What a girl wants...

When you have a craving...especially as a cook...it takes everything in you not to just whip out your garlic, onion, olive oil, saute pan and start cheffing it up. 

I started back to work and the field across from where I teach is covered in cacti, and attached to the top of these cacti were these GORGEOUS fuschia colored prickly pears. Eventually, I had to stop staring at them every morning and afternoon, and actually pick some. Well this feat seemed a bit more challenging than my taste buds were ready for. I walk over to these massive cacti and start picking the luscious fruits off the tops. I hear yelling and look over to some construction workers waving their hands as if in warning. A kind man finally walks over to me and says, be careful those have a lot of tiny needles in them. As the words were coming out of his mouth, I look at my needle covered fingers. After pulling out the ones that bothered me the most, this kind man gave me a trash bag, and some gloves to finish picking my lot. {I think I continued pulling the tiniest of needles out of my hands for about a month, until they were all gone.}

Once home, I started to look up recipes for what to do with these amazing fruits. I remember various Mexican restaurants offering prickly pear margaritas or martinis on their menu, and figured that's were I would start. I immediately called my friend and we decided to have dinner that night and reap the rewards of my sore hands. 

But again, more challenges arose. These prickly pears are not easy fruit. They are a ratio of 90% seeds to 10% fruit in each and every pear. For most people, this just would not work. But I already picked dozens of these fruits and wanted a reward. So I cut around the seeds and peeled until I had about a cup of gorgeous pink colored flesh. 

Prickly Pear Margarita

1 cup prickly pear flesh

2 parts margarita mix

1 part tequila

lime

salt

We blended these up and man were they delicious. All my sore, stained fingers relaxed as I sipped on my fabulous margarita. 

To pair with that we decided to have an appetizer. As most of you know, I am a big fan of working with what I've got. So I looked in my pantry, prior to my arrival at my friend's house, and found beans, cotija cheese, and chips. So I decided to whip up a bean dip to go with our Mexican themed dinner. 

Spicy Cotija Bean Dip

1 can of refried beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup creamy dressing

1/4 onion, chopped finely

1 garlic clove, minced

1/3 cup cotija cheese 

I sauteed the onion until translucent, added the garlic and then added the tomatoes. Once this developed a wonderful perfume, I added in my refried beans (mine had jalapenos in them, choose the spiciness you prefer). This did not need to be on the heat for long, just enough to warm up the beans. To counter the spiciness, I added some creamy, feta cheese dressing (just happened to have it on hand), add whichever creamy dressing you prefer. This element would cool down the spicy beans, just a bit. Then I folded in half of the cotija cheese and topped the bean dip with the rest. I happened to have some muli-grain chips, which is what I served with the dip. 

Pizza a la carte
2 cornmeal crusts
sausage
mozzarella cheese
pesto
edamame
tomato slices
onion
asparagus

These pizzas are a blank canvas. They can really be anything you want them to be. The crusts are nice because they are crispier and have that crunchy bite to them that the cornmeal gives. For our main course, my friend had some delicious cornmeal crust pizzas. So we decided to use those and whip up some pizza a la carte. Meaning we added whatever we had on hand, on top. We made some pesto pizzas with mozzarella and we made some with sausage and veggies. Add whatever you like! Bake it at 350 for about 20 minutes or so.

Lamb Kebab Mediterranean Salad

lamb kebabs
romaine lettuce
kidney beans
garbanzo beans
tomatoes
beets
olives
creamy dressing


To round our our meal, we decided to also have a salad. First, we seared the lamb with olive oil, salt and pepper. Once the pieces had a crispy crust and enough time to be medium-rare, we took them off the stove and let them rest. Meanwhile, we cleaned our lettuce then in a large salad bowl combined all our ingredients. We mixed this with our creamy feta dressing and topped with the lamb kebabs and a bit of cotija cheese. What an amazing salad, full of flavor.

This menu is sure to please women and men alike. Make for a simple gathering or a fancy night in.

Enjoy!

xo Lo

Pizza!

