Luck

Hello everyone. I did some research on what food people make when they want luck to prosper in their lives.  I found that some people make: moon cakes, black-eyed peas (in the South), coin baked in bread (Greece), both clams and spring rolls symbolize wealth in Chinese. In my own experience I’ve met people from different Latino cultures that make certain foods on holidays; like on New Years Eve they make a huge pot of lentils and serve grapes at midnight.

In honor of being the first in my family to graduate from college my mother and I decided we would make something new that signified luck -- lentils. We combined some of the traditional ingredients below with something special, pork. I wanted to add pork; since pork (or pernil) is a traditional dish in our family and I love it. I felt it was necessary.  We added pork fat, or grasa de puerco. We cooked in down for its flavor then separated the fat from any meat, which we left in the pot. All the juices and flavor from the pork dissolved into the lentils. Came out delicious and I had lentils leftover for a week. Plus I got to cook with my mom in my very little kitchen -- fun stuff.

So tell me, what do you make for luck in your family?

Ingredients included: lentils (fresh dried and soaked in water), yellow onion, chopped leeks (white and light green parts only), fresh thyme leaves, salt, fresh garlic, black pepper, celery, carrots, chicken stock, pork fat, and tomato paste.

P.S. Oh how I wish I had professional lighting for these photos. Enjoy!

New Year

I’ve decided to change the direction of this blog a bit; I want to focus on reviewing recipes that I make based on the books I have, recipes I acquire from TV, friends, family, etc. Also, changing recipes to make them my own as well as making them healthier, which is always a challenge.

As many of you know school is finally over for me. While I’ve been cooking, blogging was placed on hold for paper writing. So I’m back. 

Snack for Engery!

I use to paint still life in high school; I have one painting left to prove it. In fact I use to draw a lot when I was younger. I’ve never been into people as an object, but more just objects. And lately because of this blog, food as still life has been my obsession.

I like grapefruit with honey sprinkled with cinnamon for energy as a snack or after I have oatmeal. Because oatmeal by itself is not enough food for me in the morning.

Let me know what you think of my Ruby Red Grapefruit Lady.

Have a beautiful day!

Roasted Lemon-Balsamic Broccoli & Quinoa

Roasted lemon-balsamic broccoli is a combination of tart & sweet on top of crunchy broccoli. Also, the balsamic vinegar becomes a little caramelized when is in the oven. Serve with quinoa, or another whole grain.

The reason I love quinoa is because whole grains are not fattening. As much as I love rice, it is fattening. I won’t bore you about whole grains and why they are healthier, but you will fill more full and satisfied longer after eating them. People all over the world consume primarily whole grains, and yet they aren’t as heavy as Americans.

Also, I love quinoa also because its so pretty and sunny looking when its cooked -- cheers you up. Let me know if you need any suggestions.

Preparation for Broccoli:

Preheat oven to 450˚. Cut 1 pound broccoli crowns into small florets. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with Brianna’s’ Home-style balsamic dressing (you can use one you like or you can make your own), drizzle with OVOO and fresh squeezed lemon (about 2 tablespoons). Arrange on baking sheet; bake at 450˚for 15 minutes, or until the tenderness is good for you. I like mine crunchy.

Preparation for Quinoa – its best to follow the package directions of the brand you buy.

Spicy Treat

Daniel and I went shopping this weekend and wandered into a place call Aamchi Pao for dinner.

Aamchi Pao “Mumbai Street Food on a New York Block”. Seriously if this is what its like in India—I definitely want to go one day.

Aamchi Pao is a small spot dedicated to the Mumbai street food. Pao (pronounce pow) is a soft, white roll, buttered and served with many spicy choices. Such as, “Vada Pao”, a heavy potato fritter and spicy coconut garlic chutney. The fritters are wonderfully spiced, where you can taste the chilies, ginger, turmeric and mustard seeds. Put these things all together and you get “Pao Sliders”.

Besides the sliders, a high recommendation is Cauliflower Manchurian. This is a very simple but heavily spiced vegetable (almost stew-like), it’s a mix of sweet, spicy and sticky flavors all at once.

