Baking 101: Carrot Cake / Cupcake

According to Wikipedia, carrot cake was first concocted during the medieval period, the time when the sweeteners were said to be insufficient and expensive. Since carrots have high sugar content, and were abundant that time, the early people made used of these to create this wonderful dessert. If not to their ingenuity, we would never have a taste of the carrot cake.

I cannot specifically remember when I first tasted this dessert, but I just had the courage to bake it last year and I was happy with the result. Here's the link for the picture. Last year, I used buttercream for frosting. This time, I shelled out a little more moolah for the frosting, I used cream cheese (cream cheese here are expensive!). And it made a HUGE difference in taste...the cream cheese and the carrot cake are definitely a match made in heaven.

Enough with my blah blahs hehehe! Here's the recipe for the carrot cake.

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Oops, by the way I got this recipe from Joy of Baking.

Ingredients

For the Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups grated carrots
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 cup walnuts
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 tsps vanilla extract

For the Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Garnish: Toasted and choped walnuts

Procedure
For the cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment papers.
2. Toast the walnuts until lightly brown. Cool and coursely chop.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the dry flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
4. In another bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the eggs for a minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat until thick.  Add the oil and then the vanilla extract. Beat until well incorporated.
5. Fold the grated carrots and nuts in the batter.
6. Pour the mixture in the prepared pans. 
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
8. Remove from oven and cool completely. 
9. Prepare the frosting.

Frosting:
1. Using an electric mixer set on a low speed, beat the cream cheese and butter until you see no lumps. 
2. Gradually add the sifted powdered sugar and beat again until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract. 

To assemble:
1. Place one cake layer on a serving plate. The bumpy top must be faced down. Spread frosting on top.
2. Place the second cake on top, top side down again (so you'll have a flat topped cake). Cover the entire cake with cream cheese frosting.
3. Garnish the cake with toasted walnuts.
4. Chill before serving.

UPDATE: AUGUST 26, 2011

Here's the cupcake version of the cake! Equally yummy!

Mango Royale

If I can remember it right, I was grade 5 or 6 when I first tasted this dessert. My sister made this after she tasted it from a birthday party she attended. Made from layers of crushed crackers, sweetened cream, and slices of mangoes, this dessert is definitely divine. 

Due to the TV ad of a popular all purpose cream brand here in the Philippines, this dessert is now called Mango Float. 

My version doesn't use Graham crackers, what I'm using is the good old Sunflower crackers. Slightly salted crackers balance the sweetness of the sweetened cream. I don't know but I like the taste of the Sunflower cracker than the graham crackers. 

Sunflower Crackers

Here's my version of the Mango Float...my Mango Royale!

Ingredients


3 boxes of 250ml all purpose cream, chilled
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
slices of mangoes (from 3 mangoes)
1 160g pack of sunflower crackers, crushed. (you can use graham crackers if your not a fan of my preferred crackers)


Procedure


1. Put the crackers in the blender and grind until they turn into fine crumbs. Press half of the crushed crackers into a 9x9 inches baking pan. Set aside. 


2. Mix the cream and all purpose cream until well blended. Pour half of the mixture in the baking pan, on top of the crushed crackers.


3. Arrange the slices of mangoes on top of the cream mixture. 


4. Pour the other half of the cream mixture on top of the mangoes. 


5. Sprinkle the remaining crushed crackers. This will be the final layer. 


6. Chill, if you want the softer version. For those who like frozen delights, freeze them for 6 hours or until set.


Enjoy!

Pork Binagoongan (Pork in Shrimp Paste)

Hello!!! I'm back...! I am sorry for being absent for more than a month. As much as I wanted to post, I didn't have extra time to do it. Christmas planning at work, deadlines, etc...haaay! 


But anyway, I want to share to you one of my favorite dish. The pork binagoongan (pork in shrimp paste). Well, there's nothing so hard in cooking this dish but what I like the most is how well it goes with rice. The saltiness and sweetness of the shrimp paste is so good, that every time I eat this, the 1 cup of rice promise is being broken. I consider this as one of my comfort food.


Shrimp paste or bagoong alamang is a type of condiment. It is a common ingredient used in Southeast Asian countries. Made from minute shrimp, we love this as a dipping partner for green mangoes, condiment for kare-kare, salting agent for pinakbet and the key ingredient for binagoongan. 


Here's the recipe for Pork Binagoongan. You will only need few ingredients for this dish.

