My Del Real Food Contest Creation!

I’m having a lot of fun this week! I found out about a fun contest through the San Diego Food Blogger Group where I could request specific items from the company Del Real Foods (http://www.delrealfoods.com/), they would send me the items free of charge, and I could play around with the ingredients in order to create a recipe and win some cash. Uh, yeah! I requested shredded chicken, carnitas, refried beans, and salsa and started playing around with quick recipe ideas. The only stipulation was that the recipe couldn’t take longer than 30 minutes. Not a problem, especially with the main ingredients precooked. You can vote for my recipe, Picante Pollo Sliders, here:  http://www.delrealfoods.com/blogger-recipe-challenge/picante-pollo-sliders You are allowed to vote once a day through August 7th. Of course I would love to win the cash prize, but I must say it is really fun to see so many people supporting me. I keep watching the vote count go up every day, and that is just really cool!

I was having a couple of friends over for the Fourth of July, and I thought that would be a perfect testing ground for my first recipe idea. I love spicy food, but I love when flavors bounce around – spicy, then sweet, then back, then salty, then spicy – you get the idea. With that in mind, I decided on making sliders with a flavor explosion to mimic the fireworks later that evening;)

This is a keeper of a recipe! You can make the cucumber relish the day before, if you so choose. The longer the mix sits, the more intense the flavors will become, of course! The chicken mixture will come together quickly, but you can also keep it simmering on the stove for a good amount of time so that it thickens. Just keep an eye on it and occasionally stir. But if you don’t have a ton of time, no worries. Follow the recipe as is, but you may want to make sure more chicken than liquid makes it onto the slider so that it doesn’t become too soggy. Last note, this recipe makes a large serving. I like to be able to really pile the chicken mixture onto the slider, but you may not be so brash. If you have extra chicken mixture, either get more slider buns or you could mix up dinner the next night by cooking some penne and adding this chicken mixture in lieu of a traditional tomato sauce. That is exactly what I did, and then I added some lightly sautéed zucchinis. Why not? Go crazy!

This is how I received the chicken – perfectly cooked and shredded with zero fat. I felt spoiled!

The Fire Roasted Green Salsa was delicious in this recipe or even on its own!

 

Picante Pollo Sliders

Sweet and Spicy Cucumber Relish:
4 red jalapenos, chopped
1 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 cup white onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Shredded Chicken Mixture:
2.5 pounds Del Real cooked, shredded chicken breast
32 ounces Del Real Salsa de Molcajete Verde
3 chipotle chiles in adobo, chopped
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 package of dinner rolls, preferably Hawaiian Sweet
Cotija cheese, 5 ounces, crumbled

1. In a food processor, combine red jalapenos, vinegar, garlic, sugar, ginger and salt. Process until well combined, about 1 minute. In a medium bowl, place cucumber slices, onions and cilantro. Pour jalapeno mixture over the cucumber mixture and mix together. Cover and place in refrigerator until ready to use.
2. In a large pot, place shredded chicken, salsa, chipotle chiles, and chili powder over medium high heat. Stir to combine, and continue stirring occasionally until heated through, approximately 20 minutes.
   Once the chicken mixture is thoroughly heated and the flavors have combined, place a scoop of the mixture onto the sweet roll. You will want to slice the roll like a sandwich. Top the chicken mixture with a bit of the cucumber relish and then top with a bit of crumbled cotija. Top the slider with the top half of the roll. The amount of the chicken mixture, cucumber relish, and cotija really depends on one’s personal preference.
3. Enjoy!

Now you can see all of the goodness!

At this point, I had Refried Beans and Carnitas (Roasted Pork) from Del Real Foods that I wanted to turn into even more goodness. I turned to another love for inspiration – pizza. Again, I only had 30 minutes from start to finish. I created, but opted not to enter into this into the contest, Cheesy Carnitas Pillows. Simply take 1 store-bought container of pizza dough and roll it out onto a prepared baking sheet. I sliced the dough into 10 equal rectangles. On the bottom row of 5 rectangles, I placed 1 slice of Jalapeno Monterey Jack, making sure the cheese did not hang off the edges. I spread 2 Tablespoons of refried beans on top of the cheese, then I topped that with 1/2 ounce of carnitas, and layered that with 3 pickled jalapeno slices. I simply took the top row of dough and placed them on top of the prepared dough rectangles, and then I crimped the edges to ensure no goodness would escape. I baked them for about 15 minutes, or until nice and golden, at 425 degrees. I served these little lovelies with salsa.

Thanks to everyone who has already voted, and feel free to continue to vote whenever you have a free moment! I greatly appreciate it!

Take Care and Happy Eating!

(Disclaimer: I did receive free items from Del Real Foods, but that in no way influenced how much I enjoyed my creations!)

 

3 Men and a Baby?? Whatever!! Try 1 Lady,1 Review and 1 Recipe!

This is how my mind works (Stick with me. It does go somewhere!) : I knew I wanted to review a particular restaurant. I checked my email first thing and saw that Adam Ant is coming to San Diego’s Balboa Theatre on July 17th. I started thinking about how I LOVED Adam Ant. I proclaimed to my mother while she was driving way back around 1982 that I will love Adam Ant forever. My sister, Beth, was a high school photographer and was lucky enough to go to his concert in Cleveland, Ohio, and she took photos of him backstage. Beth was already a god to me; this just solidified it. It must have been around 1983 when I had a gym routine requirement with Miss MacDonald. God, I did not like that lady. Sorry, but it is true. Miss McDonald, if you are reading this, you were probably a nice person, I just never got a chance to see that side. Well, I picked the song “Antmusic” by Adam Ant, of course! Like, totally! This was back when there were no Ipods, not even a CD! The horror! I asked my sister to borrow her record, Kings of the Wild Frontier. Beth knew that I, being the little sister, had a horrible track record when I borrowed her stuff. Any articles of clothing were bound to get at least one stain on it, so she was wise to tell me I couldn’t bring the record to school for my gymnastic routine. The problem was that I had choreographed (I use that word loosely) and practiced my routine to that song. I couldn’t change it. What could I do? I had to put a cassette recorder next to the record player and record the song. When I played the cassette tape at the St. Christopher gym, you couldn’t hear it at all. Huge failure. And my routine? Let’s just say I was not Olympic bound.

