Kitchen Newbie

Potato Chip Cookies

2011-01-13T09:10:00.000+08:00

These are potato chip cookies. My mom just tried making them, so it's not my recipe to share. They're okay, but I'm not so sure what the selling point would be - the crunch?

Fondue

2011-01-03T05:50:00.001+08:00

We used cheddar, bleu and comté. First, we melted half a stick of butter, added the cheeses and two cloves of garlic, splashed some zinfandel in, stirring the whole time... et fini. We dipped pieces of baguette and ham.

Seeing Red

2010-11-06T08:17:00.001+08:00

I think there have been too many strawberry desserts lately:

I made the strawberry hypocrite pie, tweaking this recipe. For the strawberry jam cake, I mostly followed this recipe. As for the cupcakes, they're actually store-bought and I just added buttercream frosting.

Cake Dilemma

2010-09-22T15:00:00.000+08:00

Today is my daughter's birthday, but between all the handmade gifts and other details, I was so exhausted and was not able to bake her a cake. My husband got one from a bakeshop and I just personalized it with an M and a fondant strawberry (will edit this later to add a picture). She asked for a birthday cake, but Mark got a mango one. I think I'll bake her a cake tomorrow or on Friday, a proper strawberry one. :)

Mark's Birthay Cake

2010-09-17T06:46:00.000+08:00

My husband recently celebrated his birthday and I decided to bake a cake instead of buying one. Since it's my first time making a birthday cake from scratch, I opted not to be too adventurous and just chose a simple white cake recipe. I wanted to do a fondant, but chose the uncooked recipe and that flopped. I should have paid attention when it said "for candy" (somebody was able to use it for cake though, accdg to the reviews). I should have just gone with the traditional cooked with gelatin version. Anyway, I was still able to produce an edible and "charming" cake. Here it is:

Vanilla Cake with Orange Vanilla Frosting

2010-08-28T05:36:00.000+08:00

This is the first cake I made after a long baking hiatus. I followed this simple vanilla cake recipe. For the frosting, I mostly followed this recipe, but added a bit of orange extract instead of doing the replacements indicated. It was a success although it didn't look very pretty. It was also a dense type of cake, in case you want to go for fluffiness.

Update on My Kitchen

2010-08-07T06:58:00.000+08:00

Long time no post... I have actually been busy in the kitchen. Now that we've moved back in with my parents, I hardly do any cooking at all. That's why I've mostly been focusing on baking. I know I'd cooked a few things in the old apartment that I didn't blog about here. However, I did blog about them over at Spinning Lovely Days, so go see:

Blueberry pancakes and Spanish tortilla

Cabbage quiche

Ratatouille

Now for the baking I've been doing:

Colcannon for St. Paddy's

2010-03-23T08:10:00.000+08:00

Hmm, just when I was thinking about retiring this blog, I publish another post. On St. Paddy's Day, Marguerite and I made Colcannon. Since I don't think I've even ever personally come across a curly kale, I used cabbage. Found my recipe here. Marguerite actually liked it. Have to keep that in mind. That's a good way to get cabbage in her.

Red Hots Apple Cider

2009-11-17T08:54:00.000+08:00

I have this need to smell cinnamon all the time around these months, lol. Also, I still have some more Red Hots in a secret stash (my aunt sends candy in bulk) that Marguerite doesn't know about. If I don't do something about them, they just might still be around when cockroaches take over the world. Anyway, had apple juice as well, so why not some apple cider?

I thought it was a nice ruby red, but it lacked embellishment, hence... topped with whipped cream:

That still wasn't enough, so I added twigs of cinnamon pretzels and sprinkles of chocolate shavings. You can see it here.

Strawberry Wine from Baguio

2009-11-12T10:46:00.000+08:00

Lookit! My cousin Cheska gave this to me when she got back from Baguio. It's strawberry wine. It may look harmless, like wine cooler or something like shandy, but it did daze me, lol. Probably because I treated it like a bottle of soda. It did leave the impression of being part strawberry syrup, part wine and mostly pink food color. :)

Do Grasshopper Pies Have Real Grasshoppers?

