Presley's Pantry

Mmmmmm. That’s the sound that slips my lips when a scrumptious sandwich as mouthwatering as this one is set before me.  Let me rewind a little.  I was in Vegas for the Blogalicious conference, thanks to my awesome sponsor Sprint.  It was a great deal of fun.  I learned so much and was inspired to run back home and start posting.  I also made a ton of new friends and danced my ass off at a few late night parties and do I really need to explain, we’re talking Vegas here.  Long weekend short, once Sunday arrived I needed something greasy but with a touch of sweet and a light crispy crunch in my belly, something to soak up a weekend in Vegas.  Bacon and apple…. add some brie and a dash of honey and you’ve got the winning hand.

Ingredients for BBAH Sandwich:

2 – slices of french bread

2 to 3 – slices of granny smith apple

3 – slices of brie cheese

1 – tablespoon of honey

4 – slices of cooked bacon

Take a slice of french bread and top with apples slices.  The arrange the bries slices on top of apple.  Drizzle the brie with honey.  Top the honey brie with bacon slices.  Place the other slice of french bread on top and you have got your self a seriously delicious sandwich!

Thank you Sprint and Latina Bloggers Connect for sponsoring me to advance my career/website by sending me to Blogalicious, and for making me have so much fun in Vegas I needed to dream up this sandwich. Recipe and opinions are my own.

Thank you Sprint and Latina Bloggers Connect for sending me to Blogalicous and for the AWESOME phone!

Do you ever wake up inspired?  Just itching to expand?  Wanting to get yourself in the kitchen, experiment and get dirty?  I was having one of those days.  It usually comes when I want something sweet.  The air was perfect, the sun was shining through the window, I was playing my favorite music, completely focused on the tart at hand with good vibes all around me.  I had all the ingredients in the house for a fig tart and I was making it happen.  I could hear my phone making a faint sound from the other room, and something told me to check it.  I wiped my hands down and scrolled through my phone.  It was an email from Latina Bloggers Connect sending me the AWESOME news that Sprint had chosen me as one of the ambassadors for a sponsorship to Blogalicious in VEGAS!  Jumping up and down, excited and acting like a clown,  I ran back to the kitchen popped my pistachio cream fig tart in the oven and waited for it to be ready.  I hit the jackpot twice, not only was I going to Blogalicious, I was going to have my fig tart to celebrate too.  (In Oprah voice) Thank You Sprint!

Ingredients for Pistachio Cream Fig Tart:

1 – 17.3 ounce package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (2 sheets)

3/4 – cup salted pistachios

1 – cup powdered sugar

1 – teaspoon almond extract

1 – 8 oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)

6 – tablespoons of fig jam

20 – black mission figs (sliced in half)

1 – egg

1 – tablespoon of water

This recipe makes 2 tarts

Bring puff pastry to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.

In a food processors combine pistachios and powdered sugar.  Pulse until the pistachios are a fine crumb.  Then add in almond extract and cream cheese.  Pulse until all is evenly combined. Remove from food processor and set in a bowl to the side.

Lay one puff pastry sheet on a lined cookie sheet, and spread with 3 tablespoons of fig jam. Make sure to leave a 1 inch frame all along the edges.

Then take a teaspoon of the pistachio cream and drop it in a dollop then take another until you have 10 dollops in a row.  Top each with a half of fig.

In a little bowl make an egg wash by mixing egg and water together.  Then brush edges of pastry with the egg wash.

Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

While your first tart is baking, prepare the next one with the rest of the ingredients.  Or you could cut the other sheet in half and make two small ones.  I ended up doing this for a total of 3 tarts. One large one and two small ones.  🙂 Same baking time.

Here’s a picture of a small one before it went in the oven, and instead of dollops of cream, I spread it even.

Disclosure: Thank you Sprint and Latina Bloggers Connect …. Blogalicious was a grand time and I am grateful for the sponsorship. Recipe and opinions are my own.

