Health Alert – Guides for your Health

This recipe is from Chef Rene Ruz during his cooking session here in Bataan.   I am sure that you will love this coffee vanilla panna cotta.

Ingredients:

Coffee Panna Cotta:
2 cups all purpose cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp San Mig Instant Black Coffee
1 tbsp chocolate syrup
2 cups Magnolia Fresh Milk
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin

Procedure:

Combine cream, sugar, coffee and chocolate syrup in a saucepan then heat to scalding. Remove from heat.  Set aside.

Pour milk into a bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the surface.  Set aside to soften.  Heat milk to dissolve again then stir into the cream mixture.  Heat to scalding while stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Strain mixture while pouring into the shot glasses.  Chill to set.

Vanilla Panna Cotta:
2 cups all purpose cream
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
1/2 cup sugar
zest of 1/2 orange (optional)
2 cups Magnolia Fresh Milk
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin

Procedure:

Combine cream, vanilla powder, sugar, orange zest in a saucepan then heat to scalding.  Remove from heat and let infuse for about 30 minutes.  Set aside.

Pour milk into a bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the surface.  Set aside to soften.  Heat milk to dissolve again then stir into the cream mixture.  Heat to scalding while stirring constantly. Remove from heat.  Strain mixture while pouring into shot glasses.  Chill to set.

Makes 30 panna cotta

March 25th, 2010 | Tags: coffee panna cotta, vanilla panna cotta | Category: Daily Menu and Recipe | Comments Off

Next weekend, I am planning to cook Chicken Inasal, that’s why my sister shares chicken inasal recipe of Chef Rene Ruz.

Ingredients:

1 kilo Magnolia Chicken Station Chicks on Stick
1/4 cup calamansi juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 tbsp garlic, minced
4 stalk lemon grass / tanglad, julienne
1/4 cup atchuete, soaked in
1/2 cup Star Margarine Classic, melted

Procedure:

Marinade chicken overnight in calamansi juice, salt, pepper, garlic and tanglad.  Grill chicken oven charcoal while basting with atchuete mixture.  Cook until well-done.

Makes 6-8 servings.

March 24th, 2010 | Tags: chicken inasal, chicken inasal recipe | Category: Daily Menu and Recipe | Comments Off

Yesterday, I call my sister and ask her about the snack.  Once again she share recipe of Chef Rene Ruz.  Try empanada and I’m sure your family will love it.

Ingredients:

Crust:

4 cups Purefoods Baron All-Purpose Flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup Star Margarine
1/2 cup Primex Shortening
3/4 cup cold water

Savory Filling:
2-190 g can  Purefoods Chunkee Corned Beef

Yema Filling:
1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup cashew nuts, chopped
sugar for sprinkle

Procedure:

To make the Crust:

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl.  Cut in margarine and shortening until mixture resembles pea-size crumbs.  Add water a tablespoon at a time.  Mix well.  Form dough into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.  Roll out dough into a rectangular sheet and roll to resemble a log.

Cut crosswise into 27 portions (40 grams per piece).  Roll out each portion into flat rounds.  Top dough with a teaspoon of your choice of filling, fold and flute edges to secure filling.

For the corned beef empanada, deep-fry in hot oil until golden brown in color.

For the sweet empanada, brush eggwash on top and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 25 minutes.

To make Yema Filling: Combine all ingredients cook over medium heat until slightly thick.  Set aside to cool.

To make Eggwash:  Mix 1 eggyolk with 1/4 cup milk and use for brushing.

Makes 25 pieces.

March 23rd, 2010 | Tags: empanada | Category: Daily Menu and Recipe | Comments Off

During my sister’s cooking session with Chef Rene Ruz last year, she shares with me his recipe which is the rice cooker paella.

Ingredients

1/2 kilo Magnolia Chicken Station Adobo Cut
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pabrika
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Magnolia Gold Butter
1/2 kilo prawns
1/2 kilo squid, cleaned and sacs removed, sliced into rings
2-210 gm can Purefoods Chorizo Bilbao
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup diced red and green bell peppers
1 cup tomato sauce
3 pc chicken cubes, dissolved in
6 cups water
2 tbsp kasubha/saffron
3 1/2 cups long grain or dinorado rice
1/2 cup green peas
Salt, pepper and Spanish paprika to taste

Garnish:
Chopped garlic, lemon wedges and canned pimiento slices

Procedure:

In a bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients.  Set aside.

In a saucepan, heat olive oil and butter.  Pan-fry prawns and squid.  Remove from pan and set aside.  Using the same pan, sear chicken pieces.  Remove and set aside.  Saute chorizo, garlic, onions and bell peppers.  Add tomato sauce, chicken stock and kasubha  Let boil.  Remove from heat.

Place rice in a rice cooker.  Add prepared stock and meats.  Mix well.  Cook until rice is tender  Stir in peas, prawns and squid and adjust seasonings if necessary.  Transfer mixture to a paellera.  Top with minced garlic, lemon wedges and pimiento slices.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.

March 22nd, 2010 | Tags: paella recipe, rice cooker paella | Category: Daily Menu and Recipe | Comments Off

My sister shares her recipe from Chef Rene Ruz while she attended cooking session in their office.

Ingredients:

100 gram green or red curly lettuce, cut into small portions
1 piece large ripe mango, sliced into strips
1 piece red apple, sliced into strips
1/4 cup red grapes, sliced thinly
1 piece kiwi, sliced into strips
1/8 cup toasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp muscovado sugar
1/8  cup magnolia best fruits, strawberry

Apple Crisps:
2 piece Fuji Apple; peeled, cored and sliced very thinly

Procedure:

To make the dressing, combine in a small bowl the balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, sugar and jam.  Mix well then transfer in a squeeze bottle.  Set aside.

