Recipes Archives - Page 2 of 5

This Healthy Chicken Broccoli Pasta Recipe Is Easy and Cheesy

For some reason, the prevailing notion is that healthy foods cannot be flavorful, and flavorful foods cannot be healthy. Fortunately, this is simply not the case with this cheesy pasta with chicken and broccoli recipe. While many dietary fads are advising people to shirk foods that contain carbohydrates, these diets are simply not sustainable. In fact, most dietitians recommend a meal that has protein, carbohydrates, and fats in a ratio of 3:1:1 or even 4:1:1 within two hours of exercising to maximize the effects of the workout. Achieving this ratio is not a difficult or painstaking task, and this particular recipe just happens to fall into this ratio. By making this chicken broccoli pasta recipe, it is easy to find that perfect balance of health and flavor.

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Japanese Chicken Yakitori (Barbecue) Recipe

Ever since I started eating healthy and hitting the gym, my mind has been overly preoccupied with food. And even in my sleep, all I see is food, just like this one recurring dream I have of me binging on Japanese fare like sushi, katsudon, or yakitori. 😀 I always wake up disoriented, salivating, and craving for anything Japanese. This torture has to stop! And I have always believed that the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Needless to say, I gave in. So one afternoon, I decided to prepare Japanese Chicken Yakitori for dinner.

I used to have an obsessive addiction with Tokyo Tokyoâ€™s Chicken Yakitori, until they decided to take it off their menu and replace it with Chicken Karaage, which I did NOT find hard to love as well. But it was truly overwhelming when I came across my long lost love, the Chicken Yakitori, once again at my previous work. They had a mean recipe for yakitori, so I made sure I learn it any way I could. So with that recipe at hand, I charged at our kitchen, only to be disappointed to find out that weâ€™re missing most of the ingredients I need. But like any good chef, one must learn how to improvise and be resourceful.

The original recipe calls for mirin (Japanese rice wine) and rice wine vinegar. I boldly substituted the mirin with red wine, and the rice wine vinegar with the regular distilled vinegar. But I suggest that if you plan to substitute the mirin, use white wine instead, since itâ€™s milder and sweeter.

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Have a Merry Cremas with Alaska Crema!

All year round, especially during the cold months of December and January, we find ourselves longing for some good ol’ comfort food. But not just any kind of comfort food, we crave for something rich, hearty, delectable and, most of the time, creamy. That’s why, they say, calories don’t count during the holidays. 😉

We were invited as judges at the Merry Cremas Food Bazaar in Eastwood last month. Good thing it was a Sunday so Ken and I were able to go together.

We know, from personal experience, that there’s a wide range of dishes you can prepare using Alaska Crema all-purpose cream. We knew there’ll be a ton of desserts and pastries there, but we were really hoping to see more savory dishes. There were only a few who did. Thankfully, they were all quite successful with their dishes too along with the food purveyors who served desserts.

With that said, let’s begin with our top favorites from the Merry Cremas Food Bazaar in Eastwood. These might help you with recipe ideas for your celebrations or any holiday, especially for Noche Buena and Media Noche.

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Beef Pochero Recipe

As you might already know, our nanay is an excellent cook that’s why we’ve been eating very well at home since we were little kids because she can whip up a delicious meal even with a meager budget during the time when she was the only breadwinner in our family (which was almost 20 years of my life, that’s why we love her so much 🙂 ). Her specialties are too many to mention, but there are some dishes that really stand out for me. Two of which are her Kare-Kare (we already shared the recipe here!) and Beef Pochero.

Since Ken and I have been helping her with finances at home, we can now request for a repeat of some of her dishes as long as we provide the budget. 😀 Most of the time, though, she’ll just do it because she enjoys seeing us devouring (yes, that’s the appropriate word) her dishes. Now, she has another reason to cook her wonderful dishes – she loves sharing her recipes here on our food blog! Yay for all of us! 😀

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Harry Potter Fans, Get Your Butterbeer Fix at Starbucks!

Having read all 7 books, I could pretty much say I grew up with Harry Potter. It didn’t really bother me that I just borrowed all the books from my classmates and never really owned a single copy until I finally got into college. What frustrated me the most is the fact that there are a lot of magical food in Harry Potter I could never get a taste of in real life, and one of them is Butterbeer!

There’s no way I can rub elbows with witches and wizards at Hogsmeade while downing a glass of authentic Butterbeer, and the same thing goes to my chances of heading to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando to get a knockoff version of the drink any time soon. But I’ve recently discovered a secret that would finally put my Butterbeer cravings to rest! Baristas from Starbucks cracked the code to a perfectly yummy Butterbeer. It’s a secret recipe and they don’t have it on their menu, but they will be more than willing to whip it up for you if you just give them this recipe. Take note that this is only available during the holiday season because of the toffee nut syrup, so you still have time! 🙂

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Moist Chocolate Torte Recipe

I recently got myself a new Nikon D3200 DSLR. I have been very envious of my sister Mhel ever since she got her D3100. On the weekend that I got my camera, I had no idea what to take pictures of, so I decided to bake something to put our food photography skills to the test. I remembered we bought a packet of Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips the last time we were at the supermarket. From then I knew just what to make with it â€” Moist Chocolate Torte.

