Tortang Talong

Eggplants are in season nowadays and they're very cheap. Those bigger ones for torta are cheaper than the smaller ones. It cost P10.00/kilo. It's almost give away so we always buy it and of course I like it cooked torta. We had it the other day and we'll have it again today.

Ingredients :

· 2 to 4 talong (eggplants), average size
· 2 to 3 eggs, beaten
· salt and pepper, to taste
· oil, for frying

Cooking Procedures :

1. Broil eggplants until tender (the skins are charred and blister appears).

2. Once cool, peel off the skins of the eggplant and retain the crown and the stem. Gently flatten its meat by using the back of a fork. Set aside.

3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper.

4. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Dip each eggplant, one at a time into the egg mixture. Gently bring the bowl near the skillet and tip, lowering the eggplant onto the heated oil.

5. Fry until golden brown on one side, then turn and brown the other. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm and serve.

Fresh Lumpia

My brother cut our coconut tree in front of our house. It has grown tall and the leaves touched the electric wire so we decided to cut it down. We got the ubod of the coconut and made fresh lumpia. My brother-in-law was the one who made it. He's good in it. Fresh lumpia is so pricey in SM food court in Baguio, Php40.00 each and it's not that good.

Fresh lumpia are among the most famous of all Filipino dishes. These are not the fried, eggroll-like lumpia you may have tried, but a lighter, home-style version, in which delicate egg pancakes are rolled around lettuce and a tasty chicken, shrimp, and vegetable filling. Well, after enjoying this sumptuous delicacy, sit down, relax and enjoy then learn How to make a Custom WordPress Theme. You can use the free trial software to make your designs which helps deliver valid WordPress themes in minutes.



Wrappers
2 large eggs
1-1/4 cups water
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

About 3 tablespoons cooking oil

Filling
1/2 cup julienned onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half, thinly sliced
1/4 pound medium raw shrimp, shelled, deveined, and halved
1-1/2 cups finely julienned ubod of coconut or jicama
1/2 small carrot, finely julienned
2 green onions, finely julienned
2 teaspoons oyster-flavored sauce
1 teaspoon Filipino fish sauce (patis)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

5 tender lettuce leaves


Getting Ready
Prepare wrappers: In a bowl, whisk together eggs, water, cornstarch, flour, and salt until smooth. Strain batter.

Place a nonstick 8-inch omelet pan over medium heat until hot; brush with 1/4 teaspoon oil. Pour 1/4 cup batter into pan; tilt pan so batter covers entire surface. Cook until edge of wrapper is lightly browned and surface looks dry, about 45 seconds. Loosen edge with a spatula, turn wrapper, and cook 10 seconds longer. Turn wrapper out of pan onto a plate. Repeat to use all batter.

Cooking
Prepare filling: Place a wok over high heat until hot. Add 1 tablespoon oil, swirling to coat sides. Add onion and garlic. Stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken and shrimp; stir-fry for 2 minutes. Remove from pan. Heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add jicama and carrot; stir-fry for 1 minute. Add green onions; cook until vegetables are tender crisp, about 2 minutes. Return chicken mixture to pan; add oyster-flavored sauce, fish sauce, and pepper; cook for 1 minute. Cool.

Cut lettuce in half lengthwise. For each lumpia, place a piece of lettuce on wrapper. Spoon about 1/3 cup filling into center of wrapper. Fold bottom third of wrapper over filling, then fold in sides.

Serve with garlic dipping sauce or a mixture of hoisin sauce and soy sauce.

Rave Pants

If you are looking for quality clothing made with lightweight materials, then don't look far no more. Here's a website that sells rave pants online. Their pants looks so comfy because they're loose and won't stick to your skin. It allows you to move freely and easily. It's great for everyday use.

Ten Reasons to Throw Out Your Microwave Oven

I want to post this again here so that others who didn't read this post before can read it. I personally stopped using microwave more than 3 years ago since I read about the dangers of using it. Eating microwaved food on a regular basis weakens your immune system and cause depression and anxiety. Parents who microwave baby formula are poisoning there children unknowingly because when you microwave anything, it becomes energetically toxic to the body. Oh well, people perish because of lack of knowledge. So when I read all about these articles, I tossed out our microwave and just reheat our foods on the stove just like we do here in the Philippines. Only few people here own a microwave unlike in the US wherein 98% of the people use microwave. Read further below.

Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].

2. The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.

3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.

4. The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.

5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.

6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.

7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.

8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.

