Grow Your Own # 20

Grow Your Own, the twice-a-month blogging event launched by Andrea's Recipes, is close to my heart. Why? Because I am a trying hard, not-so-green-thumbed gardener. It is really my heart's desire to have a lush garden, full of fruit trees, filled with the sweet scent of herbs and healthy vegetables and beautiful flowers. I can only drool with envy when my blogging friends Wandering Chopsticks and A Scientist in the Kitchen talk about the produce they have in their own gardens and the dishes they make with their produce. But I live in the heart of a mega-city, where heat, traffic congestion and pollution is a way of life. Space is precious, and the weather is not conducive to growing green life. So that dream remains a dream. :)

But still, I persist. In my limited space, I have grown some pots of lemongrass, screwpine (pandan), sweet and thai basil, leeks, coriander, tomatoes, eggplants, tarragon, and my newest babies are mint and dill. Not much, right? Maybe you are saying these are insignificant little efforts. But I promise you, the joy of seeing your plants grow inspite of the harsh conditions they are in, is truly incomparable! (Of course the grief when you see your plants wilt is another story.) Plus the bonus of not having to go out and buy these seemingly little ingredients needed when preparing a dish, is really worth the effort.

I am also a proponent of going green. Earth needs more "greens" in this time of global warming. We need more greens to counter the worsening air pollution as well. So for our own health, please try to plant more greens, wherever on earth you are living. More greens mean less carbon dioxide (to counter global warming), and less air pollution. Any kind of greens is alright. In my limited space, I just opted to grow edible greens that I can use in my kitchen. Isn't it practical as well?

Have I convinced you to Grow Your Own? If not, maybe these dishes will!

Here are the dishes Grow Your Own bloggers have made this past forthnight, from the produce they have grown or raised in their own backyards. (Presented in the order they were received.) Fresh, organic and all drool-worthy. Thank you everyone for sharing these delicious food! Thank you Andrea for this opportunity to host and to learn many interesting herbs and dishes from everyone!



Ella (Philippines) of the sunny and cheerful Everything's Herbed shares with us her birthday fare, featuring her favorite dish that her loving father cooked - Chicken in Coconut Milk (Chicken Adobo sa Gata). This ultimate Filipino comfort food uses organic, native chickens their family raised in their own backyards!



Bee and Jai (Northwestern US) of the beautiful Jugalbandi share with us lots of awesome pictures and lovely quotes, food for thoughts, and oh, this refreshing Fresh Corn, Cherry Tomatoes and Herb Salad. It is better than sex. Go check it out. Now.




Jennifer (Georgia, USA) of the warm and comfy Northside Food shares with us these deliciously intriguing Fried Green Tomatoes I have been wanting to try for a long time! She made these from the green tomatoes from her garden that will not ripen because of the cooler weather.




Gay (Philippines) of A Scientist in the Kitchen shares with us this delicious Old-school Pork Chops with Apples and Tarragon. Made with freshly picked tarragon growing profusely in her garden. She says the lightly fried apples are perfect paired with the rich pork chops.



Abby (London, UK) of the fresh and lovely Eat the Right Stuff shares with us these beautiful and I bet, wonderful tasting Rhubarb Schnapps. This healthy drink (if you drink moderately) is made with fresh rhubarbs gathered from her friend's garden.




Grow You Own chief Andrea (Virginia, USA) of Andrea's Recipes made Roasted Acorn Squash with Apples, Nuts and Sage. The roasted squash is deliciously sweetened with apples and made fragrant with fresh sage harvested from her garden; that her boys couldn't wait to taste it!




Let's give a warm welcome to Deepika (India) of the Diabetic-friendly Recipe for Dee-saster. For her first entry to Grow Your Own, she made these intriguing Steamed Colocasia Rice in Coconut Yogurt Gravy. She says this is a famous Karnataka dish that we ought to try once in our lifetime.




Rachel (NY, USA) of the glutten-free The Crispy Cook made this hearty and healthy Creamy Brussel Sprouts Soup. Made from harvested brussel sprouts from her garden. Rachel says of this soup, "it was quick to make, tasty, easy on the wallet, outstandingly healthy."




