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

Avgolemono - Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup Recipe

Hola Amigos! How is this Polar Vortex treating you? Today was supposed to be back to school after Christmas vacation, but school was cancelled leaving kiddo more time to do this:

With temperatures getting lower literally by the hour, only something hot and creamy will do the trick to bring the body back to an "I'm ready to go outside and do more shoveling" state of mind!

This is one of my favorite soups and the I get it every Friday (the only day they prepare it) at the Farmer's Restaurant by my house. I'm not 100% sure my version has all the "magic" ingredients they put on theirs, but is quite close, and will do for as long as we remain snowed in!

You can have it with pita bread on the side or like me, open your oyster crackers and have fun. I always keep a big bag or 2 at home.

My soup has a bit more rice therefore thicker than the Farmer's version, but as you all know, I just love rice, maybe as much as I love chocolate , lol...crazy I  know!

I sure hope you are not part of the 140 million Americans feeling the effects of the "Freeze" as the Weather Channel reports. But if like me you are stuck right in the middle of the whole thing, this is your soup to have! Trust me, you will thank me after several bowls! stay safe, stay warm and remember everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Avgolemono - Lemon Rice and Chicken Soup

Ingredients:

1 Large Whole Chicken Breast,  Chopped (around 1 1/2-2 cups)

5 Cups Chicken Broth (for more wholesome flavor use the broth where you cook your chicken)

1/2 Cup Rice (I use 3/4 Cup since I like my soup thick and with lots of rice)

1 TBSP Butter or Olive Oil

1 Cup Onion, Diced

1/2 Cup Carrots, Diced 

1/2 Cup Celery, Diced

3 Eggs

1 Large Lemon, Juiced

1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Salt to taste

Lemon slices for garnish

Pita Bread or Oyster Crackers 

Directions:

In a pan, melt the butter on a little bit of oil for it not to burn or heat olive oil alone and saute veggies until onions and celery are translucent, around 5 minutes. Set aside.

On a large pot add chicken broth bring to a simmer and add rice. Cook until rice blooms (opens), add sauteed veggies and chicken. Add red pepper flakes and salt if needed. Keep cooking for flavors to integrate, about 5-10 minutes.

Now comes the tricky part, in a separate bowl beat eggs and while doing this add the lemon juice. Keep the whisking going, now slowly add a ladle at a time of the soup mixture to temper the eggs, you don't want to end with an omelette in you soup. Add one or two ladles full, I don't mind if rice or veggies get into it, the idea is to bring the eggs at the same temp of the soup in the pot.

Pour the egg-lemon mixture into the soup pot keep  mixing  and remove from heat. Serve hot with lemon wedges, oyster crackers or pita bread, enjoy!

Prep Time: 10 Minutes                           Cook Time 30 Minutes                            Serves 6

Sharing my tangy hot soup at these Fabulous Parties:

Smart School House, Ginger Snap Crafts, All She Cooks, Lady Behind the Curtain, Ducks' n a Row, Kitchen Meets Girl, My Girlish Whims, Memories by the Mile, My Snippets of Inspiration, Gina's Craft Corner, Little House Living, Feeding Big, Love Bakes Good Cakes

13 Most Wanted Recipes of 2013

Hola Amigos!!!! Wishing you all a happy, healthy and peaceful last day of 2013! What a year it has been! So many happy memories, tasty recipes from fellow bloggers, fun crafts but above all, priceless new friendships made all over the globe!
It was a lot of fun at the blog too!  with a fairly good amount of cooking and calories gained here and there, lol...looking forward to do it all over again, God willing, this new year almost knocking at our door! Here are some of the most popular of 2013

Very Berry Kool Aid Cheesecake

Black Forest Bars

Marbled Deviled Eggs

Jell-O Poke Cake

Death By Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Cherry Cola Smoothie

Easy Ravioli Lasagna

Sharknado Cupcakes

Maple and Toffee Autumn Muddy Buddies

Spiked Monster Halloween Cocktail

Wild Turkey Thanksgiving Cocktail

Holiday Chocolate Flan

My Favorite Recipe for 2013

S'mores Pizza

Thank You friends for a year full of fantastic moments I will always share deep in my heart for the rest of my life! Even though lately I haven't been around much, I always carry your sweet thoughts and comments with me to get me through everyday unexpected challenges! 

