Meat Free Mondays Movement February 8, 2010

My friend Carolina sent me an email with a newsletter from GOOP, Gwenyth Paltrow’s site to promote wellness… in her own words: “Goop is a newsletter that will usually come once a week. I will be sharing recipes, my personal travel notes, the advice that I get and follow, and so much more. GOOP is constantly evolving”.  my friend Carolina subscribes to it and shared it with me.

 This week’s GOOP newsletter highlights Meat Free Mondays - a movement created in the UK back in 2006 to promote vegetarianism as a way to contribute to the health of the environment and the planet .   Sir Paul McCartney and his daughters Stella and Mary are the founders of this movement and actively promote it around the world. 

Meat Free Mondays now has a US following with its own website called Meatless Mondays…   and KarmaFree  Cooking wants to join in the action too.  I have always seen this blog as a vehicle to educate that a vegetarian lifestyle if not difficult  to follow and that incorporating more recipes like these into your regular rotation you’ll be able  lead a healthier lifestyle. 

This is a recommendation I always make to my non-vegetarian friends.  Just incoporate in a conscious way more vegetable-based main courses into your recipe rotation.  Change your mentality that your dinner plate in centered a piece of animal protein…  that’s just not necessary.

That’s what Meatless Mondays is trying to carry out, to share with all environmentally-concerned people that going veggie once a week is not so difficult after all and it has an exponential positive effect on the environment too.  If you are into recycling, maybe even driving a hybrid car… why not giving Meatless Mondays a try??  You will not regret it… 

Thanks Gwenyth, Sir Paul and Carolina fr bringing this to my attention.  I’ll try to do my part to help spread the word…

Healthier lifestyle changes for 2010 February 3, 2010

Now that we’re in February and the Xmas season in Puerto Rico is over… now I can start thinking about my new year’s resolutions.  This year I have included as part of my resolutions:

• To exercise more – that’s why Santa left me at my sister’s house the P90X exercise program that I started last week… and to do more hatha yoga , which is a different kind of psycho-physic exercises to which I attribute a lot of my health benefits in my life…
• To eat one big Green Salad a day – I have been lazier about this one in the first few weeks of the year…

 

     

My belief is you can’t create a huge list of resolutions that you might be overwhelmed in keeping.  If it’s too many changes in a short amount of time, something will have to give.  I found myself saying this over and over again the last few weeks – to friends and acquaintances who all are seeking better health, more fitness but sometimes lack the self-discipline to achieve long-lasting changes.  That was the inspiration for this series…

About 5 years ago I gave my friend Ana Yolanda a Xmas gift… when she asked me she wanted to be thin like me, I told her she needed to make small changes in her regular lifestyle that will bring her and her family health on a long term basis.  Her ways of Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers have worked on the short term to lose some weight, but nothing proved to provide her with any long-term results.  Her experience with my Xmas gift… well, I think it had more to do with her attachment to certain foods and certain habits. 

What I am about to share is something I have experienced first-hand… This is not necessarily scientifically proven, but these are changes I implemented in my own life and I have seen results – results of a healthier, slimmer and more energetic me.  I will share with you what I wrote to Ana as a Xmas present and I have given to many other friends when they seek my advice on how now I am healthier and in better shape than I was when I was in college.

There are some words of wisdom:

We can’t expect different results

by always doing the same things the same way.

 

The moral of the story:

To get different results,

we MUST make some behavioral changes

– we must do things in a different way.

 

When I returned from living in NYC, I was still the same 5’ tall I am now, but I was wearing a size 8.  I have not always been like that, but since I adopted a healthier lifestyle I have really seen a difference in my health and what my regular normal weight is.  Now I regularly wear a size 0 and XS clothes.

I want to inspire you to make some lasting changes in your lifestyle and for them to stay with you for the rest of your life – so you can in turn educate your children the same way and create a generation of healthier and more active kids.  I do not pretend you turn into a full-fledged vegetarian if that’s not your choice.  But I do ask you to ADOPT ONE MONTHLY CHANGE.  Only one.  I have heard that if you implement a change for 15 days straight, it becomes a habit.  That’s my goal – for you to adopt 11 healthier habits into your lifestyle during this year.

