But does it blend?

Mango, vanilla ice cream, Greek yogurt and a bit of frozen strawberry's - does it blend? you betcha!

Lisa's Breakfast

When Lisa has the day off, she makes breakfast. It's funny because I heard about this breakfast during my lunch break - she called to tell me how excited she was about steaming broccoli. So, here it is, Lisa's breakfast. It looks like broccoli, scrambled eggs, and a quesadilla.

Tapas Night

Last Thursday was tapas night. I love tapas. I love the flavors. I love all the different tastes. It's fun to make - even more fun to eat, and it allows me to experiment with different foods and food combinations.

When I'm in the grocery store shopping for tapas it's rare that I bring a list with me, rather I'm flying by the seat of my pants and picking the foods that look fresh and/or interesting. I make up the dishes as I go in the store grouping the ingredients in the shopping cart that I'll later combine into a recipe. I'll start in the produce section; my train of thought goes something like this: "Oh, arugula is good. I like arugula it's kinda bitter so to make a salad with it maybe I'll do some tomatoes with it. Oh look cherry tomatoes!"


That's the first tapa. Thinly sliced avocado, roasted cherry tomatoes, and arugula. I whipped up a paprika vinaigrette to top it off. The result was pretty good. Roasting the cherry tomatoes took out the "spontaneous burst" of tomato you normally get when biting into these little guys and brought out the natural sweetness. The paprika vinaigrette was the bombdiggity.


The next tapa was a little more hearty. If you're looking for a rice/pasta/potato substitute try polenta, it's corn meal based and can be prepared the same way you would any of the above. I bought the pre-made polenta stuff that comes in a tube. This stuff is pre-cooked so all you have to do is heat it up. I cut it into 1/4" slices and pan fry in olive oil until I get a golden brown crust on both sides. I then topped it with garlic, baby bellas and fresh jalapeno. The combo was awesome.


This one is more finger food. It's a recipe my mom makes. Blue cheese and black olive paste. I found this roquefort style blue cheese made with goat milk (instead of sheep milk), so it's a bit softer - less crumbly, and I thought it spreaded nicely. For the olives I threw some pitted black olives I got from the olive bar at Whole Foods in the food processor and combined it with a bit of olive oil to make a paste. My mom puts pine nuts in her's - that is the way to go but I didn't have any, and didn't have the foresight during my seat of the pants grocery run to pick up any nuts. Oh well, still not bad.

Not pictured, I also made a small batch of cauliflower with white cheese sauce. Typical Belgian food. Consistently awesome.

Cinnamon Pinch Coffee

The coffee we have at the house is delicious! Raven, despite what he wants to believe is sort of a coffee snob and I can't blame him. Since drinking whole bean "Motor City Blend" coffee (local-Fair trade organic from Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company) my expectations have changed. During this weeks 3 day work seminar they offered complimentary breakfast, lunch, and snacks. However the coffee in the morning was blaH. Usually they serve Starbucks at the hospital but we were off campus and catered by some unknown company. I rarely add sugar but had to add several packets so my tastebuds could withstand the lack of flavor. I learned my lesson and ended up drinking tea or brewing my own the next couple of days.

Anyhow today I decided to try adding cinnamon to my coffee bean grounds to see if I could mimic the smell and flavor of a local restaurants. It turned out pretty good. I recommend a pinch of cinnamon if you want to try something new or run out of milk or creamer. I wonder if it will make icky tasting coffee taste better? However I'm not willing to experiment.

Spicy Deep Fried Tofu

Tonight after lots of arguing about if we should go out to eat or stay in, I asked Lisa what she wanted to do. She said, "I want you to have a snack, and I want to make this Tofu." Why I needed a snack I dont know, somehow she tricked me into having a bit of manchego cheese before dinner. I guess it was ok.

So Making this stuff was pretty easy. Marinate the tofu in a 50/50 mixof teriaki and spicy peanut sauce. Bread it with flour and red chili powder (believe it or not it was Lisa's idea to add chile, normally that's my thing... if its good now it must then be really good if we add chili!). Deep fry it in a wok at high heat. Then use all the left over juces and stir fry every random veggie left in the fridge. Wow!

All that's left here is to serve it all over a bed of rice. Think fluffy white jasmine rice; think sugar snap peas, onions, mushrooms, garlic, red bell peper, and carrots; think fried tofu - soft on the inside with a bit of crust just spicy enough to catch a hint of red chili. Oh man, it was good.

Meaty Ballzagna!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! They are EVERYWHERE! You want to tell me "OMG my Great/Grandma/Mom/Aunte has the best recipe in world!" story, but I'd rather just make it up instead. If you know, have/had or read the meatball book, you get a million extra credit points (now bake yourself some cookies!)

So what is this about? It's about two things we love. Meatballs & Lasagna. Yes, Italians everywhere are going crazy over this! Ok ok, I have no clue if this already exists but we just made it up and not we are going to try it!

I started by making the meatballs which was pretty easy in itself, but I searched a bit for "grandmas special recipe" for a few tips.

2 eggs
1 lb of your ground meat choice (BEEF HERE!!!)
(use your imagination here with the spices or make grandmas fave!)
pepper
garlic salt
garlic powder
fresh red pepper
oregano
2 slices of toast made into crumbs. Double toasted them on light just to get them crisp then crumbled them.
1 clove of garlic (baked at 300 for 10 min approx)

The garlic will become soft and just squeeze out of the skin. Chop, mash, and make it into small pieces along with the onion.

Mix all together in a bowl (beat eggs first duh), roll into balls and cook in a skillet at medium heat. The trick here is to make them golf ball size or smaller as the lasagna is going to get very tall!

This is after only one layer


Once the balls are done you can build your Meaty Ballzagna!
layer of sauce, noodles, sauce, meatballs, count how many you have, take half and space them out across the first layer, add a dallop of cottage cheese on top of each ball or where necessary. Sprankle on the mozzarella cheese then layer again with the noodles. Two layers and it will probably be overflowing like mine. Toss in the oven 350 for 35-45 min. Drink some wine while you wait.

Done! Now enjoy your Meaty Ballzagna!!! Don't forget It's always Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs!

Banana Pancakes

I had a couple of banana's that were extremely ripe and ready to go. So I made these delicious fluffy banana pancakes for breakfast today. I found the recipe on Allrecipes.com and it serves about 6 people, in my case it served approximately 3 people. For once I actually followed the recipe completely and the pancakes came out AMAZING! However I did add a couple drops of vanilla extract to my banana mix and served them with Nutella along side some scrambled eggs.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed

I ♥ No Pudge Fudge Brownies !

<---Have you ever seen this little guy on a trip to Trader Joe's? If not, it's about time you pick a box and give it a try. All it requires is a 6oz yogurt, mixing bowl, baking pan, and an oven.

It's time to leave the easy bake oven kids...

Seriously don't even bother with the directions. Butter the pan or use non stick spray if you'd like and pour the mixed batter right in set the oven on autopilot at 325 for 30 minutes and the result is this fluffy brown pillow.

Also noteworthy of mentioning: A single serving 1/12 of a piece is only 110 calories zero fat and zero cholesterol but I didn't take in account the low fat yogurt. Ehh who's counting anyways? So I sprinkled a few chocolate chips on mine.

16 bean soup?

According to the back of this bag there are 16 varieties of beans in this 1 lb bag-O-beans.

I just couldn't resist the vast assortment of beans in this bag at the grocery store.

I'm thinking of trying a mixed bean soup recipe.
After soaking the recommended 6 + hours this is what I came up with
JUST LOOK AT ALL THE BEAUTIFUL COLORS!

5 minute Taco Salad for Supper

The guys were busy in the basement making the place look spiffy. Specifically setting up the bamboo backdrop screen on the photo above. Micah made it so that the screen would extend closer to the floor he even painted it a mellow yellow color, Muchos Thanks to Micah!

I decided to make them a fix quick meal. Taco salad is really simple, colorful, and of course delicious!

Taco Salad
Ingredients

• 1 bag of Lettuce mixture (I used romaine with carrots, radicchio, mix)
• 1/2 cup of corn (I think frozen or fresh is best)
• 1 small can 2.25 oz black olives
• 1/2 red bell pepper diced
• 1 large tomato
  
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar
  

Dressing
The key here is mixing these both on the salad. If you haven't tried it your missing out.