2009-11-07T09:23:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, Marguerite and I made a grasshopper pie. We were inspired by Teri Shuester in Glee gorging on grasshopper pie, pretending to be pregnant (yes, we - mother and daughter are both Gleeks - Marguerite's just all about the performances, of course). I didn't have marshmallow creme or peppermint extract, so I ended up just melting peppermint candy along with the milk and marshmallows.

Ingredients:

30 Oreos (pounded and crushed by a three-yr-old)

2 T melted butter

3/4 C milk

30 large marshmallows

4 pieces of peppermint candy

whipped cream

green food color (optional)

We mixed butter and Oreos, pressed the mess into the pie plate to make a crust. Heated milk, tossed in candy and marshmallows to make marshmallow cream (added green dye to make it look all minty). Poured that into the pie shell, and then covered that with whipped cream. We then crumbled another Oreo to garnish the thing. Voilà!

that's supposed to look green

you can see some of the green I meant peeking out

Okay, the thing is, we haven't tasted it yet. I'll just have to update you on that part. For now, we think it looks good. :)

Non-powdered Spiced Tea

2009-10-22T20:22:00.000+08:00

Obviously, I couldn't get a good picture of this thing. A little girl kept on trying to snatch the glass. That's spiced tea, btw. It's my variation of the usual spiced tea mix. We don't have powdered drinks here (except for Husband's ever present Nestea), so I didn't have the Tang or the powdered lemonade. What I did basically was just to brew lemon tea. I then added natural orange juice, muscovado sugar (sorry, I didn't measure - just kept on adding until just right), ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Since my allergies were acting up yesterday, I heated a mug up so I could drink mine hot. And no, I didn't give Marguerite tea. She was able to sneak in a sip and seemed to like it, but I gave her plain orange juice and she accepted the trade without any fuss.

Flaming Red Applesauce

2009-10-13T17:54:00.000+08:00

It's been a long time since I last made applesauce. This is not how I usually make it, but I was inspired by Supermommy's post. I had the red hots, the apples, and the water, so why not go for it? It smells wonderful. It's also great with dessert.

Tuna a la King

2009-10-09T08:00:00.000+08:00

Tuna a la king. It's a modification of a recipe I found online. I used frozen mixed veggies instead of just peas, and I also added a cup of chicken stock and some grated cheese. Last night, we topped it on rice and today, we put them on buttered toast.

Experience with Kesong Puti

2009-10-06T08:52:00.000+08:00

Hi, all! Look who's going to post an entry after months of absence! Anyway, still haven't concocted anything worth blogging about, but we did go to Laguna recently and went home with three bundles of kesong puti. We drove through at Jollibee (Pakil or thereabouts) and there was a young boy right beside the window selling them. We bought 3 bundles and waited a week before eating the things. They already smell spoiled, as a rule, and they supposedly do spoil easily, but to wait a week before consuming them was just plain, uh, adventurous. If you must know, we didn't suffer any ill effects. The spoiled smell wouldn't matter if you're a fan of stinky cheese, like I am (believe me, I've come across worse smelling cheese). Anyway, fried up the things and put them in between buttered slices of bread. They were good. But. That big bundle holding these puny blobs of cheese! The fridge was unnecessarily overcrowded.

Hi! We're Still Alive!

2009-09-01T08:53:00.000+08:00

Oh my poor neglected cooking blog. Hi, people! I do cook, but not anything new lately. I'll try to back in cooking cooking groove soon. Just saying hi for now.

Jazzing up Bananas

2009-08-01T08:07:00.000+08:00

Ants had attacked this week's bunch of bananas which is why Husband washed them. Which is why they became more prone to mold. I decided to get all the good ones (before they went to waste too) and fried them in butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Yum.

I "Confect" That I Copied This Idea

2009-07-31T07:58:00.000+08:00

I saw this on TV while my sister and I were hanging out. I think it was one of those filler commercial thingies for Sam Oh's True Confections. It caught my eye because I thought it would be something my daughter would be willing to eat (uh, false). I tried googling for a similar recipe since I couldn't recall the steps, simple enough as they were, and found the exact recipe here. I have to perfect the toasting part, but it could be a good snack for less picky children, lol.

