Budget Meal: Spaghetti ala Pobre

Spaghetti ala Pobre? I added "ala pobre" because this is a poor man's spaghetti (pinoy style)! Nope, I did not use ketchup...i hate the ketchup based pinoy spaghetti. I still used the store bought spaghetti sauce but for the meat, instead of the usual ground meat, I used the canned corned beef.


I don't know why I love corned beef in my pasta...

This is my favorite "no-budget-pasta-meal" ever. Aside from the beefy goodness of the canned corned beef, It is pocket friendly also.

To all the wives out there who are in a tight budget but still wants a filling snack for the kids, you can give this pasta recipe a try.

Here's my recipe.

Serves 6-8.
Ingredients

1/2 kg spaghetti noodles
1 medium sized onion
3 cloves garlic
2 small cans of corned beef
2 250ml packs of spaghetti sauce, sweet style
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp of dried basil leaves
1/2 cup water
1/4 of a bar grated cheese

Procedure

1. Boil spaghetti noodles until al dente. Set aside.
2. Heat oil, saute onion and garlic, until onion turned transluscent.
3. Add the corned beef. Cook until the liquid evaporated.
4. Add the spaghetti sauce, season with salt and pepper. Add basil.
5. Add the water. This one is optional, I just added this oz i don't like thick spaghetti sauce.
6. Stir in the grated cheese.

Pour the sauce over pasta and sprinkle cheese on top.

Yum-O!

Popsicle Mold

I finally found this popsicle mold!!! I bought this mold from Saizen last friday. 2 months ago, I was also at the store looking for this mold, and the sales clerk told me that it's already sold out.

But I tried my luck again, I went to Saizen, and glad I did, coz  found them na! heheh!

                 Here's the popsicle mold without the plastic. That's the reusable stick that I am holding.

        For the "buena mano", I made a Chuckie Popsicle. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures of the frozen chuckie. But Joey had fun eating the popsicles!

            To those of you who wants to buy this popsicle mold, you can visit Saizen at Robinsons Galleria.

Beef Bulalo (Beef Shank Soup)

Beef Bulalo is definitely Filipinos' favorite comfort food. Beef shanks were boiled in onion and peppercorns until fork tender. It will usually take 2.5hours to boil the shanks. The long cooking hours will take all the juices from the bones and thus will make the broth very tasty. 

A classic Pinoy dish, but I am not sure if bulalo originated from pinoy kitchen. I'll make a research on that...and i'll post an update..promise!

So wifeys, have you tried cooking bulalo? If you want to hear ooohs and aaahs, here's a foolproof dish that you can try.

Here's my take on the classic bulalo.

Recipe:

1 1/2 kgs of beef shanks

2 medium size onions, quartered

peppercorns

salt, adjust according to taste

Fish Sauce (patis) - adjust according to taste

about 3 liters of water

2 medium sized potatoes, cut into wedges

1/4 cabbage

pechay (bokchoi?)

Procedure:

1. Boil beef shanks with onion and peppercorns. Season with salt and fish sauce. Boil until fork tender.

2. Add potatoes and boil for another 10 minutes. Taste the broth and adjust the taste according to your preference.

3. Add the cabbage and pechay. Turn the fire off. 

4. Serve hot.

If i am going to rate the difficulty of this dish, it's 3 out of 10. Super easy...try it now!

Buttered Shrimp

I used to post the recipes in my flickr account (oh by the way, I am also trying photography), but now I'm importing them one by one so I can have a big compilation of the recipes I've tried! Yay!

This one is my hubby's and my son's favorite, the buttered shrimp. Before, i used to put extra butter to make it saucy, because they like to put the sauce in their rice. But to lessen the cholesterol intake, I add olive oil instead of butter. Aside from the benefit that you get from this oil, it also adds flavor to the dish. The garlicky-buttery taste of the shrimp will make you ask for more rice.

This dish is actually yummy...and very easy to make.

Ingredients:

12 pcs or about 250grams of shrimp, preferably suahe (Greasyback shrimp)

6 cloves of garlic
1/2 stick butter
about 2 tbsp olive oil
1tbsp banana catsup (for color)
Salt and pepper

Procedure:
1. Over medium heat, put butter and olive oil in a pan.
2. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and sauté until light brown.
3. Add the shrimps, catsup, salt and pepper. Cook until the shrimps turned pink or orange.

Serves 3.

Baking 101: Chocolate Cupcake

My search for the chocolate fudgy frosting ala goldilocks is over. I sooo love the frosting that it almost did not make it to the cupcakes...oh well, I am not telling the truth. But really, I think i was able to consume 4 teaspoons of the frosting.


When I saw the recipe from here, I was quite challenged with the frosting. A lot of readers were not able to make the fudgy consistency...theirs was runny. I proved that patience is really a virtue. I had a good 25 minutes of stirring the frosting to achieve the spreadable consistency. But it was really worth it!

The cake itself was also good. It's not that sweet...it complements the sweetness of the frosting. But i'll experiment the next time buy adding half cup more of sugar.


These cupcakes are my post birthday cuppies. I'll bring them to the office tomorrow...

Some of these are dry, around 6 pieces, I overbaked them...sorry hehehe!.  

You can try making your own...here's the recipe. Very easy to make.

Ingredients for the Cake
1 cup Hershey's Cocoa
2 cups boiling water
2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
2 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter softened
2 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 pcs eggs, large
1/2 tsp vanilla

Procedure

1. Mix the Cocoa and boiling water until well incorporated and lumps free. Set aside and cool.
2. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder,and salt)
3. In another bowl again, cream butter, gradually add sugar, beat with mixer until light and fluffy.
4. With mixer at low speed, add eggs one at a time, mix thoroughly after each addition.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Alternately add the dry ingredients and the cocoa mixture. Mix thoroughly after each addition. Make sure to begin and end with dry ingredients.
7. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool completely before frosting.

Fudgy Frosting
1 can condensed milk
1/2cup cocoa
1/4 cup butter

1. Mix the milk and cocoa powder with wire whisk until you see no lumps
2. Cook in a double broiler (i used an improvised double broiler -- a smaller saucepan on top of a bigger saucepan half filled with boiling water). Continue stirring until thick, but not the yema thickness.It should still be spreadable.

3. Remove from fire, cool a little and spread it in the cupcakes.

Try this recipe and hope you'll like them.