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Gardening Journal: May 31st, 2011

Harvest time.  Well a mini harvest anyway.  We pulled up Turnips which I suppose I will hide in some mashed potatoes.  We also ended up pulling up a few onions too.  I figured the onions are still a bit small so I can leave them there a bit longer.  They look beautiful though and I'm so excited.  Last year we must have done something wrong and most of our onions rotted in the ground.

We also weeded a bit and sprayed BT since the cabbages were just starting to get infested with those dang little worms.  Hate-em.

This Week's Harvest

The Hubs says if the onions float, they are good.

Wow, thats allot of turnips.  
See the big versus small turnips?  
Thats a spacing experiment.  Space needed really does matter.

Romain Lettuce
Washed and set out a bit to dry.

Cone Head Cabbage?  From Mars? 
Tee Tee. :-D
This is what happens when you crowd the cabbage plants
They need that sunlight, so the keep growing up ward to find it.

And probably my most interesting bit of this weeks harvest.
This onion is trying to re-establish itself by sending out a new stalk.  
How cool is that?
I think I need to quickly chop and freeze them to preserve those growth enzymes.


I will be sharing my post with all the other pictures and garden's at the following links:


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Make your own boxed Hamburger Helper mix ahead of time and have Gluten Free Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni ready when you need it....


Here I am again re-making the Copycat Hamburger Helper recipe I posted previously.  I am always trying to perfect the recipes I'm working on.  One of these days I will share how I work up a recipe idea.  If you went to Culinary Arts school they would tell you how to develop recipes.  I did not go to Culinary Arts school so I have my own crazy way of doing it.  

This version of home made Hamburger Helper is shelf stable and a replacement for the boxed mixes you purchase at the store.  My kids SWEAR that this version tastes better.  In fact they have asked me to make this every week so that means it rates right up there with Pizza and Hamburgers.  


1 pound Ground Beef (preferably pre cooked in your OAM cooking day)
1 cup Sharp Cheddar
3 cups Water
1/2 cup Milk

Spice Packet:
1 teaspoon Brown Rice Flour
1 T Corn Starch
2 Tablespoons Bouillon Powder (check the GF Status on this product)
1 T Chopped Onion (dried)
1 T Parsley
1 t Onion Powder
1/2 t Garlic Powder
1/2 t Paprika
1/2 t Sugar
1/4 t thyme

1 1/2 cups Elbow Pasta (I use Tinkyada)

The lineup

Add Spice Packet Blend to Snack Sized Ziploc

Add small ziploc along with pasta inside a bigger ziploc.

Stack and Store

  • Brown Ground Beef (Or take out a pre cooked batch from your freezer like I do)
  • Add Water, Milk, Pasta and Spice Packet into pan.
  • Turn heat on Medium Low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes (stirring occasionally) or until pasta is tender.
  • Add Cheese and mix well until melted.
  • Relax and Enjoy.
That was easy right.  Add, mix and enjoy.  Nothing to it and its home made.

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May Round Up / June Plans

May passed by so fast... I still haven't fully savored the flavors of summer, and now it's Rainy Season already! Tsk tsk tsk. Anyway, May has been a sweet month for me, and I hope yours is sweet, too.

cupcakes

May brought changes here on my blog... I changed my blog's wall paper using the October Afternoon "Front Porch Fly a Kite" paper because it's no longer summer. I don't know how long the wallpaper will be up, I might change it to something different next month, but for now, I will stick to this one.

Also, instead of using the Blogger page tabs, I decided to pattern the tabs from the ones I used on my travel blog, "Where My Feet Took Me". For the tabs on this blog, I used the copy of a strawberry label sticker by Jillibean Soup, and just added the words using the Pea Lauren font. Aside from the tabs, I also decided to create little icons and chose to use the KI Memories puff cupcakes and just added the logo of Facebook, Twitter, an Envelope and RSS. Quite a tedious thing to do, but I surely had fun doing it.

As for food trips, I didn't do much this month, but I am thankful I got to eat out of town - specifically in San Pedro, Laguna as well as Tayabas and Lucban in Quezon Province. Cooking, zero new recipes tried this month. Awww. :)

Tomato and Bell Pepper

My garden is showing progress... however, I am now left with two tomatoes and two bell peppers. Yesterday, I saw one of my tomato plants cut off... I didn't know who did it, but I did feel so bad about it. Good thing I still have about 9 little tomato plants in little pots, as well as 5 bell peppers growing. All is still not fully wasted.

