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