Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Spur of the Moment Meals

Raw Ground beefImage via Wikipedia

Since the boys are out of school now, they aren't spending a lot of time here at the house - they're visiting with their mother and grandmother now that they're free from homework and school. For me, that means I don't cook - I'm happy with cereal, oatmeal, tuna fish and sandwiches. Johnny eats out on the road during the day while he's working, and he's content to have something light in the evenings, too.

But today it happened that we were both hungry. That's why I always keep a few staples around for throwing together a quick meal. I usually have a few 1/2 kilos of ground beef in the freezer, various noodles, beans, tomato paste and sauces... like I said, basics. So here's what I did when we decided we wanted something to eat.

Beefy Ramen - serves 4

Ingredients:
1/2 K (1lb) ground beef
2 packets of Ramen noodle Oriental flavor
2 Italian tomatoes, de-seeded and cut up into small pieces
1/2 a large onion, cut lengthwise in strips
1 pack of Maggi Sofrito, or your favorite stir fry or teriyaki sauce.

First, I put the Sofrito in my frying pan and start warming it up.
Add the sliced onions and the ground beef, stir it all up and cook it until the beef is browned through.
Add about 3-4 cups of water, bring it to a boil. The water doesn't need to be deep, just enough to get all of your noodles into.
Add in your Ramen noodles, the seasoning packs and the tomato.
As the noodles start to cook, break them apart so they can cook evenly.
Cover and let cook 3-5 minutes.

You can serve as is, I did and it was fine.
If you'd prefer a thicker sauce, you can thicken it with a little cornstarch or flour.

Johnny LOVED this - I was kind of surprised, it was so different from anything he usually eats.

If you're in the US and would like to try some Sofrito, it's available here - LatinProducts.com. If you're in Peru, it's available at Wong, Plaza Vea, etc in the seasoning aisle. It's really great for doing a quick stir-fry.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Roast Turkey BreastImage by pellis via Flickr

We ended up with a holiday worthy of 'A Christmas Story'.

Christmas Eve, I'm expected my husband's family to show up, as they have every year for the last 5, with all the food - my mother in law cooks every thing, and I typically make a side dish or two.

Around 6pm, i ask my husband who all is coming - and he casually replies 'Oh, didn't I tell you? Everyone is going over to my aunt's for Xmas eve, because she's sick and can't get out' .

For some reason, it had never been mentioned, although I'd been asking for 3 weeks what the plans were for Xmas eve.

Well, we had company in the house, backpackers from Venezuela and Ecuador, that we had invited to stay for Xmas with us instead of going on to Bolivia on the 23rd as they'd planned, so it would have been bad form for us to slide off to someone else's house. So we rushed off to Wong and got a pre-cooked turkey part, a couple boxes of salads and cookies, and what not.

Unbeknownst to me, the Venezuelan had also gone off shopping, and came home with enough food to feed a small army - lechon, more salads, more what not.

I started cooking scalloped potatoes (I had to have one favorite side dish of my own), and at about 10 pm (about the time I'm inviting people over - sadly, no one showed :() my husband says, 'I'll be back in a few minutes, I'm going to run to my aunt's house and say Merry Xmas to everyone - no more than half an hour. I looked at him and said... 'Do NOT leave me all alone on Xmas eve.'

At 10 minutes to midnight (!!!) I'm calling my husband on the cellphone - 'Where the heck are you?? it's almost time to eat?? He walked in at midnight, calmly mentioning 'I'm not really hungry, I already ate over there'.

I punched him in the arm. :oops:

The guests had gotten tired and gone to bed, but the fireworks woke them up.

Well, the fireworks and our dogs, who went absolutely berserk when the fireworks started up.

So - the food turned out being delicious, and we all ate until we were stuffed, then talked for a while, drank a bunch of wine, and finally fell into bed around 3am.

Hope your Christmas was as exciting as mine!!
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Zarsa - Peruvian Salsa

Onion and lettuce from a chicken sandwich I go...Image via Wikipedia

If there's one thing you can say about Peruvians, it's that they love onions. Red onions are a part of just about every meal. Even when they aren't cooked into the food, you'll find them served raw as a side dish. This side dish is officially called 'Salsa Criolla' , but everywhere you go, you'll see it called 'zarsa'.

2 Medium red onions
1 aji limo
2-3 limones (or key limes, if you're in the US)
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro (optional)

Cut the onions in half from top to bottom and peel off the outer skin. Slice in super thin half rings. When you've got everything sliced up, put it all in a colander, and rinse under cold water.

