You can also visit my other blog.... http://isinneedofapen.blogspot.com

Yummy Potato Chips (French Fries)

My baby is a (potato) chipsaholic. She's always asking me to buy her a kiddie-size pack of chips whenever we're inside the mall. But I worry about her hooked by this snack because chips/french fries is an oily food. I don't even know what kind of oil do the fast food stores use in cooking it. So I decided to just bring my homemade chips whenever we are going out. Less gastos, less worry for my toddler's health.

Here's my simple recipe:

Ingredients

2 potatoes, peeled and sliced into even strips
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of flour

2 cups of vegetable oil, or preferrably olive oil

1. Mixed all the first three ingredients.
2. Deep fry the potato strips in vegetable or olive oil until golden brown.

That's it! :-)

Skinless Longganisa (ala-Lucban)

I thank my pinay friend for teaching me how to make longganisa. Although she prefers to use instant Longganisa Mix, I still thank her for giving me an idea on how to use cling wrap instead of pork intestines and other artificial sausage casing.

I opt not to use instant mix, I want to make longganisa that will suit my taste. With the help of my hubby who is familiar with Longganisang Lucban, we came out with this recipe.

- 500 grams of ground pork (fats and lean meat)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1 teaspoon of ground pepper
- 1/2 cup of minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground or powdered chili
- 1/4 cup of oregano extract
- 1/3 cup of soy sauce
- 1/3 cup of worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup of raw/brown sugar
- cling wrap

1. Mixed all the ingredients and set aside for 30 minutes, giving enough time for the meat to absorb the flavor.

2. Then spoon a portion of the mixture (3 spoonful) into the cling wrap. Spread the mixture, approximately 9 inches long by 1 inch wide. Fold the end of cling wrap to cover the mixture and roll until it is completely covered.

4. Divide the long roll into three (3 inches long each) by twisting each end. You will be surprised that it will look like a real longganisa. :-) Repeat until all mixture's been used up.

5. Cook the desired number of longganisa. I want to cook it slightly in boiling water for a minute then frying it afterwards. I just want to make sure the longganisa is well-cooked inside and out.

Although the garlic acts as preservatives, it would be much better to keep the uncooked longganisa in the freezer. You can add and remove some of the ingredients depending on your preference.

My Beef Casserole

My two-year old bub loves to eat beef. She's a fussy eater but whenever I cook Nilagang Baka or Caldereta, she will never resist. Though sometimes, it seems she's already getting bored with the taste. Finding it hard to make a new recipe, I just played with the ingredients of Caldereta: add some, omit some. The result is a new viand - Dienn's Beef Casserole.

Ingredients:

300 grams beef, cut in cubes (qpproximately 1.5 inches)

1 cup of carrots, cut diagonally or in cubes

1 cup of potatoes, cut diagonally or in cubes

1 cup of hotdog, sliced diagonally

1 medium-sized onion, chopped 2 gloves of garlic, minced

salt, 2 teaspoons or depends on your taste

1/4 cup of Olive oil

1 pinch of pepper

1 cup of tomato sauce

2 cups of water

1 cup beef broth

optional: basil or herbs, green chili, a pinch of sugar (in caldereta, green/red capsicum and green peas are required so I made my recipe a bit different)

Instruction:

1. Boil 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Put the beef and let it simmer for 30 minutes or until the meat is tender. In my case, I always use pressure cooker because I want the meat to be very soft so my toddler can easily digest it.

2. When cooked and tender, separate the meat by the draining the broth in a large bowl. set aside the meat and also the broth.

3. Place a casserole on the stove with a medium fire. Then add the olive oil. Saute onion and garlic. Add the tomato sauce, a cup of broth, salt, and pepper. Then put the beef and potato. Cover the saucepan and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the carrots and hotdog. Simmer for another 5 minutes. You can add basil, italian herbs, and green chili.

5. Serve with rice. :-)

Chick-n-Veggies Siomai

I sooo love dumplings. I can eat siomai for lunch, dinner, and even for the next day... And because of this, I invented different siomai recipes so I won't get bored of the taste just in case I will have it for the whole week. :-D

I am now posting my first siomai recipe, I called it Chick-n-Veggies Siomai. Here's how to do it...

Ingredients:

250 grams of chicken, minced or diced (small size)

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 pc of medium onion, chopped

4 leaves of spinach (stem included), chopped

100 grams of chopped cabbage

2 pcs of prawns or shrimps, chopped

12 pcs of wonton skin/wrapper (extra thin)

1 pc of medium egg

2 teaspoons of salt (depends on your taste)

1/2 teaspoon of cracked pepper

3/4 cup of plain flour

First, you have to prepare and grease your bamboo steamer.

Combine all ingredients except the wrapper/wonton skin, of course. :-) Mix until all blended with a spoon. Place a sheet of wonton skin in your palm then put a spoonful of the mixture on the center, fold the sides of the wrapper to cover the mixture. Repeat to make more siomai.

Put your siomai to the bamboo steamer, have some space as the siomai usually expands when cooked.

Ready your saucepan or caserola, then pour four cups of water and allow it to boil for a minute. Put the steamer on top of the saucepan and wait for 20-30 minutes.

That's it! You can now enjoy your Chick-n-Veggies Siomai.

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Too many siomai and you can't eat for a day? You can still enjoy it the next day as a Siomai & Prawns Soup! :-)

You just need:

1 clove of garlic, chopped

half of medium onion, chopped

2 leaves of cabbage, sliced into stripes

4 pcs of prawns

3 cups of water

6 pcs of siomai

In a sauce pan, saute the garlic, onion, and prawns. Pour the water and let it boil for 30 seconds. Add the siomai and cabbage. Simmer for 5 minutes, stir occasionally. It's so simple yet so delicious.

Pandesal Addiction

It's been almost two years since I took a leave from blogging. I hope my blogmates will pardon me for the long absence, besides I have a good reason - I've given all my attention to my hubby and baby.

And for my comeback, I wanna share with you my new addiction - baking PANDESAL. I am now in the process of perfecting my own version. Yeah, right. After many trials and failures of making my pandesal, I can say that mine has leveled with or even surpassed the ordinary bread of salt. And as a proof, here's a bunch of it... :-)

Choco Cake

Addicted to chocolate cake, I found myself always asking my hubby to buy a brownies from Gloria Jeans. But because he's at work right now, my cravings pushed me to make my own chocolate cake.