Russian Salad (Ensalada Rusa)

I've learned to cook a lot of recipes that I've never cooked before when I went to the US. One recipe that I've learned to cook is the Ensalada Rusa (Russian Salad). My hubby loves to eat potatoes so I searched for potato recipe and I found this one. I have cooked this several times already and hubby and I like it.

Ensalada Rusa is Dominican's favorite salad. It is usually served on special occasions and is a traditional component of the Christmas dinner.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb of potatoes
1/2 lb of carrots
1/2 cup of sweet corn
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup of peas
1 apple diced into small cubes (optional)
i medium red onion
3 eggs
salt

Preparation:
Boil the potatoes, carrots and eggs. Peel and dice into small cubes. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Adjust salt to taste. Put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes prior to serving.

Hubby's Birthday Celebration

This is a late post but it's better late than never as they say. My hubby celebrated his birthday last Nov. 10th. I prepared fruit salad for him and we had chicken adobo, pancit and I bought a birthday cake for him. We didn't invite anybody. The celebration was exclusive for our family members only. My 3 siblings were present with their families and also my aunt who live with us. We had a good supper and everybody were full. Hubby was so satisfied with his birthday celebration. He enjoyed the foods of course especially his birthday cake.

Birthday Preparations

It's already past 2:00 AM here but I'm still awake. I'm just done making a fruit salad for my hubby's birthday today. This afternoon, we went to order a birthday cake for hubby. It's a lot cheaper for me to buy a ready-made cake than to make one. I don't have the skill to make a nice cake with all the icing and designs. Besides, the bakery where I ordered sells cake at a very reasonable price. I ordered twice there already and their cake is moist and not very sweet. Hubby said he love it. I'm pretty sure my hubby will have a good time tomorrow celebrating his birthday. Watch out for the photos because I'm gonna post it here.

Vegetable Lumpia

I've been making shanghai lumpia and vegetable lumpia as well. My hubby prefers eating shanghai lumpia that's why I've been making it most of the time. But since I love veggies too, I do make vegetable lumpia whenever I'm in the mood. Hubby likes it too but not as much as he likes the shanghai. My vegetable lumpia is not made of purely veggies. I do add a little ground meat to add flavor in it. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

* 2 Tbs. olive oil
* 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
* 1/2 C. green beans, finely sliced
* 1/2 C. carrots, finely chopped
* 1/2 C. celery, finely chopped
* 1 C. ground beef or chicken or pork
* 1 C. bean sprouts
* Pepper to taste
* Soy sauce to taste
* spring roll wrappers
* 3 Tbs. water
* Oil for frying
*
* Dip:
* 3 cloves garlic, finely crushed
* 1/2 C. vinegar of choice
* 1/8 tsp. ground pepper
* Pinch of salt
* 1 tsp. shallots, finely chopped
* 1 chili pepper, chopped (optional)

Directions

In a pan, heat oil medium-hot, and then add garlic. When garlic is slightly brown, add onions and ground meat. When meat is browned, add all the vegetables and stir-fry until almost done. Season with pepper and soy sauce. Set aside, draining excess liquid. Separate spring roll wrappers and cover with damp cloth. Take one wrapper at a time, laying each wrapper on a plate. Place a Tbs. of vegetables on the wrapper, and wrap vegetable mixture firmly, sealing the edge with a little water. Heat oil in a deep frying pan on 'hot' stove setting and fry spring rolls until lightly browned. You may use a deep fryer if you want. Serve hot with garlic-vinegar dip.

Dip:

Mix ingredients in a glass bowl and add more vinegar, pepper, and salt as required.

Kitchen Tips (Part II)

Here's the continuation of the kitchen tips which I posted a few days ago. I do hope that it will help others who are following or reading my blog. Here it goes...

To improve the flavor of green string beans, place 1 or 2 small onions in kettle before adding beans.

Singe chicken or other fowl by holding over burner of oil or gas stove.

When baking whole fish, wrap in well-oiled cheesecloth. When fish is done, it can be lifted from baking pan without falling to pieces. To remove cloth, slip a spatula under fish and slide cloth out after fish is on platter.

When prok or beef liver is tough, run it through a food chopper. Season and drop by spoonfuls into hot frying pan.

Wash fresh pineapples thoroughly before paring. Cover parings with water and cook until soft. Use strained juice for making jelly.

To keep muffins from burning around the edges, fill one section with water instead of batter.

Stick 2 or 3 pieces of macaroni in the center of the top of a double crust pie. The juice bubbles up these sticks and prevents pie from running over.

Do not beat egg whites for cakes or meringue until ready to use. If allowed to stand, some of the white will return to liquid.

To prevent onions from burning your eyes, hold them under water when peeling or slicing them.

Kitchen Tips (Part I)

I was going through all my books especially my cook books a few days ago. I got quite a few cook books but the Mennonite Community Cook book caught my eye. The book was sent to me by a foreigner friend whom I met in a dating site way back when I was still single. He sent the cook book to me together with a concordance Bible. This cook book is quite thick with lots of recipes in it. It has also some household hints that are very helpful to housewives like me. I thought of sharing it here.

Dry green celery or parsley leaves until crumbly. Store in covered jars to use as seasoning and fillings.

After rice has been cooked and drained, place a slice of dry bread on top of the rice and cover. The bread will absorb the moisture and the rice will be dry and fluffy.

Before melting chocolate, rub the inside of the pan it is to be melted in with butter. The chocolate will not stick to the pan.

When washing pans and dishes to which food has adhered during cooking, turn the pan outside down in steaming, sudsy water. Food will loosen in a ery short time.

When cookie dough is soft and difficult to handle, place it between pieces of waxed paper that have been floured. Roll to desired thickness, remove top paper and cut cookies.

To gel fruit juices that are difficult to gel, such as peach juice, add 1 1/3 teaspoons plain gelatin to each cup of juice. Soften gelatin in 3 teaspoons juice and add to remaining hot juice. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to each quart of fruit juice.

Before discarding the empty catsup bottle, pour some vinegar into the bottle and use in making French dressing.

Pour melted paraffin on the cut end of cheeses or dried beef to keep them from molding or drying up.

Ginataang Kalabasa At Sitaw Once Again

I love cooking and eating veggies. Squash or kalabasa is one of my favorite vegetables. My garden in Texas was full of squash last year and I cooked a lot of it when I harvested. I even gave some to my Mexican neighbor and she said it was good. See how coconut milk enhances the taste of this recipe. I cooked this recipe before and posted it here.

INGREDIENTS:
1 squash, peeled and cubed
a bunch of sitaw (10-15 pcs)
8 pcs okra
1 medium size onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of ground beef or
1/4 kilo of shrimp (whatever kind of your choice from the small one to the big ones)
1 cup of coconut milk
oil for cooking
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste or ginisa flavor mix

DIRECTIONS:
Put oil on a saucepan and saute the garlic and onion, after that put your choice of "sahog" (beef, pork or shrimp), then put the squash and saute for a while then add the okra and the sitaw then again saute again for a while then add the water. Cook for a few minutes and then add the coconut milk and cook until the veggies are done then seasoned with salt and pepper to taste or some ready ginisa mix if you want. Then serve with steam rice.