Valentine's Day Lunch...

I thought I'd make her favorite almond butter and jelly for lunch tomorrow, so I bought this heart shaped sandwich cutter. But I changed my mind...arroz con pollo instead! So what could I do for a special Valentine lunchbox surprise? Cookies & Cantaloupe! I used the sandwich cutter for both! Can't wait for her to open her lunch bag at school tomorrow! 

Belgian vs Classic...

We bought a Belgian waffle press a month ago. Turns out I don't love Belgian waffles that much. I suppose it's not often that one eats a Belgian waffle, so the idea was just romantic. They're too big for regular consumption (by that I mean the amount my daughter requests them). And I realized that on the last day to exchange the damn thing. Picked up our classic waffle press...and I am in LURVE! I'm really frackin happy that I don't have to purchase frozen waffles anymore. I fall over for Emril's Belgian waffle recipe - it's to die for. Made lots, popped some in the freezer, and when my little mama puts in a request, I pop'em in the toaster. Easy peasy.

Sorbet!

Wanted to try something new for the girls, so why not sorbet!? I pureed some honey dew in the food processor, added some sugar, squeezed some lemon in, and a little water. Froze it for 1/3, then stirred it up, and froze for an hour. Served in the cored melon. Oh and I added a bit of ginger...amazing!

Homemade Breadcrumbs!

Oh man, I love breaded things! lol I mentioned wanting to make homemade breadcrumbs, and Brian went to the beach with it! Thankfully! He makes some great crumbs (and I'm not talking about the ones all over the counter every morning!) He toasted a couple of slices of whole wheat bread, then put it in the food processor, added some seasoning (insert your favorites here). And voila! Crusted chicken breast grilled in EVOO.

Arroz Con Pollo Recipe...

I HATE GETTING RECIPES TOGETHER! I just don't cook with measurements...it's so hard figuring it all out...but in the end...as promised, I present to you a RECIPE, AND A VIDEO "HOW TO"! hahahahaha The video is just for my geekness. Please keep in mind; Latino food is super forgiving; it doesn't take French culinary precision! It's pretty much suited for your own likes and dislikes. Add spices you prefer, add olives, pimento, ham, hard salami...the possibilies are endless. The best way to finish off this dish is with AVOCADO! And us younger generation loooove it with KETCHUP! lol Just don't let any vieja's find out!

Arroz Con Pollo a La Lucena-Matos

Ingredients:
1/2 Boiled Chicken- Keep Broth (skinned, and boned if you prefer)
16 oz. Chicken broth (be sure to skim excess fat from broth before using)
3 cups Rice (brown or white, your preference)
2 tbs Adobo (amount is your preference)
1/4 tps Oregano (amount is your preference)
2 Sazon Packets (amount is your preference)
4 cubes Sofrito (amount is your preference) *HOMEMADE RECIPE TO COME!
1/4 cup Tomato Sauce
3 tbs Olive Oil

Instructions:
Cook chicken, set aside. In pot (rice will be cooked in this pot, so make sure it's big enough for chicken and rice to be added) heat olive oil. Then add tomato sauce, sofrito (if frozen, wait until defrosted before adding dry ingredients), dry ingredients, and simmer for 2-5 minutes on med/high heat. Add rice, stir, and then add chicken and broth. You may add water if not enough broth. Use your spoon to feel for the surface of rice beneath water. Water should be about 1/2 deep for white rice, and 3/4 for brown rice. But again, this depends on your preference. Turn up heat to high, and simmer until water is almost completely evaporated. Turn heat down to low, stir, cover. Cook on low for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, check rice by folding from inside out. This brings any uncooked rice to the center, while bringing cooked rice from the bottom of pot to the top. Re-cover and cook until done- 5-10 mintues. Remember, brown rice has a longer cook time. PS This recipe is pretty big...latinos always cook for leftovers and an army! lol So trim as you like.

¡WATCH THE VIDEO "HOW TO" HERE!

