There’s nothing better than lending your time.  I found that out the fun way.  A friend of mine heads the organization “LA CAUSA” and was informing me of all the wonderful things they are doing to redirect the entire community.  They have formed a program called “Green the east side initiative- sustainable communities in East Los Angeles.”  They are making glorious strides in the east LA vicinity.  Having their hands in everything green,  from installing solar paneling into homes around the area to converting a local liquor store into a organic vegetable marketplace.  How inspiring!  I am thrilled over the moon that this positive movement is finally happening in my neck of the woods.  My next question was “how can I help?”  Collectively we thought it would be nice to introduce a small lesson of healthy snacking to the youth, in honor of Earth day.  I decided spring rolls would be my first presentation.  Compact, full of veggies, easy to make and flavorful.  Turns out the students loved the delicious rolls and were also honored by a visit from Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D.

What a superb day!

Ingredients for Shrimp Spring Rolls:

12 – rice wrappers

3 – cups hot water

24 – cooked shrimp (cleaned, peeled, and cut length wise in half)

6 – large romaine lettuce leaves (cut down the middle)

1 – large portobello mushroom (sliced into 12 pieces)

1 – red bell pepper (sliced into 24 pieces)

1 – carrot (julienne into 36 pieces)

1 – cup red cabbage (sliced very thin)

1/2 – cup chopped peanuts

1/2 – cup fresh cilantro leaves

Pour hot water in a large pan, then add 1 rice wrapper. Allow to soak on each side for 5 seconds, or until it is soft and pliable.

Then pull out of water and spread on to work surface. In the middle place 4 shrimp halves.

Then add 1 lettuce leaf, 1 piece of sliced mushroom, 2 strips of bell pepper, 3 strips of carrot, a very small handful of red cabbage, a teaspoon of chopped peanuts, and a few leaves of cilantro.

Fold top and bottom of rice wrapper, then fold the sides totally covering the filling. Roll like a burrito. Eat immediately.

Ingredients for Dipping Sauce:

1 – tablespoon sugar

2 1/2 – tablespoons fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)

1 – tablespoon Mizkan rice vinegar

1 – teaspoon chili garlic sauce

1 – teaspoon soy sauce

In a small bowl add sugar, lime juice and rice vinegar. Stir until sugar dissolves.

Then add chili garlic sauce and soy sauce.

Give it a good stir. Perfect companion to the shrimp spring roll!

Here are a handful of photos taken during the demonstration.

Making the dipping sauce and introducing the portobello mushroom for the first time to some of the youth, who had no idea what it was.

Hands on and ready to sink their teeth into the shrimp spring rolls!

Healthy and colorful… beautiful if you ask me!

Some of the students along with counselor Gabe, myself, Robert Zardeneta and Senator Hernandez.

*LA CAUSA is currently looking for low income home owners in East Los Angeles who are interested in solar paneling. Please contact Robert Zardeneta for more information on the requirements: Robert@lacausainc.org

I thought of it as a place of discovery, Negra and Charro’s house.  Both Negra (her real name is Thomasa) and Charro (his real name was Jesus) were close family friends, that treated me as if I were their blood related grand daughter.  It was nice for me to adopt some extra grandparents at the tender age of 6.  They lived at the very top of the hill overlooking all of City Terrace.  The fact that they lived on a hill meant there were plenty of stairs involved.  You’d go downstairs to enter the front of the house, but upstairs to enter the back.  This is the place were I first ate a fig off a tree.  I also discovered if you pour salt on a snail it’ll fizz, thanks to the boys that lived next door.  I saw beautiful rainbows in their backyard sooo many times.  I think the sun just had a way of setting there perfectly.  They always had Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches in their freezer.  I couldn’t remember the word “Neapolitan” when I was a kid and would always call them “Napoleon” ice cream sandwiches instead.  It would make them chuckle, but no one was in a rush to correct me.

Charro had two chihuahuas named “JJ” and “Charlotta.”  Charlotta was a mean white plump gal who would bite peoples ankles and growl if anyone came 5 feet from Charro.  JJ on the other hand was a black little scrawny dog who would wag his tail and look for any signs of affection.  Charro wore RED socks everyday of his life.  Each time I entered their home for a visit, he would shout my arrival by saying in a loud voice that was fit for an announcer “It’s not EVERYDAY, that the most beautiful girl in EAST LA, comes to visit me. CHARRO!”  Even though I had a big frizzy afro, chicken legs and gapped buck teeth.  I looked like a premature baby bird that had fallen out of the nest early.  Needless to say, he really had a way of building my confidence.

Negra always had tassels all over the house, she made them all year for the local graduating class.  This is the same woman who would volunteer her time each election to the voting polls.  Never forgot a date of any sort… birthdays, anniversaries, etc…  She use to save her empty egg shells for me, that way once Easter came to town I would have dozens of confetti eggs.  She made flour tortillas everyday, she would rub the white pillowy dough with a handful of REX lard, then roll them out and put them on a comal to cook.  She made life more wonderful… especially in the food department.  She would put together a killer mac and cheese.  Breaded pork chops with a cabbage slaw.  Her chorizo refried beans were to die for.  It was in that house, high above the city, where I was introduced to meatloaf.  Negra made a basic loaf with very few veggies, and lots of ground beef.  Thinking back, I decided all these years later to make mine with turkey and a ton of healthy vegetables in remembrance of  all the lovely food they shared and the kindness Negra and Charro showered me with.

Meatloaf Ingredients:

2 1/2 – pounds ground turkey

2 – cups zucchini (cubed)

1/2 – cup green onion (sliced)

3/4 – cup red onion (diced)

1 – cup yellow bell pepper (cubed)

1/2 – cup Lindsay black olives (sliced)

3/4 – cup red cabbage (chopped)/ or substitute with grated carrot

2 – cups mushrooms (sliced)

2 – eggs

1 – cup bread crumbs

3/4 – cup dried cranberries

1 1/2 – teaspoons Lawry’s seasoning salt

1 – tablespoon spicy brown mustard

1 – teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 – teaspoons dried basil/ or 1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

3 – teaspoons worcestershire sauce

1 – tablespoon minced garlic

Optional – a pinch of crushed red chili flakes.

Preheat oven to 350 fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients, then mix thoroughly by hand. Making sure all ingredients are combined.

Dividing meat mixture in half,  fill two 5 x 9 loaf pans.

Place in oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Then slice and serve.  To make this meal extra healthy… I like to serve mine on a bed of green salad with sliced pears.  Not to mention it taste good this way.

Eating LIGHT… never tasted so good!

Ginger lime tea is my GO-TO drink.  I love when there is a fresh pitcher made in my fridge, I know I’m giving my body something good.  In addition to it being refreshingly satisfying, it also serves many health benefits.  Feeling constipated?  Ginger lime tea is the answer.  Nauseous or morning sickness?  Ginger lime tea will fix that.  Got a bad cough or cold?  Ginger lime tea will knock it out of your system.  High cholesterol a problem?  Ginger lime tea will lower it.  Got an upset stomach?  Ginger lime tea will settle it out in no time.  It’s the miracle tea.  It really is.  Eating something greasy and want a drink that will cut through the unctuous bits?  Ginger lime tea is the best.  I can’t shout it out any louder.  I don’t know why it’s not being served in every household?  You want to impress your friends with something different?  Try ginger lime tea, it’s so right.  There’s nothing better for you and it’s sweet tangy spice makes any meal more memorable.  It cleanses your palate and quenches your thirst at the same time.  It could be enjoyed warm or cold over ice.  I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m way into ginger lime tea.  Once you try it, you will be too.

Ginger Lime Tea Ingredients:

1 – large piece of fresh ginger (the size of your hand or slightly bigger)

9 – cups water

1 1/2 – cups fresh lime juice (around 20 limes)

12 – ounces honey

With the side of a spoon, peel/scrape ginger clean.

Once ginger is completely peeled, cut ginger into 1/2 inch pieces.

In a pot over a medium high flame, add chopped ginger and water.

Bring to a rolling boil, and allow to boil for 3 minutes.  Then take off flame and set to the side.

Now to juice the limes.  Cut limes in half and extract all juice from lime into a bowl.  Either by hand or with a citrus press.

In a 12 cup pitcher, add honey and fresh lime juice.

Then take a rubber spatula and stir together well.  Until honey and lime become one.

Last step. Pour ginger water into the pitcher to meet up with the honey lime mixture. Turns out they really like eachother. 🙂  Then give it a good swirl!  It will be potent and strong.

Pour into several cups and share with friends.

Myself, Antonette, Marisela, and Tonantzin

Pour me some more! PLEASE!

🙂 For a ginger limeade spritzer: In a cup filled with ice, pour half ginger lime tea and half sparkling water.  Simply Revitalizing!

Ginger Lime Tea

I am a cookie CREATURE.

I am the COOKIE fiend.

Cookies are THE ONLY thing that make me WEAK in the knees.

I’ll eat them, till their all GONE…..

and believe you me, it won’t take LONG.

