Recipe: Mango con Hielo

Mangoes are very popular in the Philippines. I myself am a big fan - I love them whether on their own or part of a meal recipe . Luckily, I grew up with free supplies of fresh mangoes coming from my father's farm so I had the chance to eat 1 to 2 whole mangoes per meal and be creative with our supply - Mango Jam, Ref Mango Cake and my favorite refreshing treat, Mango con Hielo.

I don't know if this can even be called a recipe cos it's too easy to make. Probably 10 minutes tops to prep and put together.

Mango con Hielo

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• sugar (or honey if your prefer)
• ice
• 1 whole ripe mango, diced

Directions:

• In a small bowl combine the milk and sugar. Adjust sugar according to taste and how sweet your mango is.
• Put equal amounts of ice in each of the serving bowl.
• Put equal amounts of mango slices in each of the serving bowl.
• Pour in the milk syrup
• Serves 2

Recipe: Ice Scramble

Ice Scramble reminds me of my school bus days. I'd always look forward to dismissal time so I can enjoy this 10-peso pink slushy ice snack with lots of powdered milk on top sold on the streets. That was then. Now, they're sold in malls in fancier cups.

Since we love Ice Scramble so much we decided to make our own at home. When we were buying ingredients, we didn't see any pink food color so I thought of picking up the red one. My husband insisted that the violet food color has a closer shade to the original scramble - so I picked the violet one. This servers as a reminder that I should never ever trust my husband with decisions concerning colors. Say hello to our ube looking scramble:

I will probably have another post with the right color :)

Here is the recipe:

*we used a blender since we didn't have crushed ice but it turned out to be watery

1 cup evaporated milk

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp banana flavor

few drops of red food color

3 cups crushed ice

milk powder

choco syrup

Mix the milk, sugar and banana flavor in a bowl.

Slowly add in the red food color until you get the right shade of pink.

Add the mixture to crushed ice and mix well. Ice proportion may vary so adjust as desired.

Pour/scoop to glass and top with milk powder and chocolate syrup.

You may add rice krispies, marshmallows and other toppings you desire.

Recipe: Strawberry Panna Cotta

http://littlesistercooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-favorite-friday.html

I was supposed to make this for Valentine's but I couldn't find my bookmark. I kinda felt stupid when I saw it last Friday and realized that I didn't label this bookmark well. Kindee's Panna Cotta inspired me even more to try making it at home.

I was a bit intimidated by the perfect texture of Kindee's Panna Cotta so I was a bit scared that I'm gonna screw this up. I read the recipe over and over again hoping that almost memorizing the recipe will lessen the chance of failure. I didn't know what I was thinking.; it uses very basic ingredients, it's actually just sugar, milk and cream cooked on low heat, flavored syrup is just basic syrup plus your choice of fruit - This recipe is really easy!

The ugly part of it was I prepared it during dinner which meant I had to wait until the following day to try it (I had to wait for it to cool and settle and chill). To add to that, I prepared this on a Sunday night which meant I had to wait until after work to taste it. Who likes for dessert?

My husband loved it! I loved it too! It had really good texture, it's creamy and it had a very delicate flavor. It's good with or without the syrup. It was so worth the wait, my husband and I had two cups each Monday night. :)