Swedish Pancakes

This is a special breakfast treat for my husband whenever he's home on a weekend. It's because most of the time, he's out of town for work with the MLS. It's either he prepares breakfast for me and Noah, or I take charge of the kitchen especially if I know he's exhausted and needs to sleep in. I got the recipe from my mother-in-law who's a great cook herself. It's simple yet the taste is superb! Noah loves this as much as my husband.

Swedish Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 c milk
2 tbsps butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup flour

Whisk or blend all the above ingredients in a bowl. Heat a little amount of butter in a skillet. Drop about 1/4 cup of batter onto the buttered skillet. Cook until golden brown. Turn and cook the other side as well. They should be very thin so they cook quickly. After cooking, stack the pancakes on a plate with aluminum foil. Cover them up also with foil to keep them warm.

Toppings:
butter
syrup
whipped topping
raspberries ( We usually buy frozen raspberries and warm them up using the microwave until they're soft.)

Put butter on each pancake. Roll it up. Pour syrup, and put whipped topping and raspberries on top. Yum! Yum! :)

Corned Beef Day for Me

Yes, you read that right. It's indeed a corned beef day for me! For some reason, I have been craving for corned beef today. I had corned beef sauteed with onion and garlic and a plate of rice for breakfast. My baby Noah had waffle topped with butter and strawberry jam, and also a banana. For lunch, I had the left-over corned beef again, while Noah had Chicken Cordon Bleu. mmmm...What a delectable dinner for Noah! :) For our afternoon snack, I had bread, but with corned beef filling. Noah had peanut butter sandwich. Well, do you still want to know what I ate for dinner? Your guess is right! Corned beef again, but this time with egg. hehehe! I just hope baby Kaiden won't come out of my tummy crying "moo" like a cow. :)

Chinese Food- General Tso's Chicken

Whenever drug reps bring Chinese food for lunch at work, I would always have a serving of this sweet, spicy chicken called General Tso. It is sooo good that I wanted to do it at home for my husband and I to enjoy. A few days ago, I tried this simple recipe, originally from Mean Guy , and I can honestly say that it was awesome! I cooked it again today for dinner and don't mind cooking it again for weeks ahead. As always, I made several variations to this recipe to suit my taste and my hubby's. Yum! yum! :)

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless chicken breast, cubed

3 eggs, beaten
1/2 c cornstarch

2 dried chili pods
red pepper flakes

green onion, chopped

Sauce:
4 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp rice wine
6 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp soy sauce

Directions:
1. Thoroughly blend the 1/2 cup of cornstarch and the eggs in a bowl; add the chicken and toss to coat.
2. In a separate bowl, prepare the sauce by combining the 4 tsp cornstarch with the vinegar, wine, sugar and soy sauce.
3. First-Stage Frying: Heat 1-2 inches of oil in a wok to medium-high heat.
4. Fry the chicken in small batches, just long enough to cook the chicken through.
5. Remove the chicken to absorbent paper and allow to stand.
6. Second-Stage Frying: Add the pepper pods to the oil and stir-fry briefly to release the aroma. Return the chicken to the wok and stir-fry until the pieces are crispy brown.
7. Add the sauce-mixture to the wok, tossing over the heat until the sauce caramelizes into a glaze (1-2 minutes).
8. Depending on how spicy you want it to be, you can add a dash or more of red pepper flakes.
9. Sprinkle some green onions on top.

Gotta try this recipe! You'll love it! Guaranteed! :)

Easy Broccoli Salad

As much as possible, I want to try recipes with minimal amount of ingredients and less time preparation involved - as simple as possible, but would still give you the superb taste you wanted. :) I know I should eat lots of greens or veggies since I am pregnant, but for some reason, I have really been very finicky with veggies, most particularly with salads. In fact, the only salad I can eat at this time is Broccoli Salad. I have found a great-tasting recipe that has become a favorite of my husband and I. I just made a few variations, though. This is so simple and easy to prepare. :)

Ingredients:
fresh broccoli florets - 2 bunches, cut up into bite sized pieces
onion - 1/4 cup, chopped finely (use your judgment on the amount)
bacon - 1 lb, crisp and crumbled
raisins - 1/2 cup ( I usually chop my raisins in half. )

*Combine above ingredients and toss with dressing.

