Delicious Homemade Banana Muffins

And incredibly easy too!

This banana muffin recipe is tested and tasted several times in our family. I have been making them whenever we have over ripe bananas sitting in one corner.

They are delicious, soft, moist and very easy to make. You don’t need to buy banana muffins again!

Ingredients: (makes 12 muffins)

1 and ½ cups plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

1 large egg
1/3 cup of melted butter
½ cup sugar ( I like brown sugar)
5-6 very ripe bananas, mashed (lakatan)

Steps:

1)      Preheat oven in 155°C. Depending on your oven, mine is quite new so it’s very hot even in that temperature. The original recipe called for 170°C and when I first baked it, the bottoms were burnt. So the key is actually knowing your oven.  
2)      Mix the dry ingredients (flour,baking soda, baking powder and salt). Set aside.
3)      Mix the remaining wet ingredients in separate bowl. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together just until blended, please don’t over mix the batter or you will have dense muffins. The batter should still be lumpy.  
4)      Pour into you greased muffin pan or muffin cups if you have. I normally don’t use muffin cups since we just consume them at home.  
5)      Bake for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy them warm or cool. I prefer them cooled down.

Tips:
·         Freeze over ripe bananas and thaw them before mashing to take all the sweet juices
·         You can also throw in some choco chips, walnuts or both!
·         I have tried putting grated carrots and they were very good, extra nutritious muffins!
·         If butter is unavailable, you can use cooking oil. I tried it once and muffins were still delicious
·         Over ripe bananas can be very cheap at wet markets and sometimes vendors just give it away so go grab them ;)

Fruity Graham Cake for the Mom-to-be!

Blessed Happy Birthday Mommy-to-be Wabby!

Here's a dessert that will remind you of your childhood, except that it's now graham crackers instead of marie biscuits hehe.

And the main ingredients...

Cheers to a bountiful, sweet and colourful years ahead with our Lord! 

Thank you for making us a part of your journey..

Live. Laugh.Love

Blessed Happy Birthday Wabby a.k.a Aike! God bless you together with Jim and baby boy named Yunic (unique) haha.. just kidding :D

Love,

Dave & Xen

Easy Desserts (Decadent Mango Mousse)

This is the second part of the easy desserts that is being incorporated with ripe and sweet mangoes.

I was inspired to make this dessert after watching a local cooking show in the Philippines, and as far as i can remember I didn't list the ingredients, I just bought the ones I think would be needed. I used powdered mango juice as an alternative to add color, would have been better if mango puree was used.

Ingredients*

- a can of condensed milk

- one small can of evaporated milk

- cups of crushed Grahams

- butter

- brown sugar

- powdered gelatin

- powdered mango juice (Tang)

- Ripe mangoes

-Water

* I can't remember the quantities anymore (again). I actually just estimated the ingredients since I didn't list anything from the show.

How To

1) For the Crust - Melt the butter. Add to the crushed Grahams until it becomes a bit wet. Add sugar.Depends on how sweet you want to be. [Mine was overly sweet that time. Dadi even joked at me and said '' Di ka masyadong sweet na girl, ang sweet sweet mo'' :D. He was referring to my dessert that has a very sweet crust.] Put in the refrigerator to set.

2) Boil water and add the powdered gelatin (or the gelatin bars). Stir continuously. Pour in condensed and evaporated milk to add texture. I estimated mine that day. And was always conscious of the sweetness. I tasted it every now and then.

3) Stir into the mixture in low heat mango juice in powder to add some color and flavours too.

4) Let it set for a while for about a minute and pour it into the crust that is in the pyrex pan.

5) Before it hardens, incorporate some freshly sliced (or diced) mangoes. Chill in the refrigerator until its firm and ready to eat. Enjoy!

Here it is!

Decadent Mango Mousse - Xen's Style

This was made one weekend with the Alcids ;)

Easy Desserts (Graham Cake)

Two of the easiest desserts anyone can make: Mango Graham Cake & Simple Decadent Mango Mousse. I don't like mangoes reciprocally speaking ;).

 Mango Graham Cake

- This dessert has been very popular ever since Graham crackers entered the biscuits/crackers industry. And so one weekend with the Alcids I made this easy-to-make dessert with a little twist.

Ingredients:

- Graham crackers

- All purpose cream

- Condensed Milk

- Sweet Mangoes

- Pineapple tidbits (garnish)

* My apology I can't remember the quantity of the ingredients. What I did was all estimation.

