Food from home: My ideal Noche Buena

     If you read my previous post You know it's Christmas in the Philippines when, expect to have gatherings or Christmas parties left and right, which means exposure to all the good food, such as Ensaymada, sweet ham, Queso de bola, Bibingka, Puto Bumbong and lots more.* Since Christmas is already here, I thought of surprising Mom, Dad and my sister Mitch with some popular Christmas treats, which is my idea of Noche Buena... the Filipino fiesta food.* On the menu... fried chicken, pork barbeque, Lechon (for the others since I don't eat lechon), Leche Flan, Buko Pandan, Cathedral Window, any chocolate dessert (yes chocolate is a must since we're all chocoholics) and these... *

Macaroni salad

    Thanks to the Lady's Choice mayonnaise Christmas commercials, it lured me to have macaroni salad at this time of the year. I made changes from my previous Macaroni salad recipe which has lemon or vinegar and pickle relish. I followed the recipe based on the current commercial using elbow macaroni, ham, chicken, pineapple, carrots, green onions, cheese, mayo and hard boiled egg as a garnish. The latter turned out to be better. ^_^

Lumpia Shanghai with sweet and sour sauce

     An all time favorite... perfect for parties! As I did my recipe research... one had cheese, one had water chestnuts, one had soy sauce. For this one I used ground pork, carrots, green onions, onions, salt and pepper. A tip to know you're getting the right taste is to cook a little of the filling to know if the flavor has to be adjusted accordingly. I ended up using around a teaspoon or two of soy sauce and that was it. For the sweet and sour sauce, I used ketchup, cornstarch, water, sugar and vinegar. It was too sweet at first so I added around 1/4 - 1/2 cup more of vinegar. 

Filipino style spaghetti

     This is what we like to call party spaghetti. This is the sweet kind with meat and hotdogs... love it! It has always been a privilege because I just see it in children's parties. One of my favorite Pinoy spaghetti is Jollibee. For a long time, I have wondered how this is made and thank goodness now I know. For the sauce, I sauteed onions and garlic, ground beef, ground pork and Purefoods hotdog. To save time, I used UFC spaghetti sauce (Filipino style). Grated Eden cheese melt sarap was placed on top and baked. If you prefer to make the sauce from scratch, you can use 1 large pack tomato sauce, 1/2 - 1 cup sugar, 1/4 - 1/2 cup banana ketchup. The secret to good Filipino spaghetti are the ground beef, ground pork and cheese. Also, it's best to bake it to let the flavors to absorb.

Mango Float

     A simple and yummy dessert. The first time I made this, I poured the whole can of condensed milk in the cream and it turned out watery (lesson learned). All you need are graham crackers, cream, condensed milk and mangoes. Pour around 1/4 cup of condensed milk over the cream. Just add more condensed milk gradually until you reach the desired sweetness. Layer by placing the graham crackers first, then mangoes, pour the cream mixture and repeat. Freeze for 2-3 hours. Best to put it in the refrigerator 30 minutes - 1 hour before eating. Mom insisted I use crushed graham crackers and it turned out she was right.  Both kids and adults will enjoy this one.


     May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year... and more good food and good eating! God bless you all. ^_^



Ensaymada -sweet bread with butter and cheese, usually with Queso de bola
Queso de bola -Edam cheese
Bibingka -rice cake with white cheese, salted egg and shredded coconut
Puto bumbong -steamed purple glutinous rice
Noche Buena -Christmas eve dinner in the Philippines
Lechon -roasted pig
Leche flan -caramel custard
Buko pandan -a Filipino dessert with coconut, Pandan (Screwpine) jelly and cream