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Top Recipes of 2010

1 Jan

I am always surprised with the amount of visitors we get from all over the world… and the acceptance my recipes have on you, our readers.

I want to share with all the newcomers to KarmaFree Cooking, which have been the recipes published in 2010 that you’ve made most popular. This will give you an idea of what others are most interested in the KarmaFree Cooking world.

Bon Appetit!!!

Spinach Croquetas

Red Bell Pepper Sauce

Better-than-Maggiano’s Stuffed Mushrooms

Tomato Basil Bruschetta Mix

Very Berry Sorbet

Avocado and Tomato Sandwich

White Truffle Mac and Cheese

Eggplant Milanese

Coquito 2

Hash Brown Spinach Casserole

If one of your favorites is not listed here, please let us know about it in the COMMENTS section. We love to hear from you!!

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Broccoli Rice Burrito

15 Oct

I am telling you… broccoli is everywhere and cheap.  So I need to cook off all this broccoli before it goes bad on me.

As the official caterer to my mom and aunt while my grandma was in the hospital, I decided to make something they would both enjoy, knowing how picky and particular my aunt is about vegetarian food.  She says she likes it… but then she has certain rules like she only eats avocados with rice…  go figure!!!

These burritos are super easy to make… their portable and can be eaten warm or at room temperature.  But warm are better in my opinion.  Perfect for a picnic, brown-bag lunch and even to bring to someone in the hospital…

 

BROCCOLI RICE BURRITO

½ broccoli head, florets only
½ cup cooked whole grain rice
2 ounces of cream cheese
1/3 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
¼ cup of toasted walnuts
2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves
8 slices of tomato
4 tbs of Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
4 whole grain flour tortillas or flatbreads

 

  1. In a medium covered skillet with about ¼ cup of water, add the cooked rice and the broccoli florets.  Cover the skillet and over medium heat that bit of water will steam both the rice and the broccoli.   After about 10 minutes, just turn off the stove and the rice and broccoli will be done.
  2. Drain any excess water, but there usually isn’t any every time I make it this way.   In that same skillet add a drizzle of olive oil, the cream cheese, parmesan, walnuts.  Season with salt and pepper and mix well to combine.
  3. You can warm up the tortillas or the flatbreads if you’d like… I do it on the oven or in a skillet, depending on which ones I’ll use.  Sometimes, the flatbreads are just perfect as is.
  4. Place about ¼ cup of rice on each tortilla/flatbread.  Spread 1tbs of tomatillo salsa over it.  Top with the baby spinach and tomato slices.  Roll up the tortilla/flatbread and wrap in parchment paper before you put any aluminum foil over it.   This way you’ll be able to stick them in the oven to warm up and they’ll stay warm for a while.

               

 Both my mom and aunt loved these burritos…  My mom had hers with a slice of avocado on the side, as she is in my camp that we will eat an avocado any time, any place without any restrictions whatsoever.  But you can certainly add the avocado inside the burrito if you’d like.

Hope you like them too…

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Avocado Tomato Sandwich

14 Sep

Avocados are in season and my Tití Carmín has a bountiful in her finca.  So every time she comes to San Juan, she comes carrying boxes and boxes of avocados.

I love the eat a few slices or wedges of avocado on the side of every meal… but once in a while you need to get creative as to how to enjoy an avocado in a new way.  This is how these sandwiches came about.

 

AVOCADO AND TOMATO SANDWICH

3 slices of ripe avocado
2 slices of tomato
2 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
2 leafs of butter lettuce
Vegenaise – eggless mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper to taste
Drizzle of Olive oil
1 whole-grain ciabatta bread

 

  1. Halve the bread and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toast in oven at 350F for about 3-4 minutes.  Spread bottom bread with eggless mayonnaise.
  2. Place the avocado slices on bottom half of bread.  Top with mozzarella and tomato slices.  Sprinkle salt and pepper and drizzle a small amount of olive oil.  Finish with lettuce leaves.  Top with bread.

 

This is just so buttery and delicious…  It’s addictive.  I used to have this same sandwich for both lunch and dinner until the entire avocado was GONE!!!

A Vegetarian in Paris… Mon premier repas à Paris

13 Oct

You already know I am in love with anything French.  And it was only fitting that I would visit the capital of France to experience firsthand all that Paris has to offer.   Last May, my friend Annie Mariel and I decided that we would go to Paris in September.  June was too close, July too hot, August emptied of real Parisians… so September was the ideal time to go.

Drapeau Francais

I had not set foot in Paris since I was 16… we will not actively reveal how many years ago that is.  Just know that it’s been a real while.  They used the French franc then and the European Union did not exist. 

