Monday Foodstagram II

It's time for Monday Foodstagram once again. Here are the food pics I posted on Instagram last week.


Instant Coffee
FatMumSlim's prompt for that day's Photo a Day was "early," and for me, the best way to perk me up early in the morning is a cup of hot coffee. My favorite instant coffee mix as of late has been San Mig White Coffee.

Sinampalukang Manok
When the girls and I went to the market the day before, I saw a stall selling young tamarind leaves and immediately craved for Sinampalukang Manok, which I cooked for lunch. Gloomy weather calls for comfort food, and this one was a sure winner.

Pancakes and Bacon
I truly don't like my sister to skip meals, so to make sure she eats before she leaves the house for work, I cooked pancakes and bacon for us three girls for breakfast. I used the Maya Pancake Mix for this - the one that only needs water (no need for egg and butter), but I used one part milk one part water just to make it tastier. I rarely cook pancakes in the house as it is not my favorite food - unless I pair it with something savory, but true enough this pancake mix was so easy to work with. I also didn't need to grease the pan, I just mixed the batter, heat the pan and cook. Flipping it was easy, too! For that "something savory," I cooked bacon, something I miss eating. I like my bacon still soft, my sister likes it very crispy... so this was a compromise. It wasn't soft, but not crispy yet.


Salad with Grapes
The good thing about having a big marketplace nearby is the surprise at what you will find. For that day, my mom and I saw a sidewalk vendor selling grapes at only 50 pesos per half a kilo, super cheap compared to the ones being sold at the fruit stands. Walking home, I also got to see a vendor selling lolo rosso lettuce for only 10 pesos a bunch, and for lunch I prepared salad to go with the fried tilapia. It was my first time to add grapes in my salad, and it turned out to be good. Hopefully we get to see more fruits at cheap prices so we can eat healthy without creating a hole into the wallet.

Sausage Meal at Kenny Rogers
Yesterday, us girls went to the mall to eat lunch and shop for groceries. Sister decided to eat at Kenny Rogers Roasters and I went for the Sausage Meal because I wasn't in the mood to eat something heavy. The menu didn't indicate (or it totally slipped my eyes) that rice was included, so instead of coleslaw, I went for Mac & Cheese as my side dish. I was pretty dismayed when I saw my plate...carbs overload! Well, I didn't eat the rice anymore... the muffin and the macaroni were enough for me.

Salad with Mango Vinaigrette
While at the supermarket, I got to see a bottle of Clara Ole Mango Mio! vinaigrette and decided to buy it. Since I still had the carbo horror from lunch, I decided to just prepare salad for us girls - no rice, no other viands... just salad. For protein, I cooked ground pork in olive oil seasoned with salt, pepper, and oregano leaves until crispy, and I also added some cashew nuts. The vinaigrette was sweet and tangy, kinda like Frutos or Fruit Tella candies... but I liked it. Using it, I didn't feel the need to buy mangoes for my salad anymore.

Just six food pictures from last week; hopefully this week I can share more pictures. Have a great Monday, everyone!

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Impress Your Breakfast Guests With Healthy Muffin Recipes

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It provides energy and nutrients to your body for the day ahead. It also helps to kick start your metabolism. Most experts believe that men and women who eat breakfast regularly are more likely to lose and maintain weight when compared to individuals who skip their breakfast. It is, however, important to get a healthy start to the day, and well-balanced and nutritious breakfast could be your first step towards overall health and well being. Your healthy breakfast menu should include significant amounts of fiber along with lean proteins and carbohydrates for instant energy.

Creating a healthy breakfast menu can be challenging. The task is greater when you have guests at home. While you want to make something special for them and make them feel welcome, you do not want to make unhealthy doughnuts and pastries. Muffins are a great choice. You can use healthy muffin recipes to create exotic yet nutritious choices for your guests and family members. With the healthy recipes, almost everyone can enjoy a second serving without feeling guilty about the calories.

