Crispy Banana Rolls | Turron Recipe

Ingredients:

Saba | ripe plantain bananas- 24pcs.

Fresh jack fruit- 1/2cup optional

Lumpia wrapper- 24pcs.

Cooking Oil-2cups

Brown | Refine sugar

Preparations:

1. Peel bananas. Slice each piece in half lengthwise, then each half slice into three strips lengthwise. It must be 10cm.
2. Slice jack fruit into strips. Thin slice only because it only gives flavor to lumpia.
3. Cut each spring roll wrapper into 4 small square pieces.
4. On each square of wrapper, put one banana strip on one edge, then 1 or 2 strips of jackfruits beside it. Roll towards the opposite side to create a small cylinder. Seal the end with a paste made with equal parts of flour and water.

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat the pan and pour the oil. Make sure that the oil is not too deep to prevent the wrapper will not open when frying.
2. When you fry the rolls it must be in medium heat around 3-5 minutes, turning occasionally. When pale golden in color, sprinkle with brown | refine sugar to caramelize.
3. Remove turron into the tray rack to drain excess oil. Let it cool to allow some space between rolls.

Tips:

Turron is great rolled as thick as thumb because the oil will penetrate inside in order to cook the ripe banana and jackfruits and to make crisper taste. The Jackfruit tree bears fruit only once a year yet; there is available bottle jackfruit for sale in department store. If bottle jackfruit is the option, use only the fruit not the juice. Also about the sugar, refine sugar is okay  to use when sprinkling the rolls as long as it will caramelize and further to that the purpose of sugar is to add more sweet tastes of the rolls because lumpia wrapper is salty, so sugar must be important. Lastly, the recipe is nice in dessert and snacks preparation especially, in big occasions like fiesta, birthday, wedding and many more. It is natural after eating salty food the visitors will find sweets so; in order to save more money turron is the best solution to satisfy the need of the sweets.Once again, to buy cheap ingredients, it is advisable to go the super market or public market because there you will find the most cheapest food.

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How often a beginner should do a running exercise per week?

Often times, you find yourself overweight and then you start to feel so conscious about it. You then buy a pair of running shoes and start running. Traditional wisdom teaches you that the faster and longer you run, you burn the most calories. More calories – more weight loss. So you run more than an hour a day only to find out you become injured, weak and sick at the end of the month without significant amount of weight loss. You then conclude that running exercise is not for you and finally quit running after the first month. I have seen this with a lot of weight conscious people too many times. They love to run but running does not love them. Is this really true?

According to my intuition, 99% of the beginning runners (those without a trainer or coach) do not train correctly. As a result, they become dissatisfied with the results because often times they become sick. At worse, they even gain weight during their training! The secret lies in the number of hours you should train each week and the level of effort you exert.

Full time/professional runners or elite athletes train more than 5 hours a week; mere mortals train less than or equal to 5 hours week because they still need to do other things. Assuming you are a mere mortal, you should aim to run at most 5 hours week. But specifically how much at beginning, 5 hours right away? 4 hours? 3 hours? The answer is to gradually increase your workout load.

Running introduces some unpleasant stress to your body and if you directly aiming for a high number of hours of workout per week, you will end up burnout, fatigued and not happy with your training. It is highly advisable to check with a doctor to get proper permission to start any running workout if you have some doubts regarding your health. The correct approach is to “gradually increase” the number of hours of training per month. This will let the body to slowly adapt the routine and minimize stress. This is my recommendation based on my real experience:

First month: one hour total workout per week

Second month: two hours total workout per week

Third month: three hours total workout per week

Fourth month: four hours total workout per week

Fifth month: five hours total workout per week (maximum)

So in the first month, try to run a total of 60 minutes for each week. On the next month, run a total of 120 minutes for each week then rest. Make sure you do not exceed 45 minutes in any workout or no less than 30 minutes in any workout! So if you are aiming to run 3 times a week and your target running minutes per week is 120, it will be or 120/3 = 40 minutes per workout which is OK. When the time comes that you are capable of doing 5 hours a week workout which is already a LOT of time. Try mixing a running workout with other activities such as cycling or swimming to prevent boredom.

