Recipes

Wonderful golden crunchy and crispy french fries (from scratch)

I love french fries! and when I was living in Belgium I was able to get fries often in the many Friteries all around town. But since moving back, getting fries means going to Mc Donalds, Burger King or buying oven fries at one of the grocery stores.  I am not a really picky eater so I can eat all this fries, but there is nothing better than actual fries made from scratch.  

So, I ventured to make my own fries after calling my mom as she used to make them for us when I was growing up.   After a very simple few steps, I ended up with these amazing fries! seriously they were really delicious. 

Ingredients:                                                          

-Potatoes (I like gold potatoes)         

-Vegetable oil                                                         

-Salt                       

-Water

-Mayonaise, Ketchup, any other sauce

Ingredients

How to:
1. Pour oil in a small pan (fill about about half the pan) and heat in medium high heat.
2. Cut all potatoes into long strips
3. Submerge them in water with lots of salt for 20 minutes
3.  Dry the potatoes with kitchen paper towels.  (very important, because otherwise the fries will absorb the oil and end up soggy instead of crispy and crunchy.)
4.  Lay small batches of potatoes in oil and fry until golden, about 10 minutes each batch.

5.  Add salt to the fries as soon as you take them out of the pan so that the oil help the salt to stick to them.

6.  Enjoy the fries with mayonaise

Submerge potatoes slices in salted water

Dry potatoes thorougly

I love to eat them with Mayo instead of ketchup!

 

Tortilla Chips: Easy and quick

A few nights ago I made burritos for dinner.  Personally, I think burritos can be healthy if made in house and using the right ingredients.  I always use beef and beans as main ingredients, tomatoes and lettuce as fillers and guacamole as a spread.  Of course there are a lot more ingredients you could add to make it taste even better (cream cheese, rice, sour cream, cheddar cheese, etc) but I try to stay away from those unless there is a special occassion.   In any case, as we are a family of 4 and 2 under the age of 3, we never finish a tortilla package (there are usually 6 to 8 tortillas in a package) and the leftover is usually left in the fridge with the good intention of eating it next day as a wrap of some sorts, but it never really happens and I always end up throwing the leftover tortillas away.  However, this week, I was really set in the "do not throw away leftover tortilla" mood and so I decided to make tortilla chips (tostito style). 

It is really simple, basically cut the tortillas with a knife or with cookie cutters (I thought this would make it more fun for the kids), brush olive oil on both sides of the chips, add salt and other spices if you like ( I added pasta & pizza spicy spices to some of the chips, but chili or oregano or italian herbs would also probably taste delicious).  Put in the oven 150C (300F) and bake until golden and crisp.  Around 30 minutes (it could be less so check often).

I served the tortilla chips with the leftover guacamole and hummus.  We all loved it and the best of all is that there were no leftovers.

Before baking

After 30 minute baking

 

Mustard Sauce Recipe

Making dinner that is tasty, easy and fast is a daily struggle when 5:00pm hits (except for weekends when my husband cooks).  Friday evening was not that much different.  I looked into my fridge and decided on making chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce.  I was set on the idea,

I had cut the chicken, covered it with bread crumbs and italian herbs, put the tray with the nuggets in the oven and when I was about to start with the sauce, I realized I was out of honey.  My head started coming up with all sort of different "solutions" like adding brown sugar, cane sugar, or even soya sauce instead but I wasn't sold on any of the alternatives.  I then searched my pantry and found sugar molasses, (which are quite common in Belgium and used as a syrup for pancakes) and used that to make a sweet mustard sauce instead.  I am sure you can find the molasses in the same isle were maple syrup is found.

Getting back to the sweet mustard sauce...all my family loved it (see the simple and quick recipe below).  We used it not only for the nuggets but also for the boiled potatoes and the fresh cucumber.  Its tanginess worked great with all of Friday's dinner different elements.  I really like the versatility of this sauce,  I am certain it can be used with baked chicken, BBQ chicken, salmon fillets, fresh tomatoes and surely celery fans will appreciate it as a delicious alternative to Ranch dressing.  Just be careful not to eat it too much of it as the mayonnaise in it makes the sauce high in calories.  (You can always replace it with plain yogurt or low fat mayo though.)  Enjoy!

 Ingredients:                                                                                                                                                  -1/2 cup Mayonaisse

-1 tbsp Mustard

-1/2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

-2 1/2 tbsp Sugar Molasses

 Preparation:  Just mix all ingredients together (serves 4)

Voila! 

 

 

Orange Glaze for Cupcakes

Over the weekend we celebrated my son's birthday with family, friends and red velvet cupcakes. My hubby and I made them after founding a delicious recipe from browneyedbaker.com and we had our first attempt at decorating cupcakes. We did not use the cream cheese frosting as the recipe suggests because my husband doesn't like anything with cheese on (even if its only in name). Instead we used a Martha Stewart recipe for a super easy glaze. I adjusted the suggested quantities a little, added red and yellow coloring (our theme was Mickey Mouse) and the cupcakes looked and tasted great.

Ingredients:

-1/2 medium orange (squeeze juice)

-1 cup Confectioners sugar

-powder food coloring

Mix the orange juice with the confectioners sugar until a paste is form. If you want the glaze to be runny add more orange juice, if you prefer it to be thicker then add more sugar. Once you are happy with the consistency, add the food coloring of your choice and apply onto cupcakes immediately. (Cupcakes should be cold).

Healthier Carrot Cake with Chocolate Chips

So, this is my first post. I want to share my carrot cake recipe with you. For the past 9 months I have been perfecting my recipe as I have being baking carrot cakes once or twice a month. Initially I tried 3 different recipes, they were all good, but I had an issue with the amount of sugar and oil all these recipes called for. I am sure you can relate; I did not want to spend the time baking just to feel guilty when eating it. So I did some research, and came up with this carrot cake variation, hope you enjoy!

Time: 1 hr and 15 minutes

Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients:

- 4 eggs

- 1 cup apple sauce

-1/4 cup vegetable oil

- 1 cup sugar

- 2 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

- 2 cups flour

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 2 teaspoons baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 2 teaspoons cinnamon

- 1 lb fresh carrots

- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F

Grease a 9"x13" pan with olive oil

Peel and grate the carrots, you will get approximately 3 cups.

In a large bowl beat the eggs, apple sauce, oil, sugar, and vanilla in low speed for 30 seconds, or until blended. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, blend again for 30 seconds. Add the grated carrots with a spatula. Slowly pour mix into pan. Add chocolate chips to the top of the mix.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes.