Meli can cook!

From the GTFO files...

2010-03-30T19:25:00.002-04:00

Did you know that raisins can restore fizz to champagne? Drop a couple in the bottle a few minutes before serving.

WHOA!

This tip may work someday, for someone else... as if i could ever bring myself NOT to finish the bottle. ;)

Ch ch ch changes

2010-02-09T18:21:00.005-05:00

I had the drop the '...at least i think i can. :)' from my blog name.

Now i KNOW i can! ;)

Thank you spammers for passing by my blog daily to leave all kinds of interesting messages, from the bizarre to the sublime. I'm HERE though, so please move along. More posts to follow soon.

Food2

2010-01-28T12:26:00.004-05:00

Check out this site. Food2 I mean what's not to love about a cooking site that has recipe categories like adventurous, cravings, munchies and hangover! lol.

Low grade shenanigans in the kitchen? I'm IN! :)

Tweet Tweet!

2009-04-02T16:03:00.003-04:00

I'm on Twitter, come and follow my tweets! I keep it mostly foodie related. ;)

Food on the Tube

2009-04-01T11:49:00.007-04:00

IS POWERFUL! lol.

Every nite at 7PM, my Tivo tapes the Food Network Challenge. Last nite was Challenge: National Pie Championship (2004). Over 400 pies were entered into this contest and after hearing pie pie pie about 4 million times half way though the episode, we only had pie on the brain. MUST.GET.PIE.

My fave pie is cherry, my hubby's is Village Inn French silk pie, however since we have no Village Inn's anywhere near us, apple is his #1b pie selection.

I called around and found that Epicure had both cherry and apple available. I also called Denny's, Boston Market, Publix and Jerry's Famous Deli. I was on a mission. lol. I had a list, if Epicure had slices that was top of my list, cause though i've never tasted their pies, Epicure makes phenomenal cakes. If they only sold whole pies, i was heading to Denny's who had both apple and French silk slices available.

Anyhoo i get to Epicure and only find apple mini-pies. They had one whole cherry pie, but A. it was a whole pie and i only needed to feed the craving tonite and B. it was $10.95...wtf! Skipped it, grabbed one mini apple pie and picked up a Linzer tart cookie too (cause hello, i wasn't going to let a spontaneous trip to Epicure go to waste, i had to grab something different and fabulous). ;)

Got home, warmed up the pie and dug in. One bite in, major disappointment. The crust and apples were soggy. I looked over at my hubby and asked what he thought. He said, it's ok, but you make a much better pie. I sat back and enjoyed my soggy pie with a big smile on my face cause... YOU KNOW IT, MELI CAN COOK! :D

Here's a picture of the last apple pie i made. It's not much to look at, but it sure beats an Epicure apple pie!

UPDATE: The Linzer Tart cookie was FABULOUS! :)

Step Away from the Turkey

2008-12-04T10:52:00.002-05:00

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! If you still have leftovers in the fridge, it's time to throw everything away. ;)

Since i didn't have to cook anything this year(tear), i just got crafty...

Cute Edible Apple Turkey

Super fast, super festive! :)

Clever!

2008-10-29T09:27:00.002-04:00

YESSSSSSSS!!!!

2008-10-27T12:20:00.003-04:00

Tickets on sale TODAY for the 2009 SouthBeach Food and Wine Festival!

We've been wanting to go to this event for YEARS, but something always comes up for that weekened. Well not this year, we've cleared our schedules and we're definitely going to indulge. We just scored tickets to the Whole Foods Market Grand Tasting Village. We are so excited!

And now that i've got mine, go out and get yours! Tickets famously sell out unbelievably fast. So get 'em while they last! ;)

Breakfast of Champions

2008-10-13T12:09:00.006-04:00

I woke up wanting fried rice, go figure. I decided to make a breakfast version. Loved this recipe i totally created on the spot; super fast and easy, didn't even have to take out a knife or cutting board, just snipped everything right into the pan with my kitchen shears.

Bacon & Egg Fried Rice

2 strips of bacon
1 egg
1 Green Onion
1C cooked rice
1tsp Soy Sauce
Red pepper flakes

Snip the 2 slices of bacon into a hot pan, scramble egg, add to pan once the bacon fat has rendered. Snip the white part of the green onion into the pan. Once egg is cooked, add the rice and soy sauce. Stir until heated through, just about a minute or so. Add the crushed red pepper flakes. Put into a bowl and lastly snip the green part of the onion over the rice. Enjoy immediately! :)

I couldn't find my soy sauce. After tearing apart my fridge, i realized that i had the leftover packets of soy that you get in Chinese/Japanese take out, so i used a packet of that. I totally guesstimated that it was about 1tsp. Hooray for stashing random sauce packets! lol.

So next time you have left over rice, or want a little something different for breakfast, try this breakfast of champions! ;)

Oh Boya!

2008-09-23T11:29:00.005-04:00

Goya's ad campaign ages ago was "Goya, oh boya!" And what can i say, it stuck, every time i think Goya, i think 'OH BOYA!' <--- v. enthusiastically, natch!

So when i went looking for a good authentic ropa veija recipe, i hit up Goya's website and clicked on 'Celebrate Hispanic Heritage with Recipes Full of Flavor' and viola, found exactly what i was looking for:

Ropa Vieja

Ropa vieja is a Cuban shredded meat stew, and after reading the recipe, i figured this recipe would work in the crock pot. So i threw in everything in my crock pot and let it cook all day long. In the evening, i just took out the meat, shredded it, stirred it back in the pot, let it sit for about 20 minutes, then served it up with maduros and white rice.

Mmmm mmm, ropa vieja is one of my fave things to order at Cuban restaurants, and i never thought i'd actually be able to make it at home with ease. But with this recipe, it was easy peasy.

Delish and easy, you know i have to go there... OH BOYA! :)

An Axe to GRIND

2008-09-19T15:55:00.001-04:00

This salt grinder is the biggest piece of shit!

I was cooking Broccoli with Lemon-Garlic Crumbs for dinner, i steamed the broccoli, toasted the panko, zested the lemon, tossed it all together and grabbed the salt. Instead of giving me the usual 1/4 twist, before i need to shake and readjust, the whole damned top popped off and dumped a ton of sea salt into the broccoli mixture.

Boy was i pissed. I kinda salvaged it, no not really. I had to rinse it and pluck the waterlogged broccoli out of the panko and... crap, i can't even write 'enjoyed it' here, cause all i wanted to do was finish dinner, take a picture of the disaster and post how pissed i am with this crappy product.

But of course, after dinner i snapped the photo, sat down, got about two lines in, and got pulled away by reality tv. Funny how things work out, my bff Jill came over the next day and sat at my laptop and said, "Omg is this your blog post, cause i have the same salt grinder and i hate it!" Psht, join the club!

Or better yet, heed my advice and stay far far away from this terrible salt grinder. ;)

Opa!

2008-09-11T10:51:00.004-04:00

This recipe for Greek-style turkey burgers is fabulous! Super quick and easy to throw together, and bursting with flavor. The only change i made was i used Kalamata olives instead of green salad olives.

While my hubby was grillin' them up, i just tossed some lettuce in a light vinaigrette and stuffed it into a warmed up pita. As soon as the burgers came off the grill, we just slid it into the pita pockets and enjoyed it IMMENSELY! :)

Quick, easy and flavorful, the perfect combo for a weeknight dinner. ;)

Get 'em While They're Hot!

2008-09-06T13:45:00.004-04:00

Sweet Potato Fries with a funky combo of spices (garlic and cinnamon) actually works! Dipped in ranch dressing, as suggesed, i know it sounds terrible, but it's pretty good.

But you've gotta gobble them up while they are piping hot, cause these fries are baked, not fried, so they go from fab to drab and soggy in a short time. But when fries are good, they don't really last too long anyways. ;)

Omg, this is actually YUM!

2008-09-06T12:53:00.004-04:00

Sometimes i get a craving for foods that i'm not normally crazy about, like tuna salad. I woke up this morning...er afternoon, STARVING and frantically searching my fridge for some tuna. Threw some things together and actually surprised myself. This isn't your mama's tuna salad!

Meli's OMG this is actually really YUM Tuna Salad:

1 can of tuna in water, drained well
3 TBS light mayo
3 TBS light cream cheese
1/4 C chopped pecans
Squeeze of lime
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp celery salt
fresh cracked pepper

Dump all ingredients into a bowl, stir until combined. Take the bowl and a bag of Cuban crackers and go to town. Enjoy!

Fasctinating!

2008-09-03T17:55:00.002-04:00

AOL Food has a really interesting gallery up, Foods Invented by Accident. Some accidents were surprising!

Then gallery immediately following it, America's Most Hated Foods, is slightly eye-rolling inducing (well #20-15), BUT some of the commentary brings the lol's- especially for the foods I'm not fond of (and my list is short).

And YES, the food that resembles phlegm and the food that tastes like farts made the list. As did fungus and salmonella pudding! LMAO.

Sexin' Up a Lazy Pizza

2008-08-03T13:44:00.011-04:00

And by lazy pizza i totally mean LA-ZY: refrigerated pizza dough, jarred tomato sauce and bagged shredded mozzarella cheese. Super quick to throw together and let's face it, slightly boring to eat.

I really wanted to add some pizazz (yes, i just paused and did 'jazz hands') to our pizza, so i opened the fridge and grabbed my fave kicky ingredient, Kalamata olives and figured i'd try to make caramelized onions to balance out the saltiness of the olives. I also grabbed some deli ham cause my hubby wasn't really feeling adventurous with pizza toppings.

Meli's Caramelized Onions

Butter
Olive Oil
1TBS sugar
1 red onion, sliced
S/P

Heat some butter and a little bit of oil in a pan over med/high heat. Add onions and sugar, stir and wait, and wait and wait and wait, stirring every once and a while. When onions have gotten dark, (mine took 40 minutes to finally get to a dark rich color), season with s/p, remove from heat. Enjoy!

Ham, Olive and Caramelized Onion Pizza

1 package of Refrigerated Pizza Dough
1/2C Tomato Sauce
6oz Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2oz Fresh Grated Parmesan
2oz of Ham, diced
10 Kalamata olives, sliced
Caramelized onions

I pre-baked the pizza crust as directed on the packaging. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the crust. Adored half of our pizza with the onions and the olives. Covered the whole thing in sliced ham, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, then baked as directed.

One bite in, i knew all that waiting was worth it. Sweet, salty and savory, all in one bite. After enough "mmm"-ing from me, my hubby HAD to try it. He loved it and actually ended up eating the rest of his pizza with the olives and onions i didn't originally add to his side.

Caramelized onions and olives, making a potentially boring pizza- sexy.

...er well, it definitely made it yummy! ;)

Back in Full Effect

2008-08-03T13:33:00.002-04:00

It's time to indulge yourself, now through the end of September!

ilovemiamispice.com

I had a chance to try a handful of Miami Spice lunches during the preview back in June: Joly, Blue Door and Christy's. One left something to be desired, one was delightful and one was an outstanding value. But ALL were a great time out.

So get out there, try something new and spice it up, Miami! :D

Bloggin from the road, literally!

2008-07-25T10:53:00.004-04:00

We're on the way to SW FL for the weekend. My hubby's driving and I'm playing on my iPhone. Around mile marker 129 I remembered that the google button on my phone links me up to blogger...sweet!

My bro and I had the executive lunch smackdown at Puchetta in the Gables yesterday, 3 courses for $13.95, it was great, but since I can't upload photos from my phone into blogger, it'll have to wait till next week.

BUT I found this gem of a blog today and had to share cause it literally made me Lol several times already!

CakeWrecks

Hilarious! Enjoy! :)

HALL YEAH!

2008-07-18T16:04:00.006-04:00

Fried Halloumi freakin' rocks!

Halloumi is a cheese from Cyprus made from a mix of sheep's and goat's milk. Its texture is much like mozzarella but surprisingly, Halloumi doesn't melt. It tastes like a very salty mozzarella with a hint of that distinct flavor of goat cheese.

I picked it up at Daily Bread Marketplace along with all sort of delicious middle eastern delights. All which we polished off almost as quickly as we bought it, cept i totally forgot about the cheese.

Then a tivo'd back episode of Nigella Bites totally reminded me that i hadn't made it yet. But since i didn't have any fresh red chile peppers on hand (and let's face it, i never do), i went back to my friend Aydin's suggestion of enjoying it simply prepared by frying it up in a little bit of olive oil.

Fried Halloumi

1/2" slices of halloumi
olive oil
lemon juice
fresh cracked pepper

Heat oil in a pan over high/medium high, add cheese, flip when browned (just a minute or two per side), remove from pan, enjoy!

One thing i kept from Nigella's recipe was the squirt of lemon juice, i loved the way the acid cut through the salty richness of the cheese. And oooh boy, this cheese is SALTY! So much so, that i ate it about half an hour ago and my lips are still puckered! lol. I forgot that Aydin mentioned to rinse off the cheese before frying. Oops.

It was a mistake worth making cause that was the most flavorful fried cheese i've ever had...and i really SHOULD drink more water anyways. lol.

Keepin it Simple on the 4th

2008-07-07T22:05:00.005-04:00

Had the fam over for our annual 4th of July party, and i had no clue what to make. I had a hellish week dealing with laptop problems, so I was just going to make a bunch of apps, but i had no time to even put together a good menu.

My mom said, "You should make ribs, it'll be easy"! Easy? ribs? for the fam? And flashbacks of the last REAL meal i cooked my fam popped into my head... it was abuelo's birthday dinner, back in '04, and i served chicken piccata...raw. Since then, all of my parties for the fam have consisted of catered food, or pot luck or a ton of apps. i have never attempted to cook another meal for the whole fam.

And from the second mom said it, i was searching for a great rib recipe, this was not only a challenge, it was a chance for redemption.

I found this scandalous recipe Should Be Illegal Oven BBQ Ribs , hot and sweet, yup that's exactly what i'm looking for.

