Maria Allred

Although Maria Allred, of Bruce,  has lived in the United States since 1996, she still cooks more Filipino than American food. She started cooking as a teenager because “you need to learn everything.” Her first things to cook were fish, grilled pork chops and rice.
“I cannot live without rice!” she said, and eats it every day. She uses a rice cooker and said that on her last trip to visit family in the Philippines, “everybody had a rice cooker!” She commented on the number of improvements there because it was so poor when she was growing up.  Maria has four sisters, one brother, her daughter and five grandchildren living there.

“Chinese and Filipino food are almost the same,” she said. The pancit canton (dried Chinese noodles) and celery cheese soup are good, and are dishes she makes quite often. They are favorites in the Philippines, and the soup, a common Filipino recipe, she made at least once a week while living there.
Another wintertime favorite soup of hers is made with cabbage, corn on the cob slices, celery, squash and pork. Chicken with cashew nuts is a favorite dish of Susan Massey’s that Maria makes. She says she usually makes Chicken Pork Adobo twice a week or so.

She learned how to make cornbread after she came here and her mother-in-law told her that her first try at dressing was good. Maria loves the traditional holiday food here–ham, fried turkey and dressing. For the holidays, she will make spaghetti, menudo and macaroni salad to take to gatherings.
Her favorite American food is turnip greens, and she has learned to like them. She cooks them or kale and likes to serve them with baked chicken. She is very health conscious about eating, trying to maintain a healthy blood pressure. She eats a lot of vegetables–green beans, broccoli, broccoli-carrot-cauliflower mix, and thinks about “greens, greens, greens.” She also likes  apples, oranges and especially bananas, and lots of fish and chicken. She says she makes and enjoys chicken spaghetti, too.

She cooks every day and likes to try and learn some new recipes. Chili  Con Carne is something she made recently for the first time. When she is off work, she likes to “cook, cook, cook!” She has a garden every year and likes to grow eggplant, tomatoes, squash, greens, bell pepper, hot pepper. She also gardened in the Philippines.
Maria is not really a sweet eater but likes ice cream in the summer and pecan pie “once in a blue moon”  and chocolate “maybe once a  year.” She wants to grow turnip greens one day, and she wants to try to make a sweet potato casserole.
Menudo
1/2 cup diced pork
1/2 cup diced liver
1/4 cup diced potatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 can DelMonte tomato sauce
1 Bay leaf
2 cups water
1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
3 segments garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Sweet green or red pepper
Sliced raisins
Oil for frying
Put pork and liver in water with salt. Boil until tender. Saute garlic and onion in oil. Add tomato sauce and continue cooking. Add pork, liver, potatoes, garbanzos, raisins, sweet pepper and bay leaf. Continue cooking until potatoes are half done. Season well. Serves 6.
Chicken w/Cashew Nuts
1 medium sized chicken, cut into serving pieces and boiled
1/2 pkg. frozen peas
3/4 cup cashew nuts
3 stems celery, sliced
2 carrots, diced and boiled
2 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp. flour
1 medium onion, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute onion in butter. Blend in flour and add broth, stirring well until sauce thickens. Add chicken, cook 10 minutes. Add cashew nuts. Remove from heat. Serves 6.

Chinese Pancit Canton
1 pkg. pancit canton (dried Chinese noodles)
1/2 Boston butt, boiled and cut into strips
2 cups cabbage, cut into strips
2 cups chicken meat, boiled and cut into strips
1/2 cup shrimp, shelled
1 cup  chicaro (sweet peas) cut into  1/2” lengths
2 cups chicken broth
3 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved into  1/4 cup chicken broth
1 onion, chopped
6 segments garlic, pounded
1 carrot cut into strips
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying
Saute garlic and onion in oil. Add Boston butt, chicken and shrimp and cook until tender. Add broth and seasoning. Bring to boil. Add   vegetables. Thicken with cornstarch mixture. Add pancit canton and mix thoroughly. Continue cooking 10 minutes. Serve hot. Serves 6-8. (Can boil pork and chicken together.)

Macaroni-Salmon Salad
2 cups boiled and cooked macaroni
1 cup diced cucumber
1-8 oz. can salmon, flaked
1 Tbsp. grated onion, chopped
1 cup DelMonte pineapple tidbits
Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
Combine ingredients. Toss together until blended. Serve on lettuce. Garnish with chopped parsley and paprika if desired. Serves 4-6.

Celery Cheese Soup
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. Queensland butter
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Che-Vital cheese
2 carrots, chopped
2 stems celery, chopped
1/3 cup flour
3 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper
Saute onion in butter until tender. Add flour and cook slowly a few minutes. Add milk and stock gradually. Stir continuously and bring to boil. Add cheese and continue stirring until it melts. Add vegetables and cook until tender. Season well. Serves 4.

Chicken and Pork Adobo
1 cup chicken, cut in pieces
1 cup pork cut in pieces
1 head garlic, pounded
1 cup DelMonte vinegar
2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
Peppercorn
Put chicken and pork in pan. Add garlic, vinegar, water, soy sauce and seasonings. Cook until tender and thick broth forms.