Egg-less Frittatas December 25, 2007

 This recipe has many ingredients, but it’s easy to assemble and TASTY!!!!

I took them as an addition to a non-vegetarian party and they were all gone in about 10 minutes… my best friend and her mom almost did not get a chance to try them.  If non-vegetarians were devouring them at a Christmas party, image how good they taste.

EGG-LESS FRITTATAS

1 package of firm silken tofu, drained of water

1/2 cup of soy milk

4 tablespoons of cornstarch

2 oz goat cheese - I used half of a small log

1/2 cup sour cream

squirt of Dijon mustard - about 1 teaspoon

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 cup of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained of as much water as possible

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, without sulphur dioxide

1/2 cup of chopped grape tomatoes

4 green onion stalks, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/4 teaspoon garlic and herb seasoning

Salt and Pepper to taste

Canola oil spray

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. 
2. Place the first 7 ingredients in a blender.  Process until completely smooth and silky.
3. Place tofu mixture in a large bowl and add the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, grape tomatoes, garlic, parsley, seasoning, green onions, salt and pepper.
4. Lightly spray 2 muffin tins with canola oil spray.  Spoon mixture into muffin pans using a 1/4 cup measure.
5. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes until they’re set and a bit golden on top.  Check that a knife or wooden skewer comes out cleanly before removing from oven.
6. When they’re done, remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes.  When they’re cooler, they’ll come out from the pan neater and nicer.

They’re light…  you can serve them as a party appetizer, you can also serve them as a nice brunch entree with a nice green salad.  I guess you could also bake it in a baking dish and cut it into pieces instead of doing individual servings… I just have not tried it like that yet… so I am not sure if we’ll need to make adjustments to to baking time.

This recipe yielded me 20 individual fritattas.

  

 ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

 This is my last post of the year.  I will take a few days off from cooking and blogging.  This has been a wonderful few months… I promise to come back in the new year with new added inspiration to cook and share with you all.

May the New Year 2008 bring only the best…  until then.

Madelyn.

Pesto 101 December 25, 2007

This is my recipe for pesto… my mom loves pesto and every time I have too much basil that might go bad, I do a batch.  It’s great on it’s own with pasta, as a condiment, as an ingredient for a salad dressing or to add to a recipe where you would like some fresh basil flavor.

 

PESTO

2 tablespoons pine nuts or almonds

3 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 cups basil leaves, strip away the stems

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Mix  everything in a food processor. 
2. Add more olive oil if the mixture seems a bit dry.

Store in a jar in the fridge or you can freeze it in an ice tray for individual servings .

Sofrito 101 December 25, 2007

Sofrito is the foundation of many Latin dishes… it’s a mixture of garlic, peppers and onions.  Very similar to the “trinity” from the South, where the foundation of many dishes is garlic, carrots and celery or even carrots, onions and celery…  I guess every culture has their own combination… this is ours.

 

SOFRITO

1 head of garlic

2 large onions

4 cubanelle peppers - we call them around here cooking peppers or “pimientos de cocinar”

1. Chop everything in a food processor.
2. Store in the refrigerator.  It will keep for a long time… you can even freeze it if you feel it’s too much amount to use in a few months time.

 I use this as a foundation for many dishes…  to start off any stewed dish, to give added flavor to a rice, to season a white “bechamel-type” sauce… you name it.  I wanted to share this basic recipe, because you’ll start to see it as an ingredient in many upcoming recipes. And, instead of having to chop onions, peppers and garlic  every time, sometimes you can shortcut by adding a few tablespoons of sofrito.

Carob Granola December 23, 2007

This is a take on Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate and Peanut Granola.  I gave the recipe to my mom this year and she gave them away as presents to her friends at the yoga center.  She wanted to make something that was good, but easy to do as well.

It turned out really good. And because she does not eat chocolate anymore, she added carob powder instead of the cocoa powder.

 

CAROB GRANOLA

1/4 cup carob powder
4 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup sunflower seeds, shelled
3/4 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 cups raw peanuts or raw almonds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons canola oil

1. Preheat oven to 310 degrees F.

2. Mix everything together very well in a large mixing bowl.
3. Spread the mixture evenly in 2 baking pans and bake for about 1 hour, turning over half-way through baking. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Strawberry Kanten December 23, 2007

This is a recipe I learned from Diane Carlson while at a cooking retreat called the Conscious Gourmet back in April of this year.  I made some wonderful friends and learned some awesome recipes, this being one of them.  Among the wonderful friends, my friend Kathleen from Kathleen’s Vegetarian Kitchen.

