Since I’ve made the dish at least thrice in the past 3 weeks – as the collage below will show – and in all shapes, forms and sizes too – might be high time I at least listed down the recipe here – more for practicality than posterity, really…

WHAT YOU NEED: 3 tbsp butter, 1 medium-sized onion (chopped), 4 cloves garlic (crushed), 1 small can mushroom (diced), 1 kilo chicken breast (pre-cooked, salted and shredded), 1 pc red bell pepper (diced),

FOR WHITE SAUCE: 2 tbsp butter (melted), 3 tbsp flour or cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup cooled chicken broth, 1/2 cup milk (I used Carnation evaporated milk)

HOW TO: Melt butter in pan. Saute garlic and onion, then add mushrooms, chicken and bell pepper.  Cook white sauce separately* then add to cooked sauteed chicken. Add salt to taste.

*Melt the butter in a pan. Dissolve flour in chicken broth and stir in butter until thick. Blend in milk to make a smooth sauce.

Top over grilled French batard, sliced white bread or use as filling for store-bought voulavent cases or puff pastry (admittedly, the last way of doing it is a recent favorite ).

Bon appetit!

What’s great about this recipe is that it only uses six ingredients and is fairly easy to prepare – especially for a novice frittata maker like me!

WHAT YOU NEED: 6 eggs, 1 1/4 cups milk, 100 g packet smoked salmon (cut into thick strips), 1/2 cup bottled fire roasted peppers (drained and chopped), 1 cup frozen peas, 2 cups grated tasty cheese (cheddar may also be used)

HOW TO:

1. Grease a 20cm round cake pan and line base with baking paper. (I opted to do away with the greasing and lined even the sides with baking paper).
2. Whisk eggs and milk in a large bowl until combined. Stir in salmon, peppers, peas and half the cheese. Season with pepper.
3. Pour into prepared dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
4. Bake, uncovered, in a 180C oven for 1 hour, or until set and golden. Let stand in pan for 10 minutes.
5. Turn out of dish. Serve cut into wedges.

Once done, here’s my four-step “guide” on how to best enjoy your “finished product”.

Bon appetit!

VERDICT: Definite crowd-pleaser

Pleased to say that  after racking my brains for something new to prepare for lent and then  snagging a pack of arborio rice from the grocery – “the day” has finally come!

I was equally pleased at how it turned out – though I admittedly had to tweak the original recipe a bit.

Some minor revisions:

1. Reduced mushrooms to 375 grams.
2. Added 1 more cup of water.
3. Replaced romano cheese with parmesan.
4. Used dried parsley instead of fresh.
5. Added dried rosemary.

Verdict: Encore soon!

Knowing that their school specifically requires requests that they bring only healthy packed lunches (translation:  no chips and sugary treats, no eggs nor nuts too (in deference to those kids with food allergies)) has certainly put both my creativity and cooking skills (?) to the test more often than not.

Thank goodness that co-mommy Carrie (aka wonder twin of my fave sis-in-law - on my side of the fam ) suggested that I try this recipe she googled from one of the more popular and kid-friendly foodie sites in this part of the world.

The result?  

Definitely another winner!   Also, since  it brings together the three ingredients our kids love (mashed potatoes, sweet corn and tuna flakes), this dish undoubtedly has my ”mommy-stamp-of-approval”.

And if, like me, you have a little girl whose portion sizes are a bit smaller than our two other growing tweens, making the patties into potato balls – and paired with the usual “fruit component” (in this case, sweet seedless watermelon wedges – yum!) – should still hit the spot.

See?

Hoping to share more lunchbox ideas soon.

Never mind that they neither speak nor understand the language… they still undeniably look the part – and for me, that’s enough reason to celebrate – hahaha!

Those steamed pork buns (siopao) – store-bought until I have the “courage” to make them from scratch - and homemade fried spring rolls (lumpiang Shanghai) surely hit the spot for our three gremlins… no leftovers! Yipee!

And here they are up-close…

Of course, there had to be the fresh fruit component to the meal – thus the clementine and green seedless grapes for their snack (or “mental munchies” as their school refers to them).

Hope to post more lunch box “inspirations” in the coming days.

Stay tuned!

For one, it gives us a good picture of how people in different countries celebrate (if at all) important occasions.  And being “forever-Pinoys-at-heart”, what better way to showcase the celebration of Christmas than with glorious food!

I was especially thrilled with these “finds” as they reflect how Aussie-based Pinoys have adapted to the holiday customs and traditions of the locals in the only nation-continent of the world.

Pavlova is essentially a merengue-based cake which is topped with whipped cream and fruits (usually a variety of berries) in season.  Though it is usually homemade, most just run off to the nearest grocery store to get the “basic cake” and just do the toppings at home.   It is considered a traditional holiday dessert here in roo-land. 

VERDICT: Light, not too sweet… plus the berries provide the much needed anti-oxidant fix to combat those nasty free radicals brought about by consuming all those other “sinfully rich” holiday offerings – hahaha!

This was yet another “foodie-scovery”…

This is also called Christmas pudding in these parts.  I am not admittedly a huge fan but it is indeed amusing to find out that the “fruit cake circle”  (remember the joke about the 12 fruit cakes that just manage to go around every Christmas season? ) has apparently made its presence felt  here too!