To make the salad, place the lettuce leaves on a chopping board.  Add mangoes, apple, grapes and kiwis.  Place salad cups in petite salad plates or Chinese spoons for presentation if desired.  Sprinkle roulade with nuts on top and drizzle with the dressing.

To make the apple crisps, preheat oven to 200F.  Place thinly sliced apples in a tray lined with Glad Cook N Bake Paper.  Air dry apples in the oven until crisp.  Place apple crisp pieces on top of the salad cups.

Make 4 servings

March 20th, 2010 | Tags: apple crisp salad recipe, salad cups recipe | Category: Daily Menu and Recipe | Comments Off

Other common skin disease during summer season is prickly heat rash.  My daughter wake up one morning and told me that her neck is very itchy, I check her neck and I notice some red skin rash. I think it is a prickly heat rash because of very hot weather.

Prickly heat is an itchy, red skin rash that usually occurs when there is excessive sweating due to heat exposure of overheating.  It also called miliaria or uticaria (hives).  It is not a serious skin disease since it is usually self-limited and resolves in hours to a few days without treatment.  But, if it may be more severe, it requires professional medical care.

Miliaria or prickly heat is can be found any parts of the body area like face or neck where tiny, pinpoint and pick.  It is due to small sweat particles that are trapped in the skin.  It may cause inflammation and itching around the sweat pores.  It may look like small clear blisters or like gooseflesh.  It is often occurs during repeated episodes of sweating in a hot humid environment like summer season.  It is more common in infants but may also occur in adults.

Prickly heat can be resolves without treatment, often within a day after changing to a cooler environment.  Some of the home remedies for prickly heat are to take cool showers or bath and avoid skin to skin contact by placing a clean cotton washcloth or material between skin folds. Also, drinking a lot of water is always helpful to maintain cooler body temperature and for overall hydration and body temperature regulation.

March 10th, 2010 | Tags: heat rash treatment, prickly heat rash | Category: Parenting | Comments Off

I prepare pork bistek for lunch. It is a combination of soy sauce and calamansi juice.

Ingredients:

1 kilo pork chop, sliced
3 to 4 garlic, crushed
1  red onion, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
1/2 calamansi juice
3/4 cup soy sauce
Salt and pepper to tase
Cooking oil
1/4 cup water

Preparations:

1. In a bowl, combine calamansi juice and soy sauce.  You can add more calamansi juice if needed. Add salt and pepper.
2. Marinate pork chops for 30 minutes to 1 hour to the mixture.
3. In a saucepan, saute garlic and onions and then set aside.
4. Fry pork chops in cooking oil until cook or golden brown.
5. Put pork back in the saucepan and add the marinade combination. Add water.
6. Simmer until the pork is tender.

March 8th, 2010 | Tags: bistek, pork bistek | Category: Daily Menu and Recipe | Comments Off

Philippines is now experiencing measles outbreak in most areas in Manila including Baseco compound and moriones in Tondo, Barangay Pulang Lupa in Las Pinas City and some provinces.

According to health authorities that the number of measles cases are increasing because of rising temperature as summer season approaches.  Most measles victims are children in the 1 to 9 age range and they were not vaccinated so they are prone to infection.

Some other causes of measles outbreak are transmission of infection from one child to another since measles is highly contagious. It is transmitted via droplets from nose, mouth or throat of infected persons.  Since Measles is caused by a virus

Furthermore, according to the WHO, there is no specific treatment for measles and prevention can be done through immunization.  Measles is actually caused by a virus that’s why there is no specific treatment and the virus has to run its course.  A child with measles should be sure to drink plenty of fluids and receive a plenty of rest and be kept from spreading the infection to others.

Measles is a respiratory infection and it is also called rubeola.  It is a total body skin rash and flu like symptoms such as fever, cough and runny nose. Symptoms of measles are hacking cough, runny nose, high fever and red eyes.  There is also a small red spots with blue-white centers that appear inside the mouth. The measles rash has a red or reddish brown blotchy appearance and first usually shows up on the forehead and then spreads over the face, neck and body down to the arms and feet.

To prevent measles, baby and children should be given immunization against measles that’s why DOH is now using a door-to-door strategy immunization nationwide to decrease measles cases in the country.

Serious complications of measles are blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhea, ear infection and pneumonia but in most cases measles victims can recover within two to three weeks.

March 2nd, 2010 | Tags: measle prevention, measles, measles symptoms | Category: Parenting | Comments Off

Philippines are now experiencing very hot weather so it is important to protect our skin from sun exposure as well as our eyes.  It is recommended to wear protective UV blocking sunglasses because it can protect the delicate skin of the eye area from damage due to UV rays.

Due to excessive sun exposure, eyes can expose to sun and can develop serious and permanent eye damage.  It is important to protect our eyes from eye related disease such as cataracts, photokeratitis and much other eye disorder. The risk of getting eye related disease due to long exposure to sun is from about 10 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon  Some people such as fishermen, farmer and beach goers who spend long hours under the sun without adequate eye protection can develop photokeratitis which result in temporary loss of vision.

When you are planning to buy sunglasses, always make sure to look for a label states that the sunglasses offer 99% or 100% UV protection.  Don’t ever think that glasses with a darker tint or with pricier sunglasses can get more UV protection. Also, you can ask Opthomalogists to test your sunglasses about the level of UV protection. In addition, your sunglasses must be dark adequate to cut down glare but not dark enough to distort color that affects the recognition of traffic signals. It is recommended to wear lenses that are amber, brown or green and neutral gray.

Last week, I bought sunglasses for my daughter since we are planning to go swimming.  Remember your children should also wear real sunglasses just like adults not toy sunglasses.

February 26th, 2010 | Category: Healthy Lifestyle | Comments Off