Enjoying "Chili" Moments with the Family

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hormel Foods. All opinions are 100% mine.

Sometimes after a tiring day spent working, whether at the office or at home, it's nice when you don't have to worry about what to serve for dinner. Dinty Moore and hormel products can be great dinner salvations. Imagine getting one from the cupboard and your dinner is ready in just a matter of minutes.

Aside from dinner, these products can be great movie companions too. My husband likes making Hormel® chili cheese dip. It’s very simple and easy to do. Simply open a can of 1 (15-ounce) can Hormel® Chili No Beans and add some cheese cut into cubes. Just combine both ingredients in a saucepan and cook over low heat. Remember to stir frequently until the cheese melts and the chili mixtures become hot and bubbly. Once the dip is ready, open your favorite brand of tortilla chips and start dipping. We also like using taco chips. For more great and easy recipes, check out http://www.hormelrecipes.com for ideas.

For 75 years, Dinty Moore® and Hormel® brands are first in mind when it comes to stew and chili, respectively. In the 30s,Dinty Moore® advertisements featured characters Jiggs and Maggie from “Bringing Up Father”. Later, signature thumbprints of a lumber jacked proclaiming “First name’s Dinty, last name’s Moore were placed on every can. Using celebrities helped Hormel® chili become well known. Print ads featuring Ray Milland, star of “Copper Canyon” also came out. The most striking one for me is probably the ad of pro football player Fran Tarkenton in the 80s when he promoted Hormel® chili.

I remember how my mom enjoyed preparing tacos with Hormel® chili and loads of grated cheese. It was such a hit with my high school classmates during study and project time. Check out my Tweet about their 75th Anniversary here.

Benefits of Eating Healthy Tuna

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of HealthyTuna.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

My family loves eating tuna sandwich. It is easy to prepare, light on the budget and most of all good for the body.  We prefer using hot pandesal buns. I would like to share this very simple tuna sandwich recipe that my family loves.

Ingredients:

pandesal buns
1 canned tuna
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
tomato and olives

Procedure:

1. Open a can of tuna and drain the liquid from the can.
2. Put the tuna in a bowl and break it into flakes.
3. Add finely chopped onions to the bowl.
4. Add 3/4 cup of mayonnaise.
5. Add 1 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Mix everything together.
8. Spread on pandesal buns.
9. Optional: Add slices of tomato and olive if desired.

Seafood and Pregnancy:  There are a lot of confusion about pregnancy and eating seafood. Due to this, some women totally abstain from eating seafood while they are pregnant. Well, it is true that pregnant women should avoid fish high in mercury such as shark, mackerel, swordfish and tilefish. But it is still actually SMART to eat seafood during pregnancy.

In fact, scientific studies point out that eating healthy tuna is good for pregnant women because of its benefits.  Eating seafood such as tuna during pregnancy and breastfeeding period can boost the baby's brain.  Studies show that eating healthy seafood can promote faster development among babies.  Eating seafood can also help fight heart disease.

Weekend Snapshot #78 - Creamy Baked Dory

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Happy Monday! Sorry wasn't able to take pictures last weekend. I hope it's OK if I share photos taken several weeks ago.

Hubby made Creamy Baked Dory for lunch; inspired by the baked fish he ate at the restaurant. He tried to replicate that dish at home and I think he did well. Here is hubby's recipe:

1. Preheat oven. Put fish fillet in a baking dish/pan. Season fish fillet with salt and pepper.


2. Heat 2 tbsp. butter in a saucepan at low heat; then add 2 tbsp. flour. Whisk thoroughly. When the mixture attains a paste-like consistency, add cream gradually while whisking to avoid lumps. Add grated cheese until it melts. Season to taste. Set aside.

3. Arrange spinach leaves on top of the fish fillet.


4. Get the mixture previously prepared and pour it on top of the fish and spinach.


5. Add some grated cheese on top. If you have mozzarella, the better.

6. Bake the fish around 25 - 30 minutes.


7. Serve the dish as is or with side dish(es) of your choice.


Enjoy the meal. :)

How To Make Simple Cordon Bleu

I would like to share hubby's simple way of making Cordon Bleu:

1. Pound skinless, boneless chicken breast to ¼ inch thickness. Season both sides of chicken breast with salt and pepper.

edited 5/8/2009: Tip on pounding chicken: Put a sheet of plastic or wax paper on top of the chicken and use a meat tenderizer to pound it until you get desired thinness.

2. Put a slice of ham on top of the pounded chicken.



3. Add slices of quick melt cheese on top of the ham.



4. Roll chicken and secure ends with toothpick.



5. You'll need some flour, beaten egg and bread crumbs.



6. Roll chicken on flour.



7. Then roll it on beaten egg.



8. Roll it on some bread crumbs.



9. You can either fry (until golden brown) or bake the chicken at 350° for 35 minutes.



10. Remove toothpick and slice the chicken into several serving pieces.



11. Serve while hot.


12. For the sauce: just mix some mayonnaise, salt, pepper and minced garlic. Enjoy! :)

Red Wine Apple With Ice-Cream

The other day, I got frustrated when I couldn't find the Chocolate Truffles ice-cream flavor at the nearby convenience store. Hubby knew I was terribly disappointed. He made me feel better by making a delicious dessert. I enjoyed it and I forgot all about my Chocolate Truffles craving. Let me share the dessert my hubby made...

