Startin’ A New Life

Grabe…sinful pero ang sarap

Yep holiday ngayon so…I have all the time to prepare something special. Asked hubby what he wants for lunch and he answered with cripsy pata…hmmm…sinful sinful pero cge na nga minsan lang naman ito.

You’ll need:

1 pork pata (preferably the front),
1 whole garlic (crushed)
1 whole onion (quartered)
peppercorns
some Salt

Here’s how:

Clean and scrape the skin of the pata with a knife. Use a kitchen torch burn any remaining hair.

Place the pata in a casserole with water. Add the crushed garlic. onions, peppercorn, and salt. Set over high heat and let it boil. skimming off scum as it arises. Lower the heat and simmer again until meat is tender.

Remove the pata from the broth and drain well. I used my turbo and roast the pata. Set the turbo at 250 degree for 1-1/2 hrs or until the rind is golden brown.

Serve with steaming rice and ensaladang talong. Yummm….Tara kain na

ang tatamis ng ponkan

For the past days I’ve been coughing and sneezing so bad that my chest aches when sneezing and coughing. So, yesterday hubby suggested that I should take a rest, skip work and rest all day in bed. I don’t really like the idea but to think that it’s raining hard that day makes me think that it’s a sign that I should rest muna. The whole day I was at home yesterday, eating ponkan, drinking lots of water, sleeping all day and enjoying our bed while smelling the new sheets that hubby put, hehehe. So now, Im back to work and I am rejuvenated already. Thanks to hubby.

Nga pla…regular na ko sa office. I signed a contract for regularization …yipeee…pede na ko mag leave with pay.

Let me guess, you guys are drooling na noh. hehehe. Sarap talaga ng mangga at bagoong. Only in the Philippines lang ang merong masarap na manggang hilaw at bagoong. I cant just get enough. Im on my 2nd na and wanting to have the 3rd piece. Come have a slice..yummm

Oh well…hope everyone is having a great long weekend

Stir-fry kangkong with garlic. A yummy and a healthy dish I learned from the net. Nagsawa na ko sa adobong kangkong so I tried this recipe this evening. I simplified it a bit for a much easier preparation

What I did here…
1. Wash, trim and dry kangkong.
2. In a wok or skillet, heat sesame oil over medium-high heat.
3. Add chopped garlic and set aside. Then slide the chopped onion in the same pan.
4. Stir-fry for a minute or so until the onion begins to turn translucent.
5. Add the kangkong, water and soy sauce.
6. Continue to stir-fry just until the kangkong wilts, about another minute.
7. Place the kangkong in a plate and garnish with the chopped garlic

pramis masarap

I just love pizza. The other night we had yelllow cab’s New York’s finest pizza for dinner. Grabe, I was so full. Yummy. I had 2 slices.

..Now Im craving for pizza again kaso I want this naman. Hmmm…sarap. My oh my…natatakam ako. I’ll asked Dj to come to CPK tomorrow

Minsan, nakakasawa na rin ang hotdog & bacon for breakfast. Sothis morning, I prepared this for breakfast. Tuyo, Tocino, fried sunny side up nd hot chocolate with sinangag (not included in the pic)

Yummy.

This is what I’m missing, doing simple dishes for my husband

This was our handa for Dj’s little birthday celebration. My first time to make pancit palabok, which I got the recipe from the package of the palabok noodles I bought at the supermarket. It was really good. Then I prepared baked chicken. Dj couldn’t wait so he pre-tasted the chicken skin before I took this shot

Ano natakam ba kayo.

This is hubby’s Christmas gift . He knew Im into baking, so he bought me this. I so loved it. Now, I can easily mix all the ingredients without the fuss. Thank you dear.

So last Christmas, I baked this:

It’s choco peanut brownies.

For these Choco peanut brownies, what you’ll need…

1-cup butter (melted)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped peanuts
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Mix the cake flour, baking powder and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, sugar and butter. Use a wire whisk (I used my mixer, syempre).
3. Add and mix eggs in the chocolate mixture one at a time.
4. Add the vanilla and finely chopped peanuts in the chocolate mixture.
5. Fold in the flour mixture just enough to moisten the dry mixture.
6. Pour over the baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

I so loved it. My nanay loved my baking too. She’s the one telling me if my baking is good or if it taste awful. My mom is a good cook. So I think, nahawa lang ako sa kanya