Check out this classic 1980s video.  Aahhh, good memories! Is he wearing lip gloss?

Thinking about Adam Ant made me think about the 80s and all of the stuff I loved back then. For some reason the movie Three Men and a Baby (1987) came to mind. I started thinking about how if three grown men couldn’t take care of baby, that would be really sad. That led me to think that I shouldn’t just write a review today, I should include a recipe. If it took three men to take care of a baby for a month (or however long they had the kid), I could write a review and a recipe in one post. Yep, all of this from seeing an ad for Adam Ant’s concert.

My husband and I checked out Project Pie in Hillcrest this past Sunday. Unfortunately, most of our families are in Cleveland, Ohio, so we were on our own for Mother’s Day. We walked in, and we immediately greeted by the pizza makers. There is a list of pies and a description of each when you enter. It’s kind of cafeteria style. You pick a pie, tell the first person which number you want, move down a bit, tell the next person which additional, and free of charge, toppings you would like. They get your name and the pizza details, and the next person writes it on parchment, and the pie is placed into a big pizza oven. I ordered the #2: Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, Crumbled Meatballs, Mozzarella and their Signature Red Sauce. I added Ricotta and Artichoke Hearts, but I wasn’t paying attention and the guy didn’t hear me, so I didn’t get the artichokes I requested. Next time I will speak up and watch which topping are on it before it goes into the oven! Franz went with another option and got a ton of extra toppings. Both pizzas were great. What I love about this place is that everyone gets their own pie. No arguments because one person in the group always wants pineapple on the pizza. You know who you are! Also, they offer a gluten-free crust, and I heard from a friend that it was super tasty. The red sauce was really fresh, and the toppings were flavorful.  The crust was perfect as well.  Great taste and I loved that it wasn’t too thin but not too thick either.  My only tiny complaint was that the center of the pie could have been hotter. It was fine, but I like it a little on the well done side. Oh, I almost forgot, you can order a Nutella and Banana pie. Don’t think I haven’t stopped thinking about that bad boy since Sunday! Currently there are only 2 locations: San Diego and Las Vegas (at The MGM), but Project Pies will be opening soon in Atlanta, NYC, Boulder, D.C., and the Philippines.

Pizza Pies are Being Made to Order!

Franz’s Choice: #6 With A Bunch of Tasty and Free Toppings!

My Creation – And I Requested Extra Sauce on Top. YUM!

I promised a recipe, too! This is the kind of recipe that would work after a pizza dinner because it is sweet and light in texture.

The recipe, Angel’s Kiss Baci Cupcakes, from Baci was created by Lidia Bastianich. Who doesn’t love Baci??  If you never had one, finish reading this post, and immediately get your booty to a grocery store and buy some.  They seem to be carried everywhere nowadays.  Thank god!

With the first batch, the batter never got stiff and glossy.  I baked them anyway, and they turned out perfect.  With the second batch, the batter was as it should have been – stiff and glossy.  However, the cupcakes baked horribly.  The tops were uneven and shrunken.  The next time I make these, I will stop before the batter gets stiff and glossy.

Angel’s Kiss Baci Cupcakes

Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 Baci, finely chopped

Glaze

• 4 ounces dark chocolate bars, finely chopped (I went with the recipe recommendation and used Perugina Dark Chocolate Classic Bars)
• 6 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon hazelnut liqueur (optional)
• 4 Baci, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and salt.
3. In an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar to form soft peaks.  With the mixer at medium speed, gradually add the sugar.  Beat at high-speed to stiff, glossy peaks. (**As I noted above, when I achieved the stiff, glossy peaks, the cupcakes did not seem to turn out for me.  You can try either way, but I will stick with keeping the batter at the soft peak stage.  Let me know if you make this recipe, or have made this in the past, and tell me what you did and how it turned out.  Thanks!!) Lower the speed and mix in the vanilla.  Fold in the flour mixture in 3 additions, taking care to deflate the batter as little as possible.  Quickly fold in the chopped Baci.  Divide the batter among the cupcake pan and smooth the tops.
4. Bake until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean, about 15 minutes. (**I never wait for the toothpick to come out clean. The cupcake  will continue cooking for a brief period after it is removed from the oven, so I always remove cupcakes when some crumbs are still attached to the toothpick. If you do this, check the cupcakes after 10 to 12 minutes.) Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the tin to cool completely
5. While the cupcakes cool, prepare the glaze.  Put the chopped chocolate in to a small bowl.  Bring the cream to a simmer and pour over chocolate, shaking the bowl to submerge the chocolate.  Let sit 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.  Stir in hazelnut liqueur, if using.
6. Spoon the glaze on the cupcakes and smooth to the edges.  Sprinkle with the chopped Baci.  Refrigerate until the glaze is set.  Serves 12

So take that Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson! Try doing that!

Take Tubular Care, Totally Happy Eating, and Don’t Gag Me With A Spoon!