Simple Mushroom Rice Dish

Last night, I made some mushroom rice, the recipe of which I found here. I just substituted some ingredients with ones that I had on hand. I used half a regular onion instead of the green kind and basil instead of parsley (I'm not sure if basil is really a substitute for parsley, but I decided to go on a whim). I later sprinkled my own serving with parmesan cheese, as recommended in one of the comments.

Broccoli Milanese As My German Translated It

I have been trying to feed my daughter more greens, but she won't accept them unless they've been juiced or puréed and then mixed with something like eggs so she can't tell that they're there. Anyway, knowing the above doesn't stop me from trying to feed them to her in a form otherwise. Yesterday, I made us some fries and broccoli milanese for lunch. I first came across the idea of broccoli milanese here ("In Lombardy, florets are dipped in egg, cheese and breadcrumbs and fried in butter to create broccoli Milanese."). I thought that certainly seemed a tasty way of serving broccoli. However, when I googled for a more specific recipe, the ones I found were this, which is kind of far from what my original source described, and this, which is in German. Would you believe I ended up following the German recipe? No, I don't speak German, but I can guess what most of the words meant having been exposed to German talk while a member of the UP-Deutscher Verein in college. Also, there was Google Translate. At the end of the day, the verdict was 50-50. I loved it while Marguerite simply picked at the cheesy breading. I think it's mostly a texture problem with her because taste-wise she really doesn't seem to have an issue with veggies.

Nutrijell Strawberry Jelly

I was about to grab the usual gelatin brand when I noticed this packet. NutriJell is from Indonesia and has the Halal mark. I normally think (without knowing anything about it, lol) that Halal is better than not Halal, but I thought I'd try it anyway since it also boasts of being enriched with fiber, vitamins, calcium, and prebiotics.

Basically, you just mix the powder with sugar, add water, boil, add fruity acid, and pour into mold. It sets quickly and it seems to be more dense than the usual gelatin. Color-wise, it's more of that orange color, but I think it's because I used brown sugar. Taste-wise, my daughter prefers it to Jello, but maybe I just messed up the Jello somehow, lol.

Sesame Cream Dory

Another lovely fish I've encountered is the cream dory. I got about four slabs from the freezer and proceeded to follow a sautéed sesame fish recipe I got from a book called "Easy Meals in Minutes" (Time Life Books, 1997, Alexandria, VA, p.223 - or however you're supposed to cite; this is one other reason why I won't take a gig from a term paper mill). Here's the modified version:

Ingredients:
1/4 C flour-------------------------------------- 1 egg
1 t salt------------------------------------------- 1 T milk
1/4 t pepper------------------------------------ 2 T butter
four fish steaks (about 2 lbs total)------- 2 T vegetable oil
2/3 C breading
1/4 C sesame seeds

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge fish lightly in this. In another bowl, combine breading and sesame seeds. In a third bowl, beat the egg with milk. Dip fish into the egg mixture, then into the breading mixture, coating the fish completely.

In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium high heat. When butter and oil are hot but not smoking, add the fish and cook them until golden brown, about 5 mins on each side.

Mojos

Had a cup of gravy left over from last night, so I decided to make some mojo potatoes (it was either that or chicken and since we didn't have chicken...). They were a semi success because while they tasted good, they didn't look very attractive. I used two potatoes for this, sliced them into chips, coated them with a mixture of flour, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper, dipped them in beaten egg, and then coated them with breadcrumbs. Fried them in oil until the coating turned brown. I had to use my phone again for this picture because by that time, Marguerite had already taken three chips and if I had taken the trouble of getting the big camera, she might have already demolished the entire plate.

Leftover Morning

What? Another grainy picture? Now, it's just a case of being too lazy to get out the camera. So, today is leftover morning. I made some fried rice using some oil, 2 cloves of garlic, a fourth of a large onion, a small chip from a chicken broth cube, a handful of mixed vegetables, canned tuna, leftover rice and soy sauce. No clear recipe here because I just started tossing in the ingredients, very haphazardly, I might add, but in the order that I listed them down here. Would you believe it turned out edible?

Graham Cream Fruit Dessert

This is something I usually make when I get a craving for cake and there isn't a "real" cake handy. I don't know what it's called (although the closest thing I found on the web would be this easy crema de fruta recipe), but my Mom and my sister have been making it forever sans the fruits (although sometimes they would put in ripe mangoes). Basically you just layer a container with graham crackers, slather a cream and condensed milk mixture (up to you just how you proportion them, more condensed milk if you like it really sweet, of course) on top, add fruits (in my case, I used strawberries and bananas - my usual preference, even with smoothies):

Add another layer of graham crackers, repeating the process:

You just keep on doing it over until you run out of something, lol. The top should be the cream and milk mixture though. Dust with crushed graham crackers for the heck of it. Obviously this is a very flexible recipe. :)

Chill or freeze for a couple of hours so the cream won't be runny when you serve it.

