Fresh, ready to use, garlic from your fridge!

I do not like using the jarred garlic you can purchase in the grocery store. I don't like the flavor and I really dont think it takes much extra time to prepare fresh, especially if you have a hand held grater. That may be the only thing I've ever taken away from Rachel Ray! I know, I know you love her! Sorry, I just can't handle her! Ick!

Anyway, it is very difficult at times, well, more often than not, to find fresh garlic at the grocery store. It is usually black on some parts, not tight together, but has cloves hanging off. Ew! So, when the grocery store has great looking garlic I buy a ton of it. I bring it home and if my bf's kids are around they LOVE LOVE LOVE to peel the garlic in the little contraptions I have, so I let them do it! If not, I go for it. It's fast and easy to do and ensures I always have fresh garlic in the fridge ready to use.

Take your desired amount of garlic cloves. Place in a food processor or blender and pulse until chopped in tiny pieces. Transfer to a tupperware OR glass jar. Add just enough olive oil to make it moist and store in the fridge.

Viola!

Couscous salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

My camera is broken so I am taking pictures with my phone! I guess it could be worse! My phone actually has a 5.0 mega autofocus . . .I may be the problem, look at the blur! I took 3 years of photograph in high school and absolutely loved it. Now, with a broken camera, I am feelin it could be time to get a new one! With a nice big lense! Lots of megapixels and zoom! Of course my budget isn't going to allow me to go toooo crazy right now, but hmm... birthday's coming soon!
On to the salad! This couscous salad was delicious! I wanted to make it for quit a while and went to my cabinet to get a brand new box out. . . and it was not pretty. Something got at it and I was furious! Couscous isn't cheap here in Maui, not sure about anywhere else? And I was really in the mood for this! It's fast and easy to make, full of vegetables and a yummy lemony vinaigrette to give lots of flavor! I used broccoli the first time, but think crisp blanched green beans would be a better choice. The vegetables still had a little crunch, tang of the feta cheese, sweetness from the cranberries and crunch from the almonds. Soooo yummy! I think I'll go make some more!

Couscous Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

1 cup plain couscous
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 zucchini, diced
1 shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
about 1 cup fresh diced tomatoes
1/2 lb. blanched green beans, cut in half or thirds
feta cheese, as desired
1/4 c sliced almonds
1/4 c dried cranberries
fresh parsley

Vinaigrette

1/4 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
pinch cayenne
green onion, optional
2 T lemon juice
1 T olive oil
1/2 clove garlic or garlic powder

Bring the stock of choice to a boil. Turn off the heat, add the couscous and cover. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until soft. Add garlic. Cook 30 seconds. Add zucchini and cook until tender-crisp, about 5 minutes. Add green beans. Toss to coat with shallot and garlic.
Once couscous has absorbed all the liquid fluff with a fork. Add the vegetables. Combine all the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Pour over the couscous. Toss with a fork so all the couscous and vegetables absorb the vinaigrette. Add the almonds, cheese, cranberries, and parsley. Toss once more. Serve at room temperature or cold!

YUM!!!

Zucchini Appetizer from Spryte's Place

I came across the recipe for this Zucchini Appetizer quite some time ago and made it soon after. This is the perfect time to pull it out and share it with all of you! It tastes good, its a great way to use up some of the zucchini you'll have tons of in the months to come, and it's super easy to make!

Head on over the Spryte's Place for the full recipe. I'm sure you'll find something else to try too!!

Cranberry macadamia nut brie wontons w/ Chocolate wine sauce

I've had my fare share of computer problems lately. Once I finally got my laptop restored . . . my camera decided to take a hit. HOPEFULLY I'll get my electronics working soon so I can become a regular poster! For now, I'll post from the pictures I have on my computer.

These wontons are yummy! If you love baked brie . . . you will love these! I got the idea after I made the Jalapeno Popper Wontons w/ POM sauce and wanted to play around with ideas. I made these for a challenge with The Daring Baker's a while back.

Once you cut the brie into cubes, you MUST freeze it in order for this to work, otherwise the cheese basically disinigrates into the wonton before they come out of the oil. I love the combination of tart cranberries and the sweet macadamia nuts.

The Chocolate Red Wine sauce is yummy and super quick and easy! ENJOY!

Cran-Mac nut brie wontons

wonton skins
dried cranberries (about 3 per wonton)
Chopped macadamia nuts
brie cut into cubes
Oil for frying
small bowl of water to seal wontons
Maple syrup and brown sugar (optional)

To cut the brie into cubes, you will want to pop it into the freezer for about 5-10 minutes to firm up. Cut the brie into cubes. You could either press the cranberries and nuts into the cheese before you freeze it OR wait until you are assembling.
Let the brie freeze until firm.
Lay out your wontons, have your water ready and your oil hot. About 350-375 degrees.
Place the brie, cranberries, and mac nuts in the wonton like so . . .

Dip your fingers into water and trace the outside of the wonton. Fold over and seal. Make sure the wonton is sealed completely otherwise you'll have a terrible mess!
Fry until golden, drain on paper towels. Drizzle with maple syrup and sprinkle with brown sugar if desired. Serve with Chocolate and red wine sauce

Chocolate Red Wine Sauce
8 oz. red wine
4 T bittersweet chocolate

Reduce red wine by half. Take off the heat and cool slightly. Stir in chocolate. Serve warm.

I've also varied this by adding some raspberry vinegar. Add a tab of butter at the end. Sweeten with brown sugar. The add ins are endless!

Shrimp Cakes with Chili Lime Butter Sauce- YUM!

I cannot tell you in enough ways how delicious and easy to prepare these Shrimp Cakes are!
A great friend of mine comes to Maui a few times a year courtesy of having family here and we always go to Sansei Sushi Bar for Karaoke night. We ordered the shrimp cakes and they were delicious! We had to have them again! I went on a search for a recipe similiar to the ones we had at the restaurant and what did I find??The recipe on Epicurious for Shrimp Cakes with Chili Lime Cream Sauce from SANSEI! Whoa hoo!
I though it'd be a great idea to have her over for some wine and the shrimp cakes before heading off, thinking it may even be more cost effective... well, we ordered a bottle of Sake that was advertised, not asking the price (very unusual for me!) It was great so we ordered another one not realizing until the bill came how expensive it was! This is me... after a couple bottles of the expensive sake and a few cheap ones... we were feelin good!


The recipe is simple to follow. comes together in no time and is sooo worth making!SCORE!

Farfalle with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cream

Okay. This recipe is quick and easy. Flavorful but nothing worth the four stars everyone who reviewed it on Epicurious was giving it. Maybe with a bit of tweaking??? I added a couple things myself, but it was still missing.........the WOW factor. The picture above was copied from the Epicurious website. I cannot take credit for that! I used turkey sausage and added a splash of red wine and mushrooms. Other than that, I followed the recipe to a T. The recipe

can be found here. I would love some feedback! Any suggestions to enhance the flavor would be great. I was thinking a bit of lemon zest????

Enough with the COMPUTER DRAMA!!!

Okay, so I just had a post not too long ago about being MIA No Longer! And then...... I went MIA! My bf's friend came over to install wireless for his PS3 on my computer. I am fully aware of how to do it, but he was doing for the bf, so I let him have at it. Unfortunately somewhere in there the power cord disconnected as he was doing an update and my comp crashed. I was able to have some computer geniuses retrieve all my information and I just received the recovery disks from Toshiba............. THANK GOD I AM BACK!!! It's been way too long without internet!
Stay tuned for recipes coming soon!