Ethnic

Fast & Easy Taco Bake & A New Venture!

Hi everyone!

Just a quick side note. I am now writing food articles/recipes for www.examiner.com. I am in the West Palm Beach, FL edition under food and drink. I have only written one article so far so keep checking back or subscribe. Some of it will be the same as the blog but I am going to include past stuff as well as new. I am actually getting paid to do this, and while I won’t be quitting my job just yet, it will give me good experience. So check it out! My first article is at http://www.examiner.com/american-food-in-west-palm-beach/cooking-with-quinoa.

If you want to become a writer as well, click on this link. Referral Program Or when signing up put my name, Andrea Genua in as a referral! Thanks!

Now on to the recipe!

As usual when I get home from work these days it’s a scramble to get dinner ready. Sure it would be easier if I planned it out on the weekends but what fun is that? Since I no longer work at home the weekends are full of laundry, food shopping and errands. So cooking ahead of time never enters my mind. So last night when I got home I had defrosted nothing, of course. I heard someone earlier in the day talking about tacos and that sounded good! But I didn’t want to deal with the extra calories of the taco shells. So I defrosted some beef in the microwave and made this recipe instead. Instead of shells I put in a package of the tofu shirataki noodles. Never missed the shells! We pretty much finished the entire dish so I guess it was a hit! Easy and pretty fast considering I had nothing ready.

Ready for the oven!

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound lean ground beef

3/4 cup chopped onion

1 tablespoon chopped or minced garlic

3 tablespoons taco seasoning

1 can (approx. 15 oz) diced or chopped tomatoes with garlic/onion flavor

1 package Tofu Shirataki noodles, prepared according to package and cut into smaller pieces

1 cup 2% or fat-free shredded sharp cheddar cheese

light or fat-free sour cream

hot sauce as needed

Ready to eat, all bubbly and yummy!

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare noodles according to package directions and set aside.
2. Brown the ground beef and drain.
3. Add the onions and garlic, mix well and cook on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4. Add the taco seasoning, mix well. Add the tomatoes, mix well and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring every so often.
5. Add the noodles. Pour mixture into a round or square casserole dish and stir in ½ cup of the cheddar cheese. Top with remaining cheese.
6. Bake at 350º F for about 15-20 minutes, until cheese is bubbling.

Yum!

Serve hot! Add a dollop of sour cream if desired. Hot sauce can be added as needed.

Makes 4 servings

Dublin Lobster

While I was reading through all the food emails I get on a daily basis (and I get a ton of them) I came across this one from Mr. Food. I know many of you have seen his TV spots on news shows or other places Foodies gather. He’s been around for years. Well this recipe caught my eye. Whenever I see lobster I get excited. Maybe because living down here in Florida they only have the warm water ones WITH NO CLAWS! Crazy huh! And I don’t care how many people try and convince me otherwise, they are NOT, I repeat NOT the same as lobsters from up north or colder waters. Nope, there is just no comparison. So stop trying to pass your spiny creatures off as what lobster is supposed to taste like and look like! Where was I now? Oh yeah, Mr. Food’s recipe for Dublin Lobster. He did a series of cooking segments in Ireland and was inspired by their version of this. If you ask me this version sounds incredible and I may just try it if I can find inexpensive lobster! HA! I may have to opt for the frozen kind. I know I know…nothing like fresh. But once again living in south Florida getting fresh lobster that won’t break the bank is a rare but beautiful thing. Either way this recipe doesn’t seem too hard and it looks fabulous!

Photo is courtesy of Mr. Food, I haven't made this yet.

INGREDIENTS:

¼ cup (½ stick) butter
¹/3 cup Irish whiskey (NOT BAILEYS)
¹/3 cup heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
¹/8 teaspoon black pepper
1½ pounds cooked lobster meat, cut into 1-inch chunks (see Note)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat, making sure it does not burn.

2. Stir in whiskey, heavy cream, salt, and pepper; heat until mixture comes to a boil. Add cooked lobster meat, reduce heat to low, and simmer until heated through. Serve in a casserole dish.