So this trip was a re-acquaintance trip of sorts – getting to know Paris as an adult, testing my French language skills, and discovering all that French cuisine has to offer, to a vegetarian.  Because something else is also different on this trip when compared to my previous one…  I was not a vegetarian then.  Not even dreamt about it.  On that original trip, I remember quite well ordering steak frites, one of Paris’ staples.  But I was confident I would manage…

I will divide my trip experiences in a few installments … because I noticed I took as many pictures of what I ate as pictures from the well-known Parisian monuments – the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Mona Lisa, Place de la Concorde… 

I hope you will enjoy Paris as much as I did, even if it’s vicariously thru my pictures and commentary… on y va!!!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The trip to Paris is quite long… 3 ½ hours from SJ to NYC and 7 hours from NYC to Paris.  It’s a “sort-of” overnight trip because you arrive in Paris at 7AM Paris time, even though it’s actually 1AM for your mind and body.  We were lucky to fly 1st class from SJ to NYC, but not so lucky on the long leg of the trip… we ordered vegetarian meals for both of us, Annie Mariel and I, and this is what we got:   Curried Chickpeas with White Rice – is this a flight to Paris or to India??? –  some overcooked broccoli, a salad and cantaloupe.  This reminded me of the airline food challenges in Top Chef a few seasons back.  Pathetic to say the least…  I was very much looking forward to some great Parisian food.

Ariline Food 1

We arrived in Paris at about 7:30AM.  We got into the city at about 8:30AM.  Our landlady was waiting on us in our Parisian apartment.  We rented an apartment in the 2eme arrondissement because we wanted to live as the Parisians do.  And besides, it’s much cheaper than a hotel if you’re staying more than a few days.  We were a bit jetlagged and took a power nap to get our energy up…

We arrived on a Sunday morning and Sundays in Paris are very much like I remember things in PR about 30 years ago – no shops are open, everything is closed for the day.  Only the Champs Elysées and the touristy areas are open.  But we wanted to live as Parisians and that meant to walk to a touristy area if you want to eat in a café or restaurant on a Sunday.

We decided to walk around our neighborhood to get familiarized with it…  we were located right in between the Opera/Madeleine area and the Louvre – all that within walking distance.  Following my namesake, we decided to head towards Opera/La Madeleine and see where that would lead us.

Place de la Madeleine

We found a café aptly named Café Madeleine… hey, I had to eat there!!!  I loved that most everything on the menu was accompanied by “frites et salade”, French fries and salad.  Remember I told you, all fries in France and French fries… you need to order frites.  I ordered a tartine which is an open faced sandwich on toasted whole-grain Poîlane bread (check!!).  I ordered the one with cheese and tomato, sans the jambon.  The server was not too happy, but I explained in my best French that I was vegetarian and I did not want the ham at all… he understood or was it he felt compelled to please me by my attempt of speaking French by the locals… I will never know.

Tartine Madeleine

The tartine looked and tasted delicious… way better than what we had had on the airplane a few hours back.  The salad was simply dressed with vinaigrette, worthy of any French café.

 And because we were on vacation, we had to end with ice cream…  Annie Mariel loves chocolate and I had to oblige.  It was delicious.  And the wafers that came on the side were awesome too.

Glace au chocolat

This was light and a perfect introduction to our culinary/eating adventures in Paris…  stay tuned for more on my French vegetarian adventure.  A bientôt…

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Grilled Eggplant and Zucchini Sandwich

12 Sep

In my CSA box we’ve been receiving many eggplants and zucchini… why not combine them both in one of my favorite applications? A SANDWICH!!!

Super simple, super tasty and travels really well…

  Grilled Eggplant Zuch Sandwich - KFC

GRILLED EGGPLANT AND ZUCCHINI SANDWICH

1 small Japanese or Italian eggplant
1 small zucchini or summer squash
2 oz of goat cheese, at room temperature works best
A handful of arugula lettuce – washed well and pat dry
Extra virgin Olive oil
Sea salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
1 whole-wheat whole grain demi baguette

 

  1. Preheat your grill – I use my George Foreman grill for this…
  2. Slice the eggplant and the zucchini in ¼ inch slices.  Brush with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.  Place on the grill for about 4-5 minutes to cook and get pretty grill marks.
  3. In the meantime, slice the baguette in top and bottom halves and toast in a toaster oven.  Slather both sides of bread with goat cheese.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper to season cheese.
  4. Remove the eggplant and zucchini slices from grill and let cool down a bit.  Place on bottom half of bread.  Add lettuce on top of grilled veggies.  Season lettuce with a bit of sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil.  Top with top half of bread.

 

Simple, yet very tasty and nutritious.   You could add some tomatoes or even some roasted red peppers or roasted piquillo peppers too.

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