food

Fear of Yeast …. gone!

| Doyd

I’ve always wondered how to bake bread but I am a coward in terms of handling yeast. I have cooked many kinds of meals from different cultures but when it comes to using yeast, I am always intimidated. Why, you ask? I guess it’s because I never really saw how bread was made when I was young. It’s only now that we have YouTube, eBooks, Pinterest, etc. that I learned and discovered the many ways to prepare food and this trained me to cook better.

My whole grain Artisan Bread

Many years have gone but it’s only now in 2020 that I realized I wanted to try again and learn to bake bread. The COVID-19 Pandemic was actually the primary reason why I explored new ideas at home while on stay-at-home order and I courageously faced my fear (from yeast…. yes, instant yeast).

Back in March 2020, my first ever try was to make a pizza dough for my family. During the start of the COVID pandemic, I wanted to do fun things with my children and I knew that if they made their own pizzas, they would be super excited. It was a success! I usually research online for recipes and watch YouTube videos on how other people make it. Then I write down my own measurements and ingredient preferences. After which I try to make it myself.

My first pizza dough plus each family member’s pizza creation

This is the story of how I faced my fear. From that day on, March of 2020, we never had store-bought bread at home. I tried many types of bread recipes and I will share them to you on my next posts.

To all those who haven’t tried baking, try it! Baking our own whole grain bread is actually one of the greatest things that happened to our family. We used to all love to eat white bread. But now, all of us eat whole grain all the time. I still bake special treats for my family of course. That is part of eating healthy, rewarding ourselves with treats. Treats that I made myself knowing that I only use the healthier ingredients.

PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups All-purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use pink Himalayan salt)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Procedure:

Using a stand mixer, mix the flour, salt and yeast. On low speed setting using the paddle attachment, start mixing the dry ingredients then add the water. Mix until the dough forms. Transfer the dough to a large bowl drizzled with olive oil. Make sure to coat the dough in oil, knead a little bit and form into a round dough. Cover with plastic wrap and proof for 2-4 hours at room temperature (I always use my proofing oven to be precise).

After rising, you can use the dough immediately and prepare to shape into pizza sizes that you prefer or you can store the dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days (make sure to rest the dough at room temperature before using).

This recipe is enough to make 4, 8-10 inch pizzas just like what we did. Bake your pizza at 450°F for 7-12 minutes depending on how big/small, thick/thin your pizza will be. Sometimes, I pre-bake the flattened pizza dough for 5 minutes, then add my toppings and bake it for another 5-7 minutes. It really depends on your preference.

I am planning to make some dough tonight and keep it for tomorrow’s Friday night pizza. What’s your plan?

‘Til my next post…. If you enjoyed reading, please like my post and thanks for reading.

My version of Taboulleh (Tabouli)

| Doyd

This salad is one of my family’s favorite salad. It is refreshing, easy to make, very healthy and affordable. I make this salad with Bulgur . You can buy bulgur at most Mediterranean or international supermarket. I use course bulgur on mine because I love the course texture mixed with my other ingredients. If you cannot find bulgur, other alternatives can be quinoa or couscous.

Here’s my recipe, I hope you can make it too:

Continue reading →

Food Preservation

| Doyd

My sister-in-law first introduced me to dehydrated food.  Whenever my brother visits us, he brings homemade dehydrated apples and many kinds of fruits for the kids.

IMG_9715

 

However, even before that, I had a Dehydrator machine that has been stored in the garage for months.  I used it before to learn food preservation.  My first attempt was apples then Kale.  It was successful but I just didn’t have the motivation to move on.

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Now that my girls are getting bigger and processed chips are so famous (specially Spicy Hot Cheetos), I wanted to make homemade snacks for them.  My kids eat fruits when I slice and prepare it for them.  Using my old dehydrator, I attempted to undertake this old method of preserving food.  Aside from improving shelf life of fruits and vegetables, it is an ideal snack for my family because they can easily pack it and bring to school and/or work without it being rotten.

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During these Pandemic days, I find my Dehydrator machine very useful.  Because we can only go food shopping once every two weeks, I can buy our veggies by bulk and dehydrate it then cook it when needed.  I specially love dehydrated Korean Radish.

Honey-Baked Chicken Wings

| Doyd

  

This is a very easy baked chicken wing recipe great for any day of the week.  This scored high in our family so I am sharing my recipe to everyone.

