Easy Peasy Apple Crumble

Maybe you are laughing at the picture. How can I present a dish (in this case, a dessert) to you on paper plate??? Here's the story...


My daughter has just graduated from elementary school (primary school) recently. (Ahem, as a proud mother, allow me to brag a little here, she graduated top 10 of her batch, awarded with excellent star medal. To God be the glory!!!) Her honors class celebrated their milestone by having a swimming party!

And this easy-to-prepare dessert was what she requested me to bake as her contribution to their potluck. Of course I had to prepare the crumble in several big trays. (Please see pictures below.) I was not able to cut a slice for my blog picture. The picture above was taken by my daughter during their party. (Isn't it sweet of my daughter to do this even while enjoying her party?) And well, the only plates available at the party were paper plates! :)





6 large apples, cored, sliced
1/2 C water
1/3 C sugar
dash of cinnamon

2 C all-purpose flour
1 C quick cooking oats
1 C butter, softened, or at room temperature
2/3 C sugar


1. In a large microwavable bowl, mix the water, sugar and cinnamon. Add in the sliced apples. Microwave for 3 -4 minutes on high.

2. Arrange the cooked apples on the tray. Add in the sugar-cinnamon liquid. (See the photo above.)

3. Mix the flour, oats, and sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

4. Top the apples with the flour-oats mixture, making sure that all the pieces are covered. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes in a 375 F preheated oven or until top is lightly browned.

5. Serve warm, with ice cream, if preferred.


You can halve the recipe for a family-sized serving. But this is so yummy, a whole tray will be gone in no time. :)




Sharing this apple dessert with the Regional Recipes community, headed by Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok. This month features American food. And well, in this part of the world, anything that has got to do with apples is considered American... ha ha ha!!! This month's hosts are TS and JS of Eating Club Vancouver. Please check out their blog after the 15th of April to see delicious American dishes.

Apple Tart (Tarte Aux Pommes)

Here in Asia, when you say French cooking, it is either associated with wine as an ingredient in cooking, or the methodology is as complicated and as difficult as the dishes' pronunciation. :)

So, I set out to find recipes that have no wine, and very simple to prepare. As always, this blog would like to focus on easy-to-prepare recipes that are healthy; delicious and yet takes only a fraction of the time it would take to prepare complicated so-called-gourmet dishes. Another reason to find simple, fuzz-free recipe is that, admittedly, I do not have as much free time to experiment (like last year). :)


3 pcs apples, peeled, cored, sliced
3 T butter
1 T sugar

for the pastry, I halved the pate brisee recipe I used here.

1 C all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt
1/2 C cold butter
2 T cold water


1. Melt butter in the saucepan, add the sugar and apple slices. Simmer gently until softened.

2. For the pastry, cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or a large tinned fork until mixture resembles a coarse sand. Sprinkle water evenly over the mixture and toss gently a few times until the dough holds together.

3. Roll the pastry out flat and put in a tart pan. Crimp the edges. Prick the dough with a fork.

4. Spread the apple slices on the pastry, reserving the syrup (from cooking the apples). Bake in a hot oven (400F) for about 20 to 30 minutes, until apples and dough are slightly golden brown.

5. Pour the remaining syrup from cooking the apples on to the tart and return to the oven for 5 minutes.





6. You can serve the tart on its own or with creme chantilly (whipped cream). Or with scoops of ice cream like what I did. :)


Result? A lovely and impressive dessert that is easy to make. The kids devoured it in no time. :)





Sharing this delicious dessert with the Regional Recipes community, headed by Darlene of Blazing Hot Wok. This month, featuring French dishes, is hosted by Susan of Open Mouth, Insert Fork. To see last month's delicious Thai dishes, please check out the round-up here.

Oven Baked Zucchini Fries

We stopped eating French Fries when news came out that they are full of transfat. Actually, we generally avoid anything deep-fried nowadays. Ok, ok, perhaps once in a while, but I promise, only very rarely. What to do when you crave for fries? Instead of giving in immediately, look for substitutions.

I have heard of Zucchini Fries. Zucchini is a vegetable (though technically, it is a fruit, according to Wiki). So, Zucchini must be good. It is low in calories, contains some folate, potassium and Vitamin A.

I googled for the recipe, but most have a tempura-like batter. And deep fried. I got some ideas here and there, and here is what I came out with:


1 medium-sized zucchini, julienned
salt, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper (optional)

1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C cornmeal

olive oil for spraying


1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a cookie sheet or large baking pan with olive oil.

2. Season the julienned zucchinis with salt, and peppers. Let rest for 15 minutes.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and cornmeal. Add in the marinated zucchinis, coating all pieces. Lay each piece of coated zucchini on the tray. Do not overlap. Bake for 20 mintes or until golden brown.


The result? Delicious fries! Crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside. Just serve it while it is fresh from the oven. When cooled, the crunchy crust becomes soft as well...




Sharing these delicious, healthy crunchies with the Weekend Herb Blogging community, headed by Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. This week's host is Rachel of The Crispy Cook. To see last week's delectable dishes, please check out the round-up done by Pam of the Backyard Pizzeria.

