Spinach Pupusas

If you haven't heard of pupusas then you haven't lived life because these are so delicious! It's a real simple recipe and it's a lot of fun to do, especially with kids. 


This recipe will be good enough for up to five people.


Ingredients
4 cups of masa
3 tablespoons of butter
water
salt
Spinach
Mozzarella Cheese 


1, Grab all your ingredients! Chop up the spinach and shred your choice of cheese. The pupusas will taste great with quesillo, queso fresco, farmer's cheese, mozorella or any type of soft cheese. 

2.  Now it's hard to say how much water to add but you want to add enough so that it won't break apart. Don't add so much that it'll be soggy. I suggest to add water little by little. Even if you do add too much water you can always add more masa, so no worries! 

3. Next add 3 tablespoons of butter to make the masa more soft

4. The end result should look like this. It only takes about 5 minutes to completely mix all the ingredients by hand. 

5. Grab a handful of the masa, roll it into a ball and then start flattening it out. 

6. Next is the fun part. You get to add whatever ingredients you like! I personally chose spinach and cheese. You can add chicken, cilantro, sausage, jalapeno, beans, loroco or anything you love. 

7. Fold in the outer edges of the pupusa, so that you cover the filling. You want to form it into a ball, then flatten it as much as possible. 

8. Oil your griddle and cook the pupusas on each side until it's lightly browned. 

9. Then it's time to eat! Typically a pupusa is eaten with curtido but it's just as great with salsa!

Artichoke Cooked In Apple Juice

Artichokes have to be the most annoying vegetable to eat. I mean you spend so much time ripping apart the leaves that you hardly eat anything. But hey, when you buy them for a dollar why not spend the time to cook and eat them. They're also very beautiful! 

So for this recipe I just used whatever was in my house and you can do the same. 

Ingredients

1 artichoke

1 lemon

1 cup of apple juice

2 cups of water

1 bunch of cilantro

Pinch of Tajin Seasoning

1. Like you would do with all your fruits and vegetables, make sure you wash them before cutting :-)

2.Next grab your chef's knife and slice about 3/4 of an inch off the tip of the artichoke. Then pull off some of the leaves near the stem and afterwards slice off the stem. Some people enjoy the taste of the stem but I usually just put it in my compost. Using kitchen scissors snip off any thorns that the artichoke make have. 

3. To add extra flavor and to make sure the artichoke doesn't turn brown rub it with lemon. 

4. Then place the artichoke in a bowl/container of enough water and half of lemon juice to cover it. 

4. Measure out your liquid ingredients. I used apple juice because that's what I had in my refrigerator but you can use anything that you feel would add flavor to the artichoke. This is your chance to be creative so don't be afraid to use any type of liquid ex. grape juice, orange juice or salted water. I added 1 cup of apple juice and two cups of water. 

5. After measuring out the liquids pour them into a pot and add 1 entire lemon, cilantro and your favorite seasoning. I chose a spicy and sweet seasoning that is most commonly used for fruit. Add your artichoke in and let it come to a boil. 

6.  Let the artichoke cook for about 30 minutes. The bigger the artichoke, the longer it will need to be cooked for. You will know when it is ready once the leaves start to open. 

7. Lastly rip apart the leaves and get your source of fiber! Artichoke is most popularly served with butter but it taste great plain. Enjoy! 

Jamie Oliver's Fish And Chips!

After watching the very first episode of Oliver's Twist starring Jamie Oliver I decided it was time to make fish and chips! You can also find his recipe on foodnetwork. 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/fish-and-chips-recipe/index.html 

For the chips:

• 3 3/4 pints (2 liters) vegetable oil
• 2 pounds (950 grams) floury potatoes, like russets, peeled and cut into large chips

For the batter:

1 cup of plain flour

1 cup of your favorite beer! 

2 egg whites, whipped to soft peaks

Salt

4 (9 ounce/250 gram) fillets haddock or cod, skin on, and pin boned

If you don't have a deep-fryer don't worry, just grab a pot and pour about two inches of oil in there. Heat the oil to 300 degrees F. After you're done setting that up, cut your potatoes into your preferable size for french fries or chips. You may blanch your potatoes if you like but I didn't and they turned out great. 