Johanna (Melbourne, Australia) of graceful vegetarian Green Gourmet Giraffe made these deliciously intriguing Spiced Yogurt Rice with Nectarines. This rice dish is made with mints from her garden. She says this dish is "pleasingly creamy, spicy with chunks of nectarine and refreshing with the taste of mint."




Ivy (Greece) of the sweet, friendly and informative Kopiaste shares with us photos of her lovely trip and a Greek version of a popular French Dish - Kokoras Krassatos me Chilopites (Coq Au Vin With Chilopites Pasta). This flavorful dish is made with home-raised roosters and xynomizithra - a local soft white cheese. Can't wait to try this out this dish myself!


Kim (USA) of Live:Love:Laugh:Eat made this red hot Homemade Tabasco Sauce, made fresh from her harvested tabasco peppers. She gives us one piece of advice: Don't sniff the sauce. It's that hot!



My (Manila, Philippines) own entry is Prawn Pot Pie made with fresh harvested dill from my balcony garden. This is the first time I made a pot pie and I found out that it was not hard to prepare a pie. The dish very delicious, hot and comforting! I just might make this more often!


There you have it, 12 delicious dishes from 6 countries, using ingredients they have grown and raised on their own. Do you grow your own, too? Join Grow Your Own, a blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. Next month's host is the lovely book-lover Rachel of the Crispy Cook. To participate, please send your entries to oldsaratogabooks (@) gmail (dot) com. For more information on Grow YOur Own, please visit the Grow Your Own Homepage.

Weekend Wokking: Pumpkin : My First Official Hosting!

If you have lots of these beautiful and healthy pumpkins, what dishes are you going to make?

photo courtesy of Kit's Chow

Plus, with the abundance of these pumpkins, what sweet and savoury dishes can you prepare?

photo courtesy of Kit's Chow

No problem! With Weekend Wokking, we can easily solve every cook's dilemma! Every month, Weekend Wokking compiles some of the best recipes from food bloggers around the world. You don't have to think hard on what dishes to prepare with the ingredient on hand, just check out the round-ups of Weekend Wokking and we can present to you the many different ways we can cook one ingredient. Thanks to Weekend Wokking Chief Wandering Chopsticks, I have the privilege of hosting this month's edition of Weekend Wokking that features pumpkins.

This is my first official hosting job, too! Thank you to everybody who participated, who are so creative and generous in sharing their yummy pumpkin recipes! Please inform me immediately if I wrote something wrong or if I have missed anybody inadvertently. I have been writing this post for two days now, because my internet connections have been going crazy these days!!!! But I am enjoying reading and drooling over the lovely recipes I have received.

Without further ado, here are the 15 yummy, sweet and savory pumpkin dishes around the world. Listed in the order they were received.



Please give a warm welcome to Nina (Canada) of Miss Adventure@Home, who created these dainty and pretty scalloped Pumpkin Ravioli, for her first participation in a food blogging event. These are healthy, dairy-free and vegetarian raviolis; quite the versatile little morsels too, as we can top the raviolis with any sauce we prefer: butter, tomato, etc.



Ivy (Malaysia) of the beautiful Precious Pea, the previous hostess of Weekend Wokking (who chose this month's yummy and versatile secret ingredient, by the way) presents us with the delicious and colorful Pea's 6 Treasures Pumpkin Rice. Actually, 9 treasures, if we count the rice, garlic and shallots! Don't be intimidated by the number of ingredients. This is actually very easy to prepare and quite delicious too!




Lori of the fun and creative Burp! Recipes made these mouthwatering Whole Grain Pumpkin Pancakes. Imagine waking up to the warm and delicious aroma of pumpkin pancakes drizzled with apples and cinnamon or maple syrup. Who would want to miss breakfast with healthy and yummy pancakes like this?



Marija of the lovely Palachinca is back with us with a nutritiously hearty, and delicious Chicken and Pumpkin Stir Fry recipe. What can go wrong with the combination of pumpkin, mushrooms, cream and turmeric? Just looking at the picture is enough to make your mouth water. Pass me a cup of rice, please.