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

Hmmm... Dulce de Leche "Sweet Milk" made into a cheesecake. The ultimate sweet for this family. This is another cheesecake made by my fourth and fifth sisters. I will take the advice of my sweet friend Wiffy at Noobcook, she says, "eat first, diet later" just for this delicious sweet treat. :)

To ease guilt: the only guilty ingredient in this cheesecake is the sugar! Cheesecake and milk are good sources of calcium and other vitamins and minerals found in dairy. Ok, I am convinced. :)

Dulce de leche is a milk-based syrup, that can easily be prepared by slowly heating up sweetened condensed milk to create a syrup that is similar to caramel. Wiki-How gives us complete step by step instructions and several methods on how to prepare Dulce De Leche. Sisters used the first method, same as what they did when they made Banoffee Pie.

To make the dulce de leche. Remove the label from a large can of condensed milk. Boil and simmer the whole unopened can covered in water for 3 hours. (To economize, you can boil several cans at the same time. And use the other cans for the next recipe requiring dulce de leche.) When you open this "boiled" can of condensed milk, it becomes the creamy dulce de leche!

To make the cheesecake crust, mix crushed graham crackers with melted butter. Press this mixture into the spring-form pan. Press it well and up to the sides. Set aside.


For the cheesecake:

3 packs (8 oz each) Cream Cheese
1 C sugar
2 T flour

2 t vanilla
3 eggs
1/3 C fresh milk
1/2 C Dulce de Leche

more Dulce De leche for topping, as desired


1. In an electric mixer, combine softened cream cheese with the sugar and the flour. Beat very well.

2. Add in the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Add in the milk and vanilla. Mix well.

3. Combine the half cup of dulce de leche with half cup of the cheesecake batter mix.

4. Pour the plain batter into the crust. Swirl dulce de leche-cheesecake mixture into the plain cheesecake batter using a fork.

5. Bake 325 F on baine marie (water bath) for 45 to 55 minutes or until it tests done in the center.

6. Cool for at least 20 minutes before topping with more dulce de leche.

7. Refrigerate before serving. It is actually best served the next day.



Am sharing this deliciously sweet Dulce de Leche with Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen who is celebrating her first year in blogosphere with the Sweet Celebrations event. Happy Bloggerversary Aparna! May your kitchen continue to churn out yummy and healthy dishes throughout the coming years! Looking forward to more bloggerversaries to come!!!

Moist Pumpkin Quick Bread

One thing I have benefited from doing food blogging is to try to go out of my comfort zone... albiet slowly. I try to cook, prepare, or bake dishes that I have never tried before, and probably would not dream of creating if I do not have this food blog. Need I say Hubby is very happy with the variety of dishes I prepare? :)

Things I have challenged myself to do (but not yet tried):

1. Bake a cake from scratch, complete with icings
2. Bake a yeast bread
3. Try and taste the different fruits and veggies that is not readily available here in this tropical country; and prepare dishes using these "rare" ingredients
4. Prepare those sweet and savory pies I keep seeing around the blogging world
5. Make and prepare and cook dishes I have never tried before, starting with Greek and French dishes :)


Things I have done so far:

... well, you can check out the blog for the complete list :)


This quick bread is an example of something I would not have done if I am not in the food blogging world. For one, pumpkin is not a usual ingredient in this tropical country. We have squashes, but no pumpkin ! (Though they belong to the same family.) I started exploring the world of pumpkin when I hosted Wandering Chopstick's Weekend Wokking featuring pumpkins, last month.

And now, Val of More Than Burnt Toast, who spearheaded the World Food Day event with Ivy of Kopiaste, tagged me to participate in another very worthwhile event Breadline Africa.

With our support, Breadline Africa can convert shipping containers into locations for food production and distribution to the poor people in South Africa. These sustainable community kitchens will not only provide foods such as bread and soup to those in need, but also opportunities for skills development within these poor communities. So, they are not only aiming to give them bread, but also to teach them skills so that they will be able to earn their own bread as well.


Breadline Africa launched the Worldwide Blogger Baker Bake-Off Challenge aiming at raising $ 1 M in funds. This bake-off gives us baking bloggers the power to make a difference in this world. What do we do? Bake bread. Give Dough. Feed Africa. Vals says, "You can sign up for the campaign, make a donation, upload your bread recipes and document your culinary adventures in the media center to spread the word. You don't have to donate money but simply just mention the campaign and create awareness."




The following is quoted from the Breadline Africa Bake-Off site:

On 15 October, we launched The Breadline Africa Worldwide Blogger Bake Off.

The Blogger Bake Off is an online campaign that challenges bloggers to get involved by baking bread, and then acting by donating to end poverty. And then, challenge their readers and five other bloggers to do the same.

With the money raised, we will be supporting grass roots community projects aimed at ending poverty and hunger in Africa. We’ll be placing container kitchens, vegetable gardens and more in poor communities, sending emergency food relief where needed and helping these poor communities to help themselves.

The rules for bloggers are outlined below:

1. If you are tagged, copy and paste the rules into your post.
2. Bake bread, do something you wouldn’t normally do, and blog about it. Upload your picture and recipe.
   
3. Give dough, donate to Breadline Africa and help us end poverty.
   
4. Tag five bloggers, and ping us so we know you’ve done so.
   

The person who raises the most funds will get to name a Breadline Africa community kitchen and win $500 Amazon Vouchers. There are also three minor prizes of $250 Amazon vouchers for people who receive the most votes in the following categories: Most Unusual Recipe; Most Nutritious Recipe and Most Traditional Recipe.