Kaffir Lime

As for my Kaffir Lime, I re-planted it again, because I noticed that it's drowning in rain water. I learned that this plant didn't like too much water, so I unearth it and placed it on a much higher part of the garden. I was afraid maybe the change might not do good on the plant, so I was really thankful seeing new leaves - which means it is growing. :)

June plans... well, I don't know where the family or friends will go out and eat this month, so that part I will just leave up to fate, although I will be attending a bloggers' event on 25 June, and hope to attend another one on 23 June (hope they will consider me). One big plan I have for this month is the cooking. I really have to find my place in the kitchen, and for this month, I plan to cook recipes from the May 2011 issue of Yummy Magazine. Recipes I hope to cook include:
  • Chicken and Soda Casserole
  • Cajun Chicken with Mexican Bean Salsa
  • Chicken and Ham Rolls
  • Paksiw na Pata a la Margarita Uy de Baron

I also plan to cook "Pork and Beans," but it is going to be our lunch today (will cook right after publishing this), so I am not including it anymore. The recipe for this dish will be shared on Friday.

I am very happy with the way things are going on this blog. I am patting myself for the passion I have and of course, I am thankful to the people around me that provides inspiration and fuel to grow. Cheers!

*** Jenn ***

ps - Oh, joined the Bloggers Exchange for the months of June and July... I already added a page tab for it. :)

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Menu Plan Monday: Week of May 30th, 2011


Welcome, welcome, welcome.  It is so hard to believe that my kids are home for the Summer now. I suppose lunches need to be thought of more often.  I know, I know I pack lunch every day. It should be easy, right?  While at school my kids could not complain.  It's my son, he is so incredibly picky.  Sigh, it's my least favorite part of summer.  I plan to have physical activity time as well as Home Schooling planned into our summer.  The homeschooling will only be an hour a day, just enough to allow them to keep what they learned and maybe progress a bit into the next level so they are prepared.    S

Updates from the following week?  Recall I was going to try my hand at a Philly style Cheesesteak Sandwich?  The Steak Umm's dinner on Friday was a disaster.  LOL.  I took it upon myself to try out a new "bread" recipe and it was a total flop.  I should just stick with what I know and love, my own copycat recipe of Udi's.  Sometimes I can't help myself and just have to tinker with things.  Wednesday's Fried Chicken experiment on the other had was a RAGING success and is in the line up to share with you all.  We loved it so much.  We had almost forgotten how much we loved KFC back in the day.  Saturday was nice enough to Grill so my brother came over with some Country Style Ribs for the grill and we served it with Baked Beans and Greek Salad.  Sunday's meatloaf never happened.  We ended up have odds and ends.


Monday (Memorial Day):
Lunch: Grilled Hotdogs
Dinner: Grilled London Broil, Potato Salad, Macaroni salad, Cherry Pie

Tuesday:
Lunch: Pizza
Dinner: Sweedish Meatballs over Pasta.

Wednesday:
Lunch: Nachos
Dinner: Spaghetti with Bolognese Meat sauce and Fresh Baked Bread.

Thursday:
Lunch: Sandwiches
Dinner: Meatloaf, Quick Brown Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Friday:
Lunch: Chicken Nuggets
Pizza's and Salad. (Dinner and a Movie Night)

Saturday:
Cheese Enchiladas, Rice and Beans

Sunday:
Leftovers

Looking for Menu Plan Ideas, head on over to Org. Junkie's Menu Plan Monday for lots of great ideas.
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BC Bloggers | Childhood Food

Week 3 of BC Bloggers now. This week's question:

"What food takes you back to your childhood?"

There are so many foods that instantly takes me back to childhood, among those include: Texas Bubblegum, Vicks Candy, Storck candies in Pineapple and Orange flavors, Jolly Sandwich Cookies, Coco Jam, Magnolia Chocolait and Milk in bottles, junk foods of all sorts... but my favorite would have to be this:

14/365 c2 - Jellyum

The jelly in cups! The time I started schooling, my brother was staying in La Union because parents can't take care of us both (we were born 1 year and 4 months apart and the family was just starting, parents can't afford to hire a nanny, let alone lose their jobs). Since no one watches over me, they decided to enroll me at a school near their workplace so mom can pick me up at school and let me stay in the office. Their manager has her own office, so I can stay in my mom's desk, but most of the times she would hid me in the records room just in case the manager comes in or someone might complain.

