Tag Archives: garlic

Grilled Romaine with Tahini Dressing

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Guys, I wish I could say we were busy whipping up a million new recipes for you which is why we haven’t posted the entire month of July. But actually, it’s a little more exciting. One of our very own got engaged! Congrats, Sonia! So, as you can imagine, we’ve had some other things on our brains. But, we’re ready to jump back into it. We missed you guys!

With all that’s going on now, we’re going to keep it super simple. Like toss-it-all-in-a-processor simple. We’re well into grilling season and I’m not gonna lie – there’s only so many ways you can grill chopped veggies before they get boring. I mean, we love you spicy veggies, but we need a change. Enter: grilled romaine. But not just plain romaine, romaine with tahini dressing. Not only does the romaine give you a smokey taste, but the tahini gives it an extra nutty and savory kick.

  • 2 cups tahini
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil (or extra oil from the tahini)
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 bunch romaine lettuce
  • 2 tbsps capers

In a food processor (or by hand), toss in the tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. Pulse all of the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If you notice it’s getting too thick, add in more oil and a slight bit of water. It should have the consistency of a creamy dressing when you’re done.

For the romaine, clean and separate the leaves. Grease the grill and bring to medium heat. Place the leaves on the grill (over a tiny flame is a-ok), and let them crisp for 2-3 minutes. Just the edges of the leaves should brown.

When serving, pour the tahini dressing over the romaine and top with capers.

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Happy Eating, XO.

Saucy

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I’m so sick of the typical red sauce in pasta dishes. Legit I get acidity these days from eating too many tomato based sauces so I figured I would try and mix it up in case anyone else out there is just as over it as me. I wanted to do an alfredo like sauce but hopefully keep it figure friendly as well. Luckily there are so many skinny variations out there in the world wide web and I found this yummy cauliflower based one! I legit roast cauliflower on the reg and even make the Indian sabzi version of it all the time so now thatI can utilize it in one more way is #winning in itself. Anyway, next carb craving try this sauce over marinara and don’t tell me if your pasta doesn’t sing!

  • 1 medium head of cauliflower (approx. 450g)
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic (ok I did 3 obvi)
  • 1 tbsp. of butter
  • 5 cups or 1.2 L of broth (chicken is what I did but vegetable is fine)
  • 3/4 cup of milk (or almond milk)
  • 1/2 tsp of salt (I added a pinch of black pep too).

Cut the onion & garlic into thin slices and sauté in butter for about 20 minutes or until caramelized. Boil the cut up cauliflower florets until tender in the broth (Save a 1/2 to 3/4 cup for the sauce) . Combine milk, broth, cauliflower, and veggies and blend until smooth. I added a tbsp. of grated pecorino romano because sauce should have cheese IMO.

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FYI makes about 3 cups of sauce.

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Tip: If sauce is too thick, loosen with broth when reheating.

Happy Eating, XO

Ain’t no Beefin’

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In the Poconos, recently my friends and I were on a wine tour doing tastings of the area vineyards and as we all know when drinking copious amounts of booze causes most people to binge eat. Luckily, there was a cook-off contest going on nearby so we stumbled over and tried all the eats the locals had made. There was a plethora of good food like sausage and peppers, mushroom risotto, etc. but this beef dish just knocked my socks off! I asked for the recipe because I wanted to recreate it for the blog, but more importantly, I wanted to try it sober to see if I even liked it (who knows when your inebriated, errythang tastes good under the influence). My God. I was NOT disappointed! It was just as yum, so I hope you enjoy this as well.

  • 2 lbs. flank steak
  • 1 cup cranberry juice
  • 1/2 crushed pineapple or puree
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup cranberries(recipe calls for fresh but all I had was dried so do you)
  • 1/2 cup diced candied ginger
  • 1/4 cup minced garlic or 4 cloves chopped
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce

In a medium saucepan cook soy sauce, honey, pineapple, cranberry juice into a marinade. Add cranberries and candied ginger cook for a bit more before turning off stove to cool.

In the meantime, coat steak with the ginger and garlic, then pour cooled marinade over steak. Marinade for 1-2 hrs then remove steak from marinade and cook for 7-10 minutes on each side. Take the marinade and recook to turn into a glaze for the steak. After letting meat rest slice on grain.  Drizzle remaining cooked marinade then serve w bean sprouts and chopped cilantro.

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Happy Eating, XO

Pollo (Chicken)

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The mother of invention is necessity. My parents were in town and for many Indian dishes you serve a side of plain yogurt. It’s a cooling agent to all the Indian spices. Well, after they left I had a bunch of yogurt leftover so I decided to make a marinade for my chicken from the leftover yogurt. There was a need to finish it, so why not repurpose it? I rummaged around my pantry and found this amazing latin paste I had grabbed from my recent trip to Costa Rica and started whipping up this tasty delight. Hope you enjoy my latin inspired pollo!

  • 1 tbsp of achiote paste (blend of red spices from Mexico, available i grocery stores that sell Goya brand products or you can order any brand from amazon)
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tbsp of crushed garlic or 4 cloves
  • 1 fistful or bunch of cilantro leaves
  • 4-5 green onions (both white ends and green portions)
  • 1/2 container or 1 lb. of plain yogurt
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1.5 lbs or 5 drumsticks of chicken (bone-in chicken thighs would be good too)

Combine in blender or food processor and coat the mixture over a dish of drumsticks. Marinade for 24 hrs and then bake in oven at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. To keep moist while cooking, baste with melted butter (or lemon juice if you want to be waist line friendly). Serve hot.

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Happy Eating, XO.

#TBT Crab Dip

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Jess and I got to celebrate new years together, it was such a blast-check out some of our photos on @Damndelish‘s Instagram page. Anyway, my boyfriend had requested I make crab dip as one of the appetizers. First of all, I was appalled he requested something (ok I know I should be touched that he loves my cooking enough to be more excited for my dip than the platter of shrimp cocktail I picked up from DiBruno Brothers, however getting back to my true emotion of initial annoyance-how dare he not request something from our amazing apps section on the blog?!) We have a plethora of yummy party foods and he choses something I have never even attempted making before? What’s so wrong with my crab stuffed mushroom caps that you need a crab dip? (ha I know what you are all thinking, BBC-bitches be cray!) and perhaps I was being cray, but I went hunting for ideas to please the man nonetheless and it came out fab! Below are the deets on the Dip-aliciousness. (that’s right I’m no longer mad at him and am creating words because it was so yummy)

  • 1/2 lb. of jumbo lump crab meat (free of shells, also I have said this before, perhaps in the crab cake post, but PLEASE do not use imitation crab or claw meat or any other BULLSHIT. Great recipes start with quality ingredients, k thanks rant over.)
  • 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese (feel free to do a savory flavored one to amp this recipe up, but plain works as well)
  • 1/2 cup mayo
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan
  • 3 tbsp. minced green onions (use both green & white, don’t discriminate)
  • 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
  • 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon of old bay seasoning (PS I did 1 tsp.)
  • Optional: I sprinkled some shredded Mexican cheese as a layer on top

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, bake the dip after combining all ingredients (gently, by hand, you don’t want to break up crab to un-tasteable pieces) for 35-40 minutes until golden on top. Serve hot with brioche toast, crackers, or veggies.

Oh also cool your jets kids, OUR BIRTHDAYS ARE TOMORROWWW!!! Best. Day. Ever.

Happy Eating, XO.