RomantiCurious

Some treats are for the holidays but once you try them out, they become your favorite staples. This especially happens quite easily when it comes to food treats that I like. If it’s not that expensive, then it would be on my regular grocery list.

Bread and bread spreads are of course a regular holiday treat but it’s also quite a convenient pantry staple. One of the brands that I like when it comes to breads is Pan de Manila. I like that most of their stores are open 24hours and there is always fresh pan de sal cooking in their ovens. There’s also a variety of them to choose from – plain, wholewheat, with moringa flakes, etc. They also have a lot of other bread products as well as various spreads from sweet jams to savory ones.

During the holidays, one of their most popular jam is the Ube Halaya jam. It looks quite festive with its purple color and it goes well with a lot of their breads because it’s not too sweet. It’s made from purple yam, a root crop similar to sweet potato and it tastes similar to taro.

For a balance of flavors, I also picked up the most popular spread of their’s: Herb Cream Cheese and Garlic Butter. The garlic butter is especially delicious when you use it on rice. It gives it a subtle, garlicky flavor that isn’t as cloying as when you actually fry garlic in a lot of oil.

For breads, they now have muffins too. So I picked up their Cheese Muffin and Berry Muffin and of course, my favorite Bananamon – basically chocolate and banana sponge cake (mason) sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon on top. This has been one of my favorite morning snacks with tea or hot chocolate especially on cold mornings.

The muffins were quite moist and filling. The cheese muffin is a nice snack if you want something savory and the berry muffin (blueberry) if you want something on the sweeter side. It’s not too sweet though and has a bit of sourness too.

Finally, a staple in my pantry, I picked up their Malunggay Loaf, which is a wholewheat bread with moringa flakes for added nutrients. It’s a nice base for any of the jams and spreads you choose to pair it with. It’s good by itself too if you’re too lazy to make yourself a sandwich. Sometimes, I just dip it into my hot chocolate after warming it a bit in the toaster.

Of course, I like that this loaf is plant-based and dairy free so it helps reduce my dairy intake which helps reduce inflammation. I am trying to eat healthier after all. All the other items in this foodie haul are holiday treats that I enjoy for the season. Not all of their breads are plant-based though but they use natural ingredients and all their items are labeled clearly so it’s easy to know what’s in your food.