I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl, then poured the marinade into zip lock bags and marinated 14lbs of ribs overnight. 14lbs of ribs is ALOT of ribs, people! lol.

Since i never did this before, i had no idea you could stack the slabs of ribs on top of each other to cook, so we had all the pans out: the turkey roaster, a dark coated non-stick rectangular pan and a shallow pan. Of course half way through cooking, mom called to check in and said you can stack the ribs while cooking (thanks mom!).

We cooked them low and slow at 325 for 3.5 hours. My hubby was shocked to see how different each pan cooked the ribs, the dark coated non-stick pan worked the best for that lip smackin' barbecue look.

Served it up with double potato mash (totally forgot to take a photo), which i adapted this time using heavy cream, butter and salt.

My friend Lisa offered up her recipe for a really great corn salad.

Lisa's Summer Corn Salad
2 cans of white corn, rinsed well
2-3 ripe avocados cut into smallish cubes
1/2 red onion diced
tons of cilantro (but you can go easy on it)
juice of a lime
little olive oil
sea salt sprinkled on just before serving

And ended the meal with a super simple strawberry shortcake! ...oh yeah, i also made a luscious snicker's pie, dammit, i forgot to take a photo of that too.

Everyone sat down and RAVED about everything on their plate (AWE YEAH!). The ribs were tender and flavorful, the double mash was new to everyone and took them all by surprise and the corn salad was a cool twist on the standard corn on the cob.

All in all, a very successful 4th of July feast. I am redeemed. :)

FINALLY!

2008-06-20T13:28:00.001-04:00

I've made salsa about 2 dozen times in the last month! lol. Mexico is still fresh in my mind, what can i say. ;)

After using all diff kinds of onions and tomatoes, and playing with heat in different degrees, i FINALLY did it, came up with a great salsa- fresh and bright, with a hint of heat.

After a month of endless salsa concoctions, when i served my hubby this salsa, he said, you need to hurry up and write this version down. lol. So here you have it, my salsa recipe.

Meli's Salsa

Generous handful of cilantro
1/4 large red onion
Juice of 1 lime
1 ripe tomato, quartered and seeded
1 can of Ro*tel Original diced tomatoes and green chilies, drained well
4 slices of pickled jalepeño (optional)
Pinch of salt

Throw the cilantro, red onion and lime into a food processor, pulse a couple times. Add the seeded tomato and jalepeño, pulse some more. Drain the Ro*Tel tomatoes in a mesh strainer, squish out as much liquid as possible. Throw that into the food processor for one last blitz. Sprinkle with salt and turn out into a serving dish. Enjoy!

This can be enjoyed immediately or can be refrigerated. I think it gets better as the flavors mingle.

Miami Spice Sneak Preview!

2008-06-17T15:40:00.000-04:00

Guess what, guess what, guess what?! You don't have to wait till August to Spice it up, Miami Spice sneak preview is here!

Miami Spice

Now through the end of June, over 30 participating restaurants are offering their Miami Spice Sneak Preview menu. If you've never Spiced before, Miami’s top restaurants offer three-course meals (Lunch $23, Dinner $36) featuring signature dishes created by world-renowned chefs. It's a delightful experience, and a great way to try something new or FINALLY go to one of those restaurants that don't normally fit into your budget.

And after taking a look at the extensive restaurant list and their mouth-watering offerings, it's a good thing we're getting a preview cause there's a ton of GREAT restaurants on the list this year! :D

So go out and savor the flavor of Miami's best restaurants!

One Blissful Bite

2008-06-16T12:25:00.001-04:00

It's party season again (wait, does this season ever really end?)! Anyhoo, i was off on another quest for something different to serve. I came across this mouth-watering recipe on my new fave recipe site RecipeZaar.

Pear and Blue Cheese Tartlets

I made the recipe as written, except i used crumbled blue cheese and chopped pecans. Needless to say, this was fabulous and so easy to throw together.

This tartlet was a perfect little bite: sweet pears, pungent blue cheese and a nutty crunch all in a light crispy shell.

Deliciously blissful!

Coral Gables Restaurant Week Extended!

2008-06-10T15:39:00.000-04:00

Coral Gables Restaurant Week

Last week some friends and i were able to enjoy Caramelo's restaurant week lunch special, and from start to finish, it was excellent, especially for the price. It's actually one of the best lunch deals on the list.

But i have to say, the restaurant week dinner menu from Flemming's, looks out of control. I swear i drooled on my keyboard when i read braised short ribs. lol.

Much to my surprise, i just found out that Coral Gables Restaurant Week has been extended until June 15th. I guess when the eating's good, the week is a whole lot longer then 7 days!

So get out there, and indulge in a taste of some of Coral Gables best restaurants!

Eating Los Cabos

2008-05-24T19:58:00.014-04:00

I'm baaack, from a wonderful adventure in Los Cabos, Mexico! We enjoyed the sun and the surf and the activities, but you know me, the best part was sampling the local cusine. And that, we did plenty of!

Unfortunately, i didn't get a photo of every meal devoured, i WAS tipsy for most of the time, that tequila is no joke, lol. But I did remember just about every place we ate (or drank) and remembered to snap photos when i didn't have my face in a margarita. ;) So here you go, great places to eat (and drink) in Los Cabos!

Pepe's Taco
Lázaro Cárdenas S/N, Col. Centro,
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, CP 23410 Mexico.
Phone: (624) 143-4810
Small open air restaurant, quick and inexpensive. Good Tacos Pastor, but i liked the chorizo tacos better.

The Corner Cafe & Cantina
www.thecornercabo.com
Matamoros and Lazaro Cardenas,
Cabo San Lucas
52-624-143-6666
Home of the world's largest margarita! We opted not to have it, but the one i did share was still huge and it was the best classic margarita on the rocks i had the whole trip.

Mama's Royal Cafe
Hildago y Zapata
Cabo San Lucas 23410 Mexico
52 624 143 4290
Mama's made a killer breakfast, but self-proclaimed 'best french toast', in my opinion fell a little flat, but the chilaquiles and the fresh oj were delicious. And this is the only place in the world where i've been serenaded at breakfast! Nice touch! ;)

Mango Deck
www.mangodeckcabo.com
Located on Médano Beach, Cabo San Lucas
Phone: 52 (624) 143-0901 / 143-6777
We rented wave runners right next to the place, walked over to the deck for a free shot and ended up taking another shot from a man with a giant sombrero. He had the best tequila shots in town. After tasting various other kinds of tequila around town, i now suspect it's cause it was watered down. Whatev, it was GREAT!

Mi Casa
www.micasarestaurant.com
Avenida Cabo San Lucas, corner Lazaro Cardenas
Cabo San Lucas, BCS México
52-624-14-31933
Ok, so i know i said the other place had the best margarita in town, but i specifically meant CLASSIC, ON THE ROCKS, cause THIS PLACE had the best FROZEN MANGO margaritas. lol. The food was amazing as well, all v. traditional.

Pitahayas
www.pitahayas.com
Corredor Turistico Km. 10 Lote D, Cabo del Sol
Cabo San Lucas, B.C.S. México
52 624 145 6126
This is a popular restaurant for something a little different, it's Pacific Rim cuisine, a slight touch of Indonesian flavors. V. nice meal, everything was beautiful and delicious, which admittedly, the photo of the lentil soup looks vile, but it was amazing, with every bite was a new taste sensation.

Girasoles de la Hacienda Restaurant
Corredor Turistico Km 10 Lote D, Cabo del Sol,
Cabo San Lucas 23410, Mexico
52 624 145 6126
Beautiful views from way up here, the Mexican coffee is an after dinner drink AND a show! We stayed at this hotel (Hacienda del Mar), so we returned to this restaurant for breakfast one morning (more chilaquiles, woop) and lunch (amazing fish tacos) another, both we delicious, fresh and local.

Billygan's Island
www.billygans.com
Paseo del Pescador on Playa el Médano.
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
(624) 143-4830 or 144-3908
Smack next to The Office, they offer you beach loungers and umbrellas for FREE, all you have to do is drink there, and we did, all day long, listening to cheesy club music circa 1990. For me it was a blast from the past and a fun day at the beach singing old tunes, nothing really authentic here, but a GREAT location on the sand.

The Office
www.theofficeonthebeach.com
Playa El Médano,
Cabo San Lucas, BCS México
52 624 143 3464
Live Jazz playing, toes in the sand, enjoying the crashing waves, the sun setting and the amazing FRESH seafood. Life is good at The Office!

La Golondrina Restaurant
www.lagolondrinarestaurant.com
Paseo del Pescador (next to City Club),
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
52-624-1433705
Huge open air restaurant, Huge Menu, Huge portions, Huge amount of food that comes with what you order! lol. Big fun at La Golondrina!

More Slow Cookin'

2008-05-09T10:53:00.003-04:00

Though i LOVE to cook, in the middle of the week i feel brain-dead in the kitchen. Luckily, i've found another great set it and forget it recipe!

Cuban-Style Pork and Sweet Potato Slow Cooker Stew

1 large sweet potato(es), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice (about 1 lb)
1 pound lean pork loin, cut into 1-inch pieces
14 1/2 oz canned diced tomatoes, with green chiles
1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1/4 cup orange juice
2 medium scallion(s), chopped (green parts only)
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped

Place potato, pork, tomatoes, garlic, orange juice, scallions, salt, cumin and pepper in a 4- to 5-quart slow cooker; cover and cook on low setting for 7 hours.

Stir in lime juice and cilantro; cover slow cooker and cook for 5 minutes more. Yields about 1 1/2 cups per serving (including some cooking liquid.)

I honestly don't know how Cuban this is, 1/4 tsp of cumin doesn't really make it Cuban, but whatev, it was really tasty and super simple to throw together! :)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2008-05-05T13:01:00.007-04:00

I'm about to go out and get a margarita to celebrate, but i first wanted to tell you about a place we re-discovered this weekend, T-Mex.

We were craving tacos, so i went to yelp and people were raving about this place, T-Mex. What the heck? Ok, lets do it!

2 steps into the restaurant, i realized, i've been here before, one drunken nite long ago! lol.

The thin and crispy tortilla chips are homemade, the ground beef for the tacos was seasoned perfectly, the beer was cold and the guac was creamy and delicious, can't ask for much more then that!

Definitely a little gem on the beach, but why the name change, is it still as good as San Loco? Apparently, it's better, T-Mex IS San Loco, only a little greener! And green is GOOD! :D

T-Mex
235 14th St
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 538-3009

Worst Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER!

2008-04-30T18:02:00.002-04:00

Chocolate Chip Cookies

YUCK! I never used whole wheat flour before i tried this recipe, and now i know why. This cookie TASTED like a diet cookie, which simply means, it tasted like crap. When my hubby tried them, one bite in, he asked me, what's wrong with this cookie? I laughed it off and told him wheat flour, i know, and i totally agree! He said no, not the taste, the texture, this looks like a cookie, but doesn't feel like one. Strike one, taste. Strike two, texture.

But they smelled good, so i left them on my counter for a week, it was easy to resist temptation. Maybe that was the whole point! ;)

Anyone have a GOOD cookie recipe that uses whole wheat flour?

Straight off the Box

2008-04-29T10:14:00.002-04:00

I got this recipe straight off a box of Publix brand angel hair pasta. It's a simple and tasty recipe, and if you don't do fish, the lemon butter sauce would go great on chicken as well.

Tilapia With Lemon Butter Sauce
Serves 4

4 teaspoons flour, divided
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
large zip-top bag
5–6 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 pounds tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup white wine

Place 3 teaspoons flour and seasoned salt in zip-top bag; shake to mix and set aside. Chop parsley coarsely, leaves only, and measure (2 tablespoons). Slice lemon in half. Set both aside.

Preheat large sauté pan on medium-high 2–3 minutes. Check fish for bones by pressing on fillet with finger tips and remove. Add fish to zip-top bag; seal tightly and shake to coat.

Place 1 tablespoon butter in pan and swirl to coat. Add fish and cook 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon butter to center of pan. Turn fillets, using spatula, distributing butter under each fillet. Cook 3 more minutes until fish is golden and flakes easily. Place fish on serving plates.

Place remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 1 teaspoon flour, wine and juice from lemon in sauté pan. Heat 1–2 minutes until thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir parsley into butter sauce and serve over fish.

I served it with angel hair pasta (lol) tossed in a simple pesto, straight from the jar.

This is a perfect quick weeknight meal, little prep, lots of flavor! ;)

Like a Bowl of Sunshine

2008-04-28T15:00:00.005-04:00

Lemony Chicken Rice Salad
Serves 4

2 small shallot(s), or 1 large shallot, minced
2/3 cup uncooked jasmine rice
1 tsp table salt
3 medium scallion(s)
8 oz chicken breast, cooked, skinless, diced
1/2 cup fat-free mayonnaise
1 Tbsp lemon zest
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper

Coat a nonstick pot with cooking spray; heat over medium heat. Add shallots; cook until softened, stirring, about 1 minute. Add rice, salt and appropriate amount of water to cook rice according to manufacturer’s directions. Cool.

Slice white parts of scallions into thin rounds. Cut green parts into 1/2-inch-long strips.

In a large bowl, toss together rice, scallions and remaining ingredients. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

I used leftover rice from the night before, and precooked chicken breasts and it was ready in just a few minutes. Literally, just throw everything in a bowl and mix!

This recipe is delicious and super simple to throw together, but a total pita to photograph.

See, i'm sure this does nothing for you, but don't judge on the photo alone, the taste is fresh, bright and sunshiny. I SWEAR! ;)

Slow Cookin'

2008-04-22T11:06:00.000-04:00

Ever get to your front door after a long day out and go, mmmm, something smells good, then freak out cause it's coming from inside YOUR home? I do, every time i use the slow cooker. I don't use it often, but if i know i'm going to be busy and not even want to think about dinner later, i whip it out, throw in a bunch of stuff, set it and forget it.

