Golden Waffles

5 Mar

This weekend my mother in law came to town from Atlanta. I had the chance to spend some time with her and the Mr. which is always fun. We spent time with family and Pop (Bryan’s grandfather) who was recently in the hospital in the Intensive Care Unit for about two weeks. He was out and about with us walking around which was a great feeling. This morning I woke up extra early and decided to make breakfast. On the menu…. WAFFLES!! Oh and also eggs, turkey bacon and turkey sausage. 🙂 One of my favorite breakfast foods is waffles. I love going to Brunch and having Belgian Waffles with strawberries and lots of whipped cream. Waffles are also great as a dessert with ice cream or even just plain. Yes, waffles are awesome!! I would have loved a waffle ice cream sandwich this morning but I figured syrup will do for breakfast. 🙂 Try out this recipe for some delicious waffles and eat them whatever way you would like. Enjoy!!! 🙂

Golden Waffles

By: Sonia “Blade”

Ingredients:

Wet:

3 Eggs

1 Cup Milk

1 Tbsp. Honey

1/2 Stick Melted Butter

Dry:

2 Tsp Sugar

1 3/4 Cup Flour

2Tsp Baking Powder

Pinch Salt

Directions:

1.Preheat waffle iron to max temp.

2.Whisk together all wet ingredients and set aside.

3. In another bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.

4. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Mix together well.

5. Pour batter onto greased waffle iron and cook until “Golden” Brown.

* Makes about 4 large waffles *

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Empanadas

17 Jan

 

 

Hey Loves! I know I have been MIA for a while but…. I’m baaaaaacckk and with some delicious Empanadas! What are Empanadas? A empanada is a Spanish or Latin American pastry turnover filled with a variety of savory ingredients baked or fried. I love love love empanadas. Whenever I go to get spanish food, I must have empanada. My Bestie’s dad makes some really good ones and I just realized he owes me some lol. The empanadas I made had less of that “spanish” taste to them because I added sweet chili sauce and sriracha to my filling but I still think it turned out pretty darn good! Plus I think that everyone at the Christmas gift exchange would agree. Especially my brother! He is still looking for more lol.

What you will need:

 

Ingredients:

l lb Ground Chicken

1 Red Bell Pepper

1/4 Cup Chopped Onion

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1/4 Cup Diced Manzanilla Olives

3 Tbsp Sriracha

4 Tbsp Frank’s Sweet Chili Sauce

2 Packets Sazon

2 Cups Vegetable or Canola Oil (if frying)

1 Tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

1 Packet Empanada Dicos Thawed (found in the freezer section of most grocery stores)

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Directions: 

1) Place ground chicken in a bowl, add salon, salt and pepper, mix well.

2) Heat olive oil in pan and sauté garlic until fragrant. About 20 Seconds.

3) Add in red pepper and onion and sauté until tender.

4) Add ground chicken to pan and cook through until no longer pink (make sure meat is chopped up into very small pieces)

5) Mix in sriracha and sweet chili sauce.

6) Take Empanada Disc and fill the middle of each disc with filling

7) Fold Disc over and pinch close

8) Heat oil in pan to 350 degrees

9) Fry empanadas on each side for about a minute.

10) Drain on paper towels to get off excess grease and then serve.

 

*These can also be baked and still taste delicious and healthier*

 

 

Spiked Banana Egg Nog

29 Dec

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I know I sure did. I spent it with the ones I love. I have such an amazing family. It is always so much fun when we get together. I know myself, like many others, have a difficult time getting through the holiday season. When you think about those people who are no longer here, it’s not easy. It makes me sad that my Dads can’t be here to create more memories with our family but what makes me happy is being able to cherish the moments I have with my family who is still here. Family is a very important part of life. Be grateful for what you have because you never know what tomorrow brings. On another note, Egg Nog is a very popular drink this time of year. Spiked Egg Nog is even better. Whip up a couple batches of this for your NYE celebrations.

Ingredients: 

2 cups Vanilla Egg Nog

2 Small Bananas

2 Shots of Vanilla Vodka

2 Shots White Rum

Cup of ice

 

Directions: 

Blend all ingredients in a Blender until smooth.

Serve and Enjoy! 🙂

Greek Chicken Feta Wraps

22 Dec

Hey Loves! I hope you all are ready for Christmas because we only have a few days left. If you haven’t done any shopping you better get on it! Between working my full time and part time job, plus getting ready for Christmas, I haven’t had much time for cooking. Here is a quick recipe for Greek Feta Chicken Wraps that you can throw together on any hectic night. There are no specific measurements for this recipe. Just eyeball it and put as much as you like. Well not so much where you can’t close the wrap. Enjoy! 🙂

Ingredients:

  • Leftover Chicken Breast
  • Chopped Cucumbers
  • Kalamata Olives Pitted
  • Chopped Lettuce
  • Crumbled Feta Cheese
  • Diced Tomatoes
  • Greek Style Feta Dressing
  • Whole Grain Tortilla Wraps
Directions:
1. Arrange all ingredients on the tortilla wrap.
2. Roll and EAT! Enjoy 🙂

