A Version of Baked Macaroni

Baked Macaroni, from my understanding, is simply baking a cooked elbow macaroni mixed with pasta sauce. Regarding the pasta sauce, it's just anything from red sauce to white sauce. You can also add any ingredients you would like to from ground beef to flaked tuna. Perhaps, you could use any of your leftover foods in the fridge such as hotdogs or hams. For this recipe, I’ve just recycled the Parmesan with Macaroni Sauce and Chicken Cordon Bleu leftover and used it in the pasta sauce. Since the leftover sauce has a strong taste of Parmesan for it to be a pasta sauce, I’ve decided to add some spaghetti sauce to add some tingling taste of tomato. I find the taste of the pasta sauce I’ve created to be balanced by adding a spaghetti sauce. We’ll, let me now show you a unique version of baked macaroni I've made from leftover sauce. Here are the ingredients I've used and procedures I've done(Thanks to my sister, Nica, for taking the pictures of the procedure and of herself :)):

• Leftover Parmesan with Macaroni Sauce. (Approximately 250mL.)
• 250mL. Spaghetti Sauce
• 650g. Elbow Macaroni (We've had 250g. and we've bought a 400g. from our local sari-sari store), cooked based on the instruction in the package.
• 1 stem of Parsley, finely chopped.
• Leftover Chicken Cordon Bleu (Approximately 150g.), chopped.
• 3 tbps. Vegetable Oil
• 2 tbsp. Salt
• 500g. cheddar cheese

1. Boil 1L. of water on a pot. Add the vegetable oil and the salt.
   
2. While we're waiting the water to boil, We can now prepare the pasta sauce.
   
3. Simmer the leftover sauce over medium heat while adding the spaghetti sauce and parsley.
   
   
4. Oh! The water is boiling. We can now add the elbow macaroni and stir constantly to avoid sticking at the bottom of the pot.
   
5. At this very moment, you are stirring both the pasta sauce and the elbow macaroni. :)
   
6. Turn off the heat on pasta sauce while you're about to check if the elbow macaroni is already done.
   
7. Drain the water and wash it with cold water.
   
8. Now, mix the pasta sauce and the elbow macaroni.
   
9. Mix the chopped Chicken Cordon Bleu into the elbow macaroni and pasta sauce mixture.
   
   
10. Place it on a Pyrex container or on an aluminum metal container used for making leche flan :)
    
11. Top it with cheddar cheese.
    
12. Cover it with a aluminum foil. If your Pyrex has a cover, use it.
    
13. Cook it on a pre-heat oven at 250 degree Celcius for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese above turns brown.
    
14. While you're waiting for your baked macaroni to be done, you need to wash all the kitchen utensils you've used.:)
    
15. Best served with Garlic Bread.
    
    
    

I'll post the cost of all the ingredients next time. I forgot to collate them. :) For now, create your own baked macaroni and enjoy!

Classical Instant Pancit Canton

For filipinoes, who wouldn't have known or eaten instant pancit canton? Kindly raise your hand. :P Of course, most of us filipinoes enjoy eating a hot bowl of pancit canton. Whether you will have it on breakfast or even merienda. While I'm writing the Dirty Rice recipe, I felt my stomach is grumbling. So I picked up the digicam and start taking pictures of my breakfast for today: Instant Pancit Canton.

1. First you need to boil water over medium heat.
   
2. Place the noodles on the boiling water.
   
3. Mix the powder and the liquid seasonings on a bowl.
   
4. Stir the noodles while you're boiling it to cook it evenly.
   
5. After it became loose and tender, drain it using a strainer.
   
6. Combine it with the other ingredients. Mix them altogether. Use a pair of chopstick if you want to. :)
   

Things I've considered:

Make sure that you won't overcooked the noodles. Or else, It would become like lomi. :D

Actual Expense:

• 1 Lucky Me Sweet and Spicy Instant Pancit Canton (Php7.50)

Total Actual Price:

Php7.50

Dirty Rice

My inspiration for creating this blog is Michael Chu and his site. After I've seen his mouth-watering recipes on his site, I can't wait to try one of them. I've just tweaked most of the ingredients because I have a large family of 6 members. So here it is, Dirty Rice from Michael Chu's site.

