Recipe: Spaghetti with Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce and Ham Bits

This makes a Perfect Sunday Merienda.

As a working mom, I am always on the lookout for easy to prepare recipes. I feel happier if I come across easy to prepare and delicious recipes.

We have a helper at home who is tasked to cook for our little family of 3. But most days, I really prefer to cook our meals by myself. Cooking is a great therapy for me, a respite from all the typing and reading and all-that-boring-stuff-office-people-do kind of thing.

I am a pasta fanatic. Although I have been desperately trying to cut down on carbs recently, I would often choose a pasta meal on my cheat days. A pasta recipe is always easy to whip out. Actually, it was after learning to cook pasta al-dente that I fell in love with cooking. The rest is history, as the cliche goes.

In my side of the family, we've always preferred to prepare homemade tomato sauce for tomato-based dishes. Through the years, we've finally learned how to make the perfectly easy yet tasty homemade tomato sauce. So if you like tomato-based pasta, let me share with you my version which was a recent hit with my co-workers. Their admiration of my home cooking inspired me (and gave me the confidence as well) to share the recipe in this blog.

Fast and Easy Tomato-Basil Sauce

You will need:

1.5 kilos of fresh tomatoes

¼ cup of olive oil

1 medium size red onion (1 large if white)

1 head garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

A pinch of pepper

1 small pouch of tomato paste

1 cup fresh basil or

1 teaspoon dried basil

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Procedure:

Simmering Tomato Sauce

• Wash the ripe tomatoes properly.
• Make a small cross on the bottom of your tomatoes (this trick is just to make it easy for you to peel off the skin later)
• Blanch the tomatoes, drain and put in ice bath or run through cold water. Peel the skin off.
• Chop the tomatoes. Make sure to save the juice as well. You can take out the seeds if you want (but I leave them since seeding takes so much time). Add about a teaspoon of salt and a dash of pepper. Mix then leave overnight in the fridge.
• Saute chopped red onion in olive oil  until translucent . Add minced garlic. Do not brown the garlic to retain taste. 
• Add Tomato Paste (I used 2/3 of a small pouch on 1.5kilos of fresh tomatoes)
• Add the chopped tomatoes (including the juice), stir and simmer for 5-10 mins. (I personally like to have tomatoes chunks on my sauce so I just simmer for 5mins). Add a cup of fresh basil or a teaspoon if you’re using dried.
• Transfer to blender or food processor and puree. Sauce is good for 1 kilo of cooked pasta (best to use is angel hair/spaghetti pasta). Top with sauteed mushroom-ham and Parmesan cheese. 

This recipe can feed 10 hungry adult stomachs.

To make the mushroom-ham/bacon topping:

You will need:

1 big can of button mushroom (pieces and stem), chopped coarsely

1 med white onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pack sweet ham/or whatever cold cuts you prefer/bacon bits

1 tsps olive oil or bacon fat if you use bacon instead of cold cuts (if you use bacon, cook it ahead so the fat is rendered)

1 tsp butter

Procedure:

• Sauté onion and garlic till translucent over olive oil and butter. 
• Add chopped mushroom and cold cuts/bacon bits.  
• Top over tossed tomato sauce and spaghetti.

It's super easy and you can store the topping and the sauce separately. You can also opt to store the sauce on a sterilized jar for future use. You can probably store it for a week in the fridge or you can opt to freeze it for longer shelf-life and just thaw it in the microwave if you already intend to use it.

33

I just feel obligated to post something to remember this day by. Or just until I'm able to get my thoughts together and get over this blogging drought. 

Birthdays make me emotional. Well, for so long birthdays were just something I'd like to celebrate so I'd have an excuse to shop or treat myself to something extraordinary. But that has long past. Now birthdays are a big reminder to me of how blessed I am.

Yes. I worry like crazy each time the thought of the Big C hits me. But those are now rare. For the last 2 and a half years, I just try to live every waking moment like there's no tomorrow. And somehow, that makes me feel better. That somehow comforts me when I go to sleep at night.

