Pho Soup

Hi again,

Since I'm in a blogging mood I decided to blog about yummy Vietnamese Food, particularly Pho! Yum, right?! There's this Vietnamese Pho restaurant called Xeula Vietnamese Restaurant that have oh so good dishes! That restaurant was the first Vietnamese restaurant that an old friend took me and I was in love, especially love how their bubble tea taste. In Canada the people there called this particular drink, bubble tea that I first known it as. I was craving for some Pho soup and luckily I had the ingredients to make this soup. It's not hard to make and it's quite fast to cook up. However, you do need to thaw the sliced beef a bit before cooking. If you're ever in the city of Vaughan, which is a suburb of Toronto...check out Xeula.

Xelua Vietnamese Restaurant

180 Steeles Avenue West, Thornhill, ON L4J 2L1, Canada

Thanksgiving Day

Hi again,

Gooble! Gooble! Last Thursday, the United States celebrated Thanksgiving. I celebrated my Thanksgiving dinner with a smaller group of friends, which still made the day even more special. I made four individual cornish game hens rather than having turkey, due to the fact that many of us did not crave the turkey that much. We actually had lots of food; however, I did not take a picture of most of our dishes. We did have most of the norm such as garlic mash potato, candied yams, green bean casserole, sweet potato pie, apple pie, and more deliciousness. It was a great dinner with fun people.

Black Friday actually started real early this year and I didn't realize the time change to 10 pm Thursday evening. My first stop was Walmart, just because I wanted to get some household essentials and they were dirt cheap. At this particular Walmart, the people were definitely anxious and sad to say, greedy. In addition, at this location compared to others that I've shopped at on Black Friday was not organized at all. Luckily I was able to purchase what I wanted/needed and then some, lol. I did check out other stores along the way and at the end I was so tired. I wasn't as hype as the previous years, nonetheless still had fun.

What are you thankful for?

This year I am thankful for the love and support from our family and especially God's blessings that He has bestowed upon us. I look forward for the many opportunities that lies ahead.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup and Bread Bowl

Hi again,

As the weather gets colder, it's always nice to have a warm bowl of homemade creamy chicken noodle soup for lunch or dinner. I've never made a soup bread bowl before and took the challenge in making it as I have learned recently on how to make a variety of styles of bread. It took time to make the creamy chicken noodle soup from scratch as well as making and baking the bread, but was definitely well worth it. I basically used the recipe on how I make a loaf of bread, but instead of allowing it to rise or proof in a bread pan, I shaped the dough into a ball, pinched the bottom, and then allowed it to proof on a cookie sheet. The outcome was amazing and had a nice crusty crust and was also soft inside. I made my creamy chicken noodle soup a little bit thicker so that it can retain in the bread bowl. This dish is definitely a winner during those cold times, try it out sometime!

Stay warm always!

* Message me if you want the bread bowl recipe. 

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce, Grilled Veggies, Potatoes, and Rice (Greek)

Hi again,

I've been craving for some Greek food and I haven't found a good Greek restaurant nearby, so I decided to make some for dinner. I used to make this dish a lot, but didn't have my binder full of recipes since it was hidden in my many boxes from moving. This is not hard to make, especially the tzatziki sauce that tasted so good! Try some Greek food for lunch or dinner sometime. Even if you don't cook it, take a trip to a restaurant. I grilled some chicken kabobs, seasoned just like in the restaurant, grilled some onions and green peppers, because that's what I had in my fridge, seasoned and baked some potatoes, and made some rice that was obviously non Filipino style.

Caramel Sauce

Hi again,

Fall is about candied or caramel apples, apple pie, pumpkin pie, salted caramel mocha, sweet potato pie, and all the warm fall smelling yummy goodness. Recently I've made some caramel sauce to go with some of my desert goodies. I found a great recipe online and decided to take the plunge as the recipe didn't look that hard to make. Plus, I didn't feel like spending since I already had all of the ingredients in my kitchen. I already used it on a desert that I will blog about soon and intend to use it on other deserts this week and next.

If you want to try making your own caramel sauce, try this out. Remember, it may differ in cooking time, so please be patient. My first attempt was a fail, lol. The picture does not do it justice, it's not that dark.

Caramel Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup of Granulated sugar
½ cup of Water
¾ cup of Heavy Cream, warmed slightly, either in a small saucepan or microwave
2 Tbsp of Unsalted butter at room temperature
¼ tsp of Salt
½ tsp of Vanilla Extract

Direction:

1) In a large non stick sauce pan combine the sugar and water, cook over medium low heat until the sugar dissolves without stirring ever! Just swirl the pan around. Once the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat to medium high and let it bubble away until it turns a deep amber color, about 8 to 15 minutes. It depends on your stove.

