Easy Chili Con Carne

The key to a healthy and delicious Chili con Carne is to boil the ground meat ahead to get rid of all the fats and oil and grease. Or better,  choose the lean part of the beef and ask your local butcher to grind it for you, now that's fresh. My recipe is made up of ingredients that can be found at any grocery store or market. Instead of using fresh beans, I went for the ones that's already precooked and packed.

Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kilo lean ground meat (boiled and drained)
• 1 large or 2 medium red bell peppers chopped into small pieces
• 2 medium tomatoes chopped into small pieces (or canned tomatoes)
• 2 medium onions (red or white) chopped into small pieces
• 1 150g tomato paste
• 3 100g pack of Hunt's chili Beef & Beans (or 1 can of Hormel Chili with Beans)
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp dried cilantro (or chopped fresh cilantro/ wansoy)
• dash of salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper granules
• 1/2 tsp cooking oil

Procedure:

• In a sauce pan, saute onions in oil for a few seconds.
• Add tomatoes and red bell peppers and stir until cooked.
• Add ground beef, mix evenly.
• Add Hunt's Chili Beef & Beans, stir and mix until well- blended.
• Add tomato paste and mix until even.
• Add chili powder and cilantro stir for a few seconds.
• Add salt and pepper.
• Mix for 30 seconds or when everything is mixed well and cooked.

Aside from using this easy Chili con Carne as usual topping for nacho chips, I also like to pair it with hot rice. Use it as dip to my thin pretzel crisps, crackers and biscuits.

I also love it as breakfast filling for my hot pandesal. It's also perfect for bagels, ciabatta, baguette etc... It can also make an ordinary Bruschetta more enticing by topping it with sour cream or cheese.

FTF: Onion Rings

For snack time Friday I prepared onion rings with mayo-garlic dip. White onion rings dipped into beaten eggs, coated with seasoned flour, dipped again in egg then bread crumbs. This is my first on making onion rings, it was a successful one. Crunchy o the outside, soft, tender and juicy in every bite. I enjoyed munching on it while watching my favorite TV show.

Food Trip Friday

Iced Gems

How will I start with this? Hmmm... oh yeah! Iced Gems! It's a snack that reminds me so much of my childhood. Especially during the days when I was still studying in Assumption. I was given a little allowance money then. My mom always prepare packed- lunch and sandwiches instead of buying food in the school cafeteria. The small amount of money given was suppose to be for my drinks to last for the rest of the day.

But most of the time, I rely on the school's water fountain and spend my money on packs of Iced Gems biscuit. When I was a little girl, the first thing that I got attracted with was the colorful icing on top of every biscuit. The biscuit itself was very good, easy to munch, easy to bite and I always make sure that my last bite would be the icing on top. Up to this date, Iced Gems are being sold in grocery stores. It gave me the inspiration to post about it when I found out that my son loves it too. Every time  I pick him up from school, he would ask me to buy him some. And during our last visit to Tagaytay, we dropped by at one of the pasalubong stations in the city and there I saw a BIG pack of Iced Gems biscuits being sold. From then on, in between meals, every time I'm watching TV, reading a book and even while surfing the net, I have a bowl of Iced Gems that I can munch anytime I want to. Yummy!

Grilled Cheese and Homemade Potato Mojos

Snack Time Wednesday is rich with 2 of my favorite munchies. Grilled Cheese Sandwich served with crispy, homemade potato mojos. This is really nothing new. I've posted about these 2 before. 

You can find the recipe and instructions here: Potato Mojos, Grilled Tuna and Cheese

I made some Mayo-Garlic dip to go with my Mojos. By the way, I call it Mojos named after the famous Shakey's Potato Mojos. It's my favorite expecially when served with their fried chicken. I don't want to break any rules, but I get hungry for Mojos a lot. Until my sister who is a culinary student was taught how to make them. The potatoes are originally baked first. To make it easier my recipe skipped the baking part. Now, in case I crave for it, like everyone else, I can whip my own Mojos at home anytime.

Grilled cheese has always been one of the easiest snacks to prepare. I often add ham or spam.