This is probably the simplest yet the yummiest cake that was taught to me by my pastry chef at the hotel where I previously worked. I recall eating all the leftovers by the kitchen sink, so I can easily pretend that I’m washing our kitchen tools because our executive chef is very sneaky. 😀 He’ll just pop out from nowhere the moment you’ve already put something in your mouth. I’ve been caught a couple of times, but never really got scolded for it. He knew I was always hungry. 😀

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Recipe: Chocolate Lava Cake aka Molten Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Lava Cake (a.k.a. Molten Chocolate Cake) is a common dessert in fine dining restaurants and hotels, and that’s the reason why people think it’s very hard and expensive to make. But surprisingly, it’s completely the opposite. It’s so easy that you can make it in 15 minutes. 🙂

The only ingredient that may be considered costly are the dark chocolate chips. We used Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate that we got for Php 180. Believe me, you won’t even regret having spent that much once you get your first spoonful of the chocolate lava cake. 😉

We’re sure you’ll love this recipe for Chocolate Lava Cake. We highly recommend you serve this with vanilla ice cream to make the whole experience complete. The warm, oozing decadence from the molten chocolate cake is best enjoyed with ice cream, trust me. 🙂

Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe (a.k.a. Molten Chocolate Cake)

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Fish Ball Sauce Recipe, Just Like Manong’s

There is no doubt we Filipinos love our street food. And if you ask me about my favorite, it’ll have to be fish balls (or fishball). Nothing beats eating fishballs off a stick, piping hot after you just skewered them off a street vendor’s deep-frying pan. But THE best part of it all is dipping them into their famous fishball sauce. YUM!

I’ve always been curious about this well-loved fishball sauce recipe. I studied in UP Diliman and I’m sure many of you have heard that we love eating fishballs there from Manongs who sell them across the campus. It was where I got hooked on the sweet sauce, and I then moved on to the spicy version. I noticed something. It seemed to me that wherever I go, even outside the campus, the taste of the fishball sauce of every Manong fishball vendor (yes, I call all of them manong) I met had the same taste. I wondered, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!? 😀

Over the past decade or so (ugh, I’m old), I’ve asked different vendors about their sauce. Most of them took wild guesses. There were a couple who refused to tell me anything, which, to me, was an indication they really had no idea, and some were so convinced they had the right recipe.

Of course, I tried to make them at home and failed three times (twice, I was adding vinegar). It was only in late 2004 that I learned the right recipe. The manong who sold fishballs at our home in Navotas told me about his fish ball sauce recipe. The thing is, I didn’t get to making it til a year later. It was too late for me to thank him because we already moved to Malabon, but I’m forever thankful. Charot! 😀 Continue reading Fish Ball Sauce Recipe, Just Like Manong’s

Red Sinigang with Del Monte Tomato Sauce

If there’s one Filipino dish I can bear to eat daily, it’ll have to be Sinigang. Our nanay has tried a variety of Sinigang – with seafood, pork or even chicken and beef (yes, she has tried all sorts of proteins with this dish). She has always cooked it the traditional way, but she was excited and welcomed the idea of adding a tasty twist to a classic dish – Sinigang with Del Monte Tomato Sauce.

Sinigang is a savory sour soup that we Filipinos love. The acidity may come from green mangoes, guava and, more widely used, tamarind (sampaloc). Pork, bangus or shrimps are the usual main ingredients, along with vegetables like kangkong (water spinach), okra, chili (siling haba/pang-sinigang), and onions. Our nanay also add slices of tomatoes to it, but we both haven’t encountered or tasted this dish with actual tomato sauce.

That’s until we found out about Del Monte’s Red Movement where they take classic Filipino dishes and add their famous, Filipino favorite tomato sauce into the mix. Some combinations may sound weird, but knowing the brand and the recipes they share through Del Monte Kitchenomics, we know they wouldn’t just come up with concoctions like the Red Bulalo or Red Pesang Bangus without actually testing and proving that adding tomato sauce to these dishes actually works. If you want the recipes for these other dishes, visit www.delmonte.ph.

If you’re aching to know how our nanay made her Del Monte Red Sinigang, read on.

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SARSA : Gourmet Sauces for Quick and Delicious Meals at Home

When it comes to home-cooked meals, we’ve got very high standards because of an excellent cook at home – our nanay. She can whip up sumptuousÂ dishes from scratch without any need for a recipe guide, and just flavoring each dish from taste. We’re THAT lucky and blessed as kids. 🙂

Enjoying her home-cooked meals has been one of the many highlights of our childhood. For us, it’s of utmost importance that families enjoy a home-cooked lunch or dinner from time to time. And if you don’t have the know-how to prepare delectable meals at home, no worries. We discovered delicious, ready-made sauces you can use that will make cooking at home less of a hassle. We’re talking about SARSA Gourmet Sauces by Chef Eugene Catipon.

We were sent three (3) samples of SARSA’s gourmet sauces to try at home. We were delighted to see the ones we received: Beef Stew, Korma (curry) and Kare-kare. We were expecting to be disappointed by the latter since our nanay prepares a killer Kare-Kare, but we were pleasantly surprised.

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