You can go online to find several healthy muffin recipes. You can also visit the local book store to find breakfast cookbooks with healthy muffin recipes in them. Popular choices include:

Yamberry Muffins - These consist of cranberries and sweet potato. You can also use barn or whole grain flour to increase the fiber content. The recipe is rich in vitamin A and C, and other essential nutrients.Lemon-Raspberry Muffins - Another one of the healthy muffin recipes, it includes whole grain flour along with vitamin-rich lemon juice and raspberry fruits.Banana Bran Muffins - These are rich in fiber, potassium and other important nutrients. You can add nuts rich in omega fatty acids to increase their nutrient value.Cornmeal Muffins - Individuals looking for healthy muffin recipes will also enjoy cornmeal muffins made from whole cornmeal flour. You can add spices such as cinnamon and ginger which have the ability to reduce the risk of cardiovascular illnesses.Buttermilk Muffins - These contain whole wheat flour, essential fatty acid-rich walnuts and pecans along with spices.

Your choice for healthy muffin recipes will essentially depend on your personal preferences. You can also consider the choice of your guests, especially if you know them well. Do not include ingredients that you or the guests may be allergic to. Most healthy muffin recipes are easy to make. You will find most ingredients at a grocery store near you. You should also prepare certain things ahead of time to save time and effort in the last minute.

You can also buy recipe mixes from regular or online stores. Make sure everything is made from highest quality ingredients. The recipe should be easy to make as well. Many bakeries also serve and sell healthy muffins in their menu. You can simply pre-order, and have them deliver the muffins to your home. Most products will stay fresh for two to three days.

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Recipe | Mini Fiesta Frittatas

It's been a while since I last shared a recipe, and yesterday I was happy to be able to cook something new for the family. I have wanted to try this for the longest time, but whenever I attempt to do it, I will forget one key ingredient, making me put it on hold. Zucchinis are quite cheap when we last do our major grocery shopping, so I really told myself I'd test this recipe.

This recipe is part of Yummy Magazine's "Baon" Cookbook, and is also printed on their website. Here's the original recipe:


Mini Fiesta Frittatas
{Makes 12 pieces}

Ingredients:

• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup diced sweet or spiced ham
• 1/3 cup grated melting cheese
• 1/2 cup diced zucchini
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• oil for greasing

How to Cook:

• In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Stir in ham, cheese, zucchini, and red bell pepper.
• Grease a 12-cup regular muffin pan with oil. Using a ladle, fill muffin cups with egg mixture until three-fourths full.
• Bake in a preheated 375ºF oven until mixture puffs and sets in the center, about 10 to 12 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, loosen frittatas from the muffin cups and transfer to a platter.

Veggie tip: Make this into a vegetarian dish by omitting the ham and adding more veggies. Play around with different vegetables such as blanched broccoli, fried eggplant, or roasted squash.

For this recipe, I only used 4 large eggs. We don't have an oven and we don't have a muffin pan, so for this, I used the silicone muffin cups, lined with aluminum foil, just to make it easier to remove from the cup, but proved to be difficult to eat. I first steamed the egg cups for about 10 minutes, let it rest for a while, then popped them in the oven toaster for 3 minutes, just to roast the top part. Since I didn't brush the cups with oil, I went ahead and added a little Dari Creme (Herb & Garlic) on top before putting them in the oven toaster to give it additional flavor. Personally, I think it made the frittatas taste better. I made about 8 frittatas, using 1/4 cup of mixture per muffin cup.

I loved how it tasted, but please go easy on the salt with this one. The ham already had its own seasoning, and the cheese is quite salty, too, so be sure you add just a little salt. No need for dips and sauces here, but I think the old reliable ketchup might boost more flavors. Next time I'd try this using bacon or native (crumbled) longganisa.


Just a little test in the kitchen. I cooked one frittata using the oven toaster, to let me know if I could use just the oven toaster should I cook this again. The one at the front was the one cooked in the oven toaster, the rest were steamed first. Steaming + Oven Toaster resulted in a fluffier effect, while the one cooked in the Oven Toaster appeared flat. Setting the oven toaster for 10 minutes cooked the eggs completely, but there were toasted part around and at the bottom of the cup. The top remained yellowish with no hints of toasting because I covered it loosely with aluminum foil.

I still can't decide which method was the best for me. I guess cooking it in the oven toaster saves time as I was able to cook it in 10 minutes flat... but I am still bound to experiment using different cups to make it look presentable.

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Another CBTL Breakfast

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Ground Level, A. Venue Mall
7829 Makati Ave. corner Valdez St.,
Antel Lifestyle City - Makati City
+63 (02)729-7095

*continuation of my holiday food trip with K*

 Day 14... the last day for us to be together. Both of us woke up a little sad knowing we will go separate ways that afternoon, but we still have until lunch time to roam around, so it was still a day to celebrate.


