Our Thanskgiving Feast at Home

This post is long overdue but I ju0sty now find the time to post it. This was our Thanksgiving feast at home. We ate before we visited my husband's family at Dad's former house. I made this squash pie  instead of making  a pumpkin pie.  I still have a lot of acorn squash that I harvested from my garden that I have to use it before it gets bad.

Instead of turkey, we had a rotisserie chicken.

We also made a small pan of scallop potatoes.

And a small dish of  green bean casserole.

I don't prepare a big meal since there's only four of us at home.  There's no point of   cooking  big dinner  because we don't eat that  much.

John  made  leche flan , it was really good.  He can make a good leche flan but I can't.

We had a really good meal on Thanksgiving.  

Thailand Box of Goodies from @TrytheWorld #ProductReview

If you want to discover the world through food without  traveling,  Try the World box subscription is the way to go.  You get to  try a gourmet box from a new country every two months.  I just got their holiday box last month and I couldn't be happier with its content.  I received the Thailand box this month and  I am over the moon because I am familiar with most of the  products that's in there.  

So let me unveil what's inside the Thai box.  There is a Tom Yum soup set, coconut flower syrup, taro chips, curry paste,  coconut crispy rolls, jasberry rice, dried jack fruit, and  Thai iced tea.  I have never been to Thailand yet but my husband  had been there  during his military days.  He is very fond of Thai foods especially dishes with curry.  

I am excited about this Organic Tom yum soup set because I would like to try making it. The set includes  organic dried chili, organic kaffir lime leaves,  organic dried galangal, and organic dried lemon grass.  I am planning to go the store later and grab me some mushrooms so I can make this soup tonight.  

I added  a can of coconut milk, 1 lb rganic chicken, and   mushrooms.  IT sure  tasted so delicious!  I felt like I was in Asia again, lol.

I have tried making an Indian dish with curry before and my husband loved it.  This green curry paste would definitely help me make another dish that my husband is very fond of.  Curry is not my favorite thing but I can eat a dish with it once in a while.  

This coconut flower syrup is new to me.  I have eaten fresh young coconut flower before but not syrup.  You can use it to sweeten your tea, a really good alternative when you  don't have honey and you can also  use this for your toast.  

This jasberry rice reminds me of my childhood.  My mom cook this once in a while when I was a kid and the smell is just so good!  It's been years since I ate jasberry rice.  I don't even know that they are called jasberry rice lol.  We call  it differently in the Philippines.  This is rich in antioxidants and fiber which makes it  one of the healthiest among the variety of rice.  You can serve this as a side or you can make rice pudding with this.  

Because of me, my husband  learned to love jack fruit.  I usually incorporate  canned jack fruit in one of the Filipino dessert I make  once in a while and my daughter love it too.  However, we never  had any dried jack fruit before so I was curious.  The taste is the same  but the texture is leathery since it is dried.  My daughter and I killed it on the first day lol.

I haven't brew  this Thai tea  since I am still using a different tea that I have lat time.  I would love to taste the difference of  this tea from any other tea that I have tried in the past.

I introduced  my kids and husband into taro before.  The only way they would eat it is if I incorporate into   dessert so that's what I always do.  I was impressed to see that Thai made chips out of taro, that's a brilliant idea!

Guess what, we loved this!  You can tell just by looking at the photo below that it is made of  100% taro plant.  It's one of my favorite veggie plant as a child.  Now that I tasted how good  these chips are, I would say that I would love to buy this again!

This is another Thai product that I am so impressed  about.  I mean making crispy rolls with coconut is such a great idea.  It is really good.  My daughter and I love these  coconut crispy rolls.

This did not last very long lol.  I love the  black sesame  seeds in it too.

So if you want to embark on a delicious journey, you should check out Try the World.  If you purchase a holiday box this month, you will also get the Spain box for FREE!

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Best Drip Coffee Makers for Daily Use

There is no doubt that you can find a variety of drip coffee makers at the table of your office or in different events that you attend, but you may have never known that there are a lot of things you have to consider while purchasing one mystical machine for your home. As I said; a lot of things to consider, so it means that if you are going to try those features by yourself, then you will waste an enormous amount of money. I am here with my simple interactive writing style to help you finding a great coffee maker by describing some of the best drip coffee makers in the world. Let’s compile the research into a piece of work.

