…Sunday. Summer. Salad.
rolled into one. on a warm, lazy family day such as today…a refreshing SALAD is a must. ones that are particularly made of fresh and citrusy ingredients such as fruits and gourds flavored by minty and syrupy dressing, never fail to ease the unbearable heat even for just a bit.

…consider the pleasantly unique, light and fresh flavor that this MANGO and CUCUMBER SALAD is made of plus the fact that it can be easily assembled in as little as 10-15 minutes! no cooking required. just simple slicing tossing and mixing. pair it with your favorite chicken, fish or any meaty dish…and you’re golden!
recipe is now up on MOMCOOKS.DADCOOKS!

…its bright nd vibrant colors against the bright and sunny outdoor backdrop make for one delicious beat-the-heat photograph too! too bad i only had yellow onions instead of red, but as it is, i think it does the job!

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is a bi-weekly thematic FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style!

gỏi cuốn

…this for me is a quick fix. why? because we craved for Vietnamese food today and luckily we have a number of places to go to and get our cravings satiated. this one though is the cheapest around since we just bought it from the Asian store, ready made instead of eating or getting to-go from a Vietnamese Restaurant which could be a bit pricey. coupled with  another ready mix of Beef Pho sans the soup, just cooked with Pho seasoning? we are golden!!!

gỏi cuốn, a Vietnamese salad roll, is translated as “spring roll”, while some others prefer the term “summer roll”. Ingredients include slivers of boiled or fried pork, shrimp, chicken, beef, fresh herbs, lettuce, sometimes fresh garlic chives, rice vermicelli, all wrapped in moistened rice paper, served cold with dipping sauce (nước chấm) or hoisin sauce. The salad roll is easily distinguished from a “minced pork roll” by the fact that it is not fried, the ingredients used are different. Spring roll refer to the freshness of the spring season with all the fresh ingredients

[source:Wiki]

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is a FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style!

…this week’s theme for LaPiS…CORN!
i made this Ginulay na Mais last night, inspired by Nell. thanks again dear! seeing his photo over at Facebook made me crave for another comfort food. still not the way my mom used to do it, but close enough.

…what have you to offer?
Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is a bi-weekly thematic FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme…PINOY style!

As Julia Child [and Paula Dean] always say, ‘you can never go wrong with too much butter…i would like to add a little twist to that by saying—and CHEESE! more specifically if both ingredients are used in one dish. one delicious and scrumptious dish such as GRILLED MUSSELS, or baked if you please. We often make this with just melted butter and garlic but found out that adding cheese on it makes it even more rich and satisfying. On this one, we used fresh mozzarella cheese..which explains that gooey and sticky golden goodness.

And so for this challenge, we want to focus on CHEESE…fresh, powdered, cheddar, strips, chunks, round, white what have you!

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is a bi-weekly thematic FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY event, PINOY style!

I love Red Velvet cupcakes! That’s one line I always get from my daughter whenever I make a batch of this sinful yet glorious indulgence. I myself cannot complain when I have a bite or two…that’s one bite per cupcake haha! Well all it takes is just a couple of cups or so of FLOUR to make this. I must admit though that I’d rather call this Rust Velvet cupcakes instead…ooopsie! A major booboo for me. Why? I made this before with bright red food color and it was a huge success, both in taste and presentation. You can see it here with the original recipe.

This time though, I decided to make it a tad ‘healthier’ using Beet Roots. No problem with that, I suppose but I must’ve used the smaller ones that the deep red I was looking for after turned out to be more like a rusty brownish shade. Oh well…lesson learned. Taste-wise? Just as good, if I may say so myself. You can actually taste the healthy stuff in there though. Not sure if that should be the case. But I don’t really mind.

I made more than enough for the 2 of us, that’s s and myself. M who is now in sugar intake moderation, just had a few bites. So I decided to give some to my gracious friends and neighbors. And yup! They were very gracious about it haha! Good to know!

is now a bi-weekly thematic FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style! Next theme…COCONUT.

thanks for playing guys!

I saw a pack of Zatarain’s Fish Fry Mix at the store so I figured I’d try it with the pretty looking  salmon I bought at BJ’s. Something for a change. Fish Fry usually uses cod or haddock but I decided to be “fancy” and used salmon instead.

please visit Feisty Cook for the rest of this entry. Thanks!

Join us in Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: Seafood Theme.

UPCOMING THEME/s: FLOUR —March 21
COCONUT —April 4

Lasang Pinoy, Sundays theme this week is ROLLED. It worked out perfectly coz I have this stuffed pork roast with spinach and mushroom ready to roll, so to speak . This pork started as a pork loin. I cut it in half without going all the way to the bottom, and then butterflied the sides to get a flattened pork plank, pretty much. Once that’s done, stuffing it with anything you like is a breeze.

READ THE REST @ FEISTY COOK’s page!!! 

thanks again to Dexie for co-hosting with me!

Join us for Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: ROLLED then. Just leave your link in the comments below and we’ll follow you.

