This is my ENTERTAINMENT FINGER FOODS WEEK for you. Since the holidays are around the corner, I will post simple ideas that you can adopt to feed family and friends coming over, smile. There was a time in Puerto Rico, when all social gatherings were held at everyone’s “Marquesina” or shall we call it now, attractive terraces. Friends would bring all kinds of goodies, (no wine though) and one popular party plate that no one missed to bring was the Pimento or “Mezcla” Tea Sandwiches. Nothing fancy, just simple ingredients spread on white sandwich bread cut in small triangle bites. Well, this is my own recipe. Enjoy. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 10 minutes plus time to make the sandwiches Approximate Cost: $7.48 or .75 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 10 (2 per person - but you will want to eat like 5, smile) Ingredients 1- 7 oz. can of SPAM ($1.99) ½ cup mayo ($1.15) 2 oz. softened cream cheese (.70) ¼ cup fine chopped onion (.15) ¼ tsp. Paprika (.10) ¼ cup roasted red peppers and 2 tbsp. of its water (.40) ¼ cup Cheez Whiz (.75) 1/2 bag white sandwich bread ($1.99) Garnish with parsley and sweet and hot peppers (.25) Directions Add to a food processor the Spam, mayo, chopped onion, roasted peppers Cheez Whiz paprika and process until smooth. To prepare the sandwiches, cut all the bread edges. Spread the Spam mix generously over one slice and cover with another slice. Carefully, cut across to make 4 baby tea sandwiches. Arrange in a nice serving platter and cover with a clean kitchen towel moistened with cold milk to keep these babies soft and moist until you leave for the party. Then, take them to a party or serve them at yours. Enjoy!
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Salmon never goes out of style, I can eat it anytime, anywhere and cooked in any way. This is the kind of fish that not only tastes amazing but that it presents itself in such elegant way. It’s solid and yet tender. If you make it at home, the sky is the limit and I prefer mine pan roasted with that golden brownish color that screams… eat me!!!!! Also, though I prefer to over roast my veggies, today I use the quick boiling water method to cook it faster. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 30 minutes Approximate Cost: $11.58 or $5.79 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 2 Ingredients 2 Salmon steaks (@ $2.25 ea. = $4.50) 1 lb. Sweet potato (.98) 3 rainbow organic carrots (.65) 1 large broccoli head ($2.25) 1 ½ tbsp. Angie’s Basting Oil (.45) (see my link below) ½ tbsp. Angie’s Dried Seasoning (.35) (see my link below) 2 bowls of Kale greens salad mix ($2.00) 1 lemon (.40) Directions
This is my perfect recipe to feed 8 guests at home. Is very fulfilling, easy to cook, looks amazing, very healthy and totally affordable. Plus, cooking pulled pork comes with hidden rewards:
This is a huge meal for 8 people and still the total cost per serving is so affordable. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 7-8 hours (it cooks longer at low temperature) Approximate Cost of the total meal: $31.19 (at $3.90 per serving) Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 8 Ingredients for the pulled pork ($16.50 or $2.06 per serving) 1- 7lb. Bone-in Pork Shoulder Butt Roast (at $1.78 lb. $12.57) 1/2 to 3/4 cups of Angie's Basting Oil (see my link for the recipe below) ($2.00) 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Angie's Dry Seasoning (see the link below) ($1.75) 1 tsp. garlic powder (.18) Directions to cook the pulled pork: Remove as much fat as you can from the pork. Place the clean pork in a foil pan or the pan of your choice. Add the basting oil and the dried seasoning and rub well throughout. Let it rest overnight. Roast at 285 to 300 degrees, covered. The hours will depend on the weight of the cut, about 1 hour/pound. Since after removing the fat I ended up with approx. 