The Treehouse

An open bar- restaurant located at the heart of Quezon City Philippines. Serves Filipino and International cuisines.

The Treehouse Restaurant

29, Matalino St.

Quezon City

It was a lazy, sunny afternoon. All I plan to do was to deposit money in the bank, in an instant , the day became  a family trip to the wild life center and an afternoon of delicious snacks. The Treehouse. It was my first time to visit this restaurant. My husband: a frequent guest especially with his Dad (my late father-in-law). The whole ambiance of the place was very homey. Trees surrounded the whole restaurant. It wasn't humid or hot considering that it is an open resto.

Saba Con Hielo with Icecream php75

Pancit Guisado php180
My favorite. This platter is good for 3. 

BLT Sandwich php99
 Too bad, it looks appetizing, but there's something missing with the taste.

Calamares Fritos php185

Photos Taken: SEP990i

Food Trip Friday--- Clubhouse Sandwiches

Here's a glimpse of my first ever attempt on making a Clubhouse Sandwich. Had to go online just to make sure if I did it right and also for new age pdf search. I've been hunting for new applications that can read and write PDF files. As for the sandwich, yes, I was able to do it right and the most important, IT'S HEALTHY! My boys really liked it. Hearing from my husband (who is a big food critic) that my Clubhouse Sandwich is the best he ever tasted, inspired me to make more and added stuffing to go with it.

 Ingredients:

Toasted Loaf (Wheat) Bread

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Cheese

Ham

Egg

Stuffed Olives 

Homemade Chicken Spread

Just layer everything according to how you desire it, put them together with a toothpick, viola! Start Munching!!! A new set of Clubhouse Sandwiches will greet us again in the morning.

Food Trip Friday

Strawberry Milkshake!

This is my first time to make a milkshake using an experimental recipe. To be honest, I even asked my sister's opinion if I'm doing it right or not. Well, everything went well. Consider this as my final recipe.

Bought fresh strawberries from the summer capital of the Philippines, Baguio. Thank God it was handed to me fresh and sweet. I was having doubts on its freshness. Some weeks ago it was reported that Strawberries from Baguio were already dying out. 

They're very abundant right now and very cheap.

For my milkshake, I prepared an easy recipe. As usual. Most of all, I made it healthy by not including any additives like strawberry flavorings and coloring.

Main ingredient: Lots and lots of fresh Strawberries! 

Main Kitchenware: Heavy Duty Blender

• 1 Cup fresh strawberries
• 1 Cup Fresh Milk, 
• 1/2 Cup Sugar or 10 packets of any sweetener of your choice, 
• 1 Cup Strawberry Ice cream or Vanilla Ice cream
• Ice Cubes or crushed Ice

• Blend Fresh Strawberries, milk, Ice cream and sugar
• Add Ice Cubes 
• Blend all the way to your preferred consistency

Serve with freshly sliced Strawberries on top.

Servings: 3 tall glasses, 4-5 on small sizes

Crunchy Potato Wedges

As a matter of fact, they love french fries so much and I had to go in- between preventing it  from making it the ultimate favorite. We all know how unhealthy french fries are. I was able to change their preference from eating french fries to loving homemade potato fries/ potato wedges. I always make potato wedges for my boys especially for Franky. My vegetable basket is always full with potatoes just for this.

And its fun mixing herbs with the coating. It adds flavor.

Food Trip Friday

German Franks at Home

My family would often engage on some German Franks every time we go out, especially when we go window shopping or just having a relaxing stroll at the mall. Today, instead of ordering some, we went straight to the grocery store and bought a pack of German Franks, hot dog buns, cheese, and lettuce.

It's better to make our own hotdog sandwiches. Adding lettuce made our sandwiches healthier. I didn't consider putting mayo anymore, the mustard, tomato catsup and cheese will do. It's more than enough compared to the ones we buy at the mall.

Mustard, mustard, mustard! it's all mustard for me!

The fun of having hotdog sandwiches at home is being able to prepare according to your preference. We have plain with cheese, mustard and cheese, mustard, catsup and cheese!

