What I Had For Breakfast

Lately I've been inspired by the talented kids of Masterchef Junior. I just had a marathon of the TV series last weekend which is why I my creative brain wanted to do something extra fancy for breakfast. Instead of the usual oatmeal or cereal, I made soft boiled egg on blanched asparagus, with baked tomatoes and herbed rice. I'm not a chef so please excuse the plating. I tried. Haha!

Next time I will try making this but instead of soft boiled eggs, I will cook poached eggs. Good luck to me!

What I Had For Breakfast

Good morning everyone! This post is long overdue, but here's what I had for breakfast (three weeks ago):

Baked baby potatoes, with eggs in capsicum slices. I got the eggy idea from my aunt's Facebook post. But instead of frying them on the pan, I baked them in the oven. Aaand I went a little crazy with the black pepper.

Anyway, if you add herbs like rosemary, it will go well with the potatoes. I hope you like this idea!

Deviled Eggs with Chicken Adobo

This weekend we decided to experiment with leftover Chicken Adobo and use all the easter eggs we have been making!

6 hard boiled eggs
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 cup pulled chicken adobo
salt
pepper
paprika

Cut the boiled eggs in half lengthwise and scoop out the egg yolks. Place the egg yolks in a mixing bowl, add the mayonnaise, and mash them with a fork. Stir in the chicken adobo, salt and pepper. Place the filling in a zip lock bag and carefully pipe them on the egg whites. Or you can just scoop the filling with a spoon one by one.

Homemade Lemon Curd

Hey guys! I told you I was going to be making a lot of eggy recipes since Easter is coming. First up is lemon curd. This is my first time to make and try this. I don't think this is available in the Philippine supermarket, so I thought why not make your own?

I played around with the proportions of the ingredients based on Cupcake Jemma's recipe. I loved it so much and I just want to let you guys know that I have been eating this for breakfast for three straight days! I am officially addicted to it!

Ingredients:
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 whole egg
- Juice of 1.5 lemon
-1 tbsp lemon zest
-1/4 cup white sugar
-2 tbsp chilled butter

1. Start by putting the eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and white sugar in a bowl. Mix everything until it is well blended.

2. Cook the lemon-egg mixture on a double boiler and keep whisking until it becomes thick. It may take about 10 minutes to get to the right consistency.

3. Remove the curd from heat, and finally add in the cold butter. While the mixture is still hot, pour it on a bowl with a sieve on top to separate the zest and other chunky bits.

4. Transfer the curd in a 8-10oz glass jar and store it in the fridge for 15 minutes or so before serving.

There were three things that I discovered while making this lemon curd:
First, is that this goes well with cream cheese on toast.
Second, I could try experimenting with other fruits like lime, orange, or calamansi.
Third, if I just tweak this recipe a little more, I could sell this good stuff.

Since my supply is running out, I'll be making more next weekend. Let me know what you think of this recipe! I hope you like it!

What I Had For Breakfast

Good morning guys! For breakfast, this is what I had: white cheese with basil leaves and sliced tomatoes on toast.

Here are the ingredients:

- 2 slices wheat bread

- 4-6 fresh basil leaves

- 1 small tomato

- white cheese (goat cheese, or carabao cheese)

Put thin slices of white cheese on top of the wheat bread, top with tomatoes and season it with pepper and dried herbs. Toast for 5-10 minutes in the oven at 200C

I did something wrong here though. I had already placed the basil leaves on the bread before putting it in the oven. Now they look sad and wilted. I should have added the leaves after toasting the bread to keep them fresh and bright green. But anyway, it still tastes good and I like how the tomatoes are warm and gooey.

I love cheese. Especially if they are white. If you are wondering where my family gets white cheese, we buy them in Calauan, Laguna. We do recommend the brand Hacienda Macalauan Inc. They have greek yogurt in different flavours, they have cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, and different kinds of milk. I think they're already available in most supermarkets but my mom gets it in their farm in Calauan.

