There’s something wonderful about Elotes — the refreshing aromas of lime and cilantro, the smokiness from the slight char, the sweetness of the kernels…it’s like this happy awesome party in your mouth and everyone is invited! Now traditionally, Elotesare a staple in Mexican street food — served on the cob, in a cup, topped with various toppings like chili powder, cheese, butter, sour cream, seasoned salt, lemon pepper…

With corn in season and our garden in full bloom, I wanted to utilize seasonal ingredients with whatever was affluent in our garden — currently it’s lots of chard, carrots, onion and KALE. But we’ll get to that in a minute…

Traditional Elotes is usually smothered in generous amounts of butter and mayo (my favorite) but seeing that Summer is right around the corner, I am trying to keep my thighs in check. With that being said, I simply just brushed the corn with melted butter for a slight buttery flavor and let the other flavors be carried out through the fresh lime and spices.

And I got lazy. And didn’t want to bug my husband to fire up the grill so I could grill two ears of corn.  So being the good wife that I am, I used the broiler to save him the pain .

Now what do you do if you made a crap ton of Elotes and now you have a bunch left over?? Never you fret my pet. Why not use them for some healthy lettuce wraps? Since I had Tuscan Kale growing in the garden, I made some “vegan” lettuce wraps and topped it with some creamy avocado chunks. I even tossed in a habanero to the left over mixture to give it a nice kick. Feel free to use any type of lettuce in place of kale.

Eating healthy aint all bad y’all! You can also use your leftovers and use it as a corn salsa or put it on top of a salad or protein. I actually used it as breakfast — I simply chopped up some kale, tossed it in lime and honey and salt, topped it with a fried egg, avocado slices and corn and VOILA — breakfast of champions.

This would be a great recipe for Cinco de Mayo this weekend, be sure to share the love! Have a great weekend folks…

My mother has been reiterating a message recently over our phone calls — “Always take care of yourself. Your health is most important.” I’m convinced my mother is Confucius in a disguise you see, she’ll often repeat these deep life lessons in simple 1-2 sentence structure that are seemingly so simple yet deafeningly profound.

A few examples:

“Take care of your eyes. Sit too close to TV, read in dark, you go blind.”

or

“Skin is most important on woman. You no take care of skin, you old very fast.”

and certainly my favorite…

“You eat too much, you get fat.”

It’s easy to become caught up in the natural groove of things — living in these modern busy lives of ours, we often set aside our health on the back burner. It takes a lot of time, discipline, and maintenance to eat healthy, exercise daily, and somewhere in between, to find free time for yourself.

But should it be that way?

The power of stress is often understated, yet it has become such a prominent part of our every day lives. We all owe ourselves the commitment to stay respectful towards our bodies — be good to your body and it will be good to you. Sometimes things are just as simple as that.

The weather has been beautiful here in Texas. Our garden is in full bloom, including our lavender that served as inspiration for this recipe. Originally this was made as an ice cream but I decided to go with a lighter version in popsicle form and replaced the sugar and cream with honey and a bit of condensed milk. It’s soothing and dreamy in every regard. Enjoy!

It’s hard to believe Super Bowl Sunday is almost here. To be honest, I’m not really an avid fan of football but I sure do LOVE the snacks: spicy wings, 7-layer dip, sandwiches and wraps…the commercials aren’t half bad either.

One of the biggest challenges I face when I entertain is spending less time in the kitchen and more time with my guests. Give yourself a break and set up stations that allow your guests to prepare their own food, leaving you with the freedom to just sit back, relax, and WAIT, WHAT???  Not have to cook?

I thought this DIY sandwich bar would be perfect for Super Bowl Sunday as all ingredients can be prepped beforehand. I chose kind of a spicy manly sandwich for the occasion but feel free to choose whatever assorted meats, cheeses, veggies you desire. Have fun with it and get those creative juices flowing!  I made things EXTRA interesting by whipping up a SPICY condiment — Ghost Pepper Mayo.  I found this wonderful Ghost Pepper Salt from a local spice store here in Dallas called Baked Spice they had a crazy selection of spices as well as awesome deals on vanilla beans (if you’re a baker you’d go insane).  Be on the lookout if you live in Dallas because Artizone will be delivering their products soon!