Obviously, for breakfast it was CBTL for us again. We did love how we have the entire place just for ourselves that early in the morning - we could eat as slow as we could, laugh as heartily as we could, and read as much magazines as we could.


Eggs Ben. My choice for today is Eggs Ben, which has a slice of turkey ham, cheese, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce. It was rich, but very delicious! I normally don't like runny egg yolks, but because the sauce has a creamy consistency, I just blended the yolk with the sauce, and I didn't notice it anymore. :)


Roast Beef Sandwich. K went for a heavy breakfast this day, and although he said this tasted good, he didn't appreciate that they used store-bought processed roast beef. He said when he saw this on the menu, he thought the roast beef would be something CBTL would cook at their kitchen, but I did tell him it's primarily a coffee and tea shop, so he did get to understand it. I loved the lettuce on the side, by the way.

Both breakfast meals came with a cup of coffee, which I didn't photograph anymore; as usual K had the black coffee, I had the latte with extra milk on the side.

Last stretch of our holiday... we couldn't roam far from the hotel, so we decided too just visit the Ayala Museum.

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Pan de Pao

Nearly a month ago, mom came home and handed me her lunch box with some pressed buns inside. It looked pretty much like ordinary Pan de Sal for me, but mom insisted I give it a taste. It was the filling that sets it apart from an ordinary Pan de Sal.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to photograph it because mom only took home 4 pieces and the three remaining ones were so flat, it wouldn't look good in pictures. 


Thankfully last Friday, mom took home some more of the special Pan de Sal, and because she brought quite a lot (well, just 10 pieces), I was then able to take pictures of it to share here on my blog.


What looked like an ordinary Pan de Sal actually have an Asado filling, the kind that's inside a Siopao. It tasted really good, and us in the family became instant fans of it. The bread is quite soft and tasted much better when re-heated in an oven toaster. We also loved that it had lots of filling, definitely money's worth! Each Pan de Pao, as they call it, is just p5 each.

Mom didn't know the name of the bakery, but she did say it was from a bakery located along Maligaya Road (fronting SM City Fairview, Quirino Avenue side). Hmmm... if brother goes there to attend a prayer meeting, I might ask him to locate this bakery and snap a picture.

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Breakfast, the CBTL Way

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Ground Level, A. Venue Mall
7829 Makati Ave. corner Valdez St.,
Antel Lifestyle City - Makati City
+63 (02)729-7095

(continuation of the food trips with K)


During the holiday with K, we usually eat breakfast where we were staying at (except while in Iloilo because we found a place to eat breakfast prior to the trip). Great Eastern Hotel offers buffet breakfast, but when we checked the dining area, none of the food served tickled our eyes. We thought of checking A. Venue Mall again, hoping to have some Chinese food for breakfast, but the store was still closed that time. Good timing, though, CBTL just opened their doors, and we decided to have our breakfast there.


The place was spacious, and we went for a seat away from the sunlight. K and I didn't have any particular plan to do today, so we figured we would just take time eating our breakfast while reading the paper or the magazines provided by the store. I asked if they have a WiFi connection, and they said they do, but we had to be a part of the CBTL club something so they could give us the password. Obviously, we weren't able to get the password.

They have a lot to offer for breakfast, but we went for the set meals as it already had coffee included in the meals.


Tasty Toast. K has always been a simple man when it comes to his food choice, and for his breakfast he just went for the Tasty Toast. He did like the light crunch on the surface of the bread, which had a good contrast to the soft texture inside the bread.


Salmon Scramble. I really love salmon, and seeing this on the menu sealed the deal for me. A mix of eggs and smoked salmon with special sauce served on rosemary foccacia bread... ummm ummm, good!


His & Her Coffee. K went for the black coffee, I went for the Latte, served with additional milk on the side. It was rich, it was comforting, but every brewed coffee tasted the same for me, so I can't compare if this one was better than the other coffee served elsewhere.

While eating breakfast, I thought about the driver we met while staying at Fernandina 88 Suites Hotel. We knew he works for a different hotel, but during our last road trip with the driver, he did receive a call from someone inquiring about his services, so I decided to call him if it would be okay to drive us around the Metro once again. Fortunately, he was available that day, so we set up a 9:30am call time for another round of road trip.

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