Warm Soup Helps

I had quite a bit of drama in the kitchen this afternoon. My husband was there too preparing for pork ribs to cook. I am sick, taking care of the baby at the same time and I was starving. So I went to the kitchen trying to see what I can prepare for warm soup.

I felt like having real freshly cooked warm soup so I asked some of pork ribs and boil it. While preparing for ingredients, I told my husband, "times like these I wished I had my mother over here". He was kind of surprised by that statement for he knows I don't get along well with my mother. I explained that if she was here, I don't have to do the cooking myself when I'm sick because she can cook what I want to eat.

Anyway, that soup I cooked turned out pretty yummy. I satisfied my craving, even my big girl loved it and ate some veggies that was in the soup. Warm soup truly helps when you feel cold or when you're feeling ill. It made me feel a bit better.

Baked Chicken Drumsticks And Bibingka

I found a healthy way to cook chicken. I always wanted to eat fried chicken but to fry them on stove top makes a lot of mess that is why I rarely do that. Besides, eating fried chicken often is unhealthy. So last night I searched on the internet an alternative to frying chickens, baking them instead! Photo below is my baked chicken drumsticks that turned out to be yummy. My husband and daughter both loved it weeww! I followed a recipe from cook.com. 

..... here's some of freshly baked bibingka that I had for dinner to go with my chicken drumstick. They may not as yummy looking but I can assure you they sure taste really good and bouncy! 

My Best And Not So Good Cooking

Here are the kinds of food that I can live with everyday. I tell you what, nothing beats the Filipino dishes in my own personal opinion. Not even a steak can compare to the satisfaction it gives to Filipino's tummy. Ask any Filipino you meet out there and we will see if they say the same thing.

......... photo above is our lunch today. A big fat fried Pompano fish with tomatoes, soy sauce and vinegar...... below photo is my screwed up banana nut bread. I must have copied a bad recipe for it turned out pretty dry or it's because I overcooked it? 

........ below photo is a dessert called "Taho"... it is a popular street food in the Philippines that is sold every morning... people of all ages love it!

.... and below is my vegetable stew with coconut milk. This is special for I also include young yellow corn as the new ingredient... it is best suited during cold winter days!

Something Fishy

I have had these dishes few days ago. As soon as it cooked, I posted these photos in my food album on Facebook and got a lot of people drool over these delicious fish recipes I have. These are perfect in cold weather especially the soup. Foods like these are what many of my friends crave for. 

I consider myself lucky to have found this kind of fish at the Asian market. This is something I missed a lot because of its taste and texture of the flesh when it is cooked. 

........my paksiw or inun-unan in our dialect cooked in vinegar, olive oil with eggplant, onions, garlic, finger peppers, ginger and a dash of salt.

Homemade Pizza

I always prefer preparing our own food at home, this way I can make sure what goes into my food and I can choose any stuffing for our pizza. 

This is the first big pie of pizza I made although the crust is ready made bought from the store. I stuffed it with mushrooms, pepperoni, red bell pepper, pizza sauce and mozzarella shredded cheese! I didn't put any seasoning to it nor a pinch of salt that kinda taste arggggggg lol...

Been In The Freezer For Too Long!

I've had this danggit fish in our freezer for two months. I didn't know I had them until yesterday. I thought they were a different kind but when I cooked them this morning, I found out they were actually danggit. Not bad, because I love danggit very much. What disappoints me is that knowing that they've been in our freezer for too long they are no longer good to eat.

When it was cooking the smell of the fish was just awful (good thing it was beautiful outside, cooler temperature so I got to open windows and front door) to let the smell out. No matter how much spices and garlic I put in the fish still the smell was there and ewwww we ate it anyway. I still got some more in the pot left for me to eat in the next meals. No choice but to finish them, I hate throwing away foods that's why.

Mung Bean Soup With Coconut Milk

Here's what I cooked for lunch today. I have a pot full of mung bean soup with coconut milk with all the needed veggies to make it more healthy; okra, Asian spinach and horseraddish leaves. I cooked a lot of soup in one time so I can eat this good for three meals. I do it this way so I don't have to spend so much time cooking in the kitchen. You know, when you have no help around, spending time in the kitchen just so you can have something to eat is sometimes tiring.

