Posted on

Sticky Rice with Mango

Growing up, I wasn’t a fan of any Asian foods except a little Chinese.  Pork Fried  Rice is still a favorite.  As I’ve aged, I’ve branched out with Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.  I keep finding new things that I end up adoring.

One of those things has been Thai Sticky Rice.  I’d had plenty of Thai food, but have always skipped dessert.  Usually because I’m too damn full, but rice for dessert never sounded appealing.  Then a friend had me try it a few years back and I realized …

I was an idiot.  A HUGE idiot.

I’m very lucky that I have two Asian markets not far from my house, so finding sticky rice (or sweet rice) wasn’t a problem.  This is one of the easiest, tastiest, completely awesome-est desserts you can make.  I crave this stuff too much to always eat out, so I’m happy this is so easy to make.

 

Ingredients:

1 cup Sticky Rice

1 cup Coconut Milk

2 tbsp Sugar

Pinch of salt

Now, I do not have a rice cooker.  But this can easily be made in the microwave and doesn’t take a lot of time.

Put the rice into a microwavable bowl.  Cover the rice with about a cup or so of warm water (water level should be above the rice) and let this soak for at least 10 minutes.  After it’s done soaking (and don’t skip that step!), put in the microwave, cover with a plate or whatever, and cook for 3 minutes on high.

Take out and stir it well.  Put it back in for another 3 minutes.  Keep cooking at 3 minute intervals until all the rice is cooked – looks translucent.

While that’s cooking, you can prepare the coconut milk.  Usually found in cans, shake it up a bit first.  Pour the coconut milk into a small saucepan, on medium heat.  Add the sugar and salt and allow to cook for a little bit.  DO NOT BOIL.

When the rice is done, pour the coconut milk in with the rice.  It’ll absorb quickly and be a bit mushy.  This is what you want it to look like.

I like it with mango, but feel free to add whatever or nothing at all.  This is so easy and so awesome.

Posted on

Juicy Turkey Burger w/Better than Fries side

I did this for the competition a while back.  I hate turkey, no matter how it’s cooked.  I just don’t like the flavor of it and I only eat it once a year.  But these came out so well, that I am making them more again this summer, minus the ginger snaps.

Juicy Turkey Burger

Ingredients:

3 lbs. ground turkey

1 small yellow onion, diced

¼ cup of ginger snap crumbs (or substitute bread crumbs)

1 tsp. thyme

2 tsp. Meat Magic (combination of spices by Chef Paul Prudhomme)

2 eggs

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

In a bowl, toss in the ground turkey, thyme, Meat Magic, salt, pepper, and eggs.  Using a rolling pin, I took the ginger snap cookies and ground them down to bread crumb consistency.

Pic 3 (2)

Toss into the bowl.  Dice up the onion and garlic then sauté it in the olive oil.  While this is sautéing, you can start work on the potatoes.  Let the onions and garlic cool a bit, until you can touch the oil without hurting yourself.

Pic 4 (2)

Put all of it, oil included into the meat mixture.  The added oil will help keep the turkey juicy!  Mix well and make patties as thick/thin as you like.

Pic 5 (2)

Cook as you desire.  It’s apparently summer here for the day, so I’ll be grilling!  These turned out so good, and the ginger snap gave it a really nice flavor.  I swear, I never would have thought it was turkey!!!

Better Than Fries Side

Ingredients:

Russet potato

Olive oil

Sea Salt

Pepper

Butter

Wash and dry your potato(s).  Carefully slice down, not going all the way through.  After slicing, wash them again, fanning out the slices a bit.  Place on a non-stick baking sheet.  Melt down butter and drizzle over the potatoes and then drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with pepper and sea salt.  Feel free to sprinkle rosemary or other herbs you like on your potatoes!

Pic 6 (3)

Bake at 425 for roughly 40-60 minutes, depending on how big of a potato you picked out!  About 20 minutes in or so, I pulled them out to drizzle a bit more oil on them.   This makes the skin nice and crispy.  You can just pull the slices out when it’s done.

Also, add cheese in the final 5 minutes for even more tasty goodness!!

Oh, and here you go – me when I cook.  Yes, those are headphones – I need the music to drown out any noise from the ever irritating roommate and allows me to focus.

Pic 8

Posted on

Island Quizine

Tuesday, I had lunch with a fellow blogger and good friend, April.  Island Quizine is a Jamaican place that’s not far from her apartment.  So close, in fact, that we walked there.

