Sibuyas Republic

Again, these foodies are not restaurant-quality dishes. These were lovingly prepared and served at yesterday’s Father’s Day lunch. A collective effort from the the family.

*Simple Caesar’s salad, a simple take on Chicken a la King, stuffed bell peppers, and Carrot Cake for dessert.

No dining out on Father’s Day for us. The eldest daughter just arrived from Manila. She lacked sleep -tired and hungry. So, I decided it’s best if I will just cook at home and celebrate even in the simplest manner.

I have always said, I’d like to cook at home for my family. I always believe I achieved these three most significant elements doing so:

Cooking at home saved me a lot of money. When dining out, you tend to order more especially when there’s new dishes offered on the menu. That would mean shelling out more money. And, yes, did I say, value added taxes are increasing. Look at the the tab every time you dine out.

Cooking at home made me more health conscious than ever before. As a homemaker, you tend to learn more about nutrition. Thus, serving only what you know is best for my family. Of course, we enjoyed sugars, spice and everything nice, too. What’s important is, home cooking is very transparent -you know what you are using as key ingredients -you know on hand, what is there to add and to lessen.

Lastly, cooking at home made our family enjoy our togetherness a lot. Messy kitchen was the biggest err especially when kids are the ones taking in charge. But, what do we care? Forget the mess, forget the errs at most times trying to perfect a recipe or simply discovering a recipe. Everyday is a moment in the kitchen -the cooking experience (eating burnt foods were too often) and the momentous bond it effects us as a family. That’s priceless.

Event like today, Father’s Day, or even without special occasion, we enjoyed this kind of set-up -dining at home.

 There you go. That’s the benefit of home cooking to us. What about in your family? Do you enjoy eating home cooked meals?

I hate waking up very early in the morning. However, I got no choice as the kids’s school have already started. I had to get up early and prepare breakfast and their lunches.

Preparing pack lunches

I must admit, preparing kid’s lunches for school is intimidating. It’s very easy to think what to cook. However, it’s kind of frustrating when at the end of the day, you’ll see their lunches half eaten or barely not eaten at all. This saddens my heart.

Meat and always meat

You know how kids would often ask for dishes that they often see in their classmate’s lunchboxes. The other day, our youngest daughter asked me if she could have “Tocino” (sweetened cured pork) or hotdogs everyday as her “baon” (pack lunch). She said there have been few classmates who bring as such as their pack lunches. I said, no, in the most courteous way. Adding that they can have those in their breakfast here at home. And, I also told her that she and her “Kuya” (brother) will have to have vegetables in their “baon”. My remark doesn’t seem to make her happy.

Vegetables are a no-no?

I am not so sure why kids’ pack lunches here are devoid of vegetables. One reason must be the preparation. Moms tend to prepare the easiest dishes. And, mostly, those are anything fried -fried chicken, fried pork, adobo, and yes, processed meat products which are easier to prepared.

Because of the complexity vegetable dishes require in preparation and cooking, most moms tend not to include them in kids’ pack lunches. One more thing, the thought that kids would just dished out the vegetables, moms opt to cooking meat dishes instead.

How to prepare veggie dishes the easiest way

In our case, to cut out the preparation time, I will have to prepare the vegetables and other ingredients after dinner time. In this way, when I do wake up in the morning, all I have to do is cook them along.

Just like what I did today. I wanted the kids to have vegetables in their pack lunches. So, I made easy stir fry veggies. And, to balance their food needs, I added their favorite fried chicken.

This was the same food group that were in my kids’ lunch boxes earlier. And, yes, I was happy finding empty boxes when they came home late in the afternoon.

It’s always easy preparing veggie dishes. It’s all about time management. A little effort on our part as moms, so we can provide our kids with the balance nutrients that their body needs.

What have you prepared your kids’ pack lunches for today?

Just got done checking on my two kids’ stuff for tomorrow’s first day of school. They are so ready and excited.

Earlier today, after attending the 8 am Sunday mass, we drop by at the public market to buy fresh meats and local produce. I need to stock up on more foodies for their packed lunches including sandwiches.

The first pack of loaf bread was ‘wasted’ today. Lol. Instead of ending up as sandwiches for tomorrow’s first day of class, the kids suggested we make pizza toast.

So, for this lazy Sunday, here’s the fate of the loaf bread.

Pizza Toast

What you need:

6-10 pcs of loaf bread
Leftover spaghetti sauce
Quickmelt cheese
Toppings (be it additional meat toppings or veggies)

Procedure:

• Just spread 2 teaspoonful of spaghetti sauce over loaf bread.
• Add in your kids’ favorite toppings. I forgot to buy bell pepper earlier, so I used up onion rings instead. No need to add meaty toppings because the spaghetti sauce has lots of ground meat, ham slices and mushrooms.
• Top with quickmelt cheese.
• Place in an oven toaster for 3-5 minutes and it’s ready.

Great snack for the kids.

Quick Tip: Store spaghetti sauce on your freezer

Good thing, I have always saved spaghetti sauce on the freezer. I must say, there’s a helluva of things you can do with red sauces. So, if you have hungry kids who are always requesting for spaghetti, it’s good to stock up on more. Because you’ll never know when they would request pasta anytime soon.

Besides, read sauces (spaghetti sauce) are so versatile, you can do a lot out of it. Of course, it can be great as pizza sauce, or the pizza toast above, can be great with tacos or nachos, too.

So, there. Our Sunday afternoon went well. The kids had fun snacking while playing while we adults were content at salivating over perdomo champagne 10th anniversary promo we found on the net earlier.

Wishing you a great week ahead, mommies. We’re gonna be busy again tending our school kids.

Another easy but equally creamy-liscious dish that my family love is baked macaroni. Oh! Serve them anything pasta and they will surely consume it in no time. We love pasta dishes that’s it’s our all-around meal- be it on breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack time. Just pair it with something else like toasted bread or fried chicken, and the whole gang is consumed.

And so, for tonight, I made Baked Macaroni. For those who are thinking it’s too “laborious” a recipe. Nope. It’s just actually the pasta (choose whatever pasta shape you prefer) and our favorite red sauce (tomato sauce).

Storing pasta sauces saves you time in cooking preparation

• One reason why it’s easier for me to prepare this recipe is because I always have spaghetti sauce frozen in the freezer. I had to make sure I will cook more pasta sauces -because you’ll never know when your kids will crave for spaghetti again.

Mix pasta with the sauce

• What else is there to prepare after the pasta sauce is done?Surely, you’ll need to cook your pasta. Then, mix the sauce with the pasta onto the baking dish.

Prepare topping and bake

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Prepare the Bechamel Sauce. (Here’s one very basic Bechamel Sauce you can do.)
• Afterwards, pour over the Bechamel onto the pasta mix and bake for 20-25 minutes.

 Your family will enjoy their all-time favorite pasta dish and the creaminess of the topping.

I don’t know if it’s due to my PMS but definitely I have this BIG cravings for sweets.

Without having second thoughts, I went straight into the kitchen (just after lunch) and perspire for 2 hours (preparation and cooking) to come up with this plate-0-sweet.

Bathe in sweetness. I couldn’t care less. I’m going to indulge!

Leche Flan Cooking Tips:

I have been cooking Leche Flan for years now. Mind you, it’s an intimidating dessert. There have been too many cooking tips around to come up with better Leche Flans. One thing I discovered today?

Beat and Sieve

That, it’s okay to beat up your egg mixture at high speed (using electric mixer). Yes, it’ll create bubbles. Some say, when there’s too many bubbles, you’ll have a soggy Leche Flan. To solve this, I took out a clean cloth and use as a sieve. Gently pour in the egg mixture into the cloth making sure the bubbles are separated.

Then, pour egg mixture into separate molds.

Use the egg whites, too

Another thing. How many people have you heard to use egg yolks only in cooking Leche Flan? Many I guess. They say, the egg whites are not good in making Leche Flan -Egg whites are full of fats. Eggs whites can only make your Leche Flan create too many air pockets when cooked.

Whether it’s for health purposes or for aesthetic appeal of the dessert, it pains me to waste those egg whites. Especially that I am not making meringue

Steam at very low heat

And to lose those tiny air pockets (I said, sieving is the first solution), here’s what to do. Let the water in your steamer into a rolling boil. Afterwards, you can now lower the heat and start cooking your Leche Flan. You can achieve a super soft and smooth Leche Flan when you cook it at low heat.

