RecipeMuncher

My boy is a sucker for soup. He loves nilaga, sinigang, and tom yum soup; even soupy adobo. He would pour it all over his rice and eat with gusto. And I’m a sucker for saving scraps. What I buy, I cook; I hate buying ingredients and not using at all. [...]

Scary. The mere thought of cooking duck frightened me as I remember the rubbery texture of braised duck cooked at home by my dad ages ago. But I had been dreaming about it for quite sometime now since I watched the 1st Masterchef NZ’s duck challenge.
Oh I love duck and I can’t get over authentic [...]

Last week, it was a spur-of-the-moment thingy when I cooked Malaysian buttered prawns. Nagkataon lang meron akong prawns. And I saw Chef Peter’s YouTube video, first time I ever saw a recipe of it online as I’ve been trying to get hold of it since I left Southeast Asia ages ago. I wasn’t prepared; [...]

When I go to the market, I always grab slices of steak or anything easy to cook. Something to save a lazy day. Here’s a quick fix but still YUM. Pan-fried lamb chops with mint sauce.
Ingredients:
Lamb chops
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Mint Sauce:
3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
3 tbsp white wine vinegar (lemon [...]

No, I don’t cook Thai all the time. I know, 3 consecutive posts about Thai food. And yes, I told myself I’m going Pinoy this week. Well, we had binagoongan (which my son wanted to bring to school for his packed lunch; I said no, saying his breath will smell terrible in [...]

I love Thai food and have influenced my boys into loving it as well. Tom yum, a hot and sour soup, is a favorite though it took years before I fell in love with coriander. Ages ago, I would never eat anything with this herb that stinks big time like a ladybug. [...]

Sometimes I feel like I do “themed cooking” for a week. It’s like my work projects… a week of SketchUps for a hospitality project or a week of freehand sketches of whatever. Of course, what I buy and my budget affects it all. Say, I plan to cook pasta with lots of [...]

It was closer to comfort food as it seems more Batangueno to me. Reminds me of my mom’s cooking…

I’ve been crazy about my diet for a couple of months after the long Christmas holiday. I couldn’t fit into some of my favorite jeans and few of my dresses don’t look good on me anymore. And in one of those days I prepped this perfect side dish to steak. Nevermind the [...]

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 5 years! I started this food blog during our 2nd year in Beijing. Funny how time flies.
Last year, while we talked about our comfort food I also gave away some goodies to my readers. I planned to do the same this year but things got in [...]

Last Sunday was the Pentecost Sunday or otherwise called “the birthday of the Church” and it was also the kid’s Confirmation and 1st Holy Eucharist. It was a very special event and parents were invited to bring something for teatime after the Mass. The kiddo insisted on leche flan but then I would [...]

I have made this tangy salad based on a recipe from my salad book. I quite like the onion flavor on the oranges. Ingat lang sa fresh, crunchy onion rings lalo na kung may date ka later on.

Ingredients:
NZ Mandarin oranges
1 small red onion, sliced into thin rings
Lettuce
Spring onion, cut into ringlets [...]

Those who have low tolerance for spicy food don’t get intimidated. It may be mean looking…

Nope. Those are NOT chunks of sinful fatty pork.
With the kiddo at the school and his dad outstation… being home alone and cooking lunch for myself can be very challenging sometimes. I have to think about staying healthy to fight laziness otherwise I will be glued to my lappy all [...]

Everybody has tried cheese sticks before - plain matchstick cheese wrapped in spring roll papers and deep-fried to crunchy goodness. Ever so popular pika-pika for parties. But this may be the best crunchy quick fix for kids - not only cripsy-licious spring rolls but oozing with cheese. Quite easy to do, too. [...]

Fact is, the kiddo have never seen a real coconut tree before until Laguna December 2009. No kidding, that’s true. Patawa para sa mga pinoy, hindi ba? One of the items in his to-do list last Christmas holiday was to see fruitful coconut trees. Of course, his lolo wasted no time [...]

Since I got hold of that salad book, I just couldn’t stop myself from preparing salads after salads - from my packed lunch to work to my personal side dish at home. Personal? Because my veggie and fruit list is longer than my boys. But this warm lamb salad here is friendly to [...]

We don’t really follow religious food traditions during lenten season. For those who are not Catholic and Pinoy, I am talking about abstinence from meat. But if you are, don’t worry. I won’t post our carnivorous little feasts. (I’m grateful NZ has taught me to be more culturally sensitive.) Well, at [...]

I had one of my spur-of-the-moment urges and bought this salad recipe book from the office vendo yesterday. I normally read whatever cookbook is available every time I eat my packed lunch and on several occasions, I photocopy pages that interest me. What I like about this book is that it is very [...]

I love pan-fried squid and I usually stuff it with anything I can find inside the fridge. My boys love ‘em. And a quick, easy, elegant-looking dish I serve to friends for dinner.
Ingredients:
Clean squid tubes
Ground beef
Crushed garlic
Chopped onion
Diced red bell pepper
Chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground pepper
Salt
! Egg, beaten (optional)
Chopped tomatoes
Ringlets of spring onion (or [...]

This summer made us realize we need to lose weight. Pag sumikip ang mga damit, yun na yun. Hindi pa naman bagay sa summer clothes ang namumutok na bilbil. The plan is… go back to regular exercise and a low carb diet menu. Sort of. More veggies, less rice. [...]

Now a month back in NZ after a long holiday from the Philippines! Lots of food photos in my HD but too lazy to blog. Yeah, I know. But I am trying hard to get back to my usual blogging self. Mind you I am cooking all right. That [...]

We had a couple of friends and their daughter over for dinner last weekend and my menu as follows:
Beef salad - Seared basil-marinated sirloin steak, round beans, carrots, tomatoes and Lebanese cucumber with mild sweet & sour dressing
Asian curry - Boneless chicken thigh with capsicums, potato chunks, carrot strips and creamy coconut milk cooked with [...]

I tell you it looked so easy but I tried repeating the whole procedure several times but to no avail…