Faux Tocino

2009-07-30T08:31:00.000+08:00

This is just something dumb. I learned it from my friend when I first had my own place and didn't know beans about cooking (not that I know a lot now, but there has definitely been some progress). Whenever I got a craving for tocino and there wasn't one handy (primarily because I never buy any, to the present) I just cut up some turkey spam, coated the pieces in brown sugar and fried them. Now, I'm not saying they it tastes exactly like tocino, but whatever taste it is I'm craving in tocino (durr, the sugar?) is pretty much met.

Cream Dory with Citrus Butter Sauce

2009-07-28T06:59:00.000+08:00

Hail to the never ending cream dory recipes!

I love me so cream dory, lol. Anyway, this is simple, but my husband sincerely said it's good. I rolled the fillets in Crispy Fry breading and fried them. That's straightforward enough, lol. The sauce is:

6T mayo
4T butter
4 T milk
juice of 3 calamondins (calamansi)
salt
ground black pepper
thyme

Melt butter in a pan. Add the other ingredients. Simmer while stirring. Btw, sauce in picture doesn't reflect actual amount made. Lots more in the pan that we just added to our own servings.

Tuna, Mushroom, Mixed Veggies Rice Topping

2009-07-24T18:03:00.000+08:00

This is a modified tuna casserole recipe. Instead of mixing it with noodles, I used it as topping on rice.

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can tuna, drained
half an onion
1 C mixed vegetables, prepared
ground black pepper
5 slices of cheese

Over medium heat, mix everything in a pan, stirring constantly until the cheese melts.

Just an Update

2009-07-22T14:02:00.000+08:00

If you've been following Spinning Lovely Days, then you know that I got sick and found it hard to regain momentum. Anyway, this is something I had a week ago. It's cream dory. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and thyme, then fried it in butter melted in oil. I ate it with kimchi that my SIL made. That's all the update I got. Haven't been experimenting in the kitchen at all. Will try to do better this week. :)

Chicken Burger

2009-07-10T06:27:00.000+08:00

This was my dinner two nights ago. Yesterday, I was too sick to blog. Anyway, we have some homemade chicken burger patties courtesy of Husband (ground chicken, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, thyme and rosemary), so I cooked one for myself and two for him (Marguerite still does not have much of an appetite), poured some gravy (okay, it was from a mix) and added some mixed veggies cooked in herbed butter.

Tuna Flakes Adobo

2009-07-03T08:20:00.000+08:00

I was feeling lazy. I dumped a can of tuna in the pan (oil and all), sautéed it a bit, added soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, a crushed clove of garlic, some ground pepper and let it simmer. At the last minute, I decided to add some chopped onions. Voilà my tuna flakes adobo.

Pasta with Fish

2009-07-02T06:45:00.000+08:00

I had cream dory, mixed vegetables, almonds, and pasta, hence this pasta with fish concoction. My dish was inspired by this recipe. I naturally made some changes and subsitutions. I fried and sautéed in butter, for instance. The almonds were cut up instead of ground. I used oregano and basil for the herbs. I also used spaghetti noodles, as you can see. It was good. Or we were hungry. Anyway, it's all gone.

Some Other Kind of Fried Chicken

2009-06-30T07:11:00.000+08:00

I know it looks particularly ghastly in the pic, but it actually tasted good.:D I didn't want to do the usual breaded fried chicken, so I looked around for another simple fried chicken recipe and came across this. I didn't have the spices specified, so I substituted with oregano and basil. I also adjusted a couple of things since I was only cooking three pieces of chicken.

Fried Cream Dory

2009-06-26T09:07:00.000+08:00

Some more cream dory. I thought I'd look for another recipe and in my search, I found somebody asking if this was the fish in Finding Nemo. Good question. Is it? Anyway, it's just the usual fried fillet recipe: breading seasoned with salt and pepper. Dredge fish in flour (also seasoned), dip in lightly beaten egg, and then dredge in breading. Fry, turning until both sides are golden brown.

