk in your rice noodles. Allow noodles to soak while you prepare the other ingredients. I boiled my Hofan Noodles for 3 minutes. Do not overcook as it will be soggy. Remove from heat, wash in cold water and drain. Set aside.

2.Heat a large wok over high heat until very hot, saute onion then garlic. then add the chicken strips. About 1-2 minutes add the tofu.

3. Then add the Pad Thai sauce and simmer for a minute. Season with salt and pepper.

4.Low the heat and add the noodle, Stir rigorously, keep everything moving in the wok.

5. Then when everything is mix, push the noodles to one side of the wok and crack an egg into the middle. Let it set for 10-15 seconds and toss everything all together.

6.Add the beansprouts. Keep things moving. Add more sauce if it looks a little pale.

7. Throw in the spring onions. Turn the heat off, and quickly give the wok a good stirring to mix everything together.

8. Turn off the heat and transfer in a serving plate, topped it with spring onions and add fresh lime wedges :)

Pork Menudo

2010-08-05T23:14:00.003+08:00

Menudo, is another comfort food that brings childhood memories. When we were kids, my mom owned this small food business. She offered dishes to her customers such as picadillo, dinuguan, kaldereta, sauted corned beef and menudo. So during lunch and dinner, my siblings and I can pick any viand that we wanted from our small carinderia. My siblings would picked picadillo while I preferred menudo. :)

I remembered we would helped mom chopped the onions and crushed the garlic she used in her cooking. That was the time I started to love cooking too. :)

Anyway, here is my simple Menudo recipe I learned from my mom.

You will need;

1/2k pork kasim, diced
1 cup diced pork liver
(marinte both pork and liver this also in soy sauce and pepper)
2-3 hotdogs sliced
2 cups pork broth
2 tablespoons vegetable or corn oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup cubed red ripe tomatoes
1/4 c. tomato sauce
1 green bell, diced
2 cups diced potatoes
1 carrots cut in cubes
2 tsp fish sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Then what you will do;

1. First fry the potato and carrot cubes, in batches, until the edges are lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

2. Sauté onion, garlic and tomatoes then add pork then simmer uncovered, reduce the liquid to half.

3. Add the pork liver then mix, mix, mix.

4. Add tomato sauce, carrots, potatoes. Simmer stirring occasionally.

5. Then pour 1/2 cup pork broth. Season with salt.

6. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

7. Serve hot.

This is my entry for Food Friday. Happy FF day everyone!

Korean Army Soup

2010-08-03T23:27:00.003+08:00

There are many version in making this soup. I am sharing you how my husband cooked this last weekend. I tell you, I super love this hot and spicy soup. :)

You will need;

1 tin Spam, sliced
4 hotdogs sliced on the diagonal
1 package Kimchi Ramyun
1 heaped tbsp chili paste
Sliced firm tofu
Kimchi

Then what you will do...
1.In a pot, place 2 cups of water. Let it boil

2.Then add the sausage, spam and sliced tofu. Simmer for a minute

4. Throw in the ramyun

4.Then add the kimchi according to your liking.

5. You can add korean chili paste if you want it more spicy.

6. Voila… Budae Jigae (부대찌개)!!

Yummeh!!!

Food Friday: Packed Lunch

2010-07-30T01:18:00.003+08:00

My packed lunch for today at work would be penne with tuna and tomatoes . I don't bring rice and viand for baon. So If not pasta, it would be sandwich or I will eat out na lang. Its only during weekends that I make home cooked meals. You know, busy with work,. I really dont have that enough time to prepare or cook during workdays.

Do you bring baon at work or in school din ba?

Happy Food Friday!

Arroz Caldo

2010-07-25T23:59:00.001+08:00

Arroz Caldo is my favorite meal during rainy days because its warm and calming though I can have it anytime of the day. :)

Since yesterday it was raining all day, I decided to make a pot of this yummy meal. Here is my recipe for arroz caldo

You will need;

3 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 head of chopped onion
Thumbsize ginger, minced
4 chicken thighs or drumstick, cut into serving piecies
4 tablespoons fish sauce
1 qts. chicken stock or water
2 cups uncooked rice
1/4 cup chopped scallion
Kasubha
freshly ground pepper to taste
Hard boiled egg
toasted garlic

Then...

In a deep pot, sauté over low heat the onion, garlic and minced ginger until fragrant. Add the chicken pieces and cook until skin turn light brown then season with fish sauce and pepper. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and kasubha. Simmer then add the uncooked rice. Stirring often to prevent sticking, simmer for 25 minutes over low heat or until chicken and rice are tender. Add chopped scallion and pepper before serving.

Add hard boiled agg and toasted garlic.

Serve and enjoy.

Sarap talga pag maulan.

Very Chocolaty fudge brownies

2010-07-15T23:42:00.004+08:00

I still got pieces of chocolates (like toblerone milk chocolate, lindt, and hersheys) from my last travel. Since I got bored eating them, I decided to make them into something yummier.

Tada!!!!!

Brownies.....my favorite. :)

You want to make your own, here is how I did it.

You will need;
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine (melted)
1 1/2 cups sugar (brown sugar)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup Cocoa
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips ( I used 200g toblerone Milk chocolate, chopped)
1 cup of bitter sweet chocolate ( I used lindt madagascar, melted in a 2 tsp of butter)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Then for the direction;

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Place butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 2-2 1/2 minutes or until melted. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with spoon after each addition. Add cocoa; beat until well blended. Then add the melted lindt chocolate. Throw in the flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Throw in the chopped toblerone chocolate. Pour batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan or toothpick inserted at the middle comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare chocolate ganache; spread over brownies. Let it cool for an hour then cut in squares.

For the Chocolate Ganache:

I used hershey's milk chocolate and hersheys kisses. I chopped them into pieces. So about 2 cups of chopped chocolate and 1 cup cream in microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave at 30 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave an additional 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth when stirred.

This is my entry for this week's Food Friday. TGIF everyone!

GT: I love Me - Mentally

2010-07-14T23:28:00.000+08:00

I love myself...

I believe that I am smart, I have achieved things that allow me to be where I am right now. I have things that I wanted because I earn it from hard work and lots of decision making. I may not be perfect but atleast, I learn from all my mistakes. Most of all, I am smart because I married the perfrect man for me. :)

I love Me - Mentally is our week's theme for Girl Talk.

To see more entries please visit here

Kare-Kare

2010-07-12T00:14:00.002+08:00

kare-kare was cooked traditionally with freshly ground roasted peanuts and rice. I haven't tried though. I find the procedure too much time for today’s busy lifestyle. So What I do, I used ready mixes. :)

So for my easy kare-kare here is my recipe...

You will need,

1k pork (I used kasim)
1 bunch of pechay
1 bunch of string beans
3 eggplant sliced diagonally
1/4 cup banana blossom
1-pack mama sita kare kare mix dissolve in 1 cup broth/water
1 tbsp of peanut butter
another 1 cup of broth
onion chopped
garlic chopped

Then...

In a pot, boil the pork for 10-15 minutes until tender. Cut in serving pieces and set aside the broth

In a saucepan, saute the onions and garlic. Then add the eggplant, string beans saute for 5 minutes. add the pechay then the banana blossom. Set aside. (I do cook my vegetable separately so it wont be overcook)

In a separate saucepan, drizzle oil. Thrown in the onion and garlic. Add the pork. cooked for 5 minutes. Then add the cup broth let it simmer. Then add the mama sita kare kare mix dissolved in broth/water. Then peanut butter. Mix until the peanut butter is dissolved. At this time, the sauce will slowly thickens. Make sure you lessen the heat. Simmer for another minute.

You can add the vegetable at the pot or add the vegetable when serving. I prefer the last option. :)

Serve hot with bagoong alamang.

By the way, I posted seafood kare-kare before. Maybe you want to check it too.

Food Friday: My Favorite Chicken

2010-07-09T00:11:00.002+08:00

Quarter chicken, java rice, steamed vegetable and corn muffin, is my favorite meal combo whenever we eat at Kenny rogers. Actually sa kenny rogers (maliban sa max's) ako madalas kumain ng chicken. I always prefer roasted/ grilled than fried. Well trying to be health conscious kasi :)

kagutom yung pic noh?