That’s a picture of my Mom and me.  I’m her only child.  Our bond is unbreakable and as strong as a tsunami.  I think of what a wonderful parent she has been to me my whole life.  She raised me by herself and was a dedicated Mother who did her best to give me everything she could.  People always assume because I’m an only child I must have been spoiled.  I wouldn’t call it spoiled,  I would call it showered with love.  I didn’t grow up with a ton of toys but I did grow up with all of my Mom’s attention.  She always talked to me allowing open dialogue and valued my opinion.  She would recount stories to me of her youth and read me plenty of stories too.  I always remember her reading to me when I was a kid.  My Mom liked stories and she also appreciated good illustration. One of our all time favorite books to enjoy right before bed was an amazing book by the famed author Maurice Sendak called “In the Night Kitchen.”  It’s about a little boy named Mickey who finds himself in the surreal world of the Night Kitchen, when 3 bakers think he is milk and add him as one of the ingredients to make the morning cake.  Right before they are about to put the cake in the oven Mickey makes an airplane out of the dough and uses it to fly out of the cake and up to a big glass container of milk.  Then dives into the milk singing, and takes some of the milk from the container and pours it into the bakers batter so everyone can have cake in the morning. 

I think back on this book and wonder if it was one of the early influences that peaked my interest in baking?  I still love this book and find the illustrations to be close to perfection.  The picture of Mickey swimming in the milk pictured above is one of my favorites.  I am glad that I have found a new collection of modern books to read to my son that also involve milk and amazing illustrations.  Click here to download the books for free.  Who knows?  Maybe one of these books will not only encourage my son to drink milk before bed, which will help him sleep through the night, but they might also spark his interest in becoming an astronaut in search of the milky way or becoming a baker who will use milk in his cake recipe.

Disclosure: This is part of a sponsored campaign with the California Milk Processor Board and Latina Mom Bloggers. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

Halloween holds such joyous memories for me.  I equate October with creativity, imagination, family closeness, traditional sweet confections, and the kick off to the official holiday season. However you decide to mask your face, as a ghost, mummy, witch, sexy nurse or last years vampire…. make sure you leave enough room to stuff your face with my Halloween Caramel Apples.  Why? Because they are FREAK-ing delicious and simple to make!

Ingredients for Halloween Caramel Apples:

7 – Melissa’s Produce Granny Smith Apples or Pears

7 – popsicle sticks

2 – tablespoons milk

1 – package of caramels (about 50 unwrapped pieces)

melted chocolate of your choice

royal icing or frosting

 Directions:

1. Wash and dry apples and/or pears

2. Insert stick into apple or pear

3. Over a medium low flame in a sauce pan add milk and caramels. Stir until completely melted.

4. Line a platter or cookie sheet with a piece of buttered wax paper.

5. Dip apples into caramel until completely covered, and place on lined platter.

6. Place apples/pears in refrigerator for 1 hour to set.

7. Melt chocolate of your choice, White works well for decorating purposes.

8. Dip caramel apples/pears into chocolate and place back into the fridge for an additional 45 minutes.

9. Once the apples/pears are set remove from fridge and decorate with royal icing or frosting to make a spook-tacular frightfully delicious apple!

10. Enjoy and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I would like to thank Melissa’s Produce for suppling me with all the apples and pears.

Video and photos by: Mando Lopez

The first time I had garbanzo beans,  it wasn’t in the form of hummus or as a salad topper in a mixture of beans…. it was in the delicious cream of garbanzo, a silky savory soup that has been visiting my mouth ever since.  I had to claim this soup as my own, I craved it to have a burst of tomato and a bit of spicy chile.  I knew the  creamy garbanzo would holds hands with the hot chile de arbol and swirl in perfect harmony.  This is my Garbanzo bean soup.  It has been hailed by my Mother as the best soup of all time…. I know you’re thinking “her mother”, but she’s a tough critic to please.  I think what she was most impressed with was the fact that I used Mazola Sobrecito bouillon packets.  She thought it was genius that they are made with sea salt and when added to water they leave no clumps in your food.  Okay, mom pleased, mission accomplished.

