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Anyway, last November my son and his groupmates baked “Chocolate Chip Cookie” in school so I bought some of the ingredients (his share) and since konti lang naman need nila, I still have leftovers so after few months, sinipag ulit ako magbake. 

I used to buy Betty Crocker instant mixes so I have tried baking Oatmeal Cookie and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie, my two boys like the taste of these cookies. But last year, I started baking Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from scratch and it was a big hit. We prefer this compared to instant mix cookies. I baked these cookies before we flew to Norway and when I came back hindi ko na makita yung printed recipe ko.

I have Chef RV Manabat Recipe Book but his recipe needs shortening and I don’t have that so I checked Pinterest to look for Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. I tried the recipe of Dessert Now Dinner Later and after trying her recipe, save ko na agad for future use. View the full recipe here. 

1 cup butter, room temperature  

3/4 cup brown sugar  

3/4 cup granulated sugar  

2 large eggs  

1 tsp vanilla extract  

2 cups all-purpose flour  

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats  

1 tsp baking soda  

1/2 tsp salt  

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

I don’t have vanilla extract and brown sugar so I only used white sugar. I also used dark chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips. My oatmeal chocolate chip cookies taste good even though I did not follow all the ingredients. My cookies only lasted for one week, may pagpipigil pa iyan. I notice, medyo light yung color nung cookies baka dahil walang brown sugar and vanilla extract?

But why be against it in the first place? We say, start embracing it! There’s definitely no shortage of good things to appreciate during these sweltering months—case in point: fruit shakes and smoothies which seem to just have an extra dash of magic in them when enjoyed during this season. 

Whether you’re planning to stay in and cool down or take a trip to the beach, everything gets so much better when you have a delicious, healthy drink in hand. Need ideas for the best summer drinks that can quench your thirst? Get your juicers and blenders ready for the recipes below.

Remember those tasty coconut juices peddled by sidewalk vendors every weekend at the park? You can easily recreate those and add an extra twist to them with this Coco Twist Smoothie Recipe infused with mint leaves and real coconut meat! Bananas and mangoes give this healthy shake natural sweetness while the refreshing coconut water ties everything together. 

1 cup coconut water 

1 cup coconut meat 

1 piece ripe mango 

2 pieces banana (saba) 

5 pieces pechay 

8 pieces mint leaves 

3 cups ice cubes

1. Wash the pechay and mint leaves thoroughly. Cut the mango and remove the skin of the banana. 

2. Put all ingredients in the Breville blender jug and process through the smoothie function. 

3. Transfer the smoothie into the glass and serve. 

What’s a beach getaway without cradling a refreshing drink in your hand while sunbathing by the sand and waves? The Watermelon Lemonade is the perfect thirst-thirst quencher with its extra fizz while the Tropical Detox Smoothie is ideal for those who want something healthy but delicious still. 

0.5 piece Yellow Watermelon 

1 piece Lemon 

1 cup Soda Water 

1. Peel the watermelon and lemon. 

2. Process the fruits using the Breville Juicer 

236 ml Almond Milk 

236 g Pineapple 

1 cup Camote Tops 

1 piece Banana 

15 g Chia Chaff 

1. Freeze pineapple chunks and peeled bananas overnight. Chill the almond milk. 

2. Wash the camote tops thoroughly. 

3. Put all ingredients in the Breville blender jug and process through the smoothie function. 

4. Transfer the smoothie into the glass and serve. 

Who says you need to go out to have fun? The Dalanghita Mojito Mocktail Slush and Quick Quencher Juice will bring the glam of summer to your home with their refreshing flavor profiles! 

1 kg Dalanghita 

1 piece Cucumber 

1 pack Mint Leaves 

1 can Soda Water (Schweppes) 

1.5 cup Honey 

1.5 cup Ice Cubes 

1. Cut dalanghita into half, squeeze in dalanghita directly into the Breville blender through the citrus cone

2. Add the cucumber, mint leaves, honey, ice cubes and sparkling water and process through the smoothie function. 

3. Transfer the drink into a margarita or mojito glass. Garnish with sliced dalanghita and mint leaves. 

0.5 piece Pineapple 

35 g Squash, Local 

1 piece Cucumber 

1 piece Chayote 

1. Wash all of the ingredients thoroughly. Juice everything and enjoy! 

Chill and lay back with your friends while sipping on these juices that will chase your thirst away. 

One Pine Day Ingredients: 

2 piece Apple 

3 piece Celery Stalk 

1 piece Lemon 

15 g Herb, Parsley 

1. Wash all of the ingredients thoroughly and peel the lemon. 

2. Process all of the produce using the Breville Juicer. 

3. Pour it into a glass and serve. 

2 piece Pear 

1 piece Cucumber 

1 piece Lemon 

3 piece Celery Stalk 

1. Wash all of the produce thoroughly. Peel the lemon. 

2. Process all of the produce using the Breville Juicer. 

3. Pour it into a glass and serve! 

Of course, it’s always a good idea to enjoy drinks that you make on your own because you can easily customize the ingredients to suit your taste and health goals, too! Fortunately, you can now easily craft your own high-quality drinks with the help of equally top-tier kitchen partners like Breville’s Juicers and Blenders. Breville Philippines’ Kinetix Twist, for example, is a superstar of a blender that can be used to create velvety cocktails and smoother smoothies thanks to its innovative central blades that blend from top to bottom. The Juice Fountain Max, on the other hand, makes whole fruit juicing as easy as 1, 2, 3 with its unique juicing disk. It can even juice whole fruits and can extract up to 30 percent more juice and 70 percent more nutrients according to the National Measurement Institute (2003, 2011). 

Jazz up your summer and beat the heat with these tasty and healthy juices that you can make in a cinch. Looking for more recipe ideas? Visit FoodThinkers by Breville for some fresh inspiration! You can also check out their website to find more about their products or follow their official Facebook and Instagram channels.

One thing I learned about COVID19 pandemic is to learn to adjust and adapt, hindi man kami makakain sa labas, pwede naman magfoodtrip sa bahay and you know what, it is much cheaper pa. In my previous post, I shared about the Prima Taste brand and I recently discovered that they offer several Best Singaporean Favorite Meal Sauce Kits so I planned to try each meal sauce kit.

I’ve blogged about Singaporean Chili Crab so next on my list is Hainanese Chicken Rice. Hainanese chicken rice is considered one of the Singapore national dishes. This dish was created by Hainan immigrants who went to Singapore during colonial days. You can see Hainanese chicken rice throughout Southeast Asia like Indonesia, Malaysia, and even in the Philippines. We ate Hainanese chicken rice at Wee Nam Kee and Hainanese Delights.

My first experience of Hainanese Chicken Rice was way back in 2007 when we went to Singapore. I always eat this poached chicken if ever we are in Singapore, you can find this in the hotel, restaurant, and hawker. And because of that, I also tried to cook this dish from scratch pero okay lang ang lasa. Hehehe! So I was happy when I discovered the Prima Taste Hainanese Chicken Rice, I bought this online and I’m not sure if it is available in the supermarket. 

The pack includes almost everything na, all you need to add are the chicken, rice, veggies, and water. The pack includes Hainanese Chicken Rice Fragrance Oil, Hainanese Chicken Rice Premix, Sesame Soya Sauce Oil, Chili Sauce, Ginger Sauce, and Dark Soya Sauce. There is a recipe guide and how-to-cook video on their website or YouTube so cooking this dish is really quick and easy. I don’t want to use whole chicken so I used chicken thigh fillet. 

2.5 liters Water 

1 pkt Hainanese Chicken Rice Premix 

1.2 - 1.5 kg Whole chicken 500 g Long grain rice (we recommend Thai long grain rice) 

1 pkt Hainanese Chicken Rice Fragrance Oil** 

610 ml Chicken stock (for Step 3) 

Condiments: Sesame Soya Sauce Oil **, Chilli Sauce **, Chicken Rice Ginger Sauce **, Chicken Rice Dark Soya Sauce ** 

Cucumber 

Coriander leaves 

Suggested Soup Garnish Soft bean curd (tofu), Lettuce (shredded), Coriander leaves, Spring onion 

** Included in Prima Taste pack 

1. To cook chicken stock, fill stockpot with 2.5 liters water, add Hainanese Chicken Rice Premix and bring to boil on high heat. Submerge chicken into the stock with its back facing up. Lower heat and simmer for approx 30 mins. 

