OH MY DELICIOUS FUDGE BROWNIES!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate (dark Dutch chocolate is preferred)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

I have made these brownies over and over for years and have loved it every single time. When I make this, it doesn't last more than 24 hours in our house of two adults and one child.

 

For me, one indication that you have very tasty brownies is once you smell it while in the oven until you've taken them out, you can almost taste how chocolaty it is.

 

Start by preheating the oven to 325°.

 

Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with butter.

 

Sift together dry ingredients; flour, baking powder, and salt. 

 

In a double broiler or a thick saucepan, melt the butter with the chocolate under low heat.

 

In a mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, and eggs together until light and fluffy.

 

Beat in melted butter and chocolate; stir in flour mixture.

 

Pour batter in prepared pan; bake for 25 to 30 minutes. I usually check after 25 minutes and every time, it's perfectly cooked and ready by then.

 

While waiting, you can lick the spatula and mixing bowl clean. It makes baking brownies a perfect experience.

 

Cut brownies in squares while still warm; cool brownies completely in pan.

 

Always remember that even if you have the perfect recipe, having the best ingredients will give you the best results.

NOT YOUR ORDINARY COOKING SHOW

I thought all cooking shows are the same. I mean I love them, I look forward to practically all of them and my eyes get glued to the TV as soon as they are on. Sometimes though, I can't help but develop favorites. Some shows are more focused on the food and the cook's passion for it. Others just play a lot of drama and sell the program by featuring the contestant's backstories. I am one of those viewers who tune in to watch good food being cooked with passion and skill.

"The Taste: Tuesday at 8|7c on ABC" is that kind of show, and more. It's the cooking counterpart of "The Voice." The judges blindly taste the food prepared by contestants and sometimes, they have no idea that the person they're sending home is part of their team. For me, this is a fresh approach in the cooking show genre.

What keeps me looking forward to the next episodes is the fact that they have a good combination of judges who are undoubtedly authorities in the culinary world. Both Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson are among my favorites. They have influenced me in my pursuit for having good food on the table whether I get my ingredients at a boutique deli, Trader Joe's or at a local supermarket in a tiny island of the Philippines.

"The Taste" is also one show that gives amateur cooks like me inspiration that if we love what we do, it doesn't matter if we have culinary degrees or not, great food comes from the heart.

If you're a foodie, a chef, an aspiring cook, or someone who just loves to eat, I recommend you watch this show.

LEBANESE INSPIRED CHICKEN WRAP

Ingredients:

Pita Bread
Garlic Ranch Dressing (please see previous recipe)
Lettuce Leaves
3/4 cup Diced Tomatoes
1/2 cup Minced White Onions
1/4 kilo Chicken fillet
125 g Plain Yogurt
1 tbsp. Cumin
1 tbsp. Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Aluminum Foil

This was inspired by the popular Lebanese food "Shawarma." However, I can't easily find lamb in my area as well as Tahini Sauce to make an authentic copy. I don't want to call this dish as Shawarma because I did not use both lamb and tahini. I just searched for a better alternative in terms of ingredients; ones that are readily available to me.

I replaced lamb with chicken and instead of tahini, I made my own Garlic Dressing but with a twist.

To make the wraps, start with the chicken fillet. Put it in a bowl and mix in the yogurt, cumin powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Put it in the fridge and let it marinate for at least an hour ( the longer, the better).

Then get the frozen pita bred and thaw it a bit to room temperature and then warm it on a grill. Once you touch the top side while it's on heat, and it's warm, flip it and in seconds, it is ready.

Cook the chicken on a skillet or frying pan with a little bit of olive oil (extra virgin olive oil is healthier and tastier).

Place a lettuce leaf in the middle of the pita bread, shred the chicken and arrange on top and add the minced onions and diced tomatoes as shown in the picture. The amount of chicken, tomatoes and onions per wrap depends on how much you want them to be.

Generously pour the Garlic Ranch Dressing on top of the meat and vegetables. Generous because, it's what gives your whole wrap, the character and the zing.

Then slowly roll it like you're folding a shirt, three ways. Place aluminum foil on the bottom third part to secure the wrap.