Enjoy a healthy happy breakfast!

What I Had For Breakfast

Hi guys! How was your morning? Here's what I had for breakfast today:

It's called Tapsilog. It's a Filipino breakfast that is composed of Tapa (dried beef), sinangag (garlic fried rice), and itlog (egg). This meal is high in protein and it really fills you up. By the way, there are many other combinations of -silog meals like longsilog (with longganisa which means sausage), danggit-silog (with dried fried fish), and many more!

What did you have for breakfast? :)

Peanut Butter and NIPS Cupcake

If you haven't read the latest issue of Katha Magazine, then go check it out now! I made a cupcake recipe for the Childhood and Nostalgia issue. If you are Filipino, then I'm sure you know what NIPS are. They're candy colored milk chocolate that's similar to M&M's. They remind me of my childhood because when I was younger NIPS were always included in birthday party loot bags. For this recipe, I used the peanut butter frosting and topped the cupcakes with NIPS.

This recipe, by the way, makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcake Recipe

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup milk

2 cups flour

½ tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

Preheat the oven at 350 F. Line the muffin pans with cupcake liners and set them aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and together with sugar until smooth. Be sure to use an electric mixer to make the batter light and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients, then add milk. Once everything is well blended, use an ice cream scooper to transfer the batter to the cupcake liners.

Bake the cupcakes for 15 minutes or until when a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. I know by this time you’re excited to frost. But cool the cupcakes on a cooling rack first before frosting!

Now while that’s cooling, let’s make the peanut butter frosting!

Peanut Butter Frosting

½ cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

4 heaping spoons of creamy peanut butter

3 tbsp soy milk, or regular milk

First make sure everything is at room temperature. You can use an electric mixer for this but a fork works just as fine. Add the powdered sugar and softened butter in a bowl and mix them together until it’s smooth. Then add the peanut butter one spoon at a time. Gradually add in the milk until the frosting is creamy.

For the topping, just sprinkle 1-2 packs of NIPS on to your frosted cupcakes to make them look happy and colorful!

English Breakfast Tea Cookies

Hey guys! I don't have internet on my computer right now. For some reason the connection in our office is faulty so i'm testing out this Blogger app for iPhone. I'll see later how it turns out.

Anyway, last Christmas we were given a box of Waitrose English Breakfast Tea that has about 50 bags. I do drink tea but usually it's green tea or chamomile. I didn't know what to do with these tea bags so I thought why not use them for baking? So I did and this is the finished product:

I saw this recipe from Add a Little Sunshine. The ingredients are similar to the ones when you makes shortbread cookies.

(This Blogger app doesn't have the link button so I'll just paste the website here: http://addalittlesunshine.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/english-breakfast-tea-cookie/)

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 tbsp black tea leaves

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp water

1/2 cup butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

2. Chuck all the dry ingredients and then the wet ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it forms into a dough.

3. Roll the dough into a log on a sheet of parchment paper. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

4. Slice the log into 1/4-1/3 inch pieces and place them on a cookie sheet about half an inch apart.

5. Bake for 12-15 minutes until cookies are golden brown.

First of all, it tastes buttery because obviously butter is the main ingredient. I couldn't taste the tea while I was eating it, but it had an english breakfast aftertaste.

If you think that these are not sweet enough, you can roll the cookies in a bowl of sugar. It will taste just like those Danish cookies that they put in tin cans.

Okay that's it for now! Let me know what you think!

What I Had For Breakfast - Bali Edition

I'm back everyone! We stayed in Bali for four days (+1 more day because of a cancelled flight). The breakfast food in the hotel was pretty good, but it was western food. I didn't take photos of the hotel food because they weren't so interesting. Anyway, one morning we went straight to the beach and this is what we had for breakfast:

Fresh fruits from the hotel, shrimp krupuk, french bread and water. It was a pretty light breakfast but we enjoyed eating our food by the shore.

