Nilagang Baka (Boiled Beef With Veggies)

This Filipino beef recipe is so yummy especially during cold weather. The hot soup warms the stomach and the beef with veggies are so appetizing. My hubby is not very fond of boiled recipes that's why I seldom cook this. But when I do cook, I really enjoy eating it with rice. It fills me up and this is one of my favorite comfort foods.

Ingredients :

3/4 kilo of beef, cut into serving pieces
1 whole garlic
1 whole onion, peeled
1 bunch of womboc (Chinese cabbage) or pechay or cabbage
4 medium-sized potatoes, quartered
4 pcs. bananas (saging na saba)
salt and black pepper to taste

Cooking procedure:

Place the beef pieces in a casserole and cover with water. Pierce the garlic in several places using a sharp pointed knife. Add the garlic, onion and black pepper to the beef. Season with salt. Set over high heat and bring to a boil, removing scum as it rises. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until the beef is tender.

Add the potatoes, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings. Turn up the heat to medium-high. Place the womboc or pechay leaves on top of the beef and potatoes and boil gently until the leaves begin to wilt. Push down the leaves into the broth, if necessary. Turn off the heat, cover the casserole and finish cooking the womboc leaves for another 5 minutes. Serve hot.

Thanksgiving Celebration

Belated happy thanksgiving to everyone! How was your thanksgiving celebration? I bet you had a good one and was full to the max. We had a family devotion early evening after we were done cooking the foods. Hubby read some verses in the Bible and gave a message about thanking God for all He has given us. Then after our devotion, we sang the song "Give Thanks". We then all sat at the table and ate our Thanksgiving Dinner. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, chicken afritada, pancit, rice and refrigerated cake. My siblings were all present and their families. We had a blast though we didn't have some fancy foods like we used to have in the states. We were so thankful to the good Lord for all His blessings and provisions.

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.