The whole process in making the wrap is simple but the key ingredients here that will bring character to the food is the marinated chicken and the sauce or dressing. It has to explode in your mouth to be perfect.

Being prim and proper has no place when eating this food. In order to enjoy it, leave all your inhibitions behind.

Enjoy!

GARLIC RANCH DRESSING

I love Ranch Dressing as it is, because it's just the kind of taste I like - a perfect blend of mild garlic and onions with a tangy hint and bite from the sour cream and different herbs at the same time very creamy. If you love to eat vegetables like carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and zucchini; this is the perfect pair to match them. Also, use it as a dip for chips. It will make meals and snack time special.

In the US, the most popular is the Hidden Valley Ranch. It is good and if you rave for that taste, you'll get some satisfaction.

In the Philippines, they don't sell that brand in supermarkets. I found a local brand Lady's Choice with different variants of dressings and one of them is Garlic Ranch. I tried it and it's ok although I did not detect any garlic and onion combination. For me, it was just a tangier mayonnaise. However, it's better than other alternatives like plain mayo.

I knew then that I could have a better ranch dressing if I make it myself. I can make it taste the way I'd want it and believe me, I'm really very particular to flavors.

So I tried it and it was a success. It's like an explosion of flavors in your mouth.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup crushed roasted garlic
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried basil
fresh ground black pepper
salt


In a blender or food processor, mix all the ingredients except the salt and pepper. Add them last and put enough according to your taste.

If you have more dressing than what you immediately need, store them in jars or recycle those old ketchup bottles like I did.

In one of my next blogs, this garlic ranch dressing that I made almost from scratch will play a very important role. It will make or break the success of my next dish.

EASY MAKE YOUR OWN PIZZA

 

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough from the Supermarket

Mozzarella Cheese (quantity as desired)

Tomato Sauce

Pizza Seasoning (Dried Oregano and Basil,
   Crushed Marjoram, Minced Onion,
   Granulated Garlic, and Black Pepper)
Fresh Parsley
2 Ham Slices
Olive Oil (preferably, Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
Salt and Pepper, to taste

This recipe is for a quick and easy pizza you can make at home where you can put ingredients you love and easily find and don't have the luxury of time.

Of course, it's a lot better if you can make your own pizza dough and we will do that in this blog in the future for when you are not in a hurry.

In the meantime, you can make this with your kid and eventually, they can do it themselves especially kids like mine who love eating pizza often.

You can get prepared pizza dough from the supermarket in packs of 2. In La Carlota, you can buy them at Piazza, two for 60 pesos.

Make sure you preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Get a pizza pan, drizzle it very lightly with extra virgin olive oil, just enough to grease the bottom before putting the dough to prevent the pizza from sticking once it's done. The olive oil also adds an exotic subtle savor to the pizza plus it's a healthy kind of oil that's beneficial to the body.

In a small bowl, mix around a tablespoon of pizza seasoning with a 1/2 cup of tomato sauce. With a large spoon, drizzle it on the dough and spread evenly using the back of the spoon. You can add as much sauce as you prefer as long as you leave an inch allowance from the edge.

Then, generously  and evenly distribute mozzarella cheese on the pizza.

On top, arrange ham slices (you can also cut them in circles if you want) all over on top of the cheese.

For the final touch, garnish it with some coarsely chopped fresh parsley.

Place in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!

STRAWBERRY MANGO SMOOTHIE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:

3 ripe mangoes
3/4 cup frozen strawberries
125 g of vanilla or mango yogurt
3/4 cup full cream milk
4-5 ice cubes
sugar (optional - if you want a sweeter taste but it's healthier without)

Put all the solid ingredients in a blender arranging them with the ice cubes at the bottom, frozen strawberries next and the mangoes on the top. Then pour all the liquid ingredients last. Having them in that order makes sure that the ice cubes and the frozen strawberries get blended fast and will mix well with the rest.

If you don't have frozen strawberries you can substitute it with frozen bananas. If you have leftover bananas that is going overripe, peel them and store in the freezer. Use them when you feel like having some rich and thick smoothie.

This will provide you your daily need for vitamin C plus calcium and fiber.

Enjoy!

Makes 2 generous servings.

GROCERY HAUL

Grocery shopping is just my favorite thing to do along with eating.

The supermarket is my favorite place. There is just a thrill in what kind of finds I would have at the end of the day. Of course I have my list all ready and I know exactly where to go. But then, there are times when you wonder if that carton of milk, brand of peanut butter or the kind of herbs and fruits you've been looking to get but has not been available for a while, would be there.

Well, for this particular haul, I found some items I've been checking on regularly in the past few months that I couldn't find. Maybe because during the holidays - Christmas and New Year, stocks have ran out and it's just now that the supplies have arrived and it's slowly being put back in shelves or freezers again.

Here are the finds that got me excited:

FROZEN STRAWBERRIES. For this particular item, it's been years since I last saw this in the frozen fruits and veggies section. In fact, the last time I was able to buy strawberries from SM Supermarket was years ago and they were fresh. But fresh or not, strawberries just give me the opportunity to make a tasty combo of mango and strawberry smoothie or as people commonly call it here - fruit shake. Tomorrow, at the top of my "To-Do List" is to make that.

HARVEY FRESH FULL CREAM MILK. This is just the best tasting milk I have tried in the country in comparison to local brands like Selecta, Magnolia, Bear Brand and Alaska among others; and imported brands which they sell locally - Dutch Lady, Meiji and Paul's. I used to buy warm skimmed milk from Café Bob's while working the mid-shift before and loved it so I asked what brand of milk they use and ta' da', it's Harvey Fresh. I just hope that  SM would be able to regularly carry that and make it available for people like me when I run out.

BOTTLED RANCH DRESSING. I have to accept the fact that there is not much of a choice when it comes to picking a good Ranch Dressing here. Last time I checked at the grocery, I did find a bottle of ranch dressing (among plenty of different kinds of dressings) and it was the Lady's Choice brand. It wasn't as good as my expectation of how ranch should taste. In fact, it almost tastes like their Thousand Islands and Caesar Salad dressing. So I'm glad that I found American Brand US Ranch this time and though it's not the same as Hidden Valley Ranch, at least it tastes better. But if you see in my grocery cart, I got some fresh parsley. I'm contemplating on making Ranch Dressing from scratch then maybe I'll get my craving for ranch satisfied. We run out of the dressing because we use it as a dip when we're snacking on carrot sticks. It's just perfect together.

PITA BREAD. I love Shawarma! But in my town, they don't have carts that sell that here. Thus, I'm glad I found Pita Bread at the supermarket because like the ranch dressing, I plan to make my own version of the Shawarma at home. I could use the plain creamy yogurt that I got as well as the tomatoes I have stored in my fridge.

DARK PREMIUM CHOCOBAR. I've been looking for a good reasonably priced block of dark chocolate that's primarily good for baking or making desserts. Before, I'd use Antonio Pueo but lately, I haven't seen that on the shelves of the stores. Bittersweet chocolate chips are good but they practically cost twice the price of this chocolate. This will be good for making chocolate fudge.

I could go on and on about grocery shopping and my haul but I'll save that for more posts soon.




 

PICO DE GALLO Filipino Style

This dish is a Mexican favorite and has been loved by other people around the world.

It is a fresh and chunky version of the Salsa and you can eat it with tortilla chips, wrap a soft tortilla around it with chicken or beef or use it as a side for steaks, ribs or chicken wings.

I gave it a Filipino take by mixing in green onions as a substitute for cilantro which is not readily available even in supermarkets in the Philippines; and by making red bell peppers as one of the main components.

Also, lemons or limes are hard to find in the country, so we can just settle with good quality vinegar, preferably apple cider, balsamic or coconut vinegar (from tuba) because they have a strong yet natural acidity that will give the recipe a kick.

Just remember, the fresher the ingredients, the better.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup diced tomatoes
3/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1 tbsp. minced red onions
1 tbsp. diced green onions (sibuyas dahon)
1 tbsp. balsamic or apple cider vinegar (tuba nga langgaw is good)
1/2 tbsp. lemon or lime juice
salt and pepper (to taste)
jalapeno pepper (tahod ilahas - to taste)

Just mix all the ingredients and taste as you go.

If you have any questions about the recipe, kindly leave a comment and I will get back to you.