Kitchen Tips (Part II)

Here's the continuation of the kitchen tips which I posted a few days ago. I do hope that it will help others who are following or reading my blog. Here it goes...

To improve the flavor of green string beans, place 1 or 2 small onions in kettle before adding beans.

Singe chicken or other fowl by holding over burner of oil or gas stove.

When baking whole fish, wrap in well-oiled cheesecloth. When fish is done, it can be lifted from baking pan without falling to pieces. To remove cloth, slip a spatula under fish and slide cloth out after fish is on platter.

When prok or beef liver is tough, run it through a food chopper. Season and drop by spoonfuls into hot frying pan.

Wash fresh pineapples thoroughly before paring. Cover parings with water and cook until soft. Use strained juice for making jelly.

To keep muffins from burning around the edges, fill one section with water instead of batter.

Stick 2 or 3 pieces of macaroni in the center of the top of a double crust pie. The juice bubbles up these sticks and prevents pie from running over.

Do not beat egg whites for cakes or meringue until ready to use. If allowed to stand, some of the white will return to liquid.

To prevent onions from burning your eyes, hold them under water when peeling or slicing them.

Watch Your Favorite TV Show Anytime At Charter On Demand

My hubby's day is not complete without watching his favorite tv shows. When he was still working, right after he gets home from work, he turn on the tv and sat their in the living room and rest while watching his favorite afternoon show, George Lopez. He will then ask me to give him something to snack on and eat as he sit on his favorite chair. During night time, he is still glued in front of the tv watching his all time favorite show CSI. Watching tv shows is my hubby's favorite past time. Sometimes we had to argue on what tv show we wanna watch because I'm not interested in the shows he fondly watch. There were times that I missed my favorite tv shows because of that.

Then I heard about Charter Digital which allows me to watch my missed tv programs anytime for FREE. Sounds good isn't it. I can watch my favorite tv shows whenever hubby is not watching his shows. I checked it out to learn more at charter.net/ondemand and found out that if you have a Charter Digital connection, you have a free access to over 6,000 movies that you can watch anytime you want. This is also great if you have kids who can't wait for TV schedules and want to watch kids' shows right away. Charter Digital also does HD shows so that you don't need to have an HD TV in order to watch one. If you are interested to what I am talking about here, just head on and get updates and fun extras on Charter’s Facebook page. So to all my friends in Facebook, you better check this out and have fun.

Kitchen Tips (Part I)

I was going through all my books especially my cook books a few days ago. I got quite a few cook books but the Mennonite Community Cook book caught my eye. The book was sent to me by a foreigner friend whom I met in a dating site way back when I was still single. He sent the cook book to me together with a concordance Bible. This cook book is quite thick with lots of recipes in it. It has also some household hints that are very helpful to housewives like me. I thought of sharing it here.

Dry green celery or parsley leaves until crumbly. Store in covered jars to use as seasoning and fillings.

After rice has been cooked and drained, place a slice of dry bread on top of the rice and cover. The bread will absorb the moisture and the rice will be dry and fluffy.

Before melting chocolate, rub the inside of the pan it is to be melted in with butter. The chocolate will not stick to the pan.

When washing pans and dishes to which food has adhered during cooking, turn the pan outside down in steaming, sudsy water. Food will loosen in a ery short time.

When cookie dough is soft and difficult to handle, place it between pieces of waxed paper that have been floured. Roll to desired thickness, remove top paper and cut cookies.

To gel fruit juices that are difficult to gel, such as peach juice, add 1 1/3 teaspoons plain gelatin to each cup of juice. Soften gelatin in 3 teaspoons juice and add to remaining hot juice. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice to each quart of fruit juice.

Before discarding the empty catsup bottle, pour some vinegar into the bottle and use in making French dressing.

Pour melted paraffin on the cut end of cheeses or dried beef to keep them from molding or drying up.

Your Car Parts

My husband knows how to do auto mechanic works. When there's something wrong in our car, he's the one fixing it. My hubby used to have a wrecking yard before so he has a good experience in fixing cars. He told me that when buying car parts, he considers carpartswarehouse.com as the leading provider of auto parts online. They have a large selection of wholesale prices for all major auto maker parts which you can see in their easy to use car parts catalog. You can shop with confidence in their site and get free shipping. So check out http://www.carpartswarehouse.com for all your car parts needs.

Ginataang Kalabasa At Sitaw Once Again

I love cooking and eating veggies. Squash or kalabasa is one of my favorite vegetables. My garden in Texas was full of squash last year and I cooked a lot of it when I harvested. I even gave some to my Mexican neighbor and she said it was good. See how coconut milk enhances the taste of this recipe. I cooked this recipe before and posted it here.

INGREDIENTS:
1 squash, peeled and cubed
a bunch of sitaw (10-15 pcs)
8 pcs okra
1 medium size onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of ground beef or
1/4 kilo of shrimp (whatever kind of your choice from the small one to the big ones)
1 cup of coconut milk
oil for cooking
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste or ginisa flavor mix

DIRECTIONS:
Put oil on a saucepan and saute the garlic and onion, after that put your choice of "sahog" (beef, pork or shrimp), then put the squash and saute for a while then add the okra and the sitaw then again saute again for a while then add the water. Cook for a few minutes and then add the coconut milk and cook until the veggies are done then seasoned with salt and pepper to taste or some ready ginisa mix if you want. Then serve with steam rice.

Sun-Bird Makes The Difference

Though my hubby is American, he loves to eat Asian foods. It's my fault, I got him addicted into it. He said he loves my cooking. Before he met me, hubby don't eat vegetables. His meals generally consist of mashed or fried potatoes, burger sandwich and pizzas. But after we got married, he became addicted with Filipino and Chinese foods. Whatever I cook he eats. Being a Filipina, I love to cook stir fry vegetables. My youngest step-daughter don't like to eat vegetables but when she tasted my stir fry veggies mixed with beef, she said it tasted so good. Since then, she enjoyed eating it.