The next important question, is HOW FAST SHOULD YOU RUN? It is all out? Very slow? Moderate? The answer is to never exceed your “maximum aerobic speed” or else you risk being over trained or getting some injuries that can prevent you from running again. Maximum aerobic heart rate (in beats per minute) corresponds to: 180 – age. You should never exceed the limit at any time you are running. For example if you are 31 years old and a beginner in running, your maximum aerobic heart rate/limit is 180- 31 = 149 beats per minute. Use a heart rate monitor to get accurate heart rate measurements! If it reads above 149 beats per minute you need slow down right away until you are within the range.

Allow some -10 tolerance, so your heart rate training zone for all of your running workouts as a beginner would be:

Upper tolerance = Maximum aerobic heart rate = 149 beats per minute

Lower tolerance = Maximum aerobic heart rate = 149 – 10 = 139 beats minute

So the target heart rate (which you should be aiming every time you run) is the average between the upper and lower tolerance = (149 + 139)/2 = 144 beats per minute.

I can guarantee that it won't take so long and you will lose weight EFFECTIVELY, lose your fats and even run faster month after month happily and injury-free. Just don’t stop running.

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Eggplant and Pork Meat with Coconut Milk Recipes

Ingredients:

Eggplant-1/4 kilos

Pork- 1/4kilos

Grape Coconut-1 whole coconut

Ginger

Garlic

Onions

Soy sauce- 1tablespoon

Cooking Oil

Salt

Pepper

Preparations:

1. Wash eggplant and Cut into elongated half inch size.
2. Cut pork meat the same eggplant form. Separate the fat.
3. Make coconut milk, put ½ half cup of hot water into the grape coconut then followed by the half cup of top water. Mix it and squeeze in order to extract the milk of the grape coconut. Separate the grape coconut from the milk with the use of filter. Set aside the coconut milk.
4. Peel and cut thinly the ginger 4pieces of cut is enough. Peel garlic and onion chop in small size.

Cooking directions:

1. Put salt into the fat parts of pork then it in a heat pan. Mix it until provide its own oil from the fat. If the pork fat becomes brown, add the pork meat mix and cook for 10minutes then add little salt. Add ginger, garlic and onions mix it well then add soy sauce.
2. Add the chopped eggplants mix well to make it balance.
3. After that, add coconut milk and reduce the heat and let the milk absorb the meat and the eggplants. Cook until the coconut milk is thick.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tips:

About the coconut milk, you can buy already made coconut milk at the department store. However, it is much better to make it fresh. Coconut is available and cheap in price at the public market. It is only 10.00 and it is very affordable. If you wish to cook this recipe, buy the coconut at the exact cooking time because, once you preserve the grape coconut in the refrigerator, the smell will change and it might the cause of the reduce quality of the food that you make. 

 

 This photo is the same as above recipe but this is the soup style recipe. If you want to make soup recipe, just add more water when you make coconut milk or add more additional water in your grape coconut. It is also delicious.

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How to Survive Eating Only Once a Day to Lose Weight & Improve Fitness

Planning of losing weight and becoming very fit for a long term? Consider an option of eating a full meal only once a day. Is this really successful? Yes. The secret lies on slowly conditioning your body to adapt these changes. The body will learn in the long term not to accumulate extra calories you get from your eating which can cause undesirable increase in weight.

How to make this work?

Step1.) To make this less challenging especially for three meals a day heavy eaters, you might want a slow transition to eating once a day which could take months for your body to adapt. It is because abrupt changes in meals (such as suddenly changing eating routine from 3 full meals to only one full meal a day) can cause disorders in your stomach and intense hungriness.

So at first, consider an option to decrease your food intake from 3 full meals to only 2 meals a day. Do this for three months to give time for your body to adapt.

Take note that once you start reducing your meal intake while no changes in lifestyle and activity; the first warning is slight hunger. You need to satisfy this slight hunger by either:

a.) Drinking coffee with cream.

b.) Drinking tea with cream.

c.) Drink any beverages less in sugar such as natural juice (not soft drinks).

d.) Eat fruits (like Banana, etc.)

These beverages and snacks act as a buffer to the slight hunger. As days go by, your body starts to adapt that routine. When you reduce your food intake from 3 to 2 full meals a day; it is not advisable to reduce the amount of food you eat during your 2 full meals. You can either have it the same as you like.

