Amazing Seafood

Wow! Ok. This is heaven in one bowl! 

Delicious!! I love it!

A group of new friends and I went to dinner at Fleet Landing downtown. They are from Wisconsin and Indiana so they were looking for some good seafood.  

My plate: crab cakes with garlic mashed potatoes and some kind of beans. Not bad.

This is the cod in some sauce with crab and lobster. And mashed potatoes.

The shrimp and grits! Wow!

We had a good time. The boys enjoyed every bite! The appetizers were good, the overfilled hush puppies with crab and shrimp! Ridiculously awesome and peel and eat shrimp! 

Mangoes On the Go

Ahhh! Mangoes! If you have a favorite fruit, you know what is like to crave and want that fruit, especially if is not common to certain parts... Or maybe I am just addicted and you have no idea what I am talking about! 

A mangoe to me is like an IV, a dose of adrenaline and comfort at the same time! 

How to eat it? Multiple ways:

I slice it, eat it with some lime juice, salt and or add a little hot sauce to give it a spike.... Or if fully ripened then eat as is, it is sweet already.

I grew up with mangoes in "our backyard" more like in our country areas. So for us, it was climbing a tree for it rather than going to a grocery store. Eating them up in the branches or taking them to the river... Of course, we always had a knife of some sort and a little salt on the side! If you eat them before the seed grow big and hard, then they are a bit tangy and sour...uhmmm, my mouth waters just thinking about them! However, note that if you do cut them small, dran the "milk" off them as soon as you cut them, and don't just bite right theough them, the seed is in there! Its solf, if you do bite into it, note you will never do it again, its quite bitter! Explore some and learn the fruit, its so delicious!! I used to make a type of "frozen" icycle with cut up mango and marañones (cashew fruit), mixed together, the sweet and sour tangy taste is like an explotion of flavours in your mouth!!! Your taste buds might faint though!

There are different types of mangoes, MANGO, some are small and "hairy" and no, not hairy on the outside it is more of a way to describe the pulp. Then you have others that are larger and smaller.

My mom used to prepare the mangoes in syrup (from sugar cane... That grew close by...)... Best thing in the world!! I will have to make them and upload a pic later.

How do you eat your fruits??

Do share :)

Patacones - A Panamanian Delight

So back in July I traveled to Panama with a great team from work.

We ate a lot different foods, the Sancocho was ok, my taste buds were not fond of the rare vegetable. 

There was one dish we had as appetizer that I took upon myself to recreate and perfect: 

Theirs: Patacones with chicken, had a layer of refried beans on the deep fried plantain, then the chicken, lettuce, and cheese topped with a red onion.

See plate below:

The patacones were good! Hence why I choose to recreate that dish.

Below is my first attempt:

What is different?

I added: I switched the chicken to be tastier, used the recipe of the Salvadoran Chicken Sandwhich for the chicken, then I chose cabbage over lettuce to make it crispier...also added pico de gallo (avocado, lime juice, cilantro, tomatoes, red onion)

I also served with a side of rice. It was a hit!

Here is a second dish: same way as the first one, without the beans. Now, I prefer with beans as it gives it a contrast in flavour! 

And served with a bit more of yellow rice and avocado in the side.

You cannot go wrong with this. Choose other ingredients as you see fit and also make sure the Patacon or Toston will hold that much. I would add radish, and even a bit of beets to contradict the flavors as to have an explosion of tastiness!

Bon apetito!

Lazy dinners

When you are pressed for time and lots of things to do, often you just grab something, toss it together and call it dinner.

Or simply call take out. Which to me its not much of an option, not only because i am trying to eliminate useless costs and or indulge in better dinners than your average junk food... 

It really makes a big difference in your "diet" if you eat home made foods versus eating out. I do not consider my cooking extremely healthy, but its healthier than eating anything out there... We do not diet as we eat mostly fresh foods and moderately. I believe people get chuncky because they eat unhealthy meals and too often they eat out.

For me, I take advantage of my ability to follow the recipes and also get creative with ingredients. I do believe that while I take the time to prepare meals, I eat less than if I sat down and waited for it to be served and consume the fatty calories.

Often times I do eat larger portions and depends on what I am making or have made.

So I will leave you with this thought, dieting is different for everyone. 

I made some fried shrimp (caught fresh and cleaned at home) with garlic and fresh onions:

Served on a bed of rice (lots of starches, but every so often, eaten moderately, its ok):

Maria's Untraditional Chili

Ok. For all Chili lovers, I have tweaked the recipe for chili! From scratch, here's my colorful delightful chili!

I love to differentiate from others and be wild with colors and combinations. So give it a try, add your ingredient and make it your own! 

