squash maja blanca

an early morning trip to the market made me remember of my plan to cook what's left of the huge squash sitting in our fridge. i have long planned of making maja blanca, since it has always been a favorite dessert with my hubby. you might say hesh.."sisiw lang yan!"..but then i guess the art of cooking at home makes it more delicious and surely a treat for my kids too. so i bought freshly grated coconut because i didn't want to settle with powdered instant gata. boiled water to use for the gata, i used a cloth to squeeze out the milk, just as we did years ago when i was a kid where we would always help Mama prepare kakanin for Nov. 1..

boiled the squash and mashed them..

then mixed them together, added 3/4 cup of cornstarch diluted in water to prevent lumps, added a dash of salt

used 1 can of condensed milk in place of sugar and evaporated milk..

mixed them thoroughly and passed it thru a sieve to give it a smooth texture, note that this takes a long time if you want your mixture to be smooth and free of lumps and fibers from the squash.

then the mixture is placed in low heat to cook, continue stirring to prevent from sticking until it boils..it becomes cooked when it has a "shiny" texture to it...

             pour into pans to cool...shredded cheese may be placed instead of toasted coconut...

squash spaghetti sauce

Troy is 3!! yup and as a treat for him we made spaghetti for dinner which is a must for my chinese heritage which says noodles bring long life so for every birthday in the family, a noodle dish must be present. In this case i opted for spaghetti (again!)..
The sauce we made was vegetable enriched, in this case we added squash. My dad brought home a half of a big squash and i remember Troy enjoyed them a lot boiled or added to pinakbet. Made good use of it which i boiled, mashed and stirred into the sauce. Chopped some garlic, sauteed in a bit of oil then added in some tuna (from the can), next came the squash, seasoned with salt, pepper and dried basil. Let it simmer then add 2 packs of spaghetti sauce. Stir then sprinkle  some grated cheese.. serve over pasta..enjoy!

chicken penne-pesto pasta..

Saturday night dinner is pasta..again? you might ask..well, it's a family favorite and it can be prepared in a lot of ways too. This time i made a new sauce called chicken pesto on penne pasta.  It was summer time when i had my first taste of this recipe and only now did i have to chance to re-create and suit it to our taste. You see, the one i had at the restaurant was a tad too salty, and the pasta was not so al dente. 


The pasta i cooked as to package directions and set it aside. For the sauce, it was one chopped medium head of garlic, about two tbsps. of freshly chopped basil leaves, bite-size sliced lean chicken breast, one box of Alaska cream, grated cheese and some black pepper. No salt was added since the cheese was enough to give flavor. 


Saute the chicken pieces in hot oil until they turn white, push the pieces to one side of the pan and saute the garlic next. Stir until it turns golden brown then mix the chicken, add the basil leaves then stir. Add the cream then season with powdered pepper. Sprinkle in the grated cheese, continue stirring and adjust flavor. Turn down the heat and mix in the pre-cooked penne, mix well. Serve immediately..


It was an instant hit with my kids, really rewarding to see them enjoy what mom prepared..

Chicken Tausi

It is common for me to be cooking meals out of ingredients i find in the fridge and usually they turn out better than the ones i plan for, i mean those that i list down its ingredients. Thus is what happened for dinner today.

It is also my first time to use tausi or black beans in cooking. Bought a can last week to use for fish tausi, then kept half of it. The fish tausi recipe was such a hit with my hubby that i decided to try it out again this time with chicken..

While the fish dish i did was fried then sauteed with lots of onions  and soy sauce, this chicken recipe was done another way. First the chicken pieces were simmered in water for about 20 minutes. Then i sliced up 3 heads of red onions and 8 medium sized tomatoes. Sauteed it in hot oil then put in the tausi. Then i poured in the chicken together with its stock, the idea was to let the stock simmer until it thickens into sauce. We had a leftover adobo sauce and that went in too, and i put 2 teaspoons of Pinoy Kurat suka and salt to taste..voila! the flavor was tangy and just right! We ate it with red rice and me had a cup of tea after...ahhh..a simple meal made special when shared with family!