Kalamansi Desserts

Well hello there stranger!  It's so nice to see you. :)

I really don't have a good excuse as to why it's taken me so long to update my blog, but this is the honest to goodness truth - I've been ridiculously busy.  So what has happened since my last post?  Well, I went on a wonderful trip with my family to the Philippines where I had a mini-reunion with my relatives who I haven't seen in almost 10 years.  I also was very lucky to try so many Filipino dishes that were, of course, vegetarian.  The dish that stood out the most was Vegetarian Kare-Kare, which is a dish that normally has beef, oxtail and tripe stewed in thick orange peanut-base sauce.  I really need to recreate it but the only thing I remember was that banana hearts were an ingredient.

When I came back to Guam, I officially became a homeowner.  That in itself took much of my time but I'm so glad I did it.  I now have the kitchen space I need!  So on to my post.

Now, I know I'm lucky to have the boyfriend I have today.  There's a million (and growing) reasons why this is so, but one of my favorite reasons is the fact that his dad always gives me fresh fruits and vegetables from his yard.  So today, his dad gave me a huge bag of kalmansi.  Kalamansi is a type of citrus fruit originally from the Philippines that's small (1"-2" in diameter) and has skin that turns orange when ripe.  I get pretty excited when I'm given kalamansi because some of my favorite foods and drinks use it as an ingredient.

 

Today, I decided to make some kalamansi cupcakes w/ cream cheese frosting and kalamansi sugar cookies.  Both turned out well, but I think my favorite is going to be the cupcakes since they came out fluffy and the cream cheese just tastes so good w/ a semi-tart cupcake. 
My kalamansi cupcake recipe is my adaptation of this recipe.  I went with less sugar so that the kalamansi flavor comes out more, and I left it in the oven for just 11 minutes instead of 30 so they came out with a golden color.

The sugar that I used in my cupcake is called cocosugar which is sugar made from the coconut plant.  It's similar to brown sugar and the reason why I use it is because it's much healthier than white or brown sugar since it has a low glycemic index.  I purchased the Benevita brand of  cocosugar at my local Pay-Less Supermarket.

I wish the frosting that I used was made of cocosugar but unfortunately, I ended up using store-bought ready to use frosting.  All my past experiences making frosting from scratch all ended horribly so I've been relying on Betty Crocker in that department.  Once I upgrade my mixer, I think I'll attempt making frosting again.

The kalamansi sugar cookies were a last-minute "eh why not?" thought.  When life hands you kalamansi, make more kalamansi treats.  I mixed 2 recipes I found online together to make one I-hope-it-goes-well recipe and in the end, I was semi-satisfied with the turnout.  I personally like my cookies on the crunchy side and these cookies came out soft.  The kalamansi taste did come out subtly so next time, I think I'll add more kalamansi and maybe some zest.  The one thing I really did like was how cute the little guys turned out.

 

Vegetarian Chicken Steaks

I can’t believe it’s already March!  The year is going by so quickly.  Sometimes I find myself on a Friday afternoon in disbelief that it’s already near the end of the week because I swore it was just Monday the day before.  In other parts of the world, it probably means the start of spring, but here on Guam, it doesn’t really mean a significant change in weather.  I’m pretty sure it’s just going to get hotter here. 

I mentioned before that I love to pack lunch.  I didn’t always have this opinion before though.  In fact, I used to always go out for lunch and wonder how in the world can other people just stay in and eat.  But that was when I didn’t cook at all.  Now that I’m cooking, I’m learning that staying in for lunch isn’t bad at all.  I’m sure everyone has heard the logic that cooking your own meals will save you money, and it’s definitely true for me.  It’s even more important now to save since gas prices are only getting higher.  As of today, premium gas is $5.79 per gallon.  Such a bummer.

One of my go-to meals to pack are foods made by Vegetarian Plus.  This time I tried their Vegetarian Chicken Steaks with black pepper sauce which I bought at Simply Food.  It was really easy to prep.  Although the package’s instructions say you can microwave it, I don’t recommend doing that.  Instead, follow the stovetop instructions.  There’s 4 steaks in a box so you can split them with someone else if you’re trying to pack a light lunch.  I think it only tasted OK and not fantastic or great, and it’s because the steaks came with so little sauce.  I would buy this again, but just not any time soon.             

Vegetarian Italian Sausage and Tomato Pasta

I love cooking food that I can make in huge quantities because it'll last for a couple of days.  This really helps me on work days when I prefer to pack lunch instead of eating out.  This  past weekend, I was in the mood to make some sort of pasta.  The last time I made pasta was when I made Filipino spaghetti (which I didn't blog about because I somewhat overcooked the noodles...I swear I will get it right the next time and blog about it) so I wanted to make something different this time.  I was originally going to make a tomato and basil pasta but I found a recipe for Italian sausage and tomato pasta and I just couldn't resist.