My dad works in the same branch, but I couldn't stay in his office because he was in the Salary Loans department and he was always busy and stressed. Once in a while, he would come pick me up in mom's department and treat me to snacks (always my favorite part of the day) - goto, barbecue... and always, before he sends me back to mom, we would go to the nearby supermarket and he would buy me these jelly snacks in cups so I won't get bored staying inside the records room. Sometimes, he would buy me those in bigger cups (with spoon), and even if my dad specifically said I'd eat it when I am alone in the records room, I'd always save it and take it home because it's much nicer sharing the jelly cups with playmates.

BC Bloggers last week:


*** Jenn ***



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Weekend Eating | Chicken and Siomai

Chicken and Siomai

Saturday was a busy day for mom because she attended the confirmation rites of our neighbor's fiance as they are getting married on Tuesday. The event was scheduled around 7am, but because the church had other programs, the priest was only able to start around 10am. They treated mom for some snacks (which became mom's early lunch). She took home some siomai from Chowking, and since it was already 11am, mom just said we just add it to our lunch since she is going out (again) to go look for clothes for the wedding. Sister came with her.

As usual, weekends are lazy cooking days. While I think the siomai is okay enough for me, brother went to cook fried chicken - 1 leg quarter for each of us. He still has a pack of the McCormick buffalo wings mix, so he just coated the chicken with the breading, and served the sauce on the side, so we can still put any condiments we wanted.

It was another binge for me... and I am starting to feel guilty.

So... what did you have last weekend? If you're new to the Weekend Eating meme, you can read the rules and get the badge codes HERE.



*** Jenn ***

ps - I processed the picture and ran the lomo script with vignette. I was able to download this script pack and I am trying to play with it. :)



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Pasalubong From Quezon Province, p1

It's been two weeks since we last went to Quezon, but it's just now that I am able to share some of the food products sister and I took home. For this trip, my sister and I only had p2000 budget (each), so we decided to split the foods to buy. She chose the ones she liked, then I will choose mine, just so we won't be buying the same things. We ended up buying quite a lot, so I will divide the pictures, and for this week, I will share foods of the bread / cookie / biscuit kind.

Pinagong

Pinagong. I don't know why it was called pinagong, but on our way to Quezon, a vendor entered the bus and I liked its smell. It smelled like it was grilled, but Ria said it wasn't. Anyway, this I bought on the bus on our way back to Manila, so I was able to buy very fresh ones. Quite pricey at p5 each (it's sold in packs for p20 each, and it has 4 pieces per pack). Taste wise, it's like monay, but what made this one much better than monay is that it seemed to not have any yeast... it was so firm and yes... perfect to dip on hot coffee! :)

Shing-a-Ling

Shing-a-Ling. The buco pie might be the most popular pasalubong from South Luzon, but one food I always crave whenever I travel south is this. At first I thought this one's made from flour, but I later found out that it was actually made from dried then deep fried pancit miki. Before, I can just eat it as is... but through my sister, I found out this taste better when dipped in spiced vinegar. Why is it called Shing-a-Ling? I don't know, really.

Camachile

Camachile. Crunchy cookies shaped like camachile fruit, but I think it shaped more like human fingers. :) Since it looked a bit toasted, it has its nutty flavor, almost kinda like ginger snaps minus the ginger flavor.

Turones (Cookies and Cream)

Torones (Cookies and Cream). Torones is basically like that of barquiron. At the store, there were different flavors, and sister chose the cookies and cream. It was good, though I was a bit disappointed that the barquillos didn't have any filling in the middle part.

Uraro Cookies

Uraro Cookies. The uraro cookies I have grown to love looked like polvoron. At first I was a bit hesitant in getting this, but since it's the only kind of uraro in the store, I decided to get it. Well, tasting it, it still taste the same, but I guess some manufacturers decided to change its look. Each pack has about 6 florets and 2 leaves, and is p10 per pack.

144. Apas

Apas. Very thin oblong-shaped cookies with sugar... this one is my brother's favorite food from Quezon, so when sister got to see a store selling one big pack for only p35, she decided to get two packs. This one tasted like camachile with added sugar. :)

There are actually so many bread products from Quezon, but aside from the fact that we are on a tight budget, we also took into consideration how we are going to consume the products, so we didn't buy that much.

Next week, will share the rest of the goodies in our pasalubong bayong. :)

*** Jenn ***



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