In My Kitchen

I been in love with Gyro since the mid-90's and every time I am around Italian or Gyro restaurant I need to have one. I used to work for a fast food restaurant inside the food court of a big mall and right across from the place I worked at was a Gyro Place. Usually all of the manager (myself included) will buy food that we share with assistant/co-managers and one of them bought this. I said I wanted to taste, and sure enough, I was hooked.

DH and I was watching a certain movie (can't remember the title :D) online and they have this in the movie. I did my research (which I always do, when I find something interesting) and tried making it. It turns out this "malasadas" is identical to the ones my mother used to make when I was young in our off grid house (Philippines). We eat this as a snack. I have been looking for the recipe and I couldn't find the right one. Now, I got it! I am ecstatic. "Malasadas are eaten especially on Mardi Gras - the day before Ash Wednesday. In Madeira , malasadas are eaten mainly on Terça-feira Gorda (“ Fat Tuesday ” in English; Mardi Gras in French) which is also the last day of the Carnival of Madeira . The reason for making malasadas was to use up all the lard and sugar in the house, in preparation for Lent (much in the same way the tradition of Pancake Day in the United Kingdom originated on Shrove Tuesday ), malasadas are sold alongside the Carnival...

I love Cheese Cake and I never eat it with any toppings. I only do toppings when my family goes to a gathering and have to bring a dish. So with this homemade strawberry sauce I can finally eat some with toppings. I'm not really sure if I will like it, but hey, it's worth a try. Plus I got these strawberries really cheap so, why not. I used the low sugar pectin for this. I wish I can make my own pectin but my apple trees are barely alive because of caterpillars and deers. I finally got the caterpillars in control this year, but since it was getting bushy with leaves the deer can't help themselves but eat it. So, before they sprout again next year i will put a fine nettings on all of them. That will stop the caterpillars and deers from eating the leaves. And maybe, maybe it will be healthy enough to flowers and fruits.

I recently joined some group online. I'm not really active on any of them but I do learn a lot. And this is one of them during spring this year. Everyone was talking about picking dandelion blossoms and making it to anything they enjoy. And since I haven't tried dandelion jelly before, I told myself, why not. I even gave one jar to one of my DH co-worker because he said he heard about it and wanted to try it. I am very eager to share especially to the young generation that knows a little about wild plants medicinal benefits. I picked about a bucket full, removed all the greens (well sort of), seep in hot water over night and made the jelly the next day. I could have easily made two batches, but since I am the only one who tries anything around my household I only made one batch. You can find a lot of recipe online, I don't have to share one here. My recipe is only mine because I'm a little rebel when it comes to my own usage of can or preserves items. L...

I often search online anything that I questioned or simply for knowledge. And I thought of "RAW YOGURT." How do you make raw yogurt? Let's think about the word "raw" here for a second. Isn't raw means "uncooked." Yes, the problem begin there. It isn't raw if you cook the milk to boiling. I thought that since the word raw that you can make yogurt without cooking. So, why call it raw if it's been cook? Is this how people do it now a days. Twist the meaning of any words to make it sound better and healthier. Really people? Raw yogurt is not RAW.

This is my copy-cat version I got from delish.com. The hard part is making the crescent roll dough, it takes a long time. However if you just wanted to buy a pre-made one, it would be easy. I also use my homemade pumpkin puree for this recipe and my family like it. Ingredients 1 tube crescent rolls 1 c. canned pumpkin puree 3 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature 1 egg 2/3 c. sugar, divided 3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided 1 tsp. vanilla extract pinch of kosher salt 2 tbsp. melted butter 1/2 c. powdered sugar 1 tbsp. milk Directions Preheat oven to 375 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, mix pumpkin, cream cheese, egg, 1/3 c sugar, 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice and vanilla. Mix until smooth and season with a pinch of salt. Unroll crescent rolls and pinch the perforations together to create one solid sheet. Cut into 8 squares. ...

We rarely have people (friends or family) come to our house to celebrate a holiday meal. Unless they say they are coming before hand we don't invite them. And when we do invite them they tend to not show up and give us some lame excuse on why they never showed up. However, this year DH long time friend invited his family to our house. Sure, I'll cook, just make sure you show up, I utter to DH. Which they did, but they had to live early because of his children & ex-wife. I started preparing for this event on Monday before Thanksgiving. I had to go back to the grocery store on Wednesday (the day before) because I forgot some key ingredients for some of the dishes. That place was a mad-house. Note to self: get everything early enough to avoid crowds. We turned the living/dining/kitchen area of my late FIL (in-law suite) into a big dining room. As you can see below. I think we can still fit another table there. 25x15 room, I told DH if we remove the two room...