Category — recipe

This is such a delicious (and easy) meal to prepare using a slow cooker.  I absolutely love Cuban food and this is the first Cuban recipe I’ve used / tweaked / updated that I feel I’ve mastered by now.

Ingredients :

• About 4-5 pounds of pork tenderloin or pork shoulder / leg
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
• 6-8 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup Red Wine
• 1 T oregano
• Optional : 1 Bottle of La Cubana brand Mojo de Ajo sauce (you can get this at Whole Foods)

Directions :

The night before – take pork and cut a few slits all over.  Take garlic pieces and put into slits.  Cover pork with olive oil.  Sprinkle oregano on both sides as well.  Add all juices and wine. Puree any leftover garlic and add to the mixture.  If you’d like, add in the bottle of Mojo de Ajo now.  Marinate overnight.

The next morning, dump mixture into a crock pot and cook on high, 8 hours or so.  When finished cooking, shred meat & mixture together, to look like this :

Usually, I serve this dish with a side of rice and black beans.  Sometimes I add a salad.  The last time I made this, though, I fried up some corn tortillas, threw in some of the pork and topped with avocadoes.  Seriously scrumptious.

Last year, I was asking an Indian girlfriend if she could teach me how to cook authentic Indian curries.  She replied, “Yes, of course – but Mama will be in town next week, why don’t you learn from the master?”  Oh happy day!  So – in a few hours, she taught me the basics of Indian seafood curries AND an insanely delicious recipe for baked samosas which I thought I’d share.

Ingredients

• ½ Cup Cooking Oil
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 package Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry Sheets
• 1 Medium Onion (diced)
• ¾ Cup Frozen Peas
• 1/3 cup of Cilantro (finely chopped)
• 3 T of equal parts fresh Garlic + Ginger Puree
• Asafoetida Powder
• Turmeric Powder
• Chili Powder
• Cinnamon
• Allspice
• Salt
• Garam Masala

Directions

Thaw package of Puff Pastry (usually 40 minutes)

Preheat oven to 400F

In a skillet on medium-high heat, add cooking oil plus 2 pinches of asafoetida powder.  Add ginger / garlic puree.  Saute for a minute or two.  Add ground turkey and cook through.  Add peas to the ground turkey mixture.  If the skillet seems to be getting really “dry” – feel free to add bits of oil throughout.

Next, we’ll start adding the Indian spices.  Start with two pinches of turmeric.  Mix thoroughly with a spatula.  Follow this with two pinches of chili powder (note – if you want it spicier, add more).  Next add two pinches of garam masala.  Add a pinch each of cinnamon and allspice.  Mix well.  Add a tsp of salt.  Lastly, add in the chopped cilantro.  The samosa filling is complete and will look like this in the skillet :

Remove the two sheets of Puff Pastry and cut into 9 equal square pieces.  Place a spoonful of the samosa filling in the middle of a square and fold over the top end to meet the bottom, so you have a triangle shape.  Continue to stuff as much filling as will fit into each square :

Bake for 10 minutes and then flip each samosa over.  Bake for 10 minutes more.  Enjoy!

Birthday parties are hard when you have a child with a lot of food allergies.  Most kid parties include “kid friendly food” such as pizza, macaroni & cheese, chicken nuggets and THEN the cake and ice cream.  Peanut is allergic to every single one of those items (in their most popular and original forms, that is).  I usually pack a lunch (rice pasta with chicken! veggie stir fry! quinoa and fish!) and bring along a “special” cupcake that I’ve made ahead of time at home or one that I’ve purchased from The Sensitive Baker.

BUT, as excited as Peanut is about her cupcake, she’s also starting to realize that she’s not eating what the other kids are eating.  She’s not doing what the other kids are doing.  I know it’s going to be her journey for awhile (fingers crossed she outgrows these allergies), but as a Mom, I always want my little one to feel as included as possible.

This weekend, we made it possible!  It was my niece’s 3^rd birthday and we hosted a little party here, so I volunteered to make the cake.  It’s a gluten free vegan cake that Peanut can eat as well.  I’m so excited that I found some easy cake + frosting mixes from Cherrybrook Kitchen.   (I used rice milk and smart balance to avoid any dairy additions).

AND … please do not laugh at the finished product.  A baker, I am NOT.  But – voila!  Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free!  Peanut was so happy, and that’s what warms my Mama heart.

First of all, YES I’m still on my vegan kick. It’s been 2 full weeks now. BUT, hubby & peanut are *not* vegan with me, so I still need to cook for them. Last night I made my classic turkey burger for hubby. It’s SO delicious and SO easy to prepare, I thought I’d share with you.

Ingredients :

4 turkey burger patties
2 Small Onions
1 bag (about 10 oz) of sliced white mushrooms
4 slices provolone cheese
2 Cups Spring Mix Salad
1 Avocado
½ cup Soy Sauce
½ cup Yellow Mustard
Dijon Mustard
Organic Mayonnaise

Burger Bun (recommendations : onion Kaiser rolls, Panini Rolls or Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns)

Directions :

Mix soy sauce plus yellow mustard into a bowl. Stir very well. It will probably be a chunky mixture with the mustard texture. Pour over both sides of turkey burgers. Place turkey burgers (all 4) with marinade in a bowl and set aside.

Dice / chop both onions and entire bag of mushrooms.

Marinated turkey burgers & onion / mushroom mix will look something like this :

After marinating for 30 minutes to an hour, place turkey burgers on the grill / grill pan / regular pan and cook on medium high. When meat cooked through, place a slice of provolone cheese on top until it melts.

In a separate pan, sauté diced onion & mushroom mixture until slightly brown.

Toast / grill / oven bake hamburger bun. Spread a SMALL amount of Dijon mustard on one side and organic mayo on the other. On the bottom bun, place a few sliced avocado pieces. Place burger on top of bottom bun. Add sautéed onion / mushroom mixture to top of burger. Place pieces of spring mix on top of sauté. Use top bun to cover everything.

Serve with easy garlic fries. Voila! I asked hubby what words would best describe this burger and he quotes, ”Yum, yum and YUMMMM.” Enjoy!