From the GTFO files...

Did you know that raisins can restore fizz to champagne? Drop a couple in the bottle a few minutes before serving.

WHOA!

This tip may work someday, for someone else... as if i could ever bring myself NOT to finish the bottle. ;)

Ch ch ch changes

I had the drop the '...at least i think i can. :)' from my blog name.

Now i KNOW i can! ;)

Thank you spammers for passing by my blog daily to leave all kinds of interesting messages, from the bizarre to the sublime. I'm HERE though, so please move along. More posts to follow soon.

Food2

Check out this site. Food2 I mean what's not to love about a cooking site that has recipe categories like adventurous, cravings, munchies and hangover! lol.

Low grade shenanigans in the kitchen? I'm IN! :)

Tweet Tweet!

I'm on Twitter, come and follow my tweets! I keep it mostly foodie related. ;)

Food on the Tube

IS POWERFUL! lol.

Every nite at 7PM, my Tivo tapes the Food Network Challenge. Last nite was Challenge: National Pie Championship (2004). Over 400 pies were entered into this contest and after hearing pie pie pie about 4 million times half way though the episode, we only had pie on the brain. MUST.GET.PIE.

My fave pie is cherry, my hubby's is Village Inn French silk pie, however since we have no Village Inn's anywhere near us, apple is his #1b pie selection.

I called around and found that Epicure had both cherry and apple available. I also called Denny's, Boston Market, Publix and Jerry's Famous Deli. I was on a mission. lol. I had a list, if Epicure had slices that was top of my list, cause though i've never tasted their pies, Epicure makes phenomenal cakes. If they only sold whole pies, i was heading to Denny's who had both apple and French silk slices available.

Anyhoo i get to Epicure and only find apple mini-pies. They had one whole cherry pie, but A. it was a whole pie and i only needed to feed the craving tonite and B. it was $10.95...wtf! Skipped it, grabbed one mini apple pie and picked up a Linzer tart cookie too (cause hello, i wasn't going to let a spontaneous trip to Epicure go to waste, i had to grab something different and fabulous). ;)

Got home, warmed up the pie and dug in. One bite in, major disappointment. The crust and apples were soggy. I looked over at my hubby and asked what he thought. He said, it's ok, but you make a much better pie. I sat back and enjoyed my soggy pie with a big smile on my face cause... YOU KNOW IT, MELI CAN COOK! :D

Here's a picture of the last apple pie i made. It's not much to look at, but it sure beats an Epicure apple pie!


UPDATE: The Linzer Tart cookie was FABULOUS! :)

Step Away from the Turkey

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! If you still have leftovers in the fridge, it's time to throw everything away. ;)

Since i didn't have to cook anything this year(tear), i just got crafty...

Cute Edible Apple Turkey

Super fast, super festive! :)

Clever!

YESSSSSSSS!!!!

Tickets on sale TODAY for the 2009 SouthBeach Food and Wine Festival!

We've been wanting to go to this event for YEARS, but something always comes up for that weekened. Well not this year, we've cleared our schedules and we're definitely going to indulge. We just scored tickets to the Whole Foods Market Grand Tasting Village. We are so excited!

And now that i've got mine, go out and get yours! Tickets famously sell out unbelievably fast. So get 'em while they last! ;)

Breakfast of Champions

I woke up wanting fried rice, go figure. I decided to make a breakfast version. Loved this recipe i totally created on the spot; super fast and easy, didn't even have to take out a knife or cutting board, just snipped everything right into the pan with my kitchen shears.

Bacon & Egg Fried Rice

2 strips of bacon
1 egg
1 Green Onion
1C cooked rice
1tsp Soy Sauce
Red pepper flakes

Snip the 2 slices of bacon into a hot pan, scramble egg, add to pan once the bacon fat has rendered. Snip the white part of the green onion into the pan. Once egg is cooked, add the rice and soy sauce. Stir until heated through, just about a minute or so. Add the crushed red pepper flakes. Put into a bowl and lastly snip the green part of the onion over the rice. Enjoy immediately! :)


I couldn't find my soy sauce. After tearing apart my fridge, i realized that i had the leftover packets of soy that you get in Chinese/Japanese take out, so i used a packet of that. I totally guesstimated that it was about 1tsp. Hooray for stashing random sauce packets! lol.

So next time you have left over rice, or want a little something different for breakfast, try this breakfast of champions! ;)

Oh Boya!

Goya's ad campaign ages ago was "Goya, oh boya!" And what can i say, it stuck, every time i think Goya, i think 'OH BOYA!' <--- v. enthusiastically, natch!

So when i went looking for a good authentic ropa veija recipe, i hit up Goya's website and clicked on 'Celebrate Hispanic Heritage with Recipes Full of Flavor' and viola, found exactly what i was looking for:

Ropa Vieja

Ropa vieja is a Cuban shredded meat stew, and after reading the recipe, i figured this recipe would work in the crock pot. So i threw in everything in my crock pot and let it cook all day long. In the evening, i just took out the meat, shredded it, stirred it back in the pot, let it sit for about 20 minutes, then served it up with maduros and white rice.

