Menu Plan Monday: Week of August 27th, 2012

Both my husband and I actually plateaued at the moment but I don't want you to read this and think we are doing everything by the book and still do not loose.  As the weeks go on and you are more comfortable with how things work you allow yourself cheats like extra fruit, 90% dark chocolate and all those better-than-the-regular-stuff Paleo Baked Goods!!! ;-).

Kids are full swing back to school and having a blast.  My Son who is a bit on the chunk side actually lost a pants size in clothes due us keeping him on paleo like us.  He actually prefers our Paleo Pizza crust over the old (and still very incredibly good) Gluten Free version I have posted here.  That helps me pack him pizza for lunch.  Cold pizza since his school does not have a microwave for the kids.  Son also takes Almond Butter and sugar free jam on Paleo bread pretty often.  This he cold eat every day actually.  I have plans for chicken nuggets breaded in pork rinds, Applegate lunch meats.

Monday:

Grilled Strip Steak, Sauteed Mushrooms, Broccoli

Tuesday:

Grilled Country Style Ribs, home made Cole Slaw, Green Beans

Wednesday:

Roasted Chicken Legs, Cauliflower Rice, Spinach

Thursday:

Mrs. Dash seasoned Fried Pork Chops, Mashed Cauliflower, Broccoli

Friday:

Grilled Sirloin Steak, Sauteed Mushrooms, Broccoli

Saturday:

Green Leaf Lettuce Taco Dinner

Sunday:

Pork Roast, Sauerkraut, Mashed Cauliflower, Green Beans

Looking for inspiration? I can help in three different ways.

1. Head on over to Orgjunkie.com and visit Laura's Menu Plan Monday.
2. Visit Heather at Celiac Family, the Gluten Free Menu Swap headquarters!
3. You can also view my past menu plans here 

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Chinese Dinner at King Bee

King Bee Chinese Food
Lot 24 Blk 11 Commonwealth Avenue
Brgy. Holy Spirit, Quezon City
+63 (02)376-9402 / +63 (02)990-4688

*** picture heavy post ***

King Bee Chinese Food is a family owned corporation, which started as a restaurant inside a mall in Cavite. It gained following and recognition, that in 2001, they decided to have a stand alone restaurant in General Trias. From then, it has branched out - in Rosario (Cavite), Antipolo (Rizal), Sta. Rosa (Laguna), then to Metro Manila - E. Rodriguez, Las Pinas, and the newest branch where blogger friends and I had dinner last Friday - Commonwealth Avenue.

I wasn't at all familiar with King Bee Chinese Food, but for someone who often passes by Commonwealth Avenue, seeing a big restaurant this side of the Metro made me want to eat there the moment my siblings and I saw it was already open.

The Commonwealth branch is their biggest, which can house about 400 diners. I wasn't able to take a picture of the facade, but let me give you a short tour before I proceed with the food.


Dining Area (First Floor). It was already late when I took this picture so the tables weren't "dressed," but it was spacious and tables are definitely good for families and big groups.


Also in the first floor is where diners can see aquariums filled with live seafood, which are used to cook orders. Hmmm, fresh seafood!


Dining Area (Second Floor). This area looks more traditional with the round tables and Lazy Susan.


On this floor are two venue rooms, which can be used for meetings and family celebrations. The room includes audio-visual appliances, and diners can actually do Videoke if they want to. Of course, there is a fee to pay if you want to use any of the venue rooms, but that fee is consumable, so it was also like have the room use for free.


I arrived quite earlier than my companions, so us early birds were given this plate of Kropeck to munch on. I am just not sure if every table is given this as a complimentary munchies, but reading up on blogs, I learned that the restaurant serves complimentary hot tea.

We had a Lauriat-style dinner that time, and we had:


Wintermelon Soup. Before it became a hit milk tea flavor, Wintermelon already made its name as a popular dried fruit candy or as an ingredient for Hopia Baboy. The whole presentation of this soup was pretty stunning - serving the dish in a deep wintermelon fruit, which was actually cooked - not fresh. Around the wintermelon bowl were shrimps and finely shredded chicken meat, but inside the bowl were more shrimps, mushrooms, pork, and bits of bacon. The wintermelon fusion was interesting and I did like this soup to start off the dinner.