As you know I’m not much of a drinker. A genetic mutation causes my body to process alcohol as if it were poison. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t stop me when I’m out at an event, a dinner, or when friends are in town, there are times when cocktails are needed or in this case, wanted.

Citrus season is in full bloom here in Texas. Grapefruits, clementines, oranges, lemons and limes are flowing in by the truckloads and naturally the aromas are a playful awakening to the palate. I thought this cocktail would be the perfect celebration for Chinese New Year — the deep red from the sensuously bitter Campari, a sweet bite from the Hendrick’s, finished by the intoxicating aromas of grapefruit —  it’s meant to be sipped opposed to gulped.

This year we celebrate The Year of the Dragon — the only mythical creature out of the 12 signs. It is believed that the dragon possess great power and may even have magical control over the weather and water. We’ll be celebrating with Nian-Gao (Rice Cakes) and Hot Pot tonight as my brother in law was born in this year — Go Carter! I managed to give the house a good scrub to make sure we start off the year free of spirits.

I called my mom today and could barely hear her over the fireworks that were exploding outside her window in Shanghai. Hopefully one year I’ll be able to experience the excitement but for now, I’m more than complacent with my Grapefruit Negroni.  Thank you Esquire for the recipe.

Yes, it’s ridiculously delicious.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and it’s the year of the Dragon! Apparently dragons love shrimp toast, bacon-wrapped shrimp toast to be exact.

…. or maybe I just made that up.

I made these in my toaster oven.

What???

I know, awesome right?

Even better, I utilized an old bag of hamburger buns I had laying around and cut out little circles using cookie cutters.

See? Eco-friendly AND scrumptious. Life is good.

Feel free to use old bread like baguettes, white sandwich bread, brioche…you get the idea.

Traditionally you use square shaped bread so you can cut it in 4ths or 8ths to make triangles. But I felt creative today and made them circular, don’t worry, it all tastes the same.

Use leftover shrimp paste for wontons, soups or even sandwiches.  Or simply just make more shrimp toast.

Perfect for parties, these can be made ahead, frozen and baked whenever you’re ready. It’s easy to make and fun to eat!

Now the trick to getting that bacon crispy at the end is baking it ahead of hand.

10 minutes at 450F (in a toaster oven or regular oven) to be exact.

That way when you bake it towards the end you get crispy, heavenly bacon — not the soft and rubbery kind. Because that’s sad.

Seeing that this recipe has been around for more than 100 years, I’m guessing it has to be good.  I just made it better with bacon.

Starting on Thursday, January 26, check out other potluck dishes fellow gojee contributors shared. Go to gojee.com and enter “gojeepotluck” into I Crave.  You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter.

“ The nuns taught us there were two ways through life – the way of nature and the way of grace. You have to choose which one you’ll follow. Grace doesn’t try to please itself. Accepts being slighted, forgotten, disliked. Accepts insults and injuries. Nature only wants to please itself. Get others to please it too. Like to lord it over them. To have its own way. It finds reasons to be unhappy when all the world is shining around it. And love is smiling through all things. The nuns taught us that no one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end. I will be true to you. Whatever comes.”

I plan on renewing my imagination.

Develop a stronger focus.

Reveal a better me, a stronger me, a wiser me.

I want to make cooking easier.

Less daunting.

Fun.

Because being connected to our food, makes us feel alive.

It allows us to take some time out of our day to enjoy the simpler joys in life.

So let’s start this year together.

Let’s get back into the kitchen and start with the basics.

Honor ourselves with consciousness and respect.

These soba noodles should do the trick. Buckwheat noodles, fried egg, crunchy carrots and toasted sesame seeds — what’s not to like?

Try it a few times and you’ll find your rhythm and before you know it, a healthful, soulful dinner awaits you in just a blink of an eye…

Eat well. Eat consciously. Eat to nourish.

Let’s make 2012 a fabulous year together, shall we?

On a side note, I received an unexpected surprise.  As I was reading Food & Wine’s Top Chef Magazine I found one of my photos I took of Tre Wilcox in there for the Restaurant Wars article!  Can anyone find something funny about the photo?

