Buen Provecho

The Perfect Picnic

2011-08-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

Nothing screams summer like a picnic. I'm talking a red and white checkered table cloth, wicker basket, and delicious food kind of picnic. Whether it's for a date, a family reunion, or friends, this picnic menu is going to rock your socks off. So go ahead, sink your feet into the sand or lay a blanket under the shade of a big tree and enjoy a bite into summer!

Let's start with the appetizers...

{Guacamole}

Easiness: {easy peasy}

Messiness: {if you handle avocados like I do, this gets pretty messy}

Deliciousness: {set out some chips and it's gone before you know it}

Healthiness: {apparently avocados can lower cholesterol and regulate blood pressure... this comes from a two second internet search, so take it with a grain of salt...}

{Ingredients}

2 avocados

1 chopped onion
2 diced tomatoes
cilantro
juice from a lime

1 clove of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

{Directions}

> Chop, dice, mince ingredients and mix them together in a bowl.

> That's it! Serve with tortilla chips.

{Tips}

> Use this recipe as your base, but get creative: add a little jalapeno to spice things up or substitute lemon juice instead of lime juice! I end up adding more of a certain ingredient after some taste trials with tortilla chips anyways.

{Mango & Peach Salsa}

Easiness: {not difficult}

Messiness: {not messy}

Deliciousness: {mangos and peaches are a dynamite combo}

Healthiness: {it's got fruit and veggies in it - it has to be good!}

{Ingredients}

2 mangos

2 peaches

1 chopped onion

2 diced tomatoes

cilantro

juice from a lime

1 clove of minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

{Directions}

> Chop, dice, mince ingredients and mix them together in a bowl.

> That's it! Serve with tortilla chips.

{Tips}

> Notice how this is exactly like the guac minus the avocados plus the peaches and mangos, that's because I made this one up and based it on the guacamole recipe I've been using and changing for years - it's great with or without tomatoes.

Now onto the main course...

{Fruit Salad}

(Just cut up and mix together your favorite fruits and voila!)

{Couscous with Apricot Vinagrette}

(This one's an old favorite - check out the old blog post for the recipe.)

{Chicken Salad Sandwich on Croissants}

This one is courtesy of allrecipes.com - a site full of great and easy recipes to try!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-salad-2/detail.aspx

Easiness: {usually I stick to recipes with 10 ingredients or less, but this one's worth it!}
Messiness: {nope}
Deliciousness: {this is good!}
Healthiness: {I think the celery and grapes cancel out the mayo and bacon...}

{Ingredients}

2 1/2 c. diced cooked chicken
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 (8 ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
1/2 c. thinly sliced celery
1 c. halved grapes
3/4 c. mayo or salad dressing
1 T. dried parsley flakes
2 t. finely minced onion
1 t. lemon juice
1/4 t. ground ginger
1 dash of Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper to taste

{Directions}

> Combine chicken, bacon, water chestnuts, celery, and grapes in a large bowl; set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients; add to salad and toss to coat. Chill until serving.

{Tips}

> Here are some handy time savers: use leftover cooked chicken or buy a rotisserie chicken and use pre-cooked bacon pieces rather than cooking your own.

You can't forget dessert...

{Chocolate Chip Cookies}

(you could make delicious home-made cookies OR you could go to Sam's Club and get yourself an entire tub of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough - now that's the gift that just keeps giving.)

home ~s.w.e.e.t~ home

2011-06-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blog entries. If you are a teacher you can relate to the end of the year craziness that inevitably ensues. While we personally did a little less cooking, we still had some great Honduran meals that someday we'll have to learn to make!

Rice and beans and so much more!

Such a great cook!

Enjoying Blanca's enchiladas on our porch

Honduran enchiladas

Jen and I packed up and flew home for the summer. For me, home means Michigan and for Jen, home means California. Now that I've settled in and finally unpacked my suitcase it's time to cook! Being back here makes me want a juicy burger on the grill with some fries on the side - but with an exotic twist, and let me tell you right now, THIS IS DELICIOUS!!!

The burger recipe comes from my favorite cook book - Robin Rescues Dinner by Robin Miller. It was a birthday gift from my roommates this year and we have enjoyed so many fun and delicious recipes from it!