For this worthwhile event, I decided to bake a quick-bread. My apologies to the other participants. I am not really an experienced baker. You can call me a scaredy-cat baker. I am always fearful of the unexpected in unknown territories :) So, I think this bread qualifies as something I do not normally do (see No 2 rule). I decided to make this pumkin bread - an ingredient I have used only once. And also because, well, I have leftover pumpkin puree in the fridge that I better put to use before it starts to grow molds. :)


Recipe taken from Recipezaar.com

1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 C Vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
1/3 C water
2 C pumpkin puree
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 and 3/4 C plain flour ( I used 1 C whole wheat flour and 3/4 C plain flour)
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t pumpkin spice

topping:
1 T butter
1/4 C brown sugar
3 T milk
1/4 C pecans (I substituted walnuts)


1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease and flour a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a medium size bowl, beat eggs and mix with sugar, oil, water and pumpkin.

3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients only until just blended. Do not overmix.

4. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 min. Check with a toothpick or cake tester for doneness.

5. For the topping: melt butter in a small saucepan. Add in sugar and milk and mix well. Boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly until sugar melts. Immediately drizzle on the baked loaf. Sprinkle with chopped nuts and press the nuts lightly on top.

6. Wrap and store until the next day for serving. This will keep moisture inside.


Readers of Recipezaar gave this recipe a 5-star rating. I do, too! It is a fool-proof recipe, even novice bakers like me can prepare. It is easy to do and the result? Truly moist flavorful bread made healthy with the addition of pumpkin, walnuts, and whole wheat.


I am tagging the following bloggers:

Deborah of Taste and Tell
Jin Hooi of Smell and Taste are My Memory
Lesley of Beachlover's Kitchen
Usha of Veg Inspirations
Yasmeen of Health Nut
Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments
Sangeeth of The Art of Cooking Indian Food
Lubna of Kitchen Flavours

With the holidays approaching you may not have time to bake your own bread but a mention of this worthy cause on your blog would spread the word..... and even if you haven't been tagged feel free to join!!!



Sharing this bread and the invitation to this food event to the Bookmarked Recipes community, headed by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. Please feel free to join in!!! Bookmarked Recipes is a food 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. To see last week's delicous round-up, please click here.

Banoffee Pie

Here is a slice of the yummy, sweetlicious banoffee pie my 4th and 5th sister made. Maybe they are not good in food photography, but they are better than I am when it comes to baking and making sweet desserts. That is because they are allowed to indulge while I am fighting the "bulge." Hee, hee, sorry, I could not resist the rhyme :)

Really, I also have a sweet tooth, just like almost everybody. But I have to resist these temptations because, well... I am not getting any younger, I have to start healthy eating habits if I still want to see my grandchildren. And I am confessing : I lack exercise!!! Yup! Guilty as charged! I have aerobic exercise, one hour once a week. And Hubby says that is not enough. I always tell Hubby, I do not have have time because of all the things I have to do. But then, time is a flimsy excuse, because I know with proper time management, I can easily insert an hour of exercise everyday. Hubby says if I exercise everyday, then I will be allowed to eat all the sweets I want. Now, I have a dilemma. Which is easier : to exercise or to restrain myself from sweets? :)

If I am eating from my kitchen, it would be easy to limit my intake of sweets. I simply do not buy or bake any sweets for myself. (My latest baking endeavor - NY Style Pumpkin Cheesecake I made went to my neighbor J). However, it is hard for me to resist the sweets that my sisters make and send over for me to taste!





According to sisters, it is very easy to make this no-bake pie in our own kitchens.

1. Make the dulce de leche first. Remove the label from a large can of condensed milk. Boil and simmer the whole unopened can covered in water for 3 hours. (To economize, you can boil several cans at the same time. And use the other cans for the next recipe requiring dulce de leche.) When you open this "boiled" can of condensed milk, it becomes the creamy dulce de leche!

2. Make the pie crust with crushed graham crackers mixed with melted butter. Press this mixture into the spring-form pan. Press it well and up to the sides.

3. Slice the sweet (lacatan) bananas and spread covering all of the graham crust. Drizzle some dulce de leche on the bananas. Add another layer of bananas, drizzle with dulce de leche again. Add more layers, as much bananas as you have or as high you want your pie to be.

4. Top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate. Chill before serving.


I tell myself, bananas are good. Bananas are healthy. Bananas are rich in Vitamins B, Potassium and Magnesium. So, it convinces me to ease the guilt of eating a slice of this yummy Banoffee pie :)

Nutella Oatmeal Whole Wheat Bars

These are "trying-hard-to-be-healthy" sweet dessert bars. Trying hard because it contains whole wheat flour, instead of the regular white milled flour. It has loads of oatmeal, which we know is one of the super-healthy food.

Ok, I confess the ingredients that are not-so- healthy are butter and sugar. You can always lessen the amount (but who would want to?) And Nutella, mmmm, yummy Nutella. Who can resist Nutella?

Again, this is one of those easy-to bake desserts that a novice baker like me can do. It also has very few ingredients, I suppose most of which are easily available in your pantry. And the result are simply irresistible dessert bars you will not think twice of munching over and over again.


