This is one of my many comfort food but it's a favorite. I have to have my pansit fix at least once a month, especially on birthdays and holidays.

I cook this dish so often that it's also becoming a fast favorite for my friends and in-laws too. My brother-in-law in particular never fails to request pansit whenever I ask what I can bring for potluck.

The photo above is what I fix myself when the craving for noodles hit. It's the simplest version with just the rice noodles, carrots, celery, cabbage and slices of pork. It's real easy and can be prepared in less than an hour. Perfect for working people like me, and it's still healthy for you.

Of course, this dish is so versatile that you can add more vegetables and protein to dress it up a bit more.

The basic pancit recipe is posted on Cooked from the Heart if you'd like to try it out.

So what's your comfort food?

One of the earliest posts, if not the first, on this blog is for a Cassave Cake Recipe (which I just realized we spelled with a K lol!). This is a more updated version of the same cake and with the added glutinous rice flour in the mix, it has a much lighter and 'cakey' texture.

This cake would be a perfect addition to any holiday party and it's so easy to put together, you can literally throw the ingredients together in the morning, bake it while youre dressing and garner the compliments when you get to the office :)


Click here for the recipe to Cassava Rice Cake otherwise known as Bibingkang Kamoteng Kahoy in Pilipino.




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Fried Rice is what we make when leftovers are starting to pile up in the refrigerator. For our weekend brunch, it's common for me to make fried rice out of whatever leftover is still in the refrigerator. See, I end up accomplishing two things at the same time. I recycle leftovers while cooking a good weekend brunch for my family and I clean out the refrigerator of leftovers, readying it for another week!

This version (photo above) is made of leftover pork adobo. I had less than a cup of meat, not enough for five people, and I didn't want to simply toss it out. The gravy was so flavorful, it would have been a shame to throw it out! So I used the small amount of meat and gravy left to flavor some leftover rice by making the fried rice above. I threw in some peas for color and you'd never know it was made of unwanted bits and pieces!

If you need a recipe, try out this one for Leftover Fried Rice.

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Caldereta in Filipino cuisine is usually made with goat or beef meat. However, when I was deciding on how to cook a whole chicken one day, I ran across a pack of Mama Sita's Caldereta Spice mix in my cupboard. I had bought it with the intention of using it with goat meat but I never got around to buying goad meat so I decided to use it on chicken instead.

Now my family, when it comes to chicken loves it fried or adobo and don't care for it much any other way. This is the first time that they finished up a stewed chicken dish! If you don't have the mix all you have to do is search for Chicken Caldereta on the web and you will get a long list of recipes. If you're like me, you'll browse through several then pick and choose the features you like in each recipe and come up with your own version. You can't go wrong.

If you'd like my version, here is the recipe I used for Mama Sita’s Spicy Chicken Caldereta.



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I just ran across this Filipino Cookbook on Filipino Homestyle Dishes: Delicious Meals in Minutes by Norma Olizon-Chikiamco. It's a small book, only 96 pages long. It is certainly a book designed for beginners and would be perfect for someone just learning to cook Filipino food. The ingredients have been tailored to be easily accessible and would therefore not prevent anyone from attempting the recipes.

Anything that says home style is going to get my attention. I like simple, non-fussy methods of cooking and this book has accomplished just that. This is a great place to start cooking Filipino food.


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This is suman, glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves, that is consumed as snack and one of the memorable treats from my childhood. I remember my grandmother making this for us during special occasions like birthdays and holidays. Suman is most commonly eaten as a snack and served with something sweet.

My girls and I like to pair it up with a perfectly ripened, sweet mango. I wish I had a better photo, but my daughter had devoured her serving of suman and mango before we could take a good photo.

Click here if you want to know how to make suman.



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My girls only recently developed for the 'Filipino Spaghetti'. This style is sweeter than the Italian/American style spaghetti we all know. The other ingredient that makes it uniquely Pinoy is the addition of hot hogs. But the kicker secret ingredient has got to be the huge amount of banana sauce used in the recipe demonstrated below! My version differs from the video below in that I didn't use red hot dogs although they certainly can be found here in the South and I didn't use banana sauce, I used regular ketchup.

My daughter Jade shared this video with me and we had such a good laugh watching it, I thought I'd share it with you.





