Pampered Chef Toys: Beer Can Chicken

I have a confession to make...I love Pampered Chef!  Haha yes, I love ordering their cool make-life-easier cooking tools.  Their recent catalog introduced tons of neat stuff to use on the grill.  One of my most recent purchases was the BBQ roasting pan & can holder.   One thing I love about ordering new things from Pampered Chef is that most of their items come with a recipe that you can use with you new tool.  My roasting pan came with a recipe to make Beer-Can Chicken.  It came out amazing and now I'd like to share with you all my edited Rican version.  Happy grilling to everyone this weekend!

Beer-Can Chicken

Ingredients:

 Adobo

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbs minced onion

Montreal steak seasoning

 1-2 tbs olive oil

5-6 red potatoes

3-4 lb whole fryer

1 can of your preferred beer

1. Prepare grill for indirect cooking over medium heat (350-400 degrees).  Rinse and cut potatoes into wedges.  Combine Adobo, black pepper, garlic powder, minced onion, and cayenne pepper.

2. Trim excess fat from chicken and sprinkle combined seasoning onto the chicken.

3. Combine potatoes with olive oil and then sprinkle the Montreal steak seasoning lightly.

4. Pour out about one-fourth of the beer from the can and place the beer can in the can holder.

5. Place the chicken over the can holder so that the can is upright in the cavity  of the chicken.  Place the potatoes around the chicken.

6. Place the roasting pan on the grid of the grill.  Cover and grill for 65-75 minutes or until the thermometer reaches 165 degrees in the thickest part  of the breast. Make sure to rotate the pan at least once (preferably 35-40 minutes in).

7. Carefully remove the chicken and serve with potatoes and iced tea! =)

Get in touch with your Rican: How to make Pastelon

Long time no blog!  Ok so I've been a busy body as usual but I have been cooking/baking up storms in my kitchen...just no time to blog about them!  I will make sure to find time before I kick back up with ROTC in August.

So one of my husband's favorite dishes is called Pastelon (pronounced paust-teh-lone).  The ingredients are quite simple but it is a long a tedious process.  I call this a weekend dish because it can easily take an hour and half to two hours to make by oneself.

Now forgive me for my photos.  I've made this several times but picked my best photos from each to show you the process.

These are the explicit tools you will need:

10" skillet

pot (to cook ground beef)

12" skillet (for frying)

tongs or fork (I use both!)

basting brush

a roll of paper towels

1 cookie sheet

And your ingredients:

1lb of ground beef

2 cups of shredded cheese

1 raw egg scrambled

5-6 sweet plantains

 (make sure the plantains are yellow on the outside and a little soft when pressed)

2 cups of oil (to start)

1 tbs of Adobo seasoning

1/4 cup of Goya Sofrito

1 envelope of Goya Sazon

1 bulb of garlic minced

4 olives sliced

The first thing I do is cook the sweet plantains. Get your 12" skillet ready with 1 cup of oil heating on medium.  Also take your cookie sheet and place two layers of paper towels down on it.

1. First you have to peel the skin.  I cut off both ends first and then peel.  

2. Once all the plantains are peeled begin to slice them the long way about 1/8 inch in thickness.

3. Once all your slices are ready to fry, start placing them in your 12" skillet.  Each side should fry about 2-3 minutes.  Stay on top of them though, you don't want them to burn, just slightly golden and soft. Use your tongs and/or fork to flip them gently.

4. After frying both sides, carefully move the slices of plantain from the frying pan to the cookie sheet to let the slices dry.  Once you run out of room, do another two layers of paper towels on top of those slices and keep stacking.

Once all your slices are done frying, set them aside to cool and begin on the ground meat.  Take your pot and set it on medium heat.  

5.Place your ground beef in the pot with begin to mash and mix your Adobo seasoning into the meat.

******I love using the Mix 'N Chop from Pampered Chef for this!  Grinds of the meat just perfectly while mixing the seasonings in!******

6. After the meat is fully cooked, drain out the fat and place the meat back into the pot.  Change the heat from medium to low.

7. Take your envelope of Sazon, the Sofrito, the minced garlic, and the olives and mix them into the meat.

8. Let this cook for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Now comes the tricky part!  Molding your Pastelon into that beautiful pie shape!

9.  Take your 10" skillet and place it on medium low heat.  Start taking your plantain slices and forming a sort of crust around your skillet.

