Pritong Lumpiang Togue (Fried Mung Bean Sprouts Egg Rolls) with Vinegar Soy Sauce Dip

The weather was all gloomy last weekend, so we decided to just stay home all day. We watched TV/movies, played games, did some cleaning...and of course, lots of eating! The hubs and I were both craving for Lumpiang Prito (Fried Egg Rolls), so we made some. Uhmmm, to be honest, we made a lot! I guess we were craving for egg rolls that much that we even made two kinds...Vietnamese Egg Rolls and Filipino Mung Bean Sprouts Egg Rolls! We ate the Vietnamese Egg Rolls for snack and the Filipino Mung Bean Sprouts Egg Rolls for dinner. Egg roll overload hah! Well, at least we were able to satisfy our cravings...LOL. It's really good to always have spring roll wrappers in the freezer...they come in handy during times like this! :) As for the other ingredients, I just combined whatever's available in the refrigerator. I didn't have all the ingredients listed in my Vietnamese Egg Rolls recipe...but I have some veggies and vermicelli noodles, so they still came out great. As for the Mung Bean Sprouts Egg Rolls, I happened to have mung bean sprouts(known as togue in the Philippines) that I was supposed to use for another recipe, so I just combined it with some other veggies plus a little pork, dried shrimps and tofu...and Voilà!, very yummy Pritong Lumpiang Togue.

I'm pretty sure some of you are wondering what's the difference between Vietnamese Egg Rolls and Filipino Egg Rolls. Well, they're basically the same when it comes to filling. Both have vegetables and meat, the kind of which may vary depending on who is cooking. When it comes to size, Vietnamese Egg Rolls or what they call Cha Gio is bigger than Filipino Egg Rolls or what we call, Lumpiang Shanghai but are of the same size as our Pritong Lumpiang Togue/Gulay. I can say that the only big difference is the inclusion of vermicelli noodles in Cha Gio, and Cha Gio is dipped in sweet fish sauce and is often served with lettuce leaves and slices of fresh cucumbers and other garnish like fresh cilantro and basil leaves. So which is better? Well, honestly speaking, I love Vietnamese and Filipino Egg Rolls just the same! I really enjoy eating them because they're crunchy-munchy delicious! But it really depends on who's eating right? If you love meat filled egg rolls, then Lumpiang Shanghai is the winner for you. But if you love something with more veggies, I guess it will be a tie between Vietnamese Egg Rolls and Filipino Pritong Lumpiang Gulay/Togue.

Honey-Soy Pork Chops

If you're a frequent visitor here on the blog, perhaps you know by now that my youngest daughter, Cherlin shows so much interest in cooking. I've mentioned in a number of posts how much she loves helping me in the kitchen. She has been like that since she was about 3 yrs old. She started with the simple task of passing the ingredients or utensils to me and gradually worked her way up to measuring, stirring, mixing, cracking eggs, rolling the dough, putting salt and other spices in the pan, and chopping vegetables. Every time she's in the kitchen with me, I can see that cooking is really something she loves doing and I can say that even at her young age, she has the passion for it. She even promised me that she'll continue this blog when I'm already too old to do it. A little funny to hear...but honestly, I am so proud to know that we share the same passion.

Two weeks ago, I was with her in their school book fair, and to my surprise, she bought a cookbook! I've seen how much she loves browsing through the pages of my cookbooks and I know that she has always been fascinated with them especially ones with lot of pictures, but I never expected her wanting to buy one at her age. She simply said she wants a cookbook that she can call her own. Who am I to say no? I was so proud and excited to see signs of a future chef in her that I took this photo and posted it on Facebook with the caption: "Look at that cookbook Cherlin bought at their school book fair. I guess that shows how much cooking interests her." :)

When we got home, she started reading her new Taste of Home Kid-Approved Cookbook and 3 days after, she asked me if she could try one of the recipes in there. Of course, I said YES with a big smile on my face! And then, a surprising follow-up question came when she asked "can you post about me cooking on your blog?" With no second thoughts, I gave her another YES...and that made her so happy! She immediately checked the pantry and the refrigerator to know if we have all the ingredients. Well, we did, except for the pork loin chops. As expected, she insisted that we buy it at that very instant. Being the supportive mom that I am, we went to the nearest supermarket and both some pork chops. And as soon as we got home, she put on her apron and started working in the kitchen. I've never seen her that enthusiastic before. So this time, I let her do the cooking all by herself (with my supervision of course)...from squeezing the lemons...

Miracle Noodle Review

I was on my usual trip to my fave natural food store to buy fruits and veggies and while walking around the store, I noticed some Miracle Noodles in the refrigerated section. Having heard so much about these "Guilt Free, Zero Calorie, Soy Free, Gluten Free, Cholesterol Free Noodles", I got curious and decided to buy some. At $2.39 per 7-oz. pack (which is the same price I pay for a 16-oz egg or rice noodles at the Asian Store), I honestly thought they're expensive but nevertheless I bought 1 pack each of the two available varieties, the Angel Hair Pasta, and Fettuccini Pasta. There was also Miracle Rice so I got 1 pack of that too.

