Beef in Oyster Sauce with Celery

Do you have limited time to cook? Well, if yes, beef in oyster sauce is the solution for your problem. It is quick and easy to prepare. If you don't have a tender cut beef, you can use any cut of beef  just slice thinly as possible. You can serve it for lunch or dinner with any side dish. Being a Filipino, we  serve it with rice but my American husband loves it with mashed potato and white bread.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My husband is home for the Christmas season so I made him a carrot cake. His birthday is coming up but he  actually don't want to celebrate it so I just baked one of his favorite cake today. I used to make my special carrot cake recipe but he did not like it so I just make the basic recipe. Carrot cake is one of my family's favorite cake and is really very easy to make. You can omit the nuts, or just put all of it in the cake mixture or sprinkle on the frosting. Try it at home and your kid's will gonna like it.

Chicken Cordon Bleu in Tomato Sauce

Chicken Cordon Bleu, another favorite in any  Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) gatherings. It is easy to prepare with the ingredients readily available in the kitchen, not to mention that the chicken is very affordable. I like to have it in creamy white sauce and even like it more with tomato sauce.

For this recipe I tried both the tomato and white sauce.

Ingredients:

• 2 whole boneless chicken breasts
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 slices eden cheese
• 4 slices cooked ham, 1/8 inch thick
• 6 tbsp. flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tbsp. water
• 6 tbsp. fine dry bread crumbs
• 4 tbsp. butter

Directions:

1. Remove skin from chicken breasts. 
2. Hold sharp knife parallel to cutting board and along one long side of breast; cut almost in half, leaving breast attached at one side. Open breast so it lies flat. Place the opened chicken breasts in between sheets of plastic wrap, using a meat mallet, lightly pound to 1/4-inch thickness.
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Lay a slice of cheese and ham on each piece of breast and roll. 
5. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Beat together the eggs, season with salt and pepper. Mix the bread crumbs with butter to help the crust brown.
6. Dip chicken in beaten eggs, then dredge in flour, then in egg again and finally in crumbs. Lightly coat a baking pan with butter and bake chicken at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes until browned and cooked through.
7. Slice and serve with sauce if desired.

For the Tomato Sauce:

• cooking oil 
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup chicken broth or water
• 1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup liver spread (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• excess chicken fillings, cut into small peaces

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a sauce pan. Sautee garlic and onion. 
2. Add tomato sauce and chicken broth broth. 
3. Add bay leaf and excess chicken fillings. Bring to a boil.
4. Add liver spread into sauce and stir until dissolved. 
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
6. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes or until sauce is thickened.
7.  Pour sauce over chicken. Slice and serve hot.

Pecan Pie Recipe

Pecan pie is one of the favorite Thanksgiving pie. The first time I made pecan pie was in 2004 while we were in the Middle East, and that was my first thanksgiving with my husband. For the first timer, I think I did pretty good. It was a hit  to my Filipino friends. Too bad, I  did not take a picture of it and forgot where I got the recipe. Now that we are in the US, I make pecan pie anytime I want. My family just loves it and I tried it with different ingredients and measurements.

Sweet and Sour Sauce

My husband loves lumpiang shanghai or he call it egg roll. I make vegetable and meat egg roll but he likes the meat better than the other. A sauce makes a difference in any simple dish. In my kitchen, lumpiang shanghai is not complete without the sweet and sour sauce. You  can use catsup, salsa or vinegar dip. Sweet and sour sauce is easy to prepare, you can find all the ingredients in the kitchen. Making our own sauce saves money plus you are sure that it is fresh and no added preservatives. Sweet and sour sauce can be use as a dip or pour our over meatballs, smoked sausage, vegetables, etc. If you want to add heat, just add in crushed red pepper flakes depending on how hot you want it.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• dash of ground black pepper
• pepper flakes (optional)

Procedure:

1. Combine all the ingredients in the sauce pan. Mix very well.
2. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly with whisk until thickened. *For a hot and spicy sauce, you can add in 1/8 tsp  pepper flakes or depending on how hot you want it.
3. Remove from heat. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate up to 2 weeks. 

Lumpiang shanghai recipe
How to Wrap Egg Rolls

Lumpiang Shanghai

Lumpiang shanghai or egg roll is basically meatball recipe formed into a log and wrapped. If you know how to make meatballs then you can make the Filipino egg roll too. Lumpiang shanghai or egg-roll filled with meat is one of the famous Filipino dish found in every gatherings. My husband is a big fan of my lumpiang shanghai, he prefers meat over vegetable lumpia.  The recipe is simply a mixture of all the ingredients wrapped in an eggroll (lumpia) wrapper and deep fried. You can use ground pork, chicken, beef or a combination. This is my mother's recipe. She uses jicama /singkamas but it is optional, you can use your favorite vegetables like cabbage, water chestnut or even potato. Lumpiang shanghai is best served with sweet and sour sauce, catsup or vinegar dip.

Easy Pie Crust Recipe

Nothing beats pie crust made from scratch. The recipe is easy to do, with all the ingredients usually found in most kitchens. A pastry blender is a simple gadget for thoroughly mixing all the pie crust ingredients. This recipe makes a single or two crust pie, depending on how thick you want it. It is worth the time to make a homemade dough.