Yasmeen (Cleveland, USA) of the healthy Health Nut shares with us a delicious and creamy custard dessert - Pumpkin Flan, topped with a very creative and innovative pumpkin seed candy. With milk and pumpkin, you can finally indulge in a healthy dessert! (Well, okay, just maybe lessen the amount of sugar :)



Humble Wiffy (Singapore) of Noobcook, who claims that she is not yet a master chef but she still likes to cook a lot, shares with us these silky and mouthwatering Pumpkin Chawanmushi. She says that pumpkin will sweeten this popular Japanese appetizer. I couldn't agree more! She also shares with us her secret on how to produce silky and smooth chawanmushi without the bubbles. With dishes like this, we already proclaim her a master chef!!!



Christine (Vancouver, Canada) of the healthy and creative Kit's Chow shares with us these delicious and lovely Thai desserts, Coconut Custards in Pumpkin recipe. I truly admire her patience in making these delicious desserts, what with the carving and stuffing and steaming she has to do. These must truly be delicious as she plans to make more soon!



TS and JS (Vancouver, Canada) the energetic sisters behind the creative Eating Club Vancouver shares with us the sophisticated version of their niece's baby food - the Pumpkin Congee with Pumpkin Beignets and Sesame Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. But they truly upped the sophistication level with pumpkin 'you-tiew' or beignets, pumpkin seeds, meat floss, and century eggs. I'll have this bowl of goodness anytime of the day!!!



Let's give another warm welcome to Ila (California, USA) of I Nom Things, which means I love to Eat! This is also her first time to join a food blogging event. She shares with us her cute, carved pumpkin and this delicious looking Roasted Pumpkin Cheesecake. Guess what? She overcame her pumpkin allergy with this cheesecake! Hurrah!



Gertrude (PA, USA) of the beautiful and informative My Kitchen Snippets sends us these cute, colorful and savory Pumpkin Tarts. You better check out her entry. She cracked her head to come up with such a creative recipe. With chicken, bell peppers and cheese, these tarts will surely taste delish!



Weekend Wokking chief Wandering Chopsticks (California, USA) made these Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with cranberry/pumpkin butter/walnut filling with maple icing. That has got to be the longest title yet. Take note that the Los Angeles' Times Blog Daily Dish writer Elina Shatkin named this recipe "The most decadent recipe for a pumpkin-based dish." So, you better pay attention.



Multi-talented Lesley (NY, USA) of the Beachlover's Kitchen (do you know she can sew?) shares her simple Roasted Butternut Squash with Cinnamon. Squash and pumpkin are from the same family, and I'm sure this is a healthy, and deliciously fragrant side dish everybody will love.



Rita (Seattle, USA) of the beautiful Pink Bites sends us this deliciously healthy Roasted Pumpkin Salad before she takes off for her vacation. Who can resist salads such as this with lemon olive oil dressing on a bed of arugula greens? Yum!



Witty Rita (Hong Kong) of the entertaining Mochachocolatarita overcame her chocolate racism (she prefers dark over white chocolates) with this Moist and Rich Pumpkin and White Chocolate Cake. All because she realized that the whites would complement the taste of the pumpkin and the dark chocolates would not! See? Blogging could change your political, errr, tastebuds color, too!


My very own entry (Manila, Philippines) is the NY Style Pumpkin Cheesecake. Truth be told, we do not have real pumpkins here in this tropical country, but we do have lots of canned pumpkins available. Thanks to Precious Pea, this event gave me a reason to try out this interesting ingredient I have not used before. I know this is another cheesecake entry, but our styles are different. So, please check this one as well.


There you have it, the delicious savory and sweet pumpkin recipes from around the world. Next month's host is the lovely Wiffy of Noobcook. Everybody is welcome to share their recipes for the next secret ingredient of the month. Please email Wiffy at weekendwokking (at) noobcook (dot) com. Would you like to know the secret ingredient for November?


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clue : It's very healthy and it is green...


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another clue: it is labelled as a super-veggie, it is high in Vitamin C and soluble fiber and contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties...


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it's the BROCCOLI !!!


I hope everybody can participate, and I hope Broccoli is readily available everywhere these days since it is a cool-weather crop...

