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Cordon Bleu Quesadilla

3 Jan

Why anything that has ham and cheese inside gets called Cordon Blue???  I tried to search for the answer but I couldn’t find anything definitive.  So basically, I have no idea…  And because the name “ham and cheese” quesadilla is not as sexy-sounding, I will borrow the Cordon Blue term for this dish. 

Of course we’re using vegetarian “ham”… another reason why I did not want to use this word in the dish’s name…  I buy mine in NYC’s Chinatown, in a small store that sells vegetarian/soy based goods.  We have come to learn that some brands are better than others, but if you have a Chinese neighborhood in your town, seek out the freezer section with many of these vegetarian/soy based goodies.

Here is a picture of the brand we buy- just in case you’re in the NYC area… it’s kind of big and expensive to buy for just one person.  But it keeps super well in the freezer.  I defrost a bit in the fridge and separate a small batch to keep handy with the rest of the sandwich fixings.  I do not eat this frequently, but it really tastes good when you want to recreate some recipe you made in the past with boiled ham.

This is a great snack or quick lunch…

 

CORDON BLEU QUESADILLA

1 whole wheat tortilla
2 slices of vegetarian “ham”
1 tsp olive oil
¼ cup shredded cheese – I use an Italian cheese blend with Asiago, Mozzarella, Parmesan, etc.
About 1 oz of goat cheese, like 1/2” slice crumbled into pieces
¼ cup of Red Pepper Sauce to dip

 

  1. First we cook the “ham” a bit… take a medium skillet over medium heat and drizzle the olive oil (remember these are soy based, so not a lot of fat in these slices).  Place the slices of ham and cook a bit so the slices get some nice color.  Turn to cook on both sides and set aside.  After the slices have cooled a bit, slice into ¼ inch pieces.
  2. In the same skillet, heat the tortilla to make it somewhat pliable.  On one half of the tortilla place the pieces of goat cheese, pace the slices of “ham”, top with the shredded cheese and fold the tortilla to create a half circle/half moon.
  3. Flatten the quesadilla with a spatula a bit to make sure the cheeses melt well and the tortilla browns a bit.  Flip to warm up the other side.

 

Serve alongside Red Pepper Sauce to give it a nice sweet touch…  you can dip it or you can drizzle on top of the quesadilla.  It’s your choice…

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Passion-Fruit Yogurt

6 Dec

I like yogurt… but I no longer buy fruit-flavored yogurts because most of them are made with gelatin.  Only a few brands out there make fruit-flavored yogurts without gelatin.  We can talk about those brands later on…

So for years now, I mostly buy plain or vanilla-flavored yogurt.  I have grown to love eating the yogurt plain like that.  I love it in creamy dips, smoothies or just with a drizzle of honey or agave nectar.  But every once in a while, I like a fruit-flavored yogurt… that’s how I started making these…

Usually fruit-flavored yogurts come already mixed or with the fruit at the bottom. My version has the fruit on top…

 

PASSION-FRUIT YOGURT

½ cup of plain or vanilla yogurt
The pulp of 1 passion fruit
1 tbs agave nectar or honey
  1. Just mix the ingredients in a small demitasse… mix together well and enjoy.

The seeds of the passion fruit will give a nice crunch to the treat.  I enjoy this as a breakfast, as a treat, as a dessert.

Don’t the seeds look awesome on top of the yogurt???

Passion-Fruit Yogurt on Foodista

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Tofurky Kielbasa Sweet Bites

3 Dec

About 10 years ago I was out with a bunch of friends “parrandeando” – which in Puerto Rico is when you go from house to house in Christmas time singing “parrandas”, which is our very typical version of Xmas carols. 

The idea of “parrandas” is to create a group of friends who will surprise an unsuspecting friend while they’re sleeping and wake them up playing music outside…  the person who was woken up opens up their house to their surprise visitors and offers them things to eat and drink while the group continues to sing songs.  Afterwards, you take the friend you just woken up with the rest of group to wake up another friend… and so forth about 3-4 times in a night. 

