Even though my pound cake is simple, uncomplicated and super yummy, I have my little tricks that makes it unique, delicious, and moist. This is not your frozen Sarah Lee pound cake. Is not that dense, therefore, is easy to eat, smile. Lovely!
 
Category: Dessert
Approx. Prep and Cook Time:    Under 1 hour
Approximate Cost:    $7.88 or .79 cents per serving
Difficulty Level:  Easy
Allergens:  To make it Gluten Free use only RED MILL GLUTEN FREE FLOUR  
Servings: 10 Servings
 
Ingredients for the Cake
1 stick + 4 tbsp. of softened unsalted butter (or ¾ c.) ($1.80)
1 cup white sugar (.50)
3 eggs (lightly beaten) (.48)
1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour (sifted) (.60)
1 tsp baking powder (.15)
½ tsp salt (.15)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract ($1.00)
1 ½ tsp. Amaretto Disaronno ($1.00)
¾ c. evaporated milk (.70)

Ingredients for Godiva Chocolate Simple Syrup
½ c. water (0)
½ c. white sugar (.50)
1 tbsp. Godiva Chocolate liqueur ($1.00)
 
Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Grease a loaf mold or cover with parchment paper so it won’t stick and easy pull when done.
• Sift the flour with the salt and baking powder.
• To start making the cake, cream the butter and sugar until the batter looks a light color.
• Wisk the eggs and add them to the mixer, on a low-speed, small amounts at a time.
• Add the Vanilla Extract and Amaretto.
• Add half the evaporated milk with half of the flour, keeping the mixer on a slow speed. Once combined, add the remaining milk and flour until all is combined. Do not over beat.
• Transfer the cake batter to the greased or paper lined loaf mold, tap in the counter few times to remove any bubbles. 
• Place in the oven for 1 hr. (remember, ovens temperature varies, so check after 1 hr.)
• When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and allow to cool before transferring it to a plate.
• Prepare the syrup by adding water to the sugar in a saucepan and bringing it to a light boil. Continue until it begins to become a bit thick, remove from the heat and drizzle the Godiva simple syrup all over the cake until it absorbs it all., however, in small amounts at a time.

 
Finally, you can eat my pound cake as is with a cup of coffee or tea, or you can serve it as dessert with the ice cream of your choice, or you can sprinkle powder sugar all over or finally, you could prepare a powder sugar vanilla glaze and drizzle it all over. Delish!
 
 

I grew up eating this dish basically weekly. It was always served with white rice and pink stewed beans. As I grew older, I graduated to more healthy ingredients, hence, I use other types of rice, like today, I used ancient rice from Trader Joe’s and Organic broth for this post.
 
Category:  Entrée  
Approx. Prep and Cook Time:  1 hour
Approximate Cost:    $10.72 or $2.68 per serving
Difficulty Level:  Intermediate
Allergens, Other:  Gluten Free  
Servings: 4
 
Ingredients
1 lb. beef for stew meat cut in 1” pieces ($4.97/lb.)
½ cup of Angie’s Basting oil (see my link below) to season & sear the meat and add to rice ($1.55)
1 ½ tbsp. Adobo con Sazon (.30)
2 cups of organic beef broth ($1.25)
3 tbsp. tomato sauce (.20)
5 cloves garlic, minced (.25)
1-onion (.40)
1 handful of Cilantro leaves and stems, chopped (.35)
1 ½ c. of ancient rice (1.20)
Sazón (.25)
 
Directions
Season the beef with ¼ c. basting oil and Adobo seasoning. Set aside.
In a cooking pot over medium high, brown the beef.
Add the chopped onion to the meat pot and cook until transparent and light golden.
Add minced garlic, stir.
Add beef broth, tomato sauce and chopped cilantro, reduce the heat to med low, cover and cook for about 35 to 40 minutes or until the meat is soft and tender.
Meantime, to cook the ancient rice, add about 1 tbsp. of my basting oil to a pot, add the rice and stir until is all covered.
Add 3 c. of water,  one Sazon envelope and ½ tbsp. Adobo con Sazon. (if you need saltier rice, add salt to taste)
Bring it to a boil and wait until the water is absorbed a lot. Once that happens, bring the heat to low, cover and cook until the rice is tender and done.
 
Enjoy!
 
Angie’s Basting Oil:  www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil

When talking about nutritional foods, pigeon peas are right there in the front row. They are loaded with potassium, to regulate high blood pressure, they are packed with protein to help us grow, help muscles and bones, prevent anemia, reduce inflammation and better yet, they taste amazing. Time to make my recipe.
 