• ranch dressing (Hidden Valley fat free)
• salsa ....I used Jack's Special from Garden Fresh Gourmet it's local and it's HOT!!!

Directions
1. Rinse vegetables, dice, shred, mix, and dress! It's that simple!
***NOTE I also made taco shells loaded with refried beans and cheese. I heated them in the oven at 325 degrees til the cheese was melted on top it took approximately 10 minutes.

Next time I'm thinking double decker taco's with soft tortilla shells beans over the hard shell put them in the oven then load them up with the taco salad.


It was a great SUCCESS!!! =)

Shrimp and Baby Bok Choy

Pictured here is the Sauteed shrimp & baby bok choy dish served over Jasmine brown rice (brown rice not pictured).

Ingredients
3 Baby bok choy bundles
1 1/2 cup shrimp peeled
2 large cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Pictured below is what fresh uncooked Baby Bok Choy looks like. Bok Choy is Chinese cabbage. It doesn't taste bitter like American cabbage. It's pretty yummy! =)









Seen here is the Trade Joe's product of Thailand store bought appetizer of veggie dumplings. This tasty treat is the result of very simple preparation on a skillet with oil and steamed for a few minutes. I topped mine with shredded carrots and low sodium soy.

Jarlsberg Cheese & Mushroom Omelet

This morning I was craving an omelet so I checked in the fridge and this is what was avail. to use:
Jarlsberg Cheese & Mushroom Omelet

Servings= 1
Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp 2% milk
• 2 tsp butter

Fillings:

• 1/2 Tomato
• 1/4 cup of shredded Jarlsberg cheese
• 3 medium sized Cremini mushrooms
• 2 tbsp of diced onions
• Dash of Sea salt
• Lots of fresh cracked pepper
• Few sprigs of dill
  

1. Rinse vegetables, dice onions, slice mushrooms, shred cheese.
2. With stove on medium heat add 1tsp of butter then add onions and mushrooms saute and remove from heat.
3. Lightly beat the eggs and add milk. (Use salt and pepper if desired)
4. Fire up the stove at medium heat then add a tsp of butter when it begins to foam then add the egg mixture.
5. Once most of egg mixture begins to cook add fillings and fold omelet in half, and cover pan for a minute or til egg is cooked. Remove from heat and serve with dill.

***Be careful not to fry the egg by using butter as needed and reducing heat.

Bon Appetit!

Happy 2010! Super easy Jalapeno & Cheese Cornbread

I just realized that I've neglected the blog as well as cooking for nearly a month (last post was Nov. 2009). So, I'm back...Happy New Years 2010 to everybody!

For Christmas I got some really nice & inspirational cooking tools such as pictured on the left a new "Succulent Apron"(that's what it's called in the Anthropologie catalog:). Some lovely Argentina imported parrot handled wooden serving spoons, hand-crafted by Matacos Indians. As well as a beautiful tea kettle and pot with delicious polyphenol packed Gyokuro imperial loose leaf green tea. In addition to a few excellent cookbooks! There are lots of new recipes to try, many thanks to St. Nick, Alex, Mom & Dad, Raven & fam, etc.

Anyhow let's get down to business... made these last night!

Super easy Jalapeno & Cheese Cornbread

Duplicated & modified from meals.com

Estimated Times
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins

Servings: 9

1 cup ALBERS® Yellow Corn Meal (*substitued quaker brand)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar (used half of this amount)
1 tablespoon baking powder (used a teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt (used a couple dash's)
1 cup whole milk (Sub 2% milk)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (sub 3/4 cup veggie shortening)
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (sub sharp cheddar)
1 can (11 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained
3 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapeños (sub 1 fresh jalapeño)

PREHEAT oven to 375º F. Lightly grease 8-inch-square baking pan.

COMBINE corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Combine milk, eggs and oil in medium bowl. Add to corn meal mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in cheese, corn and jalapeños. Pour batter into prepared pan.

BAKE for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan on wire rack. Serve warm.

(INFO FOR ORIGINAL RECIPE)

Calories: 280	Calories from Fat: 110	Total Fat: 12 g
Saturated Fat: 4 g	Cholesterol: 65 mg	Sodium: 480 mg
Carbohydrates: 37 g	Dietary Fiber: 2 g	Sugars: 10 g
Protein: 9 g