Noodles are found in every region, in every country and in every continent. Asia has a long history for noodles. And most noodle dishes flee to its national origins. Evidently, every home including Filipino homes has its own technique and taste for cooking noodles. Yet since I was a kid, these noodles, thin, thick, white, yellow, fresh, dried, are introduced by the Chinese. No wonder they are famously called Chinese Noodles.

There is no mistake in cooking Chinese noodles as long as the noodles are cooked firm and perfect. Any topping and method will make the dish good. So I cooked a VERY VEGGY EGG NOODLES (Pancit Canton), a thick dried egg noodles with lots of vegetables for an all-in-one-dish.

VERY VEGGY EGG NOODLES (Pancit Canton)

1/4 cup cooking oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 onion heads, peeled and quartered
1/4 kilo porkloin, sliced into 1/2″
1 kilo pancit canton
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. fish sauce (patis)
2 cups pork broth
1 cup carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup Baguio bean, cut into 1 inch long
1 1/2 cup cabbage, sliced into pieces
salt
ground pepper

Boil in sliced porkloin with 3 cups of water into a saucepan until cooked and tender. Separate broth and porkloin. Set aside.

Heat a large nonstick wok over medium-high heat. Swirl in the cooking oil, then add the porkloin, garlic and onion. Stir-fry until the porkloin turns golden brown, about 1 minute.

Stir in the 2 cups broth, soy sauce, sugar, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer.

Add the carrots, Baguio beans and cabbage. Simmer and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the Pancit Canton noodles. Raise the heat to high and toss constantly until the noodles absorb much of the sauce.

Remove from the heat and serve.

My youngest sister, Mary Heidi, asked me to cook pasta for her graduation party last weekend. Since I already cooked Pasta Carbonara just this week, I finally decided for BAKED MACARONI. Mary agreed with delight since it is her favorite pasta. She had about 15-20 friends who came and it really was an army. Well, I do have a confession to make. It was not really baked because I didn’t use the oven to bake the Macaroni Pasta. I really find it hard bending each time I bake so What I did was, I baked the Macaroni Pasta in the my turbo broiler. Well, whether, I should call it Baked Macaroni or Turbo Broiled Macaroni, my sister’s army devoured it completely. And I am satisfied.

BAKED MACARONI

1 kilo elbow macaroni

for pasta sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup white onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 kilo ground lean beef
1/4 kilo hotdog, sliced into small portions
1/4 kilo ham, cut into small squares
500 grams spaghetti sauce
500 grams tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
salt and pepper

for cream cheese:
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated cheese

Cook pasta according to directions. Drainand set aside.

For Baked Macaroni Sauce:

Heat butter over low heat in a large skillet or pan.

Saute garlic then add garlic.

Add beef, hotdog and ham. Saute until meats are cooked.

Pour spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce.

Add water to get desired consistency.

Season with brown sugar, salt and pepper.

Set aside.

For Baked Macaroni Cream Cheese:

On a small pan, cook over low heat evaporated milk and grated cheese.

Constantly stirring the mixture until cheese is melted.

For Baked Macaroni’s final phase:

Transfer cooked elbow macaroni on a pan or oven-safe dish.

Pour on the Baked Macaroni Sauce making sure each macaroni is covered with pasta sauce.

Then pour on the cream cheese over the pasta.

Bake pasta on a pre-heated oven (350 F degrees) for about 15-20 minutes.

*** If you want the easy way of baking the macaroni, do the same procedure with your turbo broiler. Just set your turbo broiler to 200 F degrees and set timer for 25 minutes.

I love McDonald’s’ burgers and fries more than any local fastfood offers. What I love most in McDonald’s is their Crispy Chicken Fillet – a spicy crispy chicken wedge with light mayo dressing in a burger bun. Going back, I was about to order Big Mac, my another favorite feast at McDonald’s but then I saw on their menu posters new products which I think is not yet offered in our province. I was hungry then and wanted to treat myself while Royce was having his own treat in those car shops.  So, I ordered Burger Caramba and Saucy Beef with Rice.

Burger Caramba a burger sandwich which I think McDonald’s place the same patty they use with their regular burgers – a 100% pure beef with a blend of mayo and Mexican herb and tomato salsa. Burger Caramba comes with a regular drink and costs P50. I got acquainted with the flavor of Mexican some few years back since my husband asked me to cook enchiladas, quesadillas and tacos. I was in fact searching in my about ten thousand taste buds the Mexican savor in the Burger Caramba but couldn’t find it. Maybe it was too mild for me to sense it. It was satisfying though.