Lastly, though not of the edible kind, we were pleased to be able to participate in yet another Aussie Christmas tradition – the wearing of  paper crowns around the meal table while partaking of the holiday food.  These paper crowns come from inside “explodable” Christmas bonbons (pretty much like the party poppers found in Pinas)… Too bad though that I wasn’t able to take proper pictures to illustrate my point since we were all happily “caught in the moment” of letting ‘em bonbons pop to get the crowns (plus mini plastic toys!).

Suffice it to say that our first Christmas Down Under was definitely memorable and that we certainly – especially with those fab desserts and poppin’ bonbons – had a “blast”!

I was pretty excited with the simple spread we came up with since it became a “kitchen comeback” of sorts for me – that is, after nearly five months of being mostly a ”spectator” in terms of food planning, prep and cooking.

Without further ado, allow me to let you in on what we all enjoyed for our first-ever Thanksgiving meal. Frankly speaking, I think I wouldn’t mind doing something like this again next year… time, skill, and resources-permitting, of course.

For starters, I followed the lead of my sister-in-law, Ayn, who served up two kinds of pasta during a recent birthday party for her son two days before – one in red sauce and another in white.

Here’s the red…

 …while this one is the white. 

Having two pasta bases was a brilliant idea, if I may say so, since I found that more grown-ups preferred the red pasta while the kids gravitated towards the white.  In other words: everybody happy!

This, on the other hand, was the “main event” (in lieu of the usual turkey – which I admittedly still need A LOT of  practice in preparing and baking!). 

Of course, the chicken wouldn’t be complete without these yummy sides…

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take any  “decent” pictures of the desserts - Sans Rival and Mango Bravo cakes – since we were probably all too stuffed already to think straight (think blood flowing more to our stomachs to aid digestion vs going to our brains – hahaha!).

Inspite of our “dessert photo waterloo”, I would say that the evening was still a “success”.  After all, a good meal coupled with the love and laughter of family are always blessings we should remain ever-thankful for.

Bon appetit, everyone, be grateful and stay blessed!  

As mentioned in my previous entry, thanks to my sister’s good friend (our fave French monsieur also known as “Louis Pierre”), we got over our initial biases and were pleasantly acquainted with traditional French cuisine.

Although admittedly a bit pricier than the usual “plate of the day”  in Spain or in Portugal, our gastronomic adventure led us to a quaint and cozy restaurant in the heart of Paris – Truffes Folies - where, you guessed it – the specialty is the so-called “diamond of the kitchen” – the fab fungus that is the truffle.

Sure, I’ve heard of truffles before - why, I’ve even tasted its chocolatey version!  Little did I realize though how chocolate truffles were in a totally different league till I tasted the delicate flavor of the “real thing” – that I too would inevitably fall prey to the charms of this “fungal fruit”- especially after sampling these savory truffle-ized culinary creations…

Too bad I never got around asking the chef what the creamy, sorbet-like scoop was… It was delicious nonetheless!

How’s this for upping the status of the lowly omelette?

My order. Y-U-M-M-Y.

Hubby’s order. Y-U-M-M-I-E-R!

And for those of us (i.e., my brother) who weren’t huge truffle fans that adventurous with their food, there’s always this…

Still tasty and delish!

Of course, if, for some weird reason, you feel that flavor was still wanting, you can always have dashes of these…

or this  – to ultimately “level up” the “delish factor” of your dish!

Needless to say, our traditional French lunch that day will set the bar ”way up” for our future foodie adventures.

And if only for this, I can definitely say, “Vive la France!”

Admittedly, we were at first reluctant to try this particular cuisine as visions of small portions, exhorbitant prices and snooty maitre d’s came to mind everytime  (*shudder*) …

Thank goodness we were proven wrong!

And to shake things up a bit – I will not start my post with appetizers nor mains (expect those in later posts ) but, you guessed it – with dessert!

So please, sit back, relax and let me tell you a story…

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away (Versailles, in France, to be exact), there was a family who visited a grand museum which was a royal palace once before.  Among the many paintings, sculptures, and fancy things one would expect from a palace were there, of course, but they were certainly intrigued to see this…

“Secrets?”, they wondered, as these tempting delights flashed before their eyes…  “What could they be?”  And, needless to say, curiosity got the better of them and they explored some more… they wanted to unlock whatever this “secret” was… and these seemed to hold the elusive key!

“Hmmm… too fancy!”

“Too plain…”

“Perfect match!” They all agreed. Just right.

And so, excited at having unlocked a sweet secret, they hurriedly grabbed this…

They opened the bag excitedly and found exactly what they were looking for…

Secrets that were just too sweet not to share…

For who could certainly resist treats as delectable as these?   They all decided it would be best for everyone to be in on these “precious secrets”.

 The secret is out – sinfully sweet and calorie-laden  almond meringue discs filled with a layer of buttercream, jam, or ganache filling – premium double-decker macarons from Laduree!

That night, they all slept happily ever after – with that unmistakeable silly macaron-triggered smile painted on their faces. They had been to macaron-heaven and back – the secret has been unlocked and they want the whole world to know.

The End.

 

After burning all those calories, we do seem to have the uncanny ability to gain them all back pretty quickly – especially since anything which closely resembles exercise  manages to work up our monster appetites!

Let’s just say that until we get over these “post-workout cravings”, we definitely remain works-in-progress…

Guess we really do have to keep a safe distance from our favorite neighborhood “(ku)mare” if we are to be successful in our goal of shedding off some pounds … Via Mare, why is it just so hard to stay away?