Happy Food Friday everyone!

Hot and Sour Fish Soup

2010-07-06T19:24:00.000+08:00

We usually had hot and sour soup when we are eating at Thai resto. So I decided to cook it in my kitchen last weekend!

The husband love it, here is the recipe just in case you wanted to try making.

To do this, you will need;

200 gram fih fillet (any white meat fish ), cut in serving pieces
4 cups water
1 sahet tamarind soup base mix
1/4 cup calamansi juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh ginger
4 pieces dried chillies
2 pcs bay leaves
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons minced garlic
6 pcs tofu, fried and cube
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups chicken
2 pcs eggplants, sliced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in water
sliced scallions

To make the stock, put the water into a large saucepan with the tamarind soup base mix, chiles, bay leaves, ginger, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

After 20-30 minutes, strain the broth, discarding the solids.

In a large saucepan, saute the onion then the garlic, add the prepared stock

Boil for 15 minutes then add the chicken broth.

Simmer for 4 minutes. Increase the heat and bring the stock to a rolling boil, then add the fish and the fried tofu. Let the mixture boil then throw-in the sliced eggplant. Simmer again and add the soy sauce and sesame oil. Finally add the cornstarch dissolve in water. Keep simmering until the soup thickens. DDrizzled with hot chile oil, to taste, and garnished with some of the sliced scallions.

Serve while hot. :)

Instruction is a bit long but rewarding after you taste it, its yummy kasi according to hubz.

Brownies anyone?

2010-07-02T00:11:00.001+08:00

I was browsing my files when I saw this old photo of the brownies I made last December. I baked few batches because a friend of mine ordered these for Christmas give-aways.

Anyway....this photo made me drool, parang I wanted to have some as in now na hahaha. Cannot wait for this weekend, will bake some to satisfy my craving. Hmmm.....

Whats your recent craving pala?

Happy Food Friday.

GT: I Love Me Physically

2010-07-01T00:26:00.073+08:00

What I love most about my physical self is this week's topic for Girl Talk which by the way has a new home. Kaye of Beauty Queen Gene is our new host. :)

So.....what do I like about myself, hmmm.Let me think...think and think...

I guess it's my smile.

Smiling is a great way to make you feel good and it helps the body to function better. Smile improve health, lower the stress level. Smiling makes you feel positive. GIve it a try and it really works. :)

How about you, what do you love about yourself physically?

See more of Girls Talk entry here.

Fish Fillet with Mushroom Gravy

2010-06-27T23:53:00.001+08:00

I've been experimenting in the kitchen lately. Since our fridge has the remaining half of the cream dory from my last time cooking, I decided to just make fish fillet with mushroom gravy sauce.

To make this the fish fillet
300 grams of fish fillet cut in serving pieces
5 tbsps. of cooking oil
3 tbsp. of flour
1 beaten egg
2 calamansi

First Season the fish fillet with salt and pepper then add calamsi juice. Marinate for 10mins. Then heat the pan with cooking oil.

Dust the fish with flour then dip it in egg then dust again with flour. Cook the fish fillet on both sides until browned. Keep the heat at medium-high so that a crisp crust forms on the outside of the fish while the inside remains moist. Never overcook fish. Drain the cooked fish fillet on absorbent paper towels. Set aside the fish fillet.

For the mushroom gravy, I tried an easy recipe before which I got here. But this time I was tinatamad so I did a more easier way, since I got a pack of mushroom soup. I just followed as per pack direction. Add more sliced mushroom. I then let it simmer. When the soup became a bit thick, get a cup of the mushroom soup and add a tbsp of oyster sauce. Magkalasa..pwede, hehehe!

Arrange the fish fillet then pour the musroom gravy over it.

So our dinner was so filling, we had steam rice, fish fillet with mushroom gravy and syempre the mushroom soup. Perferct kasi it was raining that night.

Have a splendid week everyone!

Seafood Paella

2010-06-25T00:01:00.001+08:00

Cooking a paella requires high heat for sauteing and then moderate to low heat for simmering. While this sounds easy, it takes a bit of practice to master.

I've learned that...

When making paella the most common mistake is to cook it with too much heat that will end up with undercooked rice. So what to do, add a cup of water or broth and must lower the heat to cook the rice.

Another mistake is too much adding of broth that will end up in a soupy paella. To fix this, increasing the heat just long enough to boil off the excess water will help though too much heat will burn the rice. What also works is to remove the excess broth with a large spoon.

.It was my 3rd time to cook paella and I may say, somehow my paella cooking is much better, yummier and less messy on the preparation hahaha.

Want to try making paella you can grab the recipe here .

Happy Foodie Friday!

GT: Whats inside my Bag

2010-06-24T13:50:00.008+08:00

Few year ago, I posted a tag about whats inside my bag in my other blog. I so enjoyed doing that tag. Now I am sharing you again what's inside my bag. :)

I am using different bag depending on what I wear and depending on my mood. Yesterday, I used this green nine west bag. A gift from my friend who came from Dubai. :)

Now let me show you what is inside.

Fossil Wallet (remembrance ko when I was in Sydney), coin purse, pocket size notebook, WD external hard drive, digicam, cellphone, ipod, moisturizer, lotion, perfume, my office badge, bag hook, hairbrush, intradental floss. Mints.
My kikay pouch (inside are lipstick, lip gloss, blush on, face powder, eye liner, etc.)

A small bag wont really work for me. Whenever I buy bag, I consider its size and shape. Hay sabi nga ni hubz, I always bring the whole house with me hehehe.

So there....that is what inside my bag. Whats yours by the way?

See more of Girls Talk entry here.

Sweet and Spicy Squid

2010-06-21T14:15:00.001+08:00

This is an impromptu dish.

I cooked paella last night for our father's day dinner then I had this extra squid. I planned to throw in everything in my paella but I remember one cooking show I saw on tv, dont over dump everything. So okay....what do do now with the extra squid rings.

Calamari...pwede kaso, its a messy thing to do and Im not in the mood to cook that.
I checked my kitchen for any idea. Then I saw a bottle of Thai chilli sauce.

So ayun, an idea popped! I made this Sweet and Spicy Squid.

To do this, you will need the following...

5 pieces of squid. cleaned and cut into rings
2 onions quartered
1 green bell pepper
3/2 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
Thai chilli sauce

Then in a sauce pan, drizzle some cooking oil, saute the quartered onion, do this for a minute. Remove the onion from the pan and set aside. On the same pan, put half cup of water, then sugar. You can add sugar if you want to be sweeter. Simmer until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. As the Thai chilli sauce. Its up to you how much chilli sauce you will add. Then throw in the squid rings. Stir until all the squid rings are coated with the sauce. Dont over cook.

You can do this also serve this dish on a sisig plate. When the spicy squid is ready. Get your sisig plate then place it on a stove. Heat it for 5 minutes or so. Make sure that the sisig plate is hot, hot, hot ha! :)Then put the sweet and spicy squid.

Remove from heat and serve with rice (pwede rin with beer)

Ipod for Father's Day

2010-06-21T14:13:00.003+08:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

Father's day maybe over but the gift giving for this special day is still on.

Are you still thinking of giving him an iPod but find it a bit expensive. Why buy when you can win one. Charter recognizes the importance of all fathers in the world that they are offering a special deal for father's day.

You can actually get a gift card for up to $300 to Home Depot or other retailers when you sign up for one of Charter’s Best Bundles. No purchase is asked to join this contest! Enter now to win an iPod Touch.

Besides all these great perks, Charter is giving away 100 8gb iPod Touches to show off it's new mobile app for iPod, iPhone and Blackberry.

With this new mobile app that you can download for free, the world of Charter is literally at your fingertips. Charter's new mobile apps allow to us to check TV , view on demand trailers, access to news , sports and weather forecasts and On Demand listings too. And the great thing is Dads can get charter support and bill pay info too. Dads can get updates, fun extras, and facebook only deals on Charter’s Facebook page. What fun for all Dads with a Charter Mobile. So he wont be saying "Not another tie, for father's day!"