My hubby and i have been watching a lot of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmerman, we play a little game as we watch, the 'i'd eat that, i so wouldn't eat that' game. Most things that man eats are vile, but some are strange but really no big deal. More importantly, i feel empowered when i get to the meat section of my grocery store now. And on one daring trip, i picked up a pork shoulder.

Armed with a pork shoulder, i came home and told my hubby look what i got, pork shoulder, he was like great, what are you going to do with it? Me, no clue, but i'll figure something out. So off to search...

Ok, so pork shoulder isn't quite as daring as i thought, i came across a ton of pulled pork recipes. lol.

Barbeque Pork Two Ways

I made the above recipe as written, the recipe is for a basic barbeque sauce which i never made from scratch so that was pretty cool. The house smelled great as i walked through the door and dinner was equally as good. But i have to say, this pulled pork was MUCH better the following day as lunch! ;)

The BIG ONE!

2008-04-21T14:59:00.003-04:00

Hooray, I've been writing this cooking blog for one year!!!! :D

It's been fun, but as i click through my food blog folder, i see there's a ton of stuff i cooked and took a photo of, but it never made it here. I'll try to throw those into the mix in here somewhere.

And oooh yeah a ton of restaurant photos (but since i'm too embarassed to take photos with a camera in a restaurant, i take them with my iphone and well i suck as an iphone photog, but i'm learning damnit). lol.

So yes, i'm so looking forward to this next year, more cooking and eating, and sharing to come! ;)

Pizza (not really a) Casserole

2008-04-21T14:19:00.008-04:00

When i think casserole, my gag reflex kicks in. I automatically think of a creamy soup, some frozen veg, some protein, and well let's face it, a hot mess coming out of the oven. I personally dislike casseroles...GREATLY!

When i initially read this 'casserole' recipe, i was about to skip it and move on, until i read the ingredient list. HOORAY- no creamy soup, and come on, there's PIZZA in the title, how bad could it be?

Weight Watcher's Deep-Dish Pizza Casserole

But honestly, i made so many changes to this recipe that it came in at 8.5 pts per generous portion, but who cares, it was freakin' GREAT! Here's how i did it.

Meli's Pizza Cass
Serves 6

1 lb of extra lean ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jar of sliced mushrooms, drained
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce
Spray of Pam
1 10 oz can refrigerated pizza dough
6 oz of part skim mozzarella cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 425.

In a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook onion, garlic until softened, add meat stirring until it's browned.

Drain, if necessary, and return to skillet. Add mushrooms and tomato sauce, and cook until heated through and most of the sauce has been absorbed (you want your meat mixture more on the dry side then the saucy side).

While meat cooks, coat a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Unroll pizza crust dough, and press into bottom and halfway up sides of the baking dish. Pre-bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, then add a layer of cheese, then a layer of the meat mixture, then top with a layer of cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 425° for 12 minutes or until crust is browned and cheese melts. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

This was so delicious and easily adaptable for anyone's tastes. I actually added some chopped up kalamata olives to my slice. This recipe was an instant hit all around, and will definitely find it's way back on my dinner table again!

Greek Pene Pasta

2008-04-21T14:04:00.003-04:00

Last week i turned a corner, i cooked TWO great meals in a row. lol. And as shocking as it may sound, BOTH recipes were diet friendly!

Greek Penne Pasta

This was insanely easy to make and quite tasty! I added S/P and herbs. I don't know why most of the Weight Watcher recipes i come across never includes herbs and spices, but i always season to my heart's content as i cook.

No one ever has to know this was a diet friendly recipe, as it sure doesn't taste like it! ;)

Porridge: Miss Muffet Ate Porridge and So Can You!

2008-04-16T16:10:00.003-04:00

Mealie Pap Porridge

On our last trip, i discovered something new at breakfast, mealie pap porridge. It was a kind of creamy grits/sweet corn/cheesy mixture, and i LOVED it! A little sweet, a little salty, i was all about it! I even went as far as emailing the restaurant asking them for the recipe or at the very least the list of ingredients! lol. I never heard back. :P

This morning i woke up STARVING, so i just winged it and came up with my version of mealie pap. It was a delicious, easy, not to mention filling, breakfast that was ready in a flash!

Meli's Mealie Pap
Serves 1

1 packet of instant grits
1/2C creamed corn
1/3C cheddar cheese (i used fat free)
S/P to taste

Prepare grits according to package, stir in creamed corn, and 1/4C of cheese, pop back in the micro for 30 seconds to warm through and get the cheese melty. Season with S/P to taste, sprinkle with remaining cheese, serve immediately. Enjoy!

3 Cheers for Cooking in Style!

2008-04-09T11:57:00.002-04:00

Have you Etsy'd?! Etsy.com (now known as 'the crack that is etsy', since i've spent waaaaaaay too much time on that site since finding it a couple weeks ago) is a fabulous site where you can buy and sell just about everything HANDMADE!

Guess what my inaugural purchase was?! A vintage inspired apron! :)

From Boojiboo's tiny home in the lovely La Mirada, CA to my mailbox in the equally lovely Miami Beach, FL came my vintage inspired blue zoo animal apron which i proudly rock in my kitchen. :)

My fab apron (handmade with love) is SURE to make my cooking (also handmade with love, lol) THAT much better! And if it does nothing for my cooking, hey at least i look cute!

Hip Hip Hooray! :D

Hop to It!

2008-04-08T16:09:00.007-04:00

Whoa, where has the time gone?! Easter has come and gone and we're already in April. Time flies and before i know it, i haven't blogged in almost a month!

Let's see, well, i dyed Easter eggs, um yeah, they turned out v. bad, lol, but i was impressed by the way my paper towel came out (in case you were wondering what the heck that is up there).

I HAVE been cooking (still hit and miss around here, lol), just have no time to sit and write about my adventures.

But i'm here now, so here we go...

I hosted Easter this year and i didn't even realize it was Easter Sunday until the Wed before, so i just ordered pretty much everything from Honey Baked Ham and decided to focus on making a REAL carrot cake.

Mmm...i LOVE carrot cake but have never tried to make a real one (not one out of the box). So i googled carrot cake and this was the very first link:

Carrot Cake III

Hooray a good recipe! Well i actually took all of the suggestions from gneebeanie, a featured reviewer on this recipe. And seriously, there's a lot of tweaks, so i'm just going to write it here with all the tweaks already. Cause that's how i made it, and it was fabulous!

Tweaked Out Carrot Cake III
Serves 18

Cake:
4 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups grated carrots
1 8oz can of crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup chopped pecans

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3-4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour can pans.

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, white & brown sugar and 3 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in carrots and drained pineapple. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped pecans. Enjoy!

This cake was amazing! It fulfilled all my expectations of a really delicious, genuine, homemade carrot cake. And i can't believe i made the frosting too! That was so easy i couldn't believe it. I used only about 3 cups of confectioner's sugar, so i say start there and if it's not sweet enough for you, add some more.

The cake cooled just minutes before our guests arrived, and i asked my hubby to roll the outside of the cake in the chopped pecans so i could finish getting ready. About 3 minutes later, i walk into the kitchen to see him standing there throwing the pecans at the cake! LOL!!! So it didn't turn out looking exactly how i expected it to, but eh whatev, at least he had fun! :)

Veal Piccata

2008-03-19T08:38:00.000-04:00

Madonna only needs 4 minutes to save the world, i only need 4 minutes to make a perfect veal cutlet!

After already tackling the recipes that intimidate me, i asked my hubby, what other tough dinner should i try, he said VEAL. Oooh, i LOVE veal, but since it's sliced so thin, yeah, it's easy to mess up. So veal was the word of the day. I knew that i wanted veal piccata from the onset, so i just found an easy recipe and made it as written, i only added capers.

Veal Piccata

Now i know that veal isn't for everyone, so the piccata sauce would go nicely over chicken or fish as well.

Oh yeah, the silent stah on this plate was the spinach that i ended up simply steaming with the zest of 1 lemon. It was bright and fresh and i LOVED it, my hubby didn't, but he isn't much impressed with ANY veg, unless it's covered in cheese! ;)

And what a coincidence that piccata was on the first episode of Top Chef. I cannot believe how clueless that chef was, simply on the basics of a classic piccata. One thing i DID pick up on, was that the veal should have gone in a bowl of egg prior to hitting the pan. i guess the Weight Watcher's recipe skipped that to save on points, but next time i am SO making it that way! Thanks Colicchio! :)

Chicken Cordon Bleu

2008-03-17T13:11:00.002-04:00

Remember when Bridget Jones served her dinner guests BLUE SOUP?! I had vivid flashbacks when i made my Chicken Cordon Bleu. See, i ran out of regular toothpicks and ended up securing my chicken with party tooth picks. lol.

I actually didn't even want to make it, but i rattled off a bunch of ways to prepare chicken for dinner, and my hubby decided on Chicken Cordon Bleu.

So i went looking for a SIMPLE recipe and wasn't exactly finding what i needed. So i did it on the fly!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Breast, pounded thin
s/p
Ham
Baby Swiss Cheese
Breadcrumbs
Pam

Preheat oven to 350, season chicken breast with s/p (easy on the salt, the ham is salty), place a slice of ham and cheese on top of chicken breast, roll, secure with toothpicks, roll in seasoned breadcrumbs, place on baking sheet, spray with pam, bake for about 30 mintues or until cooked through.

Super simple and tasty, but try to skip the party toothpicks. ;)

Easiest Dessert Ever

2008-02-22T10:23:00.003-05:00

No need to save chocolate covered strawberries for a special occasion. This dessert can be prepared in 1 commercial break! lol.

Take chocolate chips, throw them into a ramekin or any small bowl.
Nuke for 40 seconds, stir, pop back in the micro for another 10 seconds.
While the chocolate is melting, just go into the fridge, grab a bunch of strawberries, rinse and throw on a plate.

Dessert is ready just in time to get back Project Runway!

The Valentine's Day Prime Rib

2008-02-21T13:51:00.000-05:00

Moving right along, i decided that prime rib would make a fabulous Valentine's Day dinner. And it DID! Only the 2.25lb roast i bought took 2.5 hours to reach 140 degrees (basically ALOT longer then we expected). We ended up eating our fabulous prime rib at 10:30, lol.

First of all, the piece of meat i bought was nearly $40 (the most expensive meat i've ever bought to cook myself), this already put some serious pressure on me to get it right, cause you know, 2 bites into dinner, you can tell if you messed up the protien, and for this dinner, it was all about the prime rib!

I seasoned it with evoo, s/p, a little bit of ground thyme, and roasted garlic.
I used the basic guidelines of preheating the oven to 500, put the roast in for 5min/lb, then turn oven off and wait until the meat thermometer reaches 140 (no opening the oven to peak in the process), remove from oven, let stand for 10 minutes, carve and serve.

This is what it's like waiting for the temp to rise to 140. It's at 120, 20 degrees to go- woo hoo this is so exciting! It's at 123...it's at 125....it's at 130...132...133...134... Can you tell we were anxious! lol. At around 136, it climbed to 137, then started going BACKWARDS back down to 136. At this point we were starving and over 2 hours had passed, so i cranked the oven to 250 and it was at 140 within 2 minutes. FINALLY!

By the time we cut into it, the temp had risen slightly and it wasn't med rare as we'd hoped, but it was perfectly medium and delicious!

I served it with roasted garlic potato croquettes in panko. I got this recipe from my friend Lisa, and they were the perfect match for our prime rib.

Seasoned day old mashed potatoes (which i made with roasted garlic)
Panko
Oil for frying- i like canola!

Take the mashed potatoes, form patties, roll in panko, fry till golden. Could not be any easier.

Sorry, i have no more pictures, it was late, we were starving and it was time to eat! lol. Dinner was great, another intimidating meal squashed! :)

Whole Roasted Chicken

2008-02-20T11:31:00.000-05:00

A whole chicken with bones is something that i just always blow right past while grocery shopping. I know this is a weekly staple in many, many households but for some reason, this simple dish just intimidated me. So i started telling everyone i'm making a roasted chicken, i emailed my mom who was vacationing out of the country, i told my grandmother, anyone who could listen, I'M DOING IT, I'M MAKING A WHOLE CHICKEN! lol.

With everyone waiting on pins and needles to find out how the chicken turned out, i proceeded to defrost it (it took 2 days to defrost) and started looking for just the right recipe to initiate me into the 'Roasted Chicken Maker Club'.

The whole roasted chicken was unbelieveably easy to prepare, the worst part was patting dry the cavity of the chicken after rinsing. *My hubby carved (THIS was the part that would have REALLY freaked me out, i don't do well with bones).

I used this recipe and it turned out great, not sticky, but still delicious!

Roast Sticky Chicken-Rotisserie Style

While the recipe was great, it was way too much chicken for just us, so roasted chicken is a good one if we are having guests. Especially since the oven does all the work, the prep was quick and easy, the flavor options are endless and the end product is juicy and delicious!

When i took the chicken out of the oven to set aside to rest, i threw in some fresh broccoli into the drippings and put it back in the oven as detailed in this recipe.

Broccoli in Roast Chicken Drippings

By the time the chicken was ready to carve, the roasted broccoli was finished, and it made one fabulous meal!

Easy as Pie

2008-02-19T10:21:00.000-05:00

There's a list of foods i resolved to cook this year that intimidated me last year. They are, in no particular order, a whole roasted chicken, prime rib and a REAL apple pie. As of yesterday, mission accomplished!

As with most things, the build up and anticipation is so much worse then actually getting down to business and getting it done. The next couple posts are going to detail the intimidating food trifecta.

I'm going to start with the motherload, an apple pie!

I was in CA this January and had the best apple pie ever. Thinly sliced apples piled on top of each other, tucked in between 2 flakey crusts. This was the apple pie to end all apple pies.

