Italian Almond Biscotti

I found this video while I was looking for food that my daughter can bring to school. This is a great way to make the Italian Almond Biscotti. It’s perfect for the kids to snack on and it’s not too fatty. It does, however, have lots of carbs in it and the almond may not be too good for those who suffer from uric acid diseases such as gouty arthritis. Otherwise, it is a great recipe for the family and it is quite easy to do. Enjoy!

Your Basic Muffin/Cupcake Recipe

We’re great muffin/cupcake lovers.  I love them but I don’t really know the difference.  There’s much overlapping definitions.  Anyway, there’s this shop at the Serendra that sells really delectable cupcakes.  And the name of the store is… CUPCAKES by Sonja.  That wasn’t so hard to guess huh?

We haven’t been going to Serendra lately thus it’s been a while since we last had any of those sweet things.  One weeked, I bought this hotcake mix from the grocery.  Unfortunately, though, my family didn’t like the flavor of the pancakes although I thought they were really creamy despite the obvious  lack of the sugar.  So, I had to do something about it that would make it appetizing to my kin.  I thought about making into cupcakes.  True enough, it sold like HOTCAKES!  hehehe

But then I ran out of the mix already.  Thus I had to create my own recipe. It is easier to work with it because it’s mine so I do not have to look for a particular brand.  I can also create other flavors which I like doing.  I’m sharing this with you.  By the way, this is so easy to make that it’s a good business opportunity for my daughter who likes to cook.  Your child might want to do it too.

BASIC MUFFIN RECIPE

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

3 whole eggs

1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Procedure:

sift the dry ingredients together and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, mix oil and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time until the mixture becomes opaque and sugar bits are smaller.  Add in dry ingredients altogether and gently mix the batter but only until the flour gets moistened.  Pour on baking cups lined with muffin paper cups.  bake at 375 degrees until top springs back quickly when lightly touched.

Tips:

Don’t try to dissolve the sugar.  It doesn’t alter the flavor to dissolve it. 

Don’t try to brown the muffin or cook it on low heat.  It will become dry.

I suggest you use a Teflon muffin pan.  If that’s not available, grease the whole top surface of the pan. This will prevent the spillovers from sticking.

Add anything you like to it.  My family’s favorite is banana with nuts.  By the way, you should try the flavored muffin with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream on top of it.  Sooooo gooood!

Fish That Your Family Will Love: Grilled Fish Fillet with Salsa

My husband and my daughter do not like fish so much. Mostly, they just like it fried or grilled. Even then, I can hardly see them enjoy eating when I serve fish. Lately, though, I’ve devised a way to “lure” their tastebuds. First, was to cook it the way that they prefer. Next is to make serve it as attractive as can be using whatever is available in my kitchen. Third, is to add some side dish to add more flavor. Thus, I’ve been able to come up with a meal that doesn’t just appeal to the taste buds, it also looks good. Plus, it’s healthy. So, here’s my recipe:

Ingredients:

Fish Fillet (in 1/2 inch thick slices)

Butter or margarine or olive oil

To make the salsa:

1 large Tomato or about 6 small ones, chopped

1 can corn, whole kernel

1 large bell pepper, chopped

Lemon or Lime (1 or two)

coriander leaves, chopped

salt, to taste

Prepare the salsa by mixing all the ingredients together. Set aside.

Heat a griddle. It is ready when balls form and dance around when water is sprinkled on it. Cook the fish for about 5 to 8 minutes per side. Be careful not to overdo because overcooking will make it lose its flavor. When done, sprinkle some olive oil or spread butter or margarine over it. Serve with lime and the salsa on the side.