How To Make Red Wine Apple With Ice-Cream

1. Boil around half a bottle of red wine and 1/2 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Add 1 cinnamon stick and 2 tbsp of grated ginger.

2. Peel some apples and put them in the boiling mixture.


3. Let the apples absorb the red wine mixture. Simmer until the apples become a little tender.


4. Remove the apples from the saucepan and let them cool for a while.


5. Whip pre-chilled all purpose cream.


6. Core the apples cooked in red wine.




7. Put whipped cream inside the hole of the apple using an icing decorating tube or bag. If you don't have one, you can simply use a spoon to fill the hole with whipped cream.


8. Place a scoop of ice-cream (preferably vanilla) beside the apple.


9. Crush some toasted cashew nuts (you can also use almonds) and add them on top of the ice-cream.


10. Put some honey as a finishing touch. This is step is optional.


11. Serve it immediately. Enjoy!


I enjoyed this dessert. I appreciate my hubby's gesture. My son didn't eat the apple but he enjoyed the ice-cream part. :)

How to Make Vegetable Rosti with Herb Yogurt

Yesterday, hubby went home with a large silver contraption (a grater of some sort) he borrowed from his mom. He called Yohan to give him a hand in the kitchen. Yohan was delighted to be his dad's kitchen assistant. Here are photos of my boys making Vegetable Rosti with Herb Yogurt...

Step 1 - Wash and peel 3 carrots and 2 big potatoes. Wash, pat dry and chop 2 bunches of chives into small pieces.

Step 2 - Grate carrots and potatoes.



Step 3 - Mix grated potatoes, carrots, 3 eggs, some flour, half of the chives, salt, pepper and a tsp of curry together thoroughly.



Step 4 - Form small round patties and fry them in a pan. Place fried Vegetable Rosti on paper napkin to help drain some of the oil.


Step 5 - Prepare yogurt dip (mix 1 1/4 cups Yogurt with remaining chives, season with salt and pepper as desired).

Step 6 - Serve fried Vegetable Rosti with Yogurt dip. Enjoy!


* This easy to make Vegetable Rosti is a great hit for kids. My son is a picky eater but he enjoyed eating this dish.

Wednesday Food Galore

It's a holiday and the whole family is home. It is also raining so it is a perfect time to spend a relaxing day at the house. The "bed" weather is a great excuse to wake up late but Yohan had to drink his medicine for his cough so I had no choice but to get up at 6 a.m. I woke up my hubby so we could have breakfast together. We had hot pandesal, sunny side up eggs, bacon and ham.


After breakfast, Yohan decided to play "chef". He brought out his play cookware and had fun cooking all sorts of dishes for us. After cooking, he announced that his restaurant was open. Ha! Ha! Yohan has a great imagination.

Yohan loves helping his Dad in the kitchen. He enjoys handing out ingredients and helping his dad mix them. I could imagine Yohan cutting all sorts of ingredients in one of those kitchen islands when he is older.

Below is what our master chef served us in his newly opened restaurant. He made pizza, pasta, hotdogs, burger and fries. He even served slices of fruits.


After playing make believe restaurant with Yohan, hubby went to the kitchen. Jules would like to have a butcher block kitchen island where he could do most of his food preparations. Since remodeling can take time, I think it would be great to have one of those kitchen island carts.

Last night, Jules marinated some pork tenderloin which he cooked for lunch today. Pork Hamonado is one of my favorite dishes that hubby makes. Below is a photo of the Pork Hamonado that hubby served for lunch earlier.


Here's how hubby prepared this Pork Hamonado dish:

Ingredients for marinating:
1 kilo pork tenderloin
2 cups pineapple juice
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup brown sugar
salt and pepper
bay leaf

Steps:
1. Combine all the dry ingredients above and rub on the pork. Combine drippings of the pork, pineapple juice and soy sauce. Use this to marinate pork tenderloin overnight.
2. Place marinated pork in a pot and turn on the heat. Add 1 whole chopped onions and 2 gloves of chopped garlic. The sauce will gradually thicken. Add some pepper corn. Let it simmer for around one hour in low heat.
3. Once cooked, let it cool down a little before slicing into pieces.

Christmas Carrot Cake

Last year, we gave away Pineapple Carrot Cake as Christmas presents. My husband found an easy to follow recipe which he tried. It turned out well so he thought of baking some for family and friends last Christmas.

This year, I asked him to make some again for my friends in Yohan's school. So last night, he was very busy.


We were able to buy these cute Christmas cupcake liners. We found red, green and white sprinkles too, perfect for Christmas.


Here are the finished products. I'll be giving them later to my mommy friends in school and my gym mates. You can see, I put Yohan's name on the gift tags. I haven't written the names of the recipients yet. I'll just do it later when I arrive at Yohan's school.