I would like for you to forget about weighing yourself…  Your new gauge will be how fit you feel, if you have more energy, how many less colds you have gotten in the year compared to before, if you happen to have to buy yourself new clothes because the ones you have feel somewhat looser… 

I know I should have shared this with you back in January, but heck… the idea came just now and I do not want to wait until next year’s resolutions to share:

 

ELIMINATE SOFT DRINKS

To me, it’s necessary to eliminate all soft drinks from your diet because they have no nutritional value whatsoever.  You need to ingest foods/drinks that will provide some sort of health benefit.

Why?

• You need to drink plenty of water to alleviate any constipation, a great cause of many ailments
• Soft drinks have no nutritional value
• The sodium in sodas only make us retain water
• The chemicals in soft-drinks adversely affect our kidney function

So instead of drinking a soft drink, you’ll now drink:

Water

• In every fast-food out there you can order your combo or sandwich with a bottle of water.
• Try at least to drink 6 glasses of 8oz of water…  it’s not optimal, but it’s a start.

Juices – preferably natural.  I try to buy fruits when they’re in season and make the juice myself… but I know we are always pressed for time so when I buy prepared juices…

• Read the labels to avoid purchasing juices with added sugars
• Some brands to try:
  • Lotus Pineapple Juice – from a container, not the can
  • Tropicana Orange Juice
  • Caribik Sun Passion Fruit Juice
  • Simply Orange or Simply Lime
  • Mott’s regular and Natural Apple Juices
  • Martinelli’s Unfiltered Apple Juice
  • Apple & Eve’s juice boxes – for those who have kids and needs portion control.  I love the Fruit Punch and Berry varieties.

          

Also, when I go to parties, they usually have these juices as mixers for drinks, so I usually order a glass of Orange Juice, Grapefruit or Pink Grapefruit Juice or Cranberry Juice instead of the typical soda.  And Simply Lime with crushed mint leaves and added fresh lime juice tastes just like a mojito…

HashBrown Spinach Casserole January 25, 2010

I already shared this version of a hash brown casserole with you guys… but this version really came about as a clean-out my fridge recipe.  I was tired of seeing the bag of hash brown potatoes in the freezer, a small container of French Onion Dip, the spinach, the shredded cheeses. 

I challenged myself to cook with stuff that was already “opened” – no need to open a new package of anything to save in the fridge.

 

HASHBROWN SPINACH CASSEROLE

1 lbs (about 1/3 a bag) of frozen hash brown potatoes, somewhat thawed

About 1 cup of frozen cut-leaf spinach, somewhat defrosted too

4oz of French Onion Dip – you can use one from the store or make it yourself

2 tbs plain yogurt

1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend – Asiago, Mozzarella, provolone, etc.

Freshly Cracked Black Pepper to taste

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2. Mix together all the ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. Place the mixture in an oven-proof dish bake in oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the potato is fully cooked and the top is golden brown.

 

No need to salt this dish in my opinion… the times I used additional salt, even a little, it turned out salty.  The dip and the cheeses will provide plenty saltiness to the dish.

Try this with my Watercress Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing… super yummy.

Mushroom and Goat Cheese Pastelillo January 18, 2010

I have an “obsession” with puffed pastry…  I admit it.  It’s super versatile and easy to use, particularly when you’re cooking for company.  Just add your favorite filling and you have a nice dish.

This time around I decided to mix together the ingredients of my favorite appetizer of the Xmas season and make it into a meal… balsamic mushrooms and goat cheese.  Envelope everything inside squares of puffed pastry, add a great green salad and you have a complete meal for a girl’s night together.  Here’s how I did it…

 

MUSHROOM AND GOAT CHEESE PASTELILLO

1 sheet of puffed pastry, thawed in the refrigerator since the night before

½ recipe for Balsamic Mushrooms

4 oz package of goat cheese

2 tbs butter, melted

A bit of flour or cornstarch to roll out the puffed pastry

1. I’ll be honest… I do not measure a lot.  So I do not know how large I roll out the puffed pastry, but just enough to make 4 medium sized squares to make into these pastelillos.  Each pastelillo serves one not so big eater.  
2. So before you start rolling out, dust your surface and rolling pin with some whole wheat flour or cornstarch so the pastry does not stick to either one.  Cut the pastry into 4 squares as even as possible.
3. Lay one of your squares in a diagonal with one corner facing you directly.  Add about 1 ounce of the cream cheese and about ¼ of you mushroom mixture in the half of the square closest to you, leaving about ¼ inch clearance around the edges.   Now, overlap the free side of the square on top of the mixture and pinch all the open sides with a fork to close tightly. Repeat with the 3 remaining squares.
4. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the fridge for a few minutes, while the oven preheats to 350F.  I do this because the climate in PR is too hot and usually my pastry tends to give me a bit of trouble by the time I get to the last few squares.  This way the pastry kind of cools off and we make sure it will turn our flaky in the end product.
5. Brush them with a bit of melted butter on top to help them brown nicely.  Bake the pastries in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.  The smell will tell you when they’re done.

