What is in your sandwich?

Allow me to share the best-to-date sandwich I have crafted. Guilt-free, very healthy, easy and (again) the yummiest sandwich I made. It looks and tastes awesome!

This is a seasonal sandwich because of the avocado, but this would be a variation to the usual avocado shake or cold salad (i'm not even sure if that milk, mashed avocado, with sometimes mango, concoction that we seasonally make is called salad. hahaha) that we Filipinos anticipate to have during avocado season. In fact, I think, we Filipinos only concoct shakes and cold salad out of good old avocado..or at least that's what I have observed growing up.

Well, we discover little things everyday. And I surely would add this to the recipes I would anticipate to make every avocado season.

You'll Need:
2 slices of whole wheat bread
2 leaves of romaine lettuce (you could also use iceberg lettuce, or arugula. though arugula maybe too strong for this)
cheddar cheese
S&P
marinara sauce (optional)
the marinara sauce is left-over from the previous days' spaghetti. if you have one handy, let it join the party then!

You'll Do:
Simply, layer your lettuce, avocado and cheese on top of the bread, sprinkle it with S & P, and DONE!

Enjoy, guilt-freely! :)

xoxo

Mango and Pandan Sweets

I know, I know, its been decades. I have been turn between work, home improvement, blog reading, marathons with a long list of tv series (not to mention the a lot of series are starting a new season this quarter) trips (work and pleasure) newly ventured activities (which I would be telling you soon) and a whole lot of other things that would and could justify my absence. Hahaha But it doesn't mean that I'm away that I have zero stories to tell. Believe me I have a lot.. alright, lot is too big of a word, let me use "few" instead. So yeah, I have compiled few. And to start with.. here is a sweet dish I tried over Halloween.

Mango and Pandan Sweets

This has been something I wanted to do, Halloween came and I made it my excuse to whip this up. :) This is a simple dish requires 5 ingredients only. Prep time is longer though because you need to chill it before serving.

You'll Need:
Prep Time: 20 mins + at least 2 hours for chilling

L-R: Condensed Milk, All Purpose Cream, Ripe Mangoes, Cheddar Cheese, Gelatin -Buko Pandan flavor

You'll Do:
Step 1: Prep the jelly according to the packaging. Or not so according to the packaging :) My first batch was a bit more solid because I strictly followed the ratio instructed in the packaging. Tip: If you're going to use the same brand as I used above, add half a cup more water to achieve the perfect gelatin texture.

Step 2: Slice the pandan jelly, mangoes and cheese into cubes. The gelatin and mangoes into 3/4 an inch and the cheese in 1/4 and inch thick. A little trick to get the best shape off your mangoes.

Use a glass to peel the skin. Insert it on one side and just push the glass up to the other tip of the sliced mango.

Step 3: Combine all ingredients then chill for at least 2 hours. Tip: Don't freeze it as the chilled gelatin becomes soggy when served in room temperature.

Easy breezy, but enough to satisfy the sweet craving. Enjoy!

xoxo

Addicted to Corn

Over the weekend, I bought a few fresh corn in a husk from the weekend vegetable market near our place. I have been wanting to recreate a dish I saw from one of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservation episodes.

On the show he featured a spicy fried corn (from one of his Mexican city trips I can't specifically recall where anymore), but since I am not more of a spicy gal, I tweaked it a bit. I went to the healthy crunchy fried corn route.

This dish is easy peasy and done in 5 minutes! Its a one-two dish yet its totally refreshing and healthy. Promise.

Sauteed Corn with Refreshing Cucumber Slices

You'll Need:
Corn
garlic, minced
onions, minced
a little oil
Salt and Pepper
Cucumber

You'll Do:
Step 1: Saute Garlic and Onions.
Step 2: When onions are translucent, add the corn and saute for 3-5 minutes.
Step 3: Before serving, add the slices of cucumber and a pinch of salt.

Told yeah its easy! Enjoy.

xoxo

Pesto Chicken Roll with Buttered String Beans

I Got Bored. - Thus the new layout. lol.

So, in line with the new look, let me share another recipe (its been a while!). I realized I had a lot of new cooking sessions that I haven't shared yet. And while deciding which I would post first, (again) I had a realization -my cooking had been nowhere farther than Pasta and Chicken. There are those occasional variations, of course, and not that the world don't need another Pasta dish, or Chicken, but it seems that I have been pretty bounded by these two favorite ingredients of mine. Remind me to explore more!

Alright, for our first dish. Let's have Pesto Chicken Roll with Buttered String Beans.

