Sweet Plantains with Coca Cola Recipe (Platanos en Tentacion)

Hola Amigos: Today I'm sharing with you an easy recipe to prepare Plantains! I can't get tired of this delicious and versatile fruit! No matter the stage of it's life cycle, it's good! To make this recipe you need to have the plantains as dark skinned as possible, almost black or black! It's o.k. they are not spoiled, they are perfect for this dish!
Dark plantains are easy to find at your grocery store. By the time they are out in the shelves for us to purchase, they are already brownish yellow, after that it takes only a couple of days for them to turn black.

Platanos en Tentacion or Sweet Plantains are an almost mandatory side for all of our meals. Much like fries in America or Tortillas in Mexico, plantains are loved green when they are a salty snack or like in this case, sweet and cooked slowly in butter and sugar, your favorite fruit juice or Coke. When you eat them all the time, variety is important!

A few weeks ago I made a batch to go along with my Rice and Beans with Coconut Milk, perfect together, as every meal needs a little bit of sweetness to make it even better!

If you had plantains before, let me know what's your favorite way to have them! This is just an easy recipe with a a few ingredients for days you want to have something different and tropical as part of your lunch or dinner but not necessarily as a dessert or smoothie. Hope you guys are having a great week! Keep in mind my friends, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos

Lizy

Sweet Plantains with Coca-Cola

Ingredients:

3  Ripe Plantains

4 TBSP Butter or Margarine

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cinnamon Stick

Coca-Cola 

Directions: 

Peel the plantains and cut them in 2"-3" pieces. In a large pan, melt butter and brown the plantain pieces. Add sugar, cinnamon and enough Coca-Cola to cover the plantains. Cook plantains on low heat, covered until they are soft and the sauce has caramelized. About 20-30 minutes. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Prep and Cook Time :20-30 minutes                                                           Serves  4-6

Sharing my sweet side dish at these Fabulous Parties:

Lady Behind the Curtain

Holiday Chocolate Flan Recipe

Hola Amigos: One of the best things about the Holiday season is food! Ham, Turkey, Pork, Rice the sides you name it, but what I really love is something I always bake no matter what right around this time, Flan! It's a typical dessert for Christmas and celebrations in many Latin American  countries and the best part is that is super easy to make.

This time I decided to try friend's recipe for chocolate flan that I knew it was going to be a hit since it combines the best of the best, chocolate cake and flan! yumm!!! It takes a little time in the oven, but at the end you get rewarded for your patience with the best dessert ever,  a spongy chocolate cake topped with smooth and sweet custard! oh boy!

Don't worry about perfection with this dessert! It's a rustic one, meant to be eaten in a few bites and believe me, it will!. Since it's a cake you can make it pretty for the few minutes it will be at the table with your favorite icing or whipped cream.

I also added more "manjar" or dulce de leche to mine..you can't never have enough of this good thing!
When slice it's just pretty and delicious, a bite of flan and a bite of chocolate cake! Nothing else to say, just enjoy the goodness.

Now tell me if this dessert is not the perfect holiday and festive ending to a great family meal? To my family is what we all look forward to have sometimes even stealing a slice before dinner is ready!

Do you have a family dish you bake or prepare for the holidays by popular demand, something that reminds you of your hometown, of your childhood or that your family just love when you make it every holiday? I would love to know!

Thank You for visiting the blog today! Hope you give my chocolate flan a try and enjoy it as much as we did! Remember my friends, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Holiday Chocolate Flan 

Ingredients:

1 box Chocolate Cake of your choice

Eggs, Oil, Water needed to prepare the cake according to instructions on the box

5 Eggs

1 Cup Evaporated Milk

1 Cup Condensed Milk, divided

1 Cup Dulce de Leche

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 shot Kahlua (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 350 F degrees.

Prepare the cake according the box instructions. Set aside. 
In a large bowl (I use my blender), add and mix well the eggs,  evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla and Kahlua.
Use half of the Dulce the Leche to coat a previously buttered baking dish (a 9 inch square or round). Pour the chocolate cake mix and then the flan mixture. Don't panic if at this moment you see the flan mixture sink to the bottom, that is a good thing! Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in a bath Marie for about 45 minutes or until a fork in the middle comes clean. Remove from oven.
Let it cool for a few minutes and place a plate upside down over the baking dish and turn the plate and baking dish over. 
Decorate if you want with chocolate icing, whip cream and the remaining 1/2 cup of dulce de leche. Enjoy!

Prep Time: 10 minutes                                       Cook Time: 45 minutes                   Serves 8

Sharing my Sweet festive Flan at these Fabulous Parties:

Made from Pinterest, Be Different Act Noraml, Serenity You, Classy Clutter, Twigg Studios, Your Homebased Mom, Angels Homestead, Navy Wifey Peters, Life on Lakeshore Drive, The Tablescaper, Will Cook for Smiles, Flamingo Toes, Frugal Foodie Mama, Create with Joy, My Mixing Spoon, The Chicken Chick, Twelve O' eight, Claire Justine, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Tatertots and Jello, The Best Blog Recipes, Home Maid Simple, The Shabby Nest, Six Sister's Stuff, What's Cooking with Ruthie, Sew Licious Home Decor, Becoming Martha, 504 Main, Nifty Thrifty Things, Suburbs Mama, Smart School House, Ginger Snap Crafts, All She Cooks, Lady Behind the Curtain, Ducks' n a Row, Kitchen Meets Girl, Feeding Big, The Silly Pearl, My Girlish Whims, Memories by the Mile

Spider Eggs Halloween Plantain and Cheese Fritters Recipe

Hola Amigos! Sharing with you today a quick recipe for a tasty appetizer! Sweet and Salty, Crispy and Soft with a bonus...Cheese!!! That's right!, this appetizer has it all!! even the spooky factor if you put it together the right way...like with a giant Spider!!!

I love Plantains, I can't get tired of a fruit that is edible in every stage of it's life, green, yellow and even black! We used to make these back home in Panama for weekend breakfast, or just a snack to get us going until supper later in the day.

I made mine quite big this time, after all...these particular ones are the offspring of this Giant Mamma Spider..yikes!

Do you guys have any fears or phobias? Some members of my house are not fond of spiders, I don't have a problem with them but I do with roaches (I even hate saying that name)

Well guys, enough of spiders and bugs for now, joking aside these are so good you can't have just one! I hope you give them a try this season and bring a taste of the tropics home when the weather gets cold outside!

 Hope you have a wonderful Official First Day of Fall! Remember my friends everything tastes better, with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos, 

Lizy

Spider Eggs Plantain and Cheese Fritters

Ingredients:

2-3 Yellow Plantains

Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, White Pepper, Smoked Paprika 1 Tsps each

1/8 Pd Chorizo

1 TBSP Corn Starch

1/8 Pd your favorite Cheese

Panko Bread Crumbs

Oil for frying

Directions:

Cut each plantain in 3 pieces. Cut ends too.

In a heavy pot full of water place your plantains with skin and cook for about 20 minutes until soft. Remove from fire and drain. Peel the skin of the plantain and mash as if you were making mash potatoes. 

Season with spices mentioned above and cornstarch. Add the chorizo 

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop parts of the mashed plantains, make a ball  (as if you were making meatballs), poke a whole and put a piece of your favorite cheese.

Roll the  ball in Panko Crumbs and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for them to set.

Fry each ball on very hot oil until brown and crispy on the outside, about 2-3 minutes, watch them they turn golden very fast. Serve and enjoy

Prep time: 25 minutes                             Cook Time 3 minutes                   Serves 6-8 balls

Sharing my Spider's Offspring at these Fa-BOO-lous Parties:

Between Naps on the Porch, PandP Kitchen, Tumbleweed Contessa, Create with Joy, Feeding Big, Rain on a Tin Roof, A Pinch of Joy, Setting for Four, Huckleberry Love, Say Not Sweet Anne, The Gunny Sack, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Chef in Training, Mandy's Recipe Box, Home Stories A to Z, Hun...What's for Dinner, Our Table for 7, Under the Table and Dreaming, DIY Home Sweet Home, Mad in Crafts, A Southern Fairytale, Jam Hands, Jembellish, Sugar Bee Crafts, Nap Time Creations, Memories by the Mile, Cozy Little House, The Well Crafted Home, Ducks'n a Row, The Everyday Home, Sew Creative, The Shady Porch, Ginger Snap Crafts, Lady Behind the Curtain, Fluster Buster, This Silly Girl's Life, Trendy Tree House, Kitchen Meets Girl, SNAP, 733 Blog, The Real Housewives of Riverton, Polkadots on Parade, Someday Crafts, We Like to Learn as We Go, My Girlish Whims, Smart School House, The 36th Avenue, 52 Mantels, The Mandatory Mooch, Sweet Haute, Saving 4 Six, Lamberts Lately, What's Cooking Love, Glamorous Bride, Live, Laugh, Rowe, The Crafty Blog Stalker, Katherines Corner, The Best Blog Recipes, Craftionary, Tidy Mom, The Girl Creative, One Tough Mother, Home Maid Simple, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, 504 Main, Craft Dictator, Do Small Things with Love, Diana Rambles, Sara Howe, Living Better Together, The Jenny Evolution, Shaken Together, The Pin Junkie, Tatertots and Jello, Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Serenity You, Classy Clutter, Who Needs a Cape, Cheerios and Lattes, Too Much Time, Twig Studios, Life on Lakeshore Drive, WCFS, Your Homebased Mom, Mommifried, The Thriftiness Miss, Under the Table and Dreaming, Flamingo Toes,I Should be Mopping the Floors, Frugal Foodie Mama, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Made from Pinterest

Easy Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja Recipe

Hola Amigos! This is a super easy, crock it and forget it recipe for Flank Steak. It's based on a traditional Latin dish called Ropa Vieja or Ragged Clothes. My mom makes the best Ropa Vieja ever, and for 10 years now I haven't had the "real stuff" like I like to call it, sad, I know. No matter how much I've tried I just can't make it exactly like hers, so I gave up and decided to wait till my mami cooks some for me and made my own recipe.

