Sibuyas Republic

The afternoon heat was unbearable. As always, the kids were all tucked in our room where the AC is keeping them a little colder. However, they all raced back to the kitchen as soon as they smell the aroma of what was baking in the oven.

Cheesecakes! Made 2 dozens of this easy-peasy cheese cupcakes.

Here’s the simple procedure.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
3 large eggs
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup fresh milk
1 cup refined sugar
1 pinch salt
1 tablespoon vanilla (optional)
1 cup cream cheese (I used Philadelphia cream cheese)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese for toppings

Cooking Procedure:

• Preheat oven at 375 degree F.
• Sift together flour and baking powder. Add in the pinch of salt. Set aside.
• In a bowl, beat the butter on low speed until thick, slowly add in the eggs. One at a time.
• Add in the sugar, milk, and vanilla. Beat for 2-3 minutes.
• Then, slowly add the flour mixture. Beat at medium speed for 5 minutes.
• Fold in the cream cheese using the spatula. No need to use the beater/mixer.
• Slowly pour the mixture into the muffin cups.
• Add grated cheddar cheese on top.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

TIP: You can also make frosting out of the remaining cream cheese. Beat together cream cheese, butter and 2 tablespoons water with mixer on low speed until well blended. Frost the cupcakes.

However, I decided to just go with the cheese on top because the kids always prefer their cupcakes straight from the oven -hot, moist and Oh-so-cheesy!

What a blessed Friday afternoon. Enjoy your weekend!

After sharing you the Mango Pie (which was baked), I want to share another fruit pie. However, instead of baking, I had opted to fry them in the hopes of achieving that crispier dough a la Jollibee pies

And, look what I got after deep frying the pies on a very hot oil…

Crispier and more tastier fruit pies…

Here’s the quick recipe guide:

For pie dough: Check here my easy-peasy basic pie crust recipe.

For filling: Since I have sweetened jackfruit in the fridge, I decided to make it as pie filling combined with sweetened banana (saging saba).

Procedure:

• Knead the dough, then form into whatever shape you desire. Place the filling near the center of each form dough then seal.
• Deep-fry into a very hot oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Let me share you the difference between frying and baking pies. (applies also to meat pies)

Texture. I must say, the difference between baked pies and fried pies are in the texture. Frying pies will result in a more crispier dough. With baked pies, the texture will depend on how minutes the pies stay in the oven. More minutes means you’ll have a crunchier dough. While baking the pies in shorter minutes will achieve a chewy dough.

Concern for health. Naturally, frying means using oil. If you are one who’s been avoiding oils and other fats, baking pies is more the better choice.

Taste. Pies, whether baked or fried, are equally delicious. However, frying intensifies the flavor of the butter (in the dough mix) which is then mixed into the filling which makes the it more flavorful and moist.

Honestly, me and my family prefers frying the pies.

What about you? Have you tried making your own pies? It’s a great snack for the whole family.

Maybe, this is the most common dessert most Filipinos love to prepare. Why? It’s a no-bake, no-fuss preparation. It’s a super easy sweet treat that everybody loves to indulge.

Including my family. I guess, we’ve come up with more versions than I can remember -we made ripe mangoes as topping, and Oreo topping, too.

Even kids can do this dessert. Boy! They love doing this dessert. So, I am hands-free. Er, I have to do the dishwashing

Anyways, here are the ingredients.

2 packs crushed Grahams
2 package of All-Purpose cream (chill and mix until thick)
2 cups fruit mix
2 cups honey (I use pancake syrup)

Preparation:

• Mix together the crushed Grahams and the honey/syrup.
• Press half of the mixture into a pan.
• Pour in half of the cream.
• Place the remaining Grahams mixture then pour the cream.
• Then, top with fruit mix.

Done!

Let’s indulge with this pretty simple dessert.

Let kids do kitchen preps.

Thank you kids for helping me out. It always feels great knowing that kids show interest in cooking. It’ll be a lot of mess when kids take active part in kitchen preps. Never mind the mess. What’s more important is the learning experience they’ll reap out of the activity.

From the time the husband gifted me a small stand-up mixer, I had been painstakingly trying hard to bake. I began with cookies, cupcake, loaf bread, pies, easy cakes and more. Oftentimes, I get heartbreaking results with my “creations”. But, that doesn’t stop me from moving forward to learn more of baking.

We love to eat. We’re sweet-tooths here. So, instead of buying from bakery shops, it’ll give me a lot of savings if I’m going to bake all the goodies we crave.

Thank heavens that I fared well baking this carrot cake. It’s my no-fuss, no-fancy-ingredients-take on the classic carrot cake.

The ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder (optional)
4 cups grated carrots

 Procedure:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and eggs until thick then, stir in the oil.
• Gradually mix in the sifted dry ingredients.
• Fold in the carrots.

• Then, spread evenly into the greased pan.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes.

DONE!

Honestly, I was surprised at how it turned out. The cake is soft and moist despite the simplicity of the ingredients.

’nuff said. Let’s eat. There’s a whole tray to indulge.

I’m a happy newbie baker. I don’t have to spend more on bakery goods every time we visit the city.

Have you tried baking at home? What your favorite dish to bake?

This is another recycled recipe which I wanna share with you moms out there.

I have left-over smoke ham (home made) which had been staying in the freezer for a month already.

One day when I had been thinking what to feed my family, I came to decide I wanna make some shepherd’s pie or cottage pie, whatever it’s called.

I have ground beef in the freezer, too. But, I opted to use the frozen ham instead. Para magamit na siya…

So, there, here’s what I prepared as the ingredients for this recipe…

Cooking Procedure:

• I sauteed the onions, garlic, the meat (which I mince in my meat mixer). I add in some veggies -carrots, green peas- and cube ham. Then season with salt, pepper, chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce.
• Then, I place the meat mixture into a Pyrex dish.

• Topped with a generous amount of mashed potato.

• Then, grate quickmelt cheese on top…

Hmmm, what a great aroma wafting in the air as it bakes for 25-35 minutes at 320 degrees Fahrenheit.

A small slice for me…Perfect for bread toasts, or pasta or serve with rice.

Enjoy!

PS: Here’s another recycled Cottage Pie dish. No leftovers are left undone.

I may not have cooked it the way bakery shop does it, but, I am glad it’s edible and that my family likes it.

From the time I started making pies, it became a regular in our table -Apple Pie (click for recipe), meat pies, fruit pies. As I said, at first, I find dough making as intimidating. Not anymore. Can do pie crust even without measurements

Here’s recipe for the Egg Pie.

For the crust: Check the Apple Pie recipe for the easy crust procedure.

For the egg filling:

3 large eggs
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup all-purpose cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
lemon rind (optional)

Cooking Procedure:

• When you’re done with the dough, knead it and place it in a lightly grease pie pan. Refrigerate while you are preparing the filling.
• Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Scald the milk in the microwave oven for 2 minutes. If you do not microwave oven, you can also heat the milk into your stove for 3-4 minutes.
• Next, in a separate bowl, beat the eggs, add the sugar, vanilla extract, cream and lemon rind. Mix until well blended.
• Slowly add into the milk and mix thoroughly.
• Gently pour over the egg mixture into the refrigerated pie crust.
• Bake for 15 minutes (Reduce the heat from 350 to 320 degrees F)

Serve and indulge in this Filipino version of the Egg Custard.

Baking your own desserts/foods saves you money.

(Blurry photos: courtesy of my low-res iPod)

Too soon for Valentine’s? I agree. But, these reds couldn’t wait unto the red day. You know how sensitive strawberries are.

By the way, thanks to the daughter, the Baguio college lass, for bringing these 100 pesos-a-kilo-babies home.

And, Oh! These reds? And, so very sweet? They’re eaten fresh!

Might as well, try my luck for that dessert dish I watched on TV.

Enough of the intro. Let’s get it on with the Strawberry Shortcake.

For the chewy dough (right side of the photo below). Here’s what I did.