 I learned this is called KANTEN because that’s another name of the agar-agar in the recipe. It’s an easy recipe, but you need time to make it… you’ll see why…

 

 STRAWBERRY KANTEN

4 cups apple juice - Knudsen’s organic brand is highly recommended

1/4 cup agar flakes

1 tablespoon roasted almond butter

dash of lemon juice

pinch of sea salt

2 cups strawberries

1 tablespoons maple syrup or to taste

1. Place apple juice and agar flakes in a medium saucepan.  Set aside for 15 minutes so the agar flakes start to dissolve a bit in the juice.  Bring liquid to a boil, lower heat and gently simmer for 5 minutes or until agar is completely dissolved.
2. Pour the hot kanten into a metal bowl or metal baking dish and place in freezer until very firmly set.
3. Slice 1/2 cup of strawberries for garnish.  Puree the remaining strawberries in a blender with maple syrup and salt.  Strain the strawberries through a fine sieve to remove as many seeds as possible.
4. When the kanten is fully solidified, break it up into a food processor.  Add the almond butter, lemon juice and salt and puree until smooth. Layer kanten and strawberry sauce in parfait glasses.  Garnish with remaining strawberries.

It’s important to use the metal bowl to help the kanten solidify faster.  Depending on how cold your freezer is, this part will take at least 2 hours.

 The color of the apple juice you use will definitely affect the color of your kanten.  The Conscious Gourmet version was made with Knudsen’s apple juice.  The version I did on  my own was made with Mott’s Natural apple juice, therefore, this latter version was beiger, while the Knudsen version is pinkier.

 

Garlic Parsley Breadsticks December 22, 2007

This is a great appetizer or accompaniment to any Italian dinner. 

 

GARLIC PARSLEY BREADSTICKS

1/2 package of refrigerated whole-wheat bread-stick dough mix

1/4 cup of parsley, finely chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix in a small bowl the parsley, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil.
2. Let it sit on top of the counter to marinate for about 20 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4. Take the bread-sticks dough and spread the garlic parsley mixture on one side.
5. 
6. Twist the individual bread-sticks and place next to each other in a baking sheet.
7. 
8. Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the bread-sticks are golden brown.
9. Serve warm.

You can definitely use this same garlic parsley mixture to make regular garlic bread… just spread it on a cut baguette and bake in the oven until crunchy.

My apologies… the bread-sticks smelled so good, I forgot to take a photo of them.

Super Easily Dressed Green Salad December 22, 2007

This is my go-to dressing…

It’s sooooo simple, people usually don’t believe it only has 4 ingredients.  And the only thing you’ll dirty is your hands to toss it together with the salad.

This works with ANY green salad - romaine, arugula, iceberg, baby spinach or a spring mix. I added this time grape tomatoes, but it’s your salad, you can add whatever you’d like.  I’m just showing you the dressing…

 

SUPER EASILY DRESSED GREEN SALAD

1/2 bag of spring mix salad

6-7 grape tomatoes

the juice of 1/2 a lemon

about 1/4 cup of olive oil - use the best stuff you have around here

salt and pepper to taste

1. Place salad greens and tomatoes in a salad bowl.
2. Squeeze the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper on top of salad.
3. Toss gently with your hands to dress.

Serve immediately.

Baked Pasta with 4 Cheeses December 22, 2007

This is my FAVORITE pasta dish of all time!!!!!!

 I did it last night as a Birthday present dinner for my friend Walter, who traveled with me to Spain this past Summer.  And whom I am trying to convince to apply with me to be in The Amazing Race.

