Red Hot Stuffed Peppers

These peppers are INCREDIBLY tasty and definitely a household fav!!  It’s a full meal in a pepper cup.  I can eat 2 halves depending on the size of the peppers.  So when I make them I average about 1 large pepper per person.  This recipe is again, super easy and always a household pleaser.  I might make them tonight!  J

You will need to prepare Jes' Puerto Ri"CAN" Picadillo (Make it with a drier consistency by adding less tomato sauce and more chopped ingredients than the watery sofrito).

After you have prepared that, you will need:

·        Cooked rice of your choice.  (brown rice works really well here as it’s disguised by all the amazing flavors)

·        Shredded cheddar cheese

·        3 Large bell peppers (I prefer red for my recipe but you can use green, yellow or orange)

Cook the picadillo as directed in the link above.  Once that is done, add the rice and mix well.  Cut the bell peppers in 1/2, leaving the stem on them for looks and carefully carving out the seeds inside.  Stuff the peppers generously, top with cheddar cheese and bake in the oven on 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (or until cheese has a golden brown color to it. (almost bubbling).  That’s all there is to it.

I pair this dish with one of my ultimate favorite wines, Cupcake’s, Red Velvet.  It goes really well together and the blends of red go down incredibly smooth.  I truly love this wine and hope you will too.

Hope you all enjoy this recipe & Bon Appetite!!

Happy Cooking!



Not your grama’s green beans

I don’t think I have ever had someone not LOVE my green beans.  I take the ordinary bland steamed bean and in the words of Emeril Agassi, “kick it up a notch”! lol.  This recipe is super easy and extremely mouth-watering!!  It goes excellent with steak or pretty much anything on the grill.

And this is what you’ll need:

·         Fresh green beans

·         ½ of container of  cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)

·         ¼ lb of bacon

·         2 cloves of garlic (minced)

·         2 table spoons of butter or margarine

·         Salt

·         Pepper

Cook the bacon as directed until crispy and set aside.  Add fresh green beans to boiling, salted water and boil for approximately 6-8 minutes.  (You want a tender but firm green bean). 

Heat a skillet and add butter until bubbling.  Throw in the tomato halves garlic and salt & pepper to taste, tossing for approximately 2-3 minutes in medium heat. (You want to heat the tomatoes and infuse the butter with the garlic but not completely reduce the tomatoes to nothing).

Drain the green beans, place in a serving dish and pour tomatoes (with butter & garlic) right over the green beans.  Crumble the crispy bacon and sprinkle over.  Just that simple!!    

**In the past I’ve added some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  To die for!**

Hope you guys enjoy the dish! 

HAPPY COOKING!

Roasted Rosemary Chicken

Roasted Rosemary Chicken!

Hi!  It’s me again, with yet another simple and yummy dish in only 60 minutes from the oven to the table.  My honey is always complaining about how much he hates chicken because its so dry.  So every time I make a chicken dish, I experiment with new ways to keep it moist.  Believe it or not ONIONS!!  Whether you like then or not they serve as an excellent way to keep my chicken dishes moist.  And if you don’t like them, you can discard them after.  Or like me, chop them up and throw them back into the chicken drippings and pour over rice and green beans.

This is what you will need: 

• Chicken breast (skin on and bone in)
• Bahia mojo
• Adobo
• Black pepper
• Mrs. Dash Table Blend
• 1 white onion (sliced into rings)
• Sazon (1/2 a packet)
• Rosemary (dry)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Start by washing your breast under running cold water, cutting off the attached ribs with chicken shears and trimming the fat.  Layer 1/2 of the onion rings on the bottom of a baking dish and place the chicken on top of the rings.

Sparingly pour mojo all over chicken making sure its coated all over.  Sprinkle chicken with Adobo, black pepper, Mrs. Dash Table Blend and sazon.  Take the dried rosemary and crush it with your fingertips in your palm to release the aromas and spread generously all over chicken.  

(Make sure when you are seasoning the chicken, that you raise the skin and season under it and then stretch the skin back over the chicken. This also helps the chicken retain its moisture.  You can discard the skin after its cooked, but personally, to me, the skin is the best part! haha!!).   

Place the remaining onion rings over the chicken, add about 1/4 cup of water, cover with aluminum foil and back for 50 minutes.  After 50 minutes, carefully uncover chicken and set the oven to broil on high (pour the drippings over the chicken and keeping an eye on it, because it burns and dries easily in this stage).  You want the chicken to have a golden brown color and the skin to look crispy. I do this on both sides. 

Take the chicken out and let it rest for about 2-3 minutes.  Steam some brown rice and green beans and dig in. I pour the sauce over the white or brown rice with the onions and it's literally to die for.

Good Luck, Happy Cooking and Enjoy!!

Mom’s Favorite Shrimp-Fetti

SHRIMP-FETTI

This dish is delicious, quick, colorful and great for company on short notice.  I’ve made it as an appetizer where you scoop spoonfuls into mini bowls or as a dinner over jasmine rice.  And this is how I make it.