Ingredients


3/4 of a 250g bottle of shrimp paste. (I used the barrio fiesta brand)
250g pork belly, sliced into bite size pieces
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced. 


Procedure


1. Fry the pork belly until golden brown. Set aside.
2. Saute onion and garlic. Add the tomato. 
3. Put back the pork in the pan, and stir in the shrimp paste until all pork has been covered. Cook for 5 minutes.


Served with hot, steaming rice...

Baking 101: Easy Bread Pudding

You have a week old left over bread, hard but without molds...what are you going to do with them? Throw them? Nope!

Why don't you make a pudding?

That's what I did with the week old loaf in the house. I just cut the bread into small pieces, put them inside in the individual sized ramekins, poured custard mixture, sprinkled some cinnamon and sugar on top, and baked them. How easy was that? You only need an hour to make this pudding.

Make some of these and you'll be happy to know that good things really come in small packages. Heaven...

Ingredients:
2 eggs
3 small cans of evaporated milk
2/3 cups of sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon mix with 1 tbsp of sugar
6 slices of "tasty" bread, sliced into small pieces

Procedure
1. Put the sliced breads into 5 individual sized ramekins. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, beat the eggs, and pour milk and sugar. Mix well.
3. Pour the milk mixture in the ramekins with bread. The bread will absorb the milk, once absorbed, pour more milk.
4. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar mixture on top.
4. Bake them at 350 degrees Farenheit for 30 minutes.

This can be served warm or cold.

Baking 101: Custard Cake

Custard cake is a chiffon cake covered with custard (an egg and milk mixture). It can be bought from the local pinoy bakeries. I was a frequesnt buyer of this when I was still a kid and it is still one of my favorite panaderya pastries. The silkiness of the custard goes well with the chiffon cake.

I have been wanting to bake chiffon cake but too afraid to do it because I might not beat the egg whites properly and the cake would turn flat and not fluffy...

But thanks to the video of Panlasang Pinoy, I was able to do it.

But being a first timer, here are some of the things that went wrong. hope you can all forgive me...hehe!
1. I burnt the caramel. I left the pan over the stove and washed the dishes. When I saw the pan, the caramel was burning hahah! I know it's weird, but after chilling the cake, the burnt caramel -- slightly bitter in taste, tasted good!
2. The cooking time from the site where I got the recipe is 60 minutes. I followed the temperature, pre-heated the oven and put the cake batter inside. After 20 minutes, I noticed that the cake cracked and the top is already brown but not burnt. I still baked it for another 15 minutes, feared to underbake it...but NOOO, I overbaked the cake...I wonder what went wrong...was the cooking time wrong? maybe...
3. See those ridges in the custard? That's because I did not use the baine-marie method. I have a small oven and a bigger pan wont fit inside. Next time I'll bake them in ramekins.

Overall, never mind the (slightly) bitter taste of the burnt caramel, the cake is delicious and divine! I will definitely bake this again...don't laugh at the picture...the cake deserves a second chance ahahahah!

Here's the recipe for the classic Pinoy custard cake. For this recipe I was able to fill an 8x8 and 11x7 pans.

Ingredients:

Caramel

1/2 cup sugar for each pan

Custard

6 pcs eggs

1 big can condensed milk

1 cup fresh milk

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Cake

for the batter

6 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar, you can make it 3/4 cups if you want it sweeter.

11/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup milk (I used evaporated milk) mixed with 1/4 cup water

1 tsp lemon rind (optional, but recommended)

for the meringue

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

Procedure: 

CARAMEL

1. Place the baking pan on top of stove over medium heat.

2. Pour the sugar until melted. Set aside.

CUSTARD

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the caramel. Set aside.

CAKE

Cake Batter

1. Sift cake flour and baking powder together in a bowl. 

2. In another bowl, with a wire whisk, beat the yolks and gradually add sugar while beating.

3. Alternately add the cake flour mixture and the milk and water mixture to the egg and sugar mixture (too many mixtures, hope my instruction is clear). It should begin and end with the cake flour mixture. Mix until well combined.

4. Mix the lemon rind. Set aside. 

Meringue

You can now preheat the oven to 350 degress Farenheit.

1. In a bowl, pour the egg white and add the cream of tartar. 

2. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat the egg white until soft peaks form.

3. While continue beating, gradually add the sugar until the meringue is shiny and firm

4. Add a cup of the cake batter to the meringue and gently fold it in the meringue until combine. Continue adding the batter, then fold again until all the batter has been used up.

