Easy BBQ Pork Ribs

Serves 6 people
Prep Time: 20 - 30 mins
Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

2 racks of pork ribs
Kosher salt
Dried thyme
Dried rosemary
Freshly ground pepper
1 small bottle of soy sauce
1 cup of brown sugar
1 small bbq sauce bottle (your personal favorite)

Instructions:

Lay the pork ribs in a large disposable aluminum tray, cover the ribs with soy sauce and let them simmer for 10 minutes. Get rid of the excess of soy sauce, noticing that your ribs should have a light glaze over them.

In a separate bowl mix a generous amount of thyme and rosemary with the brown sugar, add a pinch of salt and grind enough pepper to sprinkle both racks. Make a nice rub with the igredients.

Cover the ribs with the rub make sure you cover the back and front of the rack and put aside, turn the grill on medium/high heat and wait for it to get into 450 - 500 degrees.

Put the whole tray in the grill and close for 1.5 hours, you will see that the rub melted and the ribs are nice and covered in sugar. With a brush gently cover the front and back of the ribs with bbq sauce and flash seare them on each side. (3 - 4 minuutes at the time) Then set the ribs back into the aluminum tray and with a spoon cover them with the juices that have been dripped on the tray.

Lower the heat to medium and keep smoking them for as long as you want (minimum of 30 more minutes) your ribs will be so tender and yummy everyone will go back for seconds!

Tip: You can slice apples or pears and place them under the ribs in the aluminum tray for aroma. You can also add some honey into the bbq sauce to make it sweeter!

Spaghetti with Meat Balls

This past weekend we had to serve dinner for 12 people at the ranch, we were not sure what would be easy enough to cook in large quantities and also make sure the portions were enough so everyone could satisfy their appetites... So what better than italian food...

This is a dish you can prepare with the whole family, it takes a while to prep so you will be able to enjoy some wine and appetizers while you cook; and the flavor is so casual you would never order it in a restaurant ever again!

It takes a while to make so plan ahead and assume you'll spend between 3 - 3 1/2 hours in the kitchen, patiently waiting for the veggies and meat to be perfectly chopped and cooked!

Ingredients for the meatballs:

3 pounds of ground 80% leans beef
2 pounds of ground veal meat
1 large white onion
5 eggs
5 tbs of chopped fresh italian parsley
5 tbs of chopped fresh thyme
salt and pepper
1 cup of italian style bread crumbs
4 pieces of white bread with no borders
7 garlic cloves
5 tbs of chopped oregano
2 shallots
Olive Oil

Meatballs Preparation:

In a large bowl mix the ground beef and veal with the eggs, chopped the onion as thinly as you can and introduce to the mix together with the chopped parsley and thyme, add 1/4 of a cup of salt and pepper, and keep mixing the meat with your hands; add the bread crumbs and the pieces of bread, make sure you break the bread into small pieces so people won't get chunks of bread in their meal.

In a small sauce pan drizzle some olive oil and heat it, add the chopped shallots, garlic and oregano and sautee for 5 minutes, then add to the bowl with the meat.

Preheat the oven @ 375 degrees.

After making sure that all the ingredients are perfectly mixed with the meats, get 2 baking sheets and make some medium size meatballs, rolling them with the palm of your hands. Once you are finished making approximately 36 - 40 meatballs place the baking sheets in the oven for 40 - 45 minutes.

(By the time the meatballs are baked, there should be a lot of juices in the baking sheets, let the meatballs cool down for a couple of minutes before mixing them with the tomato sauce)

Ingredients for the Tomato Sauce:

3 celery sticks
3 medium size carrots
1 medium white onion
6 garlic cloves
3 shallots

3 large cans of peeled tomatos
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil

Sauce Preparation:

Chop all the vegetables in very small pieces. In a large sauce pan drizzle some olive oil and cook the chopped garlic and shallots, make sure they don't burn. Add the celery, carrot, and onion to the heat and cook for approximately 15 minutes.

Open the canned tomatoes add the liquid on the heating pan and with your bare hands squeeze the tomatoes and brake them into pieces and then mix them with the cooking vegetables, bring to a boil then lower the heat and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the sauce from the heat, let it cool off and then using the mixer start blending the sauce, do it by batches you don't want to get burn by the sauce... Place the mixed sauce in a even larger sauce pan that could hold the meatballs as well.

