Caldo Gallego (White bean and chorizo soup!)

My family and I took a trip to Puerto Rico this past June. My father was born and raised there, and much of his family still lives there. We had an awesome time doing everything from zip lining to kayaking the bio luminescent bay! Although everyone else might have found these to be the best parts of the trip, mine was being in the kitchen with my Tia Viriginia. She is by far one of the best cooks. The night we were leaving for the airport we went to her house to say goodbye and have dinner. She made this delicious and very simple soup. The dish originated in Spain and made it's way to Puerto Rico along with all the other Spanish influence. This soup will easily become one of your Fall favorites! Que Rico!!

Caldo Gallego

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
black pepper, to taste
1/4 tspn. oregano, dried
3-4 spanish chorizo (not fresh mexican!), cut in half moons
1 packet sazon sin achiote
1/2 8 oz. can spanish style tomato sauce
2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced into small cubes
2 cans Goya brand small white beans
1/4 uncooked white rice, rinsed well!
8 cups LOW SODIUM broth
turnip or collard greens, optional, chopped small
fresh cilantro, chopped

Start by heating a small amount of oil in a soup pot. Add diced yellow onion. Cook 3-5 minutes until softened. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Cut the chorizo in half moons and add to the pot. Add the bay leaves, sazon, tomato sauce and the rest of the seasoning. Cook until frangrant. Add the broth and greens if you are using and bring to a boil. Once the broth has come to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add the potatoes, and the white beans. Cook about 15 minutes and then add the rice. Cook until the potatoes and beans are tender and the rice is cooked completely. Toward the last few minutes of cooking add the fresh cilantro. Do not add more than a 1/4 cup rice as it will soak up too much of the broth. Once the soup is done cooking taste for salt. I don't add any additional salt because the chorizo, sazon, and tomato already have enough.

Potato and Green Bean Salad

I am not a fan of the traditional "American Potato Salad" drowning in mayo. Just like my green salads, I love a good vinaigrette more than the a creamy dressing. This is a fresh, delicious and easy recipe that is perfect for any occasion or time of year. I added blanched green beans for color, crunch, and just because my family loves them! Give it a try, if you love a good potato salad and a delicious vinaigrette, you won't be disappointed!!

Potato and Green Bean Salad

2 lbs. red potatoes (yukon, blue, or fingerling too)
1/2 lb. green beans, stem removed and cut in 1 inch pieces
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic
scallion if desired
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1-2 T dijon mustard
salt
pepper
2 T fresh chopped parsley

Slice the potatoes into 1/2 inch rounds and put in a pot of cool water. Bring the water to a boil, adding salt, and cook until the potatoes are just tender. About three minutes before you will drain the potatoes, add the green beans. They will blanch in the potato water in that short time.

While the potatoes are cooking, saute the shallot and garlic until tender and fragrant. I don't like raw onion in my food, if you don't mind it, you can skip this and just add it raw.

Assemble your vinaigrette by mixing the dijon, salt and pepper, and vinager together. Whisk in the olive oil in a thin stream until combined. Mason jars are a great tool for this too!

Once the potatoes are cooked, drain, and immediately add to your serving bowl with the shallot and garlic, while everything is still hot, pour your vinaigrette over, sprinkle with the parsley and toss gently to coat all the vegetables. Garnish with lots of scallions! Yum!

The secret to Guacamole that will change you!

I have the secret to Guacamole that will change everything you've know about it! Promise!

Go ahead and do a search for Guacamole recipes. They call call for LIME JUICE! Well, I am here to tell you that the simple . . . . smallest little change to make is . . .

are you ready

do you know what it is?

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Replace the lime juice with lemon and I'm telling you you'll have the best Guacamole anyone has tried!

Go try it!

Who says you can't save Hollandaise!

Yum! I love Hollandaise. I've tried a bunch of recipes for it, but have to say, the first one I ever tried, from Emeril Lagasse is so far my favorite. The right balance of mustard and lemon with herbs and all that butter! So good.