For lunch our driver took us to Ibu Oki in Nusa Dua and we had Nasi Ayam (spicy chicken rice). It also has boiled egg, chicken satay, fried peanuts, and sauteed beans with green chili. You can hardly distinguish the chili from the beans.

We asked the lady not to make it spicy. But the "not spicy" for them was still spicy for us! We can tell that the waitresses were laughing at us at the corner because our noses were getting runny and eyes watery. But all in all, local food in Bali was delicious.

I'm going to post more photos of my trip in Bali, so get ready because the next week or two will be filled with travel posts!

What I Had For Breakfast

Good morning! I just had ordinary pancakes today. See? Just pancakes with butter and syrup. I didn't even add fruits and jam and other colorful things! But don't worry because I'll be in Bali this weekend. So next week I might share with you what we will be having for breakfast Balinese style. Aaah!! I'm excited and I haven't packed my clothes!

Anyway, what do you usually put on your pancakes? I once did peanut butter and jam on pancakes and that was sinfully good. Hehe.

Making Churros using Pancake Mix

A couple of weeks ago, I bought this Betty Crocker Pancake Mix. You know those "just add water" boxes? Yep, I bought one. What was I thinking, right? When I made pancakes with it, it was just bleh. I will never make "just add water" pancakes ever again. 

Anyway, I didn't want to throw it away so I thought other ways to use it for, like making churros. Actually, I was craving for churros because I was watching this family's trip to Disneyland that was uploaded on Youtube. And I associate Disneyland with churros. So I craved for churros and made some!

Ingredients:

Dough:

1 cup water

1 cup pancake mix

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp sugar

Cinnamon Sugar:

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Combine water and butter in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once boiled, remove the saucepan from heat and add pancake mix and 1 tsp of sugar. Stir until it forms into a smooth dough.

Pour cooking oil on a frying pan and set the stove to medium-high (around 375 F). With a pastry bag, pipe the dough to about 5-6 inches long and fry until golden brown. Set them on a plate with layers of paper towel to absorb the oil.

Combine 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a bowl. Roll the churros in cinnamon sugar until the whole surface is covered.

Serve and enjoy!

What I had for Breakfast

Good morning everyone! I'm going to cheat because I didn't really had this for breakfast today. I had this last weekend when I slept over at my parent's house in Laguna. Can you guess what it is?

Champorado at pusit! Just incase you do not know what that is, champorado is rice porridge in hot chocolate sauce. You usually cook the sticky rice with tablea or cocoa powder and then mix it with condensed milk. Yum! Now, remember I told you that chocolate goes well with salt? That's how it works with champorado. Normally, you eat this with dilis, or dried small fish. But since we didn't have it at home that day, we substituted it with dried pusit (squid), which tasted just as good.

What did you have for breakafast?

My Baked Potato Chips Experiment

Hi people! Last weekend I saw this delicious Instagram post by Williams Sonoma.

They look so good and it sounds easy, right? Well I tried it at home and this is what happened: 

Burnt apple crisps! They weren't even crispy, they were paper thin and flaky. I placed them in the oven too low that's why they were dark brown in no time. But you know, it doesn't taste as bad as you think... with the help of cinnamon and brown sugar!

Anyway, I ran out of apples so I used potatoes for my second attempt. And this time, I placed them in the oven at the second and third racks. I followed the same instructions, baked at 275F for 1 1/2 hours, and flipped every 30 minutes. But instead of cinnamon, I seasoned the potatoes with salt, pepper and dried herbs.

They were crispy! I used a mandolin to help me slice the potatoes. By the way, I did not peel the potato skin off just because I was too lazy to do it. They tasted fine nonetheless.

Well, they did taste like potato chips and I love that I made them myself. But guess what? Nothing beats the taste of Lay's and Ruffles! Nom nom nom.