Category:  Entrée  
Approx. Prep and Cook Time: 35 Minutes
Approximate Cost:  $9.70 or $4.85 per serving
Difficulty Level:  Easy
Allergens, Other:  Gluten Free    
Servings: 2
 
Ingredients
1 Orange Roughy filet cut in 4 pieces ($3.00)
1 Salmon filet, chopped, seasoned and rolled into 4 small balls ($2.00)
¼ cup Angie’s Basting Oil or EVOO ($1.25)
1 ½ tbsp. Angie’s dry seasoning (.20)
1 large onion, sliced (.40)
3 large elephant garlic (.35)
1/8 cup of Red Wine Vinegar (.25)
1 can (15 oz.) green pigeon peas, drained and rinsed ($1.50)
1 tsp. dried Oregano powder (.15)
2 tbsp. of pitted manzanilla salad olives (drained) (.35)
1 tsp. Peppercorns (.15)
3 Bay leaves (.15)
 
Directions
 

1. Cut the Orange Roughy filet into 4 pieces, season with ½ tbsp. my dry seasoning and 1 tbsp. of my basting oil. Set aside.
2. Chop the salmon filet, add ½ tsp. of my dry seasoning and ½ tsp of my basting oil. Roll into 4 small balls. Set aside.
3. Cut the onion and chop the garlic.
4. Add what’s left of my basting oil (or olive oil) to a skillet, sauté the sliced onion and chopped garlic. Once translucent, add some of my dry seasoning (or Adobo if you wish), oregano, peppercorns, olives, vinegar, pigeon peas and bay leaves.
5. To increase the sauce, you can add more basting oil as needed or ¼ c. of chicken stock.
6. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes in med-low, until the flavors are absorbed by the veggies. Set aside until ready to serve.
7. Finally, sauté both, the salmon balls and orange Roughy pieces until just done, not over cooking them.
8. You can accompany this dish with the rice or pasta of your choice, a salad and don’t forget the avocado! 

Sometimes we don’t have enough time to do a lot of serious cooking, right? Then suddenly it comes to you; I’ll make beef, some rice and avocado. Why not? You got this! It’s a simple, delicious, nutritious and FAST meal (that is not fast food, smile!) Boom!
 
Category: Entrée
Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: Under 30 minutes
Approximate Cost: $18.45 or $9.23 per serving
Allergenic: Gluten Free
Difficulty Level:      X   Easy
Servings: 2
 
Ingredients
2 filet mignon med size (@$7. ea.= ($14.00)
1 c. Basmati Medley Rice ($1.00)
2 c. unsalted beef broth ($1.25)
2 tsp. Sazon all-in-One (.30)
2 tbsp. Angie’s basting oil (.65)
1 avocado ($1.25)
 
Directions
Season the filet with 1 tbsp. of Angie’s basting oil and 1 tsp. of Sazon all-in-One (or to-taste). Refrigerate.
 
Add the beef broth, 1 tbsp. of Angie’s basting oil and 1 tsp. of Sazon all-in-One to a saucepan. Bring to a boil, add the Basmati Medley Rice, bring to a second boil.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
 
Meantime, slice the avocado and 5 minutes before the rice is done, and on a skillet over med-high, sear the filet on their own basting oil until brown on both sides but cooked medium well inside. It will take just few minutes depending on the thickness of the filet.
Now you are ready to plate your scrumptious dinner.
 
Enjoy!

​As I indicated yesterday, (Sept. 17, 2019 Post) I am using the same recipe; however, I will be making sliders as HORS D’OEUVRES for a nice party.  They are easy to grab finger foods, you just pick one and keep walking or having a conversation without having to juggle a plates in your hands. Since they are made with tiny King Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, you can leave them whole or slice them in 2 and stab them with a nice color sandwich toothpick.
 
Category:  Entrée (since they are med. size dinner rolls)
Approx. Prep and Cook Time:   20 Minutes
Approximate Cost:  $19.74 (or .82 per slider)
Difficulty Level:  Easy
Allergens, Other:  contains wheat and nuts,   
Servings: 24
 
Ingredients
1 whole rotisserie chicken, skinned, bones removed and shredded) ($5.99)
1 c. of Basil Pesto ($5.00)
¾ c. Tzatziki sauce to spread on the sliders ($2.00)
Hot sauce to taste (.25)
¼ c. olive oil ($1.25)
1 pk. 24 sweet dinner rolls ($5.25)
 
Directions
Remove the skin of the chicken, cut in pieces and remove all the bones and cartilages.
Shred the whole chicken (and keep the bones to make chicken stock.)
Add the pesto, olive oil and hot sauce to taste. Mix well.
Slice the sliders, spread Tzatziki sauce on both sides, scoop a generous amount of the shredded chicken, cover with the other slide side and get ready to enjoy!

Who doesn’t love potlucks, picnics or chicken? Well, how about if you combine the chicken with Pesto sauce and Tzatziki and make sliders? Is a great combination for a few simple reasons:

First, in a hot summer you do not want to roast a chicken for hours? Is best to keep the home cool.

Second, why Pesto and Tzatziki? Simply because picnics and potlucks are usually outdoors and you do not want to use mayonnaise and leave the dish without refrigeration for long periods of time.

​And sliders? Yep, easy to grab finger foods, smile.
 
