For the Love of Food

For this month’s Taste&Create I was partnered with Seduce Your Tastebuds…. who has a whole slew of exotic dishes on her blog.  I searched through her blog for a while not able to decide on exactly which dish I would make – they all looked so good – until I came across her Kiwi Salsa recipe and I knew then and there that that was the one I had to make.

I LOVE salsa: fresh tomato salsa, cooked tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, roasted tomato salsa, mango salsa…but I had never heard of kiwi salsa.  And, I thought that it was quite fitting since I am currently on vacation in Texas to go ahead and make a salsa.

I was very pleasantly surprised by how well all the flavors harmonize together.  The acidity and subtle sweetness of the kiwis left little need for added acidity (lemon juice) and perfectly replace the traditional tomato.  I did add more kiwi than the recipe originally called for because I thought it tasted good, but needed more kiwi to really hold the name kiwi salsa, and I reduced the onion to 1/4th of an onion, which I still found a bit over powering – I will reduce to 1 Tablespoon in the future.  The cucumber gave the perfect body to the salsa helping to diminish the heat of the huge jalapeño I added.

As opposed to PJ, I went ahead and threw my ingredients, individually, into the food processor because I don’t like chunky salsa since I feel I don’t get all the flavors in one bite.  That and (sorry mom) my mom has a tiny knife that I don’t get along with when chopping vegetable…I really miss my cook’s knife.

Ironically enough, I didn’t have any tortilla chips on hand to go with the salsa, but crackers work well too.  I will be using the salsa tomorrow as an accompaniment to fish which I can’t wait to try because I think they will go perfectly together.  I will keep you informed on that!

Here’s my version of PJ’s recipe: Continue Reading »

I have to say that I’ve learned quite a bit from my Project Foodblog experience:
-Step-by-step pictorial blog posts get the attention of more readers – probably because they are more helpful
-Taking time to set up a true photo shoot for a meal can produce amazing results

and

-Making a good cooking video is easier said than done

What I enjoyed most about the experience was getting to know myself and my new limits and being introduced to new recipes.

This recipe is one of those recipes. For years I had considered making it, but often decided against it because of lack of knowledge. So, when bell’allimento made a cooking video for Project Foodblog demonstrating just how simple it was, I had to get right to it.

First I dug out the bacon that we smoked with some friends last winter, then rummaged through the refrigerator for the other ingredients – which most of us would always have on hand. I used Pecorino cheese instead of Parmesan because my son is lactose intolerant and can only eat goat and sheep cheeses – Pecorino being a sheep cheese. And, I whipped this recipe up in a mater of 20 minutes. It’s quick and delicious.

Check out bell’allimento’s video recipe here.

I rarely have leftovers standing around in my refrigerator for the simple fact that I am so well practiced in cooking certain meals for my family, that I only make just the right amount for us to eat. Not too little, and not too much.

However, when we have guests over, I often go overboard because it’s hard to calculate know just how much each guest will eat since I’m not well acquainted with their eating habits. Last week I happened to have two set of guests over for dinner on different evenings. On one evening I made the best (unfortunately photographed) fajitas that I’ve eaten to date – even beating the best Tex-Mex restaurants I’ve visited in Texas, and on another evening we enjoyed a Greek meze in my attempt to bring a little bit of summer into the cold days of Fall.

By the time Friday rolled around, I had left over sautéed bell peppers and homemade guacamole from fajita night and hummus from Greek night – as well as some left over deli meat that I use to make sandwiches for my husband and older son during the week. But, what drove me to make this salad was, quite simply, the alfalfa sprouts.

I love alfalfa sprouts, but I so rarely come across theme here in the grocery stores. But, on the rare occasion that I go to my local, but not so close, organic grocery store, I can almost always count on them having it there.

Our local organic grocery store is also our only source of certain products, such as 100% cranberry juice, chocolate without soy lecithin, and steel-cut oats. I happened to be there looking for all three last week. And, when I walked by the alfalfa sprouts, I quickly took a few steps back, grabbed the last package, and headed off to the check-out with a big smile on my face because I knew just how I wanted to enjoy these – in a sandwich.

While I enjoy a traditional mustard, meat, cheese, and pickle sandwich, I mush prefer a non-traditional mixture of whatever I have at hand sandwich. And, this sandwich really hit the spot. Continue Reading »

I love the sunny days of summer. The warm air, the garden parties, and the simple meals.

A sandwich is the epitome of a simple meal, and this one is loaded with very complex flavors.

Prior to the creation of this meal, I had been very shy with using – or better said, not using – my chipotle chili powder. Now that I have taken a leap of faith and experimented, I am inspired everywhere I go with new ways to use it. One of my favorite ways it in guacamole. It will take an guacamole recipe and add the wow factor to it. And, because of the cool nature of guacamole, the chipotle chili powder doesn’t come over spicy at all, but rather adds delicious smoky undertones…which enhances any meal that you wish you could bbq, but can’t.