What I Had For Breakfast

Good morning guys! How's the start of your day? Once again I took a photo of my food so I can share it with you. I guess I should make this into a regular thing, no? It gives me an excuse to decorate my food. Here's what I had for breakfast:

I had cottage cheese and walnuts on toast, drizzled with pure honey. Yum! I had two servings of this because it was just so good. I got the idea when I saw the Yelp page of Ridgewood Coffee Company, except that they used goat cheese on their version.

You guys should try it some time. Have a great day!

Hi Again!

I just wanted to let you guys know that I am still alive! I've been busy with work, with Katha, with other craft projects for other people that's why I haven't updated my blog. But don't worry, I will post something before Valentines day. :)

And since I don't have any craft projects to show you today, I just took a photo of what I had for breakfast.

Cereal with strawberries and blueberries in soy milk! Yum. And by the way, I am left handed that's why I placed my spoon on the left side. Random fact!

So guys... don't worry! Give me a little more time to prepare craft projects for you. Just stick around because I'll be back soon! :)

Heart Shaped Rice Crispies

If you haven't read the latest issue of Katha Magazine, then check it out here. I wrote about how to make heart shaped rice crispy treats. You can try making them for Valentine's Day!

Makes: 6 hearts (about 4” big)

4 cups marshmallow

6 cups rice puffs cereal

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup chocolate melts

First, you need to place parchment paper on a 12” square pan. Make sure that the sides of the sauce pan is also covered with parchment paper. Set this aside while you start heating the marshmallows.

In a large saucepan, melt butter and marshmallow. Keep stirring until marshmallow is fully melted. Pour in rice puffs cereal and remove the sauce pan from heat. Mix thoroughly, covering all rice puffs with marshmallow. Transfer the rice puffs onto the square pan and even it out using a spatula. I was able to fill up two square pans with this much rice puffs.

Cut your rice puffs with a knife or you can use a heart shaped cookie cutter (mine is about 4 inches big). You don’t have to throw away the excess rice puffs! Just collect the excess, mould them into one big lump and flatten it with your spatula. 

Melt the chocolates with a double boiler. Do not let steam touch the chocolate or else it will seize and you won’t be able to work with it anymore. Use a spoon to scoop the chocolate and drizzle it on the rice puffs in different directions. You can drizzle dark chocolate and white chocolate and you can even sprinkle crushed nuts on your rice puffs. Let the chocolate cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes.

Serve it with love! If it’s more convenient for you, you may cut your rice puffs after drizzling with chocolate. I just prefer that the chocolate drizzles reach the sides of the hearts.

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

I wanted to have a craft project involving chocolate, so it's a good thing we received a ton of those last Christmas. I read somewhere on the internet that you can make your own hot chocolate... on a stick. It's a fun concept that you should try!

You will need:

- Silicone ice cube tray 

- Chocolate (dark chocolate, milk chocolate... whatever you have there)

- Paper straw

- Sprinkles

First, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once it's completely melted, pour the chocolate on to your silicone ice cube tray. Shake the ice cube tray so that the trapped air underneath would rise. Then let it cool for a couple of minutes.

Once it's cooled, place the paper straw on each cube. It doesn't have to be a paper straw, by the way. You can use popsicle sticks, plastic spoons, or any kind of stirrer. 

Next step is to decorate your hot chocolate! I used sprinkles just to add color. You can add small marshmallows, or crushed candy cane for a minty flavor. 

Then wait for it to harden. It takes about one night for it to completely harden. When it's ready, remove the chocolate from the silicone tray. Pour hot milk on a cup then stir the hot chocolate until it's completely melted. 

I hope you guys try it and let me know what you think! :)

At the Lettuce Farm

I will continue my story on what we did during our vacation in Tagaytay. There's a lettuce farm right across the flower farm and we were welcomed inside as Toti knew the owner. All I saw was green. Green everywhere. It smelled fresh and everything looked nutritious!

