Sangría

My favorite...orange juice and red wine... chilled! Perfect for this kind of weather.

INGREDIENTS-

1 bottle red wine

1 1/2 cup orange juice

1 ounce gin

1 ounce cointreau or brandy

1 can lime soda (7up or Sprite)

5 teaspoons sugar

2 large red apples, diced

1 orange cut up in stone chips (peel included)

1 lemon cut up in stone chips (peel included, and no, for those of you who speak Spanglish better than anything else a lemon is NOT a limón, it is a LEMON, LIMA in Spanish, bigger and yellow-er)

DIRECTIONS

Mix all the ingredients with a large ladle, then add the apple, orange and lemon. After, refrigerate for 1 1/2 minimum so the flavors become one. You can serve it with ice cubes, but it's better if its just chilled.

Empanadas with Chorizo and Potatoes

YES! Mexican Chorizo!! so all of you can get the MEXICAN INFLUENZA hahahaha... but, if you are not an ignorant person, you'll know that there is no way you can get influenza by eating pork, mexican or not mexican... sooo, here's the recipe:

By the way, these empandas are appetizer sized, and this recipe is for 12 mini empanadas. Also, this recipe, as well as a few others, was extracted from a can of some Nestle product and it is delicious!!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purspose flour

1 tbsp sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt, divided

3 tbsps chilled butter, cut into pieces

9 tbsps ice water, divided

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

2 ounces fresh chorizo.. THERE IS A GREAT BRAND OF CHORIZO 'GARCIA' OR SOMETHING SIMILAR, AT HEB

2 cups diced Yukon gold potato

1/4 teaspoon hot paprika

cooking spray

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

DIRECTIONS:

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until homogenized. Add butter; pulse 4 times or until it resembles coarse meal. With processor on, slowly add 1/2 cu ice water and vinegar through food chute (OK HERE, YOU WILL HAVE TO USE THE WHISK or stop the blender, add and then pulse again if, like me, you don't have a 'food chute'), processing until combined (do not form a ball). Gently press mixture into 2 (5 inch) circles on plastic wrap; cover. Chill for 1 hour.

Cook chorizo in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until brown, stirring to crumble.

Place potato in saucepan; cover with water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 8 minutes or until tender; drain. Place in large bowl, mash. Add chorizo, paprika and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt; stir until well combined.

Preheat oven to 425.

Remove dough from refrigerator, halve each disc. Place 1 dough portion between 2 sheets of wax paper. Roll into 1/4 inch thick; cut 2 (3 inch) circles with biscuit cutter. Repeat with remaining dough.. DUH!. combine excess dough, roll to 1/4 thickness and cut 4 (3 inch) circles with biscuit cutter. Working with 1 circle at a time (cover remaining circles with damp towel to prevent drying), spoon 1 tbsp potato mix into center of each; fold dough over filling. Press edges together with fork to seal. Place empanada on large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Repeat with remaining dough circles. Combine remaining 1 tbsp water and egg white. Brush tops of empanadas with egg mixture lightly. Bate at 425 for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.

Enjoy!!

Weekend Success

Okay, this is a recipe I came out with during the weekend. On Saturday I had some friends over for dinner, I was expecting them around 9pm. Thing was, it was already 8 and I had no idea what I was gonna feed them. All in all I was expecting 1o people, so it had to be a lot of food. As I was thinking, the idea of sandwiches crossed my mind, however, I thought, they can always fix themselves a sandwich at home... so they had to be sandwiches with a twist. I love Italian so the first ingredients that came to mind were baguettes and salami. HEB is 2 minutes away from my house and they sell delicious salami and fresh baguettes, sooo tah dah!! I set out for HEB and these are the things I bought:





INGREDIENTS-





1/2 pound hard salami (sliced, #1 cut or something like that... I just ask the guys there to cut it at 1)


1/2 muenster cheese (sliced, same cut)


3 Italian baguettes (the thin, long ones... not the ones they sell in pairs in plastic bags!!!)


pesto with sun dried tomato (any kind will do but careful not to buy only the sun dried tomato pasta.. make sure it's green with a little red!, also don't go for the ones in the 'cooking connections' area if you are looking to save money, rather, look for pesto in the 'international' aisle...)


mayo


turkey ham (thin slices)


1 large can black olives (no seeds!)





