Sibuyas Republic

I  wanna share this simple Beef Teriyaki knocked-off. Kids, especially, my lad, missed his Beef Teriyaki we ordered out at a Japanese resto few months back. My bad, I hate beef recipes. Because, I almost always ended up with a rubberized beef dish! Beef aren’t my forte.

So, to appease the lad’s whining about his teriyaki, one dinner time, I decided to come up with my own version.

First, I found in my pantry a Lee Kum Kee’s Sauce for Sweet and Spicy beef Ribs. From there, the wannabe chef in me cooks up an idea…

Here’s the procedure for PORK TERIYAKI WITH BEAN SPROUTS:

- First, marinade the pork (i prefer ribs) in soy sauce, brown sugar, diced ginger, and ground pepper.

-Pan fried the pork ribs until golden brown. Set aside.

-Next, saute the ginger, add garlic, bean sprouts and carrots.

-Pour in the Lee Kum Kee sauce. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. And, it is done.

-Arrange in a platter the pork ribs. Topped with the veggies.

VIOLA! Dinner a la carte!

TIPS:

-Bell pepper’s my favorite as it is rich in Vitamin C. You can add in at this recipe because it will enhance more the flavor of the sauce.

-I added in ginger to enhance that distinctive teriyaki flavor.

-I used brown sugar to achieved that golden brown color in meats when either grilled or broiled as in traditional Japanese teriyaki.

Try this easy-does-it recipe this weekend. ENJOY!

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This is the basic and easy does it BECHAMEL SAUCE I always cooked whenever I do baked mac, or baked potato cream pie, or, can be oured over meat loafs, chicken roll, etc.

WHAT YOU”LL NEED:

• 5 tablespoons butter

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 quart milk
• 2 teaspoons salt
• salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, stir in the flour until smooth. Continue stirring as the flour cooks to a light, golden, sandy color, about 7 minutes.

2. Increase heat to medium-high and slowly whisk in milk until thickened by the roux. Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and continue simmering until the flour has softened and not longer tastes gritty, 10 to 20 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.

That’s done.

…sinfully creamy…

You must be surprised that this pitted prunes contains a 110 of calories per 40 grams of serving. How can it be, when we all know that this is a dried fruit preserve? As it says in the label;  “A fat free, cholesterol free food, and good source of Fiber”.

Let’s study the nutritional facts. One good thing is, it is zero calories from fat, meaning no saturated fat is added. Saturated fat comes mainly from animal food products such as meat, eggs, dairy products (oh, i love cheeses ^_^). These were the types of fats that can raise our LDL (the bad cholesterol). As we know, increase in LDL can mean weight gain which leads to obesity, hypertension, and certain types of cdvs.

The good thing about this dried plums is its higher Potassium content. It is a mineral which is needed by our body for normal functioning of our cells. High concentration of potassium can be found on many fruits and vegetables. This is the cause why potassium diet is needed by those who have acute kidney problems as it balances our body’s water level; potassium is a diuretic. It helps to washed away too much sodium in our blood. It is essential that our body maintain adequate amounts of potassium.

FOODS RICH IN POTASSIUM:

POTASSIUM THOUGHT:

TOO MUCH POTASSIUM CAN CAUSE KIDNEY DISEASES AND DIABETES (HYPERKALEMIA)

LOWER LEVELS OF POTASSIUM MAYBE DUE TO DIET OR DIURETIC DRUGS AND OTHER DISORDERS (HYPOKALEMIA)

We were out the whole day, hadn’t had much time to upload some photos. And, hadn’t had much time to cook, either. I am tired, so are the kids. The kids ate out their spaghettis and burgers we order out at a  Mc Donalds drive-thru earlier. I skipped ordering because what I have in mind as dinner was this…

…a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk plus two ripe mangoes…odd dinner combo, but it definitely makes my tummy full!

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School has ended. And, so, I realized. Just today! The eldest daughter arrived home today and how her two younger sibs became overjoyed seeing her again.

The eldest was a third year college lass at UP. She’s staying at a boarding school. More often, she buys cooked foods in some restaurants near her place. So, everytime she comes home, it’s as if she’s deprived of food. I guess, she missed home cooked foods. She’ll be staying here for two weeks only because she has summer classes to attend to. I might as well satisfy her food hunger ^_^.

Upon throwing her luggages in her room, she requested that we bought ice cream. And, while we were in the market, she asked if we could have chicken barbecue for dinner. So, we bought chicken wings and pork loins…and the rest was…dinner at the “kubo”!!! woohoo!

Hmmm, while savoring the aroma, I was thinking what could be her next request?

TIPS FOR THE DAY:

-When using an electric griller for barbecue or whatever, put water on the tray under the grill. This can help hasten the grilling process because as the water heats up and evaporates it helps in the cooking process.

-The tray underneath is the catch-all of all the oils. By adding water to the tray, the oils will not adhere to it, making it a little easier to clean.

-The marinade can be used as gravy or barbecue sauce. Just simmer the marinade and add flour to it.

We often heard the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. Having the essentials nutrients and vitamins these food produce possessed, it is also an anti-oxidant which helps our body fight free radicals that are believed to caused diseases.

Therefore our body must maintain multiple types of antioxidants, such as glutathione, vitamin C, and vitamin E which can be found abundantly in fruits and vegetables.

I have been watching The Doctors on tv regularly. Found me a lot of healthful tips. Now that we are in an era where every item in the food shelf contains preservatives, that most of us consumers, are in vague as to what really are the best food products which can be beneficial to our health. AND, most products out there promised good nutrients. It may be true. But be cautious of the trick some products played on us. Looked for the nutritional labels. Be sure to know the sugar, salt and fat contents of every product before throwing it in our grocery cart.