…my take on this theme, a heart healthy dish.  a bowl of warm and delicious vegetable noodle soup, or any kind to most will always be comfort food…but more importantly, it’s good for someone who needs to cut down on sugar and carbs . shhh…this will be our little secret, ok? he doesn’t want me to talk about it here on my blog. maybe it’s just a result of the depression that came with the sudden realization, and a very recent one too [just last week, ironically...even before i thought of this theme] that he is now a diabetic. he must’ve had Diabetes for a time now, we just didn’t know since he hates going to the doctor. this time though, i made sure that he is scheduled for his annual check up, whether he liked it or not. and this is what we found out, unfortunately. incurable and genetic as it is, we are still thankful that it’s a disease that can easily be controlled with the right food, change of lifestyle and correct attitude.
i still have so much to learn about it, believe me.  unprepared as we are about this,  we have decided to take those special classes for Diabetes soon.

so what’s this chocolate cupcake doing in this post, you may ask?  since day 1, i have been researching and shopping for ’special’ food and ingredients for M. it has slowly dawned on us that this is a total change of diet and lifestyle not only for him, but for all of us. the children being very susceptible on having the disease too…has to be educated as well.

this…is called LOW-FAT VEGETABLE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKE. i was treated to a trip to the full house on a Saturday morning FLOUR, a very popular bakery in Boston, well..it was featured in one of Food Network’s shows that i cannot remember which one exactly at this moment, pardon me.  and so  i chose a few sweets for myself and Samia, who has a sweet tooth just like dad!:(… just as i was going to pay for my loot, came right in front of me was this guy from the kitchen with a full tray of freshly-baked chocolate cupcakes, so it seems.  i don’t know why i asked for its exact name, but i did. and was so delighted to learn that it’s the healthier version of the sinful dessert! yay! he deserves some prize for being a good boy the whole week…don’t you think? and so he had it for dessert after lunch.

and as Marco himself puts it…this is like a ‘wake up call’ which should be taken in a positive way.  it’s not the end of the world and so….here’s to a whole new HEALTHY-er and HEARTY-er life ahead!!!

is a bi-monthly FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY meme, Pinoy style!

Advance Happy V Day to all!!!

Lava cake. Molten Chocolate cake. flourless chocolate cake…however you call it, this one proved to be huge in the household even to my most cake discriminating son. to date, this is one of the few sweets in general that he loves so much! i can take that just because it is very easy to make whenever he asks for it.

just a few reminders…
LaPiS is going to be bi-monthly now and I am honored to announce that Dexie of Feisty Cook is joining me on a regular basis. So please check out her blog too. We will be posting simultaneously but will take turns every 2 weeks.

…next theme…HEARTY with Valentine’s day in mind!

Have a great weekend to all!

A continuation of the lechon kawali/deep fried pork roast post which we enjoyed for our New Year’s Eve dinner which also happened to be my birthday dinner as well. I did not make any appetizers since we actually went out for lunch which served as my birthday eat-out celebration.

This is the lechon kawali which the Hubs handled wonderfully using a turkey deep fryer. Crispy skin and moist meat inside were just delish.

Egg Rolls or Lumpia was part of our dinner too. I guess this could have been an appetizer but I included it in the main menu. I used  broccoli slaw by the way instead of cabbage coleslaw pack.

To balance the meat entrees (lechon and egg rolls), a vegetable side dish was a must. We always have a vegetable side in any of our meals, holidays or not. I made this vegetable stir-fry which you can make anytime.

• 3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 1 large zucchini, sliced
• broccoli florets
• asparagus
• mushrooms, sliced
• lemon-pepper seasoning
• salt and pepper
• oil

Toast  the garlic in oil for about a minute, Don’t burn. Set them aside in a plate. On the same pan, add the broccoli. Cook for 3-5 minutes or so. Then add the asparagus and zucchini. Stir in 1/8 cup of water, cover and let the vegetable cook until tender but not too soft. You want them still crispy. Add the button mushroom last, then season with lemon-pepper, salt and pepper. Stir gently and cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer the stir-fried vegetable into a platter then sprinkle the toasted garlic on top.

The white rice and 2 sauces. On the white bowl is a combination of soy sauce, half of lemon juice, finely shopped scallions and a pinch of red pepper flakes. This was the sauce for the lechon kawali. On the black bowl is a sweet & sour sauce for the egg rolls.

Here’s my dinner plate of second helping. I forgot to take a picture of my first serving .

And since it was my birthday, we had ice cream cake for dessert. Hubs bought this cake and proudly told me that it’s a layer of whipped frosting which I LOVE, chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream and another layer of chocolate cake on the bottom. It was delicious of course.

The whole meal was delicious actually. We didn’t finish everything so leftovers for launch the next was also delish . For our Christmas dinner recap, check it out here.

LASANG PINOY SUNDAYS: HOLIDAY RECAP . Please join us at Lasang Pinoy Sundays and share with us your own Holiday Dishes Recap.

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Thank you so much to Dexie for initiating this!:) I hope this would be a very good start for LaPiS! and just a short announcement…maybe we can do the meme on a bi-monthly basis for the moment…say every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month. and for those who might want to guest host, as i’ve always said…just give be a buzz! not that kind of buzz though! hehe!
I hope you all had a fab Christmas and New Year celebration guys just as we did!:)