Tortillas for breakfast? Yes please. They’re easy to prepare, super versatile and you can eat them on the go. My version of “on the go” means being ready to chase an active toddler around the house.

This one’s just a simple eggs and tomatoes tortilla. I use the whole-wheat tortilla being sold at French Baker. Their tortillas have just the right amount of thickness. I can stuff it with a bunch of stuff and it won’t tear, but it’s not super thick that tortilla is all I taste once I take a bite. Yes, put it on your grocery list — whole wheat tortillas from French Baker! (No, this is not a sponsored post from said bakery).

What goes in my tortillas depends on what’s for breakfast (which I don’t dictate). I like not knowing what’s for breakfast the next day so it makes the tortilla a surprise! Can you guess what’s in the next breakfast tortilla?

Yup, it’s corned beef with onions and diced potatoes plus scrambled eggs. Delicioso!

One time, breakfast was danggit (fried fish). Would it taste good in a tortilla?, I wondered.

Of course it did! Anything’s yummy in a tortilla!

I put too much filling though so this ended up like a danggit taco instead. Now can you guess what’s in the next breakfast tortilla?

Yeah, yeah, it looks weird but that’s tortang talong! Yummy with catsup.

This one’s peppered eggs and tomatoes — literally sprinkled with black pepper just so it’d have a different taste profile from the first one I had. Yummy too!

Now this next one fell apart! I put too much of the meat but it was super delicious too!

That’s longganisa with fried egg and tomatoes. Yummeh! Now what if a single egg is all you have? That works too!

But if you’ve got other stuff on the breakfast table, go pile it on! Here’s some breakfast sardines on that solo egg.

Breakfast tortillas are so fun to eat! They’re fun to assemble too. You just pile stuff onto the tortilla, roll it up and hope it doesn’t ooze out the other end when you take a bite. Best of all, you can eat them while you’re on the move AND with one hand. I think it’s the perfect breakfast for busy folks, especially busy Moms!

I want to try a breakfast fruit tortilla next or adobo in my tortilla next time. What would YOU like to put in your tortilla? Do share!

Creamed corn with milk and ice has always been a family favorite. I associate this dessert with Sunday evenings of my childhood. After dinner, my Mom would take out a serving bowl of this creamy dessert and ladle them into our individual bowls. My Dad, my sisters and I would savor every drop of the cold and creamy sweet dish. We always looked forward to this delicious dessert!

We enjoyed this much-loved dessert again a few days ago. There was hardly a drop left in the serving bowl!

Since the heat has been all kinds of intense lately, we decided to enjoy this creamed corn dessert another way. Hello Creamed Corn Cubes! It’s super easy to make.

You can opt to use fresh corn — simply boil and cut off the corn kernels from the cob. We’re loyal to this brand though: Del Monte Fresh Cut Golden Sweet Cream Style Corn. It’s already creamy and already the right amount of sweet so you don’t have to add your own cream. I love it because it takes me back to my childhood every time.

For a serving of two ice cube trays (32 ice cubes), you will need 2 cans of Cream Style Corn, approximately two tablespoons of sugar (optional), 1/4 cup of milk (optional). I like adding milk and sugar for a creamier, more flavorful dessert.

Please ignore that blue bowl in the above image. That’s my bowl from a previous serving of unfrozen cream style corn There’s only one can of corn in the picture. I had put the other one away before I realized it was missing in the pic. Oops.

Pour the two cans of cream style corn in a big bowl. Throw in the sugar and milk. Stir well. Then spoon into your ice cube trays. Freeze for six to eight hours or overnight. Here’s the finished product.

One person usually eats about three to four frozen cream corn cubes in one sitting. I like rounding it off to an exact number, so here’s my serving of 5 cubes.

Here’s a tip: Taking the cubes out of the tray can be difficult, so here’s what we do. Once frozen, we pop them all out of the tray and slide them into freezer bags. Easy peasy.

These Creamed Corn Cubes are yummy as dessert and as a mid-afternoon snack to beat the heat! So, how many cubes would you like in your bowl?

It’s too hot, very hot! The weather makes me feel I’m wearing Katniss’ parade clothes in Hunger Games, only I can actually feel the heat. Not a good thing. So it’s ice candy time.

We had a bunch of melons at home, so I got one and made melon ice candy. It’s a really simple recipe and a really great thirst-quencher.

Ingredients:
1 ball of cantaloupe melon, cubed
1/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Throw them all in a blender. Blend till smooth. You can serve these in popsicle molds or ice cube molds. We chose the classic Pinoy ice candy bags! Freeze and serve cold.