Slice your aji limo, also in very thin slices, so that you have little thin rings of pepper. It probably won't take the whole pepper, I usually add between 5-10 little tiny slices of it, depending on the size of my onions. It all depends on how spicy you like your zarsa.

Combine the onion slices and aji slices in a serving bowl. Sprinkle on salt and pepper, add about a tablespoons worth of finely chopped cilantro (if you like it - it's not necessary), then juice the limones over the whole thing. Stir to mix everything together. You can serve right away, or let it sit for a half hour or so, to let the flavors meld.

Great on hamburgers, hot dogs, with fried fish, fried chicken, on top of avocado slices - or just by itself as a side dish. I make this nearly every day!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Saturday, December 5, 2009

I make the BEST roast chicken


If you live in Peru, you have the secret to absolutely delicious roast meats right in your grocery store.

In the section of the supermarket where they sell seasonings and mixes, you'll find some sauces under the brand name Piki. I've been using the rocoto molida for cooking and my husband likes to put in on his food. One day, I'm in Plaza Vea trying to figure out what I want to do different with the chicken that week, and I notice this 'Piki Aderezo para Pollo'. I figured, what the heck, and bought it.

Oh my. It made the most delicious chicken I've ever had. I put 4 leg quarters in a glass baking dish, and just poured the sauce on top and spread it around. Then I covered it and let it marinate for about an hour. Later, i cooked it in the oven at 350F for about 40-45 minutes. It came out with perfect seasoning, juicy, tender - my guys LOVE it. That with some potatoes, rice and salad, and it's a perfect meal.

This week, after such success with the chicken, I decided to try one of their other products - Aderezo para Cerdo - and used it to marinade a pork tenderloin. Now, tenderloins are very lean, so I usually wrap them in bacon to make sure they have enough fat cooking with them to stay juicy. It was not necessary with this marinate! I did add about a half cup of water, since I was cooking it uncovered, so that it wouldn't cook out completely. They cooked absolutely delicious and tender and juicy. It was hard to get the boys to leave enough for their Dad to eat when he got home!

So, if you're in Peru, I highly recommend giving the Piki line a try. And as an added bonus, if you aren't in Peru, it looks like you can buy it online - InkaProducts.net.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Friday, November 20, 2009


Is this a gorgeous French oven or what? (well, I'd call it a Dutch oven, I don't know what's the diff? if you know, tell me!) I want it so bad!! I think of all the things I could cook with it. Ok, mainly I think of a big pot roast in the oven, but it would be awesome for baking bread, too. This Le Creuset cook ware is expensive, but man, that's the stuff of my dream kitchen. I think if I ever start making enough money, I'm gonna buy everything they make! It's cast iron, which I love love love, but it's coated with a porcelain enamel, so it's easy to clean and looks so pretty! I'm telling ya - I'm gonna have this thing one day! As much as I like the red, I think the cobalt blue would go better with my kitchen...

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Strawberry Smoothie Recipe

Strawberry SmoothieImage by Poldavo (Alex) via Flickr

I love smoothies. I love strawberry smoothies the best. Especially with banana. I like to make them for me and the boys for breakfast because it's so yummy, and so healthy. And so easy!

For your strawberry smoothie, start with a pint of strawberries. I rinse them, cut off the stem and then cut them into smaller pieces - it doesn't have to be real small, because it's going in the blender anyway. I put them all in a tupper and then sprinkle a little sugar over the top - just a dusting. Then, I put them in the freezer and let them freeze solid.

Meanwhile, I peel a couple bananas, cut them up and put them in a plastic bag and freeze them too.

Next day, everything's ready for breakfast!

Get the blender out, drop in all your cut up, frozen fruit. Add enough drinkable yogurt to come to the same level as the top of your fruit (I hope that makes sense!) And then blend! If it's too thick, you can add more yogurt or cut it with a little skim milk to thin it down.

If you don't have drinkable yogurt, you can make your own. Or, add in a 8 oz cup of regular vanilla yogurt, and add skim milk as necessary. Or instead of milk, add a little orange juice.

If your smoothie isn't sweet enough, add a little honey.

I like to put my smoothie in bowl, and sprinkle it with some muesli or puffed wheat.

If you love smoothies like I do, you'll want to check this out - Amazing Smoothies

AND - Speaking of strawberry smoothies, MAN - I want this so bad!!