Dressing:
1 1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. vinegar
1/2 sugar

*Whisk together the above ingredients and pour over salad mixture.

Ain't that easy? Try it! You'll love it! *wink*wink* :)

My 5 Facts About Food- yummmm! :)

Thanks, Aisha, for this mouth-watering and tummy grumbling tag. :)

My 5 facts about food:

1. For the record, I have been eating chicken adobo for a week now. The first 3 days, I had adobo wings. Then days after that, I had been gobbling up on adobo drumsticks, thighs and breasts. Well, can't blame me. I'm pregnant. :) My baby Kaiden would probably be born with wings, and clucking, instead of crying. :)

2. At the office, there's a man who brings books over and leave them for employees to look at and buy, if they choose to. Whenever I see an interesting recipe book, most likely, I would buy it even if it would just sit on our kitchen counter. I think I have only tried a recipe or 2 from all the books I've bought.

3. I love my mom's pinakbet! I like it either with shrimp paste or fish bagoong.

4. My favorite breakfast is tapsilog, or daing, tuyo, danggit with garlic rice, salty egg and spicy vinegar. mmmmm...yum yum! :)

5. If anyone could give me a tried and tested, easy recipe for brazo de mercedes, I would truly appreciate it! Oh my! It's been a long time since I had one. I have been craving for it like crazy. Aside from that, I have also been desperately yearning for chocolate roll from Goldilocks. I, particularly, love both ends of the roll because they are lavishly covered with chocolate icing! There's just nothing like it! mmmmm..yummy!

Photo courtesy of "My Little Space"

Pinoy cravings! mmmm yum yum!

When I was pregnant with my first son, I had this craving for ice cream. And not just ice cream on a bowl or cup. This is not even the typical ice cream sandwich that we can buy in the stores here in the US. But this ice cream is what I call "only made in the Philippines". :) Back where I grew up, which is Quezon City, there's an ice cream vendor (mamang sorbetero) who carries a cart selling different flavors of ice cream like chocolate, mango, cheese and vanilla. You have a choice if you would like to have it on a cone, cup or bun. Now, it's the bun with ice cream that I'm craving for. So yesterday I got my wheat bread and put strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream in it. hmmm...yum! yum! I even shared this with my baby munchkin Noah. He liked it too! heehehe Pinoy taste yata to! :) Anyway, that's just one of my Pinoy cravings. I have always craved for Pinoy foods eversince I got pregnant. It's difficult for me because there's not much Pinoy restos around here. I have a friend who said that there's one in Kansas but it's so far away, like a 45 min. drive. I was actually bent on driving that far but the sad thing is, it might have closed now because the last thing I heard it was under renovation and supposed to open before Christmas. My friend even went there and said it's still not open. I guess it has closed for good. haaay. One Pinoy food that I'm really, really desperate to eat right now is manggang hilaw(green mangoes)! Yung pinakamaasim na mangga with matching bagoong na mejo maanghang and matamis! errrr! I tasted the mangoes here but they do taste different. I even asked my aunt from California, known for having lots of Pinoy restos and stores, if she could send me some green mangoes. Still, the taste is so much different from what we have in Pinas. haaay! I guess I have to sing the song "pangarap ka na lang ba o maging katotohanan ba..." It seems it's just gonna remain a dream. Another sigh..haaaay....

Pinoy foods that I have also been craving and dreaming of, as in literally, are: sisig especially Gerry's sisig (resto in Timog, QC)mmmm yum yum, lechon, laing, crispy pata, sinampalukang manok, binagoongan, bicol express, Jollibee spaghetti, palabok, Goodah's tapsilog, pares, balot, bulalo, and a lot lot more! hayayayyay! :)