Step2.) Now you are getting used to eating only twice a day, but you still have not reached your goal to eating only once. After the third month, you start eating once a day IN ALTERNATE DAYS OF THE WEEK. It is not still advisable to eat only once a day after the third month for the entire fourth month! Below is a sample meal plan for the entire week. To be effective, you start replacing the lost full meal with a healthy snack session for either of the following (in addition to the previous suggestions):

a.) Biscuits low in fat content but high in carbohydrates.

b.) Oat meal.

c.) Fruits.

d.) Milk

Sample meal plan:

1^st day – Eat two full meals + healthy snacks

2^nd day – Eat one full meal + two healthy snack sessions

3^rd day to 7^th day of the week... = alternate the above options, so in the 3^rd day you will need to eat two full meals again with snacks. While on the 4^th day, you need to eat one full meal with two snack sessions. Alternate until the week is done; repeat this for the entire fourth month. It is important for your full meal to have a well balance diet of proteins, carbohydrates and all necessary vitamins and minerals. Also it is important that at this stage of your diet, sleep very well (6- 7 hours a day) because it helps your body to rest properly and conservative in spending energy (will make you feel less hungry during the day).

Step3.) Your body is now conditioned to eat one full meal in some days of the week. On the fifth month, you might want to increase the occurrence of one full meal a day from 3 times a week (approximate) to 4 to 5 times a week. So you will reduce the days where you are eating two full meals a day.

Step4.) On the sixth month, you might want to try eating once a meal for one straight week. Then on the next week, you mixed with two full meals (alternate) then go back again to one full meal a day for the next week. You will notice that your weight drops substantially since the first month and without any feeling intense feeling hunger, stress, etc. It is still not recommended to do aerobic, heavy exercise starting from the first month of diet. The weight loss should only be due to the reduction of excess food intake.

Step5.) Probably if things are looking very well, your body is fully conditioned at eating only once a meal per day in the seventh to 8^th month. You should be able to do this for the entire days of the month. If you continue to do this for the entire year, your weight drops dramatically and you will become leaner and start to look very sexy.

There will come a time that you will eventually stop losing weight. This is normal and nothing to worry because this is the weight stabilization period (12 months to 18 months after the first diet). You cannot further lose weight because your food intake and body energy consumption are now in equilibrium. If you want to further look sexy, this is the time to do aerobic exercise to lose those excess body fats (yes you might now weighing less but this does not mean you have a low body fat percentage). To get rid of those body fats, you need to work out aerobically.

Why not go directly to any workout to lose weight? It’s very painful and stressful. Imagine you are overweight and you go directly to any aerobic workout such as running, cycling and swimming 5 times a week or even once week can be very painful to your knees. By losing weight first, you will feel lighter and injury-free the moment you hit the road for your first running workout. When you work out, you might go back to feel hungry again since one full meal a day might appear insufficient (because calories are consumed during work out). The solution is to eat MORE only on your one full meal in a day (more carbohydrate content). There is no need to go back to eating twice or thrice a day or else you will start gaining weight again!

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Krua Thai in Cebu- My Dining Experience

One of the great restaurants I’ve tried in Cebu is the Krua Thai. After a good dining experience in one their SM City Cebu branch, I found out that there is a high similarity between Thai foods and Filipino style recipes. I am not sure if this is really the case, maybe they add some Filipino taste. My companion was my husband and we decide to eat at this restaurant because it feels nice and wanted to try some new taste of Thai cooking. Actually these are the foods that we order (as I’ve remembered) from the menu (sorry for not posting a picture, not bringing a camera on that day):

a.) Crispy Pata b.) Spicy Prawn Soup c.) Fish soup d.) Lots of Rice e.) Some Beers f.) Green Mango Shake g.) Others... forgotten.

The total cost is around 900 ~ 1100 pesos for the two of us. In fact, it was one of the biggest orders we made in a restaurant and are no leftovers. After all, I am greatly satisfied with the quality of the foods they served despite the cost. I consider myself a heavy eater and probably if you are medium eater, you can average at most 350 pesos per meal at Krua Thai.