Vita Mix 1300 Turboblend 4500

It looks so awesome - We make a lot of smoothies and fruit drinks, and I'd LOVE to be able to sneak in some veggies like spinach or kale. I know the boys need more raw foods and green veggies, but David in particular just doesn't like them, and I refuse to force them to eat things they really don't like. (I make them take a forkful, but no more than that) My blender is a good little Oster, but it's just not strong enough to really blend in tough green veggies. I'd love to get a Vita Mix, and give my kids some SUPER powered drinks before school!

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Sunday, September 27, 2009

No More KFC!

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)Image by viZZZual.com via Flickr

Well, not delivery, anyway.

I know, we shouldn't be eating Kentucky Fried Chicken at all - it's bad for your health and of course there are signs that they aren't very nice to the chickens - I mean, even before they bread and deep fry them. We don't eat it all that much, I usually cook - but sometimes, we just want something a little more... fattening? Crispy? Whatever it is that its got, we want it.

But last night, I called and ordered an 8 piece chicken dinner, with cole slaw, french fries etc. When they brought it to the house,I looked in the box, and there were three legs, three wings, one breast and one piece that looked like it might have been part of the back! So we called them up and raised hell. I expect an 8 piece chicken dinner to have 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings and 2 breasts... the whole chicken, right? I don't think that's out of line! Imagine going to Roky's and ordering a whole pollo a la brasa and getting home to find a bunch of legs in the bag!

So... 20 minutes later, the delivery guy shows up with a new box of chicken. We go to exchange it, and my husband tells me to check it out before the guy leaves. SAME PARTS OF CHICKEN - except in place of one wing, there's now another one of these little pieces that looks like the chicken's back. Seriously, it was like one bite of chicken on that thing. I put them on a plate and showed the delivery guy... do you see this? What chicken has 3 legs? This is not what the order is supposed to be! So - he says... um, well, just keep it all, we'd just have to throw it out anyway.

Moral of the story - Don't order KFC delivery - to paraphrase Joe Pesci, 'they screw ya in the delivery'. Also, if you aren't happy with your order - COMPLAIN. Peruvians get nervous when gringos complain. Maybe it's my bad Spanish and they just want to shut me up? :D But seriously - don't take bad service lying down. Make your complaints known!

And for KFC... I've already quit McDonald's and Burger King... Maybe KFC will be next.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Thursday, December 25, 2008

What a great Christmas Day

German painting, 1457Image via Wikipedia

Probably the best since I was a kid myself.

We had Peruvian style Christmas, which means roast turkey and fixin's at midnight - fairly simple this year, roasted potatoes and ensalada rusa. Of course, in true Peruvian fashion, we also had some thinly sliced red onion to go with it.

Afterwards, we drank hot chocolate and watched TV while the kids opened presents. The radio-control cars were a big hit with everyone, as was walking down to the end of the street and lighting some firecrackers. We finally got to bed around 3am, after going through a bit of 'some assembly required'.

This morning, we woke up and had paneton and hot chocolate for breakfast - around 11am. The boys woke up at 7 (!!!!) eager to play with their new toys again. Paneton (also spelled panettone) is a bread that originated in Italy. It's a sweet bread, the good one's are moist, that has dried fruit and raisins - like fruit cake. Most everyone picks out the fruit, of course, but the bread itself is awesome.


After we relaxed and got fully awake, we got dressed and everything together to go to the park. We bought a rotisserie chicken with fried potatoes, some ceviche (a Peruvian staple I'll discuss some other time) and some snacks and had a lovely picnic in a park that was once an olive orchard. Huge, old olive trees in rows (in fruit!!), a lovely fountain and kids with new toys made it the perfect place to be today. The weather was perfect, as Christmas here always seems to be, and it was just amazing, laying in the shade under the trees.

The olive trees, as I said, were heavily laden with fruit, and the ground was covered. We laid our blanket down, and it wasn't long before olive oil started seeping through! It smelled so good. Unfortunately, all the branches low enough to reach had been picked clean. The doves and pigeons seemed to have made pretty quick work of all that hit the ground. I would have loved to have been able to get a couple dozen of those olives to take home and use!

We stayed at the park for about 3 hours, until the sun went down enough that it started to feel a little cool. None of us wanted the day to be over though, and we walked slowly through the side streets, looking at the lovely old houses, and daydreaming about one day being able to buy one.

I hope everyone had a Christmas as perfect as ours, filled with peace and love.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Candy for Christmas

Chocolate fudge with nutsImage via Wikipedia

Money's tight in the Borda household this Christmas, as I'm sure it is in many households this year. So, I'm going the home made route with some of our gifts. My favorite candy to make is a 'no cook' fudge that tastes nearly as good as something you'd slave over for hours, but all it needs is a few minutes in the microwave.