1 C whole wheat flour
1 and 1/2 C quick-cooking oats
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
3/4 C softened butter

Nutella


1. In a large bowl, mix together the first 5 ingredients. Press half of the oatmeal mixture in a 9 x 9 inch baking pan.

2. Spread nutella on this pressed mixture. Add in as much as you prefer.

3. Top and press with the remaining half of the oat mixture.

4. Bake in a preheated 350 F oven for 25 minutes or until the top turns golden. Cut with a wet knife into bars.



Result? Yummy bars that even my kids cannot resist. My kids refuse to eat their oatmeals in the morning. So, I have to think up new ways to serve oatmeals. Why do I insist my family eat oatmeals? Because I know oatmeals are good and healthy food!

Many studies have shown that oatmeal lowers cholesterol levels, and reduces high blood pressure, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease. It may also lower the risk for type 2 diabetes. The fiber in the oats help control the blood glucose level. And oats contain more soluble fiber than whole wheat, rice or corn. Oatmeal also contains a wide range of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, making it an anti-cancer food as well.





Sharing these sweet bars containing loads of healthy oatmeal with the Weekend Herb Blogging Community, a foodie event that features herbs and unique plant ingredients and the dishes we make with these ingredients. The event was created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. Now, under the able management of our new chief Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once. This week's host is Heather from Diary of a Fanatic Foodie. To see last week's delicious and wonderful round-up, please check out Wiffy of Noobcook.

NY Style Pumpkin Cheesecake

photo taken by Daughter :)

It is time once again for Wandering Chopstick's Weekend Wokking. This is truly an exciting challenge as we get to see the different ways we can cook one ingredient. For this month, Precious Pea chose Pumpkin! It is very fitting by the way, because I know it is pumpkin season in America.

However, here in the Philippines, we do not really grow pumpkins! At least the ones you are familiar with in the western world. We have the local pumpkin we call kalabasa. This veggie is available whole-year round. And we do not really carve these pumpkins. Actually, I do not consider these as pumpkins, Kalabasa is more like squash. When I googled, to try to learn more about the difference, I learned that there are many varieties of squash. Pumpkin is one variety of squash. Our local kalabasa is another.

Being true to the pumpkin challenge, I have no alternative but to use the canned variety - which is easily available here. But I do not want to make a pie. At first I thought about making muffins, but another baking event already did that. I also wanted to make a dessert that my family will love. We are cheesecake fans, so cheesecake it is.


For the Crust:

1 C graham crackers, crushed
sprinkling of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
6 T melted butter


For the Filling:

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 C brown sugar
1 C canned solid-packed pumpkin puree
3 large eggs
2 T all-purpose flour
1/4 t salt
sprinkling of cinnamon, ginger powder, nutmeg and cloves


1. Mix the crushed graham crackers with the spices and the melted butter. Press into a 9 inch- spring-form pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Preheat oven to 350F.

3. In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, pumpkin puree, flour, spices and salt. Mix until combined. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well each time.

4. Pour into the prepared pan with crust. Bake baine-marie in the oven for 1 hour or until the cheesecake is set.

5. Cool in pan or chill overnight before serving. Cut with a knife dipped in water. Serve as is or topped with ice cream, a dollop of cream, or decorate with candy sprinkles.






Hubby said my cheesecake look better plain (see the first picture). What do you think? I just wanted to decorate with the new autumn-inspired sprinkles that 5th sister gave me. :) The cheesecake tastes great, by the way. But maybe it's just us. We love any kind of cheesecake.

One last note: Whenever I try to bake a NY style cheesecake before, I never included flour. The center of the cheesecake always turns out "sunken." The top of the cheesecake does not turn out even. Last week, my sisters and I were able to taste a cheesecake from a popular coffee chain. We were wondering why the cheesecake top was nicely straight and evenly baked, not like the cheesecake we make at home. When we tasted their cheesecake, the taste was lacking in cheesecake flavor, it tasted like they added lots of flour. So, when I made today's version of cheesecake, I thought of adding some flour just for experiment, so added just two tablespoon of flour (for 2 bars of cheesecake). And look! The cheesecake did not sink at the center! The top was flat and evenly baked! So, that was the secret! And the cheesecake still tastes great! No floury taste at all. :)



Sharing this pumpkin cheesecake with the Weekend Wokking food event. It is a worldwide event created by Wandering Chopsticks to see the many different ways we can cook one ingredient. The ingredient for the month is Pumpkin! The host this month is me! So please check in by Wednesday for the round up of many delicious ways we can cook the pumpkin. I have received so many delicious entries already - both savoury and sweet. You can still join in the fun! I will wait for your recipes until Tuesday. To see previous round-ups, please click here. Next month's host will be Wiffy of Noobcook and you have to check back here on Wednesday to know what is the secret ingredient next month :)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Filling and Strawberry Cream Frosting

I apologize for the long title. I do not know what else to call these cupcakes. I wanted to differentiate these cupcakes from the other usual chocolate cupcakes. Besides, these are very special cupcakes, at least in the eyes of my little family. Because these are the birthday cupcakes of my daughter. (Her birthday was two weeks ago, but I have been posting the dishes we had on her birthday one by one...)

These cupcakes are produced by the joint effort of fourth sister and fifth sister. Yup. I did not bake these goodies... They baked the cupcakes at my mother's house (where they live) and then frosted and decorated the cupcakes here at my house (where we celebrated Daughter's birthday). They even brought cupcake holders!





The recipe is loosely based on the Belgian Chocolate Cupcakes found at the Yummy Magazine, Oct 2007 issue. Tweaks made: Sisters added the chocolate cream filling, the strawberry cream frosting and they did not use Belgian chocolate, as we prefer bittersweet.


