Showing posts with label Food and Recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food and Recipe. Show all posts

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Pinoy Food Marathon

Before I got married, I didn't know how to cook. It was always Mom who cooks good food for us. But when I got married and moved here in the U.S., I know that I need to learn how to cook. It was very difficult at first. Oftentimes, I had to call Mom just to ask for instructions on how to cook even simple meals. Spending so much time on the internet have helped me as well. I've found good recipes from friends' blogs and other famous food and recipe websites. Eventually, I didn't just learn how to cook but I started to enjoy doing it. I still don't consider myself good at it though but the willingness and interest to learn is there, unlike before. I guess it's an improvement and I'm quite proud of it. I'm happy with hubby because he eats whatever I serve. He's not picky at all. He appreciates me cooking and he always tells me I'm such a good cook even if I know I'm not, haha! He loves chicken and pork adobo, lumpia, pansit, bola-bola, bistek, pork giniling, tortang baboy, to name a few of his favorites. Lately, I've been cooking a lot of Filipino foods, hehe! There's always leftovers since it's just the two of us in the house so he would bring some leftovers to work. The nosy co-workers couldn't help themselves from getting curious on what food he's eating, lol! One time he brought some chicken adobo and one of the guys said something about the color of the chicken ain't right, haha! Du'h! Adobo has soy sauce, man! I wish I could have hubby bring some dried fish and dried squid to work to see how they would react to the smell, haha! Well, it's not gonna happen though. Hubby couldn't even stand the sight of my stinky little friends.

I was inspired to cook "ginaling" after I saw it from a friend's blog.

Bam-i..yum..yum


This was my 3rd time to make "Bola-Bola" and I was pretty happy with how it tasted this time around. See, sometimes in cooking, it's just a matter of trial and error, haha!

Pork Steak courtesy of my Mama. Red bell pepper is what's supposed to be used for this recipe but I found none in the fridge so I used green instead. See, in cooking, you can also improvise sometimes, haha! It didn't come out bad so no harm done here.

Now, Brussel Sprouts is definitely not Filipino-ish, but one night I made it as a side dish as we get tired of eating meat all the time. I wish I had put some bacon with it but anyway, I love the buttery taste and hubby said it's good for the health.

We indulged our sweet cravings last night and shared a pint of Haagen-Dazs Rocky Road ice-cream for dessert while watching Dexter. It was divine!

How about you? What kinds of food do you cook at home? Do you crave for Pinoy foods too?

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Duo's sweet weakness

I love chocolates! Who doesn't? If not for the fear of getting diabetic and growing big, I’m pretty certain that most people would like to make chocolates as part of their daily food calorie intake. Actually, me and hubby are tryyying…to shed off some pounds for our future wedding in the Philippines. Ironically, we still include chocolates in our regular grocery check list, du’h! We both particularly like dark chocolates with almonds in it. It’s something that we munch on while we watch tv or use the computer. I know that we need to cut back on this habit because it’s unhealthy but you know what, I’ve seen a show one time that featured Dra. Vicky Belo, the doctor of the stars back in my country. She looks healthy, sexy, and young and I could not believe it that she’s a chocoholic as well. I mean she has this huge and seemingly infinite supply of gourmet chocolates and she said she would eat at least one bar a day. So it got me thinking maybe there are specific kinds of chocolates that are not that bad for us after all. I’ve heard that Dark Chocolate Cordial Cherries are good so I’m gonna order it online and probably give it to Jeff as part of my Vday presents for him. One would think that all gourmet candies are pricey but surprisingly, this one is only sold for $11.79. Not bad for a gourmet chocolate, isn’t it?

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Let's talk about food


Yesterday, I've read about the Recipe: Kip Saté a La Mina post that my friend Jacy posted on her blog. It looks yummy and easy to prepare so I cooked it for dinner last night. Jeff and I loved it. Jeff told me that I'm turning to be a great cook each day, hehehe! If you want to try it yourself, visit Reveries of simplyJacy. Thanks for sharing this, Jace!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Lechon Manok for Dinner


One of my friends from my Multiply network shared a recipe for lechon manok. I wanted to try it out myself and last night, I got an inspiration to cook it. It's not that hard to prepare but it's really gonna take some kind of labor of love especially the marinade part. I enjoyed doing it though. I feel proud of myself because I've never really cooked real meals while I was still in PI but now I can cook meals for me and hubby and find pleasure in it.