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French Toast Crunch

12 Dec

Good Morning Loves! Happy Monday!! I hope you all had a great weekend because of course we are now back to our regularly scheduled program. I don’t know about y’all but Mondays are usually  a drag. It’s the first day after the weekend and day 1 of 5 of the work week for most. Who really would like Monday?! Come on guys!! lol. Even though it is Monday, just like every other day, breakfast is a must! I know we all have heard over and over again that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast gives you fuel and energy you need to get you through the day. So y’all know we need breakfast on a Monday morning. Now unfortunately, I don’t wake up in time to cook breakfast in the morning. I can barely get out of the bed, soooooo breakfast for me this morning will consist of yogurt and a grapefruit. Saturday morning I did get a chance to make some delicious French Toast Crunch. This recipe is a simple quick weekend breakfast that can be prepared or you can even make it during the week if you are unlike me and have a extra 20 minutes to spare. 🙂

French Toast Crunch

By: Sonia “Blade”

Ingredients:

5 slices of Bread

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Reduced fat milk

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1 1/2 cup Cinnamon toast crunch cereal (crushed, place cereal in a zip lock bag and crush cereal using the bottom of a mug or rolling pin)

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon until well blended.
  3. Coat each side of each piece of bread in the egg mixture. Then coat each side with the crushed cereal.
  4. Place toast in oven on a baking pan and rack and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and toasty.
Serving suggestions: Honey butter and syrup. Brown sugar bananas or whipped cream.

A Glance at the National Harbor DC

9 Dec

I hope everyone had a wonderful day. I wanted to share a few pictures with you so you could get a glance of the National Harbor in DC. I don’t live far from DC so we  hang out in the city pretty often. A couple days ago we went to see the Christmas tree, Ketchup, and Cake Love before we took a trip to the mall and went shopping. It was a great and busy day.

 

Mongolian Beef

2 Dec

What is your favorite happy hour place?… The fiance’ and I usually go to PF Chang for happy hour every time we go see a movie. I mean it is right next door, but it’s also really really good! PF Chang has happy hour every day from 3pm to 6pm. There are not many places that have happy hour every single day. One of the things I like to get off the menu besides those delicious Chicken Lettuce Wraps, would be the Mongolian Beef. Juicy beef strips with a sweet sauce and a hint of spice. What’s not to love? Eating out can get a bit pricey so I decided to make my own Mongolian Beef at home. Why not? I think I will give myself a pat on the back. I won’t order this out anymore if I can make it at home. Well… maybe I will lol. Next are those chicken lettuce wraps.

Mongolian Beef

By:  Sonia “Blade”

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 lb Flank Steak (cut into strips)
  • 1/2 tsp Minced Ginger
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup warm water
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tsp Minced Garlic
  • 1/2 onion (cut into thin strips)
  • 1/4 tsp Cornstarch
  • 3 Scallions (cut into small pieces)
  • Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)
  • 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

  1. Heat olive oil in a skillet or wok.
  2. Saute garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add sliced yellow onion and saute for about 2 mins.
  3. Add flank steak to the pan and saute until no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Stir in soy sauce, water, brown sugar and cornstarch and let simmer. Add crushed red pepper flakes to taste.
  5. Top with sliced scallions and serve.

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Sausage, Red Pepper, & Spinach Pizza

30 Nov

Hey Loves! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving because I sure did. We had a busy Thanksgiving week in Jersey with my family between cooking, running around, and two parties. Even with all the work, I really enjoyed myself. Yesterday my love and I went to pick up my 2ND (the 1st was my iPad)  early Christmas present 🙂 yup I know. I think I am kinda spoiled. Oh well. lol. I have a brand new Kitchen Aid 5Qt  stand mixer that I am sooooooo excited about. 🙂 The first thing I whipped up was some pizza dough. It was so simple and quick. I know I am going to have so much fun with this mixer. There are endless things I can use this for. The Only thing it doesn’t do is cook for you so I had to put this pizza in the oven myself. lol. I made a whole wheat crust. Of course Bryan would rather have regular white crust, but he thought it was pretty good. If you don’t care for wheat crust, just change the wheat flour to all purpose flour. I topped my pizza with marinara, turkey sausage, spinach, red pepper and shredded Italian cheese. Go crazy and use your favorite toppings. Enjoy.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

By: Blade

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1 packet dry active yeast
  • 3/4 cup hot water between 110 and 115 degrees

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1) Mix yeast in with water and set aside.

2) In stand mixer, combine flours, salt, sugar, olive oil, and honey.

3) Make a well in the flour mixer and add the yeast and water mixture.

4) Attach Dough hook and mix on speed 2 for about 5 minutes until it is all combined and smooth.

5) Roll out dough on a floured surface, until it stretches to the size of the pan. Place into a lightly greased pan.