5. Pour the mixture over the caramel and custard and spread evenly. 

6. Put the pan in a larger pan. Halfway fill the larger pan with water. 

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Cool and chill before serving. 

Enjoy!

Baked Herbed Chicken Strips

Last Friday morning, on my way to the FX terminal, a neighbor (an old woman) greeted me good morning and casually said "tabachingching" (cutesie patootsie way of say fat). I smiled at her and jokingly said, "wala po kasi makain sa bahay heheh!" (I don't have anything to eat in the house e). And I continued to walk.

After 15 steps, another neighbor greeted me again and said "Kumars tumataba ka yata?" (You're getting fat?) Poor me, all i can do was to smile.

Before reaching the pharmacy, another person called me by saying "taba" (Fat)!

KABLAG! BOOM! OK enough! I quickly decided to go on diet again! For 3 people to say that to me on the same day, in 15 minutes, I confirmed that yes, I gained too much weight na!

Since I don't feel like going into Southbeach Diet now (I have cupcake projects coming up! and I have to taste them!), I will cut down my carb intake but I will make sure that the taste of the food that I'll eat will not suffer.

I browsed my books and the internet for the easy to make but still tasty recipes that at the same time will help me push my weight down.

For the first entry, I'll have the Baked Herbed Chicken Strips. Very tasty and easy to make. I just mixed all the coating in a plastic put the egg dipped chicken strips and broil them. They are done in 20 minutes! I found this wonderful recipe from this website. She used chicken tenders, a portion from chicken breast. What I used is just the whole chicken breast and then cut them into strips.

Here's the recipe for the chicken...


Ingredients:
2 chicken breast, cut into strips
Salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup panko or Japanese bread crumbs.
2 tbsps Italian herbs, I used McCormick
Salt to season the breading
2 tbsps olive oil

Procedure:
1. Wash and drain chicken breast. Cut into strips and then season with salt and pepper.
2. Combine the Italian herbs, bread crumbs and salt in a plastic bag. Shake well.
3. Dip the chicken breasts in the egg and transfer them into the breading mixture and shake them to coat the meat well.
4. Transfer the meat in the baking pan and drizzle with olive oil.
5. Broil for 15 minutes or until the coat turns brown.

Serve with gravy or with vegetable salad. You can also make a chicken sandwich with this recipe. Just put veggies, a lowfat mayonnaise, pickles and this chicken in wheat bread and you'll have you hearty and guilt free sandwich..

Enjoy!

Brocolli in Garlic and Olive Oil

This one is a great side dish and very very easy to make. Aside from the brocolli, this involves 4 ingredients only...garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. The ingredients will bring out the natural flavor of the vegetable.

I served this last night together with the tempura.

Here's the recipe;

Ingredients

1 medium head brocolli, cut and sliced in florettes
5 cloves garlic
5 tbsps olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Instruction
1. Wash the brocolli thoroughly. I've got a tip from my mom that to make sure that the vegetables will be bug-free, you can soak the vegetable in water with a tablespoon of vinegar for 10 minutes. After that, wash again with running water.
2. Cut the brocolli in small florettes.

fresh brocolli florettes

3. Heat the pan, add the olive oil and garlic.
4. Add the brocolli, stir fry until you reach the desired doneness of the vegetable. I like mine to be half cooked.

5. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve hot!!!

Easy Tempura

We bought shrimps (...again! we really love shrimps) and instead of cooking the buttered shrimps and the ginataan hipon, I tried the tempura.

Tempura is deepfried dish of vegetables or seafoods. To make them crispy, each will be dipped in batter - a mixture of water, egg, flour and salt,  before deep frying. What makes the tempura delicious is the dipping sauce. The original dipping sauce includes dashi and mirin, but since Japanese stores are nowhere to be found in my area, my Nora Daza cookbook saved my day!

If you want to maintain the crispiness of the tempura, try rolling them in japanese breadcrumbs, called panko. That's what I did and it really did make the tempura more crispy.

So here's the recipe, try it!

