The unexpected two+ months hiatus.

Hello hello! My apologies for the unexpected hiatus that I recently took from my blog. No worries my dear readers, I still love this blog and love to cook. I've been heavily focused on school and working hard to get my degree :D and hence, my blogging/cooking time has reduced significantly. The good part is, the hard work has paid off well (at least for the last quarter). I will try to put more effort into blogging, but also try to keep it as genuinely passionate as possible. :] For tonight's dinner, I spontaneously, for the first time in a long time, wanted to cook for the pleasure of cooking, and out of desire for something to romance my palate. After experimenting, I concocted a delicious meal! I would like to declare that this isn't a recipe post, but rather a reminder on the happiness of food for me. :D Also, there is a confession I must make in regards to tonight's dinner: tonight was the very first, FIRST, time ever in my life that I cooked carrot (sticks). Orange carrots aren't really part of my cultural/native cuisine and hence it's not really involved in my meals. But! I do strongly enjoy the quick and healthy snack of carrot sticks and ranch dressing. :] But back to the point--yes, it is the first time EVER. It was experimental, but delicious. I will try to repeat the concoction again and then post up a recipe.

So, tonight's dinner:

Herb baked chicken with curry braised carrots over julienne lettuce served with white rice. 

A close up of the deliciousness :D

Herb baked chicken (hindquarter) with curry braised carrots over julienne fresh lettuce served with hot, fresh, white rice. :]

@90 miles. They served water in jars :D

 Also on another note, recently I had finally reached the age of 21 and went out for an exquisite treat: Cuban food! I went to a very popular local place called 90 Miles (in reference to the southern most point of the eastern US to Cuba) located up on the north side of Chicago. Ever since I went to Miami for spring break vacation last year, I fell in love with Cuban food. Although I don't get much of it back in Chicago, it's a nice treat for special occasions. My boyfriend and I ate ourselves full on congri, chuletas, ropa vieja, and frijoles :D. It was such a wonderful meal.

My order of ropa vieja with congri & maduros. 

My boyfriend's order of chuletas with rice and frijoles. 

Well my dear readers, I'm off to conquer the world! I promise to return soon with recipes and ideas for the love of your palate!

Pineapple Black Bean Salad.

Here's another salad recipe that I had made with my friend Juan a while ago. It came out delicious and very delectable.

Ingredients:
1.) 3/4 cup of diced fresh cut pineapple
2.) 1/2 cup of black beans
3.) 1 romaine heart
4.) 2 cups of spinach
5.) 2 tbsps of lime juice
6.) 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
7.) 1/3 cup of Honey Dijon dressing
8.) salt and pepper
9.) 1 tbsp of fennel seeds
10.) 1 cup of grape tomatoes
11.) 3/4 cups of shredded carrots

Directions:
1.) In a container, add lime juice to pineapple pieces. This is only if you're using fresh pineapple. The lime juice helps inactivate the enzymes that causes that awful burn.
2.) Chop romaine heart into bite size pieces. Roll spinach and chop. Add tomatoes, carrots, and wash all together.

Fresh, delicious salad! Eating better just got easier :D

3.) Add black beans, pineapple, salt, pepper, and fennel seeds. Toss in dressing and top with cheese and serve.

Coat with dressing and cheese. 

Afterthoughts: This was delicious and very refreshing. The pineapple was an excellent addition. I wish I had made some bread sticks to go with this salad, but other than that, it was great. We ate it with toasted English muffins. Yummy!

Wilted Salad with Seared Italian Sausage & Honey Dijon

Happy New Year to you all! In correspondence with the standard New Year's resolution of "eating better" here's a quick salad recipe that I had randomly concocted within the past week. With just a few leafy greens, eating better only got easier. To be honest, this isn't a legitimate recipe on my part, which I do apologize for, since there's so many varieties out there for you to think of. Who'd thunk it? So, over the course of the upcoming year, I will be posting a salad recipe or two just for the heck of it. (Psst, this is a great first step for all those veggies haters out there who need to eat better!) I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:
1.) 1/2 romaine heart
2.) 2 cups of spinach
3.) 1/2 cup of grape tomatoes
4.) 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
5.) 1/4 cup of sun flower seeds, pine nuts, or walnuts (whichever you prefer)
6.) 2 Italian sausages
7.) Honey Dijon dressing (I used store bought since I got lazy)
8.) Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1.) Dice the romaine heart in to bite size pieces. Take spinach and "roll the leaves" somewhat like a cigar and give it a rough chop. The leaves I'm using are rather large so I'm cutting down. This is also optional.
2.) Place carrots and greens in a colander and wash. Wash the tomatoes but keep them separately.
3.) Microwave the sausages for 3 minutes on high heat and then slice. Note: This particular step is important due to the fact that is it very difficult to cook a sausage whole without steaming or microwaving first. As a result, people are unaware of consuming raw sausage. It's okay if the center is still a bit raw when it comes out of the microwave, but the majority of the sausage must be cooked when it comes out of the microwave.
4.) In a hot pan, add nuts and toast. Keep them in pan for about 1 minute but continually tossing to toast. Remove and place aside. Then, in the same pan, add a few drops of  oil (olive oil works best here) and add sausage slices. Let the sausages sit for 2 minutes and then flip. Let the slices sit and sear. Add grape tomatoes (this is optional, but this searing of the tomatoes makes them sweeter).
5.) Turn off heat and quickly add mixed greens. The residual heat of the pan wilts the greens a slight bit but not enough to burn. Add nuts, give the contents a quick toss. Top with cheese and dressing. Serve.

Sorry I didn't take pictures of the cooking process--I had originally intended for this not to be posted :]

Optional Honey Dijon recipe:
1.) 1 tbsp of dijon mustard
2.) 3/4 tbsp of honey
3.) 1/2 tbsp of either red wine, balsamic vinegar, or olive oil (your choice).

Afterthoughts: This was a great salad for me since I'm not a big fan of eating raw greens, but love eating veggies. I decided to wilt the salad just because raw romaine hearts and be a very crunchy while also raw spinach (which annoys me the most) tends to dry out my mouth and leave a sandy taste; hence this was a great way to avoid those problems. Grape tomatoes are a wonderful addition since they're naturally sweeter than regular tomatoes and go very well with the carrots. The sausages I had used were great in which they added a smoky spice to the salad. I also didn't use "baby spring mix" greens that come in a box from the store since I had more knowledge (and fondness) towards the greens I used. Romaine lettuce are natural sources of antioxidants while spinach contain excellent amounts of iron (wonderful for anemic women) and calcium. Again, this is a very flexible recipe in which you're free to use as you please. I hope you enjoy this one!

Costs:
1.) 1 box of grape tomatoes = $0.98 so $0.20 was used
2.) 1 romaine heart = $0.60 so $0.30 was used
3.) 1 pack of Italian sausages (5) = $4.00 so $1.60 was used
4.) 1 bag of spinach = $2.00 so $0.30 was used
Total Costs: $2.40 for serving of two 

Creamy Mashed Potatoers.

Hello hello to all mashed potato aficionados out there! Here's an effortless recipe that you'd sure to love. No mashers or forks needed! =O With just a few russet potatoes and 1 hour, you can have this creamy potato dish in your own home. Serve as you please with whatever you please but, it's best to go with gravy. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

1.) 6 medium Russet baking potatoes (please keep in mind potato size = portion size)

2.) 3/4 stick of butter salted or unsalted (I used unsalted)

3.) 1 cup of diced scallion

4.) 5 cloves of garlic (grated or diced into small bits)

5.) salt and pepper to taste

6.) water to boil

Directions:

1.) Peel and clean potatoes. Tip: To stop potatoes from browning while you peel or cut other ones, just leave them submerged in cold water. Dice potatoes into small pieces. This speeds up the cooking process and makes it easier to mash later on.

The potatoes were sliced into quarters and then 1/4 inch thick pieces. 

2.) Place potatoes in a large pot on high heat. Add enough water to keep the potatoes submerged; about an inch from the top level of potatoes. Bring to boil. Once boiled, keep the potatoes on high heat for ten more minutes until the largest piece you can find is soft. You can try to puncture it with a knife and see if it goes through easy.

4.) Drain potatoes pieces and place in a bowl. Remove as much water as possible. Add slices of butter on top of the potatoes (while steaming hot) and begin mixing with hand mixer set on high. This creates little to no effort at all to mashing potatoes (I told you!) while mixing in the chunks of butter. Ensure that all pieces of incorporated. Add scallions, grated garlic, salt and pepper until all is evenly distributed and incorporated. Serve.

While steaming hot, add slices of butter to drained potato pieces and mix. 

Incorporate all other ingredients and mix until evenly distributed. With a hand mixer, it took about 1 minute to mash.

Quick gravy recipe:

Ingredients:

1.) 1.5 tbsp of flour

2.) fat drippings (in this case, I made baked chicken again and used the drippings from that). If you don't have drippings, half stick of salted butter works just fine.

3.) 1 cup of

4.) 1 tbsp of soy sauce

Directions:

1.) Pour drippings into a sauce pan or skillet on high heat. Slowly add flour to the heated drippings. This makes a roux.  

Add flour and keep stirring. At this stage, this can easily burn.

2.) Add water and soy sauce while constantly stirring. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Add some soy sauce and dilute with water, and you have gravy. :D

Afterthoughts: Very delicious. I wished I had grated the garlic more finely. I just ran the cloves through my food processor and put them in. The good part is that I don't mind the small bits of garlic, but it is a concern for others. The gravy was a little thick, I could have used a little more water but no biggie. This serves about 6-8 people.