The farm grows nine types of lettuce. Nine types? I only know Iceberg and Romaine. Anyway, here's a photo of cute baby lettuce leaves. 

I know kale is not widely available in the Philippines. I've been reading about it in the internet but I just couldn't find it at the supermarket, not even at the palengke. But lo and behold! They have fresh kale in this farm. My sister picked a lot. As in a lot. As if we were on a shopping spree.

It's not only lettuce that they grow. They also have herbs like rosemary, and other vegetables like cherry tomatoes. The owner gave us a pot of rosemary, how generous of him! And oh, I really love the smell of fresh rosemary leaves. 

If there's a cat at the flower farm, there's a dog at the lettuce farm. Don't worry, he doesn't bite.

We were so blessed to have been able to bring home fresh herbs and vegetables. It was like a sign that I should eat healthy this 2014! So from that day up until now, the lettuce in our salad is from this farm. It's been what, 10 days? And we're not yet short of supply. Haha. Of course we shared some to our family friends. 

And so that ends our trip to Tagaytay. Yay! I'm looking forward to more adventures this year.

Ilog Maria Honey Bee Farm

Last week my family and I stayed in Tagaytay City to enjoy the cool Christmas weather. And of course I'm happy to share with you some of the photos from our trip. The first one will be about our visit to Ilog Maria.

Ilog Maria is a honey bee farm located at Silang, Cavite. It's a quaint place. Nothing fancy, just a simple bee farm. When you walk around the area, you will see white boxes. These boxes are bee colonies that they take good care of. 

They allow curious people to open this wooden box so you can see what's inside a bee colony. A lot of bees were flying nearby, but don't worry! They are are harmless. As long as you're not wearing strong perfume, and you're not wearing anything floral, then I suppose you're safe. 

If you open the box, this is what you will see. Bees, bees, and more bees!

That's real honeycomb made by the bees! Amazing isn't it? They are made of beeswax, which the farm uses to make soap, lotion and even lip balm since it has moisturizing properties.

Upstairs is a shop where they sell various bee products. They have virgin honey, natural bee pollen, royal jelly, beeswax candles, beeswax and propolis soap, as well as honey cider vinegar.

Propolis is the sap that bees collect from trees. Bees use them to to build their hives. It has notable antibacterial properties which is why Ilog Maria uses it in their soap products.

Check this out: Honey-Beeswax-Propolis Milk Soap. Super moisturizing, made with fresh buffalo milk. This sounds delicious and nutritious! And they make me hungry cos they look like white chocolate.

Their products are locally made and handmade. I've tried their shampoo and the propolis spray, which is used to relieve sore throat, and I absolutely love them. 

If you are on a trip to Tagaytay, you should visit Ilog Maria. It is open from Tuesdays to Sundays, 8am-5pm. Check out the map here.

Peppermint Bark

'Tis the season to make everything with peppermint! I'm so excited to show you how I made the classic Christmas Peppermint Bark. It's easy to make, and it's perfect for giving away after a Christmas party.

You will need:

- 300 g (about 10 oz) dark chocolate

- 300 g (about 10 oz) white chocolate

- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

- 2 candy canes, crushed.

*No peppermint extract available in your area? Use dark chocolate with mint like Valor or Lindt or other brands

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler. Once melted, stir in the peppermint extract. Pour the melted dark chocolate on to the cookie sheet. and spread it until it's about 1/8" thick. Wait for about 20 minutes to harden. 

Melt the white chocolate using a double boiler and keep stirring. Pour it on top of the layer of dark chocolate and spread evenly. Sprinkle the crushed peppermint on top of the white chocolate and wait for it to completely harden.

Once it's done, peel off the parchment paper and break the peppermint bark into smaller pieces. Serve on a fancy Christmas tray and enjoy.

So I had a little accident, I poured the hot white chocolate over the dark chocolate and as I was spreading it with my spatula, the dark chocolate melted a bit. That's why it looks marbled. But nonetheless, they still taste great!