Saucy Beef with Rice is a beef patty – also same patty used in burgers poured with rich tomato sauce. I was excited with this one because I love tomatoes but then as soon as I opened the styrobox I was quite unhappy. Well, I have this passion for burgers and pastas but swamping a burger patty with spaghetti sauce, the same spaghetti sauce they pour in McSpaghetti, was somewhat an alien to me. I was expecting a thick creamy Italian beef sauce on the burger patty in Saucy Beef with Rice but anyway, it was I guess worth for a try since it only cost P50 with a regular coke.

Burger Caramba and Saucy Beef with Rice are both satisfactory if you wanted to get a new taste from the usual burgers and meals they offer. However, if you wanted to experience the comfort of the traditional taste of McDonald’s, you better go for Big Mac and Chicken Meals.

I was craving for some Pancit last night but I didn’t want to tag my two boys as they were enjoying watching some Pixar short films over on youtube.com. So, I took off… not to the nearest Chinese resto, but to the kitchen and decided to make a wonderful hot evening dinner that my family practically inhaled. I used my fave Long Kow Vermicelli which is available in local grocery stores. This goodie was introduced to me by my friend, Tina, who also shares the same passion with me – eating. I didn’t go into any experiment because I wanted to do the all-time favorite recipe, the quick and easy Chicken Sotanghon Guisado. The long noodles I used are also known as Dried Rice Vermicelli which is a kind of the Asian, rice-based noodle variety comparable with angel hair pasta. It is transparent and sold in long and wound skein. Most of Chinese noodles, including this, must be soaked in hot or lukewarm water before cooking to soften and uncoil the threads.

If we will dig into the origins of noodles, it will be a very long story particularly a very long history in Asia. Most of the noodle recipes now took a big leap from their nationalist origins. So they are not found only around Asia but across the world. Asian stir-fries and noodle dishes cook fast. Make sure you have all your ingredients prepped in advance.

2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 kilo chicken breast, deboned sliced
1 head garlic, crushed
1 bulb onion, minced
3 tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tsp. sesame oil
500 gms. Vermicelli Noodles
1 tsp. ground black pepper or more to taste
1 small cabbage, thinly sliced
1 medium carrot, peeled and thinly sliced

Place the vermicelli in a large bowl and cover them with very hot water, the hottest your tap can produce. Set aside to soften for 10 minutes, then drain. Set aside.

Heat a large nonstick wok over medium-high heat. Swirl in the vegetable oil, then add garlic, onion and chicken. Stir-fry just until the chicken turns white, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the water, soy sauce, sugar, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer until chicken is cooked.

Add the noodles. Raise the heat to high and cook, tossing constantly, until the noodles absorb
much of the sauce and what remains is a glaze, about 3 minutes.

Add the carrots and cabbage. Cook, stirring gently but constantly, until heated through, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, add sesame oil and toss gently.

Serve.

hi! my name is nez.

i am a mother of my 3 year old son, colby, who is extremely fidgety, always on the game and very choosy with his food to eat. i am always on the experiment of foods to give him. he loves the taste of pasta, pizza, anything that has tomatoes. he is not into sweets, no ice creams, no cakes. he loves veggies which i am so very well pleased. he doesnt like meats except for fish meat like bangus, tilapia, tanguigue, blue marlin and the like. he is into junk foods. i cant blame him for we, royce and i, are into chips and snacks.

i am the wife of royce, an entrepreneur, who is very loving, patient, has a passion to achieve his goals. he loves to eat, does experiments, always tries new restos, new food offers. he is not into sweets either. he would rather have a full meal than having small snacks.

as a couple, royce and i love to eat out especially if we get tired and stressed from the day’s work. when at home, i just prepare simple food on our table but make sure something special during weekends. i get my recipes from the trainings i had from programs our church offers, i am a Latter-day Saint by the way www.lds.org and also from the mothers who i love especially their cooking. i usually browse the net for new recipes like www.pinoycook.net, whom i got the inspiration of creating my own food blog, cooks.com, kitchenomics.com and many more.

i want to share my experiences in eating, cooking, baking, which i know, i am not a pro but just by creating this blog and making myself be read, i hope to give an inspiration to those who wanted to travel with me in journey of living with food with families and friends.