Guacamole

Guacamole can top a burger, taco or fajita, be a hearty side to an egg or chicken dish or, the best way to eat it is with some chips as an appetizer.

The main factor when making guacamole is to be sure you select good avocados.  Pick up an avocado and give it a squeeze. Select ones that are soft but NOT mushy.  They should “give” a little when you squeeze them. Pick the stem off the end. If its green underneath then you’re good. If its brown, put it back and find another one. (If it’s brown under the stem, it will be brown inside).  If they are very firm you can use them in a few days. Rumor has it if you store them in a brown paper bag with tomatoes for a few days it will help expedite the ripening process.  Choosing the right avocados will make or break your guac.  Also, if you need to make your guacamole in advance, place one of the pits inside your dish as it will keep it greener for longer.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 or 3 avocados
-2 tomatoes, diced
-1 garlic clove, chopped fine (sometimes I use garlic powder)
-1/3 of a red onion, chopped fine
-1 jalapeño (keep seeds for a spicier guac)
-1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
-1 lime, zest and juice (sometimes I use red wine vinegar instead, or I’ll use both)
-1 baby cucumber, cut into small pieces
-salt & pepper

Optional additions:

- Habanero hot sauce for some extra zing

- If being healthy isn’t your concern, add some chopped crispy bacon. It will give your guac some salt and crunch!

DIRECTIONS:
- Add the tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, onion, cucumber, and jalapeño to a mixing bowl.

- Cut the avocados in half and remove the pits. Squeeze each half of the avocado into the bowl.

- Using a butter knife, cut the avocado into chunks and gently mix the ingredients together.  Squeeze lime juice and zest 1/2 the lime on top. Then add fresh cracked salt and pepper to taste.  Gentle mix again.

- Serve with chips and enjoy.

If you don’t feel strongly about a chip preference, I highly recommend the xochitl line. The spicy lime ones are amazing.

Or you can try these “crack chips”.  I call them that because they are incredibly addicting. I can eat a bag without thinking about it.  They actually don’t need salsa or guac because they are delicious on their own but with guac they are that much better!

Adult Grilled Cheese

They call it grilled cheese for a reason. Trust me. It should be made on a grill.

My sister came over to eat dinner with us on a beautiful Friday night and we decided to grill on the back deck. After debating several options we thought it would be fun to make adult versions of the childhood classic grilled cheese. There is little I enjoy more than the combination of bread, butter and cheese and with probably a million options of topping combinations it wasn’t easy picking the finalist. In the end a few favorite Italian staples won out: pancetta, pesto with gruyere and tellegio cheeses. Wow. Enjoy a crunchy, cheesy, salty and savory dinner, with your vegetable protein and starch, all between two slices of bread.

INGREDIENTS:
Pesto
-basil (about 1 cup)
-spinach
-arugula
-1/2 avocado
-1 or 2 cloves garlic
-parmesan cheese
-olive oil
-salt & pepper

Sandwich

Crusty Italian bread, sliced (Don’t underestimate the importance in picking out good fresh bread that is sturdy enough to hold the sandwich. It’s critical to the success of your grilled cheese)
-Gruyere cheese
-Tellegio Cheese
-Pancetta, sliced thin and sautéed until crisp
-Butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

Spread butter on the front and back of each piece of bread. I recommend a butter with olive oil in it for easy spreading and extra flavor. If you only have regular butter just set it out before using so it softens a bit.

In a blender add basil, arugula, spinach (or whatever combo you have/prefer), olive oil, salt & pepper and parmesan cheese. Blend together. Add half an avocado for extra creaminess and blend again for a few seconds until combined.

Spread the pesto on the bread.

The first layer should be the cheeses and then add the pancetta. Top with more cheese and close the sandwich.

Turn your grill on and get it nice and hot. Place your sandwiches directly on the grill (the butter will prevent sticking). Cook for 90 seconds and then move each sandwich to get the x marks from the grill. Cook for another 90 seconds. Flip and repeat. Make sure to use your spatula and push down on each sandwich to help it meld together. Turn the heat on low and cook until cheese is melted.

Grillin outside on a beautiful night, drinks in hand=perfect.

Cut in half and serve.

What’s better than this?

Summer Cocktails!

As the hot summer months get closer, we all start to dream up delicious refreshing cocktails (I’m not alone on this, right?).  And who doesn’t love an ice-cold vodka lemonade, frozen margarita or spiked iced coffee?  During the summer, my family loves to concoct new drinks using fresh fruits in a blender or new liquors like Organic Crop Vodka (delish!).  But I have a problem with drinking cold cocktails by the pool on a hot summer day, and that is that the ice melts and waters down the drink (huge problem, I know).  So last summer we got to thinking. When there is a problem, there is always a solution…

Break out those ice-cube trays!!!