For the cupcakes:

1/2 C butter, melted
100 gms bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 C butter, softened
1 and 1/4 C sugar
2 eggs
2 T cocoa powder
1 t vanilla
1 and 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 C milk


For the chocolate cream filling:
1/2 C all-purpose cream
1 C chopped bittersweet chocolate


For the strawberry cream frosting:
1 C strawberry flavored cream, well-chilled
1/4 C caster sugar



1. Prepare the chocolate filling first. Heat the cream in low fire until very hot but not boiling. (You can also use the microwave.) Turn off heat and add in the chopped chocolate pieces. Stir until all the chocolate pieces are melted and everything is mixed thoroughly. Cool in refrigerator.
When chilled and firm enough to be handled, scoop out chocolate and form into small balls. Arrange on a baking tray and return to the refrigerator until ready to use.

2. To make the cupcake, melt the butter in a small pan. Turn off heat and stir in the chopped chocolate. Whisk until blended and set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare muffin pans by adding cupcake liners.

4. In a mixing bowl, with electric mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and beat until creamy. Stir in cocoa powder and vanilla.

5. Add the melted chocolate (we prepared in step 2).

6. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Stir this dry ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk. Blend until smooth (Do not overbeat.)

7. Scoop into paper-lined muffin pan and fill only half. Put in a chocolate cream ball (we prepared in step 1) in the middle. Then add some more cupcake batter until 3/4 full.

8. Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool before frosting.

9. In a chilled bowl, with chilled paddles of the electric mixer, beat the strawberry cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Do not over-beat. Keep chilled until ready to frost.

10. Using a piping bag, decorate the cupcakes with the strawberry cream. Drizzle with chocolate sprinkles.


Result? Very moist chocolatey cupcakes with melted chocolate cream balls inside!!!

Daughter has to go around the cupcakes to blow all her candles!!!

Here in the Philippines, we do not celebrate Thanksgiving. We do not have an official Thanksgiving holiday. But for most Filipinos, and certainly for this little family, each birthday, and each New Year is already reason enough to celebrate and give thanks to our Creator for another blessed year. So every birthday, family and friends would gather and celebrate the occasion and do something nice for the celebrant. Extra attention is given when the celebrant is celebrating 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 or 100 years old!!!


I am sharing this birthday cupcakes post to the World Food Day - Time to be Thankful event, hosted by Ivy of Kopiaste. The aim of this event is to bring awareness to everyone about the hunger problems that exist around the world and which seem to be getting worse day after day, specially after this huge worldwide economic crisis.

I have a lot to be thankful for. I also teach my kids to be thankful. I live in a Third World country. And yet, I have a very loving family. I have very loving parents, very supportive sisters and brother. I have a super-sweet, loving and patient husband. I have two beautiful and kind kids. I have lots of good friends. I have a loving and supportive church family. I have a house I can call a home. My husband has work. I have work. My kids go to school. We are free to go to Church and worship our God. We are blessed indeed.

Sweet Corn Muffins

This story starts with a lonely box of yellow cornmeal. I bought this box of cornmeal several weeks ago because I wanted to make the Fried Green Tomatoes that JS and TS of Eating Club Vancouver insist we try. This box has been sitting in my pantry untouched because I could not find large green tomatoes!!! I don't think that is a usual produce here... but I am still on the lookout for green tomatoes! Never say never...

Yesterday, I lovingly took out the box from the pantry, and took a good look at it. I was thinking of putting it to some other use. There were several recipes printed at the back of the box. The corn muffins recipe stood out. I just have all the ingredients on hand. Plus, it does not need a mixer. It only needs 2 bowls and a spatula or a wire whisk. Just mix, pour, bake! I love simple and easy to prepare recipes like this! Here is the exact recipe:

1 and 1/2 C all-purpose flour
2/3 C granulated sugar
1/2 C yellow cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 and 1/4 C milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 C vegetable oil
3 T butter, melted


Of course, the adventurous (stupid?) newbie baker that I am, I have to make my own tweaks. I do not understand why I have this habit. I definitely have to change a thing or two in a recipe. Maybe this is why I can never be a good baker. Sometimes, the product that comes out is something I have imagined and wanted. (Like these sweet corn cupcakes.) Of course, sometimes, I get failures, too. Maybe this blog should be called a series of kitchen experiments. :) Anyway, here are my tweaks and why I did them:

Because I wanted to use the whole wheat flour I newly bought, and I wanted the muffins to have more "cornmeal" taste, I changed the proportion. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour to 1 cup of cornmeal.

I used washed brown sugar instead of white granulated sugar. Brown sugar has lower caloric value than the white sugar, and yet it has deeper flavor than the white sugar. I also added some honey, not only for the taste, but also for the color.

Because I wanted to make sure my muffins become fluffy, I added 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Because I have read on various baking blogs that the addition of yogurt would make cakes moist, I figured, it would make the muffins moist as well. So, I reduced the amount of milk and added yogurt.

I used canola oil which is a healthier type of vegetable oil because of its low saturated fat content and high monosaturated fat content.

I added whole kernel corns,too. I figured most muffins have nuts, but since these are corn muffins, why not add whole kernel corns?

What else? Oh, I omitted the butter. I felt the muffins are already rich enough.


