Pan con tomate

Originally recipes have you rubbing garlic on the bread, but I just roasted everything and mashed it together. Eric said he liked it better with fresh basil on top. He also said needed more salt.

Ingredients:

-tomatoes

-garlic

-olive oil

-basil

-salt

-sourdough toast

-OPTIONAL: The Mediterranean Dish mentions a splash of lime juice

Directions:

1. Roast tomatoes and garlic in oven - I think I did 350 degrees

2. Put in blender/bear chopper w/ olive oil

3. Spread on toast

4. add basil, salt

Date Balls

Because I had leftover Medjool dates from the Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe, tried making these. 
Got recipe from unicornsinthekitchen.com

Ingredients (recipe halved):

-6 Medjool dates

-1/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal, or quick oats

-1/4 cup walnuts

-1/4 cup nut butter (peanut)

To roll the balls (didn't do because of time)

-ground pistachios

-desiccated coconut

-sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Discard Medjool date seeds if not already pitted

2. I ground the oatmeal first in food processor before the other ingredients. Then added rest of ingredients. Mix until looks dry.  

3. Add 1-2 TBSP hot water and mix again as needed

4. Rub olive oil on hands and scoop out mixture and roll into balls

5. Roll balls into other stuff above (optional)

May try rolling into other things next time. Pretty good.

Spicy Sweet popcorn

Wanted a popcorn that used cardamom.
Used macrocmama.com and 177milkstreet.com recipes

Amounts are estimated.

Try skipping the cayenne or try paprika instead as we were coughing

Ingredients:

-Ghee melted

-1/8 - 1 tsp cardamom

-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

-1/2 tsp cumin

-1/4 tsp coriander

-1/4 tsp ginger powder

-1/4 tsp hot paprika/cayenne -- NEXT TIME SKIP BC COUGHING

-1/8 tsp salt

-1/8 tsp turmeric

-1-2 tsp brown sugar

Brazilian Cheese Bread

Got recipe from Simply Recipes.

Was really good and easy! Need to add to the party rotation.

There was more than enough batter for my mini muffin tin. So would just messy pour everything in instead of one at a time and pretty.

Dumped the olive oil into the blender, then used the dirty cup to grease pan.

Probably baked for 18 min.

Used the Gruyere cheese from prior recipe.

Ingredients:

-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing pan

-2/3 cup milk

-1 1/2 cups (170 g) tapioca flour

-1/2 cup (66 g) packed grated or crumbled cheese, your preference

-1 tsp salt or more to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.  Grease olive oil onto pan.

2. Blend all ingredients into blender and pulse until smooth

3. Pour batter into muffin tin. Leave 1/8 inch from the top.

4. Bake for 15-20 min until puffy and nicely browned.

Cheese Puffs

From delish.com

Very good and easy to make.  Bready and cheesy.  More bready than a Brazilian cheese puff.

Eric said it was too peppery, so add less next time or none.

Cook to eat with Italian dinner.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup water

4 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp freshly ground white pepper (optional)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

1/2 cup freshly grated Gruyere, plus more for topping

Direction

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, salt, sugar, and white pepper and bring to a boil.  Add the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until a smooth dough forms.  Continue to cook until dough pulls away from the pan and forms a ball, and a film develops on the bottom of the pot, about 2 minutes

3. Transfer dough to a bowl and continue to mix with a wooden spoon to cool slightly, 1 minute.  Beat eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth and fully incorporated after each addition.

4. Fold in gruyere

5. Transfer batter to a piping bag or use a small (2 tsp capacity) cookie scoop to create small, inch-wide mounds on prepared baking sheet (needs to be all same size), about an inch apart.  Top with more gruyere and bake until puffed and golden, 20-25 min

Party snacks

Over the years, I've thrown a lot of parties.  I know what works and what doesn't work.  Or at least what I feel does/doesn't work. I could be wrong.  We used to buy food like fajitas or pizza, but people don't really eat food.  Except a Chick-fil-a chicken platter.  People will eat that up.  Anyways, I wrote my list of recipes out on a piece of paper, but I threw it out/gave it to Jasmine, so writing it down here.  The salsa is on here already, but will just write it again. This latest set of recipes was for the last party we threw for NBA All-star Feb 2019.

