cooking

Baked Cod w/ Sauteed Veggies, Mashed Potatoes & Mango Salsa

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:39:06 +0100

This is a pretty good 30 minute meal. I have to cook things that my 2 year old eats and she did well with this.

Ingredient for Fish:
1 lb fresh cod fish
1/4 cup of melted butter or margerine ( i used 'i cant believe its not butter')
1/4 cup of italian style bread crumbs or ritz crackers (crumbled)
1/4 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of white pepper
paprika
lemon juice ( i use the one that comes int he little lemon container)

**Cut your fish into portions.
put the oven on 350 degrees
mix the white pepper and flour
mix the melted butter and about a tablespoon of lemon juice
dip the fish into the butter and then in the flour mixture
put the fish into a baking dish
pour the rest of the butter mixture over the fish
sprinkle the bread crumbs over the fish
sprinkle paprika on the bread crumbs
put it in the oven for 30 minutes and your good to go.!

Sauteed Asparagus, Zucchini & Brussel Sprouts Ingredients:

8 brussel sprouts
1/2 cup of frozen zucchini
8 asparagus stalks
1 clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of EVOO (XV Olive Oil)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a non stick saute pan on medium
Grate the clove of garlic and stir.
snap off the ends of the asparagus and cut in 1/2 and throw in the pan
(if they are thick let them cook for 5 minutes before adding anything else)
add the remaining ingredients stirring occasionally.
I like my asparagus with a little crunch to it, if you don't cook it a little longer
Takes about 15 mins.

Mashed Potatoes Ingredients:
3 potatoes (large) peeled and cut into chunks
a medium pot of boiling water w/ a pinch of salt.
2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 tablespoon of butter or margerine
1 tablespoon of milk
salt & pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes until you can stick a fork through 1 with no problem.
Use either a hand mixer or potato masher to mash potatoes
add the butter sour cream and milk and s&p
Mix again for a few seconds and your done..

Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
1 Mango (diced) get a firm almost ripe 1, mushy mangoes makes mushy salsa.
1/2 of a red pepper seeded and diced
1/2 of a red onion diced
lime juice (to taste)
cilantro (a few sprigs chopped up)
ginger (fresh grated on a cheese grater)

Combine ingredients and refrigerate so flavors combine. & enjoy!

The BEST Chicken Escarole Soup EVER!!!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:49:16 +0100

This is a bit of a doctored recipe that i made from a restaurant i used to work at. Its the best soup in the world. It totally sells out too. and better than that SO easy to make..

Ingredients:
6-8 * chicken thighs
1 * head of escarole
5 * carrots (peeled and sliced into about 1/4 inch pieces)
1 * large onion (rough chopped)
5 * stalks of celery (chopped into 1/4 inch pieces)
1 * large clove of garlic (shredded with a cheese grater)
3 * Tablespoons of chicken base (i use better than boullion)
1 * Quart of chicken stock (either store bought or homemade, i used "kitchen basics brand")
1 teaspoon of black pepper
pinch of salt
1 & 1/2 Tablespoons of butter

* Fill a soup pot ( a big 1) half way with water and let water boil. I always add a pinch of salt to it.
* When water is boiling put in your chicken for about 1/2 hour or so.( be sure to wash your chicken well because we will use the water for the soup).
* While thats boiling get a large non-stick saute pan and heat up your butter, Add your garlic into the saute pan, let it cook for about a minute. Add in your onions, carrots, and celery. Stir the veggies so they are coated with the butter, then add a little pepper. Let them saute just until they have a little bit of crunch left to them. (They will cook more in the big pot, you definately dont want them to mush up.)

* Remove the chicken from the big pot. DO NOT DISCARD WATER!
* Skim the water with a slotted spoon.(spoon with holes) to get the stuff floating in the water out.
* Run the chick under cool water while breaking it up so you dont get burned in the process..lol
* Add the chicken base to the water and stir well.
* Add the chicken stock into the pot as well.
* Add the veggies and chicken into the pot. and stir well.
* Bring the soup back up to a boil.
* Add the escarole and let it wilt.
* Turn the head on low for 5 minutes.
* Then your ready to eat.--You can add egg noodles to it if you'd like. I usually do but i find that if you add them to the pot and you have left overs they tend to get mushy, so i would separate whatever you will refridgerate and let it cool. And just add the noodles to what you will be using.
When you reheat the refridgerated soup add the noodles to it then to keep the soup tasting fresh.

Best served with a little parmesan cheese and nice hot buttered italian bread. YUM!

A quick sofrito..

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:02:46 +0100

Sofrito is used as a cooking base in a lot of Latin foods. My sister in law showed me how to make it and im passing it along because i use it in a lot of my recipes too. Enjoy!
p.s. This makes your house smell FABULOUS!

1 large yellow onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 medium head of garlic or 2 table spoons of minced garlic
1 bunch of cilantro
¼ cup Spanish olives without pits
2 tablespoons of salt
1 tablespoon of black pepper
1 tbsp crushed oregano (i use La Flor Oregano Latino)
½ cup olive oil (sometimes i only have veggie oil so i use that)

This will all go into a blender so cut veggies accordingly.
Cut the onion, peppers, & garlic.
Put 1/2 of what you just cut up into the blender.
Add the oil, oregano, s&p, oilives and 1/2 the bunch of cilantro and blend
Add the remaining ingredients and again blend.

Open blender and smell it.
Smells good huh?? LOL

Now for storing it..
I put the mixture into a freezer safe container but you can also put the mixture into ice cube trays (which is a better idea) and when finished freezing throw them into a freezer bag for easy use.

This can be used in stews, rice, soup.etc..

Any questions feel free to email me at xxxojulzoxxx@aol.com or comment!