COOKIES for PRESIDENT!

COOKIES ARE KING!

Eat these cookies, their guaranteed to make you sing.

Cookie Ingredients:

1 – cup apple juice (I use Martinelli’s)

3 – cinnamon sticks

1 – cup raisins

2 1/3 – cups flour

1 – teaspoon salt

1 – teaspoon baking soda

1/4 – teaspoon cinnamon

2 – sticks butter (room temperature)

3/4 – sugar

3/4 – packed dark brown sugar

1/2 – teaspoon almond extract

1 – teaspoon vanilla extract

2 – eggs

2 – cups chocolate chips

1 – cup coarsely chopped almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.

In a saucepan over a medium flame, add apple juice, cinnamon sticks, and raisins.  Cook for 10 minutes.  Then take off flame and drain.  Set raisins to the side.  This step will rehydrate your raisins, and make them juicy plump!

In a medium bowl add flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Set to the side.

In a mixer add butter, sugar, and dark brown sugar. Mix until creamy.

Then add almond extract and vanilla. Mix in. Next add eggs, and mix to combine.

Adding a little at a time, add in flour mixture. Until all is combined.

Then add raisins, chocolate chips, and almonds. Mix in well.

On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat, drop cookie dough by heaping tablespoons 2 inches apart.

Bake for 11 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Take out of oven and let cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

SNACK TIME!

The smell of certain foods take me to other places or times in my life.  I love that.  My wheel of music does the same for me.  Especially songs from my adolescence.  When I need to be inspired I find music to be my biggest muse.  In my world, cooking and listening to music go hand in hand.  Nothing better then putting on a GREAT album, when preparing a big meal.  I get lost singing along to the lyrics, with complete focus on what I’m cooking.  It’s my way of telling the rest of the planet to take a hike while I encircle myself in the joy of escaping into my own private orbit.  Once I’m in the safety of that bubble the possibilities are inexhaustible.  I’m locked in.  If I feel like singing at the top of my lungs it has to be Fiona Apple, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, The Pretenders, or Bjork.  If the mood calls for something that’s more upbeat New Order, Daft Punk (Discovery), Imperial Teen, Lily Allen, Manu Chao, or Michael Jackson (Off The Wall) will get me moving.  When it’s all about the French invasion who better than Brigitte Bardot, Django Reinhardt, and Serge Gainsbourg, those are my faves!  Sometimes I want to become one with the music…. John Lennon & Yoko Ono (Double Fantasy), Hugh Masekela (Grazin in The Grass), Ethiopiques (Volume 4), Buena Vista Social Club, Peter Bjorn and John, Kings of Convenience (Quiet Is The New Loud), and Miles Davis (Kind of Blue, and Bitches Brew) become part of my skin.  When I want to relive the soundtrack of my youth I could depend on  The Smiths, Sonic Youth (Goo), Pixies (Doolittle), Joy Division, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, Duran Duran, Elvis Costello, David Bowie, The Velvet Underground, and the Beatles (Revolver, and Abbey Road).  These artists are the wordsmiths that remind me that it is great to be alive!

I could talk a million miles about all the other bands that were left out that I love, but I have to leave room for the recipe.  Sorry Steely Dan.

Pine Nut Mushroom Rice is a staple in my house, and is always found in my fridge.  I have probably made it dozens of times while each of these artists played in the background.

Rice Ingredients:

4 – tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick)

2 – chopped white mushrooms

2 – chopped crimini mushrooms

1 – tablespoon minced garlic

2 – cups extra long grain rice (I use Mahatma)

1/4 – cup chopped green onion (white part only) (about 6 stalks)

1/2 – cup pine nuts

1/2 – tablespoon roasted sesame seeds

1/2 – teaspoon black pepper

1 – teaspoon Lawry’s seasoned salt

4 – cups vegetable broth

In a medium pot/sauce pan (with a lid), over a medium high flame, melt butter then add mushrooms, and let saute for 5 minutes. Stirring every minute or so.

Then add in garlic, and rice. Mix well. Continue to saute for another 3 minutes.

Next add in chopped green onions and pine nuts. Continue to saute for 4 minutes. You will notice the rice is starting to brown. Continue to mix so rice doesn’t burn.

Now add sesame seeds, pepper, and Lawry’s. Mix for another minute or until all rice is golden brown.

Add broth and bring to a boil.

Once broth is boiling. Lower flame to low/simmer, and cover pot with a lid.

Cook for 20 minutes. That’s it you’re done!