Ingredients:
1 ½ lb ground beef
1 yellow onion (diced)
1 green bell pepper (diced)
4 garlic gloves (minced)
1 can black beans
1 can chili beans
1 can green beans
½ bottle of salsa (medium - the taco salsa)
1 teaspoon Chili powder
3 table spoons of Mole - can be found on the Latin Isles of your grocery store (regular Mole) - Not necessary but gives it a great taste
1 table spoon of taco powder seasoning
1 can diced tomatoes
2 table spoons of Tabasco or Texas Pete hot sauce (depending on your desire and taste for spicy food)
1 jalapeño - cut up without the seeds (if you add the seeds, it will be too spicy).

Most chili recipes call for you to drain the beans, I do not.  It adds more flavor to your chili

Preparation:

-          Cook the ground beef well, try not to leave large lumps

-          Add Onions, garlic, and green bell pepper as you are cooking the meat
In a Crock-pot, place the cooked meat, turn to high and add all other ingredients

Season with a ½ taeaspoon of garlic salt or sprinkle it on top, add about 1 table spoon of beef bouillon, mix well
You can add the "food coloring" the Sazon - Azafran with annatto (achiote).  Also found in the Latin grocery aisles.  Taste it as it is cooking to see if you need to add salt.

Leave on crock pot for about an hour on high heat, stir occasionally.

You can eat with crackers or chips or get creative with it.

I add green beans to make it more colorful, plus if gives it a good texture

Maria's sensational mixture: Bread pudding

Alright, any cooks out there? Bakers? 

First off, I am no baker. I can put a meal together and call it that, but when it comes to baking, I refrain from the yeast, baking powder, and flour. 

Nope. That's for the bakers! 

However, while visiting Orlando on a business trip, at the Rosen Centre Hotel I had the opportunity to try a bread pudding and loved it! So I had that in my head that I need to duplicate that recipe. 

Yesterday I browsed some sites, came across Paula Deen's heart-attack on a spoon bite, then came across the traditinal Betty crocker.

I loved the ingredients and concept from both. However, neither one convinced me to the fullest. 

So, I violated all fine lines and did the untraditional method of following a recipe. Instead, I combined both and recreated my own version. 

Paula Deen's called for 25+ hours of waiting to taste my new discovery of sweets, so I opted for the Betty Crocker prep time(and less sugar). 

Ingredients to follow later:

Here is what I came up with:

Using Sarah lee's cinnamon swirl bread, a handful of pecans, I used a food processor to reduce the size of the bread cubes (making the mixture fine).

And voila! Forgot I did have brandy or burbon for the sauce, regardless, this was a masterpiece!!

What has been your most adventurous tests? See, from above, am not that bad of a chef! Lol. Enjoy!!!

Empanadas de Platano

Empanadas de Platano

When I was a kid, this was one of my favorite types of deserts.  I would sit nearby and observe as my grandma or mom diligently boiled the plantains, pealed them, and prepared the sweet filling.  I loved to inhale the dreamy smell of cinnamon and plantains frying.

I would lied if I said that I tried helping.  There were certain things I helped with while with others, I made the perfect audience.

This is mostly a pastry, a delicacy eaten in El Salvador.  If you were to google Empanadas, you would get a vast array of types of empanadas varying from chicken filling, to ground beef, to pastry empanadas.

These being the most famous empanadas covered in sugar are super tasty when warm.  Since most items that are fried tend to retain some of the oil, its never the same when you have them warm than when they have sat for a few hours.

It is plantain with filling, covered in sugar

What do you need:

6 ripened plantains
cut and boiled (cooked) until they seem swollen and tender.

1/3 cup of maizena vanilla (you can find in the Latino section of your local supermarket)
about 2 1/5 cups of milk
Sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon


PREPARATIONS:
in a large bowl, peel the plantains after they have cooled down some
use a fork or available tool to smash the plantains (to make a dough)
IF you notice they seems too watery, add about 1/3 cup of all purpose flour...add slowly, sometimes you might not need all it.

The dough should be finely rolled, you have to be able to make a "tortilla" circle to insert the filling.

FILLING PREPARATIONS
In a medium pan, put the milk on low heat, mix the maizena with some milk and the sugar (normally this depends on how much sugar you can consume.  No too sweet otherwise it will be too repugnant).
add the cinnamon to taste.  Some people are not fond of cinnamon or have allergies, so you can replace based on your family's needs.

Remember to constantly stir the filling otherwise it will be very uneven and create small balls everywhere.

Allow the filling to cool a little bit.  Fill in the dough and shape them. Use a little bit of warm water to seal the edges.  Use a medium sauce pan and place enough oil so they are covered.  Keep oil at a medium temperature, if they get golden too quickly, reduce the heat a little bit.

Serve rolled in sugar or plain. Your creativity.

The below is a simple image, but you can get creative! Throw cinnamon sprinkle or powder sugar.

Bonne appétit!