Tofu Fingers

2009-06-24T07:54:00.000+08:00

I had a block of tofu in the chiller, so I thought I'd halve it and make some breaded tofu. I found this recipe and decided to make the Vietnamese peanut sauce as well. However, I find handling tofu rather unwieldy, so instead of making perfect cubes, mine ended up more like tofu fingers. I'd say it was an okay result. My daughter had several. I think the peanut sauce I made needed more water though.

Semi-chili

2009-06-20T08:17:00.000+08:00

I had tinned pinto beans, the kind some open and just spoon straight from the can. It already had tomato sauce, garlic, onion, and pepper. I'm not about to eat it from the can unless there's campfire. I want to use it though, so what to do? How about a variation of chili? I had ground beef in the freezer (left over from the batch Husband made hamburger patties with). So, with this as the aim, I thawed the beef and then cooked it in a saucepan with garlic and onion. I drained the juice and then added salt, pepper, cumin, tomatoes, and the can of beans. I let it cook, adding salt until it was seasoned to my taste. When it was done, I put my portion on lettuce leaves (something like a lettuce cup) and grated cheese on top. I loved it. Wish I had other beans though and chipotle.

Lemon Asparagus Red Snapper

2009-06-10T06:25:00.000+08:00

This thing is a semi flop. It's edible, but didn't really become tasty until I added cheese. I got this from a Campbell's Cream of Asparagus label. The thing is, the recipe called for chicken, but I doubt if it would have been better with chicken. Whatever. I've found the recipes given on Campbell's labels to be on the bland side. That's me though. I like my food to be really flavorful. Anyway, here's the recipe:

1 T vegetable oil
4 boneless chicken (in my case, I used red snapper fillets)
1 can (305 g) Campbell's Cream of Asparagus Soup
1/4 C milk
1 T lemon juice
1/8 t black pepper

Heat oil in skillet. Add chicken and cook until browned.
Add soup, milk, lemon juice and pepper (in my case, I also grated some chicken bouillion on top of the concoction - not much, just shaved off one side). Heat to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat 5 mins or until done. Because the thing tasted bland to me when I tried it, I sprinkled a generous amount of cheese on top and that made everything better.

Tuna and Quail Eggs Dish

2009-06-09T05:28:00.000+08:00

I have been besieged by MyLot tasks (which is a good thing) so I mostly spent last week writing those pieces. Anyhoo, we had this dish last night. I don't even know what to call it. Main ingredients are tuna, mixed veggies, and quail eggs. I started by sautéing garlic and onion in butter. I then added the tuna, followed by the mixed veggies and boiled quail eggs. I added about 1/3 C chicken stock and let the entire mess cook for another 3 minutes or so. Season with salt and pepper and then serve over rice.

Cucumber-Carrot Salad

2009-06-02T16:56:00.000+08:00

I had a cucumber and a carrot that had been irreversibly maturing in the vegetable crisper for about a week. It would be unthinkable during these hard times to have them end up in the trash bin, so I got them out and made a salad out of them. It was inspired by this recipe. I naturally had to adjust a couple of things, but I think it turned out okay.

Simple Mushroom Rice Dish

2009-05-29T06:45:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-28T07:36:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-26T08:58:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-21T08:44:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-19T16:31:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-16T07:27:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-15T17:01:00.000+08:00

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?

2009-05-14T07:52:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-09T06:42:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-07T06:56:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-05T09:01:00.000+08:00

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

2009-05-04T07:36:00.000+08:00

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.

Oriental Sesame Pasta

2009-04-30T07:35:00.000+08:00

When you're feeling incredibly lazy or don't have a lot of ingredients at hand, and pasta is your dish of choice, this recipe for oriental sesame pasta is something you should try. It's pretty tasty and reminds me of Yellow Cab's Charlie Chan Chicken (without the chicken or peanuts of course). The lack of green in the picture is brought on by the absence of scallions, which I had substituted with a regular onion.