Ingredients
For the tempura
15 pcs shrimps (suahe type)
salt and pepper

Batter
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup water
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of panko for coating the shrimps

Procedure
Shrimp
1. Shell, devein and wash the shrimps. I butterfly cut the shrimps by making a slit at the back. Do not take off the tails. Season with salt and pepper, then prepare the batter.

deveined and butterfly-ed shrimps 

2. For the batter, combine all the ingredients and mix well.

Batter


3. Heat oil in the frying pan or deep fryer. The shrimps must be submerged in hot oil to achieve an even golden brown crust. Aside from that, we want soft and juicy shrimps and if you have insufficient oil, tendency is to have a longer cooking time resulting to dry and tough shrimps.

Anyway, once the cooking oil is hot, cooked the tempura until golden brown.

4. To remove the excess oil, place them in a kitchen paper towel.

Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup hot water
1 chicken boullion cube
2 tbsps soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tbsps grated radish

Just mix everything and that's it!!

Hope you'll like it!

Blogging thru iPod touch

Yay! I can update my blog thru iPod! I am testing if its working! i cannot upload picture with the lite version though!

Baking 101: Double Chocolate Muffins

Note: I pulled the picture and recipe from my flickr account.

This is my second try of Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Chocolate-chip muffins. The first one was a failure. I followed the recipe religiously, but wondered why the muffins were bland.

So after checking the video of her's, found out that she actually used 1 and 3/4 cups of sugar. In food network's site, it was written there that she used only 3/4 cup of sugar.

I wonder what's written on her book...hmmmn...

check the video below.



So after a week of  eating those not so yummy muffins, because I don't want to just put them to trash, I then again found the guts to bake them. I used a good quality cocoa powder and chocolate chips, followed the correct recipe and yes, I finally found heaven in those muffins...

Before baking them, I made sure to research on how to achieve those high and mighty dome shape that a perfect muffin should have. So I found out that instead of setting the temperature to the usual 350-375 degrees F, you will have to set it to 400degrees F to "shock" the batter. You have to keep the high temperature for 10 minutes. The batter will rise rapidly and will create the dome. After that, temperature must be dropped to 350 degrees F until you pull them out of the oven.

And the result? The lovely crusted but moist muffins.

Another tip which I will try next time, because I just found that after I baked them, is to completely fill the muffin cups with the batter. Usually, in baking cupcakes, the cups must be 3/4 full so it won't spill. But for muffins, you should fill them up. And it will make your muffins mushroom shaped. Gorgeous!

So here again is the link to the recipe. Please make sure add 1 more cup of sugar! 

Enjoy your freshly baked muffin!

Soda...Anyone?

I totally forgot that I have this genius little machine! My soda maker!!! I immediately pulled out the machine from tralala (cabinet) and started making mmm, well...soda!

If you are a soda drinker, it is wise for you to buy this. It is a bit pricey, but think of the empty bottles that you are throwing...where will they go? Additional trash?

I am trying to be an environmentalist here...heheh! But seriously, if you have this machine, you will not be throwing bottles again. You will also be saving a lot of money in the near future. A liter only costs P20.00 ($0.44 approx), and you can have carbonated drinks anytime you want.

I cannot remember the price of this, since it was only a gift last christmas. More or less, it is around P3,000 ($67).

The kit comes with the following:
1. 2 reusable bottles, you can use them
 for 3 years before you replace them.
2. 3 trial flavors: lemon lime for sprite, cola for coke, and orange for royal. But now, i heard that it comes with 1 bottle of flavoring of your choice.
3. The carbonator cylinder, which can carbonate 60 liters of water. By the way, an empty cylinder can be refilled, and its a lot cheaper than buying a new cylinder.
4. And of course the Machine, mine is Jet.

It is very easy to make your own soda using this. Here's the procedure...
1. Fill the bottle with water until you reached the line.
2. Attach the bottle in the machine. That small white tube should be inside the bottle. The air that will make the water fizz will pass there.

                                         
                                               Here's the carbonator at the back of the machine.

3. Press the button 3 times until you hear a loud buzz.

4. The water is already carbonated by this time. You can now put a cap full of the flavoring. Pour it slowly, coz the carbonated water will sizzle out of the bottle if you pour it fast.

Here's my flavoring...

5. Cover and carefully shake the bottle to mix the flavoring into the water. Chill before serving.

Here's the soda...see those bubblets?

When I poured the flavoring, my son said that I was trying to make a potion...heheheh!

Shrimp in Coconut Milk (Ginataang Hipon)

My mom bought shrimps for dinner and she ask me to cook buttered shrimps, because it is my boy's favorite. But then I changed my mind and decided to introduce my little boy to ginataang hipon (shrimps cooked in coconut milk).