Do watch this video on this charter app here

Steam fish fillet with ginger sauce

2010-06-17T23:40:00.004+08:00

This is hubz favorite lately, for this week, I cooked this twice for him. Again I am sharing another easy recipe.

To make this very easy dish, you will need the following;

200 gram fish fillet (I used cream dory)

2 inches ginger cut into thin strips

3 tsbp olive oil

1 tsbs sesame oil

3 tbsp soy sauce, mix with a tbsp of brown sugar and and 1/4 tsp of sesame oil

Onion leeks cut into 2 inches

salt

fresh cracked pepper

When everything is ready...you will then...

Pat the fillet dry with paper towel. Season with little salt and fresh cracked pepper. Place the fish on a foil and put few pieces of ginger on the fillet then wrap it up. Place into a steamer, set over several inches of gently boiling water, and cover. Gently steam for 10 to 12 minutes. When is ready, remove from the aluminum foil and place on a serving plate.

Then prepare the sauce.

Heat up a pan over high heat and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil, swirl around until it’s hot. Thrown in the remaining ginger. Stir it for a minute. Pour the hot oil with ginger over the steamed fish. Put the pan back onto the stove, add the soy sauce mixture and stir well. As soon as the sauce bubbles up and boils, pour the soy sauce over the fish. Topped with onion leeks. Serve the steamed fish immediately with white rice.

Mocha Cupcake with Marshmallow frosting

2010-06-14T15:21:00.000+08:00

For the cupcake you will need;

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup water

1 sachet of 3 in 1 instant coffee

1/2 cup white sugar (I used caster sugar)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven at 350F or 170C. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners.

Stift together flour, bakins soda and salt. Set aside.

Add the instant coffee to water. Stir until the coffee dissolves.

With an electric mixer, beat butter sugars and salt. Do this until its light and fluffy.

Then add egg and the vanilla. Beat well.

Lower the speed and add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternating the coffee mixture. Increase speed to medium until exverthing is incorporated.

Divide the mixture evenly on the muffin liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes of until toothpick inserted at the middle comes out clean (I bake mine for 18mins only) Cool on a wire rack.

Then make your marshamallow frosting.

To do this you will need;

1 cup sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar

2 eggs whites, unbeated

1/4 tsp salt

3 tsbp water

Then what you will do,

Combine the egg white, water , sugar, cream of tartar and salt in a heatprof bowl over a pan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolves and mixture turns white.

Transfer mixture in an electric mixer with whisk attachment starting with low speed and gradually increasing to high, until the mixture becomes stiff, glossy peaks form about 7 to 10 minutes. Add vanilla and mix. Use immediately.

Tuna Pesto Pasta

2010-06-08T22:44:00.006+08:00

For tonight's dinner we had Tuna Pesto Pasta. A vey simple pasta dish that I am sure you will surely love.

To make this, you need

200 grams Classic Pesto Sauce (I got mine from the supermarket)
2-3 tablespoon virgin olive oil
Tuna chunk100 ams tuna in water
500 grams Pasta, al dente ( I used Penne)
Freshly grated Parmesan for serving (optional)
Salt and Fresh ground pepper to taste

Then....
Heat the pan, drizzle voo. Stir in the pesto sauce then the tuna. Throw in the cooked pasta. Mix make sure the pasta is coated by the pesto sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in a serving platter. Drizzle with voo.
Serve with parmesan cheese on top.

Enjoy!

Caramelized Potatoes

2010-06-03T23:34:00.008+08:00

I first tasted this side dish in a korean resto. I fell inlove with this dish on my first bite. It taste perfectly good. So one weekend since I got a bit bored doing nothing here at home, I decided to make my own caramelized potatoes.

To do this, you will need;

1 kg marble potatoes, cooked and peeled

1/2 cup granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) melted unsalted butter

salt to taste

Parsley

Then you have to;

Melt sugar in a heavy skillet over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar turns light brown. Stir in melted butter. Add one layer of potatoes to pan; shake skillet to roll potatoes and coat all sides with caramel. Move potatoes to a heated platter and repeat procedure until all potatoes are coated. Sprinkle with salt. Garnish with parsley.

Serve and enjoy!!!

Its Friday once more. Enjoy the weekend!

Morning!

2010-05-29T12:21:00.006+08:00

My usual brekky when I was in Sydney. English muffin, scarambled eggs with hotdogs. A hearty breakfast but I often had breakfast alone. Lungkot noh?

Buti na lang dito na ko Pinas!

Joining Food Friday again. Happy Foodie Friday!

Longanisa and Mushroom Pasta in creamy garlicky sauce

2010-05-25T22:45:00.015+08:00

I added a twist to my regular creamy white sauce by adding longganisa in this pasta dish.Let me share this wonderful recipe that is a personal favorite. :)

you will need:

400g uncooked pasta (I used linguine)

2 tbsp olive oil

500 grams of garlicky (non-sweet) longganisa

250g fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 pack nestle cream

blue cheese, thumb size

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

what you'll do;

1. Cook the pasta until al dente.

2. Fry the longanisa. When the half done, divide into small pieces with the use of the fying spatula. COntinue cooking the longanisa meat for a few minutes.

3. Throw in the mushrooms, saute 3 minutes longer.

4. Add the nestle cream, simmer for a minute

5. Then add the blue cheese. Keep stirring until it melts and the sauce thickens.

6. Add the garlic powder. You can add more if you want. This will add the nice garlicky flavor.

7. Season with salt and pepper.

8. Add the cooked pasta. Stir until the sauce covers the pasta.

9. Remove from pan. Serve and enjoy.

By the way, the longanisa I used in this recipe is homemade :)

Seafood Pasta

2010-05-16T11:08:00.010+08:00

It's been a long time since I last update here. Hay was really lazy talaga. Anyway, let me start kicking by sharing another pasta recipe that I cooked when I was in Sydney. Pasta was a staple food for me whan I was there Why? Number one because its so easy to do, Number 2 because its my favorite. :)

Here's my recipe for seafood and tomato pasta.

You need...

Half kilo pasta. Cook as package direction

tomatoes cubed

few pieces of shrimp (peeled and deveined)

few pieces of calamari

few pieces of few fillets (cut in pices)

chili flakes (optional)

Olive oil

fresh basil

onions (chopped)

garlic (chopped)

salt and pepper to taste.

Then what you will do.

Saute onion then garlic. Then add the tomato, saute until wilted. Then throw in the shrimp, calamari then the fish fillet. Add chili flakes. Simmer for a minute (dont overcook ha). Then add the cooked pasta mix well then throw the basil in. Season with salt and pepper.

Served and enjoy Dali di ba?

Kimchi Jeon (Kimchi Pancake)

2010-02-18T19:56:00.008+08:00

If you love kimchi, you will surely love this too. Had this as a appetizer for dinner with friend Ibyang at BBQ city last Monday. Yumm yumm! Its my favorite now! Happy Food Friday everyone!

Moron

2010-01-21T22:52:00.005+08:00

The other week, my aunt from Samar visited us here in Manila. She brought us this suman with chocolate flavor called moron. Whenever someone from the province visits us here, I would always asked for this suman....yum yum!

It's end of the work week na pala, yehey!!!!
Happy Food Friday everyone!

Pasta with tuna and fresh tomatoes

2010-01-20T22:18:00.012+08:00

you will need;

500grams pasta (cooked aldente)

5 pieces sliced peeled tomatoes

2 cans of tuna in oil

lots of chopped garlic

lots of chopped onions

few pieces of fresh basil leaves

In a saucepan, saute onions then garlic. Add the tuna, include the oil. Simmer for a minute. Add the fresh tomatoes, cook it for a while but dont overcook it. Then include the cooked pasta, mix everything then throw in the basil leaves.

Remove from heat. Serve with garlic bread.
This is my favorite pasta dish that I learned from my good friend M. Thanks mare. :)

Peel me

2010-01-19T21:21:00.003+08:00

Freshly peeled tomatoes

Just in case you don't know how, well here's how to peel tomatoes needed for your pasta dishes, tomato soup, salsa and other recipes.

Soak tomato in hot water for ten minutes

drain the tomatoes

with the help of running water from the faucet

peel away the skin with your fingers.

Thats it. Lovely peeled tomatoes.