NOTE:

You can use either cooked fresh lobster meat that you buy at the fish store or seafood counter of your supermarket; frozen lobster meat, thawed; or you can cook up a 3-pound lobster and remove the meat yourself. It’s your choice!

Layered Greek Dip

November 1, 2010
popcorngirl12
0 comments
Cucumber, feta cheese, greek, hummus, Kalamata olives, layered salad, oregano, tomatoes

This is such an easy and quick dip to throw together. There are only 5 ingredients! Nice! I love Greek food and we don’t get to go out for it too often. Probably because where I live in south Florida there are very few good Greek restaurants. We did find a great one in St. Augustine called Athena’s. But I’m not driving over 3 hours for Greek food! Anyway this is just a snack food anyway but it’s healthy too.

This is best in a round nine-inch pie plate but if you don’t have one, just use something else. A long oval dish is fine also. You want something that has sides so everything stays where it should.

Photo is for illustrative purposes only

INGREDIENTS:

7 ounces prepared hummus (any brand you like)

4 ounces crumbled light Feta cheese (use regular if you are not watching calories)

½ cup chopped tomatoes

¼ cup chopped cucumbers (best to use the English ones and leave the skin on)

2 tablespoons chopped Kalamata olives

oregano

DIRECTIONS:

1. Spread the hummus onto bottom of a 9″ pie plate or other serving dish.

2. Cover with feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives.

3. Sprinkle with a little oregano if you wish.

4. Serve with baked pita chips!

Greek Green Beans

September 16, 2010
popcorngirl12
4 comments
basil, butter substitute, feta cheese, frozen, garlic, grean beans, greek, low calorie, microwave, olive oil, onion, oregano, red pepper flakes

Ok as promised here is the recipe for the green beans I made with the orange roughy yesterday. I used frozen green beans. I actually use frozen veggies quite a bit. This way I always have something in the freezer to go to when I’m out of fresh stuff. I usually have those ‘steamer’ bags of veggies but this time I had bought one of the larger bags, 16 ounces. For two of us that is too much to make at once so for this recipe I used half the bag or 2 cups. This is also a quick and easy side dish for any entrée. It is also a low-calorie side dish. While the beans were being nuked I sautéed the onions and garlic and it worked out great. So without any further ado here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups frozen green beans (any kind you like)

2 tablespoons water

1 small onion, chopped small

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons butter substitute (you can use real butter if you want)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place green beans in a small microwave container with lid. Add the water. Cook on HIGH for 6 minutes.

2. Meantime in a small pan sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Cook until soft and just starting to brown a little. About 6 minutes. Add the basil, oregano and pepper flakes. Stir well.

3. The beans should be done now. Drain the excess water from container. Add the butter/butter substitute and onion mixture. Mix well.

4. Microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes.

5. Stir in feta cheese and serve.

Makes 2 servings (1 cup each)

Escargot Bourgignonne

September 14, 2010
popcorngirl12
2 comments
anise liqueur, Bourgignonne, butter, Carnival Cruises, cruise food, Escargot, garlic, onion, parsley, snails, white wine

Cruises are a wonderful thing. In the last 19 years I’ve been on 14, so far. Most of them on Carnival Cruise Lines. John and I take cruise vacations over all others for the most part. Sure we go up to my family’s summer place in Maine but that’s different. Cruises are wonderful. You get treated like royalty. No making your beds or cleaning your room! It’s wonderful. Someone cooks for you 24/7 and cleans up! Gotta love that! But one of the best things about cruising is that you get to try all kinds of food that you would normally not have. Escargot for instance. I had them on my very first cruise and I’ve been hooked ever since! I don’t care that they are really fancy slugs. It’s my way of payback for all damage slugs have done to my gardens over the years!

Anyway, I’ve had them in many different styles. This version is pretty popular. On the cruise ships you get them this way or even covered in cheese! Cheese, garlic, wine, oil…All very tasty! Every cruise we take we always look forward to the night we get to eat snails! I would eat them more if they served them more. This recipe is actually from Carnival Cruise Lines. I bought their cookbook on my 2nd cruise, which was actually my first Carnival Cruise. I’ve been on Carnival eight times now. Two more and I become a VIP! Woo hoo! The last cruise was in December 2009 and we went to the Panama Canal. Incredible! But I digress…Escargot! This recipe isn’t very hard and you can get cans of the little buggers in pretty much every supermarket. They are in the tuna aisle.

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup butter

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons white wine

1 tsp Pernod or anise-flavored liqueur (omit if you don’t like anise)

Pinch grated nutmeg

1 can escargot, well-drained

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Cheesy Escargot on the Carnival Miracle Dec. 2009

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large frying pan, melt butter over high heat; stir in garlic and onion. Cook until tender but not brown.

2. Stir in wine, liqueur, nutmeg and escargot; season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Reduce heat to low; simmer 10-15 minutes or until flavors are blended. Sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 6

Tabouli with Quinoa

September 7, 2010
popcorngirl12
2 comments
Cucumber, dried mint, garlic, green onions, lemon juice, light feta cheese, low calorie, olive oil, parsley, quinoa, salad, scallions, side dish, Tabouli, tomato

Usually I am not a big fan of mint. No mojitos for me. And definitely none of that flourescent green mint jelly when I have lamb! That is wrong to my taste buds on so many levels. Luckily my husband is not a fan either. So many recipes have mint in them and most of the time, to me anyway, it’s too much. So when I tried Tabouli years ago I was surprised to find that there was mint in it! Imagine that! I liked it in spite of that! And now with my new favorite food, quinoa, I can have that delicious tabouli salad with a more healthy twist! It’s a refreshing and filling salad for lunch or a side dish or just for snacking in the afternoon. I will also add crumbled feta cheese to mine for a little extra zip. You can use goat cheese if you want too, anything you like really. Just don’t go crazy and kill all the good with too much cheese. Moderation! This recipe is also one time where you should have the fresh parsley rather than dried.

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups water

¼ cup fresh parsley, without stems

2/3 cup green onions (scallions), cut into ¼” pieces

1½ cups peeled cucumbers, cut into ¼” pieces

1½ cups chopped tomatoes, cut into ¼” pieces

1 garlic clove, minced (no garlic powder on this)

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

¾ teaspoon dried mint (optional)

½ cup crumbled light or fat-free feta cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put quinoa in a fine strainer and rinse under running water until water runs clear. Drain well. Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Cover pan, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes until water is absorbed. Quinoa will be fluffy. Chill in the refrigerator or rinse cooked quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer under COLD running water. Drain well.

2. Toss remaining ingredients with quinoa and serve!

Makes 5 cups (1 cup per serving)

Tex Mex Calzone

Ok everyone, I am cheating again today. I got so far behind with doing other stuff today that the blog just got buried. I’m supposed to be making dinner right now and that will be late as well. Don’t even know for sure what it will be! Anyway, this is a recipe video on a Tex Mex Calzone. It’s ‘redone’ which means it’s made a little on the healthier side. Hope you enjoy it!

Caipirinha

July 30, 2010
popcorngirl12
0 comments
Brazil, cachaca, caipirinha, lime, muddle, sugar

This cocktail is a Brazilian cocktail. I had it the first time at one of those “meat orgy” restaurants called “Amazonia”. It was delicious. Then our friend Andre (who is from Brazil) made it for us and his was even better. Love this little drink with a punch! We have a bottle of the liquor, Cachaça but haven’t made it ourselves yet. We will though. The Caipirinha is the national drink of Brazil and is enjoyed in restaurants, bars, and many households throughout the country. It was once almost unknown outside Brazil, the drink has become more popular and more widely available in recent years, in large part due to the rising availability of first-rate brands of cachaça outside Brazil.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lime, cut into quarters

2 tablespoons sugar

2 ounces cachaça

crushed ice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place two lime quarters into each glass. (Smaller ‘rocks’ glasses are good) Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar in each glass and muddle with a pestle or end of a wooden spoon.

2. Add the remaining lime quarters to each glass and muddle some more. Stir in 1 ounce cachaça into each glass. Fill with crushed ice and stir again.

Makes 2 drinks

Lobster Creole (Puerto Rican Style)

Lobster Creole is not usually thought of as a spanish dish. But it can be. By adding green peppers and tomato sauce it becomes a distinctly different taste sensation all together! And having a Puerto Rican background (Yes, I am only half Italian) this recipe is a nice treat when we can splurge and have lobster! This dish incorporates rice in the recipe and usually Puerto Rican dishes use white rice but feel free to use brown rice if you wish. In Spanish Lobster Creole translates to “Langosta a la Criolla”. This dish is a hearty delicious seafood entrée which can be served with sautéed asparagus, a nice salad and maybe a pineapple sherbet for dessert. If you like add a couple of slices of ripe avocado to garnish the dish.

Photo For Illustrative Purposes Only

INGREDIENTS:

2 onions, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup olive oil

1½ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

2 tomatoes, peeled and quartered

½ cup dry white wine

2 pounds lobster meat, chopped in bite size pieces

3 cups hot cooked rice

avocado slices and pickled red peppers for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Saute onions, green peppers and garlic in oil in a large saucepan until tender.

2. Add the salt, pepper and tomatoes. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add tomato sauce, wine and lobster meat. Simmer for 15 minutes.

4. Serve over cooked rice. Garnish with avocado and peppers if desired.

Makes about 6 servings

Plantain Tostones

Growing up in our house we always had plantains. Or as we called them Plátanos. My mom made them mashed, fried, stuffed, you name it. I always remember we had to buy them green and then they got put into a brown paper bag from the supermarket (this is before plastic was around) and close up the bag and keep it in the oven (it wasn’t on) for days. Until they turned black! This meant they were ripe! The only time we didn’t ripen the plantains were when we were going to be frying them. For frying they needed to be very firm otherwise they’d fall apart in the oil. This recipe calls for them to be double fried. Cubans also make this recipe and sometimes serve with a mojo sauce. Puerto Rican style as was made in my house was just eaten as is with some salt on them. Like big thick plantain potato chips! I would make them more often if I wasn’t the only one eating them! They aren’t hard to do, it’s just time-consuming. So be brave and try a new dish! You won’t be disappointed!

INGREDIENTS:

3 green plantains

1 quart water

2 tablespoons salt

2 cups cooking oil or olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Score the peel of the plantains lengthwise. Peel the fruit and then cut into diagonal slices 3/4″-1″ thick. Add salt to the water and soak the plantains in it for one hour.

2. Heat oil in a large pan or deep fryer to 325°. Drain the plantains and dry well with absorbent paper towels. Fry them in the hot oil for 1-2 minutes. This is to get a nice crisp shell on the plantains. Lower the heat and reduce the temperature to 275°. Continue frying for 10 minutes.

3. Remove the slices from the oil. Place on paper towels. Place each piece between two paper towels and mash flat with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a heavy glass.

4. Return the slices to the oil and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper and serve hot, sprinkle lightly with salt and eat!

Serves 8

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This is a refreshing chilled soup/bisque that tastes more like ice cream than a soup! It’s sweet, creamy and delicious! Great for those hot cruise days when you just want something refreshing before dinner. When the staff serves you they put some fresh strawberries in the middle of the soup bowl and pour the soup […]

Escargot Bourgignonne

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Baked Alaska (Carnival Cruise Lines)

Years ago on most of my early cruises they always served Baked Alaska on the Captain’s Night or some other elegant night for dessert. They still serve it BUT with one difference, it is no longer flaming. Yes, flaming. I remember the first time I saw this, the waiters all came dancing into the dining […]

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What's Cooking at the Genua's?

Ethnic

Fast & Easy Taco Bake & A New Venture!

Dublin Lobster

Layered Greek Dip

Greek Green Beans

Escargot Bourgignonne

Tabouli with Quinoa

Tex Mex Calzone

Caipirinha

Lobster Creole (Puerto Rican Style)

Plantain Tostones

Top Posts & Pages

Follow my other blog! : Cruise Ship Recipes at Home

Chilled Strawberry Bisque (Carnival Cruise Lines)

Escargot Bourgignonne

Alchemy Bar’s Cucumber Sunrise (Carnival Cruise Lines)

Baked Alaska (Carnival Cruise Lines)

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