Yesterday, I tried them with the hubs and my daughters. I followed the cooking instructions in the label which is actually very simple. You just drain the water out of the package and rinse the noodles in a strainer for 30 seconds (for the rice it's 10-15 seconds). After that, you have to boil the noodles in a lightly salted water for 2-4 minutes (for the rice, blanch in boiling water for 1 minute) then you add any sauce you prefer or mix it with your favorite dish. In our case, we used sauteed shrimps & veggies as the accompanying dish for the Miracle Noodles and for the Miracle Rice as well. I simply sauteed minced garlic and onions with some shrimps, carrots, green beans and green onions in sesame oil, and then seasoned the mixture with salt, pepper and low sodium soy sauce. This simple concoction made the Miracle Noodles and Miracle Rice tasty enough to eat. So did we like it? Well, here's what I have to say about our experience with these "Miracle" products:

Ginger Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread with Maple Butter Glaze

It's the 15th, and that means it's time to share with you what my Baking Partners and I have whipped up in our kitchen. Because it's Fall, the star ingredient for this month's challenge is pumpkin. There were three pumpkin bread recipes to choose from, all suggested by Tamy of Three Sides of Crazy. Though all three seem really good, the Ginger Pumpkin Bread from Simply Scratch really caught my attention. "WHY?", you may ask. Well, it's simply because I love the flavor of ginger, and upon seeing the recipe, I instantly imagined how my taste buds will be tickled with the wonderful combination of pumpkin and ginger! 

Truth be told, my husband and two daughters aren't big fans of pumpkin. So to make sure that I won't end up eating the pumpkin bread all by myself, I thought of adding chocolate chips and cinnamon to it. I knew that chocolate chips combined with the awesome flavor of cinnamon will make the pumpkin bread very hard to resist, and I was right! Just a few minutes after taking pictures, this gorgeous Ginger Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread was already half gone! Yes, that's how good it turned out!

The bread truly has a very wonderful flavor and was so moist and soft. But it doesn't end there. Covering it with maple butter glaze made it even more amazing! I highly recommend that you try this recipe. Even if you're not a pumpkin lover, I'm sure you'll love this!

Ground Coffee with Chocolate Chips and Dates Cookies

Remember the review I shared here on the blog last week? I hope you guys read it and will be able to try PURO Fairtrade Coffee. As for me and the hubs, we are still enjoying the rest of the coffee that was sent to us...and today, I am happy to share with you a cookie recipe that features PURO Organic Ground Coffee. As I've mentioned in the review, PURO Organic is made up of 100% of the finest Arabica and combines soft notes of sweet chocolate with tangy citrus. That makes it the perfect blend for these Ground Coffee Beans with Chocolate Chips and Dates Cookies.

Being a big lover of coffee, the hubs is truly a big fan of coffee cookies. It's actually what he most frequently asks me to make next to peanut butter cookies...but yesterday, even without him asking, I thought of making some, just so I could try using PURO Fairtrade Coffee in baking. The result??? Hmmm...there's really no big difference compared to the previous times I made these cookies using other brands of coffee. I may say it's just a bit lighter in taste and milder in aroma, but as usual, these cookies are very tasty and so delightful. Using PURO Organic Coffee added depth to the flavor of bitter sweet chocolate which made these cookies even more exciting to eat! 

Try it and let me know what you think...

Puro Fairtrade Coffee Review

I know I've mentioned here on the blog a number of times that I am not a coffee person. Well, it hasn't change. I still very seldom drink coffee...especially hot coffee. But there's something I do love about it --- it's aroma! The smell of coffee never fails to lift my spirits. And since I realized that coffee adds depth to chocolate cakes and other desserts, I've been using it more. That's why when I was once again offered to do a coffee review, I accepted with no second thoughts. Besides, it's not just a regular coffee brand...it's PURO Fairtrade Coffee, a brand from Miko who has been roasting coffee in Belgium for over 200 years, and has proudly taken espresso marketing two steps further with a product that combines Fairtrade certified sourcing with saving the rainforest through World Land Trust. 

More than a week ago, I received this lovely package from PURO, carefully packed in a hessian sack. Inside were three packs of ground coffee – Puro Organic, Puro Noble and Puro Fuerte with handwritten labels describing each coffee, some sachets of hot chocolate and sugar, an expresso cup and as I requested, a box of green tea.

Base from this assortment, you can see that PURO offers other products aside from coffee. They have tea, hot chocolate, and ancillaries like sugar sticks and creamer as well as biscuits and cookies. Their coffee is available in beans, ground and pouch pack across 4 blends and comes packed in 250g and 1kg bags. I received three blends, all ground and each in 250g pack, and the hubs and I tried each one of them using our Keurig brewer. You may be asking how do these 3 blends of coffee differ. Well, the Puro Organic is grown in Peru and Honduras, and is made up of 100% of the finest Arabica. It combines soft notes of sweet chocolate with tangy citrus. Both the Puro Noble and Puro Fuerte, on the other hand are grown in Guatemala, Peru, Honduras and Congo. The Puro Noble is made up of 80% of the finest Arabica and 20% Premium Robusta. It is rich and lively, medium roasted with hints of fruit and hazelnuts, while the Puro Fuerte is made up of 50% of the finest Arabica and 50% Premium Robusta, and is a fragrant full body dark roast with a touch of spice. For those of you who aren't familiar with the terms "Arabica" and "Robusta"...they are the two primary varieties of coffee which differ a lot in taste, growing condition and price. Arabica beans tend to have a sweeter, softer taste, and has higher acidity while Robusta has a stronger, harsher taste, with peanutty aftertaste. They contain twice as much caffeine as Arabica beans, and they are generally considered to be of inferior quality. The good thing about Robusta is that they are easier to grow. They are less vulnerable to pests and weather conditions and they produce fruit much more quickly than the Arabicas, which need several years to come to maturity, and they yield more crop per tree.  Because of this, Robusta is a lot cheaper than Arabica.