2. Remove chicken from stock and chill in ice water for 15 mins. Drain well, set aside chicken and chicken stock. 

3. Mix rice, 610 ml chicken stock(from Step 2), and Hainanese Chicken Rice Fragrance Oil in a rice cooker. 

4. Stir rice gently after 5 mins and continue cooking. When cooked, fluff the rice gently with chopsticks (while loosening rice, avoid the bottom of the rice cooker). Leave at the 'Keep Warm' setting for 10 - 15 mins. 

5. Put the whole packet of Sesame Soya Sauce Oil packet in a pot of boiling water and boil for 2 mins. Remove from heat, cut open packet and pour into a bowl. Set aside at room temperature. 

6. Chop chicken into parts. Arrange on a platter, over a bed of sliced cucumber. Pour Sesame Soya Sauce Oil over the chicken and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with warm rice. In separate condiment bowls, serve Chilli Sauce, Chicken Rice Ginger Sauce, and Chicken Rice Dark Soya Sauce as dips.

VARIATION: You may use chicken pullet for tender, juicy chicken. Other parts of the chicken such as chicken leg or chicken breast. 

STORAGE: Store in a cool, dry place. After opening, keep the pack refrigerated and use it within 3 days. Volume Conversion: 1 cup ˜ 8 oz / 230 ml 

We’re so happy with the result, good thing I bought two packs. I prefer this Hainanese Chicken Rice Ready-to-Cook Meal Sauce Kit kasi mas close ang lasa niya sa nakakain ko sa Singapore kaysa sa niluto ko from scratch. Hehehe!

He thought that he can spend the remaining SGD70 vouchers after two weeks. Unfortunately, his Singapore business trip was canceled because of the COVID19 so naexpired na yung SGD70 vouchers namin (valid for 1 year only). Sayang ang PHP2,600+ marami pa pwedeng mabili doon. Lesson learned, gastusin na agad ang vouchers at baka hindi na makabalik abroad.

We rarely eat Singapore Chili Crab because it is expensive if you will order it in the restaurant, so far we have tried Mesa Filipino Moderne and Claw Daddy. But because of this Prima Taste, you can eat your favorite Singapore dishes at the comfort of your home. They have different Ready-to-Cook Meal Sauce Kit that you can choose from. 

For the Singapore Chili Crab, the pack includes Chili Crab Paste, Chili Crab Sauce Mix, and Extra Hot Chili Mix. There is also a recipe guide and you can also watch their video on how to use this sauce kit. My husband bought this in Singapore but it is also available at Landers PHP248.75 and online. 

Ingredients: Serves 2 - 3 

146 ml Peanut oil 

1-1.2 kg Live Sri Lankan crab (or any crab)

10 ml Peanut oil (reserved from frying crab) 

1 pkt Chilli Crab Paste ** 

125 ml Crab juice (reserved from soaking crab) 

470 ml Water (for Step 2) 

1 pkt Extra Hot Chilli Mix **, as desired 

1 pkt Chilli Crab Premix ** 

30 ml Water (for Step 4) 

2 nos Egg, lightly beaten 

Coriander leaves 

** Included in Prima Taste pack 

1. In a wok, warm peanut oil for 30 secs on medium heat. Add crab (without shell) and cover the wok. Fry for 1 min, turn the crab over and fry for another 30 secs. Remove crab and strain peanut oil for later use. 

2. Mix 5 ml fried peanut oil (from Step 1) with Chilli Crab Paste in a wok. Stir for 5 secs on medium heat. Add fried crab from Step 1, stir well, coating the entire crab with the paste. Cover the wok. Fry for 30 secs on medium heat. Pour crab juice (from Step A4, found inside the pack) around the crab. Mix well for 30 secs. Gradually add 470 ml water. 

3. Place shell (from Step A2, found inside the pack) over crab, with outer shell facing up. Cover wok for 90 secs. Stir and scoop gravy over crab. Cover wok for another 90 secs, then scoops gravy over crab again. Add the desired amount of Extra Hot Chilli Mix. 