You'll Need:
For the Chicken Dish
Boneless Chicken Breast (halved and filleted thinly)
Pesto Sauce Mix, dissolved in 3-5 tbsp of water (I use McCormick)
Oil for frying
S&P
toothpick

For the Buttered String Beans
String Beans (clean the ends)
Butter
3 cloves of Garlic (minced
1 large Red or White Onion (sliced)
S&P

You'll Do:
For the Chicken Dish
Step 1: Spread half a teaspoon of the Pesto mix on one end of the chicken fillet then roll it. Secure the roll with toothpicks. Do this with the rest of the fillets.
Step 2: Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Fry the chicken roll for 2-3 minutes (depending on how thick the roll is) on each side.
Step 3: Let it rest for a few minutes before cutting the chicken.

For the Buttered String Beans
Step 1: In a boiling water, blanch the string beans for a 2-3 minutes.
Step 2: Drain then submerge the beans into cold water to stop the cooking process. This process gives the beans that crisp green color too.
Step 3: In a non-stick pan, melt the butter and once melted, add the garlic and onions. Saute until the onions are nearly translucent.
Step 4: Toss in the beans. Add salt and pepper and saute it for a few minutes more.

And here's how you will plate it :)

Enjoy!!!

xoxo

Healthy Eating: Chicken Pesto Pasta + Simple Cabbage Salad

Hello blogosphere! I'm still here. =) My apologies for being MIA for a while.

Anyways, I am back with a vengeance, este, with recipes -yes plural! That thing that kept me from blogging, had kept me from cooking too. Its been quite a while, I missed them both terribly. Thank God for this Sunday (I have a lot to thank for!), am glad for some "me" time. =)

Awryt, awryt.. so here's my come back post.

For a little background... Sunday lunch is the best meal of the entire week -that's one of the traditions of our lil family started. And because of that, Sunday lunch has become the most thought of and anticipated meal of the week.

Friday, when I told hubby that we will have Pasta today on Sunday. I planned to use the few left over ingredients from last New Year's Eve cooking for our Pasta Sunday. Then, Sunday came, I opened our fridge and realized, we had an "abundance" of Cabbage too. That's were I though, I should do a combo of pasta and salad. *wow, this is my first combo feature.


So, the Chicken Pesto Pasta..

This has been one of my go to Pasta recipe when I have palates to satisfy but I don't feel like trying something new. The other go to Pasta is of course, the staple in every Filipino home, the spaghetti.


You'll Need:

You choice of Pasta. Cook according to "manufacturer".

The left over ingredients -All Purpose cream and Pesto sauce mix + Onions and Garlic

Oregano, S&P
*late sa pictorial na si Basil and  Boneless Chicken Breast

~I had to add dried Basil because I only have 30g Pesto mix and it won't be enough for a 500g Pasta.
~My original recipe didn't Oregano in it too. I just experimented with before and discovered that it would add tang and sweetness to the mixture. Since then, I have been adding it, but it won't hurt the flavor if its absent though.

You'll Do:
Slice the Chicken Breast into long strips and saute them together with the onions and garlic until the Chicken is lightly browned.
Add a cup of "pasta stock" (the water you used to bring your pasta to life).
Prepare the Pesto mix according to manufacturer, add them to the chicken and bring them all to a simmer. Once you can see little bubbles, lower the fire and add the All Purpose Cream.
Add a teaspoon of Oregano and Basil. *I used more basil for this though since again, I am a bit short of Pesto mix. Taste it and if you feel like it, add more S&T.
Lastly, add the Pasta and mix them well.

Tip: White sauce based Pasta tends to look dry and actually dry up quicker than tomato based ones so always have a little more extra white sauce.

Now, for the Cabbage Salad..

This is a simple salad of Cabbage, Carrots and Red Bell Peppers tossed in Mayo, All Purpose Cream and Oregano. Pretty, right? =) It's a refreshing variety to the richness of the Pasta.

Enjoy!!!

xoxo

Copy That!: Fish Kebab

At my old blog's home, I used to have categorize for my food porns and food blogs. I am not sure why it took me this long to revive that here. Categorize (also reads as organizing ;) ) -definitely makes our lives easier.

Anyways, one of my categories was Copy That! .. from the phrase itself, these are recipes i saw on TV or online or food i've tasted at some resto or home that I am giving my own try and touch.

So for today's feature for Copy That! .. ta da.. hubby's Fish Kebab.

Yes, you saw this @ my Paskong Pinoy post

Yes, you read it right. This is not my touch to the recipe but my Sous Chef's (also known as hubby) touch to the Fish Kebab that we tasted at Tambuli last November. After tasting it, we had several talks on how we could replicate the dish and finally, Christmas Eve came, the perfect time to cook the dish 'his' own way. Yes again, you read it right. It was his own recipe and prep (with only my supervision as the Executive Chef hihihih shhhhh, don't let the Sous Chef read this!). I had no intention of posting this recipe since it wasn't mine share, but while he was preparing this dish, he had been proudly saying how sumptuous the dish would turn out and was teasing me na keso, the recipe would be one of my future posts and that I should be taking pictures.. blah blah blah! :) Yeah, I regretted not taking pics of the prep as it would do this post better justification sana (not that it lack it din). So here it is..

