Treasure Jar

For two weeks now, I have been holding off buying sugar-laden cookies and biscuits for packed snacks for the children. Home-baked goodies are just some of the snacks they like to have aside from fresh fruits and sandwiches.

Here is a loaf of baked banana bread using Maya Banana Cake Mix:

Ingredients:

1 box of Maya Banana Cake mix
2 pcs of almost overripe bananas, SABA variety
1 med egg
1/4 cup fresh milk

Procedure: follow instructions on the box, these are fairly simple. One of the kids did this for me 🙂

I had my slice smothered with cream cheese, yum!

Tags: banana bread, banana cake, Maya Banana Cake Mix

We love pancakes and when there is not much time preparing these much loved breakfast fave, I use Maya’s Think Heart Whole Wheat Pancake Mix .

Ingredients to make 7-8pieces small pancakes:

Maya Think Heart Whole Wheat Pancake Mix
1 egg
3/4 cups fresh milk (I added another 1/4 cup to make the mix easier to scoop)
2T Canola oil

Procedure : Just follow directions in the box.

Serve with fresh fruits and your hot beverage of choice.

Tags: breakfast, Maya Pancake Mix, Maya Think Heart Whole Wheat Pancake Mix, pancakes, whole wheat pancakes

Last Saturday, we had a craving for Yoshinoya when we went to a certain mall near us to buy new HP printer ink. Side note: please buy the original ink.

We these Bento Meals:

And the youngest child who loves to use chopsticks had a big bowl of Beef Ramen:

She said that the beef ramen tasted a bit salty and not beef-y.

We just wish there’s a branch at the other mall across this one because that is the one we frequent more.

One more thing, we love the former more subdued interiors of this branch. The new interiors with glaring white lights and bright orange furniture seem too much for us because it seems to convey a certain “noisiness” in it.

For a main dish (we had this for dinner just last night) My Great Food 15 Second Cooking Challenge is Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork (or Liempo) and Purefoods Classic Honeycured Bacon with mango salsa. Mangoes are best when eaten during summer 🙂

Mangoes are a sign that summer is definitely here and our family just love these fruits especially if coming from our home province, Zambales.

Here is the detailed recipe of my Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with Mango and Bacon Salsa.

Ingredients:

1. 1 kilo of Monterey Country Style Pork or liempo. For every strip, cut in 3 or four pieces.
2. Dry Rub: 2T salt and pepper, 2Tpaprika and 1/4 cup muscovado sugar. For the sauce: 1 cup Oyster Sauce and 1/2 cup Hickory Sauce.
3. Purefoods Honeycured Bacon. You can use as many bacon strips as you like.
4. 2 pieces ripe but still firm mangoes, cubed in small pieces. Ours came from Zambales.
5. 2 pieces tomatoes, cubed in small pieces. Ours are homegrown.
6. 1 piece cucumber, cubed in small pieces
7. 1 or 2 pieces of calamansi (which I got from our tree)
8. Balsamic Vinegar for drizzling on the salsa

Here is the YouTube Video

And here is the Instagram video link.

Cooking Procedure in details:

1. Wash and cut the Monterey Country Style Pork. Pat dry.

2. Put together the dry rub for the meat.

3. Massage the meat with the dry rub. Refrigerate, covered, for an hour or two.

4. Mix the sauces for the Monterey Country Style Pork for the slow cooking step. See NOTES below for some cooking style tips.

5. Arrange the Monterey Country Style Pork with dry rub and half of the sauce in the crock pot.

6. Cook for two hours high and two hours low. OR cook for six hours on low.

7. Prepare the mango salsa by cutting the mangoes, tomatoes and cucumbers in small cubes. Put the juice of one or two calamansi on it.

8. Refrigerate the salsa until you need it. You can also add onions and cilantro before serving. Fry or bake the Purefoods Honeycured Bacon before serving the Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork.

9. Serve the Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with the Mango and Bacon Salsa drizzled with balsamic Vinegar.

NOTES:

1. If you don’t have a slow cooker, I suggest you get one, haha. Kidding aside, you can grill the Monterey Country Style Pork or bake in the oven. Use the remaining sauce to baste the grilled or baked pork. If you are going to grill, better not cut the pork in three or four pieces.

2. You can opt to not add calamansi in the salsa but the balsamic vinegar should be included because it adds a different twist to the ripe mangoes. It may just be me but no harm in trying, right?

3. For the salsa, you can also add onions,cilantro,and avocado before serving.

4. You can cut the crispy Purefoods Honeycured Bacon in bits and add in the salsa. My kids said they preferred it whole so I didn’t do the bacon bits.

I hope you enjoy doing this recipe as much as I did.

By the way, if you do not have time to go out and buy meats, Monterey will deliver to your home. My go-to Monterey branch is the one along Mindanao Avenue.

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Tags: Monterey Country Style Pork (or Liempo), My Great Food 15 Second Cooking Challenge, Purefoods Classic Honeycured Bacon, Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with Mango and Bacon Salsa, Slow Cooked Monterey Country Style Pork with the Mango and Bacon Salsa, slow cooked recipe, slow cooker recipe

Inspired by My Great Food, I created a very simple dessert that is perfect for the summer, using only TWO main ingredients: Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix and Iloilo’s Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream.