In medium low heat cook for another 25 minutes the meatballs completely covered by the tomato sauce.

In a medium sauce pan boil some water and make some spaghetti with salted water and some olive oil. When done use a bowl to mix the cooked pasta with some tomato sauce before mixing the meatballs. Ready to serve, make sure you shave some parmesan cheese on top! Enjoy!

It's all about Pasta: Bell Peppers Cream Bacon Fettuccine

My husband and I came back home late and had no idea what we were going to do for dinner... It has been a while since we had dinner at home, we have had a very busy schedule for the last couple of weeks, so we feel like staying home and cooking something...

The problem is that it's 9 pm and we have limited availability of ingredients in our fridge, so I decided to make a vegetable pasta... and then I found some bacon and some cream! and voila, magic it's on it's way!

Makes 2 servings
Time: 40 -45 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 orange bell pepper
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 red onion
3/4 tomato
3 garlic cloves
4 strips of bacon
1/3 of a cup of heavy whipping cream
olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 a box of fettuccine pasta


Preparation:

Chop the bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and bacon and keep them aside. Turn the stove on with medium heat, add 1 tbs of olive oil and wait for it to heat, add the chopped bacon and cook for 5 - 7 minutes, do not let it get crunchy, you want it to be soft so it can mix well with the rest of the vegetables.

Add the chopped garlic and saute it for 3 - 4 minutes; then add the chopped red onions and saute for 4 more minutes; add the bell peppers and let them cook for 5 minutes, notice that the coloration of the vegetables start getting orangy. Finally mix the tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes; add a pinch of salt and another one of pepper, decrease the temperature to low and remain cooking for another 5 - 7 minutes before adding the heavy whipping cream, mix the sauce and let it cook for another 7 - 10 minutes.

In a medium sauce pan boil some water with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil, add the fettuccine,  approximately 13 minutes. Remove from the heat.

In a medium size bowl mix the pasta with the sauce and it is ready to serve! You can add some shaved Parmesan cheese as a garnish.

Sherry and Red Wine, Tomato Soup

Yesterday my husband and I decided to enjoy the "cold" weather that Texas has been enjoying by cooking our traditional winter menu... tomato soup and sandwiches! It was sooo good, but to tell you the truth it needs to get colder for it!  It is super easy to make serves 4 - 6 people, it takes around an hour to make...

Ingredients

8 large tomatoes
salt and pepper
Olive Oil
12 - 15 thyme stalks
10 - 12 garlic cloves
1 shallot
1 medium red onion
1 tbs of chopped oregano
1 tbs of chopped basil
1/2 cups of chicken stock
1 shot of sherry
1 shot of red wine
1/2 small can of tomato paste



Preparation 

Pre heat the oven 350 degrees.
Cut the tomatoes and garlic cloves in big chunks, place them in a large sauce pan, drizzle with salt, pepper and olive oil. Also sprinkle the chopped herbs and mix, bake for 30 minutes.

In a separate medium frying pan chop the red onion and shallot, drizzle olive oil and saute for around 4 minutes, add a little bit of chopped thyme for flavor... when the onions are lightly brown remove from the heat and wait for the tomatoes to come out of the oven.

Add some of the chicken broth and the tomatoes in the big pan and stir while keeping it over medium heat. Let it simmer and add some more chicken broth, until the tomatoes star falling apart, add the sherry, wine and tomato paste, let it reduce for 20 minutes.

Place the mix in the blender and puree... serve hot in a bowl, with garlic croutons.

Whole Food's Shrimp Burger

I had never seen this tequila and lime shrimp burgers before at Whole Foods, but a lady next to me was ordering them and told me how fabulous they were.. So I grabbed one and brought it home to be cooked as an appetizer to share with my husband.

What I did is, I prepared a little salsa to use as a dressing, I like my shrimp with extra lemon, so I chopped half of a white onion, then I took 6 cherry tomatoes and cut them in four, put all the chopped veggies in a bowl with some olive oil, salt, pepper and I squeezed a whole lemon on top of it and let it rest while I cooked the burger.