Melon ice candy — a refreshing way to beat this crazy summer heat!

Have you made ice candy this summer yet? Share your recipe!

Grab a whole wheat tortilla. Heat for a few minutes. Slightly toasted will do. Smother half of it with peanut butter, the other half with jelly. Place a peeled banana in the middle. Like so:

Roll it up and you’ve got yourself a quick and (relatively healthy) snack! I got this idea from Pinterest.

Basil pesto is a favorite at home. It’s light, delicious and healthy — what’s not to love about it? Nothing beats homemade pesto. But when laziness hits, bottled pesto is a fine substitute. I recently tried Stonewall Kitchen’s Basil Pesto from Healthy Options.

A spoonful of it in a small bowl of pasta and tada! You have lunch.

Unlike other bottled pestos, I found Stonewall Kitchen’s Basil Pesto to be a little too much on the zesty side. You still get a nice basil and olive oil taste, but I found the lemon a little overpowering. Hence, this pesto alone with pasta wasn’t a good match for me. I needed something creamy to cut the acidic taste of the pesto. I needed… mayonnaise!

So fine, it’s no longer as healthy. But enjoyed in moderation, it’s really good. Pesto mayonnaise is a good dip for almost anything. I just combined spoonfuls of the bottled pesto with spoonfuls of mayonnaise. Done! Proportions, you ask? I think I used about 1 tablespoon of pesto to 1 1/2 tablespoons of mayo. You can adjust according to your taste.

I had my pesto mayonnaise with breaded chicken fillet. Move over, catsup! I’ve got me a new dipping partner.

So when you get bottled pesto that tastes a little too lemony, make pesto mayonnaise. Simple, quick and delicious!

A set of pre-packed spices caught my eye at the supermarket a few weeks ago. McCormick’s Recipe Inspirations it was called. For Php 86.25, you get six kinds of pre-measured spices and a recipe. My sister and I picked the Apple & Sage Pork Chops set.

According to the package, that’s Rubbed Sage, Minced Garlic, Thyme Leaves, Ground Allspice and Paprika. You have to buy the rest of the ingredients for the dish. They’re conveniently listed at the back of the product.

What I really like about this product is that the dried herbs are pre-measured. I’ve had bottles of dried herbs go to waste because I’d end up forgetting about them being in the cupboard. Sometimes I’d have no recipe to use them for. This set of pre-measured herbs is super convenient for one who doesn’t want to go about measuring AND for one who wants to avoid ingredients going to waste.

What the hell is that?! That, my friends, is Apple & Sage Pork Chops. It’s a brown, brown, brown dish. Maybe some fresh herbs would have livened the plate up. Nonetheless, the dish was delicious. It was a good recipe!

We got this kit from Shopwise. My sister and I are thinking of getting the other McCormick’s sets and trying them out. Looks promising.

First a cupcake kit, now an herb kit for a pork chop dish. These kits are making kitchen work so much friendlier and more enjoyable, methinks!

A cloudy grey day calls for a cup of hot chocolate and an extra fuzzy blanket. Sometimes it shouts for a mug of steaming coffee. On some days like today, when the rain makes the air extra cold, there’s a drink that’s a far better match than chocolate and coffee. It’s tea. But not plain old tea. This one’s gotta be spiked. This day calls for a Hot Toddy.

How to make a Hot Toddy:
1. Steep tea bag in hot water for 5 minutes. Black tea is best. When done, take tea bag out.
2. Throw in two shots of brandy or whiskey.
3. Mix in a tablespoon of honey.
4. Optional: Add the juice of half a lemon. I didn’t have any lemons so I skipped this part! Maybe you can use black lemon tea too.
5. Stir well.

It is best to enjoy this spiked tea steaming hot. This tea is delicious, comforting and all kinds of lovely. The first time I tasted a Hot Toddy was back in 2008. I was nursing a very clogged nose and a Hot Toddy soothed me really well.

You can get hooked on this! The comfort level is wonderful, especially on gray rainy days like today. It makes for a great companion at my worktable too.

It’s so dark today. I’m tempted to make another cup. Maybe I should have another rendezvous with Hot Toddy, what do you think?

This is the cure for my lost baking mojo. Oh yes, I think I found it. Turns out that what I needed was a baking kit. Bright Bakers‘ tagline is “Banish baking blues” so isn’t that perfectly apt for a lost baking mojo? So apt, very apt. Baking intimidates me so that I still had to get the help of my baker sister to try this product out. Nonetheless, my confidence level got a little boost because of this experience. Thank you Bright Bakers for sending me this kit! Banishing baking blues? More like banishing baking fears!

