Guacamole

Ingredients
3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed
1 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Directions
In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately.

Rosemary Dumpling Chicken Soup

Soup:
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 cups water
1 lb chicken drumsticks, skinned
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 thyme sprigs
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups diced carrot
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
1 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt

Dumplings:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. To prepare the soup, combine first 5 ingredients in a large dutch oven over medium-high; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove pan from heat. Remove chicken from broth; cool slightly. Strain broth through a sieve into a large bowl; discard solids. Remove chicken from bones. Discard bones; chop chicken into bite-sized pieces. Set chicken aside.

2. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add carrot, celery, onion, and garlic; saute 6 minutes or until onion is tender. Add reserved broth mixture and 1/2 teaspoon salt; simmer 10 minutes. Keep warm.

3. To prepare dumplings, combine flour, rosemary, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Combine buttermilk and egg, stirring with a whisk. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until combined.

4. Add chicken to broth mixture; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Drop dumpling dough, 1 tablespoon per dumpling, into chicken mixture to form 12 dumplings. Cover and cook 7 minutes (do not let broth boil). Sprinkle with pepper.

Japanese Style Chicken Curry

I love food because they always have memories associated with it. My fondest memory with this dish was a night with my college boyfriend. He was 6'1" with broad frame. He had a great appetite. I was teeny tiny: 5'3" and 96lbs. But it was obvious that size had nothing to do with how much we could eat. Even though I was half his size, I ate just as much as him (if not more). We could destroy a sushi buffet's business in one sitting. Anyways, one night we decided to cook dinner at home. We made about 2 cups of uncooked rice (this is probably equivalent to 4+ cups of cooked rice) and this dish, enough to feed 6 people. We were planning to save some for his parents and brother... but by the end of the night, the rice cooker, as well as the pan of curry, was completely empty. We sat on his couch for the rest of the night rubbing each other's tummy. Haha. I wish I still had that metabolism...

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 Carrots, cut
2 Red potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 Red bell peppers, cut
1/2 lb Sugar snap peas
1 Yellow onion, cut
1/2 package of Curry bricks

Directions
1. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the potatoes. Boil until cooked half way through. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat a large pan with olive oil. Add carrots and cook on medium high heat for 2 minutes. Add red bell peppers, sugar snap peas, onions, and potatoes. Cook vegetables halfway through. Add water to just cover the vegetables. Reduce the heat and let the vegetable simmer.
3. Bring 1/2 cup of water to boil in a small pot. Add 1/2 package of Curry brick and let it dissolve. **You can place the curry package and water in a microwavable bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute**
4. Once dissolved distribute the curry throughout vegetable broth. Let the mixture slowly simmer on medium heat until thicken.

**If you like curry to be more thin, you can add more water**

Pumpkin (and Carrot) Cream Cheese Muffins

This year, I'm working Thanksgiving. :( While everyone is getting food coma from a delicious turkey dinner, I'll be busy doing neurological assessments every 4 hours so my patients don't go into an actual coma (haha. I thought that was clever). The plus side is that my co-workers and I will be having a little Thanksgiving brunch. YAY!!! I love brunch's.

Anyhoos, I didn't want to make a my pumpkin pie for brunch (maybe next year) so I did my research on pumpkin cream cheese muffins from various sources and created these lil fellas. HAPPY THANKSGIVING. :)

Cream Cheese Filling
1 (12 ounce) package cream cheese (if desire less cream cheesy taste, use 8 ounces)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Streusel Topping
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 1/2 tablespoons butter

Muffin
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin (substitute with grated carrot for carrot cream cheese muffins)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour the pan or use muffin cups.

2. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.

3. For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

4. For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.

5. Place pumpkin (or carrot) mixture in muffin cups about 3/4 full. With one spoon, create a deep well, then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.

6. Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

**recipe equal approximately 15 muffins**

Tilapia Fish Taco

The key to maintaining a healthy mind and spirit is to take care of your body. Lately I've been accomplishing this by cooking meals everyday and daily exercise. Damn. I feel so good. :)

Tonight I had a craving for fish tacos. The salsa recipe is from my dear friend, Diana. Love you, girl.

Marinade:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
5 limes freshly juiced
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon zesty powder blend
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay™
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
12oz tilapia fillets

Salsa
1/2 onion, diced
2 jalepanos, diced
3+ tomatoes, diced
1 bunch cilantro, diced
6 limes freshly juiced
salt

Toppings
1 (10 ounce) package tortillas
1 small head cabbage, cored and shredded
2 avocados sliced
2 limes, cut in wedges

Directions

1. To make the marinade, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lime juice, honey, garlic, zesty blend, chili powder, seafood seasoning, and black pepper in a bowl until blended. Place the tilapia in a shallow dish, and pour the marinade over the fish. Cover, and refrigerate 6 to 8 hours.

2. To make the salsa, combine the onions, jalepanos, tomatoes, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt for taste.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove fish from marinade and pour in baking dish (more moisture add a few spoonfuls of marinate to fish). Bake fish in oven until it easily flakes with a fork (usually about 12-15 minutes).