How To:

1) Mix all-purpose cream and condensed milk together. Put in the refrigerator to thicken a bit.

2) Cut the mangoes thinly so to easily arrange them in a pyrex pan.

3) Arrange Graham crackers at the bottom of the pan.

4) Pour in mixed cream and condensed milk.

5) Add slices of mangoes.

6) Repeat steps 3-5, depends on how many layers you want.

7) Put some pineapple tidbits on top or fruit cocktail on top to garnish. (Optional)

Photo from my reliable old Nokia phone

Tadaaa!! Here's my first mango graham cake! I gave it as a present to Anya (Dave's older brother) and Ate Jen for their wedding anniversary. Labour of love :).

Desserts 101

I am trying (practicing/studying should be the term here)to be a good cook. Perhaps a preparation to cook for my husband to be. :)

The following desserts have been made a year ago while I was in Cavite with Dave's family. Pa-impress?. Not really. Just wanted to prepare something for them. It made me smile when I finish one dish. Feeling pro hehe. 

* Leche Flan

• 1 can (390g) evaporated milk
• 1 can (390g) condensed milk
• 10 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or lemon essence

For the caramel:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup water

Cooking Instructions:

• In a saucepan, mix the sugar & water. Bring to a boil for a few minutes until the sugar caramelize.
• Pour the caramelized sugar into aluminum moulds - you can use any shape: oval, round or square. Spread the caramel on the bottom of the moulds.
• Mix well the evaporated milk, condensed milk, egg yolks and vanilla by hand or blender.
• Gently pour the mixture on top of the caramel on the aluminum moulds. Fill the moulds to about 1 to  1 1/4 inch thick.
• Cover moulds individually with aluminum foil.
• Steam for about 20 minutes (the traditional way to make Leche Flan is by open-air steaming on either an open cooking fire or stove top) OR
• Bake for about 45 minutes. Before baking the Leche Flan, place the moulds on a larger baking pan half filled with very hot water. Pre-heat oven to about 370 degrees before baking.
• Let cool then refrigerate.
• To serve: run a thin knife around the edges of the mould to loosen the Leche Flan. Place a platter on top of the mould and quickly turn upside down to position the golden brown caramel on top.
  
  

  

  Leche Flan (Dave's favourite)*

   
   'Twas my first time to make leche flan and I was quite successful. They liked it too.
  
  
  * Leche Flan is one of Dave's favourite dessert, if not the most. Whenever there's celebration and leche flan on the table he would take a bite of the dessert first. Talk about 'matakaw' haha.

Lil' Surprise (Chicken Bolognese)

I just found out I didn't know how to spell the word '' bolognese'' I still had to google it (grinning). A little bit of information here from Wikipedia. 

Bolognese sauce (ragù alla bolognese in Italian, also known by its French name sauce bolognaise) is a meat-based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna, Italy. Bolognese sauce is sometimes taken to be a tomato sauce, but many recipes have only a small amount of tomato concentrate.

I made this simple recipe to surprise Dave on our 25th monthsary that is June 15, 2011. I failed to have photos taken because I was in a rush ( we still had to work). So I decided to cook it one more time on June 18th since I still have some pasta and sauce left. I woke up very early, 5.30am to be exact to prepare the ingredients. I took photos using my reliable camera phone.

 It didn't take me too long to prepare since I already have the ready made chicken bolognese sauce. I added flavor to it by sauteing minced garlic and onion,slices of chicken franks and put a spoonful condensed milk, cheese slices and tomato sauce to enhance the taste. 

 Pasta is ready! Cooked Al dente! 

 Poured some Chicken Bolognese sauce. And for cheesynesss' sake, I got the idea of slicing the cheese to 'I heart you' short cut. I think I did a pretty good job here. (giggling)

When Dave arrived to pick me up that morning, I asked him to share breakfast with me.When he saw what I prepared he was touched, and I think he forgot our monthsary haha but still was very appreciative.He really really liked it. Since pasta dishes specially spaghetti is one of his favourites. Well, actually when he sees food he always say that haha. This guy has such a big appetite. Happy 25th monthsary mahal ko! I love you so much!

Ingredients:

* Ready made bolognese sauce

* minced garlic and onions

*sliced cheeses

* 1 tablespoon of condensed milk

* two regular hotdogs/chicken franks

* one tablespoon tomato sauce/catsup

*pasta (cooked as per instructions on packaging)

Enjoy!