Archive | basics RSS feed for this section

Basic Italian Tomato Salad

19 Jul

I love tomatoes…  I just do.  To me, cutting up a few tomatoes on the side constitutes a complete salad in my book.   I can go through a whole pack of Costco tomatoes in a week… all by myself.

I also love taking a simple, delicious recipe and using it in various ways – exciting flavors enjoyed in various formats.  And that’s what this Basic Italian Tomato Salad is… 

What makes it Italian??  Well, the Italian ingredients – white balsamic vinegar, mini fresh mozzarella pieces and Italian Seasonings.

 

BASIC ITALIAN TOMATO SALAD

4 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped into large pieces – if you have heirloom tomatoes, all the better
1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp of white balsamic vinegar – regular balsamic will also work here
A pinch of fresh basil – I also use the freeze-dried kind
½ tsp of Italian Seasonings
1 tsp of salt
Freshly cracked Black Pepper
1 clove of garlic, grated – optional
About 16 pieces of mini fresh mozzarella pieces

 

  1. In a medium sized bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Toss to combine.  Allow for the mixture to marinate and create a juice/sauce in the bottom of the bowl.
  2. Combine with mozzarella pieces in a plate.  Drizzle some extra olive oil on top when plating.

 

Sometimes I add the cheese pieces in with the rest of the ingredients to marinate too…  it’s up to you.  This is a very delicious and versatile combination that you will use over and over again.

Then you can take this Salad and use it in:  an Italian sandwich with ciabatta bread, an Italian panzanella salad, a delicious Italian tomato/mozzarella pasta…   

Tags: ,

Egg-free Spelt Crepes

15 Jul

For a long time, I’ve been meaning to share with you a recipe for egg-free crepes…

All the recipes you see out there include eggs and I decided to modify my favorite recipe to get the same results.

EGG-FREE SPELT CREPES – recipe makes about 20 small crepes

1 ½ cups of organic spelt flour, sifted
½ tsp kosher salt
2 cups soy milk, plus 6 tbs
4 ½ tsp egg replacer mix
 5 tbs butter
1 tbs Olive oil, for skillet
¼ cup water, if needed
  1. In a small sauce pan over low heat, melt the butter.  Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, mix together the egg replacer mix with 6tbs of soymilk.  Whisk together and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, sift flour and salt using a fine sieve.  Set aside.  It’s important to sift using a fine sieve, because organic spelt flour has little flakes that we should not include if we want a smooth crepe batter.
  4. Pour remaining soy milk into a blender.  Add the melted butter, egg replacer mix and flour.  Blend well for a few minutes.  Place the crepe batter in the same blender cup in the fridge to rest for at least 2 hours.  I made the batter in the morning to use later in the afternoon.
  1. When you’re ready to use the batter…  move it around and see if it has the consistency of a light pancake batter.  If it’s too thick, add ¼ cup of water to make it thinner.
  2. Heat a small non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add 1 tbs olive oil and spread out using a paper towel.
  3. Pour one ladleful of batter into skillet into skillet, turning and tilting skillet as you’re pouring the batter.  The idea is to coat the bottom of the skillet with a thin layer of batter.  Don’t be discouraged if the first few ones are not as you expect.  It took me a few tried to get the right rhythm of ladle and skillet.
  4. Loose the edges of the crepe using an off-set spatula.  You’ll see the crepe bubble a little, very similar to pancakes.  Loosen the crepe delicately from the pan using a silicone spatula.  When you can move the crepe loosely by just shaking the skillet, after about 1 minute of cooking, flip the crepe using the silicone spatula.
  6. Cook on the other side for about 30 more seconds.  Just slide the crepe out of the skillet onto a plate lined with wax paper.
  8. Repeat the process all over until you finish the crepe batter.  Pass the oiled paper towel once in awhile in between crepes, as needed.

Serve immediately or store in an air-tight container for about 2 weeks.  The crepes have so much butter, they will not stick.

If you do store any in the fridge, just heat the up in a warm skillet for about 1 minute to make them soft and pliable again.  I used these crepes to make my Gateau de Crepes.  They’re also delicious to eat as a dessert with a filling of cajeta/dulce de leche or fruit jam.

Tags: , ,

Caffeine-free Hot Carob

13 Jul

For every Encierro in San Fermín, the Encierro is not the beginning of the day but more really the culmination of a night of partying.  Well, the almost culmination because before going to bed after the Encierro you must have breakfast.

Some people consider breakfast a spiked “zumo de naranja” or orange juice… as we can see with our Pamplona friends here.  But for most Spaniards a sandwich or “bocadillo” or Churros con Chocolate are more fitting breakfast choices.

But a word of caution…  if you order a Hot Chocolate or “Chocolate Caliente” in Spain you will get something closer to a  hot chocolate pudding in a glass.  If you want to drink something closer to what a hot chocolate is in America, you need to ask for a ColaCao with hot milk.  ColaCao is the Spanish/European equivalent to Quik.   But it’s important for you to know the difference so your expectations are met.

I am self-procalimed chocoholic, but I‘ve had to steer away from chocolate because of its caffeine content.  That’s basically the reason why the vegetarianism I practice avoids chocolate.  So when we had our churros the other day, my taste buds were craving something “chocolaty” to dunk the churros in… and the vegetarian alternative is Hot Carob.     

