I {HEART} Cooking

I was looking for a dessert for my stepdad's birthday, and found this recipe of Coconut Custard Pie, since he loves coconut it was a perfect match!!

After I finished it, I was really afraid no one would like it... EVERYONE loved it!!, my mom who doesnt eat much ate 4 pieces and Bayo doesnt like sweets and even ask for a second serving, the thing was gone in minutes... so I had to share ;)

Coconut Custard Pie

- 2 cups of Graham cookies, crushed

- 1/3 cup of butter, melted

- 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk

- 1 can of evaporated milk (315 g.)

- 1/4 cup of flour

- 3 eggs

- 2 tablespoon of butter

- 1 tablespoon of vanilla

- 1 can of Condensed milk (405 g.)

For the crust, mix the crushed cookies with the melted butter. Cover a pie pan with the mixture and press evenly. Take it to the preheated oven at 350 F for 10 minutes. Take it out and let it cool.

Mix the rest of the ingredients for the filling and cook them on a sauce pan until they have a thick consistency, allow it to cool and pour over the crust. Chill overnight. Decorate with chopped almonds or grated coconut.

Enjoy!

I {HEART} Cooking - Perfect Chili

Today is FFF, but I had a hard time finding a picture for today’s theme :p Sorry!!
Instead I have a great recipe :) it’s not cold here but I know this is a great winter dish, and I have been searching for the perfect chili recipe and after a few failed attempts I finally did one I love and this is my forever keeper :D

Perfect Chili

Ingredients:
- 1 can of red or pink beans, with the liquid
- 1 can of black beans, with the liquid
- Olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 small tomatoes, diced
- 2 aji gustosos (Capsicum Chinense), if you cant find it just use half a green bell pepper, diced
- Fresh parsley
- 1 pound of ground beef
- 1 small can of condimented tomato sauce, you can also use regular tomato sauce
- 1 Taco seasoning mix (I used Old El Paso)
- Salt, a pinch
- 1 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 tablespoon of Chinese hot pepper paste, use Tabasco if you don’t have it
- 1 tablespoon of crushed garlic

Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to your saucepan, add onion, tomatoes and aji gustoso (or green pepper), stir frequently for about 2 minutes and add your ground beef; brown meat until is fully cooked and add the Taco seasoning mix, lower your heat to medium.
Take half the can of both beans and put them in your blender to liquefy them, pass them through a colander and add them to the meat, also add the rest of the beans that where not blended.
Add some fresh parley (as much as you like, I love this, so I added about 5 tablespoons), tomato sauce, hot pepper paste or Tabasco, garlic, 2 cups of water and salt and pepper.
Let it simmer in low heat for 30 minutes and…
Enjoy!!

Note: this is really hot, so if you don’t like it that spicy just skip the hot pepper paste or Tabasco.

Finally brought my camera for a picture of the final product, some fresh parsley is a nice touch to decorate your bowl!!

I {HEART} Cooking: Papas a la Reina

This is a quick recipe that Bayo loves! it's called Papas a la Reina (Potatos for the Queen).

You will need:

-4 or 5 potatos peeled and diced into small cubes

-1 package of bacon

-1 onion, choped really small

-a dash of your favorite seasonings (I use salt, pepper and dryed parsley)

-a dash of garlic salt (optional, I didnt use it and it turn out perfect!)

On your pan put a tiny bit of olive oil and add your bacon chopped, when golden add the rest of the ingredients and stir frequently for 5 minutes, add 1/2 cup of water and lower heat to medium, cover your pan and wait for the liquid to reduce to practically nothing. Enjoy!

This is a picture of a picture in my recipe collection, just so you get an idea on how it looks, I keep forgeting to take the pictures when I cook.

I {HEART} Cooking

Holiday Salads are a thing in my family, we do like 4 different ones on Christmas Eve or New Year Eve and whenever we have a party at home a Holiday Salad is a most!! I already posted one of them a while ago, but today since it is New Year Eve I am posting my most favorite one, the family tradition, the unchangeable one and the one I did for tonight party at my in laws. Sorry for the lack of picture but I had to do several thing today and couldn’t take any one :(

Ingredients
-1 pineapple, cubed
-3 green apples, cubed and without the skin or peel
-3 red apples, cubed and without the skin or peel
-1 ½ cups of ham cubed
-1 cup of almonds, skinless
-1 cup of raisins
-1 cup of mayonnaise

Cut everything into cubes (the pineapple, apples and ham), mix with the rest of the ingredients and serve cold. You can decorate it with maraschino cherries, I did an 09’ out of cherries on top of mine ;)

This is one of my favorite things to eat as a leftover the day after the party :D
ENJOY!!! And Happy New Year Again!

Here is some proof of the Holiday Salads Thing:

2006Bayohan is pointing at the 4 cheese lasagna to send the picture to my sister and see what she is missing from living so far away!!! (Notice the 3 big bowls, they have 3 different Holiday Salads)

Yes, we take pictures with our food :) This was Christmas eve 2006!

2007

New Year Eve 2007 at my in laws, I was not kidding about taking pictures with food :pSee the big aluminium pan with a huge fork, that is todays salad!!! and the first bowl is also a different Holiday Salad :)

2008

And this year at my mom's Christmas Eve dinner today recipe is the tall bowl with cherries for deco and next to it a different Holiday Salad!!!

See!!! I told you Salads were a big part of our holiday dinners tradition!!!

I {HEART} Cooking

This post is a little all over the place, sorry in advance :P
I hope you are all enjoying your thanksgiving, like I said we do not celebrate it here, but I did something a little special for our meal :D I also helped my mom make some salads because she is hosting a thanksgiving dinner at her house.

That means I have 2 great recipes for today :D YAY!!!!!

First lets start with YUMMY Chicken, Rice, Mushroom Casserole

-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
-2 ½ cups of water
-1 ½ cups of uncooked rice
- ½ spoon of dry parsley
-1 spoon of black pepper
-1 cup of bacon, diced
- ½ cup of cooking whine
-1 can of mushroom, sliced
-1 onion, diced
-4 chicken breast

Mix all the ingredients (except the chicken) and put it in Pyrex, season your chicken like you usually do (I use lemon, pepper, garlic) and put it on top of the uncooked mix that is in your Pyrex.
This goes to your oven for 45 mins at 375˚F

Here is mine, TRUST me the pic does not do any justice to the wonderful flavor this casserole has, our house smelled like glory today –I also baked brownies for a dessert tonight so the good smells lasted long :p

And know a Holiday Salad: Cheese and Apple Salad

Ingredients
-1 can of red bell peppers
-1 pound of Gouda Cheese, cubed
-2 red apples
-1 can of sweet peas, drained
-1 can of corn, drained
- ¾ Mayonnaise

Cut everything into cubes, the peppers, cheese, and apples with their skin or peel, mix with the rest of the ingredients and serve cold.

I tried taking a good picture of it -the colors in this salad are beautiful- but they kept coming out like this:

So here is a picture of the one on my recipe book

I also did MckMama’s Corn & Bean Salad but in my style.

I am also Thankful for these cuties :P

Capsicum chinense

I was cooking today some meat and decided to add this little friend to the seasoning, then I though about blogging about him, but I wasnt sure if you would know what I'm talking about...
Here we call it Aji Gustoso -tasty pepper- this little guy changes the flavor of anything in a GOOD way!!!
Read this and look for it in your local market, you wont regret it!!!