Hope your New Year is full of Happiness, Love, Family Union and Health! From my family to yours HAPPY 2014!!!! and keep in mind this new year that everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Sharing my Most Wanted at these Fabulous Parties:

Love Bakes Good Cakes, Tartertots and Jello, The Best Blog Recipes, Home Maid Simple, The Shabby Nest, Six Sister's Stuff, What's Cooking with Ruthie, Made from Pinterest, Sew Licious Home Decor, Becoming Martha, Flamingo Toes, 504 Main, Will Cook For Smiles, Nifty Thrifty Things, Twigg Studios, Suburbs Mama, Navy Wifey Peters, Lines Across, The Chicken Chick, This Gal Cooks, I Should be Mopping the Floors, Smart School House, Ginger Snap Crafts, All She Cooks, Lady Behind the Curtain, Ducks'n a Row, Ducks'n a Row, Kitchen Meets Girl, Feeding Big, The Silly Pearl, My Girlish Whims, Memories by the Mile

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Recipe

Hola Amigos! This is the season for shorter days, long lines, big traffic jams, hustle and bustle, so why not take it easy in the kitchen and make a delicious easy dinner to feed our families with as little effort as possible. But don't get me wrong, not because it's easy means tasteless, au contraire mon cheri, lol! Since we are using just a few ingredients we are going to use good quality and get the best flavors out of this meal!

This is basically a deconstructed classic, chicken cordon bleu we all love but sometimes we don't have all the time in the world to prepare, roll the chicken breast, breading it, browning and baking.

All the ingredients are present on this dish, and if you are missing the carbs from the breading, you get the pasta to complement it.

It's creamy and cheese, no room for dry chicken here! And of course, since everything tastes better with bacon, it has a bit of the good stuff to gives us some unexpected flavor and crunch.

I hope you enjoy this dish, it gives you plenty of time to cook it, enjoy it and head out again to join the shopping crowds, hanging decorations or enjoy a nice relaxing evening by the fire. Remember my friends, everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta

Ingredients

6 Slices Bacon, Chopped

1 Lb Chicken Tenders, chopped

1/4 Lb Smoked Ham, cubed

1/2 Cup White Wine

8 oz Sliced Mushrooms

2 Cups Bechamel Sauce

1/2 Cup Peas

1 Cup Shredded Swiss Cheese

Your favorite Pasta

Directions:

In a large hot skillet brown chopped bacon until fat is rendered. Add chopped chicken and saute until cooked and no longer pink, like 8-10 minutes. Add ham and mix. Add white wine and let the alcohol evaporate, like 3 minutes. Add bechamel sauce and mushrooms, mix well until everything is coated with the bechamel sauce. Remove from heat. Before serving, add peas. Serve over pasta and top with shredded Swiss cheese. Enjoy.

Prep Time: 10 minutes                               Cook Time: 20 minutes                     Serves  4

Sharing my tasty  quick meal at these Fabulous Parties:

Smart School House, Hun..what's for dinner?, Our Table for Seven, Kleinworth & Co, Homemade Ginger, The View from 510, Lady Behind the Curtain, All She Cooks, Ducks'n a Row, Kitchen Meets Girl, My Girlish Whims, Pink Box Recipe, The Best Blog Recipes, Artsy Fartsy Mama, Sweet Haute, My Mixing Spoon, The Chicken Chick, Twelve O' eight, Claire Justine, Walking on Sunshine

Caramel Apple Biscuit Cups Recipe

Hola Amigos! Happy New Week! hope your weekend was fun and uneventful. At the house we tried to take it easy and relax after a few worrisome days  due to a silly  school accident my little one had at his K school. He is fine now but it was a bit stressful with a very lengthy visit to his doctor and right away to the ER. We just had to take it easy and that's how this  treat came to be!

When I'm stressed I crave for little bites of sweet comfort. I had a 3 apples that were not looking to happy and a pint of my favorite vanilla bean ice cream, baked apples with ice cream sounded amazing to me.