Best Drip Coffee Makers

Before I describe these coffee makers, keep one thing in mind that if you have not much knowledge, experience and proper beans to brew, then no machine can work for you. So with all parameters of coffee makers, you are the tool too. Keeping these all conditions in our mind, now I can describe those perfect auto drip coffee makers to you.

The Cheap Mr. Coffee SJX33GT

I want to start the list by the cheapest one. Mr. Coffee machine with model no. of SJX33GT is the best solution for those who have less money but want to enjoy the tremendous taste of coffee. This cozy coffee maker will cost you only 35$ with the yield of 12 cups. Yup, this is the truth and this is happening in this disastrous costly world. This drip coffee maker is great enough with its tool to make you a great cup of coffee. The features of it are ideal like it has the maintained temperature between 195F to 205F for 5 minutes and it will provide you the complete rich delectable flavor. Don’t forget to try this one.

The Best Brew Express BEC-110BS

Yeah, right after the cheapest one, An Automatic best drip coffee maker. That’s why, Brew Express made BEC-110BS that is full with amazing automatic features. This coffee maker takes a direct water line for the purpose to take water automatically and you will not be needed to pour water by yourself. By mixing this feature with the great constant mechanism of brewing, this machine provides you desired cups of coffee. Of course, the price is way higher than Mr. Coffee, but this machine has its own features to raise the price.

Best in Reviews the Bonavita BV-1800

When you will scrape about one of the good drip coffee makers online, you will find out by user reviews that Bonavita BV-1800 is the best because of its taste. On the other hand “Certified Brewer Equipment Award” has been awarded to this model. Top reviews about this little machine said that whatever taste of coffee you like, this coffee maker is the best. This machine is easy to operate and can make 8 cups of coffee within 6 minutes and with this delicious taste, it is a stunning amount of coffee cups in 6 minutes. If you are serious about the taste in less time, don’t waste your time in wondering, go and grab this one.

Most Reliable and Durable, the Cuisinart DCC-1200

With the construction of stainless steel, this model is most durable, reliable and the most rated in the market. The programmable features of this coffee maker are one of the main reason of top rating of this model. The sellers of market love to advertise Cuisinart DCC-1200. The other features are water and permanent filters, auto on-off, indicator lights and adjustable temperature. You can program your machine for 24 hours and have a great cup of coffee whenever you want it.

You can view more best rated Drip brewers here  - http://www.coffeemakerslist.com/10-best-drip-coffee-makers-in-the-market-today/   

Digital Cooking Thermometer @Cavetools #ProductReview

Christmas  is almost here!  Are you ready?  Are you all done with  gift wrapping or are you still shopping for gifts?  I got done with gifts stuff early because I don't want to feel stressed during  the Christmas week.  All I am doing now is   get all the  meal planning  done and start cooking tomorrow.  I got this digital thermometer from Cavetools, another   kitchen essential that any  homecook  should have.  

This Cooking Thermometer is rated one of the best on the market.  It has a 4 - 6 second read times, your food never gets cold.  It is accurate within 1°F which ensures you to always have the exact temperature.  You can recalibrate this over the years to ensure accuracy.  It is 100% stainless steel  and it is design shatterproof and waterproof so it will not break.  It is small so it will fit in your pocket and can be easily stored in your  kitchen  drawer.  It has a large digital display and the buttons are spaced to suit big fingers.

Cavetools  has  many great  kitchen tools that you might want to check out if you are still  thinking of what to get for your love ones who love to cook.  They have BBQ Shish Kabob set,  stainless steel wireless brush, BBQ Grill Tool set, meat handling claws, Smoker Box, meat tenderizer mallet, and the one that I really love is the portable charcoal grill.  I wish I can afford it, lol.  Anyway, you can get this  via Amazon, you can use this code LH58KB66 for a discounted price.

Merry Christmas y'all!

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Christmas Bundle from Ozeri

I feel so blessed to be given an oppurtunity to work with companies like Ozeri.   They have so many great  products to choose from.  With holiday rolling in, every household are doing a lot of cooking for get together of family and friends.  Having the right  tools in your kitchen is the key to having a smooth sailing journey in the kitchen.  Having said that, I am grateful for Ozeri for providing me the toos that I need in my kitchen to help me create food that my family love.  

