FAMILY BONDING THRU FOOD

Our family love Japanese cuisine. Once a month we see to it that we try to escaped from our busy schedule at home, business and school. WE always look for a new destination. Whether it is a long drive or short drive, my husband and I always find time for it. It is the time were we truly bond with each other, no computer, no PSP, no phone just us with our four lovely kids.

2 TAKES ADOBO (my own version)

ADOBONG IGAT(eel) partner with ADOBONG KANGKONG SA GATA

ADOBO is a filipino staple food, simple meal/special occasion ADOBO is always present and in my family's dining table as well. This time for our dinner i prepared ADOBONG IGAT with adobong kangkong sa gata. My kids and my husband enjoyed it tremendously.

MY PARTNER IN THE KITCHEN

It is not easy to create a menu/meal having a husband and four kids who LOVES TO EAT - FOOD MAGAZINE is always a big help to me. YUMMY, FOOD, COOK, FLAVOUR, etc......... having them as my kitchen partner makes my cooking easy.

SIMPLE FOOD/SIMPLE PRESENTATION -Part 2

 Daing na GALUNGGONG, ensaladang talong at inihaw na okra

For a small budget anybody could prepare a decent and delicious meal to their family. Whenever I am run out of time, and budget I make sure that whatever food I prepare, I make sure that  my family will truly enjoy it. PRESENTATION is very important is serving food and it is one important factor I never miss is serving meal to my family.  Whenever their is a "PROMOTIONAL SALE" on a mall/store I always check on it, not on clothes but on kitchen wares, plates, etc....... The SERVING PLATE I used in serving my DAING NA GALUNGGONG, talong at okra were from "PLAY & DISPLAY" at Edsa Ortigas beside Kamayan (30% to 50% off on all their item). For a price of P/500 below you could invest on some beautiful dinnerware. In our home we do not KEEP NICE PLATES in the cabinet and show it off once theirs a special occasion. I wanted my family to enjoy it as much as my friends/guests, so, in my HOME their is no PLATES for SPECIAL OCCASION we used it regularly on our daily meals.

SIMPLE FOOD/SIMPLE PRESENTATION

FRIED TILAPIA with Teriyaki sauce and stir fry veggies

I came home late last night and i need to prepare an instant dinner for the famiily.  Fried tilapia, stir fry mushroom, asparagus and botchoy with lots of garlic using olive oil and a little butter. 30 minutes food preparation and cooking and we have a simple dish which I serve with a good presentation

And with that,  simple food was made beautiful and turned into something special.

EASY COOKING

Most of the time likes any working mom; house mom is always on the go. This is a typical day for me; it’s my regular visit in our condo in Greenhills where my two kids are staying/living on their own (Isabella, 4th year high school OB MONTESSORI and Benjo, 1st year h.s. La Salle Greenhills). The kitchen here is very small so I have to maximize everything and do some EASY COOKING.

For easy cooking, it means few ingredients, and a little time to cook for a complete meal.

Beef with buttered vegetable and mash potato

I marinated the beef for one hour with calamansi juice, oyster sauce and seasoned it with salt and cayenne pepper*. Tossed the vegetable for a few minutes in hot oil with butter, set aside then fry bottom mushroom in can, next is the beef tenderloin. For the sauce of the beef, I always have available A1 steak sauce if there is a limited time to cook for a sauce.

*CAYENNE PEPPER

Cayenne pepper powder comes from red hot chilli peppers that are not only good to eat but are great for your health. Where does cayenne come from? The fruit or body of the peppers are dried then ground down, pulped and baked into cakes, which are then sifted to make the spice known as cayenne pepper. In case you may be slightly confused, red hot chilli peppers are sometimes referred to as "cayenne peppers" as well.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT - sinabawang Upo w/ Salted fish

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

The food we eat affect the outcome of our day- work, our mood and how we deal with others. So what should we eat? Like most experts say – The key to proper nutrition is really moderate, variety and balance.

Here’s my first MAIN DISH for

this blog.

SINABAWANG UPO WITH SALTED FISH

Upo is a vegetable grown locally. It is consider a comfort food.

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp cooking oil

1 thumb ginger, sliced

1 tbsp crushed garlic

¼ cup sliced onion

2 cup shredded salted fish (wholed salted fish, soaked in water for 2 hours then shredded)

3 cup cubed, seeded UPO

1 litre water

1 11g Maggi Chicken broth cube

2 cup malunggay leaves

1.      Heat oil. Sautee ginger, garlic and onion until limp fragrant.

2.      Stir in salted fish and cook for 2 minutes. Add in upo and cook for another 30 seconds.

3.      Pour in water and bring to a boil. Add magi chicken cube, simmer for another 5 minutes. Stir in malunggay leaves. Serve hot.

All ingredients are available in a market (palengke) and supermarket. And by the way, it is my future plan to grow vegetable in my own backyard. The malunggay I used on this recipe is from the malunggay tree in my backyard.

I spent 20minutes for the preparation of the ingredients plus the 2 hours soaking time for the salted fish. My cooking time is only 15 minutes.

A one-dish meal with fish and vegetables is a practical way of providing good nutrition for the family.

The fish is a good source of protein while the upo is a natural source of iron, calcium and B vitamins.