Mmmm mmm, ropa vieja is one of my fave things to order at Cuban restaurants, and i never thought i'd actually be able to make it at home with ease. But with this recipe, it was easy peasy.

Delish and easy, you know i have to go there... OH BOYA! :)

An Axe to GRIND

This salt grinder is the biggest piece of shit!

I was cooking Broccoli with Lemon-Garlic Crumbs for dinner, i steamed the broccoli, toasted the panko, zested the lemon, tossed it all together and grabbed the salt. Instead of giving me the usual 1/4 twist, before i need to shake and readjust, the whole damned top popped off and dumped a ton of sea salt into the broccoli mixture.

Boy was i pissed. I kinda salvaged it, no not really. I had to rinse it and pluck the waterlogged broccoli out of the panko and... crap, i can't even write 'enjoyed it' here, cause all i wanted to do was finish dinner, take a picture of the disaster and post how pissed i am with this crappy product.

But of course, after dinner i snapped the photo, sat down, got about two lines in, and got pulled away by reality tv. Funny how things work out, my bff Jill came over the next day and sat at my laptop and said, "Omg is this your blog post, cause i have the same salt grinder and i hate it!" Psht, join the club!

Or better yet, heed my advice and stay far far away from this terrible salt grinder. ;)

Opa!

This recipe for Greek-style turkey burgers is fabulous! Super quick and easy to throw together, and bursting with flavor. The only change i made was i used Kalamata olives instead of green salad olives.



While my hubby was grillin' them up, i just tossed some lettuce in a light vinaigrette and stuffed it into a warmed up pita. As soon as the burgers came off the grill, we just slid it into the pita pockets and enjoyed it IMMENSELY! :)

Quick, easy and flavorful, the perfect combo for a weeknight dinner. ;)

Get 'em While They're Hot!

Sweet Potato Fries with a funky combo of spices (garlic and cinnamon) actually works! Dipped in ranch dressing, as suggesed, i know it sounds terrible, but it's pretty good.

But you've gotta gobble them up while they are piping hot, cause these fries are baked, not fried, so they go from fab to drab and soggy in a short time. But when fries are good, they don't really last too long anyways. ;)

Omg, this is actually YUM!

Sometimes i get a craving for foods that i'm not normally crazy about, like tuna salad. I woke up this morning...er afternoon, STARVING and frantically searching my fridge for some tuna. Threw some things together and actually surprised myself. This isn't your mama's tuna salad!

Meli's OMG this is actually really YUM Tuna Salad:

1 can of tuna in water, drained well
3 TBS light mayo
3 TBS light cream cheese
1/4 C chopped pecans
Squeeze of lime
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp celery salt
fresh cracked pepper

Dump all ingredients into a bowl, stir until combined. Take the bowl and a bag of Cuban crackers and go to town. Enjoy!

Fasctinating!

AOL Food has a really interesting gallery up, Foods Invented by Accident. Some accidents were surprising!

Then gallery immediately following it, America's Most Hated Foods, is slightly eye-rolling inducing (well #20-15), BUT some of the commentary brings the lol's- especially for the foods I'm not fond of (and my list is short).

And YES, the food that resembles phlegm and the food that tastes like farts made the list. As did fungus and salmonella pudding! LMAO.

Sexin' Up a Lazy Pizza

And by lazy pizza i totally mean LA-ZY: refrigerated pizza dough, jarred tomato sauce and bagged shredded mozzarella cheese. Super quick to throw together and let's face it, slightly boring to eat.

I really wanted to add some pizazz (yes, i just paused and did 'jazz hands') to our pizza, so i opened the fridge and grabbed my fave kicky ingredient, Kalamata olives and figured i'd try to make caramelized onions to balance out the saltiness of the olives. I also grabbed some deli ham cause my hubby wasn't really feeling adventurous with pizza toppings.

Meli's Caramelized Onions

Butter
Olive Oil
1TBS sugar
1 red onion, sliced
S/P

Heat some butter and a little bit of oil in a pan over med/high heat. Add onions and sugar, stir and wait, and wait and wait and wait, stirring every once and a while. When onions have gotten dark, (mine took 40 minutes to finally get to a dark rich color), season with s/p, remove from heat. Enjoy!



Ham, Olive and Caramelized Onion Pizza

1 package of Refrigerated Pizza Dough
1/2C Tomato Sauce
6oz Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
2oz Fresh Grated Parmesan
2oz of Ham, diced
10 Kalamata olives, sliced
Caramelized onions

I pre-baked the pizza crust as directed on the packaging. Spread a thin layer of tomato sauce over the crust. Adored half of our pizza with the onions and the olives. Covered the whole thing in sliced ham, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, then baked as directed.