Yes today I am 33. And I just want to mark that literally by sharing with you one of my favorite songs:

"Thirty-Three"

Speak to me in a language I can hear
Humour me before I have to go
Deep in thought I forgive everyone
As the cluttered streets greet me once again
I know I can't be late, supper's waiting on the table
Tomorrow's just an excuse away
So I pull my collar up and face the cold, on my own
The earth laughs beneath my heavy feet
At the blasphemy in my old jangly walk
Steeple guide me to my heart and home
The sun is out and up and down again
I know I'll make it, love can last forever
Graceful swans of never topple to the earth
And you can make it last, forever you
You can make it last, forever you
And for a moment I lose myself
Wrapped up in the pleasures of the world
I've journeyed here and there and back again
But in the same old haunts I still find my friends
Mysteries not ready to reveal
Sympathies I'm ready to return
I'll make the effort, love can last forever
Graceful swans of never topple to the earth
Tomorrow's just an excuse
And you can make it last, forever you
You can make it last, forever you 

Goodbye Summer 2011

It has been raining on and off for a full week now. I know the local weather bureau announced that the rainy season's finally started but it was only yesterday that it finally dawned on me. Summer is over.

When I was younger, I looked forward to summer because it meant a respite from schoolwork, albeit a brief one. Then college came, it meant I can finally bond with my sisters or enjoy an idyllic moment under a tree in our backyard with a good book in hand.

For sometime though after leaving college and moving on to become a 'responsible' citizen, I temporarily forgot how wonderful that time of the year was. I was thrown into a battery of paperwork and deadlines. Vacations were scheduled and they never fell on summer. So I forgot. How wonderful it was.

Fast forward to today. I am starting to relive that wonderful period in my life again. The last 2 summers saw us coming home to my amazing hometown to enjoy the beach. Those vacations left such wonderful memories on our little girl that she would rave of them for days...sometimes even stretching to weeks.

So anyway, till then Summer! And as our morning prayers would start these days: Thank you God for the rain for the plants surely welcome them! :))

Sharing some photos from those last two summers we spent with Maia. I keep going back to these photo sets because they always make me feel happy!

Apr 2010. Maia enjoying a walk at a beach resort in Guimaras (and hating Mommy for playing paparazzi the entire time)

Apr 2010. Maia and Daddy having so much fun playing with the waves

Apr 2011. Lovely silhouette of Maia, me and my dad 

20 Bands I Love

Taking cue from a college friend who posted the list of 20 bands she loves yesterday, I was 'inspired' to create my own. Here goes (in no particular order):

1. Foo Fighters
2. Snow Patrol
3. Pearl Jam
4. Eraserheads
5. Smashing Pumpkins
6. Counting Crows
7. Lifehouse
8. Imago
9. Lemonheads
10. Snow Patrol
11. Gin Blossoms
12. Teenage Fanclub
13. Toad the Wet Sprocket
14. Sugarfree
15. The Script
16. Jars of Clay
17. U2
18. Soul Asylum
19. Weezer
20. Oasis

I almost had the same bands on my friend's list. See how majority of our list are from the 90's. Does that giveaway our age? I personally think though that the 90's saw the most wonderful musicians of our time flourish. Sadly, half of them have either disbanded or gone solo.

Celebrating Mother's Day at Home

I initially planned on doing another letter to Maia post for mother's day because after all, she was the reason why I get to call that day MY day along with many other awesome, hardworking moms out there. But then the weather yesterday just did not allow me to get my little quiet time as I'd hope to so lemme just share with you how we celebrated mother's day yesterday.

We slept in till around 8 am which was already late considering we normally start our weekend mornings at 6-630. Then, I prepared a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs for our family of 3. Maia was not used to eating processed meat so she never got around to finishing her piece of the bacon but devoured the eggs and asked for a second helping even.

After breakfast we waited till the daddy of the house finished watching the nba playoffs then we started our main activity for the day which was storytelling and tadahhhhh - arts and crafts! I finally got the go from the big boss to buy some art supplies the day before so when I got the supplies out Maia was just so excited for us to start with the activity. I guess though arts and crafts is not really me because Maia got easily bored with us cutting and tying the japanese papers to make them into flowers and butterflies. So what I did was I got this art set (it was a gift to her a couple of Christmases ago) out and taped a couple of scratch papers unto the floor and her table and voila! - the little girl was immediately smitten by the brush and the pens! She stayed quiet for the rest of the day moving from one paper to another. By the time we tidied up we had a bunch of finished paintings from the little boss. I had to restrain myself from keeping all the junk because they really all looked so artsy I wanted to keep all of them!

The Big Boss and I also planned for a date night (we haven't been out for ages already! and we were saving time for this day) but in the end never left the house because we were just too lazy and never got around to changing out of our pajamas.

