July Kulinarya - Pang-Habang-Buhay

Kulinarya - For The Husband

Kulinarya Jan 12 - Sugar Free Mocha Cake

 

Kulinarya Dec '11 - Prime Rib Tocino

Red, Yellow, Red, and Blue?

I’m know to procrastinate on multiple things in life like cleaning, deciding what to cook for dinner, and making decisions.  I try not to with any food challenge i participate.  The key word is “try” because i tend to brain storm for most of the month, debate when is a good time to get the ingredients, than loaf around until I’m motivated.  I actually got stuck with this challenge.  Ray of Work with Ray, Oggi of I Can do That, and Chef Theodore of Chef by Day, and Boyet of Reel and Grill picked a very unique twist.  A dish must contain blue, yellow, white, and red.  We had to use a natural food color which was not easy to figure out what to do.  I even made my own blue dye out of red cabbage.  I had no idea what to do with it and I don’t think anybody would appreciate a Puto (rice cake) with a hint of cabbage.   It took the the whole month to finally decide what to do.  Want to hear what i came up with?   Pianono filled with blueberries, strawberries, cool whip (sorry i had 3 tubs in the freezer and i was in need of using it) and mango.  I used my pianono recipe from a past post.  The Daughter has been bugging for a cake for a week now so why not kill two birds with one stone.  She did look for a birthday candle because she thinks every week is her birthday.  I have no idea why,  she is probably wanting stuff.

Halibut Sinigang

Kulinarya–White and Love

The last part of May and most of June has been a bit crazy around my house.  Other than the birth of The Son and The Mother’s birthday, my little cousin got married.  It was such a beautiful wedding and I have seen a few of us even shed a tear (including myself).  Which brings us to June’s Theme for the Kulinarya  
Adora from Adora’s Box and Diona from Tita Flips picked WHITE for the most popular time of the year for wedding.  I thought it was perfect since I was helping my cousin make her wedding flowers.  Actually The mother was the one that made them.  I just helped organized and tag them.  It took a couple of weeks to figure out what to make.  Since I was in the mist of planning multiple events, I figured I could use the very favors The Mother wanted to make for her party. 
SUMAN! 

Kulinarya – Sapin Sapin

Kulinarya–Vegetarian Palabok

The lovely Erika from The Ivory Hut hosted this month’s theme.  Her choice was veggies.  I was so happy with this choice since that is all I have been craving.  My problem was trying to find something the family would eat.  Have I ever told you The Husband is extremely picky.  He loves to compare what I made to other places like Jewel (I know, it drives me crazy).  I went with dishes I knew he would eat and what I have been craving for a couple of weeks now: Fresh Lumpia and Vegetarian Palabok (yes vegetarian).  '

Kulinarya February–Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Chocolate Pan de Sal

This month theme is Aphrodisiac Filipino Food in the celebration of Valentine’s Day.  Our lovely host is Pia.  I was difficult for me to figure out what to make.  I wanted to make something with seafood but a few people (The daughter) is allergic and another (The Husband) just won’t eat it.  I settled for making a dessert. 

Kulinarya Cooking Club–Tinola

I haven’t been able to post for a while.  Between 2 months of on and off of illnesses (flu, bronchitis, and the sniffles) and a few complications in with my pregnancy I  haven’t had the energy to cook or even eat.  You know what is the worse thing for a food blogger, not wanting to eat or cook.  I can’t wait until I get my appetite back.  It has been a fun winter.  On top of all of this, I also started the last set of classes for my masters program.  If it wasn’t for work, I wouldn’t have time or energy to look at a computer.  Unfortunately this means I need to slow down with my blogging. 

It is Christmas with KCC

I had the lucky opportunity to pick the theme for this month’s Kulinarya Cooking Club.  Since this is the month of giving, I left the theme pretty open and picked any dish that you would give as a gift. 

I love baking pastries for Christmas and every year there is a new recipe I try to give to my family and friends.  This year it is pianono.  I grew up having this at a local bakery and I always thought of it as a pancake filled with custard.  I would get it every time The Mother would go to the bakery.  Unfortunately, the bakery closed and I never found it again.  Pianono was one of the recipes I looked for when I started to explore the different pastries of the Philippines.  There are multiple versions of this but I went with a basic recipe and grew from there. 

I went with a brazo de Mercedes favor for my pianono.  The cake recipe is here. 