I got this  Ozeri graviti pro Electric Pepper Mill and Grinder comes in handy when I am cooking.  It is gravity operated where in you can simply flip or invert it to activate for sn  effortless one-handed dispensing of the seasonings.  With its durable eco-friendly ceramic mechanism, you can easily grind peppercorns, salt, and spices.  You can season accurately with adjustable ceramic grinding mechanism that adjusts from fine to coarse.  This features a top-mounted grind adjustor that never leaves a trail or mess, and an ultra soft textured non-slip grip.  I love that it has a see-through container that makes monitoring pepper level easy and reveals the grinding action.   I would love to send this to my Mom because  she would usually buys whole peppercorn and rock salt so she would get a lot of use for this.  

This   Ozeri Serafino double wall insulated Iced Tea and Coffee Glasses, was perfect for a party iof two.  I used this  when a friend of mine  came  and visited the other day.  We had some ginger tea with honey and lemon and she thought these glasses are awesome.  She love the wraparound contour that provides a natural aesthetic grip.  I told her where she can buy them as she love to entertain at her house all the time.  

I got this Ozeri BP2M CardioTech Premium Series Digital Blood Pressure Monitor with hypertension color alert technology because I  am planning to send this to my Mom.  Her blood pressure is unstable  once in a while whenever  she is  going through tough times and this would help her check her blood pressure all the time. This is portable, accurate, and simple-to-use wrist cuff design with clinically proven technology.  Other features include

• Advanced Hypertension Indicator color codes the Systolic and Diastolic readings in green (normal), orange (prehypertension) and red (hypertension).
• Stores 1197 blood pressure readings (399 x 3 users) with date and time recordings.
• Dynamic measurement technology varies the auto inflation based on real-time blood pressure detection to reduce measurement time and increase comfort.
• Automatic irregular heartbeat (Arrhythmia) detection and push-button access to average blood pressure readings.

I love this Christmas bundle that Ozeri sent me, such a great Christmas gifts!  Thank you so much Ozeri.  To buy any of these products, just follow the links provided above, it will lead you to its Amazon pages.

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Chocolate Crinkles and Birthday Wishes

I am officially done shopping for  and wrapping gifts but I am looking at the audio equipment store for some deals.  My daughter  wants a violin for her birthday next year and my son also wants a guitar.   We couldn't  get it for Christmas but I would love to get them for their birthdays.  We told them that  piano is a great vehicle for them to  get into the next  music instrument so while they are honing their skill onit, we are also saving money to purchase the next instruments that they want.

Meanwhile, let me share these photos  my husband took of the kids when they helped their Dad  made some chocolate crinckles  yesterday.

Chocolate crinkles is one of my few favorite  cookies during the holiday.  

Matcha Blueberry Cookies #GlutenFree #ProductReview

My best pick for this month's gluten-free goodies from Glutino includes cake mix, cookie  mix, cupcake mix, brownie mix, chocolate cream cookies (which is not in the photo since the kids have opened it up as soon as  it arrived), chocolate wafers,  pretzels, and chips.  I will be busy baking this month since I got  most of their  baking mixes.   Baking is not my cup of tea but I like how simple the recipes are in the back of these boxes.  It is  easier for a non-enthusiast baker like me to  make them.

 Since it is holiday season, I decided to  bake the cookies first.  Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 1 box Gluttonous gluten-free sugar cookie mix
• 6 tbsp of softened butter
• 2 large eggs beaten
• 1 tbsp matcha blueberry  powder
• 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkle
• 1 tsp of pandan flavor, you can use vanilla
• Optional : several drops of food coloring (I did not use  any because the pandan flavor has a green color already)
• Optional : 2 tbsp sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon kept separately for coating the cookies.  (I replaced this with sprinkles)

 For those of you who do not know what pandan flavoring is, Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius) is  an Asian herb in the Pandanus (screwpine) genus, which is commonly known as pandan leaves and is used widely in Southeast Asian cooking as a flavoring.  We used to  put this in the rice when we cook it as it gives that  very  appetizing aroma to the rice, kind of like the smell of a jasmine rice.  