Next you can measure out your ingredients for the batter. This time I used 1 cup of Miller beer. You can always a little more if you'd like. 

Measure out 1 cup of plain flour. You may choose to season your flour at this point, which I highly recommend. Pour the cup of beer into the bowl of plain flour. 

Afterwards separate your egg yolk from the whites. You may choose to add the yolks to the flour and beer just so you don't waste it.

As for the egg whites you need to whip them until you can place the bowl upside down without anything falling out. Now this requires muscle, I always get tired when a recipe calls for whipping egg whites.  

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter mixture. 

Dip your choice of fish into the batter

Now this part can get a little scary! Fry your chips and fish in oil for a couple minutes. Mine were done in about 3 minutes. 

Drain your fish and chips on a paper towel before serving. 

You can serve it with bread, butter, pickles, pickled eggs, ketchup or salsa. Yummy! 

This recipe was remarkable. The fish was perfectly crispy, fluffy, light and delicious! Now that's what's cooking good looking!!!

Food Network Banana Bread

Since the majority of my bananas started to brown I decided to bake some banana bread. I found this really great recipe on foodnetwork. 


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-bread-recipe/index.html


All you need is...

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 325 F 

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. 

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

 In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. 

You can also add the milk and cinnamon at this point if you forgot, like I did.. shh! 

 In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Or you can just measure out all your dry ingredients into a sifter like I did. Do whatever is easier for you. 

Keep mixing until the flour disappears!! 

Your end result should look like this. Your banana "mush" may be smaller than mine so no worries, I just like some chunky banana pieces in my banana bread. 

 Next I suggest you butter and flour dust your choice of pan, this will help the bread come out easier after baking. 

Bake your fabulous banana bread for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

WABAM! My banana bread was ready in an hour so consistently check if you don't want it to get burned. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

Now that's what's cooking good-looking! This banana bread recipe is my favorite and I hope you guys enjoyed it too. You can eat the banana bread plain or serve it with honey or your favorite ice cream. Bon Appetit! 

Lucha Libre Taco Shop

" Don't you want a little taste of the glory? See what it tastes like? "

I don't know about you guys but when I hear of Lucha Libre I immediatley think of the film Nacho Libre staring Jack Black so anything that has to do with Lucha Libres must taste like glory! Honestly, who does not get excited when they hear the word wrestling or food? Its a great combination and no wonder Lucha Libre Taco shop has become such a phenomenon in San Diego. 

This restaurant was featured on the show Man v. Food so like Adam Richman I wanted to try the Surfin' California burrito. The sad thing is that when I got to the front counter to order I got way to excited and just blurted out California Burrito. It was not until I took a bite out of my burrito did I realize my mistake. At first I was thinking maybe the shrimp, avocodo and chipotle sauce are just hiding in the middle of the flour tortilla, but no, I got the WRONG ONE!  After accepting my mistake I decided to just enjoy my meal and the lively atmosphere.  

                                                                                                   

The Classic Burrito comes with free chips and three complimentary choices of salsa. The salsas were nothing to brag about but I enjoyed them. After choosing my salsa my burrito was immediately ready for me to devour. The burrito I ordered contained french fries, cheese, sour cream, pico de gallo and carne asada. The fries were a disappointment since they were mushy, I was expecting a little more crunch. The ingredients complimented each other well creating a juicy burrito. Personally I feel the burrito could have been more flavorful  by adding a little more seasonings. I had really high expectations since I have been hearing people talk about this place but it was not all that in a bag of potato chips. What makes this average burrito great is the restaurants brilliant atmosphere and decor. From the rotating disco-balls, bright wall colors, the anchorman tv trashcan, portraits of luchadors to the gold Champion’s Booth. This is definitely a restaurant to experience at least once. Next time I got to Lucha Libre Taco Shop I will be ordering the correct burrito!!