Ingredients:

  • 10 Whole Chicken Wing pieces (washed and pat-dry)
  • Julienned fresh Ginger
  • Sliced small Onions
  • Honey
  • Light Soy Sauce
  • Salt and Pepper

In a bowl, mix cleaned chicken wings, 2 tbsp. light soy sauce, ginger, onions, salt and pepper.  Mix well and marinade for a minimum of 2 hours.  I marinated mine for 10 hours.

When ready to bake, place chicken wings (remove onions and ginger) on a foil-lined baking dish topped with a rack.  

Mix 2 tbps. of honey with 1 tsp of water.  Mix well then brush on top of each chicken wing.  Bake the chicken wings for 15 minutes on 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  After 15 minutes, bring out the baking rack and turn over each chicken wing.  Brush the other side with more honey water, return to the oven and bake for 20 more minutes or more depending on how much you want the chicken caramelized.

Rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Chinese Tsa/Cha misua and Misua birthday noodles

| Doyd

Special thanks to Mommy Dylebing 🙂 for being my teacher

Marrying into a Filipino-Chinese family was a life-changer to me.  Since childhood, I enjoyed learning about different cultures in Asia and now that I am older, food culture really catches my interest.  One thing me and my husband promised to one another is that after getting married, we will continue one special Filipino-Chinese tradition he grew up with.  That is, having a yearly traditional chinese birthday noodles called “misua.”

From day one of marriage we have always made this soup to traditionally serve first thing in the morning for our birthday celebrant in the family.

What does having misua soup or cha misua mean to the Chinese?  From what I read and what I learned from my mother-in-law, having this soup symbolizes several things – The long noodles symbolizes longevity.  It is said that for a traditional Chinese birthday, serving long noodles represent many more years to live.  It is a Chinese superstition that breaking or cutting the noodle will bring bad luck so every time we make this soup, the utmost care is observed to make sure the noodles are cooked well without breaking them.

Chicken to Chinese represents happiness, prosperity and if served whole, it means family reunion or togetherness of the family.   Eggs symbolizes fertility or fruitfulness.  And so on and so forth…

Now, I want to teach my viewers how to make this traditional Chinese birthday noodles.  I made two types of birthday noodles.  First is the Misua birthday soup and the next is the Cha/Tsa Misua or the stir-fried noodles which my husband always calls “tuyong misua” (dry misua) in Filipino.

MISUA SOUP INGREDIENTS:

1 whole chicken, boiled for 30-45 minutes (no salt)

Misua noodles

Hard boiled eggs (one per person), peeled and served whole

Minced garlic, browned in oil with a little salt

Chopped Green onions, for garnishing

Shred shards of chicken (himay in Tagalog or pull by hand) then set aside.  Reboil the chicken stock used to boil the chicken making sure to skim off any foam.  Upon boiling, add the shredded chicken meat and misua.  No need to put salt as the misua noodles are already salted.  Cook for 3-5 minutes depending on how you want your noodles done.  Serve in a bowl and top with one whole hard-boiled egg, sautéed brown garlic and chopped green onions.

INGREDIENTS FOR TSA/CHA MISUA

1 whole Chicken Breast, sliced thinly

5-10 pieces of medium-sized Shrimp, deveined and sliced in half

1/2 cup of good quality fish balls or scallops, sliced

Small piece of Pork, tenderloin or any tender part (boiled and sliced thinly)

Chinese long-life birthday noodles

4 large Eggs

1 bunch of sliced green onions, for garnishing

5-10 pieces dried Shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated with warm water for 1-2 hours

1/2 cup shredded Cabbage

1/2 cup sliced Crimini mushrooms

1/2 cup julliened Carrots

1/2 cup threaded and sliced Sugar snap peas

3/4 cup raw Peanuts with skin

1 bunch of fresh Cilantro, washed and roughly chopped for garnishing

Lots of Shallots, for garnishing

Oyster Sauce

Rice cooking wine

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

First thing I do is I always roast the peanuts on a hot frying pan.  It is done when the aroma of freshly roasted nuts, about 3-5 minutes of medium heat is fragrant in the kitchen.  With the same pan, using 2 beaten eggs, make a very thin omelet for garnishing later.  The other two eggs needs to be cooked in boiling water until hard-boiled, about 12 minutes.

