PiTCC's 25 Most Popular Recipes of 2013

Before we welcome 2014, let us all look back at our 25 Most Popular Recipes for 2013 based on number of visits. I noticed that most of the top recipes this year are on the sweet side! Hmmm...I guess many of you have a sweet tooth like me! :) 

25. Filipino Style Fruit Salad

24. Pan de Coco and Pan de Ube
23. Ice Candy
22. Daing na Bangus
21. Pandesal
20. Cassava Cake
19. Filipino Burger Steak
18. Kutsinta
17. Bibingkang Malagkit
16. Food for the Gods
15. Beef Caldereta
14. Halayang Ube
13. Biko
12. Polvoron
11. Maja Blanca
10. Filipino Style Chicken Macaroni Salad
 9. Mamon Espesyal
 8. Filipino Style Chicken Sandwich Spread
 7. Homemade Itlog Na Maalat
 6. Mango Cake with Mango Cream Frosting
 5. Siopao
 4. Shrimps in Whole Shabang Sauce
 3. Ensaymada
 2. Filipino Classic Egg Pie
 1. Ube Macapuno Cake

Did your favorite recipes make it to our Top 25? Eighteen of my personal faves did! The #1 most viewed recipe is my favorite cake! I'm glad to know that there's something our taste buds agree on. :)

As we bid adieu to 2013, I want to take this chance to thank each and everyone of you for your continued support. Even though I barely posted new recipes this year, I am truly grateful to all of you who remained loyal followers of PiTCC! I want you to know that your visit, comments and emails mean a lot to me --- THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART! Hope you will stay and bear with me throughout the coming year!

Wishing you all A BLESSED NEW YEAR! May 2014 be a year of GOOD HEALTH, LOVE, PROSPERITY, SUCCESS & UNENDING JOY for all of you! 

Favorite Filipino Christmas Food Round Up

It's that time of the year again when everyone's busy cooking! I've been receiving emails from PiTCC's Filipino readers asking if I have recipes of this and that, so I decided to make this Favorite Filipino Christmas Food round up to make it easier for them to find the recipes they want to include in their Christmas Menu. 

Hope you'll find what you're looking for! Happy cooking everyone! Have a very merry Christmas!

• Beef
  Beef Morcon    Beef Caldereta

• Chicken
  Chicken Afritada      Chicken Estofado     Chicken Pastel
  Chicken Sotanghon Soup     Pininyahang Manok

• Pork
  Embutido     Lumpiang Shanghai     Pork Afritada     Pork Menudo

• Seafood
  Easy Paella     Baked Rellenong Pusit
  

• Pancit
  Pancit Bihon     Pancit Canton     Pancit Palabok     Pancit Puti
  

• Pasta
  Baked Macaroni     Baked Spaghetti     Filipino Style Spaghetti 
  Macaroni Sopas      Filipino Style Chicken Macaroni Salad
  

• Desserts
  Brazo de Mercedes    Buko Pandan     Cathedral Window   
  Chocolate Crinkles    Custard Cake     Egg Pie 
  Food for the Gods     Halayang Ube     Filipino Style Fruit Salad
  Pastillas de Leche     Peach Ref Cake   Leche Flan    Mocha Cake 
  Mango Cake    Polvoron     Sansrival     Ube Macapuno Cake
  

• Kakanin
  Bibingkang Malagkit    Biko    Ginataang Halo-Halo     Kalamay   
  Kutsinta    Sapin-Sapin

Arby’s KING’S HAWAIIAN Sandwiches are BACK!

My family and I like Arby's a lot, and we are big fans of King's Hawaiian bread and rolls...so imagine how excited I was when I heard that Arby’s KING’S HAWAIIAN sandwiches are back! Yes, you read it right! Arby’s KING’S HAWAIIAN sandwiches have made a return to Arby's restaurants for a limited time.

