electric lunchbox – At Home With Theresa

Electric Lunchbox #99: Mangoes with Sticky Rice

September 8, 2021September 7, 2021Theresa PizarroLeave a comment

This is a very delicious dessert typically found in Southeast asian countries. Rice is a staple eaten 3 times a day in that part of the world – plus for dessert/snack too! Mangoes with Sticky Rice is a simple treat but truly memorable and I know that I crave it often, specially when I see ripe, super fragrant, mangoes at the grocery store.

There are several variations of this Sticky Rice in Asia.

In the Philippines where I grew up, my aunts would wrap the rice mixture in banana leaves then tie them up in pairs before boiling it until the rice is done. They would serve these “Suman” as our midday snack, dipped in sugar, topped with ube halaya, or fried and topped with more sugar. There is also Biko, which is sweetened sticky rice and coconut milk, baked in a pan and topped with caramelly coconut jam. Another of my very favorite sweet!

I tried it served as this recipe is, with a side of mangoes and decorated with an orchid flower, in Singapore. 😋

When there are ripe mangoes available, they are THE perfect partner to this simple Sticky Rice dessert. Just make sure the mangoes are perfectly ripe!

To add more ooomph to this already yummy dessert, I added a drizzle of some Coconut Rum just before serving. I personally do not drink alcohol but somehow I love baking with it! As is evidenced by this recipe, and my famous Rum Cake recipe: https://athomewiththeresa.com/2020/11/16/electric-lunchbox-bacardi-rum-cake/.

This dessert is something I’d gladly skip lunch or dinner for.

It is easy to make and sure to impress! I hope you try it!

*NOTE that this recipe uses regular sized measuring cups, NOT the tiny ELB cup, unless specified.*

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Ingredients:

1 cup sticky rice – I use Botan brand sweet rice🔝

2/3 cup canned coconut milk

1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large ripe mangoes, cut from the pit and scooped out

1 1/2 tablespoons coconut rum, more if desired 😉

Procedure:

1. Place measured rice in a fine strainer and rinse under cold water until water runs clear, running your fingers through it to help in rinsing it.

2. Place rice in a bowl, cover with plenty of water and let soak for 4-12 hours.

3. Drain rice and place in the big bottom bowl of your ELB. Place this bowl, uncovered, in the ELB base.

*See the difference in size? The one on the right is straight from the bag and the one on the left is after the rice was soaked overnight.*

4. Place 3 ELB cups of water in the base, cover and let steam for about 1 hour, until your lunchbox shuts off.

5. Carefully open the ELB and fluff rice with a fork. Cover loosely and set aside.

6. In a small bowl, combine coconut milk, sugar, and salt.

7. Mix until sugar is completely dissolved.

8. Pour mixture onto the hot rice.

9. Place the bowl back in the ELB, add 1 ELB cup of water to the base, cover and let steam until done, about 15 minutes more.

10. Carefully open the ELB and stir the rice. Check to see if rice is done by tasting some. The best part, right? Adjust sweetness if needed by adding more sugar if you like. A reminder though that the mangoes will add sweetness to the dish too.

11. Slice each mango half into thin, lengthwise pieces. ⬇️

12. Mound rice on a serving plate and arrange mango slices around it, or on top of the rice. *I used a small cup to shape the rice into a small dome. Just scoop some rice into a clean, dry cup, level the top while gently packing the rice in. DO NOT pack too much as you want it fluffy, just enough to hold its shape. You could also just scoop some rice onto the plate and top with mangoes. It’ll still be delicious!

13. Pour coconut rum over and serve.

14. Sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy every bite!

Electric Lunchbox #97: Pistachio Cake

June 24, 2021June 27, 2021Theresa PizarroLeave a comment

I’m back after not posting for a long time. Have you tried a beautiful, green colored Pistachio Cake?

My coworker (Jonnielyn Rivera) shared this super easy recipe with me a few years ago and I just had to adapt it to the ELB! It did take some time because I sometimes ended up with a cake that is too dense or tasteless, because of the amount of pudding. After a few tries, I think I finally nailed it. 😊 Look at the crumb of this cake in the photo below! Light yet moist and flavorful! 😋

And so here is an easy to make yet delicious recipe to try if you have time. All you’ll need is a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up a box of yellow cake mix, a little box of pistachio pudding mix, a bit of sour cream, an egg, some canola oil, and some water!

I hope you’ll try out and of course, I do hope that you’ll like it!

*NOTE that this recipe uses regular sized measuring cups, NOT the tiny ELB cup, unless specified.*

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Ingredients:

1 cup yellow cake mix

3 tablespoons Pistachio Pudding Mix

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon water

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 egg

3 ELB cups water for the base

Procedure :

1. Spray the big or medium ELB bowl with nonstick spray.

2. In a bowl, place the yellow cake mix,

3. pudding mix,

4. sour cream,

5. water,

6. Oil,

7. and egg.

8. mix well until blended.

9. Pour into the prepared ELB bowl. Cover with foil.

10. Place bowl in the ELB base, pour 3 ELB cups of water in the base, cover and let steam until it shuts off, about 55 minutes.

11. Carefully open the ELB and check the cake for doneness by inserting a skewer in the middle. It should come out clean.

12. Cool completely on a wire rack.

13. Carefully unmold the cake and serve.

14. Enjoy!

Electric Lunchbox # 96: Creamed Corn Cornbread

June 2, 2021June 1, 2021Theresa Pizarro1 Comment

Good morning everyone!

After posting the Jiffy Spoon bread recipe for the ELB, I got a few requests for a “from scratch” recipe as Jiffy is not readily available where they live. I had that problem once in a while too, so I am more than happy to accommodate that request.

The texture if this is not as soft as the spoon bread recipe, but it is close. I hope you try it both and decide which one you like better!

*NOTE that this recipe uses regular sized measuring cups, NOT the tiny ELB cup, unless specified.*

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Ingredients:

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

1/2 cup cornmeal

3 tablespoons canola oil

3/4 cup canned creamed corn

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

3 ELB cups water for the base

Procedure:

1. Spray the big ELB bowl with nonstick spray. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, place sour cream,

2. Egg,

3. Cornmeal,

4. Canola oil,

4. Creamed corn,

5. Salt,

6. Baking powder, and sugar.

7. Stir everything together until just mixed.

8. Pour into prepared bowl and level the tops.

9. Cover with foil and set on the ELB base. Pour 3 ELB cups water in the base, cover, and let steam until it shuts off, about 1 hour.

10. Carefully open the ELB and check the bread for doneness by inserting a skewer in the middle. It should have little moist crumbs attached to it.

11. Cool for a few minutes on a wire rack. Invert onto a serving plate and serve warm.

Electric Lunchbox #95: Spoon Bread made with Jiffy Mix

May 14, 2021June 1, 2021Theresa Pizarro2 Comments

Spoon bread…

I went to school in Virginia briefly when I was in high school. I was lucky enough to have cooking/baking class as my elective class of choice. The counselor asked me a few questions about interests/hobbies and asked me to choose my elective. Kitchen it is!

It was my favorite time of the day! I learned to make lots of food (sugar cookies, lasagna, manicotti, Welsh Cakes…) and we get to keep a portion to take home, or eat at lunch. I still have a few recipes I copied from that time in a blue notebook that I still make frequently.

One of the things we made was spoon bread. I didn’t quite understand it at that time, but yes, just as the name implies, it is a soft, moist quick bread that you’ll use a spoon to scoop up to eat. It is soft like pudding but with a little more structure that you can cut it.

In this recipe, I used a readily available cornbread mix to make life easier. And the amount of the ingredients are adjusted to fit the big ELB bowl.

Enjoy!

*NOTE that this recipe uses regular sized measuring cups, NOT the tiny ELB cup, unless specified.*

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Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup canned creamed corn

1/2 cup canned sweet corn kernels, drained

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Jiffy Cornbread Mix

3 ELB cups water for the base

*Use the big bowl of the ELB!*

Procedure:

1. Spray the big ELB bowl with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a bowl, place melted butter,

3. creamed corn,

4. corn kernels,

5. sour cream,

6. egg,

7. sugar,

8. salt,

9. and Jiffy cornbread mix.

10. Mix everything together until well blended.

11. Pour into the prepared ELB bowl. Cover with foil.

12. place 3 ELB cups of water in the base. Place the bowl in the ELB base, cover and steam until it shuts off, about 1 hour.

