This tomato is an American variety and commonly mistaken for being part of the heirloom variety. It’s flavor is bright while being slightly sweet and tart. Add a dash of lemon or orange juice to bring out some more of the tangy flavors.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh green asparagus spears, trimmed
• 8 oz neufchatel cream cheese, room temperature.
• 1/2 lb sliced prosciutto

Directions:

Lay out 2-3 slices of prosciutto with some overlapping. Then take a butter knife and spread the cream cheese on the prosciutto. Be careful to not exert too much force or you will rip the prosciutto in shreds. Take a bundle of asparagus (3 to 5) and place it on the prosciutto. Wrap up the asparagus in the prosciutto. Continue until finished with the asparagus bundles.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Once heated, cook for 15 minutes. Serve when finished baking.

I made the mexican rice casserole found on this website. Then garnished with a dollop of sour cream. I sliced up some avocado to accompany the dish. Add salt to the avocado to bring out the flavor of the fruit.

Description:

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup uncooked white rice
• 1-1/3 cups water
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1 tbsp Basil pesto sauce
• 1 bag shredded Mexican style cheese
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10.5 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup medium chunky salsa
• Spice and Tea Exchange Earthly Delights
• 4 oz goat cheese
• sour cream for garnish

Directions:

Cook the rice by placing in a pan and boiling it with water and about 1 teaspoon of oil. Let the water evaporate and then simmer for 20 minutes.

Next take another sauce pan and add about 2 cups of water. Then add the chicken and let it boil for 20 mins. Season it with the basil pesto.

In the meanwhile dice up the onion and place it in a bowl.

In another bowl, mix the cream of chicken, mushroom and salsa.

Once the rice and chicken are done, pull apart the chicken by taking two forks together and shredded the pieces.

Now you can assemble the dish. Take an 8 by 8 inch baking pan. Add the rice as a first layer. Then add the chicken. Next add the salsa cream mixture and then add cheese. Sprinkle the Spice and Tea Exchange Earthly Delights on the cheese. Then repeat the layers again. Right before adding the last layer of cheese sprinkle in some goat cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is browned.

Herb Roasted Potatoes are heavily seasoned and baked for 45 minutes. The steak is marinaded in Wishbone Italian Dressing and seasoned with McCormick’s Montreal Steak Seasoning. The steak is grilled from 5-7 minutes on each side depending on the cut. It will give you a medium to medium rare piece of steak. 

Description

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained (juice reserved)
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cups and 3 tbsp water
• 3 tbsp white sugar
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 drop orange food color
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cups water
• 1 quart vegetable oil for frying

Make sure your oil is clean when you deep fry the pieces.

Last night a friend of mine made our weekly (generally speaking) Sunday Funday dinner. He’s a talented cook who is interested in teaching his friends about new food.

Trifle-lites meet the: Okinawan yam. Ube. Purple yam. Japanese yam.

He made it by microwaving it with a little bit of water on the bottom of the bowl. He then simply added butter and some salt. It was quickly devoured. It can be bought at the Asian fo0d store. Since it was my first time eating it, I have yet to explore how else it could complement a meal but I will post as soon as I figure out some dishes in which to highlight this root.

Description:

Ingredients:

• Dark chocolate fudge Chocolate Cake from Duncan Hines
• Reese’s Peanut butter Chips
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Milk
• Instant vanilla pudding
• Vanilla

Directions:

Bake the cake using the instructions on the box. However, keep mixing the mixture on a high speed so that it makes it airy. Overwhipping it for some reason makes it light and not a dense cake.

Now you can make peanut butter from scratch, which I have done. But the work adds to the time. So unless you really want to make homemade peanut butter, I’ve found that the Reese’s peanut butter baking chips work in a pinch. You will need to melt it and then add heavy whipping cream. This will make it like a sauce. Make sure to keep it warm otherwise it will harden into peanut butter. Then add the milk directed on the instant vanilla pudding. Mix in the peanut butter sauce with the pudding. Let the pudding sit for at least 5 minutes if not longer.

Description: A Puerto Rican dish that resembles lasagna but this consists of super sweet plantains, mashed potatoes, chicken and golden plump raisins. I never grew up with this Puerto Rican dish despite being part of a Puerto Rican family. But it’s mixture of sweet and savory that is just out of this world.

Ingredients:

1. Shredded chicken, 2 lbs
2. 1 onion minced
3. 4 cloves garlic minded
4. 1 green pepper, diced
5. 1/2 cup italian parsley
6. Adobo
7. 2 tsp oregano
8. 2 tbsp vinegar
9. 1 envelope Sazón
10. 1/2 cup golden plump raisins
11. 1 cup of tomato sauce
12. 4 baking potatoes
13. 1/8 cup milk
14. 2 tbsp butter
15. 2 tbsp olive oil
16. salt

Directions:

Essentially you’re making mashed potatoes. So begin by boiling potatoes until fork tender. Drain and then mash up using a potato masher. Add 2 tbsp of butter and about 2 tbsp of milk. Add salt for some flavor.

The next step involves boiling your chicken. This will help create a chicken stock. I suggest using about 2bsp of Classico basil pesto in the water. It’ll give the chicken some flavor. Boil until tender – - perhaps about 8 minutes. Take two forks and use one to hold the chicken still. Use the other fork, pull apart the chicken into string pieces. Now it’s time to make a sauce for the chicken. In a sauce pan, add tomato sauce, vinegar, golden raisins, bay leaves, onion, green pepper, parsley, adobo, oregano and sazon. Add the chicken and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Now you will need to cook the plantains. Remove the skin from them and cut lengthwise. Heat a large frying pan with olive oil with enough to coat the bottom.  Fry plantains for 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.  Drain on a plate with paper towel and set aside.

Now that it’s done, the layering begins. Start with a layer of plantains, then add mashed potatoes between the cracks. Then add a layer of chicken and then a layer of cheese. Repeat again. Finish with a layer of cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes then switch it up to 400 degrees for 15 mins.

Piping Bag versus the Gun?

If you ever watch any cooking show that has bakers on it, you’ll find that they all cling to the piping bag. Oh, and the piping bag comes in a wonderful array from the professional white bag to the clear ziploc looking ones. The gun can be stainless steel or come in plastic too! With so many choices, it can leave you wondering what will be best. Should one purchase the bags and all its accessories or skip out on all that and get the gun with 5 or 6 tips?

From my experience, the piping bag will offer the most control. Additionally if the gun isn’t a standardized size then you can’t add new tips! So diversity rules on the piping bag. But there’s that thing about control. First time users will find the bag difficult! It’s lumpy; it means twisting up the already used portion of the bag to ensure things come out steady. You are the most responsible party if your lines are not straight.

But the piping gun offers a lot more stability. For the new user, I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s harder to mess up unless there’s something wrong with the equipment itself. Cleaning is a pain! You have to break down the gun and clean with the right equipment. But otherwise a less than steady hand can get in the practice one needs to become a good decorator.

There are examples on the right hand side of some mini cupcakes that I have designed. The peanut butter one is done with a gun. The flavors of the cupcakes are:

• Apple Pie Cupcake
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake
• Blackberry Cookie Cupcake