10.  Once you have a nice layer of "crust", take your basting brush, dip it into your egg wash, and baste  the plantains.  This will act as a glue to keep the plantains together.

It will look like this, but remember to create the side of the crust as well.  (This is just the bottom):

11.  Next you will take a handful of shredded cheese a spread it on top of the plantains.  (Another way to "glue" your plantains together)

12.  Take your warm ground been and fill your plantain crust evenly.

13. Next, take the rest of your shredded cheese and spread it evenly on top of the ground beef.

14. Lastly, take your remaining pieces of plantain slices and cover the top like a pie crust.

15.  Take you brush and baste the top with egg wash.

16.  Cover it and let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes until the egg wash is cooked.

It should look like this:

Once, it's all cooked, you can now flip it onto a big serving plate!  This is the easiest part.

Make sure to have an oven mit for this though!  Place your serving place over the top of the skillet. Take your skillet and pan together and then…FLIP!  Viola…you have yourself an authentic Puerto Rican tasting Pastelon!

Enjoy!

I must warn, this is not an easy dish to make.  It took me several tries after making it one time with my aunt.  But trust me, this indulgence is definitely worth it.  A perfect combination of savory and sweet for dinner!  I serve with rice, and steamed veggies.

Avengers: Hawk Healthy Cupcakes

Hey everyone!  It's beed a while.  I was down visiting my family in Florida for a week which has kept me pretty busy.  Things are not very good health wise for a few of my family members and it's been quite a weight on my chest since I can't be there in person for them.  I ask you all to please keep my family in your prayers.  It is much needed and very much appreciated.

So while I was down there, I got to baking with my little sister.  Her and I love to be in the kitchen.  I told her about a recipe I had been wanting to try out for the longest.  They are cookies and cream cupcakes with a twist...a HEALTHY twist.  =)

I've decided to name these the Hawk Cupcakes.  The Hawk in the comic books normally has a purplish outfit, but in the movie, his outfit is black.  I couldn't find much else to relate to this character in the movie.  When I think of a hawk, I think is something fast and agile.  Well to be fast and agile, you have to be fit and healthy!

I pulled the recipe off of one of my favorite blogger's site, Chocolate & Carrots.  Mrs. Caroline always has delicious yet healthy recipes and she's always on my go-to list if I'm ever in the mood for a sweet yet healthy treat.  Click here for the recipe for these cupcakes.

First off you'll need the following ingredients to make the cupcakes (AND powdered sugar which I forgot to include here)

Now the Oreo cookies are something we added ourselves since we didn't have Cookies N Cream eggs.  

The batter was extremely simple to make and already it was tasting amazing.

Next we improved Cookies N Cream kisses for the eggs since it's no longer Easter. =)

SIDE-NOTE (The next time I make things, I'm going to try them with the mini Oreos in the middle.  I think it would give it a really nice Cookies N Cream taste.  The kisses were fine, but you have to constantly check on the cupcakes as to not burn the kisses.

And finally the finished product! They were sooo good.  And who would have thought black beans would make sure a great dessert!  Now the icing was a bit tricky. It took a while to get the consistency the right way but just do as the recipe says, keep added powdered sugar and whipping cream until its nice and thick and can stand up on its own.

Enjoy!

Avengers: Captain America Blueberry Cupcakes

Ok So I know I'm late on this but Happy Memorial Day to everyone!  So on my last post, I talked about making some yummy treats dedicated to Avengers.  I decided to go with Captain America first since Memorial Day just passed honoring our soldiers and military history.  Ok and maybe because he is super handsome too.  :-)

So for my treat, I decided to make blueberry cupcakes with white buttercream frosting and a slice of strawberry for taste and decoration.

My awesome neighbor came by to taste test for me too.  =)

As the military would say...IT'S A GO!  :D

 Blueberry Cupcakes Recipe


1 Box of White Cake Mix (follow mix direction on the back)
2 cups of frozen blueberries
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of water
Neon blue and Blue food coloring

(Preheat the oven to 350°)
1. Combine ingredients following box directions. (set aside)
2. In a saucepan, combine blueberries, sugar, and water. 
3. Let this mixture simmer stirring occasionally until you see the liquid come to a slight boil.
4. Once the mixture has come to a slight boil, remove from heat and let it cool.
5. Blend the blueberry mixture until finely chopped and then add the whole thing to your white cake mix.  (This will turn your mix purple but not to worry!)
6. Now add the food coloring to until you get a nice vibrant blue.  I used a mix of the neon and regular blue.
7. Pour the batter into a prepared muffin pan or cookie sheet with aluminum liners.
8. Bake each batch for 20 minutes.