Do you love iced coffee? There’s nothing worse than when it is watered down. Pour coffee in ice-cube trays and add them to cool your coffee drink and retain the flavor!  Don’t be scared to add some baileys or sambuca. 

Making a mojito?  Add fresh squeezed lime juice, lime zest and fresh mint leaves into your ice-cube trays and then add to your rum.

Love frozen drinks?  Puree some of your favorite fruits in the blender and pour into the ice-cube trays.  These can be made well in advance and you’ll have on hand for whatever drink you are making.

A good staple to always have in your freezer, frozen lemonade ice cubes.  You can always add lemonade to a summer cocktail or even straight to vodka!  Vodka on the rocks with a splash of lemonade takes on a whole new meaning.

Having bloody marys outside for a Sunday brunch on a really warm morning?  Break out your ice-cube tray filled with frozen tomato juice.

The possibilities are endless…. Be creative and enjoy a more flavorful summer cocktail!

Photos in this post are not mine and were found on google images. 

Baked Potato with a Twist

Sometimes a plain old baked potato is good, but that’s what it is, plain and old… I was inspired by a photo on pinterest to put a fun twist on the classic side dish. Easy, inexpensive and satisfying!

INGREDIENTS:
Potato
2 garlic cloves, sliced thin
1 tbsp butter, melted
Drizzle of olive oil
3 tbsp or so of sour cream
Fresh or dried chives
Fresh or dried parsley
(fresh is always preferred)
Truffle salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Cut your potato in thin slices almost to the bottom. Place the pieces of garlic in between a few of the potato slices.

Brush the potato with butter, drizzle with oil and top with fresh cracked sea salt and pepper.

Place on tin foil and put in 425 degree oven or toaster oven for 40 minutes or until nice and crispy. Sprinkle a pinch of truffle salt on the potato.

Top with sour cream, chives and parsley. Dig in with your fork and enjoy the soft, warm potato surrounded by a salty and savory crunchy crust.

Cinco de Mayo

I’ve been too busy these last 2 weeks to cook never mind come up with some new recipes for you in anticipation of one of my favorite holidays, yes, Cinco de Mayo.  What a great excuse to eat delicious Mexican food and make margaritas!  So I thought I would put together a post for Cinco de Mayo with past recipes that would work well for Saturday!

• Tacos de Barbacoa
• Chicken Enchiladas Verde
• Healthified Chicken Enchiladas 
• Delicious Shrimp Tacos
• Mexican Pillows (Appetizer)
• Flank Steak Fajitas with Chimichurri Sauce
• Chili for the Non Beef Eaters

Hope you have a fabulous Cindo de Mayo with good food and fun drinks!

Carolina Style Pulled Pork in the Crock Pot

I am not from the south, I don’t have a smoker on the back deck of my 3rd story condo, and I can’t say I’ve ever bought a pork butt before.  So, I’m not going to try to pretend like this is the best pulled pork anyone from the south (or New England for that matter) will ever make or eat.  However, this city girl did get a crock pot for my birthday last week and I learned about this fantastic product called “Liquid Smoke”, and I will say the two together produced a respectable pulled pork sandwich that was tender and juicy.

Please note this recipe is for Carolina-style BBQ sauce, which is vinegar based.  So don’t get your hopes up for that dark red, thick, BBQ sauce because well, I’m not a fan.

Since I’ve never made pulled pork before I did some googling and I combined some of the ideas I got from reading many different recipes but my main inspiration came from here.  I will say for those of you who like spice and heat (like me) this had very little.  Next time I think I would add some hot sauce to the mixture for an extra zing.

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet onion, quartered
• 4 T brown sugar
• 1/3 c red wine vinegar
• 1 4lb pork butt
• 1 T liquid smoke  
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ t crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 T mustard (I used Trader Joes whole grain mustard because I didn’t have the powder)
• Garlic powder for seasoning
• Cayenne pepper
• Paprika
• Fresh cracked sea salt and black pepper

Instructions

• I bought a pork butt from Whole Foods and was surprised at how inexpensive it is. After opening it up, I opted to trim a lot of the fat off simply because I don’t like fatty meat. Either way, be sure to pat it dry before adding the rub.

• Blend brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper and rub over the entire roast. Place in the fridge over night if possible.

• Combine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, sugar, mustard, garlic and cayenne pepper and mix well. Place in a bowl and refrigerate over night or for at least a few hours so the flavors get a chance to marry.
• When you are ready, put your crock pot on low heat and set for 9 hours. Put onions in bottom of crock pot.
• Place roast in crock pot on top of the onions. Drizzle liquid smoke over roast.

• Drizzle about 1/3 of liquid vinegar mixture over roast. Cover and refrigerate remaining mixture for later.
• Cook roast on low for 8-10 hours. I cooked my 4 lb roast from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and put it on warm for about 30 minutes because I could see it was already falling apart.
• When ready to eat, remove meat and onions from the pot and shred the meat in a bowl.  Reserve the onions separately for a topping on your sandwich. Though sweet, I thought they were soggy and unappealing but some of my guests quite enjoyed them.

• Add juice from the fridge to the crock pot and put on high until the liquid becomes warm. Using a cheese cloth or a tight strainer, strain the juice so to remove the extra mustard seed and pork fat.  Add a few spoonfuls of liquid to the bowl of pulled pork and reserve the rest to place on the table.
• Serve plain, over beans and rice  or like we did, on a fresh roll topped with delicious cole slaw, a side of black beans and chips with guacamole on the side.

Note: If you have a lot of leftover liquid like I did, you can pour the liquid in ice cube trays and add them in sauces or other meat dishes you make later on!

Pasta with Broccoli

Easy. Low cost. Delicious (IF you love broccoli).

Pasta with broccoli has a long history with our family. Growing up, my mom made it often as a side to a meat focused dinner. We typically use the farfalle or “bowtie” pasta as we called it as kids. This meal can be made so many different ways and with different accents. Below is my favorite version but you can also consider using lemon juice, lemon zest, white wine, and certainly butter if you aren’t trying to keep it too healthy. It’s an easy weeknight dinner when you don’t have a lot in your fridge, it’s a great side to a protein and it’s delicious leftover hot or cold. I usually make extra so I have leftovers for lunch the next day. The hard part is refraining from eating it all!

For a healthier option steam your broccoli in water and chicken broth instead of using olive oil. It will still be tasty and u can drizzle a tiny bit of oil on top for finishing. You can also skip the blender to remove an extra step when you are pressed for time. I like it because it makes the sauce a little thicker. Think of it as a broccoli pesto.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 heads fresh broccoli
-2-3 cloves garlic
-2 shallots
-few tbsps Parmesan cheese
-olive oil
-red pepper flakes
-chicken broth as needed
-pasta (whole wheat penne used here but I encourage the bowties)
-salt & pepper
-fresh basil or parsley (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Place a large pot of water on high heat. Bring to boil.

Sauté garlic, shallots, red pepper flakes in olive oil.

Place half of your broccoli in blender And blend until the big chunks are gone.

Add the mixture to your pan with the remaining broccoli that you chopped into bite sized pieces. Add salt and pepper.

Add chicken broth as needed so you have enough liquid for your pasta. Let cook for a few minutes. I don’t like mushy broccoli so as soon as it gets soft I take off the heat. Mix in a large bowl with pasta. Add cheese, more fresh basil and serve.

Chicken Lettuce Cups

Chicken lettuce wraps exploded as a popular appetizer/entree mostly because of P.F. Changs. They are delicious and healthy, or at least you would think. Check out the nutritional facts on PF’s version and you’ll be shocked at the sodium content. I made these a few years ago for my cousin’s wedding shower and recreated them again this week for a healthy weeknight meal. They are spicy, crunchy, tasty pockets of flavor. My recipe uses a lot of ingredients but feel free to pick and choose based on your own personal preferences. I also didn’t include peanuts which you will often find in this dish (as I don’t like nuts in my food).

INGREDIENTS:
-1 lb. Fresh ground chicken (I buy organic cage free chicken)
-1/2 package shiitake or bella mushrooms, chopped fine
-2-3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
-3 scallions, chopped fine
-1/2 yellow onion, chopped fine
-2 celery stalks, diced
- small can watercress (adds a nice crunch but optional)
-Hoison sauce (few tablespoons depending on your taste)
-Sriracha sauce (1-2 tablespoons depending on how hot you like it. I love it spicy!)
-Few dashes sesame oil for frying
-Rice wine (about 1/4 cup)
-Fresh ginger
-Few dashes soy sauce
-1 teaspoon cumin
-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-1 teaspoon paprika
-Fresh cilantro for topping (I didn’t have any)

DIRECTIONS:

Wash your lettuce well and select the leaves that will be good for cups. Set aside in the fridge with a paper towel on top. This will get your lettuce nice and crisp for when you are ready to eat. Place any pieces too small for cups in a large plastic bag with a paper towel for use at a later time.

Put a wok on medium-high heat with sesame oil. Add your chopped onions, garlic, mushrooms, and scallions.

Add your ground chicken to the center of the pan. Break it up using your spoon and let brown.

Add Hoison sauce and mix well. Then add Sriracha, soy sauce and let everything cook for 3-4 minutes. Add cumin, paprika and cayenne. Then add rice wine and let the liquid reduce.

Add fresh grated ginger. This will brighten up all the flavors and it smells incredible. You can’t replace fresh grated ginger.

When you are almost ready to eat add your celery to the pan and turn the heat to low. I like to add it at the end so it retains a nice crunch in the lettuce wrap.

Add fresh cilantro if you have it (I forgot it at the store) and enjoy a nice cup of sake!

Challah Baked French Toast

Exploring options on what to make for Easter brunch was a lot of fun but I was trying to find some things that would be good for a large group of people.  Baked french toast sounded like a perfect idea and after googling for a few days I decided to go with one of my favorites, Giada.  I minimally changed her recipe and I trusted her for the basic premise. A lot of recipes soaked the bread overnight and I was worried it would become a soggy mess.  Giada’s seemed like the perfect compromise.  Baked French Toast is very easy to put together and it beats standing on the stove with a spatula flipping one piece of bread at a time.  And the smells coming out of your oven are out of this world… it smells more like desert and less like brunch!

Here is Giada’s recipe!  I made two large casserole dishes with 2 1/2 loaves of challah and 2 bags of frozen blueberries (the fresh ones didn’t look great).

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing and to brush on top
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup maple syrup, plus extra for serving (make sure you warm your maple syrup for the table before serving)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 lemon, zested
• Day-old challah, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 cups (12 ounces) fresh or frozen, thawed, and drained blueberries
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• Dash of vanilla

Directions

Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish. Set aside.

Cut your challah in 1 inch slices and again into 1 inch cubes.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until frothy. Add the milk, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and lemon zest. Add the bread cubes and mix until coated. Stir in the blueberries. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Melt some butter and using a brush, paint the top of the casserole dish and top with a mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar.  I also added some more lemon zest on top.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is set. Spoon onto serving plates and drizzle with maple syrup.

Here is our Easter brunch in the oven, Challah French Toast and Eggs in a Basket.

Eggs in a Basket

How perfect and balanced is this recipe? You get your potato, eggs, meat and cheese all in one nicely packed basket.  All the flavors work so well together and they are pretty easy to make! I concocted these baskets for Easter brunch (yes the Jewtalian hosted a brunch on Easter) so I wasn’t as on top of the photo taking as usual but thank goodness for Lisa!  Luckily, in our family we have an “Easter Exemption Rule” whenever Easter happens to fall during Passover so we were allowed to enjoy this brunch.   The baskets didn’t come out as pretty as they could because I was doing too many things at once but I highly recommend using the large cup cake pans as the smaller ones are trickier.  I will say the small bite sized baskets made it very easy to just pop in your mouth!

The inspiration for these tasty bites came from here.

To make life easier I bought frozen potato hash browns from Whole Foods. They had no additives in there (just potato) and it saved me from lots of potato shredding.  I was cooking for 12 people so I won’t provide you with my measurements. If you can’t eyeball it, I would follow the measurements from the recipe above.  I also used butter which is unlike me. You can certainly make this dish a bit more calorie friendly but since it was a holiday I was going for maximum flavor, not calorie counting

INGREDIENTS:

• Bag potato hash browns, frozen
• Eggs
• Fresh grated Gruyère and parmesan cheese
• Zucchini
• Shallots
• Prosciutto, sliced thin and cut into smaller pieces
• Maple Syrup (few tablespoons)
• Salt & Pepper
• Low fat sour cream
• Non stick cooking spray
• Butter for the pan

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Put your hash browns in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I added one egg white to help the potatoes stick together.
• Making the baskets out of potatoes takes a bit of practice but you get the hang of it after a few. I recommend putting a spoonful into your sprayed cup cake holder and use your thumb to push it down.  Then use your thumb to push the potato up the sides making sure you have the side covered at least half way up so it holds your eggs.  Add more potato as necessary. I made mine using a very thin layer as I wanted them crispy, not mushy.
• When you have filled all of your cupcakes, spray with olive oil and bake for half hour or so, until the edges are browned.  You can do this in advance and set them aside until you are ready to bake the eggs and eat.  As you can see in the photo I was skimpy on some with the potatoes so I added a little more to cover the holes knowing they would cook more in the oven.