Basic Recipe -
2 Cups chocolate chips (milk chocolate, semi-sweet - whatever you like)
1 can condensed milk (and again, make sure you've got condensed milk, not evaporated milk!)
1 tsp Vanilla (this can be left out if you don't have it, and still be just as good)

Line a 8x8 cake pan with wax paper.

Put the chocolate chips in a 2 qt glass casserole, and put it in the microwave. Time will depend on your oven, but stir it every 30 secs or so, until they're 'mostly' melted. Add the can of condensed milk and the vanilla, stir thoroughly. Microwave again, no more than 30 seconds at a time, stirring until everything is smooth and well blended.

And that's the recipe, basically!

Now comes the fun part - what do you like in your fudge? Here are some ideas:
Crushed pecans or walnuts
Peanuts 0r a Tbsp of Peanut Butter
Mini-marshmallows
Tiny M&M's
Crushed pretzels

Any combination of these!

The quantity depends on you - 1 cup is a good starting point, depending on what combination you use - if you like it chunkier, use more.

Use your imagination - there are so many directions you can go with it. Some other ideas - try peppermint instead of vanilla. Substitute Butterscotch, white chocolate, or peanut butter chips for 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.

If you go with mini marshmallows, the heat of the mixture may melt them when you stir them in. If you like it that way, great! If not, let it cool just slightly before you add them.

Anyway - once you have all your add-ins, um, added in, turn the mixture out into your lined cake pan, and put the whole shebang into the refrigerator. In a couple of hours, your fudge will be ready. Take it out of the pan, peel the wax paper off, and cut or break into pieces. Packaged in a pretty little bag or box, you've got a great gift for the mother-in-law or landlady.

Or.. eat it all yourself!
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Friday, December 12, 2008

Peeling Tomatoes

Cross-section and full view of a ripe tomatoImage via Wikipedia

I live in Peru, and a lot of things I took for granted when cooking are either not available or are so expensive they just aren't always worth buying. One of those things is canned tomatoes. They're here, but they're too expensive to use as a regular ingredient. So, I started using regular ripe tomatoes a lot more often, and it's actually so easy, I've come to prefer using them over the canned for most things. Here, then, is my way of preparing my tomatoes.

I start with a glass casserole dish (2 quart). Add water to nearly fill, then put the top on and stick it in the microwave long enough to get the water just to boiling. CAREFULLY remove it from the micro! While the water nukes, take your tomatoes and cut a X-shaped slice in the bottom of each one. (Of course, you can always do this on the stove top in a saucepan- I prefer the microwave because I have a super tiny stove, and am usually cooking other things while I do this)

Again, very carefully, using a spoon, lower the tomatoes into the water and leave them for about 30 seconds or so. Doesn't matter if you leave them longer, since usually you'll be cooking them later anyway. Take them out, run them under cool water so you can touch them, and then peel the skin off, starting at your little X-slice. You'll find the skin will slip right off.

Once you've got your tomatoes peeled, it's a simple matter to just crush them by hand and clean the seeds out of them. If you want, once you have the seeds out, use a knife to cut up the bigger pieces.

And there you go, fresh tomatoes, peeled and deseeded and crushed, ready to add to your recipe. You can add this to soup recipes in place of canned tomatoes. Just remember that you'll need to adjust seasonings, because this won't have any of the salt or other seasoning that canned tomatoes often have.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Home Cooking today

Elbow macaroni in a plate of macaroni and cheeseImage via Wikipedia

My husband cooked up some bacon this morning, and woke me up with a yummy bacon sandwich on potato bread. With a glass of fresh made lime-ade. Yum, and that limaid sure felt good on my sore throat.


For lunch today, I made what I consider 'white trash' cooking. My definition of white trash cooking includes anything where the majority of the ingredients come from boxes or cans - quick and easy, tastes good, not always low-fat/low-sodium ;) My boys love mac n cheese, (like most kids their age) so I decided to make a meal based around that. Armed with two boxes of regular Kraft Macaroni and Cheese and a 1/2K (appr. 1lb) of very lean ground beef, I set to making some cheeseburger macaroni.

(enough for a family of 4)

2 boxes Mac/cheese dinner
1/2K ground beef
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/3 cup ketchup

1) Start your water boiling - you want want to use a large pot, since you'll need to boil 2 boxes of noodles. I used about 4 quarts of water - don't forget to dump a big pinch of salt in, and about a tbsp of oil. Put your noodles in when the water starts to boil. Remember, DON'T cover a pot of noodles while it's cooking, it'll make it boil over.

