Tag Archives: tomato

Fried Quesadillas

20 Sep

I get these cravings sometimes… it could be anything, but lately it’s been of Mexican food. And not always I can get to Los Pioneros to get a fix of Tacos de Nopales. So I have to make do at home…

The easiest fix is to make quesadillas. A tortilla and cheese glorified into something special… When I visited Guadalajara and when I once traveled to NYC with my friend Guillén, I learned the best quesadillas need to be fried.

But I am trying to watch what I eat, because even when you’re vegetarian, I can add up some unwanted pounds. So I devised a way to get the feel and taste of the fried quesadilla without using lots and lots of oil.

Here’s how I make them…

FRIED QUESADILLAS

4 white corn tortillas, organic preferable
8-12 thin slices of pepper jack cheese
Olive Oil
  1. Brush tortillas with a little olive oil… as little as possible. I stack the tortillas and lightly oil the first one on top on one side, flip it and oil on the other side. This will slightly oil the second tortilla… then flip the second tortilla and so on until all tortillas are slightly oiled on both sides.

2.  Warm a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. You can do this with a small skillet, but it’s easier to make these quesadillas 2 at a time if you have the larger skillet. Place 2 tortillas side by side. They will overlap slightly… but don’t worry about that. Warm them on both sides for them to become pliable and somewhat charred on both sides. They will shrink a little…

3.   When tortillas have been warmed up on both sides, place 2- 3 cheese slices on one half of tortilla and fold over the side without cheese to create a half circle/half moon. Flatten the top of the tortilla with a spatula a bit to allow the top side of the tortilla to fuse to the cheese inside. Flip once or twice until both sides are toasted/charred a bit and the cheese has melted completely.

4.  Set aside on a plate to allow to cool a bit before serving. Repeat with remaining tortillas and cheese.

These are quesadillas to eat with your hands… not with a fork and knife. The corn tortilla is heartier and it will make it challenging to cut them up. So bite into them and enjoy.

Serve them with a side salad of tomato and avocado, guacamole or a fresh tomato salsa.

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Give new life to your recipes…

30 Aug

In the spirit of reusing, reducing and recycling I wanted to share with you some of my recipes and how do I use them and re-use them in other preparations. As a very wise Alton Brown once said in one of his TV shows – “There is no room in my kitchen for uni-taskers!!!” I think Alton was referring more to kitchen utensils and gadgets than recipes… but you get my drift.

In my everyday life I cook and eat most everything I post here in this blog… and when making a recipe, I sometimes have leftovers. Sometimes… too much leftovers for just one person to chow down. I personally try as much as possible to cook just for now and maybe, to have something for tomorrow… but in my ideal world, I would cook for just now and make everything fresh right before I eat it.

Something I learned from the Yoga Center is that if you’re using leftovers, at least combine them with fresh stuff to give the leftovers a new lease on life. You see… leftovers have lost some of its nutritional value because it’s been a while since they’ve been cooked. This is the exact same reason why I discourage the consumption of frozen prepared meals or that convenient idea of cooking one day for the whole week and then just reheat and eat it whenever you’re hungry. If it’s something you do occasionally… it’s not that bad, but doing it as a system, well, in my opinion, you’re always eating old food that’s not as healthy and nutritious as when it was originally cooked.

So here are my ideas to use recipes the next day converting them into new dishes altogether. This way, we use our leftovers right away and do not accumulate lots if little containers in our fridge. OK??

Whenever I make Bruschetta Mix, I eat some as a snack or appetizer, but I always try to make more than I think I’ll need and eat with pasta.

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When I have leftover mashed potatoes – or just leftover boiled potatoes – this is a perfect opportunity to create a pastelón with it. Cook a filling made of veggies or soy protein and top with your favorite cheese…. And there you have a complete meal.

You are familiar already with my Meyer Lemon Thyme Granita recipe… if you do not want to eat it all as a granita, what I have done in the past is save pieces of the leftover frozen simple syrup in a freezer bag. And every time I want to create a fruit smoothie I supplement the ice/juice in my smoothie with a few pieces of the frozen lemon thyme mixture. The end result is a great tangy taste to your favorite morning drink… My suggestion, add a few pieces to a BB Shake – banana, blueberries, meyer lemon, thyme… YUM!!!

Anytime you have leftover rice, it’s easy to give it new life by adding a few delicious odds and ends you might have in your fridge. Just make your very own version of Millionaire Rice, the one that would cost you and arm and a leg if you had to go and buy so many ingredients to make, but it’s cinch just using up whatever you have cluttering up you fridge. Or make some Rice with Corn.  And if after making rice you still end up with a leftover, you can revive it once again into a Stuffed Pepper.

