Category Archives: Sidekicks

Empanadas

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Ok so I am in a Latin state of mind. Not to brag, but I am going to Panama in February. So I am totes all about exotic food right now in anticipation of my travels. I mean don’t be jealous, you can get a taste of those countries at home with this muy rica comida! (translates to “very tasty food”, you silly goose). Anyway, I digress. Host a tapas night, or serve as a game time snack, or even pack some for lunch one day with a side salad. This is one delish dish that is worth the extra time. Oh and for those of you that don’t know what an empanada is: its a meat-filled pie. Portable, popular street food and just plain old yummy!

 

1 box Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts (any puff pastry or pie dough would work this isn’t a shameless Pillsbury plug, Pepperidge Farm can get a holla too. Anyway, I made these two ways once with pie crusts and once with crescent roll dough to see which I liked better. Listen don’t judge Philly had a snowstorm and I had cabin fever & decided to keep busy by finding you guys the yummiest way to make these. No clear winner though: the crescent dough is harder to work with, but more fluffy. The pie crust was easier and flakier. So you decide whatever you like best. Ya, I have double the empanadas. So in reality I AM THE WINNER) & 1 egg, beaten

Chicken and Cheese Filling-

  • 2 tbsp butter & 2-3 tbsp. flour (a roux)
  • 1 medium Spanish onion chopped small
  • ½ cup white wine (feel free to leave out if you don’t have any on hand).
  • 2 chicken** pieces, skin removed & shredded/chopped. (I used a store bought rotisserie & kept the remaining for a chicken salad, obvi)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup Mexican blend, shredded cheese (maybe even less)
  • Salt and pepper to taste (garlic powder also because I am a freak)

**(Another option is to brown some ground turkey or ground beef with some taco seasoning and use that in place of the chicken. Get creative folks! Use what you have lying around…don’t be running to the store more than once a week if you don’t have to).

Anyway, back to the cooking part: heat the butter/flour (roux) & add the onions saute over medium heat until translucent, around 4 minutes. Add the white wine and allow to evaporate until ½ of the liquid is left and to deglaze the pan. Add the chicken & the milk, a little at a time until well incorporated and the sauce is thick.  Mix constantly, lastly you can add in the salt and pepper to taste (I also added garlic powder).

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove pie crusts from pouches; place flat on work surface. With 3 1/4-inch round cutter, cut 8 rounds from each pie crust. I don’t have a cutter so I used a martini glass, because I am hood like that. Spoon filling evenly onto half of each dough round. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the filling. A pinch of cheese people, don’t over stuff the empanada. Brush edge of crust rounds with beaten egg. Fold crust rounds in half; press edges with fork to seal. Place on foiled cookie sheet. Brush tops with egg. Bake 14-17 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool & serve immediately.
While the empanadas bake, you can whip up this easy, beyond delish dipping sauce. Any person can serve it with store bought salsa, a real foodie, makes even the accompaniments fresh! Check out the avocado cream recipe under Sauce Boss.
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Happy Eating, XO.

Sweet Potato Fries

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My husband is a big fan of fries and he’s not giving them up any time soon. So, I decided to make him a slightly healthier version – baked sweet potato fries. They only took about 5 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook, and they were well worth it. We paired them with this salmon recipe and it was a perfectly easy dinner to throw together. And who doesn’t like perfectly easy?

  • 2-3 sweet potatoes
  • 2 tbsp olive oil (enough to give them a very light covering)
  • 1/2 – 1 tsp each salt, pepper, and paprika
  • Agave nectar (or honey)

Heat the oven to 450. Clean, peel, and cut (long ways) the potatoes. In a bowl, combine the olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika and toss in the potatoes. Once they have a light covering, move them to a baking sheet and lightly drizzle the agave nectar. (Feel free to leave this out if you don’t want them too sweet. But as I’m sure you’ve learned by now, my sweet tooth is insatiable so bring on the agave!)

Bake them for about 20 minutes. Some of the small fries will be done before the big ones so keep an eye on them closer to the end.

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Happy Eating, XO.

#teamtruffle

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So the best thing I have been hearing from people is that Jess and Sonia have the same voice. No one can differentiate who writes what post, because we have the same sense of humor, writing style, cooking/recipe style. Let me fill you in on a little secret, that was kind of the point & reasoning behind our fab collabo. Anyway, instead of keeping up the cryptic façade of who is writing this post, I will have to go ahead and spill the beans. Only because Jess is obsessed with all things TRUFFLE (you name it: fries, mac & cheese, mashed potatoes, popcorn-check out her recipe, it is DIVINE). Having said that, she has now gotten me on the truffle bandwagon. I, too, am now OBSESSED. So in honor of Jess and missing our last face time date, I wanted to share this recipe with y’all.