And good thing I did...my son loved it!

Originally, we are adding kamias to this dish. The sour taste of the fruit goes well with the taste of the coconut milk. But since it is not in season, I used an alternative, the pineapple chunks. The ginataang hipon was on the sweet side because of the pineapple chunks but it was A-OK! And ooops I used the canned pineapple by the way!

So, should I changed the name of the dish to "Hawaiian Shrimps in Coconut Milk"? 

hahahah!

This is actually a one pot dish, and can easily be prepared by busy moms. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 kg shrimps
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 can (234g) of pineapple chunks or tidbits or kamias (if available)
salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

1. Put coconut milk, water and pineapple in a pan and boil.
2. Once the liquid has been reduced to half, add the shrimps.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Simmer until little oil, from the coconut milk, appears.

Serve Hot!

Cookbooks and Food Magazines

Maybe you are wondering where in this world am I getting all these recipes. Some of them came from the internet... from my favorite food blogs and websites. And some from my mini collection of cookbooks and yummy magazines.

Let me share you my precious collection.

1. Booksale rocks!! This is where I bought my hardbound cookbooks. Prices range from PhP55-150, cheap eh? You just need to browse everything in the shelves ala ukay ukay shopping! These are my buys from the bookstore...

1. Muffin Cookbook - PhP145.00
2. Philadelphia Ultimate Cheesecakes - PhP90.00
3. Healthy Cooking for Your Kids - PhP55.00

The Cupcake Deck, P125.00, With 25 cupcake recipes inside

2. Baking Cookbooks from National Bookstores and gift from my sis. I haven't tried any recipes from these though. Soon...soon.

Taste of Home Fall Baking, gift from sis; Best Ever Chocolate Cakes & Slices and Classic Essential Cakes, both from National Bookstore

My Complete Cookie Jar, gift from my sis! I love this book!

3. For main dishes, here are my cookbooks...

Let's Cook with Nora, P295.00; and Sarap, both from National Bookstore

       I love my "Let's Cook with Nora" cookbook! My favorite is the sweet and sour pork! The taste of the dish is like the authentic one, coz it has this chinese-y taste Hehehe! I know it's easy to cook this even without the cookbook, but promise, the recipe is so good! OA but true!

Quick and Easy and Cuisine Weeknight Menus, gift from my sis

I haven't tried any dish from the two above, you know my picky eaters are not use to those herbs and spices...so I still have yet to introduce them to those H&S. So goodluck to me!

4. Collection of Yummy Magazine, "kanya-kanyang trip to" hahah! Every first week of the month, I make sure to buy this magazine. I only buy from Robinsons Department Stores, not because the magazine is not available elsewhere, but it's where I'm working! I have to buy from the company that feeds me! haha! If only my friend Pats can read this, she'll be proud of me! hahahah!

Yummy Magazines, P125.00, Robinsons Department Stores

 

 5. And lastly, don't laugh please! hhehehe I have been wanting this I swear! And because it's a bit pricey I did not buy it. But instead, I (with my fingers crossed) included this in our Christmas wishlist 2 years(?) ago. We were ask to write 3 gifts that we want to receive on our christmas party so the "mommy" will not have a hard time choosing what gift we will like. I wrote a lock and lock food keeper, another low-priced option and this book. I expected to get the food keeper, but no...when I opened my gift, I saw this...

TADAAA....!!!!

You know what? Because of this book I was able to shed 18lbs! hahha! Eh what happened? Why am i still fat (huhuhu)? Coz i got tired of waking up early to prepare my food. Next year, I'll try this diet again...weh di nga?

To all foodies out there, hope you enjoyed reading my short kwento (story)!

Baking 101: Chocolate Cheesecake - My New Found Love

Here's an addition to my cheesecake recipe collection...the chocolate cheesecake. I used the the basic cheesecake recipe from Dessert Comes First, added some chocolates and voila...a mouth-watering dessert! Yum-o! (borrow lang rachel ray heheheh!)

From this recipe, I was able to fill a 6-inch spring form pan and 9 cupcake liners.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

For the cheesecake
Make sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature.
2 - 8oz bars of cream cheese
1 can of condensed milk
3 large eggs
juice from 2 calamansi or lemon juice
120g semisweet chocolate (must be of good quality!!!)

