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Posts by: stef
Gotta try this one for the hubby soon. No eggs!
Hubby is the world’s Biggest Flan Fan. For his birthday I made him his favorite Filipino Leche Flan (the only Pinoy recipe I won’t ever share because it’s a family secret). I hadn’t made it in a YEAR! So he had his fill. But I feel bad that he can’t have it more often. Maybe Dr. Weil’s recipe will be at least half-satisfying?
Joji of the very citrusy Ala Eh! is hosting her first Lasang Pinoy, and chose a particularly appropriate theme for Christmas, because as we all know THE best way to celebrate Christmas is by GIVING. (Or is it?) She invites us to tell our LP readers about food that we choose to make/purchase at Christmastime and give as gifts.
To really prepare our hearts and home for Jesus’ coming this year, the kids and I decided to stay home while Dad travelled for work (don’t ask me why they always send him away right when the Advent season begins — I’ve never been able to figure it out). And then the boys decided at the last minute that they were going with Dad for a few days’ stay at Mama’s. So the girls and I had a few days to ourselves when we crafted and cleaned and cooked and baked. We started cooking and baking right after Thanksgiving, with everything going into full swing December 4. Our goal was to bake or cook one cookie and one entree per day, a schedule we didn’t adhere to but worked out very well followed 75% of the time. This isn’t even a complete list yet, as we still have a bunch more that we haven’t posted, but you’ll get the idea:
- The Advent season started with a party December 3, to which I brought this eggless rellenong manok — a first for me (not the stuffed chicken, but the eggless aspect), but had to try for hubby’s sake. The filling held together well enough, but I missed the lightness and cohesiveness from the eggs. So in 2007, I will incorporate the eggs, but leave a thigh and leg stuffed with a portion of eggless mixture.
- Springerle – a very traditional German cookie that smells and tastes delightfully of anise
- Mini Crab Cakes – prepared days in advance and frozen, then thawed and baked the day of the party, 15 minutes at 375 degrees — this isn’t necessarily a Christmas staple in our house, but I just thought it would be nice to have this year
- Stef’s Christmas Biscotti — yup, my own recipe, which I tweak just a wee bit every year; I’d love to make more right now because we’re already out, but Yena our nut-monster has snacked on the pistachios and finished every single one; I was wondering what kind of big mouse was it nibbling on the nuts and leaving the shells in various corners of our living room — until I found out it was a very large, long-haired one, with an impish smile and dimples, and a hug for mom to say she’s (not really) sorry
- Aisa’s Drommar, my teen’s baking prowess really shows in these cookies — see how meticulous she is in shaping them? I need to get on her case about typing up that recipe though.
- Nick Malgieri’s Cuccidati, or fig cookies, or what *I* call fruitcake in a cookie — so much goodness in that little horseshoe! I’ll try to type that recipe by tonight.
- I was going to give pannetone as gifts too, but plans were shelved as I had a little trouble with the barm and seed culture. As you can probably guess, though, I haven’t given up. Just waiting another week for the kids to get 100% better (me too) and I’ll see if that barm is ready for some action!
- Spiced Nuts for the Nibbles Table at the party. This has always been a no-fail crowd pleaser for me. I’ve been somewhat embarrassed by the reception it gets at parties — once I took it to a party and it disappeared faster than the party hostess’ appetizers!
- Aisa’s Mascarpone Creams — sometimes I think my dd goes overboard with her decorations, but they ARE very effective, don’t you think?
- my 2006 Christmas truffles; Aisa has her own Christmas ornament ball truffles — so pretty — but I think kailangan ko na kulitin so she can post them!
- These snowflakes were going to grace the tops of our gifts this year, but they were just too fragile for that. They were instead used as fireplace ornaments, complete with thought bubbles (don’t ask).
- Mini cheesecakes, one of the few things remaining in the freezer as there was no more room at the dessert table for it
- Marie Rudisill’s fruitcake; if this turns out well (nope, we haven’t tried it, waiting it to mature a bit more) — I will make mini ones for gift giving this 2007.
- Not my favorite lebkuchen, Aisa made these Saint Nicholas ones to celebrate St. Nick’s on December 6 – they still got eaten!
- I didn’t grow up giving morcon or embutido for gifts, but I’ve since copied my hubby’s aunt, who gives these to Pinoy families who can’t/won’t make these themselves. The meats are presliced and immersed in sauce in an oven-proof container, which is given as part of the gift.
- These samosas were a hit at the party as well
- There’s more: rumballs, rainbow cookies, sugarplums, drei augen, etc. that we haven’t posted yet, so feel free to come back here in a week or so when we’re sure to have updated
.