You'll Need:
Fish Cubes, preferably white meat (your choice of fish, we used Blue Marlin)
Green and Yellow Tomatoes, cubed
Red and Green Bell Pepper, cubed
White Onions, cubed
Skewers

For the marinade:
EVOO
Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper

You'll Do:
This is a fairly simple dish to make and with only a few ingredients to prepare.
Start with marinading the fish cubes with lemon juice, olive oil and S&P for minimum of 1 hour. I suggest to marinade the fish first before stacking them on the skewers as its a whole lot easier to marinade them.
After at least an hour, you may stack the fish, together with the cubed tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. Your choice of order too.
Season the tomatoes, bell peppers and onions with EVOO, S&T before grilling them. Grill each side for 2 minutes.

Enjoy!

Also, expect more recipes for this category and the rest of the food categories that I would be bringing in here: Invention and Healthy Eating

Taco Bar

My 2nd food post for the week.. Food Porn too.


The recent activities and celebrations gave me more opportunity to have new creations and recreate previous successful food experiments. So, for this blog's feature.. tan ta dan... Taco Bar! This is a "re-creation", from the successful "make your own taco night". First experiment model was sold out thus as a hypothesis the experiment was a success. As well as the succeeding "models". =) I believe, this recent model (and the source of these photo documentation) arrived to the same hypothesis! hahaha so scientific.

so mouth-watering, right?

This is one of the dishes I prepared for Papa's birthday beach party.. and presentation was more of a Taco Bar but the concept of making your own Taco was still kept.

You'll Need:
For the Beef Salsa:
1/2 kl Ground Beef
1 can of your favorite Tomato Sauce
6-8 large near ripe Tomatoes
1 red Onions
2 cloves of Garlic
Salt and Pepper


For the Taco Garnish:
1 large White Onions, julienne
1 medium/large Lettuce
1 block of Cheese, grated


You'll Do:
Slit the tomatoes skin, length of 1-2 inches is enough. In a pot of boiling water, drop the tomatoes for 5 seconds, just so the skin would separate from the actual tomato. Remove from the boiling water after 5 seconds and submerge it in ice cold water to cool down the tomatoes and stop the cooking process. Peel them once they're manageable to work on and cut into chunks. I love using near ripe tomatoes because you can actually feel the tanginess of the tomato even if it is incorporated with the store-bought tomato sauce. 


Cook the Beef like you are cooking the Spaghetti sauce. Saute the garlic, onions and beef until the juices of the beef will disappear. Add the tomato sauce and bring it to a simmer. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add the chunks of tomatoes and leave it over fire for no more than 1 minute. There is no need to cook the chunks of tomatoes, you just want them to be incorporated with the sauce..

Assemble the Taco as you wish.. However, a piece of advise -we eat with our eyes so having an enticing presentation sends signal to our brain that what we are eating is *yumyum!!! Plus it makes you (the cook) look like a pro. whahah

So, here is my arrangement. Taco-Lettuce-White Onions-Beef Salsa-Cheese

A Healthy Way

An apple on your cereal, or some sultanas, more salad on your sandwiches, or a banana.. la la la..


That's the lyrics of that Children song advocating eating fruits and veggies. I say it's a good campaign for kids and kids at heart..anything promoting health is, well, good! Experts always say a balance diet should have this and have that.. bla-blah..blah.


Yeah, I get that! But. It. Is. Hard! With Jollibee, KFC and all those fastfoods and their mascots calling you.. Adding to that those quick snacks and bfasts that coffee shops offer now. I mean its easy, fast and accessible. Its hassle free food and service! Who can say No to that? One can't wake up early everyday to go to the market, buy fresh stuffs and then prepare for healthy bfast or work snack or pack lunch. Diba? Plus, there are just days when we want to keep on "snoozing" the alarm clock until the last minute. I know health is important but our current society and set-up makes it almost not all the time practical to get healthy and fresh food. 


I find Henry Sy's idea of SM Fresh Market a great innovation for city peeps. But then, not everyday that one can go to SM and get their serving of fresh fruits or salad.


That is why again.. excuse my lots of "that-is-why", im trying to have continuity here.. hahah. Anyways, that is why my office's new concessionaire is a bliss! He or she (the owner) is a bliss for shamelessly copying Henry Sy's idea and bring it closer to the masa. =)

love the avocado season! You know that Avocados's fats are good fats.. and our old belief about it is nothing but a myth.. oh well, this topic might belong to another blog. we'll see.

It might be a no-originality business.. (a typically Pinoy style) i don't care! He is doing the majority of the population a big help. Yes majority! Who says that fruits and salads are for girls only? A lot of the people I came elbow to elbow with while selecting what goes into my paper container are men. real men! 

personal concoction/

I hope this concessionaire stays with our company until I am here.. whoopppsss! that was a bit selfish.. awryt, until there are peeps who aspire to eat fresh and healthy food. Ayan, generic na. =)

xoxo