Yummy-ly Yours

I love Summit Media's Yummy Magazine. I used to buy them from the newsstand, I would leaf through them, almost as if I were already tasting and enjoying the food itself. I started buying the small Yummy books where special recipes are collected. But i still did not part with my Yummy issues. I liked reading not only recipes, but also articles about restaurants, cooking tips and gadgets. Then... Last year, I discovered Zinio! I can read Yummy via an app that downloads the new issues every month. Now, I can breeze through all the magazines on my IPad. No more clutter! Hubby sure was thankful about that :)

Yummy is having another 50% off sale on it's annual subscription, including past issues. You can get it via the Appstore or via Zinio and Buqo. It costs less than $13 for 12 issues, and you don't need to drive to the newsstand to get it.

Go to this link to access the Summit website and get your own Yummy subscription. The sale is only until June 1 so hurry and subscribe now.

I cooked: Arugula Salad Mix and Match 

I came across this very intriguingly yummy recipe by RecipeGirl awhile back. I love mushrooms... I have loved them since I was about 8 years old. And then she talked about balsamic onions - another delicious combination (just reading it makes me drool). It was a shoo in for a must try recipe. I saved it in my favorites list and it ran through my mind for several weeks. But I was not too confident yet about making the sandwich because I didn't have the perfect cheese for it. So, I decided to tweak the recipe a little - and turned the pieces I loved into a salad. But, RecipeGirl, I will still make the sandwich soon, and when I do, I shall tell you about it.

Things fell into place for me quickly. I had bought fresh mushrooms from the market in Connecticut, and I had this nice crabmeat in a can that I could use as additional toppings (also from the sunday Connecticut market). Down to Earth had delivered a fresh batch of micro arugula the day before too.

So I followed RecipeGirl's instructions for balsamic, caramelized onions. Olive oil, sliced white onion, salt (I used sea salt), balsamic vinegar... and patience. It takes about 20-30 minutes for onions to get caramelized (even longer if you like them darker).

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And I stewed the mushrooms (I used black shiitake mushrooms, but you can use other types of meaty/fleshy mushrooms too). Olive oil, salt, white wine and mushrooms.... I still cannot figure out how to reduce the amount of water that seeps out of the mushrooms. For this particularly recipe though, I lived with it since I later used the mushroom liquid as dressing.

I used the liquid from the mushrooms, mixed it up with more balsamic vinegar and a pinch of coco sugar to make some additional dressing for the salad. It's good to mix this up on the stove to make sure it all gets mixed in together.

And finally, assemble your salad with arugula, caramelized onions, mushrooms and some crabmeat. I think this will work with roasted vegetables too. Without the toppings (of crabmeat) - it can be a perfect side salad for a steak.

For something I made up, this came out pretty good. I hope you try it, and enjoy it too. Drop me a note when you do! 

Mi Casa Home Cooking

Fried to a crisp!

I love fried pigeon. I especially like it when the skin is fried to a crisp (but not burnt) in a golden honey color. If there's one thing I looked forward to during "confinement" (or "ge-lai" - which is the one month period of pure Chinese torture after giving birth), it would be that I can have all the pigeon I wanted because it's considered to be very helpful in the strength regaining process of women who have just given birth.

For my second birth confinement, our friends Cons and Marie introduced us to Mi Casa's Spiced Fried Pigeon. It comes frozen - the entire bird sealed in see through packaging. It's also just the right size for one meal - perfect for an always hungry, breastfeeding mom! Our cook would chop the bird up into 4 pieces - each piece with either a wing or a leg. This is then fried to a crisp. The skin comes out looking perfect - and trust me, they are also crispy and tasty! There's no need to eat this with any condiments (not even the salt and pepper that's served in Chinese restaurants) - because it's marinated perfectly by Mi Casa. This pigeon is perfect to serve at home - and also as a gift to someone who has just given birth. It's convenient and easy to prepare.

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We kept going back for more - and discovered other Mi Casa cooked frozen specialties. My mom and sister loves the embutido - precooked and frozen for those days when you need a quick meal idea. They make a mean chicken embutido too. I checked out their freezer and there are a number of items I will definitely try in the future. They also sell pasta sauces, baked goodies and dips. Watch this space!

Check out Mi Casa at 57 Connecticut St., North East Greenhills. If you have time, check out their dine in restaurant, Angel's Kitchen, too.