 

Enjoy them with a great salad on the side for a light lunch or a light dinner. 

Hash Brown Casserole January 15, 2010

I mentioned to you how much I love the Hash Brown Casserole from Cracker Barrel.  It’s one of my favorite things to eat when I travel in the US.  If I see a Cracker Barrel sign on the side of the road, I immediately salivate.   Very Pavlovian…

So skimming thru this same internet, I found a bunch of recipes that looked awesome and reminded me of the hash brown casserole I usually have at Cracker Barrel.  Most of them included bacon or other stuff that you and I do not eat anymore, so I came up with my adaptation…  Here are the results:

 

HASHBROWN CASSEROLE

1½ lbs (about ½ a bag) of frozen hash brown potatoes, somewhat thawed

½ medium onion, chopped finely

4oz of sour cream

½ can of condensed cream of mushroom soup – I use the reduced sodium version

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup corn flakes, crushed

Freshly Cracked Black Pepper to taste

1 tbs melted butter

 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together all the ingredients, except the cornflakes and butter. 
3. Place the mixture in an oven-proof dish and top with the crushed corn flakes and drizzle melted butter over the corn flakes.
4. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the potato is fully cooked and the top is golden brown.

 

This version does not taste really like the casserole at CB, but it’s definitely mighty tasty.  It’s those kind of recipes I love…  where you just assemble the ingredients, place them in the oven and you can then leave it alone, while you shower, check your email, meditate and it’s ready.  Just serve it with a salad on the side and you have a complete meal.

Surprise!!!! January 9, 2010

I love it when I get a nice surprise when I cut up fruit… a perfectly ripe avocado, a luscious pulpy mango, a gorgeous passion fruit.  God knows that fruits and vegetables might look pretty on the outside sometimes, but they can be a gamble.

And this week… the surprise was a papaya without seeds to clean – YEAH!!!

Red Bell Pepper Sauce January 5, 2010

I make this sauce to prepare my Sweet Red Bell Pepper Dip… but you can also enjoy it alone as a sauce to enjoy with other dishes, like my Cordon Bleu Quesadillas. 

RED BELL PEPPER SAUCE 

1 red bell pepper, cut in pieces

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

 

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender.  It might seem there’s little liquid to blend, but it will.  Believe me.
2. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil and as soon as it reaches a boil, reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.
3. Let it cool.

 

Cordon Bleu Quesadilla January 3, 2010

Why anything that has ham and cheese inside gets called Cordon Blue???  I tried to search for the answer but I couldn’t find anything definitive.  So basically, I have no idea…  And because the name “ham and cheese” quesadilla is not as sexy-sounding, I will borrow the Cordon Blue term for this dish. 

Of course we’re using vegetarian “ham”… another reason why I did not want to use this word in the dish’s name…  I buy mine in NYC’s Chinatown, in a small store that sells vegetarian/soy based goods.  We have come to learn that some brands are better than others, but if you have a Chinese neighborhood in your town, seek out the freezer section with many of these vegetarian/soy based goodies.

Here is a picture of the brand we buy- just in case you’re in the NYC area… it’s kind of big and expensive to buy for just one person.  But it keeps super well in the freezer.  I defrost a bit in the fridge and separate a small batch to keep handy with the rest of the sandwich fixings.  I do not eat this frequently, but it really tastes good when you want to recreate some recipe you made in the past with boiled ham.

This is a great snack or quick lunch…

 

CORDON BLEU QUESADILLA

1 whole wheat tortilla

2 slices of vegetarian “ham”

1 tsp olive oil

¼ cup shredded cheese – I use an Italian cheese blend with Asiago, Mozzarella, Parmesan, etc.

About 1 oz of goat cheese, like 1/2” slice crumbled into pieces

¼ cup of Red Pepper Sauce to dip

 

1. First we cook the “ham” a bit… take a medium skillet over medium heat and drizzle the olive oil (remember these are soy based, so not a lot of fat in these slices).  Place the slices of ham and cook a bit so the slices get some nice color.  Turn to cook on both sides and set aside.  After the slices have cooled a bit, slice into ¼ inch pieces.
2. In the same skillet, heat the tortilla to make it somewhat pliable.  On one half of the tortilla place the pieces of goat cheese, pace the slices of “ham”, top with the shredded cheese and fold the tortilla to create a half circle/half moon.
3. Flatten the quesadilla with a spatula a bit to make sure the cheeses melt well and the tortilla browns a bit.  Flip to warm up the other side.

 

Serve alongside Red Pepper Sauce to give it a nice sweet touch…  you can dip it or you can drizzle on top of the quesadilla.  It’s your choice…

Almond Praline December 31, 2009

This is a recipe I originally learned from Diane Carlson, from the Conscious Gourmet.

This is a super easy recipe that will never disappoint you.  I have also used it to candy hazelnuts, cashews and walnuts.  You can easily eat these almonds by themselves or as a garnish for poached or roasted fruit – like my Roasted Pears with Blue Cheese or these Poached Pears in Orange Juice.

 

ALMOND PRALINE

1 cup sliced almonds

1 tbs maple sugar

1 tbs maple syrup

1. Combine all ingredients and stir well with two forks.  Spread onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or Silplat.
2. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a 350F oven.  Stir occasionally, and remove from oven once they’ve become golden brown. 
3. When you remove from oven, transfer them immediately to a cool bowl or plate for them to cool down.  They’ll become crisp as they cool down.  Separate them carefully.

Poached Pears in Orange Juice December 30, 2009

Pears have never been one of my favorite fruits…  I have always favored berries to any other fruits.  But how I love cooked pears!

Don’t get me wrong… I like pears, particularly, sliced up next to a nice piece of gruyère or comté cheese.  But I have grown to love also a nice roasted or poached pear.  And in my interest to find new ways and flavors to pair pears with I developed this nice recipe…

 

POACHED PEARS IN ORANGE JUICE

2 pears – I usually buy Bartlett as they’re widely available here

2/3 cup of orange juice – can be freshly squeezed or from the Tropicana container

2 tbs maple syrup

1 tbs maple sugar

A pinch of salt

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.  I make this in a toaster oven…
2. First, peel, halve and core your pears.  I use a melon-baller or a round 1tbs measuring spoon.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients in an oven safe dish where you can fit comfortably all 4 halves of pears.   Place the pears in the dish and move the around so the liquid coats somewhat the whole pear, even though the pear halves will not be submerged in the liquid.
4. Bake for approximately 30-45 minutes until pears are soft when pierced with a fork.  Make sure the poaching liquid does not burn or caramelize before the pears are cooked.

The thickened poaching liquid will serve as syrup on top of the pears when serving.  Serve with a nice nutty, salty cheese (like gorgonzola dolce or comté) on the side and some almond or walnut praline.

Watercress Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing December 29, 2009

My dad always loved to buy watercress when we would go to the Plaza del Mercado in Río Piedras.  We would go almost every Sunday, right after mass.  I hated and loved going to the Plaza, all at the same time.  I hated the smells around where we would park our car… the smell of rotten produce.  But I also loved we would get a lot of fruits that I loved, like Platanitos Manzanos, my favorite type of banana BY FAR.

I guess my dad loved to take us there because my grandfather was a farmer.  My Cuban grandfather was a potato farmer and my dad looked up to him a lot, being the oldest son and the heir apparent to the family business.  However all that changed when a certain rebel named Fidel decided to take over the country my father’s side of the family loved so much.

As part of the Sunday morning ritual at the Plaza del Mercado, we would search for the freshest salad greens – lettuces, tomatoes, carrots, “viandas” and among them was the watercress, which we call “berro” in Spanish.  When I was little I did not like the taste very much, finding it a bit bitter.  That’s why my mom always mixed it up with regular lettuce to cut down on the bitterness.  But now, my palate has certainly changed and now I crave bitter greens all on their own, like arugula.

In Spanish there’s a saying, that may lose somewhat in translation, which says “What you inherit, you don’t need to steal” (El que lo hereda, no lo hurta.)  So in true Cuban farmer fashion and true to my family heritage, now I love to go to Farmers Markets, not only in PR, but I particularly love them when I travel abroad – here I am in NYC, Guadalajara, and even searched many street markets in Paris… – but I also love to taste those bitter flavors of watercress which take me directly to my childhood and to those Sunday mornings after mass…  Gracias papi.

