Holiday Snacks from URC!

Christmas is just around the corner and the folks from URC (Universal Robina Corporation) knows exactly why snacking should be a big part of it. From family reunions to friends catching up, a drink or two is essential, and so is a bowl of Jack N Jill snacks. 

Unbeknownst to a lot of people, you can actually jazz it up and make it a bit gourmet if you please. They recommended a few recipes you can try at the comforts of your own home!

Piattos Nachos 

3-4 packs of regular sized Piattos Cheese (my preferred flavor but you can choose Nacho Pizza instead)

2 cups grated cheese (cheddar or quickmelt)

1 Jar of Salsa

Optional: Sauteed Ground Beef, Pork, beans (boiled til soft), Jalapeños, Black Olives, Onions, Sour Cream, more tomatoes. You can just put chips on a bowl, put cheese and melt it, then put salsa and other components. Serve immediately!

Cream-O Cake

For the sweet tooth, you can do a lot of things with your favorite cookie brand Cream-O. Grab 10 packs of it, separate the cookies from the cream, ground it up and mix it with 1 and a half cup of milk. Layer it alternately with the cream, steam it for 5 minutes (though I prefer mine frozen) add the remaining layers later on. Add a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream or just eat it straight out of the container. Enjoy!

Without cooking skills, you can make a lot of things with these products, and yes, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to make it work. All of these are available in your local grocer or supermarket. You can also get it from your food and grocery apps, it's all about making your what you want to happen. All from our friends at URC! 

Level Up Your Ham Recipes This Christmas with MEKENI

I love Christmas dinners and if that doesn't involve ham, I might be thinking twice about doing that. It's time with family, and having one of the most expected dishes on the table will make it complete. But what have you done with the ham so far? Just slice it and serve right? Well, the folks at MEKENI Food Corporation have a better idea. Time to jazz up your Christmas Ham recipes with them today!

Christmas Ham with Honey Glaze and Pineapple

This will blow your socks off as you mix meat, sweetness from honey and the fruitiness and tangy-ness of pineapple. Simmer 3/4 cup of honey, a cup of pineapple juice, 2 teaspoons cornstarch to make a flurry, a quarter cup of water, 6-8 flour tortillas, shredded lettuce, pineapple chunks and salsa. Combine the honey and pineapple juice, mix cornstarch and water, whisk together till no lumps appear. Use the glaze with 500g Mekeni Deli Premium Ham and serve with the cooked flour tortillas (toast it each side for a few seconds). Think of it like a different kind of taco, like a Christmas version of it. Trust me, it's good!

Christmas Fries

 

If you haven't tried it, don't say it's not good, so basically you're going to make fries out of the 500g MEKENI Pear Shaped Ham. Just cut it into lengthy bite sized pieces, roll it in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Fry for a few minutes til it gets golden brown. Take it out of the fryer and sprinkle salt on it, dip in salsa or cheese sauce to make it even better. You'll love it because I've done it quite a number of times during the holidays.

There are tons more that you can do with the Christmas Ham, you just need a lot of patience, a little work in the kitchen so you can come out with a very imaginative dish that your family will love for generations to come. MEKENI knows you can give these recipes a try, so make the celebrations more meaningful with a MEKENI Ham on the Noche Buena table this year. Get them from Mekeni Home2Home Delivery, Mekeni Food Outlets and wet markets near you, I'm going to wait for Christmas to come before I take a slice of this! :) Happy Holidays!

Quick and Easy Chicken Dinner Inspirations

It's raining outside and I'm in the mood to cook. I think I want something hot, something cozy, so I could just curl up at the corner of my room and read a book while consuming a heaping bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup. I'm not a fan of the usual packaged ones and I do the legwork if I can. But to tell you honestly I am kinda scared to buy things in the local wet market because of the ambiance. Good thing we have options like Magnolia Chicken that's got the packaging right.

It looks clean, fresh even to the naked eye. I don't even see those ugly bruises in dressed chicken we usually see in the market. It's cleaned and gutted already so you don't have complicated knife skills to do that yourself. They've got choice cuts too which takes away your not so favorite parts. This solved a lot of fights in the dinner table at home because my Dad and I always wanted the Drumstick and Thigh parts, no kids were hurt during the show LOL.

I saw a documentary in the UK about Free Range Chickens and it did stick with me. I'm glad that Magnolia is actually offering them now in the market. Although they do the dressed chicken well, it's nice to have options. I guess it all boils down to preference, but I do see and taste the difference between the regular and the free range ones. I am also happy that it's actually a big one, so quality wise it's not compromised. In some way, it's more humane, they're not humans but the process they do from raising them til it arrives to the kitchen is admirable.

I also am itching to actually make my own Eggs Benedict. For me, it's something that would spell a perfect breakfast. Mmm... I can almost feel it.

So for different occasions, different lunch and dinners we had chicken at home. This one is a little curry based. Using the usual boiled chicken, with a little turmeric, soy and some chili, this is a spicy smoky invention at home. I always do that.

Saute Chicken in Canola oil, chilis, basil, tomatoes, onions and a little sesame seed, stir fry, it's a lovely dinner.

Coat chicken in the usual breading, put in a tea spoon of tabasco, a little sugar, honey, you can have your own hot wings at home.

Roasted chicken with lemon grass inside, prepare rue, butter and water, salt and pepper for gravy. Put it on a hot plate, a little brandy and put on a show. 

For the perfect breakfast, toast bread, put egg in a skillet and poach it for a few seconds. Prepare Behcamel sauce, Bacon, lightly blanch and sautee in butter the tomatoes and asparagus, my perfect Eggs Benedict!

You can also prepare the fluffy scrambled egg, sausages, toasted wheat bread, just make sure you put a little milk on the eggs. It's a lovely day!

If its raining outside, you can prepare a good heaping bowl of Arroz Caldo by using Magnolia Free Range Chicken, put some on top of porridge, with fried tofu, garlic, strips of more chicken, and slices of Magnolia Cage Free Brown Eggs. Curl up on the window and watch the day go by. That's going to put everyone in a good mood!

There's a lot of things you can do with Chicken these days, you don't even have to have a recipe actually. Just try to do it like I do, you check your refrigerator, see what ingredients you can use, check your pantry for some unused spices, put it all together and experiment. Life is good, make sure you enjoy it with good food. Magnolia Chicken is available in my local supermarket, I've seen it in the wet market too. It's a good day to cook, so don't even think about it. Go whip up something for your family, your friends, or even just for yourself. 

Believe me, it'll be good.