The cookies were stacked in a box, with a gold-painted nativity scene Springerle showing through the window as you see here:
and given in a Christmas gift bag along with a box or two of these:
.
There was supposed to be a very Pinoy element to my post, as I had meant for the Advent part of our celebrations to be reserved for the gifts we send prior to Christmas, and during the 12 days of Christmas I was going to concentrate on making Filipino gifts that we still send through Epiphany.
[You didn't know that was allowed? I didn't either. In fact, I still get a lot of flack from Papa if he catches me working on my Christmas cards and it's already December 28. A-ha! Last year, I found out that a few of my 4Real mom friends do indeed send out cards all through the Christmas season, AND even gift-giving is extended through Epiphany. I wish I had known about this long ago, I might have saved hubby and me a lot of grief!!! If you think about it, it also takes away the emphasis of me-me-me at Christmas, at least for the kids, when your gift-giving is spread out through the Advent and Christmas season, as opposed to them getting a windfall at Christmas Eve/Day and forgetting that it's JESUS's birthday we're celebrating, NOT OURS! And so we've learned to give gifts at St. Nick's day (December 6), a few at Christmas, and more gifts on Epiphany, when the Magi came bearing gifts. This year, I think I may make the kids some kingly, velvety cloaks for Epiphany. But as usual, I digress...]
As I was saying, the 12 days of Christmas were going to be devoted to the Pinoy stuff — the Sanikulas version of the Springerle, langka and ube pastillas, yema balls, I was even planning a nice barquiron to be wrapped in gold-starred-tissue… but Christmas night and every night through Friday one of us fell sick… victims of the yearly flu. Sigh. The Pinoy gifts will have to wait ’til Valentine’s Day gift-giving, or even Easter. Some of the gifts we had left on our to-make list were easy ones — hot cocoa peppermint mix, Russian tea mix, various herbed and spiced grissini (breadsticks), etc.
But it was time to wrap up the rush, rush… and turn to the hush, hush of the Christmas season. I was tempted to dwell on what we didn’t get to do — trips we were planning to take with family that came, places and people we wanted to see, ah, and the after-Christmas sales! But God had other plans for me.
Yes, we share the spirit of Christmas when we give, give, give. But because I had to be in bed, sick kids all around me, I was also able to spend great lengths of time just praying and reading my Bible, a child (sometimes two) nestled in the crook of my arm. It’s another kind of Christmas celebration, a peaceful one — I didn’t even have to do anything! I could simply gaze at Jesus’ face on Mary’s lap, allow myself to be enfolded in my Father’s arms, and rejoice and marvel at all these blessings from Him, the Greatest Giver of all. Isn’t it amazing how God makes it possible for the holiness of Christmas to come to us in the most loving way, when we simply hold out our hands and hearts and spirits, and RECEIVE silently, His Greatest Gift?
Hope you all had a blessed, gift-filled Christmas, in more ways than one.
Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!
December 23. St. Victoria’s Feast Day (Yena’s second name). Yena turned 5 Dec. 22.
Yena, our very own Christmas blessing, five years ago. Sigh…. so fast!
She’s sweet, and precious and so pilya (mana sa mommy). She’s a hugger and a kisser and she can be totally affectionate and nice one moment, and bossy and demanding the next (yup, again, mana sa mommy). She’s extremely funny:
This year’s Advent we tried to go to Mass daily (we made it to about 6 or so). One morning I thought we were running late and kept saying so on the way to Church. Turns out we weren’t, I had just forgotten that the clock was ahead 5 minutes. At Communion time, we stayed in our seats because we grabbed a bite on our way out and so couldn’t receive Jesus physically. Yena asks, “We can’t because we’re late?”
Every evening when we say our family’s night prayers together, we choose a few prayers to say after the praise-supplication-thanksgiving-petition pattern that we follow. In the beginning we’d choose a bunch of prayers to say, but more recently we’ve only picked 3 prayers (each child gets his/her turn at picking what prayers), so we can say them more slowly and meditate on the words more as we pray them. Father was in the middle of Consecration at one of the Advent masses, when Yena turns to me and says, “He’s talking too fast.” Thank goodness it was a whisper.
After attending Advent masses several days in a row, Yena asks me, “Why does Father wear the same clothes all the time”? (purple vestments)
Thanks so much for the laughs this year, Yena! And for your wonderful music (she plays piano by ear). And for all the other ways you bless us. We love you!