{Moroccan Turkey Burgers
with Goat Cheese & Figs}

Easiness: {as easy as pie - although I've never made a pie...}

Messiness: {as clean as a whistle}

Deliciousness: {!!!!!!!!!!!!!!}

Healthiness: {you'll be as healthy as a horse}

{Ingredients}

cooking spray

1 1/4 lbs. ground turkey

1/2 c. diced figs

1/2 c. seasoned dry bread crumbs

2 t. ground cumin

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. freshly ground pepper

1/8 t. ground cinnamon

1 c. crumbled fresh goat cheese

4 hamburger buns, or English muffins, toasted if desired

Sliced beefsteak tomato, for serving

1/4 c. fresh cilantro leaves

{Directions}

> Coat a stovetop grill pan, griddle, or large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat.

> In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, figs, bread crumbs, cumin, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Mix well and shape the mixture into 4 patties, each about 1 inch thick. Cook the burgers in the hot pan for 3 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Top the burgers with the goat cheese, tent with foil, and cook for 1 minute, or until the cheese melts.

> Serve on hamburger buns with tomato slices and fresh cilantro leaves.

{Tips}

> I read diced figs as dried figs, so that's what I used and it blended very well! I also substituted Italian-style bread crumbs for regular bread crumbs and again, it turned out great!

> Instead of cooking them on the stove, my dad and I grilled these up and toasted buttered buns on the grill as well. We also didn't give our burgers tents - if I'm not camping, my burgers certainly don't get to go camping - we just pressed the goat cheese on top of the burger hot off the grill.

> You can also make the patties ahead of time and stick them in the refrigerator (good up to 3 days) or freezer (good up to 3 months)

This next recipe comes from The Food Network, which I am watching a whole lot more of now that I'm home! Here's a link to the specific site if you want to watch the video: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sandra-lee/sweet-potato-fries-recipe2/index.html.

{Seasoned Sweet Potato Fries}

Easiness: {easy}

Messiness: {can't get into too much trouble with so few ingredients!}

Deliciousness: {tasty}

Healthiness: {healthier than McDonalds, that's for sure}

{Ingredients}

2 sweet potatoes, washed

2 tablespoons canola oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

{Directions}
> Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a baking sheet in the oven.

> On a cutting board, slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Slice each half into 6 wedges. Place wedges in a large bowl, add canola oil, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and toss to coat.

> Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Place the fries onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the fries and bake for another 15 minutes until brown and crispy. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

{Tips}
> Start the fries before the burgers - start cooking the burgers when the fries have about 10 minutes to go and you'll have a perfectly timed meal!

Buen Provecho, you're going to love this!

West African Chicken Dish

2011-05-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

This was my first real meal. My friend Linsey and I had to make it for a class project in high school. Years later, when I got into cooking, this recipe resurfaced and our house LOVES it!

{West African Chicken Dish}

Easiness: {it's a lot easier if you have a magic chop, or even a decent knife}

Messiness: {not too messy if you use a large enough pan}

Deliciousness: {house favorite}

Healthiness: {celery's healthy, right?}

{Ingredients}

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into pieces

1 large onion

1-2 cloves of garlic

1 c. tomatoes

1/4 c. tomato paste

1/2 c. chunky peanut butter

1 c. water

1 bay leaf

2 T. chopped celery

salt to taste

{Directions}

> Sautee the onion and garlic in oil and set aside

> In the remaining oil, cook the chicken and set aside

> In the same pan, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and peanut butter

> Slowly add the water until smooth

> Add the bay leaf, celery, salt, onion, garlic, and chicken

> Serve over rice

{Tips}

> If you don't have tomato paste, use 1/2 c. tomato sauce and stir in a little less water

> If you don't have celery, use carrots
> Pray that the electricity goes out after you're done in the kitchen, because then it's just a fun candle light dinner!