4. Heat the tortilla in nonstick pan. Add shredded cabbage and flaked fish to tortilla. Top with avocado and salsa mix. Squeeze a couple more lime wedges for an extra kick.

ENJOY!!! I love Tilapia Thursdays!

Shrimp Stirfry

I miss Blake's presence the most when we cook, especially on Stirfry Days. This lil sweet tradition of ours was started a while back when for a couple Sundays in a row we'd cook dinner at his place and watch "Celebrity Apprentice". Once that show was over and he got me hooked onto "The Bachelorette", it became Stirfry Mondays. My job was to cut the veggies carefully without chopping his fingers off as he'd reach over to steal pieces of carrot and red peppers. Eventually, I learned it was just safer to feed him large pieces of veggies. Save us a trip to the emergency room... Blake was in charge of sautéing the shrimp and seasoning the final product. We would have a great time cooking together.  :)

Yesterday was the first time in a long time I cooked stirfry by myself. My friends who had never tasted our stirfry thought it was delicious, but I could taste the difference. I guess I never realized that his contribution made such a significance to the taste of the dish.

Sometimes the best kind of seasoning is Love.


Carrots
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Red bell peppers
Snow peas
Olive oil
1 lb raw shrimp (deveined)
Butter
Garlic
Stirfry Sauce
Salt & Pepper

1. Cut vegetables carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and bell peppers into edible pieces. In a heated oiled wok, cook the veggies in descending order (about a minute each before adding the next veggie on the list). Keep stirring the veggies.
2. In a separate pan, melt the butter. Add garlic and shrimp. Remove the shrimp before it well done. Add to the veggies.
3. Add the stirfry sauce. And cook until veggies and shrimp are done to your own preference.
4. Season with salt and pepper (and love)

Note: If the sauce is to watery, you can add a couple teaspoon of cornstarch OR Blake's method is to cover the wok and steam the liquid off.

Eggplant & Mushroom Rigatoni

1 (16 ounce) package rigatoni pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 (8 ounce) package fresh mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes in puree
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
8 ounces ricotta cheese, cut into large chunks

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium high. Stir in mushrooms, and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the eggplant, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, chicken broth and olives. Season with thyme, salt and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 30 minutes, or until eggplant is tender.
4.Toss with pasta and ricotta cheese.

Note: I usually like eggplants when they are absolutely tender. Even though the end product was delicious, I thought it took too long to tenderize the eggplants simmering in the sauce. Plus, by that time, the sauce had reduced too much. Suggestion for next time is to boil the eggplant to tender and then add to sauce.

Coq Au Vin with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

It's been a while since I post any recipes on this blog.

During my absence, I found a love within myself that grew to make room to love another. This was a huge accomplishment for me... Before I started soul searching I was unsure that I could fall in love the same way I had since my first love. He made it easy for me to fall in love with him and I accepted the vulnerability that coincided with love. It was an amazing experience which I believe will continue through a great friendship even after he leaves.

However, the thought of his absence does leave an aching and emptiness in my heart. Thoughts of him kept running through my head over and over again today. Those thoughts and feeling of emptiness was manifested by a loss of appetite. But I knew I needed to eat. And in order to eat, I needed to stop thinking and get distracted.

I ran across a cooking book at Barnes & Noble. Not only did it re-spark my passion for cooking but it is good way to be distracted. I chose Coq au Vin because it is a dish requiring a bit more attention. I found out it is a dish commonly served for the cold winter nights in France (which is a perfect metaphor for the way my soul was feeling).

Being that it is actually the middle of the summer, I substituted dry red wine for a crisp and light white wine.

Recipe for Coq au Vin:

3 chicken thighs skinless, boneless
flour
thyme, chopped
salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
1 cup pearl onions
3 garlic cloves, bruised
1/4 cup canadian bacon/pancetta, sliced into 1/4"
1/2 cup wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 tbsp tomato paste
3 dried bay leaves
thyme

1. Add flour, thyme, and salt to ziploc bag. Add the chicken thighs, seal and mix until well coated. Remove chicken from bag and lightly tap off excess flour mixture.

2. Heat skillet with olive oil on medium-high heat. Add chickens. Lightly brown them by flipping over continuously. Remove chicken off heat and place them onto side, still pink inside.

3. As chicken is cooking, boil a pot of water. In a bowl pour the hot water on top of the pearl onions. Let it sit for a while. Peel the skin of the soaked onions by cutting the ends. Halve the onions and set aside.

4. Heat skillet with olive oil on medium-high heat. Saute garlic cloves for 1 minute. Add carrots, mushrooms, pearl onions, and bacon to the pan and saute for 2 minutes. Add wine, chicken broth, and tomato paste to the mixture. Let it simmer briefly before adding the chicken.

5. Cover the pan and let the sauce reduce to half.

6. Add the bay leaves and thyme at the very end.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes: