Vanilla Turtle Rootbeer Floats

Three letters to describe this treat..."OMG!"  I don't even know where to start.  This float is divinely scrumptious!  Rootbeer float is me and Sweetpea's all time favorite afternoon treat, be at home or when out and about.  This homemade rootbeer float is beyond comparison to what's out there, at least to the ones we've tried.  The turtle ice cream takes this float to a higher notch!  It's not just a simple sweet frothy thing, but the mixture of chocolate bits and pecans give a surprise crunch on every sip.  I enjoy and love sharing sweet things with my daughter, either food or a moment of togetherness.  My favorite part of enjoying this treat is at home.  It's like a delightful summer afternoon routine of ours.  Few days a week, on mid-afternoons, we both look forward to our "cuddle time", which means in our household is popping a movie in (Megamind to be exact, her favorite movie last summer and I swear we watched it a hundred times), cozying up on the sofa and sipping this frothy sweet treat!  I know summer has past already however, we still do make them every now and then when the demands of our palates arise.  Honestly, it's becoming a sweet tradition of ours and will be wonderfully reminisced by us in the future.


Ingredients:

1 pint vanilla turtle ice cream (our favorite) or any vanilla chocolate chip ice cream
1 liter root beer
whipped cream
shaved chocolate, to garnish

Fill four glasses with scoops of ice cream.  Pour the rootbeer over the ice cream.  Top with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.  Serve with straws and long spoons.  Enjoy!


Yield: 4 servings

Budbud (Sticky Rice)

These beauties are about to steam for 30 minutes

It's ready to be enjoyed.  Get your hot chocolate ready.

Lovingly open it and enjoy the fruit of your labor!

Budbud is a glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk, then gently wrapped in a wilted banana leaves and steamed to perfection.  This is very popular all over the islands of Philippines.  It is best served for breakfast or afternoon snack (merienda) paired with hot chocolate on the side.  There are several different versions of making Budbud depending upon regions.  This specific recipe I made is the most popular one in the Visayan region, where I came from. 
When I was shopping at our one and only Asian store in our tiny town, I inadvertently found some frozen banana leaves.  It's fascinating how little things like banana leaves can make your day.  It's funny that we have so much banana trees at home (Philippines) in our backyard and I never paid too much attention to the value of it until I had to pay one at the store.  Now, seeing one here (leaves) is like a little girl seeing a beautiful doll!  It literally brought me some excitement simply because they are so hard to find in our area.  As soon as I saw the leaves, I already knew what I was going to do.  Yep, make some budbud.  So, here it is...simple, delicate and delectable!


Ingredients:

3 cups glutinous/sticky rice (washed and drained)
5 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
banana leaves (cleaned and wilted, I put them individually under the broiler for few minutes making sure not to burn just long enough to wilt it)

Stove top method:

Mix coconut milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan.  Add washed and thoroughly drained rice.  Cook the mixture in medium heat.  Stir constantly for 15 to 20 minutes.  When mixture is soft and liquid is reducing, stir to prevent rice from sticking at the bottom of the pan.  Lower heat until rice is fully cooked and all liquid dissipated.  Take off from heat.  Put 3 tablespoons of cooked budbud on a wilted banana leaf (about 6 inches long), fold over the edges and tie extra thin leaves on each ends.  Repeat the process.  Put them on steamer for 30 minutes.  Let it cool a bit, enjoy with hot chocolate!


Note:  You can also use a rice cooker (thank you vhayotch for the wonderful suggestion!) for a very convenient version.  Put all ingredients into the cooker.  Make sure you put it to the sweet rice setting (if your rice cooker has that option).  Once it's done, you may notice some extra liquid on top of the rice (like what I had) but don't panic, just stir them gently into the rice and it'll do the trick.  Proceed to step 2 and 3, which is wrapping and steaming.  Enjoy!

Tips:  Freeze leftovers in an air tight ziplock bags.  Reheat in the microwave on a plate for 1 minute before serving.


Yield:  makes 20 wrapped budbud

Pork Sinigang

I'm sure all my Filipino friends have tried, and can relate to this food.  Pork Sinigang is boiled pork meat, tastes like a little tangy or sourish kind of soup, simmered for hours until tender along with vegetables in it.  It's one of our native Filipino dishes.  Every time I make this, it always bring me back home...my fond memories growing up...with my mom served it smoking hot in a big bowl pile of meat and vegetables with hot steamed rice next to it while we (siblings) gathered around the long rectangular table for dinner.  Coming from a big family, the dinner table was always our perfect spot (hang out) every mealtime to get everybody together.  I still vividly remember our Dad wouldn't start our meal if one of his children was missing.  He made sure everybody is present, proceed to "thanksgiving prayer", then the digging begins! Oh, how I miss those moments enjoying the simple things in life with family members, it's simply priceless!  Other than the obvious reason as to why I'm so attached to this dish, it's also very comforting and good most perfect for cold weather here that even Andre and Sweetpea are its biggest fans! 


Ingredients:

2 pounds pork belly or pork ribs (but into bite-size pieces)
1 bunch green leaves (spinach, lettuce, bokchoy or cabbage), chopped
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 bunch green beans or string beans (I make string beans optional as they're hard to find in our area), cut into 2 inch length
2 pieces medium size tomato, sliced
3 pieces chili (banana pepper), optional
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 liters water
1 large onion, sliced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, sliced
1/2 to 1 pack sinigang mix or tamarind soup base (use accordingly to your taste preference), can be found at Asian stores

Heat oil in a deep pot at medium heat.  Saute onions until soft.  Add ginger, then pork and cook until light brown.  Add fish sauce and mix, add the water and let it boil.  Add tomatoes, let it boil then turn heat down and simmer for 1 hour, or until pork is tender.  Put in sinigang mix and chili (if using), mix thoroughly.  You can gradually add sinigang mix into it to make sure you get your desired taste of sourness and not overdo it (remember, you can always add more but cannot eliminate it).  Finally, add the green/string beans, cabbage, bokchoy heads (if using), simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the other green leaves that wilts easily, as soon as it boils again, cover the pot, turn it off and remove from the heat.  The remaining heat from the pot will continue cooking the leaves by itself.  Serve hot and enjoy!

Alcoholic Hot Chocolate

Ah, the beauty of autumn!  My favorite season of the year is finally here!  There's something about autumn that brings warmth and comfort from the ever beautiful changing colors of nature to the cozy, snugly weather...it's breathtaking and relaxing!  And of course, there's these array of scrumptious comfort foods that goes with it.  One of our favorite things to do in this kind of weather is turn the fireplace on, snuggle on the couch with dear hubby and little sweetpea and drink some hot chocolate!  That's right, hot chocolate!  If you love this kind of weather and love hot chocolate, this one is for you.  This has been the most requested drink in the Lacour household during this season, be it daytime or nighttime.  Every time I think of fireplace I think of hot chocolate!  It's like they're married together,  one won't be complete without the other.  You can make this kid friendly by omitting the alcohol, which I do during daytime so sweetpea can also enjoy. 



Ingredients:

2 cups milk
3 1/2 oz. best quality dark chocolate, bittersweet or semisweet, as preferred
1 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons dark rum, or to taste (optional)


Put milk in the saucepan and break the chocolate into pieces and add to the milk along with a cinnamon stick, honey and sugar, and heat gently until the chocolate is melted.  Add the vanilla and mix with a small and whisk and still whisking, add a spoonful of the rum first and taste to see if you want more.  Add more sugar if you want this sweeter, too.  Take out the cinnamon stick and pour into 2 cups.  Enjoy!



Yield: 2 servings
Recipe courtesy: FoodNetwork, Nigella Lawson