Here is the final recipe I used:

1 C whole wheat flour
1 C yellow cornmeal
1/3 C washed brown sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 T salt
1 C fresh milk (you can use non-fat)
1/2 C creamy unflavored yogurt (you can also use non-fat)
2 T honey
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 C + 2 T canola oil
1 C whole kernel corns (I used canned, well drained)


1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease 12 large muffin pans or line with paper cups.

2. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, the whole wheat flour, yellow cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

3. In another bowl whisk together eggs, milk, yogurt, honey, canola oil. Add in the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add in the whole corn kernels as well. Stir just until blended. Do not overmix.

4. Spoon into prepared muffin pans or muffin cups filling only 2/3 full (or 3/4 full), bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for a few minutes. Remove to wire racks when warm enough for handling.






The result? Yummy, moist cupcakes filled with corn goodness and taste! Can you see from the picture that the original paper cups are so moist I have to add an additional layer of paper cups for serving?






Sharing these sweet corn muffins with The Heart of the Matter:Eating for Life community, hosted this month by Ilva of Lucillian Delights: An Italian Experience. The theme this month is yellow-orange. These corns muffins certainly are the perfect color! And they are made heart-healthy with using whole wheat flour, cornmeal and whole corn kernels, yogurt, and the omission of butter. The goal of this event is to encourage each one of us to cook healthier food, to be more proactive in taking care of our heart-health. Please check out her blog by the end of the month for the round-up of heart-healthy dishes.

Orange Crumb Cake with Cinammon Crumb Topping

I did not take the photo above, I mean, I was the one who baked the goodies, but I was not the one who took the shot of that picture. It was my pre-teen daughter! If it was me, the picture would look like this:



I have a thing or two to learn from my daughter as well!!! :)

I had some extra ripe oranges in my refrigerator, and I was wondering what dessert can I make out of these sweet oranges. Before internet days, I would peruse my cookbooks. Nowadays, I would just google... :)

I found this very interesting recipe from About.com (Southern Food). Why is it interesting? Because it is a cake, but you do not need a lot of ingredients - just the basic and common ingredients in our pantry. You do not need a mixer. You just need 2 bowls. And you know what that means? Less utensils to wash! The instructions does not seem complicated. Isn't this ideal !?! Ideal for novice and lazy bakers like me who still craves for a dessert or two. :)

1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
4 T butter, room temperature
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t baking powder
dash of salt
1 egg
1/2 C orange juice
1 t finely grated orange zest

1. Combine flour, sugar, and butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles meal.

2. Measure half cup of the crumb mixture and move to a separate cup or bowl. Blend in the cinnamon and set aside.

3. To the main crumb mixture, add baking powder and salt; blend well.

4. Beat orange juice with egg until well blended; stir with orange zest into the crumb mixture just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter into a greased and floured 8 inch square baking pan.

5. Sprinkle reserved cinnamon-crumb mixture over the batter.

6. Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.


Some tweaks: Have you noticed that whenever we cook or bake something from somewhere, we always have to make some little tweaks ? I do not think we deliberately change something, just to make the recipe more "ours." I think it is more to do with what ingredients we have on hand, or what tastes our families prefer.

1. I used freshly squeezed orange juice, as that is what I have on hand. I used 1 orange for the recipe. To make half-cup of juice, I added only a few tablespoons of water. This is why my cake is not too sweet. If this was made from ready-made orange juice, I think this cake would have been sweeter.

2. I did not use the zest. I have this thing (suspicion) about the skins of fruits being laden with pesticides, and other synthetic chemicals. Sorry, I am obsessive-compulsive in this area. So, what I did was, I added the pulp bits of the squeezed juice. I think the cake still turned out fragrantly orange-y.

3. I added probably 1/4 C topping mixture to the cake because when I added the juice/egg mixture, it turned too watery. Only 1/4 C of crumb topping mixture was left for the toppings.





The verdict? You would love this if you love the fragrant orange with a whiff of cinnamon! For me, this is an ideal snack/dessert. Easy to prepare, no fuss and no mess. Delicious paired with a cup of tea or coffee. It is not too sweet, just the way we like it!



This cake goes to the Bookmarked Recipes community. Bookmarked Recipes is a world-wide 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. It is created and regularly hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. For last week's edition, Deeba of Passionate about Baking did a wonderful and beautiful round-up. This week, I will be guest hosting as well. This is my first time to host a food event, I am so excited about it. I hope you can join and play!

Personally, 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 one of the best recipes in the blogosphere!

It is so easy to play! 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 post it between now to Sunday, Sept 21. I will do the round-up on Monday, Sept.22. 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


I'll be looking forward to the dishes you're all cooking!!!

Honey Mustard Glazed Tofu

Here is another easy to prepare, easy to cook dish. Best of all, it is made from the very popular and healthy tofu!

Tofu, Doufu (Chinese Pinyin spelling) or Beancurd (English), is made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the resulting curds into blocks. It is a very good source of protein, low in calories, no saturated fat and no cholesterol. It also contains iron and a very significant amount of calcium. Not only does the soybean itself contain calcium, but the process of coagulation needs additional calcium sulfite. This addition of the calcium sulfite is the most widely used so that tofu manufacturers can market their products as a good source of calcium. But this is actually the traditional way of making Chinese tofu. How do I know this? Because when Hubby and I were newly married, we lived with my in-laws for a while. They have a very good neighbor and friend who manufactures tofu from his backyard!