 After letting them cool from the over, ice with buttercream frosting.  I like the one from Chocolate and Carrots.  And then top with a sliced strawberry for decoration.

And viola!  You are done! Captain America cupcakes. =)

Heavenly Breakfast: Avocados, Eggs, and Stuffed French Toast!

So this morning I got experimental.  I found some more yummy recipes online and decided to pick two of them to make this morning.  Eggs and avocado with strawberry stuffed french toast.

The first one is from a blogger I follow.  Yummy avocados and eggs.

Here's my edited version

1 avocado

if you are making for two like me, 3-4 eggs

5 cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 green pepper

1/8 sweet yellow onion
Adobo to taste

1 tsp of olive oil

1. hard-boil your egg(s) using your preferred method. let cool, peel and mash roughly (you’ll want it to be chunky).

2. slice the avocado open, scoop out the innards, and dice.

3. rinse and halve your cherry tomatoes. dice the bell pepper.

4. place all veggies in a small pan and sauté with olive oil and sprinkle with a few shakes of Adobo.

5. mix all ingredients together.

6. eat.

The recipe for the french toast comes from tastykitchen.com

I used a recipe from allrecipes.com for the batter.  

You'll also need:

- whipped cream cheese

- sliced strawberries

- sliced bread (I used Sara Lee Soft & Smooth bread)  

1. Spread cream cheese on two slices of bread.

2. Place sliced strawberries on one of the slices of bread. Then place the other slice of bread on top (cream cheese sides facing inwards...like a sandwich)

3.  Dip each side into the french toast batter.  

4. Cook each side in a frying pan until golden brown.

Ok so there are the recipes...and here is the finished product!

Heather's FANTASTIC Grilled Salmon

Hey everyone!  So today my husband and I went recipe hunting.  We were in the mood for fish so I picked up a 2 lb salmon filet at Harris Teeter.  I'd just like to say that I love this grocery store.  Their meats, produce, and deli are so fresh and even though it is a little pricey the quality is worth the money.  And I still always find great deals there for example:

• Land O Lakes all natural brown eggs - Reg. $3.49 per dozen
• On sale BOGO free plus there was a 60 cents off sticky on each carton (did I mention HT doubles your coupons up to 98 cents if you are a VIC member!  that means $1.20 off each!)
• So I bought two dozen eggs: $6.98 - $3.49 - $2.40 = only $1.09!!!  SCOREEE
• Smart Balance Milk - Reg. $3.59 each
• On sale 2/$6 plus I had coupons for $1.50
• So I got two cartons for $3!  What a steal! =)

Haha ok ok enough of my couponing testimonies.  So we found a recipe online on allrecipes.com called Heather's Grilled Salmon.  It had a lot of great reviews so we decided to give it a try.  The great thing about this recipe is that all the ingredients are things most chef amateurs would have in their pantries (except for the salmon of course).  Here are the ingredients you'll need for the marinade:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons lemon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

See not so bad.  Here's a TIP: you don't actually need to buy McCormick's version or any other spice brand's version of lemon pepper.  You can make this all on your own with one whole lemon and black pepper to your own taste.  To me, it gives it a fresh and natural taste.  All you have to do now is leave the salmon in the marinade for preferably one hour and then you are ready to grill!  Now the recipe says to grill for 5 minutes on each side.

If you aren't a great griller (as am I) there are other avenues to still get a great salmon out of this recipe.  My husband and I decided to wrap each filet in foil and broil them in the oven for 10 minutes.  They came out PERFECT!  We added some steamed corn and red mashed potatoes (with sour cream and shredded cheese mixed in) to make it a meal.  Check out our meal below!  I hope you enjoyed today's blog and if you happen to try this recipe let me know!  I'd love to hear how it came out for you.

Check out the reviews  on the allrecipes.com website.