• I had leftover potatoes after filling my muffin trays so I decided to also use a quiche dish with the remaining.

• Place your prosciutto in a shallow bowl and marinate in maple syrup while you prepare the rest of the dish. This can be done well in advance.  The sweetness and saltiness of the prosciutto on top of your basket is heavenly, in my opinion anyways.
• Chop up the zucchini and shallots into small pieces.
• Put a pan on the stove on medium heat and melt butter.  Add the zucchini and shallots and saute for a few minutes. Add salt & pepper.
• In a large bowl crack your eggs and mix well.  Add a spoonful of sour cream to make your eggs a little creamier (optional). Add to the pan with the zucchini and onions.  At this point I also added some of the grated cheese. Add a bit more fresh cracked salt and pepper.

• Cook the eggs until they are almost finished. Remember they will cook more in the oven. You want them to be a tiny bit runny still but not so liquid that they won’t hold in the baskets.
• Fill each cup with the egg mixture.  Top with cheese and a piece of prosciutto.  Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and the prosciutto looks crispy (about 10-15 minutes).

Eat and enjoy!!

I feel it’s perfectly acceptable to pick these baskets up with your hands and pop them in your mouth! Deee-licious.

You can see how the tiny ones were a bit messy but it didn’t affect the taste

Here is a photo of our Easter table. Don’t worry, the recipe for the french toast casserole made with challah is coming soon.

Tri Colore Matzo Balls

A staple dish for Jews round the world is matzo ball soup. It’s comforting and oddly delicious. My family makes it every year for different holidays but always on Passover for our Seder. This year we decided to try something slightly different and put an Italian twist on the matzo balls by making them red, white and green, in true “Jewtalian” spirit. These are not your traditional balls.

A word of advice, when making as many balls as we did, don’t try to cook them in one pot because they won’t cook properly and fluff up like they should. That’s what we get for drinking the manischewitz wine before the Seder (haha). I still thought they were delish even though they weren’t as fluffy as some might like- these would be considered sinkers, not floaters.

Photos Courtesy of Snap Photography

You can follow the instructions on the box as we did and make the easy adjustments to get the pretty colors and added flavor of the tri colore matzo balls. I thought the red ones in particular had great flavor! We made one batch per color, roughly 63 matzo balls in total.

Instructions for color:

Verde (Green)
-Place a cup or so of fresh baby spinach, a bunch of parsley and a small garlic clove in a blender with a dash of olive oil. Strain he liquid out using a cheese cloth and reserve to use instead of water in the next step. Continue per the instructions above and add a dash of onion powder.

Rosso (Red)
-Add 2 tablespoons red tomato paste, garlic powder and onion powder to original recipe.

Bianco (White)
-Follow instructions on the box.

<br

After you cook your matzo balls put them in a big bowl of home made chicken soup and serve topped with fresh parsley. Enjoy!!

And here is a photo of our beautiful Seder tabled decorated by mom:

</

Braised Chicken and Potatoes

Sometimes the best meals aren’t planned. On Sunday I usually plan our dinner ahead of time because it’s really the one day each week when I can make a meal that takes more than an hour to prep and cook.  After a long rainy Sunday of being out and about we stopped at the grocery store and I blindly grabbed a few things which is very unlike me.  I haphazardly put together a warm chicken stew-like dish that was sweet, savory and warming on this cool and damp spring night.  It’s also easy to make and uses only one pot!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 chicken thighs, washed and seasoned wish kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar (roughly, I didn’t measure)
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 sweet onion, sliced thin
• 1 can diced San Marzano tomatoes
• Fresh chopped basil
• Cheese, fresh grated (I used half Parmesan and half Gruyere)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Sweet red peppers
• Small potatoes, halved
• Herbs de Provence, 1 pinch
• Tomato paste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In large dutch oven, heat olive oil until its hot and starts to roll.  Add the chicken to the pot, and flip after two minutes. Then add the onions, garlic, salt, pepper, a few fresh basil leaves and a sprinkle of Herbs de Provence.

Let the onions cook for a few minutes.  Then add the potatoes.

Add the red wine vinegar, tomatoes and sweet red peppers. Season with salt and pepper again and stir together. If you like a kick of spice, add a few teaspoons of red pepper flakes.  Bring to a low boil, stir the pot and then cover tightly and place in the oven.

Check on it once or twice and stir all the ingredients.  I added a squirt of tomato paste to thicken the broth a touch.

Bake this dish for about an hour or so, the chicken will be fork tender and fall apart in the sauce. Top with a sprinkle of fresh chopped basil and grated cheese. Enjoy!