DIRECTIONS-





Preheat oven to 250


Cut the baguette kind of like how the guys at Subway do, I also removed some of the soft bread from the inside so more of the ingredients would fit in. Cut up the olives in half, set aside.
Spread mayo on lower half, then spread about a teaspoon of pesto on top side. Cut muenster cheese slices in half (triangles), cut salami circles in half also, get the ham out and fill up your baguette. Cheese first, salami after, ham on top.


After the filling is done, press top half of baguettes over lower half to pack it all in. Cut in two to three pieces and place sandwiches on ungreased trays. Place them in the oven and let bake for about 1o minutes.


After you get them out, spread yet another tablespoon of pesto over the ham. Then, spread the olive halves over the ham. Finally, cut into 3 1/2 to 4 inches pieces and enjoy!





Note: you might want to add another baguette depending on how many people you're serving these to, or how much they eat! with these quantities, each person got about 2 pieces.

Note 2: you can find 'Helga the Salami Fairy' here:

http://cartoongoddess.wordpress.com/?s=helga+the+salami+fairy

Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS-

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
200 grs margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 regular sugar
1 egg
2 tbsps vanilla extract
1/2 chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins
3 cups oatmeal (Quaker)

DIRECTIONS-

Preheat the oven to medium temperature (?!). Mix the flour with the baking soda and set apart. Beat the margarine, both sugars, egg and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the flour mix little by little. After that, add the pecans and raisins to the mix. Add the oatmeal to the mix 1 CUP AT A TIME. Whisk after adding each cup. Blend until mix looks uniform.
Place teaspoonfuls of mix onto ungreased cookie sheets. Leave enough space in between for cookies to expand. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. After baking, place cookies on a rack to let them cool.

Cookies will still be soft after coming out of the oven, however, they will get harder as they cool.

Palmito Tortilla

One word: PALMITOS!. Hearts of palm are one of my favorite ingredients. They are tasty, not expensive and can be eaten in a million ways. Be it a salad, pizza, a dessert or a tortilla, palmitos will do everytime.

INGREDIENTS-

1 tbsp butter or margarine

1 large can heart of palm

3 eggs

1/2 cup sliced onion

1 tbsp water

1 green pepper sliced

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECT-

Separate the whites from the yolks and whisk the whites hard until stiff peaks form. Add the yolks one by one, then add the salt, pepper and onion. Add the sliced palmito hearts and green pepper to the mix.

Melt the butter in a pan over a low flame. Pour the mix in the pan, cover and let it set up for 3 to 4 minutes. After that, turn the tortilla over and wait until it browns evenly.

Sweet Lime Jell-O

Sweet Lime Jell-O

This recipe was taken from a can of "La Lechera" Sweetened Condensed Milk and ended up in m y mom's cookbook. Hope you enjoy it!

INGREDIENTS-

2 envelopes (7 grs each) unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup hot water

1 can (14 oz.) La Lechera Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 can (12 fl. oz.) evaporated milk

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1 tbsp grated lime peel

La Lechera Sweetened Condensed Milk

berries and lime slices (these are optional, but pouring the remaining sweetened condensed milk and adding mangos instead of berrries is also a GREAT option)

DIRECTIONS-

Mix gelatin and hot water in a small bowl until the gelatin dissolves; set aside.

Grease a 6-cup mold or 9-inch round cake pan

Place sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, lime juice, lime peel and gelatin mix in blender; cover. Blend until smooth (not too many bubbles).

Place mixture in prepared mold; refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When set, dip a knife in warm water and run the knife around the rim; shake gently to loosen up. Dip mold bottom into warm water for 10 seconds. Invert onto serving dish.

Now is when you can add either the berries or the mango or whatever else you might like to add, and drizzle the remaining sweetened condensed milk on top!

Enjoy!

Hot Salsa

Hot salsa in 4 minutes. This salsa is NOT a taco salsa, but rather for tortilla chips or tostadas.

INGREDIENTS
2 large tomatoes

2 large jalapeños (or more if you like spicy food)

1/2 large onion

2 small cloves of garlic

1/2 a bunch of coriander

knorr tomato & coriander bouillon

salt

DIRECTIONS-

Wash the vegetables and coriander. Cut the stem of the jalapeños. Place the jalapeños, tomatoes, onion and garlic cloves in a plastic bag where they fit well enough (grocery plastic bags, such as the ones they have in the vegetable section of the supermarkets will do). Fill 1/3 or a little bit less than half of the plastic bag (ingredients inside) with water. Roll the open-ended part of the plastic bag tightly. Place it in a deep microwavable bowl and put it in the microwave for approximately 3 minutes or until the tomato and jalapeños have been softened.

