Treasure Jar

I wrote about  my son helping out in the kitchen in this post.

Presenting the finished product: our Jell-o No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake dessert:

Yes, it was a finger-licking, lip-smacking and two thumbs up dessert. What bliss!

After putting away their textbooks for the homeschooling lessons, the two kids are pretty much free to do whatever they like and sometimes they either go out and play or help out in kitchen/home chores. Cooking and the smells associated with it always draw them in the kitchen to offer a hand or two.

I bask from the compliments they freely give 🙂

Tags: children, cooking, family, food, food photo, Frugal Christmas, Photo Hunter

Home cooking is not only inexpensive but it sure guarantees safe handling of food. Home cooking is also a way to be creative in preparing healthier choices as compared to food prepared elsewhere.

If only most of our meals are prepared at home then I know we are eating better than the alternative.

Being creative in the kitchen enables one to experiment with different tastes, textures, flavors and adaptation to what is readily available in the kitchen.

Here is one alternative food preparation we did recently, introducing our homemade chicken shawarma:

Thinly sliced chicken strips (from chicken breast fillet) with oyster sauce, a bit of light soy sauce, and a little muscovado sugar, were cooked in olive oil.

I seasoned with salt and pepper.

For the vegetables, I sliced green bell peppers and cucumber (I removed the seeds). Lettuce is still very expensive so I skipped that.

For the dressing I used light mayonnaise.

I then topped these with grated cheese and voila, a homemade chicken shawarma for us.

The wrap consisted of store bought wheat soft tortilla wrap.

Yes, it was ‘sawrap”!

Tags: cheese, chicken, cooking, dining, food, food and dining, food photo, healthy eating, home, Photography, Purse Strings, shawarma

Kraft Eden Cheese aims to target having 5,000 Filipino dishes cooked to set a Guinness World Record on December 14, 2009 at the Araneta Coliseum.

5,000 dishes? Filipino food, a fusion of the many scrumptious concoctions from the different cultural influences we had for several centuries, have evolved and these definitely can mean uniquely extra-ordinary and uber delicious.

Foodies, chefs, people who love to cook, culinary arts students and kusineros and kusineras will be whipping up these 5,000 dishes using Kraft Eden Cheese on December 14, 2009 at Araneta Coliseum.

Be a YUMM (Your Ulam, Mas Masarap) member and contribute your cheese recipes at the Sarap ng Buhay website.

I am contributing this Cheesy Turon recipe, yipee!

Cheese is a must-have item in our home. There are times when we just munch on cheese slices. The children and hubby too love to put heaps of cheese on their pasta.

French toast for breakfast or afternoon snacks have cheese slices in it:

Sandwiches are like meals in itself, with cheese and tomato slices and greens. Easy to prepare and easy to bring when going to the workplace or doing chores outside the home.

If you want to be a part of history, be more creative in whipping up those yummy flavorful recipes and help promote Filipino dishes through this event.

Visit for more details!

Tags: cheese, cooking, dining, egg, food, food and dining, food photos, Parma, Philippines, Photography

I love fresh tomatoes.

No, that is not my vegetable garden but I wish it was, lol.

I use these fresh tomatoes with omelet, as a side dish, for pasta and as part of sandwich fillings.

Below is a photo I have already used in this post:

We had this again the other night but this time using vegeroni spirals.

No photo though, we just dug in as soon as the dish was ready.

Yeah, we were that hungry.

We were also in a bit of  hurry because I needed to go online for a live chat.

Happy Sunday and yes, happy eating 🙂

Tags: cooking, dining, eggplant, food, food photo, healthy eating, Lasang Pinoy Sundays, pasta, Photography, Purse Strings, tomatoes

Dona Elena Cuisinera Club is a virtual hub where mothers, health practitioners and foodies get together virtually to share recipes that will promote healthy eating.

Not only do these members meet in the virtual world, they get to meet each other too, through monthly cooking lessons.

Can healthy and nutritious food go hand in hand? Yes!

How can this be?

Through the use of olive oil in preparing healthy, nutritious and of course, yummy food.

What are the benefits of olive oil?

• It is rich in monounsaturated fat with anti-inflammatory and anti-hypertensive properties.
• It can lower cholesterol level and reduce the risk of coronary heart disease AS LONG AS healthy and active lifestyle is also being practiced.
• Olive oil is rich in polyphenols which is a potent antioxidant that scavenges harmful free radicals in the body.

Go ahead, throw away those fat-laden and/or salty junk food and start learning to cook healthy and nutritious food.

You won’t need to read a lot about chemical-based weight loss supplements, herbal whatnot, alli and why starving yourself  is bad (LOL) to be able to live a healthy lifestyle 🙂

The choice is yours to make, here is to healthy living!

Tags: dining, family, food, pasta, Purse Strings

The Dona Elena Cuisinera Club Celebrity Cook-off Challenge happened at Annabel’s Restaurant on Tomas Morato in Quezon City yesterday, October 24, 2009.

Two teams competed for the coveted Golden Spoon. Both teams had a chef who instructed the team members what to do.

One team was called Hijos and Hijas with Gladys Reyes (in green) and blogger Sire Arevalo (in printed blue blouse).

The other team was called Don and Donas with Bernadette Allyson.

Both teams were asked to choose the ingredients readily available for their use. They were given an hour to whip up their scrumptious dishes.

Presenting the cooked dishes to the audience:

And the winner is…

…team Don and Donas led by Chef Senen Araneta with Bernadette Allyson, hershey Bardon, Jovie Gonzales and Catherine Yu.

For more information about Dona Elena products, be a member of the Dona Elena Cuisinera Club and learn new, easy and exciting recipes.

Tags: cooking, dining, Dona Elena Cuisinera Club, Dona Elena Olive Oil, family, Filipino food, food, food photos, Philippines