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I love bread puddings don't you? Not only is it a great way to use up old bread, it's also delicious and just has that all time comfort food feel. I think it has something to do with the fact that it's creamy, soft and the smell of egg and vanilla just brings back so many memories of one's childhood.

My mom, I think makes the best bread pudding. The thing is, she doesn't have a recipe. She just kind of eyeballs everything as she's making it and for some reason it just comes out really well for her everytime. Now me, I can't just leave things well enough alone. I have to be continually messing with it. So far my experimentation has produced bread pudding with nata de coco (pictured), bread pudding with dried fruits, a Vietnamese bread pudding with bananas, and bread pudding with raisins. Which brings me to one with golden raisins! I found a box of golden raisins in the pantry the other day and I have been itching to put it in bread pudding.

What's your favorite way of making bread pudding?

I've always wondered how anyone could not like hotdogs in their spaghetti. I love hotdogs and I love spaghetti so doesn't it make sense to combine them? I thought so, and a lot of Filipino people think so to, that's why I named this post Filipino spaghetti. Only in Filipino homes have I ever tasted this slightly sweet spaghetti sauce with hotdog slices. Surprisingly enough, my kids like it too! Of course, their dad, that's a different story. But then he's not too crazy about spaghetti in the first place. He says he's only tasted good spaghetti from on place, a place called Anna Maria but can't remember where it is now. Oh well... he'll just have to live with our versions then.

Here's the recipe if you care to try...

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Here's another pork recipe that is fatty, melt in your mouth kind, not the 'other white meat' kind. I don't know what it is, but we just love cuts like fresh pork hocks. I like them, I think, mainly for the texture. Of course, the braising flavors does a lot in making us want more of them. So most of the time when I cook something like this the girls would eat the lean parts and I eat the fatty parts.

Yummy!!

Unfortunately, the days of fatty pork is nearing its end from my diet. *sigh* I just had another doctors appointment and you gotta know another restriction has been imposed. Oh well.

Anyway, here is the recipe if you want to try it out.



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This is my favorite seaweed salad, we call it ar-arusep. The last time I had it was two years ago when we went to the Philippines for a vacation and ate our way through every table we came across.

It is prepared simply, just washed well and served with chopped tomatoes for contrast. No need to salt it really as the natural saltiness of the sea is infused in every grape like globule. They were so cute and so like grapes that even the girls, who normally are not crazy about seaweed, had to have a taste. It is a tactile experience as much as flavor. When you bite into it, you get a burst of the ocean right in your mouth. Amazing! Now I'm missing it again.



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This is a super rich version of the flan, but what do you do when you have eight egg yolks to use up? If you're up to something sinfully delicious, then this is one dessert you just gotta try.

Get the recipe for Leche Flan from Cooked From the Heart.



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This month's Lasang Pinoy theme is Coconut and I've posted two recipes for this event hosted by Kai of Bucaio.

First one is Ginataang Hito, catfish cooked in coconut milk.
The second recipe if for Laing, which for this version, I used swiss chard cooked in coconut milk.

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You won't believe how much bitter melon is waiting to get eaten up in my refrigerator right now. This is one of the simplest ways to cook bitter melon, just plainly sauteed with oyster sauce.

Get the recipe for Sauteed Bitter Melon in Oyster Sauce.



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This is another dish where there are as many variations as there are regions in the Philippines. From the region that I come from, it is called "balatong". Some prefer it thick some like it soupy. Some like to put different types of vegetables with it. Me, I happen to like mine on the soupy side and I like it best with bittermelon (ampalaya) leaves. I had a couple of bittermelon plants come up in our garden this year, one was scrawny but the other one was lush and full of big pretty leaves. I just had to make this soup to use some of the leaves before the frost beats me to it.

Want to cook mung bean soup?

Often when I am being unimaginative, I always turn to old favorites and standbys. Guess what, most of them are the types that are quick and easy to make! So is it any wonder that we fall back again on Chicken Bistek on a day when we just did not feel like cooking anything elaborate but still needed to eat something filling anyway?

Click here for the recipe.

This recipe earned me the Rockin' Girl Blogger award from the Feisty Cook, Dexie. Although I've described the recipe in this blog previously, I've never really given a recipe since I don't ever measure when I'm making this. This time around though, at Peggy's request, I decided to measure out the marinade.