What you will need:

·         2  lbs of uncooked shrimp (peeled and deveined)

·         1 white onion

·         1 cucumber

·         1 container of cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)

·         Spanish green olives (I use Goya)

·         Distilled white vinegar

·         Extra virgin olive oil

·         Adobo to taste

·         1 clove of garlic

·         Oregano

Take the shrimp and season with adobo to taste.  Heat a pan (very hot) with extra virgin olive oil and throw shrimp in with the mashed garlic clove, tossing frequently.  (Careful, because they cook really fast and you do not want to overcook them).  Once shrimp are cooked remove from pan and set aside. (leave uncovered or the shrimp will continue to cook – and we don’t want that).

Dice the onion, cucumber and slice the tomatoes and olives in ½.  Add to the shrimp.  Then add ½ a cup of distilled vinegar and ½ a cup of extra virgin olive oil (adjust to taste).  Sprinkle oregano to taste and stir everything together…….and Voila!  

I LOVE eating this over really hot Jasmine rice.  The flavors just work really well together.  I hope you all enjoy this recipe. 

Happy Cooking!!!

Succulent Steak Dinner

This is one of my favorite steak recipes.  I made this dish in less than 20 minutes, however, the speed did not have the steak lacking in flavor. 

What you will need:

·         Tri Tip Steak

·         Mojo (I used Badia Mojo)

·         Adobo (to taste)

·         Black pepper (to taste)

·         Mrs. Dash Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning

·         Romaine (whole leaves)

·         Cherry tomatoes

·         Red Onion

·         Cucumber

·         A light vinaigrette of your choice (I use Kraft’s Roasted Red Pepper)

For this meal I used a Tri Tip Steak and it was very lean in my opinion, and this is how I seasoned it.  Place steaks in a shallow pan and pour the mojo over them.  Season with the adobo, black pepper and Mrs. Dash tomato basil garlic seasoning (which by the way is salt-free).  Let stand for about 10 minutes covered in the refrigerator while you prepare the salad.

For the salad I use prewashed, whole Romaine leaves and laid them on my plate whole.  I layered the cucumbers (sliced), cherry tomatoes (halved), and red onions (sliced rings) and then I added my dressing right before I got ready to eat.

In a very hot pan coated with olive oil, I placed the steaks to sear for about 2 minutes on each side.  Brush each seared side with the left over mojo while cooking the steak.  I like my steak a little on the rare side, so if you like it a little more well, adjust the time to your desire, keeping in mind not to dry the meat out.  Transfer to the meat to your place and let it rest for a minute or two before cutting into it.  This will allow the juices to flow through the meat.

Now all that’s left is to dig in!!  Hope you like this very simple succulent steak dinner.  “Buen Provecho”!

Simply Delish Antipasto!

I was visiting my brother in Charlotte, NC and wanted to make a quick pre-meal snack for everyone to munch on before dinner was ready.  This antipasto dish was so easy to make, I couldn’t believe how great it tasted.

What you will need:

·         Melon (Cantaloupe or Dew Melon)

·         Prosciutto

·         Fresh Mozzarella in water

·         Tomato

·         Genoa salami

·         Sesame breadsticks or crackers

·         Basil Pesto

·         Fresh basil

Slice the melon into crescent moon shapes and wrap the center with prosciutto.  Line up on a platter.  Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella (equal in size and thickness) lay on the platter and drizzle the pesto sauce over the slices as shown in the photo.  Take your breadsticks and roll the Genoa salami around them and stack them beside the tomatoes and mozzarella. Garnish with the fresh basil.  It’s that easy and simply delicious.  “Bon Appetite”! 

  

Jes' Puerto Ri"CAN" Picadillo

Finally got it together and wrote down the steps for my very first recipe on this blog.  And what better recipe to start off with than my most requested dish.  My version of the originally “Cuban” dish, Jes’ Puerto Ri”CAN” Picadillo.  I hope you guys enjoy this dish as much as my family does. 

What you will need for Jes' Puerto Ri”CAN” Styled Picadillo:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• ¼ cup of sofrito
• ½ cup diced onions
• ½ cup diced bell pepper (green and yellow or red)
• ½ cup chopped cilantro
•  ¼ cup sliced or whole Spanish olives (Goya) 
• 1 tbsp. capers
• Adobo to taste
• ½ packet of sazon
• 1 can of diced tomatoes 
• 1 can of (Rotel) diced tomatoes and Green Chiles
• 4 oz tomato sauce (Goya) 

Cook the ground beef with sofrito, onions, peppers, cilantro, and season with Adobo and sazon until the meat is done. Add the olives, capers, diced tomatoes, chiles, and tomato sauce. Cook another 5 minutes or so to cook down any extra liquids. That's it!  

In Puerto Rico, picadillo is used for stuffing, which needs to be moist but not runny, so not a lot of tomato sauce is used. But if you are serving it as a side dish, like I do (over white rice) use more tomato sauce. Usually a dish like this uses more sofrito, but I like to see the chopped spices so I reduce the amount of sofrito and add chopped ingredients, or how I did it last time, I used the sofrito and the chopped ingredients! It came out delish!!!