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

2009-04-28T07:53:00.000+08:00

I decided to get rid of the remaining spinach fettuccine so made a mushroom sauce for it using this recipe. Still too lazy to get out the Nikon, so:

Magnolia Pancake Plus

2009-04-25T07:59:00.000+08:00

So I usually get a vanilla Pillsbury mix for pancakes (there was a time when I made my own pancake mix and will probably go back to doing that, but right now I'm always in a rush getting breakfast on the table - I spend too much time online, lol), but I thought I'd try this one of Magnolia. I don't think it turned me into a fan. This one requires you to just add water (while other mixes usually call for an egg, oil, and water). Anyway, I don't know what I did wrong, but the pancakes scorched easily (just very slightly - so might be my error somewhere) and the consistency of the batter was a little off (it crumbled a bit when I flipped it - didn't do it too soon either because like I said, the bottom part would already be dark brown, instead of golden brown, each time). It did come with its own syrup (got the strawberry and chocolate ones because we already have maple here) and it did allow for some fun (view pic). Anyway, will try the chocolate one sometime soon and see if I'll get a better hang of cooking this brand then. I'll update re this topic when I do that. Sorry about the pictures again.

Some Other Fish Besides Tuna

2009-04-24T16:30:00.000+08:00

So another poor picture from moi. These are fish fillets I made last night. We had some labahita (mustard surgeonfish) in the freezer, so got out the cornstarch, salt and pepper. I managed to come up with this.

Curried Tuna

2009-04-22T13:29:00.000+08:00

Really, this blog should have been called "Tuna Recipes" or something. Yes, once again we had tuna last night. I was craving curry, so I googled for a recipe and luckily found this simple one (all the others required ingredients I didn't have on hand). It's good, but doesn't have bite at all. If everybody in your home can eat spicy food, you can put chili peppers in it. If you have a toddler like I do, you can cook it plain and then just sprinkle red pepper flakes to your own serving.

Husband did something to the camera for something artsy-fartsy so I can't take a decent normal picture. Used phone for this.

Tuna Mixed Vegetables Stir Fry

2009-04-20T06:50:00.000+08:00

A quick rummage through the cupboard told me that the next meal would have to consist of the ubiquitous tuna. What variation would I do then? I remembered the package of mixed vegetables in the freezer and came up with this experiment.

Ingredients:
1 lb (in my case, it was 3 5.5 oz cans) tuna, drained
3 cloves of garlic, minced
half a medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 T soy sauce
dash of salt
dash of ground black pepper
1/2 C water
1 T cornstarch
1 t brown sugar
dash of sesame oil
1 1/2 C frozen mixed vegetables

Mix water, cornstarch, 1 T soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil well. Set aside.

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add tuna and then garlic and onion. Cook until onions are translucent. Add mixed vegetables. Season with salt and pepper, plus the remaining soy sauce. Stir to blend. Pour prepared liquid mixture. Simmer until sauce thickens. Adjust seasonings according to your liking.

Easy Mushroom Adobo

2009-04-17T08:25:00.000+08:00

I rose from the disastrous ashes that were the tortilla de patata and got back in the kitchen to come up with the moderate success that was the mushroom adobo. I haven't attempted the adobo on anything but mushrooms (since we eat meat very sparingly anyway) and so far so good.

Ingredients:
1 can (around 200 g net wt) mushrooms, drained
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 T white vinegar
2 T soy sauce
1/4 C olive oil
1 T brown sugar

Heat a pan. Add oil, mushrooms, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir and then turn the heat on low. Simmer covered with a tight-fitting lid for about 20 mins. Remove lid and continue heating until liquid evaporates. Serve as tapas or eat with rice.

How Not to Do the Spanish Tortilla

2009-04-16T07:42:00.000+08:00

Had a tortilla de patata fiasco in the kitchen yesterday. Wanna see a disastrous tortilla española? Look.

It was edible, but not very pretty. Anyway, my husband and I ate it. Except for a few negligible (sez I) scorched parts (you can see it in the pic), I'd say it was pretty decent tasting. What actually happened was that I combined two recipes and got confused. Besides the eggs and potatoes, I added cheese and mortadella. I won't post the recipe here until I've done it right, so expect more attempts at the tortilla soon.