And we needed the walk back after an awesome lunch!

The waitress asked if it was our first time there, and it was, so we received a sample plating of the jerk chicken, stew, curry chicken, rice and peas, and two of their drinks – the tropical punch and the pineapple/ginger concoction.  Yeah, that didn’t make the choice of what to eat any easier, because it all tasted SO good.

I ended up getting the jerk chicken – tasty, spicy, but a few too many bones in the mix.

2013-04-23_13-05-36_62 (300x169)

Oh yes, those are plantains on there – they were divine.  But not as divine as their homemade red velvet cake we had for dessert!!!  I’ve had some good red velvet in the past, but this was delectable, moist, and absolutely perfect!

Rating:  4 of 5 Forks!!

Posted on

Thank you & More!

First, many thanks to my friends that voted for me.  I did not move on to the next round, but that just means one less thing on my plate.  🙂

However, I’m still going to make something with the ingredients given for the dessert round – to be posted at a later date.

Last night, I made a recipe that can be found on Hungry Girl.  We saw this on one of her episodes and thought it sounded good.

BBQ Mango Tilapia!

We eat quite a bit of tilapia and other fish in our house, so anything new to do with it is always appealing.  I wasn’t too sure about adding mango to fish, but what the hell, right?  Nothing tried, nothing gained!

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup canned tomato sauce
  • 2 tbsp. (1 oz.) mango nectar
  • 2 tbsp. ketchup
  • 2 tsp. brown sugar (loosely packed)
  • 2 tsp. cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp. molasses
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup diced mango
  • Two 4.5-oz. fillets raw tilapia
  • 1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

Now, I omitted the cilantro because I honestly don’t care for it much, especially if used as just a garnish (which is what happens here.)

In a medium bowl, combine tomato sauce, mango nectar, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, molasses, and garlic powder. Whisk thoroughly, and then stir in diced tomatoes and mango. This is your marinade.

Place fish and marinade in a container and toss to coat. I would recommend using a good sized ziploc bag – it works well and makes sure that the fish is well coated.  Let it marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium heat on the stove. Add fish and marinade. Once marinade begins to simmer, cover and cook until the fish is tender and cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Plate the tilapia and top with any excess marinade from the skillet. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy!

I will say that it was just a touch more tomato-y than I care for, so I’m going to adjust this for next time.  But the mango worked beautifully with this!  I will add that a serving of this is only 197 calories!!!

Posted on

Please Vote!

Remember, you can vote every day!!!

Now, I can’t stand turkey, but I can tell you that the turkey burgers I made tasted nothing like turkey. I enjoyed them and will be making them again.  🙂

VOTE HERE!

Posted on

Time to Vote!

Remember, you can vote every day!!!

Now, I can’t stand turkey, but I can tell you that the turkey burgers I made tasted nothing like turkey. I enjoyed them and will be making them again.  🙂

VOTE HERE!

Next week, look for two awesome recipes that I’m going to post up here after I get done with the full weekend ahead.  One tilapia entree and an awesome dessert!

Posted on

Thank You!

Many thanks to my friends and family who voted for me!  I’ve made it to the next round!  Should be good, and I know the Man will be enjoying it as well.  🙂

I’ll be back to regular posting soon.  Possibly something coming soon from whatever I end up making for dinner tonight.

Posted on

Signal Boost!

Okay my friends, family, and anyone else who wants to help me and/or I can bribe in some way – it’s time to vote in the DICED competition!

To the right hand side, you can select up to 4 people to move forward in the competition!

Go HERE to vote!

Boost the signal as much as possible and my apologies now for posting the hell out of this everywhere.

Posted on

Try them and Vote!

Okay my friends, family, and anyone else who wants to help me and/or I can bribe in some way – it’s time to vote in the DICED competition!

To the right hand side, you can select up to 4 people to move forward in the competition!

Go HERE to vote!

Boost the signal as much as possible and my apologies now for posting the hell out of this everywhere.

Posted on

VOTE FOR ME!

Okay my friends, family, and anyone else who wants to help me and/or I can bribe in some way – it’s time to vote in the DICED competition!

To the right hand side, you can select up to 4 people to move forward in the competition!

Go HERE to vote!

Boost the signal as much as possible and my apologies now for posting the hell out of this everywhere.