Even after drenching my eggs in loads of it, I always have some extra and I'm sick of tossing it out! I store it in the fridge and the next day, when I am making a breakfast sandwich, I do this



Smear it all over the bread and once that warm ham egg and cheese hits it, BAM!, it melts and seeps all over and tastes just like Bliss!

You gotta try it!

Hollandaise adapted from Emeril Lagasse:

4 egg yolks
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon dijon
2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
1/2 pound butter, melted and warm
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne
Fresh Chives

Set a stainless steel bowl over a pot of simmering water. Be sure the bowl is not touching the water or the eggs could scramble! Whisk the yolks, lemon juice, water, mustard, and parsley together. Whisk the mixture until pale yellow and slightly thick.Remove the bowl from the heat and whisking vigorously, add the butter, 1 teaspoon at a time, until all is incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Season with salt and pepper and chives!

TIP: Don't overmix! The mixture could separate. If this happens add an extra egg yolk OR a teaspoon of water at a time until it comes together again. It can happen to anyone and most times one of these methods will fix the problem!

Borderline gaudy? Who cares! I love it!

I did a bit of shopping today in town, which is about a 30 minute drive from where I live. It's funny how where you live really changes how you live. When I first moved to Maui,(which is sooo much smaller than Saint Petersburg, Florida) I had no problem making the 30 minute drive to town on a daily basis. It was a quick run into town. Now, almost four years later . . . it's a task. I don't do it very often and I make sure I get everything I need from Ross, Costco, The "mall", Walmart, etc.
So, today I have to go to town and decided to make my usual rounds to my favorite stores. I picked up a great bottle of Pinot Grigio and remembered I recently broke another wine glass! Ugh! I have an mis-match collection of wine glasses that I pick up here and there and my favorites have been destroyed by my clumpsy rough handling.
I strolled into Pier One Imports and found this glass. It was $8.00, which may not be much to some or even most, but for me . . . it's almost an investment seeing how it'll give me a shelf life of a few weeks before I destroy it!
It's borderline gaudy, seeing how it's covered in flowers, but I love it, I love drinking my Pinot out of it and I love the cute little butterfly!
and the base has some super cute flowers on it too!

If you haven't been to Pier One recently, you should really head over there soon to check out all their gorgeous fall items!
Stay tuned for some of my other recent Pier One Imports obessions!! Salut!

Me My Scale and I . . . check it out!

Click on over to Me My Scale and I as a great looooooong time friend of mine documents her journey on an 8 week, online, bootcamp style program. It sounds like an awesome program and I know she will see results! Her name is Jessica and she is new to the blog world! Please send her encouragement and pass on the word!
Not only is she going to document the ups and downs, she's also a great cook and will include healthy recipes she's creating in the kitchen to get her skinny on! She's already posted a yummy Chicken dish from Skinny Taste that is a Spanikopita style without all the guilt!

NEW CAMERA AND NEW IDEAS!

I got a new camera!!!! It's a Canon SD4000. You can find some information here. I love it! Ask my sister Rebecca and my long time friend Jessica how freakin crazy I drove them as I read review after review, text and called them asking questions and looking for them to make up my mind for me before I made a final decision! It was painful! My Nikon is sitting on my dining room table completely disassembled next to a can of gas duster, I thought I could save it. That was not the case. Overall I am so thankful I held out and drove everyone as crazy as I did. The Canon SD4000 has so many great reviews. Every other camera I looked at had great pros but equal cons and I just couldn't go with that!

On to some new ideas . . . . I've always had this idea of a "One Stop Shop" type of website. A couple years ago I decided I'd make that my domain name and started at www.godaddy.com to see if it was available. Of course a name like that would be taken. The website was for sale, but for mucho dinero! Very expensive. I let the name go and hadn't really thought of it much until I eventually started this blog. I've only posted recipes here and although cooking is great passion of mine, or as Nigella Lawson says, an obsession, I find myself not blogging often enough about the concoctions going on in my kitchen. I think I'll approach this blog as a "One Stop Shop" from now on and blog about anything and everything I want. I think it'll hold my borderline ADD attention span!

Stay tuned!