As what the host on the tv show said:

“The more natural the food, the more it is healthy”

Sharing these healthful thoughts at

Please beware, I am no expert cook. I try to read or watch Food Network, but since most of the ingredients were unavailable to me (mahal kasi), I make do with my own simpler version of the recipe. Like this one I made last weekend. This is another version of that famed chicken cordon bleu.

Chicken breast, de-boned. This is very easy, most moms can do this by guiding the knife through the chicken bones starting from the side nearest to you…

After de-boning, I marinated the chicken with Alaska evaporated milk, salt and pepper…

Instead of the usual cold cuts and cheese fillings, I had filled out mine with veggies…for a change ^_^

Roll the chicken onto flour, egg, finishing it up with bread crumbs. Insert toothpicks to loose parts to secure the chicken breasts. Then, deep fry…

Viola! Served with garlicky and creamy gravy …kids loved to lick em!

My plate. Rolled chicken over pasta. Yummy!

Kids’ plate.

TIPS:

-The gravy can be stocked in the fridge and be used for pasta, bread, fried meats, or over sizzling plate I posted here.

-The fried chicken can also be stored in the freezer (I do batch cooking sometimes). Just reheat it in the microwave when needed. Saves time (this recipe is time consuming ^_^)

-Try not to discard the milk marinade, it can be used for making gravies/sauces. RECIPE HERE

-AND, and,the chicken bones,too. I boiled the bones, so I can use and store the broth for other purposes.

-ALSO, the chicken skin…well, it can be marinated, coated with flour and breading and deep fried, a la KFC’s Hot Shots…unless, you don’t want to keep the fats. Who’s dieting here? ^_^

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When I got married and had started to build our house, I insisted to my husband that i will do the layout while he’ll take care of how to apply the over all designs I wanted to be. He said it was “my” house, so i’ll be the boss.

I was glad, husband had given me the freedom to decide things such as that. From major decisions like choosing what panel walls to construct, what colors to paint, down to every smallest detail like choosing wall papers, area rugs, shelvings and many more. I particularly had fun designing our home. I had no innate talent or skill in designing. But I had fun, discovering and learning all along. I like mix matching things. I had these interesting oriental rugs I took from my mom’s storage and sprawled them on our living room area.  It paired well with the beautiful settee hubby and I bought on a woodcarver’s shop.

I always believed that designing does not need to be very expensive. I do not have the budget to spend for expensive furnishings and decors. One must try to use their creativeness and resourcefulness to arrive at things they really like. Anyways, beauty lies in everyone’s own perception. What may be beautiful to us may be not to others. So, when I try to create things for my home, I only try to please myself.

Discovering and scouring discounted shops thrilled me. I frequented bargain shops looking for things  that may caught my interest. Who knows, I may get lucky finding cheap rugs. I specifically get interested in things that have ornate designs. I may be lucky finding a Persian rug that I love. That would be amazing! Just don’t forget, practice the art of haggling, too.

Happy bargain shopping!

I might want to insert in this post that Google launches a PEOPLE SERVICE FINDER for someone who is looking for their loved ones trapped in the Japanese earthquake last Friday. This tool may provide help.

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For today, I am sharing what I prepared for my kids on Saturday, so they would not disturb me while I was totally glued on the tv since the Friday’s quake.

Since summer’s here and mangoes are all over the market now and comes cheaper unlike last week..I decided to treat the kids something “not new”, but something easy to prepare with a “tiny yellow twist”.

Since I recently included Grahams crackers in my grocery lists, I decided to do their all-time favorite no-bake Grahams cake…in mango cream!

I put ripe mangoes and half pack of the Alaska evaporated milk and 1 pack of Nestle All-Purpose cream (refrigerate it first)  in the blender…blend, blend, blend until smooth…

Slowly pour in to the pre-arranged Grahams crackers…

Set aside (in room temperature) until the cream penetrates the layered crackers…

My kids loved the new “sweet twist”…

Refrigerate…and, INDULGE!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: It is essential that we eat more fruits because an ounce of fruit serving has less calorie while an ounce of sugar has more than 200 calories.

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This meat mincer from Moulinex is a wedding gift given by my sister-in-law. I got married in 1992, so this small helper was in my kitchen THAT LOOOONG. It has been my company for making not-so-gourmet-recipes, but surely, this handy appliance helped me a lot, budget wise, and it’s very easy to use and to store.

I often used this whenever I needed ground meat for dishes like lumpiyang shanghai, siomai, spaghetti, and even chicken spread. It can also be used for grinding veggies I needed for my lumpiya. So versatile.

From the time I got this, I no longer buy ground meat at the supermarket. Anyways, I still prefer buying fresh poultry and meat at our local market.

so small yet very functional...

this Moulinex item used to be white, now, it's more of creamy white because of frequent usage ^_^

there's the pork. cut into smaller pieces and most importantly...the blade could not tolerate grinding the skin...

there it goes...nicely done...

there's attachment where you can do longganisa or small sausages, too. nice e ^_^

after mincing, parts can be separated...

...for easy cleaning, and...

the bottom panel has a small storage for the cord...no wires, no mess!

I just so loved this kitchen helper. It has weathered all the hardship I was supposed to bear. Since hubs and I got married, we’re into this small backyard piggery which until now supports our family’s income. And this is one tool that necessitates what we have started.