I loooove Alfredo

So tonight I made alfredo pasta again (the husband's wishes lol)...but this time I added shimp to the pasta instead of making fish.  I absolutely love the recipe I found for this quick semi-homemade alfredo.  =)  I highly recommend all you to try this recipe.  Here is my version of this recipe:

 1/2 cup butter
8 oz. Philadelphia Italian and Herbs cooking cream cheese
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon garlic powder

 1.  Melt butter

 2. Add cream cheese and melt with continuous stirring

 3. Add whipping cream, Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder.

 4. Stir until it comes to a smooth liquid texture.

For tonight's dinner I added shrimp (which I boiled in water for 3 minutes first).  And add garlic bread of course!  I love garlic bread lol.  (Garlic is good for your body too!)  This was our outcome:

  

Please try this recipe of Alfredo sauce and let me know what you think!  Also if you have any other good tips of what to make using the sauce, please do share.  Have a good night ya'll.  =)

And she does it again!!! Good eatin and heart felt grattitude. =)

And she does it again!  Another successful night of Italian cooking!  I guess I cook better when I'm inventing a dish of my own.  My original plan was to just grill some Italian sausages for dinner and call it a night with some buns and sauerkraut.  BUT my husband asked me if I could make some kind of pasta instead buns to go with our sausages.  He really does inspire me when I cook.  Every time he suggests something for dinner, I come up with an amazing concoction lol.   Soooo  my mind began to turn and I decided I would cut up the sausages and make some spaghetti in a red sauce to go with it.
When I get to the grocery store to buy the sauce, the pastas were in the same aisle and I thought "Man, penne pasta would go sooo much better with these sausages"  So I picked up a box of multigrain penne.  As I'm walking to the checkout I stop by the frozen section and (Light Bulb!) "Some garlic bread would be a great kick too!"  *Picked up a box of cibatta garlic bread*  This really is the everyday story of a woman at Wal-Mart. You go in for one thing and always leave with a few more items lol.
So my journey in the kitchen begins with boiling the penne for about 12-15 minutes.  As my penne was boiling I started on browning my sausages.  I cut the sausages in pieces diagonally and added them to my pan with a couple tablespoons of oil. (You can use water instead.) I also cut up a quarter of a green pepper and added that to give the sausages a little more flavor.  Once my sausages were browned, I added my pasta sauce.  You can use whatever red sauce you prefer.  I used a tomato garlic sauce.  I let this simmer for about 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.  As my sauce simmered I preheated the oven to 425 for the garlic bread.  Before putting the bread in the oven a added a touch of shredded Italian cheeses on top.  I baked them until the edges were lightly browned.  Everything took about an hour prep time and cooking.  It came out amazing and it was quite simple to make! Here's the finished product:

Ingredients you need:

- 1/2 box of Penne pasta

- 1 jar of red pasta sauce

- 1 package of sausages (5 links)

- 1/4 green peppers (chopped)

- 2 tablespoons of oil

- 1 box of Garlic Bread

My husband absolutely enjoyed it.  He said he was speechless lol.

After dinner my husband thanked me for everything. Not just being an amazing cook but for being a great wife.  He told me to come to attention.  (Military lingo lol)  Then he handed me a coin and saluted me.  I saluted back thinking we were just playing Army since I'll be starting ROTC again this fall.  BUT when I looked at the coin in my hand I just about melted right there.

I couldn't be a happier wife.  I know in the near future he will be saluting me for real when I commission but I can honestly say that the best awards always come from my husband.  I hope everyone has a great rest of the week.  Tomorrow is Friday!!! Military Spouse Appreciation Day!!!  =)

Dinner decisions

So it's rainy and really ugly outside right now.  I hate thunder...especially being all alone in the house.  The rain has been off and on all day today.  I bet my family in Florida is enjoying nice sun rays at the beach or pool right now.  Times like these, I really miss Florida.

So my blog...I named it Beba's Kitchen and yet the majority of my blog, I've shown almost nothing of my cooking skills!  So here is one of my dishes I made last week.  Enjoy!

Red/Yellow/Green/Orange Peppers and Yellow Onion all chopped (I wanted to be colorful lol)

Add the broccoli and stirfry with some soy sauce

Cooked the chicken breast separately (Seasoned with Sazon and Adobo)

Added them together and viola!  Chicken and Broccoli  =)

My chicken was paired with yellow rice and beans.  (Us latinos eat rice and beans with everything! lol)

I have no idea what I should cook for dinner tonight....any suggestions???