Healthy Breakfast for Us, Queens - Fresh Fruits, Nuts, Naarmann Yoghurt, and Honey


Hello, queens! This is the fourth installment of my previous post about how I enjoy eating papaya fruit. This glammed-up version is extra special because it is not only pleasing to the eye but packed with health benefits. Yoghurt is high in protein and proven to be effective to relieve persistent diarrhea, decrease cholesterol level, best alternative to milk for lactose intolerant people, and highly effective to strengthen your immune system to fight viruses such as covid-19.

With added vitamins and minerals from fresh fruits, this meal is filling, very healthy, and appetizing. The best breakfast if you are on a low-carb diet without depriving yourself from delicious and tasty food to start your day and without the feel of missing grease and fat of your  usual morning breakfast. 




Yogurt is brand new to my palate too, we were not used to eating it because I grew up in the province with only limited food option, never knew this food existence until lately. I've been very fascinated about yogurt since moving in El Nido.  The wide arrays of gourmet and home-made yogurt in this touristy town has opened-up vast option of incorporating yoghurt in my appreciation of food and creating new recipes from sauces, to smoothies, and breakfast bowls. My love affairs with FroYo (Frozen Yogurt) is a different thing though.

Learning how to ferment fresh milk and turn it into yoghurt at home was total fun and satisfying. I will definitely share to you how easy to make it, very soon. Making yogurt apart from being easy is economical and addictive. I made sure to never run out of my favorite yogurt in my chiller since then.




How to Eat Ripe Papaya - 3 Ways



Papaya is very common here in El Nido and is highly in season nowadays. With the influx of tourist going very low to none because of the pandemic, this tropical fruit has become so very cheap in the local market and convenient stores nearby. It has became my favorite, my go-to-food along with bananas when I'm on diet days because of its abundance here. That's right, I am trying to lose weight again for as long as I can remember, lol! This time its different and I hope it would work-out. 

Side story: I made a meal plan mix of intermittent and fruit only days and my whole journey will only be shared with you should I succeeded to achieve my goal of 60 kilograms from 82 kilograms. Or maybe not, haha! 

Its has been 2 months, with many cheat days in between, a challenge, long way, but I will get there. Promise!




Papaya is also my superfood since suffering from occasional gout attacks. Rich in potassium and big supporter of kidney health, low in purine, and is safe for gout because it cleans out toxins deposited in the kidneys and reduce the accumulation of uric acid in the blood. 

There are many ways how to eat and cook papaya; The nearly ripe crisp papaya with coconut vinegar , salt and pepper for afternoon snack, pickled papaya side dish for grilled chicken inasal, and papaya in the good old Chicken Tinola Soup for the rainy days are some of my top picks!  Cooking unripe papaya the old Filipino way with coconut milk and dried fish was delish and awesome but its a different story.

I got this from one of our business partners when I saw her post online harvesting papaya from her backyard, begged to buy it but she gave it to me free! Its too beautiful not to be shared, it deserve a da*n blog post and to make sense of this, I'm going to share with you three different ways how to enjoy eating it. 4 ways actually, the 4th will be on my next post, whenever it maybe, lol!




The first is to eat it fresh. Scoop a spoonful straight from the pulp and enjoy! Its uncomplicated, the most basic, simple, and sometimes the most delicious if you've found the right papaya for your taste buds.

Second is to squeeze citrus or calamasi juice. If your papaya is too sweet for your liking, the acid of calamansi is of great complement to the fruit. This one is my utmost choice.

Third but definitely not the last is to drizzle honey on it if your papaya is bland and needs more flavor. I used St. Dalfour Orange Blossom  Honey but wild honey or any honey will do to satisfy your sweet tooth.

You may opt to eat the seeds and skin to add texture but I think nobody does that. 

So, there you have it ladies and gents, stay tuned for my next post on the fourth and the most beautiful way to enjoy the tropical papaya fruit. Byers!

Yogurt-Dill Sauce



The perfect garnish for my Fiesta Chicken Tortilla Wrap is a trial sauce I made from basic ingredients available from home. This Dill-Yogurt Sauce is a great base to accompany every flavor wrapped in my dish. Very basic, probably the simplest sauce recipe I made but gorgeously pact with flavor to harmonize festive flavors in my recipe. 

