 As I promised Monday, here is my refreshing salad using simple fresh, raw and vegetarian ingredients. My son would have loved this, smile!!! Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 20 Minutes Approximate Cost: $2.50 or $1.25 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 2 Ingredients 1 c. red shredded cabbage (.25) ½ large mango, cubed (.80) ½ large carrot, diced (.40) ½ large zucchini, cubed (.30) 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (.30) 2 ½ tbsp. olive oil (.60) Salt and pepper to taste (.10) Few basil leaves to garnish (.15) Directions Clean and dice the mango, carrot, and zucchini, add to a non-reactive bowl, mix well and refrigerate. Prepare the lemon salad dressing by whisking lemon juice, salt and pepper, set aside. When ready to plate, bring the veggies from the fridge, add the lemon dressing over it and toss to cover well. Enjoy!
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 I paid .75 cents for this red cabbage head, it was under 1 pound. (The pound was listed for sale at $1.29/lb.) I took it home, removed and discarded all the outer leaves, cleaned it with a damp towel, sliced it in half to remove the core and divided it in smaller pieces to add them to my small food processor. I processed the whole thing and ended up with 3 cups of shredded red cabbage for my weekly recipes at .25 cents per cup. I decided that tomorrow I will use about a cup of this shredded cabbage to make my Mango-Zucchini-Carrot-Basil and Red Cabbage salad. Therefore, stay tuned to get my salad recipe tomorrow.  Try my Chicken, Snow Peas, Mushrooms Stir Fry. Done in under 25 minutes! No need to call take out or go out if you have these ingredients at home. In no time, the whole meal will be done, you’ll love it and will still have time left to watch the news! Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 25 minutes Approximate Cost: $7.37 or $3.69 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 2 Ingredients 2 large chicken tenders cut in cubes ($1.42) ½ tsp. Adobo (.15) 1 ½ tbsp. Angie’s Basting Oil (.70) 1 tsp. Soy sauce (.15) 1 onion (.40) 1 handful of snow peas (.55) 2 elephant size garlic (.15) 2 large baby Bella mushrooms (.35) 1 avocado ($1.25) 1 tsp. Red Hot Sauce (.25) 1 bag Quinoa brown rice (2.00) Directions Cut and marinate the chicken tenders with ½ tbsp. Angie’s Basting Oil, a little Adobo and 1 tsp. Soy sauce. Add 1 tbsp. of basting oil to your wok and sauté 1 onion, snow peas, elephant size garlic and large baby Bella mushrooms until golden. Remove from wok and set aside. In the same wok add the chicken tender cubes and cook until light golden. Add the stir fry veggies to the chicken and stir well. Cook the quinoa brown rice (microwave for 90 seconds). Serve the stir fry chicken over the quinoa rice, add soy, hot sauce to taste and avocado.  By now if you read some of my cuisine post you noticed that I cook a lot with pork tenderloin. The reason why is that this cut is basically the filet mignon of the pork, super tender and juicy. In this post, I have combined the tenderloin with my garden produce. Time to harvest herbs, eggplants, and sweet red ajicitos and jalapeño peppers from my garden. It’s been a good year and I can’t complaint. I also had an abundance of tomatoes (3 varieties). When you talk organic, this is it. My veggies garden only get water and my focus before planting is an excellent organic soil mix. It payed off! Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 30 minutes Approximate Cost: $9.10 or $4.55 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 2 Ingredients 1 c. of pork tenderloin, cleaned and cubed ($3.50/tenderloin) ¼ c. Angie’s basting oil (.45) 1 ½ tsp. Angie’s dry seasoning (.30) 1 large Chinese eggplant, sliced in ½ inch pieces (.75) 1 c. broccoli florets in small pieces (.65) 1 small red bell pepper, sliced (.70) 2 “Ajicitos” red peppers (optional) chopped (.15) 1 Jalapeño, sliced (.20) 4 large garlic cloves, chopped (.25) 1 small onion, chopped (.40) ¼ c. soy sauce (.30) 8 Cilantro springs for garnishing (.20) Avocado ($1.25) Directions Season the tenderloin with 1 ½ tsp. of my basting oil and 1 tsp. of my dry seasoning. Set aside. Prepare the eggplant, slice and soak in salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain and pat dry for sautéing later. In a skillet, sauté the tenderloin until a bit golden but not 100% cooked, remove, set aside. In the same skillet, all more basting oil as needed and sauté the eggplant. Half way through, add the broccoli pieces and cook until both are golden brown. Remove and add to the browned tenderloin pieces, set aside. Add more basting oil as needed to the skillet and sauté the other veggies, onion, garlic, peppers until golden. Bring the cooked eggplant, broccoli and tenders to the skillet and mix it all well. To plate, grab a couple of handful of cilantro to garnish 2 plates, slice the avocado and scoop a generous amount of the hash into the plate. Enjoy! My Links: Angie’s Dry Seasonings: http://www.angieslifehacks.com/family-life/oven-roasted-bacon-chicken-and-angies-seasonings Angie’s Basting Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil  I consider Langostinos as lobster cousins. Though they are way smaller, they taste just as good and are less expensive. Cooked right, they are sweet and tender. I found these at COSTCO; however, many gourmet grocery stores carry them as well every now and then. Unfortunately, most of the time they are pre-cooked but at least you can find them if you look for them at your local groceries. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 30 minutes Approximate Cost: $24.75 or $12.38 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 2 Ingredients 1 ¼ lb. of Langostinos ($17.35) 1 tsp. Angie’s Dry Seasoning (.40) 6 cloves of garlic (.35) ½ white onion chopped (.20) ¼ c. my basting extra virgin olive oil ($1.95) ½ c. of white wine ($1.50) 1 tbsp. capers (.30) 1 small sweet pepper (.10) 1 lemon (.45) Green onions (.25) French bread ($1.00) 2 tbsp. my basting oil, ½ tsp. my dry Seasoning ½ tsp of garlic powder (for the toasts) (.60) Basil leaves, scallions to garnish (.30) Directions for the Garlic Langostinos Season Langostinos with 1 tsp. of my dry seasoning and 1 tsp. basting oil. Refrigerate. Chop the onion, garlic and small pepper and sauté in a skillet with what’s left of the ¼ c. basting oil until golden. Add capers, ½ c. of white wine, the juice of a lemon and let it cook until the wine sauce is reduced and thickens a bit, about few minutes. Add the Langostinos, stir well until they are all covered with the sauce and warmed, turn the heat off and remove from stove. Serve immediately with the garlic toasts. Garnish with basil and scallions. Directions for the Toasted Garlic French Bread Slice the French bread lengthwise. Prepare a spread of 2 tbsp. basting oil, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp (or more) of garlic powder. Spread the mixture over the bread and toast in your toaster until golden brown, minutes before serving. My Links; Angie’s Dry Seasonings: http://www.angieslifehacks.com/family-life/oven-roasted-bacon-chicken-and-angies-seasonings Angie’s Basting Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil  Today I am deviating just a bit from the traditional bread pudding that I learned to make when I was a teenager in Puerto Rico. I am using the basic ingredients; however, I added my own twist to it, i.e., Frangelico liqueur, chocolate chips, fresh nutmeg, coconut milk and condensed milk instead of sugar. I also used fresh Artisans Bread instead of stale bread. You can also use brioche or any other sweet bread of your choice. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 1 hour Approximate Cost: $13.65 or $1.71 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 8 to 10 Ingredients A:1 lb. or Artisan sliced bread (2.99) B: Custard 1 can 12 oz. evaporated milk ($1.00) 1 13oz. can of Goya coconut milk ($1.99) 1 14 oz. can condensed milk ($1.99) 3 beaten eggs (.48) 1 tbsp. Frangelico ($1.45) 1 tsp. vanilla extract ($1.50) 1 tsp. almond extract (.30) ½ tsp. cinnamon (.15) ¼ tsp. fresh ground nutmeg (.30) Pinch of salt (0) ½ stick of butter, melted at room temperature (.40) C: The Mixings ¼ c. chocolate chips (.40) ¼ c. dried cranberries (.20) D: The Extras ¾ c. sugar (for the caramel) (.50) FRENCH VANILLA ICE CREAM (Optional) Directions Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees. Cut the bread in small cubes and place inside a med-size bowl. Mix well all the liquid ingredients listed above under B. Add them to the bread and allow the bread to absorb the liquid custard for about 15 minutes. Meantime, prepare the caramel by adding the sugar (listed under D) to a skillet in med-high. You are looking at the sugar melting into an amber color. Be alert, since the caramel could burn in a flash if you leave it alone. Smile. Once melted, add it to your baking pan; I am using a Bundt cake pan at this time. Once it becomes solid, oil spray the sides of the pan to prevent the pudding from sticking. Add the batter to the baking mold, the chips and cranberries. (see my hack below) Place the baking pan inside a larger pan with about 2 cups of water. (Ban Marie) Bake at 350 for about 1 hour. Serve with Ice Cream. HACK: To please everyone, this time I added chocolate chips to one half of the batter in the baking mold and cranberries to the other half, then stir to mix within the side. I also had a bit left of the batter; therefore, I made a baby 6 ½ x 3” bread pudding without chocolate chips or cranberries for anyone who hates both, yeah right.  Even if I am on a time crunch, I always like to prepare my meals to look good. Today, I made this crazy good looking dish and it looks so colorful that I could have fooled any picky eater to love it, smile! Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 35 minutes Approximate Cost: $10.25 or $5.13 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 2 Ingredients 4 large chicken tenders ($3.75) ¼ c. Angie’s basting (.70) 2 tbsp. Angie’s dry seasoning (.35) 1 Fresh corn .30) 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed (.99) 2 Tomatoes (.66) 3 Jalapeno’s (1 seeded and chopped for the salsa) (2 to garnish) (.70) 1 Onion, chopped (.40) 5 Garlic, chopped (.20) ¼ c. cilantro, chopped (.20) 1 large lemon (to use ½ in the salsa and ½ in the black beans) (.45) 4 Corn tortillas (.30) 1 avocado, sliced in 2 halves ($1.25) Directions for the Pico de Gallo (or salsa) Prep. 1 jalapeno pepper, discard the stem, seeds, and chop small for the salsa. Add to a med size bowl the chopped jalapeno, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and cilantro. Season with basting oil, lemon juice and my dry seasoning. Directions for the corn and black beans filling Cook the corn until tender in salted water, remove from the stove and carefully remove the kernels from the husk, add to a bowl. Drain and rinse the beans, add them to the bowl. Wisk together the juice of 1 lemon, basting oil, salt-to-taste and pour over the black beans-corn bowls. Directions for the chicken and Corn tortillas Season the chicken tenders with 1 tbsp. basting oil and 1 tbsp. dry seasoning. (COOK THE TENDERS AND TORTILLAS LAST). In a skillet over med-high, sear the tenders until golden brown. Simultaneously, while the tenders cook, char the corn tortillas on an opened flame. To plate, slice the avocado, place the tortillas on the side, use 4 small containers to serve the black beans-corn filling and the Pico de Gallo. Place the chicken tenders, jalapeno and boom, you are done. My Links: Angie’s Dry Seasonings: http://www.angieslifehacks.com/family-life/oven-roasted-bacon-chicken-and-angies-seasonings Angie’s Basting Oil: www.angieslifehacks.com/cuisine/the-flavor-series-recipe-2-angies-basting-olive-oil  Haddock is a flaky sweet fish that I love to cook. It tastes amazing and cooks in no time on a skillet, vs. the oven. When it is sauté, the golden color is so appetizing that very few people will decline the feast, smile. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: Under 30 minutes Approximate Cost: $10.84 or $5.42 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 2 Ingredients 2 haddock filet ($6.50) 1 tbsp. of Garlic and Herbs Seasoning (.30) 1 tbsp. olive oil (.40) 1 green onion spring, chopped (.20) Plus, the roasted veggies recipe that I posted yesterday. ($1.72 x 2= $3.44) Directions Clean and pat dry the fish. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil, and 1 tbsp. garlic dried seasoning. Refrigerate while you warm up the roosted veggies. In a skillet over medium sauté the haddock in its olive oil marinade for few minutes until golden and flaky; however, not over cooked. Serve with roasted veggies and chopped green onions. Bon Appetite!  This is not the first time that I post my roasted veggies and it will not be the last time either, smile. By roasting a variety of vegetables at one time for the week, I only need to turn the oven to cook one time. Also, I change the type of veggies each time. This week I am only roasting beets, Brussels sprouts and carrots. Is not about being lazy, it’s all about using energy efficiently to coordinate my weekly side dishes. Otherwise, cooking these veggies at 3 different times is a waste of energy. I’ll use them as a side for my Haddock fish tomorrow. Then, I will have 2 more meals where I will use the left of them as stand-alone. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 45 MINUTES TO 1 HOUR Approximate Cost: $6.87 or $1.72 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 4 + Ingredients 1 ½ cups of Brussels sprouts ($1.75) ½ super large carrot (@ $2.89/lb. (.95) 4 large beets ($2.87) ¼ cup Angie’s Basting Oil ($1.30) Directions
**The veggies will cook faster if they are cut in cubes. Adjust the heat of your oven accordingly, all ovens work differently.  If you have been throwing away the bones, cartilages and some of the toasty rotisserie chicken skin, you are missing a lot in adding flavor to your meals. Try my stock. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 30 minutes Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Ingredients are anything else you have saved in your fridge: To add tons of flavor to my stock, I use peppers, any color, onions, garlic, carrots, celery all kinds of herbs, especially rosemary, basil, oregano, cilantro and anything else that you are growing in your garden. There is not a right or wrong ingredient, as long as you love the flavor of what you are adding to the mix. Directions Once you de-bone the chicken for sandwiches or other meals, get a medium size pot and over medium, sauté the bones, cartilages, some of the toasty skin. Then add the peppers, onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Brown these veggies with the chicken parts as well. Carefully, add water to cover it all. Finally, add all the herbs and bring it to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes. You want the flavor concentrate well. Remove from stove, allow time to come down to room temperature, strain and place in containers to freeze until you need to use the stock in your cooking. You will not regret the time and effort in making this awesomeness! |
ABOUT THE AuthorI am a blogger, a photographer, a jewelry designer, a gourmet cook, and a recipe book writer. I am also a flea market flipper, an avid gardener, an interior/ outdoors designer, an avid golfer and traveler. Categories |
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