I came home and knew i had to make one. Even though the thought of making a pie made me shudder. The crust is NOT easy to do my friend told me over lunch. My other friend told me oooh like a REAL apple pie (different friend, different lunch ;)). Yes, i told her a REAL one, made with REAL apples, not the crap that comes out of a can. So i went out and bought Betty Crocker pie mix and there it sat in my pantry for about a month.

Then Valentine's week was here and i figured it time to get this party started, so i picked up 5 golden delicious apples and set off to find a recipe. WOW there's a TON of apple pie recipes out there. I even went so far to print out a couple of them. And i set out all the ingredients and prepared to start baking.

Then i got completely overwhelmed, do i make the crust first or prepare the apples first. If i do the apples first, won't they turn brown if i take too long with the crust? If i make the crust first, won't it dry out while waiting for me to peel, core and slice all the apples? I swear i went back and forth so much, that i just decided to scrap it and i walked away.

The next evening, i decided enough was enough and it was time to make the apple pie. And the easiest recipe ever was staring me in the face right on the Betty Crocker Box. All that research for nothing, i threw away the other recipes, and decided to follow Betty's recipe!

Fresh Apple Pie

It was a looooong process, but i did it, and it wasn't as hard as i thought. Peeling, coring and slicing apples is no big deal if you have a peeler and an apple corer and slicer. I prepared the apples first, tossed them into the sugar, spice and flour mixture and let them sit while i tackled the crust.

Making the crust was interesting, i definitely need more practice, there was a lot of rolling, stretching an flouring being done, only to have a tear in it and trying to patch it up using a wayward scrap of crust. I guess this is where the 'it's not easy' comes in. ;)

The lattice work, wow, that was a whole other adventure. Here i had no clue what i was doing at all. Betty doesn't tell you how to do this, so it was just roll the dough, slice strips of dough, curse a little as the dough strips would break while trying to lace them, only to pull it back off the pie, re-roll and relace. WHAT.A.MISSION!!!

Then half way through the pie, i'm like hmmm, something doesn't look quite right and i realized i screwed up the up,down,up,down pattern in the middle of the pie. Whatever, there was no looking back, i just needed to finish and get this thing in the oven.

According to my hubby, my little pie making adventure lasted 2 hours. When i walked out of the kitchen to announce the pie is in the oven, he said that's what you've been doing in there the whole time? (um, sha! that stupid lattice crust took FOREVER to do and i still didn't lay out the strips the right way!)

About 30 minutes later, this came out of the oven. It was beautiful, even with it's flaws. MY FIRST APPLE PIE!!!! YAY!!!

Slicing into it, you can see, i need a little practice slicing apples, but it was perfectly cooked, the apples still had some texture to them and the sugar and spice mixture just enhanced the pie perfectly.

I served it with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream, also known as the best ice cream i've ever made. The cinnamon flavor was surprisingly nostalgic for me. It tasted exactly like abuela's natilla (a Spanish custard topped with a generous shake of cinnamon). In fact, the ingredients are almost identical.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

I made the recipe as written only substituting fat-free half and half for the full fat half and half. It was simply what i had in the fridge, and though i was worried that it would alter the consistancy in the recipe, it made a fabulous rich ice cream.

It was the perfect pairing for the perfect apple pie!

Hot Vanilla

2008-02-18T16:05:00.000-05:00

I had these crappy madelines from Starbucks (not that madelines are crappy, i love madelines, but it's just that these came in a cello bag and just weren't the best) in my purse and all i wanted to do was dunk them, but i wanted to maintain their vanilla flavor. So i went on a search for something hot, sweet and vanilla-y. I acutally started looking for a chai tea recipe, but when i came across this recipe, i realized, this was exactly what i was looking for.

Hot Vanilla

I made a couple changes to this basic recipe. I added an additional teaspoon of sugar and instead of 1C of milk, i made mine with 1/2C of fat free half and half and 1/2C of milk.

i LOVED this! I am a serious chocoholic, but sometimes i need a change of pace, and this was that perfect change.

Fascinating! What the World Eats

2008-02-18T12:31:00.011-05:00

If you haven't gotten this forward in your inbox, you'll get it soon, or maybe you just did! ;) My friend Carrie sent this to me this morning and it is truly fascinating!

This is taken from a Time magazine photo essay highighting a part of Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel, Faith D'Aluisio.

What is eaten in one week around the world? (Take a good look at the family size & diet of each country , and the availability & cost of what is eaten in one week).

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
Food expenditure for one week $341.98

Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11

Mexico : The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09

Poland : The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27

Egypt : The Ahmed family of Cairo
Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53

Ecuador : The Ayme family of Tingo
Food expenditure for one week: $31.55

Bhutan : The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03

Chad : The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23

Just a little food for thought! :)

Knauss Berry Farm

2008-02-16T17:41:00.016-05:00

I've lived here my whole life and have never been strawberry picking. The only strawberries i've ever picked were in the produce section of Publix.

So a couple friends and i went down to the famous Knauss Berry Farm today to have a strawberry shake, pick strawberries and tomatoes, pick up some of their homemade cinnamon buns, herbed bread, some hot pepper jam and oh other fresh produce (beets and green onions); i'm telling you, it was an adventure!

Getting there is a trek, take US1 allllll the way down south, make a right on 248th street follow it to the farm. Far, but totally worth it.

The strawberry shakes were divine, not too sweet with just the slightest taste of strawberry, almost like the essence of strawberry.

Picking strawberries was fun, like my friend Christy said, i feel like it's Easter and i'm looking for Easter Eggs.

Picking tomatoes was also interesting, felt like 'picking strawberries light' cause there's no squatting. ;) lol.

And i realized i've never had a green tomato, so i got inspired right there among the tomato vines to make fried green tomatoes!

But that'll have to wait, i was also inspired by some beets and they are taking up alot of room in my fridge right now! lol.

I felt like i was on vacay, saw the sights, ate the food, came home with some souveniers. The perfect little weekend adventure!

UPDATE: I in no way meant to downplay the phenomenol cinnamon buns, so per YOUR request, here you go!

And the herbed buns for good measure! ;)

Knauss Berry Farm
15980 SW 248th Street
Homestead, FL 33031
305.247.0668
Mon-Sat 8am-5:30pm, Thanksgiving through April

Sexual Chocolate!

2008-02-08T11:33:00.000-05:00

Less then a week to Valentine's Day and the perfect recipe to share is this amazing chocolate ice cream.

Chocolate Velvet Ice Cream

The mouth-feel of this ice cream is perfectly described as velvety. I'm guessing it's cause of the raw eggs; the eggs add to a custardy texture.

Amazing! Like eyes rolling into the back of your head and moaning loudly when you taste it amazing! ;)

The only changes i made was i grated (with the microplane) a block of chocolate into the ice cream mixture and then finished it off with a handful or two of mini chocolate chips.

It was divine!

Short & Sweet

2008-02-05T17:26:00.004-05:00

I headed to allrecipes to find a recipe spotlighting spinach. Well for some reason in the ingredient search, my fingers start typing POPCORN instead of spinach. I backspaced and retyped, but no, POPCORN came flying out of my fingers again. I'm not going to fight the universe, i'm on a new mission now, and it has something to do with popcorn.

So i click click click through the pages, then come across this recipe:

Cinnamon Popcorn

Did you just hear the choir of angels singing? I swear i just heard AHHHHHHHH!!! lol.

And just like that, i'm preheating my oven, popping snack bags in the micro and mixing the glaze.

So i halved the recipe (it takes 2 snack bags of popcorn to make 8 cups) and baked it for 20 minutes at 300 instead of 10 minutes (this might just be because i live in Miami, and the humidity is probably a factor).

Oooh Aaaahhh, cinnamon popcorn is AWESOME! The glaze creates a crisp little shell of cinnamony goodness around every kernel.

Thank God i halved the recipe, and only served myself a small bowl, cause for sure, i could have polished off the entire recipe at one sitting.

As for the spinach recipe, i'm still looking, just not tonite, my hubby just said he wants pizza tonite! SWEET!

UPDATE: I'm going to enter this into the first Master Baker Challenge. Hopefully this passes as a baked good. It did go into the oven, and it's a pretty extrordinary cinnamon dish. We'll see, fingers crossed! :)

Toasted Garbanzos

2008-01-30T12:35:00.000-05:00

Someone mentioned this recipe to be a loooong time ago and the first time i made it, i didn't toast the beans long enough, and well, it sucked.

But i decided to try it again and... success! The beans were toasty and crunchy and almost reminded me of a corn nut. I would like to play around with the recipe a bit with maybe using an oil substitute like pam or maybe even less oil, but the recipe as written is FAB! :)

Toasted Garbanzos

12 oz canned garbanzo beans
1 Tbsp olive oil
sea salt
ground cumin
curry powder

Drain garbanzos (or chickpeas). In a bowl, toss with olive oil, and season to taste with salt, and spices of your choice. Spread on a baking sheet.

Turn oven to 425 degrees F (230 degrees C) and put pan in oven immediately.

When oven reaches 425, bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until browned and crunchy. Watch carefully the last few minutes to avoid burning.

High in protien, low in fat, high in fiber, what's not to love!

Taste of Heaven

2008-01-29T12:05:00.000-05:00

I got the Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment for Christmas and just before New Years, i had a chance to try it out. My first attempt was disastrous. You have to cook, then cool the ice cream mixture, before you refrigerate overnight, then put into the machine.

Well, i did all the cooking and cooling the night before, and my first thought in the morning was TODAY IS ICE CREAM DAY! Then my hubby climbed into bed to tell me that i left some weird cream mixture out on the counter overnight and he just threw it away. DAMMIT!!! i can't believe i did that. Then i got frustrated cause i totally used all the vanilla beans we had on hand.

But then he reminded me, don't we have the Tahitian Vanilla Beans from our honeymoon? DING DING DING!!!! Oh my goodness, yes we do, i know i have a glass tube full of beans buried in the spice cabinet somewhere. So i dig, and i find it! WOOP!

After reassessing my ingredients on hand, i did not have enough to make the Kitchen Aid recipe for vanilla ice cream. So i googled it, there's over 254 thousand pages with vanilla ice cream recipes. This was #1:

Serious Vanilla Ice Cream

Alton Brown? Good enough for me! So i measured, cooked, cooled, and ACTUALLY REFRIGERATED this time.

Let me tell you, this was the longest 6 hours EVAH!

Popped the cold mixture into the ice cream maker and viola...
Creamy Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream!

After a couple indulgent spoonfuls, it went back in the freezer overnight to harden.

At my New Years party, my mom asked if i had a chance to use the ice cream maker yet. I told her YES and you can sample my Tahitian Vanilla ice cream now! So i took out the ice cream, the word that my homemade ice cream was out spread like wild fire, and in less then 3 minutes, everyone at the party was oohing and aahing and the ice cream was gone!

That's all i got, just a little taste of heaven, but oh what a taste it was! :)

Oh-oh-oh

2008-01-12T12:18:00.000-05:00

OREO TRUFFLES!

I was looking for something special for my new years eve party dessert table, my friend Cristina pointed me in the direction of the Kraft Foods website and their kick ass truffles.

Easy OREO Truffles

This recipe was so easy to do, i've made truffles in the past and well this recipe is so much easier then any other truffle recipe i've come across.

The recipe states to mix cookie crumbs and cream cheese in a bowl until well blended. This proved to a be a bit of a challenge, so i flung my spoon to the side and just dove in and squished to my heart's delight! In a snap, the truffle filling was done.

The hardest part was making the truffle balls small enough, i tend to make BIG cookies; but big truffles are a no-no. So i had to roll, then pinch and re-roll the truffles to make them bite-sized.

The texture was rich and dense and chocolaty, the perfect little decadent treat to help ring in the new year!

To Cleanse Your Palett

2008-01-10T14:03:00.000-05:00

I present the holiday pineapple.

Ever notice how when you go grocery shopping with someone else, a lot of crap you'd NEVER buy ends up in your shopping cart?

I noticed he put a pineapple in my shopping cart, much to my horror i saw it and i thought, um that thing is hella hard to cut, and decided to put it back. I did the whole 'oh, look over there' and when he looked over there, i took it out of my cart; but when he turned around, i got a 'isn't that our pineapple' so i had to put it back in the cart.

Fast forward to A REAL pineapple sitting in my kitchen, and me going GREAT what knife do i even use to cut into this thing?! I went at it with my santoku.

Here's my visual guide to cutting a pineapple...

Lob off it's 'head'.

Slice right down the middle.

Slice the half in half..er quarter the pineapple.

Cut the peel off each quarter and slice, then dice if you please, stop taking pictures and eat the damned thing already cause you have pineapple juice running down your arm and it's time to taste the fruit of your labor...LITERALLY!

Big surprise, it was ALOT easier to cut then i imagined, and it tasted far better then the prepped kind in the produce section. But sadly, it was too much pineapple for just us.

I'll buy a real pineapple again, when we have guests over! Hey i might even cut the pineapple in front of them to show off my skillz! lol. ;)

French Toast GUARANTEED to Knock Your Socks Off!

2008-01-09T12:18:00.000-05:00

If it's done right, then YES, French Toast can be a sublime experience.

I'm not a french toast kind of girl, but THIS french toast is BEYOND any other i've ever had. I got the recipe from my friend Kelly, AKA Martica Estuart. She's actually the renowned baker of Sugargirl Cupcakes and knows a thing or two about the art of baking.

Yummy Baked French Toast

1 (1 pound) loaf French bread, cut diagonally in 1 inch slices
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2-3/4 walnuts
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar

Filling:
1 bar of 1/3 fat or Fatfree cream cheese
a handful of dried cranberries (which I put in oj to plump up for about 10 min)
1/4C chopped walnuts.

DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare filling by mixing together cream cheese, cranberries and walnuts. Layer one baguette slice and top it like a sandwich with another slice of baguette.
2. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange the slices of bread in the bottom. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour over bread slices, scatter walnuts, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

3. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar; heat until bubbling. Pour over bread and egg mixture.
4. Bake in preheated oven, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
5. Serve with Maple Syrup, if you please.

*ok, you SO don't need maple syrup, this thing comes out of the oven PERFECT!

This recipe was so phenomenal, i decided at the last second to give it as a surprise gift to the ladies who really put out quite a spread over Christmas Eve and Christmas day: my mother in law and my mom. We prepared the french toast and only poured half of the mixture over it, wrapped it up and transported it to their homes. When the french toast was safely in their kitchen, we poured the rest of the mixture over the french toast. Since this recipe needed to be prepped the night before, it was the perfect hostess gift.

Our moms were so thrilled that we thought about making them breakfast the day after their big parties, and not just any breakfast an AMAZING one. The thank you calls came with MAJOR KUDOS for an awesome french toast!

Beer, Cheese, Garlic and Olives...WASSAP!

2008-01-08T16:12:00.000-05:00

I had the urge to get in the kitchen, get my hands dirty, and make a big ass mess. The lightbulb in my head went DING! and i went looking for a bread recipe. Guess what, like every freakin bread recipe out there states: place ingredients in bread machine, press start.

Well um, what about us who wanted to get our hands dirty and NOT use a bread machine?!

Luckily, i asked that question to the right woman. Her name is Joellen and she's a cooking DIVA! She had the answer to my question and linked me up to SEVERAL of her quick bread recipes. After reading this one

Garlic, Olive & Cheese Bread

all i wanted was a beer. lol. AND to make this recipe!

This recipe was a snap to prepare and even though i didn't get to really make a big mess (poo), the outcome was pretty good! There was a slight sweetness to the bread which was a nice surprise.

And since i was taking on the HUGE task (or so i thought) of making bread, i decided to make it twice, and gave one loaf to our friends who LOVED the idea of a beer bread. I sold it as dude, i made you Heinekin bread! :)

I will definitely make this bread again, cept the only change i'd make is that i would use kalamata olives for a bit more olive flavor. The recipe didn't specify the type of black olives to use and what i had on hand at the time was a can of black olives.

Happy Happy!

2008-01-08T15:38:00.000-05:00

2008 is now upon us. YAY!!! 8's are big in my life, so for sure, this is going to be a super fantastic year!

I hope you all had a joyous holiday season and and were able to feed your soul AND your tummy! ;)

The holidays around here are super crazy, lots of work, lots of play, lots of cooking. I have been cooking, but haven't had time to sit and write about my adventures. So now that the holidays are officially behind us, i have some time to sit and write.

So, should i start with the fattening stuff or the super fattening stuff? :D

M-I-C-K-E-Y

2007-11-26T20:08:00.000-05:00

M-O-U-S-E!!!! How cute are these?

Hello people! I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! And i hope you didn't miss me too much, i haven't written, cause well i haven't cooked in weeks.

This was the last thing i cooked back on November 8th. Mickey Mouse cupcakes!

I made chocolate chip cupcakes and just popped in 2 mini oreo's for the ears. It was the perfect touch for the Mickey Mouse pizza party we had here right before leaving for Orlando.

We were supposed to have some work done to our place while we were on vacay, and you know how that goes, it didn't start on time and 2 weeks later, they are now just about done. I should be back in my kitchen by the end of the week. And all i can say is THANK GOD! Eating out all the time sucks, just about as much as it sucks to live through construction.

But i'm feeling chatty tonite, so i think i'll go into my food blog photo folder and pull out some stuff i cooked previously and didn't get a chance to write about. So stay tuned! :)

Platter of Severed Hands

2007-10-29T14:43:00.000-04:00

BWahahahahahahaaaaaa...

Halloween is near and you would not believe how creative some people are when it comes to spooky food. Not me though, i'm not into Halloween, i don't like scary things at all, i like to keep my "spooky" G- rated. But when i saw this 'recipe' over on kraftfoods.com i was suddenly inspired.

Spooky Gloved Munch Mix

I just had a Halloween themed makeover party. As favors, i handed out severed hands. These went over BIG. There were tons of "ew gross, and ooh cool" to go around.

I simplified the process by using Crunch n Munch to make the flesh for the hands. The hardest part was finding clear gloves, then cleaning said gloves. See these gloves are coated inside and out with a thin coat of some sort of powder. On the bag of the gloves, it doesn't even say what the powder is. Regardless, i wasn't going to stuff one finger until those gloves were totally residue-free.

Once the gloves were wiped clean and dry on both the inside and the outside, it was a cinch to pop in the candy corn and the popcorn.

I also created a frightening feast using some homemade goodies, some store bought. On the menu:

Witches Warts- Alexia Mushroom Bites
Goblin's Eyes- Baked Cheese Olives
Rest in Pizza- California Pizza Kitchen White Pizza
Mold & Slime Dip- Friday's Spinach, Cheese and Artichoke Dip
Skeleton Fingers w/ Congealed Blood- Pistachio Crusted Chicken w/ strawberry preserve dipping sauce

We had a devilishly good time! :)

P is for Pumpkin

2007-10-19T13:53:00.000-04:00

Cause i already used the C is for Cupcake line... :P

It's STILL good enough for me!

It's FALL, WOO HOO, even though it's still 87 degrees out. The calendar says fall and that means pumpkins! i LOVE fall and i LOVE pumpkin. So time to get my pumpkin on. One can of pumpkin purchased, and off on a mission i go. Looking for something sweet, someone linked me up to this recipe and i'm all over it!

Pumpkin Bliss Cupcakes

Aren't they gorgeous? I swear i was so excited to see these perfectly plump cupcakes come out of my oven.

The first ones i frosted, were frosted and sprinkled with chopped pecans. I loved the texture the pecan added to the cupcake, but much to my surprise, my perfectly plump cupcakes had the wrong cake to frosting ratio. Definitely NOT enough frosting.

So we proceeded to eat the remaining cupcakes this way.

Step 1: Nuke cupcake in micro for 10 seconds.
Step 2: Take warm cupcake, slather the top wtih frosting.
Step 3: Eat top of cupcake.
Step 4: Flip cupcake upside down, slather the bottom with frosting.
Step 5: Finish enjoying the perfectly frosted cupcake, lick fingers, make mmmm sounds.

Repeat as necessary! :)

Mmmm...Beefy!

2007-10-16T10:13:00.000-04:00

Now that it's getting cooler out (i think it's 83 yesterday, instead of the usual 89), i was inspired to make a cool weather dinner. This was my first time ever making beef stew and when i told my hubby we were having beef stew for dinner, he said he had never had it before. So this dinner was going to be a hit or miss.

I went on a mission to find a good recipe, but i couldn't find one that i felt would suit our likes and dislikes. So i took a little bit from ALL the recipes i came across, and came up with my own!

Meli's Beef Stew

1 sweet potato chopped but chunky
2 white potatoes chopped but chunky
2 onions chopped but chunky
1 small bag of baby carrots
1.5 lb cubed stew beef
1 pt white mushrooms, halved, stems removed
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 cups of red wine
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 can of condensed beef broth
oregano
parsley
basil
salt/pepper
cornstarch

Throw everything in the slow cooker in the order mentioned except for the cornstarch. Cook on high for 6 hours. A few minutes prior to serving, take out 1C broth, whisk in cornstarch (i used about 1/4c), then return that mixture to the crock pot and stir. Repeat until desired thickness is achieved. Serve immediately with a side of bread for dunking.

Luckily it was a hit, he got up in the middle of eating for seconds and everything. His only complaint was he wanted more beef and i wanted more onions, so i wrote the recipe above already adding more of both.

It was a snap to put together, and i love that i was only in the kitchen for less then 10 minutes. Great for a weeknight dinner. :)

Fabulous Chicken

2007-10-11T13:09:00.000-04:00

I've eaten ALOT of chicken in my lifetime, enough to not get excited about chicken...ever. I don't order it when i go out, and i have only recently built up a small repertoire of chicken recipes i actually do enjoy at home. So if i wrote out my short list of chicken recipes, this would be at the top of the list with hearts dotting the i's.

Pistachio Crusted Chicken

I've made these for a crowd, i've made these just for us, every single time, this chicken is a hit! So easy, so tasty! The pistachios really add a nice flavor to the chicken. I just love using the honey mustard as a binder instead of an egg, it also adds a subtle layer of flavor.

For a less messy way of making these, i have prepped the chicken strips and left them in a zip lock bag with the honey mustard combo for a couple of hours. Then when i was ready, i took the strips and put them in another zip lock bag that had the crumbs and nuts in it. Just a quick shake and they are ready to be thrown on a prepared baking pan.

I serve it with a strawberry or raspberry sauce, which is just seedless jam and red wine vinegar stirred together and nuked in the micro till warm.

Give this fabulous dish a try, then come back and tell me how much you loved it! ;)

2 Bites

2007-10-03T12:02:00.000-04:00

Looking for something different for a quick app for a ladies lunch i hosted, i came across this unique recipe and decided to give it a shot. I love allrecipes (foodtv and cookinglight) for the real life feedback you get from cooks who have made these recipes before. Here's a perfect example where reading reviews before you make the dish really comes in handy. Although highly rated, the recipe as written is FLAWED.

Baked Cheese Olives

Again, the recipe is flawed. You must add 2 Tbs of water to actually make the batter. Also, i used Queen Olives, and found that i needed to double the batter recipe to get all 24 olives wrapped. Though the recipe isn't written correctly, with some minor adjustments, it was a really great recipe.

I had to get all clever and put them in my olive dish. Cause well, it IS an olive, and what the heck, i'm going to pull out this odd dish at every opportunity i get. :P

I LOVED these, loved them!!! Biting into the cheese biscuit and finding a little olive treasure tucked inside is so much fun! Once you fix the error in the recipe, it's a cinch to make and as a bonus, you can make these in advance and freeze them. So on party day it's one less thing to do. LOVE THAT! :)

Turkey Picadillo

2007-10-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

Picadillo is a staple in any Cuban home. My friend Christy shot me a link to a lightened up version of the traditional favorite. She actually shared with the a lightened up version of a Cuban Feast. This one is bookmarked, as i want to try to take on boliche...someday! Cuban Feast Makeover

As i was making it, i realized for our tastes, i needed to make some changes to the recipe. I made some slight alterations and popped it into the weight watchers recipe builder and viola!

Turkey Picadillo

This was delicious and deceptively light. You couldn't even tell that i used ground turkey instead of ground beef. As you are cooking it, you can figure out if you like it soupy. Personally, i like it a little soupier then dry. If you like it drier, just keep simmering away. No matter how you make it, this is a must try. Enjoy! :)

Clean vs. Plain

2007-09-28T14:33:00.000-04:00

Inspired by the most amazing taste sensation, i bought a URL for this blog. Someday, i'll be blogging from www.butterandbrownsugar.com. HOORAY! :)

I told my hubby, and he's got a million ideas for my blog already. Can i just interject right here, that my hubby has looked at my blog, oh maybe once.

He started telling me about some of his ideas. I told him babe, i like the format how it is now, it's v. clean. He says gimme your URL...after like half a dozen attempts, he finally gets it right and says, CLEAN? This is not clean, this is PLAIN. No to the font, no to the header, yada yada yada, we'll get to work on your new site soon.

So, i'll continue blogging from here until Mr. Man gets my blog in fighting form. :P Hopefully it's sooner rather then later!

Love you babe! xoxo

C is for Cupcake!

2007-09-24T13:11:00.000-04:00

That's good enough for me...

Publix had a buy one get one sale on cake mixes, so i ended up with a random box of pineapple cake mix. I really didn't want to make a cake cause, it's only us, so i decided to try to make pineapple upside down cupcakes. Cause i feel bad eating a half a cake, but i don't feel bad eating half a dozen cupcakes. Go figure! lol.

Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

While making these cupcakes, i came across the most amazing taste sensation i've ever eaten in my whole entire life... BUTTER AND BROWN SUGAR. Good Lord, have you ever eaten softened butter and brown sugar? Yeah, me neither. I mean i was so blown away, i grabbed my hubby and told him babe, you gotta try this. And there we stood in the kitchen eating brown sugar and butter just oohing and aahing away. lol.

All of the picking at the brown sugar left us with half a dozen cupcakes unadorned. Eh, whatev, it was worth it, BUT the cupcakes made the right way, upside down-style, were really unbelievable. My father in law came over, tried them and said oooh that's good! :)

I came across a couple other recipes out there on the world wide web and they suggested using crushed pineapple. I think the slices (trimmed) worked out just fine, but i would like to try this recipe again using yellow cake mix and crushed pineapple. ;)

I am the Crepe Queen!

2007-09-21T15:36:00.000-04:00

Hell Yeah i am! :)

Ok, so back story. Went to Key West for Lobster Fest earlier this summer and had the BEST crepes- well, here in the US ;) out of this teeny window on Duval called La Creperie, see...

Anyhoo, we come home and all i want, every single weekend is crepes. So i venture forth and decide i can do it, hell, MELICAN DO ANYTHING! :)

So i find this recipe and think whamo,this is it. Hooray, i'm on my way!

French Crepes

My enthusiasm quickly dissipates as this is how my first crepe turns out.

Next thing i know i'm on the phone with my mom asking where her crepe maker (some hokey gadget from the 70's, lol) is, and telling her that my stupid crepe adventure is going really badly. She assures me that the first one or three always turn out badly, and to keep trying, but she'll look for the crepe gadget anyways.

**INSERT NEVER GIVE UP LESSON HERE** :P

So yes, after making like 2 or 3 really bad ones, i learned my lesson. I switched to a small non-stick pan, sprayed with a quick spritz of pam and start turning out AMAZING thin little pancakes! We stuffed them with ham and cheese, a variety of jams and jelly's and gorged ourselves on fabulous homemade crepes! My fave was the pineapple preserve crepes- mega yum!

Needless to say, this is what i do at least once a week now, but i do half the recipe cause for us, 12 crepes is too many, but not for the first time you make it. For the first time, even if it's just you that you're cooking for, go ahead and make all 12! :)

Shrimp Trio...er...Duo!

