Smoothies, Shakes and Juices - Your Prefect Combinations!

Thinking about healthy fruit or veggie shake recipe? This is one is surely the best for the whole family to enjoy plus it's healthy too! Shake, smoothies or juices is plain easy to do all you need is some blender or a food processor and creativity then off you go sip a new and tasty beverage to fill you in for the day. So enjoy and goodluck in keeping the family healthy and wealthy! =)

Carrot + Ginger + Apple  - Boost and cleanse our system. 


Apple + Cucumber + Celery -   Prevent cancer, reduce cholesterol, and improve stomach upset and headache.  


Tomato + Carrot + Apple - Improve skin complexion and bad breath.   


Bitter gourd + Apple + Milk -  Avoid bad breath and reduce internal body heat.  


Orange + Ginger + Cucumber - Improve Skin texture and moisture and reduce body heat.  


Pineapple + Apple + Watermelon - To dispel excess salts, nourishes the bladder and kidney.  


Apple + Cucumber + Kiwi - To improve skin complexion.  


Pear & Banana -   regulates sugar content.  


Carrot + Apple + Pear + Mango - Clear body heat, counteracts toxicity, decreased blood pressure and fight oxidization .  


Honeydew + Grape + Watermelon + Milk - Rich in vitamin C + Vitamin B2 that increase cell activity and strengthen body immunity.  


Papaya + Pineapple + Milk - Rich in vitamin C, E, Iron. Improve skin complexion and metabolism.  


Banana + Pineapple + Milk - Rich in vitamin with nutritious and prevent constipation

  Quite interesting! 

Sinigang Na Hipon (Shrimp in Tamarind Soup)

Hearty soup you can serve any time of the day especially on winter or rainy days like here now in the Philippines.

This dish is so popular in the Philippines because the ingredients are very abundant and really easy to cook. You really can’t miss this soup in every Filipino’s dining table. It’s everyone’s favorite. The basic ingredient for this dish is the Tamarind. You can find it in ready to mix powders from your local grocery stores or if not you can use a few fresh green tamarinds and just boil it until its tender for you to easily get the juice and use the juice as soup base. Actually, this was served last night and cook by yours truly.

Here’s what you need:

1 liter of water (or tamarind base soup from tamarind extract)

24 grams of tamarind mix (Maggie or Knorr Sinigang mix)

1 lbs Shrimp (torns and antenna removed)

1 cup Water Spinach/Swamp Cabbage (Kangkong) stalks only

1 medium onion (chopped)

2-3 pieces red tomatoes (cut into 4 sections but not cutting them all the way)

Fish sauce to taste (as needed)

Procedures:

1.       Bring to boil the onions and tomatoes with water into a deep pan.

2.       Once tomatoes and onions are already well cooked add in the shrimps and and tamarind mix. Simmer for a few minutes (do not over cooked shrimps). Taste if you’re already ok with the saltiness or you need to add fish sauce as needed. I didn’t add mine because for me the taste is ok with the sourness of the tamarind.

3.       Add in the spinach stalks and let it simmer for 1 minute. Serve  Hot and Enjoy!

Tinolang Manok (Chicken Ginger Stew)

For the past few months, my hubby and I haven’t had a real meal together. Either I’m out of town or just plain lazy to cook another hearty dish that we usually love to share together. He likes meat a lot but I love vegetables more than ever. That’s why I decided to cook this one for dinner. It’s just so easy to cook you can even blog or watch your favorite tv show while cooking (that’s what I’ve been doing while I cook this recipe). This dish is good for 4 people but in my case it’s only for 2 people (my hubby is such a good eater he can eat 3 servings of this in 1 seating) :-p

Here’s what you need:

2 lbs. chicken parts

2 thumbs ginger (crushed)

2-3 stalks of lemon grass (crushed and cut into 2 inches long)

2 cups chicken stock (1 chicken cubes is also ok)

3 cloves garlic (crushed)

1 medium onion (sliced thinly)

2 tablespoon olive oil/canola

Fish sauce to taste

2 cups of chili leaves (can be substituted with malunggay or spinach)

1 whole green (young) papaya (sliced into bite size about 1inch thick)

Procedures:

1.       Sauté ginger into the oil in a deep cooking pan until brown.

2.       Add in garlic and onion then the chicken.

3.       When chicken is already coated with the sautéed ingredients add in the lemon grass and simmer until chicken is slightly browned about 10 minutes do not over brown the chicken because this will affect the color of the soup.

4.       When chicken is already cooked, add in chicken stock (or if cubes add in 2 cups water/1 cube) and fish sauce to taste and let it boil.

5.       While boiling add in the papaya and simmer for another minute or until papayas are cooked.

6.       Add in the chili leaves and serve hot and enjoy!

An easy recipe to a comforting dish that your family will surely love.

