Kabayan or Kababayan muffin for lunch

Yes, that is right, i only ate 4 of these Pinoy muffins called kabayan for lunch. It was part of my weight loss challenge. 


Just 4 of these and it made me full right away. Well, it's not one of those breads that looks so big in the outside but inside, it really is just full of air. This is one has full, intact, rich taste packed in that small size of it.


I've been eating this muffin ever since i was a kid. And i kinda grew into it. 


Like with some of its's pinoy bread counterpart pan de sal and ensaymada, kabayan great with hot chocolate or coffee.


This is also very affordable and you can buy it at any small or big bakery is nearest you.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup  cooking oil 
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract   
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup sugar for sprinkling  (optional)

 Baking procedures:

1.  Combine salt, sugar, cream of tartar and soft butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.

2.     Blend for 4 minutes at lowest speed.

3.     Stir together in a separate bowl the bread flour, cake flour, and baking powder.

4.     Stir together vanilla, yellow color and condensed milk in another small bowl.

5.      A d d  w e t  a n d  d r y i n g r e d i e n t s  a l o n g  w i t h  oi l   a l t e r n a te l y  t o  m i x e r  u n t i l   it  f o r m s  a  sm oo t h  b a t t er.

6.      Fill well-greased muffin cups with 1/2 cup batter per hole.

7.     Bake for 22 minutes at 375°F.

8.     Allow to cool for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire racks to finish cooling.

Halo-halo Dessert in Batangas

This is the time of the year! Well almost since it is still febuary, summer in the Philippines usually start around March, but you just can't help yourself buying one of these, specially if it's noon time and you've just finished a happy lunch with your family. The weather is hot, the sun is out, you walk around the corner for a fresh breath of air and ('walah!'), you find a little store that sells halo-halo. A perfect dessert!

They sell this for just P10/ea would you believe that. Ah, God is so good! 

Some of the best halo-halo i have ever tasted can be bought in Chowking and Razon's ( popular food chains in the Philippines).

How do you make one?

 Well generally halo-halo is a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which are added various boiled sweet beans and fruits, and served in a tall glass or bowl..

There are various ways of mixing it but here are the one's commonly used.

Boiled kidney beans, garbanzos, sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport(macapuno), and plantains caramelized in sugar, jackfruit (langkâ), gulaman, tapioca or Tae,nata de coco, sweet potato (kamote), pounded crushed young rice (pinipig). In terms of arrangement, most of the ingredients (fruits, beans, and other sweets) are first placed inside the tall glass, followed by the shaved ice. This is then sprinkled with sugar, and topped with either (or a combination of) leche flan, purple yam (ubeng pula), or ice cream. Evaporated milk is poured into the mixture upon serving.

Nutrients you get from eating Green Mangoes

My eldest son is an avid fan of green mangoes. He is just so crazy and addicted with it. The funny thing is, no matter how raw the fruit is, he doesn’t even feel the sourness of what he is eating. He loves to dip it to bagoong or patis, othertimes just plain rock or iodized salt will do. But if he doesn’t have these, he just plainly eat it as is.

Im not complaining though, because instead of him munching a bar of chocolate or eating junk foods, id rather see him squat over a bunch of mangoes around him.

Pytochemicals and health benefits

The energy value per 100 g (3.5 oz) is 250 kJ (60 kcal), and that of the green mango is slightly higher (79 kcal per 100g). Mango contains a variety of phytochemicals and nutrients. The fruit pulp is high in prebiotic dietary fiber, vitamin C, diverse polyphenols and provitamin A carotenoids.

In mango fruit pulp, the antioxidant vitamins A and C, Vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine), folate, other B vitamins and essential nutrients, such as potassium, copper and amino acids, are present. Mango peel and pulp contain other phytonutrients, such as the pigment antioxidants – carotenoids and polyphenols – and omega-3 and -6 polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Mango peel contains pigments that may have antioxidant properties,  including carotenoids, such as the provitamin A compound, beta-carotene, lutein and alpha-carotene, polyphenols such as quercetin, kaempferol, gallic acid, caffeic acid, catechins, tannins, and the unique mango xanthonoid, mangiferin, any of which may counteract free radicals in various disease processes as revealed in preliminary research Phytochemical and nutrient content appears to vary across mango species. Up to 25 different carotenoids have been isolated from mango pulp, the densest of which was beta-carotene, which accounts for the yellow-orange pigmentation of most mango species. Peel and leaves also have significant polyphenol content, including xanthonoids, mangiferin and gallic acid.