Crispy Lemon Chicken

2010-01-14T23:29:00.005+08:00

This was our dinner last weekend. Hubz so love it. I have to thank Glenda for sharing this fantastic recipe. :) Happy Food Friday everyone!

Ham and Cheese Rolls

2010-01-07T21:18:00.010+08:00

We have left over ham, cheese and bell pepper. So I decided to make an easy snack one fine Saturday afternoon. :)

8 slices white bread (brown edges removed)

4 slices sweet ham (cut into half)

Cheese sliced into 8 strips

Green Bell Pepper (Julienned)

2 pcs. eggs (beaten)

Japanese breadcrumbs

Flatten the bread slices with a rolling pin, use a clean glass bottle of softdrinks if you dont have a rolling pin. Place the flatten bread on a plate and lay the ham first then the cheese then put a strip of green bell pepper.

Wrap it up. Dip the ham and cheese roll into the eggs then roll it over the Japanese breadcrumbs. (If you dont have japanese breadcrumbs, you can replace it with crushed skyflakes )

Deep fry it until it becomes golden brown. Place in a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Enjoy and Serve. Yummy...for me it taste like pizza :)

Chicken Alexander

2010-01-04T23:21:00.010+08:00

This was served on our dinning table last New Year's eve.

You need;

1 whole chicken

2 onions, quartered

2 tsp. butter

1 can cream of chicken soup (I used campbell's)

1 chopped red bell pepper

1 pack frozen mixed vegtables (carrots, peas and corn)

2 pcs. Chorizo de Bilbao, sliced thinly

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup cheese

salt and pepper to taste

For Mashed Potato

6 medium boiled potatoes

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup milk

Lets make the mashed potato first

Place potatoes and enough water to cover in large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for approximately 15 to 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes well. Place potatoes back in pot and add milk, butter, salt and pepper. Mash using hand-held masher until smooth. You can also use a hand-held electric mixer for creamier potatoes.

Now if you want an easier mashed potato, you can use the instant Mashed Potato box and just follow the instructions at the back of box. O di ba mas madali.

Now lets start making our Chicken Alexander

Saute onions and garlic. Put diced chicken and chorizo mix. Throw in the frozen vegetables and bell pepper then continue stirring. Add chicken broth then the cream of chicken soup. Simmer until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the saute chicken in a Pyrex dish. Then layer the mashed potato on top. Topped it with grated cheese (I used cheddar cheese)

Bake in a preheated (350 deg F) oven for 20 minutes or until top is slightly brown.

Serve and enjoy!

Paella

2010-01-01T22:12:00.017+08:00

I cooked this for our New Year's Eve Dinner. It was my second time to make Paella. The first one was a dry run cooking last December 29, just making sure that I wont make palpak on New Year's eve dinner. I guess I didnt since the husband himself requested me to make this for last night celebration. :)

Anyway, to make this version of Paella you need;

4 onions, chopped thinly

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bell pepper, dice

3 tomato, remove seed & diced

2-3 pieces chicken cut into cubes

3 pcs Spanish chorizo cut in cubes

1 cup short grain rice, (I used arborio rice used in making risotto)

2 tbs saffron

1 tsp spanish paprika

5-6 mussels, scrubbed and cleaned

6 shrimps (sugpo)

2 cups chicken broth

3-4 squids cut in ring

¼ cup frozen green peas

2 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet brown chicken and sausage with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat for about 5 to 6 minutes. Leaving the chicken partly cook. Set aside.

Since I dont have a paella pan (paellera), I used a large skillet. Drizzle olive oil add onions until caramelized then add garlic, tomatoes and green bellpepper. Cook until everything are mushy (about 45 minutes in low heat). This vegtable paste is called sofrito. The base for our paella.

Then add the broth to our sofrito. Season with salt and pepper. Add the saffron and paprika. Then add the cup of rice and make sure that the rice is evenly distributed and wait for this to simmer. Do not stir the mixture from here. Add the chicken and chorizo and nestling them into the rice. Cook covered with of alumninum foil for 15 minutes. Then add the shrimp and mussels and squid. Cover again with aluminum foil until the seafoods are cook. Then throw in the green peas. Then cover it again with aluminum foil.

When the broth is fully absorbed, the paella should be ready. I cooked mine in low heat for about in 25-30 minutes.

Garnish with lemon or calamansi and sliced boiled eggs.
Serve and Enjoy

'Tis The Season

2009-12-06T02:14:00.020+08:00

Christmas is fast approaching and right now I am thinking of what to make for our Noche Buena. I might make baked chicken and Baked Ziti as my potluck share for that night. Well, I still dont know, I might change mind and just make seafood kare-kare and Chocolate Lava Cake instead. Im really excited now. :)

Oh anyway, Aside from that, I'll be a bit busy this week baking goodies for friends for their Christmas give-aways. Im so happy. Now I am experiencing what I really wanted to do. Bake and make business, hehehe!

Here are some of the goodies, friends asked for.....

Chocolate Chip Cookies with walnuts.

Chocolate Brownies

and then after baking the cookies and brownies, I will place it nicely in this red box......

As I've said, Im so happy. Things are falling into place. I am so blessed. Thank You ! :)

Maver's Stabucks Planner Give-Away

2009-12-04T20:57:00.010+08:00

If I were a Starbucks drink I would be tall, non fat, decaf , peppermint mocha.

Like the drink which is a combination of espresso, bittersweet chocolate, peppermint flavor, creamy hot milk and yummy whipped cream. I’m person who is fun, fearless, warm and sweet. A down to earth individual stuck in a mainstream world. I'm a person who is family oriented, complex, and extremely fussy. :)

This is my entry for Maver's Starbucks Planner Palooza give-way. I am hoping to win a Starbucks 2010 Cherry Planner.

Interested to join too? You still got plenty of time. Deadline for the submission of entries is at 11:59 pm, December 12, 2009. Oh by the way, it's the same date for Maver and Haligi's wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary to both of you. How fast time flies noh maver... I suddenly remember our wawie days. :)

Fish Fillet and Tofu in Oyster Sauce

2009-12-03T23:46:00.008+08:00

As I've said in my previous post, I love eating tofu. I love including it in my salad, in some pork or beef dishes and vegtables. For last night's dinner, we had fish fillet and tofu in oyster sauce.

To prepare this, just marinate 250 grams of fish fillet ( I used cream dory) in calamansi juice (4 pcs)with salt and pepper for an hour

When the fish fillet are ready, prepare the batter. But first heat oil in a frying pan. Then mix 1 tbsp of flour, add 1 beaten egg, Season with salt and pepper. Cover the fish with the batter and fry the fish, making sure both side are brown. After cooking the fish fillet, set it aside then fry the cubed tofu on the same pan, then set it aside.

Now will make the sauce...

Saute onions, garlic then ginger. Thrown in the julienne carrots. Stir fry for a minute then add a cup of water. Simmer for a while then drizzle oyster sauce depending on your taste. Thicken sauce with cornstarch dissolved in water. You may season it with salt and pepper if you want.

To serve,

place steaming rice in a bowl, then top the rice with fried tofu and fish fillet. Spoon the thicken sauce over. Drizzle oyster sauce and sesame oil and then serve hot. Yummy!

Win Big From Ilasik Video Contest

2009-12-03T13:24:00.006+08:00

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Incendia Health. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you had any vision problems? Were you able to correct them and want to share your experience? Well why not join the iLASIK Video Contest and get the chance to win cash and great prizes! This contest is being organized by Abbott Medical Optics Inc. (AMO), a global leader in laser vision correction, recently launched the “You Gotta See This” video contest. The contest aims to inform people about how better vision could improve or has improved people’s lives. People have already submitted:

-original music videos

-videos on boxing and swimming

-videos that just show how their daily lives would improve

Everyone is invited to join. You just have to make and submit a video in one of the following categories; My contacts are getting in the way of my good time; My favorite sport or activity would be so much cooler with better vision; and You should see life after the iLASIK® Procedure. Once you have submitted it, the video is open for voting by friends and family. So be sure to inform them about you entry.

The prizes are really great and very tempting indeed. Users can submit videos, view and vote on all entries at http://www.GottaSeeThisNow.com. So why not join now. Who know you might be the lucky winner! Good luck!

