A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes. We want to throw her a baby shower at work, but I don't really know what sorts of foods to make that she'll be able to eat.

Suggestions would be absolutely lovely.

One of my favs breakfast or snakes includes this simple recipe. And because I'm crazy for pina colada! ;)

Tropical Fruit Shake

1/2 mango
2 tbsp. frozen pina coloda mix (or 1/8 tsp. natural coconut extract)
1/2 banana, frozen
4 strawberries, frozen
6 ice cubes
1 1/4 cup milk
1 heaping tbsp. high- quality protein powder (optional)
1 tsp. flax oil (optional)

How to prepare:

In a blender, process all the ingredients until thoroughly mixed and serve. 

Enjoy!
:)
Edited because I wrote water instead milk, Sorry for that...*blushes*

 

 

One of the best recipes from the Middle East, more specifically Lebanon. It's very simple to make and very healthy.

Ingredients:

- Romaine lettuce (chopped)
- Arabic pita bread (toasted and broken into bits)
- Parslane leaves
- tomatoes (chopped)
- cucumbers (chopped)
- onions (chopped)
- sumac (spice that can be found at Middle Eastern stores)
- lemon juice
- olive oil
- white vinegar
- salt
- crushed garlic (must crush with a bit of salt)

How to prepare:

In my opinion if done in this order, it will make the salad even more delicious. Have all the chopped vegatable in a bowl. Add the crushed garlic, salt and sumac. On top of that add the lemon juice, white vinegar, and then olive oil. It's important to add the toasted pita bread bits last, that way it won't get soggy but crunchy. Mix well and voila! Great to have with a side of hummous.

That will be my next recipe :)

Spring officially began this week, and after the comfort food and favorite soup recipes Amy and I decided to ask all of you to share any recipe that's Fresh & Healthy. :)

It can be anything from breakfast to dinner, from snacks to drinks, from appetizers to lunch. Anything. The only requirement is that it's fresh and healthy. If you don't have a recipe, but you can share a tip to make any meal healthier, we welcome those tips as well.

So I'll start by sharing something that we like to have for breakfast.

Cottage Cheese & Fruit

For each person, serve an ice-cream scoop of low-fat (or non-fat) cottage cheese in the middle of a dinner plate. Surround the cheese with easy to eat chunks of your favorite fresh fruit. My favorite combination is strawberries, cantaloupe, and peaches. But you can put as many different kids of fruits as you like. Then drizzle some honey and add sliced almonds on top.

It's yummy, fresh & healthy.

Here's my recipe for Soup Month. It's a recipe I learned from one of my uncles who is seriously a great cook!

Ingredients:

- 4-5 red potatoes (peeled and sliced as if you were making french fries)
- 1 leek (thinly sliced, as much of it as you can slice)
- 2 bacon slices, diced (this is optional, but it really gives the soup a great flavor)
- 2 quarts of chicken broth
- 1 8oz can of tomato sauce (or you can make your own tomato sauce by pureeing in a blender 3 ripe tomatoes, a clove of garlic, and a small chunk of onion)
- salt to taste

How to prepare:

In a soup pot, heat a bit of olive oil and sautee the diced bacon and sliced leek for about 5 minutes. Then add your tomato sauce and a pinch of salt, and let it cook at low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the broth and bring to boil. Then, add the sliced potatoes and let them cook, covered, in medium heat until tender. Taste and add salt if needed. You can serve with grated cheese if you wish.

Pretty easy, don't you think? And it really is delicious.

Hey everyone... First time I post something here but I figured why not... I'll post the recipe in Spanish and English. Sorry for the translation, but I've got it in Spanish so if there are any mistakes blame it on me.