Cooked greens is not something I grew up with… eating spinach, for example, was an acquired taste I developed well into adulthood. If you make a version of creamed spinach to fill a spinach crepe… you can use any leftover mix into a Spinach Canelloni with the same crepes but adding some ricotta cheese to the filling and topping with tomato sauce. Add some more flour and create delicious Spinach Croquetas. You could even use it to fill a traditional Spinach Lasagna.

I hope you have learned a few tricks on how to give more mileage to the recipes you already know and how to use similar ingredients and flavors to enhance a brand new dish. This is kinda taking the semi-homemade concept to your leftovers.

What other magical recipes do you create based on your leftovers??? I want to learn something from you guys too!!!

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Chopped Avocado Salad Dressing

20 Aug

My grandpa instilled in us a love for avocados… to him, a salad with dinner would mean slicing a few “rajas” of avocado on the side. His favorite was rice and corn with ketchup and avocado. I know it sounds “kookie”, but you need to try it.

But the love for avocados comes from both sides of the family because once, while visiting my aunt and uncle in Miami, I had to buy a new suitcase to be able to travel with the 5 huge avocados my uncle bought for me to bring back home.

And as much as we love avocados, we don’t have a lot of family recipes using avocados. We just love them so; we do not see them as an ingredient in a recipe. They’re the exclamation point to any dish they’re added to!!! A few slices or wedges of avocado on the side of anything make the meal better. A soup??? Drop a few pieces of avocado inside to make it sing… A sandwich?? Slice a few avocados to make it creamier…

Lately I am training for a ½ marathon and I am trying to eat better and leaner. I am eating more salads, which I like, but I am particularly lazy to make them at home often. I’ve found the best way to fall in love with a salad is to make a killer dressing. Fall in love with a dressing and you’ll fall in love with the salad underneath.

And because I want you to love avocados as much as I do… I want to present to you a very easy avocado based dressing that’s much a dressing as a salsa to brighten other dishes too.

CHOPPED AVOCADO SALAD DRESSING

½ large avocado, cut into little pieces
1 small tomato, diced finely
½ small white onion, diced finely
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
2 tbs Rice Vinegar
The juice of 1 small lime
½ tbs kosher salt
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
  1. Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and allow the mixture to meld and combine a few minutes before serving over your favorite salad.

Because the dressing includes avocados, tomatoes and onions, it’s great for a simple lettuce-only salad. You don’t need anything else IMHO. But this dressing also works as a topping for tacos, for burritos, for enchiladas… or as a sauce in sandwiches.

If you want more recipes using Avocados from Mexico, visit this link here. And if you live in the US, check out the coupons for Avocados clicking  right here.

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Caribbean Caprese Salad

16 Aug

To be honest… I was not going to blog about this. This was just the salad I had for lunch yesterday.

This was the order of events…

I am proud to say, I am friends in FaceBook with Top Chef Master Suvir Saran. We have friends in common and once I confused him with someone else because his face was familiar to me. Hello!!!! The mutual friend made me come to my senses and instead of him taking offense with my confussion, he friended me.  And we’ve been “FaceBook Friends” ever since.

Suvir shared a picture of a delectable Caprese Salad yesterday in his page and I was inspired to have a Caprese Salad for lunch too. I had some avocado I do not want to go to waste and I added some to my salad. That’s it… that’s how this dish came to be.

Photo Courtesy of Chef Suvir Saran

Today, I shared my pic in Facebook, emulating Suvir’s move and there are so many Likes and compliments that I was urged to share here with you all. People want to learn to make this salad… so, here’s the non-recipe:

 

CARIBBEAN CAPRESE SALAD

Romaine Lettuce – 3 leaves, cut thinly into strips
About 10 GrapeTomatoes, halved
3 slices of Fresh Mozzarella – ripped into smaller pieces
2 wedges of avocado, cut small
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar – the best aged one you can find
Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Just assemble the veggies in a plate.
  2. Drizzle olive oil, balsamic vinegar over the veggies. Sprinkle with salt and pepper over salad.
  3. Toss to combine as you eat it.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This was fresh, filling yet left me space to eat some mashed potatoes with broccoli. I know the combination sounds weird, but that’s my lunch menu for you.

Thanks Adela for encouraging me to share this… please, now PIN AWAY!!!! 😉

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“Chorizo” Pizza

18 Jun

In Spanish there’s a saying that goes… “Lo prometido es deuda.” which translates to “what you promise, you owe”. And I promised you I was going to gather for you the recipe for the winning pizza from the 1st Devanand pizza festival. After much pleading and almost begging, Yazmín, the creator of the winning delicacy, agreed to share her recipe with me and all of you, KarmaFree Cooking avid fans.