Bistek Tagalog

2009-12-02T20:25:00.007+08:00

Another dish that reminds me of how good my mom cooks is the Bistek. Bistek by the way is the equivalent of Beef Steak in a Filipino Kitchen. It’s made from thin and flat beef strips that’s cooked in soy sauce, calamansi and onions. It's a simple dish but really flavorful that is why its a real favorite.

For the recipe, you need;

1/2k sirloin beef, sliced thinly

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp calamansi juice

2 large onion cut into rings

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp pepper

some salt

cooking oil for frying

Then.....

1.In a large bowl, mix the beef, soy sauce, calamansi, and black pepper. Marinate the beef for 30 minutes or much better if overnight.

2. In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the onion rings until soft. I like my onions a bit half cook. Set aside.

3. In the same pan where the onions were fried, fry beef slices until color turns brown on both sides. Set aside.

4. Saute the garlic for a few minutes

5. Pour the marinade and bring to a boil.

6. Put in the fried beef and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until meat is tender. Add water as needed.

7. Add the stir-fried onions, drizzle some salt and pepper to taste

8. Serve hot. Share and Enjoy!

Pritong Talong and Bagoong

2009-12-01T00:05:00.006+08:00

If you'll have this on you table make sure you'll have enough rice. Pair it with fried fish, seafood, meat or eat it as alone as a viand, I'm sure, a cup of rice wont be enough! :) Enjoy the day everyone!

Cheesecake

2009-11-26T19:54:00.012+08:00

Oreo Cheesecake drizzle with chicolate ganache. Oh so heavenly,

glad I learned how to make this dessert or else mamumulubi ako kasi a bit pricey ang price per slice :)

Happy Food Friday!

Beef Tapa take 3

2009-11-17T01:27:00.020+08:00

Beef Tapa

I've already shared ways on how to make beef tapa here and here.

Let me share another variation which for me is the easiest but equally yummy. You just need 2 ingridients.

2lbs of breakfast steak and 1/4 cup of this.....

Sukang Pinakurat - You can pick between the spicy or the sweetend vinegar. Just marinate the beef in the pinakurat vinegar overnight. Then thats it. You can cook it the next day. Easy right?

Just in case, Pinakurat is new to you well....it's the spicy vinegar made from fermented coconut nectar and spices harvested in the wild mountain of Iligan City. Hubz bought two variant at the supermarket a week ago, the spicy and the sweetend vinegar.

We also love pinakurat for our danggit, longanisa, tocino and other favorite pinoy food that needs spicy vinegar as dipping....yummeh!

By the way this Pinoy product is exported in the United States, Europe and Australia. Galing noh?

Pandesal sa Probinsya

2009-11-12T23:35:00.007+08:00

One Morning Breakfast at Samar - The Yummy Pandesal

Pandesal? really???

It looks like putok but smells and taste like pandesal though unlike the regular pandesal we have here in Manila, the pandesal from Samar is compact. Imagine eating 2 pieces will really make your tummy full and it taste really good when you dunk it in coffee or spread matamis na bao sa pandesal. Ah its heavenly!

Just curious, whats your favorite pandesal palaman by the way?

Happy Food Friday eveyone!

Buko Pie

2009-11-09T21:40:00.006+08:00

Delectabel Buko Pie.

This one comes from Colette's Batangas branch. Actually, I find Colette's a bit cloying, too sweet for my taste buds.

Now I've heard the ones from Lety's Buko Pie and The Original Buko pie (Laguna) are yummier. Never tried both but next time we visit Laguna, we'll try buy those. :)

Have you tasted the last two buko pies na ba?

Lechon Manok Left Over

2009-11-04T19:57:00.009+08:00

The other day husband bought Baliuag Lechon Manok. Since it's only the two of us, we had left over. So I chopped the chicken, placed in a ziplock bag and into the freezer. After 2 days, I was reminded of the chicken pieces but since I dont want to feed the husband with the same dish , I decided to make it into something yummier. I transformed it into......

Paksiw Na Lechon.

To do this you will need;

The left over lechon manok

1/4 cup vinegar (I used cane vinegar)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup Mang Tomas Sauce

1 head garlic, chopped

1/4 cup mascuvado sugar

1/2 tsp whole peppercorn

2 bay leaf

salt and pepper

Then get a bowl and mix everything except the chicken and bay leaf.

Then place the left over chicken and the sauce mixture in a pan. Bring to boil. Stir well, lower heat and bring to boil for ten minutes.

Add more water if necessary, adjust the seasoning. Then add the bay leaf. Simmer for another 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Oh by the way, I noticed that the sauce thickens more while it cools. :)

Pancit Habhab

2009-11-02T16:57:00.006+08:00

Pancit hab-hab is a noodle dish famous in the streets of Lucban, Quezon Province, where the vendor uses his thong to grab some habhab and put it in a square banana leaf then drizzle the noodles with vinegar mix. The noodles are eaten by pushing the banana leaf to your mouth. A very creative way to eat it right? :)

That photo was taken few years ago at Buddy's Pancit Lucban Branch at Market Market. I was sorting my photos when I saw this one and right now, I am craving for it. Guess I'll ask the husband to visit Market Market over the weekend. :)

Enjoy the new week everyone. See yah!

Food Friday: Snickerdooles

2009-10-29T23:24:00.003+08:00

Snickerdooles, a soft sugar cookie lightly dusted with cinnamon. It's one of my favorite so later I'll be making few batches to bring at my in-laws place this coming weekend....that is if I dont change my mind, the husband requested me to make brownies instead. Hmmmm!!!

Oh Well!!!!

Happy Foodie Friday everyone and Enjoy the long weekend!

Kitchen Essential

2009-10-28T22:14:00.000+08:00

My kitchen essentials, pasta, tomato sauce, milk and cheese. So whenever I'm running out of idea on what to cook, I can easily whip a pasta dish with whatever sauce I wanted. Like last night, we had spaghetti and home made pizza. :)

Yummm!!!!

What's your kitchen essential by the way?

Enjoy the rest of the week

Food Friday: Tofu and Cabbage in Oyster sauce

2009-10-22T22:32:00.005+08:00

I'm sharing this veggie that I love. This is an easy recipe. If you love eating tofu you should try this. Promise you will love it. :)
You need;
One small cabbage, chopped
500g Tofu cut into 1" cube and fried
thumb size ginger, cut into strip
1 onion quartered
2 clove garlic chopped
half cup beef broth
osyter sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup water.
To do this dish simply;
heat work with 2 tbsp oil. Saute onion then garlic. Add and stir fry the chopped cabbage. Throw in the tofu. Cook for a minute. Then add the beef broth. Simmer simmer simmer. Add 2 tbsp osyter sauce. Then, mix the cornstarch dissolved in water. Wait until sauce thicken. Season with salt and pepper.
Drizzle some oyster sauce before serving.
Voila and easy healthy dish. :)

Left Over Chicken Afritada

2009-10-20T23:21:00.001+08:00

We got some left over chicken afritada from our last night dinner. So the next morning, I served the same chicken but this time it was use as a filling for the omellete. :)

Our Morning Breakfast Omelette and Sausage. :)

The Chicken Filling

I washed the chicken to remove the afritada taste then shred it. Saute onion and throw in the green bell pepper. Add the shredded chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Whisk 3 large eggs, you can add water to make it more fluffier. Add chives then season with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, add the oil and then the butter, swirling it around so that the base and sides get coated. While the butter is still foaming, pour in the egg mixture, tilting the pan from side to side. Stir gently with a fork or wooden spatula, drawing the mixture from the sides to the centre as it sets. When the eggs have almost set, scatter over cooked chicken. Tilt the pan away from you slightly and use a palette knife to fold over the omelette.

Serve with rice or bread. :)

Food Friday: Ramen and my Cafe World

2009-10-15T23:20:00.010+08:00

Whenever I crave for Kimchi noodles, I would grab an instant pack. It's a staple in our house. The spiciness and the firm noodles are just perfect for me. The husband and I love this ramen compared the ones we locally have here because ours are too salty.
Now, if you'll look closely the background is my Kainan Republic. My online cafe at Cafe World. It's my latest addiction after Farm Town. Im level 20 already and I'm excited to level up to get more stoves, more counter and more dishes to make. hahaha!
Have you tried the two?
Happy Foodie Friday everyone!

