Recipe: Ampalaya con carne

Ingredients:

2 pcs medium size Ampalaya

1/4 kilo beef giniling

1 onion finely chopped

5pcs garlic crushed

oyster sauce

patis

ground pepper

salt

1. Chop ampalay into small sizes and wash in salt for 3 times. Set aside.

2. Saute garlic and onion in olive oil until onion is slightly transparent.

3. Add the grinded beef until it changes color and let it simmer in its own oil.

4. Add a bit of fish sauce(patis) and pepper for flavor. Let it simmer.

5. Add the ampalaya then add a little water. When the ampalaya is already cooked add oyster sauce, add patis and pepper if necessary to suit your taste. 

**Chicco does not normally eat ampalaya, but he liked the recipe above. When washed with salt, the bitterness of the Ampalaya is lessened. I added oyster sauce in this recipe to overcome the remaining bitter taste the amapalaya has.

Fortunately, my brothers and sister also liked the recipe! woohoo! This is a nice way to cheat them into eating veggies. hehehe

Recipe: Chicken Pesto in creamy white sauce

Everybody knows I'm a sucker for pesto so for Chicco's birthday aside from the Tuna Spaghetti, I made Pesto Pasta in Creamy white sauce. Here's the recipe, maybe you can try it out, its very easy to make since we can already buy proceesed pesto in supermarkets.

Ingredients:

3pcs chicken thigh

Processed Pesto in a bottle

fresh milk

Nestle cream

pepper

salt

Magnolia Gold Butter

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

250g of bow tie pasta

Boil the chicken in water and salt mixture. Once done, separate the chicken from the broth. Set aside broth to cool, and make chicken strips from the meat.

Heat 2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive oil in a pan, add a significant amount of butter, just enough to give the buttery yummy taste :) Add milk then 250ml of Nestle cream, whisk mixture until it boils. Add chicken strips and a cup of the chicken broth then boil in low fire. Add 2 tbsps of the pesto mixture and whisk again, after it boils add another 250ml of the Nestle cream. Add another 2 tbsps of pesto a dash of salt and pepper to taste. Boil in low fire until mixture thickens.

Cook pasta as per package instructions. I used bow tie pasta for presentation purposes. They are sooo cute :)

RECIPE: Tuna Spaghetti

There was nothing left on the fridge today and I don't have the energy or the will to brave the heat outside and go to the grocery. It was past lunchtime and we have'nt eaten anything the whole day. I checked the ref and found out that I have leftover spaghetti noodles from my brother's birthday, leftover tomato sauce from the pork in tomato sauce thingy and also Century Tuna in oil. What to do? Improvise! Right then and there I decided to make my own version of Tuna Spaghetti! Mind you, it's the first time I made this dish and it came out really well :)

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

onions

garlic

pepper

sugar

Filipino style tomato sauce

1 can Century Tuna flakes in oil

Italian Seasoning

cheese

Magnolia Gold Butter (I often use this is cooking - gives a salty taste to the dish, and I sooo love the smell) 

Spaghetti noodles

For the sauce:

Step 1:

Saute minced garlic and onions in Magnolia Gold butter until the onions are transparent. Add drained Tuna and a dash of peppe, let it sit for a while for flavors to blend together.

Step 2:

Add tomato sauce and let it simmer. Add a dash of sugar and Italian seasoning and again let the flavors blend before adding the next ingredients,

Step 3,

Add grated cheese and again a dash of pepper. Stir and adjust seasonig to your taste.

***Cook noodles as per package instructions

There you go, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

RECIPE: Pork in Lemon-Sprite Marinade

I wanted cook something with Lemon juice in it, so I made a recipe from scratch. My brother, sister and Chicco sampled my dish and they loved it.. (well, i think they did. hahaha) Sorry if I don't have the exact measurements. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 kilo pork

4 pcs lemon

garlic

onion (sibuyas tagalog)

pepper

sweet onion

half a bottle of sprite

soy sauce
sprin onion

Step 1:

In a bowl, mix about 1 tbsp of soy sauce, juice from three lemons, minced onions and garlic, half a bottle of sprite and pepper. Lastly add the pork refrigerate and marinade overnight.

Step 2:

In a frying pan, sear the meat on both sides to seal in the flavor. Set aside the oil used for frying. After all the meat is done, put the meat together with the marinade in a pot. Add freshly minced onions, a dash pepper plus the juice from 1 lemon and a little water then let it boil unitl the meat is tender and the marinade is reduced.

Step 3:

On a frying pan, heat the oil used for searing the meat and caramelize sweet onions. (cut in circular shape)

Step 4:

Once the marinade is reduced, sprinkle with spring onions and place caramelized sweet onions on top. Serve with love :)