Vaca Frita

Here I go on my Cuban kick again. I just love that Cuban food! As I mentioned in a previous post, my favorite restaurant in New Jersey was called Cuban Pete's. I would always either order Vaca Frita or their Churrasco Steak. EVERY time!!!

We went to the Ann Arbor library last weekend and I always find myself migrating straight back to the cookbook section. Imagine that, right?! Low and behold, this Cuban cookbook caught my eye.

So now I know how to make both of my favorite Cuban entrees! I have one more I want to try but I'll save that for another week. This recipe was very good and reminded me a lot of Cuban Pete's. It needed some extra salt and some extra squeezes of lime juice at the end to make it just perfect.

Vaca Frita
(Also known as Crispy Shredded Beef)
Source: In A Cuban Kitchen cookbook

3 lbs. flank steak
2 bay leaves
1 carrot, cut into 3 pieces
1 medium tomato, cut in half
1/2 T. cumin
1/2 T. dried oregano
1/4 c. olive oil
1 lg. Spanish onion, sliced fine
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 c. fresh lime juice
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to season

In a small stock pan, add the meat, bay leaves, carrot, tomato, cumin, and oregano and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 1 and a half hours until the meat becomes tender. Remove from the heat, drain, and shred meat.

Heat a skillet until it is very hot and add 1/8 c. of the olive oil. Add the shredded meat, being sure to spread it evenly over the pan. Flip the meat and cook until both sides become crispy.

In a separate pan, add the remaining olive oil and cook the onion until caramelized. Mix in the meat, cilantro, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with extra lime wedges.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Here's another fun Halloween recipe for you! It's amazing that I don't weigh 400 pounds after all the Halloween goodies I've made this week. Luckily I am good about sending them off with my husband to take to work. The less I keep in the house - the less I can eat! :)

I do not like the taste of real candy corn but I find myself buying a package of them every year to use for decorating something with. These candy corn sugar cookies on the other hand are very good and have a hint of lemon to them! They were a blast to make and would be a wonderful treat to make if you are hosting a Halloween party this year.



Candy Corn Sugar Cookies
Source: Kaitlin in the Kitchen

2 Sticks Butter, softened
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
2 T. Lemon Juice
2 t. Lemon Zest
1/8 t. Salt
3 c. Flour
1/2 t. Baking Soda
Red Food Dye
Yellow Food Dye
1/2 c. Granulated Sugar (for dusting)

Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Add egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Continue beating until well mixed. Add flour and baking soda, beat until well mixed. Divide dough into thirds. Press one-third of the white dough evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan that you have lined with foil, wax, or parchment paper. Place another one-third of the dough into a bowl and add yellow and red food dye to make orange (refer to the chart on the back of your box). Once it is mixed evenly, press orange dough evenly over white dough. In another bowl, add the final amount of dough and dye yellow. Press that evenly over the orange dough. Cover and refrigerate until firm (2 hours or overnight is best). Once chilled, invert your loaf pan and unwrap your dough. Flip it back over and place it on a cutting board. Cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp knife, trimming edges to make even, if necessary. Cut each slice into 6 wedges.



Place 1-inch apart onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. Place cookies straight into a bowl with sugar and coat. Place coated cookies on a baking rack to cool.

Haystack Creatures

Here's yet another cute, tasty, and easy Halloween recipe. My 3 1/2 year old keeps asking me if he can eat another monster. These things are hilarious. I love them! You can make any size creatures you want.

Look! Here's a family of 5. A papa, mama, and 3 kiddos. They're a good lookin' family aren't they?



Haystack Creatures
Source: Woman's Day

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used a partial bag of chocolate chips and a T. of shortening)
1 can (5 oz) thin chow mein noodles
1⁄2 c. vanilla frosting (I used some melted white candy melts)
18 green jelly beans (I used M&M's)
18 small purple sugar ball candies (You can use any color!)

Line a large baking sheet with waxed paper or nonstick foil.

Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on high in microwave 1 to 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Scrape chocolate into a large bowl; add noodles and gently toss with a rubber spatula until all the noodles are evenly covered in chocolate.

Drop heaping 1⁄4-cupfuls of noodle mixture into 9 haystacks on prepared cookie sheet. Let dry 1 hour at room temperature (or speed it up by refrigerating them 30 minutes until hard).

Put frosting into a small ziptop bag; snip off a tiny corner of the bag and pipe 2 dabs onto each creature and attach 2 jelly bean eyes. Pipe a dot in center of each eye and attach a candy ball in center. Let dry 1⁄2 hour.

Owl S'mores

Halloween is quickly approaching! I saw these adorable little owls while surfing the internet the other day and fell in love with them! They were super easy to make and my 3 year old loved helping make them. These would be great to make for a school Halloween party and are sure to make people smile.

Oh Look!!! There are even baby owls!!! :) I had so much fun making the big owls that I used miniature marshmallows and mini M&M's to make some babies. There are 8 babies in all. Perhaps I will call them John and Kate plus EIGHT!