Cucumber Shake, Tilapia Mushroom Dinner

2009-04-15T07:07:00.000+08:00

I had a cucumber that would start rotting away if I didn't make something out of it (and we can't have that; wasting food is tantamount to a mortal sin around here), so I ended up making a cucumber shake. Peeled and cut up the cucumber. Tossed it in the blender which already had 1/4 C brown sugar and 1 C fresh milk. Added a tray and a half of ice cubes, covered the blender and pressed the button. LOL. No wonder I didn't get that gig writing recipes!

For dinner, thawed frozen tilapia and cooked it with mushrooms, tomato, and olives.

2 two teaspoons of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can (about 200 g) mushrooms, drained
1/4 cup pitted green olives with juice, quartered
1 green tomato (other types would work, but this is what I had)
a sprinkling of dried Italian herbs
a sprinkling of dried basil
tilapia (it was probably 4 filets, but I ended up tearing the things up)
salt and black pepper

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook about 5 minutes. Add olives (plus juice), tomato and
herbs and cook until juice evaporates. Remove from heat.

In another pan, heat remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil. Rub the tilapia with the salt and pepper seasoning. Cook tilapia for about five minutes, turning halfway. Add fish to the vegetables and warm the entire thing before serving with rice.

Tuna Pasta

2009-04-14T07:26:00.000+08:00

We always have canned tuna in our cupboard. Since we're not feeding our daughter meat other than fish and the occasional chicken (I conceded on this one since Marguerite is such a picky eater and I want to beef up her nutrient intake), tuna, canned or fresh, figures a lot in our diet. Last night, upon rooting through our supplies, I came up with a package of spinach fettuccine, the ever present tuna, tomato sauce, and other ingredients that indicate the makings of some pasta dish. I ended up making this one (2 biggish servings?):

Ingredients:
1 can tuna (155 g/ 5.5 oz)
1/4 C olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
half a medium onion
1 package tomato sauce (forgot to check size, but it's probably 250 g)
1 T brown sugar
chopped olives (optional)
a fistful of fettuccine
some grated cheese

Cook the pasta. How? Well, um, boil water, add pasta (don't break; bend gently with a wooden spoon), a drop of olive oil, a dash of salt. Stir to get rid of clumps, then wait until it's as you like it. I usually get a piece to do a bite test on. When done, drain and dump into a serving bowl.

For the tuna sauce, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil over medium heat. Add drained tuna and stir well. Add tomato sauce. Stir in the brown sugar. Cook over low heat for about 30 mins. Toss in olives. Pour mess over cooked pasta. Must have cheese, so:

Eggs? Bread? How About Egg-in-the-Hole?

2009-04-13T09:14:00.000+08:00

I wanted to try something new for breakfast involving eggs and bread. This is how I remembered "egg in the basket", also called "egg in the hole", from some distant memory.

It was simple enough and quick to make (was running late this morning on account of other chores I had put off doing this weekend). Found several recipes, but decided to go for this one. I added cooked strips of salami for my husband, the meat guy. Didn't waste the cut out circles of bread either. Buttered and jammed them for my daughter, but I ended up eating most of them while she had my egg-in-the-hole.

No Need to Fret When You Can Fritter Leftover Bananas

2009-04-09T09:26:00.000+08:00

So we're off to our church camp today. Had five bananas left that would definitely not keep until we get back and would probably not stand the trip without turning into mush (it's not the bananas, it's me), so decided to turn them into fritters. Followed this recipe. Results weren't very attractive (probably messed up somewhere) but they were still yummy all the same.