My husband LOVES pizza. Every time I ask him what he wants for dinner, his answer is always, "pizza." Sometimes I'll ask him a question that is completely unrelated to food and his answer will still be, "pizza."

I've always wanted to make homemade pizza but I've failed many times...the crust has always given me a hard time. While grocery shopping a few weeks ago I stumbled upon frozen cornmeal crust pizza crusts. I was elated! Finally I could make homemade pizza! They were gluten-free which is a plus for many people and they were smaller so we could still use portion control.

Next I needed to find the toppings, our family friend gave us a jar of her homemade marinara sauce, so we definitely wanted to use that. Then I decided on leeks, chipotle sausage, and mozzarella cheese. But you can put any toppings you like on it. Leeks are a great alternative to onions, especially when they are all caramelized...yum!

Leek-Sausage Pizza on a Cornmeal Crust
2 frozen cornmeal pizza crusts (or make your own or get regular crust)
1 lb chipotle sausage
1 large leek, sliced
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup marinara sauce

I baked my crusts just a tad so they were a little crisp. Meanwhile I sauteed my leeks until they were tender and caramelized. I also cooked the chipotle sausage until mostly cooked through. Once the crusts were ready, I ladled the homemade marinara sauce on top, a big scoop of sausage, leeks and finally, shredded mozzarella. Bake in 400 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes. This pizza was outstanding, we can't wait to make it again.

We served this with a simple romaine lettuce salad, raw mushrooms and southwest cheddar dressing.

This is a fantastic meal if you need to whip something up quickly, if you are craving pizza but don't want to ruin your healthy eating habits or just want a yummy dinner for a Friday movie night.

Enjoy! xo Lo

Mediterranean Seafood Salad

Now that April is finally here, spring has sprung! Which means it's time to kick up our healthy diets and hide away all those heavy, holiday foods. Combining seafood, a light pasta and greens is an excellent way to rejuvenate your body with energy, protein and antioxidants.

Mediterranean Seafood Salad
1/2 pound calamari
1/2 pound shrimp
1 1/2 cups orzo pasta
5 cups herb salad (you can find this packaged together at your grocery store, if not you can pair together any of your favorite herbs: I love fresh dill, arugula, endive, radicchio and spinach)
1 bag of frozen speckled butter beans
1/2 lemon
4 cups chicken stock
2 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1/2 green pepper
3 scallions
olive oil
salt
pepper

First you want to slice your veggies and toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper then place them on the grill for about 4 minutes per side. While the veggies are grilling, heat up your chicken stock to cook the orzo. Once the veggies are grilled, place the squid and shrimp on the grill for two minutes per side. Once they are done, place them on a cutting board to cool before you add to the salad. Heat up your butter beans in a few tablespoons of chicken stock, until tender. Add the herb salad to your large serving bowl, add in the grilled  veggies, cooked orzo, then slice up your squid into rings- add that in and lastly place your beautiful shrimp atop your lovely, earthy, scrumptious salad.

This salad would be perfect for any girls night in, in-law dinner, or just a romantic evening- pair with a bottle of Becker Chardonnay (my favorite) and you're perfecto! Ciao!

xo Lo

All-American Cuisine

I pride myself on being able to create leftovers into fabulous, healthy meals. Do you ever end up with a ton of extra bread, that you don't know what to do with? I have a savory, tasty recipe that will help use up that leftover bread!

Savory Bread Pudding

a loaf leftover bread (hamburger buns, bagels, etc)
1 cup milk
3 eggs (I didn't have eggs so I used this substitution: 1 egg= 2 Tbsp water + 2 Tbsp flour + 1/2  Tbsp butter + 1/2 tsp baking powder)
1/2 package of mushrooms
1/2 yellow onion
Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, thyme)
salt
pepper

Cut your bread into cubes, place into a bowl. Add milk, eggs (or substitute) and seasoning on top of bread. Let bread soak up wet ingredients for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, saute onions and mushrooms with 1 Tbsp of olive oil. After bread has soaked up wet ingredients, pour mushroom mixture on top. Fold ingredients together. Spoon mixture into small bowls and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Ta da! Great usage of leftover bread!