If I have to ask for a Last Meal, this will be the dish I would request.  This is an adaptation from a Martha Stewart recipe, which is actually a recipe from a Providence, Rhode Island restaurant called Al Forno.  I’ve never been to Providence, but if I get to go, Al Forno is the only restuarant I need to go.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do…

 

BAKED PASTA WITH 4 CHEESES

1/2 pound whole-wheat pasta - shells, penne or rigatoni would all work well

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese - I sometimes use a pre-shredded cheese blend from the store

1/2 cup  freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided in half - half for mixture, half for topping

1/4 cup freshly grated Fontina cheese

2 tablespoons ricotta cheese

1/2 cup pureed tomatoes

10 fresh basil leaves, torn with your hands

1/4 teaspoon salt

a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper

1. Heat oven to 500 degrees. 
2. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add pasta and cook until al dente.
3. 
4. While pasta cooks, place cream, cheeses, pureed tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil in a large bowl.
5. 
6. Drain pasta and toss together with cheese mixture in bowl.
7. Pour into a medium-sized baking dish.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup remaining Pecorino Romano on top.
8. Bake until bubbly and brown on top for about 15 minutes.
9. Turn off oven and leave in there for a few minutes for the sauce to set a bit.
10. Serve immediately afterwards while still hot.

• It’s important to watch out the measurements of the cheeses.  The right amount will melt beautifully and create the most wonderful sauce.  When I started to eye-ball the amounts, sometimes the results were not as I expected. 

• I make this recipe right in my toaster oven…    

• And the recipe doesn’t reheat very well.  It will still be tasty, but the sauce becomes a bit oily…  just so you know.  This is one of those recipes to make and eat in the moment.  Every time I do it for company, people can’t believe that came out of a home kitchen.  It’s unbelievable!!!

I served this last night with my Cinammon Vanilla Plantains and my Super Easily Dressed Green Salad.  Oh, and I also did my Garlic Parsley Breadsticks.

Buen Provecho.

Natural Cold Remedy December 22, 2007

I no longer take chemical medications when I get a cold.  I try to eat well, take a natural vitamin supplement, etc.

But still, I get the occasional cold, just like I have right now.  My mom taught me about this concoction to help the system get rid of the “stuff” congesting inside of you…rather than drying it up all inside.

It’s super easy and tastes better than any Robitussin around.

 

NATURAL COLD REMEDY

1/2 cup honey

the inside clear gel of an aloe vera leaf

the juice of 2 limes

1. Mix all the ingredients in a blender. 
2. Drink about a 2 tablespoon measure every hour or so…  It’s super good, so you can drink it as often as you want.

If you have a cough, add in a 1/4 of a small onion to the mixture and blend. 

Feel better - I am feeling better myself…

Sangría December 20, 2007

When I host parties, I try to offer a variety of refreshments for people to choose. My Sangría is always the hit of the party… I even stopped buying other stuff because this is what people drink the whole night.

I do not drink alcohol much now that I am vegetarian, so I will give you the basic recipe and you can adapt it to your preference either using real wine or a non-alcoholic wine, such as Welch’s or Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Cider.

SANGRIA

1 bottle of red wine or Welch’s Sparkling Grape Wine
1/2 bottle of Lime flavored Perrier
3 cups orange juice, freshly squeezed preferably, but Tropicana works fine
the juice of 3 limes
1 Granny Smith apple - cored and sliced
1 Valencia orange - sliced
1 lime - sliced
ice cubes

1. In a large pitcher throw in the fruit slices.
2. Mix in the wine, sparkling water, orange juice and lime juice. Add ice.

Salud!!!

Stewed Potatoes - Papas Guisadas December 20, 2007

This was my dinner last night.

Back in my omnivorous days, I used to love when my aunt made stewed chicken, but not for the chicken… it was for the sauce and the potatoes in the stew. So when I decided to go veggie, I created this dish to celebrate all the good things I love about my aunt’s cooking.

 

STEWED POTATOES

2 large potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, diced
1 cubanelle pepper or green bell pepper, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced or 1 tablespoon of sofrito
1 jar of stewed tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup of water - if needed
Salt and pepper to taste
10 large olives or 2 tablespoons of capers
2 bay leaves
a large dash of paprika
1 roasted bell pepper - optional
a few splashes of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, pour olive oil. Mix in the onions, peppers and sofrito, if using. If using just the garlic, wait a few minutes to mix it in. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. When onions and peppers have softened, add in the potatoes. Stir a few times for them to cook a bit.
3. Add the tomatoes, olives or capers, roasted bell peppers, bay leaves and paprika. If there is not enough liquid for the potatoes to cook in, add a bit of water. Add the vinegar.
4. Simmer in the covered pot for about 30 minutes, until potatoes are fork tender.

Serve over brown rice or eat on it’s own.  Here, I show it over basmati rice.  You could add veggie hot dogs to this and it would taste great too.

