Special Turon (Ripe Banana Wrapped in Egg Roll Wraps)

I had some very ripe plantains at home today. I didn't know what to do with it. It is such a waste if I will throw it again, since a plantain is .75 cents per piece. I had three pieces left, so that would be $2.25. In this economy, we should try our best to save in any way we can.

So that made my brain worked, hehe. I looked in the freezer and found some egg roll wrappers. It made me think of turon. "Turon" is a favorite Filipino snack in the Philippines. It looks like egg rolls but instead of the meat or veggies inside, it has sweet banana and other sweet ingredients. It is more like a dessert type of food and also good by itself for snacks. Anyway, going back to this morning, I took out the wrappers to thaw and checked in the pantry for some jackfruit in a can and found one. Seems like I'm lucky today. I had a leftover purple sweet potato that I boiled in the morning for my breakfast, so I thought why not make use of it,too. Instead if using purple yam or ube, I used my sweet purple potato. It has the same color and texture.

So I got all my ingredients ready after my egg roll wrapper thawed. I had the wrappers, julienned jackfruit, mashed sweet potato with sugar, and the sliced plantains.

I just put all the ingredients together in the middle of the egg roll wrapper and then wrapped it burrito style but sealing it at the end with water.

Preheat a deep pan and some oil on it, enough to deep fry the turon. Fry it until the turon is golden brown. My kids enjoyed it!:)

Homemade Sweet Bread

Crispy Binagoongang Baboy

My Homebaked Ensaymada

I have been craving Filipino bread in a while. I've been missing that sweet, smooth, and tasty kind of bread we have in the Philippines. So I looked around online to search for a recipe for "Ensaymada".

Ensaymada is one of the popular breads in the Philippines preferred by most Filipinos besides pan de sal because of its sweet and cheesy flavor. It is a sweet bread filled with sweet butter and brushed with buttered sugar and sprinkled with grated cheese.

I haven't tried baking any kind of bread before, so this is sort of an experimental baking for me, since it will be my first time. I was expecting for the worse while baking because anything can turn out wrong since I don't have any experience in baking. But I still took all the courage I have just so I can taste a bread from home and hoped for the best.

After doing all the mixing,kneading,waiting, and baking, I have now the fruit of my labor or rather "bread" of my labor,lol! And to my surprise it came out pretty good for a first timer,lol!It cane out soft and tasty.It may not be as good as Goldilocks ensaymada but it wasn't that bad either. My husband and lids like it so I guess it is consummable,lol. Anyway, I am satisfied with my first homebaked bread. I know I still have a lot of learning to do in baking, in which I am now excited to study on it and experiment more, so I can perfect it.

So here's the photo of my first ever homebaked bread, the "Ensaymada".

Deviled Eggs

Sweet, Yummy, Ripe Mangoes for Summer

Pansit Bihon Guisado

Homemade Mango Shake

Lima Beans with Pork and Bacon in Sweet Tomato Sauce

Here is my own version of sweet pork and beans. In the Philippines, during gatherings or fiestas, most of the time you will see among the preparations, the pork and beans. I always like my pork and beans a little sweet. So here's my version of sweet pork and beans.

I am using lima beans in this recipe, the smaller ones (because there is also the larger ones). I added it with small chopped pieces of pork and fried bacon for texture, it will give it a little crunch. To make it savory and have a good flavor, since lima beans can be bland, I used sweet style tomato sauce that I bought from the Asian store. Then season it with salt and pepper and chicken bouillon.

Before you cook the lima beans, you need to soak it in water overnight. This will make it easier and faster to cook. The next day, drain and wash it before you start cooking.

Put the beans in a big pot and put water. There should be more than enough water because the beans will expand when cooked. Add the pork once it boils and some onions and garlic. Simmer it until the beans and pork becomes tender.

Once the beans and pork are tender. In another pot put a little oil. Saute onion and garlic. And then add the boiled lima beans and pork. Let it boil and then add the tomato sauce. Simmer for awhile about 15 minutes and season with chicken bouillon, salt, and pepper.