Princess cake recipe and instructions to be posted next week at Baking Delights. I’ve got a closeup there right now of the cake, but too tired to write anymore.
Yummy!!!
Lighthouse Place, the nearest outlet to us that has a Hanna Andersson outlet store.
Eh. Someone suggested cashew cheese for my hubby who can’t eat have dairy. So I was eager to try out the recipes in this book:
I had tried a few of Charlie Trotter’s recipes before (from different cookbooks, not this one) and fairly liked them. However the Cashew Cheese recipe in this book won’t work for us — first of all I don’t have (yet) a Champion juicer, and second, it calls for Rejuvelac, which is basically a byproduct of wheat. 
I was so hopeful. Several of the recipes in the book call for this. Even the chocolate fudge which looks so promising calls for nama shoyu, which also contains wheat. I’m almost ready to cry. I was so hoping I could make this for hubby for his birthday and our 17th(!) anniversary (yesterday). So tonight we’re having homemade strawberry sorbet instead, with a bit of Ah!Laska, IF we end up staying home. I had been planning an intimate dinner for two downstairs, with a simple green salad, steak and lobster fondue, roast potatoes/rice pilaf, and the sorbet… while the kids watch a movie…. but then we agreed that they’d be coming down every 10 minutes because of this and that…. so we may be going out to dinner instead. Raw food experimentation will have to wait.
Oh, and I don’t know what the authors’ definition of raw is, but I thought that NOTHING was subjected to heat. I was wrong; a lot of food is dehydrated at 105 degrees F and some recipes call for using hot water, etc. Nothing wrong with that, just that it wasn’t what I expected. And reading through the book I find that this is very specialized cuisine, e.g., calls for things like a high speed blender and dehydrator, etc. So unless we were to commit to this kind of eating lifestyle, I’m not sure I can justify the expense for more appliances to clutter my already crowded counter-space. Those things have been on my wish list, but not priority, so it may be years before I go back to this book.
- Once a year, consider that perhaps this year, you could save a few hundred dollars on groceries if you would JUST pay attention to sales AND coupons.
- Subscribe to your local paper, preferably the Sunday one, so you could get “subscriptions” to all the sale ads in the area, as well as get a ton of coupons for groceries, restaurants, etc.
- Note that you’ve already saved 25 cents an issue by subscribing to the paper instead of buying it at the grocery store every Sunday. Think of the gas you’re saving too! Congratulate yourself and do the happy dance.
- Once a week, usually on a Monday, spend 30 minutes to an hour going through all the sales ads, taking notes. Cut out all the coupons that you MIGHT need in the next couple of months.
- Put the coupons in a safe place, such as a box in your home office, to accompany all the other coupons from months and years past.
- Actually go to the grocery store with a few coupons in hand, excited that you’re getting things that are on sale AND that you get them even cheaper because you’ve got coupons, especially since it’s Double Coupon Day!!! If you get at least one item for free because of all the discounts, do another happy dance.
- Repeat #4 and #5 for the next several weeks. Admire the growing pile and pat it once in a while.
- Note that the sale ads and newspapers are starting to pile up under your desk because you haven’t had the time to do # 4 for a while. HOWEVER, note also that you are saving money by NOT buying compost, because now you have all this paper to feed the worms in the compost pile.
- Note that although you can safely compost the paper so you can grow your own veggies next year (thereby saving MORE money), you can not put the glossies into the compost pile because they’re printed on the wrong paper with the wrong kind of ink. Be happy nevertheless because then they can go straight into the recycling bin. Think how much you’re helping the planet by doing your part. Forget that you pay $$ a month for the recycling service that comes to your curb to pick up your stuff.
- Note that the coupon pages are also starting to pile up in your box, instead of being cut into individual coupons that are ready-to-use.
- Go to the grocery store, do your shopping, then come home and stare guiltily at the pile in the box. Belatedly remember that you could have saved $1 on the canola oil and 75 cents on the Cascade. Console yourself with the fact that if you had taken the time to go through the coupons you would have added another 30 minutes to your already long 2-hour menu- and grocery-planning session. Do a happy dance because even though you didn’t save money, you saved TIME.
- Do #11 a few more times, especially around Thanksgiving and Christmastime when you are busy with cooking and baking.
- Clean your office, notice the box with the overflowing pile, and decide that it’s time to get rid of some of this trash.
- Spend 30 minutes going through the pile, discarding any coupons that have already expired. Kick yourself mentally for not saving 55 cents on the Ziploc bags, 25 cents on the Pam spray, and 25 cents on the Domino Organic Sugar.