2007-08-27T16:58:00.000-04:00

Inspired by a back episode of Top Chef, i decided to make a diet friendly shrimp trio. Unfortunately, the shrimp cocktail didn't make it into the photo. But do you really need a recipe for shrimp cocktail anyways? Yeah, i didn't think so. These are Weight Watchers recipes and i have to say, they were DELICIOUS and super light too!

Chile Caribbean Shrimp Skewers
First up shrimp skewers. These were really simple to prepare and cook. I made them on my stove top in a grill pan. I don't know if i used too much red pepper flakes or what, but when i put these suckers in my hot grill pan, i couldn't stop coughing. Thank goodness they were only in the pan for just a few short minutes. They were done in a flash and extremely flavorful.

Next up, a PHENOMENAL fried rice.
Thai rice with pineapple and shrimp
I'm not really a fried rice kind of girl, but how can you go wrong with pineapple and shrimp Thai fried rice? I AM a sucker for just about anything Thai. ;) This recipe did not disappoint, the flavors were light and fresh and made a perfect pairing to the spicy shrimp skewers. This recipe is definitely a keeper. I love love love this rice. Even if you aren't watching your figure, you should totally try this recipe out. :)

Melted Cheese

2007-08-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

Thursday nite is STILL pizza nite around here and we FINALLY learned how to make the BEST cheese pizza. We still buy the dough from Mario the Baker BUT instead of shredded mozzarella cheese, we started to use sliced mozzarella cheese. WOW! That makes a gorgeous pizza!

Of course, we cook by trial and error, so the first time we made it that way, we burned the crap out of the cheese and the dough was still soggy. The second time around, we got a bit wiser and pre-baked the crust for about 5-7 minutes, then topped with sauce and the sliced cheese, then rebaked till golden. Yummy yum yum yum.

Sliced cheese is the way to go for a ooey gooey pizza pie! ;)

Turkey- LaSpadas Style

2007-08-22T13:23:00.000-04:00

If you are a local, you may have heard of LaSpadas. A tiny sub shop that makes the world's best subs. Ok, the 'world's best' may be stretching it just a teeny tiny bit, but i'm telling you, these are life changing subs.

And i'm here to spill what makes these subs amazing. Of course it's the fresh cut meats, of course it's the soft hoagie bread and of course it's your choice of condiments BUT it's the way they TOP your handmade hoagie with extra meat that makes it a LASPADAS sub! Now i know you are sitting there reading this going, what? meat on top? weird! But don't knock it till you try it.

Here's our attempt at the homemade version.

And if we weren't so damned hungry we would have taken more photos, but the sub disappeared too fast for the flashbulb to catch it! ;)

Laspadas Original Hoagies
2645 S. University Drive
Davie, FL 33328
(954)476-1099
www.laspadashoagies.com

Double Potato Mash

2007-08-22T13:00:00.000-04:00

Have i mentioned that i puffy heart Nigella Lawson? She's the only cooking television personality that i totally get geeked out over. She's FABULOUS! She's got a show on the Food Network called Nigella Feasts, its only on once a week (poo!) BUT it's totally worth setting your TIVO for, because the show is divine!

After watching her Comfort Foods episode, as soon as the credits were rolling i was in the kitchen peeling a sweet potato and a white potato. Hello?! BRILLIANT mixing the two.

Double Potato Mash

I did make a couple slight alterations to the recipe cause i didn't have mace and wasn't going to go out and buy some. :P

I boiled the sweet and white potato together, drained, then whipped them up using my hand mixer. I had never made mashed potatoes with olive oil before either, but it was a nice flavor. And i just grated just a teeny bit of Fontina cheese into the potatoes as i whipped them up.

These were phenomenal! I served with barbecued brisket and sweet yellow corn. There's a slight sweetness that comes from the sweet potato that is paired with the fruitiness of the evoo that lends itself to a gorgeous creamy potato mash that's not like your mama's mashed potatoes. ;)

This recipe i have made at least half a dozen times this summer, just making slight variations on the mix ins. This is a fabulous must try recipe from the lovely Nigella Lawson.

i want candy

2007-08-22T12:43:00.000-04:00

So, my summer has been insane and in the middle of it all, i decided to jump back on the weight loss wagon and join Weight Watchers. This blog will be taking a turn to more healthy recipes i've been trying out, but please, i'm human and i also throw in a decadent recipe (or ten) into the mix. ;)

And what did i choose for my first 'diet' recipe? CANDY of course! lol.

Raspberry Chocolate Cups

This was fun to do, and it's a lot easier to make then you'd imagine. The photo below has the jam filled cup on the left and the finished raspberry cup on the right.

My hubby even thought these were pretty good, the only suggestion he threw out there was try a different jam next time. He's partial to grape jelly, but a grape chocolate cup to me is total gag, so i tried it with strawberry jam, and it's totally YUM! :)

There you have it, diet chocolate! AWESOME!

Excuse me, There's a party in my cake!

2007-08-09T12:14:00.001-04:00

Funfetti is the bomb!

Seriously.

Need i say more?

Here Comes Trouble!

2007-08-09T11:21:00.001-04:00

Trouble only cause this is so delicious that if there's leftovers, you'll be reheating this in the morning and then when it's all gone, you'll be counting the days till the next event where you can make Mom's Heavenly Brie again.

This recipe is to die for, people. TO DIE FOR. Trust me. Try it, then come back and tell me A. How much of it YOU ate, and B. How much weight you think you gained from eating the whole thing. ;)

Mom's Heavenly Brie

1 round piece of brie- skin removed, chopped roughly
2 cans of refrigerated crescent rolls (i used reduced fat)
brown sugar
1/4 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a baking dish, take 1 can of crescent rolls and place on bottom of the dish and put the points of the dough up the side of the dish. take half of the brie and place on top of the dough, top with about a handful of brown sugar and then add a couple pats of butter. Fold the points of the dough in and over. Take the 2nd can of dough and do the exact same process all over again. Then pop into the oven till golden brown. I can't remember how long exactly, i want to say about 20-25 mintues. But you know, just keep peaking. ;) When it's golden and bubbly take it out and let it cool sliughtly before serving. Enjoy!

This dish is divine! Try it and let me know what you think! :)

Pan y Churrasco

2007-08-09T11:20:00.000-04:00

My hubby man's the grill. And i love a man who can grill, cause it means he's cooking and i'm not! lol. And omg, lol, i can't believe he was cutting in the pan. What a nerd. I wonder if he scratched my pan. Yes readers, don't cut anything in a non-stick pan, cut on a cutting board. ;)

Here's a simple chimichurri recipe, but we used jarred sauce.

Chimichurri Sauce:
3 bunches curly parsley, finely chopped
6 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh garlic
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 cup white vinegar

We marinate skirt steaks for about an hour, in half a jar of chimichurri and then as the steaks are grilling (about 5 min per side), he bastes it with more, then serves with the remaining chimichurri. mmmmmmm....

Man, just looking at these photos is making my tummy grumble. Vegetarians, i have no idea how this doesn't make your mouth water. Yes, yes i know, different strokes. ;)

We serve it with slices of lightly toasted Cuban Bread.

This loaf of fresh Cuban bread from my Abeulo's favorite bakery. Here's a recipe for Pan Cubano. I never in a million years would even attempt to make it, cause well it's everywhere here. But if it's not readily available in your hood, you may want to give it a shot. Quick, easy and tasty! What else could you want for a party?! :)

Cheddar Artichoke Quiche Cups

2007-08-02T13:19:00.000-04:00

Cheddar Artichoke Quiche Cups

This was my least favorite of the party foods. Maybe cause it sent me on a mission to Target about 2 hours before my party started cause i didn't have the mini muffin pan like i thought i had. But no, that wasn't the reason, the reason was cause it was so damned greasy! My hubby did take a couple nice photos of it (thanks, babe!), so enjoy the eye candy!

But if you are going to make it, please make some alterations to the recipe. Actually, when i read the recipe i thought it was written wrong, it calls for 4 cups of cheese, which to me was strange, cause the ratio of all the other ingredients sounded right, but then the cheese seemed like too much. But the clock was ticking and i just wanted to get them in the oven and get ready. So i made it as written and my guests politely ate a couple, but i had a TON of these left over.

They looked pretty, but these were pretty...eh.

Bacon and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms

2007-08-02T13:08:00.000-04:00

So, we continue on the fattening party food express. I had mushrooms, so i decided to stuff them. Guess what, there's like 2 million stuffed mushroom recipes that include some sort of cream cheese varation on the stuffing. I've had about a million of them in my lifetime, so i was hoping to find something a little different. I finally found 1 recipe that didn't say cream cheese.

Bacon and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms

These were delicious! I didn't have crimini mushrooms, used button mushrooms, to save time, i used real bacon bits and also added a handful of breadcrumbs to soak up some of the impending grease from all that cheddar and bacon goodness. These flew right off the platter, i didn't even have the chance to taste them at the party.

But you know how that goes, every good chef tastes her food prior to serving, so i had one, ok more like 3, prior to serving. ;) There was some stuffing left over so i formed the stuffing in balls and baked them along with the mushrooms. The stuffing balls didn't look very good, so i just kept those in the kitchen and i ate them later. They didn't look very good, but they sure tasted GREAT!

Of course i forgot to take a photo before they went out, so in the middle of the party, i said oh crap, i need a photo and took one, not a very good one, but those last 4 mushrooms disappeared like as soon as the flash went off. lol.

If you like stuffed mushrooms but would like to change it up for your next party, i HIGHLY reccomend this recipe. :)

Stuffed Strawberries

2007-07-31T21:08:00.000-04:00

What could be easier? Take a gorgeous strawberry and stuff it with cream cheese, sugar and liquor.

Stuffed Strawberries

These strawberries made as the recipe is written were phenomenal, but the recipe poster wrote "Sometimes I add some finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate." REALLY?! I don't believe you, cause it was a bitch and a half to squeeze my finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate through the star tip of my pastry bag. It was the first time i had ever used a pastry bag and i have to say, i enjoyed it, cept for the damn chocolate clogs. Thanks alot imvintage. :P

They are also SUPER fattening.

The second time i made these, i tried to make it with fat free cream cheese, WHOA! Huge mistake. The cream came out gritty and just all around gross. But i knew i was doomed from the second i opened the package of fat free cream cheese. Have you ever seen a block of fat free cream cheese in all it's glory? It's um, let's see what's the word, what's the word...hmmm...NASTY?! It was glossy and jiggly and totally reminded me of silly putty. After the fat free version made it's way to my trash, i decided to make the third batch with reduced fat cream cheese and it turned out just right.

I assembled these a couple hours before my party. I put them in a glad plastic baking pan and covered them. They held up nicely. The only thing i fixed for the next party, was to place the stuffed strawberries on a paper towel first, as the strawberries lose a lot of moisture while waiting for the party to start. When the guests arrive, i place them on a serving platter and out they go!

I got rave reviews from my friends and family for this decadent, yet simple twist on strawberries. :)

This Dip ROCKS!

2007-07-31T19:18:00.000-04:00

I've been cooking up a storm in July! Like every other person i know is a summer baby, so parties are meant to be had, and i've been throwing them AND cooking for them too! Wee! I LOVE throwing parties, it's hella fun, BUT hella stressful leading up to the moment the first guests arrive. But once they walk in, we eat, drink and get our merry on! :)

I always try new recipes for parties, this is both good and bad, cause well you know how i cook, everything that comes out of my kitchen isn't exactly a guaranteed 'hit'. I usually head to allrecipes with an ingredient in mind and start my search there. The next couple posts will highlight some of the new party recipes i tried this season.

But first, an old favorite. From the first time i made this dip, about 2 years ago, it has been a hit hit hit at EVERY party.

Baked Potato Dip

I serve it with kettle cooked potato chips and crudites, but who are we kidding, i always end up eating the veggies the day after the party. This dip screams for some delicious potato chips.

I always half the recipe, and add 1/2 a packet of ranch dressing. It can easily be made with fat free sour cream and cheese and turkey bacon without sacrificing any flavor, just don't tell anyone you went the 'light' route. ;)

So if you are feeling naughty or nice, this is the perfect dip depending how you choose to prepare it.

Minimum Effort, Maximum Wow!

2007-07-19T13:46:00.000-04:00

Super simple, almost effortless, throw it together and serve!

Cranberry Walnut Salad
Serves 15

2 bags of salad, i used leafy romaine and romaine hearts
1 package of crumbled goat cheese
1/2 package of craisins
1/2 package of walnuts
Newmans Own Light Raspeberry Walnut Vinagrette

I don't have a photo of the salad all mixed up, cause i took it to a barbeque and by the time i got out of the pool and went to fill my plate, it was almost all gone. It's delicious though and clearly a crowd pleaser! ;)

Tuna, it's what's for lunch

2007-07-16T21:19:00.000-04:00

And immediately, i think, ugh, crap, i hate goopy tuna sandwiches. I'm not a fan of mayo, like at all. In fact, mayo sits up at the top of my very short 'foods i don't like' list. But i'm trying to put more fish into my diet, so i'm going to have it more often for lunch.

First things first, taking the mayo out of the tuna.

Taking tuna from drab to fab wasn't too hard, it just took a little creativity. I just used plain yogurt for creaminess, and tried to make it like my fave curry chicken salad.

1 can tuna in water, drained
1/2 container of fat free plain yogurt
1/2 apple diced
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp curry powder

I ate it open faced on light oatmeal bread toasted. If i had grapes or raisins, i would have also added them, and maybe some chopped nuts too. It turned out pretty good, definitely does not taste like chicken though. lol. But it was fresh and light and crunchy, and its a great starter recipe for making a tuna sandwich something to look forward to. ;)

Cornmeal Makes A Crunchy Pizza

2007-07-13T09:37:00.000-04:00

And that's a GOOD thing! Thank you to the ladies that responded to my archaeologist post and pointed me in the right direction! ;) CORNMEAL is what gets the pizza dough sliding right off the pan and onto the hot pizza stone.