Tortilla Pizza!

I love making these for the girls and they loooove them! Super easy and quick! I used flour tortilla here, but we usually use whole wheat tortilla and they're awesome! When I was a kid, we used to make these with English Muffins! Great toddler food!! Add anything you like! Here I added mushrooms, garlic & oregano powder.

PS Be sure to toast the tortilla or english muffin before you add toppings so that it doesn't get soggy!

My first attempt at Zucchini Bread!

It as on my list of things to make for the kids, but I've never actually had it before so I was super shocked when I looked at the reciepe...it's sweet!? Cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar??? I seriously had no idea. I liked the recipe I found (again, not sure where I got it from...I know, I have to be better about sources!) but it called for 3 freaking cups of sugar! What the hell!? Are they trying to kill us!? Well, I cut it down to 2 cups, and by the taste of it I could have done 1 cup! I also used Whole Wheat Flour for 2 of the 3 1/4 it calls for, and didn't have a lemon on had so I figured it was just for some acidity and used OJ. Oh yea, and I didn't add nuts because of the kids. And even with all those tweaks it was a pleasant surprise! It was a big hit...with everyone!

ZUCCHINI BREAD 
RECIPE
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water
2 cups grated zucchini
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. Alternately, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Hamantash, Hamentasch, Homentash, Homentasch, Humentash...

However you spell it, however you say it, it's all the same yummy goodness! I'm representing the Jewish Princess inside me!

I went to the farmer's market today and found some Italian Prunes and had to have them. In an instant I knew what I wanted to make...Humentashen!

This is the recipe I used for the filing.


Here is the recipe I used for the cookie.

I tweaked them a little. For the filing I added some blueberries (just because I picked them up today as well), and added corn starch to make it really thick. Then for the cookie dough I used half Crisco and half bacon grease! lol I guess they're not Kosher!

They're delishious and I totally had a nice flashback to my childhood...Lower East Side Manhattan with my mother and grandmother enjoying amazing Jewish snacks! YUMMY!

Cindy's Corn Casserole...

Recipe Here : Cindy's Corn Casserole

Believe me, I've had it before and it's delish! So I decided to make mini versions for the kids, minus the heat! I don't think I followed the directions to the T, and they came out a little too moist. Tasted great, but I wanted them to come together more, so I just added some corn meal to the left over batter and the second time was the charm!




BTW...everyone loved them! Asking for the recipe! I'll pass it on! Thanks MEI!!

Food...

I've been cooking so much food in the last few weeks for the kids, and I haven't taken a single photo! I'm so upset with myself! I MUST REMEMBER TO SHARRRRE!

I Tweaked This Oatmeal Cookie!

I found this recipe (for the life of me I can't remember where I found it online!) and really liked it, but I HAD to make some changes. First it calls for 1 1/2 cups flour, but I substituted 1/2 cup unbleached flour with whole wheat flour (next time all go for more!). Then it called for 1 cup peanut butter, but I used equal parts peanut, almond, and NUTELLA! lol I can't enjoy anything unless there's chocolate involved! I also used old fashioned oats...I like them better. They came out so abso-freakin-lutely delicious! It's also my first time using a cookie recipe that calls for shorting. I think it gave the cookies a nice gooey texture, with a slight crisp on the outside...LOVE IT!



Here is the original recipe:


PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oats

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together shortening, margarine, brown sugar, white sugar, and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the oats until just combined. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until just light brown. Don't over-bake. Cool and store in an airtight container.

The Grill...

Thank heavens! We finally got a grill! We've only had it a week or so and we've cooked on it almost every night! Food just tastes sooooo much better off the grill!

Empanadas...