Category:  Entrée  (since they are med. size dinner rolls)
Approx. Prep and Cook Time:   20 Minutes
Approximate Cost:    $18.48 (or $1.54 per slider)
Difficulty Level:  Easy
Allergens, Other:  contain wheat and nuts   
Servings: 12
 
Ingredients
1 whole rotisserie chicken, skinned, bones removed and shredded) ($5.99)
1 c. of Basil Pesto ($5.00)
¾ c. Tzatziki sauce to spread on the sliders ($2.00)
Hot sauce to taste (.25)
¼ c. olive oil ($1.25)
1 doz. slider or dinner rolls ($3.99)
 
Directions
Remove the skin of the chicken, cut in pieces and remove all the bones and cartilages.
Shred the whole chicken (and keep the bones to make chicken stock.)
Add the pesto, olive oil and hot sauce to taste. Mix well.
Slice the sliders, spread Tzatziki sauce on both sides, scoop a generous amount of the shredded chicken, cover with the other slide side and get ready to enjoy!

TOMORROW's POST, THE SAME SLIDERS RECIPE BUT SERVED AS HORS D’OEUVRES.

​A rare combination indeed! Yautia is a root veggie used mostly in Caribbean meals. You can make it in many ways, just like you would make potatoes; boiled, mashed, stuffed, like a shepherd’s pie and in many other forms. The difference is that Yautia is off the hook! Smile.
 
Category:  Entrée  
Approx. Prep and Cook Time:  30 Minutes
Approximate Cost:    $9.85 or $4.96 per serving
Difficulty Level:  Easy
Allergens, Other:  Gluten Free    
Servings: 2
 
Ingredients
2 Orange Roughy filets ($4.50)
1 ½ tbsp. Angie’s Basting Oil (.70)
1 ½ tsp. Roasted garlic and herbs (.45)
1 med size head of broccoli ($1.65)
1 large Yautia (.95)
2 med size organic beets, cubed ($1.20)
1 Avocado 1 handful of Basil leaves and 1 lime (Optional) (.40)
 
Directions
Season the fish with ½ tbsp. basting oil and ½ tbsp. of seasonings. Refrigerate.
Peel, cut in cubes and cook Yautia in salted water until tender, however, not mushy. (Similar to boiling potatoes.)

Blanch the broccoli in the Yautia water until it turns bright green, remove and set aside.
Sauté in ½ tbsp. of basting oil the fish in medium for about 5 minutes or until the fish turns white. Do not over cooked it.

Cube the beets, drain the Yautia, and add ½ tbsp. basting Oil, ½ tsp. or less of dried seasonings and serve with a slice of lime, and avocado if you like, (optional) or better yet, drip some of the oil where you cook the fish over the cubed Yautia, mind blowing!
​
Done!

Yes, I hear you, is easier to go to the grocery store and purchase the salmon cakes. However, there aren’t that many places that makes salmon cakes to go. So, is easier and taste much better when you control the ingredients that go into making them. Is a little more work but is so worth it.
 
Category:  Entrée 
Approx. Prep and Cook Time:  40 minutes
Approximate Cost:    $16.27 or $8.14 per serving
Difficulty Level:  Easy
Allergens, Other:  Gluten Free (FOR GLUTEN FREE USE LANCE GF ORIGINAL CRACKERS)*
Servings: 2 (2 salmon cakes per serving)
 
Ingredients
1 1/2 Salmon steaks cut in small bite size pieces ($3.76)
2 ½ tbsp. Angie’s basting oil (to marinate the cakes, for cooking them and for the sweet potatoes) (.65)
1 ½ tsp. Angie’s dry seasoning (.30)
8 small Keebler crackers* crumbled, about ½ cup   (.30)
1 tbsp. Dry onion flakes (.30)
1 egg (.20)
1 lemon (for juice and for garnish) (.35)
½ lb. asparagus ($1.75)
2 sweet potatoes ($1.15)
1 avocado ($1.25)
1 tbsp. olive oil to cook the cakes (.50)
2 tbsp. Tzatziki (instead of mayonnaise to dip the cakes) (.25)

Directions
Clean the salmon filet and cut them in very small cubes. (I discard the skin)
Season the salmon with 1 tbsp. Angie’s basting oil, 1 tsp. Angie’s dry seasoning. Set aside.

In a bowl add the following ingredients: 1/2 cup of crumbled crackers, 1 beaten egg, the juice of ½ a lemon, the dry onion flakes and finally, the already seasoned salmon cubes. Mix all well and put in the freezer for 5 minutes.
 
Peel and cut sweet potatoes in cubes. Cook until tender, drain and mash and add ½ tsp. of my basting oil.
 
Clean cut a couple of inches from the bottom and steam the asparagus until bright green but still firm. About 5 minutes.

After the 5 minutes are over, take the salmon mix from the freezer and mix well again.

To obtain even sizes, scoop each salmon cake with an ice cream scoop and shape it with your wet hands.

Add 1 tbsp. of my basting oil to a skillet in med. high and cook your cakes until golden brown.
 
You are now ready to plate. Add a small salad and Tzatziki to dip the cakes if you wish. Done!