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It's the small clump of colorful, chopped vegetables sitting beside the pork chop you ordered in the restaurant. Buttered vegetables are great to munch on and are - should I say it? - nutritious too! gasp!

But you don't have to go to a restaurant or eat out just to have your mixed veggies fix. You can easily have some at home. Better yet, you can even do a lot more with it than just plain veggies. Too busy with work or, erm, Facebook to chop up veggies? Buy it pre-packed from your favorite shop! Here are other ways you can maximize your cache of mixed veggies.

















Buttered corn and carrots (and peas and beans) - all you need are mixed veggies and butter. Simply melt the over medium heat in a pan. Then pour some frozen mixed veggies and stir occasionally. No need to thaw. Yummy!

When making instant noodles (or pancit canton, for that matter), add mixed veggies to the water! It's sooo much better than the dehydrated veggies included in the pack.


















Top some mixed veggies on your fried rice. Makes it extra special!


















Add mixed veggies on your stir-fries! Like this one my wife made with beef and oyster sauce. Yummy rice topping!

















It's a very versatile pack that you can have in your ref! Remember, you do not need to thaw it. Just add to your cooking and heat up for a couple of minutes. Instant colour and flavour to regular meals!

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There are various preparations that can be done with squid. The simplest one is grilled over an open fire (We did this on a beach back in high school. Freshly-caught squid! This was where I also learned how to remove the beak and the plastic-like thing - the cartillage - on its back).

The tricky part with squid is, no matter what method of cooking you do with it, make sure that you do not overcook it as it becomes rubbery. I rather like the smaller squid, though, as big ones are more prone to this.

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo squid, cleaned
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
3 tbsp vinegar, preferably white
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup water
cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste


Procedure:
Heat the cooking oil over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic.
Add the squid and mix occasionally.
After a couple of minutes, add the water, cover and let it boil.
Add the vinegar and soy sauce, mix a bit, then let simmer for a couple more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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We actually brought the turon to a Filipino birthday party last weekend which called for "bringing a plate" (which means bring a food item here in New Zealand). Many of the guests did not know it came from us, so while I was doing my rounds on the food table, I heard some diners say delightedly, "uy turon!" "paminsan-minsan lang yan!"

It was one of the food items that was promptly gobbled up. We're so happy!

Well, we still have some cooking bananas left (it's called banana plantain at New World) so we decided to cook up some minatamis na saging (sweetened bananas). Another very simple recipe and yet it's a truly delightful thing to have on the table. You can have it as panghimagas (desert) or eat it as anytime. The slices can also be cubed further and added to a Filipino summer delight: the halo-halo.

Ingredients:
Three medium saba, roughly chopped into bite-size pieces
5 heaping tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons water


Procedure:
Place all ingredients on a pan over medium heat. Mix lightly once to coat the banana slices with the sugar and water. Cover and let cook. The sugar will promptly turn to syrup and cook the bananas. This will take around 8-10 minutes. Remove from fire and cool. This effectively preserves this sweet treat so you can have it in the course of the next few days, if it can last that long.


July 05 update
I just remembered another way this is served. Cook whole bananas using above method, then set aside to cool. To serve, place banana on a bowl, add some crushed ice, then pour some of the sweet sauce on top. The crunchy ice and soft, sweet banana is a delight!

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One of life's simple pleasures. Turon harks us back to the old days when life was not very complicated, when the neighborhood magtataho was still greeted by glee and kids grabbing bowls for their share of the rich soya concoction. Turon, along with banana and camote cue, reigned supreme as the street food of choice.


















Turon is even simpler to prepare. All you need are cooking bananas (which we call saba), brown sugar, lumpia wrapper (available at the Asian store), and frying oil. Although in our case here in New Zealand, cooking bananas are more difficult to come by so I grabbed some when I caught the news that it was available at New World. It was still dark green, though, and so we placed it in a warm place for it to ripen properly. It took 2 weeks for it to become bright yellow, and then it was ready for greatness.

Ingredients:
Saba (cooking bananas)
brown sugar
lumpia wrapper
cooking oil
langka (jackfruit) - optional, but it makes the turon all the more special
a small bowl of water (for sealing the wrapper - you may also add a bit of flour in it)



















Procedure:
Peel off the bananas. Slice into three lengthwise.

Spread some brown sugar on a wide plate and coat the banana with the sugar by rolling the pieces over it.

Wrap with lumpia wrapper. You can put in two pieces if you want. To make more, just place one piece. Add the optional langka at this stage; a thin strip of this fragrant fruit will do nicely.

You can also cut the lumpia wrapper into two if you're only placing 1 piece per wrapper to maximize its use. Fold the sides, then roll, then dab the edge with the water to seal.


















Pour cooking oil into the pan, enough to partly submerge the turon pieces. Heat up the oil, then reduce to medium heat and fry the turon, turning occasionally to brown both sides. Let sit on a strainer to drain off excess oil and cool off.

Serve and enjoy.

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We are big on sandwich spreads principally because we have become accustomed to eating bread in the morning, and of course it helps a lot if there's something we can wedge between the bread slices! We love chocolate spreads especially. My wife, who is growing conscious of our increased food intake, would like to introduce healthier options into our diet. And so she bought Vegemite because she thought it, um, had veggies in it. She's partly right about that, of course.

Vegemite is made from leftover brewer's yeast extract (a by-product of beer manufacturing) as well as various vegetable and spice additives. The taste may be described as salty, slightly bitter, and malty — somewhat similar to the taste of beef bouillon. The texture is smooth and sticky, much like peanut butter. It is not as intensely flavoured as British Marmite and it is less sweet than the New Zealand version of Marmite.

Vegemite is popular with many Australians, who commonly consider it a national food and a cultural icon.[2] It can be found in shops around the world, particularly where there are large populations of Australian expatriates. Vegemite has not been successfully marketed in other countries, apart from New Zealand and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom, and has failed to catch on in the United States, despite being owned by US food company Kraft Foods. When seen in the United States, the Vegemite label often does not contain the Kraft logo. (Wikipedia)

What a strange invention, this Vegemite is. I opened the lid and ventured to take a sniff. It does smell strange, for something that you put on bread. Nevertheless, I spread some on bread and gave it to Jo-Lo.

He took a bite and immediately stopped at first munch. It took him some time to swallow it and then he took it upon himself to get his own piece of bread and put his favorite chocolate spread on it!

My wife also noticed this and so she, too, took a bite. Like Jo-Lo, she stopped at first munch and her face got distorted somewhat. Intrigued by now, I took a bit myself.

It was salty! Too salty! And somewhat bitter too!

And I thought I will instantly like it because it's a beer by-product! This will take a lot of getting used to!

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