Carrot Burfi December 20, 2007

This is another of the dishes I made with my friend Rosani.  This is actually her recipe, and she’s super excited to be published via this blog.

This is a very nutritious and healthy dessert she had originally on her first trip to India.  It’s traditionally made with carrots, ghee and powdered milk.  Our version is trying to be dairy free, and I say trying because we ended up adding evaporated milk for the mixture to get the consistency we wanted.  And I will be TRUE to the recipe we actually did, which ended up super delicious.  I guess you at home can follow our example of just go with the dairy-free version… I’ll tell you where to adjust.

 Again, we did this for a crowd… so I am using a recipe I found on the Internet to guide me with the quantities.

CARROT BURFI

4 medium-sized carrots, finely shredded

2  cups of sugar

1/2 pint of soy creamer

1/2 carton of evaporated milk

2 tablespoons of ghee or clarified unsalted butter

1/2 cup of shredded coconut

1 teaspoon of cardamom (optional, it’s traditional, but we didn’t use it on our version)

               

** If making the recipe dairy-free, use 1 pint of soy creamer and omit the evaporated milk all-together.

1. In a large skillet, cook the grated carrots and sugar, covered for about 20 minutes.
2. Add the grated coconut, soy creamer and evaporated milk, if using.  Stir often to avoid it to sticking to the bottom.
3.  
4. Stir in the ghee and mix in the cardamom, if using.
5. 
6. Cook over medium heat until the mixture has absorbed most of the liquid and when a spoon is scraped across the mixture, you can see the bottom of the skillet.
7. Spread in a baking dish to cool off.
8. Spoon into dessert dishes and enjoy.

Falafels December 20, 2007

I love any type of street food, but I’ve had to learn to make my own sometimes because the original versions are not suitable for vegetarians.

Thankfully, falafels are great right from the start.  I had my first official falafels when I traveled to Israel.  They eat them inside a pita bread as a sandwich.  You then add tahini sauce, a tomato/cucumber salad and any extra fixings you desire.  We only ate falafels for lunch for a whole week… 

This is my friend’s Rosani recipe, but we collaborated.  We used chickpea or garbanzo flour to avoid using canned chickpeas or having to soak and cook the chickpeas first.  As I’ve said, we’re busy vegetarian girls… we love our shortcuts.  And did I mention we also love our fried foods?

 

FALAFELS

1 1/2 cups chickpea or garbanzo flour

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped

4 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 tablespoon of water - if needed

Canola oil for frying

1. Place the chickpea flour, onion, parsley and garlic cloves in the bowl of a food processor.  Process a bit until blended, but not pureed. 
2. Add the baking powder, salt, pepper, cumin.  Pulse a bit.
3. If the mixture is too dry, add water and process until mixture becomes a small ball . If not dry,  skip right over to next step.
4. Let the mixture rest for 30 minutes.
5. Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts.  Let them dry up a bit while the oil reaches temperature.
6. 
7. In a large skillet, heat up canola oil at medium heat and fry falafels until golden brown.  It’s important not to have the oil too hot, because the falafel will brown, but not cook inside.  We want the whole falafel to the thoroughly cooked.

                

Enjoy the falafels inside a pita bread and tahini sauce.  Or enjoy them as appetizers with a tamarind sauce or mango chutney.  As soon as I find tamarinds or tamarind puree, I’ll show you how to do it.

Brown Rice Krispies Treats December 19, 2007

This is my Xmas present to all my vegetarian friends.

I’ve always been a fan of Rice Krispies Treats but they’re made with marshmallows, which are made with egg whites. This version is a mixture of a bunch of recipes I found on the Internet. And I even made a few adaptations of my own.

I hope you and the rest of my friends enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making them.

 

BROWN RICE KRISPIES TREATS

1 cup light corn syrup with brown sugar (Karo brand)
1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 cups brown puffed rice krispies
1 cup carob chips

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together the sugar, corn syrup and almond butter until their all pretty warm, mixed together and syrupy.
2. Remove from heat and pour in the puffed rice cereal. Stir well until all the cereal is covered in the sticky mixture. This is where going to the gym will some in handy…
3. After all the mixture is combined, stir in the carob chips. They’ll melt a bit, but that’s part of the charm, in my humble opinion.
4. Pour mixture into a greased 9 x 13 glass dish. I greased using my Canola Oil Spray.
5. Spray your hands with the Canola Oil Spray too and press flat.
6. Let cool for 1 hour before cutting into squares. Don’t put in the refrigerator, it gets rock hard there. I had a tough time cutting it.