Here is the recipe for the Filling

(I did find the recipe from somewhere but unfortunately I can’t remember where.  If this is you, please let me know so I could give you credit)

3/4 of a Can of Condensed Milk

1 Cup of Evaporated Milk

2 Tbs. of Unsalted Butter

1 Tsp. of Vanilla

5 Egg Yolk

Direction

1. Place the condensed milk and evaporated milk in a double boiler and cook until it thickens.
2. Remove the milk mixture from the heat and add the butter and vanilla.  Mix until it is well incorporated.
3. Pour part of the mixture into the egg yolks and mix well to prevent the eggs to cook (I used a my stand mixture).  Slowly add the rest of the mixture until it is well incorporated.
4. Add it back into the double boiler and mix until it thickens.  Stir occasionally to prevent burning. 
5. Once it is all thicken, let it cool.

 

I made six of them and I had to double the filling recipe.

The other posts has more pictures of the lovely cake.

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture & its colourful cuisine.
Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

Member List

Kath – http://www.acupcakeortwo.com/
Trisha – http://sugarlace.com/
Trissa – http://trissalicious.com/
Olive – http://www.latestrecipes.net/
Caroline – http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com/
Ninette – http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/
Peach- http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/
Althea- http://www.busogsarap.com/
Asha – http://forkspoonnknife.blogspot.com/
Malou – http://www.skiptomalou.net/
Cherrie – http://www.sweetcherriepie.com
Acdee – http://acdee.blogspot.com/
Valerie – http://www.acanadianfoodie.com/
Sheryl – http://crispywaffle.com/
Divina – http://www.sense-serendipity.com/
Anna – http://www.anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com/
Dahlia – http://www.energychef.blogspot.com/
Joy – http://joyjoycreativeoutlet.blogspot.com/
Maribel – http://www.foodgeek.webs.com/
Tressa
Jen – http://www.jen-at-work.blogspot.com/
Pia – http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com/
Malaka – http://thegrandinternational.com.
Mimi – http://lapinchecocinera.blogspot.com
Erika – http://ivoryhut.com/
Kat – http://twitter.com/alanokat
Lala – http://thislittlepiggywenttothemarket.blogspot.com/
Selfie – http://eats.sefiebee.com/
Connie Veneracion frm http://homecookingrocks.com/
Oggi from http://oggi-icandothat.blogspot.com/
Katrina Kostik from http://lardonmyfrench.blogspot.com/
Rochelle Ryan from http://www.whydiss.blogspot.com/
Marica – http://cuppycreme.blogspot.com
Diona – http://titaflips.blogspot.com/
Rowena - http://saraplicious.blogspot.com
Theodore – http://chefbyday.wordpress.com/
Gianna – http://the-empty-fridge.blogspot.com/
Mireille – http://dirtyicecreaminyourlunchbox.blogspot.com/
Marishka – http://rishka.multiply.com/
Annapet – http://moonglowgardens.wordpress.com/
Boyet – http://reelandgrill.blogspot.com/
Adora – http://adorasbox.net

Daring Bakers–Persimmons Crostata (Misadventure #10)

 

With my little break, I have been trying to catch up on the different challenges I participate.  I didn’t realize how many I actually do.  I found out when everybody was posting that this month’s Daring Bakers was crostata.  Luck was on my side because I had an extra pie crust in my fridge calling out to me to make something.  I was going to make a black berry crostata but The Husband reminded me we had some persimmons in the fridge.  I figured why not use it and see if it would work.  It was a different type than I’m used to.  I normally buy the pumpkin looking kind but The Husband found the other type.  It was a bit soft and I prefer to have it hard like a apple.  I tasted a piece and it was extremely sweet but I should have known better when my tongue became very dry.  But I used it anyway.  The crust came out wonderful the fruit not as well.  It tasted quite weird so The Husband and The Daughter ate around the fruit and kept eating the crust. 

I just had 4 persimmons, one 1 pie crust, an egg wash, and raw sugar.  I just rolled out the pie dough until it is about 9 inches.  I left about an inch and a 1/2 boarder and filled the rest with the fruit.  I folded over the edges and cooked it at 350F for 30 minutes.  Five minutes before I took it out, I brushed the crust with a egg wash and sprinkled with the raw sugar.

The fruit became dry.  *Note to self, just use persimmon in breads, cookies, or cakes when I could smash it up.  Next time I’m using the black berries I have in the freezer .

Kulinarya–Relleno, another Misadventure #11

I’m a little late with this post and actually I was debating if I was going to post this.  I wasn’t happy with the result but I figured why not.  This month was hosted by Anna from Second Helpings and  Dahlia from Energetic Chef.  I was excited when I heard the them and than it sank in to the actually task.  The only relleno I have known was bangus relleno.  Watching The Mother make that many times, I thought I could do that.  Than I realized that would require me to debone the fish.  That scares me.  I can’t even hold a whole fish.  So instead I made a eggplant relleno but I messed it up according to the Husband.  I did reference multiple recipes and I “thought” I knew the basics.  I was so wrong. 

