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.

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.