Makes 18 nicely sized squares.

Creamy Cranberry Dip December 16, 2007

Using my Cranberry Preserves recipe, I decided to try it in a dip. People flipped when they tried it.

It looks like frozen yogurt, but it’s only my Cranberry Preserves recipe and mixed it with cream cheese.  That’s it.  Tastes sweet and looks like the holidays.  Enjoy!

 

CREAMY CRANBERRY DIP

1/4 cup of Cranberry Preserves recipe

4oz cream cheese, you can use the 1/3 less fat kind

1. Mix Cranberry Preserves jelly with the cream cheese in a food processor.
2. Garnish with a bit of the cranberry preserves jelly on top… so people know what’s in it.

Serve with your favorite cracker.

Artichoke and Spinach Casserole December 16, 2007

I’ve been cooking a lot at the Yoga Center I attend.  Last week, I helped my friend Rosani fix dinner for about 25 people.  Sometimes when we do these menus, we buy what’s on sale and use our creativity to develop dishes we have not tried before…  this Artichoke and Spinach Casserole is one of them.  Luckily, most of the time, the inventions turn out fine… we think this one did… I’ll let you be the judge.

 Please bear with me and my adjustments on the quantities… I did a huge tray as the photo shows.

 

ARTICHOKE AND SPINACH CASSEROLE

2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts, rinsed (because Rosani asked me to) and quartered

1 10oz. pack of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out a bit

2  tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 jar of chopped tomatoes or 1/2 carton of POMI chopped tomatoes

2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese

1. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Saute onion for a few minutes and later on add the garlic.
2. Add the spinach to the onions and garlic.  Saute together to give some flavor to the spinach.  Salt and pepper to taste.
3. In a casserole dish, place the rinsed and quartered artichoke hearts, mix together the spinach mixture.
4. Add in the chopped tomatoes.
5. Mix in one cup of the Parmesan cheese.
6. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of casserole.
7. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and a nice crust has developed on top.

It looks like this before putting it in the oven.

 

Pasta with Marinated Tomatoes December 14, 2007

This is one of my go-to recipes when I am hungry NOW!!! It’s super easy to make. I learned this recipe from an old Martha Stewart show where she cooked this with Oprah. That probably was about 10 years ago.

I like to make this pasta with spinach fettuccine, but you can use your favorite pasta. Noodles are nice because it’s a chunky sauce olive-oil based sauce and it coats them well, but any kind will do. This works as a main dish or as an accompaniment to others. I served this together with my Eggplant Parmesan dish.

PASTA WITH MARINATED TOMATOES

1/2 pound of spinach fettuccine, or any other pasta you prefer
3 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Mix the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil in a bowl. Let marinate while you make the pasta. Stir a few times so the flavors meld and the fresh tomatoes break up a bit.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt liberally. Cook pasta according to package directions, al dente.
3. Drain the pasta and return to the pot.
4. Mix in the marinated tomatoes mixture in the hot pot.  The warmth of the pasta and the pot will warm-up the sauce.
5. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

A few additional notes:

• I never peel the tomatoes, but you can if you prefer it. I just wash them really well using Fit.
• I’ve done this with regular tomatoes, vine-ripened tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes. The results will always be delicious. And if tomatoes are not in season, use jarred chopped tomatoes (Viter is a great brand because they have no additives or preservatives).  If using whole canned or jarred tomatoes, just don’t add the juice they come in… Just take the tomatoes and chop them finely.
• Make sure the sun-dried tomatoes do not contain sulfites… Sulfites are harmful to your health and a proved carcinogen.

This sauce is really versatile… later on, I’ll show you additional recipes in which yo can use the same marinated tomatoes in other applications.

Coquito - The Perfect Holiday Drink December 14, 2007

Coquito is the Puerto Rican ultimate holiday drink.

It’s served in a small glass, like a shot glass or jigger, but it’s sipped slowly. It’s never meant to be a shot. This is the Puerto Rican version of an eggnog. There are many versions out there - with raw eggs, with rum, with “cañita rum”, however, my version is the Vegetarian way - the spice and warmth comes from the ginger, anise seeds, star anise and cinnamon. The only way to know this does not contain alcohol is because you’ll not get drunk… because it still has a nice kick. And the nice thing, you don’t need to do a kiddie version.