See you at the next Weekend Wokking! :)

Invitation to Weekend Wokking: Pumpkin

photo courtesy of Teczcape

Tigerfish of Teczcape graciously allowed me to use her pictures taken at the Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Festival in California, for this post. Aren't they gorgeous? Pretty in orange! :)

Why do I need the pictures? Because I want to invite you, dear readers, to join me in this month's Weekend Wokking. Can you guess the special, secret ingredient for the month? Hee hee... the pictures gave it away! It's the Pumpkin! :)

If you are cooking any dishes, savory or sweet; or if you are baking something delightful or scary; as long as it contains pumpkins, please do join us in the Weekend Wokking community. Email me anytime between now to November 3, and we will learn together on November 5, many different ways we can prepare and serve the pumpkin! (My email address is at my side-bar on the left of this blog :)

photo courtesy of Teczcape

When you think of pumpkins, now that it is becoming more available, do you think of its nutritional benefits? Please do!

What's so good about pumpkins, anyway?
(The following information is taken from the Associated Content site.)

Pumpkin meat is very high in carotenoids. They're what give pumpkins their orange color—but that's the least of their benefits. Carotenoids are really good at neutralizing free radicals, nasty molecules that can attack cell membranes and leave the cells vulnerable to damage.

Pumpkins are also high in lutein and zeaxanthin, which scavenge free radicals in the lens of the eye. Therefore, they may help prevent the formation of cataracts and reduce the risk of macular degeneration, a serious eye problem than usually results in blindness.

Besides carotenoids, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which are all antioxidants, pumpkins have a lot of common nutrients, like iron, zinc, and fiber. Iron, of course, is needed by red blood cells. Zinc deficiency may be related to osteoporosis of the hip and spine in older men. And fiber is important for bowel health.


Have I convinced you to cook pumpkins, then? Join Weekend Wokking!




This is a foodie event, launched by Wandering Chopsticks, to see the many different variations we can make of one ingredient. Wouldn't it be great to see a variety of cuisines and to see how each of us handles that one ingredient? This month's ingredient is the Pumpkin!

Here are the rules:

1. Entries for Weekend Wokking must be written specifically for the event, and the posts cannot be submitted to other food blog events. Exceptions include entries in contests.

2. Entries are encouraged to be original recipes created by the submitter, but if you made someone else's recipe, please include a link to that person's original recipe. You are allowed to revisit your recipes, provided that the photos and post are new and created specifically for the event.

3. Submissions must include the words Weekend Wokking and a link back to this post. If the round-up is hosted by someone else, submissions must include a link to this post and a link to that round-up's host. Use of logo is encouraged, but not required.

Please email your entries between now and November 3. If you do not have a blog, just send me your recipes and a photo of your dish and I will gladly post it for you. Am truly excited and looking forward to all your recipes!

Happy Pumpkin Hunting!

Bookmarked Recipes 23 : My First Guest Hosting!

This is another blogging milestone - my first guest hosting! I am very honored when Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments requested me to guest-host for her baby - the Bookmarked Recipes. It is a foodie event where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup.

Thank you Ruth, for this opportunity to host, to learn how to host, thank you for your trust. :)

Thank you to the everyone who participated! You are wonderful and so generous in sharing your delicious "finds" and "discovered" recipes.

I enjoy taking part in this event and I enjoy reading all the entries. Because these are the recipes carefully picked and chosen by wonderful food bloggers around the world. The recipes have been tried and tested in real kitchens, commented and improved. In other words, these are the weekly compilation of the best recipes in the blogosphere!

I hope you enjoy the dishes as much as I enjoyed doing the round-up and bookmarking everyone's dishes! Let's take a dip and swim around the world (12 dishes from 7 countries) to see what bloggers have been cooking in their kitchens ! (presented in the order they were received.)



Maggie (Michigan, U.S.A.) of the warm and comfy Dog Hill Kitchen sends us her version of Cookie Wrapped Figs from Clumbsy Cookies' Fig Week Celebration. It sounds so simple to make and yet you end up with awesome looking and (I'm sure) wonderful-tasting surprise inside a Chinese-spiced cookie! The wonderful thing is, I think we can change the fruit inside and adapt this recipe to whatever produce we have available.



Lovely Deeba (Gurgaon, India) of Passionate About Baking prepared this delicious and fragrant Mixed Herb Pasta taken from the Bon Appetit's recipe she found on Epicurious. She was finally able to make this long-bookmarked dish when a blogger/friend gave her a parcel of fresh herbs! Pasta lovers will surely drool over the fresh ingredients used in this dish!


