Hispanic Food Fest w/ Guest Chef MeLisa & her Puerto Rican SecretFamily Recipe

We are pleased to welcome you along on our journey to Hispanic food mania!!! These photos and their captions should prove sufficient in telling our story:

This was the end product of our shopping trip but only the beginning of our flavorful, margarita-fueled kitchen adventure!

Pictured above: avocados, broccoli, extra long grain white rice, lemon, lime, sofrito, recaito, garlic, red & green bell peppers, baby (bebé) bellas, red onions (rojo), Tabasco saaauuuce, gondules, pitted green olives (verde), sazón, Goya discos, 93/7% ground beef, plum tomatoes, un potato, chips (whole grain), habaneros!, ham steak, and of course, the most high-end tequila that exists in the world: Montezuma...and margarita mix. (If you're ever wondering what section to find margarita mix, refer to the 4th photo below.) 

If you noticed, these were NOT included on the table. MeLisa made me put them back. I couldn't NOT put them on the blog though.

This one's for Yvonne! (Hi Yvonne!!!!) Sazón (seasoning) con culantro y achiote -- for flavor AND color. "A little magic in little foil packets," so says the packet.

Discos. If you're ever wondering where to find theseeee when you're making empanadas, find the Hispanic frozen section! Also, sitting on them helps to defrost them. We're guessing...

NOTE: the section of the aisle. Next to water, the booze mixers. We'll take one.

Well. I said: "Hey. MeLisa. they're really sharp knives." She nicked herself. The bleeding stopped almost instantly. You'd think she would have learned her lesson. Not 3 minutes later, another yelp! Bleeding didn't stop this time. I attribute 80% of this incident to the movement of the cheap, plastic cutting "board." And 15% to the Montezuma. 5% to MeLisa's overzealous nature. I'm willing to negotiate those calculations. Inquire within.

I, for one, did not cut myself in the preparation of my GUAC!!!!! However, I did use a food processor to do most of my "chopping." What you see here: cilantro, 2 plum tomatoes, red onion, 4 avocados, garlic, lime juice, salt, pepper, few hits of Tabasco. #NOMMMMMM.

Mashmashmashmashmashmashmashmash. MeLisa is so good at action shots. Mashmashmashmashhhh.

Ok, Yvonne. Don't worry. We are not disclosing the ingredients nor the preparation of your secret family recipe here. So, we'll just say: there's a lot of foods and seasonings happening within this pot. And some very specific cooking instructions. (I almost got slapped. Felt like I was cooking with Grammy again.) For future reference/note to self: less water.

Two things happening here: seasoning/sautéing the veggies for my veggie empanadas AND a (VERY CRUCIAL) makeshift pot lid consisting of aluminum foil and a small sauté pan. You're welcome, MacGyver.

Ok folks. Here starts the empanada making process. First, lay out a humongous line of cocaine flour.

I prepared veggies for my filling. MeLisa did her classic beef.

1/2 lb. of ground beef, red onions, sofrito, recaito, sazón, finely chopped green olives (for briny-ness), touch of tomato sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, oregano...among other ingredientes secretos.

Look at this trooper! Giving me an empanada tutorial with a bum finger.

At least the tape matches the disco! 

My turn! Wait'll you see my video commentary. 

Ta-Da! (Stance is very important.)

Eat. With. Your. Eyes. Oh mah gahhhh. Mm. Yes. Uh-huh. #nom

Don't you just want to Nom on that?!

Looooooook at it. Mmmm. Can you smell it?

We done good. #flawless 

Since this food collaboration was such a success, there will definitely be more in the near future. (: And guess what?! Not even too many leftovers! Sorryyyy (not sorry).

Dad's Famous Chili!!!

It was a chilly chili day! So I made a list and gathered ingredients for dad's famous chili. (: 

Anyone want to guess the ingredient I forgot and had to pause the cooking process to go back out for?

Chili powder. 

Yep. 

Stuffed Chicken w/ Skillet Toasted Penne

Well, well, well. Back on my cooking game! This time at 15 Law St. I might have to rename the blog...

I wanted to do goat cheese stuffed chicken. But no luck at Redner's finding goat cheese. My alternative? Laughing Cow spreadable cheese wedges. (: 

Pounded out chicken cutlets and added a little salt n pep. Then spreaded the lovely garlic & herb spreadable cheese. Rolled her up, tied each end w Grammy's famous food rope, as I like to call it. I dipped them in egg then breadcrumbs. And right before I put them in the oven at 350, I poured melted butter on top!

The pasta? Oh my. Well. I somewhat followed a recipe from Cooking Light magazine. I cooked up some bacon and zucchini (fresh from a NEPA backyard garden)...the zucchini not the bacon. Removed them and added some butter/oil to sautee onions and garlic before I tossed in the raw penne. 

Toasted up the penne nice and good in the pan, and then treated it like a risotto and added spoonfuls of warm chicken broth to the pan intermittently. When the starch from the pasta is released into the liquid, it becomes a creamy sauce. And. So. Good! So so good. Threw some spinach in at the last minute. And then tossed the zucchini and bacon back in. Topped with shredded Parmesan. (:

I sliced a baguette and added some olive oil, shaved Parmesan, and cracked black pepper. 

Aunt Mare didn't even add any salt or pepper!!! Successful dish (: pretty proud. 

Mexican Fiesta Chicken Tacos

So we pull into Wegmans because Dina wants a CASE of energy drinks. (When searching for that much caffeine, I dare not argue.) "Ok fine, but before we get out of the car, can I look online for some inspiration for dinner tonight? Wanna throw something on the grill?" We agree that we both want chicken, so I start looking up a yummy marinade. She throws out the idea for chicken tacos, I agree that sounds delightful, and we're off. Pretty simple. If only the whole trip were that simple...