Idgie Threadgoode's Influence

2009-04-03T09:21:00.000+08:00

One of my favorite authors ever is Fannie Flagg and one of my favorite movies ever is "Fried Green Tomatoes" (my favorite Fannie Flagg book however is "Standing in the Rainbow". No, wait. I like "Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man" the most. No, wait! I think it's really "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café". No, wait... well, you get the idea.). Anyway, my copy of "Fried Green Tomatoes" (the novel) has recipes included in it. My sister has done the recipe for fried green tomatoes and okra pops in the past and, again, they're a good alternative to potato chips. Anyway, last night I had a few green tomatoes here so I decided to fry a couple. Sadly my book is in my parents' house, so I had to google instructions. I chose this one because it's the simplest and also because I don't have cornmeal here. I think they turned out okay. They're probably better with cornmeal though.

Daring to Experiment in the Kitchen

2009-03-30T16:47:00.000+08:00

These are pictures from my attempt to make a no-bake apple pie. It's basically just crushed butter cookies (mixed with butter and sugar, like they didn't already have a lot of those) for crust and this recipe for apple pie filling. Husband liked it and so did I. Marguerite deigned to eat some.

The following are just pictures of something dumb I make when I get a craving for something sweet and there's no real dessert in the house. I just fry a peanut butter sandwich (with smores elements in it as well) in butter.

*used phone to take pics, hence the poor quality

Restarting the Engine that Sputtered (Hey, Use Cooking Jargons, Please!)

2009-03-28T08:58:00.000+08:00

So this blog was interrupted by the joined forces of chicken pox, slipped disc, perfectionism, laziness, procrastination... Anyway, I had lined up a couple of post ideas, but as they accumulated, the more time they required and who's got time, right? Anyway, I finally got around to just chucking the ideas temporarily (they'll probably show up in future posts, but let me gather momentum first) and decided to just post something that's more recent.

Anyway, voilà les pics:

These are fried chickpeas. Small hands are too fast. That's my daughter's hand right there. I'm a fan of salty snacks (all the usual unhealthy ones) and my daughter seems to be leaning towards the same kind of appetite. Because of this, I've been cooking potato chips for Marguerite and myself (frying them in olive oil, no MSG, of course), so that we can refrain from eating store-bought ones. The other day, for variation I tried making fried chickpeas (using a can of garbanzos that was supposed to be used for hummus, oh well) and they turned out pretty decent. I loosely followed this recipe, changing the thyme leaves to dried Italian herbs (which did have thyme in it) for one.

Another one that I recently made is french toast with caramelized bananas. French toast was fine, but caramelized bananas were kind of a flop (esp since I just tried to adjust a bananas foster recipe). They tasted okay, but the syrup was grainy and the bananas were on their way to the bin anyway (just didn't want to waste them).

Had 1 carrot and 1 potato left. Found this recipe and tried it out. Of course, cut the measurements into thirds since I only had 1 carrot. I liked it. Marguerite didn't.

In Front of the Stove with Shaky Knees

2009-02-03T17:34:00.000+08:00

I started learning to cook when I was 28 years old. Two things necessitated the learning. First, I had just gotten married, and second I had joined a prayer group that did potlucks every Tuesday night. However, I was working at that time and more often than not, my husband and I simply ate out. When I had the time to try out new dishes, I did find cooking to be a very enjoyable and fulfilling activity. I was still in the introductory stages of my foray into the kitchen when I got pregnant and suffered from terrible hyperemesia. My attempts at cooking, the smell of which was enough to send me into fits of projectile vomiting at that time, were indefinitely abandoned. We moved back to the city and into my parents' home. With my mother in charge of the kitchen, it wasn't necessary for me to think of menus and meal preparations, so I mostly focused on baking. I've had hits and misses, but in general terms, you can say that I'm continually improving. Now, almost three months ago, my little family and I found our own place and with this move was the decision to go the maid/nanny-free route. One of the blessings of this change is that I'm now rekindling my interrupted budding affair with the kitchen. My repertoire is still very limited, but I love that I'm learning all the time. Anyway, it has gotten so I'm packing lunch for my husband to bring to work, mustering enough bravado to expose my creations to other people. So, basically, this blog will chronicle my adventures in the kitchen. Let me make it clear that I'm mostly floundering, but anything I'm learning or any new experience I get to go through will appear here. Kitchen veterans are welcome to post tips and recipes in the comments section. I guarantee that they'll be much appreciated.