2) While the water's coming to a boil, put your hamburger in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add seasoned salt and chili powder and stir with a wooden or nylon spatula, breaking it up into small crumbles as it cooks. Drain the grease if there's a lot, then add the ketchup and stir well. (If you use a very lean ground beef, there's not going to be enough grease to worry about)

My skillet looks like this:


3) Noodles should be done or near done by now - you want them 'al dente', not mushy - about 8 minutes at a full boil. Drain the water out using a colander or strainer.

4) Dump the noodles on top of the cooked ground beef. Dump in both packets of cheese powder, 3 tbsp butter, 1/2 cup of milk.

5) Using the flat side of the spatula GENTLY mix everything together until the cheese powder is all incorporated and everything is well mixed. You don't want to stir it too vigorously, you'll smash up your noodles and make it all mushy.

That's it - and it tastes pretty much like a cheeseburger.

I served it with corn on the cob via the microwave. If you have fresh corn, break the ears in half, put them in a glass casserole with about an inch of water. Put the top on, and stick it in the micro for 5 minutes. Turn the corn over half way through the cooking. After the 5 minutes is up, check - depending on the size of your corn, you may need another minute or so. Usually, leaving it in the casserole with the top on is enough steam to finish it up.

And there you go - that's what we ate today.
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A Not-so-auspicious Beginning

Lomo saltadoImage by jumbledpile via Flickr

Of course, my first day of blogging my food, and it's a day we went to the restaurant. :D However, I also did some shopping, so we'll talk about that a bit, too.

The boys got out of school early today, so we walked to Alex's restaurant together. I actually don't know if this restaurant has a name - there's not one posted. But, the cooks name is Alex, so I'll call it Alex's restaurant - not to be confused with Alice's. ;) Actually, it's a family run business - Alex and the two servers are brothers. They have a lot of kitchen help, and the place is always packed. It's only open for lunch - they open around 11:00, and close when the food is gone, usually around 3pm. I love going there. All the meals include soup or an entrada, and then a main course (segunda). The entrada is often papas a la huancaina or papas ocopa. I'll have more information on these another time, when I either cook them, or have them at the restaurant.

Prices at Alex's are extremely reasonable, even by Peru standards. A full meal of soup/entrada, main course and drink runs from 3.50 soles to 5. soles. Today's exchange is about 3.10 to a dollar, so we get each meal for well under $2USD each.

To start, we all got the soup, which was a chicken soup with semolina (sort of like grits, but made from wheat - like cream of wheat). It's mostly broth, with giblets, neck and feet, and a little bit of celery, carrots and potato. However, we didn't eat it - we had it packaged to bring home. It keeps for a couple days, and I often give it to the boys for their 'lonche' in the evening.

David had pollo frito. This is his favorite meal from this restaurant. It consists of a single piece of chicken (usually a breast or thigh) that is flattened, seasoned and pan fried (frito means fried) - not breaded. The plate includes a good salad (romaine, tomato, beets, carrots, onion, broccoli with a lemon vinaigrette), rice and french fries. He ate every bit of it today.

Franco prefers the suprema de pollo, and that's what he had today. It's the same meal as David, except the chicken is in the form of a breaded cutlet. He didn't eat all of his rice today, but did pretty well with the rest of it. Not bad, considering they had a bunch of junk food today at school - it was a party day.

I opted for the lomo saltado today. 'Lomo' is loin - in this case, beef loin. It's a Peruvian/Chinese fusion dish. (There is a very large Chinese community in Peru, and they've had a big influence on the food) It's basically a stir-fry, with finely chopped beef, potatoes, chopped tomatos and onions quickly sauteed together with soy sauce. Cilantro is added at the last moment. This is one of my favorite Peruvian dishes to eat AND to cook. The next time I cook it at home, I'll take pictures and post the recipe proper.

After we ate, it was time to hit the supermarket. I didn't buy much, just enought to get us through the next few days - about $25 worth. I bought the boys a frozen pizza, and some bacon to put on it. Bacon here is leaner and not as smoky as bacon in the US, but it's still pretty good. I saved some of the bacon to use for the lentil soup I'm making on Friday. I don't usually buy bread at the grocery store because the bakery is cheaper. But today I was tempted by the sight of fresh potato bread. It is a delight - thick crust, and super chewy with a heavy, earthy flavor. Super stuck in the oven for a minute and then served with a little butter. That with some of the soup we brought home is what I had for dinner tonight.

So there it is - a day in the food. ;)
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]