Dimsum Platter. Consisting of Pork Siomai, Chicken Feet, and Bird's Eye Siomai... It was such a great Chinese appetizer! I wasn't able to taste the Pork Siomai as there were only four pieces (we were 8 in the table), but a friend said it was really good. Well, just with how it looked, it was bigger than the typical Pork Siomai I have seen, so I am quite certain it would be good. The Chicken Feet was something very unique; I do eat chicken feet - as a roadside barbecue and/or as a viand at home, but at home we always cook it Adobo style. This one we were served had black beans (taosi) and a special Chinese glaze, which was super flavorful. The meat on the feet was very tender, but what I liked most was that even if it was super tender, the chicken feet looked complete and it hasn't disintegrated. The Bird's Eye Siomai got its name based on how it looks like - a bird's eye. Inside of it were small pieces of shrimps, which was good in itself, but tasted much, much better with the chili toyo-mansi dip. Now I want to taste King Bee's Hakaw just to check if there would be any difference aside from the aesthetics.


Yang Chow Fried Rice. Typically in Lauriat-style dining, rice doesn't really play a key role, but since Filipinos love rice, we were also served rice. This is my favorite kind of fried rice because it's packed with goodness yet it goes well with any viand. Just with this picture, it would seem there were two pieces of shrimps, but actually, this one's a goldmine - it had a lot more shrimps and other meat inside the bowl.


Sauteed Crystal Prawn Balls with Cashew Nuts in Taro Nest. My favorite dish of the night. The prawns were cooked perfect, the carrots, jicamas, and bell peppers were crunchy! The jicamas were also sweet (means this one's very fresh) and it had this very thin sauce coating the ingredients, which made it super delicious. The cashew nuts added more dimension and texture... and the taro nest wasn't just unique, it was great tasting, too.


Sliced Beef with Broccoli Flowers. Always a hit with the Filipino diners, I loved that the beef slices were big, the sauce was just right, and the broccoli flowers were super crunchy.


House Specialty Roast Chicken. At first I thought this was fried chicken, but it was actually roasted. The skin was crispy and the meat was flavorful enough to be eaten as is... but there was a dip served alongside.


King Fish in Thai Sauce. Seeing the cherries and unripe plus nearly ripe mangoes made me doubt how this dish will taste, but it all worked pretty good. It was a little too sweet for my taste, but it was something that I kept coming back for more. If I would say something negative, it would have to be way too much sauce in the dish that the fish was sort of drowning already.


Two Kinds of Pastries. I didn't get the actual names of these pastries, but the one on the left was savory - which looked like an empanada, but it tasted a bit like croquettes - the dough was made with potatoes with minced sausages inside. The one on the right was the sweet one - which is sorta like a buchi, with fresh ripe mangoes and cream inside. Both was okay, but the sweet one I liked more.


Mixed Fruits Platter.  What a grand presentation! Well, we all know how each of the fruits taste like, so no need to elaborate.

King Bee Chinese Food has a very extensive menu, but what I like about it was that they do have something for anyone - whether you're alone or with a companion, there's definitely something that would satisfy your Chinese food craving. It was also pleasing to know that King Bee Chinese Food have chefs from Hong Kong and China, to ensure food coming out of the kitchen are up to Chinese standards.

This branch in Commonwealth sure is big, but they always recommend for diners to phone in reservations, especially during weekends because as big and as spacious it is, this one gets full always. If you wish to know newest updates about the restaurant, please like their Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/King-Bee-Chinese-Food/117869731582292?ref=ts.

Would I go back and dine there again? Definitely! Next time, I'd bring my family and maybe do a Dimsum battle with my mom - who is such a fan of it. :)

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Random Food Shots from Iloilo

Whenever I travel, I always take a camera with me to take random pictures that capture my interest, and as much as possible, I hope to try to capture images unique to the place. While uploading pictures on my Facebook page, I noticed there were some food images, which I want to share to you now.


Bread from Manolette Bakery. When K and I went to visit Miag-Ao Church, we weren't really that sure how far it was from La Paz. Through the help of an online friend whom I kept texting to ask which jeepneys to take (K wanted to experience jeepney rides more), we were able to reach our destination without spending too much (I learned from other pals and photography buddies that taking cabs would be expensive). It was already lunch time when we got there, and since we just planned to church hop 'til we got back in La Paz, K and I figured it would be best to eat lunch at Miag-Ao. Fronting the church is Manolette Bakery, and seeing a table with two chairs just outside the bakery, we knew this where we would eat lunch.

K chose these pieces of bread, which we shared half-half. I didn't ask the names of the bread, but my favorite was the rolled one. It was like a cross between bread and cake.

- * - * - * -

Third day in Iloilo was the time I had too much sweets late in the afternoon. Around 7pm, K and I went out - hoping to find a nearby place to eat at, but we couldn't find any. What we saw, though, are some street food, which I took time to take pictures of:


Oysters. A photography buddy messaged me to try oysters in Oton, but I don't really eat oysters, so I didn't bother much. Seems oysters are quite big here in Iloilo, and are sold fresh and/or cooked.


Beef Skin. At first I thought they were Atsara (pickled young papaya), but asking the vendor, I found out it was Beef Skin - cooked, sliced, and seasoned with soy sauce and vinegar. The vendor told me this is often eaten as pulutan, but some people do eat it as ulam as well. It can also be eaten as is.


Nearby, there was a BBQ stall - selling different kinds of barbecue: pork meat, intestines, chicken meat, chicken blood, and milkfish, too.


Peanuts and Eggs. Not necessarily for dinner, but a good choice for snacks while watching TV. :)

- * - * - * -


Paksiw na Bangus (head part). For the first two breakfasts we had, I chose to eat La Paz Batchoy. Since there were only two Batchoy places that we knew of (Ted's and Deco's), my third breakfast day was at Madge Cafe, which also serves rice meals. Among the available viands, this one caught my fancy because of its belly, and quickly ordered it. I am not sure how they cook Paksiw here (the owner of the place didn't want to share secrets), but this was the best Paksiw na Bangus I tasted. It was super tasty - the sauce was a little thick, and it had the great balance in the seasoning. I don't know what made it that good - was it the tomatoes? :) Anyway, one interesting thing to know about their Paksiw na Bangus - the head part is more expensive than the tail part. No complaints, I love the head part!

- * - * - * -

This post concludes the Iloilo food journey; afternoon of Day 4, K and I flew back to Manila. We both loved the place, and while waiting for our flight back to Manila we knew we would just have to travel back there next time.


    

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Paleo Custard Ice Cream Base

Shall I call this Paleo?  Technically it is NOT paleo with sweetener in it.  I add sweetener for my children because......well.....lets just say that I am again imposing my ideas of childhood on them!!!  What is a childhood without sweets?  So I like to add 2 to 3 tablespoons of some kind of sweetener to any of my desserts just for my kids!  I have grown so far from tasting and enjoying sweet foods that I find the taste of sugar overpowering beyond 3 tablespoons.

First, a little history.  My daughter has radical reactions to wheat,  not only Celiac but hives like a full blown allergy. Don't even let her breath next to wheat or she will get red circles under her eyes and gut issues exactly an hour later. For the most part this does not affect ice cream.  My son, however, is the silent sufferer. He has the just-mild-enough-to-not-have-radical-reactions sort of intolerances and allergies.  He suffers with a mild gut pain that builds over time and can suffer for 2 days to a week once the issue has reached its height.  But, immediately after taking in a toxin-to-him, he is fine. His issues are intolerances to Wheat and Casein but RAST tested mildly allergic to beef, corn and shellfish as a baby.  Keeping him away from beef and shellfish were easy.  The corn, however, was not so easy.  I am afraid I did not know enough about corn and its use as a sweetener back then.  He has outgrown the beef and shellfish allergy but now his allergy to corn is worse than ever.  He would literally rather starve then to eat a corn related product and suffer.