The mango triterpene, lupeol, is an effective inhibitor in laboratory models of prostate and skin cancers. An extract of mango branch bark called Vimang, isolated by Cuban scientists, contains numerous polyphenols with antioxidant properties in vitro and on blood parameters of elderly humans.

The pigment euxanthin, known as Indian yellow, is often thought to be produced from the urine of cattle fed mango leaves; the practice is described as having been outlawed in 1908 due to malnutrition of the cows and possible urushiol poisoning.  This supposed origin of euxanthin appears to rely on a single, anecdotal source, and Indian legal records do not outlaw such a practice.

Thursday Diet

Day 9 

Breakfast – 1 cup of coffee, rice and veggies

Lunch – 4 pieces pan de sal (im beginning to love eating  bread instead of rice) , 1 can sardines

15 minute workout (it has been a week since I last weighed myself, do u think this would work?)

Dinner – 1 half rice and veggies

Apple and alcohol mixed

San Mig apple

San Miguel Corporation did it again. They always find a way to improve their product and this time, they came up with a beer with a fruit flavor.

I happened to get a taste and feel of this stuff when me and my wife were buying some groceries for her birthday. The idea was instead of us going out on a bar to celebrate her birthday, we simply would just stay at home and get drunk.

I was already thinking of what beer to drink. I only have two favorites, it’s either the ever popular san mig light, or the just as popular red horse. So when I saw this san mig apple in bottle out on the shelf of the grocery store. I immediately grab one and bought it. Its cheap at P31.00 (pesos) each. By the way I also bought 2 san mig light in can, just in case I didn’t like the taste….

I thought you’d never ask. The taste is good. It’s almost like drinking an pple soda with a tinge of alcohol. I said a tinge because according to the label, it only has 3% alcohol. 

Part of a Healthy Diet

Drinking one beer per day may be good for your health because it has been associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Why? Some experts suggest these reasons:

• The folate found in beer may help to reduce homocysteine in the blood and lower homocysteine levels mean a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
• Lab studies have found constituents in beer that lower triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol in mice.
• Drinking one beer per day reduces blood clotting so some studies found that cardiovascular patients who drank one beer per day also lived longer.

Spicy chicken lollipop breaded fish and sizzling squid rings at Gilligans

What do all these three dishes have in common. First, Gilligans serve this all in one plate. It is a platter menu. Like a package meal. Second, they are all deep fried. As healthy as chicken,fish, and squids are to eat, this dish comes from frying,  who knows how many times they have used the oil to cook it on.

The dish is best eaten together with another dish like a soup or veggies. I know because my family and I ate it yesterday with nothing but garlic rice with it. At first, if your already starved from doing the days work, or your coming off with your shopping and a lot of walking in the mall like we did, you would at once devour into this delicious meal. My son actually devoured the chicken lollipops easily. However, in the middle of the meal, if they do not serve you with water, you would feel a little dryness with the dish.

This dish is also good  with beer. A nice “pulutan” or finger food while watching TV with your friends or office mates. Gilligans in moa  is near the seaside so if you out there at night, you could be sure there’s a lot music like live bands and acoustic singers to entertain you while you eat. And mind you, this is just beside “the” ferris wheel. 

Yummy Pansit Canton from a Manila Motel

When I first heard that there is a delicious pansit canton made by one of Manila’s oldest motel named “Mahal Kita”, I became a curious about it, after all, a pinoy lodge is not really the the first place you would go to when your hungry. So when one of my office mate decided to have a small party at the office, I got to a chance to see and taste for myself this delicious noodle meal everyone is talking about , and I tell you it is indeed delicious. At a cheap price of P900.00/ “bilao” ( a Filipino tray made of rattan) you would get  yourself a delight ful taste of a classic pinoy dish. It has so many ingredients, like, egg, fried chicken (would you believe that), shrimp, lots of vegetables. One bilao is good for 8-10 people.. 