Half of our plans did not push through but I was happy of how we end up celebrating my day. It was a simple one but that was exactly how I wanted to do it - home cooked meal, sweets for meryenda, some siesta and bonding time with Maia in between. The little boss was just as happy to have us all to herself the entire day!

How and where did you celebrate mother's day?

St Mikael Playhouse's Parent-Child Summer Program

Yesterday, we started the first of our 5 sessions for the summer with St. Mikael Playhouse's Parent-Child program.

I cannot believe how behaved Maia was althrough out the session considering that we had to travel all the way from Cavite just to be able to join this class. When we got to the school 40 minutes earlier than schedule, she was just ecstatic to get into the 'classroom' but patiently waited for the 'gates' to open.

When Teacher Josie called her into the room, she immediately took a seat and grabbed some crayons and drew away. A few minutes after, she asked: Mommy, wala ako classmates? (I don't have classmates?). Excited much, ano?

At around 8:40 kids starting coming and we were ready to start by 9am. It was a large class. Much larger than the class that we joined when we tried last February and half of the moms I was with were first-timers. It was a good mix - of 'veteran' waldorf parents and of newbies. I would like to think I am in the middle. Hehe.

Here's how our program was set to go. This is called the Rhythm of the Day:

9am Arrival

Change to indoor shoes/slippers (child and adult)

Towels hanged (one inside the toilet, the other near the front door)

9:05-9:40 am Free play/Art Activity

Toy-making (for parents)

9:40am Clean-up

9:45am Washing of hands/Toilet time

Setting the Table

10:00am Snack Time

10:15am Circle Time

10:20am Changing of shoes/slippers to outdoor shoes

Outdoor free play

Parents discussion/sharing time

10:45am Wash-up

10:55am Storytelling

11:00am Goodbye Song

I love the idea that kids use breakables and are taught to set the table themselves. After our trial class last February, we started using breakables for Maia too. And she's learning to be more careful with handling them. I like that this somehow helped tame her in the sense that she doesn't throw things as often as before.

The school prepares the snacks. And they are the organic, healthy type. During the trial class we were served rolled oats with yoghurt, apples and raisins and yesterday we had fresh fruits (pineapple, bananas and melons). I'm really happy because Maia always ask for seconds and even third servings. Normally, she would eat just a few pieces of pineapply and melons but yesterday was really different. I hope she'd start eating like that here at home. I'm already thinking of ways to improve our daily menu. Hehe.

I also like how teachers deal with each kid in a very gentle manner. And they transition to each activity by playing music (and not the loud kind, but soft gentle music). The teacher yesterday played the xylophone and this attracted the kids attention immediatly so it wasn't very difficult to transition from one activity to the other.

I know I'll have lots of stories to share after we've completed this class. But for now, let me share with you some photos that I took of Maia from yesterday.

Mommy, Please Don't Go To Work!

Yes, she was down to the point of begging this morning. The last few days found me always in this difficult situation each waking morning. It seems like the 5 days that we were together everyday has made an impression on this little boss that Mommy is not working out of the house anymore. I always had to sit her down and explain to her why I have to leave for work. Of course, I never get to win her approval. We still end up with more tears rather than a smile.

I am happy though that despite her young age, she still listens to me. This morning I told her that Mommies really have to work to help Daddies. In fact all of her friends Mommies also go to work. I got a wail in response. But that meant she understood what I was saying. What she did apart from the wailing was to command her dad to lock our bedroom. Funny thing is, our bedroom's down is the sliding type so we never really attempted to install any locks on it. We just close it if we want some privacy. But I guess to her the mere thought of it being closed means I will be forced to stay inside under her watchful eye.

Before our recent 5-day vacation happened, she never really cared each time I leave in the morning. That actually made me sad at times. I mean, what Mother won't feel bad when each time she'd say good-bye all she gets is a nod and nothing else. I had to force a kiss and a hug from her each time I left for work so this sudden change of behavior surprised me a bit. But then again, she's really young. So I guess, she's entitled to be inconsistent for now.

I just hope this is a temporary thing though. Because even if this does not affect me anymore (surprised at myself too!), if this becomes a long-term issue then we might be force to fast track on some plans which we do not want to do prematurely.

I resolved to take this all in a stride. Am just crossing my fingers for tomorrow. Because I do not want to deal with more drama tomorrow as I already did today.