Here are the Ingredients I've prepared:

• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 334g. of chicken gizzards, chopped
  
• 426g. of chicken livers, chopped
  
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
  
• 1 celery rib, chopped
  
• 1 medium red bell pepper (sorry, the bell pepper is not yet red and I can't see a ripe bell pepper), chopped
  
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1kg. of rice, uncooked
  
• 1.5L. of chicken stock
  
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. salt

1. Heat vegetable oil in a thick pot over medium heat.
2. Add the chicken gizzards. Cook until brown.
   
3. Add the chicken livers. Cook until brown.
   
   
4. Add in the onion until it becomes tender.
   
5. Add the celery, garlic and red bell pepper and stir for 3 minutes.Liver will start to become grounded.
   
6. Mix in the rice and add chicken stock.
   
7. Season it with salt, black and cayenne pepper.
   
8. Bring to boil over high heat while constantly stirring.
   
9. Lower the heat. Cover and simmer it for 20-30 minutes or until the rice becomes cooked.
10. fluff them and transfer it to a large bowl. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
    
11. Serve.
    

Things I've considered:

I make sure that I know how to cook rice and how much water I need to cook it. But since our rice is not that hard to cook, I've deal with it through estimations. You can seek advise from experts regarding this if you don't know how to make an estimate.

Expenses(approximate since I didn't consumed all of the ingredients):

• vegetable oil (just got them from our kitchen consumed 2 tbsp. of it at around 30mL for Php3.00)
• 334g. of chicken gizzards (consumed all of it for Php31.06)
• 426g. of chicken livers(consumed all of it for Php47.29)
• 2 medium white onion(consumed 1 piece of it at around Php8.19)
• celery (consumed 1 rib of it at around Php2.00)
• 2 medium red bell pepper (consumed 1 piece of it at around Php14.19)
• 4 cloves of garlic (just got them from our kitchen but it costs at around Php3.00)
• 1kg. of rice, uncooked (just got them from our kitchen but it costs Php36.00)
• 3pcs. of chicken cubes for stock (just bought from our local sari-sari store for Php5.00 each)
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper (just got them from our kitchen but it's around Php0.50)
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (consumed 1/4 tsp. of it at around Php2.00)
• 1 tsp. salt (just got them from our kitchen but it's around Php1.00)

Total Estimated Price for all the consumed ingredients:

Php161.25

Actual Expense:

• vegetable oil (just got them from our kitchen)
• 334g. of chicken gizzards (Php31.06)
• 426g. of chicken livers(Php47.29)
• 2 medium white onion(Php16.38)
• celery (Php8.74)
• 2 medium red bell pepper (Php28.38)
• 4 cloves of garlic (just got them from our kitchen)
• 1kg. of rice, uncooked (just got them from our kitchen)
• 3pcs. of chicken cubes for stock (Php15.00)
• 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper (just got them from our kitchen)
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (Php41.75)
• 1 tsp. salt (just got them from our kitchen)

Total Actual Price:

Php188.6

Ok. You now have all the details for this recipe. Why don't you try this recipe at your own home. Also, don't forget to visit the original author of this recipe, Michael Chu, from this site. Thanks Michael! :)

Parmesan with Mushroom Sauce

You might ask what was the sauce dip I used on Cordon Bleu from my previous post. Actually, I've added and removed some ingredients for this and I've just tried if this would still become delicious. Here is the link of the original parmesan cheese sauce recipe. Here are the ingredients I've used and the actual procedure (Thanks again to my wife, Belle, for taking some pictures):

• 125g. butter
• 250mL. all-purpose cream
• 1 1/2 can 370mL. evaporated milk
• 1 can 425g. sliced mushroom
• 100g. Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 chicken cubes; crushed
• 2 tsp. cornstarch and (not hot nor cold) water to thicken sauce.
• a dash of pepper

1. Melt butter in a pot over a low-medium heat. Make sure it's not very hot that it could burn the butter.
   
   
   
2. Sauté mushrooms until browned.
   
   
   
3. Add the evaporated mik, all-purpose cream, crushed chicken cubes and cheese
   
   
4. Bring to boil while constantly stirring. Add the cornstarch and water mixture. Do not increase the heat.
   
   
   
5. Add a dash of pepper according to your liking.
   
   
   
6. Serve.
   
   

Things I've considered:

I've used only 2 tsp. of cornstarch and enough water to dissolve it. I removed the sauce from heat before it gets very thick because it will evaporate most of it's water later and through re-heating.

Expenses(approximate since I didn't consumed all of the ingredients):

• 250g. Dari Creme Butter (consumed half of it at around Php25.00)
• 250mL. Alaska Crema all-purpose cream (consumed 1 pack of it at Php34.50)
• 2 can of Alaska Evaporada (consumed 1 1/2 of it at around Php31.80)
• 1 can 425g. sliced mushroom (consumed 1 can of it at Php27.50)
• 100g Perfect Italiano Parmesan cheese (consumed the whole pack at Php159.00)
• 1 Knorr chicken cubes (bought 1 cube of it from a local sari-sari store at Php5.00)
• 1 small box of Queen cornstarch (consumed 2 tsp. of it at around Php2.00)
• pepper (from our kitchen at around Php0.50)

Total Estimated Price for all the consumed ingredients:

Php284.30

Actual Expense:

• 250g. Dari Creme Butter (Php50.00)
• 250mL. Alaska Crema all-purpose cream (Php34.50)
• 2 can of Alaska Evaporada (Php42.40)
• 1 can 425g. sliced mushroom (Php27.50)
• 100g Perfect Italiano Parmesan cheese (Php159.00)
• 1 Knorr chicken cubes (Php5.00)
• 1 small box of Queen cornstarch (Php11.50)
• pepper (from our kitchen)

Total Actual Price:

Php329.90 (I've used 1 cup of the evaporated milk on my Cordon Bleu. So I consumed all my evaporated milk. :))

It's ok to use a subtitute while making any recipes. For this, you can use any local cheese you have since Parmesan is a bit expensive. :) Good luck! :)

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I've created this blogspot just now. And my purpose is to start posting all the recipes I've tried to cook based on millions of recipes you can see over the Internet. So, since this is my first, let's get started. I've seen this recipe from this link. I've just followed the Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe, not the mushroom sauce. Regarding the measurements, I've just tweaked most of them because I need 10 Cordon Bleu pieces. Here are the steps and my actual cooking procedures (Thanks to my wife, Belle, for taking the pictures :)):

1. First of all, you need to prepare all your ingredients. Here they are:
   10 boneless chicken breast halves, skin removed
   
   
   1/4 tsp. salt
   1/4 tsp. pepper
   2 eggs, beaten
   
   
   1 cup milk
   10 pieces King Sue hawaiian ham, cut each in half
   10 slices Eden cheddar cheese
   
   all-purpose flour
   
   
   whole wheat bread crumbs
   
   
   


2. Place each piece of chicken inside a food storage bag. Pound gently to flatten, using a smooth side of meat mallet.
   
   
   
   


3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
   
   
   


4. Combine eggs with 1 cup condensed milk
   
   
   
   


5. Dip chicken pieces in mixture.
   
   
   


6. Place 2 pieces of ham and cheese in the center of each flattened piece of chicken.
   
   
   


7. Fold ends over ham and cheese. Roll up and secure them with toothpicks.
   
   
   


8. Dredge chicken in the 1/3 cup flour.
   
   
   


9. Dip it again in the egg-milk mixture.
   
   
   


10. roll them in bream crumbs to coat well
    
    
    


11. Place chicken rolls on a container. cover and refrigerate them (I did it overnight).
    


12. Heat oven for about 10 minutes


13. Place the chicken rolls inside the oven for 30 minutes or until then bread crubs turns brown.
    
    
    
    


14. Serve 10 cordon bleu pieces.
    
    
    

Things I've considered:

I've tried to oven the chicken roll pieces to save oil plus the fact that it is healthier than the fried version. The difference is, it's not that crispy but it's moist and tender.

Expenses(approximate since I didn't consumed all of the ingredients):

• King Sue Hawaiian Ham (consumed 1 pack of it at Php42.25)
• Eden Cheese (consumed almost half of it at around Php50.00)
• Alaska Evaporada (consumed 1 cup of it at around Php10.00)
• Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs (consumed half of it at around Php18.00)
• Glad Storage Lock Bag (consumed 1 piece of its 20 pieces at around Php11.30)
  Queen All-Purpose Cream (consumed half of it at Php24.30)
• Chicken breast fillet (consumed all of it at Php180.84)
• 2 Eggs (consumed all of it but I didn't bought it. I've just got them from our ref. :D around Php10.00 @ Php5.oo each)
• salt and pepper (also, I've got this one from our kitchen. cost at around Php5.00)

Total Estimated Price for all the consumed ingredients:

Php351.69

Actual Expense:

• King Sue Hawaiian Ham (Php42.25)
• Eden Cheese (Php97.75)
• Alaska Evaporada (Php21.20)
• Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs (Php36.00)
• Glad Storage Lock Bag (Php113.00)
• Queen All-purpose Cream (Php48.60)
• Chicken breast fillet (Php180.84)
• 2 Eggs (I used 2 from our ref :))
• salt and pepper (also, I've got this one from our kitchen :))

Total Actual Price:

Php539.64

It's ok to have excess ingredients. You might used them again on your next recipes. But since this is my first recipe I've followed, I think I've learned how to estimate closer on what I might consume during the actual cooking. Ok, now try it on your own. Good Luck! :)