8 Best Combination with Pan de sal

(pan de sal can be made into different size and shapes, this is the smallest i've ever seen)

Pandesal or The Bread of Salt (which is also the title of a popular short story written by NVM Gonzales) is probably the most popular bread in the Philippines. This bread is the favorite “agahan” (breakfast food) of most Pinoys (slang for Filipino) and can be eaten plain or with “palaman” (filling).In the Philippines, all bake shops and bakeries sell Pandesal. Sometimes, this is sold in rolling stores (usually a honking bicycle with a big box on the back). When purchasing from a neighborhood bakery, be sure to be there before 8 am because the supply runs out after that time.

Here are my suggestions:

1.Pan de sal with pansit canton – any type of noodles would do.  (spaghetti, pansit bihon.. etc)

2.Pan de sal with Strawberry jam – I love it with real strawberries, like the ones coming from baguio city

3. Pan de sal with Condensed milk –  I do this a lot when I was a child. So tasty and sweet.

4. Pan de sal with Butter – make sure you toast the bread.

5. Pan de sal with Tuna – this is a healthy combination.

6. Pan de sal with Peanut butter – sounds delicious huh..

7. Pan de sal with hot choco, coffee – just the plain bread and will do.

8. Pan de sal with eggs

3 important rules in drinking vodka

(picture taken at EDSA Lrt)

Vodka etiquette

As simple as the idea of drinking vodka may seem, there are a few things one must know for proper vodka etiquette. Let us further explore the procedure of vodka drinking.

First Rule

 drink what is served to you in one gulp. Nobody measures the quantity of alcohol poured, this is left to the discretion of the pourer.

Second Rule

 never sip or mix vodka. Mixing is perceived as a western way of doing things since orange juice is often more expensive than the vodka itself.

Third Rule

 always buy back a round of drinks to everybody that treats you. Although this step might seem like a difficult one when your senses are altered after a few too many intakes of Russia's little water , this is expected. Failing to follow this courtesy might land you a first class spot on the vodka black list.

4 Reasons, on why eat sinigang na hipon at by the bay in MOA.

1. The soup - yes, the soup is delicious most specially this time of the year where the weather is cool and to think your eating by the bay. For those of you who loves sour taste you would love to order this dish, along with white rice and and the tasyt shrimp, don't forget to dip it into patis with calamansi or toyo with calamansi. Ah, yummy!    2. It is Cheap - This bowl of sinigang can serve around 4-5 people, that is depending on the    size of the  person  eating of course. At a minimum of P500 you and your family or friends    could enjoy a heavy meal after spending a few hours walking in the biggest mall of asia.    3. It is Healthy - With all the vegetable in there, you got radish, sitaw, kangkong, green     pepper and tomatoes (is this a vegetable?)  It is indeed one of the healthiest meal around.      4.The View - it is spectacular specially at night, where there are lots of music (live bands        and acoustic  singers perform by the bay area) plus you enjoy riding at that giant ferris     wheel!  Sinigang na Hipon Ingredients:

• 1 Kilo Shrimp
• 12 pcs Tamarind (Sampaloc) or 1 pack Sinigang Mix
• 1 big Onion (diced)
• 3 big tomatoes (quartered)
• 2 pieces Radish (sliced)
• 1 bundle Sitaw (Stringbeans)
• 1 bundle Kangkong (cut into 2″ long)
• 3 pieces long green pepper
• 5 cups ricewash or water
• Salt or Patis (fish sauce)

Sinigang na Hipon Cooking Instructions:

• Boil Tamarind in rice wash or water to soften.
• Pound and extract all juices and set aside.
• In a casserole, boil rice wash or water, Tamarind juice, onions, tomatoes and Radish.
• Lower fire, add in Shrimps, Kangkong, Sitaw and green long pepper.
• simmer for 5 minutes.
• Season with salt or patis.
• Serve hot.

Sizzling bangus with egg

Yummy lunch at chik-boy!

Sizzling bangus sisig with egg - delicious and healthy, a great change from sizzling sisig pork. It consists of rice,
egg, bangus, onions. It is also great with calamansi with toyo.