TS and JS, (Vancouver, Canada) the creative sisters behind Eating Club Vancouver shares with us this mouthwatering Fried Green Tomatoes they made following a food video by Chef John of Food Wishes Video Recipes. They said that the flavors of the green tomatoes were truly fantastic and they insist that we try it!!! (With three exclamation marks!!!)



Jeanne (London, UK) of Cooksister, sends us these pretty Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Twirls, she made from a recipe by Thyme for Cooking, the blog. And what gorgeous twirls they are indeed! They look sophisticated for a party and yet so simple to prepare! I do not think they will last long in this household :)



Giz (Ontario, Canada), the mother half of Equal Opportunity Kitchen, baked these fabulous Peach Melba Dessert Muffins. (Shhh... there's a surprise sweet inside each of those muffins!) The recipe was taken from the book "The 250 Best Muffins Recipe" by Esther Brody, a book Giz bought on sale! Its a good thing she did not pass up the cookbook, and I definitely will not pass up those mufffins!



Pam (TN, U.S.A.) of Sidewalk Shoes prepared this colorful, and scrumptuous Tomato Salad with Feta, Olives, and Mint from The Best of Fine Cooking Fresh Fall Issue 2008. With tomatoes, feta, olives, mint, need I say more? Yummy!




Arika (Biloxi, USA) of My Yummy Life (and with lots of yummy food,) prepared this vegetarian Palak Paneer, an Indian spinach curry with homemade cheese cubes. She got the recipe from cusinecuisine.com, an informative site full of Indian dishes. What a delicious way, not to mention, healthy way to get us started on Indian food!




Jin Hooi (Melbourne, Australia) of Smell and Taste Are My Memory bakes these lovely and tasty Green Tea Madeleines from a recipe she got from Chubby Hubby. Jin Hooi says these madeleines tastes great! Crispy at the edge and soft in the middle. Wow! I can taste them already!



Jen (Boston, USA) of Beantown Baker joins us again with her melt-in-the-mouth Lime Meltaways. She got the recipe from How to Eat a Cupcake, who in turn got the recipe from Martha Stewart. Wouldn't these citrusy cookies be a refreshing change from your regular chocolate cookies?




Gloria (Santiago, Chile) of Canela Kitchen's Recipes made these savory Grits, Cheese and Onion Souffles from a recipe she found on the Bon Appetit Magazine, June 2008. These versatile souffles can be served for breakfast, lunch, or as a dinner side-dish! I just love the combination of cheese and onions and eggs! Don't you?




Divya (I prefer Anudivya, it sounds sweeter :) of the healthy and nutritious site And a Little Bit More shares with us these savory Carrot and Coriander Muffins from a recipe she got from The Yum Blog. With the healthy benefits of carrots and the fragrance of coriander leaves (cilantro), these muffins are sure to win any pallete!




Here's my own (Manila, Philippines) entry - Orange Crumb Cake with Cinnamon Crumb Topping, taken from About Southern Food.com. Despite its long title, this quick dessert snack is so easy to prepare, you do not even need a mixer. It tastes lovely too! Moist and crumbly. Light and fruity.





There you have it - the Bookmarked Recipes this week! I am already bookmarking each of them myself! If you have any recipes you got from another source, you cooked it, and want to share your cooking experiences with it, please blog about it and join us in Bookmarked Recipes! This week, Pam from Sidewalk Shoes will be filling in for Ruth. Of course, this is an ongoing weekly event, so in case, you were not able to participate this week, come join us the following week or the next, or the next... :)


To take part here's what you do.......
1. Pick a recipe from a book/magazine/blog/website/tv show and make it. (Note you can only submit 1 recipe per week)
2. Blog about it
- include where you got the recipe in your blog post (including a link to their website if possible)
- include a link to this post or this blog in your blog post
- include the logo (see above) for Bookmarked Recipes in your blog post
- include a photo of your recreation on your blog post
3. Email bookmarkedrecipes[AT]gmail[DOT]com with the following information:
- Your name and where you're from
- The name of your blog
- The permalink for your entry
- A photo of your entry
- A note of where you got your recipe from