Instead of using Japanese eggplant, I thought I could use regular egg plant.  Mistake one.

The second mistake, I didn’t cook the eggplant prior stuffing it. 

I used a ground beef mixture of ground beef, carrots, peas, potatoes, onions, and garlic (sound familiar).  I had to make empanadas this week so I just used the same filling. 

Mistake three, I made the layers too thick. 

So I stuffed it, dipped it in a egg wash, than cooked it on a skillet.  It took longer than  I thought to cook and when we finally did eat it, some parts of it was not cooked.  The egg plant was not cooked, the filling was already cooked.  Great huh? 

Mistake four  - I forgot salt and pepper. 

This is what happened when I don’t cook for a while.  Lets just say The Husband analyzed the dish and told me “what I should have done” .  So next time, he is making it. 

Here are some pitiful pictures

Btw the stuff on the bottom is egg..It turned into a omelet on the bottom. 

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture & its colourful cuisine.
Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.
The current members are:

Kath - http://www.acupcakeortwo.com/
Trisha - http://sugarlace.com/
Trissa - http://trissalicious.com/
Olive - http://www.latestrecipes.net/
Caroline - http://whenadobometfeijoada.blogspot.com/
Ninette - http://bigboldbeautifulfood.blogspot.com/
Peach- http://www.thepeachkitchen.com/
Althea- http://www.busogsarap.com/
Asha - http://forkspoonnknife.blogspot.com/
Malou - http://www.impromptudiva.com/
Cherrie - http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/
Acdee - http://acdee.blogspot.com/
Valerie - http://www.acanadianfoodie.com/
Sheryl - http://crispywaffle.com/
Divina - http://www.sense-serendipity.com/
Anna - http://www.anniesfoodjournal.blogspot.com/
Dahlia - http://www.energychef.blogspot.com/
Joy - http://joyjoycreativeoutlet.blogspot.com/
Maribel - http://www.foodgeek.webs.com/
Tressa
Jen - http://www.jen-at-work.blogspot.com/
Pia - http://bisayajudkaayo.blogspot.com/
Malaka - http://thegrandinternational.com.
Mimi - http://lapinchecocinera.blogspot.com
Erika - http://ivoryhut.com/
Kat - http://twitter.com/alanokat
Lala - http://thislittlepiggywenttothemarket.blogspot.com/
Selfie - http://eats.sefiebee.com/
Connie Veneracion frm http://homecookingrocks.com/
Oggi from http://oggi-icandothat.blogspot.com/
Katrina Kostik from http://lardonmyfrench.blogspot.com/
Rochelle Ryan from http://www.whydiss.blogspot.com/
Marica - http://cuppycreme.blogspot.com
Diona - http://titaflips.blogspot.com/
Rowena - http://saraplicious.blogspot.com

July's Kulinary Cooking Club - Ginataan

This month's theme was ginataan, this was hosted by Anthea and Asha.  There are so many takes on ginataan, savory and sweet.  Ginataan is any dish made of coconut milk.  With my sweet tooth, I went with a sweet dish. 

Ginataan with Bilo Bilo and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

1 Sweet Potato Chopped in 1/2 Inch Chunks

2-3 Plantains Bananas in 1/2 Inch Slices

Bilo Bilo (Recipe Below)

2 Cans of Coconut Milk

1 Cup of Sugar

2 Cups of Water

Tapioca (I wish we had some, but we didn't :( )

Directions

1. Create a simple syrup with sugar and water in a medium stock pot.
2. Once the simple syrup is brought to a boil, add the coconut milk.
3. When the mixture begins to boil, add the sweet potato. 
4. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, cook the tapioca by directed
5. Cook until it becomes tender and add the banana.
6. Add the bilo bilo and the tapioca. 
7. When the bilo bilo rises, it is cooked.
8. Serve.

Bilo bilo

1 box of Mochiko

Water to texture

Directions

1. Pour the mochiko into a large bowl
2. Slowly add water until it becomes a thick paste
3. Rolling into 1/2 inch balls

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino bloggers living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its cuisines. Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to stop by our food blog and leave a comment - we would love to hear from you. 