I kicked it to another lever baking them on my favorite caramel sauce. Had my dessert and so much left over that the next day for breakfast I decided to stuff our regular Sunday biscuits with the mix!
Oh boy! Now I need to make this every Sunday! They are warm, sweet and juicy. Crispy in the outside and sticky in the inside!

My pictures didn't come out good this time, they really don't do justice to how good and gooey these guys are. Note to self, time to get a light box for the soon to be here cold and dark days!

In light of recent commentaries of a certain public figure about bloggers I'm going to say one more time, I'm no expert. I don't have a degree in culinary arts and I have never been the editor of a glossy magazine.

I am an expert of what my family and friends like. After spending 7 years of my life studying in my country and overseas I do have a University degree and I'm the editor of the weekly grocery list I write in order to know what I need to get to plan for my family's meals. Meals that I've been sharing with you in hopes to inspire you in creating something similar to your family adding your own personal touches. You have and that is why almost a year later I keep writing this blog and enjoying each and every one of my readers!

This particular recipe started as one thing and ended as another...don't we all do that once in a while? My guys liked it, they smiled and some licked their little fingers and that was enough validation to me.
But enough of that lady and back to the biscuits, lol...I'm sure you are going to like them. I even drizzled more caramel sauce over them after they were done...yummm!

Thank you for visiting the blog my friends! Halloween is only 10 days away....(And still no costume, ugh!), Give these apples with or without the biscuits cups a try. As I said they are delicious with just plain ice cream, but if you have left overs...go ahead and stuff your morning biscuits with them and give your usual breakfast a sweet tasty spin!  Remember everything tastes better with a Pinch of Love!

Besitos,

Lizy

Caramel Apple Biscuit Cups

Ingredients:

3 Green Apples

1 Cup Brown Sugar

4 TBSP Butter

1/2  Cup Cream 

Pinch of salt

1 tsps vanilla 

1 tsps lemon juice

1.2 tsps cinnamon

1/2 tsps nutmeg

1/2 tsps allspice

1 can  (8) Grands Honey Butter Biscuits

Directions:

Heat up oven at 350F

For caramel apples:

Peel and diced apples. Pour 1 tsp of lemon juice on the apples, mix. Add cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice, mix and set aside.

In a saucepan on medium heat add and mix brown sugar, butter cream and a pinch of salt. Cook until bubbly and semi thickened for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Mix.

Add this sauce to the apples, make sure all the apples are coated by the caramel. Place in the oven, cover with aluminum foil   and cook  until apples are soft but not mushy, about 20 minutes. 

Remove from oven, let it cool a bit before serving over ice cream or just eating right out of a bowl.

For Caramel Apples Biscuit Cups:

Heat up oven to 375F

Take 2 biscuits from the can, put them together between 2 sheets of wax paper and using a rolling pin,  roll them flat until you get a circle approximately 5 -5 1/2 inches each. You will get 4 circles out of a can.

Using a jumbo nonstick muffin pan, place each circle on the muffin cup. Make sure the biscuit dough is covering the bottom and sides of the muffin cup. Spoon the apple mixture on each dough cup  almost all the way to the top. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove and cool before serving. 

Prep Time 20 minutes                        Bake Time 20 minutes                               Serves 4

Sharing my Fall Apple Stuffed Biscuits at these Fa-Boo-lous Parties:

Ms enPlace, DIY Home Sweet Home, A Southern Fairtytale, Mad in Crafts, Jam Hands, The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen, Watch Out, Martha!, A Pinch of Joy, Feeding Big, The Gunny Sack, Hun What's for Dinner?, Our Table for Seven, Chef in Training, Memories by the Mile, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Not Just a Housewife, Between Naps on the Porch, A peek into my Paradise, Lady Behind the Curtain, Smart School House, Ginger Snap Crafts, Someday Crafts, The Shady Porch, Made to be a Momma, Real Housewives of Riverton, All She Cooks, Polkadots on Parade, Kitchen Meets Girl, SNAP, Ducks' n a Row, Pink Recipe Box, The Well Crafted Home, Live Laugh Rowe, The Crafty Blogstalker, Lamberts Lately, Made in a Day, The Mandatory Mooch, Jennifer Rizzo, Gingerly Made, Sparkles and a Stove, Delish, My Turn (for Us), Simply Dream and Create, Craftionary, The Best Blog Recipes, The Girl Creative, My Life in Pencil, Practically Functional, Today's Creative Blog, Sweet Haute, The Patriotic Pam, 504 Main, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, The Answer is Chocolate, Six Sisters Stuff, Cheerios and Lattes, Made From Pinterest, Craft Dictator, Classy Clutter, Will Cook For Smiles, Sew-Licious, Suburbs Mama, Twigg Studios, Lemon Paper Designs, Serenity You, Cooking for the Seven Dwarfs, I Should be Mopping the Floors, Create with Joy, Craft-O-Maniac, Frugal Foodie Mama, SL Under the table and Dreaming, Huckleberry Love, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Carrie This Home, Boogie Board Cottage, Alderberry Hill, Navy Wifey Peters, The Chicken Chick, Lines Across, Say Not Sweet Anne, The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen, Titi Crafty, Suburbs Mama, Flamingo Toes, Between Naps on the Porch, Coastal Charm, Golden Reflections, Pint Sized Baker, Sugar Bee Crafts, The Blackberry Vine, Nap Time Creations, Home Stories A to Z, Kathe with an E, Cozy Little House, The Brambleberry Cottage, Creative Geekery, Saving 4 Six, What's Cooking Love?, 52 Mantels

7 Frightful and Delightful Halloween Desserts Recipes

Hola Amigos! Here is the blog's first  round up of  Seven Frightful and Delightful Halloween Desserts! Why 7? well 7 is a mysterious and mystic number, 7 days of the week, 7 colors on the rainbow, 7 Seas. Lucky 7, 7up, lol and many other meanings to mention here. Some of them might look spooky and some might look sweet...what do they have in common?...they are all good and easy to make! Enjoy

Maple and Toffee Autumn Muddy Buddies

Eye of Newt Halloween Bundt Cake

Toe of Frog Halloween Lemon Cupcakes

Death by Candy Corn Halloween Carrot Cake

Pumpkin Brownies

Zombie Skin Halloween Muddy Buddies

Pot of Bones Halloween Chocolate Covered Cherries Mini Bundts

Besitos,
Lizy

Sharing my desserts at these Fa-BOO-lous Parties:

Practically Functional, Townsend House, Craft Dictator, Today's Creative Blog, Sarah Howe, Six Sister's Stuff, The Answer is Chocolate, Cheerios and Lattes, Cassidy's Cooking Collection, Sewlicious Home Decor, Classy Clutter, Suburbs Mama, Twigg Studios, Life on Lakeshore Drive, The Tablescaper, Frugal Foodie Mama, Navy Wifey Peters, Titi Crafty, The Velvet Moon Baker, Your Home Based Mom, Flamingo Toes, Nifty Thrifty Things, My Mixing Spoon, VMG206, Huckleberry Love, Craft-O-Maniac, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Under The Table and Dreaming, The Chicken Chick, I Should be Mopping the Floors, This Gal Cooks, Carry This Home, Ms enPlace, DIY Home Sweet Home, A Southern Fairytale, Mad in Crafts,The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen, Jam Hands, Watch Out, Martha!, A Pinch of Joy, Feeding Big, The Gunny Sack, Our Table for Seven, Chef in Training, Memories by the Mile, Love Bakes Good Cakes, Not Just a Housewife, Between Naps on the Porch, A Peek into my Paradise, Lady Behind the Curtain, Smart School House, Ginger Snaps Crafts, The Shady Porch, Made to be a Momma, Real Housewives of Riverton, All She Cooks, Polkadots on Parade, Kitchen Meets Girl, SNAP, Ducks 'n a Row, Pink Recipe Box, The Well Crafted Home, Live Laugh Rowe, The Crafty Blogstalker, Made in a Day, The Mandatory Mooch, Jennifer Rizzo, Gingerly Made, Delish, My Tun (for Us), Simply Dream and Create, Craftionary, The Best Blog Recipes, The Girl Creative, Someday Crafts, Foodie Friends Friday, Today's Creative Blog, Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons, 504 Main, The Patriotic Pam, Will Cook for Smiles, Bowdabra, Sew-Licious, Lemon Paper Designs, Serenity You, Pint Sized Baker, Kathe with an E