In a medium size pan I seared 3 pieces of bacon, without discarding the bacon oil, I added a tiny bit of olive oil and in medium heat I placed the shrimp burger to cook.... I let it brown on each side ( 4 - 5 minutes) and then I baked them for 15 minutes on the oven at 350 degrees, you want those shrimp to be well cooked before you eat them!

I chopped the bacon, took the paddy out of the oven, topped it with the salsa and sprinkle bacon on top of that! It was sooooo good! The bacon adds so much flavor to the salsa and makes it less overpowering!

Chicken Soup, Grandma's Recipe

Yesterday my husband went and had sushi with some coworkers of his, before we went to bed he was running a 103 degrees fever, his boy was shaking and needless to say he got really really sick... After a whole night of drinking Pedialite, today I  made him my super special chicken soup, it is the best thing to boost your immune system and get you back on track!

For 4 servings, prep time 30 minutes, cooking time 1.5 - 2 hours

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts
1 white onion
8 fingerling potatoes
1/2 bag of pre cut broccoli and cauliflower
3 medium size carrots
5 celery sticks
6 - 8 branches of cilantro and/or parsley
2 garlic cloves
2 chicken bouillon cubes
3 tbs of season all or any seasoning salt
4 1/2 cups of water


Preparation

In a large size boiling pan at medium high temperature, heat the water with the chicken bouillon cubes and the pealed garlic cloves, when the bouillon cubes are melted, chop the onion in four pieces and put it in the boiling water as well, lower the temperature to medium low.

Peal and chop the carrots, clean the broccoli and the cauliflower, and chop the celery sticks, add all the vegetables to the boiling water. With some twain put together in a bunch the cilantro and parsley and add to the boiling water. Let it seat for 15 minutes.

Clean the chicken breasts and cut it in cubes, add to the boiling water and cover for 25 minutes, so the juices of all the vegetables and the chicken can mix properly.

Note: You can add many other vegetables like green beans and zucchinis, also if you would like the soup with a little kick you may want to use Tony Chachere's for your seasoning salt!


Chop the potatoes and add them to the mix, let it cook for another 15 - 20 minutes, try the soup and add salt or pepper if needed.

Now after this step you need to take it out of the heat and let it cool down for a couple of minutes before serving! Hope you enjoy it!

Fabulous Strawberry Tarts

A few weeks ago I spoke with a good friend of mine about his new blog I was starting, I told her all about how much I love cooking and that I wanted to share my creations with people that need some ideas, inspirations or tips to use in their own kitchens; when it occur to me, that I should also share recipes from friends of mine that  they enjoy making! So she sent me one of her recipes and she even let me use her pictures of the last time she cooked it! By the way, if you can not tell already she is a professional photographer, enjoy the pictures, try the recipe and give us your feedback!


It serves 7 or more guests, it takes 15 minutes to prep!

Ingredients:

1 quart fresh Strawberries

3/4 C sugar

3T cornstarch

juice of 1/2 lemon

8 ounces softened cream cheese

Preparation:

Wash and hull strawberries, mash 1/2 strawberries in food processor. Combine mashed strawberries with sugar, cornstarch, & lemon juice in saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer mixture until thick and clear, about 5-7 min, stirring constantly, remove from heat. Chop remaining strawberries in food processor or by hand  (small, about the size of corn kernels) add to warm strawberry mixture. Chill strawberry filling. Fill shells with chilled strawberry mixture, reserving 4T. Cream reserved 4T with softened cream cheese and pipe on tarts.

Fillo product:

Mini fillo shells

Cream Rigatoni with Red Onions, Peas and Bacon

My husband and I have some meats leftover from breakfast today, so we decided to reduce, reuse, recycle... Super easy lunch or dinner recipe, it takes maybe 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients:

Rigatoni Pasta, I like to use Barilla.
1 medium size red onion
1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/4 of a butter stick, unsalted
1 cup of shaved Parmesan cheese
4 strips of bacon (chopped)
1/2 cup of peas
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley

Preparation:

In on small sauce pan boil water and make the pasta, you can take the pasta a little before it's ready, take it off the flame but leave it in the water so it remains hot while you are cooking the rest.