Ingredients - Ingredientes:

Chopped Onions - Cebolla rebanada fina  = 1 1/2 of a cup / taza. (I usually use an onion and a half more or less because I like it.)
Butter - Manteca = 3 tablespoons / cucharadas.
Flour - Harina = 1 tablespoon
Salt - Sal = 1/2 teaspoon / cucharadita.
Milk - Leche or Broth - Caldo = 1/2 liter (which according to my converter means 16.90 Ounces or 2.11 cups) / 1/2 litro.
Pimentón = to your liking - A gusto.
Nutmeg - Nuez Moscada = to your liking - A gusto.
Worcestershire Sause - Salsa Inglesa = to your liking - A gusto.
Grated Cheese - Queso rallado = to your liking - A gusto. - This one is a good choice.
Parsley - Perejil = 1 tablespoon / 1 cucharada

Spanish Version:

1. Dorar la cebolla rebanada fina en la manteca.
2. Agregar y mezclar revolviendo la harina y luego agregar la cucharadita de sal.
3. Después ir agregando gradualmente el medio litro de leche o caldo. (Yo uso leche, nunca lo probé con caldo).
4. Hervir lentamente hasta que las cebollas estén tiernas.
5. Condimentar con sal, pimentón (yo uso el dulce), nuez moscada y salsa inglesa.
6. Espolvorear cada porción con queso rallado (yo salteo esto) y perejil.

English Version:

1. Sear the onions with the butter.
2. Add while stirring the flour and then the salt.
3. After this start adding the milk or broth slowly. (I use milk, haven't tried it with broth).
4. Boil the preparation slowly till the onions are tender.
5. Condiment with salt, Pimentón (Paprika), nutmeg and Worcestershire sause.
6. Sprinkle the grated cheese and the parsley on top of each plate.

Voilá!! Now enjoy! Let me know if you made it and how it came out. ;)

Backstory: Sofo's is an AWESOME ethinic grocery place in Toledo, Ohio - which is the biggest city in the part of the USA that I consider 'home' (not where I am for the time being - where they do weird shit strange things like put cole slaw in their meat sandwiches...)

This recipe is one of many I hold near and dear to my tummy that were published in The Toledo Blade (I have no idea where they got that name from) and, Trust Me, this will knock the socks off of any large gathering of people who appreciate good food. And if you use canned/dry ingredients, it's super easy... just throw in a crock pot and eat a few hours later.

Without further ado, I present:

Liz Sofo's Tortellini Soup (from The Toledo Blade)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
3 to 4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 28-ounce can peeled tomatoes with juice
1 large can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
1 large bunch or package fresh spinach, washed and torn into large pieces (or 1/2 can "canned" spinach)
1 1-pound package fresh or frozen meat or cheese tortellini
(or 1 8-ounce package dried - you'll need to add extra liquid)
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup romano cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook sausage in olive oil and garlic. When cooked through, add stock, tomatoes, and chick peas. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Add spinach and tortellini and cook until tortellini are tender, about 10 minutes for fresh or frozen tortellini, 20 for dried. Add cheese and season with salt and pepper. Serve with fresh Italian Bread.

Happy March to all! Pilar and I thought we'd make March, soup month. Soup is always a good comfort food and there are just so many different kinds. Hot, cold, spicy, sweet. Please give us your best soup recipes.

I thought I'd start you off with my famous Chicken Soup. My nana taught me a little trick and it works so well that Steve's grandma (who was an excellent cook) proclaimed my soup better than hers.

Nana Roz's Chicken Soup

Ingredients

1 whole chicken. I use a kosher pullet but you can use what you like. Pullets and Yearlings work the best as they are fattier and give a better taste to the soup.
1 bag of soup greens- onions, celery, carrots, turnip, parsnip (white carrot)leeks, dill, parsley
Chicken Bullion cubes.
Salt


Directions
1. Rinse chicken thoroughly and discard giblets. (You can put them into the soup if you want to)
2. Put chicken into a large pot (dutch oven or soup pot) and cover with cold water.
3. Put on stove and turn to high.
4. Chop the celery, parsnip and carrots.
5. half the onions and turnip
6. Rinse the dill and parsley
7. Let the water boil and watch when the scummy stuff from the chicken starts to float to the top. After about five minutes, remove from the heat.
8. THIS IS THE TRICK FOR PERFECT SOUP- Dump the water out of the pot, rinse the chicken in cold water and rinse out the pot.
9. Put the chicken back in pot and cover it with fresh cold water. Add all the vegetables and 2-3 bullion cubes.
10. Cook on high until it boils- cover and simmer until the chicken starts to fall off the frame. (about 45 minutes or so)
11. Serve with Matzoh balls or boiled egg noodles. Or you can just serve it as is.