Saturday Morning Brunch

2011-05-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of habits that we've broken. Running 3 times a week? Lasted 2 weeks. Getting up early on weekdays to make breakfast and eat it on the porch? Lasted 1 week. But sleeping in on Saturdays, getting fresh flowers delivered by the flower man, making a huge brunch, and eating it on the porch? That's lasted all year! The food is usually a combination of a few of the following: pancakes, frittatas, muffins, eggs, fresh fruit, Honduran tipico, breakfast burritos, coffee, tea, and fruit smoothies. This weeks menu? Pancakes, blueberry muffins, fresh mango slices (I love mango season here!), strawberry and watermelon smoothies, and flavored coffee with whipped cream on top! I'm not going to bore you with the recipe for pancakes because it boils down to: 1) buy pancake mix 2) make pancakes. Smoothies? Just put fruit and ice and water in a blender and turn it on! We'll have to have Paula write in some recipes for her many coffee drinks and we'll have to post a video on how to cut a mango, but for now, I want to talk about the blueberry muffins.

These muffins are special! Growing up I can recall waking up on Sunday mornings before church, the smell of my dad's freshly baked blueberry muffins coaxing me into the kitchen. Warm muffins wrapping the blueberries my family picks every summer. After pouring a glass of milk and preparing my blueberry muffin, my siblings would always ask me if I'd like a little muffin with my butter and I'd say that it wasn't THAT much butter (it really was). So I'm about to share with you a family recipe that is very dear to my heart and makes me miss my home in Michigan. These are delicious, but for some reason they don't touch my dad's Sunday morning blueberry muffins.

{Dad's Sunday Morning Blueberry Muffins}

Easiness: {pretty easy - especially if you're a baker at heart}

Messiness: {I'm sure you'll be better at pouring the batter into the muffin tin}

Deliciousness: {D-E-licious!}

Healthiness: {if you lay off the butter, not too bad! You can also try substituting whole wheat flour for a healthier option}

{Ingredients}

1 3/4 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

2 1/2 t. baking powder

3/4 t. salt

1 egg, beaten

1/3 c. oil

1/2 c. milk

1 c. blueberries (heaping)

{Directions}

> Mix dry ingredients

> Add wet ingredients to make lumpy batter (and blueberries)

> Pour into a greased muffin tin

> Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees Celsius

{Tips}

> Either organize your drawer of measuring cups or get them all out - you've got a lot of measuring to do!

> Although only my dad can make these to their peak deliciousness, they are pretty hard to mess up. I added a cup too much flour so I had to go back and add a little of each ingredient, I didn't hear the timer go off for a while, and I didn't have any fresh Michigan blueberries to work with here in Honduras and they still turned out great! Maybe someday I'll develop my dad's ability to throw in the ingredients without measuring!
> For you sweet tooths out there, sprinkle a little sugar on top!

Buen Provecho!

Barefoot Wednesdays!

2011-05-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

We love Wednesdays. Things are transformed between the time we sleepily board the bus in the morning to the time we collapse on our comfy couches after a long day of teaching. A dirty pile of clothes becomes a neat stack of clean laundry, a stack of dishes in the sink becomes an organized arrangement of clean dishes drying on the side, and filthy floors become barefoot worthy! But this was a special day. We also came home to a WORKING MICROWAVE!!! This may not seem exciting to you but let me explain, no it's too long, let me sum up. All of us taking separate showers at the same time while simultaneously doing laundry in a Honduran house = power surge = a broken router, garage door, washer, oven, doorbell, and microwave = hiring a Honduran repairman who goes off the map for months = a lot of screaming celebration when we came home to a working microwave after a long time of walking to our neighbors to heat up or defrost anything!

Today, I came home, took off my shoes, put on my apron, and went into the kitchen to cook up some couscous with apricot vinaigrette! (The fixed microwave freak-out would be a happy surprise later.) This recipe is courtesy of the Real Simple magazine Jen brought back from the States entitled, "easy, delicious meals." I don't know about you, but easy and delicious are both a prominent part of my cooking vocabulary!

{Couscous with Apricot Vinaigrette}

Easiness: {so easy a caveman could do it!}

Messiness: {only a few spilled pearls of couscous}

Deliciousness: {um, YUM!}

Healthiness: {your heart will thank you!}

{Ingredients}

1 10-ounce box couscous (1 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup apricot preserves

3 T. olive oil

2 T. white wine vinegar

1 t. salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 scallions, chopped

1/4 cup roasted almonds, chopped

{Directions}

> Cook couscous

> Meanwhile, warm the apricot preserves in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper

> Fluff the couscous with a fork and toss with the scallions, almonds, and vinaigrette

{Tips}

> Roast the almonds while cooking the couscous and warming the preserves. How? Like this:

> Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover
cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

> Coat almonds in vegetable oil and spread
them on the foil.

> Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

> Let those little suckers cool and then chop
them up!

> Don't feel like you need to meticulously measure everything out, especially the salt and pepper - just approximate and add ingredients to taste.

Happy Wednesday and buen provecho!

Meet the Cooks

2011-05-24T17:45:00.000-07:00

{Jen}

~Lemons DO exist in Honduras!~

Welp, I couldn't cook an egg 'til I moved outa the dorms my senior year of college. I eased my way into cooking that year with lots of eggs, pasta, personal pizzas and veggie dishes. I think my love for eating delicious, healthy things is what drives my love for cooking. I also have a love for the unique and exotic that transfers over to what I love to cook/eat. (Couscous with 13 different ingredients? Yes please.) This year in Honduras has been a great one for experimental cooking with Julienne. And maybe pawning off chicken duties as well...

{Jules}

~ Julienne cutting julienne slices.

Julienne = 6 ' 0 '' and thin,

julienne slices = cooking term

for long and skinny slices. ~

Yes, Jen flees the scene when there's raw meat to deal with! Anyways, my story. When I finished college I was also done with bad cooking. Mac and Cheese was about as good as it got. So I spent the summer watching food network and cooking for my friends and family. Once I realized how easy and fun it was to cook I couldn't get enough. Fast forward a couple of months and that's when I met Jen. Jen and I both signed away two years of our lives to be teachers at a bilingual school in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We've become great friends and have bonded over our love of cooking these last 10 months. Here's the catch. We live in Honduras now so finding ingredients beyond beans and rice can be an adventure, not to mention that a simple trip to the grocery store can be... interesting. Here are a few stories that explain why shopping at Colonia Mega is never dull:

1. There are women in the store who advertise beer by wearing tight (and very little at that) clothing that has the brand name written across their top. They give out free samples of beer and liquor. This isn't even the strangest part. One of the first times we went to the grocery store, we were walking down the nut aisle and saw the beer lady chatting with a clown (who was there for "children's day" -- Honduras loves its holidays). "Where are we?" is a question that frequents our minds.

2. They are big into promotions. They gave out free Orbitz gum but they also took our picture when they did it. Also, Jen got a free balloon flower when she bought Yes yogurt. We enjoy free things, but sometimes the gifts just seem funny.

3. If Jen is sick of walking, I'll push her in the cart. Everyone's staring at the really tall and the really blonde gringas anyways, we might as well give them a show! One time the lady kicked Jen out - "Ay mi amor, no se permite hacer eso" = "Oh my love, you're not allowed to do that." (She said this between laughs.)

4. Sometimes we need to find a spice that we have never heard of. Then we have to either try and find a translation for that word or, better yet, try and explain it in Spanish. After plenty of time and confused looks, we usually find what we need - that or we find out we did not get the right spice when we're eating dinner.

The adventures don't end at the grocery store however. They continue in the kitchen:

1. Sometimes easy 30 minute meals take... much longer the first time! ("Puchica Rachel Ray, this was not a 30-minute meal!")

2. Sometimes things get a little messy in the kitchen - and sometimes more ingredients end up on our counter/walls/floors/clothing than on our plates. I have particularly bad luck with raw chicken or home-made whip cream. I must say my chicken sanitation has improved significantly and I've resorted to making the whip cream outside.

No matter what, we end up on the porch, in our dinning room, or even in our kiddie pool sharing a delicious meal with our house-mates! That reminds me, I should introduce Paula and Sarah, our other two house mates, who are not without talent in the kitchen either! Paula is our house-barista and makes some fabulous coffee. Sarah is our house-baker - when she's in her apron and you can hear the music blaring - you know that there is something delicious in the oven!

With that said, we hope you enjoy this blog - laugh at our adventures, drool over some appetizing eats, and try out some new recipes yourself!

So, ENJOY! BON APPETITE! Or as we say here in Honduras, BUEN PROVECHO!