 

WATERCRESS SALAD WITH CREAMY HORSERADISH DRESSING

1 tbs eggless mayonnaise

2 tbs plain yogurt

2 tbs prepared horseradish – try to find a brand without eggs

A drizzle of Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to Taste

A handful of watercress – well washed, because they can contain small insects

2-4 sun-dried tomatoes – cut into slivers (optional, but highly recommended)

 

1. Mix the first 5 ingredients in a measuring cup.                            
2. Place watercress and sun-dried tomatoes in a salad bowl and drizzle the dressing on top.  Toss to coat.

Balsamic Mushrooms December 27, 2009

It’s the holidays… as you know, Puerto Rico has the longest holidays in the world, because they last until the Fiestas de San Sebastián, which is until the middle of January.  And if you judge instead by the time people take off their Xmas lights, it could be until the beginning of February even.

I’ve been hosting a few get-togethers and been invited to some others and you never want to arrive with your hands empty.  Especially qhen you’re vegetarian…  because that “something” you bring with you can be your insurance policy to having something safe to eat that evening.  My friends are already familiar with my veggie, red pepper or hummus dips, but every year I want to surprise them with something different.  This was this year’s star appetizer…   

 

BALSAMIC MUSHROOMS

1 8oz packet of white button mushrooms, sliced

2 tbs of butter

1 tbs of olive oil

Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper

1 small sprig of thyme, just strip out the leaves

3 tbs of balsamic vinegar

 

1.  In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat up the butter and oil.  When the butter/oil is very hot, add the sliced mushrooms.  Toss a bit so the mushrooms are coated with the oil mixture on most sides.  But don’t toss them continually; allow them to get brownish on one side for a few minutes before moving them again.  Add the thyme.
2. 
3. After about 10 minutes of cooking, the mushrooms will have shrunk in size and are golden brown.  Now, add the salt and pepper and toss to combine.
4. After another minute, add the balsamic vinegar.  Be careful because it splatters a bit and the pungency of the smell can “hit you in the face”.  Toss the mushrooms to combine and allow the balsamic to be absorbed by the mushrooms and evaporated a bit from the heat of the pan.
5. 
6. Turn off the stove and allow continuing to cook with the residual heat that’s there.

 

I thoroughly enjoy these with peppered goat cheese balls on whole wheat crackers.  It’s serves as a great appetizer for a small get-together dinner party or to serve at a night of wine and cheese.

Pasteles in Banana Leaves December 23, 2009

This is a very labor-intensive dish… the very same reason why most people in Puerto Rico buy their “pasteles” from someone who has the experience and the patience to make these.  In our yoga center, Mai, Mili and Katy are the pasteles experts.  They even make them to sell to anyone who’s interested in a delicious vegetarian version.

Pasteles hold the essence of the Puerto Rican holiday dinner…  a Xmas season without pasteles is like a day without sunshine, a beach without sand…  you have not eaten true Puerto Rican holiday food until you have one of these.

The whole deal is this MASA made from green banana and yautía filled with a soy-based stew.   Then it’s all wrapped in a banana leaf that will actually give the masa some of its flavor.  It’s very characteristic and you can find banana leaves in the refrigerated or produce section of a Latin supermarket.   Pasteles without at least a piece of banana leaf miss something.

 

This is a yautía… in Cuba, yautías are called malangas.  However, in Puerto Rico we call malanga a completely different tuber.  Do not confuse them.  I looked up in the internet and apparently it may also be called tanier = tannier = tannia.  Don’t know where, but if you can’t find them by the yautía name, any of other those might also work.  Yautías come in two varieties – white and purple.  You will need yautía blanca or white yautía for this dish.

    

 

PASTELES IN BANANA LEAVES

12 green bananas

1lb white yautía

¾ cups milk

1 ½ tsp salt

2tbs sofrito

2 tbs annatto oil

Filling:

½ cup textured soy protein – in cubes, soaked in filtered water for about ½ hour

1 small potato, cubed small

1 cup cooked chickpeas or garbanzo beans

2 cups mixed vegetables

½ cup raisins (optional)

½ cup sliced Spanish stuffed olives

3 tbs sofrito

2 tbs tomato paste

2 cups water

1 tbs olive oil

 

20-25 pieces of paper to roll pastels

Banana leaves – cut into rectangles of 10” x 8” approximately

Cotton kitchen twine

 

1. Peel the banana and yautía and shred them using a food processor or a machine called Champion.  I have seen this machine also be used at Iron Chef America competition.
2. Add the sofrito, salt, annatto oil and milk to the banana and yautía mixture.  Mix it all well to create a homogenous smooth mixture.  The annatto oil will provide a bright yellowy/orangey color to the mixture.  Set aside.