I am eating healthy hoping that the baby could get the nutrients of the foods I am eating. I am trying to breastfeed her from time to time so she'll grow big and healthy. Take note, she is now back up to 8 pounds again, it's her birth weight (quite a big baby huh) and then just 2 days after birth she lost 11 ounces that was because breast milk didn't come in until 3 days. Poor girl.

Good Food

One way of pleasing myself is eating good food. Good food to me means cooking my own food (home cooked meals) at home. This way I know what goes into my food and ensure it is clean. I don't like the idea someone else's hands messing with my food so I usually do my own cooking.

With that said, this is what I had this morning and dinner. A good pork chop, grits and fish soup made by yours truly. I am happy knowing that I can eat whatever I wanna eat (well, except for fresh seafoods) in this area for the Asian market is just 15 minutes drive away. Trust me when I say this porkchops I cooked this morning is so insanely delicious that makes you wanna ask for more. My technique is to leave some chops for my next meal, because they're too tasty to be eaten all at once.

Green Vegetables

If mommy is eating healthy so does the baby in her womb. I am just lucky my garden continue giving me produce that I can cook anytime I want. My Asian spinach, horseraddish leaves, sweet potato tops, okra, long yard beans and etc seem to do well and that's what I use for my vegetable stew for lunch today. Just all green veggies yet healthy.

Nothing beats my lunch with my vegetable stew or utan-bisaya paired with scorched grits and fried dried fish dip in sukang pinakurat! I am so full right now gosh, thankful for the food I have today that cost me almost nothing!

My Specialty, Possum Pie

I am munching on a tasty and yummy frozen possum pie right now after that scrumptious lunch I had (tinolang manok with tanglad and kamunggay lang naman for my birthday). I made a whole tray of possum pie in time for Father's day and for my birthday but it's just me and my baby eating it. I know my husband sees it in the refrigerator but for some reason he's not touching the pie. Hmmmmmmmmp! It's okay though, I will be the one to slowly finish the whole thing. Will freeze some as it taste better when eaten straight from the freezer.

Even my little girl loves the pie. It will take days before we can finish it, I know. I am not worried as I've said it taste good and we both love eating my specialty, possum pie. You wanna try some? Bring a plate over here and will give u some for free hehe!

Inun-unan

It's my first time to cook this kind of fish I bought from the Asian Market a long time ago. I got tired of watching it in the freezer, decided to go ahead and cook it yesterday. I made watery soup for a whole fish and the other two were cooked as inun-unan... inun-unan by the way is a quick fix for fish in boiled vinegar with spices and okra or eggplant.

I say my cooking was delicious, in fact, I got the una- dried out for it was just so tasty...the same taste when you cook fresh fish in the Philippines plus the fish itself is almost the same kind we call "isda sa bato" in the Philippines. I am buying a package of the same fish when we are able to shop at the Asian market next time for I like the fish very much.

Puto Cheese

It's been a long time since I tried making puto cheese. The first attempt was a mess. I put too much water in the mixture so I never tried again until this afternoon.

I was hungry and I got tired of eating rice/grits then I remember I have two boxes of puto mixes in the cabinet. Fortunately, I made it perfectly this time. It may not look as drooling in the picture but I tell you it will absolutely make your eyeballs pop out in your eyes once you get a taste of my puto cheese!

Chocolate Porridge

The best afternoon snack for me is this champorado or as what my little girl call it "chocolate porridge". It is a glutinous rice cooked thoroughly with water and cacao or "tabliya" in our dialect. Once cooked, it has a sticky consistency which taste better rather than just using an ordinary rice. 

I grew up eating this kind of porridge. My mother used to cook this a lot that it became a part of my childhood. Of course it is best eaten when served hot every 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 

Filipino Dishes

These are the typical Filipino dishes that I cook at home. I don't need an extra special dish to live, I just want something that I love to eat and something that can fill my hungry stomach that could last for hours. And these kind of foods are definitely what I need. I can eat them forever without complaining for they are what I used to eat back home.