As with most jewish type recipes, it's better on the second or third day so make ahead and put it in the refrigerator and reheat it the next day.

Enjoy, :)

I totally forgot this community was here... this is my *really easy, because it uses prepared ingredients* recipe for manicotti. 

Really Easy Manicotti (serves a lot, maybe 8 - I cut it in half for two and then put the leftovers in gladware containers)

1 large or 2 small containers part-skim ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded or crumbled (small) cheese such as mozzarella, feta, or parmesan, or romano (I use a mixture of these)
1 lb spinach, cooked (steamed or microwaved) chopped, and drained through cheesecloth until dry (stacking about 4 strong paper towels works for this, too)
2 cloves pressed or minced garlic
1 egg
1 tsp dried oregano or 1 tbsp fresh
1 tsp dried basil or 1 tbsp fresh
1 tsp dried parsley or thyme or whatever you like or 1 tbsp fresh
1 tsp fresh ground sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 boxes manicotti noodles (you may not use the whole second box)
2 jars Classico tomato basil sauce
* A pastry bag or a gallon size ziploc bag with the corner cut off
* A 9 x 13 baking pan

Mix ricotta, 1 cup shredded cheese, the spinach, the garlic, the egg, and the herbs and spices in a large bowl.  Fill pastry or ziploc bag with mixture (use a very large tip on the pastry bag).  Fill dry manicotti noodles with the mixture.  Place side by side in the pan.  Use both jars of sauce to completely cover noodles - you don't want any sticking out or they will be dry.  I add about 1/4 cup of water to the jars after emptying them and shake it and add it to the pan too, to increase the liquid a bit.  Make sure your pan won't overflow though - burned tomato sauce smells disgusting.  Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup cheese over the top.  Cover with foil (if you spray the foil with cooking spray, the cheese won't stick).  Now, you can either bake it at 350 for one hour, removing the foil for the last 20 minutes, or put it in the refrigerator and it can sit up to overnight to be baked the next day.  You can also freeze it for up to 3 months and bake from the freezer - just put it in at a lower temp for longer.

This community is a bit slow, so I'd figure I'll kick it a bit.

One of my super-easy ingredients for fast meals is something called persillade.  Despite its fancy name, it's actually just equal amounts of garlic and parsley finely chopped up.  It can be added as part of a marinade, at the beginning of cooking, or at the end.  I've used it for pasta, chicken, and potatoes. 

Persillade

4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 sprigs of parsley, stems removed

Makes about 1/4 cup of persillade

You can either use a garlic press, or use a knife to flatten and then mince the garlic.  If the garlic is too big to flatten easily, cut lengthwise into two chunks and then flatten.  Roll the parsley leaves into a rough cylinder shape, and chop down the length.  Combine the garlic and the parsley, and chop a bit more to get them incorporated.  You can also add some olive oil to the mixture to make it easier to work with by sticking them together. 

It's theoretically possible, although I haven't tried it, that you can keep persillade for a few days in the fridge by adding enough olive oil to cover the mixture well. 

Pasta with Mushroom, Bacon, and Persillade

The other day I went home for lunch.  I raided the fridge and found mushrooms, bacon, and some parmesan cheese.  So I assemble this meal for one.

1 cup of short pasta, such as rotini, penne, or egg noodles
4 to 5 mushrooms, chopped
2 strips of bacon, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
1/8 cup of grated cheese such as Parmagiano, Romano, or Peccorino
olive oil
1/4 cup of persillade

Bring water in a saucepan to a boil.  Add pasta and cook them until slightly chewy but not hard (al dente).  Drain and keep aside.  If you're worried that they will stick together, add a tiny bit of olive oil to keep them separate. 

In a medium non-stick pan, heat a small amount of olive oil on medium heat.  Add the bacon, cook until crispy, and remove.  You can then decide how much of the bacon grease you want to keep.  If you're health conscious, throw most of them away and replace with olive oil.  If you're like me, just leave them.  Heat the pan up to medium high heat.  Add mushrooms, and cook until brown on both sides.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  If you like a bit of heat, add a pinch of crush Italian red pepper. 

Now, turn down the heat to low.  Add the pasta, bacon, and persillade into the pan, and mix well.  Add olive oil to coat the pasta (about 4 Tbsp).  Add grated cheese.  Mix well again.  Server immediately.