- Do #14 at least two more times.
- Accept that this year’s attempt was a failure and transfer all contents of the box (except all the unexpired coupons that are yellowing with age) to the recycling bin.
- Recall that over 10 years ago hubby and you came to the conclusion that coupons are just not worth it, especially for people who have a thousand other projects and who will inevitably forget that there are coupons to be used. Recall also that this discussion has been repeated, with the same conclusion, every few years.
- Decide anyway that NEXT YEAR you will spreadsheet all your coupons so you can sort by Brand, Description, and Expiration Date. Decide also that you will put your coupons in page protectors so they are in neat categories and you won’t ever forget a single one.
- Get a headache thinking of #18.
- Estimate quickly in your head that you saved about $10 this year because of the coupons. Focus instead on the weight that you probably lost doing all those happy dances. Do a happy dance one last time. A little one.
- Cancel the newspaper subscription, forgive yourself, then pray to St. Michael to defend you from the evil that are COUPONS next time you are tempted to try again.
If you REALLY want to know how to save on your groceries, click here.
Kathryn of The Bookworm is hosting this edition of the 4Real Moms’ Lives of Loveliness Fairs. Kathryn’s chosen theme is the Loveliness of Preparation and she has asked us to share what we’ve been doing to prepare for Christmas.
Well, my boys are gone with Daddy, over to their grandparents for some bonding time, so we girls are doing some bonding of our own over crafts and cookies.
In the morning, we start out our day with Mass at 8:30, and today we missed it because as we stepped out of the van, Aisa realized she hadn’t put her shoes on and that she was still wearing her house slippers! So back home we went, laughing and giggling all the way. I guess this gives us time to rest a bit, and write this post!
First up is our Chocolate Fruitcake, which I baked too late in the season to enjoy for Christmas. I will have to taste a bit from the bottom at New Year’s to see if it’s good enough, and if it isn’t, we’ll wait ’til Epiphany, and if it still needs more aging (or anointing:D), it will have to be Valentine’s Day when we finally get a bite. Right now it’s sitting wrapped in cheesecloth and plastic wrap, on a plate, on my hubby’s car in the garage (he had taken a rental with him), and gets a few tablespoons of brandy every week. I posted the recipe at the 4Real forum and will update the post at Baking Delights with it. I didn’t have an airtight container that it would fit in, so that’s on my list for next year’s fruitcake. I also have plans of de-allergizing this recipe sometime soon.
Next are mini cheesecakes for people wanting just a bite of luscious cheesecake goodness.
Royal Icing Snowflakes for a tree, gift, cake, or doorway.
Truffles, for gift giving, or for serving at a party, or for snacking on while you trim your tree.
There’s a part 2, coming later today.
Kathryn, thank you so much for hosting!!
Dear Readers, please visit all the other Loveliness Fairs. I’ve learned so much from these gals and I’m sure you will too!
I just thought I’d write a quick THANK YOU to all of you who visit the blog — and an apology for all the late replies and yet unsent replies to your comments and questions.
For everyone requesting the recipe for pandesal, click here. It’s not your traditional pandesal, but I encourage you to play around with it. You don’t have to use whole wheat — using regular bread flour will give you a lighter, less dense pandesal. Try using evaporated milk instead of regular milk, this is also a common Filipino touch. If you want an even lighter bread, add an egg to the dough. Lastly, try it without any egg or milk. You’ll be left with the more traditional recipe, one that’s very similar to those crusty artisanal breads people rave about. Breadmaking shouldn’t be scary. If you fail the first time, DO try and try again! That’s how I and every other baker I know learned. Every bread is a new experience. Just when I think I know everything about baking bread, I fail, I get humbled, and have to get back up again and start with a new dough or a new starter. The fun is in the learning.
Incidentally, I’ve been neglecting to mention it here, but Aisa and I started a baking blog for b5media, over at Baking Delights. Since we live in a big city again, surrounded with lots of friends, etc., we have people to “experiment on” (hee hee) and are always finding willing and able victims. So even though the family can’t consume a lot of the things that we bake, we just bring it to a group activity and it disappears. We get the pleasure of creating and our friends have the pleasure of eating them! So if you’re looking for bread, cake or recipes, come visit us there. Yes, we feature allergy-free goods from time to time. Still working on those! I still have cake and cornbread recipes that I got from Jenn’s that I haven’t posted. And a different cake recipe that I experimented on — not bad!