After that, open the bag with precaution and slowly, taking care not to direct the opening to your face (vapors might irritate and/or burn your face). Empty the ingredients (along with the remaining of the water) in the blender. Add the bouillon to taste (a tablespoon is usually enough) and blend for 3 to 4 minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!

FLAN

INGREDIENTS

1 cup and 1/2 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 14oz sweetened condensed milk
2 13oz cans evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS-

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. You will need 6 ramekins or other specialty flan cook ware and a large baking pan to put them in.

Pour 1 cup sugar in warm pan over medium heat. Constantly stir sugar until is browns and becomes caramel. Quickly pour approximately 2-3 tablespoons of caramel in each ramekin, tilting it to swirl the caramel around the sides. Reheat caramel if it starts to harden.

In a mixer or with a whisk, blend the eggs together. Mix in the milks then slowly mix in the 1/2 cup of sugar, then the vanilla. Blend smooth after each ingredient is added.

Pour custard into caramel lined ramekins. Place ramekins in a large glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water. Bake for 45 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If knife comes out clean, it's ready.

Remove and let cool. Let each ramekin cool in refrigerator for 1 hour. Invert each ramekin onto a small plate, the caramel sauce will flow over the custard.

This particular recipe can be found in about.com in "mexican food", mom´s flan recipe had waaayy too much detail. Still the same concept so, enjoy!!! However, for the chocolate/flan cake I will give you the flan recipe directly from the cookbook just because it goes so much better with it, and well, because IT IS BETTER!

Black Bean Cream

INGREDIENTS-

1 Maggi cream of mushroom soup bag
1 cup black beans (cook and blend for about 4 min)
1 medium-size onion (chopped)
4 1/4 cups of water
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 cup croûtons
3 tbsp bacon pieces

DIRECTIONS-

Simmer all the ingredients, except for the croûtons and bacon pieces, in a pot for approximately 10 minutes. Sprinkle the croûtons and bacon pieces when ready to serve.

Sweet Plantains

Easy dessert, enjoy!

INGREDIENTS-

6 plantains

100 grs sugar
34 fl.oz. orange juice (1 liter)
5 tbsp rum
almonds or pecans

DIRECTIONS-

Peel the bananas (duh!) and place them on a tray.

Dissolve 50 grs of sugar in the orange juice and add the rum, pour the mix on the bananas and sprinkle the remaining 50 grs of sugar.

Bake in oven at 392 degrees for approximately 15 minutes. Sprinkle with the almonds or pecans and serve warm.

Cheese-Stuffed Jalapeños

CHEESE-STUFFED JALAPEÑOZZZZ!

Well, being that I just had some for lunch (and yes, my mom made them) I thought I would share the recipe with you. Slight alterations to the original recipe are in order because I happen to be out of my house and out of the cookbook. However, I assure you that, even though it's not gonna be as good, it's still gonna be good :).

INGREDIENTS-

12 large jalapeños
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
5 tbsp flour
salt
1 block Philadelphia cream cheese (cut up in little rectangles, one for each jalapeño)
cooking oil

DIRECTIONS-

Beat the eggs, add the baking powder, flour and salt.
Cut the stem of the jalapeños, deseed them and stuff them with the cheese.
Cover each pepper with the flour-egg mixture and fry in hot oil until brown. Drain oil by placing jalapeños over a flat surface covered with thick napkins.
Serve warm.

Tah Dah!!!!

Easy Salsa

INGREDIENTS -

1 big red tomato

1/4 cup minced onion

2-3 coriander leaves (chopped)

green pepper (mince and extract the seeds; you can use as much or as you want)

1/2 lime (juice)

salt

DIRECTIONS

Cut the tomato in 2 to 4 pieces and place it in a glass container. Cover with plastic, seal.
Get the recipient in the microwave (high) for about 3 minutes. Uncover, peel the tomato and cut into smaller pieces.
Mix all the ingredients (including the tomato juice in the container) in the blender for about 5 seconds.
Serve warm or lukewarm.

Salmon Dip

As easy as 1-2-3...

INGREDIENTS-

1 can smoked salmon (approximately 2 oz.)

1 8oz Philadelphia cream cheese block

3 tablespoons sour cream

Red onion, mince as much or as little as you like

DIRECTIONS-

Shred the salmon (use a couple of forks), mix the ingredients using a fork, get some saltine crackers or chips and enjoy!