Embotido - Pinoy Meat Loaf Recipe

Embotido (also Embutido) is a pork-based meat loaf dish typically served during special occasions. I cannot remember a Christmas-New Year holiday without it.

Cooking embotido involves two steps. It's not your usual one-go dish, which is probably why it's not a daily fix in the household menu.

Butterscotch - Almond Bars Recipe

How's your 2015 so far? Mine has been pretty much a money drain. I haven't been clocking-in as much in my moneymaking rackets. But on the other hand, some plans in the drawing board are slowly taking off, so that's a good thing!

A friend recently flew in from Iloilo and brought us boxes of Biscocho (sweet bread toast). Another popular pasalubong from Iloilo (Bacolod) is their butterscotch bars. I kind of missed those soft, caramel-y and slightly sticky bites, so I decided to try my hand at making some.

Instant Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna is a tedious thing to cook from scratch. It starts with the pasta, then preparing the two sauces (red and white), and then baking. Really, all that effort equates to cooking 4 separate dishes!

Imagine my relief when, one day, this oven-ready, no pre-cooking needed lasagna sheets showed itself to me in the supermarket. This one is by San Remo.

Basic Beef Stew

Beef Stew is one of the less popular comfort food choices. There are many ways to cook it - each homecook has his/her own way to spruce it up.

But we all have to start from the basic recipe, which contains beef shoulder, herbs, carrots and potatoes.

Entering a New Realm: Freezer Cooking

Say what? Freezer Cooking or Freezer Food/Freezer Meals. Basically, the idea is to cook food in bulk, chuck it in the cold storage and just re-heat things come meal time. It saves time, effort and money. Yipee!

Lumpiang shanghai, ready for deep freeze

Most work at home moms (WAHMs) have busy days, much like any corporate slave out there. There are times when we just can't whip up a nice meal that doesn't come from a can.

Party Planning: DIY Birthday Party Food Menu

Last month, I completely DIY-ed my son's 5th birthday party food. I really wanted to win that Super Mommy of the Year Award! Kidding...

On-the-day prep: couldn't have survived without that food chopper!

Planning to host a party this holiday? Read the rest of my entry to gain useful tips!

10 Kitchen Tools This Mom Can't Live Without

My love for cooking started as a curiosity. I'd spend idle mornings watching our house cook do her thing as a kid. Later on, that interest grew into cooking shows. Now, I can't say that I'm an expert chef or even a seasoned cook, but I've had my fair share of winner dishes!

Having spent a lot of time in the kitchen, I know for a fact that kitchen tools can make or break the day of any homemaker. The daily tasks that revolve around food-preparation is overwhelming, so handy helpers really make things a whole lot easier.

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms are one of my all-time favorite ingredients because they're so versatile: they can act as a meat, a vegetable, or just an extender. For this recipe, the main event is mushroom.

Pinoy Chicken Arroz Caldo

There's nothing like kicking back, watching a season of Friends on DVD and eating some great comfort food on a Sunday night.

Beef and Broccoli Quickfire

Beef and Broccoli is a staple in Tsinoy (Chinese-Filipino) cuisine. I don't know how that came to be, but it's always seen on the menu.

It must be the oyster sauce - which I believe has Oriental origin.

Enoki Mushroom Wraps

Props to Wiki for this:

Enokitake, also Enokidake or Enoki is a long, thin white mushroom used in East Asian cuisine. These mushrooms are cultivars of Flammulina velutipes, also known by the name, golden needle mushroom or lily mushroom.

I like mushrooms and it's always an exciting time whenever I come across something I haven't tried. In the case of Enoki, I've only seen it in Japanese/Korean restaurants. There's a canned version in supermarkets but I haven't tried those.

No-Bake Cheesecake (Ref Cake)

I make no-bake cheesecake for friends all the time. Because of that, I've also received a lot of recipe requests for it.

The secret to this ref cake is............

Arroz a la Cubana (Philippine Version)

Arroz ala Cubana is a Filipino comfort food dish with a predominantly Spanish influence.

Home-Made Chicken Nuggets

Making home-made chicken nuggets is one of my proudest kitchen sorcery moments. My preschooler loves chicken nuggets. But I can't watch him eat store-bought ones all the time (there are days when that's all he wanted to eat)!

Tempura-Style Asuhos

Asuhos is a tasty fish common in coastal towns. Here in the city, Asuhos comes from the frozen section of the supermarket - all filleted and ready to go.

(Pansit) Molo Soup

Molo Soup, also known as Pansit/Pancit Molo is very similar to dumpling soup. It has local-style dumplings cooked in a rich chicken broth and garnished with toasted garlic and spring onions (my favorite parts).

Easy Chili con Carne

There are two things that will probably surprise you about Chili con Carne:

1. That is is surprisingly easy to make (I'll show you)
2. That it contains Cocoa powder as an ingredient (did somebody say champorado?)

Beef Teriyaki

I give it to the Japanese when it comes to creating mind-blowing food. I mean, they can come up with the most complex yet simple (pardon the oxymoron) recipes - hello, makis, sashimi and bento sets, not to mention the tea service that come with them.

Strawberry-Banana Pancakes

Pancakes were my constant food craving when I was pregnant with Hann. We have a word for this in the Philippines - Pinag-lihi. When a child is pinag-lihi with a certain food, he/she is said to grow up with an inexplicable liking to that food.

Indeed, my kid requests for pancakes every now and then. 

DIY: How To Make Mung Bean Sprout At Home

I have some left over Mung beans from this recipe, so what to do...?

Lightbulb moment!

Bean sprouts after 24 hours

I've always wanted to make beansprouts on my own since I heard unsanitary stories of how these are made in the commercial market. Some rumors involved using stinky, old Good Morning Towels.

I remember my mom doing a couple or so batches a few years ago, using paper towel, but I thought taking the sprouts off the paper towel when they're ready wasn't so easy either.

Anyway, a quick browse in Pinterest got me started on doing it this way.