Thursday, May 28, 2009

POTATO CREAMY SOUP

1 big potato, peeled, finely diced
1 cup evaporated milk
3 tablespoons cream of mushroom powder
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
3 spring onions, cut into 1 1/2
salt to taste
water


  • Boil potato and onions in a saucepan with enough water to cover them until tender.
  • Mash potato in saucepan.
  • Dilute cream of mushroom and cornstarch in 1/2 cup water and add to mashed potato.
  • Add milk and butter. Add enough water to desired thinness.
  • Season with salt. Boil for 2 minutes.
  • Add spring onions. Remove immediately from fire.

(Recipe is from Cooking Smart by B.M. Varona and D.A. Varona)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

SOYMILK

One of the health drinks that I usually take and luckily for me it is widely available in my country of residence but for those who have a hard time finding it in the local grocery store, here is how you can make it.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh soybeans
water
salt to taste
sugar to taste

  • Soak soybeans in warm water for at least 6 hours.
  • Remove soybean skin and rinse thoroughly.
  • Grind soybeans or blend at high speed.
  • Extract soybean milk by squeezing through a cheese cloth.
  • Add water to soybean milk to make 8 cups.
  • Cook soymilk in a kettle over medium flame.Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
  • Lower fire and keep kettle uncovered.
  • Simmer for at least an hour.
  • Add sugar and salt. Let cool.
  • Serve hot or cold.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

MACARONI SOUP

Ingredients:

2 cups shell macaroni, boiled
1 cup vegemeat, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup spring onions, cut into 2"
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 clove garlic, minced
3-4 cups water
Salt to taste


  • Saute garlic until golden brown. Set aside.
  • Boil water then add vegemeat and egg. Boil for 3 minutes.
  • Add the macaroni, spring onions, and evaporated milk.
  • Season with salt.
  • Remove from fire then add the sauteed garlic and its oil.
  • Serve.

(Source: Cooking Smart by B.M. Varona and D.A. Varona)

Monday, May 18, 2009

CREAMY CORN SOUP

Ingredients:

3 cups whole kernel corn, canned or boiled
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons cream of corn powder
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup evaporated milk
4 cups water
Salt to taste

  • Dilute cream of corn powder and cornstarch in 1/2 cup water. Set aside.
  • Boil 3 1/2 cups water.
  • Add all ingredients.
  • Stir in diluted cream of corn powder-cornstarch mixture.
  • Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Water may be added if a thinner soup is desired.

Friday, May 15, 2009

VEGETARIAN KEBABS

This is a simple recipe to be made for parties or even in your ordinary meal. Your kids will surely love this!

6 vegetarian sausages, cut into 4, slightly fried
1 cucumber, cubed
3 saba bananas, cubed, fried
Marshmallows for garnishing
Barbecue sticks
Barbecue sauce (bottled)

  • Thread alternately pieces of sausage, cucumber, saba, and marshmallow on a barbecue stick.
  • Repeat the procedure with the rest of ingredients.
  • Serve with barbecue sauce

(This recipe is from Cooking Smart by B.M. Varona and D.A. Varona)

Monday, March 30, 2009

Fish Tom Yum (A Thai dish)

Hi there fellow bloggers and readers, it's been awhile since I last entered a new blog here. I have been busy with work, travel and study. Study, yup, I am studying the Thai language with the focus on reading Thai scripts but I can tell you it's really a tough job for someone who's not using it as his/her native tongue. Yesterday, our lesson kicked off with the usual drill of reading Thai words (easy words that even a Thai kindergartner can read but not for me...grrr!) until our conversation was dragged to cooking Tom Yum, a Thai dish that is gaining popularity in many countries now. My teacher shared the simple recipe of Fish Tom Yum and now I will (try...) share it to you in case you want to try it at home.
Ingredients:
1 pc galangal, sliced
2 pcs lemongrass, sliced
10 pcs or more of lime leaves
10 slices fish fillet
1/4 kilo mushroom, halved
5 pcs peeled tamarind
1/4 cup evaporated milk
4 cups water or broth
5 stalks coriander, chopped
3 stalks spring onion, chopped
5 pcs chili, sliced or whole
  1. Place the sliced galangal, lemongrass and lime leaves altogether in the water and bring to a boil.
  2. Put in the fillet fish, sliced mushroom and chili next until cooked. Do not stir.
  3. Add the peeled tamarind and pour in some fish sauce to taste.
  4. Boil for 3 more minutes then add the evaporated milk.
  5. Place in a bowl and garnish with spring onion and coriander.
  6. Serve it hot.

