Insalata Caprese

Once again, you can see the colors of the italian flag in this dish. Insalata Caprese is one of my all time favorite salads.  I like to serve it over a bed of fresh spinach.  Refreshing and light! The word mozzarella comes from the italian verb “mozzare” which means to cut.  Mozzarella di bufala is [...]

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Bittersweet Brownies

Bittersweet chocolate is a form of sweetened chocolate that does not have milk in any way shape or form. It is mainly chocolate liquor, sugar,cocoa butter and vanilla.  Often, lecithin is added as an emulsifying agent.  In the United States of America the Food and Drug Administration requires that bittersweet chocolate has at least 35% chocolate [...]

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Earth Day 2010

I don’t know why it feels so good to get your hands dirty with soil and plant herbs in your home.  It can be done in apartments or houses and there is no doubt that dishes prepared with fresh herbs are more aromatic, colorful and savory.  I have had success stories as well as disasters [...]

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Natural French Fries with White Truffle Oil (Pommes Frites)

Our trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado last winter was a great success!  Even though our planes were delayed and cancelled on our departure date and our son had a snowboarding accident on the first day of skiing, we had a wonderful vacation.  As always, the first day was dedicated to grocery shopping, getting to know [...]

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Jeannie’s Fruit Punch

This recipe is from Jeannie, the mother of Maryse one of my best friends from childhood.  While we were growing up (approximately 11-16 years old in the late 1980′s), Jeannie and Jose would invite a group of 5 or 6 of their daughter’s girlfriends to spend the weekend on their boat the week of her [...]

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Simple Whipped Potatoes

Simple whipped potatoes is a basic recipe that every cook should know.  Everyone big and small likes mashed potatoes and they go with almost everything.  Believe me, this is so easy and delicious you will never make those instant mashed potato packets again in your life! A few days ago I made a batch and [...]

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Empanada Gallega

According to Foodimentary @ Twitter, April 8 was the National Empanada Day.  So immediately I took out the recipe journal my Aunt Toñita gave me as a present a few weeks ago with her favorite recipes in which she included my grandmother’s Empanada Gallega recipe and got busy in the kitchen. Empanada means to coat [...]

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Arroz con tocino

This side dish can be found at any typical Puertorrican “fonda” or dive.  Arroz con tocino (I like to add the “tocino” for the flavor but don’t eat it) is simply medium grain white rice with salt pork.  The salt pork or “tocino” (I use Hormel brand because it is not as salty and its marbled [...]

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Picadillo

In many cultures around the world it is said that to get to a man’s heart you first have to get to his stomach, so when I got married 12 years ago I set a goal for myself to learn to cook cuban food like a cuban. My husband Emilio is the son of cuban [...]

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Brown Sugar Pork Tenderloin

This is a delicious easy alternative for a week day family dinner.  You can leave the pork tenderloins seasoned the night before. The brown sugar gives the tenderloin a sweet golden finish and helps make an amazing onion cream sauce.  It is different and tastes so good!  I use fresh rosemary from my herb garden [...]

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