NEAT-O!

Ever since i wrote that post, i've come across like a million and one pizza peels. And guess what people, they are HUGE. I'm a gadgety cook, i love me some cooking gadgets, but condo living doesn't really lend itself to too much storage space, and when i saw the size of the pizza peel, i thought where the hell am i going to store that?!

We continue to use the sturdy cardboard method of transporting the pizza. We tried the suggested cookie sheet method, but to my husband's dismay, the pizza isn't the same size or shape as the cookie sheet. lol. But with the cornmeal sprinkled on the cardboard, the pizza dough slides right off with no problems, AND it leaves the crust nice and crunchy.

Mario the Baker makes a damn good pizza any day, but on this particular day, we wanted to make one. So i popped on in, and for the bargain basement price of a $1 for a medium pizza dough and $2 for a large, i picked up a couple balls of dough, called my brother and had him over for some (semi)homemade pizza! And it was GOOD too, YAY CORNMEAL! ;)

Mario the Baker
www.mariothebakerpizza.com
2590 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, FL 33137
(305) 438-0228

The New Black

2007-07-12T08:02:00.000-04:00

Do YOU Dinner Club? If you don't, then you need to get with it people, it's the new black! It's a chi chi way of saying, 'Pot luck- here's the theme, bring something'...and it's SUPER FUN! :)

I made Albondigas for our first dinner club gathering. The theme was tapas! And i admit it, a lot of the tapas mentioned as suggestions seemed a little intimidating, so i went to look for something in the theme, but a little easier.

Albondigas (Meatballs in Garlic-Tomato Sauce)

Ok, so this recipe was a little more involved then i imagined, but it's exciting cooking for a crowd, so it made making 80 little meatballs fun!

I made this recipe exactly as stated. I used my old skool Cuisinart to finely chop the onions and green pepper and the texture came out perfect, not too big, not too small. I baked (instead of frying- naturally ;) the Albondigas at 375 for about 30 minutes, turning them every 10 minutes, and they came out perfectly crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

It just so happened that my mom and my mother in law came over (i really WAS cooking for a crowd) as i was making the 2nd batch, and everyone agreed, they were delicious!

BUT and this is a very big, BUT, the sauce was lousy. I followed that part of the recipe to the letter, and was so disappointed with how it tasted. In fact, my camera went on strike and refused to take a nice photo of it, so all i have is a really crappy photo of how it turned out. here you go...

Yeah, so under all that tomato sauce are really nice meatballs. The ingredients took them to another place...Spain maybe?! lol.

UPDATE: After i wrote this last nite, i settled in for this week's episode of Top Chef. How obnoxious was the Supper Club featured...nice sashes, lol. And i loved some of the commentary, such as "You can get this at Denny's!" Must take a REALLY refined palette and a fancy sash to come up with a comment like that.

See people, i'm telling you, i've got my finger firmly on the pulse of what's hot, and that's Dinner Clubs! So pick a date, pick a theme and email some friends to get your dinner club started today! ;)

There's ALWAYS Room for J-E-L-L-O!

2007-07-09T10:24:00.000-04:00

So i'm convinced the only reason they sell plastic Cuban coffee cups in packs of 250 is not for coffee at all, it's the perfect vessel for some Jello shots! That's right people, a throw back to college, Jello shots STILL rock my socks. Ain't nothing like getting housed while sucking down sweet Jello shots!

I always make my shots the same. For this event, i used Black Cherry Jello with Watermelon Vodka, Sugar Free Strawberry Kiwi Jello with Watermelon Vodka and Orange Jello with Lemon Rum. Whoa baby, those Orange shots were LETHAL!

Jello Shots
1 small package of Jello
1C hot water
3/4C alcohol of your choice
1/4C cold water

Put Jello in bowl, add hot water,stir until Jello dissolves, add liquor and water,
pour into tiny cups, refrigerate for about 1 hour or until they set. Enjoy!

And as evidenced by my friend Cristina, they are DEFINITELY fun at parties! ;)

Salad on the Brain

2007-07-07T10:24:00.000-04:00

I heart salads, i mean really good salads. And this summer i've made some GOOD ones! :) With the summer heat kickin', the last thing i want to do is cook. So i've been trying a lot of new salads. It actually started by putting "salad" into the allrecipes search box. WOO there are a TON of great salads on that site. Once my bookmarks were overflowing with salad recipes, it was time to dive right in.

Apple-Cheddar Tossed Salad

I used every possible shortcut available with this recipe and turned out a mighty fine salad in about 5 minutes flat! I used bagged salad, bagged shredded cheese and Newman's Honey Mustard Dressing. I think the longest part of putting this salad together was cutting the apple. And i have an apple slicer so really that was like 15 seconds of work. ;)

So if you are looking for a QUICK and tasty salad, i highly recommend this one! :)

Summer Summer Summertime

2007-07-07T10:03:00.000-04:00

Summer's in full swing and there's nothing better then fresh summer fruit. This summer we've been partial to strawberries. I came across this funky salad and had to give it a try.

Sweet & Tart Strawberry Salad

It was ridiculously easy to prepare and you probably have all the ingredients on hand already. The ingredient list may sound a little intimidating, i'd say have your guests taste it before you let them know what's in it. I made the recipe exactly as written and served immediately. The longer the salad sat, the less tart it became.

The combo of sweet brown sugar and tart balsamic vinegar with a touch of spice from the pepper takes strawberries to another level. One taste and you'll see why this salad is a showstopper!

Freakin Brilliant!

2007-06-28T13:33:00.001-04:00

Put the cone INSIDE the ice cream...BRILLIANT! Is there nothing better then a DQ blizzard on a hot summer's nite? I'm going to say no way, jose! And this summer DQ has come out with a FABULOUS new blizzard.

Caramel Waffle Crisp Blizzard Treat
Waffle cone pieces, rich chocolate chunks and caramel blended with creamy vanilla soft serve. Yummy!

Ok, i'm just going to say it, this has to be the BEST BLIZZARD EVER! Seriously every bite you take has a fresh crispy cone in it. AMAZING!

So RUN don't walk to your nearest DQ and get your blizzard on! ;)

Egghead

2007-06-27T09:57:00.000-04:00

...this is your brain on drugs, any questions?
Well actually...YEAH! Why the heck did my fried egg get stuck in my buttered non-stick pan?

I totally think of that 'this is your brain, this is your brain on drugs' commercial every time i fry an egg, which obviously isn't too often. Powerful advertising, lol. So, that being said, this is my brain on drugs after it wouldn't come out of the pan!

Doesn't really matter, i only eat the yellow anyways. I was inspired by a loaf of fresh Cuban bread, which i dutifully dipped into the warm runny yolk. So yeah, not a picture perfect fried egg, but it was still good. ;)

Did you know...

2007-06-26T09:52:00.000-04:00

You could cook bacon in the oven? Yup, it says so right on the package. After YEARS of making crappy bacon in the micro, i just discovered that right on the bacon package there's directions for cooking it in the oven.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400
put bacon on pan
bake for 10-12 minutes.

Can you believe how easy that is? And the bacon turns out perfect! And if you normally made bacon in the micro, there's no pieces of paper towel stuck to the bacon. Or if you actually fried bacon in a pan, your house doesn't smell like fried bacon all day long, and no grease splatters either. It's AWESOME people.

A hidden little gem from the back my bacon package to your kitchen, try it out, it totally rocks! :)

This cookie has 2 faces

2007-06-15T17:02:00.000-04:00

I had read a TON of chocolate chip cookie recipes the other day and ended up making this one, Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies. With a lofty name like that, i had super high expectations. I mean award winning makes you think ooh...ahh...right?!

So i made the first dozen as written and baked immediately after mixing it up. They came a solid OK. I put the rest of the cookie dough back in the fridge feeling somewhat disappointed. The cookies were good, but it got me to thinking about who exactly were the judges handing out this award?!

The next evening rolls on by, and i asked my hubby if he wanted a fresh baked cookie. He says sure, and i go to the kitchen, but decide not to turn on the oven and i just put 6 cookies on a pan and baked it in my toaster oven at 350 for 6 minutes. I pull them out and they are nice and brown on the inside and all melty on the inside. We enjoyed 1 piping hot out of the oven and let the others sit out.

Here's the best part. We forgot about the cookies until the next afternoon and when we tasted them, they were super soft and really good! I told my hubby it's like those 'soft baked' cookies in that red package.

This recipe is pretty good, i'm guessing it's the pudding that keeps them nice and soft. I can't say it lived up to all my lofty expectations as an award winning cookie. I don't know if i'd give this recipe a blue ribbon, but it's definitely deserving of a red ribbon. ;)

Doesn't this look good?

2007-06-15T16:38:00.001-04:00

I mean, really good?

Well, it didn't taste very good. poo. This was my first and probably ONLY attempt at Spaghetti Carbonara. I found this recipe Spaghetti Carbonara II halved it, made it exactly as written, and it turned out super bland, like it was totally missing something.

I was impressed by the egg being cooked by the heat of the pasta, but my hubby, not so much. His assessment, it tastes like breakfast, and not in a good way. Ouch. I don't even think we finished it. It was lousy, i can't recommend this one, but it was a pretty picture. ;)

Jill's Ziti and Broccoli

2007-06-15T16:03:00.000-04:00

My girlfriend Jill taught me how to make the easiest pasta dish waaaaay back in the day, back in the 90's, GASP! lol. This post was inspired by all the cd's from college that i'm finally getting around to throwing in my itunes. So yeah, back to the food.

Jill was a girl from Staten Island, you know home of the spaghetti and gravy no matter what kind of pasta you were eating. Well, needless to say, she came with a plethora of good recipes. This one i've been making just about every month since she showed me how. And it's so quick and easy that my hubby cooks this one too!

Jill's Ziti and Broccoli
1/2 package of ziti
1 package broccoli (fresh or frozen)
evoo
garlic
fresh grated parmasean cheese
s/p

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. If you are using fresh chopped broccoli, throw in salted water for about 1 minute, until the broccoli turns bright green. Then scoop out of the water. Then throw the pasta in the same water. If you are using frozen chopped broccoli, just cook pasta as directed and cook broccoli as directed as well.

In a small pan heat evoo over medium heat, then add minced, chopped, smashed (however you like it) garlic, heat until soft. Drain pasta and return to pot, add broccoli and pour oil and garlic and add most of the parmasean. Adjust seasonings (s/p, evoo) to your liking, toss, serve and enjoy! :)

So simple, so delish! So next time you forgot to defrost something for dinner and are thinking of making spaghetti with tomato sauce, try Jill's Ziti and Broccoli instead. It's YUM... :)

Meli's Deli

2007-06-06T22:07:00.000-04:00

Here's what was on the menu at Meli's Deli on Sunday...
Deli Style Brisket
Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
Honey Glazed Carrots
Eclair Cake

Let's start with dessert first, shall we? I had a random half eaten can of chocolate frosting and no desire to make a cake. I found an interesting recipe, Eclair Cake, using not only the frosting, but using the other half eaten random stuff in my pantry- Sweet! :)

I halved the recipe and made it in a loaf pan. I used sugar free vanilla pudding and fat free cool whip and i couldn't taste the difference. The recipe halved just lovely, until i realized i had run out of graham crackers for the top layer, and had a mini oh shit moment. But then the light bulb of ingenuity dinged in my head, and i topped the last layer of pudding in graham cracker crumbs! Brilliant, you say?! Well, it worked just fine, it was delicious and deceptively light (you know sans the thick chocolate frosting layer) but it was a bitch to get a good photo cause the frosting kept sliding off.

I HIGHLY recommend this recipe, it's super easy, looks good and tastes wonderful AND you probably have most, if not all the ingredients in your kitchen now... BONUS! :)

Now, lets get to the main course. I wanted to cook a nice Sunday dinner, my hubby wanted to go hang at the pool. So i found a super quick to throw together, slow cooker recipe for Deli Style Brisket . The ingredients were so simple, i thought i was going to hate it. i mean how excited can i possibly get about ketchup and onions and water. ech, blah, prob what they eat in prison. :P

This literally took about 1.5 minutes to throw together. And later that afternoon, i told my hubby, our neighbor must be cooking something good for dinner. Then remembered, DUH, that's me!

It DID live up to it's rep of being the most tender brisket i've made. And even though i did make the mistake of just throwing the flour in the gravy (instead of mixing it with water first which lead to squishing floating flour balls for about 5 minutes, AY!), it was a really super easy, carefree way of making some really good comfort food. Simple, tasty. The following day, the leftovers made a great sandwhich. ;)

Roasted and Toasted

2007-06-05T13:19:00.000-04:00

I found a recipe for Roasted Cauliflower and have been holding onto it for a while. I finally had the chance to make it and well, i wouldn't go so far as to say it tastes better then french fries, but i will say that it's pretty good. It WAS pretty stinky, in that cooking cauliflower way, for the first 15 minutes, but as it roasted, it smelled better. lol.

Roasted Cauliflower

cauliflower
olive oil
s/p
the herbs/ spices of your choice

Heat oven to 475, I used a bag of prechopped cauliflower, coat in oil and spices, roast in shallow baking pan, turning every 15 minutes until desired level of crispiness has been acheived. For me, that was about 45 minutes. ;) Enjoy!

I used a pinch of cayanne pepper. It was ok, but i'm looking forward to trying different spices like curry or cumin. Who knows, we'll see, the possibilities are endless! What do you think is a good spice for roasted cauliflower?

Simply Delightful

2007-06-05T12:49:00.000-04:00

Doncha just LOVE Hawaiian bread? We LOVE it. But i only buy it in the small 4 pack of rolls cause variety is the spice of life! It's just one of the many types of bread we normally eat around here.