Winner gets a prize ]]> http://joylicious.net/2012/01/09/soba-noodles-with-fried-egg/feed/ 15 http://joylicious.net/2012/01/06/brown-sugar-sage-panna-cotta-with-spiced-candied-walnuts/ http://joylicious.net/2012/01/06/brown-sugar-sage-panna-cotta-with-spiced-candied-walnuts/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:11:14 +0000 Joy http://joylicious.net/?p=4751

I’ve eyed Food52 for awhile now – drooling over their recipes, fawning over their contests, so this week I figured what the hell, I’m going to go for it!

So this week the contest was Your Best Walnuts & Sage recipe. “Holidays behind us, we’re ready to return to the pure, clean flavors of winter. We want recipes highlighting the earthiness and muted hues of walnuts and sage – bonus points for thinking beyond pestos.”

Okay. I think I can do that!

Keeping pure, clean flavors of winter in mind, I opted to make one of my favorite healthy desserts – a yogurt panna cotta.  I used brown sugar for a bolder flavor to round out the strong perfumes of sage and used soy and 2% greek yogurt as my base.

To add an element of surprise I made Spiced Candied Walnuts for a nice crunch and playful bite at the end, how else are we supposed to keep warm during these cold winter months?

So there you have it – Enjoy this Brown Sugar Sage Panna Cotta with Spiced Candied Walnuts. This playful wintry dessert will leave you wishing for more.  Feel free to add honey comb and garnish with a fresh sage leaf for an extra touch of elegance.

You can make these a day ahead of time and they can stay stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. To assemble the dish as I have, make sure you layer the candied walnuts under the panna cotta as it serves as a nice crust to the dessert!

During the holidays, one of my favorite things to do is baking.  It’s this beautiful meditation as baking takes a patient heart, a careful eye and most certainly a sweet tooth.  When the weather is cold outside, the kitchen becomes my favorite place of solace — as it’s always been my most sacred spot to relax.  I always believe that homemade gifts are the ones people remember, so what better way to spread the love than baked homemade gifts?  For years I’ve searched long and hard for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, the kind that you can’t stop eating, the ones with just the right about of crunch, chewiness and chocolate.  I’ve tasted some great chocolate chip cookies in my lifetime but never found a home recipe to match.  But ALAS, right in time for the holidays I’ve finally stumbled across the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever tasted.

Jacques Torres, Mr. Chocolate himself was kind enough to share his chocolate chip cookie recipe via the NY Times.  Thanks to the Master Pastry Chef, this recipe will now become a family tradition for me and I can hardly wait for the memories that’ll surround these cookies.  I’m not sure if the magic lies in the combination of cake flour and bread flour in the dough, or that it HAS to be refrigerated for a solid 24 hours — but whatever it is, don’t change a thing.  I haven’t tasted a better masterpiece.

(If preferred, you can add a whole vanilla bean in place of the extract as I’ve done.  Just simply scrape the seeds and mix into the dough!)

The best part about cookie dough is it’s simple to make and you can portion ahead.  What I did was quadruple the recipe, freeze overnight, slightly defrost the next day and portioned out around 75-65 3 ounce cookie balls using a cookie scooper.  Then I refreezed for an hour and placed half a dozen to a dozen in individual ziplock bags.  Don’t forget to write the date!  Then you can simply bake a batch whenever needed as they take only abou 10-12 minutes in the oven and VOILA!  The best chocolate chip cookies will be ready for delivery .  Whether its for a party, a gift for family or friends — this recipe will leave any loved one with a happy tummy and full heart.  Thank you Jacques Torres for the genius recipe and NY Times for sharing the love.  Happy Holidays!

This drink actually came off The Cedars Social cocktail menu and it sounded too good to pass up — with a blend of gin, honey syrup, cracked cardamon pods and black pepper, this is one of those cocktails I could drink for hours.  HOURS. The honey adds just the right amount of sweetness, the cardamon really adds that perfect touch that accentuates all the spices in gin, and the black pepper gives it the nicest bite at the end.  Genius Angus, pure genius. It’s smooth, whimsical and I feel kinda sexy when I drink it.  Give it a shot, share your thoughts : )

Now I’m not 100% sure what the exact Angus recipe is so please adjust the flavors to your liking.

In a highball glass, fill half way with ice.  In a shaker pour 3 oz of gin, 1 oz honey, a crushed cardamom pod, and a couple freshly crack black pepper corns. Stir until honey is mostly dissolved and pour into glass. Serve immediately.

**** It may help to heat up your honey a little to make it more liquid and easier to mix.