For the Crust
1 1/2 cups crushed chocolate biscuits (crushed oreo or crushed hi-ro)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsps melted butter

Procedure

Crust:
1. Mix crushed cookies and sugar in a bowl.
2. Pour melted butter into the cookie-sugar mixture. Mix until well incorporated.
3. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom of the baking pan. Bake for 5 mins in a preheated oven (375 degrees F).
4. Set aside.

Cheesecake Mixture:
**Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
1. In a double broiler, melt chocolate. Cool.
2. Beat creamcheese with wire whisk or electric mixer until fluffy and lumps free.
3. Gradually stir in the condensed milk until smooth.
4. Add the eggs one at a time and the juice of calamansi. Mix well.
5. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
6. For spring form pan, bake the cheese for 50-55 minutes or until the center is jiggly.
    For cupcakes, bake for 20 mins.
7. Cool the cheesecakes before you chill them.

You can garnish it with whipped cream. I used whipped all purpose cream (eheheeh).

Taco Love (A simple taco recipe)

Taco, according to wikipedia, is a traditional Mexican dish composed of a corn or wheat tortilla folded or rolled around a filling. It can be made with variety of fillings, including beef, chicken, seafood, vegetable and cheese. This Mexican dish is so versatile. And the most exciting part is you won't be needing any utensils in eating this. 


I learned to love the taste of taco when I was in still in college. Our class used to sell this as part of our school project. 


Today I made this after craving for the taste of beef in a hard shell taco. We went to the grocery and bought the basic ingredients to make it. Basic, why? because we don't eat the other ingredients. The ingredients included in my taco are the same ingredients that you can find in Pancake house...oh well as far as i can remember.


Here' the recipe for the Taco.


Makes 12. 


Ingredients


1 box of hard shell taco (12 pcs)
400g ground beef
salt and pepper to taste
About 2-3 tbsp soy sauce
lettuce, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
tomatoes, chopped
grated cheese
onion (optional)
hot sauce (optional)


Procedure:


1. Heat oil in a medium heat. Saute onion and garlic.
2. Add ground beef, stir until it turned to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add soy sauce (adjust according to taste). 
3. The meat will sweat, simmer until all the liquid has evaporated.
4. Remove from fire and set aside.


To assemble, put 2 tsps of meat in the hard taco shell, add the vegetables and top with cheese and hot sauce (optional).


Yummy!


Have you tried making your own tacos? 

Cheesy and Meaty Lasagna

My first lasagna EVER! Congratulations to me yay!

I was afraid and intimidated to make this pasta dish, until I decided to give it a try and if it will be a success, this will be my son's birthday handa. And if i fail, i will go back to my usual pinoy style spaghetti. E buti na lang successful! hahah! So it's final...this will be Joey's birthday pasta.

But I will never ever use the San Remo no cook lasagna noodles! The 45minutes cooking time was not enough to make the noodles soft. It felt like chewing uncooked rice...yuck! I strictly followed the cooking suggestion in the box..."to make sure that every pasta will be covered by the sauce to absorb the moisture". But no!!! I returned the lasagna in the oven and baked it for another 25 minutes, and left it inside the oven for another 10 minutes so the heat can still penetrate to those uncooked portion. Waste of power (lagot ang electric bill) and energy!

The sauce was great...cheesy and meaty! ♫♫That's the way a-huh a-huh I like it a-huh a-huh ♫♫! hahah!

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 boxes of 250g oven ready lasagna noodles. I used san remo...haay..
For the Meat Sauce
1/2 kilo ground beef
5 cloves garlic
2 small onions
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1 can of button mushroom, sliced
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup (approx) tomato paste
1 1/2 cups broth, I used chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
a teaspoon of sugar, to neutralize the acidity of the sauce (optional)

For the White Sauce
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1 cup cream of mushroom
2 cups of water
salt to taste
1/2 cup of hot water

Grated quickmelt cheese
grated parmesan cheese(optional). I just happened to have a near expiry parmesan, so I used it na lang.

Procedure:

Meat Sauce
1. Saute garlic and onion in olive oil, until onion turned transluscent.
2. Add the ground beef, break them into pieces. Let the meat "sweat" and turn into light brown.
3. When all the juices evaporated, add the basil and oregano and chopped mushrooms. Saute for another 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste and broth. If the sauce is too thick for you, add water.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Taste. Add sugar if you want to lessen the acidity, which I did.
5. Simmer for 5 minutes or less. Set aside.