9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

Perhaps many of you won't agree with this article, but it's up to you. It's your life and your health anyway so take charge of your own. I'm just sharing what I learned.

Tinolang Manok (Filipino Chicken Soup)

Hubby and I went to SM Rosales yesterday with my sister and her hubby. We bought groceries there. I bought chicken and we had it for supper tonight. Vivian was the one who cooked and we we're supposed to have chicken afritada tonight but she said she wants some tinolang manok so she cooked both. I remember my late grandma used to cook native chicken for tinola and it was soooo good. I can't cook tinola like she did. She was the expert. Anyways, here the recipe for tinolang manok.

INGREDIENTS:

1 kilo whole chicken, cut into pieces.
1 small young papaya or sayote, cut into small pieces.
2 tablespoons ginger, crushed and slliced into strips
1/2 cup dahon ng sili (chili leaves) or malunggay leaves
1 liter of water
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 red onion, diced
4 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons patis (fish sauce)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a stock pot, heat oil and sauté garlic, onion and ginger.
2. Add water and the chicken.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes or until chicken is almost done.
4. Season with patis
5. Add papaya and continue to simmer for an additional 5 minutes or until papaya softens but not overcooked.
6. Add sili leaves then turn off the heat.
7. Serve steaming hot on a bowl with plain rice on the side.

Sea Foods

I've been writing here before how I love fish. Since we've been here in the Philippines, hubby and I bought fish many times already. I bought different kinds of fish but my favorite is salmon. I love it grilled. In fact I just bought 2 kilos of salmon this morning and we grilled it all because we had a picnic at the beach. Oh my, it was so delicious. There were 2 left and we ate it again during supper. We had lots of foods that we ate in the beach today like grilled salmon, sea weeds (ararosep), grilled squid, grilled sliced fish (I forgot the name), beef (bistek), grilled tahong, adobong okra and banana heart. We also had water melon, ripe mangoes, singkamas, peanuts, pandecoco and pandesal. We really had a good time swimming and eating at the beach.

Suman Sa Ibus

Yesterday, my brother cut the coconut tree in front of our house. We gathered the young leaves and my sister and I decided that we gonna make suman sa ibus, a native delicacy made of glutinous rice. It was our first time to make this kind of suman. We used to make suman wrapped in banana leaves. We bought 2 kilos of glutinous rice and 2 grated matured coconuts for the main ingredients. Though it was our first time to make suman wrapped in coconut leaves, the outcome turned out good. It was so yummy! We ate it this morning and also for our snacks this afternoon. Here's the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups glutinous rice
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups thick coconut milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook glutinous rice in water with the coconut milk and salt in a pan. Mix it well by stirring constantly until it's half cooked.
2. Prepare ibus then fill with rice mixture.
4. Seal tubes and tie with strips of the ibus.
5. Arrange the suman in a big saucepan and cover with water.
6. Cover the pot and boil for 1 hour or until cooked.
7. Serve with sugar or ripe mango.

How to wrap Suman Sa Ibus

* Fold the end of the coconut leaf by 1 ½ inches.
* Fold the bottom edge into a triangle.
* Start rolling up the coconut leaf in an overlapping manner.
* Roll up the buri to make a tube.
* Attach a small piece of wooden pick to secure the tube.
* Fill the tube with glutinous rice.
* Seal the ibus tube.
* Tie with strips of buri.

Dutch Apple Pie

My friend Toni had taught me how to bake Dutch apple pie. I went to her house last year and she showed me how to cook it. She even gave me the recipe of her Dutch Apple Pie. I misplaced it though that's why I wasn't able to cook it. It's a good thing I've found the recipe in one of my purses. I definitely would love to cook this recipe. My hubby love apple pie. Here's a photo I took when my friend Toni showed me how to cook Dutch apple pie before it was baked. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo after I baked it but the pie really turned out good.


INGREDIENTS:
6 apples (sliced)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

In a separate mix to crumble
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 stick butter

DIRECTIONS:
Pour apple mix into crust then top with crumble. Place in brown paper bag and roll tightly. Bake in middle rack at 375 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Squash Casserole

I cooked this recipe a few times already. I got this recipe from one of my co-bloggers when I was visiting her blog a few months ago. I printed it and kept it. This recipe is so simple and easy to make amd most of all, it's delicious too.

INGREDIENTS:
6-7 yellow squash
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 eggs
1 stick butter
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Cube the squash then boil for 30 minutes until softened with salt.
2. Drain well. Add all ingredients.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until it turns light brown on top.

Optional: You can add cheddar cheese if you want.