Ginisang Chayote

I love eating ginisang chayote so I often buy chayote in the market or whenever we go to my brother-in-law's house, we always get chayote from their backyard. It grow there pretty good. In fact, we just went there last weekend and I got some chayote including the tops. So the best recipe for it is of course ginisang chayote.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, sliced thin
3 chayote, sliced
Patis (fish sauce), to taste
Ground pepper

Directions:

Heat pan to medium heat and saute’ the ground beef in a tablespoon of oil until it turn brown. Add garlic and saute until it becomes fragrant, 1-2 minutes then add the onions. Cook for a few more minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the chayote, stir fry for a minute or two then add about 1/2 cup of water. Season with patis or salt and pepper, cover and simmer until the chayote is tender. Adjust seasonings and serve over steamed rice.

Baked Empanada

It's been a while that I haven't cooked empanada. My hubby likes it so I decided to make some yesterday. I just cooked 8 pieces the other day and I put the remaining dough and filling (I used chicken) in the refrigerator. Then this afternoon I cooked all of it, 11 pieces. After I cooked, hubby came in the kitchen and grabbed a piece. It was still hot, fresh from the oven. I prefer baked empanada than fried. My hubby loves it and he said he can eat it all. He said they are so good. Oh my, I told him to leave some for me because I was going to take a shower. I told him I will eat after I shower. He told me to hurry up before he can it them all. I know he was just teasing me. He just ate three pieces then when we ate our supper we also ate the remaining empanada. It was all gone in a matter of minutes.

Ingredients:

Dough:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
ice water (enough to make a ball)

Filling:
1 chicken breast, boiled and himayin
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
canola oil
salt
pepper

Instructions:

Mix the ingredients for the dough. Knead it well using a rolling pin. If the dough is already okay and doesn't stick to your hands no more, cut it into pieces according to your desired size. For the filling, sautee the garlic, onion, chicken then add the rest of the ingredients. Put salt and pepper according to taste. If it's already cooked, let it cool first. Then form a ball of the dough that you cut into pieces and roll it with the rolling pin to flatten. Then put the filling about 1heaping tablespoon. Then wrap it. Use a fork to seal the edges. Beat 1 egg and just use the yolk. Apply it to the empanada using a brush before baking. Bake it for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Fish Sarciado

When my mom was still alive, she often cooked fish sarciado. I learned to cook this recipe from her and this has been a family favorite ever since we were kids. I love eating fish more than meat and this afternoon, we had fish sarciado for supper. Everything was gone and all eaten up. Yummy...

INGREDIENTS:

Fried fish
4 cloves garlic
1 diced onions
3 diced tomatoes
1 cup water
oil for frying
1 beaten egg
salt and pepper to taste

PROCEDURE:

1. Saute the garlic and onion first then add the tomatoes and cook it until soft.
2. Add water and put the fried fish, season to adjust taste
3. Add beaten egg last. Eat with rice. Yummy!

Sauteed Organic Vegetables

I love eating fresh vegetables especially if it's free from insecticides. That's the reason I prefer buying veggies that are organic and free of pesticides like squash, okra , string beans and bitter gourd. You can't beat these fresh, organic vegetables. Hmmm....Yummy!!!

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 whole kalabasa (squash) peeled and cut into big cubes
1 bundle of sitaw ( string beans) sliced into 1-2 inches
10 pcs okra
2 medium size bitter gourd, sliced
1 med. onion ( sliced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
3 tbsp. fish sauce
1/2 cup ground beef
1 cup water
salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a pan put olive oil.
2. Saute garlic and onion.
3. Add ground beef and continue cooking until golden brown or fully cooked.
4. Add fish sauce, kalabasa (squash), sitaw (string beans), okra, bitter gourd (ampalaya) and water.
season with salt & pepper
5. Simmer for a few minutes or until vegetables are tender.
6. Serve hot with rice.

Squash Soup

More than a year ago, I attended the Ladies' Fellowship with the ladies in our church at Sherman, TX. I enjoyed eating the foods that they served on the buffet table. One thing that really got my interest was the squash soup which they served at night. It was my first time to have a taste of that kind of soup. We told the ladies who served it that the squash soup was really good so they gave us the recipe the next day. I asked my hubby to buy the ingredients and I cooked it. Oh how my hubby love it! He ate a lot during lunch and he finished the left over during supper. He ate it with bread. I'm so glad my hubby enjoyed the foods that I cooked. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
3 large yellow squash, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
2 cans chicken broth
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 small package Velvetta cheese (you can use the Mexican style if you like spicy)

DIRECTIONS:

Cook squash, onion, in chicken broth until done then add Rotel tomatoes and simmer and then add Velvetta cheese, cook until cheese is melted. Serve with French bread.

Holiday Blasts

It's been a while since I updated this blog. I was busy during the holidays and hubby and I enjoyed celebrating Christmas and New year here in my homeland. We celebrated Christmas in Baguio with my family and friends. We had lots of foods on the table last Christmas. We gobbled and gobbled and ate to our hearts' delight. Then we opened our gifts and we had a blast.

On New year's eve, we again prepared lots of foods and we welcomed the 2010 with a bang. Hubby had bought some firecrackers and some fireworks. They lighted it at exactly 12:00 midnight on New year. We made some noise and then we had a devotion. Then we ate the foods that my sister and I prepared. We had some friends and neighbors with us that night as we ate our Media Noche foods. Then after that we had some karaoke singing. We went to bed so late that night of New year but we had fun.

Ginisang Pechay (Sauteed Chines Cabbage)

Here's another Filipino recipe to add to my lists. I learned to cook ginisang pechay from my late mom who was a very good cook herself. I remember she had a pechay garden in our yard when I was a kid. I love this recipe because I love eating veggies mixed with some meat. This is easy to prepare, delicious with ground beef, and is rich in calcium, iron, phosphorus and other nutrients. We just had this the other day.

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beef
4 to 5 stalks of pechay, roughly chopped (around 3 to 4 cups)
5 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely sliced
3 pcs. tomatoes, chopped
1 cup water
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsps vegetable oil
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare pechay leaves by trimming ends and chopping to bite-sized pieces. Separate white ends from darker parts.

2. In a pan, heat vegetable oil. Over medium heat, saute onions and garlic until softened. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until tender.

3. Add in ground meat. Saute ground meat until lightly browned.

4. Pour in fish sauce. Continue to stir and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes.

5. Pour in water. Add more as necessary to simmer the meat in and to maintain one cup for when the dish is pulled together. Allow to simmer until meat is fully cooked. Skim off scum that may aggregate on top.

6. Add in white ends of pechay leaves. Cook for around one minute. Combine in dark parts of leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until leaves are slightly wilted, around one to two minutes.