LaPiS: Kitchen Gadgets

Unlike back home where a craving for grilled food is easily satisfied with a quick request to yaya (term of endearment for our much-missed household help) to make some inihaw (grilled food in Tagalog) or via a quick stop at the nearby restaurant or street corner, being a long plane ride away does make satisfying this craving not as easy as it used to be.

Good thing we managed to bring this with us when we started our “desert adventures”…

Though we still miss the smoky, charcoal-grilled flavor of food from a good, old-fashioned outdoor charcoal grill, having an indoor grill like this is certainly the next best thing given our circumstances

This baby’s almost done…

And yes, the shish taouk (Middle-East-style grilled chicken on skewers) on grilled vegetables turned out delish nonetheless!

It doesn’t get any easier than this… just grill some store-bought pre-marinated chicken skewers (yes, folks, this ain’t home-made!) and mixed veggies (this much, I did – hahaha!) and you’re ready for a real grilled treat! For the veggies, I just cubed some red peppers, cucumbers, white onions and tomatoes, drizzled these with some olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and set them on the grill – they do make a perfect complement to the chicken.

To see the other cool kitchen gadgets of our players this week, click on the Lasang Pinoy Sundays (LaPiS) icon on my sidebar.

Peach and Crabstick Salad

Though crisp and cool salads seem better suited to the warm, summer months, I decided to whip one up a few dinners ago nonetheless.

Foraging through my vegetable bin and crisper, I found a small head of Romaine lettuce, two cucumbers, 1/4 of a medium white onion bulb, a few pieces of crabstick and some leftover canned peaches in syrup.

What to do? Chop them all up, place in bowl, season with salt and pepper, toss and drizzle with your favorite dressing (ours is the “nearly-depleted” creamy Japanese sesame one – yum!).  A final tip: I found that adding a few teaspoonfuls of the peach syrup pushed the flavor a few notches up the “delish scale”.

 This is best served with anything grilled or fried and makes for a perfect starter together with warm, creamy soup.

Bon appetit! 

LaPiS: Holiday Goodies

I’d like to think that I share the sentiments of most people who equate anything “cinnamon-y” with the holidays.

Having said this, and perhaps a wee bit “encouraged” from my last dessert-making kitchen adventure, I again attempted to make yet another holiday sweet treat – apple pie!

This time, though, my apple pie had “mixed reviews”.  Though the pie filling turned out yummy, the homemade crust (again!) left so much to be desired (*sigh*).  However, when served this way, my “disastrous” pie crust thankfully was all but forgotten – yey!

Apple pie a la mode heaven! Amazing what a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon can do!

Now, if only someone could only give me better suggestions on easy yet yummy pie crust recipes, I’d be forever grateful (*hint,hint*)…

LaPiS: Saucy

In our home, this saucy dish is a perfect complement to anything fried or grilled.

Presenting – my version of Ginataang Kalabasa at Sitaw (Squash and Green Beans in Coconut Milk).

Since the usual kalabasa (native green pumpkin) and sitaw (string beans) which are so plentiful in Manila are quite hard to find here, I had to substitute them with butternut squash and canned green beans.  I was quite happy with the result nonetheless since the natural sweetness of the squash tasted so well with the creaminess of the coconut milk.

Here’s a quick “how to”: Saute the cubed squash in garlic and onions.  Add enough water to cover the squash until it becomes tender and quite mushy.  Add 1 cup coconut milk, canned green beans, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.  Simmer until mixture bubbles.  Serve and enjoy.

No-Bake Cheesecake

I admittedly have been putting off making this for the longest time as I have yet to “build my confidence” in making desserts.

However, since the kids have already started their winter break from school and I wanted to prepare a treat for them to enjoy while on vacation, I decided to just go for it!

Here’s the result of my first attempt:

Notice the “dents” on the cream on the right side? Apparently, first-born son discovered my “little secret” in the chiller and was tempted to give it a teeny-weeny taste (good sign…I think) .

Here, have a slice…

All in all, it was a good first try – though I still think I could tweak the crust recipe a bit since it was “crumblier” than I wanted.

I got the cheesecake recipe from my mom – who got it from her friend – who got it (as I discovered by chance while doing the recipe) from (surprise, surprise!) the Knox unflavored gelatin box – hahaha!

Graham Crust: Crumb 15 pieces honey graham crackers to make 1 cup of graham crumbs.  Mix crumbs with 2 tablespoons of white sugar and 1/3 cup of melted butter (I personally think it should be a bit more to “compress” the pie crust more).  Press mixture into 9″ pie plate. Chill for 10 minutes before pouring in cheesecake mixture.

Cheesecake Recipe: Mix one envelope Knox unflavored gelatin with 1/2 cup of white sugar in a bowl.  Add 1 cup boiling water until well dissolved.  Blend in one box (200g) Philadelpia cream cheese (I used the “light” variety).  Pour into prepared graham crust.  Chill until cheesecake has “jell-o” consistency.  Top with cream and fruit of choice as desired.

Serve and enjoy!

 

Chicken with Baked Beans

Thanks to Peter’s Pan for this quick and easy recipe.

This is actually the second time I’ve done this – but I totally forgot to take a picture of my first attempt before it completely got wiped out!   Some substitutions – instead of chicken wings, I used thighs and instead of pork and beans, I used baked beans.

Though it admittedly does not look too appetizing, it tastes really good! Hubby and the kids can attest to this – promise!

This is best eaten as topping to steamed white rice or mopped off with warm bread.