Now we make the filling…

1. In a large saucepan, cook the olive oil along with salt, sofrito and tomato paste.    Add the garbanzo beans, soy protein, potato and water and cook everything for about 15-20 minutes. 
2. Add the mixed vegetables and the raisins, if using.  Cook everything for about 15 more minutes.  Once everything is cooked, add the olives.

Now we assemble the pasteles…

1. Place a banana leaf on top of the pastel paper (it’s similar to butcher’s paper). 
2. Take a little bit of the sauce of the soy mixture and wet the banana leaf. 
3. Take a large cooking spoon and spoon about a spoonful of masa in the center of the banana leaf.  Using the spoon, form a well in the center of the mixture and place about 2 tablespoons of the soy/vegetable mixture in the well. Carefully fold the leaf over, in order to cover the filling with masa on all sides. DO NOT over stuff them.
4. Fold the paper like a letter and fold in the sides to create a compact package.  Tie them with cooking twine.  Be careful not to tie too tightly.
5. Repeat this procedure until all the masa mixture has been used. You can now freeze or cook them when you are ready.  

When you are… 

1. Place a large pot of salted water (as if you were to prepare pasta).  Boil the pasteles for about 45 minutes until the masa is cooked.  If you froze them, place them directly from the freezer onto the boiling water and boil for about 1 hour.
2. Drain them well when you take them out of the water…  it’s not nice to have a puddle of pastel water in your plate when serving yourself the rest of the Xmas dinner.  Many people, including me, enjoy pasteles with a drizzle of ketchup on top.

Rice with Pigeon Peas – Arroz con Gandules December 22, 2009

Rice with Pigeon Peas (Arroz con Gandules) is one of the quintessential Puerto Rican Xmas dishes.  Around this time, you can find fresh pigeon peas at the Farmer’s Markets or Plazas del Mercado.

RICE WITH PIGEON PEAS

2 cups of whole-grain rice

5 cups of water

2 tbs annatto oil

2 tbs sofrito

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cups fresh pigeon peas – if they’re dry, you will need to soak them for about 2-3 hours before using them in the recipe

½ cup of stuffed Spanish olives

 

1. Wash the rice well.
2. In a large pot over medium heat, add the annatto oil, vegetable cube, sofrito, olives and pigeon peas.  Sauté everything and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Add the washed rice to the pot.  Mix everything well to make sure the rice is coated with the oil and seasonings.
4. Add the water and mix well.  Cook at medium heat for about 20-25 minutes until most of the water has evaporated.  Stir the rice and cover so the rice can finish cooking and all the water is absorbed.

Annatto Oil (Achiote) December 22, 2009

 I do not use this in my regular cooking, but cooking with Annatto Oil is extremely popular to make very traditional Puerto Rican dishes like Arroz con Gandules and Pasteles.  It’s easy to make and keeps well…

 

ANNATTO OIL (ACHIOTE)

1 Cup Vegetable Cooking Oil
½ Cup of Achiote (annatto) Seeds

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, and when it gets hot, turn down the heat to low, and add the annatto seeds.
2. Stir every now and then, for about 5 minutes, or until the oil turns a bright orange.
3. Cool the annatto oil completely and strain through a paper lined sieve, into a glass container.  At the yoga center, they have a sieve specially for the achiote oil.
4. Store covered in a cool dry place.

Be careful when cooking with it because the oil stains like crazy…

 

Green Banana Escabeche December 21, 2009

When I was growing up, I loved to eat these “guineítos” at my mom’s office parties.  I loved the tanginess of the vinegar…  You can eat these with toothpicks as an appetizer or as a side dish with your Arroz con Gandules and Pasteles.