Served hot, and made fresh to order, there are two KING’S HAWAIIAN sandwiches to choose from. First is the Arby’s KING’S HAWAIIAN Roast Beef sandwich which comes with an extra helping of freshly sliced roast beef, piled high on a soft and slightly sweet KING’S HAWAIIAN bun...and second is the Arby’s KING’S HAWAIIAN Roast Beef & Swiss sandwich which comes with the same sweet bun and extra helping of roast beef but also includes Swiss cheese, crunchy pickles and creamy Dijon spread. We loved these sandwiches the first time they were introduced and we're all disappointed that they were only available for a limited time. Don't get me wrong, ok! Arby’s Regular Roast Beef Sandwiches are my family's favorite, but I must say that their KING'S HAWAIIAN Roast Beef Sandwiches are a lot better. The soft, slightly sweet and airy KING’S HAWAIIAN® sandwich bun just takes it to a new level.

Were you able to try Arby's KING'S HAWAIIAN sandwiches when they first came out? Which one was your favorite? My two daughters love the plain Roast Beef Sandwich.

As for me and the hubs, we both prefer the Roast Beef & Swiss  Sandwich, and we enjoy it with curly fries on the side. Perfect combo indeed!

If you want to give these sandwiches a try, you better hurry! Remember, they are only around for a limited time again! Find an Arby's now so you can enjoy a big ol' bite of sweet and savory deliciousness! And don't forget to follow Arby's on Twitter to keep up with all the great happenings and promos. 

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Arby’s for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Bûche de Noël

Only 9 days left before Christmas! Aren't you excited??? Honestly, I am! Christmas has always been my most favorite Holiday for so many reasons...and that includes the fact that it's my birthday! And this year, I'll get to celebrate it again with my only brother! It has been five years since we last spent Christmas together, so I am truly ecstatic about it! For me, nothing makes Christmas merrier (and my birthday happier) than celebrating it with the ones truly close to my heart! I'm sure it's how it works for you as well. :)

Anyway, before I totally get carried away with excitement, let me share with you what I made for this month's Baking Partners Challenge. Just like last year, the theme for December is Christmas Cake. If last year I made Neapolitan Christmas Cake, this time it's this gorgeous Bûche de Noël from Williams-Sonoma as suggested by Tanusree of Ma Niche. We were given five recipes to choose from, but this one seemed to be the easiest to make so I went for it! The cake didn't turn out as soft as I expected it to be, but as a whole, this Bûche de Noël was awesome! I'll be making it again for our Christmas Eve dinner, but I guess I will have to use the sponge cake recipe that I normally use. 

A Bûche de Noël or Yule Log is a traditional dessert served on Christmas, especially in France and several other francophone countries and former French colonies. It is traditionally made from a genoise or other sponge cake baked in a large Swiss roll pan, frosted, rolled to form a cylinder, and frosted again on the outside. The most common combination is a basic yellow sponge cake, frosted and filled with chocolate buttercream; however, many variations on the traditional recipe exist, possibly including chocolate cakes, ganache and espresso or otherwise-flavored frostings and fillings. Bûches are often served with a portion of one end of the cake cut off and set on top of the cake or protruding from its side to resemble a chopped off branch, and bark-like texture is often produced in the buttercream for further realism. This is often done by dragging a fork through the icing. These cakes are often decorated with powdered sugar to resemble snow, tree branches, fresh berries, and mushrooms made of meringue. 

Bûche de Noël is both festive and delicious which makes it perfect for the season! If you are like me who's always in the mood for baking during the holidays, you should try it!

Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups

Christmas is in two weeks! If you're still looking for easy recipes for your Christmas dinner, this Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups is perfect! It's very easy to make yet so tasty and elegant looking. The best thing is you can prepare it ahead of time.

This is very much like the Chicken Cordon Bleu that I have featured here before. The main difference is the filling. While Chicken Cordon Bleu has ham and cheese, this Chicken Asparagus Roll-Ups has asparagus and cheese. I got this recipe from allrecipes a few years back and this has been a family favorite since then. Because I don't usually have tarragon in my kitchen, I use Herbes de Provence as substitute and I must say, it works well. As for the filling, I sometimes add carrot sticks to make it colorful. We usually eat this with buttered mixed vegetables and rice, but it's perfect with salad or mashed potatoes too.

