Summertime goes hand in hand with Sangria.  They meet up year after year like best friends on holiday.  A crony of mine told me Beringer White Zinfandel on ice was his favorite way to enjoy a summer night.  I invited him over for my Cherry Social, and wanted to make sure he really enjoyed his White Zinfandel that evening, so decided to take it up a notch and make it into a Sangria.  I might as well have served him liquid gold…. He loved it.  Everyone else at the gathering loved the Sangria as well.  The cherries sweet-tart flavor and the White Zinfandel blend together perfectly, and the candied sweetness of watermelon pushes this Sangria to a new height.  Enjoy it this evening for a taste of summer on holiday.

Ingredients for Cherry Watermelon Sangria:

3 – cups of chopped watermelon

2 – cups Whole Foods Market cherries (pitted and sliced in half)

2 – liters of lemon lime soda

4.5 – liters of Beringer White Zinfandel

In a large jug add watermelon and cherries.

Then pour in lemon lime soda.  Top with White Zinfandel.  Mix well.

Pour over ice and enjoy

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Whole Foods Market. However all opinions and recipes are my own. I genuinely love Whole Foods Market. 🙂

I’ve been known to sing silly songs.  I make up my own lyrics and improvise where my mind draws a blank….  isn’t that part of the creative process?  Either way I think of David Bowie’s song “Changes” everytime I eat or make Chinese Chicken Salad….  I like to say “Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Chinese Chicken Salad” in the same way he sings “Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.”  Anything to get my Bowie fix for the day.  Picture me on this hot day in a pair of cut off Levi’s (very 70’s) with the little strings hanging, an old Ziggy Stardust t-shirt eating my Chinese Chicken Salad filled with mandarin oranges, ramen and almonds!

Ingredients for Chinese Chicken Salad:

1 – head of green cabbage (chopped)

1 – bunch of cilantro (just the leaves are needed)

7 – stalks of Dole green onion

1 1/2 – cups sliced almonds

1 – cup of Dole mandarin oranges

3/4 – cup grated carrot

Favorite Chinese Chicken Salad dressing

1 – package of instant ramen noodles (crushed and uncooked)

Left over grilled or rotisserie chicken pieces (2 to 3 cups)

Cut cabbage in half then slice cabbage very thinly, until all is sliced. Add to a big bowl. Wash cilantro and add leaves to the cabbage bowl.

Next cut off the stringy ends of the green onions and a small portion of the green ends. Then thinly slice and add to the cabbage bowl. Pour almonds on top of green onion. Mix well.

Add mandarin oranges, carrots, and salad dressing. Mix well.

Then top with ramen, and chicken and give it a final mix.

All photos taken by: Mando Lopez

This post is sponsored by got milk? in partnership with local California organizations that educate kids about the importance of proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle.

CMPB (California Milk Processors Board) needs a round of applause. I love this organization, not only do they talk the talk they walk the walk. I know you’re thinking I’m throwing confetti on CMPB because this is a sponsored post, but let’s be real here, that is not the case. They really are supporting causes that speak to my heart and inner child. Recently they have partnered up with 3 different Golden State community based organizations: Think Together, The Bay Area Community, and Central Valley Afterschool foundation. CMPB will help raise money for these organizations which support afterschool and summer programs offering families wholesome real simple food options to encourage a healthy lifestyle.   They hope to raise a total of $50,000 from July 9, 2012 to August 5 , 2012.  Here’s the awesome part, they don’t just expect that you will donate, they have come up with a clever idea of making these irresistibly cute vintage looking glasses and selling the pair for $15 dollars (Click here to order your own), that includes shipping and handling. That’s an unheard of price for such stylish glassware. These uber cool glasses coincide with the GOT MILK “Science of Imitation Milk” campaign they have going on, where they compare REAL MILK to the imitation stuff. You will see on the glass a laundry list of all the ingredients that go into imitation milk vs. the two that go into real milk. It’s not pretty by comparision.

