Tilapia stew

Foggy day, perfect for a soup, so I bought from Costco this pesto marinated tilapia, I did once following the box instructions baked and the results wasn't good, we didn't like it. I think it will works better in a soup, so I was looking for a soup recipe and I came across to a Brazilian fish stew, and I made my version....

Ingredients:

3 tilapia filets (in my case marinated already)

1 onion

2 pieces celery

3 garlic 

Half green bell pepper

1 can diced tomatoes 

1 coconut milk

1 cup vegetable broth

1 lime juice

Salt and pepper

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

Cilantro

 

Chopp the onion, garlic, bell pepper and celery. Heat 2 spoons of oil in a pot, add the veggies and sauted for 5 minutes until onion is soft, add tomatoes and 1 cup vegetables broth. 

When start to boil add the tilapia, in my case I added the whole piece because it is frozen.

Add the pepper, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper and lime juice, leave to simmer for 10 minutes

Leave simmerr for 5 minutes and add the  coconut milk, simmer for another 10 min.

Adjust spices and add chop cilantro.

Brown Rice Medley with Parsley and cashews

Happy New Year! I'm back...so busy on the Holidays...no I'm going to try to get back posting at least once a week.
Today was one of these days...so we are changing the carpets at my house for wood floor, the contractor said the workers will come early in the morning, since I have a toddler that is still napping I planned my day, leaving the house after they come; go to the park, and then hope that my daughter would sleep in the car...I waited, waited...and they came 3 hours later, of course when I just put her down...long story short I was super upset.
So meanwhile I was waiting for them I pre-prepared the dinner for tonight, I started marinated some asparagus with balsamic salad dressing, leave them in the fridge. Next I prepared some turkey patties with gorgonzola cheese, ready in the fridge.
This afternoon, when we came back from our ride (fortunately she slept 45 min in the car) I thought that I may need something else to accompanied my meal, salad, hmmm no, I have asparagus already, so I looked in my pantry and I found this brown rice that I bought the other day from Trader joe's

So I looked for recipes, I didn't want a meal, just a side dish; I found a couple to have an idea and I made my own.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice

Juice of half lemon

Salt

1 tbsp butter

1/4 cup chopped cashews

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Bring to boil 2 cups of water, then add 1 cup of the rice and the butter, wait until start boiling again, then reduce the heat to simmer for 35 minutes, when is ready, drain all the water and let to cool.

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, parsley, cashews and lemon juice, then put over the rice, mix well and is ready!!

Here is my plate :) I have to add that was the first time cooking and eating this type of rice, my whole family enjoyed. 

Baked Tortilla Española

The other day I was thinking what to cook, I look in my fridge and i saw a bunch of eggs, first thing in my mind was omelette, but I didn't want to be making one omelette for each of us, so I thought what about a big tortilla española. 

Since i have to watch now the fat I eat I decided to make a bake one.

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion finely chopped
2 russet potatoes sliced round
8 white eggs
3 egg yolks
1 bunch of green onions
2 spoon oil
spray oil
salt 1 tbsp
pepper
shredder cheddar cheese for topping

Start heating a pan over a medium high heat, add 1 spoon of oil, and add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, until it is soft, set aside. In the same pan, add the other spoon of oil and add the potatoes, cooked for about 5 or 7 minutes, until they are soft; pinch with the fork to see it if they are ready.

Spray the oil in a baking pan, I used a pyrex, set the onions first, and then the potatoes.

If you want to use all the egg yolks, you can do it, because I'm trying to do this recipe low fat, I only use 3 eggs yolk, whisk the eggs and add the salt, pepper and chopped green onions.

Pour the eggs over the potatoes and onion, and sprinkle some shredder cheddar cheese.

Heat the oven to 350 and bake it for 20 to 25 minutes.

I accompanied by a spinach, pecan, pear and feta salad. Delicious.

Payagua Mascada (Paraguayan yucca and meat patties)

I'm pretty behind in my posts, I couldn't post any recipe from last week, so many parties and celebrations.
Happy Thanksgiving by the way! Better late than never.
Also you are going to start seeing a lot of healthy recipes in my blog, coming from a family with high cholesterol history, I have to check mine frequently, last test shows it is pretty high right now, so I have to watch what I eat.

Here is a truly Paraguayan recipe, this is a traditional food, very popular during national or popular holidays, I made for a neighbors party, of course I wasn't allowed to eat, but my husband and neighbors told me it turns very well, they love it.

Ingredients:
- 1.5lb ground beef
- 4 lb yucca (you can find in the Latin markets in the freeze)
- 4 tbsp oil (to fry the meat)
- salt, amount neccesary
- 2 tsp cumin
- a bunch green onion, finely chopped

Set a fry pan, add the oil in a medium high heat, add the meat, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes until the meat is brown and cook.