 

COQUITO

1 can condensed milk
1 carton evaporated milk
1 can coconut milk
3 cups of water
4 inch piece of fresh ginger
5 sticks of cinnamon
4 tablespoons anise seeds
4 tablespoons star anise
2 tablespoons whole cloves

2 tablespoons ground nutmeg
1 vanilla pod
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder or alcohol-free vanilla extract

ground cinnamon to taste

1. In a medium saucepan create a “spiced tea” - pour the 3 cups of water, ginger, cinnamon sticks, anise seeds, star anise, nutmeg and cloves. Scrape the seeds inside the vanilla pod and add to “tea water”. Throw in the vanilla pod too.

2. 

3. Steep for about 15-20 minutes to create a strong spiced tea. This will give the coquito most of its spiciness. Let cool a bit.
4. In a blender, mix together all the milks with 2 ”cans-worth” of the “spiced tea” and the vanilla powder.
5. Pour into a clean bottle and chill in the refrigerator.
6. Serve chilled in small shot glasses.  Sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Salud, Dinero y Amor!!!!!

I try to avoid buying anything canned, but unfortunately condensed milk is something that ONLY comes in a can. The same happens with coconut milk. If you can make your own coconut milk, I highly recommend it. But, I am a working vegetarian woman and I do not have the time to do it.

Cranberry Preserves December 12, 2007

This is the most delicious and easiest recipe for cranberry jelly or preserves you’ll ever encounter.  My uncle loves cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and I wanted to see if I could get him to eat the real thing, not the jelly that comes from a can.  It just looks too unappetizing…

I can’t remember well where I saw this recipe, but I have tried a Cranberry Chutney from Martha Stewart which called for orange juice and orange rind, and while it was delicious, the orange rind made it quite bitter for my taste.  This recipe is sooooooo easy that you’ll be able to recite it to your friends when the rave about how delicious this is. 

 I also learned yesterday this might also be called Cranberry Butter…  however you prefer to name it, please make it and enjoy.

 

CRANBERRY PRESERVES

1 bag of fresh cranberries

1 cup apple juice

1 cup brown sugar

                                             

1.  Wash the cranberries.  Go thru them and throw away all the ones that have gone soft.
2. Place all ingredients in a large heavy saucepan.
3. Bring mixture to a boil.  I cover it so it comes to a boil faster, but watch it, as it can boil over.  After it starts boiling, uncover, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. The cranberries will begin to pop on their own.  Stir it every few minutes, and as you stir, pop the cranberries that might be still whole.  It’s the pectin inside the cranberries that helps the sauce thicken.
5. After the cranberries are cooked.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Be careful, the mixture is VERY HOT and will burn you.
6. Transfer to  smaller jars or plastic bowls.

You can have this cranberry preserves with crackers as a jam, in a sandwich, as accompaniment to mashed sweet potatoes and even as a topping for ice cream.  It’s so versatile and soooooo easy.

Hope you make it this Holiday season.   

Marinated Olives December 12, 2007

Last Summer I went to Spain and we ate olives as appetizers almost every night.  I love them.  The salty bite kind of gets your appetite going.  I use olives frequently in cooking, but not necessarily much on their own.  We’re having an office party this week and I thought it would be nice to take some marinated olives.

This is my interpretation, from what I can remember, of the marinated olives served at Olives, the Todd English restaurant.  He did the recipe in one of the old Martha Stewart shows.  I did the recipe a looooooong time ago, and this is what I came up with this time around.  Hope you like it.

 

MARINATED OLIVES

1 jar of manzanilla olives, with pits (just be careful when eating)

1 clove of garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped (it could work with dry parsley too)

2 tablespoons rosemary

1 tablespoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

a few cranks of freshly cracked black pepper

1 piece of lemon rind or 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/2 cup olive oil

1. Just mix all ingredients together in a bowl.  Let the mixture sit for a few hours so the flavors meld.  It’s even better if the olives can marinate for a few days ahead in the refrigerator.

 No need to add salt… the olives will be salty enough by themselves.  And you can play around with the spices if you don’t have all of them.  Just use what you have and see how it tastes…  tell me about it, OK?