Our Thanksgiving Dinner, 2009

This year, I helped cooked our family's Thanksgiving Dinner.

Here's the Thanksgiving Dinner entrees that we came up with, all cooked from scratch:
- Roast Turkey with accompanying Gravy

- Shrimp Dinengdeng

- Mashed Potatoes

- Glazed Ham

- Roast Beef

- dessert: Buko Pandan Salad

Preparation Time: 4 hrs.

Cooking time: 6 hrs.

Fish Sarciado (Fish with Tomato Sauce)

Fish Sarciado the way it was cooked while I was a kid
seems to be different from the way other regions
of the Philippines cook it. Filled with red broth and egg drop,
this version is the way it is cooked in the Northern region.

Here's my take on the Fish Sarciado:

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1 pound fish fillets or fish steaks(Tilapia, Sea Bass fish is fine)
Salt to taste
Juice of two lemons
Juice of Orange
1/2 cup vegetable or corn oil
2 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 medium onion chopped
1 tomato, chopped
3 tbsp ginger cut into matchstick length
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp tomato sauce
Patis (Fish Sauce) to taste
Light Soy Sauce (2 tbsp)
2 eggs beaten

Procedure

1. In a deep bowl marinate the fish fillets or
steak in lemon juice, orange juice and salt for 20 minutes.



2. In a deep skillet heat oil and fry the fish just barely enough for it to turn brown.
Carefully turn the fish over once.

3. Put the fish on paper towel to drain the grease.

4. Wipe the skillet clean and return to heat, put two tablespoon of oil.

5. Saute garlic. Followed by onion, ginger then tomatoes until they turn soft.




6. Add the water, soy sauce and just a little bit of tomato sauce to achieve a red tinged broth. Season the broth with Patis to taste.

7. Add the fish to the sauce being careful not to break it.

8. Cover and simmer for about 2 minutes.

9. In a small bowl, beat two eggs with a fork.

10. Slowly drop the egg to the broth while beating the broth with fork to make the broth-egg mixture silky.

11. Serve hot, with hot rice.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie home made

My kids love Strawberry Banana Smoothie.

Its their favorite drink or dessert during Summer.
I stock up on frozen Strawberries during Autumn and
Winter when Strawberries are not in season
so they can continue to enjoy this smoothie.
Bananas, well they're pretty
much in season all year round in some part of the tropics.

Its a good way for me to introduce fruits
in my kids' diet. I also read in a Web article that
ripe bananas are excellent source for
TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor), which has the
ability to combat abnormal cells. I have yet to read the
Scientific Journal article that supports that claim though.

Here's my version of Strawberry Banana Smoothie
that I make at home. Try making your own Strawberry Banana Smoothie
if haven't yet.

*****
Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Servings : 4

Tools needed:
Blender

Ingredients:

1 cup Milk 2% lowfat
1.5 cups Nonfat Yogurt (plain)
2 cups Strawberries, capped
3 large Bananas, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup ice cubes
1/4 cup white sugar

Procedure

1. Place the strawberries, yogurt, bananas, ice cubes
and milk in a blender. Place Blender cover.

2. Process the ingredients on high speed setting for about 20 to 30 seconds until smooth.

3. Serve Smoothie in tall clear glass.

My take of Ginisang Mongo (Mung Bean Soup)


(click on image above to see more pictures)

I was inspired br Arelene Descargar's Facebok
entry for her Homemade balatong (mung bean soup) and also by Connie Veneracion's version of mung beans
called Stewed monggo (mung beans) with coconut cream
at Pinoy Cook website.

I cooked the dish for lunch today to revisit this Filipino staple dish.
I didn't use Coconut Milk as I don't have Coconut Milk stocked in my Pantry.

Here's my take on the Dish:

Serving: 5

Tools needed:
1. Blender
2. Deep Pot

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. of vegetable or cooking oil
1.5 cups of of green mung beans
5 cups wanter
1/2 cup shrimp broth
2 medium tomatoes diced
2 Slices of thick Pork Chops cut into small cubes.
2 cups of shrimps, shelled and deveined
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
1 white onion, chopped
1 bitter melon (ampalaya) cored, deseeded and cut into cubes
fish sauce or bagoong to taste ( I don't tolerate high salt in my diet so I used it sparingly)
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
A bunch of spinach , washed . You can also use Ampalaya leaves or any green leafy vegetables
Cilantro leaves for garnish

Cooking Procedure:
1. Wash Green Mung beans in water.

2. In a covered deep pot, place water and mung beans. Use medium heat to bring it to boil.

3. Season with salt.

4. When the mung beans are soft, pour beans and its broth
into a blender and pulse until the beans get a coarse puree consistentcy.

5. Meanwhile in a deep pan over medium heat, saute garlic in oil until lightly browned.
Add onions, tomato, until soft.

6. Add pork, shrimp, bitter melon, shrimp broth, fish sauce to taste. Simmer for 5 to 8 minutes.

7.Add mung beans with its liquid and continue to simmer for another 10 - 15 minutes. Stir the
bottom of the pot at regular intervals to prevent the mung beans fromm burnning at the bottom of the pan.

8. Turn off the heat, add the spinach leaves and cover pot for 1 minute.

9. Transfer the Soup in indivual bowls. Garnish with Cilantro.

10. Serve hot with rice.

Kristen's 6th Birthday

November 1, 2009

Today's my daughter Kristen's 6th Birthday.
Oh boy, they grow so fast. Seems like
I was just cradling her on my arms
while she was still a baby.

We had just a simple Birthday celebration,
at least with Dad. We went to Sunday morning
Mass at Saint Gregory the Great Church
to celebrate All Saints and All Souls Day
and also thanksgiving for
Kristen's 6th Birthday (of course).

After that, we went home to let Kristen blow her Birthday
Cake. That was pretty much it.

After lunch, all three siblings went to Mom
to celebrate Kristen's Birthday.

Go to :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliusweb/sets/72157622713741476/
or click on the iamge to see more of Kristen's Birthday
pictures.