We all love this! I'm pretty sure you will love it too!

Kids Cooking Made Easy : Perfect Christmas Gift for Young Cooking Enthusiasts

Christmas is just around the corner, and with it comes the stress of finding the perfect gift for everyone on your list. Well, if you are trying to find a gift for young cooking enthusiasts, this new book called Kids Cooking Made Easy from Leah Schapira and Victoria Dwek is what you're looking for!

Kids Cooking Made Easy, the latest cookbook in the popular “Made Easy Series” has 60 easy-to-make recipes including kids' all-time favorite Panini Wraps, Hot Dog Garlic Knots, Pizza, Spinach Quesadillas, Chicken Nuggets, Pancake Sandwiches,  and a lot more!

The young cooks will surely love how simple the instructions in this book are! Every recipe has a finished photo, additional step-by-step photos and "Cooking School" tips to teach young cooks many new techniques, like how to marinate, simmer or sauté and terms like breading, stiff peaks, egg wash, etc. 

The first chapter of the book includes useful cooking information on measurements and conversions, cutting techniques, setting the table, and basic before and after cooking instructions. I love the after-you-cook suggestion included which says  "clean up so mom will let you cook again". :)

The perfect gift for the holidays, Kids Cooking Made Easy will have kids in the kitchen having fun creating yummy meals, snacks and desserts for the family, and of course, enjoy eating the fabulous food they make. The best thing about this book is that it provides the necessary information for young cooks to succeed with the recipe, while at the same time teaching them important kitchen skills. 

My youngest daughter, Cherlin likes this book so much! She has been enjoying reading it and has a bunch of recipes she would like to try like this Spinach Quesadilla, Banana Sundae Cake and Peanut Butter Pizzelle Cake! We'll definitely be spending a lot of quality time together making all these during the Christmas break!

I really think this book is a must have not just for the little chefs, but also for anyone with kids or anyone who cook for kids! From the very nice layout, the full color pictures to the delicious recipes and helpful tips, this book is a great buy! Guess what, it's only $11.77 at Amazon right now, so hurry!

Thank you!

I have something to tell you...

The Online Bake Sale for the Philippines was a huge success! Thanks to the kindness and generosity of those people who took the time and effort to join me in this fundraiser! It's truly amazing to see what people can do if they work together!

Last Saturday, I've already finished sending out instruction emails to everyone, both bakers and bidders. As of today, almost all of the payments are in, and some of the goodies (including my Ground Coffee Chocolate Chip Cookies and Food for the Gods) are already shipped. Hopefully, by the end of the week, all donations will be paid and all the goodies will be on their way to the winning bidders! Whewww...the past two weeks was indeed exhausting, but very fulfilling for me, I tell yah! With your help, we beat our goal! Provided that all payments will be made, we will be able to direct a total of $2,948 (which is $448 over our goal of $2,500) to Sagip Kapamilya via ABS-CBN Foundation International.

A MILLION THANKS to all the bakers, the bidders and everyone who supported us in this cause! Our fundraiser wouldn't have been successful without you! Every small contribution you made means a lot to me!

After the massive destruction brought by Typhoon Yolanda, the Philippines is only at the beginning of a very long and hard road to recovery...but with the kindness and generosity of people like you, the burden of the Filipinos will be a little bit easier to bear! Every dollar you sacrifice will help more than you can imagine, and will definitely go a long way in helping the victims of Typhoon Haiyan rebuild their lives...

Once again, THANK YOU for supporting me in this cause! I am truly grateful to all of you who have willingly extended LOVE and KINDNESS to my fellow Filipinos in a very short notice! You are all SO AMAZING!

MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!

For those who would still like to make donations to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, please do so through ABS-CBN Foundation International. Every penny you donate will go to disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in the calamity-stricken areas, and will surely help affected families to rebuild their lives and communities to start sustainable rehabilitation programs.