Pear Almond Bundt Cake

When I was a little kid, I used to have an apple tree in my backyard that was always loaded with apples in the late summer/fall.  I used to make all kinds of things to use the apples, and I changed this apple cake recipe so many times to improve on it.  This the first time I ever made variations on a recipe and made it my own.  

It happened by accident, but one batch of apples I picked one year happened to be pretty tart, so I put half of the sugar in with the apples and let them soak until it was time to add them.  What I discovered was that the sugar drew out a lot of the juices from the apples and made the cake super moist.  A few years ago I tried it with pears instead of apples, and almonds instead of walnuts.  Both was are delicious!

Ingredients:

3 pears, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp. almond extract

3 oz. slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Filipino Chicken Stew (Chicken Adobo)

This was a staple dish during my childhood, probably because my parents were so hardworking and this dish is easy to prepare and only requires one pot to cook it. Now when I make it, I make a big batch and eat it for leftovers over a week. The pic above was from a different time that I made it, since I forgot to take a final picture this time around... 

I have been recently told by my mother, after several Pinoys out there denied this recipe's authenticity, that this version is Batangueno style (from the great province of Batangas where my mom was raised).

Ingredients:

2 lb. chicken, traditionally thighs and drumsticks

2 tbsp. oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 cloves garlic

2 cups water

4 tbsp rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar 

6 tbsp soy sauce 

2 bay leaves 

salt & pepper to taste 

Not pictured due to my poor planning: bay leaves, salt & pepper. I also usually use fresh garlic but I didn't have any, so I used some jarred minced garlic.

Heat oil in a pot, add chicken and brown on both sides. I typically use drumsticks and thighs, but I did not have any thighs in my freezer. I do recommend using both thighs and drumsticks for a nice variety.

Add onions and garlic and cook until caramelized. 

Add water, vinegar, and soy sauce.

Add potatoes.

Season with salt and pepper and add bay leaves.

Stir and stew for 30 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Serve over sticky rice

I eat mine in a bowl and soak up the sauce in the rice. The chicken should fall right off the bone. Yum! 

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Here is my super easy chicken pot pie recipe!  

You can also make it more healthy by using low sodium broth.  I also would love to learn how to make my own crust, because as you can see below, the store bought ones tend to crumble and make the presentation not so pretty.  But it tastes good!

Excuse the quality of the pictures, I used my phone camera for these because I couldn't find my good camera.  :( I found it now, so the future blog entries should look better, I promise.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup frozen corn

1 medium potato, diced

1 lb chicken thighs, cut into chunks

3 tbsp butter

1/2 medium onion, diced

1/3 cup flour

1-3/4 cup chicken broth (not pictured)

2/3 cup milk (also not pictured. Oops!)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp dried thyme

2 frozen deep dish pie crusts

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Boil peas, carrots, corn, potato and chicken for 15 minutes in a covered saucepan.  Drain and set aside.

Peach Cobbler

It's summer time, and for me that means the best seasonal fruits of the year.  Every year I look forward to peaches coming into season just so I can make this Peach Cobbler recipe I found on www.allrecipes.com, although as usual I made a lot of changes, mainly adding A LOT more peaches to the recipe.  Also, I learned a trick to peeling the peaches, which in previous years took the longest time to do.

I was so happy when I found this recipe because my in previous attempts at Peach Cobbler, something about the crust is always off -- too sweet, too chewy, etc.  This recipe makes the perfect fluffy and sweet crust.  

Ingredients:

6 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 cup boiling water

3 tbsp. butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 9"x13" baking dish (a good trick for this is to use the wrapper of the butter you are using in the recipe).  I used a smaller 8"x11" pan and my cobbler overflowed a little bit, so I will make sure to use a 9"x13" next time.