I remember when I was little to go in “parrandas” with my parents, in a huge long line of cars that would visit people and play music all night long.  Now with neighborhoods having access controlled gates is not as easy to sneak up on someone and surprise them in the night, but we have our ways to get around that…

So, back to the recipe… the thing is that about 10 years ago in one of these parrandas we went to wake up a friend of my then-boyfriend.  His wife made these kielbasa pieces covered in strawberry preserves… they we’re heavenly!!!  They were sweet and spicy all at the same time.  They became a staple every time we had a get-together to watch a basketball game or a boxing match.

But since I became a vegetarian, I had not had these polish sausage wonders.  One of the last times I went to Whole Foods in Miami I saw these Tofurky Kielbasa sausages.   I had never seen them in PR, although I now know Freshmart has them.  When I saw them I wondered if they tasted just like I remembered, but the second thought was… I need to try if they’ll work to make the polish sausage sweet bites I remembered and loved…

 kielbasa-sweet-bites

TOFURKY KIELBASA SWEET BITES

2 Tofurky Kielbasa sausages, sliced on a bias
1/3 cup strawberry preserves
About 1 tbs canola oil

 

When I used to make this using the real sausage, the sausage rendered a lot of fat that later I had to drain… but because the Tofurky has almost no fat to it, we will sauté them in a bit of oil…

kielbasa-pieces

  1. In a large skillet, heat the canola oil over medium -high heat.  Once the oil comes to temperature, add the Tofurky kielbasa pieces and sauté them lightly until they reach a nice golden color.
  2. When they have all a nice golden color, turn off the heat of the stove and add the strawberry preserves.  It will heat up and soften with the residual heat of the skillet.  Toss the kielbasa pieces with the preserves until they’re all well coated.
  3. Transfer them to a dish and allow them a few minutes before eating them.  The preserves will be too hot if you attempt to eat it right off the skillet.

 

I also like to eat these Tofurky Kielbasa sausages with some ketchup and mustard, like a hotdog.  I usually slice them in half length-wise and grill them in my George Foreman grill…  nice!!!

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Organic Lollipops

8 Nov

I have a sweet tooth… and for Halloween all I was craving were there lollipops from Yummy Earth.

 

Paletas

I tasted them first when my mom received them as a gift for her birthday.  They are not easy to find here in Puerto Rico, but you can indeed find them.  They’re not only delicious, but they’re also ORGANIC.

The bag comes in 4 flavor varieties…  my favorite are Pomegranate Pucker and Mango Tango.

 Try them soon and let me know what you and your kids think, OK?

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Savory Onion Rings

31 Jul

I do not know why, but these past few days I have been craving onion rings like crazy.  I have been eating at Fuddruckers for a few days and my eyes just go after their onion rings…

My friend Rosani and I had to take care of those cravings the other day by making some onions rings at the Yoga Center.   We like to take care of our figure, but the Puerto Rican in us just can’t help to gravitate once in a while to some good fried foods.

Here’s how we did it…

 Onion Rings 1

SAVORY ONION RINGS

2 large white onions, sliced at about ½ inch thick rings and separated
About 2 cups of chickpea and fava flour, plus about 1 cup more to dunk the onions in
About 1 tbs sea salt
2 tbs sofrito
1 tbs garlic and herbs seasoning
Water – about ½ a cup first and more if needed
Canola oil for frying

 

  1. In a large skillet with high sides if possible, heat about 1 inch deep of canola oil over medium-high heat.  Let it come to temperature and test it using the back side of a wooden spoon like I show you here.  Do not fill the skillet with oil unto the top; leave some space on the skillet because the oil will bubble.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the 2 cups of flour, the sofrito, salt, and seasonings.  Mix well with the first 1/2 cup of water. The batter should be the consistency of pancake batter.  It should be thick enough to stick to the onions.
  3. In a separate dish place the remainder cup of flour.  Dunk the onion rings into the dry flour before dunking in the wet batter.  From the batter, we go to the hot oil.
  4. Onion Rings - Batter
  5. Fry only a few onion rings at a time to maintain oil temperature as steady as possible.
  6. Drain onto a paper towel to remove excess oil.  Sprinkle with extra sea salt if you want.

   Onions Rings - Rosani

I like to eat my onion rings with just ketchup… how about you???

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