Owl S'mores
Source: www.livinglocurto.com

Graham crackers
Marshmallows
Chocolate chips
Yellow candy melts
Candy corn
Mini M&M's and miniature marshmallows (If you want babies too!)

For directions on how to make these adorable owls please visit the original post provided by Living Locurto by clicking HERE.

Unstuffed Green Pepper Soup

I heard not one but two of my friends talk about eating this soup on two different occasions. Both Heather and Barbie went on and on about how good it was. My expectations were low. I've never even made stuffed green peppers before so I wasn't exactly sure what the soup would taste like. The outcome did not disappoint! This is a very flavorful soup and was very comforting on this chilly Fall evening. My hubby loved it too! I will definitely be making more of this during the upcoming cold months.

Next time I may even try to make it a little healthier by using 1/2 sausage and 1/2 ground turkey as well as substitue the white rice for brown.

Unstuffed Green Pepper Soup
Source: Barbie F.

1 1/2 lb sausage
1 onion, diced
2 cans tomato soup
2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
3 large green peppers, diced
2 (14 1/2 oz) cans beef broth
1 1/2 c. cooked rice

Brown sausage with onion and peppers. Stir everything together except rice. Simmer for 30 min. Add rice and heat through.

Bruschette - Catalan Tomato Bread

I went to an Olive Oil Tasting this past August. It was one of the most unique and fun food events I have ever been too. Who knew there were so many different varieties of olive oils?!?! The tasting was at a famous deli in downtown Ann Arbor called Zingerman's. It's such a neat and unique place on its own. You could spend hours there just browsing and tasting all of their products from around the world.

That night we tasted olive oils on bread, drizzled over tomatoes, with goat cheese and bleu cheese and crackers, in a potato salad, as a dressing on a salad...we even had a cake that was made with olive oil (It was delicious!)!!! Not only did we sample olive oils on food, but we also taste-tested them by themselves. First swirling the olive oil container around in my hand, smelling it, slurping in a little bit, and then twirling it around in my mouth just as if I were at a wine taste-test.

If you ever have the opportunity to go to an olive oil tasting, I highly recommend it.

At the end of the tasting, they gave us a 20% off coupon so I bought one of my favorite extra virgin olive oils called Tibvrtini Olive Oil. A few days later, some friends from NJ came to visit and surprised me with my other favorite bottle called Roi Carte Noir.

Roi Carte Noir is now my all time favorite olive oil and it's all because of this recipe.



Bruschette - Catalan Tomato Bread
Source: Zingerman's

1/4 c. (2 oz.) delicate extra-virgin olive oil
8 slices grilled or toasted bread
2 vine-ripened juicy red tomatoes
Finely ground sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Brush or drizzle the olive oil onto the bread. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise. Rub the cut side of a tomato onto each bread slice until the bread is red and moist. Sprinkle with sea salt and a few grindings of pepper. Serve immediately.

Notes:
*Bruschette requires high-quality, preferably artisanal bread.
*This recipe is best if you have very ripe tomatoes.

I will NEVER be able to buy a generic, on-sale bottle of extra virgin olive oil again! You really do get what you pay for.

Baby Foods

My Mommy fed me...



BEETS!!!

I've had so much fun going to the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market this summer. I've been cooking up a storm in my kitchen making lots of baby food! So far I've made:

Pumpkin
Apples
Pumpkin w/Apples and Cinnamon
Sweet Potatoes
Broccoli with Apple Juice
Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Peaches
and Beets!

This post won't pertain to many of my readers, but if you have a baby and are interested in making your own baby food, let me know. I'd love to share some easy recipes with you!

I choose to make homemade baby food mainly because I enjoy doing it, but here are some other good reasons to go the homemade route:

Cheaper
Making homemade baby food is significantly cheaper than buying baby food.

Healthier
Homemade baby food is healthier for your baby. First of all, you are in control of what spices and sugar you put in your childs food, if any. That means you ensure the food is healthy for your infant and doesn't add extra calories from a lot of sugar. You also don't add preservatives, know where the vegetables and fruits came from, and how they were prepared. You can even alter ingredients to create specialized foods for your baby that you might not be able to find pre-packaged.

Tastes Better
Have you ever tasted the store-bought baby food? Some of them can taste pretty nasty. I'm never afraid to try a bite of the baby food I make. It tastes great! I was tempted to pour myself a bowl of the cooked apples after making them for my baby because they tasted that good! :)

Freezes Well
Homemade baby food may be made in one afternoon and then stored in the freezer in ice cube trays. It freezes well and you will find that you can spend a few hours making baby food and then have it for weeks on end. Most frozen baby food stays good in the freezer for up to 3 months.

*I am not against the store-bought baby food at all. It is perfectly healthy for your little ones. I still buy some to have on hand and it's much easier to use when traveling. However, if we are home, you can bet my little one is eating the homemade stuff made with love from her Momma!