Obviously, I'm temporarily back to my camera phone since Husband took off with the Nikon to take pictures at his friend's gig.

How Do You Like Your Tuna Spread?

I'm still a little out of it, hence the minimal activity in the kitchen. I got carried away doing chores the other day (while I was still getting over a bad cold) and it resulted in a mild asthmatic attack (I don't get serious ones anymore). Anyway, I've been doing simple stuff like potato chips and glazed carrots for Marguerite. And rice. Of course, you gotta have rice. For the most part, the lechon manok (roasted or turbo broiled chicken) that Husband brought home Monday night sustained me from then until last night, lol. In between, I make do with sandwiches and instant stuff. Speaking of sandwiches, I was wondering how you make your tuna spread (I can't get away from tuna, can I?). I love what my Mom makes, but I haven't been able to copy it. I just make do with my own version then. What I do is dump a can of tuna into a bowl, add some heaping spoonfuls of mayo, about a tablespoon and a half of brown sugar, and then grate some cheese over it. Since I'm of the philosophy that you can never have too much cheese (a belief that has punished me from time to time, lol) I just rub cheese and grater furiously for about half an hour (hehe, kidding!). I grind some black pepper over the ol' mess and then mix well.

I don't know if it can be seen in the picture, but there's a big slab of cheese somewhere in that sandwich. I'm not kidding about loving cheese. :)

What about you? Care to share your tuna spread recipe?

Mushroom Quesadillas And a Little Fun with Jello

Made a couple of mushroom quesadillas for dinner. I used this flour tortilla recipe (I prefer corn, but masa's hard to find here). Of course, I had my little helper, who treated the entire thing as sandbox-cum-playdough time; place was covered with flour in no time. I fried the mushrooms in butter. I made pico de gallo using 2 tomatoes, half a medium onion, a clove of garlic, salt, basil (didn't have cilantro), juice of half a lime. I basically just layered cheese, mushrooms, and pico de gallo between two tortillas.

For dessert, I served this Jello atrocity, the recipe of which I got from The Biggest Loser (this is a modified version of creamy layered squares). This is edible, but if you ask me what I have done today to make myself proud, it wouldn't be this. Next time I'll stick to Jello shots, lol.

No-bake Tuna Casserole

Having woken up at 4am yesterday, I was really beat when it was time to prepare dinner. I thought I'd make an easy no-bake casserole and got hold of the ever-present tuna and some pasta. I was inspired by this recipe, but had to adjust it, considering the ingredients I had on hand and the number of people who were going to eat.

Ingredients:
fistful of spaghetti
1 can cream of mushroom soup
handful of frozen mixed vegetables
1 can tuna, drained
1/2 C chicken broth

Cook the spaghetti and drain. Put the soup, broth, vegetables, and tuna in a pan and heat the entire mess, stirring to mix thoroughly. Mix in the drained pasta and serve. You can top with cheese if you wish.

Making Short Work of the Tagaytay Goodies

I had a salad for lunch and dinner yesterday (if you must know, I had ice cream, chips, and other junk too, so it wasn't really a healthy day, lol). Anyway, I just tore some lettuce, threw in some cucumber and tomato slices, some carrot sticks, some goat cheese chunks and drizzled that with the olive oil from the jar of herbed goat cheese.

Last night, had basically the same thing (smaller amount and I think I was too lazy to slice a tomato), but used this lime dressing instead.

Got to try the chicken and mushroom pie. It was okay. I think many people will really like it, but I would probably have liked it better if it had been cheesy.

The apple pie was good and was gone in no time. I could have gone a la mode, but I forgot that we had ice cream in the freezer, lol.

I hope you weren't expecting a proper review, lol. I usually have a great time with adjectives, but I'm pretty insecure about my knowledge of food and how they should taste.

Pies and Cheese from Tagaytay

On May 1 (Labor Day), we went to Tagaytay. We spent most of our time in Paradizoo, but we made a couple of other stops and two of them were at Thermos Bakeshop (which boasts of the best and most authentic English pies in the area) where I bought apple pies and a chicken mushroom pie, and at Mr. Moo's (right next door to Thermos) where I got a jar of herbed goat cheese in olive oil. Reviews to follow soon.