Creamy Tuna Pesto Pasta

I've been cooking new recipes since we moved into our house, and I'm lovin' it!!  Haven't posted them yet because blogspot isn't working very well on my PC..  Sad..  Oh, anyway, I'm gonna try again..
I cooked Creamy Tuna Pesto Pasta for meryenda yesterday and the kids loved it, especially my "picky eater" Andi..  Happiness for a mother!♥
I haven't tried making my own pesto, so I bought easy to make/ready made pesto.

Ingredients:
500g Linguine Pasta (cook as directed)

1 pack McCormick Pesto Perfect Pasta Sauce mix
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup water

250 ml Nestle All-Purpose Cream
1 small can of mushrooms
2 cans century tuna flakes in brine (drained)
grated Parmesan
salt and pepper

Make the pesto, (for the McCormick Pesto) in a saucepan, combine Pesto sauce mix, water and oil.  Cook over medium heat until warmed.  Add the all-purpose cream, drained tuna and mushrooms.  Season with salt and pepper.  Toss in cooked pasta, transfer to a serving dish and top with grated Parmesan.

This is so easy to make and the kids loved it 'cause it has all their favorites on it!  I kinda' work around their favorite food so I know they'll pretty much like it.

my happy boy!

This boy is so easy to please when it comes to food, he'll eat almost anything!  Ang galing pa mambola just like his dad! :)

Eggplant Lasagna Recipe

My kids are not used to eating vegetables, so now, I'm looking for recipes that has sneaky veggies in them!  My kids didn't even notice there was an eggplant/vegetable in their pasta!♥

Eggplant Lasagna Recipe

Ingredients:
1 box lasagna noodles (500 grams)
cooked according to package directions

Bechamel sauce:
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cans evaporated milk (1 can is equivalent to 225 ml or 1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Eggplant meat sauce:
3/4 kilo ground beef
1 cup chopped eggplant
1/4 cup cooking oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
6 tablespoon white wine (optional)
1 piece bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning (herbs)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 cans tomato paste (150 grams each)
dissolve in 1 cup water with 1 beef cube
1 bar quickmelt cheese to add in between layers and for topping

Procedure:
Cook the Bechamel Sauce
1. Melt butter in a pan.
2. Blend in flour until bubbly.
3. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
4. Cook until bubbly and a bit thick.
make sure not to burn the milk by lowering the flame.
5. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
6. Set aside.

Cook the eggplant meat sauce
1. Saute onion in oil until translucent, add in the garlic and cook for a while but do not brown.
2. Put in the ground beef, white wine and chopped eggplant.  Cook until the beef changes color and eggplant is very soft.  Add the Italian seasoning and bay leaf.
3. Pour in the beef broth (1 cup) and tomato paste mixture.
4. Simmer gently until thick.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Set aside.

To assemble:
1. Grease a rectangular dish (around 10x7 inches) with butter.
2. pour 1/3 of bechamel sauce.
3. Arrange a layer of pasta.  Spoon in tomato meat sauce and sprinkle with cheese.
4. Repeat number 3.  End with bechamel sauce on top of the layer.
5. Sprinkle with Quickmelt cheese.
6. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 F until golden brown.

7. Let stand 5-10 minutes to set.

Italian Herbs/Seasoning

More decent pictures next time!  Looks like I'll be making more of this, soon!  The kids and hubby enjoyed it!

Kanin Club

Kanin Club, at last..  Hubby and I have been craving for their Crispy Dinuguan and Kare Kare!!  This time, we visited their branch at UP Ayala Land TechnoHub.

Andi's 4th Birthday

We already had an early celebration of Andi's birthday, we granted her birthday wish to go to the beach.  But of course, it's not a celebration if you don't have the cake (or cupcakes), food, balloons and loot bags (as to our kids!), so we gave some loot bags to her classmates as her school doesn't allow parties in the classroom, and we had a small gathering at our house with some friends and her cousins.

I made her cupcakes!  "Kikay" themed of course! 

Me: Andi, wag malikot, I'm gonna fix your hair para pretty kasi it's your birthday.

Andi: Eh pano pag di ko birthday? pag birthday ni kuya? pag birthday mo? pag birthday ni daddy?

♥♥ hehehe oo nga naman..

red velvet cupcakes with marshmallow fondant toppers and cream cheese frosting

the birthday girl!

We ordered food from Boy Ching Woo Restaurant (our all-time favorite!), we had Pancit Shanghai, Mr. Woo Fried Rice, Battered Chicken, Lechon Con Tokwa and Beef Broccoli.  

Hubby had to order again, buti na lang you can place your order in advance and just pick it up in 15-20 minutes.  Takaw namin! :)

 

yum!

family pa lang namin party na! :)

Happy Birthday Andi!! We love you soo much! :)

Pritong Lumpia

I made pritong lumpia for meryenda, we've been eating it at Andi's ballet school, so I got curious on how to cook it 'cause its different.  So, voila!  Pritong Lumpia with Egg! 

This lumpia has carrots, sayote, mongo bean sprouts, pork and boiled egg.  Yummy!  Will be making more of these because my kids love it!  It's the only way I can feed them veggies!  :)

Tortang Talong

I cooked tortang talong for lunch yesterday as requested by papa.  I can cook tortang giniling but not with talong, so I asked hubby how (he's the one who taught me how to cook!).  He told me to grill the eggplants not boil as my mom told me, and to use one egg per eggplant.  And here it is! :)

I don't eat talong so I don't know if I did it right..  

And my critics responded differently, papa said it was just right, the way he wants it to be while hubby said the eggplants were underdone, that's why I made some backup tortang giniling.

It has mashed potatoes instead of fried potatoes, just the way hubby and the kids want it!  Yummy..

Holy Thursday Lunch

For Holy Thursday I cooked Shrimp Fritters and Sweet and Sour Lapu-Lapu.  This is the first time that I cooked these dishes.  My critics (hubby, mama, papa, Kian & Andi) liked them!! Yehey!!

Shrimp Fritters

Sweet and Sour Lapu-Lapu

And to top it off.. I made Banoffee Pie for dessert, I got it from Starbucks' Banoffee Pie.  It has graham, banana, chocolate ganache and whipped cream.  Yummy.. :)

Buti may natira pa.. forgot to take pictures! Hihihi!