Anyway, included below is the recipe for those of you who might wanna try it as well. It was so yummy that I ate so much last night. It makes me wonder if there could be some effect to my 40-minute treadmill yesterday since I cave in to my cravings of lechon manok right after. (hehe)

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
3 tablespoons of brown or white sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 head garlic, minced
1 onion,chopped
ginger root
3 tablespoons of calamansi juice or lemon juice
1/2 cup of sprite, 7up
2 cups of tanglad (lemon grass) for stuffing (since its hard to find tanglad in the US, try substituting it w/ sibuyas dahunan and mint
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tbsp oil
salt

Directions:
Marinate the whole chicken in soy sauce, calamansi juice, minced garlic, chopped onions, ginger, soda, sugar and pepper. Let stand marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hr.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Stuff the chicken cavity with tanglad (lemon grass). Add the substitute herbs if there's no tanglad available.
Rub salt and oil all over chicken.
Dump the whole marinate mix inside the chicken.
Cook chicken for 1hr & 20mins or until golden brown. (I cooked mine until the pop up timer comes out)

Bon appetit!

Monday, June 2, 2008

Food Trip

Last week was a crazy diet for me. To help myself in achieving my goal to lose weight, I tried to eat less rice and small portions of food. I eat salad with a fruit or turkey sandwich with cheese for lunch and rice with meat for dinner. But last Memorial Weekend was a break when it comes to food that I ate. We did grill a lot. From steak, back ribs and country-style pork ribs. I tried different ways of marinating the meat. I even followed one suggestion of my friend Lou. All styles proved to be yummy and mouth-watering. I enjoyed the food so much.

Iceberg lettuce Salad with a piece of banana

Baby back ribs marinated with Kraft Honey Bar-b-que Sauce (Overnight)

Country-style pork ribs marinated with Mama Sita's Bar-b-que Marinade

Monday, May 26, 2008

Traditional Adobo Recipe

This is one of my husband's favorite Pinoy recipe. I got this from a Filipino-American cookbook that I bought in the Philippines and I thought I might share this with you all. I made this countless times since I arrived here in the US and I must say it tastes perfectly yummy. Check out the recipe below.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 lb. pork shoulder or country-style ribs cut into 1-1/2" cubes
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small bay leaf
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. sugar
½ cup water
2 tbsp. cooking oil

Combine all ingredients except cooking oil, in a pot and let stand for at least 30 minutes.
Simmer covered for 1 hour or until meat is tender. Drain and reserve sauce.
Heat cooking oil in skillet. Brown meat on all sides. Transfer to a serving dish.
Pour off all remaining oil from skillet. Add reserved sauce and cook for a minute or two scraping all browned bits sticking to pan. Pour sauce over meat and serve.

Variation: May be done with chicken or a combination of chicken and pork. Serves 4-6.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Polynesian Pork Chops


Back in the Philippines, I don't cook at all. My excuse is I was working and I didn't have time to do it. But truth of the matter is, I didn't have interest in cooking at all. (blush*) Everything had to change when I got here in the US. We would either starve to death or grow obese from eating a lot in restaurants if I don't start learning how to cook. Now, I may not be a very good cook but I already find joy in preparing dinner for hubby and I'm learning to experiment new stuff from online recipes, from sister or from just any other sources like at the back of a can of soup for example. I felt so good last night because the recipe that I got from the back of a Campbell's Mushroom Soup turned out to be so yummy. The best part is Jeff loved it so much. Below is the recipe of Polynesian Pork Chops. If you want to try it, feel free to copy it. I'm gonna assure you, it's so deliciously good.

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops, 3/4" thick
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup
1/4 cup water
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. honey
2 cups cooked white rice
Sliced green onions

Directions:
Season chops with garlic powder.
Heat oil in skillet. Add chops and cook until browned. Add onion.
Add soup, water, pineapple with juice, soy and honey. Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 10 min. or until done.
Serve with rice and sprinkle with green onions.
Bon appetit!

Friday, May 9, 2008

Italian Beef Recipe

Would you like to prepare a super delicious dinner in a very easy way? Italian Beef recipe is the answer. It's so quick and easy to make. See recipe below.