I love Tofurky's Italian sausage with sun dried tomato and basil, which I purchased at Micronesia Mall Pay-Less Supermarket, and I thought it would be perfect in this recipe.  It's super flavorful and I think, by far, the best vegetarian Italian sausage available on Guam.  The sausages are about the same size as hot dog franks, but I didn't ground it up like the original recipe called for.  Instead, I just sliced them up which was much easier to do.  Prepping the pasta sauce was relatively easy since I used a can of already diced tomatoes instead of dicing the tomatoes myself.  Efficiency is the name of the game!
The original recipe called for 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, but I went with 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano and 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil.  To be honest, I really don't know the difference between the two.  I did a little research and it looks as though the two are interchangeable.  I did read some blogs on this topic and some say that basil is their herb of choice while others are Team Oregano.  I'm totally neutral between the two and my tastebuds aren't refined enough to tell the difference so I just went with half and half.
The pasta turned out super delicious.  The Parmesan cheese really helped balance out the strong flavor of the sausage and it helped make the pasta sauce thicker.  It makes me pretty happy to know that I don't have to suffer from bland food just because I'm vegetarian.  I can't wait to make other types of pastas!  If I can replicate Capricciosa's pastas then I would be one super happy vegetarian.

Two Ingredient Juice Recipe

Sometimes I feel dead-beat tired or just plain lazy after work, which I'm sure everyone feels every now and then.  On these days, I follow a quick juice recipe so I can maximize my relaxation time.  This recipe requires just two ingredients: watermelon and kale and it's enough for four 16 oz. servings.  It's a great fruit to juice since it's mostly made of water and there's not a lot of preparation involved.  The juice taste isn't as sweet as the other juice recipes I've posted so it's perfect if you're also looking for a juice mix that's somewhat mild.  I call this the two-ingredient juice recipe because you can substitute the watermelon for other fruits that are mostly made up of water: honeydew, cantaloupe, and even pineapple.  I've tried all of these fruits with kale and the juice always tastes like the fruit I used in the recipe.

Burger King Veggie Burger

Yes, vegetarians can go with their friends to Burger King and not feel left out while everyone is eating Whoppers.  I wish other fast food restaurants can take a page out of Burger King's book and serve veggie burgers on their menu.  Burger King's Veggie Burger is a burger that has lettuce, tomatoes, onions, ketchup on top of a veggie patty.  The veggie patty is so juicy and reminds me of GardenBurger's veggie burger patties.  After doing a little research, I found that the patty is made out of soy, mushrooms, water chestnuts, onions, carrots, green and red bell peppers, and black olives. (Yuuuuum.)  It's also a burger that's about the same size as a Whopper so it fits in with the rest of BK's popular burgers.  The last thing I like about Burger King's Veggie Burger is the way they cook it.  Instead of cooking the veggie burger patty with the rest of the regular burger patties, BK actually cooks it separately by microwaving it.  I love having things my way.          

Pad Ki Mow and Red Curry

Before I start posting about where I tasted delicious Thai food, I would just like to apologize for the decrease in posts this month.  This month has been somewhat of a whirlwind for me and I really don't like to blog unless I'm  sure I have a couple of hours of uninterrupted quiet time.  By the looks of it, I'll be finding those hours in the early hours of the day.
Anyways, here I am and ready to blog.  The picture above is a Thai dish called pad ki mow and, according to the restaurant's menu, means "spicy noodle with basil."  The restaurant I'm referring to is Khaohom Thai and it's a pretty new place that opened just last year.  They're located on Marine Corps Drive in Hagatna across Alupang Beach Tower.  It's a hard place to miss since its building is painted mustard yellow (one of my favorite colors) with a red roof.  What I love about Thai food is the fact that it's definitely vegetarian-friendly.  All the Thai restaurants I've been to on Guam have vegetarian versions of most of their dishes.  Perfect for someone like me since I get tired of salads every now and then.  Khaohom Thai's pad ki mow was tasty with not too much spice in it and saucy without being oily.  The vegetables in it were broccoli, carrots, and lettuce and none were overcooked.

It's hard to go to a Thai restaurant and not order some form of curry.  This day, I decided to have their red curry with just vegetables.  I like my curry spicy and so this one was pretty hot.  There wasn't much variety in the vegetables but there definitely was a generous serving of it.  There were bamboo shoots, broccoli, lettuce, and bell peppers.  I was happy to find the curry wasn't oily at all either.  I drowned my bowl of rice with soup and ate every single grain.
Serving sizes for both dishes were large enough so that 2 people can split them.  Both dishes are available at any Thai restaurant on Guam, but I think Khaohom Thai's version are the least oiliest.          

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can relate to Cookie Monster and his extreme love for cookies.  I love all kinds of cookies, but I have to say my favorite is the classic chocolate chip cookie.  When I was little, I made sure my mom always stocked our house with Chips Ahoy. When Chips Ahoy introduced their Chewy version and I followed its microwave suggestion, I marked the day I bit into that warm, chewy cookie as a milestone in my life.

I wanted to share my love of chocolate chip cookies with my friends this past Christmas, so I baked vegan chocolate chip cookies and gave them as Christmas gifts.  They're pretty easy to make.  The hardest part of the whole process was waiting for the cookies to be ready to taste.  Three items that are critical for this vegan recipe are Earth Balance Natural Butter Spread, Ener-G Egg Replacer, and Sunspire Vegan Carob Chips.  All work great as substitutes so there's no need to worry about sacrificing taste.  Carob chips serve as chocolate chip substitutes and are made from the Carob tree.  It's not too sweet and can actually act as a dark chocolate substitute.  I purchased all of them at Simply Food.