Bright Bakers is a gourmet cupcake kit. It’s got most of the dry ingredients you’ll need for your recipe. I think this is great for baking amateurs like me. No need to agonize in the grocery over what kind of flour to buy or what to do with leftover flour! The ingredients are pre-measured and pre-packed. This kit is like your sous chef!

My cupcake kit was for the Warm Cinapple recipe. The recipe called for wet ingredients and apples, which you have to provide for yourself.

Apple cinnamon cupcakes are delicious, don’t you agree? I couldn’t wait to find out how the recipe would turn out.

I’ve always been pretty skeptical about packaged kits like this. But hey, the proof is in the taste of the cupcakes! I wanted to find out if the cupcakes would be good.

Ready to go in the oven now! Our only source of confusion was how hot the oven should be. The recipe says 175 degrees Celsius, but at home we think in Fahrenheit. After my sister did some recomputing, into the oven the cupcakes went for forty minutes.

We followed the recipe to the letter. What we didn’t follow was the frosting recipe. We’re a bit iffy about using egg whites from unpasteurized eggs in frosting, so my sister decided to do a glaze instead.

They’re not as pretty as frosted cupcakes, but what did I say about my skepticism on baking kits? The proof is in the taste. You want proof? I’ll try to give you proof!

The cupcakes were incredibly moist and delicious. I really enjoyed them! I would’ve enjoyed them without the frosting or the glaze. They’re that yummy.

Bright Bakers has two more flavors: Choco Blast (Moist Chocolate Cupcakes) and Going Bananuts (Banana Walnut Cupcakes). I know I’m trying Banana Walnut next!

Each cupcake kit comes with:
- Ingredients for a batch of 9 cupcakes
- A reusable box for your finished cupcakes (should you choose to present them as a gift or in our case, use them as storage in the refrigerator)
- Icing Ingredients
- Cupcake Liners
- A cupcake baking handbook
- A cupcake insert

Each box is sold at Php 350 but this Valentine’s season it’s at Php 300 per kit. If you order 3 kits, you can get them for only Php 750.

I super recommend this baking kit for:
(a) baking beginners (any age!)
(b) baking with kids
(c) those who don’t bake regularly (ex. if you don’t use flour or powdered sugar regularly, best to use these pre-packaged ones insted of buying a whole box and letting it go to waste)
(d) those who’ve lost their baking mojo (a.k.a. folks like me)

I’m not blue about baking but I am afraid of it. What I like best about this kit is that it takes the intimidation out of baking. Baking mojo — we meet again!

Do you want your own cupcake kit or want to learn more about Bright Bakers? Head on over to their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/brightbakers) or follow them at Twitter (@BrightBakers). You can also order cupcake kits by emailing brightbakers@gmail.com.

If you’ve been on Pinterest, you know it’s a complete time suck. You’re giddy at all the pretty images you find for your future home or wedding, then panic later when the ten minutes you said you’d allot for Pinterest surfing has turned into a whole hour. Sometimes even more. I don’t blame you. Pinterest is addicting.

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. I liken it to Tumblr except this is more organized. I always have a fuzzy feeling when I’m on Pinterest. You gotta admit though, it doesn’t help make procrastination any easier to get over!

But here’s proof that Pinterest makes you productive. My sister was so inspired by a pin she saw that she just had to do it herself. RISE AND SHINE FELLAS!

Aren’t they cute? Bacon and eggs! But they’re not bacon and eggs… they’re white chocolate, yellow Nips and pretzels.

Cuteness! They were pretty yummy too. The saltiness of the pretzels is a great match with the sweetness of the chocolates.

See? Pinterest inspired her to get those creative juices flowing. Meanwhile, are you on Pinterest? Let me know!

If you want to jazz up some plain chocolate cupcakes, here’s a quick and easy way to do it.

Split the cupcake into two layers. Smother the two lower layers with cream (you may opt to whip in sugar), then add a layer of strawberries. Put the middle layer on top of the bottom layer, then place back the cupcake top. To up its pretty quotient, sprinkle confectioner’s sugar (also called powder sugar or icing sugar) over the cupcakes. This is how my sister did it.

I’ve also done this before with mamon (Filipino spongecake). In the absence of chiffon cake, mamon is a quick way to make a delicious strawberry shortcake too! You know what will make that mamon strawberry shortcake even yummier? Freeze it a little bit before eating. It’s sinfully indulgent.