Turn off the oven and sprinkle the crumbled bacon on top before serving.

Raspberry Cheesecake for Valentines

Chocolate Cheesecake with Mixed Berries on Top

As I've promised here are the photos of
my Chocolate Cheesecake that I baked yesterday. These are just a couple of photos of a single slice of cheesecake. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of the whole cheesecake because we were in a hurry this morning to leave for town and bring the cheesecake to my mom in-laws workplace to surprise her and congratulate her for her new job. So I already sliced it when I realized I didn't get to take a picture of the whole cheesecake. Anyway, maybe next time I bake one I'll make sure to get a photo of the whole cake:)

Anyway, here are the pictures of my yummy chocolate cheesecake. For the record,lol, my mom in-law and her co-workers liked my cheesecake. One of the gals even asked for the recipe. I am glad they liked it. :-)

Chocolate Cheesecake!

I am baking a chocolate cheesecake today, my second baked cheesecake eversince. My first one was the blueberry cheesecake that I posted months ago. Hopefully it will come out good. Have to wait till tomorrow to taste it and see how my baking went.

I'll post the photo tomorrow once it's ready!:)

Yummy Beef Brisket!

It was a busy day for me today. Did a lot of things and was pretty busy. My husband was home for two days and when he is home I also slack on doing household chores, lol, because we go out usually or just have family time, bonding with the kids. Anyway, since he was home for two days our laundry was piled up so I had to do it today and you know, after you do the laundry you have to fold it, so it takes a lot of work. Meanwhile, I had to bake a beef brisket today, too for our dinner. and since it takes a while to bake it I had to put it in the oven in the morning. This brisket was half of the brisket I baked during my daughter's birthday celebration in December. Hubby was craving it so i made it today.

I got the recipe for this brisket from my mother in-law, which she also got from her father in-law from Texas. So it was passed and the recipe was proven and tested already, lol. Therefore, you can be sure of it's goodness once the brisket is cooked. Last December on my daughter's birthday celebration I baked my first brisket using my mom in-laws recipe and it came out really good. My in-laws and husband loved it. It came out really juicy and so tender that the meat just falls off. Because sometimes briskets can be dry. I was glad it turned out well then and also today.

Anyway, I had to marinate the brisket meat overnight. I marinated it with paprika,garlic powder, lots of salt and ground pepper. I have to bake it for 5 hours because it is 1 hour per pound, since I had a 5 pound brisket. Before putting it in the oven I put some liquid smoke on it and then baked it covered at 320 degrees fahrenheit. After five hours I took it out. We ate it with mashed potato and ohhhh it came out so yummy!!!:) Thank God it came out well! Credits goes to my mom in-law's and grandfather in-law's recipe.

Wakame Seaweed Salad

Eversince I lived here in the US, one of the foods I've been missing from the Philippines is seaweed. It is one of my favorite foods especially when eating seafoods. It is a very good appetizer or salad. I've missed eating "lato", a green seaweed with watery leaves like bubbles; and, "guso", an almost brownish or greenish,stem-like, jellyish,crunchy seaweed. Guso is my ever fave because I like the texture and the crunchiness even after it's soaked in vinegar.

So anyway, being here in New Mexico deprives me of having fresh seafoods and seaweeds. What can you expect in a semi-desert place, lol! If I would have known, lol. I should have researched well before coming here. But anyway, though not so fresh we still get some pretty good quality seafoods here, when I go to the Asian stores though at an expensive price (well, I guess, it's better than nothing). I kept looking for seaweeds here but I couldn't find any. one of my Filipina friends did say that she finds some at the Asian store but I guess I'm not lucky enough to get hold of it. But one time when we were eating at a Japanese resto found this Seaweed salad,"Wakame", so I tried to order it and soon enough it became one of my fave seaweed salad. I have to order it every time we eat at that resto. For now, I'm still always checking at the Asian store if they have wakame so I can make it on my own rather than ordering a ready-made seaweed salad all the time. Hopefully, I'll get lucky and find one.:)