Salsa

-1 can of diced tomatoes (14 oz)

-1 can of original Ro-tel (10 oz)

-1/2 small white onion

-1 jalapeno

-1 lime

-1 clove garlic

-handful of cilantro

-1 tsp honey

-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp cumin

Guacamole (x3 for onions, no onions, and for 7-layer dip)

-3 large oavocados

-1 lime

-1/2 white onion

-3 Tbsp cilantro

-2 roma tomatoes

-1 tsp garlic powder

-1 jalapeno

-1 pinch cayenne/cumin/salt

Queso

-1 package of cream cheese, cubed (8 oz)

-White American cheese, cubed (1 lb)

-1 Tbsp salted butter

-4 Tbsp milk (or more)

-1 can of diced green chiles (4 oz)

-1/2 Tbsp diced jalapenos

-2 Tbsp cilantro (optional)

Ritz cracker + candied jalapenos

-1 jar candied jalapenos

-1 box of mini Ritz crackers

-cream cheese

7 layer dip (basketball shaped)

-1 can refried beans + taco seasoning

-guacamole (no tomato/no onion)

-sour cream (16 oz) + cream cheese (8 oz)

-roma tomatoes (or salsa, but not the watery kind)

-shredded lettuce

-shredded cheese

-olives (in shape of basketball)

Ranch dip (for veggie tray)

-sour cream (16 oz)

-1 ranch packet

Veggie platter

-baby carrots

-broccoli

-cucumber

-cheese cubes

x tomatoes - nobody eats

x celery - nobody eats

Fruit tray (don't think I ever made)

-pineapples

-strawberries

-blueberries

-mandarin oranges

Punch (refrigerate everything)

-1 quart cranberry juice

-1 quart pineapple juice

-1 frozen OJ can

-1 frozen lemonade can

-1 quart ginger ale (add right before serving)

-vodka…a lot of vodka 

Cranberry Brie Bites

Recipe seen around Instagram, but used The Country Cook as base recipe.

It was nice to have something different to snack on.  I made NYE with Jasmine and Thomas there to eat some.  Eric even ate a few.  Didn't blow us away though. 

Made again for UFC night and very good.  Was very generous with the toppings and fit in the hole pretty good when you bake it.

Ingredients:
-all purpose flour for dusting on cutting board

-8 oz crescent dough sheet

-8 oz wheel of brie cheese

-1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce (not jellied)

-fresh rosemary sprigs

-chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

2. Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray

3. Spread flour on cutting board and roll out crescent dough

4. Pinch seams and cut dough into 24 equal pieces and place in tin

5. Cut brie into small pieces and place into tin

6. Add spoonful of cranberry sauce, rosemary sprigs, and pecans

7. Bake until crescent dough is a light golden brown - about 15 min

Hummus without Tahini

Taken from wholesomedish.com

I thought was pretty good, but Eric didn't like the texture.  I think it is a fine snack in a pinch.

Ingredients:

-1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

-2 tbsp. water

-2 tbsp. extra virgin oil

-1 tbsp. lemon juice

-1 garlic clove, cuisinarted

-3/4 tsp ground cumin

-1/4 tsp salt

-cayenne to taste

Directions:

1. Cuisinart garlic

2. Add garbanzo beans, water, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, salt

3. Process until smooth and creamy - can add more water/salt

*snack

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Made and was a hit.  Recipe from loveandlemons.com

Ingredients

-6 medium tomatillos

-1/4 medium yellow onion, cut into large chunks - (would do 1/3 onion bc didn't use burnt pieces)