•Kosher or Sea salt (something course).
•1/2 cup heavy cream (I tried to lighten this up and did half & half, I mean can you blame a girl: butter, cheese, cream. It was getting a lil cray even for my fattie/foodie side).
•3 ounces white truffle butter (should be about $7, I bought a 4 oz package for $7.99. Yes its expensive, yes its different, you tell us worth it or not. Also if you aren’t a fan of truffle butter or have skeptics coming to dinner perhaps use 2 oz. It’s a strong flavor so no one will hate you for cutting back, I stuck with 3 though because its “damn delish”).
•Freshly ground black pepper
•1 (8.82-ounce) package tagliatelle dried pasta (or any other egg fettuccine, Trader joes has a cheap egg papardelle)
•3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
•3 ounces Parmesan (shaved thin with a vegetable peeler or be lazy like me and have them shave it at the cheese counter for you).

Add 1 tablespoon salt to a large pot of water and bring to a boil & cook pasta.
Meanwhile, in a large (12-inch) saute pan, heat the cream over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Add the truffle butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Lower the heat to very low, and swirl the butter until it melts. Keep warm over very low heat. When the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then drain & add the pasta immediately (you don’t want the starchy noodles to clump together sitting in a side bowl, not that it happened to me, ok gawsh). Add the drained pasta to the saute pan and toss it with the truffle-cream mixture. As the pasta absorbs the sauce, add as much of the reserved cooking water, as necessary, to keep the pasta very creamy. (I added like 3 tbsp. not even). Serve the pasta & garnish each serving with a generous sprinkling of chives and shaved Parmesan. Serve immediately so the sauce doesn’t over-thicken. Also the original recipe says that this makes 2 portions, but let’s be honest here…this dish is DECADENT! So I’d say it is realistically a starter course or side dish for 4 servings. Yup that’s it, can’t believe how quick such a fancy dish can be? Well, make it and find out for yourself. Make sure to comment below on your thoughts! Or tweet at us with your opinion: #teamtruffle worth the $ or not.

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p.s. less than one month till the dynamic duo’s birthday. #justsaying.

Happy Eating, XO.

Eat your vegetables​.

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It’s that time of year that everyone wants to eat right because they know Santa is watching to see who was a good or bad boy/girl. However, instead of hopping on the juicing band wagon, jump on the Roasting bus. I told you it was my favorite (As well as Ina Garten’s). I have done it to zucchini, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus the most. I will say I have pretty much roasted everything other than my socks. (Don’t tempt me)

  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  • Pinch of salt (sea salt preferably) black pepper & red chili flakes (its just a pinch, but leave out if you have no taste buds)
  • 1 tbsp. of shredded parmigano reggiano

Mix all ingredients, other than the cheese, with whatever vehicle you are roasting. For example, when you roast the sprouts, I would slice them in half and then toss with the oil mixture. Roast at 350 degrees for 15-20 min, maybe turning once for even crisping. Lastly, when cooling out of the oven (right before serving), sprinkle the reggiano over the veggies.

Happy Eating, XO.

Stove top macaroni and cheese

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We are way too grown up to still be doing easy mac from our good ole friends at Kraft. As enjoyable as that was in college, its time to realize an orange powder may not be the best thing to put into our bodies. This is just as quick, but with fresh ingredients. Oh and speaking of watching what we put into our bodies, this recipe is figure friendly because there is no butter and no heavy cream. Just simple, clean, and tasty.

  • 14 oz. of macaroni elbows
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar (get creative and do 1 cup fontina and 1 cup Gruyère or 1 cup of the cheddar and 1 cup of Monterey jack)
  • 1/2 to 1 tbs. crushed garlic (if doing fresh that’s 3 cloves)
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard (umm so I did tablespoon not teaspoon because apparently I don’t know how to read and it was noticeably too tangy so don’t rush and read the measurements properly, lesson learned).
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp parsley flakes (I just add this to almost any recipe I can because I think the little green flecks just brighten up a dish, in other words “optional”).
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/3 cup 2% milk
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Boil elbows. Drain pasta in colander while reserving 1/3 cup of the cooking liquid. Return macaroni to pot and mix in the remaining ingredients over low heat (including the pasta water). Fold gently to melt and mix all ingredients.

I may throw in some pancetta next time to add another element slash make it more entree worthy vs. side dish. Plus let’s face it, pancetta would make it the grown up version of the throwback, when mom’s across America cut up hot dogs for us when we were kids & threw it in our mac & cheese.
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Happy Eating, XO.