Ginisang Pechay

2009-10-05T22:55:00.005+08:00

Ginisang pechay is one of my favorite comfort food. A very easy vegtable dish to make and is very nutrious too.

Simply saute onions then garlic in hot oil. Add ground meat (pork or beef). Simmer until the meat are cook. Skim off scum that may aggregates on top.

Add the chopped pechay stalks. Then mix in the chopped leaves. Drizzle fish sauce and pepper to taste.

Best eaten with fried fish and rice but sometimes, I eat it alone (favorite eh).

Web Hosting Geeks

2009-10-02T15:22:00.003+08:00

The internet has become a common means and the most affective way of life for most people. This entire network has made its way for most of us around the world to disclose, to find entertainment, shop and conduct business online. If your plans to require a website then you will need web hosting then it is the right time for you to get your own domain. It’s not worth it to just go to any one website and pick it. There are always better deals out there.

The question is what is the best web hosting company to choose for your website? A formidable question to answer, because there is not necessarily a best web hosting company in general, but there is better web hosting company for each individual person needs and like.

I would encourage going to a trusty web hosting site. Webhostinggeeks.com caters to the needs of so many people. For your specific dedicated server search, the answer is webhostinggeeks.com. And, for each hosting provider in their list, they have all the information needed in their website. What a big help for most of us who aims to have own domain sites.

Finding the best web hosting service is a complicated task but with the help of Webhostinggeeks.com things had been made easier. So it is best to turn up to webhostinggeeks.com for any problems regarding web hosting. Get the best web service provider for you and enjoy the benefits.

Food Friday: Paksiw Na Pata

2009-10-01T22:36:00.014+08:00

Food doesn't need to be complicated to taste good. In fact those simple dishes are the ones that are really worth dying for like the paksiw na pata for instance.

It's a very simple dish and the ingridients are readily available in the market. A filipino all time favorite.

Let me share this recipe that another flagship food of my happy childhood.

You will need;

1 pc pork hocks chopped into 3-4 inches wide pieces

enough water to cover the pork hocks in the pot

1 cup dark soysauce

1 cup vinegar

5 pcs bay leaf

1 whole garlic, crushed

1/2 cup banana blossom(soaked)

1/2 cup brown sugar

lots of peppercorn

Then you have to....

Wash the pork hocks then place in a large pot. Add enough water to cover the pork hocks.

Add the remaining ingridients and cook until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is cook, approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.

Serve immediately with steam rice. :)

See how easy!

Easy Recipe-Fish in Lemon Butter Sauce

2009-09-16T01:10:00.006+08:00

Drizzle fish (I used 8 slices of Gindara ) with soy sauce and olive oil. Then add salt and pepper. Pan fry the fish making both side brown. Place in a serving plate and set aside. Fry the onion then set aside.

In a separate pan, melt 4 tsp. butter in low heat. Add in 1/4 cup lemon juice and bring to boil and throw in the parsley. Season with pepper.

Drizzle the butter sauce over the fish. Garnish with the cooked onion and left over parsley.

Serve and enjoy! Easy right?

Food Friday: Banana Crumb Muffin

2009-09-10T23:51:00.006+08:00

You have bananas on the verge of rotting then why not make them into a yummy treat.

Banana Crumb Muffin. This is the best banana muffin recipe I have ever tried. If you want to try it out, I got it from here.

Happy Food Friday!

Chocolate Chip Cookies-Revisiting

2009-09-10T00:52:00.005+08:00

Because I cant stay away from chocolatey goodness. I baked this again. If you want the recipe, I found an easy one at wilton, check it here.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

Adobo Flakes

2009-09-07T14:12:00.008+08:00

And because I wanted to feed the husband with something new, I decided to make adobo flakes. We dont have left over adobo so I cooked it first before making the flakes. It's my first time and I must say that I maybe making this more often.

For this you'll need

1k pork kasim or chicken (I used pork)

1/4 cup vinegar (I used cane vinegar)

1/2 cup soysauce

lots of garlic crushed

bay leaf

freshly cracked black pepper

then in a pot, just throw everything wait until the meat gets tender. Do taste it to make sure that it's flavor is just enough.

Then when the meat is done, let it cool and shred it by hand.

Then get 1/4 cup of the adobo sauce (and the adobo oil too) and heat it in a pan and boil the meat flakes. Stir and wait until the sauce evaporates. Continue adding the sauce 4 times or so until the you get this crispy/chewy texture.

Perfect with fried rice or palaman sa pandesal.

Chicken Afritada

2009-09-04T16:11:00.007+08:00

Chicken Afritada, A staple food in our home. I dont usually cook this but whenever I do, expect a really full stomach. Like the Beef Caldereta, thi dish has many variations this one Im sharing is the simpliest, I think. You'll Need;

1 kilo chicken, cut in serving pieces

1 large onion 2 pcs tomato, quartered 4 pcs potatoes, quartered

3 pcs bell pepper, sliced

8 cloves garlic crushed

1 cup tomato sauce

2 cups chicken stock

sliced carrots

Then you have to; Fry the potatoes until brown. Set aside In a pan heat oil and saute onion then garlic. add the tomato. Wait until the tomato are slightly melted. Add the chicken. Mix a little (sangkutsa). Simmer until the chicken are cooked. Pour tomato sauce and stock. Simmer for another ten minutes. Add potatoes, red/green bell pepper, carrots and simmer for a few minutes. Season with fish sauce and pepper. Serve with rice and enjoy!

Cash or Lease - Just got easier

2009-09-04T15:34:00.001+08:00

If you're interested to find car leasing but tired of looking around bench marking prices and figuring out what packages that will suit you best, then you should considered BuyYourCar.co.uk.

Compared to other car leasing companies where they just focus on brand-new, used or car leasing in general, at Buy YOurCAr you can compare offers, they give independent reviews, give nice suggestions for loan and insurance.

At their site you can search for new or used cars whether your want to lease them out or purchase them for cash.

Also you can browse through the cheapest rates available in the UK. What is nicer is that the cars are even delivered to your door for convenience! Isn’t that great!

Food Friday: Cold Cut

2009-09-03T21:36:00.007+08:00

A chinese restaurat staple - cold cut. It's a combination of chicken slices, pork asado slices, jelly fish, century eggs and peanuts. It's my first time to taste jelly fish by the way and suprisingly, I love it. This platter taste good with hot tea. Hmmmm.

This cold cut platter is P320 per serving at Panciteria Lido. :)

Happy Food Friday everyone!

Simple Breakfast

2009-09-02T08:15:00.005+08:00

Skipped work today. I dont feel really good. Nevertheless, I manage to prepare a good breakfast. Pancakes and hotdog-ah comfort food. With this good food and a few sleep hope I will feel better. :)

Enjoy the day everyone!

Wanna Buy Watch

2009-09-02T07:18:00.003+08:00

Owning a Rolex watch is definitely a pride for a person. It's a pricey watches thus we should be careful before buying one. There are many available vendors in the market but chances are, you can end up buying a fake Rolex watches. So if you’re planning to buy Rolex watches then visit www.bestoftime.com. They are independent dealers of the new and Pre – owned Rolex watches that is how they give substantial discounts on the Manufacturer set Retail price. All of their Rolex watches are 100% genuine and authentic with serial numbers. With over a decade’s worth of proven retail success, service and satisfaction, Best of Time brings great commitment, excellence and customer satisfaction

They have an excellent sales team; you can ask your queries to them and they will gladly give you splendid assistance. Great customer service indeed. Now you plan to order, you need to measure your wrist size properly before giving an order, once give your wrist size and place your order the watch will shipped to your place within a specific time. Their payment option is also much secured your card details are very secured with them. They also have an option of tracking the shipment. Now, why wait order your Rolex Watch today at a lesser price.

Food Friday: Cheesecake craving

2009-08-27T22:43:00.003+08:00

My cheesecake slice!

By just looking a the photo, I suddenly crave for a slice so the fix I am baking it right now. Few more minutes and my tummy will be satisfied. hehehe!

Happy Food Friday!