But anyway, here is how these cookies were made:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• In a large bowl or mixer,  beat the butter until fluffy, scrape the bowl.

• Add  the  sugar cookie mix.  Mix to combine the two.
• Add eggs and the pandan (or vanilla and food coloring if you desired) Mix thoroughly.  Roll into 1 inch balls.  I used my cookie scooper.

•  Add sprinkles on top.  I tried to roll it into the sprinkle but it is too much so I decided to just   sprinkle some on top.  
• Set 1 inch apart  on a lightly greased  or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes.  

 I also sprinkled some powdered sugar.  My boys have sweet tooth so  they thought these cookies aren't sweet enough.  Needless to say, they ate it all.  Thanks again Glutino!  I will be baking the cupcakes next, maybe this weekend with the help of the kiddos.

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.

Global Desserts: Holiday Box from Try the World

Christmas is just around the corner and I am excited although I am a little bit homesick.  Some of you might be done with shopping for gifts already  but am sure there are some who still  have some shopping to do.  If you have love ones who have sweet tooth, here is a great gift idea that you can consider giving, the holiday box from  Try the World.   I was excited to receive  the holiday box because I have  sweet tooth here in the family who love these kinds of snacks.

I wasn't sure what to expect but  completely blown away with everything in it.  Inside the box is the best selection of holiday foods from around the world..

The holiday box includes  chocolate truffles, pistachio cream, , yerba mate tea, extra virgin olive oil, panettone, cookies, acai dessert sauce, This box is a bigger size compared to their regular size.  

I love pistachio nuts so I was excited to try this pistachio cream.  This delicious spread is great for  bread or you can mix it with your  pastries.  I even tried this with waffles and it tasted awesome.  I am planning to  use the rest of the cream into making  our holiday cookies.

This ginger snaps is  a great win for my kids.  We don't get ginger snaps  often but they love this kind.  This is a favorite treat on  one of the Sweden's holiday celebration, the St. Lucia day, which also happen to be my son's calls saint.  St. Lucy is the  girl who brought food to those Christians who were persecuted in Rome.  

The french truffles reminds me of the dessert that I eat during Christmas  season  from the country where I came from.  These truffles is  from Canada, a great accompaniment to for   ice cream.  I ate a bowl of coffee-flavored ice cream the other day and incorporated this  into it and man, it was delicious!

I have never tried an olive oil  from Israel so I am super happy that they included this in the holiday box.  I don't cook with olive oil  upon reading  an article that the  health component of an olive oil disappears when you use it to cook in a high heat so I only use olive oil in salad or when making a vinaigrette. This extra virginim olive oil is grown, harvested, and cold pressed  by a cooperative of Jewish women in NOrthern Israel. 

This yearba mate tea is my new pick me up in the morning.  I  mix this with  lemon juice and honey and my morning starts awesome while waiting for my kids to wake up in the morning.  A great  susbtitute for coffee which I recently gave up drinking.  This teatonic  has siuth american suoer yerba mate, blended with citrus and mint for morning vitality and focus.  A great drink to start my day!

I just recently been incorporating an acai powder to my  smoothies so I was super stiked to see this acai sauce in the box.  You can use this to glaze the  turkey you are baking for the holiday.  I love this with my waffles. IT is also great with  pancakes.  

I have never been to Italy yet so  tasting one of their  desserts is awesome.  This is a sweet bread which I really liked.  IT reminds me of the one kind of a bread that I used ti eat back home.  My husband always say that the bread   from my country is sweet, it turns oiout, where not the only one.

This cookies  will bring you to the taste of Morroco.  This is another   one that both of my kids liked especially my daughter.  It's great to  eat when  drinking your cup of tea and having a great conversaion with the family.  

I love the shape of these cookies, so pretty and really tasty!  

Aside from these yummy goodies, I also love the fact that they included some recipes  on the  guide  booklet.  I might try  to bake one of the recipes and make  some cookies.  I baked this almond cookies with acai sauce today, it's delicious.  I will post the recipe  on a separate  post later.

Disclosure: The owner of this blog was NOT financially compensated to write this review.  I was provided with the product/s mentioned  to help me  facilitate this review but  opinions are my own.