What to pour in my new milk glasses? I made caramel cinnamon milk to sip on a warm day and to show off my new glassware. 🙂 Enjoy!

Ingredients for Caramel Cinnamon Milk:

3 – cinnamon sticks

2 – cups water

3 – tablespoons spreadable caramel ( I like to use cajeta)

1 – glass of cold milk

In a medium saucepan over a high flame add cinnamon sticks and water. Bring to a boil. Allow to boil for 10 minutes. Remove from flame and pour cinnamon tea into a bowl. Then mix caramel into cinnamon tea. Mix until completely dissolved.

Then pour into a popsicle mold and freeze over night.

Remove from freezer and slowly pull a caramel cinnamon popsicle from tray. Pour a nice big glass of cold milk and place popsicle in milk and allow to melt for about 20 minutes. Then take a sip of a refreshing cold caramel cinnamon milk.

As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Program, I received a stipend and got milk? glassware in exchange for my participation in this program.

There’s something very reassuring about eating kale salad.  Number 1, you know you made the right choice for your body that day.  Number 2, this leafy green is high in fiber and has zero fat.  Number 3, Kale is high in Calcium, Vitamin A, C and K, and has more Iron than beef.  Number 4, Kale is an anti-inflammatory packed with powerful antioxidents!  These are reasons enough for me to want to eat this salad again and again.

I always shake up my Kale salad by making different dressings.  Remember to make your kale salad a few hours in advance and allow it to sit in the dressing just to soften the roughage up a bit.

Kale Salad in Tahini Dressing:

1- bundle Kale

2 – large lemons (juiced) 

1/2 – cup Joyva sesame tahini puree

2 – garlic cloves (minced)

3- tablespoons of lime flavored soy sauce

1/4 – cup water

1/2 – cup pine nuts ( I like to toast mine)

Start by rinsing your Kale well.

Then place on a cutting board and cut into bit size shreds.  Place in a big bowl.

In a mixing bowl add lemon juice, tahini sesame puree, minced garlic, soy sauce and water.  Mix well.  At first the mixture will curdle then as you continue mixing it will go smooth.

Pour over chopped Kale and mix well to combine.

Next add pine nuts and cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a few hours or over night. Enjoy!

 All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Chile Colorado brings the familiar taste of my childhood rushing back to me. Flooding my mouth with my heritage and reminding me of my Mexican-American upbringing.  My Grandfather made it for our dinner time and time again.  He cooked his chile colorado in a cast iron pan and made his chile from scratch.  To this day he loves his steak chopped into cubes and drenched in red chile.  This dish had become so sacred in my mind that I had never even attempted to make it myself.  I wanted to leave it perfect in my memory  the way my Grandfather had always prepared it.  Well last week I was craving a plate of Chile Colorado and with my Grandfather now being 88 years old, I didn’t have the audacity to request he make it for me, knowing darn well that I would be able to get in the kitchen myself and bust it out.  That was it, I made Chile Colorado for the first time with the few tidbits I remember from my Grandfather and I was so proud of my final product.  It tasted just like I remember and maybe even a little better.  Is that awful of me to say?  Sorry Grandpa.

Ingredients for Chile Colorado:

1 – onion (peeled)

1 – package of New Mexico Chile (use entire bag 2oz.)

1 – package of California Chile (use entire bag 2oz.)

2 – dried pasilla chiles (reserve the rest for the next time you make this)

4 – garlic cloves (peeled)

1 – tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 – teaspoon dried oregano

1 – teaspoon garlic salt

salt and pepper to your liking

vegetable oil

4 – tenderlion steaks (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 – heaping tablespoon of flour

garlic powder

3 – large Idaho Potatoes

Let’s start by making the chile.  Fill a large pot half way with water and add 3 tablespoons of salt and the entire onion.  Then place over a medium high flame and bring to a boil.  Once boiling add New Mexico Chile, California Chile and Pasilla Chile to water and cover with a lid.  Let boil for 30 minutes.