This is a quick way to make plain cupcakes and spongecakes exciting. It’s a great go-to dessert when you have surprise guests over. Instead of serving them the same old cupcakes or the same old mamon, try this instead. Don’t forget the confectioner’s sugar. It makes any dessert look even yummier!

How would you give chocolate cupcakes a second life?

An article in Yummy magazine’s website entited “How to fry an egg” sent me down memory lane. It reminded me of a Home Economics class in high school where each student had to fry an egg under the watchful eye of our teacher. When it was my turn, I made sure the pan was heated and lightly oiled. Then I cracked the egg over the pan, let the egg cook for about 3 minutes, then slid it out of the pan with a spatula.

We were graded. I got an 18 over 20.

18 over 20. It’s not bad, right? Not bad, not bad. But the perfectionist in me just HAD to ask the teacher why I didn’t get a perfect 20. You know what cost me two points?

She said I forgot to put salt. SALT!

I know that salt is like a given seasoning, but I don’t like salt on my egg. I just don’t. Sure it makes it more flavorful, but I’m happy without salt. Did I tell my teacher that? Oh yes. Did she give me my two points? Of course not.

Even if that incident happened almost twenty years ago (I suddenly feel so old), I still remember it vividly. It’s made such an impact in my life that EVERY TIME I fry an egg that high school moment comes to mind. It’s also the reason why I always ask other people how they like their eggs, if I’m the one cooking. That’s because I want to give you 20/20 eggs, not 18/20!

How do you like your eggs anyway? I like mine a little runny, then over easy, and yes, without salt.

Fried rice is nothing more than leftover white rice and yet it’s one of the best comfort foods ever. Fried rice just doesn’t have the same texture and taste if it’s made with freshly cooked rice.

I enjoy my fried rice with lots of fried garlic, a dash of soy sauce and a sprinkle of salt. This is my ultimate fried rice dish.

What’s great about fried rice though is that it can be a meal in itself. Got some leftover adobo? Shred the meat and stir it into the fried rice while it cooks. Want the kids to eat their vegetables without you having to nag? Mix in peas, carrots and corn into the fried rice. It’s versatile, filling and hits the spot all the time.

Fried Rice Recipe
Cooking fried rice is fairly simple. All you need is a hot pan, your leftover rice, your choice of seasoning/s (soy sauce, salt, pepper, cinnamon, curry powder, etc.), your additional ingredients (shredded chicken, chopped bacon, eggs, whatever’s in the refrigerator that needs to be consumed ASAP).

1. Heat some oil in a pan.
2. Toast the garlic. You can either toast all the garlic till golden brown, take them out then mix them with the fried rice towards the end of the cooking process, or if you’re like me, just toast them till they’re almost golden brown. The less cooking steps there are for me, the better. If you like onions in your fried rice, sauté them till translucent before putting in the garlic.
3. Pour in your leftover white rice. Break down with your spatula so there are no clumps. Sprinkle some water on the rice if they’re too stuck together.
4. Stir in your additional ingredients. If you want egg in your fried rice, you can do it two ways: (a) Fry the egg in the pan. When done, take it out, slice into strips then add to the fried rice later on. (b) Or if you want to wash as less plates as possible, like me, I just create a well at the center of the rice and cook the egg there. When it’s done to my liking, I just shred it with the spatula and mix it in with the rice.
5. Season according to taste.

There you have it – simple Asian food that’s big on comfort and flavor. Partner with your favorite ulam (viand) and get ready to be stuffed, or enjoy a bowl of fried rice with all the trimmings.

Yummy.

One of my favorite treats as a kid was an ice cream sandwich. Nope, I’m not talking about branded treats which usually offered a scoop of vanilla ice cream squeezed in between two chocolate wafers. I’m talking about one of my favorite ice cream flavors and the simply delicious pandesal.

In my opinion, mango ice cream complements the bread’s sweet and doughy taste. Chocolate would also work well, but it tends to steal the thunder away from the bread. I prefer the light and simple balance of mango ice cream and pandesal.

Have you tried filling a pandesal with ice cream? It’s so good! It’s especially yummy if it’s the “dirty ice cream” you use, bought directly from the streetside vendor.

As for other breads, I haven’t tried it on whole wheat bread or multi-grain, but it’s an experiment worth trying, right? Ice cream on white bread (aka “Tasty”) is also good. I prefer my pandesal though. When ice cream that’s sandwiched between two slices of white bread melts, it makes one big messy pool.

Have you tried ice cream pandesal? Tell us about it!