So ice cream...... lots of it is sweetened with corn syrup!  Not to mention that its main ingredient is dairy,  LOL.  So I have been tinkering with various substitutes lately.  I want something that suits our Paleo lifestyle while addressing our various other issues.  So first I start with these recipes:

3 Vegan Almond Milk recipes using Banana from Bay Area Bites

While I adored the banana ice cream the kids were offput by the underlying banana taste.  See....I close my eyes and think of the chocolate covered bananas I enjoyed as a kid.  Maybe my kids would enjoy these recipes better once I mastered a more exact replacement for the ice creams they liked from the store.

Coconut Milk Ice Cream recipe using strictly coconut milk

I thought the high fat content of the pure coconut milk was odd.  The ice cream sort of coated the tongue sort of like a heavy cream ice cream would.  So I mixed them.  The end result I really enjoyed the texture of.  I am re-introducing the egg as a thickener because while we have to eliminate a lot of items in our house, eggs were NOT one of them.  THIS is the recipe that works for us.  Best yet, its a base.  Use it to create your own master piece!!!

1 1/2 cups Almond Milk (unflavored or home made)
1 cup of Coconut Milk (equal parts cream/milk)
3 Tablespoons of Raw Honey (or Agave which is not paleo)
3 egg Yolks

• Heat over medium low in a saucepan both milk products and honey until coconut cream and honey are both dissolved and fully incorporated. Mixture is hot but not boiling.
• Place egg yolks in a bowl and whisk.  
• While whisking, slowly add a ladle full of hot milk into egg and continue to whisk.
• Slowly add egg mixture into hot milk mixture in sauce pan, whisking constantly.
• Mixture will slightly thicken and coat the back of your spoon (about 5 minutes).  Using a candy thermometer make sure your custard reaches 160 degrees!!!
• Turn heat off and allow to cool.  A sink with cold water half way up sauce pan will quicken the process if need be.  Just make sure to stir.  
• Place covered in fridge until ready to use.  If you have a fine mesh strainer, pour mixture through it and into ice cream makers bowl.
• Operate machine according to your manufacturer's instructions.
• Enjoy!

Add vanilla bean, coco powder, nuts, fruits.....whatever suits you!! 

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Food Finds Here and There

Internet connection is kind to me today, so might as well take the time to update this blog. I don't have anything specific to blog about, actually, but as I browse through my folders trying to find one specific picture, I realized I have taken food pictures here and there, and would like to share the pictures for this post.


Bignay Fruit. This was the first time I saw such fruit. Months ago, I came across Bignay Juice, but when I saw these berry-like fruits at the market, I first thought it was fresh pepper. It was actually cheap for its price, but because I am not sure how it tasted, I didn't buy any, I just asked the vendor for permission to photograph it. Reading up on a few blogs, I realized I should've bought some, I suddenly became curious to its sweet-tangy flavor.


Dayap. My dayap memories took me back to when I was a kid and we would pick up some dayap fruit from our lot in La Union to make our dipping sauce for fried fish. Over the course of time, the dayap trees were cut off, so seeing this at the market for just 10 pesos per 1/4 kilo made us buy instantly. It's not as sour as calamansi or lemon, but it does deliver that citrusy taste.


Ginebra San Miguel Gin. I am not into gin, but seeing this while lining up at a nearby supermarket made me take out my cell phone to take a quick picture. I do know about gin-pomelo (gin mixed with pomelo flavored juice powder), but dalandan and melon flavored gin? Hmmmm....

Anybody tried this already?


Salmon Spines. This, brother bought. He was walking around the market looking for something to cook for dinner, when he saw this. We all know how expensive salmon is, which is why we usually go for the heads (cheaper than the steak cuts). It had a pretty decent amount of meat, so at 50 pesos per half a kilo, brother bought some and cooked it for dinner. Well, these may be scraps from salmon fillets, but it still is salmon, so for all its worth, we enjoyed this.


Mogu Mogu Drink (Strawberry). The nearby supermarket may be small, but it did have quite a lot to offer. Whenever I go to the drinks section to buy Yakult (which is my everyday drink - for digestion), the shelf filled with all the Mogu Mogu bottles would always catch my attention. I finally decided to buy one bottle and as much as people rave about it, I wasn't really that much pleased with it - I felt it was too sweet and it tasted quite "artificial." But, the nata de coco bits are definitely good! :)

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