Pako Salad (Fiddlehead Ferns)

As I walk going to church one Friday morning, I happen to pass by the new wet market in Angeles City. It's my second time to pass by that market and I was so overwhelmed with the veggies and fishes. And one thing that catch my attention was the pako (fiddlehead ferns) I used to buy from my neighbors morning store it's like a little market inside our subdivision that only sells fresh stuff only in the morning. Since they closed their store I wasn't able to make some salad for me and my hubby. That's why I suddenly thought of making this pako salad because we missed it that much.

This is just an easy recipe so there is no reason you can't do this at home.

1-2 bunch of pako (take the heads and set aside)
2 salted duck eggs (sliced or shredded)
1 medium purple onions (shallots) minced/diced whichever you prefer
2 tomatoes
3 tablespoons apple cider or vinegar
dash of salt
dash of pepper

Procedure:

1. Wash the pako well and keep it inside the fridge while mixing the other ingredients.
2. Mix the vinegar and onion with the dash of salt and pepper.
3. Mix the vinegrette with the chilled pako and top with sliced salted egg and sliced tomato.

Serve while it's chilled! Enjoy!

Yummy ArozCaldo!

It's stormy season once again here in the Philippines... and it's best to just stay in the house and eat some hearty congee to comfort you in these cold rainy day. I'm sharing to you today my version of Arozcaldo.

My hubby and I love to eat something we seldom eat during rainy days. And this recipe I just cooked last Thursday because it’s still raining due to a storm. This is supposed to be our early dinner menu but we ended up eating all of it for a snack.

Ingredients:

1-2 cups sticky rice

1 lb. chicken parts (a cut your choice)

2 thumbs ginger (julienne)

1 medium onion (minced)

1 head of garlic (minced)

2 pcs barks of lemon grass (crushed)

2 tablespoons fish sauce (the amount actually depends on your taste)

2 teaspoons of Salt and

1 teaspoon black/white pepper

Spring onion/onion leeks

1-2 cups chicken stock or 2 chicken cubes is just fine

Procedure:

1.       In a deep pan, brown all of the garlic and set aside some of it for garnishing.

2.       Sauté ginger, onion and lemon grass.

3.       Put in chicken parts until well cooked then add in salt and pepper. Simmer until cooked.

4.       Add in washed sticky rice and chicken stock. Simmer until cooked. Stir constantly though to avoid rice from sticking onto the pan.

5.       Add in fish sauce and pepper according to your taste.

6.       Garnish with fried garlic and onions springs. Serve hot and enjoy.

Learning More about Spice Freshness

This is actually a continuation of my previous article Spices and Herb 101. This is more about the freshness of your spices, like how long you should keep them in your shelves. You may wonder why your spices stored on your shelves is caking and seems not that good when you put them on your recipes... worry no more... these tips and ideas will give the best answer you've wanting to know... read on right here  Learning More About Spice Freshness.

Mongo Guisado (Mung Bean Soup

Mongo Guisado (Mung Bean Soup)

This dish is best served anytime of the day or even on any season but we love to serve this in the house during the rainy days because of its hearty soup. There are actually too many versions on how to cook this soup but since I’ve tried most of it but this version is my real favorite especially if it’s my hubby who’s cooking this. He cooks really well (at times). He made it really simple and yet still yummy. That’s why I came to believe what most chefs say about cooking… “the simpler the better”.

So let’s start cooking! You’ll need the following:

3 cloves garlic

1 medium size onion

2 thumbs of ginger

1 cup mung beans (mongo) – this is better when soaked overnight. It’s easier to boil

2 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil

1 lbs sliced pork meat (or shredded smoke fish, chicken meat or prawns/shrimps or combinations)

1 cup of leaves your choice. I prefer Bitter Melon leaves because it gives a little kick of bitterness that makes the dish more delicious. You can also try Malunggay leaves or Horse Radish leaves in English but if it’s not available you could use spinach leaves.

3 tablespoons of water

2-3 tablespoon fish sauce (depending on your taste)

Procedures:

1.       Boil the soaked mung beans for 30 minutes or until tender. Set aside.

2.       Put the sliced meat in a deep pan with the water and let it brown.

3.       Add oil and sauté ginger, garlic and onions next.

4.       Transfer the boiled mung beans in the pan and let it boil.

5.       Put the fish sauce next. Simmer for a few minutes. Taste and adjust according to your taste.

6.       Put the leaves and simmer for another minute. Serve hot.

This dish is good if paired with rice and some fried fish if you prefer.  Enjoy!

Spices and Herbs 101

Oh sure spices and herbs are really good for most of our recipes, but how much do you know about it? This post will give you an idea... Read further here... http://quazen.com/shopping/spices-and-herbs-101/

Grilled Steak ala Carol

If you like a peppery grilled meat this one is the best! See full details of this recipe in the link below...I cooked this for my picky husband. He loves to chomp on meat on his days off.

 http://notecook.com/main-course/meat/grilled-steak-ala-carol/