Cook and Brew.

Do have an idea the right amount of food your child should be taking in? Check out this USDA’s Food Pyramid, which was updated late last year. It emphasizes more on protein and vegetables opposed to the grains.

To see the specific requirements for your kids, check the following tables:

1. What’s your favorite frozen heat-and-eat food?
: Hmm, pizza.

2. How sensitive are you to cool temperatures?
: Given a very hot and humid summer weather now, I can lock myself all day in an air-conditioned room.

3. How many ice-cube trays are there in your freezer?
: Just 2 since we have our water dispenser.

4. What aspect of your life seems to be frozen in place?
: my 2nd year college life.

5. What’s your favorite blanket like?
: fleece blanket

Pina Bistek

If I remember correctly, this is the 3rd main dish I tried. Got it from Del Monte’s Kitchenomics Cookbook Vol. 3. Yummy! the pineapple’s taste blends well with the beef and salty overall taste of the dish.

Inredients:
1/4 kilo beef sirloin, sliced, tapa style
1 large onion, sliced into rings
1-3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. calamansi juice
1 can (234 g) Del Monte Fresh Cut Pineapple Tidbits, drained (reserve syrup)

Marinade:
8 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. calamansi juice
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 pineapple syrup

Procedure:
1 Marinate beef for 1 hour. Drain and reserve marinade. Fry in 1/4 cup oil until light brown. Set aside. Retain 2 Tbsp. oil in pan.
2 In the same pan, sauté onion. Add soy sauce, 1/8 tsp. pepper, calamansi juice and marinade. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add beef and DEL MONTE Fresh Cut Pineapple Tidbits. Simmer once. If desired, serve with fried potatoes.

“Breast milk is still best for babies up to two years.”

A must-reminder shown towards the end of baby milk formula commercials.

I am breastfeeding my little Asher (and will continue for as long as he’s willing) because of the following reasons:
1. Breast milk is an infection-fighter. The antibodies passed to the nursed baby lowers the occurence of many conditions, infections or illnesses such as ear infections, meningitis, respiratory infections, etc.

2. Breast milk is a “perfect food”. All the minerals and vitamins needed by a newborn is contained in the breastmilk. It likewise prevents the baby against diarrhea and constipation as it tends to be more easily digested than a formula milk.

3. Breast milk is costless. Formula is so expensive nowadays that you have to allot much for a month’s supply. Breastfed babies are less sick so there’d be fewer trips to the doctor which consequently means less medical expenses.

4. Breast feeding is more convenient. No bottles to wash and sterilize. Mom (or dad) doesn’t need to stand up at night to prepare a bottle. No warming up of bottles as breast milk is always at the right temperature.

5. Breast milk prevents childhood and adult obesity. According to studies, breast fed babies tend to gain less unnecessary weight which help them be less overweight later.

6. Breast fed babies are smarter. According to recent research, children who were exclusively breastfed for 6 months have 5 to 10 IQ points higher than formula fed ones.

7. Breast milk enhances mother-child connection. The skin-to-skin contact enhances the emotional connection between the mother and infant. Nothing beats the experience of such bonding.

Infant formula will still help the baby grow and there’s actually no right or wrong choice between the two. Nothing beats the advantages of breast milk though, not only for the baby but to the mother as well.

Whenever the clock ticks twelve noon during my working days, my best buds and I were always engaged with a dilemma. That is, where and what to eat for lunch. Although we had a food concessionaire in our pantry, we still often find ourselves scouring nearby good restos to dine in. Albeit cheap, we just often don’t like the invariable and unappealing meals served in the pantry. Thus, we’d always resort to eating at nearby fast foods. The only problem here is that eating fast foods means greater calories intake because of all the fatty foods. This worries my friend, Joy, who’s a bit on the plumpish side. In fact, she’s committed to start a diet regimen but with the big appetite that our group has and with all the fast foods around us, she can’t seem to get started with her dieting. I guess, she has to break ties with us during lunch time so she can prevent these high caloried foods.

Breaded Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4 pork chops, medium or large
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp calamansi juice
1 egg, beaten
oil for frying
salt & pepper to taste

Procedure:
1. Mix calamansi juice, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Season pork chops with this mixture and set aside for 30 mins. (This will give the meat enough time to absorb the flavor.)
3. Roll pork in bread crumbs, then moisten with beaten egg and roll again in bread crumbs.
4. Fry over medium heat until golden brown.

Source: Christine Lee’s Best Loved Foods for Everyone

1. Places you would like to visit and why.
+ My spur of the moment wishes: France, Japan, Vietnam and USA.

2. Favorite things to munch on!
+ Chocolate mallows, siomai, pizza and a whole lot more

3. Favorite sites for online shopping.
+ Gymboree, Old Navy, Multiply and All Aboard Toys.

4. Things you have to get done this weekend.
+ Iron the laundry and clean the room.

5. Things that pop up when you google your name.
+ My flickr, blogs, Chian Mai travel site, wikipedia.

Had a very busy day earlier but before I retire the night, I’m sharing a photo that I know you’ll be drooling over. Here’s the Lechon Cebu (flown in all the way from Cebu really!) we massacred and feasted on during our 2007 Christmas Party. Yummy!

CNT Lechon…lechon at its finest.

CNT Lechon Photo grabbed from my Love. Happiness. Us. blog

Photo snagged from my other blog

CNT Lechon
Address: 1377 Rama Ave, Guadalupe, Cebu City
Contact Numbers: (032) 254 4249 / (032) 254 6641

Mallow Mud

A creamy mixture of mallows and chocolate cookies

For my first ever recipe share, here’s one of those maiden oh-so-easy-to-do desserts I made. Except for the butter that needs to be melted, there’s no cooking involved. I got this recipe from Nestle’s Best Recipes Book which I bought when a cooking demo was conducted at Nestle years ago.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups cream filled chocolate cookies, coarsely chopped
2 250 ml. bricks NESTLÉ All Purpose Cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

Preparation:
1. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Pour into an 8×8x2 – inch container.
3. Top with extra mallows or chunks of chocolate cream cookies.
4. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

What I like about their cookbook is that it includes Cooking notes such as:

Nutritional info per serving:
Carbohydrates 11 g.
Fats 29 g.
Protein 1 g.
Calories 309 Kcal.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 8

**It’ll be your instant ice cream when chilled for more than an hour.