 

GREEN BANANA ESCABECHE

24 green bananas, boiled and cut into slices

½ cup of green bell pepper, chopped

Salt to taste

Drizzle of vegetable or canola oil

——————————————————

2 cups of extra virgin olive oil

½ cup vinegar

About 12 black peppercorns

4 bay leaves

3 cups of yellow onions, sliced thin

12 cloves of garlic, sliced

The juice of 1 criollo lemon or lime

Salt to taste

 

1. In a large pot filled with salted water and a drizzle of vegetable oil, place green bananas to boil.  They’ll be ready in about 20 minutes.  I show you here a step-by step process to boil the green bananas.
2. When they’re boiled, peel off the banana skin, allow them to cool off and slice them into 1/2” rounds slices.  Set them aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, add the olive oil, vinegar, onions, peppercorns, bay leaves and garlic.  Cook over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes, until the onions have softened, but not browned.  The onions should remain as white as possible.  Let the mixture cool a bit.
4. In a glass pyrex dish, while the banana slices are still somewhat warm, mix together the green banana slices and the olive oil/onion mixture and green peppers.  Season with salt as needed.  Let the green bananas marinate in the escabeche mixture for at least 2-3 hours.  After the banana pieces have cooled off (at about the 1 hours mark), you can continue the marinating process in the refrigerator.

Serve directly from the fridge or at room temperature.  You can drizzle the juice of one criollo lemon or lime before serving for added zip.

Puerto Rican Typical Xmas Menu December 20, 2009

Xmas season in Puerto Rico is very special… I do enjoy the snow and the caroling as I have spent several Xmases in either NYC or Miami, but Xmas season is different here.  This is what’s normal and typical for me:  Sunny days to enjoy it at the beach with some cooler breezes, houses decorated with multi-colored Xmas lights, a festive ambiance all over, typical  ”parranda” music, parties of all sorts to celebrate the season and to welcome the new year approaching.  The cold weather is only felt when you go to the mountains in the center of the Island…

    

Logo of ‘Parranda’ app for iPhone and iPod touch. Learn how to turn any party into a Puerto Rican parranda from your phone by visiting www.parrandapr.com.

 And a great part of what makes a Puerto Rican Xmas special is the typical menu.   The Puerto Rican typical menu is not fully vegetarian… but if we just omit certain ingredients that are not essential in the basic traditional recipes, they can certainly be enjoyed by everyone.  The essence of the Puerto Rican menu is certainly present in this spread here:

Arroz con Gandules – Rice with Pigeon Peas

 

Pasteles en Hoja – Pasteles in Banana Leaves

 

Potato Salad

I know this may sound out of season…  my former college roomate told me potato salads are a summer salad, not for the holidays, but here in Puerto Rico, arroz con gandules and potato salad are a key part of the holidays.  Even if someone serves the combination at some point in the year, the comment is that you’re eating holiday food.

 

Guineítos en Escabeche – Green Bananas Escabeche

Tembleque

Arroz con Dulce – Sweet Rice

Coquito

OK… I’ll come clean here.  Some of the recipes I have already shared with you, but I’ll share with you other new recipes I have made before at some point but, they’re not mine.  Hey, I may not even master them fully.  But I feel confident you’ll be able to follow them and execute them successfully.  Here’s the thing…  I am too young still to be THE ONE making the bulk of the Xmas cooking.  These dishes are always made for family gatherings or activities at the yoga center by the “grown-ups”.  I have just helped make them many, many times, but I have never done these recipes all by myself.  So please accept my apologetic disclaimer…. And enjoy a Puerto Rican vegetarian Xmas…

¡Feliz Navidad!

Tortilla Casserole December 18, 2009

I work from home quite a lot… and half the time, by the time I get hungry I am too hungry to prepare something to eat.  So I usually have a fridge full of delicious stuff to cook and I end up having a boiled potato or a sandwich for lunch.  I just can’t spend 30-40 minutes cooking something right in the middle of a work day.

I had a bunch of tortillas I had bought to experiment with a few Mexican dishes I learned in Mexico and got tired of seeing them in the fridge, so I searched several recipes and found a few interesting ones, but of course all included some kind of meat.  I had some left-over tofu-chón in my fridge and I decided to mix and match recipes to see what would work.

