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Contadina Easy Spaghetti with Meatballs Recipe

In culinary school, we were taught that great food begins and ends with the ingredients. The dishes that you prepare will only be as good as the quality of the ingredients you put in them. Using fresh meat and produce is ideal in cooking excellent meals, but most of us simply do not have the time to do supermarket runs daily and cook from scratch. Thankfully, there are high-quality food products out there made with premium ingredients which can cut cooking time in half but do not jeopardize flavor and nutritional value. One prime example of that is Contadina.

New Product Line from Contadina

Contadina came from the same makers of Del Monte, one of the most trusted brands for high-quality culinary products. Contadina is an Italian word which means “woman of the fields.” It symbolizes the care and compassion that these women pour into making flavorful and authentic dishes. They adopt the Mediterranean philosophy of cooking meals with passion by using only the finest and freshest ingredients which are harvested from the world’s most abundant regions.

Contadina Products

The new Contadina product line consists of basic Mediterranean cuisine essentials:

Olive Oil

Sourced from Andalucia, Spain, Contadina’s Olive Oils are extracted from freshly-pressed Hojiblanca olives, hand-picked from 100-year old trees cultivated under the Mediterranean sun.

Pasta

Their beautiful pastas are made from premium-grade 100% Durum Wheat Semolina, straight from the Western Prairie provinces of Canada. Firm and bouncy, each piece is a delectable bite worth savoring for a truly authentic Mediterranean pasta experience.

Pasta Sauces

Made in Italy, Contadina’s pasta sauces use fresh tomatoes, herbs, and authentic cheeses. Each pasta sauce is thoughtfully prepared, following a traditional recipe to reward you with authentic flavors that are undeniably Italian.

Tomatoes

Grown in California, their Roma Tomatoes are made with love and an abundant supply of sun and nutrient-rich soil resulting in firm cuts that aren’t lost after cooking and a delectable, fresh tomato flavor that enriches your recipes.

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Chicken Curry with Carnation Evap : A Creamy New Tradition

Since I moved out of our home in Malabon and started living alone, I always look forward to the days when I pack up my things and go back home to spend long weekends or the holidays with my nanay and bro. It’s not only because I miss spending time with them, but also because I long for my nanay’s cooking. In the past year, I actually found a way to satisfy my craving for her cooking — recreating her dishes in my own little kitchen. One of my all-time favorites is her Chicken Curry, which is one of the dishes she usually serves for Noche Buena.

Chicken Curry with Carnation Evap Recipe

My nanay uses fresh coconut milk to prepare her Chicken Curry. When I tried cooking this dish (with Ken’s help), I found out that Carnation Evap actually works well too! It gives my version of nanay’s Chicken Curry a rich yet unique taste and flavor, and I also noticed that Carnation Evap made the dish even creamier. I’m sharing the recipe below for you to try it yourself and taste the difference. My nanay already had a taste of this dish (she let me cook it this year for Noche Buena!), and she gave me a thumbs up. 🙂

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Clara Ole Baby Back Ribs with Beef Steak Rice and Caesar Salad Recipe

A few weeks ago, I reached a major milestone in my life – I have successfully survived a challenging year at my new office job and living independently in my Makati condo. When I moved in here, I promised myself to cook more and not resort to food delivery. In celebration of this important milestone, Ken decided to whip up a fancy meal for the two us despite the limited kitchen space and equipment at my place. With the help of Clara Ole products, he showed me you don’t have to spend a lot to come up with a restaurant-quality dish that you can make any time, starting with these mouth-watering Barbecue Baby Back Ribs. 🙂

BBQ Baby Back Ribs using Clara Ole products

If you’ve been following our blog, you know we are meat lovers. It was easy to decide which dish we want him to cook for this night. He made our meal extra special by also preparing Beef Steak Rice, with Caesar salad on the side. This recipe is easy to cook and budget-friendly, but the flavors and texture are on point; smoky, sweet with that subtle tangy taste. The meat? Falls off the bone. To fully enjoy the meal, we suggest you eat the ribs with your hands so you can lick off the sauce from your fingers afterwards. 😉

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Champorado and Bibingka with Toblerone & Cadbury – A Sweet Twist to Your Favorite Pinoy Merienda

Whenever the clock hits 3 o’clock in the afternoon, it’s like our bodies are programmed to want to have merienda. We grew up like this, and I still remember our nanay knocking on our doors at 3pm, announcing it’s merienda time. When we follow her to the kitchen, we’ll be delighted by the spread of different snacks she bought or prepared for us. You’d usually find pansit luglog or Pansit Malabon, lugaw with tokwa’t baboy, turon (we call it valencia), sopas, ginataan, ensaymada, bibingka and, my favorite, champorado.

Champorado recipe made with Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate and Eden Cheese

Yes, champorado. Some may think that it’s better enjoyed for breakfast, but I beg to disagree. 😀 I love champorado for merienda because it gives me a much-needed boost in the middle of the afternoon that’ll last until the end of the day. 🙂 I also love turon, ginataan, peachy-peachy, and, of course, Pansit Malabon.

Ken’s merienda favorites are lugaw, Pansit Malabon and bibingka. The latter, you’d think you can only find people selling them during the holidays, but in Malabon, it’s a regular snack choice because it’s readily available all year round (that’s why we LOVE our home town 😀 ).

If you’ve seen our past recipes, you already know how we enjoy adding our own twists to usual dishes. This time, Ken came up with 2 Pinoy merienda recipes with a sweet twist that we’re sure you’ll both love. He used products from Mondelez Philippines.

Mondelez Philippines, formerly named Kraft Foods, has been around for over 5 decades. They’re the authority when it comes to snacks. Don’t believe us? Under their belt, they have Oreo, Toblerone, Cadbury, and Tiger Enery Biscuits. Their Eden Cheese is a regular when we prepare spaghetti. We also add cheesiness to our ‘flying saucer’ sandwiches with Cheez Whiz. Merienda won’t be complete, especially for our nanay, without a pitcher of her favorite Tang.

Mondelez has been constantly innovating, coming up with new flavors that us Filipinos love. Have you tried their Oreo Coconut Delight? You must! How about the Tang Dalandan, Honey Lemon and Calamansi? 🙂