There was way too many people in there to move about comfortably. Dina made the hasty comment that "Walmart shoppers must have all of a sudden realized Wegmans existed today," a little too loud for one nearby mother's liking. So I take the cart and shimmy out of traffic and watch while she makes her way, Frogger style, up to the chicken and grabs a package. A huge, family sized, chicken breast package. My face must've said it all, because she immediately snapped, "it was the only one I could grab! We'll freeze the rest!" I say nothing. A short argument later and this is the chicken we end up with: small packet of tenders:

She doesn't quite like the bang for our buck with this package, but I won that one. 

After the third time of her asking me to get off my phone (looking for a yummy marinade!), I tell her "ok I found one! We need orange juice and cilantro!" "Why do we need orange juice?! This always happens. Why can't we just grill some chicken and put salsa on it? I don't understand! This always ends up costing more!" She gets the orange juice, but then (like the pain in the ass I am) tell her, "hey go ahead and put it back if you don't want it. I'll just use this Mexican Fiesta packet over here that I found to make the marinade then." All that fuss about getting extra ingredients (including OJ) and she ends up keeping it in the cart!! (For those of you keeping track, that's Emilee-2 Dina-0.)

Takes a while but we finally agree on salsa (garlic lime, my win), chips (Herr's oval shaped, her win because I wanted the Wegmans brand and she refused), and then last minute I decided we needed shredded cheese. She was already in line so I had to sprint to the back right corner of the store (that's where she told me the cheese was). God forbid I make her wait while the cashier was running our items...saw Mrs. Makarczyk on my way to the back. I would normally stop and give her a hug and chat for a bit...but all I could mutter was, "Hi!! I'm in a hurry, or I'd stop!!"  By the time I get to where I was directed, I thought for sure the cashier would be checking out and I had even less time. Well. The cheese was not in the back right corner. It was the back left. I'm running, she's calling my phone, I don't feel it vibrating, I sprint back to the register (which only had one more item to scan!), made it in the nick of time! And am greeted with a stern: "where's your phone?" Out of breath I hand her the cheese and grab the phone from my waistband. 

Anyway, the food ended up being deelish. But the moral of the story is, don't go to the grocery store with your gf when she's cranky and hungry. 

Kabobs All Day, E'ry Day

So. This happened tonight:

For a first time, we didn't do too shabby! Mushrooms, red, yellow, and orange peppers, green zucchini, purple onion, Italian marinated chicken...and Dina insisted on potatoes. (: They could have stayed on the grill for about 7 minutes longer, veggies were a little crunchy, but tasty nonetheless. 

Can't forget my fav summer beer: Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy to make it a complete meal! Now I'm craving ice cream, so Cold Stone here we come. There's seriously nothing like June, July, & August. 

Homemade Burgers on the Grill feat. Guest Chef Dina

Coming to you LIVE from North East PA:

First time using the grill this season! And first time ever, really. Hence: guest chef Dina!!! Taking over the grill duties. So here's what's in the patties: 1 beaten egg, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, seasoned breadcrumbs, and....shredded pepper jack cheese!!! (Yeah.) Once we portioned out the patties, we added steak seasoning to both sides. I also through together some sliced cucumbers in Olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic dressing. And picked up some easy macaroni salad from the deli at Shiel's. Very little prep time, even shorter cook time, and an ultra yummy meal. Add in Twisted Teas, tiki torches, and a pretty lady and I have myself one satisfying, gorgeous, almost-summer evening. (:

Lemon Pepper Everything!

Well, where to begin?! Garlic pepper porkchops and Montreal chicken were BOGO this week at the ACME. *old lady impression* And a few weeks ago Dina and I went to Shad Fest and bought homemade pasta from Pappardelle's: lemon pepper, spicy Thai, and roasted garlic. I happen to have an opened lemon pepper marinade in the fridge, so I added that to the pork chops when I seared them and then finished them in the oven. Added olive oil, salt, and pepper to the cooked lemon pepper pasta and Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper to the steamed brussel sprouts. 

A Very Veggie Monday

I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm eating like one tonight. Using what I had in the freezer: tilapia and vegetables. It's very unlike me to have a meal without pasta. Olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic pepper, and cayenne on the fish. Baked it in the oven at 400°. Satueed the veggies with just about the same, except used Adobo instead of salt. (Learned my lesson with that one!) It's missing lemon :( oh well. That's what I get for not going to the store in over in a week. Next lesson learned tonight? Don't use the stove in a small apartment when it's 85° outside and your landlord hasn't installed your AC units yet. Baking like my fish as I eat it. Come on breeze!!!! Oh, don't use so much cayenne either. #sweating

Breaded Chicken Cutlets w/ Cauliflower Mash and Roasted Asparagus

FLAVOR PUNCH!!!! First time making cauliflower mash! Got inspiration from a few different Allrecipes dishes and used whatever I had left in my fridge. Here's how it went: boiled & drained the cauliflower - spooned in the last of my reduced fat sour cream and chive cream cheese into the hot pot - added minced garlic - returned the cauliflower to the pot - seasoned well (salt, pepper, garlic powder, garlic pepper grinder, the last of my shredded cheddar, Parmesan cheese) - mixed together with a spoon - then stuck in the emmersion blender. And Wawaweewa!! I was impressed for my first time!

Asparagus are simply tossed with Olive oil, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. A little shredded mozzarella and crushed red added to top it off. 

Happy Birthday, Mom!!! Not that you'll be able to try it. Sorrrryyyy.