The secret of my good cooking is the Sun-Bird seasoning. This is America’s #1 Asian seasoning brand. Sun-Bird seasoning products give food a true, authentic Asian flavor. It is very much affordable even if your budget is tight. They have variety products for stir fry, fried rice, chow mein, honey sesame chicken, pad thai, thai curry - and many more. Sun-Bird lets you put something a little more exciting on your table. Even if you're just an amateur cook, you will have a delicious and sumptous foods if you use their seasonings. You can find Sun-Bird’s Sauce Mixes, Soup Mixes and Classic 3-step Meal Kits in your grocer’s Asian section. Try using these products and it will make a lot of difference in your cooking.

Right now, Sun-Bird is giving away 15 Blu-RayTM Disc players. Entry forms can be found at your grocery store, where Sun-Bird seasonings products are sold. Contest runs through October 31, 2009. Hurry, visit your local grocery stores today and buy these products then join the contest. Who knows, you might win.

Beefsteak, Filipino Style

My hubby is not very fond of steaks but when I cooked this recipe, he loved it. The calamansi and the onions added a good flavor for this beefsteak recipe. We call this bistek tagalog in our language.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb beef, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
3 pcs. onions
3/4 cup soy sauce
2 pcs. calamansi, juice only
cooking oil

PROCEDURE
1. Marinate the beef in soy sauce and calamansi for at least 15 minutes (or overnight)
2. Slice the onions into rings. Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions, remove and set aside.
3. Using the same pan, fry the beef.
4. Add the marinade and allow to simmer until the sauce has reduced.
5. Top with the onions before serving.

Ride A Bike

It's been a while that I've been bugging my hubby to lost weight. He had gained weight these past few months, not only him but me also. One way to shed off those excess pounds is to ride my stationary bike for at least 30 minutes a day. It make me sweat after that. I've been asking my hubby to ride it too but he don't like it. What he did, he fixed the old bike of my father that was kept for many, many years. He repainted it and bought new tires and pedal and now it looks great. It almost look like new like one of those xyz bicycles that I've seen online. They really look nice. Now hubby had started riding his bicycle and it made him sweat and I hope it will help him lose some weight.

Chop Suey

One of my favorite Chinese recipes is chop suey. I just love vegetables mixed with some meat and this recipe is just perfect for a veggie lover like me. In fact we had this during our wedding anniversary. It was gone so quick.

Ingredients:
1 lb. beef or round steak
Vegetable oil for cooking
4 pcs carrots, sliced
1 c. onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
8 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 lb green beans, sliced
1 medium size cabbage, sliced
2 pcs. chayote, sliced
1/4 lb mushroom
2 c. water
6 tbsp. cornstarch in 1 c. water, mixed

Cut steak into slivers. Brown in small amount of vegetable oil. Add garlic, onion and saute. Then add soy sauce and 2 cups water. Simmer for a few minutes. Add all the vegetables. Add 2 more cups water. Thicken corn starch with 1 cup water to thickness wanted. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add more water if desired. Serve with hot cooked rice.

Join the Adventure with Jacks Quest!

In a couple of weeks time, Halloween will be here. I bet most people are excited to wear their costumes that they bought for that day. If you don't have a costume yet, it's not yet late to Buy Halloween Costumes Online or in a Halloween Store Near You. You can choose from their line of collections the costume that will catch your attention. My hubby doesn't celebrate Halloween because he said it's for the devil. But last year I wore a flapper costume and I just posed, danced and turned around in front of my hubby. He was amazed and he just laughed out loud.
Right now Jack's Quest, the spokesperson for HalloweenAdventure.com wants to invite all the people from all over the United States to tell and show their Adventures from the last Halloween Season. Just go to their website and submit your Halloween adventures either stories, photos or videos and America will vote on them and the best adventures will win. You can also vote for your favorites. I just joined and submit a photo. Please click the button below to vote for me.

Brown Sugar Banana Pecan Muffins

A week ago, I baked again banana pecan muffins. This is my favorite and my family too. I still have a lot of pecans in the fridge. I froze it so it will last longer. BTW, I baked banana pecan muffins before but with another ingredients. I think I like this recipe that I just baked because it has lesser ingredients and the muffins still came out yummy and delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* 18 pieces muffin liners

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in vanilla and banana. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Blend the banana mixture into the flour mixture; stir just to combine. Fold in chopped pecans. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins with liners about 3/4 full and place a pecan on top of each muffin for garnish.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.

Get Ready For Trick Or Treat

Halloween is fast approaching. This is the day that most kids are eagerly waiting because they get to go trick or treat to different houses and get some candies. Also they are so excited to wear their costumes for that day. Most stores now are displaying and selling those stuffs for halloween. So parents are you ready for that day? Your kids will do a lot of walking going house to house for trick or treat on Halloween. So why not prepare them by giving them a healthy diet. A healthy alternative for Halloween's treat is something like the shelf stable Tetra Pak cartons milk. It is healthy and nutritious and it's available in chocolate, strawberry and plain white flavor. It is convenient on the go and you can have a yummy treat anytime any day. Instead of giving your kids soda to drink which is not healthy, why not give them milk. Hershey's and Organic Valley wants to spread the word about their Trick Or Treat Me campaign. Visit their site and give them your support by clicking Trick Or Treat Me on Twitter. For evry tweet you sent to your friends, Tetra Pak will donate 10 cents to the World Wildlife Fund. This is for a good cause and I'm pretty sure it will be fun.