Hi, all!
Please join us this Saturday, Dec 14th, 2013 for the SANTA PAWS & WINE TASTING – DOG/CAT ADOPTION to benefit Fur & Feather Animal Sanctuary!
A portion of the proceeds will go directly to Fur & Feather to help care for, house, and enrich the lives of the animals.
We will have our Vegan chocolate chocolate-chip almond cookies available to sample and purchase. Come join us and introduce yourselves. We will see you there!
We are very excited to share our 2013 holiday menu with you! Take a look and get your orders in early. Catering and wholesale prices are also available separately.
Turon: A traditional Filipino treat made with sweet, ripe bananas wrapped inside a flaky pastry, fried to a golden perfection and coated with a sugar glaze.
Place your orders today! SOON samples of turon will be made available locally.
Good news! We are NOW taking orders for the holidays. Try our home-made chicken empanadas. Minimum order is 2 dozen. Available in the Valley and Greater L.A. area. Delivery charges are extra. Contact us for pricing info. Order yours today! 
I haven’t updated my blog for a few months since my mom died. I figured it was time to get back to it. It seems like just yesterday she was with us and there are still moments when I feel like cooking something that I reach for the phone and a wave of realization comes over me knowing she won’t be on the other line. While a part of me feels a sense of sadness as I remember her, it also makes me smile to know that my fond memories of cooking and baking remind me of her. So, I wanted to bake something different that I thought she would like.
Starting with organic coconut flour (a new ingredient for me) mixed in with a few of my classic favorites, I experimented with this recipe. I wanted to mimic Porto’s version of Dulce de Leche Kisses but give it a Greek wedding cookie influence by adding in nuts and powdered sugar. The results were delicious! Try it for yourself. 🙂
Ingredients
2 cups organic coconut flour
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 cup powdered sugar
1 can Nestle dulce de leche
Preheat oven to 325. I find the coconut flour browns much faster.
With food processor, combine flour, salt, and powdered sugar. Pulse until combined. Mix in the butter, vanilla, and water. Combine to form dough.
You can transfer dough into a big mixing bowl or work from food processor. Place dough onto board or use parchment paper. Cover with another layer of parchment and use rolling pin to roll dough flat. Use small biscuit cutter to cut out circles and set them aside. Cut out a top and bottom.
Place each round cookie onto lined cookie sheet. Scoop out teaspoon of dulce de leche on top of cookie.
Take another round cookie and place on top. Press the edges to seal the caramel. The top of cookie may crack open a bit. That’s fine.
These cookies do not expand, so you can place them close together.
Bake for 10 minutes or until sides turn brown. DO not burn. Watch carefully as they bake pretty quickly. Remove from oven and let cool.
Take a look at the scrumptious caramel and toasted pecans that just pour out of this cookie! You can really taste the coconut flour in this recipe. Optional: When cookies are cool, put some powdered sugar in a deep bowl and coat each cookie.
I’m meeting the girls for lunch tomorrow. I hope they like these!
My friend Nancy has been trying SO hard to convert me to Veganism. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I can be converted, but I’m willing to give some recipes a try. I figure why not start at the easiest level – baking. Cookies, to be specific. So, I grabbed a basic chocolate almond cookie recipe online and modified it a bit. How did it turn out? Delicious, of course! And I’m not just saying that. Give this simple recipe a try and tell me you won’t be as addicted as we were. This recipe is completely flour-less and Vegan.
This is one of my fave simple recipes to make. So easy and it’s delicious.
Ingredients (I recommend using organic when possible):
2 med organic chicken breasts (sliced in small pieces/or cubed)
1 large Julienne cut organic red pepper
2 finely chopped shallots
3 or 4 cloves garlic (diced)
Dash of salt, pepper, Mrs Dash salt-free Original Seasoning
Peanut Sauce:
4 TBs soy sauce (you can use light if you prefer)
1 TB white vinegar
1 TB corn starch
1 Tsp brown sugar
1 TB creamy peanut butter
Mix the sauce ingredients together well before adding
In a large, deep skillet, put 2 TBs cooking oil. Add in shallots and garlic on medium heat until caramelized. Add in the chicken breast pieces. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, and some Mrs.Dash seasoning. Don’t add a lot of salt because the soy sauce/peanut sauce will have enough. Allow to cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cover the skillet and lower heat. 
Once the chicken is cooked, add in the bell peppers. Cover skillet again and allow peppers to cook. Stir occasionally. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add in the soy sauce/peanut sauce to chicken and peppers. The sauce will thicken quickly. Keep adding water until you find the consistency you want. I used about 1/2 cup of water. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.
Now, doesn’t that look yummers? The wonderful peanuty flavor and sweet red peppers is divine. You can eat this dish plain or with rice. I chose to eat it with rice. I’m Filipino, come on,now. You gotta have the rice! 🙂 
Yes, I’m kinda bummed I didn’t get to go outside and play on Earth Day. Don’t you hate when work gets in the way of your life? Haha. Just kidding, work. 🙂 Anyhoot, I did miss a few festivals. What I love about them are the usual things, you know…the funnel cakes, kettle corn, hot dogs, and looking at all the different doohickeys the different vendors have crafted.
Today in particular I was craving some funnel cake. I’ve never made them before, however, I opted to use Paula Deen’s funnel cake recipe online. I used half of the recipe and it made plenty of batter.
Tadah! Okay, so they are REALLY golden brown and look more like crab cakes than funnel cakes, pay no attention to that. But, man! They are just as delicious! I used fresh, ripe strawberries and whipped cream. Sometimes I actually like to drizzle a little bit of maple syrup but this batch didn’t require any. It was so good. So, in a sense, I get to enjoy a little bit of outdoors, indoors. 🙂 Yay for me.
It’s been days since my last blog. Anyone who’s been watching the news can relate to the fact that it can be easy to lose your faith in humanity entirely. But then, why let those people win? Right? No, thanks. Some days you just don’t want to get out of bed or leave the house. Am I right?
So, this morning, I felt like combining something yummy for breakfast that’s both warm and chocolatey — champurrado! Or in Tagalog, “champorado”.
Start with a cup of sweet rice. Rinse thoroughly. Place in pot and bring to boil with 6 cups of water. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally to avoid clumps and burning. Once rice is cooked, pour out most of the water but leave just enough so it’s not dry. At low heat, stir in 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa. Stir until cocoa is well mixed. Remove pot from heat. Serve warm and enjoy by adding sweetened condensed milk or whatever you prefer to sweeten with (fruit, nuts, honey,etc).
You can also top with a little bit of whipped cream and sprinkle with some more cocoa, like so. Enjoy!
Knowledge is Flour 