This pandemic has left this mother to her own devices this holiday season, and I cannot help but reminisce about the good old days when I would sit at the dining table and watch my mom cut open cartons of all-purpose cream for an enormous bowl of fruit salad.

While COVID-19 has forced us to become isolated this year, that does not mean that we have to forgo the festivities. For many of us Filipinos, it’s all about recreating the memorable holiday feasts we’ve had with family, albeit scaled down for less people.

So I’m recreating my mom’s fruit salad earlier to make it fool-proof by Christmas, and I realized that one ingredient homes are never without during the holiday season is NESTLÉ All Purpose Cream.

The name is so synonymous with Christmas and New Year celebrations that it conjures in my mind images of the dishes my parents would serve for Noche Buena and Media Noche.

With Christmas just around the corner, let us give you more reasons to add this little box of goodness into your grocery carts:

It adds creativity and a personal touch to a dish.

When was the last time you experimented in the kitchen? NESTLÉ All Purpose Cream is not only good for the all-time Filipino holiday favorite fruit salad. Time and again, mothers have turned to this trusty ingredient to add some oomph to an otherwise common recipe.

Elevate your Christmas morning omelet by adding a dollop of NESTLÉ All Purpose Cream. Or if you’re a little more adventurous, use it for savory dishes like Creamy Adobo and Creamy Pork Steak.

It makes for a fun bonding experience for the family.

Instead of being a solitary experience, why not let the kids into the kitchen with you? The new normal has definitely given us more time to spend with our families and the holiday season is all about bonding with families.

Show your kids how their favorite dishes are prepared and empower them by helping them become confident in the kitchen. Help them perfect their fine motor skills by letting them squeeze a packet of NESTLÉ All Purpose Cream into a bowl, or have them use their hands to shape the dough when you’re making scones. You’d be surprised at how much fun they would have doing these.

It helps release negative emotions.

While the months-long lockdown has turned some of us into plantitos and plantitas, others have turned to stress baking. Heaven knows the amount of stress and anxiety that we have been trying to manage after so many months and for some of us, baking has provided the much-needed escape from the tensions triggered by the pandemic.

I always use NESTLÉ All Purpose Cream in my daughter’s favorite scones. Baking not only helps me entertain my child, but it has also provided me with the meditative escape that is necessary for my sanity. And it makes our home smell awesome, too.

It elicits an overall sense of wellbeing.

I was definitely happy whenever my mom and dad would take the time to prepare homecooked meals. But now that I am a parent myself, I realized that this is not a one-way street, because I also get a warm, fuzzy feeling when I prepare homecooked meals for my family.

I have to admit that I feel a sense of pride whenever my husband (who is a better cook, by the way) and my daughter scarf down the pancakes I cook for them every weekend. Did you know that NESTLÉ All Purpose Cream makes pancakes creamier?

For more creamy recipes, visit https://www.createwithcream.ph

/KBC