Fresh Summer Salad

Mixed greens
1/2 cucumber
cherry tomatoes
strawberries

Rinse lettuce, slice cucumbers (keep the skin on for more nutrients), slice tomatoes in half, slice strawberries. Toss salad in a bowl.


Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette

1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp agave nectar (or honey)
1/2 lemon juiced
salt
pepper

Whisk olive oil, agave nectar, lemon juice and seasoning together until they meld together. Add more honey or lemon depending on taste.

Easy NY Strip Steak

The best way to cook a steak is with simple seasoning of salt and pepper, place on a grill or saute pan. Cook 5 minutes per side or however you like your steak cooked.

Refreshing Picnic Lunch

Summer days are perfect for lazy, picnic lunches under an Oak tree. Too bad in Texas that would only be possible @ 7 am or 9 pm...but luckily the Northern states have gorgeous summers which are perfect for picnics.

If I was living in say Connecticut, upstate New York, Northern California or Washington state... I would make these lovely, refreshing, healthy items; tropical fruit salad, field green salad with strawberries and soft-boiled eggs as well as homemade, freshly baked sesame seed French bread.

Tropical Fruit Salad

3 kiwis sliced
2 mangos sliced
2 bananas
3 Gala apples
3 nectarines
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp lemon zest

After slicing up all the fruit, place in a bowl and toss with fresh lemon juice and lemon zest to keep the fruit fresh and tasty. Super easy and healthy.

Field Green Salad with Fresh Lemon Vinaigrette

2 cups field greens
1 English cucumber
handful of strawberries, sliced
2 Roma tomatoes
3 soft-boiled eggs (bring eggs to boil then turn off heat & let sit for 15 minutes)

Agave-Lemon Vinaigrette

1 lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
pinch salt
pinch pepper
1 tsp parsley
1 Tbsp agave nectar

Squeeze lemon juice into a bowl, whisk in olive oil, agave nectar and seasoning.

Once you assemble the salad, drizzle the fresh dressing over the top. The lemon will bring out the flavors in the strawberries, tomatoes and cucumber.

Sesame Seed French Bread

5 1/4 cups organic unbleached flour
1/2 cup organic low-fat milk
1 cup warm water
2 packages of active dry yeast
3 Tbsp of butter
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
pinch salt
pinch pepper

Add milk, sugar, salt and butter into a saucepan over low heat. Let butter melt and sugar dissolve, add active dry yeast packages to lukewarm milk mixture. Once the yeast has dissolved, pour into mixer. Add in 4 1/2 cups of flour and warm water- mix on level two for one minute. Slowly add in the rest of flour 1/4 cup at a time. Keep mixing at level two until the flour begins to stick together and pulls off all extra dough off the bottom and sides of bowl. Knead dough on level two for one minute then place dough into a greased (with butter or Pam) bowl. Cover bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm, room temperature area to rise. Let dough rise for one hour. Once dough has doubled in size place on floured surface and punch out dough. Split dough into two halves. For one half I cut three long strips and braided them for a pretty bread design. I drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and sesame seeds then placed on a greased baking sheet into the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

For the other half I rolled the dough out, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled on salt, pepper, oregano and basil then rolled the dough up almost like a jelly roll. This would fold in all the spices. Then I placed in a greased bread pan, drizzled the very top with olive oil and sprinkled with stone-ground oats for a nice finish.

Pack all these homemade items up in a picnic basket, grab a blanket, ice tea and spend a lazy day outside snacking on these refreshing, healthy foods!

Enjoy xoxo Lo

Quick & Healthy Summer Meal

Summers as much as we'd like them to be relaxing, oftentimes are not. Moms are running around shuffling kids from summer camp to sleepovers. My husband starts two-a-day football practices in August and I have to keep him eating healthy and quick because he is always trying to get work done.

