Happy Thanksgiving!! ^_^

In most parts of our country, Thanksgiving (that the US celebrates every fourth Thursday of November) is not a known event. Needless to say, we don't celebrate it. But with the advent of online shopping, we became more aware of this event because of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. The former happens the next day after Thanksgiving and the latter, on the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend. Both, of course, have retailers offer massive discounts and deals to consumers and signal the start of the holiday shopping season ^_^

This year, I decided that we'll celebrate Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for and I wanna glorify the Lord's uber-goodness with my cooking =) But no, we won't be having a turkey, (it's too big for the 3 of us!) just roasted chicken and some stuffing plus other dishes to go with it. For this Thanksgiving post, I'm sharing recipes from RecipeSecrets.net and a video on how to properly carve a turkey (or chicken in our case). Now, let's get on with the cooking!!

Southwestern Cornbread Stuffing

Ingredients
4 chorizo sausages
2 cups yellow corn meal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tps baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
4 lrg eggs
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
2 cups canned cream style corn
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
2 cans (4 oz. size) diced peeled green chilies
2 sml onions, grated
1/2 cup minced fresh coriander

Procedure
1. Heat the oven to 350 F. Cook chorizos in small heavy skillet until brown on all sides, then cut into 1/4 inch slices.
2. Mix corn meal, salt, baking powder and baking soda in medium bowl. Stir chorizo chunks and remaining ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until thoroughly blended. Add the corn meal mixture and mix well. Divide batter between two well-seasoned 10" cast-iron skillets (or bake in 2 batches).
3. Bake the cornbread until brown on top and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let cool completely on wire rack then crumble coarsely for stuffing.

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie (not really a traditional Thanksgiving dessert but hubby adores this so much!)

Crust
1 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons butter

1. Mix the crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and butter in a nine inch pie pan or spring form pan. Mix until the crumbs have absorbed the butter and the mixture is uniform.
2. Press the crumbs across the bottom of the pan and up the sides.
3. Bake for ten minutes at 350 degrees.
Note: This is a crumb crust that will tend to burn during baking. To reduce the chances of burning, use a ceramic pan or a bright silver pan. A ceramic pan will tend to insulate the crust and a silver pan reflects heat.

Filling
2 8-ounce packets of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 21-ounce can of blueberry pie filling

1. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese until soft. Add the sugar and beat until smooth.
2. Add the eggs one at a time and the extract. Continue beating until smooth.
3. Pour into the pie shell and bake at 325 deg until the center of pie no longer jiggles.
4. Cool on a wire rack. Spoon the prepared pie filling over the cheese filling.

healthy quiche!

I have one yummy recipe for you today that uses whey protein to help you build strong, lean muscles and facilitate weight loss =)

“Low Carb” Quiche
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup Ham, cooked and cubed
4 slices Bacon, cooked and chopped
1 – 10 oz package Spinach, frozen, thawed and drained
1 – 4oz can Mushrooms, drained
¼ cup Onion, chopped
½ cup Swiss Cheese, shredded
½ cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
¼ cup Whey Protein Isolate
1/8 tsp Pepper
½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream
¼ cup Water
4 Eggs, large

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400°F
2. Grease 9-inch pie plate with nonstick spray.
3. Sprinkle ham, bacon, spinach, mushrooms, onions and cheeses in bottom of pie plate.
4. Stir together whey protein isolate and pepper in mixing bowl. Add cream, water and eggs. Mix until well blended. Pour over ingredients in pie plate.
5. Bake quiche for 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

And voila! A lovely, delicious quiche that’s uber-healthy! BTW, you can buy whey protein in health food stores anywhere.

Snackaroos 4: Jolleepies!!

Nope, the title is NOT a wrong spelling of a popular fastfood chain’s yummy Jolly Pies (I adore their pizza and tuna flavors which is often not in stock, why oh why??). Jolleepies by Goby is a Davao homegrown pastry product which we discovered just last week. Labsie and I were going out NCCC Mall’s main entrance when we caught a whiff of pizza. Our noses led us to an ongoing food expo in the mall’s atrium. And there it was, a free sampling of delicious looking savory mini-pies! I tasted one piece and whoa!! I fell in love immediately with the flavor – pizza underneath, creamy cheese and a hint of beef on top.

Labsie felt the same and decided on the spot to buy 1 box. He loves the pies, no doubt about it! I eagerly asked the salesgirl how much is 1 box and she said it was P42 for beef and chicken pies. It contains 6 pieces and I calculated, P6 for 1 mini-pie?? A pie that was just 1.5-2inches in diameter with about 1cm of delicious filling? Hmm.. Undecided, I popped another free piece and that sealed my decision. We bought 1 box of beef savory pies, still warm and smelling oh-so yummy! There it is, 6 pieces of mini-heaven in a bite!

The pies don’t look much but trust me when I say they are worth the price. With 2 pieces, you’d feel full but still wanting more. The crust is good but lacking the buttery taste that I have come to associate with excellent soft piecrusts. Yesterday, Labsie and I introduced Mama to the Jolleepies. She bought 2 boxes. What can I say? She loved it! My brother also loved the pies and demolished 1 box that Mama bought but, like me, he also balked at the P6 apiece tag. Let’s just say being a cheapskate runs in our blood. We’re Chinese after all, hehe!

As you can see, the pie boxes can also serve as gift boxes if you wish to give it to someone. The box has a To & From tag and is colored red, perfect for any occasions! In our country, red is a lucky color and we often wear red clothes during our birthdays and other important occasions. Anyway, Jolleepies also come in other flavors. For those who have sweet tooth, they have durian, buko, buko pandan, crema de fruta, choco cream, ube, ube macapuno and mango pies. Labsie and I didn’t try any of it, we don’t crave sweets unlike most Pinoys. Other savory flavors (aside from beef and chicken) include tuna, sisig, garden fresh beef (with vegetables), and garden fresh chicken pies. Yum!! Can’t wait to try all the savory flavors! =)

One last peek of the super-delicious Jolleepies! Mmm good! Buy now and spread the word guys! It’s still available in the NCCC Mall atrium but I don’t know for how long. You can also get it in the following places:
>Main: #11 Circumferential Road, Marfori Heights, Davao City (082-3031332, 0910-3858441)
>Matina Highway Branch (082-2971289)
>San Pedro College Branch
>San Pedro St. Branch (besides Lachmi)