As you can see, I made my patty really thick--more like a quarter pounder. I mean I'm making it for myself, might as well make the best right?? It's okay to make it as thick as you want just make sure you check that it's cooked all the way through. As for the additional ingredients, you can be as creative as you want. I just really like mine with a lot of vegetables. 

And that's it, easy peasy! I think one technique that I want to share is before cooking the mussels, put them in a basin with water so you can get rid of all the dirt. Someone when they're really dirty I brush the shell before cutting off the excess "hair" you usually see hanging outside the shell. I also tend to add green chillies towards the end for some added kick but again, that's optional. So there you have it for out first recipe of the year! Hope you guys are starting the new year right. Happy new year!

Ever since I quit smoking, I've gained a tremendous amount of weight. I would momentarily try to shed some of it off but for some reason, my diets and detoxes aren't as effective compared to when I was smoking. Not sure if nicotine plays a huge role in weight loss or it's just my body slowing its metabolism down. Eitherway, from 45kgs, I'm not at 60kgs in a span of 10mos, and yes I'm alarmed. I've tried to eat healthy but somehow my oral fixation would get the best of me and I'd end up binge eating again.

But lately, I've been more determined to lose this added weight since it doesn't make me feel good at all. My clothes don't fit and I'm in no mood to socialize since my weight gain apparently has also taken its toll on my mental health. Anyway, enough of that heavy shit. Since my birthday, I've decided to be more dedicated to this plan and not do on crash diets orr detoxes anymore. I'm trying to be more active although that's proving to be the most difficult part about it. The easy part is the food. I love cooking and experimenting so in the past 2 weeks, I've been having this breakfast smoothie and it feels great. I haven't lost any weight but I feel lighter so, shall we begin?


INGREDIENTS
Bananas
Soy/Almond Milk
Chia Seeds
Ice Cubes

PROCEDURE
1. Place your bananas in a ziploc bag and freeze overnight.
2. In a blender combine the frozen bananas, 1tbsp of chia seeds, soy/almond milk and ice cubes.
3. Blend until you get the consistency you want.

Ingredients

Pork (I prefer pork belly)

Eggs

Onions

Garlic

Pepper

Soy Sauce

Vinegar

Sugar

Bay Leaf

Procedure

1. Combine the onion, garlic, pork, soy sauce and vinegar in one pot. The soy sauce is about 2 cups and vinegar is about 2 tablespoon. Bring to a boil. 

2. While waiting for the pork, boil your eggs. I love eggs so I boil about 5-7 at a time. 

3. Once the pork is boiling, do a little taste test and adjust accordingly. You can choose to add more soy or vinegar or add water depending on how you like your Adobo. Let it boil some more. 

4. It usually takes me about an hour before I'm completely satisfied with the tenderness of the pork. Again that depends on you, but once you're satisfied, add a little sugar, pepper, salt and the bayleaf. 

5. Lastly, add the boiled eggs om top of the dish. Don't cook them too long so the color of the eggs won't change drastically. 

And there you have it! Now I realized why I took a break from doing recipes. I'm always always all over the place, lol. But hopefully even if I was allover the place, you understood my steps. That's the goal, ain't it. On a personal note which I forgot to add, I usually add a lot of water while waiting for my pork to come to a boil. It's the perfect Adobo saltiness for me. Before I used to purely rely the flavor on soy sauce and I'd end up getting something too salty, but you get the drift. Please hook me up with your own recipes so I get to try them as well! Have fun experimenting in the kitchen! 

I'm finally finished with my Conquering Cebu series! Before I resume my travel posts, let me just squeeze one recipe into the queue so I don't forget that this is a food AND travel blog, lol. I've always wanted to make a video out of my recipes. But my kitchen has really bad lighting, and I don't have a camera man to-go. I don't know how my favorite recipes make it on Facebook! But hey, here's to trying!

So, I made this recipe during the birthday of my boyfriend's sister. The theme was all-out Japanese and we were tasked to make Chicken Yakisoba. I haven't been utilizing my kitchen for some time because the heat is draining me. It doesn't help that our kitchen is not air-conditioned. The only time I get to cook is when I'm at the boyfriend's place in Tagaytay since their kitchen is spacious, a lot of space to move around. Plus the cold Tagaytay breeze is comforting when you're cooking. Let's begin!

I forgot the brand of the Spicy Gourmet Tuyo that I bought, but it wasn’t salty which is why it worked perfectly with the pasta sauce. The store-bought Pesto sauce tasted fresh, I love it. This is not a sponsored post but I highly recommend the brand Bravo. Calorie-wise, it’s also perfect for a person who’s on a diet. I compared the calorie content among other Pesto sauce in the supermarket and it had the lowest calorie count. 