On this night in particular, I had some pre-seasoned BBQ chicken, frozen corn, cucumbers and extra Mexican Crema. I decided to put the chicken in the oven and while that was baking, I decided to make a fresh cucumber salad.


Dill-Cucumber Salad

1 large English cucumber
1/4 cup Mexican Crema (sour cream, plain yogurt or Creme Fraiche)
1 tsp dill
pinch salt
pinch pepper

First thing you need to do is slice the cucumber and place the slices in a colander covered in salt. This will help release the moisture inside the cucumbers so your salad isn't runny. Let the cucumber slices sit for 15 minutes. In the meantime, combine your crema and spices- place that into the fridge to chill. Once cucumbers are drained and rinsed, pat them dry with a paper towel. Add slices to the crema, smother and let chill in fridge.

Onion-Garlicky Corn

1 cup corn
1 clove garlic
1/4 yellow onion
salt
pepper

Chop up onion and garlic, place into a saute pan with olive oil. Once onions are golden, add corn, turn heat down and cover. A few minutes later add salt and pepper, cover until ready to serve.

Once the chicken is ready, plate the corn top with chicken and put the cucumber salad into a separate dish to keep the crema from getting on the other dish items.

This dish is a perfect summer dish, pair with some pinot grigio, moscato d'asti or Shiner Bock's Ruby Red summer beer!

Enjoy! xo Lo

Cornflake Encrusted Pork

How many of you love fried chicken or fried pork chops? With this recipe it'll be like eating fried pork chops but for half the calories! I had tried cornflake encrusted chicken and decided I wanted to try this recipe on my pork cutlet. My husband and I love pork so with this dinner I paired fresh strawberry, spinach salad and sauteed onions and mushrooms.

Ingredient List

2 pork cutlets
1 1/2 cups of basic cornflakes
1/2 red onion
5 button mushrooms
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
2 cups of fresh spinach
1/2 cup fresh, sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
salad dressing of choice

Heat oven to 350 and allow pork to tenderize in milk for 30 minutes. Assemble your pork, in one dish put in cornflakes, in the next dish put in flour,  salt, pepper and paprika (mix together), take the pork from the milk and dredge into the flour mixture, back to milk then finally into the cornflakes. Once completely covered put the pork onto a baking sheet covered in aluminum foil. Put in the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes.

While your pork is baking, chop your onion and mushrooms. Heat saute pan to medium heat and drizzle in some olive oil, throw your veggies in to saute. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, assemble your salad, rinse your spinach, slice your strawberries, cut your cherry tomatoes in half. If you have a salad spinner (I highly recommend one) put your spinach in there to get rid of all the water, if not pat down with paper towels. On your plate pile up our spinach, sprinkle on strawberries and tomatoes. Use whichever dressing you prefer, we used bleu cheese dressing. Once the pork is done add that to the plate with your sauteed veggies. Enjoy this simple, healthy meal!

xo Lo

Kickin' Lake-Style Fare

My husband and I are huge fans of the lake, we try to go as often as we can. Our family has a lake house off Lake Buchanan that we like to call our home away from home. Every time we go, I love to come up with recipes that I can share with our family. This weekend I wanted to make margaritas, deviled eggs, noodle salad and a banana bread. The night before we left I started assembling my dishes that way I didn't have to spend all my time inside at the lake.


Banana-Walnut Date Bread

I usually make banana bread but this time I had chopped walnuts and dried dates in my pantry so I decided to incorporate those.

6 ripe bananas- mashed up
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried dates

Heat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar til creamy in mixer, add eggs and mix well. Slowly add flour, baking soda, salt. Blend together. Lastly add bananas, nuts and dates- finish mixing. Pour mixture into two greased, floured loaf pans and top with a few dates and walnuts. Bake for one hour- you'll know when the bread is done because if you stick a butter knife down inside and it comes out clean, they are done.