Chicken with Persillade

This was last night's dinner.  It was pretty tasty for a quickly thrown-together meal. 

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup persillade
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup of water

Cut each chicken breast lengthwise across the center to make two thinner pieces.  This will help with the cooking time. 

In a 6x6 baking dish, place the chicken pieces.  Add persillade, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and oil.  Mix well together.  Ideally you want this to site for at least 30 minutes to let the marinade penetrate well, but last night I did it after 10 minutes and it was still pretty tasty. 

Heat up a medium non-stick pan on medium high heat.  Add the chicken into the pan, and pour whatever marinade over the chicken.  Because you're using a non-stick pan and the chicken is already coated with oil, you don't have to add oil to the pan.  Cook each side until brown, about 5 minutes on each side. 

At this point the chicken is still slightly raw on the inside, so we're going to braise the chicken.  Add 1/3 cup of water to the pan.  Cook until the liquid is boiling, then turn down the heat to medium, and cover with a lid.  After about 5 minutes the chicken should be cooked.  Just to be safe, cook one up and see if it's cooked. 

This is good with mash potatoes and sauteed asparagus.

Hey everyone-

I have started a new crazy schedule which requires me to be more prepared than I usually am. One of these preparedness measures is that I am making dinner for a week ahead of time. So I need good slow cooker or other recipes that are delicious and will last for about five meals or are great for the freezer.

Thanks!

I think I remember seeing a request for good brownies recipes awhile ago. Sorry it's taken me so long. I only remembered the request at work when I didn't have my recipe with me! This brownie recipe is fantastic. If you like them soft, bake them in a big pan. If you like the crunchy edges, like I do, bake them in muffin pans to make lots of individual brownies. These brownies are able to be popped out of the pan like a cake. You can use a cookie cutter to cut them into shapes if you like. They freeze well, too.

5 Star Brownies

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 butter, melted
1/4 cup shortening, melted

Mix eggs, sugar, vanilla until blended. Add butter and shortening.

1 12/ cups flour
3/4 cup good cocoa
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Mix flour, cocoa and salt together. Add to wet mixture. Grease a 9x13 pan or 24 muffin cups. Bake 9x13 pan at 35oF for about 30 minutes, or until they test done when you check with a toothpick. Muffin cups will take about 20 minutes.

Cool in pan and then turn out onto a rack.

Lent begins tomorrow and since I have to abstain from meat on Fridays, I'm looking for some good/easy seafood or vegetarian dishes.

I'm particularly looking for a good catfish recipe. :)

Thanks!

I'm looking for a good brownie recipe. The thing is I've tried several online recipes, and even made them from a box bought a grocery, but every time I make brownies they come out hard and too thin. I want moist, soft, yummy brownies.

So, do you guys have any suggestions?

Oh yes the name!! haha... This recipe is from a friend of mine, you can imagine how I teased her mercilessly when she told me what it's called (me and my perverted mind you know)...there's not a day since that I don't tease her about it *lol* The funny thing is that later on we found out that there were places where they actually knew of this thing and called it by the same name!!... And here I thought it was something she came up with *lol*

OK enough of that, here's the recipe

Huevo en hoyo (Egg in a hole)

INGREDIENTS:
1 slice of bread
1 Egg
1 slice of ham
Butter / cooking oil
Maple syrup

First you need to make a hole in your bread with the rim of a glass, just put it on the center of the slice, push down and take that piece out.

On a non-stick frying pan melt some butter and put the slice with the hole in it.

Break an egg and pour it on the center of the bread. Let it cook a little and then flip it over.

On a separate pan heat your slice of ham and just put it over the 'egg in a hole' when it's done.

Pour some maple syrup over it.

Eat away!! =)
 

naiad8 made this recipe as the first meal we ever had in our first apartment.  So even though I didn't grow up eating this there is so much memory that I pretty much consider it comfort food.  It is an approximation of the French comfort food boeuf bourguignon, but we've played with it so much that if you serve this to a Frenchman he might verbally abuse you for denigration of Gallic pride.  Ok, whatever...