Chicken in Tomato and Garlic Pasta

I love pasta not just because it’s so easy to prepare but because there are so many things you can do with it. Last sunday, I came from my meeting at 2 pm and found that my family hadn’t eaten lunch yet. So, I quickly checked what I had in my cabinet, ref and freezer. Not much. But there was a box of penne, lots of tomatoes, garlic, and basil. In the freezer, I had a chicken breast. So, I did a little experiment with those and it turned out to be good that the family loved it. Here’s my recipe:

3 tablespoons olive oil

3/4 kilo fresh tomatoes (or about 2 lbs)

3 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped basil

1 tsp chopped cilantro

1 large chicken breast, sliced

500 grams raw penne

Procedure:

Boil some water to cook your penne in. Refer to the instructions provided with the pack. When the water boils, put in the tomatoes and let it stay there for about 2-3 minutes then remove it. Cook the penne in the same water.

While the penne is cooking, gently peel the tomatoes. The skin should come off easily. Cube them afterwards and set aside. Pound the garlic, take off the skin and mince. set aside. Take the basil and cilantro and chop them too.

On a pan, add oil and garlic together. Saute the garlic for a little while (a minute is fine) over slow heat. Add the tomatoes and the basil-cilantro mixture. Add in chicken and some water from the boiling penne. Some pepper and chili will work fine with it but only if your family wants those. When chicken is cooked, sauce can be removed from fire.

Add the sauce into the pasta just before serving.

Other types of pasta may be used. I just happened to have penne, that’s all.

I hope your family loves it too. Enjoy!

Do The Fondue

Everybody loves chocolate.  At least everyone that I know does.  So, what do you think of melted, warm chocolate with cream?  That’s how chocolate fondue is made.  Since I bought my fondue set and served fondue a number of times, it has not once failed to fetch praises for me.  Here’s my recipe:

220 grams hershey’s chocolate

200 ml cream (all purpose of heavy cream)

Assorted fruits, cheese, large white marshmallows, cake

ground nuts

Take out the chocolate from its individual wrappers.  Mix it with the cream. Let the chocolate melt directly over very low heat or in a double boiler.  What ever you prefer, just don’t burn the chocolate.  Keep stirring until it is just melted.  You don’t have to make it boil because the idea to is to serve it warm but ready to ingest. Transfer your chocolate fondue in the fondue set.

Cut the fruits, cheeses and cake into 1″ x 1″ cubes.  If you are using marshmallows, get the jetpuffed ones from Kraft.  But of course other brands will do too. 

Serve your fruits, cheese, cake, marshmallows and nuts in small bowls, 1 type of food per bowl.  Arrange them around the fondue set and put some forks near it.  Or you can put them in barbecue sticks so they are ready to be dipped in the fondue.  After dipping one fruit or cheese, roll it over some nuts.  Keep the chocolate warm by lighting a candle or burner beneath the fondue bowl.  This will keep the chocolate from hardening.  Give it an occasional stir to keep the chocolate from burning.

Some of the best food for dipping are bananas, pears, apples, cheese and banana cake.  Others like brownies in it but I personally don’t like too much chocolate so I don’t add those.  Anyhow, whatever you like can be dipped.  It’s just a matter of preference.

Some Like It Hot – Rediscovering Curry

Curry has been one of my favorites for some time now. I’ve learned to eat it since I was 18 years old, when my dad cooked in the house of my aunt in Cebu. We had stayed there for about 5 years until the time we bought our own house.

It was on a Christmas eve. We didn’t want anything traditional that year so we had other exotic food. My dad, who is really fond of spicy food, said he’d cook chicken curry. He served it with some bread and since then became a family favorite.

Lately, as I was thinking of something to cook, I remembered how we used to like dad’s curry. Let me share it with you:

Ingredients:

1 kilo Chicken, cut – all thighs, or all legs or breast, or a combination will be fine

Garlic – about 3 cloves, minced. More would be better.

Onion – 1 pc. sliced

Ginger – about the size of a thumb, julienned

1/4 cup vinegar

1 large potato or 2 medium sized ones – cut into wedges

2 cups coconut milk

curry powder

lemon grass (about 15 leaves, bundled)

1 bay leaf

Green peppers – about 6 pieces

Chilli peppers sliced thinly – about 10 pieces (optional; reduce amount if you want it less hot)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Procedure:

Combine vinegar, chicken, black pepper, bay leaf, lemon grass onion, garlic and ginger in a pot with about 1/2 cup water. If you’re using one of those pots that make the juices of meats come out, omit the water. Cover it tightly and cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. Do not stir.