One bite in, i knew all that waiting was worth it. Sweet, salty and savory, all in one bite. After enough "mmm"-ing from me, my hubby HAD to try it. He loved it and actually ended up eating the rest of his pizza with the olives and onions i didn't originally add to his side.

Caramelized onions and olives, making a potentially boring pizza- sexy.

...er well, it definitely made it yummy! ;)

Back in Full Effect

It's time to indulge yourself, now through the end of September!

ilovemiamispice.com

I had a chance to try a handful of Miami Spice lunches during the preview back in June: Joly, Blue Door and Christy's. One left something to be desired, one was delightful and one was an outstanding value. But ALL were a great time out.

So get out there, try something new and spice it up, Miami! :D

Bloggin from the road, literally!

We're on the way to SW FL for the weekend. My hubby's driving and I'm playing on my iPhone. Around mile marker 129 I remembered that the google button on my phone links me up to blogger...sweet!

My bro and I had the executive lunch smackdown at Puchetta in the Gables yesterday, 3 courses for $13.95, it was great, but since I can't upload photos from my phone into blogger, it'll have to wait till next week.

BUT I found this gem of a blog today and had to share cause it literally made me Lol several times already!

CakeWrecks

Hilarious! Enjoy! :)

HALL YEAH!

Fried Halloumi freakin' rocks!

Halloumi is a cheese from Cyprus made from a mix of sheep's and goat's milk. Its texture is much like mozzarella but surprisingly, Halloumi doesn't melt. It tastes like a very salty mozzarella with a hint of that distinct flavor of goat cheese.

I picked it up at Daily Bread Marketplace along with all sort of delicious middle eastern delights. All which we polished off almost as quickly as we bought it, cept i totally forgot about the cheese.

Then a tivo'd back episode of Nigella Bites totally reminded me that i hadn't made it yet. But since i didn't have any fresh red chile peppers on hand (and let's face it, i never do), i went back to my friend Aydin's suggestion of enjoying it simply prepared by frying it up in a little bit of olive oil.

Fried Halloumi

1/2" slices of halloumi
olive oil
lemon juice
fresh cracked pepper

Heat oil in a pan over high/medium high, add cheese, flip when browned (just a minute or two per side), remove from pan, enjoy!


One thing i kept from Nigella's recipe was the squirt of lemon juice, i loved the way the acid cut through the salty richness of the cheese. And oooh boy, this cheese is SALTY! So much so, that i ate it about half an hour ago and my lips are still puckered! lol. I forgot that Aydin mentioned to rinse off the cheese before frying. Oops.

It was a mistake worth making cause that was the most flavorful fried cheese i've ever had...and i really SHOULD drink more water anyways. lol.

Keepin it Simple on the 4th

Had the fam over for our annual 4th of July party, and i had no clue what to make. I had a hellish week dealing with laptop problems, so I was just going to make a bunch of apps, but i had no time to even put together a good menu.

My mom said, "You should make ribs, it'll be easy"! Easy? ribs? for the fam? And flashbacks of the last REAL meal i cooked my fam popped into my head... it was abuelo's birthday dinner, back in '04, and i served chicken piccata...raw. Since then, all of my parties for the fam have consisted of catered food, or pot luck or a ton of apps. i have never attempted to cook another meal for the whole fam.

And from the second mom said it, i was searching for a great rib recipe, this was not only a challenge, it was a chance for redemption.

I found this scandalous recipe Should Be Illegal Oven BBQ Ribs , hot and sweet, yup that's exactly what i'm looking for.

I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl, then poured the marinade into zip lock bags and marinated 14lbs of ribs overnight. 14lbs of ribs is ALOT of ribs, people! lol.

Since i never did this before, i had no idea you could stack the slabs of ribs on top of each other to cook, so we had all the pans out: the turkey roaster, a dark coated non-stick rectangular pan and a shallow pan. Of course half way through cooking, mom called to check in and said you can stack the ribs while cooking (thanks mom!).

We cooked them low and slow at 325 for 3.5 hours. My hubby was shocked to see how different each pan cooked the ribs, the dark coated non-stick pan worked the best for that lip smackin' barbecue look.


Served it up with double potato mash (totally forgot to take a photo), which i adapted this time using heavy cream, butter and salt.

My friend Lisa offered up her recipe for a really great corn salad.

Lisa's Summer Corn Salad
2 cans of white corn, rinsed well
2-3 ripe avocados cut into smallish cubes
1/2 red onion diced
tons of cilantro (but you can go easy on it)
juice of a lime
little olive oil
sea salt sprinkled on just before serving

And ended the meal with a super simple strawberry shortcake! ...oh yeah, i also made a luscious snicker's pie, dammit, i forgot to take a photo of that too.

Everyone sat down and RAVED about everything on their plate (AWE YEAH!). The ribs were tender and flavorful, the double mash was new to everyone and took them all by surprise and the corn salad was a cool twist on the standard corn on the cob.

All in all, a very successful 4th of July feast. I am redeemed. :)