What you need:

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose flour
half cup butter (chilled)
1 cup all-purpose cream
dash of salt
1/3 cup of sugar (or less for those on the diet)

How to make the dough:

• Place flour in a medium deep container. Add salt. Mix thoroughly.
• Cut the butter into smaller pieces and mix in to the flour.
• Mix until it resembles corn meal.
• Pour in the cream. Mix until well blended and form into a ball. TIP1: Add cold water to adjust the consistency of the dough. Not enough please or you’ll get a soggy dough.
• Refrigerate the dough for 5-10 minutes.
• Afterwards, knead the dough until elastic.
• Cut the dough into desired size and form each one into a ball.
• Then, flatten each dough. This should not be intimidating as you can form any shape you want. Nothing fancy here.
• Then, bake each dough medium heat for 15 minutes or less depending on how chewy you want.
• Then prepare the strawberry and the toppings. (of your choice)

In the TV ad, they grilled the strawberries. For me, I prefer them fresh as it is. Just cut each strawberry into quarters.

Viola! Let’s eat. Let’s eat.

For this topping, I used chilled cream. TIP2: Don’t forget to whip the cream before using. It gives that consistency oh-I-don’t-know Arrange the strawberries on top. Pour in choco syrup. Done

Perfect dessert!

Wanna make one for Valentine’s Day?

The easiest and cheapest recipe I have discovered. Not to mention, super healthy, too.

I was inspired to cook this when we ordered “Stir-Fry Kangkong in Garlic Sauce” at Gerry’s Grill last Christmas. Me and the husband insisted we ordered it for the kids to try. All they knew about eating kangkong is when I cooked fish sour stew. When the dish was served, the kids were hesitant at first. Seeing that there’s no meat products and there’s lots of fried garlic, they just stared blankly on the plated dish.  I had to use my popular convincing power. “Better try first before saying NO.”

It worked! They liked the kangkong dish. Even the little girl, who used to get grumpy when I would let her have veggies.

So, I cooked my own version.

This one’s super easy. I tell you.

What you need:

*2 bunches of kangkong (market bought for 5 pesos a bunch)
*3-4 cloves of garlic
*half cup oyster sauce
*ground black pepper
*salt (optional. Oyster sauce is seasoned with salt already)

Cooking procedure:

• Mince 3-4 cloves of garlic. Stir-fry in oil. Set aside half of it for garnishing.
• Add the kangkong stems and leaves. Stir-fry until the veggies turn dark green.
• Pour in desired amount of oyster sauce. Add ground black pepper.
• Mix in and that’s it.

TIP: Do not add water to this recipe as kangkong tends to give off its own moisture as you cook.

This is my kids’ new favorite veggie dish. I’m a happy mom. Why?

Kangkong dish is cheap. Less than 50 pesos for this dish?

This kangkong recipe is super easy. In less than 15 minutes (including preparation) I am done cooking!

This dish is uber healthy. Kangkong has the most affordable sources of vitamins and minerals -Calcium, Magnesium, Niacin, Iron, Zinc, Folate, Vitamins A and C, Thiamine, Riboflavin, and packed with dietary fiber.

Add this one in your regular cooking.

Colder weather ask for hot dishes. We have noodles, sopas, arroz caldo, and ginatan as snacks when the weather gets too cold. But, one day the daughter had other in mind. She offered to cook something hot.

The Dynamite. We tried this chili wrapped in lumpiya wrapper at a food kiosk when we were in Baguio City.

The recipe is very simple.

Ingredients:

• Jalapeno chilies (siling panigang)
• cheese sticks
• lumpiya wrapper
• salt and pepper (optional)
• oil for frying

Direction:

• Cut chili in half.
• Stuff the cheese stick inside the chili.
• Wrap in lumpiya wrapper.
• Deep fry for 2 minutes.

TIP: Remove the seeds if you want less heat. As in any other chilies, the spice originates in the seeds.

Ka-Boom!!!

Another quick pasta dish that my kids love.

Ingredients:

Pasta cooked according to packaged directions

Chicken breast boiled and shredded

Bell pepper, cubed

cubed ham

canned mushrooms

celery (optional)

bacon (fried and garnish on top: optional)

heavy cream

cheddar cheese

onions, garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Procedure:

• Saute the bell pepper. Add in the garlic then the onions.
• Drop in the chicken, ham, mushrooms.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Pour in the cream.
• Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes and add in cheese.
• Mix in with the pasta and top with diced fried bacon.

Enjoy your creamy pasta.