Caramel Almond Bar

So I recently found out that my mom is pre-diabetic. Since I'm living at home I have to make food that my parents can eat unless I want to gain even more weight. My goal for this year is to post 1 diabetic friendly recipe per month. I apologize for the blurriness of my photo I currently have a new camera on my birthday wish list.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar substitute 
• 1/2 cup margarine , softened
• 1 teaspoon almond extract 
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsel
• 1/2 cup caramel morsels  

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F Grease 9-inch-square/round baking pan.
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar, margarine and almond extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Spread into prepared baking pan.
3. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes. Remove pan to wire rack. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; refrigerate for 5 to 10 minutes or until chocolate is set. Cut into bars.

Pisco Sangria Punch

I love sangria. It always brings back memories of the holiday parties during college. I normally made sangria with red wine but I had a lot of cheap white wine from my Christmas party so I threw this together one night.  

Ingredients:
1 cup white wine
1 orange thinly sliced
1-2 shots of pisco
2 tbsp agave
thinly sliced strawberries
ginger ale

Directions: 
1. Combine agave, oranges, lemon, and strawberries in a large pitcher.
2. Cover with the white wine and pisco.
3. Chill sangria for several hours.
4. To serve, spoon fruits into glasses or goblets, pour wine over top of the fruit.
5. Top glasses of sangria off with a splash of ginger ale and serve.  This serves 2-3 people.

Butternut Squash Casserole

I think butternut squash has become one of my favorite vegetables. This is an excellent side dish for ham and turkey.

Ingredients

• 4 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup asiago cheese
• 1 cup bread crumbs

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400˚.
2. Cube butternut squash in 1/2″ cubes. Toss with the onions,  olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Remove and place in a large bowl. Reduce oven to 350˚.
3. While squash cooks, whisk together cream cheese, egg, 1/4 cup parmesan, 1/2 cup of asiago, and 1/2 cup of bread crumbs. Once squash is done, fold cream cheese mixture with the squash and place in a small baking dish.
4. Sprinkle remaining cheeses and breadcrumbs on top. Bake at 350˚ for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve hot.

Dragon Fruit Salad

So as many of my previous know, there's a Filipino superstition that I follow for New Years. Traditionally you're supposed to create a fruit basket that contains 12 different round fruits. I don't know how this tradition turned into 13 different fruits, but that's how we do it in my family. As you can imagine finding 12 different round fruits is really difficult so we kind of just stick with 13 different fruits in general. For the New Year my mom and I went to the Asian market to get our fruit. We were struggling with the 13th fruit when we saw this beauty:

My mom automatically asked, " Why is it called dragon fruit? Is it because it comes from a real dragon?"

Me: "Really ma? Really? That's something I expect Tatay to ask, not you."

Mom: Well it would have explained why it's so expensive!  

Expensive indeed. But we were intrigued. I wasn't sure what to make of the fruit. When I cut it in half and tried a piece it didn't really have a lot of flavor. It had a similar consistency to a kiwi but it didn't have a very distinct flavor. I decided to whip up a quick fruit salad with it.

Ingredients:

2 tbsps of buko- coconut strips in syrup

1 dragon fruit

1 tsp agave
juice from 1 orange
2 basil leaves roughly chopped


After mixing the ingredients together refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. This got a little addictive. It's a good thing I only had 1 dragon fruit : )

Roasted Chicken Thigh

Hooray I got to cook dinner!!! It's been a rarity since I usually get home so late from teaching and I've started working at Kohls on the weekends. I made this during one of my work from home days. This recipe was not only easy but very delicious.

1. Heat oven to 400F. Thoroughly clean the chicken legs with warm water and drain. Make a couple of slits on the meaty part of chicken thighs. Peel 2-3 potatoes and cut into wedges.
2. Cut up about a cup of butternut squash, 3 garlic cloves, and one onion. Place everything in a shallow baking dish.
3. Place the cleaned chicken legs on top of the potatos, rub some poultry seasoning on the chicken and place the bacon strips on top of the chicken.  Add in rosemary sprigs and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Bake for 35-45 minutes until chicken and potatoes are fork tender. Brush the chicken with maple syrup and broil for 5-10 minutes.

Mango Scones

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ salts
• ¼ cup cold butter cut into ¼ inch cubes
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 7-8 tbsp mango jam for filling (or if you prefer a different flavored jam that works too)

Instructions:
1. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder.

2. Now add the butter and use a fork to incorporate the butter till it resembles bread crumbs.

3. Add the sugar.

4. Pour ½ cup milk and mix till it forms dough. If the mixture is looking too dry add the remaining 2 tbsp milk.

5. Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Divide it into 2 equal parts. Roll them both into roughly 6 inch circles of ½ inch thickness. I used just my hands by you can also roll it with a rolling pin.

6. Spread a thick layer of mango jam on one circle then cover it with the other circle.

7. Cut it into 8 triangular pieces.  Place them on the baking sheet with some room between the pieces.

8. Bake them at 350°F for 15-20 minutes till the bottom is golden brown and the top looks cooked.

Pumpkin bread

It feels like fall in the northern hemisphere. What a better way to celebrate than with some yummy pumpkin bread. This recipe only makes 1 loaf.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup (8 oz) of pumpkin puree
• 2 tsps cinnamon
• tsp allspice
• tsp ginger
• tsp nutmeg
• 2/3 cups of light cream
• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 5″ loaf pan.
3. In large bowl, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth.
4. Add milk and beat until well blended.
5. Stir in pumpkin, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
6. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.
7. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed.
8. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center of the loaf comes out clean.
9. Let the loaf cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then remove from pans.