13. Carefully open the ELB and check the bread for doneness by inserting a skewer in the middle. It is done when a few moist crumbs are sticking to the skewer instead of thick batter.

14. cool completely and unmold carefully. Slice and serve or use a spoon to scoop up individual portions.

15. Enjoy!

Tomato Egg Drop Soup

April 30, 2021June 7, 2021Theresa Pizarro3 Comments

I wasn’t able to take photos as I was preparing this soup since I upgraded my phone and it took forever to sync with the old one.

In the meantime, I was totally phoneless (is that even a word?). I could’ve used the big Nikon dslr but it definitely would be in my way.

This soup cooked up really fast, about 15 minutes total, so it was ready way before my phone was done. I didn’t realize I had 12,000 photos and almost as much videos in there as I take photos with the phone when trying out and testing new recipes. I need to go and delete some one day. One day….

Anyway, the recipe….this is similar to the Egg Drop Soup you’ll find in most Asian restaurants, but with the addition of tomatoes. Trust me, it is very good.

My husband really loves Egg Drop Soup and since March last year, we had not gone out to eat at all. Time to try making it at home.

Someone sent me this recipe to try and after a few tweaks, I think it’s just perfect. I added a cup of water as the chicken stock made my soup a bit too salty for my taste. You may use 6 cups of chicken stock if you prefer your soup saltier.

I only have that one photo of the soup in the serving bowl, but if I make it again, I will update with step by step photos like all of my recipes!

Enjoy and I hope you’ll like it as much as we did!

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Ingredients:

2 ripe tomatoes, stemmed and diced

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 garlic clove, minced

5 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

Green onions, sliced

2 eggs, beaten

2 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water

2 tbsp soy sauce

Pinch of ground pepper

Procedure:

1. Sprinkle the tomatoes with a pinch or two of salt set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes until it softens.

3. Stir in the garlic. Cool for a couple of minutes until fragrant.

4. Add in the the chicken stock and water, cover and bring to a boil.

5. Stir the soup clockwise. Pour the beaten eggs into the center of the pot and keep stirring clockwise.

6. Stir in the reconstituted cornstarch, soy sauce, and pepper.

7. Simmer for a couple of minutes to cook the cornstarch and thicken the soup.

8. Pour into serving bowls. Top with the spring onion before serving.

Electric Lunchbox #94: Apple Rum Cake

March 30, 2021March 30, 2021Theresa Pizarro1 Comment

Apple. Rum. Cake.

Apples were on sale this past few weeks so I had bought my fair share. Actually MORE than my fair share that I had to dehydrate some to save them from going bad.

So I thought about making apple torte (https://athomewiththeresa.com/2020/11/27/apple-cream-torte/). But then someone mentioned apple cake with rum…so off to testing I went! I was told that spiced rum works best but I only had Bacardi so I used that. It worked!

You can definitely taste the rum in this cake. Which I like, but feel free to lessen the amount if you have to. Or replace it with apple juice to make it kid friendly.

Hope you like this recipe!

*NOTE that this recipe uses regular sized measuring cups, NOT the tiny ELB cup, unless specified.*

Follow me for more recipes for the ELB!

See and order Itaki’s products here! https://www.itakico.com/theresa

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Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1-2 tablespoons Bacardi rum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 big apple, peeled and chopped

3 ELB cups water for base

Procedure:

1. Spray the big ELB bowl with nonstick spray. Set aside.

2. Melt butter in a microwave safe dish.

3. In a medium sized bowl, pour melted butter,

4. Brown sugar,

5. Rum,

6. Vanilla,

7. Egg,

8. Mix everything well together.

9. Add four,

10. Baking powder,

11. Salt,

12. Mix until no more trace of dry flour remains and the ingredients are well combined.

13. Gently fold in chopped apples. Make sure to try and coat the apples with the batter.

14. Pour into prepared ELB bowl. Cover with foil and set onto the ELB base,

15. Place 3 ELB cups water in the base, cover and let steam until it shuts off , about 1 hour.

16. Carefully open the ELB and check the cake for doneness. Poke the center with a skewer. It should come out clean.

17. Enjoy warm or cold! A scoop or 2 of ice cream would be great with this too!

18. Enjoy!

Bunny/Heart Cake Pops

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021Theresa Pizarro2 Comments

I recently got back into making cake pops, as I discovered a whole bunch of molds made of silicone and plastic.

