Beef Pares with an Apple Twist

From 10-06-08 dinner

I used the Beef Pares recipe, and added carrots and ginger (per comment of one who tried adding these to my recipe), then instead of using frozen beef broth to top the chuck roast (to avoid drying it up), I used half of the apples I usually use for an apple pie, mixed with the usual spices cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ground cloves.



When cooked, I placed the apples in a bowl first and mashed with a fork. Then I strained the sauce (separating the spaces and carrots in the process), then thickened and finalized the gravy the usual way. Then I mixed some of the gravy with the mashed apples, tasted it and adjusted by adding some soy sauce as needed. The resulting applesauce was yummmmmylicious! Hubby liked it as well! (He usually does not use the sauce of beef pares; he likes savoring the flavor infused in the meat itself.)

Then we had very little leftover. At first I was considering making beef asado roll but since I did not have enough meat mixed with remaining applesauce, I decided to use it for fried rice (I had plenty of gravy remaining, perfect for flavoring the rice!)

Chicken Mushroom Sourcream Bake with Rice-a-Roni

My husband eats rice as dessert, not as a staple food which all our Pinoy dishes are supposed to complement. (For freshly cooked plain rice, he adds half n half cream, white sugar and nutmeg to taste. Don't ask me the proportions; I never tried it.)



But I thank God for finding (it was revealed to me by husby himself) this Rice-a-Roni which is cooked almost like fried rice, but which does not use leftover rice. This is cooked by blending it with melted butter then adding 2 cups water and its seasonings then left covered to cook slowly under low heat, much like sinaing.



My kids found it very tasty. Though I don't quite like the mushy consistency (it's almost like malata), I like its flavor. My husband can eat just that alone! But, the Filipina me of course prefer it served with a main dish. And what better thing to serve than chicken baked with sour cream.



For this chicken dish, place serving sizes of deboned chicken in a baking dish, pour a mixture of 1 can of mushroom sauce and 1 8-oz sourcream. Bake at 350 deg F for 30 minutes or until done, then add cheese (I used here slices of white cheese; you may use shredded mozarella or cheddar cheese) and cook further until cheese melts. You may want to serve shredded fresh veggies on the side (we use Iceberg Garden Salad), sprinkled with Wish-Bone Robusto Italian Salad Dressing.



Pardon the lack of art in my presentation. I prepare our meals very much the way a typical Filipino family would on an ordinary day. We are very informal, which is the way my hubby and I both like it. (And it's one of the reasons we get along together very well.)

Misc: In defense of RICE, esp. during this low-carb frenzy

Links updated as of 1-16-09

Rice is the staple food of the Filipinos. I love rice and I grew up eating rice at every meal, sometimes even during merienda.

Then a daily help tip from My Yahoo posted this:

Choose complex carbohydrate over simple sugars! Simple sugars in white flour, pasta, rice and cake are digested and absorbed quickly and can cause blood sugar swings and cravings. Complex carbohydrate are foods that contain fiber, including whole grains, whole grain breads and cereals, whole fruit instead of juice and vegetables and salads.

HELLO! Excuse me! In biochemistry, simple sugars mean carbohydrates consisting of one (monosaccharide) or two (disaccharide) units. AS far as I remember, no food has monosaccharides. And as far as I know, the simplest sugars in our diet are the dissacharides sucrose (in table sugar), fructose (in fruits), lactose (in milk), and maltose (in beer) (tell me if you know of other sugars in our diet). Sugars with more than two units are polysaccharides, which may be simple (unbranched) or complex (branched). Starch, cellulose, glycogen (in muscles and liver of humans and animals), chitin (in exoskeletons of crustaceans like shrimps and crabs) are some examples. Starch is a complex polysaccharide.

This page shows a schematic diagram of grains in general (which can represent rice and wheat and other grains). It shows that most of the grain has starch as its major component in the endosperm. Therefore, rice, be it white or brown, is a complex carbohydrate. However, the brown rice is more nutrient packed and has more fiber (which is also a nutrient, by the way, in contrast to what some claim that white rice is devoid of nutrients). A comparison of brown versus white rice is found here. And this site shows a comparison of the nutrients in different carbohydrate-rich foods. So for the health-conscious, preferring brown over white rice is okay. For the white-rice lovers like me, don't be guilty. In the first place, these "healthier" options are sold at a higher price (siyempre, mapagsamantala sa business, parang yung mga nagsasamantala sa low-carb fad). Secondly, we Filipinos tend to eat more veggies than the typical American (meaning, not health-conscious) and less meat. We even eat the tender stems of many vegetables and those are rich in fiber! (The typical American don't. I know of one who even asked his friends if they eat the stem of broccoli...). The key is still a wide variety in the contents of your menu (should include all those included in the food pyramid).

So for those rice lovers like me, just know your limit in terms of carbo percentage in your TCR. Wag magpa-uto sa mga low-carb food items on the grocery shelves. Those are just for the ignorant. (Bakit ko babaguhin ang eating habits ko eh ang sexy ko kaya para sa may 2 anak...ano hilo?)