Noodle Salad

1 cup of tri-color rotini pasta
1 cup of tri-color bowtie pasta
3 cups of chicken stock
5 stalks of celery finely chopped
1 yellow onion finely chopped
1 package of frozen peas
5 hard-boiled eggs
3 roma tomatoes
3/4 cup mayo
1/8 cup olive oil
salt
pepper

Bring chicken stock to boil, add in pasta. While that is cooking put another saute pan on the stove to boil a dozen eggs (for your deviled eggs) and an additional five for your noodle salad. Once the eggs are in the boiling water, turn off the heat and set your timer for 12 minutes. Next, start chopping up the celery, onion and tomato. After a few minutes check the pasta you want it to be slightly past al dente (which means it is soft but not mushy), once your pasta has reached that point you want to drain in a colander. Keep the extra liquid, you can use it in the future for soups, stews, making rice or more pasta. Next add in the frozen peas that way they can thaw out, add the chopped onion, celery, tomatoes, salt, pepper, olive oil and mayo.  Once the hard-boiled eggs are done chop them up and add to noodle salad, mix up the salad and taste. You may need to add more salt, pepper or mayo. What you don't want to do is add too much mayo because then it throws off the entire dish. This noodle salad will impress any friends or family, especially on the lake!


Bacon-Tomato Deviled Eggs

1 dozen hard-boiled eggs
8 cherry tomatoes
6 strips of Hickory smoked bacon
1/4 cup mayo
salt
pepper
paprika

Once the eggs are boiled, let them cool and slice in half, scoop out the yolk into a bowl. Chop up cherry tomatoes, fry up bacon. Add cherry tomatoes and crumbled bacon into bowl (save a few bits of each for the garnish). Add mayo, salt, pepper, paprika to bowl. Mix up the yolk mixture til nice and creamy (yet a bit chunky) you want all the yolks to be creamy not chunky, the only chunks should be from the tomatoes and the bacon. Spoon the mixture into the egg white halves, place some of the crumbled bacon and chopped tomatoes on the top plus a sprinkle of paprika. This delicious appetizer will gone in a matter of minutes!


Agave Margaritas

2 Tbs of agave nectar
4 limes
1 orange
1 Tbs kosher salt
Margaritaville Silver Tequila

The first thing you want to do is chill your glasses in the freezer. In your shaker add ice, 1 Tbs of agave nectar, lime juice, fresh orange juice and tequila. Shake it up. Take out your margarita glasses dip the rim in the remaining agave nectar, dip in the kosher salt, fill your glasses and bottoms up!

This lake-style fare will surely impress any company you have or you may be visiting. Please feel free to ask any questions or leave any commentary.

xo Lo

Opa! Greek Salad

My ancestry on my mother's side is Greek and I take pride in that heritage, luckily my mom raised my brother and I on Greek food since we were little. I've always had a versatile palate thanks to my parent's upbringing and encouraging me to try foods from different cultures. I love Greek food, the bitterness and sharpness of flavors is aromatic and enlightening to me. Some may have a hard time eating Greek food so I thought I'd start with a simple, fresh Greek salad to help ease you into Greek-style cooking.

On this particular day, my mom and I had been shopping all day for my wedding, we were both on diets and super hungry. We went to the grocery store and thought what better than a classic, fresh Greek salad!

Our grocery list consisted of:

- rotisserie chicken
- one package of feta cheese
- one can of kidney beans
- one can of garbanzo beans
- one can of beets
- kalamata olives
- one head of romaine lettuce
- one package of spinach lettuce
- one package of cherry tomatos
- one English cucumber
- sun-dried tomato hummus
- one red onion

I chopped up the chicken into bite size pieces, washed both lettuces, sliced cherry tomatoes in half, roughly chopped the lettuce, thinly sliced the red onion then added all of those ingredients into our large wooden salad bowl. Next, I topped it with sliced cucumbers, the can of garbanzo beans, can of kidney beans, and can of sliced beets. The beans give the salad some heartiness and protein along with the beets give the salad a tad of sweetness. Tossed that up a bit, added crumbled feta cheese, which adds a tangy, sharp flavor and a bit of hummus on the side. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper...enjoy!!! Maybe we'll explore spinach and cheese pie or Moussaka next!?

xoxo Lo