6 lb. I cooked my pork for 6 hours. The lower temperature is what does the magic. Once is done, remove from the oven and let it rest at room temperature before serving. Ingredients for the corn ($5.50 (or .69 cents per serving) 8 ears of corn ($2.50) Salt to taste Plus 3 avocados ($3.00) Directions to cook the corn: Fill a large pot with water, add salt to taste and bring it to a boil. Carefully, place the ears into the water and cover. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook until tender, between 10 to 15 minutes. Ingredients for the salad ($9.19 or $1.15 per serving) 4 cups of spinach ($3.00) 3 Roma tomatoes (.99) ½ small red onion (.20) 3 Hot pickled cauliflower florets (or banana peppers) (.45) 6 sliced Olives (.45) ¾ cup Angie’s basting oil (or use good olive oil) ($2.50) ¼ cup Apple cider Vinegar (.15) Salt and pepper to taste ½ cup Feta cheese ($1.45) Directions to make the salad: Build the salad in a large bowl starting with the spinach, top it with tomatoes, sliced onion, cauliflower florets, and olives. Mix the basting oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to taste and whisk until well blended. Pour over the salad to taste and refrigerate any leftover salad dressing. Sprinkle Feta cheese on top. 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 “When Life Give You Lemons, You Make Lemonade.” Yes, this is a short funny story, no recipe though. My grandson was craving chocolate cake and I decided to make him one. I never made a gluten free chocolate cake from scratch before and it was not the time to be creative. Therefore, I search the net for a gluten free chocolate cake recipe and found one. I decided to cut the recipe ingredients in half because the original recipe intended to deliver a huge cake. So, everything was going great until my time to unmold the cake. Yes, it was a total disaster. When you work with gluten free flour, you have a chance to get a crumbled cake; therefore, my worst nightmare happened, the cake came out of the mold in a zillion pieces. Oh dear lord, I was devastated! My daughter tried to make me feel better with ideas and suddenly it happened, we began to make cake balls out of all that crumble. I decided to made a sugar glaze, drizzled it over the balls, added sprinkles and BOOM, this was the result of a “malfunctioned” cake turned into yummy Halloween Ball Mommies! You are in a hurry and exhausted. The kids have either sports practices or games and you are sick and tired of take-out food. Easy, get your chicken tenders, few other ingredients and in no time you will have a delicious and healthy dinner for your family. Approximate Prep and Cooking Time: 25 minutes Approximate Cost: $14.30 or $3.58 per serving Difficulty Level: X Easy ____ Intermediate ____ Advanced Servings: 4 Ingredients 12 Chicken tenders ($6.60) 1 large onion (.40) 6 cloves of garlic (.35 1 corn ear (.30) 3 each. Yukon, red and purple gourmet potatoes ($1.60) 2 cups Chicken stock or broth ($1.25) 2 Avocados ($2.00) ¼ cup (or to taste) of Angie’s Basting Oil (see my link below) ($1.50) 1 tbsp. Angie’s Dried Seasoning (see my link below) (.30) Salt and pepper to taste Directions Clean and season the tenders with ½ tbsp. of my dried seasoning and 1 tbsp. of basting oil. Cook the corn for about 5 to 7 minutes in salted boiling water. Drain, wait until the corn is cool and then cut the kernels off the cob. Set aside. (In this recipe I used roasted potatoes that I cooked the day before. If you don’t want to spend the time doing that, just cook the potatoes with the corn) Chop the onion and garlic, sauté briefly in basting oil, then add the kernels and potatoes to brown. Pan roast the tenders in basting oil in batches until brown. Remove from the pan. Add the chicken stock and any basting oil left to the same pan, to take advantage of the flavorful caramelized juices of the chicken. Stir until the sauce is reduce in half. Add the vegetables and chicken tenders, stir for a minute until all ingredients are mixed well. Slice your avocados and season with fresh salt and pepper. Done you are ready to plate. Enjoy! NEXT WEEK POST WILL BE ABOUT HEALTHY ROASTED VEGGIES AS SIDES! 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 |
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 |