Wednesday, September 21, 2011

I should've posted this before

FOOD PORN.

Total food porn.

Alex did these up on the rotisserie about a month ago.


Stuffed with apple and onion, then rubbed with assorted spices from the cupboard.

We love our bbq.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Viva Mexico! - Mojitos & Cilantro lime rice

This will be a brief post.

I made the cilantro lime rice as follows:

Cook four cups of long grain white rice
Put the rice in the fridge overnight or until it's cold. (If you're short on time, use the freezer)
Heat your wok with oil. When the oil is hot, dump in the rice
Separate the granules of rice with a spoon.
When the rice is separated, add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Squeeze in the juice of 1/2 lime
Sprinkle pepper over the rice to taste
Stir rice until everything is mixed uniformly and give it an extra minute to fry
Serve hot with your fajitas


~~

Best ever Mojito

Seriously, they were.  At least, the best you'll get outside of a Mexican resort.  I found this recipe at this website.

I've kind of sort of simplified it if you don't have a lot of the same things the original author has.

Tall Glass or Mojito Glass
White Rum
Mint
Lime
Crushed Ice
Sprite
Sugar

How to prepare your Mojito:

Wash and dry the limes and mint
Cut the ends off the lime and cut it into 8 wedges
Pull the leaves off of the mint

It's easy to put the lime and mint into their own respective bowls so you can prepare multiple mojitos quickly

Place 4 to 12 mint leaves into the glass. The amount of mint you use is relative to how large the mint leaves are. The larger the leaves, the fewer you need.

Add 1 tbsp sugar to the limes and mint, then mash them all together at the bottom of the glass. You can use a spoon to do that.  Just make sure you don't shred your mint leaves.

Add 2 oz of rum and stir everything together until the sugar is dissolved.

Fill the rest of your glass with crushed ice and top it off with the Sprite.

Give the drink one last little stir and, if you want, garnish it with a bit of mint and a lime.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Viva Mexico - Guacamole!

I found this recipe at this website but have made a few modifications.

Firstly, I prefer fresh to canned whenever possible. It just tastes better. Plus, I decided on lime instead of lemon.  I prefer the taste. Finally, I add more cilantro to mine.

Ingredients

4 avocados
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 medium tomato, chopped fine

1/2 sweet bell pepper, any colour, chopped fine
1 green onion, white and green parts, chopped fine
5 sprigs finely chopped cilantro, or to taste
1 freshly squeezed lime
1 tablespoon fresh Jalapeno pepper, chopped fine
Salt and pepper, to taste


Cut the avacados in half, remove the pits, and spoon out the soft flesh.  


Chop up the cilantro, jalapeno, green onion, garlic, and tomato.


Add to the bowl with the avacado. Add your salt and pepper.


Squeeze in the lime!


Mash everything together with a fork and give it a good stir with a spoon

  

Refrigerate your guacamole for at least an hour so that the flavours combine.   It goes well with chips or on a burrito or just alone if that's how you dig your guac.

Improve!

Viva Mexico!

My husband is turning 32 and so, for his birthday, I decided to do a Mexican theme.  For dessert, I made margarita cupcakes, and for dinner will be burritos with homemade guacamole.  For drinks I've opted a non alcoholic watermelon iced tea (bought from David's Tea) and mojitos! (recipe to follow in a later post)

Burritos will have a couple of available options:

Black beans with corn
Pinto beans
(both bean selections will  be appropriately seasoned with chili powder and a bit of garlic)
Cilantro lime rice (recipe to follow in a later post)
Rainbow peppers with red onion (salt and pepper)
Guacamole (recipe at the bottom of this post)
Chicken or steak (marinated in lime, pepper, and cilantro)
all the fixings (like cheese, lettuce, salsa, etc)
 
Here is are some pictures of ingredients:




Up next: Guacamole recipe!

Friday, September 9, 2011

Mexico and Fondue!

Okay, maybe not literally... but kind of.

First, the fondue.  No pictures, as I was too busy wanting to eat it to take a photograph... but I got a fondue set for my husband for our anniversary.  It made sense:  four years is appliances, fruit, and flowers.  SO, instead of a normal fondue, I made a milk chocolate fondue and a caramel fondue.

Everyone preferred the caramel, even though the chocolate had booze in it. Good to know.  Next time I'll make a citrus fondue.

Caramel fondue recipe here.

Next on the agenda:  Margarita Lime Cupcakes, credit to Recipegirl

I've made these before but last time they were half burnt. Boo. My oven is a bit hotter than it should be.

These ones turned out a bit better, I think... plus I did a pretty decent piping job on them.  They look just plain yummy.

Here is the link to the recipe

And here are a couple pictures


Thursday, September 1, 2011

Angel Food Cake

Made a nice, light, evening snack.



The recipe

Turns out my oven is 25-ish degrees hotter than it says it is, so I actually baked this at what my oven thought was 325 and for 40 minutes.   I must admit, I was a little apprehensive about the egg whites, as I hear this can be a tricky cake, but it actually turned out beautifully and was delicious, sweet, and light.

I think I'll get some fresh berries or peaches or something tomorrow and enjoy it with that.