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Baked Cauliflower Macaroni and Cheese: Is there any pay-off in pandering to a kid?

This was not at all a sneak attack. This was a straightforward “Hey little dude, do you think you would like cauliflower if I made this recipe?”

Oh, yes, yes, I would eat it up, it looks delicious, definitely make it Mommy, make it right away, blah, blah, blah.

Baking bacon!

So there is no reason why, after troubling myself to get all the ingredients and getting my unwilling, intermittently vegan dad into the process, and committing myself to joining my son in eating a stodgy, creamy, cheesy, bacon-y mess of a fantastic casserole that in no way advances my desire to look good in a bathing suit by summer…there is absolutely no reason why said five-year-old little dude should be allowed to not eat the damn cauliflower, whether he likes it or not.

Mustard seed and rosemary, crushed

But of course, you know what happened. Continue reading →

Tags: baked pasta, buffet ideas, cauliflower macs and cheese, cooking, food, Jamie Oliver, kid friendly vegetable recipes, macaroni & cheese, macaroni and cheese, potluck ideas, recipes

Comments 10 Comments
Categories baking, Entertaining, Food, Italian, lunch, Pasta, Recipes

Moroccan Spice Rub: We were sniffing it like glue

28 Feb

Adriana and I love to cook together, but this time she gets sole credit for this intoxicating Moroccan Spice Rub and the juicy roast she marinaded it with.

Pork Roast with Moroccan Spice Rub

From the moment she waved the deep brick brown paste under my nose when Leandro and I arrived at her home for a sleepover, I was hooked and dabbing the sides of my mouth. And not because it looked a lot like hashish, because of course I do not know what a hunk of hashish looks like, do I? Continue reading →

Tags: cooking, food, mashed cauliflower, Morocccan Spice Rub for meat, pork roast ideas, recipes, spice rubs for roasting

Comments 19 Comments
Categories Entertaining, Food, meat, Recipes

Nine Super Bowl Tapas and Snacks (Easy and More Elegant than the Average Tailgate)

30 Jan

Chorizo on toast

If you are getting ready for a Super Bowl party, I’ve got some styling, kickin’ tapas ideas for you! Just click on the picture for the recipe…they are all pretty easy (with the exception of the tortillas, which require a bit of derring-do, but are well worth it). They are also portable! Have a great Game Day…I’ll be back with more ideas soon!

¡Ole! ¡Fantástico!

Mussels vinaigrette (make em the night before)

Tortilla Torcal

Continue reading →

Tags: cooking, easy tapas, food, party foods, recipes, Super Bowl buffet ideas, tailgate tapas, what to bring to a Super Bowl party

Comments 14 Comments
Categories Entertaining, Food, Party Snacks, Recipes, Seafood, Side Dishes, Spanish, Super Bowl, Tapas

Rum-Tinis: Two Unusual Takes on the Classic Cocktail

27 Jan

I am a wine drinker rather than a cocktail imbiber…whether it is that I am too lazy to be mucking about with mixers and garnishes (have I told you how fond I am of screwtops?) or too wise after years of silliness to mess with the high alcohol content of hard liquor is a matter you can decide for yourself.

Rum-Tini – the Caribbean martini alternative

But the cold weather somehow put me in the mood for a proper cocktail and I had brought some good white rum at the Duty-Free on my way home from Puerto Rico. I did come across some unusual cocktails and drinks (Click here for an article that includes an unbelievable cocktail called Toblerone – yeah, as in the chocolate. O.M.G. I will be experimenting with that on another occasion!), in my search but decided for this time to play with the flavors I already had at home and get some Kahlua in anticipation of another cocktail session. Continue reading →

Tags: adult beverages, cocktails, cranberry martini, martinis with rum, party drinks, pear martini, recipes, rum drinks, unusual cocktails and drinks

Comments 14 Comments
Categories Cocktails, Entertaining, Party Snacks, Recipes, Vegetarian

Basic Baked Meatballs: Simple, Adaptable, Freezeable

26 Jan

Great Super Bowl party buffet idea!