In another shallow cooking pan, boil water and cook the long life noodles according to package instructions.  This will always depend on the kind of noodles you have available in your area.  Mine took 2-4 minutes to cook in boiling water.  After boiling, strain the noodles and quickly wash with cold water.  Before setting aside, put a little bit of sesame oil and mix the noodles well to prevent it from sticking.

In a large wok, heat olive oil to medium heat.  Cook the shallots until translucent then season with salt to taste.  Set this aside for garnishing.  I make lots of shallots because this makes the misua taste so good.

In the same wok, heat more olive oil to medium high heat.  Cook the drained shiitake mushroom until brown and fragrant.  Add the garlic, chicken, shrimp, pork and fish balls.  Cook until everything is more than half done.  Season with a little salt and pepper then stir fry with some rice cooking wine.  Next, add the rest of the ingredients – carrots, cabbage, sugar snap peas and crimini mushrooms.  Mix in 1 tbps of oyster sauce then cook and mix everything well.

To serve, put the noodles on a serving platter/bowl.  Top with the meat and vegetable mixture.  Garnish with sliced omelet, sliced hard-boiled eggs, roasted peanuts, chopped cilantro leaves and green onions.  Each person who eats will mix in their own fried shallots according to their preference.

VOILA!!!!  All done!

I love cooking this for my family.   Even our children had their first misua soup on their first birthdays and still does every year as their birthdays are celebrated.  As for me, my family makes it for me when it’s my birthday and that what makes our celebration very special.  It’s not the gifts, the cakes, balloons or ice cream – it’s our birthday misua soup that we enjoy as a family together first thing in the morning on our special days.

Enjoy!!!

Massaman Tofu Curry with eggplants and mushroom (แกงมัสมั่น)

| Doyd

Enjoying the rich flavor of curry is like diving into the enticing food culture of the East. The depth of flavor, the goodness of the combination of different spices and the bright color is simply appetizing.

I used to not like curry at all.  I didn’t like the boring flavor I get from the kind I ate when I was young because I only knew one kind of curry then and it wasn’t the kind of curry I now know of.  I’ve tasted chicken curry of many sorts but by the looks of it, it was as simple as adding instant curry powder to cut-up chicken, mixing coconut milk, potatoes, carrots and a few other variety of extenders.

This recipe I am sharing was inspired by my brother who loves to create his own vegan cuisine in his healthy kitchen.  He always gives me ideas on how to cook vegetarian dishes.  This version is a twist of my own taste and choice of ingredients.

I hope you like it!

Ingredients:

  • Block of firm organic tofu, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 270 ml. of Light coconut cream
  • 3 pcs. Indian eggplant, washed and sliced in chunks
  • 2 tbsp. Massaman curry paste
  • 1 Zucchini, washed and sliced half-moon
  • 1 can Black beans, washed and drained
  • 1 Shallots
  • 1 bunch Spinach with stems, washed and drained
  • 1 cup Mushrooms, sliced in half
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

In a shallow pan, heat olive oil on medium high then sauté the curry paste and shallots.  Add the tofu, mushrooms and zucchini and continue cooking for a minute or two.  Stir in the coconut cream then add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water (depending on consistency desired).  Cover the pan and cook until the veggies are almost cooked.  Add the eggplants, spinach and beans then season with salt and pepper.  Close the lid and let everything cook according to how you want it done.

 

Kale Stir-Fry

| Doyd

I first learned about Kale when I was reading recipes for baby food back in 2004 when our eldest daughter was still a baby.  It was intimidating at first because I never used or tasted this type of vegetable which was not available at the local markets when I was growing up in Manila.  That’s why in my many years of learning to cook, I barely had any interest with Kale.

Making baby food out of Kale was challenging.  At first, we thought the kids will not like it but actually, they did!  They really did and it was their favorite homemade baby food and since our children like it so much, we should learn to eat it too.  This is the start of my Kale challenge:

Here’s an easy recipe that’s not only appealing to the taste, but also appetizing to the eyes.