I mean, it’s tangy and full of bright and fragrant fresh dill. This recipe uses a small amount of lemon to add a great depth of flavor, with mayonnaise to offset the tartness of the yogurt and lemon, and salt and pepper to slightly balance the sauce.




Ingredients
1 cup Naarmann Profi-Joghurt
1/2 cup Lady's Choice mayonnaise
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
Combine everything in a bowl and serve as base of the wrap or drizzle on top before rolling it up.





Extra Special Mother’s Day at Home with The Manila Hotel



Mother’s Day is a yearly reminder to cherish our relationship with our moms. Given this year’s unique circumstances, many of us will be celebrating this special day at home or even away from the special women in our lives—mom, grandmas, and aunts. Still, even when fancy dinners are impossible, Mother’s Day doesn’t have to be canceled. With some creativity and preparation, you can still give the most special woman in your life the Mother’s Day she deserves.

The Manila Hotel pulls all the stops for you to still be able to give her a memorable Mother’s Day. This home celebration will have a five-star hotel feel and The Manila Hotel will make sure it gets close to a real feast. 

The Manila Hotel’s Mother’s Day Surprise gives you discounts when you choose to order the food-and-cake bundle and pay online on or before May 8, 2020 (Friday). You may choose items from the A La Carte Menu or Home Buffet sets (Filipino, Italian, Korean, Japanese, and Chinese favorites, as well as Certified Halal items) and get a 20% discount on your food bill, and a 10% discount on the cake of your choice. 

Because mothers deserve the only the best, you can choose from our awesome selection: our decadent Opera Cake; Ohaina Chocolate Gateau, a Lifestyle Inquirer Best Dessert Winner; the mouthwatering Trio of Chocolate Mousse, and our amazing Mango Cheesecake. 

To order or for more information, please call 8527 0011 or message 0998-9501912. 

Press Release: This means that this material is fully and directly from the company issuing the press release. This also means that this website is not the author of the statement being read. Lakandiwa is simply providing the information for readers who may be interested.

Fiesta Chicken Wrap




Experimenting in the kitchen during isolation is so much fun. Discovering and learning new dishes is more than satisfying but liberating to prepare. I can't complain being lock-down here in El Nido town where access to produce and basic food has been under control since the quarantine started. I am very thankful to the joint forces of private business sector and local government.

Closed establishments and restaurants started to re-open and slowly going back to business since ECQ was changed to GQ by selling take aways and offering deliveries via different social media platforms. Bored in the house, I thought of taking the avenue of Mexican cuisine with tortilla wraps I bought from Sausage with Benefits Restaurant at Php 130 - 10 pcs.




It’s my first time to make a wrap so I research online and surprised with huge collection of wraps around the world. It's like blank canvass where you can paint anything you want, I decided to make my own by filling it in with ingredients available from our kitchen and local market. It's colorful and bursting with different flavors and textures. 

It tasted like festive celebration of senses in every bite, I felt joy. With sauce dripping down my arms I thought of calling this dish “Fiesta Wrap" because: 1) in celebration of my town's Fiesta which was yesterday 2) It looks like banderitas and 3) It's a melting pot of different tastes. It is “fiesta” in tortilla wrap form.




Ingredients
5 pcs Tortilla Wraps
1 medium cucumber, cut lengthwise
1 medium size mango, sliced
1 medium avocado, sliced
3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
2 Starfruit or balimbing, sliced
165 grams Eden Cheese, grated
100 grams lettuce
100 grams arugula

Sauce
Yogurt-Dill sauce (will share on my next post)

Chicken Cajun: 
500 grams chicken breast fillet
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, sliced
Sesame seeds to garnish




Directions
1)Add butter in a heated pan and sauté onion and garlic.
2)Add chicken and cook for about 10 minutes.
3)Season with salt, pepper and Cajun seasoning and cook for another 5 minutes.
4)Put in a bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Assemble
Heat Tortilla wrap in a pan for about 3 to 5 minutes each side.
Take and assemble everything you like from all of the ingredients
Roll it up and it’s a wrap!

Happy Eating!