The chicken breast also has chipotle chili powder liberally sprinkled on it. Traditionally, I use Tone’s Garlic & Herb that I brought back from the US with me, and this time around I complemented it with the chipotle chili powder.

Serve your sandwich with a side of chips and some homemade lemonade, and you can pretend (or not) that you are basking in the warm summer son of a few months ago. Continue Reading »

As I mentioned yesterday, I am a big fan of Big Macs and Special Sauce, but not a big fan of actually eating McDonalds because of all those unnatural extra ingredients that they add to their foods – among other things.

But, no worries, I make a burger that is tastier and much much healthier. And, while I don’t advocate eating more meat than is recommended for our daily intake, I do think that it’s ok to splurge every once in a while.

I went ahead and caramelized some onion rings to perfect that burger flavor. You can add anything that your heart desires to this burger. Continue Reading »

Now, while I’m not a big fan of sweet salad dressing, I am a BIG fan of “special sauce” on my burgers. More specifically, the kind that mimics the Big Mac sauce from McDonalds.

This is a very very close, delicious, and healthier alternative to what you will find on a big mac. I counted 19 ingredients in McDonald’s Big Mac Special Sauce and at least 5 of those ingredients are not natural, such as stabilizers and preservatives. No thank you!

It’s really quite quick to make yourself, and not only will it be a great complement to your next burger, but it is a big hit around here as a tartar sauce replacement for fish! Continue Reading »

My husband loves sweet salad dressings. I, on the other hand, love savory vinegar-based dressings. But, unlike many American families, we don’t have multiple bottles of salad dressing in our refrigerator so that everyone can use the dressing of their choice on their salad. Here we make a fresh salad dressing every meals, and most of the time they are vinegar and herb based.

And, since we can’t get American bottled salad dressings here, we have to make our own. My husband found this recipe the other day, and he modified it by making it with tomato paste instead of ketchup and upping the vinegar – and I bottled it

Enjoy it on your next salad! Continue Reading »

Sometimes I need to throw together a really quick meal – like on cleaning day when I have to spend 8 hours cleaning our home …all those toys (and having to pick them up over and over again because of my 1-year-olds “help”) leave little time for an elaborate meal.

But, that doesn’t meal that I’m about to go and call the pizza man. I want a real meal that will not leave me wishing I’d eaten something else.

So, I went ahead and bought myself a package of pre-made spaetzel, which is the equivalent of buying fresh noodles in your grocer’s refrigerated section, and cooked up some pork steaks with chentrelle mushrooms and caramelized onions. You can also make delicious homemade spaetzle – I have a great recipe in a cookbook that “we” (my husband is the spaetzle cooker in our home) always go to.  There are plenty of recipes online, but if anyone wants my recipe, I’d be more than happy to share – just lease a comment.

All in all, the meal takes about 30 minutes from start to finish, but you can cut the time to 20 minutes if you leave our the chantrelle mushrooms and caramelized onions – or sauté them in a separate griddle (should you have two) while cooking the rest of the meal. And, if you need to further reduce your cooking time, you can pound your steak out with a meat hammer and reduce cooking time to 5 minutes a side.

Here is my great pork steak recipe: Continue Reading »

I always feel a bit down when Summer comes to an end. No more strawberries, blueberries, watermelons….you know what I mean.

But, just because the delicious fruits of summer have been put to rest for the year, doesn’t mean that Fall has nothing to offer. Not only does the Fall season offer a variety of delicious fruits; many of them, when fresh picked, will last for months on end in a dark, cool, dry places – like your basement.

By the time New Years rolls around, many of us are quite frustrated with ourselves and our winter-obsession with sweets. Today I want to share with you a “method” I like to use to convince my family to eat healthy.

We are all drawn to food by it’s visual appeal – or repelled by it’s lack of it. I like to arrange fruit on a platter and set it out on the dinner table where everyone can just grab some at their will. Everyone gets excited about how nice the platter looks – then they start sneaking pieces when I’m not looking. By the time the end of the day has come, I have a half empty platter that I refill and rearrange much to everyone’s delight.

So, how do you go about arranging a beautiful platter to fruit that will have everyone’s mouth watering? Continue Reading »

For this month’s Taste&Create event, I have been paired with Corina from Searching for Spice. She has many delicious-looking recipe, and I came across one that really peeked my interest: roasted chickpeas.

I love chickpeas. In my humble opinion, they go well with every meal and can even enhance a meal. Now, I’d never heard of roasted chickpeas, so this sounded like a lot of fun, and I had no idea what the outcome would be.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that roasting chickpeas turns them into a delicious crunchy snack – like a croûton or that crunchy roasted corn that you can find at many convenience stores in Texas. Corina used hers in a salad – which sounds delicious, I, on the other hand, just used it as a sort of party food or snack food and set it out on my table in a little bowl during one of my garden meetings. The flavors were very delicious – with a hint of spice – but I believe the roasting dulls them down, so don’t be alarmed by the high amounts.

I plan on bringing a bowl of this to our garden’s Halloween party this weekend. I think that everyone with get a kick out of them! Continue Reading »