White Sauce
1. In a pan, over low heat, melt butter. Add the flour. Make sure to constantly stir the mixture with a wire whisk to avoid lumps.
2. Once the mixture is paste-like, add 2 cups of water little by little while continuously whisking the mixture.
3. Stir in the milk and cream of mushroom.
4. Season with salt.
5. Simmer until slightly thick.
6. While it is cooling, it might become thicker. You can add hot water to thin the sauce a bit.

Assembly
**note: I used a 12x8x2 inches baking pan.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Pour enough white sauce to cover the bottom of the pan.
2. Lay about 3-4 noodles in the pan. They must be slightly overlapping.
3. Spread the meat sauce, making sure that the noodles will be well covered.
4. After the meat sauce, Spread a thin layer of the white sauce.
5. Sprinkle the grated cheese.
6. Repeat the procedure until all the noodles have been used up. The layering must end with the white sauce. Then sprinkle generously with grated quickmelt cheese and parmesan cheese.
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45minutes-1 hour.
8. Remove from oven and cool a bit for 15 minutes before serving, so the pasta will stay firm and nice looking heheheh!

Enjoy!!!

My Favorite Cheesecake Recipes

I have mentioned before that cheesecake is my favorite dessert of all time. I like it with fruits on top and plain. yum yum!


Eversince I learned to bake this rich and decadent dessert, I never bought the commercially made cheesecakes. Thanks to the following sites, where I got my 3 best cheesecake recipes.

1. Joy of Baking



2. Homecooking Rocks - i also sent this picture to the blogger, to thank her for the cheesecake recipe! Thanks again!


3. Lastly, from Dessert Comes First. I don't have a picture of the cheesecake, but it was also equally good!

Try any of the recipe from the above mentioned blogs, and be a little adventurous with the toppings and I'm very sure that you'll have the best cheesecake! Trust me!

Baking 101: Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

This recipe was taken from yummy magazine, June 2009 issue. I was browsing my Yummy mag collection when I saw this recipe. We have lots of bananas that will be rotten in 2 days, so the recipe was just in time.

Since all of the ingredients are available, I did not waste time na to bake this.

I followed the recipe, except for the oil. I used canola oil instead of the corn oil.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 
Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 350degrees F. Line and grease 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan.
1. Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips) in a bowl. Stir to mix.
2. In another bowl, mix the brown sugar with the canola oil. Add eggs one at a time, stir in vanilla and the mashed bananas.
3. Add the flour mixture in the banana mixture, stir until well incorporated.
4. Transfer the mixture in a loaf pan.
5. Bake for 45 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

The recipe is simple right? Try it and give me some feedback. 

Menudo Mania

I love my mom's menudo. And for me, it's the best menudo ever. The meat is so tender, and the sauce is so tasty. That's the reason why I really made an effort to learn this dish.

She was in the States, when I first cooked this. I YMed her just to dictate the recipe to me. After i read the recipe, I found out that there was nothing so special about the ingredients. In fact, she did not include the other ingredients found in other Menudo, just the potatoes and carrot. It might be in the process of cooking? ...maybe?

Again, this is the shortcut version of the popular Filipino stew.

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 kgs pork, menudo cut
4 tbsp Soy sauce
Juice from 3 pcs of small calamansi
3 cloves garlic
1 small sized onion
1 cup water
1 medium sized potato, cut into cubes
1 medium sized carrot, cut into cubes
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
 1/2 cup tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste.

 Procedure
1. Marinate meat in soy sauce and calamansi juice for about half an hour. I think this is the secret. The soymansi mixture will be absorbed by the meat.
2. Saute onion and garlic, add the marinated meat, set aside the soymansi mixture. Saute until the meat is half cooked. Add the bell pepper, water and the soysauce mixture. Cover and cook until the meat is tender.
3. Add the potatoes and carrots, simmer again until half cooked.
4. Add the tomato sauce, and mix until well incorporated. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer again for 3 minutes.
5. Serve with steamed rice!

Kid Friendly Meal: Mixed Vegetables (A Lazy Cook's Chopsuey)

This is the second post for kid friendly recipe. This is actually a quick version of the famous chopsuey. I omitted the meat and shrimps, because that's the usual left over when we eat chopsuey...weird huh?

Actually, I don't know how to cook chopsuey. After searching the recipe from the internet, i found out the recipe that you'll find in this post is easier to make than the traditional recipe. I am not saying that this is another way to cook chopsuey, but the result looks like chopsuey..and it's the sauce that made this different from the traditional one.