Carob, available in both bar and powder form, makes a very delicious caffeine-free alternative to hot chocolate.  And because carob is a bit bitter it resembles the bitter bar chocolate used to make hot chocolate from scratch.  Here’s how…

 

HOT CAROB

¾ cup of evaporated milk – about ½ a container
¾ cup of water
1 tbs carob powder
2 tbs agave nectar

 

  1. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add the evaporated milk, water and agave nectar.  Whisk in the carob powder to avoid any lumps from forming.
  2. Heat up the mixture enough without bringing it to a boil.  I like to keep whisking for a little while to prevent the carob powder to scorch at the bottom of the pan.
  3. Take away from heat and cover to maintain hot for a while.

 

Serve hot with a side of churros…

The evaporated milk gives it a creamier consistency as if you used regular milk, but you can certainly substitute the evaporated milk and water for equal parts of just milk.

Tags: ,

Grapefruit Benefits

13 May

My Tití Carmín has an orchard of beautiful grapefruit trees…  These trees are the most prolific grapefruit trees I have ever seen.  They are giving fruit almost all year-round.  So even though we are currently in citrus season, these trees don’t know what that is.

I have always loved oranges, but not so much grapefruits.  When I was little, I had tried some canned grapefruit juice that was just awful.  But all that changed when I tried the juice from my Tití’s grapefruits.  These grapefruits are juicy and sweet.  And they like to proliferate, because they’re filled with seeds.  Tití would make juice for me and at the beginning she would sweeten it a little, making a “grapefruitade”.  She would squeeze the juice for me and bring it already in a bottle. 

Now, every time we visit Tití Carmín, we return with bagfuls of grapefruits; sometimes enough grapefruits to make about 96 ounces of pure juice.  Now I just drink it straight without any need to sweeten.

And that got me thinking… about the bountiful of health we have in our hands.  I have once heard that nature gives you everything you need to be healthy at about 20 feet around where you live.  Tití Carmín lives a bit farther away than 20 feet from me, but the access we have to these grapefruits made me want to think what benefits we are getting when I consume this delicious juice…

Here’s some of the research I did:

              

  • Contains high levels of Vitamin C to protect against colds and flu and drinking a freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice helps also relieve sore throats and soothes coughs. The vitamin C also helps to strengthen and maintain the elasticity of arteries and helps to reduce water retention and swelling of the legs during pregnancy.

 

  • The pectin in this fruit has been found to be effective in reducing the accumulation of arterial deposits keeping arteriosclerosis at bay.

 

  • It has lots of vitamins and minerals like Vitamin A, B complex, E, K, Calcium, folic acid, phosphorus, and potassium.

  • Nutritive phytonutrients and antioxidants that help fight cancer. Studies show that lycopene-rich foods, like grapefruits reduce the risk of ovarian, cervical, breast, prostate and colon cancer.  And when eating or juicing grapefruit, peel off the skin but leave as much of the albedo (the white pith part) intact as possible as it contains the highest amount of valuable bioflavonoids and other anti-cancer agents.

 

  • A certain compound found in grapefruit helps reduce the excessive production of cholesterol from the liver. A Harvard study revealed that drinking one glass of grapefruit juice or eating half a grapefruit daily lowered LDL (bad) cholesterol levels by 33 percent. And another study indicated specifically that red grapefruit reduces levels of triglycerides.

 

  • Grapefruit has a fat-burning enzyme and can help to absorb and reduce the starch and sugar in the body. It is widely consumed by people who are trying to lose weight. A Johns Hopkins study found that people who had two servings of grapefruit or grapefruit juice daily along with a low-fat and low-calorie diet lost an average of 19 pounds over a period of 13 weeks. Cool, huh?

       

  • Sometimes, when using certain medications doctors recommend avoiding grapefruit juice because supposedly the grapefruit halts the metabolism of these drugs.  Doctors may tell you that grapefruit is the cause of toxicity, but in fact, it is really the drugs that are causing the toxicity.  The abundant source of limonoid and naringin in grapefruit increase the function of detoxifying enzymes in the liver and will reject synthetic man-made drugs. These enzymes help to recognize alien compounds which should not be in our body, treats as toxins and makes them more water soluble to be excreted easily from the body.  

 

  • I was pleased to learn that grapefruit has many digestive benefits too… just like lemons and limes, even though it has an acid taste, its juice promotes good digestion and actually has an alkaline reaction after digestion by increasing the flow of gastric juices. This has a profound effect in the treatment of acidity in the digestive system that causes a host of other health problems.

 

One last curious thing… It is called a grapefruit simply because it grows in clusters, like grapes.  I did not know that as a fact, but check out this photo… the do gow in clumps and that’s why they always have three indentations because they cant be completely round growing next to the other.

 

 

 

I hope you learned as much as I did of all the benefits this awesome elixir has.  Now you can toast with a big glass of grapefruit juice and confidently say “To your health!!!”


Grapefruit

Tags: , ,

Adobo Alternatives

12 Apr

I need my food to be seasoned well…  us Puerto Ricans love savory dishes.  Not to be confused with spicy.  We do not typically use chilies or hot spicy peppers in our cooking, but we do season our food well with adobo – a mixture of spices, herbs and salt that give Puerto Rican food is unique flair.

I mentioned you how to make your own adobo mixture here… but if you’re too lazy ( like I have been known to be) or you feel you want to try things before investing in making your own mix, there are a few natural and vegetarian alternatives you  can try from your local health food store.

        

 

Both Spike and Herbamare can be found in your local health food… these are made from natural ingredients, sea salt and without adding any chemical preservatives.  I have been using both for a number of years now.   I use them to season stews, rices, mushrooms, veggie burgers, etc.  Give these seasonings a try… you’ll see how your food will bring you even more enjoyment…  Bon Appétit!!!

Tags:

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →