Foodie Round-up: Quittin' Sugar (Join Us?)

"Jen, OK na ko." ("Jen, I'm OK now.), Ma said with a big grin in her face. She just came from the doctor's clinic that day with test results on her hand. After weeks of quitting sugar, she was able to normalize her alarming high sugar level and dismiss problems with her kidney. Weeks before that day, I joined my mother on her "quitting sugar journey" because I simply love wellness experiments and I know it can help me regulate my energy levels and even help me shed some weight.

Foodie Roundup: Fried Empanada Take Two!

Sometimes we wake up to difficult mornings and we just want to stay in bed all day. But I guess there's so much power in getting up and declaring that no matter how low I feel today, I'm going to rock this day and make it the most awesome day in every way I can.

So this morning, I found myself making fried (bless our broken oven) Chicken Empanada. Kneading the soft dough is therapeutic and creating something that I know will nourish my body and will make the people at our house happy lifted my spirit. It turned out really good, even my baby loved it. The crust had a flaky texture even it's not baked. Knowing I made an improved version of my Hotcake Empanada (I thought the recipe said 6 cups of water instead of 6 tablespoons, hence the name.) made me feel the chance to make things better is in my hands.

I blessed the food, shared it, and enjoyed it. I tasted grace & felt life's beauty again.

Foodie Round-up: Edible Aquarium

For Jam's ninth month celebration last February (her monthsaries are a big deal for my culinary skills), I attempted to recreate an edible art project. I tweaked the ingredients list knowing there's no way I can find candy fish and white cranberry juice at our local grocery store. 

Foodie Roundup: Workout Starts Tomorrow

I congratulated myself too much this week. I received a few compliments lately that I lost weight from my pregnancy and I patted my back hard with 6 slices of strawberry cake (I know!), fried ice cream, and butterscotch candies. This morning, I got the better of me and decided that too much happy pink desserts will send me back to square one. All of these snacking had been fun but I'm going back to my sugar-phobic self and face Jillian's workouts tomorrow. Oh, I love Jillian's tough love motivation, by the the way! Following her customized program corrected a lot of my form mistakes in exercises. Channelling my "babaeng Amazona" self... now!

Foodie Round-up: Green Juicing & Green Puffing

I ran out of green juice so I tried a green smoothie instead. Yeah, I drink the packed ones sometimes. I know the essential enzymes maybe lost by the processing and packing process but what the heck, they're better than none when I'm too lazy to make the real one. By the way, it's my new hobby to convince people to turn to green juicing. You were warned.

I tried Parsley Passion Smoothie from the Green Smoothie Revolution today. It's made of pasley(duh!), cucumber, apple and banana. I'm surprised that I didn't taste the parsley's strong flavor but I'm still not comfortable drinking something pulpy. I'll probably just squeeze out the juice of the other half of this recipe instead of drinking the whole thing again.

Aha's & Musings: On Coffee

• One of my best takeway from Maria Menounos' book is "Do not let coffee be your first intake for the day." It's very bad for the liver and is the culprit for under eye dark circles. You do not need to avoid it completely but go have water or eat something first before taking it. 

Eventful: Jam's 11th Month!

Eleventh heaven, is there such a thing? I guess there is. We feel so blessed to celebrate another month with Jam. She can stand now with support and can even go up and down our bed. She also makes her gigil face everytime she's excited. Tell me, what's the English for gigil? :)

Eventful: Jam's Tenth Month!

Yey (10x)! Woooo!

Check out how Jam sat at Savory's baby high chair. Haha! Oh I made Minty Pea and Corny Veggie Cheesecake Bites for this special day.