There are three kind of tofu: the soft silken tofu, usually used in soups are appetizers, which most people call Japanese tofu. There's the medium firm tofu, which most people call Chinese firm tofu. And the firm tofu (tokwa) or the dried tofu. In our family, we prefer the soft silken tofu and the Chinese tofu. We only use the dried tofu for frying, which we do not cook a lot.

It has been a while since I have cooked tofu again (since we have moved to a house on our own, that is.) But when I saw Maggie of Dog Hill Kitchen's recipe, Honey Mustard Glazed Tofu, I knew I must rekindle my tofu love affair. The recipe sounds delicious. What can go wrong with honey and mustard? And it looks so easy to prepare, easy to cook. So, I tried it.

And the result? Truly delicious! Hubby said it is the best tofu he has ever tasted. Tofu in itself is bland and flavorless. But with the addition of honey and mustard, the kids want to eat more and more. Since it is made from healthy tofu, I knew I am one happy mom. Thanks Maggie for the wonderful treat! This recipe is a keeper. :)


Some tweaks:

I do not have mustard powder, so I used the "liquid" Dijon mustard. It still tasted good. Maggie mentioned that it might be vinegary, which is okay with us. We like spicy things.

As usual, I was too lazy to fire up the oven, so I pan fried the tofu instead. I used non-stick skillet, and I only used a little canola oil. So, this dish is still considered healthy, right? :)

Since I am pan frying the tofu, I added a sprinkling of flour to the tofu. This gave the cooked tofu a nice crunchy texture on the outside. (Soft in the inside. Need I say more?)


1 block Chinese medium firm tofu
3 T Dijon Mustard
3 T honey
salt and pepper to taste
flour
dried parsley, optional

1. Cut the tofu into bite-sized cubes. Pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides.

2. Combine honey and mustard in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, put in some flour.

3. Dip the tofu pieces in the honey mustard. Make sure all surfaces are covered. Then dip both sides in the flour. Fry in a hot skillet with a little canola oil. Turn over once one side is cooked and golden. Dish up once both sides are cooked. This takes only a little time (a minute or two) so you have to watch over the tofu carefully.

4. Dish up and sprinkle with some dried parsley leaves (optional).




Sharing this delicious and healthy dish to Bookmarked Recipes, a foodie event launched and hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen's Experiments. This week's guest host is the lovely Indian blogger Deeba of Passionate About Baking. To see last week's delicious round-up of tried and tested recipes, please click here.


Guess what? I will be guest hosting the next edition of Bookmarked Recipes! I feel honored that Ruth would invite me to host. I am so excited as this will be my first time to host any foodie event. Bookmarked Recipe is a world-wide 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. It is so easy to play! 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 post it anytime between Sept 15 to 21. Email me or at bookmarkedrecipes@gmail.com and I will do the round-up on Monday, Sept 22. Will be waiting for your entries! :)

Banana Crumble

Happy Birthday Grow Your Own!!! Grow Your Own is a foodie event, started by Andrea Meyers of Andrea's Recipes to celebrate the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. This event is quite close to my heart primarily because I am a trying hard gardener, with no garden, (just pots of soil,) with not-so-green thumbs, but lots of love for anything green growing from the soil. Growing your own food is not only practical, and cost-saving, it ensures that your food is organic and fresh. With the added bonus of exercise and the proud contentment you feel when you serve (and eat) something you have grown yourself!



Such ugly bananas, you say!? Lest you mistake these for rotten ones (they are not!!) These are the real organic plantain bananas!! Many a knowledgeable housewives here in the Philippines would choose these bananas over the "regular" yellow ones. Bananas can only look pretty when they are sprayed with insecticides, so that no insects or birds will touch them. They are also sprayed with preservatives to maintain their deliciously beautiful bright yellow colors. These ugly (reminds me of the ugly duckling) bananas are super sweet and pretty on the inside, not like the bright yellow bananas which are oftentimes bland... which is another example of the common cliche, "Real beauty is not what you see on the outside, but it is what's inside that counts!"

I do not have a banana farm. But my next-door neighbor has. (I think she also has other fruits and plant produce.) Oooh! I'm so blessed! Last year, we just moved in to this new townhouse complex near the children's school. Naturally, most of our neighbors have students studying in the same school. My next-door neighbor, E, has a boy the same age and grade level as my boy! They usually play together and cause troubles together :) When I make the children's snacks, I usually make some too, for E's kids. (She is usually at work when her kids come home from school.) Whenever they have banana harvests, they usually share their bounty with us. Thank you, E!

I also reciprocate by baking her some goodies from the bananas she gave me. This time, I made Banana Crumble.



For the bananas:

1 bunch plantain bananas (around 16- 18 large pieces), sliced
1 C sugar
1 C water

1. Boil water and sugar together in a pot.

2. When the mixture boils, add in the sliced bananas. Boil and simmer until bananas are tender, around 15 minutes.

3. Arrange in a baking pan. (I used a disposable foil pan as I intend to give this as a gift.)




For the crumble:

1 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C quick-cooking oats
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter, softened
sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon, optional

1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a bowl, mix together flour, oats, sugar and a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg.

2. With a pastry cutter or two forks, cut the softened butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Top over the prepared bananas.

3. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven or until top is lightly browned.