Then remove from flame. DO NOT DISCARD the water.  Save it.  Take all the chiles and place in a blender.  Remove stems from chiles.  You may have to do this in two batches.  Pour a cup and a half  –  two cups of the water (use the water you boiled the chiles in) into the blender along with garlic cloves, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Blend on high till smooth.

   It will be a bright red color.

Then place a sieve over a bowl and pour chile in.  This step will collect all the skin and seeds. Mix with a spoon till there is no liquid in the sieve.  Collect chile in bowl and set to the side.

Next take your steak.  Trim any fat (you may want to leave a little bit) and cube into 1 1/2 inch cubes.  Then in a dutch oven or cast iron pan over a medium flame pour a 1/2 of tablespoon of oil and allow to heat to hot.  Then add in steak cubes.

Cook just until browned.  About 3 to 5 minutes.  Then add a little salt, pepper, garlic powder…. Mix well.  Lastly add in flour and mix well to absorb any moisture in pan.

Next add in chile. You should have about 2 to 3 cups.

Lower the flame to low, cover with a lid and let chile and meat cook for about 45 minutes to an hour. Stir every 10 to 15 minutes.

While chile and meat are cooking….  Peel potatoes and cut into 2 inch cubes.  Boil some water in a medium pan and add potatoes.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Then remove from water.  In a large frying pan add a tablespoon and a half of vegetable oil and allow to get hot. Then add potatoes and fry on both sides for 7 minutes or until crisp. Then remove from flame and set to the side.

Once the chile and meat are almost done ( the sauce should look a little on the thick side) add the fried potatoes in.  Mmmmmm, my mouth just watered.

Mix well, serve in a bowl or plate.  Heat a side of corn or flour tortillas and shake your head in disbelief at how good your food is!  🙂  Enjoy!

The idea of having a bar-b-que doesn’t exist if corn on the cob isn’t thrown on the grill.  I take pleasure in watching people eat their corn.  So many different ways to enjoy each kernel.  Some people eat it like a old typewriter on fast speed….very crickety.  All the way down one side and back at the top again for another go at it. Some people pick each kernel and savor it slowly. Some people just hack away at the corn taking big bites here and there with no rhythm or coordination.  I am a meticulous corn eater, I eat one side and then more on to the next….  never leaving a kernel untouched.  Then you have your funny people that bite a kernel and place them strategically in their teeth and leave them there to resemble messy mouth.  Maybe that last one just happens in my family, I don’t know.  Whichever the case, delight in this corn and eat it the way you know how.

All photos taken by: Nicole Presley

Ingredients for grilled corn on the cob:

Fresh corn on the cob

Kerrygold garlic and herb butter

basil infused olive oil

fresh lime juice

salt and pepper

aluminum foil

Take a piece of aluminum foil (7×7)and place down on  as a work space/wrapper. Place corn on aluminum foil and spread butter around entire corn to cover it.

Then drizzle with olive oil and squeeze with fresh lime juice.

Next season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Then wrap the corn in aluminum foil nice and tight, and start on the next one.  One you finishing wrapping all your cobs. Throw them on a bar-b-que grill and cook on each side for 5 to 6 minutes. A corn has 4 sides…. a total of 20 to 24 minutes.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!

Ingredients for Honey Brie Cups:

1 – uncooked pie crust (I use pillsbury)

6 – oz. brie cheese

1/8 – cup honey

2 – tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice

Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit

Spray a mini muffin pan with a non-stick baking spray. Set to the side.

Unroll pie crust and cut with a star cookie cutter.

Then place little stars in mini muffin pan to form your cup.

Cut your brie cheese into cubes large enough to fit in center.

Then place in the oven for 9 to 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

While cups are baking take honey and orange juice and mix well.

Once you remove brie cups from oven,  drizzle orange honey generously over each cup.

Enjoy them on their own or with a bowl of fresh cherries!

 All photos taken by: Nicole Presley