-1 serrano or jalapeno pepper

-2 garlic cloves, unpeeled, wrapped in foil

-1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

-1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lime juice - think I used one full lime and it was a lil too limey

-1/4 cup chopped cilantro

-1/2 to 3/4 tsp sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Remove husks from tomatillos and rinse under cool water to remove stickiness

3. Place tomatillos, onion, pepper on baking sheet - sprayed with olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper

4. Place wrapped garlic on pan

5. Roast for 15 min or until tomatillos are soft

6. Add all ingredients into food processor (add water if too thick)

Didn't add onion pieces that were too burnt, so add extra onions to pan.  Will make again.  Summer is when tomatillos are in season.  Hmmm.

*Mexican

*Appetizer

Party salsa

 I've been using this salsa recipe for 15 years (yikes), so don't remember where I got it from.

Ingredients
-1 can of Ro-tel original, 10 oz

-1 can of diced tomatoes, 14 oz

-1/2 small onion (white)

-1 jalapeno with seeds (have been using serranos lately to make it spicier)

-1 lime

-1 clove of garlic

-handful of cilantro

-1 tsp honey

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp cumin

Directions:

Blend everything together.  Add more salt or honey to taste.

*snacks

*Mexican

Cinnamon Apple Popcorn

Basic recipe,  but can attribute to Tarateaspoon.com

Ingredients:

-Popcorn

-Freeze-dried apple chips (1package of 10 g from HEB)

-Cinnamon

-Butter or Coconut oil

-Sugar - used 1 tsp of Monk fruit

-Salt - didn't use, but would try a pinch

Directions:

1. Cuisinart-ed 1 pack of freeze-dried apple chips + cinnamon + ?sugar (+next also pinch of sugar)

2. Mix in coconut oil + seasonings + popcorn

Notes:

Eric liked it.

Seasoning was pretty heavy at the bottom.  

Next time, would try omitting the sugar.  

I used 2 Tbsp of butter, but wasn't enough so added another 1 tsp of coconut oil.  Next time, just use coconut oil only + pinch of salt?

I didn't measure the cinnamon, because only had a little bit in the bottle and dumped the whole thing in, but next time, would be generous.

*Snack

Chicken Fajitas + Pico de gallo + "Easy" Guacamole

I have been using this recipe from mammy2grammy for oven baked chicken fajitas for a while, with some modifications of course.

This recipe was for 6 servings (3 nights for me and Eric)

Guacamole is "easy" because I made pico already, didn't need to add jalapenos, onions, or tomatoes.
Served with corn tortillas (30 count = 5 tacos per night for each of us).
I also made some rice, but didn't need it, was plenty of food already.

Still make with rice

DON’T USE STREET TACOS - too small

CHICKEN FAJITAS:

Ingredients:

-chicken tenders (sliced long-ways in 2 for more tacos)

-1 can ro-tel diced tomatoes

-sliced onions (1/2 of large or 1 med white)

-sliced bell peppers (2 medium green)

-sliced jalapeno (1 medium)

-sliced garlic cloves

Chicken fajita MARINADE:
-1 lime

-2 tsp ground cumin

-2 tsp chili powder

-1/2 tsp oregano

-1/2 tsp garlic powder

-1/4 tsp jalapeno salt or sea salt

-Next time add some cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken for 2-4 hours or overnight

2. Spray dish

3. Spread chopped veggies into dish

4. Chicken on top

5. Ro-tel tomatoes on top

6. Bake for 400 degrees for 20 min

PICO DE GALLO:

-1/2 white onion, chopped

-1 jalapeno, chopped

-1/8 cup lime juice (2 key limes)

-4 tomatoes (roma), chopped finely (remove juice)

-1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

-sea salt

"EASY" GUACAMOLE:

-1 avocado

-1 key lime juice

-cilantro

-garlic powder

-a little cumin

-a little jalapeno salt

Notes:

In subsequent uses, I cut chicken into cubes and pan cooked meat first with garlic (+/- serrano).  I then cooked veggies separately in pan - onion, bell peppers, hatch green chili (spicy!).  Made Mexican bowls with cilantro lime rice, chicken, veggies, pico, guacamole, and also homemade salsa made the night before.

