Carrot Cake A La Riz

4 Apr

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?

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Drive And Travel Safely With These 3 Important Tips

31 Mar

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.

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Good Friday Lunch

29 Mar

A simple Good Friday lunch turned out to be a feast. My boys asked for grilled tilapia and some eggplants. So, I told them I’d cooked some “buro” -burong kanin na may isda (fermented rice with fish). It’s a perfect dip for the fish and veggies.

In case you are wondering what is a buro and how to prepare this local gravy. Hop on to here.

Have a blessed Good Friday. Let us keep in our hearts how Jesus had suffered and died on the cross to pay for our sins in order for us to have Eternal Life.

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Banana/Langka Wrap

27 Mar

Here goes the “langka” fruit we picked from the tree…

Much as we enjoyed eating the sweet and fresh fruit, I had to sweetened the rest so I can store them on the fridge. I just added a little sugar (refined sugar) and the julienned jackfruit and let boil for 15 minutes. It’s done…

To make our Holy Thursday afternoon quite ‘alive”, I cook some “turon” (saba bananas rolled in lumpiya wrapper) and added sweetened langka pieces into the filling. Then, deep fried.

Merienda time!

Did you know that eating jackfruit has this many health benefits?

Vitamin Content. Aside from jackfruit as a good source of Vitamin C, it also contains Vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, potassium, iron, sodium, zinc and niacin among many other nutrients.

Natural Antioxidants. Lignans, isoflavones and saponins are naturally found in jackfruit. These are said to have potent antioxidant properties.  These phytonutrients have wide ranging health benefits which can prevent cancer cells from forming in the body. These nutrients can also help lower blood cholesterol and can help combat the signs of aging.

Aid in Weight Loss. Aside from the vitamins and significant nutrients jackftuit has, it can also benefit those who are watching thie food intake. Jackfruit has a low caloric content -100 grams of jackfruit contains 94 calories only.

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Summer Means Halo-Halo

25 Mar

Halo-halo has become a Filipino culture. And so, roadside halo-haluan in our community sprouts like mushrooms. For 15 peso per 12-ounce disposable cup, you get that indulgent and icy cold Pinoy dessert. Nothing beats summer here than a glass of halo-halo.

And, to make sure I do not spend 15 pesos x 5 or 7 (when niece and nephew makes palibre) a day on halo-halo, I get to prepare our own halo. It’s like “do your own halo-halo, make sawa-sawa on the ingredients”.

I bought sago and powdered gulaman on the market and cooked them accordingly. I have to cook the sago with a little brown sugar, just to make sure it’s clean and safe to eat. I also cook sweet potatoes (a.k.a kamote) and saba bananas -sweetened them with brown sugar and pour in few drops of vanilla just for flavor. Then, the leche flan -I try to cook as many as 6 llaneras (aluminum mold) of this dessert either for halo-halo or as dessert. We’re really a family of sweet tooths.

From those sangkap (the red mongo beans and nata de coco are store bought), the rest of the family can enjoy “Eat-All-You-Can-Halo-Halo).

Beat the summer heat. Enjoy halo-halo. Indulge!

Any time of the day.


PS.

I must tell you how excited the kids can it be preparing their own halo-halo. One kid doesn’t like kamote, one kid doesn’t like mongo beans. However, they tend to add in more of their favorite ingredients especially the leche flan and sweetened bananas.

They even ask me to cook ube (purple yam). Geez! Can they have enough?

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Leftover Turn Shepherd’s Pie

20 Mar

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.

  • 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.

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How To Watch Old Movies At High Quality Format

17 Mar

There are times that you wanted to watch some old or vintage movies at home. But the problem is, such movies won’t play at most DVD or movie players nowadays. Aside from that, it might be a bit painful for you to watch it because of its low quality audio and video format.

But nowadays, watching old movies and video clips at home is not a big problem anymore. There are already ways to convert and watch them at today’s high quality standards. Here are few of those known methods that are quite popular and effective.

Hire Experts To Convert The Movie

There are online services like CyberLink that convert old movies into a HD and even 3D format. They are not free though, in fact, they are quit a bit pricey since the conversion will take a lot of hours and especial tools and skills to do so.

Use Special Movie Player Software

If conversion of old movie is too much for you, then getting or buying a tool to play old movies is what I can recommend. You can buy and check out the movie player software from CyberLink that can play old movies into HD quality. This is more practical than the first method I wrote above.

If you follow the two given methods above, for sure you can watch and fully enjoy old movies or DVDs at its highest quality format.

Food Spotting: Ilocos Empanada

10 Mar

Of all the suggested foodies people have asked me to try while in Ilocos, I took fancy on their popular Empanada (baked pastry). Why? Oh! I simply love empanadas.

And so, when we reach Batac town (still in Ilocos Norte), I chance upon this new building just in front of the Marcos Museum. Locals call the building Batac Riverside Empanadahan. The well-maintained building comprise of a series of eatery with its famed empanada taking the centerstage. While other moms are busy shopping for souvenir stuff, I tag two of my mommy friends to have a taste of the Ilocos Empanada.

As I said the place is well-maintained plus the empanadas are cooked in front of you. So, you get that piping hot and crispy pastry.

I bide my time to watch this empanada maker how he kneaded the dough until it becomes too thin and filled with nutritious veggies and then, finally, deep-fried few pieces into the hot pan.

Why Batac Empanada is popular?

The Filling: Not your typical meat pies. Ilocos empanada is made of vegetable filling -grated green papaya, bean sprouts, and their very own local longganisa.Plus of course, the egg in the middle which makes it all the more, Oh! So temptingly delicious. Really.

The Dough: Where we often use flour as our dough for our pies, in Batac or the rest of the municipalities there, they use rice flour instead of flour. That must’ve  made the empanada more crispier and tastier.

The Color. Golden orange which makes the empanada more inviting. This golden empanada distinguished itself from other empanadas particularly the Vigan Empanada at Plaza Burgos which uses no food coloring but equally delicious also. Cooks use atswete (annato) as food color.

The Price: 35 pesos each or 3 for 100. Not bad. Considering its size and the filling and a whole egg in every piece.

Enough saying… LET’S EAT!


Believe me. I did finished two empanadas in one sitting.

BURP! BURP!

PS: If you haven’t yet decided where to go this summer, why not explore the province of Ilocos. Surely, it’s an enjoyable place where the whole family could truly enjoy. Definitely worth a visit.

Our Ilocos Norte tour: Bangui Windfarm in Ilocos Norte

Our Ilocos Sur tour: Vigan Heritage Site

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Dessert to Love at Shakey’s

27 Feb

This one’s I recommend for those who’ll dine in at Shakey’s. Not so much for the ice-cream. But, the brownie underneath is super-like. I enjoyed the three-flavored brownie…

Marble Brownie a la Mode
174 pesos

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Egg Pie

20 Feb

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)

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