The current members are:
Trish - Sugarlace

Kath - A Cup Cake or Two

Trissa - Trissalicious
Olive - Home Cooking and Baking
Caroline - When Adobo Met Feijoada

Ninette - Big Bold Beautiful Food

Peach - The Peach Kitchen

Althea - Busog Sarap

Asha – Fork-Spoon -Knife

Malou - Skip to Malou

Cherrie – Sweet Cherrie Pie

Acdee - Confession Nook
Valerie – A Canadian Foodie

Sheryl – Crispy Waffle

Divina – Sense and Serendipity
Anna - Second Helpings
Dahlia - Energetic Chef

Dahlia - Energetic Chef

Maribel – foodgeek's diary
Tressa
Jen - Jen at Work

Pia – Inato Lang Filipino Cuisine and More

Malaka – The Grand International
Mimi – La Pinche Cocinera
Erika – The Ivory Hut

Kat – Table Talk

Embutido

A couple months after The Baby was born, The Mother spent a month with us.  It was nice to have Grandma watch The Baby for a while and during that time she started to cook and show me some of her recipes.  This is around the time when I really started to explore my cooking and baking skills.  One of the things she showed me was embutido.  For those that doesn't know what it is, it is a Filipino meatloaf.   The main source of cooking this is steaming it and than you could fry or bake it if you like.  I personally like the steam version because it is generally healthier or at least I like to tell myself that one ;D.  Right before The Mother went back to California, she stocked me up with about 10 of them (they freeze beautifully).  This was a staple in my house for a long time.  Around Thanksgiving I attempted to make it and it was a huge hit (I have been meaning to post this for a while). 

 

Ingredients

1 Lb of Your Choice of Ground Meat (Beef, Chicken, etc)

1-2 Eggs

2 Carrots (Minced or Shredded)

1/2 Onion (Minced or Shredded)

2 Hard Boil Egg

2 Vienna Sausage or 1 Filipino Hot dog

A slice of Velveeta Cheese about 1/2 inch thick

Panko - Enough to bind

Salt and Pepper to taste.

 

Directions

1. First Mix together the ground meat, carrots, onions, and salt and pepper.  
2. Add the egg until it is fully incorporated.
3. Slowly add the panko until it binds well.   
4. Spread out the mixture on a sheet of foil (make sure the foil has at least 1 inch more than the meat mixture) into a shape of a rectangle.  I would say about 8 x 11. 
5. Take the egg and slice it in 4 equal pieces,than cut the sausages into two pieces, and than slice the cheese into a long cube. 
6. Make sure the longer end is facing you, place the eggs, sausage, and cheese about 2 inches from the bottom.   
7. Slowly roll up the end until it is a long tube.
8. Pinch the ends of the foil to make sure it is tightly sealed. 
9. Steam for about 15-20 minutes.
10. Let it rest for about 10 minutes and than slice.
11. Service with a side a rice :D.
    

 

Chicken with the Filipino hot dog

 

Beef version

Kulinarya Cooking Club - Polvoron

I was so excited for this month's theme.  The Husband was able to find a polvoron form.  I decided to make one from my handy The Filipino Cookbook by Reynaldo Alejandro.  polvoron has been a favorite of mine since I was a child.  I always loved eating it and my favorite was my grandmother's recipe.  Unfortunately, I don't have the recipe and I miss it so much.  This recipe got close and I even added some pinipig. 

Ingredients

3 Cups Sifted Flour

1 Cup Sifted Powdered Milk

3/4 Cup Sifted Sugar

1/2 Pound of Melted Butter

1 Teaspoon of Lemon or Vanilla Extract

1 Cup of Pinipig

Directions

1. 
   
   Toast the flour in a heavy skillet over a medium heat until golden brown while stiring constantly.
2. 
   
   Remove from heat and cool.
3. 
   
   While it cooks, toast the pinipig in the skillet.
4. 
   
   Add the powdered milk, sugar, melted butter, pinipig, and the extract. 
5. 
   
   Pack the mixture into the form and press out the little cakes. 
6. 
   
   Wrap the polvoron in wax paper. 

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipinio bloggers living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its cusines. Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to stop by our foodblog and leave a commnet - we would love to hear from you. 

The current members are:

Trish - Sugarlace

Kath - A Cup Cake or Two

Trissa - Trissalicious

Olive - Home Cooking and Baking

Caroline - When Adobo Met Feijoada

Peach - The Peach Kitchen

Cusinera - Busog Sarap

Asha – Fork-Spoon -Knife

Malou - Skip to Malou

Cherrie – Sweet Cherrie Pie

Acdee - Confession Nook

Valerie – A Canadian Foodie

Bel – foodgeek's diary

Divina – Sense and Serendipity

Anna - Second Helpings

Dahlia - Energetic Chef

Kulinarya Cooking Club - Mushroom Empanadas and Goat Cheese and Olive Empanadas

One of my many blogs I read daily is Divina blog, Sense & Serendipity, this last post was about a cooking club called Kulinarya.  The Kulinarya website goal is to inspire individuals to explore into the Filipino crusine.  This months topic was Empanada.  As some of you know, I make quite a bit of empanadas.  This has been one of the first recipes I learned.  Since first learning how to make it, I have adjusted the dough recipe and even tried different combinations.  My staple are the traditional ground chicken, beef, or pork with dice carrots, potatoes, peas, and rasins.  Since then, I have created various vegetarian versions and even dessert ones.  The Husband's favorite is my pumpkin while The Daughter loves any kind I make for her.  I had the opportunity to make quite a bit of empanadas this past weekend.  It was my god daughter's 3rd birthday so I wanted to bring some for her party.  I mainly made my traditional chicken version but I also made mushroom and goat cheese and olives.  I have made the mushroom version a couple of times but this is the first time I tried goat cheese and olives.  Lets just say, I am not a fan of olives and The Husband said it would be better if there was rasins.  I think due to the saltiness of the goat cheese and the taste of the olives, a nice sweetness would have been good.  What do you think? 

My crust is actually not the traditional crust.  I use a pie crust.  I started to use this type of recipe in attempt to make it a little healthier.  Every little bit helps, at least that is what I tell myself.  Anyway, my recipe I actually don't use eggs like in all the traditional recipes.  I even bake them instead of frying them.  Here are the recipes:

Dough


Ingredients
1 1/4 Cups of All-Purpose Flour
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Butter Diced

1/4 Cup Ice Water

2 Tbs of Sugar

Directions *You could do this in a mixer or food processor

1. Put all the flour in the tool of your choice.
2. Add the butter and mix it in with the flour.
3. Once it is all incorporated, add the salt and sugar.
4. Than add the water.  It should form a ball *If it is too wet, add more flour

Mushroom Filling
Ingredients
1 Large Package of Bella Mushrooms or 10 portabella mushrooms *You could pick any type of mushrooms but I perferr the portabella types.
2 Medium Potatos

1 Cup of Diced Carrots *I cheat and I use frozen mix of carrots and peas, now you know my secrete.  I hate chopping carrots with a passion!

1 Cup of Peas
1/2 Cup of Dice Onions
2 Cloves of Garlic

Directions

1. Take the potatoes and put them into a pot of boiling water. 
2. While waiting for the potatoes to soften, chop of the mushrooms into large chunks *keep in mind, they do shrink when cook.
3. When the potatoes soften enough to be mashed, drain the water and mash the potatoes until it is very soft.  You could add butter to assist in softening the potatoes
4. Let it cool and while it is cooling, sauteed onions and garlic in the oil of your choice, I tend to use olive oil. 
5. Add the mushrooms and cook until it is tender
6. Add the carrots and peas
7. Add the mashed potatoes into the pan and than with salt and pepper. 

Goat Cheese and Olives
(Adapted from The Perfect Pantry)

Ingredients

6 oz of Goat Cheese
1/3 Cups of Pitted Black Olives *I used Kalamenta Olives, it was a bit strong for this
1 Garlic CLove mashed

1/2 Tsp of Olive Oil

Salt and Black Pepper to taste


Directions

1. Finely chop the olives
2. Mix the remainder of the ingredients with the olives and fully incorporate the ingredients.

To Assemble
I totally cheat and use an empanada press.  It allows me to be as consistant as possible. 

1. Roll out the dough into 1/3 inch thick discs
2. Place the dough into the form
3. Place the filling in the middle and fold up

 The Husband got conned to helping me make these

He thought he was being smart by making a big disc and cutting it in half

He realized the half pieces were not wide enough so he had to reroll the dough

Even The Daughter got in the action

Bake

1. Place the empanada on a greased cookie sheet.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes
3. Brush a egg wash over the empanadas after the empanadas and than continue to bake for 5-10 minutes. 

 Mushroom filled

Goat Cheese and Olives

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipinio bloggers living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its cusines. Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to stop by our foodblog and leave a commnet - we would love to hear from you. 

The current members are:
Trish - Sugarlace
Kath - A Cup Cake or Two
Trissa - Trissalicious
Olive - Home Cooking and Baking
Caroline - When Adobo Met Feijoada
Peach - The Peach Kitchen
Cusinera - Busog Sarap
Asha – Fork-Spoon -Knife
Malou - Skip to Malou
Cherrie – Sweet Cherrie Pie
Acdee - Confession Nook
Valerie – A Canadian Foodie
Bel – foodgeek's diary
Divina – Sense and Serendipity

BTW I'm out of town for a couple of days with limited internet so hopefully I'm going to find a Starbucks with internet so I could post a few more things I want to talk about.