I like to serve mine with fresh sliced tomatoes, then squeeze lemon over top.

Some people love it with tomatoes, lemon served on the side.

It’s delicious!

As a kid I looked forward to Easter every year.  To me it meant: Confetti eggs, a new Easter dress, a cute little bunny pin on my sweater, yellow ribbons in my hair, and a fancy basket that my mom would put her heart into.  She knew exactly how to make it special and filled the basket with all my favorite treats.  I would pull the brightly colored cellophane off to find yellow marshmallow bunnies, colorful plastic eggs filled with jellybeans or sweet tarts, a chocolate egg from See’s, chocolate malt balls with a hard white shell, Jordan almonds, a variety of small japanese toys, and a big solid chocolate bunny wrapped in pink foil.  Complete kiddie heaven.

Come Easter day we would have a huge family picnic with all the fixings.  Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, ham, macaroni and cheese, and some sort of green salad.  Dessert was a whole party on it’s own…. Chocolate banana cream cake, finger jello, ambrosia salad, sugar shortbread cookies, and lemon meringue pie. A sugar high for all. Then the grand Easter egg hunt would take place, my cousins and I would scramble in a frenzy to try and find the golden egg, that was the one with money in it.  It was a day of absolute family closeness, and a spirit of fulfilled happiness.  Once the sun would start to fade the festivities would die down, everyone would say their good-byes, and return home.

I would jump into my pajamas first thing, and settle in for a screening of “The Wizard of Oz”, which showed annually every Easter evening on regular television.  But nothing was complete until my mom would serve me a bowl of warm capirotada topped with whipped cream and candy sprinkles.  It was the finale to my Easter.  The end all of end all’s.  It was made of the things I dreamed about.  Sweet rich softness on the inside, crystallized and crispy on the outside.  The most divine taste you could put in your mouth.  I relished every bite, and till this day capirotada is what I look forward to the most when Easter/Lent rolls around. Hippity Hippity Hoppity Hoppity Easter’s on it way!

Capirotada Ingredients:

7 – pan dulce (conchas) (sliced and toasted, should make around 10 cups)

6 – cups water

3 – piloncillo (cane sugar)

5 – cloves

6 – cinnamon sticks

2 – anise stars

1 – teaspoon vanilla extract

2 – granny smith apples (peeled and sliced)

3/4 – cup raisins

1/2 – cup pecans (coarsely chopped)

1 – cup cheddar cheese (I use Tillamook)

1/2 – cup almonds (coarsely chopped)

1 – cup sweetened shredded coconut

2 – cups monterey jack cheese (I use Tillamook)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.

On a chopping board slice each pan dulce into 12 to 15 pieces.  Reserve all sugar topping crumbs for later use.

Then line two cookies sheets with aluminum foil and place sliced pan dulce evenly across each sheet.

Place in the oven and bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until golden brown.

Once you remove toasty pan dulce from oven, reduce temperature to 350 degrees fahrenheit.  In a saucepan, over a medium flame, add water, piloncillo, cloves, cinnamon sticks, anise stars, and vanilla extract to make syrup. Stir every so often to help piloncillo melt, once melted, reduce flame to low and let simmer while you build your capirotada.

In a buttered glass baking dish 9 x 13, place 5 cups of toasted pan dulce slices to bottom to form your first layer.

Now peel both granny smith apples and slice into thin wedges. Divide in half.

Next, use half of the granny smith apple slices and raisin to layer on top of toasted pan dulce.

Here comes the next layer. Add pecans and cheddar cheese.

Again add another layer of pan dulce with the remaining 5 cups, and almonds.

Now for the fun part. Take piloncillo syrup and pour over the top of toasted pan dulce layers to soak all the way through. The pan dulce should be very soggy and drenched.

Take other half of granny smith apples and coconut, and layer on top of soggy pan dulce.

Lastly add monterey jack cheese to layered apple/coconut. Then take pan dulce sugar topping crumbs and sprinkle over the top.  Place in oven for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes, pull capirotada out of oven and it should be golden and crunchy. Then loosely cover with aluminum foil and put back in the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes. This step will help to keep the top of your capirotada from burning, but allow more of the moisture to evaporate from bread pudding.

Pull it out of the oven, remove aluminum foil, and allow it to sit for a half hour.

🙂 Capirotada tip:  I like to serve mine warm with candy sprinkles on top.  If you’re feeling decadent add whipped cream to that equation.

“Te Sacastes Un Diez!”