There you have it! Really simple, isn't it? I hope you will enjoy cooking this recipe as much as I did!

God bless!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

GLUTEN EN PINEAPPLE

3/4 kilo gluten, cubed, slightly fried
1 cup pineapple chunks, drained
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup pineapple chunk syrup
1/4 cup calamansi extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup red and green bell peppers, cut into strips
2 tablespoons raisins
Salt to taste
Dash of brown sugar

  1. Mix cornstarch in water, syrup, and calamansi extract.
  2. Cook mixture in vegetable oil until sauce thickens.
  3. Add fried gluten and pineapple chunks. Mix gradually.
  4. Season with salt and a dash of brown sugar.
  5. Remove from fire and garnish with bell peppers and raisins.

CORRECT WAY OF EATING FRUITS

(Got this one from a friend...and I think it's worth noting!)
We all think eating fruits means just buying fruits, cutting it, and just popping it into our mouths. It's not as easy as you think. It's important to know how, and when to eat.

What is the correct way of eating fruits?
* IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS!
* FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss, and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD.
Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.

In the meantime the whole meal rots, and ferments, and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach, and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil.

So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining - every time I eat water-melon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat bananas, I feel like running to the toilet etc - actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach.

The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food, and produces gas, and hence you will bloat!

Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes all these will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.

There is no such thing as some fruits like orange, and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did a research on this matter.

If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness, and normal weight.

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT From the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits, because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste.

Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it.

You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body.

Just eat fruits, and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, Vitamin E & fiber. Its Vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away?
Although an apple has a low Vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of Vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit.
Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessels-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE : Sweetest medicine.
Taking 2 -4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest
Thirst Quencher Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant > dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene - the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are Vitamin C & Potassium..

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for Vitamin C.
They are the clear winners for their high Vitamin C content. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.

Drinking Cold water after meal = Cancer!
Can you believe this??

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down, and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats, and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup, HOT TEA or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks

HEART ATTACK PROCEDURE': (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!)

Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.

You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack.

Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.

Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive...

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this mail sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life.
Read > this ...It could save your life!!

Let's say its 6.15 pm and you're driving home. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm, and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.

'HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE':

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly, and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.

However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly, and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, deep, and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.

A breath, and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.

Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart, and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm.

In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital. Tell as many other people as possible about this. It could save their lives!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

A NEW YEAR PROMISE!

Welcome to the brand new year!!! Time flies so fast and this means another year for my age but who cares as long as you are happy and contented with your life...age doesn't really matter. Excited as I am for the year 2009 yet still I feel nostalgic for the past year which brought joy and sadness to my life. Life seemed unfair to me in the 3rd quarter of this year, tears flowed heavily from my eyes and my heart was really in pain but I am grateful to God for helping me pass through that stage by sending me angels clothed as human, the people I call my friends. In this crazy sinful world, a person can't live normally without having at least a single friend.
At the end of the year, I was truly blessed of having the opportunity to travel to Malaysia and Hongkong and met some of my online friends. I love those places especially when I visited Disneyland! The memories will be treasured in my heart forever.
What is in store for me for this year? Only God knows...for I know that He has a plan for me, plans to prosper and not harm me, plans that will give me hope and a future. Isn't that a wonderful promise? So who needs to worry about his/her future when a God who knows everything and Someone who deeply loves him/her knows about what is going to happen in his/her life! Comforting, isn't it?
So stay cool and continue on eating healthy food for a healthy body produces a healthy mind and soul.