There you have it, easy peasy! I whipped this up a few nights ago when I didn’t have enough time to make my baon. But I’m really trying to keep up to my resolution of bringing food to the office as much as I can so I know how my food is prepared. I also want to make sure I use up most of the ingredients I have at home. I get giddy all over when I’m in the supermarket and I have a tendency to overcompensate my excitement by buying things I don’t really need. That definitely has to change this year. And, less time on the computer and more time for cooking! Okay, I have to go and prepare my meal plan for next week, haha. This tasks thrill’s me terribly, LOL. Hope y’all are having an amazing Wednesday!

Hi, everyone! How are you guys doing? Work is pretty hectic so I thought of squeezing in a not-so-new recipe as a reward for making it halfway through the week, yay! During the weekend, the boyfriend requested for Adobo. Since it was a weekend and we can splurge on rice all we want (thank cheezus for cheat days!), I gave in. Adobo is also y ultimate comfort food. I was under a lot of pressure during the weekend as I had to decide about tons of "Adult stuff". Adulthood, why are you so difficult. Creeeey.

Adobo is a very tricky recipe for me. It may seem so simple but it will stab you right back once you taste it, because all of a sudden, it doesn't taste like the one that your Mom used to make for you. I don't know if that was just me but, I had to learn at the expense of wasted chicken, soy sauce, garlic and vinegar. Normally, I would combine everything in a pot and just let it simmer until everything is cooked. But I saw a recipe online wherein instead of simmering the chicken, they would fry it first. I wanted to try it because maybe, just maybe, that's the secret so it'll taste like the ones that Mama used to make. 

It's a day before Christmas and here I am, still sick from last week's workload. I had to overwork myself last week so I can afford to be on leave for 2 weeks, major YAY! Last week may be tiring but I have 2 full weeks ahead of me--to slack off, sleep, eat and just do anything non-work related. Weeeeh! 

For today, I'll be a very quick recipe you might want to try it this Christmas--which is tomorrow! It's easy, quick and healthy!  By the way, it's on a microwaveable container because I made it as food for the office LOL. 

Procedure

2. In a pan, saute onions, shrimps, mushrooms and pesto sauce. 

3. Place cooked shrimp on the lettuce, top with cucumber. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Before Pesto, my all time favorite pasta was Spaghetti. Yeah, I know. Boring and shit. When I went to Baguio for college and discovered Pizza Volante, I eventually fell in love with Pesto. I mean who wouldn't? Have you seen how pretty and simple their pesto is? I've tried to recreate the kind of pesto that they have but failed too many times, either too much basil or too much Olive oil. That's why I thank Cheezus for easy pasta sauces because they freakin' save a noob like me from the dangers of the kitchen. Lol.  

A couple of weeks ago, the boyf and I went to our first 'real' grocery shopping. I did the meal planning and he did the paying--it was a shared effort, really. LOL. On our way to eating and living healthier, we actually hit 3 birds with one stone. We would take meals in the office instead of buying in the office pantry. I was also able to cut down on buying coffee at Starbucks (being the Starbucks whore that I am)! So eating healthy, living healthy and still a long way on being financially healthy--but we're getting there. Yaaay!

I'm going to share a recipe I did a few weeks back. Not sure if someone did this already but here goes! I don't really know how to make an authentic Tuna Sandwich so I whipped up something that's still primarily made of Tuna and a whole lot of other ingredients available in our pantry. 

Cooking this dish is easy, I didn't include measurements because I believe taste is subjective. You can be fond of olives or tomatoes and would want to add more, that's fine. The taste depends on your preference.

Procedure :

1. In a pan, saute your garlic and onions. I used 2 large onions because I love onions!

2. When your garlic has achieved the perfect (or not) golden brown color, you can add your 

    tomatoes.

3. Saute your tomatoes for about 5mins then add your Olives. Btw, if you have the perfect ripe

    tomatoes, you may have to shorten the sauteing time to 3mins.

4. Add your Tuyo, crush them just so they're evenly distributed when you add the pasta.

5. Mix your pasta with the sauce! You can add olive oil or oil from the tuyo if the pasta feels dry.

Note :

When trying to gauge how much tuyo you'll be putting to your pasta, go with a safe number, like four. If it tastes bland, add more but don't use a whole bottle of tuyo because it'll be too salty. When I first tried this recipe, I initially put 4, the boyfriend told me it was bland so he put in an entire bottle of tuyo. My first try ended up too salty, I added more tomatoes to remedy the whole thing and it worked! Still, I would've preferred just the right amount of tomatoes and tuyo so be cautious if you get the chance to try this recipe!

Enjoy the rest of the week! Oh and for my readers in the US, have a great long weekend and happy 4th of July!