Cook the yucca in boiling water with salt (the yucca came all peeled) until is soft, remove the hard fiber inside the yucca and then grind it if you have a grinder or make a puree.

Mix together the meat, the yucca, green onions, salt, cumin and make a dough

Make a little patties with the preparation.

Deep fry in a hot oil. Enjoy

Hummus Spinach Ricotta "paquetitos"

Looking for some recipes yesterday, I found a greek recipe called "Hummus Spinach Spanakopita" that looks pretty tasty...I had almost all the ingredients the recipe ask, so I just made my own version. At the bottom is the original recipe where you can compare ingredients :)

Ingredients:

- Spinach 1 package

- 1 cup ricotta

- 1 cup hummus

- nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon

- salt 1/2 teaspoon

- pepper 1/4 teaspoon

- garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon (i used garlic powder because the recipe asked for garlic hummus, and I had the plain one)

- 1 tapa para pastelitos (small empanadas cover? you can fin them in latin markets)

Star chopping the spinach, and transfer to a bowl. Heat the oven at 350 degrees farenheits.

Add hummus, ricotta and all the spices....

Start filling the dough with a teaspoon

Brush the border of the dough with water, so it can stick together, join the ends in the middle and press all the sides.

I use a cupcake baking pan to keep the firm, but you can use just a regular baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes...and there you go! It tastes really yummy, I like it....it is like an appetizer size, but i made a lot so with a nice salad, it was a healthy dinner!

http://www.cookingwithbooks.net/2014/11/hummus-spinach-spanakopita.html

Turkey chilli (my version)

According to my meal plan for the week I supposed to cook turkey meatballs today, but a trip to the car service office this afternoon make me change my plans (need to change my car brakes); so it was so much easier to use the crock pot for a quick dinner.

I looked for a recipe just to remind myself about timing and some measurements but I ended doing my own version.

I don't eat spicy food, it is funny because many Americans think as a Latina I should like spicy, but in Paraguay the most spicy we eat is black pepper and a knorr hot sauce; anyways the recipe I found it looks very spicy, and asked for 1 whole jalapeño, and I was afraid it will be to spicy, so I just used 1/4 of it, but the funny part was, the recipe asked 1/8 tsp of cayene pepper and by mistake I put 1 tsp!  I had no idea cayenne pepper was that spicy....after all it was ok, less jalapeño, more cayenne, the result was spicy but still good, so it is up to you in how spicy do dou you like.

At the bottom it is the link of the original recipe if you want to try that one :)

Ingredients: 

- 1 pound ground turkey

- 4 tomatoes (the recipe ask for can diced tomatoes, I prefer naturals)

- 1 bell pepper

- 1 onion

- 1 jalapeño (I ended using it just quarter of this)

- 4 spoons tomatoes paste

- 1 tsp oregano

- 1 1/2 salt

- 1 tsp cayene pepper (you may want to reduce this)

- 1 tsp chilli powder

-  4 spoons ketchup (my idea)

- 1/2 cup chicken broth

- 1 can kidney beans

- cilantro, green onions and cheese for topping

Place a saucepan in a medium heat, drizzle olive oil on it and cook the turkey until brown, about 10 minutes or more, then transfer to the crockpot.  In the same pan put the onion and garlic, cook for 8 minutes until they are soft, transfer to the crockpot.

Chop the rest of the vegetables and add the spices, beans, ketchup and broth. Set the crockpot for 4 hours in low, and just go to do your errands.

Here is is the final result, serve warm, top with cilantro, green onions and cheese. I also cooked some brown rice to go with it. It was good, it had that kick in your mouth at the end of the bite....try it and enjoy it :)

http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2013/09/the-best-turkey-chili-youll-ever-taste.html

Shepper's pie

Looks like the fall is finally here, gray and chilly weather today!

So, i bought mashed potatoes from costco, there are two packages in one, they are big and since i still have one in the freeze i looked for something to do with it; i found a healthy version of shepper's pie with turkey but I used beef.  

With the mashed potatoes ready to use, you have half of the work done.

Ingredients:

2 celery ribs

2 carrots

1 onion

2 garlic

Peas, half can

Ground beef
2 cups beef broth
3 spoons flour

Thyme

Rosemary

Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven 400 degrees farenheit.
Chop the onion, garlic, celery and carrots, heat a saucepan with oil and sauted them for 10 minutes, then add the beef, thyme, rosemary and the flour, mix everything and continue cooking another 5 minutes...

Add the beef broth and leave to boil for another 5 minutes.. when is cool, add the peas.

In a deep baking dish, transfer the beef mixture, spread the mashed potatoes on the top and try to make it flat, 

Bake until potatoes are golden, about 30 minutes, then slice and serve. As you realize in the picture I didn't even have time to take a pic of the whole dish, my family was hungry!!

Try and enjoy it!!