Homemade: Cheese Pimiento Spread

I don't like the cheese pimiento being sold in the groceries and supermarkets today.  For me, it wasn't that authentic.  My mom used to make this when I was in grade school.  It's easy to make and you only have 3-4 ingredients.  

Here's what you need:

• 1 block of cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 block of butter, softened
• 1 can of red pimiento, diced
• 2 tablespoon of milk (optional)

Here's what you need to do:

1. Put in a large bowl the butter and cheese.  Mix well.
2. Add in the red pimiento and mix together.
3. Add the milk if the mixture is too thick.  If not, you can skip the milk.

That's it! So easy to prepare.  You can use it as spread to your pandesal, burger buns, or any bread you like.  

Try it out yourself and let me know how it goes.  Happy Eating!

Homemade: Cheesy Pesto Cream with Chicken and Mushroom

I tried my first attempt to cook my all-time favorite pasta - PESTO! Instead of doing a plain pesto pasta, I went one level up and did a pesto cream sauce and added chicken and mushroom. I called it "Cheesy Pesto Cream with Chicken and Mushroom".

I got the Pesto Cream Sauce recipe from allrecipes.com but I twist it up a bit with what's available in my kitchen.  


Here's what you need:

• 1 500g penne pasta (you can also use linguine or fettuccine)
• 2 tablespoon extra virgin oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 8 cloves of garlic, grated (this is a trick I got from Rachel Ray)
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 block of cheddar cheese
• 1 cup of prepared basil pesto
• 1 cup of chicken, cooked and sliced
• 1 cup of mushroom, sliced
• 3 small tomatoes, diced 

What you need to do?

Pasta

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.  
2. Add pasta and cook according to direction (back of the pasta package).  San Remo Penne Pasta cooks for 14 minutes or until al dente. 
3. Drain the pasta when it's cooked and set aside.

Cheesy Pesto Cream Sauce

1. Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. 
2. Saute onion until tender and translucent. 
3. Stir in garlic and butter. Saute until garlic is soft and fragrant for about 1 minute.
4. Dissolve flour in milk, then stir in.
5. Season with salt and pepper. 
6. Simmer for 4 minutes while stirring constantly.  
7. Add the cheese and stir until melted.
8. Stir in the pesto.
9. Add chicken, mushroom and tomatoes. 
10. Cook for another 4 minutes or until heated through.

Once everybody's settled in the dining area, drop the pasta in the cheesy pesto cream sauce until evenly coated. Serve it with a smile :-) 


I was glad my family loved it when I served this during dinner.  Hope you find this helpful.  Try this out for yourself or serve it to your loved ones.  Let me know how it goes.  Happy Eating!

Pizza Hut's 3-Cheese Ravioli

Ravioli is a type of filled pasta composed of a filling sealed with a two layers of thin pasta dough.  I was always curious to eat a ravioli. This type of pasta is not the type of pasta I grew up eating.  I would only see this in food network and cooking shows in lifestyle network.  This type of dish is served in fine dining restaurants or authentic Italian restaurants in the metro.  

Good thing Pizza Hut has new offerings of pasta dishes.  Pizza Hut's Specialty Pasta includes the 3-cheese ravioli. The pasta is filled with mozzarella, parmesan and cream cheese. Thus, the name 3-cheese ravioli!  This dish is tossed in tomato-based sauce with pesto cream.  Sounds yummy right? As soon as I saw this dish from their menu, I instantly knew I will order it.  And so, I did.  

The 3-cheese ravioli melted in my mouth instantly at my first bite.  I so love pesto on my pasta so this is a plus point for me.  However, the tomato sauce was a bit too "Italian" for me. Meaning, it was too sour for my taste bud.  I like my tomato sauce to be sweet just like me :-)  So as not to waste my Php 165, I finished all the ravioli on my plate and left out the tomato sauce.  I used the excess tomato sauce to dip my garlic bread (or so I thought), which is a bit bland if you eat it just as is. 

My first ravioli experience was satisfying though it is not something that I would go back and order again.   I ordered it to satisfy my curiosity and that was just it.  If Pizza Hut could only make their tomato sauce to be more Pinoy-like then I would probably order this dish over and over again.  The 3-cheese ravioli itself was good as well as the pesto cream.  I just did not like the tomato sauce.  Maybe it was just me, but for those who are used to an "Italian" sour-style sauce, then you should try this one out yourself and let me know what you think about this dish.  As my mama would always say before I eat, Happy Eating!

Sapphire Spoon rates this dish: 

3 out of 5 Sapphie Spoon