6) Top with your favorite ingredients and bake until golden brown. Approximately 22 mins.

 

 

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Shrimp and Bacon Penne & Photography

3 Nov

What do you want to be when you grow up? Do you remember being asked that question over and over again as a kid? I’m sure you do. What was your response? A doctor? A Lawyer? Fireman? “Sonia what do you want to be when you grow up?” My response… “A Photographer!’ I wanted to take pictures of celebrities for magazines.Yup that was my dream. The photography thing was before the “I want to be a Chef” came about. That was before I decided to cook a pot of oodles and noodles at the age of 5 or 6 and spilled boiling water all over my little legs trying to drain them. I don’t know who let me cook at that age… hmm I was probably sneaking 🙂 lol. Oh yeah chef wasn’t even a thought then, well not at that age.I am still no photographer but now that I am blogging I think it is a great way to combine both. Even if it is just a hobby. Hey did I mention I wanted to be a writer too? Ha ha! I am NO writer lol.

I am now a owner of a Canon Rebel T3i dslr camera and YES I am VERY excited about it. I’ve had it for only a week and I am still learning which I am sure it will be a learning process each and every day. Luckily I was able to get a GREAT intro lesson from my dear friend Sophorn over lunch @ Chipotle and coffee @ Starbucks! Sophorn has agreed to be on stand by for any questions I may have (which I have several). So yes, she will be harrassed. 🙂 I can already see the difference in my photos which is great!But I will be doing lots of practicing.

My first meal I made and took pictures of with my new Canon was this Shrimp and Bacon Penne. I was watching Giada DeLaurentiis and she made a Seafood Penne on her “Surf and Turf” Episode of Everyday Italian. I was thinking… Hey, I love pasta and Bryan loves Seafood. So why not!  Giada’s recipe did call for lobster tails which I had to omit because lets just admit it, Giada’s balling and I’m on a budget.

Note: *I added more shrimp to the recipe to make up for the lobster tails I omitted. You can add any type of Seafood to this recipe. Next time I think I will use shrimp and scallops.

Whole wheat Penne with Shrimp & Bacon

Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients

  • Kosher salt
  • 1 pound whole wheat penne pasta
  • 1 pound thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-wide strips (about 2 1/2 cups)
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • One 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
  • 3/4 cup clam juice
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup chopped fresh basil
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 1 1/2 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions

 In a large nonstick skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until brown and crispy, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels.

 In the same skillet, add the garlic and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes (and juices), clam juice, cream, 1/2 cup basil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil and scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

 Add the shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add the lobster and bacon. Simmer until warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.

 Pour the tomato mixture over the cooked pasta and toss until coated. Garnish with the remaining 1/2 cup basil and season with salt and pepper.

Pumpkin Apple Cream Cheese Muffins

31 Oct

Hey Loves! I am sure we have all heard the saying “everything happens for a reason”. I am a strong believer  in this saying. We may not know at that exact moment why but there is a reason. As you may or may not know, I was suppose to be attending culinary school starting this month (after the classes were pushed back in June) however, classes were cancelled again (a week before classes were suppose to start) for this month and the rest of the year. I have had multiple issues with trying to begin classes at this institute. I have never seen any business that is more unprofessional and unorganized then these people are. Of course, I was pissed at the fact that I could not start school once again. I mean, who wouldn’t be. Especially when you are only giving a weeks notice that classes are cancelled over and over again. Even though I was upset, I started to remember that “everything happens for a reason”. I am not sure why at the moment but it was not meant for me to attend that school. Maybe there is another route for me. Maybe I don’t have to pay thousands of dollars for a school to get my culinary career started. Who knows. What I do know is, I won’t give up and I will find another way……

Anyway, enough of my sob story lol. How bout these muffins!!! Pumpkin Apple Cream Cheese Muffins. What did she just say??.. Yup, Pumpkin Apple Cream Cheese Muffins! These Muffins have a great combo of sweetness and tartness with a creamy cheese filling. Oh yeah baby! This is a great fall treat for breakfast or dessert. Try it, I’m sure you’ll love it!

Pumpkin-Apple Muffins

Bon Appétit  | December 1991 via Epicurious

(Cream Cheese Filling Added by me)

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 chopped peeled cored apples
  • 1tsp vanilla extract

 Cream Cheese Filling 

  • 1 8 ounce package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
  • 1 cup powdered Sugar

Topping

  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled butter

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease eighteen 1/2-cup muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Sift first 4 ingredients into medium bowl. Stir sugar, pumpkin, oil, vanilla and eggs in large bowl until well mixed. Mix in dry ingredients and apples. Place a small of batter into each baking cup and then later with a teaspoon of cream cheese filling. Scoop equal amount of batter over cream cheese filling in baking cups.

For Topping:
Combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in small bowl. Cut in butter with fingers or pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.

Sprinkle topping over muffins. Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into centers of muffins comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool. Serve muffins warm or at room temperature.

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