I liked one in particular because it needed to chill overnight before baking… I thought it was awesome for lunch because I could just pop into the toaster oven at about 11AM, leave it alone and by the time I would get hungry, it would be ready.  My kind of recipe… 

I am not certain if the overnight soak is essential, but I love that this is an easy assembly you can prepare while making another dish the night (or even a few nights) before.  It’ll be ready when you are…

 

TORTILLA CASSEROLE

7 corn tortillas, cut into ½” strips

6-7 slices of marinated tofu, sliced into small pieces – I used this tofu-chón recipe here

1/2 cup mild or medium salsa

1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 medium onion, finely chopped

½ a packet of white button mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)

4oz sour cream

½ cup plain low-fat yogurt

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup of water, if needed

 

1. Prepare the tofu… first you need to press the tofu for about 1 hour and marinate in the adobo mixture for about an extra 2-3 hours.  So I recommend you making this tofu ahead and save them in the fridge and have them ready for you when you want to make this recipe. 
2. 
3. Add salsa, mushroom soup and onions to a medium bowl and stir to combine.  If you find it too thick, add the ¼ cup of water in small increments to avoid making it too watery.  Set aside. 
4. Now mix together the sour cream and yogurt in a separate bowl.  Set aside too.
5. Spread 1/2 cup of the salsa mixture in bottom of a medium baking dish that can fit into your toaster oven. Place half of the tortilla strips in an even layer over salsa mixture
6. 
7. Followed by half of the tofu, half of the mushrooms, half of the remaining salsa mixture, half of the sour cream/yogurt mixture, and half of the remaining cheese. Repeat process with remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
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9. 
10. Uncover and transfer baking dish to a 300F degree oven. Bake until casserole is heated through and cheese is melted ad golden brown on top, about 1 hour.

French Onion Dip December 16, 2009

I had not shared this recipe with you before because I did not have pretty pictures for it…  However, this dip is such a hit with my friends that I just need to share it with you for the holidays.

I make this as the typical dip for parties… my friends continue to ask for it.  And it’s seasonless – you can certainly do this for any Birthday party, summer get-together, Holiday Party, Baby Shower, etc.  And not only that… I have used it also as a base for other recipes, like my HashBrown Spinach Casserole.  Why use condensed soups to cook, if you can easily do it from scratch.  This is not that much difficult than opening any can of soup…

 

FRENCH ONION DIP

1 ½ yellow onions, sliced thin

1 tbs butter

1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs white wine vinegar

8oz of cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/3 cup of plain yogurt

4oz of sour cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, cook the onions with the butter and olive oil.  Toss the onions a bit to make sure they’re all coated with the butter/olive oil mixture.  After about 5 minutes, when the onions have softened a bit, add the salt and pepper.  Cook somewhat covered for about 30 – 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, avoiding the onions from scorching.
2. When the onions have a light brown color, add the vinegar.  Scrape the bottom of the pan until it is mostly “clean” from the brown bits that will form.  Set aside the onions to cool down before continuing assembling the dip.
3. In a medium bowl, add the softened cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt and the cooked and cooled onions.  Season dip with salt and pepper and blend using an electric hand mixer.
4. Put in the fridge for a few hours before serving to make sure the flavors mix well together.  Before serving, take the dip about 30 minutes beforehand to allow losing some of the cold form the fridge and making the dip creamier and easier to spread.

I love to eat this with a good, rippled potato that will not break when scooping out your dip… oh la la!!

 

Cielito Lindo December 14, 2009

After my trip to Guadalajara recently, I was in a very Mexican vibe…  I wanted to eat over and over again the flavors of Mexico I had just experienced.

Now during the Holidays, if you want to enjoy a “dip” or appetizer with a Mexican influence, you can prepare a Cielito Lindo.  I’ve heard people called this a 7-layer dip.  But in Puerto Rico we call it a Cielito Lindo… maybe because we’re not tied to a specific amount of layers of ingredients.  And what’s cool about this, you can construct the layers as you prefer, including everything you love or deleting anything you don’t.  I personally do not like refried beans, so I never include them, but if they’re your “thing”, go ahead and add a layer of them.

I made this version in a large ramekin, but you can adjust the quantities to fit the larger plate or tray you want to use.

CIELITO LINDO

4 oz of cream cheese, room temperature

2 tbs of your favorite Mexican salsa

½ cup of shredded cheddar – mixture of white and orange works great

¼ cup of shredded lettuce

¼ cup of tomatoes, chopped finely

1 tbs sour cream

Whole grain corn tortilla chips to accompany

 

This is more an assembly dish than a recipe…

1. First, spread a layer of the softened cream cheese. 
2. 
3. Then spread the salsa on top of the cream cheese. 
4. 
5. Sprinkle half of the shredded cheese on top of salsa.
6. 
7. Place a layer of the lettuce and the tomatoes on top of that.
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9. Sprinkle the rest of the shredded cheese and top with a dollop of sour cream.

Enjoy with your favorite whole-grain corn chips…