And for those requesting my siomai recipe, I PROMISE to post it in the next couple of weeks. I *had* it at Noodles and Rice, but lost half of the post when we moved over from AboutWeblogs to b5media’s servers — and didn’t catch it until recently, so I had assumed all of my earlier posts were intact. I do know that Karen has a very popular siomai recipe, so if you need one right now, please go and visit her so you can make your siomai right away!
As for the putong puti, I haven’t had time to experiment again, but it’s on my calendar for January! So please stay tuned. I actually started a group for recipe testing, specifically for those of you who asked that you be included on the list, but then only two people responded when I sent the invite. So if you’re really interested in testing the puto out, please e-mail me again and we’ll take it from there.
If I don’t get to post much before Christmas, hope you are all having a lovely Advent season. May you be blessed with the Lord’s coming in a special way this year.
Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!
My first. (Well, not counting hubby’s and kids’ and my own feeble attempts at self-massage.) I had always thought of massages as luxuries, and I am not often taken with luxuries (except for expensive chocolates and sometimes, champagne). Our doctor (a very good integrative one, which means she’s a licensed practicing medical doctor, but she is very well educated in other stuff, like Chinese medicine, and acupuncture, etc.) saw me Monday, checked me over after I told her about the chest pains (though not really in my chest but more like the upper left area just below my shoulder — turns out it was a pulled muscle) and the unexplained headache that wouldn’t go away — I thought I was having a mini-stroke … and pronounced that I was STRESSED. Am I turning into a hypochondriac? Or maybe a cyberchondriac! I must admit I’ve researched diseases (known family diseases) both for myself and the kids.
However, I thought I had taken all the necessary precautions to keep myself from stressing this Advent period. I pared our lessons down to the very bare bones. No formal schoolwork. Except for learning more about Advent and Christmas traditions, like St. Nicholas’ feast day, and the Immaculate Conception tomorrow, Our Lady of Guadalupe on the 12th, etc. Crafts to do like ornaments to deck the halls and the trees. Unfortunately, the little ones weren’t too excited about the kit I opened today. I am such a sucker for the “C word” (clearance). It’s got enough wire and red beads for 12 crosses — very pretty and calls for some scrollwork, but nothing too fancy, except that it helps to have needle nose pliers. Lucky we have a resident jewelry maker (Aisa) who had one.
We are expecting company on the 21st (my parents) and the 23rd (a bunch of friends) so we’ve been cooking and baking…. and hubby is going on a business trip. But I had really done my best to “do nothing major” this year!!! It’s somewhat annoying to find that stress has crept in after all.
And so I got the massage — and it was very good. And hubby insists I get more (doctor recommended twice a week for 2 weeks) but I’ll just schedule it on my monthly days-off. What I *love* is that it cost me all of fifteen bucks. Because it got written out as myofascial release. Which means insurance pays for it. Now *that* is the most de-stressing news of all, wouldn’t you agree?
From this recipe right here, minus the butter. *And* I didn’t bother with blending as I didn’t see the need to, though I did sieve. Only the boys didn’t like it, but they’re not big fans of sweet potatoes anyway, unless mixed into mashed regular ones. I also didn’t bake a second time, as we were hungry and it was delicious enough at that point, though a second-glazing to thicken the glaze and coat the potatoes would certainly concentrate the flavors more.
So Yena was sick in bed yesterday and missed Mass, and I sat beside her doing the last of my online Christmas shopping.
She’s been asking for kefir but Dad’s last trip to the supermarket wasn’t fruitful — no organic options. The day before I appeased her by making a strawberry yogurt smoothie and I thought that was the end of it, but she asks again, only this time her question is, “Can you order it online, Mom?”.
While I’m waiting for the back of the turkey to brown so I can turn it, I’m bloghopping, and found this at Jimmy Akin’s blog:
The Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments II
Way too cool. Can’t wait for the kids to come home from Mass and see it — the two little ones are sick in bed, so Mom’s playing nurse on Thanksgiving Day. Instead of serving the full spread at lunchtime, we are staggering the meal throughout the day. Or “Eat as I cook” as we call it, which we do here from time to time. It’s like an all-day dinner if you think about it.
Here’s what I’m cooking in the next week or so… before Thanksgiving:
Slow-Cooker Beef-and-Bean Burritos except hubby’s having it with rice and/or corn tortillas, and the “taco seasoning mix” will be homemade to avoid the wheat that they usually put in
Mango Mahi Ceviche except mine won’t be a real ceviche because I’ll poach the fish really lightly to avoid salmonella.
I’ve got a bunch of recipes I’ve been meaning to post. Hopefully they’ll be done by the weekend.