4. Stir Chilli Crab Premix into 30 ml water in a bowl. Mix well, Add to crab, stir gravy evenly for 30 secs. 

5. Pour beaten eggs around crab and stir for 3 secs. Add 5 ml peanut oil (from Step 1) onto the crab and stir. Coat crab with gravy. 

6. Place crab and gravy on a serving platter and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with steamed rice or crusty bread. 

VARIATION: You may use seafood such as lobsters, mussels, clams, and prawns. 

STORAGE Store in a cool, dry place. After opening, keep the pack refrigerated and use it within 3 days. Volume Conversion: 1 cup ˜8 oz / 230 ml 

I’m not fond of spicy food so when my husband cooked this, he did not include the extra hot chili mix. We are satisfied with our DIY Singaporean Chili Crab and we’re glad that we no longer need to order this at the restaurant since we can prepare this at home. This was also part of our holiday potluck, my husband used curacha also known as spanner crab or red frog crab. 

Anyway, I found this McCormick Tonkatsu Agemono Fry Set P63.75 during my last grocery at Landers. Since I don’t know the taste yet, I only bought one pack, the package includes 85g of Tonkatsu Coating Mix and 25g of Tonkatsu Sauce. I just followed the directions at the back of the packaging.

Ingredients 

1/2 kg pork steak 

1 piece egg, beaten with 1 tbsp of water 

Oil for deep-frying, preheat over medium heat 

1. Dip each piece of pork steak in egg wash. 

2. Coat in Tonkatsu Coating Mix. 

3. Deep-fry until golden brown and cooked through. 

4. Serve immediately with Tonkatsu Sauce. 

The coating mix is only good for 5 pieces of small porkchop, bitin na sa pang-anim. I noticed na mabilis siya maluto so yung first porkchop ko, almost burned pagkalagay ko. Waah! The taste is good naman pero malayo sa lasa ng Yabu (hindi siya crunchy and juicy). Hehehe! Next time, I will try the ready-to-cook Tonkatsu of Landers, or I will do it from scratch. I cooked this last March so now, I am craving tonkatsu na naman.

I don’t want to dwell on it so what I do is I try to recreate the dishes that I used to eat in the restaurant. When I was still in college, Tokyo Tokyo is one of my favorite fast foods (kapag nasa mall), I usually order their Bento Meals, like Prawn Tempura, Pork Tonkatsu, and Beef Misono. It is a complete meal na kasi, you have the meat, rice, veggies, and drink. 

I’ve been meaning to cook my own beef gyudon or beef misono at home but I always had a hard time looking for sake and mirin in the grocery store. If it is available, it is either sake or mirin lang; gusto ko same time ko sila bibilhin. Fast forward to this year, I was able to buy sake and mirin online so finally, I was able to cook my Homemade Beef Gyudon. I checked the recipes online pero paiba-iba naman so I made my own version na lang (inspired by other recipes). 

1 tbsp of Sesame Oil (or any oil) 

2 cloves of minced garlic 

1 slice onion 

300g of any thinly sliced beef (slice into half) 

1 tbsp of corn syrup (or sugar) 

2 tbsp sake 

2 tbsp mirin 

2 tbsp soy sauce 

Salt and pepper to taste 

3 Eggs 

Optional: pickled red ginger, green onions, sesame seeds 

1. Mix the corn syrup, soy sauce, sake, and mirin. 

2. Beat the 3 eggs. 

3. In a heated pan, add the sesame oil and saute the garlic and onion for 2-3 minutes. 

4. Add the beef and cook until it is no longer pink. 

5. Season with salt and pepper. 

6. Pour the mixture of corn syrup, soy sauce, sake, and mirin into the beef. Simmer for 5 minutes. 

7. If you want an egg, pour the egg on top of the beef. Cover the pan and cook until the egg is almost done. 

8. Serve with rice. 

On my first try, I used Sukiyaki Cut and I added eggs. On my next try, I used the Woosamgyup from Romantic Baboy and I did not add eggs so I just sprinkled some sesame seeds. Next time, if I will cook this again, magluluto na rin ako ng vegetable side dishes like togue.

Last week, we received some prawns and I remembered the Tomato Garlic Prawns Sauce PHP42 that I bought few months ago. I just added this because I need to meet a certain amount to get discount and free shipping. Hehehe!