Old Mango, New Dessert

I had bought a big ripe mango last week and put off eating it till today, and let me tell you, I should have eaten it when I bought it. Ech. Bitter and not a good texture. But waste not...!

I sliced up my tired mango and put it to bubble on the stove top with 3 tbs of water, 1 tbs of brown sugar, and 1 pad butter...mmm butter. To add some flavor I added a little itty bitty cap full of vanilla extract and of course a bit of Cinnamon...if I had it my way, I would put cinnamon in everything....but some people are thankful I don't.
It was yummy, but something was missing...I added a little Maple Syrup...maybe half a tsp..not too much it was already kinda sweet, but the maple flavor just is so intoxicating to me, it really swoops in on the senses like hawk.


15 mins later and I had a really nice topping for the Vanilla Ice Cream sitten in the freezer.

Also, I had some Marcona Almonds in my cupboard.

These little delicious devils are a Spanish treat. They are roasted in olive oil and then sprinkled with sea salt offering quite a unique and delicious taste. WARNING....they are addictive, and quite rich...I've had many a tummy ache...but then again, I always have a problem putting the nuts down.

Crushed them up and sprinkled some on top.

Perfect.
The salt from the nuts also brought out the flavor in the mangos.

A sprig of mint for beauty...and yummy yummy, nibble nibble.

Ice Cream Upper

Sometimes just a couple scoops of ice cream isn't what we want. We want MORE.



This is my ICE CREAM UPPER




Coffee Ice Cream topped with broken pretzels, crushed dark chocolate bar with almonds, and to add a little something extra, a sprinkle of cinnamon, just makes the tongue tingle and the tummy happy.

Nighty night :)

Spanish Bruchetta & Mozzarella and Steak Croissant

Dinner!
For an app I was craving something spanish with a delicate crunch....Bruchetta! I have some Campari tomatoes, which are like giant cherry tomatoes, that's why I like them. They are slightly sweet. I think the bigger ones have less flavor, although, perfect on a juicy hamburger.

For dindin I wanted something Frenchy, I also have been craving croissants like crazy and realized I've been starving poor B from lack of steak. So steak sandwiches? Indeed.

My favorite part of dinner is that I got to use fresh basil and mint from our newly made herb garden. :)

Bruchetta

• 4 diced campari tomatoes
• 1/2 diced yellow bell pepper
• basil
• mint
• EVOO
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Herbs De Provence
• french bagette
• butter
• 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
• chopped Prosciutto

Toasted the bread in the butterd up pan. Mmmm. Butter. After the bread was done and taken out I added some herbs de provence to the pan...totally forgot there was no sifter on that little jar and out came a bunch ...eeek. But thanks to that I decided to add some garlic to it and after some toasting took it out, put it in a bowl and added some olive oil and boo ya! A nice little herbed garlic olive oil sauce!












Sprinkled it all over the bruchetta breads, then added the bell pepper and tomatoes, prosciutto and then my wonderful freshly picked and chopped mint and basil .
Add a couple drops of Balsamic to each and Oh My God. YES> YES> YES>

Mozzarella and Steak Croissant

Giada De Laurentis is one of my favorite chefs to watch on the tube. I had her recipe to start off from. I did Mozzarella instead of brie and I put my croissants with the cheese on top in the oven to toast and get the cheese nice and melted. Also, since I had lots of extra herbal oil left over I put it in the pan for the steaks to fry in :0 Ooo baby.
Here is the link to her recipe.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/parisian-steak-and-cheese-croissant-sandwiches-recipe/index.html

B was very happy to have his steak. :) Bella loved her bits of bell pepper.
I loved it all.


..And this is one of my Su Chefs. Murphy.

Sweet Potatoes; Sweet and Savory

Tonight was a rather lame cooking day since dinner was left overs from last nights BBQ marinated chicken and tomato basil pasta with chopped asparagus and mushrooms , which was delish. But as its my first cooking blog day, it's quite a good day to share the little bit of cooking I did do, as well as the BBQ marinade I used, because, OH. MY. BBQ GOD.


Turns out the big sack of SWEET POTATOES I've been drooling over for a month, are actually mine, not my roomies as I had thought. Yay!
Since I had so many of them and had never really tried to make sweet potato fries before I thought I should experiment in 2 different ways. So I cut them up in skinny fry form, and put half of them in a pan and half of them in the oven.

This is what I did...Im not giving instructions....cus I never know what I'm doing, but I'll be honest about how it turns out and maybe you'll try it too :)

3 small-medium sweet potatoes

OVEN baked Garlic and Herbs De Provence Fries

• pre-heat to 375
  
• on a baking sheet scatter the fries around evenly so that each one is laying flat.
  
• about 1 tbs of WALNUT OIL. Um, the best discovery ever. It has a higher heat temp and a gorgeous nutty flavor. Creamy and buttery. YES.
• salt and pepper
• 1tsp of Herbs De Provence
  
• 2 cloves of garlic freshly squished through a garlic press, since its hard to equally spread the garlic unless you have a cooking brush-ooo fancy- I prefer to use my hands.
  
• Toss the fries around so they are all garnished in garlic and herbs.
• Sprinkle a little paprika and pop it in ....say...20 mins...my oven is as old as the hill the hollywood sign is on so, it may not take that long in your oven, so beware. You want them crispy, but not burnt. ;-)
  

Balsamic Glazed Fries in a PAN

• heat up a lil EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil)
• add a pad of butter so the oil wont burn
• pop in the fries, leaving them sit in 3 minute intervals...were gonna add stuff but they also need to sit a bit in between adding ingredients to let the flavors marinate.
  
• salt
• cayenne pepper- cayenne because this type of spice is sexy with the other additive...
• non sweetened coco powder- 2 three fingered pinches. The coco is a spice, I think we forget that it has a beautiful rustic flavor and can be used with meats and savory dishes.
  
• 1 tsp Balsamic creme- AWESOME ingredient. Get it. Taste it. Use it. Its not like a regular Balsamic vinegar. Crema di Balsamico is a syrupy reduction of Balsamic vinegar and grape must, the same juice of the Trebbiano grape used in the production of balsamic vinegar. Again, can be used for sweet and savory dishes.
• Now, I tasted it wasn't as sweet as I was wanting, it may be for you, so taste. I added a little honey for the extra sweetness I was needing.
• 
  
• add 1 more pad of butter and a pinch more of salt and mix it in.
  
• now just let it glaze..keep an eye on it and stir till its at the consistency you want.

They turned out really yummy. :)

Now, for the BBQ Sauce: Trader Joes Bole and Smokey Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce. :)

Hope it works for you. I'm new to the explaining portion of cooking. :)

Bon chance mon ami