I ordered a lot of them to start experimenting again after not making it for about 5 years. I also ordered some fondant molds and luster powders for decorating.

It was an easier process back then. Just mix up a box of cake mix and bake as directed. Cool and crumble into little pieces, mix in about half a tub of ready made frosting and make little round balls. Dip into melted candy melts and cool.

Nowadays there are an infinite number of shapes and designs, one much more detailed than another.

For this post, I am using my bunny mold and heart mold, making cake pops without sticks. I will post a photo of my other cake pop with sticks at the bottom.

If using the ELB to make a cake, follow these recipes https://athomewiththeresa.com/2020/11/01/electric-lunchbox-71-yellow-cake-and-chocolate-cake-boxed-mixes/ Add about a tablespoon of frosting to the cooled, finely crumbled cake to start, adding a bit more as needed to achieve a play dough like consistency.

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You will need the following:

A silicone mold with the shape of your choice

A box of cake mix, any flavor you like (I used chocolate)

The ingredients needed to prepare the cake (usually eggs, oil, and water)

A tub of ready made frosting (I used Butter Cream and Cream Cheese flavored frosting)

Chocolate or candy melts

Sprinkles, edible glitter, metallic spray, any other decoration as desired

1. First, you prepare the cake mix according to the directions provided on the box.

2. Pour into a greased 13×9 pan and bake as directed on the package.

3. Cool cake completely on a wire rack.

4. For these type of molds, you’ll first coat them with a layer of melted chocolate or candy melts, fill it with cake pop mix after it sets, then add another layer of chocolate or candy melts to seal.

5. To do that, melt some chocolate or candy melts in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring until melted and smooth. Pour about 1 tablespoon into the mold and work it up the sides with the back of a spoon. Try to coat the inside of the mold evenly. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or so to set. You can add another, thin layer to reinforce the shell if needed after it has set. Return to the fridge to set again.

6. While the shell is in the fridge, place the completely cooled cake, cut into pieces, in a food processor and pulse until finely crumbled.

7. Transfer to a bowl.

8. Add about half of the frosting and mix well. You want it to have a consistency similar to play dough.

9. Take the chocolate shells from the fridge and fill with cake pop mixture.

10. Press gently but firmly to fill throughout the mold.

11. Make sure to leave some space on top for another layer of chocolate or candy melts.

12. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of melted chocolate or candy melts over the filling.

13. Smooth out the top with the back of a spoon then a straight edged spatula to remove excess.

14. Place in the refrigerator to set, about 30 minutes or so.

15. Carefully unmold the cake pops. Tada! Aren’t they beautiful?

16. Pictures at the bottom are the traditional cake pops that have sticks.

These make the perfect birthday cake for our current Covid-19 situation. They’re individually portioned and easy to wrap up and give out.

I hope you’ll like these!

Electric Lunchbox #92: Bananas Foster Cheesecake

March 5, 2021March 4, 2021Theresa PizarroLeave a comment

Bananas Foster Cheesecake! Minus the flame as I had never done it, so it’s still scary for me to light up my food and watch the flames dance on it. 😊

This cheesecake has bananas in it too so you get to taste a hint of it, but together with the caramelized sugar and bananas ever so slightly toasted in butter…pure heaven in every bite!

Making it in the ELB makes sure you only get a small portion, not too much, so that there is no need to summon much will power. 😊

*NOTE that this recipe uses regular sized measuring cups, NOT the tiny ELB cup, unless specified.*

Follow me for more recipes for the ELB!

See Itaki’s offerings here! https://www.itakico.com/theresa

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Ingredients for the crust:

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon brown sugar, optional

Ingredients for the filling:

1 bar (8oz) cream cheese

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1 small banana

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

Ingredients for the topping:

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 banana, sliced

1 tablespoon Bacardi rum

Procedure:

1. For the crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs,

2. Butter, and brown sugar (if using) together.

3. Place in the big ELB bowl. You can line the bottom with a parchment paper, cut to fit, to make it easier to remove the cheesecake later. You can also add parchment paper slings to make it even easier.