Can we enjoy the sweetness now?

Check out How to cook Leche Flan? a la RIZ

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!

As it appears, there’s no stopping everyone in leading a healthy lifestyle. More and more creative ways of preparing healthy food are on the rise. Latest on the list? Juicing.

Google Image

Juicing fruits and vegetables is an excellent way to satisfy your daily intake requirement which is two whole fruits and three veggies per day. By juicing your fruits and veggies, you do not only offer an alternative way of serving them, but you can also mix in a set of fruits and veggies in one drink. So that’s taking in different kinds of nutrients in just one big gulp!

Warning for Diabetics

But while fruit and vegetable juices are undeniably healthy, this wonder drink may not be suitable for some people, like those who have diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. This is because juices, especially those fruit juices, have higher sugar and fructose contents. It is best that diabetics limit their intake of these kinds of drinks until they normalize their bodies’ sugar levels.

Make Use of Those Pulps

But after extracting the juice from the fruits or veggies, what do you do with those pulps? There are a lot of ways you can do with them so that they won’t be put to waste just like that. These pulps can make a healthy ingredient to muffins and cookies. Or better yet, add them into your juice itself! Most of the nutrients in fruits and veggies are on their skin and pulp, so it would be just a waste if you just throw these after extracting the juice.

Juicing is fun and easy. Who knows, this could even be good bonding activity for the family!

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.

If you are searching for beginner’s tips and advice about the world of penny stocks or daytrade, you might become overwhelmed with the vast information the internet can give out. It might be hard for you to differentiate what advice is just fit and right with the kind of penny stocks knowledge you got.

To help you out to get the right tips and advice from penny stocks experts and veterans, I listed down few pointers below. You can use or follow them to trim down the tips and penny stocks adviceyou got online. They work greatly for some penny stocks beginners I know and it might help you out too. So sit down and read thoroughly the tips I have for you below.

Read Updated Penny Stock Blogs

Most penny stock blogs offers beginners guide up to experts’ advice.  Some of them are a bit outdated though. So get your guide only from updated blogs that can surely give you insights and knowledge you need as a penny stocks beginner.

Subscribe To Trusted Newsletters

A quick online search of penny stock newsletters can give you overwhelming result. Make sure to pick and subscribe only to one or two of them. Subscribing to more than 2 newsletters can just make you feel overloaded with information which surely you don’t want at all. So choose your newsletters carefully and when in doubt or you don’t like the initial choices, you can always search and refine the results again.

The world of penny stocks is a bit too much to handle if the knowledge you got is not good enough. So know the basics of it first and follow my above given tips for better learning experience. 

Driving safely not only can save your life (as the driver), but also your passengers and even the bystanders and people at the road. As a driver, you have a great responsibility and you must follow all traffic laws. You are accounted for each and every incident that might happen with you, your vehicle and passengers while on the road.

No matter how careful driver you are, accidents might occur at any given time. But most accidents or severe damages caused by the accident can be prevented or minimized. Check out my below 5 driving tips than can be truly helpful for your road safety.

Get Tested And Pass The Tests First Before Hitting The Road

Getting a driver’s license nowadays is a bit easier than before. Don’t skip or fail any tests though, after all, it’s for your own sake and safety. Nowadays, aside from the road or actual driving tests, there are also written tests that you must pass before getting the required driver’s license. For more information about the driver’s license written test, please check this out.

Test Your Vehicle

Aside from human error, most accidents are accounted for vehicle error or failure. It pays to check your vehicle first from the outside and inside of it for any form of defect, damages or unusual wiring connections.

Obey Road Rules And Regulations

Road law, rules and regulations are enforced for the safety of all people on the road. If there are speed limits, you must follow it and I am quite sure you can safety travel anytime and anywhere you wanted to go.

With the above 3 tips, you can drive safely at any road. You can travel and drive around with peace in mind. Also, make sure you are healthy, alcohol-free and free from any kind of physical pain when driving around to avoid accidents due to human fault or error.