(1) 4 to 5 lbs. rump roast
(1) teaspoon each -- basil
oregano
seasoned salt
garlic powder
onion powder
(1) tablespoon -- accent flavor enhancer
(2) tablespoons -- seasoned pepper
(3) beef bouillion cubes
(2) cups of water

Put roast, water and cubes in a crockpot, mix dry ingredients and sprinkle over roast. Turn in pot immediately of time. Let cook till done 7 to 8 hours.

I got this recipe from my sister. Bon appetit everyone!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Grilled Ribs Recipe

I want to share a recipe that I came across at Cooks.com. I tried this last night and oh my it was so yummy. I just forgot to take some pictures but don't just take my word for it, see for yourself!

Ingredients:

4lbs. country style ribs
2 tbsp. dry mustard
1 tbsp. coarsely ground black pepper
2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. vinegar
1/3 c. orange juice
2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced

Place ribs in shallow 3 quart baking dish. Combine remaining ingredients for marinade. Pour over ribs; refrigerate 24 hours, turning meat occasionally. Place a foil pan large enought to catch drippings on briquettes before preheating gas grill. Remove ribs from marinade; secure with prongs on rotisserie spit. Tie ribs together with string. Cook on low to medium setting for approximately 1 1/2 hours. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Bon appetit!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Yummy Dinner

After the terrifying tornado warning experience yesterday, I treat myself and hubby with a yummy dinner. I got this recipe from my sister in Illinois. She has a knack on cooking fancy American meals. Most of my recipes are from her and my mom. Anyway, I tried her Pot Roast Beef recipe after days of eating straight Filipino meals like dried squid, fried tilapya and sauteed squash with pork. It turned out to be so mouth-wateringly delicious. I ate it with rice. Yeah, I just can't eat without rice at all, lol. Included here is the recipe in case you'd wanna try this too.

Pot Roast Beef

Ingredients:
2 tablespoon unsalted butter (stick)
1 tablespoon sunflower oil (vegetable oil)
1 large onion cut into wedges
3 lbs. boneless pot round or rump roast
3 carrots peeled and thinly sliced
3 medium white potatoes cubed
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon salt
2 envelopes (1.4 ounces each) onion soup mix Lipton
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Heat the butter and sunflower oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and beef. Brown the beef on all sides. Transfer the beef and onion to the slow cooker.

2. Arrange the carrots, potatoes and bay leaves around the beef. Sprinkle with salt. In a heat-proof bowl, or measuring cup, combine the soup mix with 3 cups boiling water, stirring until smooth.

3. Pour the soup mixture over the beef and vegetable in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on high until the meat is very tender about 4 hours. (I cooked mine about 7 hrs., depending on how tender the beef you would like to be)

4. In a medium sauce pan, combine the cornstarch in about 1 teaspoon water, stir to form a paste. Add 2 cups hot liquid from the slow cooker and bring to a boil, stirring until the gravy has thickened. Slice the beef and serve with vegetables and gravy.
Bon appetit!

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

A Taste of my Filipino Cooking

One thing I learned when I got here is that it's never too late to learn how to cook. Back in the PI, you can hardly see me in the kitchen. Unlike most women who love to cook, I didn't find interest in cooking. It's probably because most of my life, I've lived with my parents. I didn't see the need of learning how to cook 'coz everytime I come home from work, dinner is always ready. Bottomline is, I am lazy when it comes to cooking and doing household chores. But I know that will have to change as soon as I get married and have a family of my own. Eventually, I developed an interest in learning how to do stuff in the kitchen. Recipes from my sister, friends and internet are the contributing factors. This is one of the biggest adjustments that I have to make since I chose to live here in the US.

Luckily, my husband has a filipino stomach. By that I mean, he doesn't have problems with eating rice and other filipino foods. As a matter of fact, he loves rice, lumpia, pork adobo, pansit canton, bihon, leche flan, buko juice, halo-halo among others. Basically, he doesn't have qualms in trying filipino foods. However, he made sure shrimps and bulad (dried fish) are out of the list though. Last night, I was in the mood of cooking lumpia and prawns. Hubby helped me wrap the lumpia while we talked about what had transpired during his day at work. It was fun doing simple things together and I enjoyed it. I am far from being a good cook but I'm really trying so hard to learn and I'm surprised 'coz I'm enjoying it.