Instead of using cornstarch to thicken the sauce, I used mushroom soup. Yes...the mushroom soup added twist to the dish.

Ingredients
1 medium sized carrot, sliced
1 medium sized chayote, sliced
half a head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 bell pepper, julienned
about 10 strings of Baguio beans
1/4 cabbage, cut into big strips
1/2 can of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 medium sized onion



Procedure
1. Saute onion and garlic in oil until onion turned transluscent.
2. Add chayote, carrots and bell pepper. Saute for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the water and the mushroom soup, mix until the two liquids are well incorporated. Simmer until the vegetables are half cooked.
3. Add the cauliflower and Baguio beans. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until you achieved the desired doneness of the vegetables.
4. If the sauce became too thick, add a little water.

Serve hot!

Kid Friendly Meal: Cheesy Vegetables

My last two posts will be about vegetables. These are my boys' favorite and again, super easy to make and I'm sure your family will also like these, specially your picky eaters.

The first one is the Cheesy Vegetables. Everyone I know loves cheese and that includes my family! I got this recipe from my mom-in-law, and I introduced this to my son, as soon as he learned how to eat solid food. 

This recipe is basically just a buttered vegetable. The addition of the cheese made this dish kid friendly. 

Best served with fried dishes and rice.

Ingredients

1 large carrot, cut in cubes

1 large potato, cut in cubes

half of a medium sized head of cauliflower, cut into small florets.

about 10 pieces, Baguio beans, cut into thirds

2-3 tbsps butter

about half a cup of grated cheddar cheese

salt, adjust according to taste

Procedure

1. Steam carrot and potato. When half cooked, add the cauliflowers and baguio beans. Transfer the vegetables into a bowl once you achieved the desired doneness of the vegetables. I like our's to be half cooked.

2. While the vegetables are steaming hot, add the butter and season with little salt. You have to go easy on the salt, since cheese will still be added. We do not want to have salty veggies, right?

3. Add the grated cheese, mix until well incorporated...you can add more if you like!

4. Taste and adjust the salt.

That's my son's plate in the picture. The vegetable was served with the humble galunggong.

Homemade Ghirardelli Ice Cream

I made ice cream when I was 9. It was a vanilla ice cream made with coconut milk, powdered and condensed milk and vanilla extract. It turned out OK but a bit...errr...salty. hahaha! But my dad said it was delicious or maybe because he didn't want to hurt his little bunso's feeling hehehhe!


After 22 years, I tried making the ice cream again. I searched for the best recipe (i think!) and i decided to try chocolate ice cream. I used Ghirardelli baking chocolate (a padala from my sister) and it really did wonder to the ice cream promise! Sorry, but i think I browsed from too many sites and i forgot where i got this recipe...


Hey! making a homemade ice cream is not a joke, especially if you do not have an ice cream maker (argh!). You will need at least 3 hours before you'll have a taste of it. You need to freeze-beat, freeze-beat every 40 minutes. But who cares, I enjoyed the whole process! heheheh!


Try this and give your kids a treat!


This recipe can fill a 700ml ice cream tub.


Ingredients



1 cup of milk
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg yolks
3 oz bittersweet Ghirardelli baking chocolates, chopped (semi-sweet chocolates will do great too!)
2 cups cream, I used all purpose cream.
1 tsp vanilla


Procedure


Before doing this, you will need to chill a stainless wide and shallow pan or bowl.


1. Combine milk, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to simmer.


2. Place the yolks into a bowl and gradually mix half of the hot chocolate liquid. At this point, you need to continuously beat the egg yolks to prevent it from curdling. (I think this is what they call tempering of eggs -- so it wont curdle and you won't end up with scrambled egg.)


3. Return the egg yolks mix to the milk mix and continue heating until thick. It should cover the back of the spoon. Do not boil the mixture.


4. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate. Pour the mixture into the chilled bowl and refrigerate (do not freeze) for 2hrs until cold.


5. When the chocolate has completely cooled, add the cream and vanilla and mix it thoroughly with an electric mixer or with a wire whisk.


6. Freeze the ice cream. When the ice are beginning to form at the side of the pan, take it out from the freezer and beat it. Put it back to the freezer. Beat it again after 40 minutes. Repeat the freeze-beat process 3 times.


7. Once you achieved the creamy texture of the ice crea, transfer it to an ice cream tub and freeze until ready to serve.