I go crazy everyday thinking about what to do for dinner. I saw some recipes for hand pies, which sounds great, but it made me remember making and eating empanadas with my grandmother. I can't tell you how long it's been since I had an empanada. So I decided to make some. I made the dough following these directions, minus the vinegar (didn't have any). It came out just fine. The filling was some salmon I sauteed in butter with asparagus spears, and a cheddar and monterey cheese sauce. Btw...I loooove cheese sauce. It's the best way to fake a home made mac and cheese, and it's great as a spread and topping for just about everything! I made the empanadas small, I used a coffee cup for the cut outs. I figured Brianlily would be better eating little ones. I fried them and they came out great! So good, and totally brought me back to my childhood! I still have to make some mini hand pies!

Weelicious Recipe #2...

Chewy Granola Balls

I didn't have time to make my own granola (soooo have been dying to make some for so long and haven't!) So I used a coconut almond granola that I picked up in the bulk section of Safeway's produce isle. I added wheat germ, almond & sunflower seed butter, cranberries & raisins. Wowy Wowy!!!! Soooo good! Actually...I'm heading to the kitchen to have another bite!!!

Ciao!

Weelicious Recipe...

So I found a bunch of really cool recipes at Weelicious, but I wish I had done some research before going to the supermarket. Some of the ingredients were super expensive! Almost $10 a jar! But there was no stopping me, I had to try a few of her recipes. Tonight I made Popcorn Balls. I didn't read carefully and thought this recipe called for all three butters (sunflower,almond,peanut) and so I bought all three, only to realize later that it calls for one of the three. Upset that I had all three and didn't have to use them, I just used all of them! It came out great! Soooo Goood! It was Brianlily's first time having popcorn (that stuff and kids terrifies me!), and she loved it...daddy loved them too!

~Note to self...Make sure when using popcorn, get rid of unpopped kernels before you use popcorn! Ouch!~

Split Pea Lentil Soup with Ham...

DELISH! My first attempt at making split pea soup was terrible. I made it with bacon and there was soooo much fat in it, it was a nightmare. This time around I bought shank/hock and it was AMAZING! I had some left over split pea, from the first try, soaked overnight and frozen. I put the ham and peas into a pot, added a little salt and pepper, covered them with water and boiled with the lid on for an hour and half. Once the peas were gone I noticed that the soup was too thin (I only had about a half a bag of peas), and decided to add some lentils I had. I boiled everything for about another 1/2 hour and Voilà!

Home Made Macaroni & Cheese...

I made great mac & cheese last night. I hate, hate, hate following recipes...it's too much work to measure things out. I find a recipe that sounds easy or interesting and I follow most of it, then add my own ingredients and measurements and it usually works!

Here's what I used:
about 12oz. Whole Wheat Elbows
1 lb. shredded sharp cheddar
2 heads of broccoli (just the tops, no stems)
2 cups of milk
1 egg beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 large onion

This is what I did:
Saute'd onion in butter until they were translucent, added milk, egg, and cheese until cheese was melted. Then added pasta and broccoli. Tossed, then placed in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Note: this was a combination of two recipes, and the ww pasta and the onion was my addition.

The Chewy...

Thank you Alton Brown! God I love that man!

[EDIT]

The Chewy

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Hardware:
Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer
Directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

The day after...

Christmas is over and now we're thinking about Brianlily's first birthday! It's right around the corner. I just wish there was a better way to remember these times...I mean even thinking back to her months ago is hard. I never want to forget anything!

It was a nice Christmas...can't wait till she's aware of it though. Here's a photo of her with her gift from cousin Brandon


, and some raspberry cookies I made!


They came out yummy! I was on such a roll, I made sofrito, pernil, pecan pie, whip cream, caramel, chocolate chip cookies,
and raspberry sandwich cookies! Crazy! But everything went before I had a chance to get photos! :o(
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

mmmmm...

My bed. My love. How I've missed you so!  

Exhausted.

But on the bright side...my daughter is shhheeeeeeer perfection!

Ended the night with a lemon, mushroom, onion, creamy sauce, over catfish filet (yes we still had some) And to my surprise it was DELISH!!! 

Now off to bed...