*Mexican

Oven roasted chickpeas - Coronavirus Cooking Series

So, I have notoriously done a bad job at making oven roasted chickpeas.  Either burning them or not cooking them enough.  Last night was another attempt, but they were not crispy enough.
NEXT TIME USE AIR FRYER RECIPE

Ingredients:
-1 can of chickpeas
-olive oil
-seasonings of your choice (Eric seasoned them last night)

Directions:
1. Rinse chickpeas
2. Let them dry - so I had them on paper towel pretty much half a day
3. Coat well with olive oil (used  just the spray olive oil and shook them on the foil
4. Bake at 400 degrees for ______ min --> 15 min, then shake --> 10 min, then shake --> check every 2-3 min or so?

The time in the oven is what gets me.  Also, I semi-preheated the oven.  I ran it for at least 15 min, and then shook it, then probably another 5 min, then I turned off the oven (bad idea), kept checking every 2 min, put the oven back to 350 at some point  Probably added another 10 min after that.
NEXT TIME, after shaking at the 15 min mark, leave it in the oven for another 10 min, then check every 2 min or so?  Likely will need to be in oven for total 30 min.  Will have to update next time I make.

Have not made yet, but posting for future reference from sweetpeasandsaffron.com

Directions:
1. Heat air fryer to 390 F
2. Drain and rinse chickpeas (no need to dry).  Toss with olive oil and spices.
3. Dump in air fryer.  Cook for 12-15 min shaking a couple of times

*Snack

Peanut butter banana muffins - Coronavirus Cooking Series

Getting my pre-workout bananas on Fridays and getting a little extra, so I tried a different banana recipe at Broma Bakery. A lot tastier than the pancakes, but this had more ingredients including honey.

Ingredients:
-3 large ripe bananas
-1/2 cup peanut butter
-4 TBSP honey
-2 eggs
-2 tsp vanilla extract
-1 1/4 cup oatmeal flour (cuisinart-ed rolled oats)
-1 TBSP baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup dark chocolate chips (used probably 1/2 cup)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 425 degrees. Line muffin tin with 12 cups and spray with oil.
2. Mash bananas in a bowl. Add peanut butter, honey, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix.
3. Cuisinart-ed oatmeal. Add baking powder, salt.
4. Add in the oatmeal mix, and fold in with spatula.
5. Add in the chocolate chips. Don’t overmix.
6. Add into muffin cups.
7. Bake for 5 min at 425. Then turn down to 375 and bake for another 14 min.
8. Take out and cool for 10 min.

*Snacks

*Dessert

*Breakfast

Garlic hummus

Taken from Food for Fought

Ingredients:
-1 large head of garlic (I used 1.5 heads)
-3 TBSP olive oil
-1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
-3 TBSP fresh lemon juice
-1/3 cup tahini
-3 TBSP water - I used a lot more to thin it out
-1 tsp ground cumin
-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper - had some good kick
-pinch of sea salt

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees Cut head of garlic and drizzle with olive oil.  Wrap in aluminum foil and heat for 40-45 min.
2. Add rest of ingredients to food processor + add cooled garlic
3. Add more water for consistency
4. Serve with more olive oil and dash of paprika

Michael Paul's recipe - that I didn't use, but want to use next time
(halved)
-1 can of chickpeas
-100 mg of tahini sauce
-3 lemons - 100 mL
-1.5 garlic heads
-2-4 TBSP olive oil
-1-2 TBSP apple vinegar
-1/2 tsp cumin
-30 mL hamod al hosrom

-Add chickpea water to make mixture smooth

*Snack