Add 1/2 cup of the coconut milk and the rest of the ingredients to the chicken. When potatoes are done, add the remaining coconut milk. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Notes:

You may replace chicken with beef, pork, lamb, shrimp or any meat. When cooking shrimp or any crustacean, I suggest you take the crustacean off from the fire when cooking the other ingredients. Combine it again when adding the remaining coconut milk. Also, it is better to omit the vinegar for seafoods. Vinegar is better when cooking fish or chicken.

We normally like using freshly baked loaf bread with it. Just slice it and serve. Additionally, you may want to have some butter on your bread and heat it a little. It adds more flavor to the curry.

Serve the curry garnished with slices of green and red bell peppers.

How to eat it? Simple. Get a slice of bread. Break it into small pieces with your hands. Dip a piece into the curry sauce and dunk it in your mouth. Smell the aroma and, hey, watch your diet! Tee hee.

Happy eating!

More Money Making Sites

Lately, I’ve been treasure hunting. That just means I’ve been trying to look for sites that could increase my income. So far, I’ve seen the following:

1. Triond.com – this one allows you to write and publish practically anything including pictures, audio files, movies, etc. and allows you to earn from them. It’s almost worry-free because they mostly take care of submitting your stuff to the appropriate sites. You don’t have to have a site. You can just use your wordprocessing software such as Word and upload your document to the Triond submit page. Did I say they give you royalties on a monthly basis?

2. Linkworth.com – this site is really fantastic and almost unbelievable. It has almost everything you can think of to make money from your blog or even static websites. It allows you to review advertisers’ sites, post paid-links on your blog, and others that I have yet to discover. Also, they can market your own site should you decide to let them do that for you for a fee, of course.

3. Hubpages.com – you write articles on their site and earn through google adsense, amazon and ebay. The only thing you need to do aside from writing is to tag your articles and make sure you have your adsense, amazon and ebay accounts registered with them.

So, that’s about it for this time. I’ll give you an update when I’ve earned from other sites. Hasta la vista, baby!

Why Can’t I Create A Sitemap Here?

I’ve spent more than 10 hours just trying to create a sitemap in WordPress.  this is for my Tabi Tabi Po Blog which is hosted in blogger.com  (http://www.pinas-et-al.blogspot.com).  Somehow, the formatting gets all messed up just when I’ve had a few links already.  Like the first one got messed up when I’ve had 10 or so links.  The 2nd one became messier right on probably the 11th or 12 link.  Any ideas? 

China Goods in Zhuhai for Business?

We’re back from our China Trip. One of the things I checked out was the prospect to importing goods from the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone. Well, too bad for me. Those that I saw were not cheap enough to be brought to the Philippines. With all the taxes and the trouble you’d have to go through, the business will not be lucrative. In fact, some goods are better off bought here. For example, the 2 G flashdrive which cost approximately 600 pesos if bought there is available here at the the mall for only about 530 php. That means from the source it could be had for a much lower price.

My husband’s cousin was telling me about another place in Zhuhai. Well, I have to check it out again the thought of which makes me smile. Travelling always interests me you know.

Blogging While You’re Away?

I was thrilled to learn that Blogger has a feature that allows you to write your blog and have it published long after you have written it. You see, we’re leaving for China on Saturday and my problem was that I will be away from blogging for a long time. Not having an entry on my blogs for at least once in 7 days would affect the website’s reader recall and I might lose my readership. This and my other blogs are fairly new and I can’t afford that. Then I suddenly read today on the blogger home that they already have this feature. I just simply have to save my blog in draft and set the date and time when I’d lke to have it published. And voila! My worries have been answered. Thanks Blogger!