There are numerous versions to this dish, mine has only a few ingredients and that is what I really love. Lots of flavor, very little effort. The key is the day before you know you are going to cook your Flank Steak, Season it! It will pay up with taste I promise you!

My other favorite ingredients are easily found on the Latin isle of your grocery store, Mojo Criollo, Sazon with Coriander and Annatto and Recaito (cilantro base). These ingredients will put the Latin flavor to your beef and every meal without the typical Mexican seasonings most people are used to.

The best way to eat this savory dish is with a side of rice and a side of black beans and plantains! I couldn't find any plantains at my store when I was about to make it (now there's a ton) but just the black beans and rice are heavenly.

Now if you are my husband, then you skip this and go straight for a bun and cheese! Hey, I won't argue, as long as it gets eaten I'm good...(he wouldn't be able to do this to my mom,  though,  lol )

Have a great weekend friends and remember everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!  and the hubs just added...and a bun!

Besitos,

Lizy

Easy Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja

Ingredients: 

1 (1 1/2) Flank Steak

1-2 Cloves Garlic mashed

Salt, Pepper

1 Large Onion, sliced

1 Orange Bell Pepper, diced*

1 Yellow Bell Pepper, diced*

1/2 Cup Goya Mojo Criollo

3/4 Cup Beef Stock

1 Flavor Packet Sazon Goya with Coriander and Annato (Achiote)  

1 TBSP Goya Recaito (Cilantro Base)

1 TBSP Ketchup

Cooked white or dirty rice

Cooked Black Beans 

* Red is ok too.

Directions:

The day before you are going to cook your Ropa Vieja, season the flank steak  by rubbing it with the mashed garlic cloves salt and pepper, put a zip lock bag in the refrigerator until the moment you are ready to cook it.

The next day, put your flank steak in the crock pot with sliced onions, orange bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, Mojo, stock, Sazon, Recaito and ketchup. Place lid and cook for 4 hours,

Once it's done, shred the beef using 2 forks and mix it up with the remaining of the cooking sauce. Garnish with some diced peppers and serve with a side of rice and beans. Or if you choose on  a bun with cheese.

Prep Time: At last 3 hour seasoning          Cook Time: 4 hours                 Serves 4

Sharing some Latin Flavors at these Fabulous Parties:

The Best Blog Recipes, Home Maid Simple, One Tough Mother, 504 Main, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, Simply Designing, The Answer is Chocolate, Living Better Together, The Jenny Evolution, The Pin Junkie, Not your Ordinary Recipes, A Peek into my Paradise, Sunny Simple Life, Diana Rambles, Tatertots and Jello, The Wondering Brain, Nap Time Crafters, 30 Handmade Days, Just Us 4, Five Days 5 Ways, Frugal Fit Family, Six Sister's Stuff, It's Overflowing, A little Claireification, Be Different Act Normal, What's Cooking with Ruthie, Serenity You, Funkie Junk Interiors, Angles Homestead, Sewlicious Home Decor, Spatulas on Parade, Life on Lakeshore Drive, Twigg Studios, Flamingo Toes, Suburbs Mama, EMM, Twelve O Eight, Under the Table and Dreaming, VMG206, Titi Crafty, The Chicken Chick, Pursuit of Functional Home, Lines Across, Huckleberry Love, Craft-O-Maniac, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Say Not Sweet Anne, Flour Me with Love, DIY Home Sweet Home, Alderberry Hill, Boogieboard Cottage, Sew Can Do, This Gal Cooks, jembellish, A Pinch of Love, Hun..what's for Dinner?, Adventures of a DIY Mom, The Shady Porch, Lady Behind the Curtain, I Gotta Try That, Table for Seven, Memories by the Mile, With a Blast, Not Just a Housewife, All She Cooks, Kitchen Meets Girl, Thank You Honey, Smart School House, Ginger Snap Crafts, The Everyday Home, My Girlish Whims, Cozy Little House, Clean and Scentsible, Shaffer Sisters, White Lights on Wednesday, The 36th Avenue, Fluster Buster, This Silly Girl's Life, Polkadots on Parade, 733 Blog, SNAP, What is Cooking Love?, The Real Housewives of Riverton, The Mandatory Mooch, Real Coake, Made to be a Momma, I Gotta Create, Live Laugh Rowe, Lamberts Lately, Creative Geekery, The Brambleberry Cottage, 52 Mantels, Saving 4 Six, Food Done Light, The Crafty Blogstalker, Considered Me Inspired, Jennifer Rizzo, Simple Dream and Create, House of Hepworths, The Girl Creative, Cindy's Recipes and Writings, My Turn (for Us), Rattlebridge Farm, Chef in Training, My Mixing Spoons, Home Stories A to Z

Other Panamanian dishes you might like:

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