occupation: SAHM

I used to buy boxes of the just-add-water-and-egg mix from the supermarket  because hubby likes pancakes. Me? I don’t like these sort of pancakes. I find these mixes too sweet and artificial. I can’t top them anymore with syrup and butter, and how can a pancake be a pancake without syrup and butter?

And since I have been trying to make convenience food from scratch (see my Attempts in the Kitchen), I tried some recipes for homemade pancakes.

The verdict - why oh why have I never thought of this before?!

These are the pancakes my taste buds have been looking for! Homemade goodness, none of the artificial sweetness. Perfect on its own, or with a hefty topping of butter and syrup. And you don’t have to be a whiz in the kitchen to do it.

Continue reading ‘There’s No Pancake Like a Homemade Pancake!’ »

I woke up this morning with a strong craving for a bowl of hot filling soup for breakfast.

I opened the refrigerator and found leftover corned beef in the freezer, leftover green beans which was a side dish from yesterday’s lunch, and a part of the cabbage I used for nilaga days ago.

Good thing I did not cook all the macaroni when the kids asked for mac and cheese. I sauteed onions and garlic in butter, and then threw in all ingredients I found in the fridge.  

Some salt and pepper to taste, and voila! A soup that hit the spot. Made from whatever was there.

My husband and my son love pork and beans so I decided to serve them one that was not from a can.

I saw a recipe for homemade pork and beans in an issue of Good Housekeeping but I couldn’t find the magazine anymore, I must have given it away. Thankfully, I found  Lani’s blog which has the recipe on it. Thanks Lani!

The recipe called for catsup but I put tomato sauce instead. Also, the pork I used was my leftover homemade bacon.

Continue reading ‘A Parade of Beans’ »

Because I was still ecstatic over my successful homemade tapa, I felt ready to go up a notch and make another convenience food from scratch.

Homemade bacon.

We’ve all heard of homemade tocino and homemade longganisa, but rarely, if ever, do we hear of someone, anyone, making homemade bacon. So I just have to do it.

I spent hours reading articles on the net about curing your own bacon. There were a few discouraging articles, but I was primed for a challenge. I focused on those that said it was “unbelievably” easy.

With the information swimming in my head, I marched to the grocery to get me some meat.

***

This homemade bacon is a mishmash of the things I read and my improvisation.

I chose to do a basic rub, and so I needed:

Continue reading ‘Bring The Homemade Bacon’ »

Last night, I had a craving for Sinampalukang Manok (Chicken in Tamarind Soup). But I didn’t have all of its ingredients, and oh! I have never ever cooked the dish.

I looked for recipes on the internet and cookbooks, and each one is quite different from the other except for the chicken and the tamarind. This morning, we marched to the market to get some veggies.

So this is what we had for lunch awhile ago - my first Sinampalukang Manok.

Continue reading ‘This Day’s Menu’ »

We have just finished eating  Beef Tapa. And believe me, it tastes mm… good! I say - the best tapa I have ever cooked.

What made this tapa different from those I’ve cooked before is that this isn’t  packaged tapa, nor marinated in a mix picked up from the grocery.

I made the marinade myself.  Homemade goodness, none of the chemical preservatives.

I got the recipe from Noemi’s food blog but I varied it a little bit. I added a tablespoon more of garlic and soy sauce and had the beef sit in the marinade for 48 hours instead of overnight. Which wasn’t intentional - I completely forgot about the beef in the fridge and remembered it on its 2nd day.

I’ll never buy convenience beef tapa again.

We had ham, but this was the star of our Noche Buena feast.

You’re cooking sinigang and to your dismay, you just found out you have run out of tomatoes. There’s no time to go to the grocery. Aling Nene has yet to replenish her sari-sari store. Oh, what should you do?

Don’t despair. Use tomato paste.

My son said the sinigang actually tasted better than the sinigang with real tomatoes. Del Monte ought to get me for a commercial.

I received an email about a better way to store food: remove them from the plastic bags and put them inside foil packs. Foil packs help keep food fresh longer.

Last month, I put this info to the test when I bought half a kilo of very, very ripe tomatoes from the grocery. I shouldn’t have bought such tomatoes in the first place, but the low price clouded my judgment. PHP 12 lang kasi, pero kalahating kilo na.

When I got home, I soon realized it was a poor buy as I perused our menu for the week. Kung papalitan ko ng sinigang ang ulam namin, nakakasawa naman kung yon at yon na lang sa isang linggo. Ayaw ko namang isiping porke dose pesos lang, pwede ko nang hayaang mabulok. Kaya naisipan kong kunin ang mga foil packs ng gatas at doon ko sinilid ang mga kamatis.

The tomatoes were all consumed in two weeks. There were 2 pieces I had to throw because of molds. But about 15 or so pieces of tomatoes remained fresh for two weeks. In my experience, very ripe tomatoes stored in the ref will be rotten in less than a week.

I was so awed. Ayoko kasing nagtatapon ng nasirang pagkain, so this is a great discovery for me.

So now I am a fan of foil packs. Kung sisilipin nyo ang ref namin, you’ll see fruits and veggies all repacked in foil. I’m currently looking for foil packs big enough for a bread loaf.

I first served my homemade jam for breakfast last Saturday morning.

As of today, Monday, my family of 4 has consumed 2 1/2 loaves of Gardenia bread, and counting. Pang-almusal, merienda, midnight snack. May stock pa akong 2 loaves sa ref. Big deal ito for us, kasi hindi naman usually mahilig sa tinapay ang pamilya ko. Madalas nga na magkaroon ng amag ang mga tinapay sa amin dahil hindi nauubos.

My son loves it with peanut butter (paubos na), while hubby and I prefer the jam with butter (paubos na rin). Palagay ko mataas ang electric consumption namin this month dahil panay ang gamit namin ng oven toaster for the bread. Napakahirap pakainin ang anak ko, kaya alam kong nasarapan talaga siya sa ginawa ko.

Eto na lang ang natira, nakiusap pa ako kay hubby kagabi na wag na kainin at magba-baon pa ang anak ko sa school.

I’ve told my parents and my in-laws of my new experiment/hobby, and I have received advice on how to do it well. Kailangan may arnibal. O bukayo. My father-in-law gave me empty jars of mayonnaise. Kailangan may sample.

I was asked if I’m planning to sell this. I said no. Well, at least not now. Ang pinakamalayong narating ng plano ko for this jam is to make it our Christmas gift for hubby’s officemates and some friends.

I am glad my family appreciates this. Ang sarap ng pakiramdam na nagustuhan ng mga mahal ko sa buhay ang pinaghirapan ko sa kusina.

How I did it? I cooked 2 cups of mashed peaches, 2 cups of mashed mangoes and 1 cup of sugar for an hour. Dali lang diba. Kayang-kaya nyo rin yan.