A perfect weekend snack for the family! Happy Weekend everyone!

Food Trip Friday--- Maruya

Banana FrittersOne Friday, I went to my favorite store to buy some soda, when I saw the sales lady took out a pan of this freshly cooked Banana Fritters. Perfect as a Filipino Snack. Maruya (what we call it) is a Philippine delicacy made of fried bananas dipped in batter, usually served sprinkled with sugar. This Maruya moment reminded me of my late father-in-law. I used to buy him Maruya. This is his favorite snack.

Going On A Fruit Diet

I did a lot of eating over the past weekend. Imagine, in one day I had party food for lunch and some Chinese dinner. Not only that, while out buying stuff for the party, I was also munching on some goodies. To make it short, I gained weight and I grew a little big.

Fruits has been part of our meal everyday. This time, I'm adding more and replacing our usual snacks with this healthy and refreshing goodness.

I feel lighter inside and out. I'm particularly a grape person. Seedless that is. Some Japanese cantaloupe and watermelon gives that refreshment. It eliminates my cravings. For the health conscious, fruits can be taken at night instead of your regular meal.

Pizza Bread

I greatly recommend this easy-to-make snack.

What You Will Be Needing:

Bread Slices of your choice (Wheat is good!)
Pizza sauce (which is available at your local store)
Your choice of meat (ham, sliced sausage, pepperoni)
Grated Quickmelt cheese (mozzarella---better!)
Medium Green bell pepper (chopped into short, thin slices)
Medium White oninon (chopped into short, thin slices)
Button mushroom slices
Oven Toaster!

Spread pizza sauce on a slice of bread

Top with your choice of meat (ham, sliced sausage, pepperoni)

* you can add the cheese under and on top

Just put everything on top of each other

Then toast!

A little story behind. I had pizza bread when I was a kid. I learned about it through my childhood friend Jenny. We'd usually hang-out at her place, and we'd make pizza bread as our afternoon snack.

Last night, my son watched an episode of Blues Clues where Steve was making pizza with Blue. My son started shouting Pizza!pizza! with excitement. I got excited for him, so I gathered whatever I can find in order to make one for him. So there, aside from dinner, we had pizza after. I also made new pizza slices this morning for his snack in school.

Learning The Chops

Our snack this afternoon was some egg noodles...It's been raining a good bowl would be nice. When it comes to noodles, I prefer eating it with chopsticks and later on sip the soup from the bowl. My son of course, wanted to get hold of the chopsticks too, and made this his learning moment using them for eating. Getting there... I like it everytime my son takes effort in learning the things that we do.

Almost...
Alright!
Happy little boy! He had 2 bowls.

Stick It!

Have a fun afternoon ready for kids coming from a hard day of studying. Greet them with corn dogs and their favorite juice.

What you need:

1 box 500g instant pancake mix (coats 10 to 12 hotdogs

1/2 cup corn meal

1/2 cup cornstarch

3 hotdogs

3 cheese sticks

3 ham wrapped-cheese sticks

3 bacon-wrapped hotdogs

For this recipe, use kiddie favorites like hotdogs and cheese sticks. But we keep in mind the grownups too---for you, there's bacon-wrapped hotdog and ham-wrapped cheese sticks.

How to:

Prepare hotdogs and other fillings by skewering with barbecue sticks.

Prepare hotcake mix according to package directions.

Add corn meal and cornstarch.

Dip a hotdog stick in batter and deep-dry until batter starts to form.

Take out of the oil and dip one more time in the coating mix.

Deep- fry once more.

Remove as soon as batter holds shape.

source:
-Yummy Magazine-

Grilled Tuna and Cheese

This is our favorite snack. And perfect for the kids to bring to school.

Grilled cheese can be mixed with your favorite jam or ham. I love serving this with Pink Lemonade.

Basic grilled cheese procedure.

In a pan, melt butter place a slice of bread, cheese on top, add tuna shreds and onions. Cover with another slice of bread. Press sandwich with your frying ladle and turn upside down.