...... "bihon" or vermicelli noodles with veggies...yum!

...... mussels with beef broth and onion leaves from my garden...

....... sinigang bangus or milkfish cooked with lemon and water with sweet potato tops!

Inexpensive Dessert

Who says a dessert should be expensive? You can make a real quick fix dessert at home and not costing you much. I did it just weeks ago with my own invention of two different salads. First photo is the young coconut salad with kaong and coco gel or nata along with raisins, cheese and of course the dressing table cream and condensed milk! Voila I had my sweet and delicious buko salad!

...... the second photo below is another kind of salad only with a slight difference in ingredients. Instead of using young coconut, I replaced it with sliced apple and ripe mango, of course the coco gel or nata de coco and kaong are still present but this time I didn't add raisins. What difference does it make than the first one? Nothing except that it gave me and my girl a satisfaction to our craving.

Fried Chicken And Some Dried Fish

Breakfast is even better when you are able to eat the fried chicken you've been wanting to cook for a long time. I tried making fried chicken from the past but somehow I always end up making chicken adobo just because I pour its marinating sauce into a pan and then put some bay leaves and peppercorns to it which is not the way its done. This morning I finally was able to fry some chickens that tasted really good, crispy and tender that was. 

Since the temperature is so good, I opened windows and front door just to let the smell of my cooking out and let the fresh air in that is when I decided to fry some dried fish as well. I take advantage of the time when I can cook my sacred dried fish inside the house and not bothering my husband with its stink. If it gets too hot outside, I couldn't open the windows for I have to turn on the A/C on to be comfortable.

Octopus Adobo

I do have different cravings everyday. Most of it are just Filipino foods that I haven't eaten for a while. When I do crave for something and realize all the ingredients to make the dish are available, I would make some right away.

One day, I so wanted to eat squid adobo but the problem was I don't have squid in the freezer but I did have frozen octopus. They are somehow related and would taste just the same if I use octopus instead of squid, I went ahead and cooked it. 

I never knew that octopus adobo would taste this good. I am happy I tried it otherwise I would still be craving for squid adobo until now. It's really hard for me if I don't get to taste what I want to eat for I will just keep thinking about it for weeks and it sucks.

I'm Always Hungry

"You're always hungry", that's what my husband said. While it's very true, I have my reasons why I am always hungry. I am eating for two, haller?? When I browse photos of people in my Facebook lists, I can't help but drool over their food posted in their albums. When I feel like cooking, I cook some but to improvise its taste, I refer to my favorite cooking website which is PanlasangPinoy to achieve the taste I want.

Like this adobo and and fish cooked in vinegar in the pictures, I know I've been cooking these dishes for years but then I realized that I can do better with my adobo and inun-unan so I opened PP site to see how he does it. I followed his instructions and guess what? I achieved that ever delicious taste of adobong manok and inun-unan.

Because I Deserved It

I worked hard this morning and a good lunch is what I deserve. I had fish tinuwa, a bit spicy with a little bit of lemon in it to make the flavor appealing to my taste buds. This of course paired with grits and Jadyn's leftover bacon this morning. I fed my growling stomach, cleaned my kitchen and now just waiting for half an hour so I can take my afternoon nap. I got sleepy after all those writing and eating I did. BURP, excuse me! Jadyn thought my soup was spicy but once she had a taste of it, she couldn't help but eat along with me. Now I am pretty sure she is full and will last for hours until I have a chance to feed her again.

My First Try... Not Bad!

I take pride in my cooking especially if it's my first time to cook or prepare certain dishes or desserts like this one. It's a leche flan dessert made with eggyolks, condensed milk and melted sugar.

I've never done this before but then I literally dreamed of it, so one morning I woke up... I decided that I will just go ahead and make some to please myself. It was rather a success experiment. I will just adjust the milk and the sugar next time though because it's a little bit too sweet for me.

Kudos to PanlasangPinoy.com for I could have not done it without it's step by step video that he provided on his site.