Sweet and Sour Fish Fillet

2009-08-25T01:05:00.007+08:00

For this you need:

half kilo cream dory (fillet)

half cup flour

1 egg

half cup water

oil for deep fying

For the sauce you need:

2 tsp brown sugar

half cup pineapple chunks, set aside the syrup

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 bell pepper cut in squares

1 onion quartered

Now what you'll do;

cut the fillet in serving pieces. Dredge in flour and set aside. In a bowl, make a batter of flour, water, egg and salt.
In a pan, heat enough oil. Place the fish fillet in batter. Then throw it in in the hot oil. Cook until both sides are brown.
In a separate saucepan, dissolve sugar in pineapple syrup. Pour in 1/4 cup of tomato sauce. Simmer for a minute or two. Add in the onions, bell pepper and pineapple chunks. Simmer again for a minute. Turn off heat.
In a plate, arrange the fried fish fillet. Pour the sweet and sour sauce. Serve with rice.
Enjoy! Promise, this one is yummy :)
By the way, last year I posted another fish fillet recipe, it's a bit similiar but I skipped on the dredging part. :)

Food Friday: Pizza

2009-08-20T23:42:00.008+08:00

Supremo Pizza from Domino's

Whenever I crave for pizza, I would always order from domino's.

Why do I love their pizza....well it's fully loaded with lots of toppings, it's saucy, it's cheesy, it has a perfect blend of herbs and spices..... yummy! (oh boy Im craving now)

Another thing...their pizza is not that pricey and if you have your Domino's VIP card (even SM advantage card) you'll have a 20% discount on your bill or you could get a free medium size pizza of your choice. Not bad! :)

Whats your favorite pizza by the way?

Spaghetti and Meatballs

2009-08-19T00:51:00.008+08:00

My bowl of spaghetti

I love eating spaghetti from a bowl rather than a plate because this way I can easy twirl the pasta neatly against the inside of the bowl until no noodles are left dangling. No messy sauce splatting...hahahahha!!!!

Anyway, Im sharing this recipe that my husband and I loves. Especially when we're watching television :)

To make the meatballs;

Mix half kilo of ground beef plus chopped ham. Then add a dashed of salt and pepper. Sprinkled with a little flour. Mix mix well. Add 1 beaten egg.

Now this is the fun part. With the use of your hands, grab a small part of the mixture and form into balls. It’s up to you what size of the meatball you want. Deep fry in low heat so as not to burn the meatballs. When cooked, drain excess oil. Set aside.

Now for the spaghetti sauce, just the basic....

In a saucepan saute onions and garlic. I use one medium pouch of italian spaghetti sauce then I add 1 regular bottle of banana catsup. Salt and pepper to taste. Throw the sliced mushroom. Add the meatballs and simmer. Add the cooked pasta and mix well. Sprinkle grated cheese. Enjoy!

Beef Caldereta

2009-08-16T21:31:00.007+08:00

Beef Caldereta is one of my favorite dish. When I was a kid, I would always asked my mom to cook it. You see ,she cooks a mean Caldereta that my relatives always asked whenever they visit them. By the way, it was 2005 when I first cooked my very first Caldereta dish. Now, I am sharing this recipe.

Beef Caldereta

For the ingridients you'll need;

1k beef

2 cups coconut milk

2 cans of tomatoes sauce (I didn’t use the whole thing, about a can and a half)

Potatoes (quartered)

3 red bell pepper

1 can liver spread

Grated cheese

hotdog (my favorite)

Salt

Crushed pepper

Olives

Crushed chili flakes

Now…

With the help of the pressure cooker, boil the beef with enough amount of water plus the two cups of coconut milk. Make sure that the liquid covers the beef. Boil for at least 35-40 minutes or until the meat is tender. Set aside the broth. Then cut the beef into cubes and fry. Set aside. Fry the quartered potatoes. Then set aside too.

In a separate pan, drizzle some oil and sauté the garlic & onions. Then add the beef. Stir-fry for a while. Then add the tomato sauce and hotdog. Mix for a while and add the beef broth (with gata). Simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the potatoes, olives, liver spread, bay leaf and bell pepper. Simmer for 3 minutes. Turn of the heat and throw-in the grated cheese. Let it melt. Done. Easy, isn’t it.

Cripsy Pata

2009-08-14T00:00:00.003+08:00

Cripsy pata, hmmm sinful sinful pero cge na nga minsan lang naman ito.

To prepare this you'll need:

1 pork pata (preferably the front)

1 whole garlic (crushed)

1 whole onion (quartered)

peppercorns

some Salt

Here's how:

Clean and scrape the skin of the pata with a knife. Use a kitchen torch burn any remaining hair.

Place the pata in a casserole with water. Add the crushed garlic. onions, peppercorn, and salt. Set over high heat and let it boil. skimming off scum as it arises. Lower the heat and simmer again until meat is tender.

Remove the pata from the broth and drain well. I used my turbo and roast the pata. Set the turbo at 250 degree for 1-1/2 hrs or until the rind is golden brown.

Serve with steaming rice and ensaladang talong. Yummm.

Happy Food Friday Everyone!!!!!

Tapsilog

2009-08-11T06:00:00.006+08:00

During weekends, I would always prepare simple yet yummy breakfast. So I asked hubby what he wanted to have. He suggested tapsilog (tapa, sinangag at itlog). I remembered I already posted a beef tapa recipe here but last weekend I used a different version of making beef tapa.

To make this one, you'll need;

2 lbs. Breakfast Steak For the Marinate

2/3 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup cane vinegar 1/4 cup brown sugar 3 teaspoons ground black pepper 2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or less) 2 tbsp minced garlic

Then what you'll do;

In a large bowl, combine everything until the sugar dissolves.

Coat each piece of beef in the mixture, making sure to coat all sides well or the beef. Arrange beef in a marinating pan. Pour any extra marinade over beef, marinate and refrigirate overnight.

When ready to cook, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan.Fry beef slices in batches, just until cooked through.

Drain beef on paper towels.

Serve with rice topped with fried egg and sliced tomatoes.

For the Sinangag (fried rice)

On the same pan, stir fry rice add salt and pepper to taste. I use powdered garlic to add the garlicky flavor. Serve hot with the tapa and fried eggs or sunny side eggs.

tapsilog-my breakfast favorite

Tuna Sashimi

2009-08-09T16:25:00.010+08:00

I eat tuna sashimi although not really a big fan but whenever hubz will have this, I would eat a slice or two. It's his favorite, a scrumptious treat for him. So when we were at the supermarket the other day, he bought some. Dinner came and he eagerly devour the raw fish. To him the tuna sashimi tasted sweet. Funny, I cannot seem to experience that sweetness he was saying whenever I would eat sashimi. hahahaha!

I did not eat the sashimi that night by the way but there are few more slices left inside the fridge. Maybe I might join him next time. :)

How about you, do you love eating sashimi?

Eggplant Ensalada

2009-08-06T06:00:00.002+08:00

This is another easy recipe that I paired with the chicken insal. Just grilled the eggplant, peeled set aside (you can steam or boil it, your choice). Chopped onions and tomatoes. In a plate arrange the peeled eggplant, top it with the chopped onions and tomatoes then add shrimp paste. You could also used green mangoes instead of the eggpant if you like :D

Try also this, another version of ensaldang talong: You need:

4-5 pcs eggplants (boiled or grilled then peeled)

tomatoes chopped

onions chopped

crushed garlic

soy sauce (1/4 cup)

vinegar (1/8 cup)

sugar (1tsp)

chili peppers

Mix everything except the eggplant. In a separate bowl put the eggplant. Pour the dressing over the vegetable and toss. Let it stand for 30 minutes.

Dali noh, sarap pa :D

Chicken Inasal

2009-08-02T11:42:00.017+08:00

To prepare this you'll just need

1 kilo chicken, thigh or leg part

for the marinade

2 thumbsized ginger, minced

1 tbsp. fish sauce

4 stalks lemongrass, chopped

salt

1 tsp fresh coarse ground black pepper

1/4 cup calamsi juice

1/4 cup vinegar/

for achuete oil you'll need:

1/4 cup achuete (annato seed)

butter (I used magnolia lite)

So what I did, I mix all the marinade ingredients and marinate the chix about an hour or much better if you'll marinate it overnight.

