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Peach Cherry Fruit Salad

17 Aug

I told you about my case of peaches and case of cherries… I also told you about my Peach and Cherry Crisp dessert that rocked my friend Walter’s world.

And, what about when you have no time to bake something? You create a fruit salad…

I discovered the wonders of ricotta cheese for breakfast already… you can use it as a base underneath some berries, you can layer it in between fruit and granola in a parfait, but you could also TOP some fruit as if it were yogurt or whipped cream.

PEACH AND CHERRY FRUIT SALAD

1 peach, peeled and cut into pieces
About 6 cherries, washed and pitted
One large dollop of ricotta cheese
About 1 tbs of raw turbinado sugar
  1. Now we just assemble… in the prettiest bowl you can find place the cut fruit and top with the dollop of ricotta.
  2. Sprinkle with raw sugar to sweeten the cheese and create a bit of sauce from the juices the fruit exude.

Wouldn’t this serve as a very pretty idea for a brunch or romantic breakfast??? Any other ideas on how to combine fruit and ricotta cheese???

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Guacamole Agrandado

15 Aug

We’re in avocado season… and there’s no way I can eat a whole avocado in slices in one sitting. Unless… It’s converted into guacamole!!!!!

My new thing with guacamole… eating it with BBQ potato chips instead of tortilla chips!!! These are the genius ideas one comes up in serendipity – when a natural doctor tells you to stay away from corn for a whole month.

And where does the “agrandado” comes from?? Agrandado in Spanish means “supersized”, like the combos in fast foods joints. We recently went to a Mexican restaurant and we wanted a small batch of pica de gallo and there were 2 options – regular and “agrandado”. I immediately though the agrandado version was simply… more quantity. But nooooooo… Agrandado meant it has pieces of queso fresco inside.

So for my sister’s recent visit, I decided to make my guacamole even BIGGER and BETTER with pieces of queso blanco del país inside… making it a Guacamole Agrandado!!!!

GUACAMOLE AGRANDADO

1 avocado, cut into small pieces
½ large tomato, peeled and finely diced
¼ medium onion, finely diced
The juice of 1 criollo lemon or lime
A drizzle of olive oil – about 1 tbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup of pieces of Queso Blanco del País or Mexican Queso Fresco or a mild Feta
2 tbs of fresh parsley (optional)
  1. Mix everything in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Let it stand in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors meld together.

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Papaya Mango Fruit Cup

8 Aug

Here’s the fruit cup… redefined. Ever since I finished my July 4th retreat I’ve been on a fruit thing. I have always mentioned you how I need and want to eat more fruits, but I am sometimes lazy. I’m getting over the laziness now. I am trying to have 3-4 fresh fruits on hand to eat as breakfast or a a snack while watching TV. Costco helps because I need to buy fruit in bulk and makes me eat fruit every day, several times a day before they spoil on me…

My favorite fruit salads are made from acidic and sub-acidic fruits… citrus, berries, kiwis, pineapple, grapes, peaches, plums, etc. I have made two of these Acid Fruit Salads for you already… But I also sometimes enjoy a sweet fruit combination – Papaya and Mango.

Papaya and Mango are both very soothing fruits to your system. They’re perfect when you’re feeling under the weather stomach-wise. I like this combination when finishing my days of fasting.

PAPAYA AND MANGO FRUIT CUP

Papaya, cut into small pieces, about ¼ of a small papaya
Mango, cut into small pieces
Hanfdul of raisins
Drizzle of Honey or Agave Nectar
Sliced almonds, optional but highly recommended

You determine how much is enough for your appetite…is I never measure, as you already know. This is more assembling the components than a recipe, really.

  1. Mix all the fruits together in a bowl. Drizzle with a bit of honey to add a tad of sweetness.
  2. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. I didn’t have any the other day, but I wanted to share this with all of you…

 

What’s your favorite fruit salad combination? Please share yours…

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Fried Cheese

5 Aug

I laughed super hard last week when I was watching some recorded Rocco’s Dinner Party episodes I had on TIVO. In one of the dinner parties, the chefs were presented with a variety of cheeses from around the world… or maybe just France, can’t remember. Well, they needed to pick and serve a cheese course with their suggested party menus.

Rocco was impressed… shall I say very impressed with a FRIED CHEESE bite he was served by one of the chefs. So impressed, he still was bragging about it yesterday during a Twitter thing we had where the viewers/fans can ask him all sorts of questions directly. I laughed all over again yesterday because I replied to him that fried cheese is wonderful… and I knew I had this “recipe”, if we could call it that, in my Pending To Post file. So… let’s Post it along…

I told you about Queso del País… so this is what you do it – you FRY it!!!

Queso Blanco is mild in flavor because it contains still water, or better said, the whey. But as soon as you fry it, the water evaporates, the flavors concentrate and it becomes a salty, delicious bite that can be enjoyed alone as an appetizer or to complement a variety of recipes…

FRIED CHEESE

There’s not a lot of science involved in the frying of Queso Blanco… but here are my pointers:

  • Use a non-stick skillet preferably.
  • You can fry it dry or you can use a bit of canola oil spray. I do not find it makes that much of a difference.
  • For some reason I have not figured out, my fried cheeses always deflate… but when you order fried cheese at a restaurant as an appetizer or at a party, they’re always breaded and still square. Maybe they freeze them before frying to hold their shape… I do not know because I have not tried it. But, the flavor is there even if the shape changes. And I do not think you need to bread it to get a nice color/presentation either…
  1. Just cut your pieces of cheese and place in a medium-hot skillet. The cheese will start of ooze some water/whey… let it. Leave it there for about 4-5 minutes until the cheese starts to get a brown, caramelized color.
  2. Flip over and brown the other side. It’ll take less time because most of the water in the cheese has evaporated already.

 

 

Enjoy it in various ways:

Today I am enjoying it with corn tortilla chips…

You could also place a few slices of fried cheese inside a tostón sandwich. Actually that’s the original way I was taught to make it and eat it. The tofu solution came afterwards when we had to go dairy-free for a while.

sand-toston-copy.jpg

It’s the best topping for Mangú… a Dominican dish made from mashed boiled plantains with lots of onions. I will have to make that one for you sometime soon.

Also, you can add pieces to some stewed peas and convert this to a Guiso Ananda or Mattar Paneer, an Indian dish made with paneer.

Any other ways you like to eat fried cheese??? Any other ways you like to eat it??? Please share all in the COMMENTS section… we love to hear from you.

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Vegetarian Frituras… well, of course!!!

18 Jul

I am very, very happy today… because I joined the Tiki Tiki Blog family as a contributor guest blogger.  The Tiki Tiki posted a story I wrote on how the words Latina and Vegetarian are not mutually exclusive and how us Vegetarian Latinas can still enjoy all our fried antojitos in a more healthful, meat-free way.

 

 

 

Carrie, who manages the Tiki Tiki Blog from Nashville, TN, shares great perspective on what it is to be a Latina today.  She had run a few months ago a series on how, as difficult as it may sound, there are Vegetarian Latinas out there… we are not figments of anyone’s imagination.  And we are not less Latinas or give our backs to our heritage or culture just because we decided to forgo animal-based proteins in our diets.  She was positively impressed by our recipes for Spinach Croquetas and BacalaFREEtos recipes that she wanted to share with all her readers.

Spinach Croquetas

BacalaFREEtos

Hope you like my post at Tiki Tiki Blog and hopefully this will be just the first of some more collaboration between us…  and a great shout out thank you to Adriana from Moros con Cristianos who introduced me to the Tiki Tiki blog.  Gracias mil…

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