I do not know probably it’s cheaper outside SM for some other branches of Krua Thai. In Lapu-Lapu City, there is a Krua Thai branch in Marina Mall MEPZ 1. It’s near the airport road. This is the map:



There are also branches in Banilad located in this map:



This is actually located in the BTC (Banilad Town Center) near Gaisano Country Mall in Banilad.

What are the good things that I’ve experienced with Krua Thai?

1.) Once you get inside they are very friendly and attend to your orders very well. 2.) They provide suggestions to the equivalent Thai food to your favorite Filipino foods. For example Crispy pata is actually Kha Moo Thod; although you can also look at the menu pictures. 3.) The waiters are very knowledgeable about the menu.

Recommended occasions for dining at Krua Thai:

1.) Dining out for anniversary. 2.) Birthday party (they offer some free foods for birthdays, just ask the waiter). 3.) Date night with your love one. 4.) Small family dinner.

I think it will be very expensive for a large family and probably their prices would change. So I would opt to look for a cheaper alternative. And also take note that this restaurant is ranked #20 out of 75 restaurants in Cebu reviewed by Trip Advisor. See more details here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g298460-d1006364-Reviews-Krua_Thai-Cebu_City_Cebu_Visayas.html

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Beef Caldereta Food Recipe

Beef Caldereta

Ingredients:

Beef brisket- ½ kilo

White onions- 1pcs.

Tomatoes- 3pcs.

Tomato sauce-1cup

Potatoes- 2pcs.

Carrots-2pcs.

Spanish Sausage (chorizo)-1pc.

Red and green bell pepper- 3pcs.

Cooking oil

Liver spread-1 small can

Soy sauce

Garlic

Salt

Pepper

 

Preparations:

1. Cut beef in cube shapes if using spare ribs, cut into 5 cm pieces.
2. Peel garlic and mince, peel onions and chop, peel and chop tomatoes.
3. Peel potatoes and cut into cubes leave with water in the plates.
4. Peel carrots and cut into cubes.
5. Slice sausage crosswise 1cm in rings.

 Cooking directions:

1. Place beef pieces in a pot. Add water. Cover pot. Apply heat and when water starts to boil, immediately reduce to simmer and cook for 2 hour or until beef is tender. Remove beef from stock and set aside. Reserve the stock for making sauce.
2. Before serving preheat another pot. Pour in oil. Saute garlic, white onions and tomatoes. Add beef, tomato sauce, live spread, soy sauce, reserved stock, potatoes, carrots and sausage. Simmer for 5 minutes, and then add bell peppers. Continue cooking until potato is done.
3. Season with salt and pepper.

Tips: Always serve hot. Do not over cook the meat and the vegetables to look fresh and healthy. And about tomatoes choose the red one to make it easy to peel. The beef meat is expensive but in the public market there are sellers offer much cheaper than those in the department store. Like for instance, at the mall the beef per kilo is 295.00 per kilo where as in the public market it is only 220.00 per kilo if you buy spare ribs it is only 190.00 per kilo. Lastly,  if you to decide to have grocery in public market, do it early in the morning preferably at 6:00am because their meat are fresh.

Spare Ribs

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Jin Ling Green Tea China Review- An Inexpensive and Healthy Beverage

Green tea is always my most favourite beverage at any time of the day. If you want to know why I love Green tea more than any other drinks:

a.) It contains a strong anti-oxidant called polyphenols. This works by killing cancer or malignant cells in your body. It also kills the chemicals responsible for various diseases in the body as well as aging.

b.) Polyphenol will also lower the cholesterol level. If you have lower cholesterol level, you have a healthy cardiovascular system and lower the risk of heart disease/stroke.

c.) Strengthen your immune system and fight against common virus like colds. Green tea is rich with L-theanine, a chemical responsible for strengthening the immune system.

d.) It will rehydrate your body naturally without bombarding your body with sugar and other elements – comparing to other beverages like soft drinks which are sweet. Green tea is almost comparable to water except that it has its own unique aroma/smell after brewing.

e.) It makes you sleep better. Green tea contains only a very small amount of caffeine; a chemical that will prevent you from sleeping well at night. If you want some heavy dose of caffeine because you do not want to feel sleepy; you can try drinking a pure black coffee (no sugar).

f.) It is cheaper than most beverages. A single bottle of 250ml soft drinks cost around 10pesos but a green tea bags cost less and with even more health benefits.

I bought Jin Ling Green tea at Fooda Supermarket Consolacion Cebu. It roughly cost around half the standard and popular Lipton Green Tea. Well even though different brands of green tea are available, all teas comes from the same plant called: Camellia sinensis

This is how the Green tea plant looks like:




Also the approach of creating a green tea is similar regardless of any brand. This is created by drying the leaves and putting in the tea bags. The only difference with black tea (which is also popular) is that green tea is unfermented and requires less processing. This makes green tea, a more natural form of tea. Since it contains less processing; it has more anti-oxidants compared to black tea.
I have also tried Lipton green tea which is more popular but expensive, comparing it to Jin Ling Green Tea:

- It is a cheaper green tea alternative.
- It has richer and natural green tea aroma after opening lifting the bags from the hot water.
- It tastes great and natural (like water).

How to Prepare Jin Ling Green Tea for Beverage

1.) Put one tea bag into a cup.
2.) Pour very hot (boiling water is ideal) water to the cup.
3.) Lift the bags continuously for 3 minutes so that the tea can be brewed and mixed with the hot water.


4.) It is ready to be served and no need to add sugar or milk.
For best taste, you can only use the bag once. In my observation, I drink tea at least twice a day and the package of tea bags can be consumed in less than 2 weeks.

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5 Best Foods for Runners and Duathletes for Improving Performance

I can tell you that one of the most important factor for improving running and duathlon speed performance is on the nutrition(if rest and workout hours are already properly addressed). Below are some of the most important foods that are tested to improve performance:

1.) Rice in your diet

Rice is rich in carbohydrates and the most important fuel for speed. Typically if you are well-conditioned and well-trained athlete, most of your fuel will be derived from fats (especially for endurance and long runs >10Km). However if you are running at your aerobic speed (70% to 80%) you are still burning some moderate amount of carbohydrates. Rice should be part in your meal so that you can have a stable carbohydrate intake. In Philippines, rice is a standard part of any daily meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner). You can buy rice in public market at around 40 pesos per kilo.

2.) Chicken liver

Chicken liver is one of the most important sources of iron. Iron is a very important mineral for fat burning. If you want to become a elite athlete, you should have a a stable iron supply in your diet. Eating chicken liver at least once to twice a week can solve the problem. If you want to eat more, you need to consult with your doctor. Although there are other sources of iron, this seems to be one of the most delicious alternative.

Iron helps the formation of hemoglobin, the red blood cells in your body that transports oxygen to your running muscles. If you are lacking with hemoglobin, then you will have a limited amount of red blood cells during any workout – this means you cannot burn fat effectively and you will have a hard time improving your maximum aerobic function (MAF) speed.

One evidence of lacking iron during workout is that you will have a hard time breathing even though you sleep and eat well (but lack in iron minerals in your diet). The reason of this difficult breathing is that your lungs needs to work very hard to compensate for the lack of red blood cells circulating in your body. Your heart rate will increase also. Chicken liver is very cheap but a very useful source of iron.

3.) Milk

When you are doing running workout, you will stress your bones. In the long term, running increases the risk of early stress fractures. The solution is to have a stable calcium supply to your body. One of the best sources of calcium is milk. Any milk will do, but I recommend those milk that are proactive in preventing osteoporosis such as Anlene. I recommend you should drink at least one to two full glasses of milk on a daily basis. Calcium is an important bone mineral which improves bone density and bone growth. Your bones will become stronger with your workouts instead of wearing out.

4.) Fried chicken or any pork and beef

Cooked meats are good source of protein. Protein is very important for building muscle and repairing damaged muscle from your running workout. For example if you do a long run, you will commonly observed that your legs are tired and heavy. It is because the muscle mass gets hammered badly; the solution is to have proteins in your diet on a daily basis. Also since foods are salted, it is a good source of sodium which is an important electrolyte in your body.

5.) Fruits – Banana and Orange

Do not ever ignore fruits in your daily diet. For example, banana is rich in potassium which is also an important electrolyte. Orange is rich in vitamin C which will improve your immune system.

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