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July 4th, 2012 – Fireworks and a great cake recipe, PR style!

Happy Independence Day!I love the holidays. It doesn’t really matter what it is – a reason to celebrate, bake and make crafts with Jazlynn is so fun! It’s great to spend the day away from work and celebrating our nation’s birthday.

I’ve always been patriotic and thankful for all the blessings we have as Americans. Now, that I am a Sailor in the United States Navy, the feeling has transformed into a stronger bond with a country that I’m really proud to be a part of. Of course, it is not perfect – but nothing ever is. The point is that there is so much opportunity to make a difference because you have the freedom to do it.

*End of Patriotic rant*

For the holiday I baked a bizcocho from scratch – Puerto Rican style and it came out sooo good. I can’t wait to make a cake like this again. The link to the recipe is at the end of this post.

My daughter, Jazlynn, and I also made and decorated cupcakes last night. We had so much fun 🙂

We mixed in food coloring to regular frosting for the red and blue. I made most of the flags and Jazlynn helped make the “firework” designs.

We then took a walk and gave away cupcakes to our neighbors. Using food is always a good way to meet new people – everyone eats!

 

Later, we went to my in-laws’ home and my mom and grandmother also came over for the BBQ. We had a great time and I can’t wait to do it all again next year.

Related links:
Cake recipe, Puerto Rican (Puertorriqueño), in Spanish from a fellow Blogger.

God bless America!

Zulaika H.

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Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Pasta

Today I really wanted to do something different – we have rice, beans and meat pretty often. The only problem with doing different things is everyone isn’t always a fan of “new” ingredients (like broccoli, spices, etc.).

For this I used:

  • Chicken breast (one, skinless)
  • broccoli (about a cup)
  • Pasta (medium shells)
  • Alfredo sauce (a jar from the store)
  • Seasoning (as needed)

First, I put the broccoli to boil in some water in a small saucepan.

Then I cut the meat into 1 in. square pieces. Seasoned. And put into another saucepan to cook. This can also be done by stir fry (probably a better option for flavor).

Once the chicken and broccoli were taken care of, I put in the pasta to boil. I usually use 3/4 cup of pasta per person and that is usually enough for (the three of) us.

Once the broccoli, meat and pasta are all cooked (in about 10-15 minutes all should be done), I combine everything in a pan and add the Alfredo sauce. I keep this on low to medium heat for about 5 minutes* and then it’s all done and ready to serve.

*This would be a good time to toast garlic bread or toss a quick salad.

Here’s what my dinner plate looked like.

If you have the same problem (with trying new things), I encourage you to cook the new stuff anyway (unless there are alergies). Offer your family variety often enough, and you may be surprised at what they are willing to try, and eventually like.

Thanks for reading,

Zulaika

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Jalisco – the real Mexican tacos

Tonight, my husband stopped at Jalisco to pick up dinner. It’s a little Mexican “bodega” that sells groceries and deli items as well as serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

Tienda Jalisco on Urbanspoon

We each usually just can eat two of them. I really like the hot sauce. They can be ordered with more toppings, but we prefer to just have onions and cilantro with our meat.

Here’s the picture of what they look like:

I also had Ruben pick up some “queso fresco” (or Fresh Cheese). It’s like a saltier, crumblier (if that’s a word) mozzarella. I like to eat them with fresh lime juice on them (but not too much).

Thanks for reading… Buenas noches!

Zulaika

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Father’s Day Banana Cake

This year for Father’s Day I baked a simple cake to share with the family. It had two layers, was covered with cream cheese frosting and banana slices (the middle also had bananas). I personally love to use fruit to sweeten cakes – my favorite to use are strawberries (see an older post with an example of this).

Here’s a picture of the cake:

I hope you and your family have a great Father’s Day!

Zulaika H.

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updated on Restaurant Reviews

Smokey Bones Restaurant

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Smokey Bones for lunch. I haven’t had ribs for a while and I felt hungry so that’s what I decided to have – the Baby Back Ribs (just a 1/3 rack) with fries and cole slaw. I was surprised to actually like the slaw – it was very moist but still crunchy 🙂

Ruben had a Smokehouse burger – he had to take some of the onions out towards the end because the taste of them was a little overpowering.
Menu description: “A mouth-watering 1/2 lb burger fire-grilled to your liking, smothered with BBQ’d onions, peppered bacon slices, melted cheddar and crispy onion straws, all on a toasted burger bun.”

Overall I’d rate our outing a 7 out of 10.

Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill on Urbanspoon

Location: https://plus.google.com/111789603078334239221/about?gl=us&hl=en

Zulaika

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Eggs, bacon and toast

In our house, eggs and toast is the regular breakfast item. This is why I will not bore you with daily posts on what I eat in the morning. But just to have the example logged – so here it is.

I prefer my eggs over-easy (fried in butter), but occasionally we have them as an omelette or scrambled to mix it up. My daughter prefers her eggs scrambled so when she’s not having cereal or Farina I’ll make her eggs like this.  I have no idea what my husband prefers for eggs because if I ever ask he’ll just say he’s happy with whatever I want that morning lol.

I had my breakfast with sweet tea (the Sweet Leaf tea I mentioned in an earlier post). By the time breakfast was done, I had already drank my first cup of coffee.

Thanks for reading,

Zulaika

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Something a little different

A few days ago, I was thinking since moving into our new place we hadn’t had a taco night yet. Well it was more of a burrito – but does it really matter?

This is the sauce Ruben used to marinate the steak last night – it was so good, we decided to make the meat again for our taco night tonight.

When marinating meat, we’ve found taking as much air out of the Zip Loc works best – the only way out for the sauce is actually INTO the steak 🙂 My mouth actually waters thinking of how good they smell when they’re in there for just a couple of hours.

Always remember, even if you just have an hour or even 30 minutes to marinate your meat – it’ll be well worth it in flavor when it’s time to eat.

 One of my favorite things to put in my burritos are grilled peppers and onions. They’re so sweet and balance out the taste of the meat you put into your burrito.  I sliced green, yellow and red peppers and yellow onions (1 of each). This would be enough for 4-6 burritos.

I put them in a pan with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil, which was already warm. After about 15 minutes at medium heat, this is what I got.

Here’s the picture of everything set on the table for the fiesta! The tallest container has the grilled peppers and onions, then there’s sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, grated mozarella and chopped tomatoes (clockwise).

Maybe next time you can come over for some! Just kidding 😛

Thanks for reading,

Zulaika H.

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