2)  Turn the heat down to low at this point and add the warm heavy cream slowly. Be careful because it will bubble vigorously. Keep whisking until everything is combined and turn the heat off.

3) Add the butter, salt and vanilla and whisk in until the butter melts. Set aside to cool completely.

Filipino Pancit Bijon

Hi again,

A few weeks ago I decided to make some Filipino Pancit Bijon, which is one of my favorite Filipino food and to many of you too. It took me a while to blog due to my hectic schedule now, but I've tried my best to take as many pictures of some of the food and deserts I've made recently. I just need some time to blog about it and share with all of you. You can practically add any ingredients your heart desires, but in this dish I've added some chicken, sweet peas, minced garlic, and carrots. You can make the mix from scratch or use package made for pancit found at your local oriental store.

I've made pancit for my family, relatives, and work potluck. Many are familiar with this Filipino dish, along with chicken adobo. Try it for lunch or dinner soon.

Garlic Roasted Grape Tomato Bruschetta

Hi again,

Today's dinner we had whole wheat linguine with meatballs, homemade pasta sauce, and garlic roasted grape tomato bruschetta topped over a homemade braided french bread. The french bread was so crusty which was so perfect for the bruschetta.

If you want to try this recipe...


Rinse and dry the grape or cherry tomatoes, add about 2 tbsp of EVOO, sprinkle some dried oregano and basil, add a dash of salt and pepper to taste, and mix well. Place the tomatoes close together on a cookie sheet in one layer. Slice 2 cloves of fresh garlic and place on top of tomatoes so that it won't burn. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. You can bake your sliced baquettes at the same time to save some baking or cooking time.  Make sure you drizzle some EVOO on the sliced baquettes before putting in the oven. Let cool for 20 minutes, add the tomatoes on the sliced baquettes and enjoy it with some wholesome pasta.

Happy eating!

Garlic Mash Potatoes

Hi again!

Today for dinner, hubs and I had some grilled steak, veggies, and garlic mash potatoes. I love the taste of garlic mash potatoes, especially when the garlic is baked in the oven with a touch of EVOO and rosemary. It gives plain ol' mash potatoes more life. You have to cut 2 whole garlic bulbs in half, drizzled with EVOO inside, and sprinkled with dried or fresh rosemary. Wrap the garlic bulbs in foil and put it in the oven at 325 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then squeeze out the garlic, which should come out quite easily and mix it well into your mash potatoes, add a bit of cream or milk with butter, salt and pepper to taste. It's all up to you how you would like your garlic mash potatoes to taste, but this is how I do it and hope you get to try it soon. Great with steak and chicken.

Pictures don't do it justice and since it's late at night I'm a tad bit lazy and tired to adjust the colorization and lighting, hehe.

Happy eating!

Crispy, garlic, lemon zest tilapia

Hi again,

For dinner, I was craving for some fish and do like the lightness and taste of a tilapia. I decided to play around with some different flavors to dress up the tilapia a bit. I seasoned the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to give it some additional taste, as well as seasoning the fish. In addition, I added some lemon zest to the bread crumbs to give it a little bit of a citrus punch to it. As much as I am trying to stay away from frying my food, I had to fry the breaded tilapia 4-6 minutes on each side to give it the extra crispiness it needed. When done, I squeezed a bit of fresh lemon juice from the lemon used to zest on the fish. As for the meal, I added brown rice, sweet corn on the cob (but scraped off for my benefit), and homemade tarter sauce made by the hubs. It was very delicious and almost a healthy meal to have for dinner.

Filipino Dish: Chicken Adobo

Hi again,

A few days ago I was craving for some Filipino Chicken Adobo and took a trip to the local grocery store to buy some of the ingredients. It's not hard to make and cooks for at least 30 minutes. Chicken adobo is one of the main favorite Filipino dishes among the Filipinos, I believe, along with sinigang, pancit, etc. I used chicken drumlettes because they are much easier to work with compared to chopping up a whole chicken like how my parents make it. That's too much work for me, lol. The ingredients mainly used are chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, minced garlic, water, and black pepper. It's all up to you in whatever else you want to add to the recipe. I make this dish from scratch so I can't really say how much tablespoon or cups I add when I make chicken adobo, because it all depends on how much chicken drumlettes I use. This dish goes well with steam rice too.

Happy eating!

Ay Sarap!