One of the first memories we probably all have as children are sweets. I am no different. Birthday cakes were a big hit, but charcoal baked bibingkas were in a class all their own and evoke their very own special moments. It is a treat borne out of necessity, for I doubt that conventional ovens as we know them now were readily available back then. The ingenuity of foodies should not be estimated though for we will find a way of doing things to attain the taste that we want. Sort of like the original mission of Lasang Pinoy, literally translated 'tastes like Pinoy'.

Click here to read the rest and the recipe for Bibingka...

As a change from the usual adobo, and again borne out of necessity of wanting to cook something different but not having the right ingredient to follow any recipe on hand, this braised pork was created.

Click here for the recipe...

It's that LP time again and you are IT! Remember the childhood food meme going around sometime ago? Here is your chance to recreate some of those foods and post it for this round of Lasang Pinoy. Visit our host, Chef Sam deLeoz of Buhay Cocinero for guidelines. Post your entries before the end of the month and send him your links for the round up. Let's get cookin'!

Here's another quick and easy side dish that pairs well with many entrees. Such as the Pastry Wrapped Tilapia below.

Click here for the recipe for these Scalloped Potatoes.

This was such a pleasant experiment that we have since cooked this dish with different meats and fillings. The puff pastry is just perfect for making surprise wraps.

Here is how we did this pastry wrapped tilapia:

I don't know why this photo came out so funky, but I guess I'll just have to replace it next time we make potato salad again. This time around, we are doing potato salad the Southern way, or at least this is how my husband's family does potato salad. I know some people like mustard in their potato salad, but hubby's family is not too crazy about it. I am not a big fan of mustardy potato salad either but I use it for color once in a while. This time around, I didn't have to color it with mustard. That yellow color is from the yukon gold potatoes that I used for this batch.

Click here for the Potato Salad recipe...

All About Potato Salads

A co-worker generously shared an apple harvest with us recently and I came home with a bagful of locally grown apples, but I wasn't sure of their exact variety. They were just slightly tart and were not too sweet to eat on their own, so we decided to cook them. Again, to save some time, we used a store bought frozen pie crust. For the crumb topping, I had some Cheerios cereal in the cupboard that needed to be used up of disposed of, so I ground them up and put them in the topping.

Click here for the Crumbly Topped Apple Pie recipe...

All About Apple Pies

Here's another simple and fast weekday meal which is a step better than the usual pork chop. This recipe uses pork loin cut into cutlets. This cut has less fat and cooks much faster than the bone-in chop variety. This whole meal can be prepared in less than an hour. What I do to save time is to wash and cut up the pork loin prior to freezing so that it's ready to just batter and fry up when dinner time comes. Paired with garlic fried rice made from left over rice and steamed broccoli and you have another quick, easy and nutritious meal.

To make the fried pork loin, simply moisten the cutlets in beaten egg, dredge in bread crumbs seasoned with garlic powder, salt, pepper and dried basil; and pan-fry until they are golden brown. Very simple!

I just visited Jade's site this morning after dropping her off to attend her friend's bat mitzvah and found out that she too has joined the spooning brigade. Want to know what a 13 year thinks about the whole thing? Click read her new blog below.

In light of the spoon incident, I wanted to post this dish that cannot be eaten with a fork and knife (I'd like to see someone try), but begs to be eaten by hand. Milkfish or Bangus is the national fish of the Philippines. It is a delicious fish, but it makes you work for your pleasure. Is that a Filipino trait too? I don't know ;-)


After paying for the exorbitant price (with eyes wide-shut) they were selling this fish at the oriental market for (a bag of 4 pieces of frozen baby milkfish was $3.74!), I had Asi help me cook this dish, since she is also my only helper in eating it. We two are the only ones with patience to pick all the bones out and eat with our hands. While I usually like this cooked almost dry, Asi got carried away with the computer and forgot about keeping an eye on the stove. At least it didn't burn **eyes rolling**. Cooking it is very simple.

INGREDIENTS:
1 milkfish, cut into pieces
1 inch of ginger sliced thin
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons of salt
1 jalapeno pepper

Place all the ingredients in a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn the heat down and cook until juices are reduced to your desired consistency. Don't do like Asi and dry it out thoroughly. You'll want some pan juices to spoon over hot steaming rice. Best eaten with hands.

The Clone is our resident cake decorator as you can see from her more sedate decor when we first posted the recipe for this carrot cake. For Easter, since it's carrot cake, the clone figured why not decorate with bunny peeps? Them blue peeps were good, too. Blue is her favorite color.

So next time, we'll be making carrot cup cakes and storing them in these handy dandy cup-cake holders below, thanks to my very generous SisterO!

I definitely could use one of these! I saw these on the Cupcake Queen's blog and I think they are terrific! Haven't you been frustrated when that beautiful cupcake you brought for your lunch is just one big messy blob by the time lunch time comes around? I know my girls wish they could show off their cupcake creations rather than making the cursory, "trust me, it tastes better than it looks" comment to their lunch mates. As you can see from the photo "borrowed" from the sellers website, even upside down, the cupcakes retain their shapely frosting. I haven't seen these at the store yet, so if you are interested in getting some, I suggest you visit the cup-a-cake website too.