Every once and a while, i'm tempted to make what is known to my brother Chris as THE BEST GRILLED CHEESE EVER. When he told me his friend makes the best ever, i said bullshit. Then he came over and showed me how. We were toasting cheese sandwiches left and right, and i have to say, he wasn't that far off the mark.

The Best Toasted Cheese Sandwich

Hawaiian Bread
Butter
Your fave cheese

Heat a non stick skillet over medium high heat. I used Hawaiian bread rolls, so cut the rolls into 1/4's (this means you'll get 2 small sandwiches from 1 roll). Butter the insides of the roll, place butter side down, and add cheese (not too much) then place the other side of the roll butter side up. After about 1-2 minutes flip. Another minute or so, remove from heat and ENJOY!

When Chris first taught me how to make these, we used oodles of different kinds of cheeses, smoked gouda, swiss, cheddar, american, we were toasted cheese sandwich fools! It was fun, i liked them all. The combination of the salty cheese and the butter with the sweetness of the roll is AWESOME, it really is.

Make sure you come back and tell me what kind of cheese you used and how fabulous it was! ;)

I almost felt like an archeologist!

2007-06-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

Thursday night it pizza nite, every Thursday, you'll find us eating pizza, and since this Thursday i was no where near The Big Cheese, i decided to actually MAKE the pizza dough. Oh boy! This dude, Jay, has the highest rating on allrecipes for his pizza dough, so for sure, this is THE ONE.

Jay's Signature Pizza Crust

Allrecipes also uses his dough for their Forming Pizza Crust tutorial. For sure, THIS is the pizza dough to make if you are going to try any on that website, THIS is it. So i did.

I gotta tell you, it was v. easy to make and punching down dough is REALLY fun. But our dough came out from rising super sticky. So we tried to get it to be less sticky by adding flour, and more flour and yes, more flour.

The pizza stone was patiently waiting in the oven, nice and hot at 500 for the pizza. Well, you see, we've made pizza a whole 3 times already and when we get to the putting the pizza in the oven phase. We um...DEFINITELY need some help. I read about a pizza paddle or a peel (a large wooden thingy to slide the pizza onto the stone). And by coincidence my mom was headed to BedBath&Beyond, i asked her to find me one. They told her they don't carry it, but may have it in stock soon. Okie dokie.

So we substituted of a sturdy piece of cardboard, well floured. Yup, you got it, MORE FLOUR!

Do i need to tell you what happened or can you figure it out?! Our pizza came out of the oven and well i didn't even take a photo, my hubby paused and everything before he started to slice it up. Like as if to say, hello...picture?! lol.

As he lifted my slice up to put it on my plate, i said omg, no way! i couldn't eat that, a white and i'm talking pure white pizza crust, white from all the damn flour! lol. I ran to the kitchen and got natural bristled basting brush and started brushing. It came off with no problem, but i felt like i was going to uncover hieroglyphics under all that flour! lol.

Our pizza was ok, we had much better success with the premade dough from the Big Cheese, but i can't blame the recipe. I'll blame BedBath&Beyond for not carrying a pizza paddle. :P NO, but in all honesty, if you readers out there can help a girl out. How do you transfer the pizza onto the pizza stone?!

I did eventually take a photo, but the most important thing in this shot is ALL THE DAMN FLOUR! lol.

More Food of the Gods

2007-06-01T13:18:00.000-04:00

Have you ever tried Greek Yogurt? If you haven't, YOU MUST! It's amazing. :)

My folks went to Greece a couple years back and i remember my mom coming home and raving about it. We started frequenting this local Greek place, Mykonos, and told my mom i LOVED their moussaka. On our recommendation, my folks went and my mom asked if they had Greek yogurt. The guy told her that his mom flies it in from Greece every so often. So if you are lucky to come in when they have it, they will gladly serve it up to you. We continued to go and ask every time we went in there, cause seriously, if my mom said you MUST try Greek yogurt one more time...

Well finally that day had come. In a plain styrofoam container, there was a glob of thick white yogurt drenched in golden honey and sprinkled with walnuts. Let me tell you, it WAS something to rave about.

Now, i'm not really a yogurt person, i'll eat it, it's just not something that i get excited over. But one taste of this Greek yogurt and well, i'm hooked. It's rich and creamy, teamed with the sweetness of the honey and the woodiness of the walnuts, i'm in heaven!

I'm thinking, where can i find this stuff. I can't just wait for this dude's mom to fly it in! So i go on a mission. I scour the yogurt section at Publix and find nothing. Boo. I ask the dairy guy and he's like oh yes and takes me to the yogurt drink section. I'm like no dude, it's not a drink it's like really thick. He's like i know this is Greek yogurt. I'm like it's really not. back and forth, back and forth and what do you know, the Greek yogurt is 2 shelves UP from where he was pulling bottles off the shelves. WOO HOO!!! Don't worry people, i'm not gonna leave you hanging, here it is (so you know exactly what to look for).

Ok, mom just called, she's super excited, but she did remind me that it IS fattening, so enjoy in moderation! ;)

Mykonos
1201 SW 22nd St
Miami, FL 33145
(305) 856-3140

You too can be a Goddess...

2007-05-30T17:20:00.001-04:00

Just make this chicken!

Since i started bloggin' about my adventures, recipes are coming at me from everywhere. EVERYONE wants to be a part of my chronicles. And i love you all and want to make every single one of your fabulous recipes, i do, really truly, so keep 'em coming. But i just need to be feeling it at the moment. ;) And that moment has finally arrived...SARAH! :)

Everyday i get inspired by one ingredient, one random thing that i start to pop into allrecipes ingredient search or search for at foodtv. That day the convo had turned to plain yogurt. One of my girlfriends said she uses it as a condiment on nearly everything. I said no way, i just bought plain yogurt and i have no idea why! One of my friends says she only buys plain yogurt and then puts all kinds of good things in it, fruits, granola, etc and enjoys it that way. Another, Sar, said she uses it as a marinade for chicken. DING DING DING!!! Now i'm inspired! Her response: "SCORE!!!!! my first recipe to be featured on meli can cook!"

So now without further adieu, Sarah's Goddess Chicken (i named it, not her) as written by Sar...

this is the marinade:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon grill seasoning

let it marinate and stick it on the indoor grill.
and you can make this and put it on top: :)

Parsley Feta Pesto:
1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
1/2 cup feta crumbles
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

*SCORE IS RIGHT! YOU MUST TRY THIS RECIPE. IT TASTES AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS, PROMISE!*

I made the pesto as my chicken breasts were grillin. The only change i made was i used pistachios instead of walnuts. Check this out.

Doesn't that look amazing?! You're damn right it does! I had to cut up a tomato and spread the pesto on so i could sample it, cause those giant breasts were taking forever to finish in my grill pan.

Let me tell you, it tasted as amazing as it looked. And the yogurt marinade made the chicken oh so juicy and tender, i served it up with Mom's Rice Pilaf and a couple of sliced tomatos that i didn't inhale while cooking and it was a fabulous dinner.

I had a teeny bit left over for lunch the following day, and the pesto just got better overnight. So if you want, make the pesto a day in advance so the flavors have plenty of time to get to know each other. ;)

Mom's Rice Pilaf

2007-05-30T16:20:00.001-04:00

I remember this rice dish from when i was a kid, rice and onions, so simple so delicious.

I called my mom and asked her for the recipe. She said, it's an oldie, she doesn't remember if she got it from my grandmother or my abuela, but it's a goodie.

Mom's Rice Pilaf

1 onion, mom says vidalia is best, but you can use any kind of onion
1/2 stick of butter
1C white rice
2C chicken stock

Slice the onions, saute in butter, cook until almost translucent.
Cook rice as stated on the package, but use chicken stock instead of water and add onions. I cook my rice in the micro, so i throw it all in the corning ware, cover and zap.

The day i asked my mom about the rice, i went to the hospital to visit my abuela. I asked her if she had a rice pilaf recipe. She said yes, a good one and recited the exact same recipe as my mom, cept hers had 3/4 of a stick of butter! lol. So if you are feeling exceptionally decadent, then try abuela's version! ;)

4 Minute Filet

2007-05-25T09:47:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this story goes a little something like this. I went on my usual run through Publix, when there was this young guy sampling filet. I initially said no thanks, then said ok, what the hell. It was good but so thin. I've never eaten thin filet mignon before.

He was like, good right? I said yeah, but i'm not buying it, cause mine would turn out like leather. He said no, the trick is to cook it for 2 minutes on each side. Try it, you can do it! I replied, i can try! And threw it in my shopping cart.

I felt really bad for the kid, he was so nice, i even circled back around to the meat section later and almost put them down, thinking why bother with such thin cuts of meat. But then i thought the kid was so nice, and what if he gets credited for how many filets he sells while sampling. i know, i'm such a sucker. :P

Mid-week comes around and i'm thinking about dinner and what to defrost, i see those filets staring at me and just go ok, tonite, we're trying this.

Now that i already knew how to cook the steak, it was time to think of sides. To me, nothing goes better with steak then onions. So onion was the keyword of the day. And you know, i found a ton of onion recipes for Thanksgiving. I thought that was really interesting, cause i do Cuban Thanksgiving, so a lot of traditional American sides, i've never had at Thanksgiving. Anyhoo, i digress.

I did come across a grilled onion recipe that sounded tasty, and even though we have a grill, in this house, the grill is my hubby's territory. So i made it in the oven.

Grilled Onions

I cranked the oven up to 400, broke up the bullion cubes, stuffed the onions with the bullion and butter, wrapped them in foil, threw them on the middle rack and set the timer for 90 minutes. Well at 75 minutes, i checked the oven and the damn onions leaked all over the oven. i know, i know, didn't i learn ANYTHING from the Pound Cake from Hell debacle?! Yeah, apparently not. But the onions were perfectly ready in 90 minutes.

With minutes left to go on the onions, i heated up my pan, seasoned my filets with salt and pepper, and got on it. 2 minutes on one side and 1.5 minutes on the other. The steaks came out with perfectly pink centers. HOORAY, i did it, no leather to chew on tonite! :)

I served it to my hubby with some mac n cheese (out of a box), and as he cut into the onion he said, what's this. I said a faux grilled onion, it's supposed to taste like... he answered mouth-full, it's good.

Psht, yeah it was! Everything was really good and really fast to prep. So i highly recommend that you try this for a quick weeknight meal! :)

Polenta-Shmolenta

2007-05-25T08:29:00.000-04:00

I've been reading alot about polenta lately, so i decided to make it as a different side dish. The first time i made it, i served it with RR's Chicken Palliard and i must say, in a head to head battle, mine looked MUCH better then hers. lol. :)

However, the polenta, we were not impressed with. I mixed with with some butter and sprinkled(ok maybe not sprinkled, but you know) it with some Parmesan and it did nothing for this bland side dish. In fact bland is an understatement, it's bland-o-rama, blandissimo, tastes like nothing.

But instead of dumping it, i continued reading and found you can make polenta fries. So i figured ok, this is what's going to make or break polenta for me. So, for lunch i grilled up a chicken breast, some asparagus and fried the damn polenta in some olive oil and sprinkled more . Now, i HATE frying. I'm a disaster at it. When i fry, it splatters everywhere and i get burned and my house smells, in a nutshell i suck at frying. But i plugged ahead and did it anyway hoping to unlock the mystery of why so many love polenta. This was my result.

Looks good right?! Yeah well, now i have a lovely golden crispy crust to the bland bland bland polenta. Biting into it was nice, i will admit, crispy outter shell to a nice warm center, but again the flavor was just not there.

I'm not giving up on polenta though. I now understand that like most anything, you need quality polenta, and next time i'm at Epicure, i'm going to look for some good polenta and maybe a new mix in. But the instant polenta that i picked up at Publix... never again.

The Pound Cake from Hell!

2007-05-22T19:16:00.001-04:00

Ok, so as i run up and down the aisles of Publix i call my hubby and ask him if there's anything special he wants me to pick up. He rattles off a list of things including pound cake, and i know i heard it, but it went in one ear and out the other. That nite after dinner he asks where's the pound cake?! Oops, i apologize and tell him i'll make him one tomorrow.

So i attempted to.

First i go on a mission to find one, and am happy to report that good ol Paula Deen has one! And before even clicking on it, i just knew that hers would have at least a stick of butter in it, and what do you know, it doesn't have 1, but 2! I love Paula and her a stick of butter in EVERY recipe mentality.

Grandmother Paul's Sour Cream Pound Cake

I don't have a bundt cake pan but i do have a loaf pan and my hubby's fave store bought pound cake comes in a loaf, so i just decide to use my loaf pan. My hubby got home when i was pouring the batter into the pan and i ask him, do you think i should pour this batter to the top or stop 2/3's of the way to the top or what? He says fill it up! So i do. Why did i listen to him?!

I pop that sucker into the oven, set the timer and walk away from the kitchen. I think it was about 25 min in, i smell something funny. I'm like what the heck, weird, and go to the kitchen to see smoke pouring out of my oven. WHAT?! I open it up and sure enough, there's cake batter pouring out over the side of the pan and well turning into charcoal at the bottom of my oven.

I turn everything off and amid a flood of expletives, take out the pound cake, the racks and start scraping the mess off the bottom of my oven with a spatula and bleepity bleeping that i can't believe i used 6 eggs and 2 sticks of butter and a whole hell of a lot of flour in a recipe that was ruined in less then 30 minutes!

After i cleaned everything up, i popped it back into the oven for the remaining hour. THIS is what came out of the oven.

It looked like it was doomed to me. I didn't taste it, but later that nite, my hubby walked over with a slice saying "it's good, babe". I hacked into it and pulled out a not too burned piece and thought, eh.

The next morning, i continued hacking away at it and decided to smear it with some butter, it was really good, like i had 3 pieces, that good.

So yes, make this recipe, but make it in a bundt pan! ;)

My hubby just walked in asking why i looked so serious, i told him i'm recanting the pound cake from hell story. He said really? I just bought a pound cake! LOL!

Guess i won't be making the recipe any time soon. :P