Ingredients:

1 Block firm tofu

1 lb. Kale

1/2 Large eggplant (North American Variety)

1/4 cup Low sodium vegetable stock

Sliced garlic

Olive oil

Chili pepper flakes

Salt and Pepper

Heat olive oil on medium low heat.  Sauté garlic with a dash of salt until light brown and crispy.  Add chili pepper flakes.  Add a little more olive oil then cook the eggplant and tofu.  Stir in the vegetable stock then turn up the heat to medium high.  Lastly, add the kale and cook for a few minutes until cooked to desired texture.  Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Related Articles:

The Truth about Kale

The World’s Healthiest Foods dot ORG

 

Oat Bran Flax Banana Nut Muffin

Image | | Doyd

I first learned a similar recipe from my sister-in-law whom I consider to be the “best” when it comes to making creme brûlée.  I’ve made her version many times for years but after a while, I tried to change the ingredients according to what I have in my pantry, who will eat the muffins, what fruits are in season or simply depending on my mood.  Here’s one of my favorite that’s really easy to make:

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups Oat Bran
  • 1/4 cup Flaxseed Meal
  • 1 Tbsp Baking powder
  • 1/4 cup Raw sugar (or less if using sweetened dried fruits)
  • 2 Egg whites or 1/2 cup egg substitute
  • 1/4 cup Raw slivered almonds
  • 2 Ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
  • 1 1/4 cup Soy milk, unsweetened
  • 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
  • Baking milk chocolate chips (optional)
  • Olive oil spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Start by putting in the dry ingredients into a large bowl.  That would be the Oat bran, flaxseed meal, sugar, baking powder and nuts.  Add the egg whites, olive oil, soy milk and bananas.  Mix together.

Spray your 12-piece muffin pan with olive oil spray then evenly distribute the muffin batter.  Top each muffin with raw almonds.  I put a few baking chocolate chips for my daughter’s muffin so she will enjoy this healthful muffin with a treat of sweetness from the chocolate chips.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Let is cool for a few minutes before removing each muffin from the pan.  Enjoy a minimum of 2 pieces per person for breakfast 🙂

This muffin is so easy to make, one can change the kind of nuts depending on what you like to use.  I also use other fresh fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, dates, and figs.  I also use dried or frozen fruits depending really on what I have in my kitchen.  In addition, if I am in the mood for a guilt-free muffin, I even use sugar substitute (i.e., Stevia or Splenda).  Create endless versions.  The important ingredient is to use oat bran.

Share your recipes, versions and photos to me…  Feel free to leave me a note!

Related Articles:

8 Week Cholesterol Cure

Oats

 

Vegetable Minestrone

| Doyd

I have this feeling that this Vegetable Minestrone will not be a sellout at home because my family is not into eating over-cooked veggies like the mixed greens I put in this soup. Let’s see what they have to say.

 

Anyway, it’s tough learning about cooking healthful options for our family’s menu but I am trying my best to change our eating habits. Hard as I thought, it was difficult to throw away almost all the processed food from our pantry but after slowly changing our supply with only the fresh, wholefood and necessary – I feel more challenged as the mother and the “cook”.

I am responsible for what my family eats. Eat healthy and enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Brown onion, chopped
  • 1 Large carrot, peeled and diced
  • 4 Celery stalks, chopped
  • 5 Cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 Lb. of Swiss chard or Kale, coarsely chopped (I used mixed greens on this recipe)
  • 1 Medium Potato, peeled and cubed
  • 15 Ounces of canned diced tomatoes (unsalted)
  • 1 Fresh rosemary sprig
  • 1 Piece of parmesan cheese rind
  • 2 Cans (14-ounce) Low-sodium beef broth or vegetable broth
  • 1 Can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 Can black whole olives, drained and roughly chopped
  • 2 Tbsp of chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • Salt and Pepper

Heat the olive oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onions, carrots and celery. Saute until the onion is translucent. After a few minutes, add the potato and the greens. Saute for a few minutes then add the canned tomatoes and the rosemary. Simmer until the greens are wilted, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, blend 1/2 of the beans with 1/4 cup of the beef or vegetable broth until smooth. Add the pureed bean mixture, remaining of the broth and the parmesan cheese rind into the pot of vegetable mixture. Simmer and stir occasionally, about 10-12 minutes. Stir in the rest of the cannellini beans, olives and parsley. Simmer until the beans and olives are heated through. Season with salt and pepper, according to taste.

Jade’s score: 9.8 (out of 10) 🙂