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.