Ingredients for Spicy Cream of Garbanzo Soup:

1 1/2 – cups of raw garbanzo beans

6 – cups of water

3 – Mazola Sobrecitos Bouillon packets Tomato flavor

2 – medium sized tomatoes

3 – chile de arbol (stems removed)

1/2 – onion

4 – garlic cloves

1 – bay leaf

nice olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Soak beans in water overnight.

Drain and rinse beans.

Add water, Mazola Sobrecitos, garbanzo beans,tomato, chile de arbol, onion, garlic, and a bay leaf to a pot over a medium high flame and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, reduce flame to a simmer, cover pot with lid and simmer for 2 hours.

Discard bay leaf.

Add all ingredients to a blender, and blend till smooth.

Serve right away.

Garnish with chopped tomatoes and drizzle top with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Enter to win a $25 Walmart card and a box of Mazola Sobrecitos

How to enter:

Visit Mazola Espanol on Facebook and leave a comment below on what your favorite bouillon recipe is.

Like Presley’s Pantry on Facebook!

Subscribe to my You Tube channel:  http://bit.ly/PawEKM

Like Mazola Sobrecitos on Facebook!

You can have up to 4 total entries each; however, please note that you have to comment back and let me know which of the actions you took, so that I can keep track of them.

Open to U.S. Residents only.  No PO Boxes, please. Must be 18 years or older to enter.  Contest ends October 8th, 2012 at 11:59 PM, PST and one winner  will be randomly chosen from all entries through random.org.

This contest is closed. Congrats to Livivua C.

 Book reading is a serious ritual in my house. I like to get cozy and prepare for bed each night, not only for my son but for myself as well. We usually start with dinner, then a bath, and a quick blow drying of our curly crazy hair, I say that because my son has been blessed with my curls. I go ahead and choose a comfortable pair of pajamas, one for me and one for him. Then it’s time to grab some milk… mine in a cup with a straw, and my son is still allowed one bottle a day and I usually give it too him right before bed. At last, Max picks the book he wants read to him or the one he will try and read to me in his garbled language that he speaks so well. Lately it has been “The Waves on The Moon”, which is the cutest story about a little girl and her adventure to the moon which is made of milk.  We both run to the bed and get snuggled up with our drinks in hand and a story to be told in the other. I prop the pillows then transport my little guy into the tale that lies before us. He giggles in between gulps of the warm creamy delicious milk that has become his nightly routine. When the story is done, I may read it again just to make sure he is super tired by the time I turn off the lights. Lights out, a good night kiss…. followed by an “I Love you” and “Night Night.” I cuddle him as we both drift into a deep slumber, I fall asleep with a smile on my face knowing I am doing the best job I can as a parent. Reading to my boy helps prepare him for his future, and giving him milk at night will aid him through a better sleeping experience. 

If you want to read a fantasy filled book to your child…. Visit www.otroscuentos.com to download the collection of bedtime stories for free.  Find “The Waves of The Moon” and “Elena The Slurping Monkey” books there. Such adorable fables with a positive message and your child will be encouraged to drink milk along side the character in the stories.

Enter to win a (1) two month supply of MILK via a $40 Walmart card and a hard copy of  the BEdtime Stories Book Collection:

How to enter:

Visit www.otroscuentos.com and leave a comment below on what your favorite bedtime story is.

Like Presley’s Pantry on Facebook!

Subscribe to my You Tube channel:  http://bit.ly/PawEKM

Like El Maestro Del Vaso Medio Lleno on Facebook!

You can have up to 4 total entries each; however, please note that you have to comment back and let me know which of the actions you took, so that I can keep track of them.

Open to U.S. Residents only.  No PO Boxes, please. Must be 18 years or older to enter.  Contest ends October 5th, 2012 at 11:59 PM, PST and one winner  will be randomly chosen from all entries through random.org.

This contest is closed. Congrats to MaryLou Alvarez!