Paris holds a big space in my heart.  People always talk about how romantic it is there, how great the shopping boutiques are, how the French are just born gorgeous, and not to forget that the architecture will leave you speechless.  Yes those things all hold true, but more importantly the food is off the charts.  It far surpasses all expectations I ever had.  It’s full of all the delicious things that we are taught to eat in moderation, yet the French seem perfectly healthy.  I have to admit, the first couple of times I visited the great city of lights I ate myself silly. I didn’t have any reservations about what passed my lips.  I thought ” I’ll deal with the repercussions when I get back home.”  Almond croissants, gruyere cheese, chocolate, chicken pate, pistachio macaroons, crepes, gougeres, foie gras in brioche, croque monsieur,  seafood stews that were cream based over puff pastry…I could go on and on.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the savory tart.  So perfect in every way, it made my taste buds dance with joy.  I made a nice drawer for it in my memory bank, and filed it away.

One day a good girlfriend of mine called and said “I’m in your neighborhood! Can I stop by? Got anything to eat? I’m beyond famished!” I said “of course, come over.” It was set she would be at my house in one hour.  I didn’t have time to go to the market, and I was running a little low on groceries at that moment. I panicked…I looked in my fridge only to find some left over mashed potatoes, a head of cauliflower, cheese and some packaged pie crust.  What was I going to do? I immediately remembered the savory tart I had loved so much in Paris. I went to my pantry to find I had two large onions on hand, without hesitation I sliced them up and throw them into a pan with some butter.  It was time to start building my rendition of the savory tart…

Ingredients for Savory Tart:

1 – box of Pillsbury pie crust (2 packets come per box, you’ll need both)

1 1/2 – cups garlic mushroom smashed Idaho potatoes (instructions on how to make listed below)

1/2 – cup parmesan cheese shavings

1 1/2 – cups sharp cheddar cheese (grated) (I use Tillamook)

1 1/2 – cups sauteed onion (instructions on how to make listed below)

2 – cups grilled cauliflower (instructions on how to make listed below)

1 – cup gruyere cheese (grated)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees:

Line 12″ round baking dish with pie crust… (use both packets to form a big enough crust, allow excess to drape over edge of baking dish). Poke a few fork marks into the crust.

Then scoop in smashed Idaho potatoes and smooth across with the back of a spoon.

Then add parmesan cheese shavings and grated sharp cheddar cheese.

Then spread sauteed onions on top of potato/cheese layer and distribute evenly. Next repeat layering with the grilled cauliflower.

Lastly top with 1 cup of grated gruyere.

Fold up side of crust to encase edges of savory tart.

Then take a piece of aluminum foil and cover the edges of your tart so it doesn’t burn.

Bake for 35 minutes, then take the aluminum foil off and bake for another 15 minutes; a total of 50 minutes.

Serve with a simple green salad.

Bon Appetit!

Ingredients for garlic mushroom smashed Idaho potatoes:

3 – large Idaho potatoes (Peeled and cut into 8 pieces)

1 – tablespoon minced garlic

1 – stick of butter

8 – large mushrooms (chopped)

1/2 – cup whipping cream

2 – tablespoons chopped green onion

salt and pepper to taste

Peel and boil pieces of potato for 20 minutes or until a fork can pierce through. Drain and place in a bowl and mash with a hand masher. Then in a frying pan place 2 tablespoons of butter with mushrooms and garlic and let saute for 5 minutes, then add the rest of the stick of butter to melt. Pour the butter garlic mushroom saute into the mashed potatoes along with the whipping cream and the chopped green onion, and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

🙂 Smashed Idaho Potato Tip: Will taste better if made a few days ahead of time and placed in the fridge.

Ingredients for sauteed onions:

2 – large onions (sliced)

4 – tablespoons butter

1 – teaspoon dried basil

2 – teaspoons salt

1/2 – teaspoon pepper

1/2 – teaspoon garlic powder

2 – tablespoons white wine (Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc)

Melt down butter in a large frying pan, then add onion, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper, and let saute for 10 to 15 minutes over a medium high flame. Then add wine, mix well and let wine reduce for another 10 to 15 minutes. Mixing onions every 3 minutes or so. Then reserve in a bowl.

Grilled Cauliflower:

1 – large head of cauliflower (cut stalks off and just use the heads)

2 – tablespoons olive oil

1/2 – teaspoons chili flakes (the kind you put on pizza)

1 – teaspoon salt

1 – teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl mix together olive oil, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Then add your cauliflower heads and mix to cover with oil. Then grill your cauliflower to brown on each side ( I use my bar-b-que, but you can easily use a grill pan or a George Foreman) about 5 minutes on each side.