The other day I posted my recipe for fancy-cheesy meatballs. Here now, as promised, the basic meatballs that I did just in case we had a child who wanted something more simple (we did not). Baked and basic, you can add any seasonings or sauces to them to make them suit your mood. (Try Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce)

(You can also try my albóndigas variation which is pretty easy and includes Old Bay, or Pedro’s pan-fried albóndigas, or Ham & Cheese meatballs in the oven. I do like my meatballs!)

I now have a bunch of basics in the freezer, and will very likely pull them out for Super Bowl…and serve them with toothpicks. If I can find the right passionfruit juice, I will soon post a passionfruit sauce recipe that my friend Mayra used to do in PR. I just found the recipe among some old papers and I am eager to try it.

Otherwise, any BBQ-type thick dipping sauce will do!

Basic Baked Meatballs

Basic Baked Meatballs

1 egg

1 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 tsp dry)

1 Tbs grated onion

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp Adobo powder

1 grating black pepper

1 lb. ground beef (can include ¼ lb. ground pork)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix all ingredients except meat until combined. Add meat in chunks. Mix lightly until well combined and roll into 1.5” balls. Place on a foil-covered rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into one reaches 160°F. Serve as cocktail meatballs with your favorite sauce, add to pasta sauce, or make into sandwiches. They will adapt to just about any flavor palette.

Tags: baked meatballs, basic meatball, cooking, food, Goya Adobo, kid-friendly meatballs, party buffet ideas, recipe, Super Bowl party recipes

Comments 3 Comments
Categories baking, Entertaining, Food, meat, Party Snacks, Recipes, Super Bowl, Tapas

Meatballs for Good Friends (and a full freezer) Part 1 (with cheese)

23 Jan

(Three hundredth post!!!!)

Cooking a nice meal for both parents and kids does not have to involve making two separate dinners.Well, not exactly, anyway.

I confess to getting cold feet halfway through my prep and making myself a safety net, so let’s say this time I made one-and-a-half meals, but in the process, I really stocked the freezer for the new semester.

The juicy, savory, binding

I made some “fancy” meatballs and some basic ones (that recipe later in the week) for a Single Mothers By Choice-three-family dinner here at home last weekend…pasta, meatballs and red sauce…can you really go wrong? My friend, Pam, brought the salad fixings, and Kim brought a sinful dessert (which one pretends is for the kids, but is really just as much for the growns) and everything went swimmingly! And everyone liked both fancy and plain.

On their way to the oven

Continue reading →

Tags: baked meatballs, cheesy meatballs, cooking, family-friendly recipes, food, ground meat ideas, kid-friendly meals, meatballs for freezing, recipes

Comments 7 Comments
Categories baking, Entertaining, Food, Italian, meat, Party Snacks, Pasta, Recipes, Super Bowl, Tapas

The pictures are awful, but these oven-roasted mushrooms are amazing!

20 Jan

If I had known how good these mushrooms in garlic were going to turn out, I would have been more careful about the pictures!

Mushy focus!

This is a wonderful variation on the classic stove-top champiñones al ajillo or mushrooms in garlic sauce, that is a staple of Spanish tapas places and that I have posted before (with butter or with olive oil)My friend, Marianne and I made them as sort of an afterthought as we were packing the oven with roasted vegetables for our New Year of Eating Right. Why not throw these in too, since we have some space?

Genius.

Get the crusty bread ready, because you are going to want to mop up every bit of sauce.

Blurry photo, clearly delicious

Oven-roasted mushrooms in garlic (Champiñones al ajillo, al horno)

10 oz. button or baby bella mushrooms

2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbs chopped parsley, optional

Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400°F. Wipe mushrooms clean. Trim off woody stem bits and cut into ¼” slices. Mix mushrooms, garlic , and oil in an ovenproof dish and roast, turning once, for about 30 minutes or until mushrooms are shiny, opaque and dark brown. Sprinkle parsley over, salt to taste and serve with toothpicks as a tapas dish or mix with warm pasta for a light primo piatto (first dish/appetizer).

Tags: Champiñones al ajillo, cooking, food, Mushrooms in Garlic Sauce, recipes, roasting mushrooms, roasting vegetables

Comments 4 Comments
Categories baking, Entertaining, Food, Party Snacks, Recipes, Side Dishes, Spanish, Tapas, Vegan, Vegetarian

Perníl al horno (Puerto Rican oven-roasted pork)

6 Jan

There is no better time to be at the top of the food chain than during Christmas in Puerto Rico.

Perníl made with pork loin (I think; the dad threw away the label before I could get the info!) proves that the recipe can enhance any pork roast

I know many of my readers (and friends) are vegetarian, vegan even, and I respect your choices — except of course my dad’s crazy ass diet because it is so crazy. I prefer a mostly plant-based diet myself, and will go as far as to make accommodations at my table for you, but at Navidades, this girl embraces her carnivorous side and all protests to the contrary will be regarded with impatience and disdain, if regarded at all.

The imposter was actually pretty good!

Perníl is in my D.N.A., and that, mi amor, is that. Continue reading →

Tags: adobo para cerdo, Christmas in Puerto Rico, comida criolla, cooking, food, Latin style, perníl al horno, pernil, pork recipes, Puerto Rican roast pork, recipes

Comments 18 Comments
Categories Comida Criolla, Entertaining, Food, meat, Picnic, Puerto Rican, Recipes, Spanish, Thanksgiving

Grilled Cornish Game Hens: Three Marinades for a Crowd or for One

26 Dec

Ah the illusions of youth!

Rock Cornish Game Hens were such a fancy thing to eat when I was little. They were so cute and golden when they came out of the oven; a half a bird each for me and my brother, and one each for our parents, basted in a peach sauce that was lovely and sweet. (Keep reading for Puerto Rican, Greek and Mesquite marinades!)

These little birds, almost invariably sold frozen into hand-held cannonballs, seemed to me to be an exotic species (don’t laugh, those of you from Cornwall) and having been an eager reader of all things Annie Oakley and Laura Ingalls Wilder, and other tough girl survivor books in the days before Katniss Everdeen and I imagined that these little birds were hunted by young folks with charming accents, roaming the plains of Cornwall (do you even have plains in Cornwall?) in home-made clothes, with rifles or intriguing traps or somesuch.

Itty bitty

Continue reading →

Tags: alternatives to roast turkey, chicken recipes for one person, comida criolla, cooking, food, Greek yogurt marinade for chicken, grilled chicken recipes, holiday meal ideas, How do I cook Cornish Game Hens?, Puerto Rican, recipes, Rock Cornish Game Hens, Southwest Marinade

Comments 17 Comments
Categories baking, BBQ, Chicken, Comida Criolla, Entertaining, Food, Grilling, lunch, Puerto Rican, Recipes

Classic Tapas: Champiñones al ajillo (Mushrooms in Garlic)

22 Dec

I have such good memories of Old Madrid, fragmented yellow afternoon light poking into the bar from the narrow street outside; standing at a stainless steel bar focused on stabbing mushrooms with a toothpick as they swam in garlicky sauce in a red clay cazuela, the peasant poetry of light red wine poured into a homely, stemless glass with a thick bottom, crusty rounds of bread crumbling under your elbows. Nothing better to do than spend the summer evening exploring more windy streets and more interesting little appetizers.

Whether you’re preparing a cozy tête à tête with something light to nibble on, looking for a simple vegetable dish to round out your appetizers or accompany a meat, seeking something to serve with the aperitif at your next cocktail party, or just want something a bit more befitting your station than Cheese Doodles to nosh on while you watch T.V. with a glass of something, look to Spain, and specifically to the iconic tapas: Champiñones al ajillo or mushrooms in garlic sauce, Spanish-style. Continue reading →

Tags: cetas al ajillo, champiñones al ajillo; tapas, cocktail mushrooms, cooking, easy buffet recipes, easy party snacks, food, jewelry party food, mushrooms, recipes, Spanish appetizers

Comments 6 Comments
Categories Entertaining, Food, Party Snacks, Recipes, sauce, Side Dishes, Spanish, Tapas, Vegetarian

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