We also tried the Chicken Tikka Kathi Roll; it was good, but a little dry for me—it needed some sort of chutney to wake it up a bit. It’s a tandoori chicken with, mint chutney (that I could not taste) and roasted onions.

BTW: The word “pao” is a Portuguese word.  I can’t wait to go back and try more.

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Turkish Pasta

This was eaten...
Because:

1. I was in the mood for homemade tomato, olive oil based sauce
2. Barilla said about 1 to 2 cups of cooked pasta is a healthy portion
3. Spinach isncludes nutrients, such as folate, vitamin E and lutein; to keep your body strong
4. Turkey and Lamb go really well together

Next time a white plate will be used for the photo. Becauase the lean meat and veggies were piled-on, only 1 cup of carbs was needed.

Paired with Cavit Chardonnay

Cheers!

Happy Birthday! Very Chocolate Cake

If you know my immediate family and me you clearly know who cooks and who bakes. If you’ve seen my sister’s site or Facebook page you’ll know she bakes to the point where she can make your cake look like a tractor or Sponge Bob. Me, I just cook. I’ve baked here and there, muffins—with muffin mix, but I prefer cooking. You don’t need to measure everything when you cook—as most people know.

For me baking is a challenge and I love a challenge. Also, after I spent two weeks with my family this summer I arrived back to New York with the “I want to bake” bug. To get over my baking bug I decided to bake a cake for my boyfriend’s birthday. We both love chocolate so I made a very chocolate cake.

Baking involves many details and time. On my trip to the supermarket I stood in the baking isle for 20 minutes trying to figure out the difference between confections sugar and power sugar; just comical right—how would I know there is not a difference. I could go on for pages about not knowing what to buy in the grocery store, but I wouldn’t do that to you.

Below I’ve highlighted the most comic part of my baking adventure.

I returned home from school eager to finish the cake (which I baked that morning). I proceeded to pull the two cake pans out of the refrigerator and flip the cakes out of the pans with a plate; they would not come out of the pans. Yes, I greased and floured those babies, but nada.

I grabbed a little spatula and tried to carefully separate the cake from the pan, but the problem was with the bottom of the cake—the bottom was stuck! Both cakes. I continued to flip and tap the bottom of the cake pans.

In a moment of sheer panic I thought; why did I do this—why didn’t I just buy a cake—I’ll just hand him a spoon and tell him we’re going to eat the cake out of the cake pan—I’ll be crying at that point so he won’t mind—as long as I stop crying…

With my heart pounding and my hands shaking I tried something else. I placed my hand on the top of the very chocolate cake, flipping the pan, thinking that the cake would come out on my hand. Well it did, chocolate all over my hand. And, my hand-print was left on top of the very chocolate cake and it was still in the pan. (I didn’t think—well it didn’t come out on the plate, why would my hand be any different.)

At that point I just placed my hand back on the top of the cake (carefully into the same hand-print), then flipping it, tapping the bottom of the pan, viola, it came out. Crumbling, with my hand-print still embedded in the cake I carefully placed in on the plate upside-down. After all no one would see it that way.

Now for the second layer, its still in the cake pan. I did what I’d been doing all morning I called my sister. My mother answered, and before I could bring myself to tell her what was wrong, the second cake came out of the pan, and flopped right onto the other layer. Thank goodness. My mother told me this happens when you let cake cool in the pan (in the frig).

I made the very sweet vanilla butter cream frosting and frosted the cake. I could not frost the middle of the cake because the two layers were sticking together. So much that I don’t even think you would notice it was a two-layer cake.

This chocolate cake is the type of cake that so good and rich you can only eat a little at a time. It was extremely moist and very chocolately. Birthday boy was very happy.

Recipe review:
Something I would change with the recipe:
Recipe stated: “Good Chocolate Coco Powder”: This doesn’t help pick the right coco powder. I used Hersey—worked fabulous. Also, what about sweetened or unsweetened? If you aren’t a professional you won’t know most baking calls for unsweetened.
Cooling: the recipe didn’t state how long to cool.
Storing: the recipe didn’t state the best what to store the cake.
Adding the baking tray under the two cake pans. The cake overflowed while cooking it. Next time I will add the cookie sheet underneath.

Is this healthy? The frosting called for 4 cups (2pounds) sugar! Nope, but its so good!