Continue to the Pork Tocino recipe.

It's summer time again for sure when you can't stay but a minute outside and you are already sweating and sticky without doing anything more strenous than lifting a glass of iced tea. I'm loving it though. It gives me an excuse to come up with cooling treats like Halo-halo.

Halo-Halo is the Filipino version of the summertime ice treat. Halo-halo, which means mix-mix literally, has its various renditions in different countries: Ice kakang in Malaysia, Es Teler in Indonesia, Ruam Mit in Thailand, Three Bean Drink/Rainbow Ice in Vietnam, and of course don't forget it's simpler sister, the Italian ice.

There are a great many versions of halo-halo so I won't put a recipe here, but here are more halo-halos on the web if you're interested in making your own.

Razon's Halo-halo - not a recipe but rather a review of one of the best places to get halo-halo. The girls and I tried this place at the Mall of Asia and loved it! It was simple but one of the best halo-halos we've ever tasted.

Halo-halo recipe from seasite

Market Manila Halo-Halo

Baby Rambutan's Halo-Halo

As you may have noticed from the sampling of recipes for halo-halo, there isn't a strict recipe for it, put what flavors you like and enjoy!

It is time for Lasang Pinoy again, and for this 18th round our host is Toni of Wifely Steps who chose this month's theme of vegetables! Whether you love them or hate them, we will be writing about Filipino or Filipino inspired vegetable dishes.

In Our Kitchen, vegetables are a no brainer. Any will do, cooked or not, in any which way. I think our favorite way though is AS IS, vegetables that are as close to their natural flavors as possible; that is why salads, simply dressed are so popular at our table.

Here are some 'close-to-traditional' (since I don't ever do anything the authentic way) vegetable dishes that have been published on this blog previously.
Vegetable Adobo
Pinakbet Tagalog
Ampalaya (bittermelon) with Eggs
Kamote Salad
Gising-Gising
Ginisang Sayote

These are variations on the theme or Filipino 'inspired' dishes:
Steamed Garden Vegetables The simplest way of cooking, and also the best way to bring out natural flavors of vegetables.
Green Beans, Tomato & Cilantro Salad
Green Beans with Lemon and Soy Sauce
Shrimp & Vegetables Sinigang sa Miso (in miso soup)
Collard & Beet Greens in Coconut Milk (sa gata)

For LP-18, I offer another variation to an oft used theme of dressing vegetables with the 'filipino salsa' of onions, tomatoes, lemon and fish sauce.



It's grilling time again here in the U.S., and with the past three day holiday, our grill has been on overdrive. This is part of what we cooked on the grill for Memorial Day. Again as with may dishes in our kitchen, it is a cross between the usual grilled vegetable that is dressed with a type of Italian style dressing and the Filipino way of tomatoes, onions, lemon and fish sauce. It is a variation from the traditional Eggplant Salad.

This dish would be perfect for a large crowd and can be cooked ahead of time as the marinating process adds so much to the flavor.

Start by grilling eggplants (I used the large globe eggplants that are more common in the grocery stores) which have been cut into 1/4 inch thick rounds and drizzled with olive oil, salt, & pepper. Do the same to zucchini squashes or yellow squashes that have been halved or quartered lengthwise.

On a platter with sides or bowl, layer first the grilled eggplant slices, then the grilled squash. To these layers add a layer each of tomatoes and sweet onions, then sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

In a separate bowl or cup, mix together equal amounts of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil until well blended and pour over the vegetable layers. Let stand at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or refrigerated for as much as overnight.

I purposely didn't add any measurements for the dressing as this will depend on how much vegetables you are using. For a small platter, you can start with two tablespoons each, for instance and just increase the proportions according to your needs.

For the roundup of LP18 participants, visit Toni's Wifely Steps.

How many ways can you do egg? Probably too many to count. The egg is probably the most versatile food product there is. It can go from delicate to hardy, from simple to sublime as easily as water pours from plastic to crystal and vice versa. Eggs can be served for breakfast, lunch and dinner, even dessert! Not many food items can claim that. So is it any wonder that my photobucket, upon review is peppered with diffent versions of egg dishes?

Here are a few of my favorite ways with eggs: