Going Bananas 2: Banana Walnut Muffins
Kris a.k.a. Rollercoaster Mommy, this is for you 
Fall is definitely here and the weather has been surprisingly chilly specially in the mornings. Last Monday, instead of turning on the heater, I turned on the oven instead. And besides, I still had about 3 sliced bananas in the fridge waiting to see the light of day…more like the heat of the oven. This time, I made Banana Walnut Muffins and the recipe, which I am publishing in full, is courtesy of my blogger friend Kris.
Original recipe yield: 12 muffins, or 48 mini muffins
PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 25 Min
READY IN 35 MinINGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/3 cup butter, meltedDIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat muffin pans with non-stick spray, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Combine bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in a large bowl. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Scoop into muffin pans.
Bake in preheated oven. Bake mini muffins for 10 to 15 minutes, and large muffins for 25 to 30 minutes. Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped.
The only addition I made to the recipe as an added treat was the cup of walnuts. The muffins came out moist. 
I didn’t realize that there are so many variations in making banan bread/cake/muffins. The first banana bread I made had no milk in the recipe. Yesterday, I was at it again and made Banana Walnut Choco Chip Bread to give as a gift to the hosts of the birthday party we attended. I would spare you from any more pics of yesterday’s banana bread as I’m afraid you’re all in a state of “uyam” already. 
Your banana recipe’s next, Meeya! 
Desserts/Sweets/Baked Goodies | Comments (5)
Ooey Gooey Chicken “Wengs”
We had another appetizer dinner last Wednesday…chicken wengs, I meant wings. :) It’s really called “Sweet and Gooey Chicken Wings” and had mixed reviews from people who have already tried doing it. Since most of the reviews were mostly good anyway, I went ahead and tested the recipe.
Before Pic - chicken wings bathing in marinade
After Pic - from fair-skinned to dark-skinned gooeyness ;)
We ate the chicken with hot rice and ranch dip. It was finger lickin’ good!
Although I found the recipe to be ok, next time, I might experiment a little by adding a little more brown sugar.
Here’s the recipe, which I got from AllRecipes:
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken wings
DIRECTIONS
- In 9 x 13 inch casserole, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, ginger and garlic powder. Mix until brown sugar completely dissolves into the mixture. Place the chicken wings in the dish and turn them over until they are all well coated. Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Turn the chicken again after two hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Bake chicken at 350 degress F (175 degrees C) covered for 45 minutes. Turn the chicken wings, and spoon sauce from the bottom of the pan over the tops of the wings. Cook an additional 50 minutes, uncovered.
Poultry | Comments (4)
Halabos na Hipon
We are seafood worshippers. Tops on our list are crabs (alimasag and alimango), shrimps (suahe and sugpo), oysters and of course, fish (lapu-lapu, tilapia, hito, to name just three). The preferred method of cooking is steaming, and pretty much on equal footing would be grilling, boiling (as in soup dishes like sinigang and paksiw) and frying.
I’m glad my 3-year old daughter has acquired the same appreciation, if not love, for seafood. Her hands down favorite would be shrimp: steamed, tempura, camaron rebosado, etc. It’s safe to say that as long as it’s shrimp, she really doesn’t care about how it is cooked.
Halabos na hipon regularly makes an appearance at our dinner table. To some, this may just be considered as an appetizer. But to us, this is one great ulam (viand) already. It’s very easy to make, too…so easy even a 2nd grader can do it!
Just dump the shrimps in a shallow pot or pan and then pour enough Sprite or 7-Up to cover all of it. Leave the shrimps to soak for at least 30 minutes. Over medium heat, cook the shrimps in the soda. Once the shrimps have turned to a nice orange color, drain them right away. Overcooking the shrimps will make them tough and hard to peel. That’s it! Any simpler than that and one will have to eat shrimps raw. Hahaha!
It’s the choice of dipping sauce where we all differ. I love eating shrimps with either sliced fresh tomatoes or vinegar. Hubby, on the other hand, runs to the other direction at the slightest aroma of vinegar. He either has a side of tomatoes as well, or soy sauce with lemon or lime. Ketchup and sweet chili sauce are very good dipping alternatives as well.
It’s so great not to be allergic to the treasures of the sea!
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Baked Spaghetti
What household with kids doesn’t have “Pasta Night” at least once a month? Definitely not ours! :D Even before I got married, I’ve always took a special liking for cooking pasta dishes. Mostly because of the sheer ease of preparing and cooking them. One thing I’ve never done though, is make my tomato based spaghetti sauce from scratch. But something does tell me that I may just do so some time soon.
I was under a lazy spell last Monday so I announced to the two other members of our household (hubby and my little munchkin) that it’s spaghetti night. :D But to give an otherwise ordinary pasta dish just the slightest hint of a twist, I decided to bake it.
We waited an extra 30 minutes before we finally had dinner. But it was well worth the wait, if I may say so myself.
My little girl gave it her stamp of approval: “It’s yummy, Mom!” ;)
It’s very simple really. First saute garlic and onion, then add the ground beef, and season it with salt and pepper. Let it simmer for a few minutes, just until the beef changes color. Then add mushrooms and the spaghetti sauce (mine was store bought! ). Bring the sauce to a boil and adjust the seasoning according to taste. Mix the spaghetti sauce with the cooked spaghetti (I used thin spaghetti for this one.) and transfer it to a baking dish. This is the yummy part…topp the spaghetti with grated cheddar cheese (as in I covered the entire top of the dish with cheese!) and then bake it in the oven for 30 minutes or just until the cheese turns brown and starts to bubble. Voila! :D It’s spaghetti packaged just a little differently. ;)
Simply put, just make spaghetti like you normally do, top it with your favorite type of cheese, then bake it. :D
p.s. Please do excuse my amateurish babbling of the procedure. 
Pasta & Noodles | Comments (5)
Going Bananas: Banana Choco Chip Bread
Last Sunday at around 9:30pm, when most people are already asleep, I decided to give our over ripe bananas a new lease on life…
I don’t know why I never thought of doing this before, opting instead to just let bananas after bananas go to waste. Shame on me!
But that won’t happen again. From the outcome of this late night baking project, I know for sure this won’t be the last time. The finished product was so surprisingly moist. The original recipe used walnuts, which I conveniently substituted with chocolate chips…ever the chocolate lover that I am.
For sure, this won’t be my last banana project. Besides, I have banana recipes waiting to come to life, one from Meeya and another one from Kris.
You can check out the recipe I used here. :D And beware if you use choco chips like I did. It’s not exactly for weight watchers, nor is it for “sugar watchers”. Hee hee!
Breads, Desserts/Sweets/Baked Goodies | Comments (10)
Lumang Tinapay Atbp
We had plenty of old bread. So the most logical thing to do was to make bread pudding. And that’s exactly what I made last Wednesday….
The end product wasn’t sweet at all, as in no trace of sugar whatsoever. That didn’t come as a surprise because the recipe only called for 6 tablespoons of sugar. But it’s nothing a little maple or chocolate syrup (or even custard sauce) couldn’t fix.
In fairness, the recipe did call for a meringue topping. But I got lazy. :D
oOo
I also made arroz caldo last Wednesday, for the first time ever. I prepared it just before hubby, Abby and I headed out of the house. Before we left, it looked perfect and it did taste perfect, if I may say so myself. But when we got back after about an hour, I was a little shocked to see the rice has soaked up almost all of the sabaw. I had to remedy it a little by adding some more water. The thing is, I didn’t want to add too much because like I said, it already tasted perfect, exactly how I want and remember arroz caldo to be. I just made a mental note to use a little less rice next time.
Ayan o, sobrang lapot! This time, wala akong “arroz caldo b”. Hee hee!
I’ve always loved arroz caldo. It’s a classic comfort food for me…and comfort me it did!
Enjoy the weekend, y’all! 
Breads, Desserts/Sweets/Baked Goodies, Rice | Comments (11)
Kalabasa at Soda
Never in my young life have I seen soooo many “mutant” pumpkins in one place….
These orange thingamajigs welcomed us to the supermarket last Tuesday. I know there are many more bigger, oranger pumpkins out there, but this was a real touristy albeit promdi moment for me. I couldn’t resist taking pics. How about carving my very first jack-o-lantern? Tempting but no thanks.
oOo
We went to the supermarket, H-E-B, which is like the SM of supermarkets here in Texas, purposely to hoard sodas. H-E-B, like most supermarkets here in the US and like our very own supermarkets in the Philippines (SM, Robinisons, Rustan’s and Shopwise) has store-brand products. Think SM bonus. And for a few days, October 2 being the last day, they had a promo wherein they matched the 6 or 12-pack Coca-Cola products you buy (Regular Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, etc.) with the store-brand line of soda. You have to use an in-store coupon and you can only buy one product at a time.
We got the chance to compare Diet Coke with the H-E-B brand of diet soda and I have to say, you can’t really taste the difference. That coming from a loyal Diet Coke drinker! This was last Thursday. It kinda brought back memories of the Pepsi Challenge of the 80s. But I dare say you can really taste the difference there. ;) I took that challenge and chose Coke over Pepsi. Hee hee. Anyway, going back to my story, hubby and I decided to take advantage of the promo and buy some more soda to fill the bottom of our pantry. We bought Diet Coke and Dr. Pepper, for which hubby has developed a special liking. Each 12-pack we bought was matched with a 12-pack Diet H-E-B Original Soda and a Dr. B. We had to pay for the stuff separately though. One product at a time, remember? Hee hee!
Diet H-E-B Original Cola, Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, Dr. B and some more diet colas
With over 50 cans of soda in our pantry, may I offer you a drink? It’s on me. ;) Oh, I have a question before I go…would you drink an SM Bonus Diet Soda or maybe a Dr. SM? *shrugs shoulders* Just wondering. 
Kitchen/Food Etcetera | Comments (10)