Then last New Year, I was thinking of making chocolate moist brownies (sorry wasn’t able to take good picture of these yummies). I got the recipe from a friend. The ingredients and instruction are as follows:

1-cup sugar
1/2-cup margarine
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
1-teaspoon vanilla
1-cup flour
1/2-teaspoon baking powder
1/4-teaspoon salt

1. Mix the first 3 ingredients. Put in the microwave until the margarine melts. Let it cool for a while.
2. Then in a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients such as the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Add the 2 eggs one at a time at the chocolate sugar mixture.
4. Add the vanilla and chopped peanuts.
5. Fold in the flour mixture. Use a wire whisk, (of course I use my mixer here ) just to moisten the dry ingredients.
6. Put in a grease pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or when the toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Brush cocoa glaze on top.

For the cocoa glaze…put 2 tbps margarine, 2 tbps cocoa powder, 1/4 tsp. vanilla and I cup sugar, 2 tbps of hot water in a pan in low heat. Stirring continuously until the sugar dissolves and caramelized. Then brush this sweet mixture on top when the brownies are done. .

This makes 4-6 slices.

the greens
Originally uploaded by jeannyj.

I went home late last night from work. And since I was busy I didn’t noticed the time, I forgot to eat dinner. The time I came home, it was only then that I realized that my tummy was complaining of hunger. I want to eat something but it was past 11pm. So rice is a no no. Guess I’ll go to bed with an empty stomach but hey I remembered I got this greens I bought the other day. So in a bowl, a grab some lettuce, sliced some tomatoes, add some crutons, dashed some pepper and pour some Caesar dressing. Yummy.

After and hour and a half, I hit the bed with a happy soul and a cheery stomach

A visit at Marikit Toni’s’ place made me curious about this gising gising recipe she was referring in one of her entry. So I searched the world wide web for the recipe. But I didn’t find any.

Then, when I was looking at the pic of the dish in her blog, my friend noticed me and we had a small talk.

T: uy sarap naman nyan , is that your ulam tonight.
Me: sana but I don’t know how to do it.
T: That’s easy noh…di bah bicol express yan.
Me: Nope, It’s gising gising daw.
T: Ay I don’t know that but it looks like bicol express. You want to learn, turo ko sa u.
Me: Ows…cge nga.

She wrote in a piece of paper the ingredients and procedure. I was so excited to try it. So that Friday night, I went at the grocery to buy the ingredients.

At home, It was easy nga and yummy. I know Dj will be happy with this new recipe since, it’s always meat that we have for the pass few days.

For this simple bicol express what I did was…

In a pan, I put some oil and sauté the 1/4k ground beef. Then set aside. In the same pan sauté the garlic followed by the onions and ginger. Add the sauté ground beef. Mix alittle. Then pour in the coconut milk. I used 2 pouch of Knorr gata mix dissolved in 2 cups of water. Let it simmer for a minute then add the chopped string beans. Add fish sauce to taste. Simmer again until the sauce thickens. Then add chopped 1-teaspoon siling labuyo. Hmmm…I just love spicy food. Ang sarap pala nito.

To you my friend T salamat sa recipe ha.

that’s my share. Laki noh?
I made that chocolate cake by myself. It was my first time to bake and Im glad that hubby loved it. He just couldn’t believe I made it. He thought I bought it somewhere else and even looked for the cake box in the trash. Funny him

Now, Im becoming more interested to learn to bake. Hmmm….

Anyway, this simple chocolate cake is very easy. I found the recipe in a magazine and I modified it.

What you’ll need:
1 cup Flour
3 eggs
Half cup vegetable oil
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
pinch of salt
5 heaped tbsp. cocoa
1/4 cup Milk

Sieve together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and the cocoa. Set aside. Then in a bowl put 3 fresh eggs and add sugar. Mix for 7-8 seconds. Then pour the vegetable oil, then mix again.

Pour the wet mixture slowly over the dry mixture while stirring. Keep string for 30 seconds or until the mixture become a smooth paste.

Then add the milk and mix. Spread the cake mixture in a baking dish/pan

Now, since I don’t have an oven, I used our convection/microwave oven. I bake it for 25 minutes. But if using a real oven bake it for about 30 minutes at 350 F or until toothpick inserted from the edge comes out clean.

Allow it to cool for 10 minutes or so. Pour Hershey’s Chocolate sauce over and spread evenly before serving.

By the way, I made that cake because, It’s out 3rd year anniversary as bf and gf. Yep we still do celebrate that.