This simple snack or dessert is in fact so easy to prepare that kids can actually make this themselves, with the help of mom of course, particularly in the baking part.

This is the video I made and uploaded in YouTube and this is the Instagram link http://instagram.com/p/pFXHl6CH05/ but for more details on how the recipe was prepared, read more below.

Here are the things you need:

• Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix + 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of cooking oil and 1 egg

• Iloilo’s Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream

Procedure:

1. Prepare all the things you need for the baking process:

• mixing bowl
• spatula
• measuring cup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 egg
• 8 x 8 baking pan
• baking paper
• wire rack for cooling
• ice cream scoop

2. Mix the Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix according to instructions: Put the brownie mix in the mixing bowl, add the water, egg and cooking oil and mix for 1 minute or so until there are no lumps or powder left.

3. Pour the Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix in an 8 x 8 baking pan lined with baking paper. Putting a baking paper on the baking pan is important because getting the baked brownies from the baking pan as well as cleaning up both become easier.

4. Bake the mixed Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix in a preheated oven for about 20 -25 minutes or until a toothpick you will use to insert in the middle of the baked brownies comes out clean.

While the brownies are baking, it is best to start cleaning up the utensils used for the mixing so that you are able to enjoy the baked goodies later on.

5. Cool the baked brownies on a wire rack.

6. Cut according to desired size.

7. Serve the baked Magnolia Fudge Brownies while still a bit warm with a scoop of Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream.

Now if this is not the perfect summer treat for your family and friends, then I don’t know what could be better than this Super Simple Magnolia Brownies ala Mode.

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NOTE 1 :

I am not really sure how much these desserts cost when you order from a restaurant and perhaps it is safe to say that per order would probably cost you around Php75 – 125.00

The cost for this dessert which made 12 servings for the combination are the following (plus a few extra scoops of ice cream as well that weren’t used with the brownies):

• Php250.00 for the Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream
• Php129.50 for the Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix
• Php20 for the cooking oil and egg
• A few tens of pesos for the gas or in my case, for the electricity I used in baking.

4 pieces of the brownies were eaten without the ice cream as packed snacks the day after for a road trip we did.
The left-over ice cream were eaten for a few times more and the children were even asking me to buy another Magnolia Fudge Brownie Mix box to go with the Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream.

Now do the math and see how much it will cost you to order these Brownies ala Mode in 12 or even 16 servings. I know, it is a big winner, right?

NOTE 2: You can add chocolate or caramel syrup to this Magnolia Brownies ala Mode recipe but I did not do it anymore because I figured the brownies and the butterscotch has both the perfect combination of taste that will complement each other.

You wouldn’t want to have a dessert that tastes a bit too sweet, wouldn’t you?

Now am off to enjoy my Magnolia Brownies ala Mode with my family and thank goodness, it didn’t make me tired to do this dessert.

For more recipes, register at My Great Food website AND “Like” the My Great Food Facebook page.

Tags: Magnolia Best of the Philippines Butterscotch Ice Cream, Magnolia Brownie Mix, Magnolia Brownies ala Mode, Magnolia Brownies and Magnolia Butterscotch Ice Cream, summer treatssuper simple dessert recipe

The recent cooking demo at The Maya Kitchen featuring Spanish-born Executive Chef J. Luis Gonzalez, the genius behind culinary destination GalleryVask.

Chef Chele, as he is fondly called, has worked with Juan Mari Arzak, considered as the Father of Modern Spanish Cuisine as well as in the kitchens of famous restaurants El Buli, El Celler de Can Roca, Mugaritz, and Nerua-Guggenheim.

Gallery Vask is located on the 5th Floor, Clipp Center, 11th Avenue Corner, 39th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

The cooking demo was made possible with Mida Food Distributors, a leading supplier of seafoods to major hotels and restaurants.  

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Bakalao al Pil Pil con Pipperada
(5 Pax)

• Bakalao 1 kg Cod
• 50 grams Garlic
• 300 ml Olive Oil

Elaboration:

• Soak the bakalao atleast 24 hours to let the salt out.
• Cut fish to desired size. Put in a pan and add olive oil enough to cover the fish.
• Cook in low heat. Appoximately 10 to 15 mins.
• When fish is cooked take out in the pan and let the oil cool down.
• Make an emulsion of the sauce by mixing the sauce with whisk.

Piperada (5 Pax)

• 500 g White Onion Julienned
• 250 g Red Bellpepper Julienned
• 250 g Green Bellpepper Julienned
• 150 g Tomatoes Concasse
• 25 g Garlic Sleeves

Elaboration:

• Cut the white onion, red and green bellpeppers in julienne. Cut the garlic in sleeves.
• Blanche the tomatoes and make into concasse.
• Saute garlic then onions.
• When onions are almost caramelized add the bellpeppers.
• 15 minutes before bellpeppers are cooked add the tomatoes.
• Saute until they get very soft. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cook the vegetables until they are like caramelized onions.
• Take out from heat and cool down.

Plating:
Place the sauce at the bottom of the plate. And put the fish on top of the sauce.
Serve piperada on the side

Tags: Bacalao al Pil Pil con Pipperada, Spanish food, The Maya Kitchen, Vask Manila