4. Serve warm, topped with ice cream if preferred.






But in my case, I put the nicely golden dessert in a pretty box and sent it immediately to my next-door neighbor...



... and virtually sending this to the First Anniversary edition of Grow Your Own. Please check out Andrea's site after the end of the month for the round-up. To see the previous round-up, please check out the fun read Finny Knits.

Banana Muffins

We all love parties. Especially when there's lots of food! Do you know the food blogosphere is having a party this week? A kiddie party at that! Dhanggit is hosting a party for her super-cute baby girl Mayumi, who is turning one! You're all invited to bring delicious party recipes to her Perfect Party Dishes blog event. :)



Here in the Philippines, a party is a family event. The whole family is usually invited - from the grandparents to the grandchildren. The party host then, has to prepare two menus, one for adults and another for the kids. Of course the guests can always "cross-over", if adults see something they like from the kid's menu, they are free to help themselves! :)

I wonder if Dhanggit will have kiddie guests because this recipe is usually for the kids at the party...

I chose to present the simple and humble Banana Muffins because (1) They are easy to prepare. With so many dishes to include in the menu, we have to choose those which can be prepared with ease or can be done in advance. (2) They are easy to eat. Specially for kids, the less messy food we present for them to eat, the better. We do not want the party site to be littered with sauces or drippings, do we? (3) I chose bananas because this will highlight baby Mayumi's cultural roots. Although Mango muffins would also be perfect! I have done a post on Mango Muffins here.



The muffins do not look good unbaked, right? They look like globs of goo... :) But they are already fragrant with the sweet banana smell... Anyway, the recipe is taken from Market Manila's Golden banana Cake. He, in turn got the recipe from Francois Payard's Sensational Dessert book. I have made this Banana Cake before. It was moist, fragrant, and flavorful. Daughter declared it to be the best Banana Cake ever. For the muffins, however, I had to adjust a little bit. I added the amount of baking soda and baking powder because I wanted fluffier muffins.



1 C all purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
4 large eggs
1/2 C ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1.5 T olive oil
2 ripe lacatan bananas, peeled, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare muffin liners.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda.

3. In another mixing bowl, using the electric mixer, mix butter, olive oil and sugar at low speed.

4. Add eggs one at a time and beat at higher speed until fully mixed.

5. Add mashed bananas. Add flour mixture and stop mixing soon after. Do not overbeat.

6. Fill each muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins come out clean. Cool and decorate.

** Double, triple or quadruple the recipe depends on how many guests you're expecting. This recipe makes 16 medium-sized muffins.



I do not know how to decorate a cake, or in this case, muffins, with any kind of icing, so I did a Rita and used colorful decorations instead. :)

Another tradition here is that after the party, guests get to take home some kind of sweets. For kids, it can be loot bags filled with candies, popcorns and lollipops. For adults, it can be a muffin or two wrapped up or boxed. I wrapped up each muffin in clear plastic, tied them up with a pretty ribbon... and here you go, a perfect adult "loot" bag :)

From Princess Penguin to Princess Mayumi, Happy Happy Birthday!!!

Potato Shrimp Cakes : Take 1

When I read Mochachocolata-Rita's recipe on this Oven Fried... oops, Oven Baked Potato Shrimp Cake, I just knew I had to try it. After you've seen my picture above, I'm sure you're just gonna throw them out and ditch this post. But please check out her post first. Her pictures look so yummy, you want to immediately take them off the screen and eat them...

The reason why my Shrimp Cake does not look like Mochachocolata-Rita's is that I did all her instructions except I did not bake them in the oven. (Aside from the fact that I do not really know how to use the camera. I promise I will take up some photography classes soon!) I was too lazy to fire up the oven. I tried baking them in the oven toaster. And even when the first batch was already cooking there for 30 minutes, they did not turn golden brown like hers, but instead got charred!!! So I had to partially cover them up with greens :)

Lesson: Next time, follow cooking instructions.


1 large potato, mashed
1 C small shrimp, peeled, roughly chopped
1 small clove of garlic, very finely chopped
1 small clove of shallot, very finely chopped
1 t salt
1/2 t sugar
1 t white pepper
a dash of ground nutmeg powder
a bit of finely chopped corriander/spring onion
breadcrumbs, mixed with a bit of salt, sugar and pepper
olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 200C.

2. In a bowl, mix everything except the breadcrumbs. Roll into round shapes. Dip in the breadcrumbs and arrange on an olive-oil lined baking pan. Bake until golden brown.


Those were the instructions. As I said, I tried baking in the oven toaster, which failed miserably in looks... but they still tasted good. And I still have some uncooked shrimp-potato mixture left. (Not all the balls fit inside the oven toaster). Instead of using the oven, this time, I pan-fried it in a little oil. (At least it's not deep fried!) After waiting 30 minutes for those oven-toaster little balls, I was a bit impatient, so I did not roll these into little balls but made a big flat disc!!!



Now this tastes way better! I suppose a little more oil does make the difference! :) I can hear Mochachocolatarita saying: Tsk.. Tsk... Not healthy!

By this time, the kids were so impatient, they did not give me time to plate it for a picture...



This is my entry to Bookmarked Recipes, an event featuring recipes we have tried and cooked from a magazine, or a cookbook or from a blog. This wonderful idea was started and hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. Please check out her blog by Monday to see this week's round-up. To see last week's bloggers who got recipes from other wonderful places, please click here.