Ingredients:
1 pound stew beef, cut into one-inch cubes
1/4 pound or 3 strips of thick cut bacon. cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped into small dice
2 large carrots, chopped into small dice
3 to 4 stalks of celery, chopped into small dice
3/4 pound of mushrooms, cut into quarters
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 more cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tablespoon of flour
2 cups red Burgundy wine
1.5 cups beef broth
1 spring of thyme
2 to 3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon of ketchup
1/2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
oil for cooking
salt and pepper

Hardware:
Dutch oven
Non-stick frying pan
Tongs

Instructions:

Heat the dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add oil.  When oil is hot, use tongs to add enough beef into the pot to cover the bottom.  Do no overcrowd.  You can do this in batches if your dutch oven isn't big enough.  I usually do two batches.  Turn the beef periodically to make sure they are evenly brown.  Remove and set aside in a bowl.  Repeat until all beef is brown.

Add bacon into the pan.  Cook until most of the fat has been rendered and the bacon crispy.  Remove the bacon and set aside in a bowl.

Add onions to the pan.  Stir and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onions are somewhat translucent.  Next, add the carrots and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the celery, and cook for 5 more minutes.  Add the 3 cloves of minced garlic, stir, and cook for 3 minutes. 

Add the flour into the pan, and stir to make sure all vegetables are well coated.  When you first add the flour, you will see that the vegetables' appearance will go from glistening to dull.  Cook until the vegetables are glistening again.  This means that the flour is cooked. 

When the flour is cooked, add the ketchup, the Worcestershire sauce, the wine and the beef broth.  Add the beef and bacon back into the pot as well.  Stir well.  Bring up to a boil (you might need to turn up the heat), and then reduce heat to medium low for a long simmer.  Cover and cook for an hour for the beef to be edible, or 1.5 hour for the meat to be fork tender.  Check and stir periodically to make sure there is enough liquid and the bottom isn't burning. 

While the stew is simmering, heat the non-stick pan at medium high.  Add a bit of oil (or butter if you want to live dangerously).  When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms and the 2 cloves minced garlic.  Stir and coat the mushroom with the oil and the garlic.  Cook and stir periodically until the mushrooms are brown.  Season with salt and pepper. 

Just before serving, season the stew with salt and pepper to taste.  You can directly incorporate the mushrooms into the stew, or serve them on the side (which is what I do). 

The stew can be served with boiled egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

Bread Pudding

I can't remember where I got this recipe, but I've made it several times and it's super good

Ingredients:
6 slices of day old bread (you can used regular sliced bread, I've also used day old french bread)
2 Tbs melted butter or margarine
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
Optional: raisins

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Break bread into small pieces and place into an 8 in. square baking pan.
3. Drizzle butter over bread
4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.
5. Pour mixture over bread, then lightly push down with a fork until the bread is covered and soaking up the mixture.
6. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

I always find comfort in sweets (and it seems I love cheese as well doesn't it? *lol)...

Cheesecake

WE'LL NEED:
1 6in. Cookie pie crust

FILLING:
8 oz. Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Lemon juice
1 Egg

TOPPING:
8 oz. Sour cream
2 teaspoons granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Preheat oven at 300ºF

Mix all the filling ingredients until smooth

You could add some kind of fruit to the filling, but it has to be in small quantities or else it won't hold, unless you add an extra egg or a ts. of flour, or maybe even corn starch. I've experimented with it and always forget to add a little extra something to hold it in place and it's a disaster waiting to happen *lol*

Spread it over the crust and bake for 30 minutes at 300ºF

Prepare the topping (sour cream, sugar, vanilla) and spread it evenly over the rest.

Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Let it cool and refrigerate.

You can add fruit to top it off, I've used plain strawberries, strawberry/kiwi, peach, mango, cherries and pineapple and it's wonderful =)

NOTE: For a 9 in. plate of cookie crust you'll need: 12 oz. of cream cheese and 2 eggs for the filling and 16 oz. sour cream and 4 ts. sugar for the topping, everything else can remain in the same quantities ;)

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I've also used regular dough pie crust instead of the cookie and it's really good, but you'd have to bake the crust for about 10-15 minutes prior you add the filling, otherwise it can be raw or the filling overdone if you wait for the dough to cook properly =)