For the baste... in a saucepan heat the butter (you can use cooking oil instead of butter) then put the achuete and heat for a minute, it’s ready when the oil turns orangey.

when grilling the chicken just baste it with the achuete oil once in a while until the chicken part are done :D

There..thats so easy right.

Tips on grilling:

Avoid using gas for grilling...the fume of the gas somehow effect the taste of the dish. You can use your gas stove. Put the grill wire-rack and the charcoal on stove. Heat the charcoal until they became red hot then transfer at the griller. :D

Web Hosting

2009-08-01T11:37:00.003+08:00

One to consider you have to make for your website is determining your web host. It's essential to have a good hosts provider because web sites mainly depend their connectivity with these service provider businesses so a bad decision is a bad thing for your site.

With so many hosting businesses out there how can we be absolute that we are picking a the right one . Actually, there are lots of steps to make in selecting the best web host. We just have to assimilate completely the importance of having a great web hosting provider and make sure that the web host you have selected is truly reliable. Will they hold our files completely without any problems when we decided to migrate away? Can we be in total control of your account whenever needed.

So hard to think about all these but…

there is a very easy way to find a credible web host and that is with the help of http://webhostingrating.com. This online site assure to it that we will know all the details about our chosen web host. Another thing,it's a nice that we can also take cPanel Tutorials which will of help to have our skills be enhanced in this matter. Now, if your interested to get your own web hosting , go ahead and check it out their website hosting, for you to know what this is all about.

Fresh Lumpia

2009-07-26T23:03:00.013+08:00

This was our brunch yesterday.

Crispy Liempo.

The liempo was thinly sliced and fried to crispy perfection.

Sinful yes but who cant resist this crunchy piece of meat. So for dinner, I wanted to make something healthy to eat. Therefore, I decided to make this.

Fresh Lumpia

For the filling;

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half, thinly sliced

1/2 small carrot, finely julienned

2 cups sliced cabbage

2 green onions, finely julienned

2 teaspoons oyster sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

ground pepper to taste

It easy to do the lumpia filling. Just saute onion and garlic. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the chicken, stir-fry. Remove from pan. Heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add carrots, then cabbage.Cook until vegetables are tender crisp, about 2 minutes. Return chicken mixture to pan; oyster sauce, fish sauce, and pepper; cook for 1 minute.

Cool filling mixture and spoon a tablespoon in lumpia wrapper. Repeat with remaining filling and wrappers.

For the wrapper, I usually use the wrapper bought at the supermarket but this time I like making the crepe type wrapper. I got the recipe here. :)

For the lumpia sauce, this is the recipe I usually use;

1/4 c. brown sugar

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 c. soy sauce

2 tsp. ground garlic

1 1/4 water

Combine sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Stir in soy sauce and garlic. Add broth and mix well. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Serve over Fresh Lumpia.

I considered making fresh lumpia as a labor of love (matrabaho kasi) but if husband wanted it, i shall make it. Thats love...mushy now. hahahaha!!!

Enjoy the week everyone!

Siomai Overload

2009-07-22T23:36:00.007+08:00

The husband would always be excited for the weekends to come. Why? Because it's the only time I can cook something good for him.

So last weekend, I prepared pork siomai for our dinner. :)

You'll need:

half a kilo of ground pork

1 onion minced

bunch of spring onions chopped

a thumbsized ginger, peeled and grated

1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and grated

2 teaspoons of sesame oil

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

1 egg beaten

siomai wrapper

Then you have to;

dump everything in a bowl and mix. Take a teaspoonful of the mixture, fry in a little hot oil. Taste and make the necessary adjustments. Meanwhile, boil water and brush steamer with oil.

To make the siomai, take a tablespoon of mixture into each wrapper. Fold and seal. Steam in briskly boiling water for 30 to 40 minutes. Serve at once with a mixture of kalamansi juice and light soy sauce on the side.

Note: You can add half a cup of uncooked minced shrimp to the filling to make it more tastier but I am allergic to it so bye bye shrimp, hehehe!!!!

Pancit Canton

2009-07-13T21:51:00.007+08:00

There are several ways to cook pancit canton. Here's my recipe and I wanted it to share with you.....

Here's how I do it....

You'll need

1/2k Dried Pancit Canton

1 pcs chicken breast boiled and flaked

1/4 chicken liver (fried in small amount of oil)

1 small cabbage

1 small carrots julienned

10 pcs green beans sliced diagonally

2 cups broth (or water)

1 garlic head chopped

1 onion chopped

oyster sauce

worstershire sauce

soysauce

salt & pepper

Then...

1. saute half the onion and half of the garlic, add the carrots. After a minute add the cabbage and green beans. (dont overcook)

2. Add the chicken and chicken liver. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

3. In a separate wok, drizzle some oil. Saute the remaining onion and garlic

4. Add the chicken broth, if it's not enough just add water. Make sure that the liquid is just enough for the noodles.

5. Season with soy sauce and pepper then bring to boil.

6. Cook in the dried noodles. Let the sauce be absorb by the noodles but make sure not to overcook it.

7. Add in the oyster sauce and worstershire sauce. Toss the noodles for a minute.

8. Add in the vegtable making sure that everything is mix. Turn of heat.

9. Place on a serving platter with sliced calamansi and chilis.

Enjoy!!!!

(you can add shrimp if you wanted, I just dont put it in my pancit kasi I'm allegic to it :) )

Fresh salad

2009-07-08T00:26:00.006+08:00

Some grapes, sliced cucumbers, corn kernels, lettuce and slightly browned tofu, toss them all together. Drizzle some honey and mustard dressing, then you'll get this light yummy salad. :)

I am gaining weight so this would be my diet for a while (for day, I guess....lolz) Happy eating everyone!

Skinless Longanisa

2009-07-05T22:47:00.006+08:00

I posted in my other blog that I love eating longanisa. The only thing that bothers me is the amount of salt it contains plus the preservative it has. So the fix.....

Tada!!!! I made my own skinless Longanisa. It's easy you just have to mix everything lang!!! :)

To do this you need:

Half Kilo Pork

1/4 cup brown sugar

3tbsp crushed garlic

3tbsp of vinegar

5 tbsp worstershire sauce

1 beaten egg

salt and pepper

Then.....

Just mix everything in a bowl (I used my hands). Then get a small amount of the mixture, fry it to know if it need adjusting in it's taste. I want a garlicky, peppery and a little sour longanisa so I add more garlic, pepper and vinegar. Then when everything is mix form into log and refrigirate.

Fry in a little hot oil.

Serve with fried rice and sunny side-up egg. Dont forget the vinegar with garlic. Hmmm!!!

Boston Printing

2009-07-05T01:22:00.003+08:00

If your looking for a one-stop shop that can do CD duplication ,Digital Offset Printing and DVD screen printing, Graphics and Print Production, this post will surely help you. Coptech Digital Media and Print Solution is a company that is trusted by many, no wonder people keeps on picking them for their CD duplication in Boston. Another thing, staffs behind this firm are dedicated to give quality service to their clients. That’s why they were given awards for their excellent service.

So if you are in need of quality, reliable and the best service for Digital Offset Printing and DVD screen printing and in CD duplication in Boston, hop on to their site check what is this Boston printing is all about.

Bread Pudding

2009-06-29T22:50:00.008+08:00

To make this bread pudding, you'll need;

6 pcs of pandesal

1 can eveporated milk

1 can condensed milk

1 cup butter, slightly softened

1 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of cinamon

5 eggs

raisins

Then what you'll do....

Preheat oven to 350F Grease pan (I used a 9" round pan)

Tear the pandesal into medium chunks. Soak break in evaporated milk and condensed milk mixture until soften. I soak and refrigerate mine overnight.

In a separate bowl, beat butter then add egg one at a time. Then include vanilla and cinamon. Add the bread mixture, then the raisin.

Set the mixture in the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until firm. Cool slightly before serving.

If you want to try this but dont have an oven, you could steam it. Preheat the steamer, scoop the mixture in a lyanera pan cover it with aluminum foil. Steam for about 45 minutes or more depending how thick your pudding is. :)