In a small pan sautee the onions with some olive oil until they become kind of yellowish and the white coloring to it have become more of a light brown.

For the sauce: Melt the butter in a medium size skillet, then add the cream, use medium heat, let it come to a boil, lower the heat to lox/medium and add the Parmesan cheese in batches, making sure you stir it while you are doing it. (5 minutes)
When you see the bubble become thicker lower the flame to low and add the chopped pieces of bacon, the peas, the red onions, and parsley, let is sit for a second, always remember to stir the sauce. (4 minutes)

In a bowl mix the sauce with the pasta,  little by little add some pasta and stir with some sauce to make sure the noodles get sauce all around them and also inside. Let it sit for 2 minutes so the pasta and the sauce solidify. It is ready to serve!

*Note: You can add grilled chicken to this recipe and make it even better!

Bacon Wrapped Prawns with Pesto Linguinni

Tonight it's pasta night, I decided to recreate my famous pesto sauce and bacon wrapped prawns. This recipe serves 2 hungry people, and it takes approximately 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients for the Shrimp:

Half a pound of large unpeeled shrimp, (6 or 8 shrimp)
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 package of thin cut bacon

Ingredients for the Pesto Sauce:

2 garlic cloves
Pinch of salt and pepper
Olive Oil
Small block of Parmigiana Regiano
10 -12 Walnuts
Small heavy whipping cream
1 package of thin cut bacon
1/2 pound of fresh green basil leaves

Preparation:

Grab the shrimp and peal them using your fingertips to penetrate the shell and pushing outward the skin will break easily. After cleaning all of the shrimp you need to devein them, bend the shrimp into a a medium arch and with a very sharp knife gently cut a straight line through the top section of the shrimp. Note: Do not go too deep on your cut, the vein is not even in the middle of the body, you don't want the shrimp to loose its' shape.

Put the shrimp in a bowl and sprinkle salt and pepper, not too much, just enough to give it a little bit of flavor, remember that the bacon is going to have enough saltiness by itself.

Extend the shrimp and grab a piece of bacon, start from the tail end of the shrimp and start wrapping it very very tightly overlapping between loops. You should not need toothpicks to hold the bacon in place, when the bacon is tight enough it will stick when cooking.

Heat a medium non sticky pan, medium high temperature should so it, no olive oil added, put the shrimp with the end of the bacon strip directly on the pan, and sear for about 7 minutes on each side and then stand them so the bottom would be cooked as well.

Meanwhile boil 1 cup of water with some olive oil and salt and make 1/2 a pack of linguinni, it takes around 9 minutes for the pasta to be aldente.

In a mixer put 1/3 of a cup of olive oil, 1/3 of a cup of cream, the garlic cloves, some salt and pepper, the walnuts, 2 small strips of Parmesan cheese and all the basil leaves (do not mix the steams or flowers) Mix until it gets a pasty texture. Try the mix and add more salt or pepper accordingly, if it is too thick you may want to add a tablespoon of water or a little bit more of olive oil.


In a bowl mix the pesto sauce with the cooked pasta. Then serve the pesto pasta in a plate and top it with the shrimp, shave some Parmesan on top.

Dinner is served!

Chicken breast with porcini mushroom and white wine sauce, with garbanzo compote on the side! Looks amazing!

This was a very simple and fabulous dish:

Garbanzo puree:
Drain one can of garbanzo beans and let it simmer in low heat for around 15 minutes, you can see they start to peel, after wards take them out of the heat and mash them, add salt, pepper and olive oil, garnish with some rosemary and parmesan cheese.

Chicken:
Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken breasts, let it sit for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle some Italian seasoning on them and drizzle some olive oil.

Pre heat a skillet pan with 2 table spoons of butter, add a few dried porcini mushrooms, some white wine and a little bit of chicken broth, let it boil (10 mins) and low the heat for another couple of minute until the mushrooms are soft.

Insert the chicken breasts into the broth and let it cook 10 minutes on each side, the texture should be firm and they should have a golden brown coloration.

Take out the chicken and cover for 5 minutes, add some heavy whipping cream into the left over broth and whip until it comes to a boil, it should reduce and have a nice heavy texture (10 -13 minutes in medium heat)

You are ready to serve!
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