Monday, July 21, 2014

[ S P I CY ]

S T U F F E D

C A B B A G E


Hello my ravenous internet friends :)  Meet my only healthy meal of the weekend!  Hehe oopsies..

My handsome babe of a boyfriend Todd & I have been celebrating our 3 year anniversary (yay love!!) in an extremely naughty manner. We've eaten loads of fried seafoods, rich & buttery pastas, fatty BONE MARROW!, the juiciest unlimited amouts of grilled burgers and gallons of farm fresh ice cream..oooofz!  

We DO & DO NOT feel good about it!!  


I got a chance to dance around in the kitchen once and made these super easy & healthy galumpkis (Polish cabbage rolls) that I will undoubtedly make again in the near future :D  These guys are like a big dumpling..MMM YES.  

Check out my mooooooves..

Ingredients:
1 large cabbage
Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 diced onion 
1 chopped pepper
2 tbps minced garlic
2 chopped jalapeños (optional, but so damn good!)
1 package ground turkey
1 cup cooked quinoa
28oz can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of raisins for a little sweetness!
1-2 cups frozen spinach!
Sprinkle of mozzarella cheese
Salt, cracked pepper, paprika, adobo!  



Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 400°! Ooh, baby it's gon' get hot in the kitchen! >.<
  2. Let's start off by sautéeing your onion, peppers & garlic in oil.  Cook until translucently tender & remove from heat to let it cooool, bro.
  3. Combine ground turkey with veggies and season with a couple dashes of adobo!
  4. Add cooked quinoa (you can subsitute with any other rice or grains) into the filling mix until all happily married :)  Set aside!
  5. Heat up your tomatoes and season with salt & fresh cracked pepper.. you can see I like a little tingle on my tongue since I added red pepper flakes too!  Add your raisins & frozen spinach.  Let simmer (I like sneaking more veggies in! muahaha!)  Set aside as well.
  6. Bring a big pot of water to a boil..(do not accidentally turn off the heat thinking you turned off the burner for your quinoa pot- doh!)
  7. Peel back the first 2 cabbage leaves and wash thoroughly.  Use these to line the dish for easier clean up..how brilliant, huh?!
  8. Stab the core of the cabbage with a fork & plunge her in!  After about a minute use a knife to slice the connective core to seperate the first two leaves off.  Use tongs to remove.  Continue blanching the cabbage & cutting off the leaves until you have about 8-10 leaves.
  9. Rest the 'wraps' onto a cutting board to drain any excess water & to also cool down.  Then it's time to have a rollin' fest! Woohooo!
  10. Take your cabbage leaf & scoop about this much (as seen in picture) into the bottom half.  Fold both sides in & roll up!  No need to secure, just plop that chubby baby into the dish & repeat!
  11. Rollin' rollin' rollin'.. until you fill up your pan. Also, any extra leaves can double up smaller rolls- OH! & I saved the rest of the cabbage to make into a stir fry later ;) Do not waste!
  12. Isn't this the most heavenly looking dish!?  I'd almost stop it right here but everything is better with SAAAAAAAAAUUCEE!! Load these pretty things up with the tomato sauce & garnish with extra jalapeños. Stick it in to that hot, inviting oven. 1 hour. OH GOD.
  13. Last step is a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese right before the hour is up.  Make sure to let this sit for about 5 minutes before serving.  You want all them juuuuuuices to stay inside the rolls, keeping the meaty yummy insides nice & moist. MMMM...MOIST.

Some people serve this with a side of veggies, mashed potatoes, pasta, sour cream..but I felt like everything I wanted was already inside the stuffed cabbage!  Mmm..now I wish I didn't give away so much to my lucky friends & family because I. want. more. ^______^

#makeloveinthekitchen

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

E G G
P O R N

my spam & eggs..recipe below!


Current obsessions: nude lipsticks, ripped tees, this song, talenti gelato, salt water taffy, & last but not least..SEXY LOOKING EGGS.  

The drippy, runny, oh-so-gooey, bright-as-the-sun yolk does it for me.  I know not everybody agrees with me on this.. but this is my blog so ha!  I am going to gush about my love for a barely cooked egg as much as I want :D


ohhhh baby..


Eggs are one of those ingredients that can transform into countless different types of noms all depending on your style & mood of cooking.  There's the basic boiled, fried, or poached egg.  From there we go into salads, omelettes, frittatas, quiches, devil & tea eggs- oh the possibilities!

slap an egg on a burger, ah.. yeah!


I remember watching Mind of a Chef religiously & there was this one entire episode where David Chang played around with eggs.  Chang puffed the eggs into balloons & garnished with BACON DASHI; he poached freshly whisked yolks into a whirlpool of water; he even perfectly plated the ko egg made famous in his new york restaurant momofuku.. mmmm *i still daydream of my two experiences there*

ko egg.. err my heart cracking


Similar to rice or potatoes, eggs are found in most cultural foods.  I made this super simple breakfast of spam (hehehe), a carefully fried egg & white rice.  I thought it was just an asian thing but my boyfriend's mum who is Puerto Rican totally went nuts!  Comfort food on all levels & in all areas- I love it.  Here's my little (unnecessary) recipe!

Ingredients:
1 Organic Egg
1 Cup freshly steamed jasmine rice
1/2 Cup diced & fried SPAM! (optional)
Soy sauce or sea salt
Togarashi, crushed pepper flakes or just cracked pepper

Directions:
  1. Heat up a skillet to medium high heat with a little vegetable oil.
  2. Crack the egg and bask in the excitement!  Mmmm..
  3. After a minute or two of frying I add a few drops of water & cover to cook the top part of the egg.  The cardiac-style is adding more oil & basting the egg- I do whatever I feel like.
  4. This should only take about 3 minutes max!  Any more time & you will severely risk the result of an overcooked egg, ughh..yuck.
  5. Scoop freshly steamed jasmine rice into your bowl & top with your SPAM, beautiful baby eggie poo, & add some dimension with all your peppers & flakes! 

That's all yolks!