This winning “chorizo” pizza… and please notice the word chorizo is in quotation marks… because when I tried this pizza initially I was immediately transported to those pizzas they served at the movie theaters back in the day when double features were the norm. Do you remember too??? Or maybe even those pizzas they served at Woolworth in Plaza las Americas when I was a little girl. All you Puertorros out there can relate, right???

I believe, the connection of flavors to those memories is what made this pizza the winning pie at the festival. Among the judges were my mom and she certainly had tasted those pizzas of yesteryears I mentioned you from Cine Astor, Cine Martí and Woolworth. And ever since that day I was intrigued how Yazmín could capture that chorizo flavor… because the “chorizo” was as greasy and tasty as I remembered it.

I thought it was made from “soyrizo”… but when I actually bought it and tasted it, the taste as too prominent of cumin and I knew that wasn’t the flavor I had tasted on that delicious winning pizza. I thought then it was some sort of textured soy protein, but no, it wasn’t the same texture. Until one day I asked Yazmín directly and she revealed the “secret” to her “chorizo” – – VEGGIE HOT DOGS!!!! Veggie Hot Dogs cooked and seasoned with annatto oil to give them that greasy red orangey color of those chorizo pizzas I remembered.

I will admit… I have eaten this recipe many times after that pizza festival, but I have never ever made it myself. Hey, if Yazmín is my friend and she volunteers to make this each and every time our Guruji wants to eat some pizza, why in the world would I bother making it myself??? But I can assure you that if you have any questions at all about making this, I will relay all your messages to her and gather you the appropriate answers. We could even do a Twitter party if you all are up to it…

Gayatri, who helped make this “chorizo” pizza with her mom, Yazmin

I hope you all like this pizza… as much as I, my mom and the rest of the Yoga Center do. I think I might just call Yazmín right now to see when she will make another one of these real soon. I am getting a craving!!!!

“CHORIZO” PIZZA

Makes 2 large pizzas or 4 individual pizzas

 2 ¼ cups of All Purpose Baking Flour GF (Bob’s Red Mill) sifted and some more to work the dough
1 ¼ cups oatmeal flour gluten-free, sifted
¼ cup gluten substitute from Orgran
6 ¾ tsp xanthan gum
1 ¾ tsp sea salt
3 ½ tsp olive oil
3 ½ tspsapple cider vinegar
2 ¼ soy milk, warm
3 ½ tbs dry yeast
3 ½ tbs brown sugar
3 ½ tsp garlic poder
1 ¾ dry oregano
3 packets of organic cheese, shredded
 
 
Tomato Sauce
6oz of organic tomato paste
3 cups of water
1 tbs annatto oil
Salt
Garlic powder
Italian Seasonings 
Vegetable bouillon cube (optional)
 
“Chorizo”
1 package of veggie hot dogs, finely grated
1 vegetable boullion cube
1 tbs water
Sea Salt
Garlic Powder
2-3 tbs annatto oil
  1.  Mix the flours, gluten substitute, xanthan gum, salt, garlic powder and oregano.
  2. In a glass jar mix gently the cup of warm milk, olive oil, sugar, vinegar and yeast. Allow to rest for about 5 minutes, or until you see the yeast start to bubble.
  3. In a stand mixer with the hook attachment on #2 speed, add the remaining warm milk, the yeast mixture and slowly start adding the flour mixture. Once in a while, scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to make sure it’s all well incorporated.
  4. Mix for a few minutes until you see the dough is getting elastic. Take the dough out of the mixer and transfer to a oiled glass bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Place in a warm place in your kitchen for about 30 minutes to allow the dough to rise evenly.
  5. While we wait for the dough to rise, we make the tomato sauce and the “chorizo”…
  6. For the sauce, mix all the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix together well and allow the vegetable bouillion cube to dissolve well, if using. Cook it for about 10-15 minutes until the sauce thickens. Set aside.
  7. For the chorizo, in another saucepan add the water and vegetable bouillon cube and dissolve well over medium high heat.
  8. Add the grated veggie hot dog and mix well.
  9. Add the annatto oil and season with the salt and garlic powder. Mix well and cook over the stove for a few minutes until the mixture becomes a homogeneous saucy concoction. Set aside.
  10. Pre-heat oven to 325F and grease two 16” pizza pans.
  11. Divide the dough in half and knead with your hands using some extra flour trying to make a ball. Now, flatten out with your hands and a rolling pin until you can cover the pizza pan with the dough. Place on top of pan and create a border by folding the edges a bit.
  12. Dock the center of the pizza dough with a fork. Brush extra olive oil over the dough.
  13. Place the sauce over the dough. Place some of the chorizo mixture over the sauce and top with a generous amount fo shredded cheese.
  14. Bake in oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until you see the cheese is melted and golden brown and the edges of dough are golden.

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